Chapter 5: Feel the Outside Turning In

Pale blue flesh covered his hands, and neatly trimmed fingernails were replaced with sharp claws.

...

Dan jolted awake as the car came to a stop.

Vlad turned off the engine, cutting off the obnoxious 80's pop playing over the radio. "Did you doze off?" he asked, a small smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. "You slept most of the flight home, as well."

Dan wiped the side of his mouth, checking for drool. "I didn't get much sleep over Christmas," he answered honestly.

Vlad's expression became slightly strained. "Ah, I understand." He opened the car door. "I'm sure you're glad to be home." He got out of the car before Dan could answer—not that he really had a profound response in the first place.

Dan got out and went to the trunk to retrieve his duffel bag. He slung the strap over his shoulder and met his father inside.

"Hola, mi hijo," Renata, their maid, said as Dan passed her on the stars. He grunted a reply.

He got to his room and threw his duffel bag down at the foot of his bed, startling a sleeping Mattie on his computer desk. She stood and stretched, then hopped down to greet him.

Mattie, or Matilda, was a huge white Maine Coon. He had gotten her for his eighth birthday and promptly named her after the main character in his favorite movie as a kid. Actually, come to think of it, it was still his favorite movie, even though he would never admit it to anyone.

She brushed against his legs, shedding white hair all over his black pants. Her purring was clearly audible even from the floor.

He bent to pick her up. "Yeah, I missed you too," he cooed

He set her down on his bed and then sat on edge next to her. He haphazardly kicked his boots off, sending one halfway across the room, then laid down across his bed. Mattie immediately hoped on his chest. Dan endured the few seconds of discomfort until she curled up and laid down.

He sighed and raised his hand to his forehead where a small headache was forming. He paused in the action and examined the appendage. Unsurprisingly, it was normal—now.

But he remembered them being a pale, corpse blue.

After the accident, The first thing he saw after his vision had cleared, were the blue clawed hands holding him up. They were his hands, but not.

He had lied to Danielle, told her that he had been out for a few minutes like she and Danny. He wished. He wished he hadn't seen the monster that had come out of the portal.

Dan screwed his eyes shut as he felt heat build up at the back of his sockets. He knew if he looked in the mirror at that moment he'd see red irises instead of his natural blue. He cursed and rubbed furiously at his eyes. It didn't really help, but the heat did eventually fade.

He was reminded again of the hot bundle in his chest. He knew instinctively if he focused on it too closely he would change back into that thing. He also knew he'd have to face it eventually, and he couldn't deny that part of him was curious—no, not just curious. Part of him craved to—

Mattie lifted her head and licked his chin, interrupting his train of thought. He petted her, and she began purring again. As the thoughts of the accident and the repercussions thereafter slipped away, a tiredness reentered his limbs. A yawn forced itself out of his mouth.

Screw it. He'd deal with it later because he knew it wasn't going anywhere, and he was tired.

Dan hoisted Mattie off his chest and laid down on his bed correctly. He stretched to reach the stereo by his bed, turning it on to whatever CD he had in it earlier. "Buried Dreams" by Carcass began playing loudly through the speakers. He tried to turn it down but accidentally turned the knob the wrong way. He tried again and managed to lower the volume to something that wouldn't bring Renata or his dad up to his room to angrily demand he turn the stereo down.

He moved to get comfortable, and Mattie did the same, curling up next to his stomach.

...

Dan was, once again, jolted awake, this time by kneading claws in his chest.

Mattie almost instantly jumped off him as soon as she sensed he was awake.

He looked at her with an unamused look. "Really? Is this for me waking you earlier?" he asked. She simply stared at him and purred. He shook his heads. "Whatever."

He sat up and rubbed his face. The small head ache from earlier had gotten worse, which he was pretty sure was due to not having a smoke in a few days. He wouldn't dare smoke around his mother's house, so this was about day three of going without a cigarette.

His mouth was also severely dry. Well, he was going down for a smoke, he could definitely make a trip to the kitchen.

