Chapter Thirty-six

Pariah's Keep
The Ghost Zone

It felt weird, flying across the Ghost Zone with his dad in tow, so Danny was glad it wasn't a very long trip to Pariah's Keep. He turned them invisible before they got close, but the place seemed deserted. Considering the number of skeleton warriors that had been charging into the Far Frozen when they'd left, and how many he was guessing were attacking Amity Park, it wasn't too surprising. Still, he thought Vlad might leave at least an honor guard, but the place was completely dead. So to speak.

Flying through the skull-like castle opening, he set them down inside the Grand Hall. It looked like the first time he'd come here, in search of the Fright Knight's sword, except for the absence of a purple pumpkin with the glowing sword sticking out of the top where the stem should be. He had to suppress a shudder as the thought of the sword reminded him of his mother, living out her worst fears somewhere. He didn't even want to think about what the worst fears of one of the most fearless women he knew could possibly be.

But there was something off about the Grand Hall looking so exactly like it had the first time he'd seen it, down to the curtain drawn across the stone dais where the Ghost King's Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep stood, and several skeletons lying dormant along the hallway.

Danny's dad looked leery as well, even though he'd never been to Pariah's Keep before. "Wait. If this is Vlad's home base, who the heck was fighting these skeletons?"

That's when Danny realized. The skeletons weren't lying dormant, they'd been beaten. Most of them were missing bones, and two had holes cracked into their skulls. While Danny's dad quietly set his duffel bag on the floor and pulled out the Fenton Bazooka, Danny knelt on the floor to get a closer look at one of the skeletons with the cracked skull. The hole was sort of semicircular shaped, like...

Danny's eyes widened and he stood up. "I know who did this. Look at the chunk missing from this skull. It's shaped like a horseshoe."

His dad frowned. "A horseshoe?" Then he understood. "The Fright Knight's horse?"

Danny nodded. "Without his sword, that horse is his best weapon."

"Aren't they on the same side?"

"Not anymore, I'm not."

The voice behind them was startling, and Danny and his father whirled to the entrance of the Hall to see the Fright Knight sitting astride the Nightmare. His dad immediately shouldered his bazooka, but Danny put his hand out to stop him. "Wait, Dad. I don't think he's working for Vlad anymore."

The Fright Knight dismounted and started walking slowly toward them down the red-carpeted hall. "You don't seem surprised."

"Dude, you're not exactly famous for your loyalty. After Aragon took your sword, I kinda figured you'd be a little ticked. And now Vlad has it, right?"

"Yes." His voice seethed resentment. "How did you know?"

Danny saw his dad's knuckles turn white as he gripped the bazooka. "He used it on my wife."

If this surprised the Fright Knight, he didn't show it. "Then you'll be wanting to get her back."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Uh, duh."

The Fright Knight seemed to consider a moment. "I can take you to her. If she's felt the sting of my blade, she's in the Realm of Fears. Plasmius is most likely there, as well."

Danny's dad lowered the bazooka. "You know where she is? Is she safe?"

"Relatively speaking. She'll be living out her worst fear—"

"Then why are we wasting time yapping? Let's get moving."

"Dad, wait. We need to understand what we're walking into first." Danny turned to the Fright Knight. "This Realm of Fears is an actual place, one we can get to without getting sliced and diced first?"

"Yes. It is one of the Infinite Realms, but it is not easy to find. There is only one doorway in and out, unless you are sent there by my blade, and it is constantly shifting. The Nightmare can find it, however." The horse whinnied behind him, almost sounding proud. "The only other way to find it is with the Soul Shredder which, as you pointed out, Plasmius now possesses."

"But if it's a realm where everyone lives out their own personal worst fears, will we even be all in one place together? Can we find Vlad and my mom, and can we fight him and rescue her?"

"Only those sent there by my blade live their worst fears. The dark energy of the realm is contained within the Soul Shredder. A single cut will both send its victim into the Realm, and the Realm into the victim, manifesting inside them as their worst fears come to life. For those who enter through the doorway, the darkness is external. It won't penetrate your soul." A sort of wicked glimmer lit up his eyes. "Unless you remain too long."

"Dark energy..." Danny's dad snapped his fingers. "Is this the same energy that makes up those ecto-storms that sword of yours makes?"

"Yes, it is."

"And Vladdy knows about this place? Has he been there before?"

The Fright Knight's eyes darkened again. "He's been using it as a secret meeting place, one you humans or the ghosts who would not bow to him could not find without my help."

"And he's there now? With Maddie?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Oh, boy. That can't be good."

Danny turned to his dad. "What's wrong?"

"This Realm of Fears? That's what's keeping his ectoranium powers juiced up."

Danny's eyes widened. "Oh, man. That makes total sense. He wouldn't have to make ecto-storms if he could just go there."

The Fright Knight jabbed an armored finger at Danny's dad. "Explain."

"Ectoranium in anything but its solid form is unstable. It should have burned off to nothing by now, unless there was some sort of power that kept recharging it. Maddie figured out it was the ecto-storms, and if you're saying there's a whole realm made of the stuff..."

