"Highness."
The word fit perfectly into my dream, an odd half-nightmare about that tournament for Danni's hand. Everyone was competing for her: Klemper, Tucker (which I didn't mind. I was still trying to match him with my sister), Cujo (how did a dog get into this kind of thing?), Vortex, an Observant…. The list went on and on. But, terrifyingly, Klemper was winning.
That was why the dream was half-nightmare.
But my point is, the word 'Highness' could easily have come from inside my dream. I had no way of knowing that it came from the waking world. At least not until the thrall saying it poked me in the eye.
"Ow," I whined, flopping over onto my belly.
The thrall poked a bony finger into my back. "Highness, the elder halfa requests your presence." He (I think Tucker named him Ludwig) sounded vaguely displeased about a stranger summoning royalty, but I didn't care.
"Vlad's here?" Pariah had told him to come serve as a courtier, but I hadn't expected him to show up so soon.
"Yes, Highness. He is awaiting you and the Shade Princess in the Cyan Receiving Room."
The receiving rooms, cyan or not, were small, informal chambers used for gatherings of minor political figures for negotiations in a neutral territory. There were quite a few of them. Most were named after their color schemes, but a couple- the one with bonsais and one like the inside of a wooden cabin- were not. Pariah had predicted that people would use the receiving rooms for a long time, until they grew confident enough for more formal settings- and for meetings with the king in those more formal settings.
"Thanks for telling me." I shifted into ghost form. Fenton might not be dressed, but Phantom was. And speaking of last names, I still had to figure out what to do about that….
But one thing at a time, Fenton-Phantom. You signed up for this kind of thing- not with Vlad, but still- when you decided to come clean as the Shadow Prince. Your choice, your responsibility.
That didn't mean I liked waking up at… oh. It was seven-thirty. That press conference must have lasted longer than I'd thought if I was still exhausted at seven-thirty. Halfas, even teenage ones, don't need as much sleep as full-humans.
Part of me wondered if I was supposed to grab something: a staff of office, a circlet, a ring. The rest of me told that part that it was being an idiot. Vlad had seen me battered and bleeding, a snarky teenager without his powers, and both at once.
Besides, I didn't want to scare him away by dressing up like my father's son.
Vlad was also in his ghost form. Plasmius paced up and down the Cyan Receiving Room. His skin was almost the same color as the walls, so only the pale glow around him let me make out his silhouette. But hard as it was to see him, he was clearly worried.
Should I announce you? the thrall asked. I started, shook my head.
"Um… hi, Vlad."
The older halfa nearly jumped out of his skin. "Daniel!" He blanched. "Er- Your Highness." He seemed to wonder if he should bow or not.
"Danny's fine," I mumbled. Awkward, oh this was awkward. And the silence that followed my declaration didn't help.
"Soooo… you're… done in the human world already? That was fast."
Vlad's face darkened. "Not exactly. The Guys in White are claiming that the two agents who shot at you, as well as your paren- ah, foster parents- were overshadowed."
I wasn't particularly impressed. "Really? Good for them."
"They also claim that all of their websites were hacked by a ghost who has been possessing your friend Tucker Foley: the official homepage, the one Agent L just set up, even some of their top-secret databases."
I still wasn't particularly impressed.
"And they have proof."
"Huh?"
"They found evidence that a PDA has hacked into their system six times over the past few years. And then there was footage from a security camera from just over a month ago. Maurice and Lola Foley are up in arms about it, of course, claiming that the Whitecoats forged the footage to save their own sorry behinds, but some of the public is starting to waver."
Crap. Last time we'd broken into the Guys in White database, it had been to find information about my biological father. Had we wiped the security? Ah, crap, I couldn't remember Tucker wiping the security cameras. We really should have known better by now. I guess he was just really, really excited on my behalf- we'd fully expected to find out my father's identity on that day.
Hey. Wait a second…. "But an agent let him do it. Or at least, that's what it looks like on the security cameras. I had him overshadowed."
"The Guys in White claim that they perform blood tests each week to see if an agent was overshadowed."
I snorted. "They don't. I know the layout of their headquarters. They don't have anything resembling a blood lab, and I'd have heard about it if they went to a clinic each week."
