Chapter 4

I shook my head but right after I did that, I started shaking. It caused my breath to hitch just once and I knew it was all over from there. Danny would never go away (nor would he let me go away) until I told him what was wrong.

"You won't understand..." I strained.

Danny hummed for a bit before saying, "Maybe I won't, but you should still tell me. It'll help take some of the weight off."

I shook my head again and he quietly laughed. It was a forced laugh though, something to help me feel better. It still didn't work.

"Yeah," he sighed, "You definitely take after me, Ms. Stubborn. Now drop the tough girl act and just spit it out. You know, to get me to leave if for nothing else."

I sighed heavily. He wasn't going to go away unless I told him...

I took a deep breath and said, "I don't have a home."

I didn't have to look at him to know he had frowned.

"I thought you liked being able to go everywhere," he said.

I nodded. "I do, but it's different. When you go somewhere, you can come back your house. When I go somewhere, I don't have anything to come back to."

I heard him exhale.

"Dani, why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

I shrugged.

"Because you don't have my problems," I said, trying to sound calm and casual. "You have a family, a home, plenty of food-"

"Wait, wait, hold up!" he immediately interrupted. "You've been hungry this whole time?"

I shrugged again. "It comes with being homeless but I eat enough to get by. How else do you think I had the energy to get back here all the way from Canada?"

"Quit acting like this isn't a big deal!" he yelled to me (not at me; don't think he was blaming me for anything). "You couldn't have come to me?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. In case you haven't noticed, Vlad still wants to kill me. I can't come to you over every little thing; he knows that if I need help badly enough, you would be the first one I come to."

"Well then why stay here if you think Vlad will come after you?"

"Because I'm tired of traveling all over two countries. I figured that for once, I could drop by to say hi instead of burden you again. It's humiliating to come to someone only when you need help from them. That's what Vlad did to me, and I'm not going to do it to you," I replied.

For a moment he was silent. "So you've been running around everywhere to make sure he wouldn't find you. You were never traveling at all, were you?"

Well...yes and no. I did stay in a city from time to time, but only for about two days tops to rest and enjoy the sights. Then something in my brain finally snapped and the strong urge to leave overwhelmed me; I had to go. I would fly aimlessly around for a long time, sometimes even an entire day and a half, until I hit another city. My mind would be at ease thanks to all the ground I had covered. For awhile it would stay calm and I was allowed to rest, eat, and relax for a while. But traveling/running eventually became increasingly exhausting and I found myself longing to stay in one place just for a week at most.

But I was too worried that Vlad might find me if I let myself become a sitting duck, so I kept jumping from city to city until I wound up in Canada. I took three days' rest time before I had to leave again. I realized that I couldn't keep this up forever and had to get some real rest. I turned around and though it took me forever, I made my way back to Amity Park. With Danny around, I knew there was a greater chance of Vlad finding me while I spent the time here resting (if Danny didn't want to be my dad then I really had no reason to stay here). But Danny was the top dog of this city. Godspeed to any who wanted to attack it.

Problem was, Vlad did that all the time. He was constantly butting heads with him. Danny was all but powerless to stop him in terms of strength. However, he was more resourceful than Vlad and used that to his advantage. He would always manage to gain an upper hand against my dad, but just barely enough to surpass him. And even then, it was usually a draw between the two.

"Look, whether I've been traveling or running doesn't matter. I'm literally exhausted. I don't really have that much strength left in me. I came here to rest for a few weeks (not really, I'm dying to stay here forever, but if Danny doesn't want me then there's no point; it'll just be awkward for everyone)," I said. "I can always move on to a different city but it's safer here."

"Because I'm here," he finished, much more of a statement than a thought.

I swallowed. "Yeah... But that's beside the point-"

"No," he interrupted. "That is the point. You came to me for protection."

It wasn't just for protection! I wished he could realize that...but at the same time I was glad he didn't.

"Being homeless isn't the only thing bothering you, is it?" he said (not asked, said).

That did it for me. I flew off the swing and accelerated into the sky. Of course, it was too late to turn back and lie. Running from him only confirmed his suspicions. So...nice going.

Danny was faster than me. I couldn't fully control my powers yet. On top of that, I was seriously tired. After an emotional outburst, running from someone who wants to kill you, and flying across two whole countries, I was overly ready to fall asleep right then and there. And I would've, but like I said, Danny was faster than me. He had no difficulty catching up to me and grabbing my wrist, stopping me in midair. I floated despite my lack of motivation to keep floating. Frankly I didn't have any motivation to do anything right now (aside from dropping dead and curling up on the ground to sleep).

