Hello readers! If you recall, I mentioned the last chapter that these next couple chapters are some of my favorites - well, that's because they are. I really hope you enjoy the mystery until it's revealed. Also, this chapter is amusing to me despite the serious tones. I hope ya'll feel the same way.
Thanks again to my reviewers!
Previously In The Love We Had Before: A moment of bonding between Jazz and Danny is ruined by Infe, who has broken out of the Fenton Thermos. But when the Fenton family faces off against the Wrecker, it spells disaster.
Chapter Thirteen
"Jazz, honey, are you alright?"
Maddie's voice echoed distantly in the corners of Jazz's brain and she stirred, opening her teal eyes to the sight of her mother and father hovering over her in concern.
"Ugh…" she murmured. Her whole body felt weakened and limp, as if she'd been on the treadmill for twelve hours straight. No wonder her brother looked so tired lately. If he'd been hit by the same lightning that had affected her this way, she could only imagine how drained he must have been being vulnerable to Infe's attacks. She vaguely wondered why it had delayed in affecting her like it was, whereas he'd been struck by it immediately. Something to do with his ghostly DNA maybe? Something she'd have to research later for sure.
"Wait, where's Danny?" she asked, looking around wildly for the sight of her brother. "Where did he go?"
Jack and Maddie exchanged glances and then Maddie said, "We don't know."
"Maybe he went after that Wrecker guy?" Jack suggested.
Which sounded exactly like Danny, Jazz realized. He was impulsive, stubborn, and overprotective. He'd probably followed Infe right into the portal. Which caused another gasp of realization to escape her lips.
"Wait, where's the portal?"
"The ghost portal?" Jack asked, sounding confused.
Jazz sat up too quickly and her head spun, but she shoved down the wooziness and looked in the direction to where she'd seen that tear in the fabric of reality - yet saw portal was gone. She sighed with worry. "No. Infelicitous can use his powers to bounce from place to place. Danny must have followed Infe into the portal. But we can track him."
"Track who? Infe or Danny?"
She had them help her to her feet and went over to the main computer processor hooked up to the east wall of the lab. Hitting a few buttons, she pulled up the Spectral Global Positioning Locator and plugged in her brother's code.
"Jazz, honey, what are you doing?" Maddie asked, coming to stand beside her.
"You know how we came up with that program that would allow us to keep tabs on bigger threats - like Vlad and Pariah Dark - by using their specific ectoplasmic residue? I coded Danny's into the system a while back."
"Does he know?" Maddie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nope. But it's for his own good."
Jazz plugged in her brother's specific code and hit search, allowing the spectrometer a few moments to warm up before she tried again. But it didn't ping once. It just kept searching, a continuous ripple on the wide screen.
"What's the range on this?" Jack asked.
She didn't answer at first. Jazz was hoping the device was just taking longer than normal. But when a few more minutes passed with nothing, she had to swallow hard. "The entire world."
"Then that means…" Maddie whispered.
"No, it doesn't always mean that," Jazz insisted. "It could mean he's not in our world. He could be somewhere in the Ghost Zone. Or on another plane of existence altogether. And if that's the case, we're going to have to go old school."
She leaned down and scrambled through the clutter-filled drawers one by one, searching more frantically as she went. "Where is that thing…"
"Jasmine, what are you looking for sweetie?" Maddie asked.
"The Fenton Boomerang. It's always been keyed in to Danny's ectoplasmic signature. It'll find him." she said, haphazardly tossing a few random trinkets behind her.
"Hey!" her dad shouted, narrowly dodging a cylindrical disk.
"Well, she'd find it a lot faster if you didn't have so much useless garbage in here," Maddie lectured, giving her husband a look. "You don't even use half of this scrap."
Jack huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "If you can have a room for your shoes, I can have drawers full of equipment and tools I need."
Maddie rolled her eyes. "Why don't you call it what it is, Jack? Junk. Junk, junk, junk, junk, junk. None of this garbage is even functional."
"Is too."
"Really?" Maddie snatched a hammer-shaped tool with several springs attached the top, two of which were glowing very faintly. "What is this? What does it do? Or how about this one?" She asked as she grabbed a small device attached to a keychain.
"That's a laser pointer for cats," Jack said very matter-of-factly.
"Jack, we don't have a cat."
"We could use it on ghosts. You know, lure them in and then catch them off guard." He pointed the laser down at the ground and blinked it on and off several times, circling the red dot around the room.
"That won't work!" Maddie shrieked.
"It could!" he shouted smugly back.
"The only invention you've gotten to work lately is the Inviso-Till, and no one knows where that stupid thing is."
"It's around here somewhere. No one has walked out with it."
"And how would we know if they did?"
Flustered, Jazz stepped in between her parents and shoved them away from each other, unable to believe they were bickering at a time like this. "Guys, cool it. We need to focus."
But her dad was very persistent, waggling his finger at Maddie. "One invention didn't turn out right, just one and you've gotta make a big deal about it."
Maddie barked out a disbelieving laugh and threw her hands up into the air. "One? One? Suddenly it's quite obvious where Danny gets his horrible math skills."