"They don't," Vlad confirmed. "But the public doesn't know that. All they know is that the agents produced records of a blood test that showed ectoplasmic contamination." He snorted slightly. "Moreover, they're hinting that the four of you are being held captive by ghosts. You've all been overshadowed repeatedly, you know. Your friend Tucker was a victim of Technus, who used his human flesh as a disguise to penetrate the secrets of the Guys in White and the Fentons."
"…I thought we were in cahoots with the evil ghosties?"
Vlad lifted an imperious hand. "Ah, no. That was the evil ghosties' attempt to mislead everyone by using evil technology powers to create a website under Agent L's name."
"Okay then." I nodded. "Since you're here to warn me, I assume that some people are actually buying this tripe?"
He sighed. "They were once a government agency, you know. I only acquired them a few years ago, long after two half-human infants received the federal government's stamp of approval."
I froze, suddenly very impressed. And not in a good way. "They're blackmailing Washington?"
Vlad seemed rather surprised by how quickly I'd caught on. Well, I've been learning politics from the High King of All Ghosts for the past couple weeks. Of course I know a thing or two. "I have reason to believe that the government had no idea that Project A.N.I.E.L. even existed until L informed them. Washington certainly isn't perfect- no government is- but I can't see anyone there approving of human experimentation."
"But the public doesn't know that."
Once again, surprise flickered across the older halfa's face. "Exactly. A few of the politicians from eighteen years ago are still around, or their children have taken their place. It's easy to threaten them, to hint you have evidence of something shady which they might have been involved in."
"Not to mention that L is terrifying," I muttered. The agent had made even my hair stand on end- and I have superpowers.
My brain whirled. Agents, secrets, blackmail, politics….
The Guys in White had to be shut down. They were irresponsible, throwing bombs into the midst of high school students, shooting at a teenager in the middle of a public restaurant. No, they were worse than irresponsible- they were dangerous to themselves, civilians, and whichever poor ghosts they managed to capture.
Two years ago, when they had finally completed their headquarters, Mr. Lancer and a few other teachers had taken their students for a tour of the building. They hadn't ever done it again.
The tour guide had been very… honest about what the Guys in White would do to any ghost they captured. Two people had thrown up once the tour was finished. Lancer's scalp had been shiny with sweat. Many of the students had been holding hands. For the next few weeks, the psychologist's office had been filled with students seeking help defeating their new nightmares.
Honesty ain't always the best policy.
I shivered slightly. No, the Guys in White had to be put down, not only for what they'd done, but for the sake of my friends. They had lives in the Human World: school and parents and societies, things like that.
But they were blackmailing politicians, people powerful enough to get them acquitted, whispering threats into the right ear. I might be getting better about politics, but most of my knowledge came from Kantara, not America. I wasn't sure if I could navigate America's legal system well enough to condemn them. Probably not. It was too complex, too filled with unknowns.
Yet even the most complicated situations can be resolved if you think outside the box and/or strike from an unexpected source.
Pandora told me a story once about something called the Gordian Knot. I forget how it was made (I think it involved an early Greek king named Gordas or something), but the making didn't matter. What mattered was a prophecy that whoever could unravel the insanely complicated mini-labyrinth would become Lord of Asia. For several hundred years, kings and conquerors tried to untie it. They all failed.
Then Alexander the Great came along. He took one look at the knot, unsheathed his sword, and chopped right through it. Sure enough, he became Lord of Asia in just a few short years.
The moral of the story: sometimes it's best to take the direct approach. And even better, by taking the direct approach, I could test Vlad's loyalty.
"Okay, Vlad," I said slowly, "you're going to be an advisor here, right? So advise away."
He gave me a strange, penetrating stare. Looks like my attempt to act blasé wasn't working. That didn't surprise me. Vlad probably knew full well that I was testing him.
The seconds stretched out, making me wonder if Clockwork had already recovered.
"I own the Guys in White."
"Go on."
Vlad snorted. "You already know what's coming next."
"Humor me."
Plasmius rolled his eyes (or at least I think he did. It's hard to tell when someone's sclera are as red as his pupils and irises). "I know that they never performed blood tests. And I can use my position to force the Head to bring me Agent L."
My jaw sagged. I'd expected the blood tests thing. I hadn't expected the finding L thing.