Danny groaned. "It's like one big solar battery for him. Never runs out."

"That would explain why he kept insisting on meeting there," the Fright Knight said. "I'd assumed it was just his way of showing me his dominance, by usurping my domain. This complicates matters."

"Dad? If Vlad's actually in the place that's powering him up, does that mean he'll be even stronger then when we've faced him elsewhere?"

"Probably not stronger, but he'd have much more endurance. An almost infinite amount."

"Greaaaaaat. 'Cause he wasn't gonna be hard enough to beat already." Then, Danny had a thought. "Wait. If she's in an actual place that we can go to, can't we just rescue her? Just keep Vlad down long enough to get her out?"

The Fright Knight shook his head. "No. Only the defeat of the one who sent her there can bring her back. The fear is inside her. And even if you could just lead her through the doorway, it's likely she wouldn't come. She won't recognize you as you are."

It was like he'd just punched Danny's dad in the face. "What?"

"She is living out her own personal fears. If you are actually present there with her, her mind will merely incorporate you into those fears."

More good news, Danny thought. "So, if her biggest fear was, say, snakes..."

"She'd most likely see you as a giant snake."

"Wonderful. She won't even know we're there to rescue her. She might even think we're there to harm her and fight against us." Danny knew from experience being a target in his mother's eyes was not a good thing. "So, we've just gotta go into a realm full of dark energy that's juicing up Vlad's powers, completely defeat him without any weapons that are actually capable of doing that in a place that isn't full of dark energy, and hope Mom doesn't see us as a manifestation of her deepest fears and try to take us out herself. That about cover it?"

"So, what are we waiting for?" His dad pushed the bazooka back into his duffel bag, zipped it up, and hoisted it back over his shoulder as he leveled his gaze at the Fright Knight. "Lead the way, Tin Man."

"Wait." Danny eyed the Fright Knight. "How do we know we can trust you?"

The armored ghost's mouth wasn't visible behind his helmet, but Danny was pretty sure he was smiling. "Do you trust Skulker? Ember? Technus?"

"No. But we share a common enemy. That's enough for now."

"And I can assure you, I now share that enemy as well."

"Meaning you want us to beat him for you so you can get your sword back."

"While you get your mother back. A mutually beneficial arrangement, wouldn't you agree?"

Sure, until you use that sword to stab me in the back. But it's not like they had a choice. "Fine. Take us to this Realm of Fears."

Nasty Burger
Amity Park

"Uh... do you guys know there are a bunch of skeleton ghosts rioting in the streets again?"

Tucker looked over his shoulder to the door of the manager's office to see a frazzled Irving Burns standing there, his knees quaking. "We know, dude. We're trying to shut down the portal they're coming through."

"Quiet, children! I'm trying to concentrate." Technus glared at them before closing his eyes again.

Irving came into the office and stood close enough to Tucker to whisper in his ear. "What's he doing?"

"He's using his ghost powers to control a little robot drone we created. It's small enough to slip past the skeletons coming through the portal and get to the generator that's powering it to shut it down."

"There's a working generator down there? I couldn't get the Nasty Burger's backup generator working."

"Yeah, there's sort of a working-tech bubble down there. Long story."

"Shh!" Technus didn't even open his eyes as he scolded them this time. "I'm almost... uh-oh."

Tucker's heart sunk. "What 'uh-oh.' We don't have time for any uh-oh's, Technus. There's already gotta be more than a hundred skeletons out in Amity Park."

Technus opened his eyes. "There's another shield. A smaller one, covering the generator and the power and control assembly to the portal. We're still locked out."

A string of curses ran through Tucker's head. "There's gotta be a way to bypass it, or destroy it, or something. We can't just leave that portal wide open while skeleton ghosts pour into Amity Park!"

"There may be, but I can't tell from up here. We're going to have to go down there and take a look."

"So, we have to wade through a bunch of skeletons to get into the room with the portal, just to see if maybe we can figure out how to get around the shield and shut it down?"

"Pretty much, child."

Tucker sighed and opened his backpack, pulling out a prop lightsaber he'd bought off eBay. Not a plastic toy like the ones for kids, but a solid, battle-ready polycarbonate replica of Mace Windu's lightsaber that could be used for actual sword fights on stage. When the power was working, it even glowed purple. "All right. Let's knock around some skeleton ghosts." He looked at Irving, still standing in the doorway. "Now's your big chance to see a ghost portal, Irving. We could use some help beating these ghosts back to get at it. Got a baseball bat or anything you could use to lend us a hand?"

"I'm not really—"

"The more skeletons we let loose into Amity Park, the more likely it is that some of them are going to swarm the Nasty Burger. Who knows what they'll do with the Nasty Sauce?"

Fear morphed into something more determined as Irving reached around behind the office door where a crowbar was leaning against the wall. Taking it into his hands, he hefted it over his shoulder like a bayonet. "Let's do this thing."