He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

He made his hand intangible and phased it through the wall behind his bed. He carefully felt around for the pack of cigarettes he had stashed there, caught the carton and pulled it out. Dan flipped open and closed the lid idly, his mid becoming distracted.

It was so easy now to use his powers. At fifteen they had come to light. They were difficult and hard to use then, but now after the portal...they were right there in the back of his mind waiting for him.

He closed his eyes and sighed. The portal complicated so many things. He was afraid of what it did to the twins, and he couldn't begin to know how to explain everything. How could he explain to them that he had been going through this for years?

He had never told his father or for that matter his mother because he didn't want to change in their eyes. Even if they did accept him weirdness and all, he knew they would never think of him the same way. And it might just amplify how much of a mistake he was. He was born only a few years after his father's lab accident, after his parents had rushed into a hasty marriage, and his father was no doubt still suffering some side affects from said accident. Everything was just so chaotically put together, and he felt as if he should never have been born.

Now...god, what the hell was he supposed to do now?

Dan came out of his thoughts and realized that he was almost crushing the pack of cigarettes and eased up. He sighed and shoved the pack in his pant's pocket then stood from his bed and made his way out of the room, grabbing his jacket just before he left. Only a little more than half awake and with Mattie right behind him, Dan climbed down stairs to the kitchen.

Halfway through filling up a glass from the tap, Dan noticed a note on the granite countertop. It was addressed to him from his father and said that an emergency came up in his office in Madison and that he'd be home around eight o'clock.

Dan crumpled up the note. "Figures, you just couldn't wait to go right back to work."

He threw the wad of paper in the trash and walked out of the kitchen.

...

Dan stood outside, unaffected by the cold and took another drag from his cigarette. He was watching the sun go down and the stars come out. His mind drifting to dark places as the light faded from the sky.

He was suddenly and rudely yanked out of his brooding when the front door opened and nearly hit him in the ass.

Renata stepped out, trying to hide an amused smirk. "Oh, excuse me, mi hijo, I didn't mean to scare you," she said, her voice having the barest hint of an accent.

Dan snorted. "You didn't scare me," he muttered.

"Then in that case," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "I did mean to scare you. What are you doing out on the front porch. Are you trying to get caught?"

"Like he doesn't already know," he muttered under his breath. "Dad said he wouldn't be home until eight. I don't see a problem."

She gave him a stern look, but when she saw he was clearly unaffected, she shook her head in defeat. "Anyway, I made diner. Your plate is in the refrigerator."

"Thank you," he replied.

"And did I ever tell you about my cousin who died from lung cancer?"

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Oh, however could I forget about your poor cousin Martín?" he said in a painfully dry voice.

"When am I going to get it through your thick head?" she asked shaking her head sadly.

"Probably never." He took another drag.

He looked back to Renata when she was quiet for too long and saw that she was scrutinizing him with a frown.

"What?" he asked a little too sharply.

The maid shook her head. "Something about you has changed," she stated.

There was absolutely no way she could know what had happened to him, nonetheless, Dan's heart began to beat in time to the Minute Waltz.

"What an interesting thing to suddenly say," he said with faked calm as he took another drag from his cigarette. "What makes you say that?"

Renata shook her head. "You're becoming more like your father, I think."

Dan almost let out a sigh of relief. "You can stop trying to scare me now. You won. Becoming my father is one of my worst nightmares."

"Then you should be terrified. You're becoming more like him every day," she said with a teasing smile.

He gave her an unamused look. "Good night, Renata," he said dryly.

She held up a finger. "One more thing."

"What is it?" Dan asked boredly.

He started to put the cigarette back to his lips only for it to be snatched away. Renata dropped the cigarette, put it out with the heel of her shoe, and then swept it off the porch with her foot. Dan's surprised expression quickly morphed into one of exasperated acceptance. He should have known from past experience that he needed to at least stay three feet away to avoid such an occurrence.

"I still have like half a pack left," he said bluntly.

"But at least it's one less for you," the Latino woman said as she started down the stone steps. When she reached her old Nova she said, "I will break you of that habit eventually."