Vlad smirked. "You might be getting better, little badger, but I have many years of experience on you." He froze, realizing what he'd said to the Shadow Prince, the son and heir of Pariah Dark.
"I'm not a badger," I grumbled, ignoring his sudden fear. By the Five Rivers, would I have to go through this every time someone treated me like they had before? With my luck, yes.
Joy.
The fruit loop hesitated. His head tilted slightly as he wondered if I had really forgiven his lack of courtesy or if I was just pretending, luring him into a trap. I sighed. Honesty ain't always the best policy, but sometimes it's the only thing that can cut a Gordian Knot. "Vlad. I'm not going to bite your head off for treating me like a person instead of a prince."
He nodded, but something told me he was still unconvinced.
I thought of my reaction to him meeting Pariah and winced. Well, maybe he had a reason to disbelieve me. "Yeah. And… about how Danni and I- well, mostly me, because Danni's her own person and I can't speak for her- about how we- I- was kind of nasty on Halloween…. I'm sorry."
Vlad stared at me as though I'd just proposed to him: shocked, disbelieving, confused, and probably wondering if this was a joke.
It wasn't.
A blush rose to my cheeks. Boy, would it ever be awkward to have him live with us.
Vlad blinked twice. "Erm- and I think that my final course of action will be to disband the Guys in White as an actual agency. Even if its members escape jail, they won't have the funding to become a threat again. No one else would even think of hiring them- they don't exactly have the best reputations."
"Gotcha." Like Vlad, I was all business again. "That sounds like it makes sense."
He stood. "Very well, then. With your leave, I'll return to the Mortal Plane and contact the Head. He doesn't have to know I'm betraying their organization until after L is in police custody."
"That sounds like a plan to me."
Vlad didn't bow as he left (for which I was exceedingly grateful. We were awkward enough already). He paused once at the door as though wondering if he should, but eventually crossed the threshold without even looking at me again.
I sighed slightly. What a way to start the day.
If not for the blackmail, I wouldn't have worried so much. But since the Whitecoats did have blackmail on some politicians (I had no idea who but suspected they were rather prominent, otherwise they'd never have dared to attempt this scheme), I probably should worry. Not too much, since the Mansons and especially the Foleys had done a lot to uncover their incompetence and negligence, and the public already knew their reputation (shooting into the midst of high school students does not endear you to a lot of people), but still. It was one more thing on a plate that was already way too full.
And I was still sleepy. I was used to ghosts interrupting my slumber, but that didn't mean I liked it.
Part of me wanted to crawl back into bed, to fall back into dreamland (but hopefully not the dream I'd been having before. That was unpleasant in the extreme), but I didn't let myself. Instead, I went hunting for Ms. Lau. Oops, Qing. She'd given us permission to call her by her first name sometime last night.
The reporter was a great deal more relaxed this morning. Part of this was one-upping her former employers and competitors by getting a promotion from the king himself. Part of it was because I was Danny, not Pariah, and therefore less terrifying.
We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes: how did you sleep, is there anything I can do to make your room more comfortable, did you want anything special for breakfast? Then I got down to business.
Part of Sam's plan was based on the scheme of Jazz's which had gotten the Whitecoats behind bars. The plan (okay, both the plans, but right now I'm talking about Sam's) required media attention to work.
Qing was a bit skeptical. Sure, we'd been forewarned of this by Lord Clockwork himself, but she wasn't entirely certain if she wanted to get involved. I don't blame her. This plan was a wee bit more dangerous than provoking Guys in White.
But despite her hesitation, Qing was a pretty brave lady. It took guts to face one of the most powerful beings in existence, even if you had been ensured by the Styx itself that he meant no harm. In the end, she agreed.
After that, I hunted down Danni. She and I checked up on Clockwork (he was doing just fine. A bit grumpy, but otherwise fine). By that time, our human guests were awake, so we hunted them down to put the final details on the plan.
Two hours later, when Pariah found us, we had everything ironed out: who, what, where, when, why. Now we just needed to wait.
Okey dokey. Things are looking up for me (a bit). The writer's block is starting to fade and I've figured out the gist of Sam's plan. Still need to iron out the details, but...
A few people have asked about "Favors for Father." That actually takes place AFTER the main series ends. It's their first Father's Day with Pariah, or 9ish months after they met him. Hope that clears that up.
-Corona