"Mom," Jazz grumbled, offended on her brother's behalf only because he wasn't currently in the room. No, he was missing somewhere in the universe and instead of worrying about finding him, her parents were caught up in their melodrama. Time to get them back on track. "We should -"
Jack interrupted her a second time by saying, "Ha! That's rich coming from you. Just the other day you asked what four plus four was."
Maddie stomped her foot as she spun towards her husband in irritation. "Jack, for the billionth time, I asked you to hand me the 4x4 axel for the Specter Speeder wheel graft. But you were too busy analyzing a cookie in the name of science!"
"I was running experiments on it because I know what you're up to!"
She sighed, deciding to humor him. "What on earth are you talking about?"
His dark blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Don't pretend you don't know."
"I don't know what you're getting at, Jack Fenton."
"You've been putting healthy stuff in those cookies! They've tasted different lately. And trust me, I can tell the difference. You're not sneaky! A fat man can tell!"
Maddie, flabbergasted by the accusation, was at a loss for words. Her mouth opened and closed several times all the while Jack waited eagerly for a denial that never came. Instead, she said, "It was Jazz's idea."
"Mom!" Jazz exclaimed, caught completely off guard.
Her dad's look of betrayal made her want to cry and fear for her livelihood at the same time. It had been her idea, but she hadn't expected her mother to call her out like that. She glanced away and gathered her nerves. "This is not the time to worry about cookies!"
"Correction, Jazzy, there is always time to worry about cookies!" Jack yelled. "How dare you both ruin something so delicious and innocent?"
"Get over yourself, Jack Fenton. It was only two batches," Maddie insisted.
"Two batches of lies! I'm never eating anything you cook again!"
"What are you going to do, starve?"
"I'll make my own meals!"
Maddie shook her head as she fiddled with the control panel on the armband of her suit. She hit a few buttons and then closed it again, smiling wickedly. "Oh, with what food? I'm afraid the refrigerator is locked up and needs a passcode."
Jack gasped in real panic. "You didn't!"
"Oh, you bet I did."
"Good grief," Jazz murmured, knowing they were too far involved in their married couple act to listen to her. But she'd make them listen. She walked away to the far side of the lab while they carried on in the background. She needed something to separate them and get their attention at the same time. And she found exactly what she was looking for sitting right at the edge of the metal table. She hoisted it up on her shoulder, hoped it was fully charged, and took aim at her parents, who didn't even notice.
"Hey!" she shouted, right as she fired.
Technically, she knew the Fenton Foamer was meant to restrain ghosts, but it worked on humans as well. She fired two shots, hitting both her parents and sending them flying towards the wall. The goo that exited from the barrel locked onto their jumpsuits like glue, sticking them on the wall like bugs caught in a web. They weren't in any danger like they had been with Infe's web, but they were temporarily stuck long enough for her to get her two cents in.
"What is wrong with both of you? Danny - your son - chased after a ghost with powers that can really hurt him. We have to find him. You guys need to get a grip!"
Maddie and Jack were both squirming in the goo, trying to get free. Annoyed, Jazz cleared her throat threateningly. "Ahem. I will shoot you again if you don't chill out and listen to me."
"Jazz, this is ridiculous!" Maddie argued.
Jazz was certain that if her father could talk, he'd actually agree with his wife, but Jazz had managed to hit him in the face with the goo so he was currently chewing on that instead, making annoyed grunts as he kicked out his feet.
She opened her mouth to remind them of what seemed ridiculous in the moment but the doorbell rang from upstairs. "You know what? I'm going to get the door. You two take a second to think about what you've done. And when I come back, we'll talk about how we're going to save my brother."
Just for good measure, she fired another round of ectoplasmic goo into both of them and then raced up the stairs. She didn't know who was at the front door but she hoped it wouldn't take long. They'd already wasted enough time and she was too tired to deal with unnecessary drama.
She pulled the front door open with some effort to find Amor standing there, looking worried they might not let him in. "Oh, thank goodness," she said before he could say anything. She grabbed him by the front of his turtleneck and yanked him inside. "Things have gone from bad to worse."
"What's going on?" Amor asked, stumbling into the front room.
"Infe escaped. He attacked my parents and then tore open a portal. I tried to stop him but he got me with his little lightning bolt and then when I woke up, Danny was gone."
"Danny's gone?"
"Yeah. I think he followed Infe into the portal but I don't know where they went. Our SGPL couldn't pick him up anywhere on earth."
"SGPL?" Amor asked, seeming even more confused and worried.
"It's like a GPS system for ghosts," she explained. "But the worst part is, I think Infe bespelled my parents. They won't stop arguing. I mean...they argue about really weird stuff, but I can't get them to focus on the important stuff. Like figuring out where Infe and Danny went. Danny told me that Infe can infect people with rage. Do you think that's what he did?"
"Sounds like it," Amor said, swallowing hard.
"How do we break the spell?"