"I'm almost certain you won't, but I admire your perseverance," Dan replied. "And say hello to Karen for me."

As soon as the taillights of her car were hidden behind the dense trees lining the long winding driveway, Dan pulled out another cigarette.

When the cigarette was finally smoked down to its butt, all that remained of the sun's light was a turquoise glow on the horizon.

Dan sighed, his breath fogging in the ten degree air. He put out the cigarette on the underside of the marble banister.

Dan went inside, but before he could even close the door, the hot bundle in his chest exploded. Dan let out a curse and quickly closed the front door. He had a feeling that whatever was inside him had decided that he kept putting off...whatever this was for too long.

But instead of spreading out over his body like he thought it would, a stream of heat slithered up his throat, and red mist pored from his nose and mouth.

The fuck...

Finally, he let the heat wash over him, hoping that he could get some sort of answer from—his other half? His ghost?

A pale red ring of light formed around his waist and split, one going up the other going down. When the stars faded from his vision, he moved to look in the mirror mounted in the hall. It was the first time he had gotten a good look at himself. When he came out of the portal, all he had was a piece of polished metal lying around him mom's lab.

He knew he had blue skin and red eyes and the color of his clothes and hair had inverted, but he hadn't been able to see that his ears had become pointed and—were his canines sharper? Oh for the love of...

A voice suddenly said to Dan's right, "Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit!"

Dan whipped around to see a rather short green man who was faintly see-through and was floating about two feet off the ground. The man—or ghost was also wearing a wedge of cheese on his head and a robe a king might wear if said king was in kids cartoon. Dan knew instinctively that this had to be the late Dairy King and the former owner of the mansion, not only because he had seen that stupid portrait of the former house owner his father had hanging in the lobby every time he came down stairs, but he was almost certain he had seen the ghost before.

Dan's eyes widened. "I was right! I really did see you in the kitchen that one time! And Dad tried to convince me it was just my imagination." His voice came out strange, staticky like a bad radio connection, with his normal voice overlaying. He ignored it for the moment, keeping his attention firmly on the Dairy King.

"Oh boy, did I get in trouble that day," the ghost said fidgeting.

Dan raised an eyebrow. "What's that suppose to mean? Is there some ghostly bureaucracy like in 'Beetlejuice'?" Also, was he really having a casual conversation with a ghost? Yeah, apparently so. He really should be more freaked out about this than he was.

"Oh dear, I've said too much haven't I?" the Dairy King said covering his mouth with his hand. "I better skedaddle before something else slips. I didn't even mean to shown my face! I was just so shocked to see that you finally got your... Anyway, goodbye!" The ghost then left, floating directly up into the ceiling.

"Hey, wait a second!" Dan yelled before flying after him. He hadn't truly realized what he had done until he was floating about two inches above the carpet of the second floor of the house. He was momentarily distracted with his own amazement until he realized what he was doing.

He flew in the direction he thought the ghost had gone. "You can't just say something like that then leave without telling me anything!" he shouted at the empty air.

"Oh, yes I can!" the Dairy King said as he popped his head through one of the paintings decorating the walls.

Dan jumped and ended up on the other side of the fairly wide corridor. He recovered around the same time that the Dairy King retreated back into the wall, and he quickly gave chase after the ghost. He ended up flying through several rooms and all three levels of the house—even startling Mattie who had gone back to Dan's room—until he finally caught the former Dairy King. And he only smacked into a few walls in the process. That should be considered quite an achievement for a beginner.

"Look, I can't tell you anything!" the ghost said when Dan caught him by the front of his robe. "It's not for me to tell! Goodbye, now!" The ghost phased out of Dan's grasp and shot up through the ceiling again.

Dan flew after the Dairy King again, flying up until he found himself floating above the roof of the house alone. Dan let out a frustrated growl when he realized he had lost the ghost. He had a somewhat tenuous grasp on his powers and new found abilities, but he knew enough at this point to tell that he couldn't even sense the Dairy King anymore. It was like he had just dropped out of existence.

