Author's Note: I own nothing, I'm probably gonna end this one soon and start a second. Hope you guys like it!
35 Aftermath
Dani dragged herself out of her bed early the next morning and grabbed the thermos from the spot she'd dropped it earlier that night. Invisibly she slipped through her ceiling and down into the lab which was blessedly empty. She made to twist the thermos into place to release Ember into the Ghost Zone when a thought occurred to her. She opened the portal, transformed and flew into the Zone. Finding the door she'd flung Klemper through was easier than she thought it would be. She managed to wedge it open and emptied the thermos into the icy wasteland.
"Have fun with your audience of one!" She called out as Ember reformed blinking and confused. She slammed the door closed again, shutting out Ember's angry cry. She flew back through the portal, shutting it behind her and flying back up to her room. She grabbed her clothes and headed off to the shower. She dressed and frowned at her coffee.
"I'll be right back down Jazz, I forgot my pencils upstairs." It was a lame excuse she knew but Jazz didn't seem to care, buried in the studies she'd been neglecting since falling under Ember's spell. Dani raced upstairs, carefully closing her bedroom door and setting down her travel mug. She reached into the wall and pulled out a vial of ectoplasm. It had acted like an energy drink before… She poured a small amount into the travel mug before recapping the vial and slipping it back into the wall. She was fixing the lid back on her cup, heading for her door when she heard her parents talking.
"I'm telling you Jack it's the same ghost we saw at Jazz's school!" Her mother's excited voice echoed down the hall and Dani's heart dropped. Tanya had managed to plant a virus in the stadiums system that corrupted all the footage they had but she hadn't really thought about the live footage that had already gone to air before that. Heart in her mouth Dani crept closer to her door as her parents made their way down the hallway.
"I think you're right! Shame the footage cuts out at the end." Jack lamented and Dani made a note to get Tanya something really nice for everything she did for her. Maybe that new copy of Doom. She shook her head refocusing on her parents conversation.
"This is everything we've been working towards Jack!" Maddie paused, her steps halting outside Dani's door. Dani felt sick. "She looks so young though Jack. I wonder…" She heard her father sigh.
"I know what you mean Mads. For someone so young to have turned into a coherent spirit, she had to have died horribly." They were silent for a moment as Dani laid her forehead against the door to her room. Yeah, getting electrocuted while simultaneously getting all the ectoplasm from the Ghost Zone passed through you was a pretty traumatic death.
"Shit Jack, we need to get the kids in the GAV. They've got that test today." Maddie said and Dani pulled back from the door snagging her bag from by her desk and double checking she had what she needed. She opened the door and pretended to be startled by them standing there. She checked her watch.
"We need to get going or we're gonna be late." She rushed down the stairs before her parents could comment. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk to them right now. They got to school just in time, Dani slipping into the classroom and into her seat for the test without looking at Sam or Tanya. Her feelings were still all mixed up after what Ember had done to her head. She shook her head and tried desperately to focus on the test.
Lunch rolled around before she knew what was happening. She grabbed her tray and headed outside slipping into an empty table without looking for Sam and Tanya. She sighed picking at her food. She was wishing she'd brought a second cup of ecto laced coffee when someone sat down across from her.
"Eating by yourself today?" She looked up at Vincent and shrugged.
"Just got a lot on my mind right now." She said with a slightly forced smile.
"Yeah these stupid tests are killing me. What on earth possessed me to go to a midnight concert last night?" He lamented and Dani couldn't help but laugh.
"Whatever it was possessed most of the teens in town. Pretty sure none of us are doing well today." She pointed out, using her fork to gesture around the outdoor lunch tables at the other teens who seemed to be equally exhausted around them.
Vincent laughed, slightly relieved. He'd found himself at a concert he didn't remember buying tickets for last night and barely made it out and back to his apartment before his father noticed. He hadn't gotten much sleep, trying to figure out what had happened and why the past week or so was a blur. He remembered Dani's birthday and getting into the car with his father, but most of the week after that was a blur of blue fire in his mind. It seemed no one at school had escaped it if the tired expressions on every face were anything to go by. For some reason Dash had a severely bruised jaw he had no memory of getting and Kwan was walking with a limp today. Vince had been worried about Dani. If this had been a ghost attack, and he suspected it had been, he had a feeling that the daughter of ghost hunters might have been targeted. But she didn't seem any worse off than any of them. Though her separating herself from her friends was odd to say the least. He'd seen Sam and Tanya inside looking slightly dejected, but still sitting together. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the wonder trio. But he wasn't going to ask. Instead he reached into his lunch bag.
"Trade you a brownie for your pudding?" He asked and Dani laughed.
"Deal. I don't like the vanilla ones anyway." Vince grinned handing over the brownie and taking her pudding. He pulled the top off with a smile.
"I do, but my dad always puts walnuts in his brownies, never been a fan." He said and Dani's eyes lit up.
"Walnuts? Hell yes!" She tore into the plastic wrap surrounding the brownie and bit into it with a satisfied grin that made Vince laugh, nearly snorting around his spoonful of pudding. Too soon the bell rang and they had to head back inside for another round of testing but Dani was smiling again and that made him feel a little better about the day so he counted it as a win.