Grunting in frustration, I jerked my hand back, pulling myself out of his grasp.

"Dani, will you please just tell me what's wrong? I can help!" he cried.

"No, you can't!" I shouted.

"Yes, I can; we're cousins, that's what we do for each other," he replied.

I began to fly in the opposite direction but he sped around me and blocked my path.

"You can't help me," I said, turning around and flying away.

He flew past me and again blocked my path.

"Tell me," he urged. "I'm your cousin for Pete's sake! Why can't you just tell me what's going on?"

I shoved him out of the way. "We're not even real cousins, I'm just a clone!"

He pushed himself in front of me again. "That's not true, Dani."

"Yes it is! I'm just a copy of you. I'm not even related to you, okay? Vlad's my father! Do you have any idea what it's like to be created by some crazy guy with ghost powers? What it's like to be used? What it's like to find out that your whole life is a lie? And then what it's like to watch as he explains how he wants a son, so you're considered his mistake just because you're not perfect? How can you help that? How can you understand that?" I snapped.

We both just floated there for a while, me waiting for a response and him...well, doing whatever. The wind still didn't blow. It hadn't all night and I desperately wanted it to. I need something to move! If nothing was happening then I had no distraction, nothing else to focus on. I didn't want this dreadful silence. And with each passing second it thickened.

Danny finally opened his mouth to speak, but his voice was scratchy and soft.

"I... Dani, I didn't know you felt that way..." he said gently.

"Well I do, so are you finally happy now? Got all the information you need?" I shot back. (Forgive me for being angry with him but you have to understand that this isn't easy for me to deal with. It never was and probably never will be. So...yeah, I tend to get pretty upset about it.)

"I don't want you to feel that way. For what it's worth, I never thought of you as a mistake. I know you've gone through some pretty rough times, but you're being too hard on yourself. You're perfect just the way you are. Besides, why would you want to be a boy? I mean, you saw my room," he added with a lopsided smile.

I ignored his remark about his room and looked back down at the empty park. Deciding he still wouldn't be too keen on letting me leave, I swooped down to land on my swing. Unfortunately for the one person who wanted to be left alone right now, Danny did the same and sat right beside me. I simply ignored him and started tapping the ground with my toe, just like I had done yesterday. I tried vainly to focus on a little tuft of grass in front of me so I wouldn't have to look at him and see whatever new expression had come across his face. Some people liked action during slower moments like this, but I preferred a much calmer atmosphere, which was why I made my rocking motions slow and just enough to rock an infant to sleep.

I felt him nudge my shoulder with the flat of his fingers.

"Hey," he said softly. "Let's go get something to eat. I know some nice fast food places that are open all night."

I transformed back into my human form. I wanted to turn down the offer but the truth was, I was starving and I had no money. Besides, who else would take me out to eat? Plus, I've made it pretty obvious that I was searching for a dad (and who better than Danny?) and this was pretty fatherly. To me anyway.

"So," he continued as he also transformed, "What kind of foods do you like?"

"I'm your clone," I muttered. "I like all the foods you do."

"Oh. Um, well... What are you in the mood for?"

Honestly, I was up for anything right now. Anything (and I mean anything such as, it's edible) would be great. I was twelve so...I didn't really care. Plus, I had no allergies, be it airborne, environmental, or food. I was one lucky girl. For the most part, anyway.

I shrugged. "Nothing in particular. I'll just go with you."

He smiled and took my hand. "There's place me and my friends love to hang out at called the Nasty Burger. How about there?"

I made a face. "That doesn't sound very appetizing..."

"Yeah..." He chuckled. "I think the person who named it was drunk. But the burgers there aren't nasty; they're pretty good."

I moved my head to the side a little and shrugged again. "I guess it won't hurt to try it. But I don't have any money on me."

This time he was the one who shrugged. "You don't need to. Consider it a welcoming gift."

My breath caught in my throat. I can guarantee you he didn't want me to feel like I owed him money but... He was finding every little loophole in this, wasn't he? Darn that boy and his hero complex! The only way I was getting out of this would be to...um... Well, he wouldn't let me turn down the offer, that much I knew, and he wasn't going to let me pay even if I had a million bucks. There was no way to weasel out. He had me stuck now, so that was nice to know.

But I took pride in my ability to be sneaky. I would slip the money I owed into his wallet when he wasn't looking; once I got the money, that is.

But then he would notice the extra cash and he would know...

Darn.