Amor ran his hands through his curly red hair. "Depends on the person. Sometimes the spell fizzles out on its own. That's the preferred method. But more often than not, the affected couple have a blowout argument. A lot of feelings get hurt."
"The good news is that my parents don't really fight like normal married couples," Jazz admitted.
"I'm worried it may escalate to worse," Amor confessed. He sighed. "I should have taken Infe straight home."
"Home?" Jazz wondered.
"You know, back in my world in the Ghost Zone," he said quickly.
She frowned. "I figured the Fenton Thermos would be enough to contain Infe."
"Maybe when he's in a weaker state. I imagine he wasn't happy about Danny tricking him," Amor said. "Rage makes Infe more powerful."
"Hmm. Well, I have a plan. Though I'll need your help," Jazz told him.
"Whatever you need," the Cupid agreed, looking relieved. Jazz assumed that maybe he felt a little bit of guilt for both upsetting her brother and bringing the mess that was Infe into their lives.
"I think we should divide and conquer," she suggested. "Locating my brother is top priority but if we separate Mom and Dad, maybe Infe's spell will just fizzle out like you said."
"That would probably work," Amor said, seemingly impressed.
"You take Dad. He trusts you more than Mom does. Use the Specter Speeder and go to the Ghost Zone to search for Danny there," she told him. "Take this." She handed him the Fenton Boomerang, which she'd finally found while her parents were arguing. "It'll help you find him, no matter where he is."
"Okay," he said, gently taking it from her.
"I'll stick around here with Mom. We can keep tracking Danny in case he comes back out on our side soon. Or maybe we can find Infe here. Either way, it'll distract Mom." She frowned, wondering how many things could go wrong before her life got back to normal - or what counted for normal.
Amor hesitantly reached out and set his hand on Jazz's shoulder for comfort. "We'll fix this, Jazz. I promise."
She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Confidence. This is just another ghost enemy. Just another fight. "You're right. We will. Follow me."
Jazz led Amor back downstairs into the lab. Her parents were still trapped up against the wall, although her mother was making more progress than her dad was. Bright green goo had made a mess of everything, though she knew she could just use the Fenton Weasel to clean it up later.
"Alright. Listen up. We are going to find Danny and capture Infe again. Dad, you and Amor are going to the Ghost Zone. Mom, you and I are going to patrol the city. I'm going to set you free. If you can't say anything nice, don't say it at all, or I'm going to shoot you again. Deal?"
Neither Jack nor Maddie said anything in agreement, as they were both still dealing with sticky goo, but Jazz took their silence as such and reversed the switch on the Fenton Foamer. The next shot she fired sent out a blast of ecto-void energy, which caused the goo to vanish almost instantly. She took her time in freeing both her parents, eyeballing them the entire time to ensure they behaved.
"Was that really necessary?" Maddie asked, glaring as her daughter gripped the Fenton Foamer warily.
"You guys needed a time out. You still do. You've been infected by one of Infe's spells. It needs to get out of your system. Mom, we're going out."
"Out?" Maddie questioned.
"Yes, out. To look for Danny."
"Come on buddy, you and I are going to scour the Ghost Zone," Amor said, helping Jack to his feet.
"To find Santa Claus?" Jack suddenly asked.
"What?" Maddie, Jazz, and Amor asked in unison after a few seconds of confused silence.
"What? If Cupids are real, so is Santa Claus. Right, Amor?" Jack asked.
Maddie snorted. "Jack, you're dreaming."
Amor laughed. "Let's find Danny first and I'll see what we can do."
He steered Jack towards the Specter Speeder in the corner but Jack giddily yelled, "See! See! He didn't deny it! Santa Claus exists! I knew it all along!"
"You're insane! It's not physically possible!"
"Mom, go start the RV. I'll be right behind you," Jazz urged, shooing her mother up the stairs as fast as she could.
"Be careful, Jazz," Amor called to her. She watched as he charged up the Fenton Boomerang and swung his arm, practicing a couple throws.
"You too. There's Fenton Phones in the glove compartment," she told him. "You can contact me that way with anything."
"Got it." Amor climbed into the Speeder with an excited Jack at the wheel, the orange-jumpsuited man whistling a tune that sounded a lot like "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town."
Jazz had to believe that between the four of them, they'd find her brother. That this was all going to work out fine. But even with that important task laid before her, she couldn't help but hesitate before following her mother upstairs.
"Hey, Amor?"
"Yeah?"
"Santa Claus isn't actually real, right? That's just Dad being his usual goofy self?"
Amor grinned at her. "Oh, Jazz. You're never too old to believe in magic." And with that, he chucked the Boomerang into the Ghost Zone and closed the hatch of the Specter Speeder, leaving Jazz behind in the short burst of wind left by the rockets.
Surely he was just messing with her. She was certain about that.
Maybe she was certain about that. Just maybe.
I want you all to know that it was super fun to just make up a bunch of random, silly things for Jack and Maddie to argue about. Most are based on stuff I've seen from the show but exploiting them makes it all funnier.
I can't wait to hear what you guys think about this one! Chapter fourteen should be here sooner rather than later! Please read and review!
Kat Day