He was about to call it quits and float back down until he took another glance at his surroundings. The trees were outlined with silver light cast upon them by a full moon, and his current position made the surrounding woods around the mansion look like a turbulent silver sea. He looked eastward, and noticed he could even see the lights of the nearest town in the distance.

A large part of him wanted to test out his new found powers, maybe even fly to next town over, but he knew he needed to figure out how he could change back before his dad got home. He sunk back into the house and found his way back to his room. After a moment of concentration and an near panic attack when he couldn't figure it out at first, he finally changed back into normal human form.

He turned to Mattie who was watching him with wide eyes from his bed. "What're you looking at? Do you think I'm a freak too?" he said dryly.

At that Mattie stood with a meow and padded over to him. He pet her head with a smile. "No, of course you wouldn't. You're just a cat. Societal construct means nothing to you."

Dan sat down on the edge of his bed and allowed the white fluff ball to climb onto his lap. Of course it was only then that he realized that he had left his glass of water on the counter in the kitchen. He debated internally with himself if he should disturb Mattie and go get the glass or if he should just leave it. His father had a weird obsession about things needing to be in the order he likes and always got all up in arms whenever Dan left anything out. Not wanting to have to hear any of his bullshit later, Dan sighed and lifted Mattie off of him.

"Sorry Mattie, I gotta get up," he said when she mowed in complaint.

Dan walked all the way to the kitchen again without complication. It was only when he was about to take a drink from his almost abandoned glass of water did Vlad speak up. "Hello, son."

Dan nearly dropped his glass of water he was so startled. He hadn't even seen Vlad in the living room when he passed the open archway. Dan turned to see his father now standing in the threshold of kitchen.

"Father, I didn't know you were home yet," Dan said, with faked calm.

"I could tell," Vlad said, ill concealed amusement making the corner of his mouth twitch. "Anyway, I'd like to ask you something."

"What?" Dan asked, barely able to keep the annoyance out of his voice. He could already tell that whatever his dad wanted he wouldn't like.

"I've been putting off visiting my office in LA for over a month now, and seeing as you're on winter break I'd like for you to come with me. We'll be leaving day after tomorrow."

"What? No, no I can't!" Dan blurted before he even fully realized what he was saying.

Vlad lifted an eyebrow. "Why not? I thought you liked Los Angeles."

That was a good question. Why exactly couldn't he go? Well, for one, he didn't want to be in close quarters with his father right now. He had just gotten some kind of a power boost that he wasn't entirely comfortable with yet and he wasn't sure his powers wouldn't act up around Vlad. But of course he couldn't tell his father any of this, and at the moment he couldn't think of a good excuse to get him out of the trip to California.

"I just...don't feel like it right now," Dan said lamely.

"And why is that?" Vlad asked with a probing look.

Dan shrugged, feigning calmness. "We've already been gone for almost a week. I'd like to rest a little before I have to get up and go again."

"You can rest in LA. Besides wouldn't it be nice to get away from this cold weather for a while?" Vlad said with a light tone, but he stared Dan down with glacial eyes that left no room for argument.

Dan glared and stormed out of the kitchen, taking no care to not bump into Vlad as he brushed by him out of the doorway.

...

Vlad watched his son's retreating form with an emotionless expression, but once he was out of view, Vlad heaved a sigh an let his shoulders slump. He went back into the living room and grabbed a decanter filled with amber liquid off the bar, pouring himself a glass full. He downed it in only a few gulps.

As he leaned against the bar, contemplating his situation, the ghost of the Dairy King appeared. Vlad instantly straightened, playing as if his momentary lapse in anything but pure stoicism had never happened.

"What do you want?" he asked a little too harshly.

The ghost fidgeted slightly then asked, "I'm just a bit confused myself. Why are you leaving so soon? Going to your office across the country isn't that urgent, is it?"

"Eavesdropping were you?" Vlad asked raising an eyebrow.

"Ah, well, I didn't mean to pry. I just overheard from the other room," the ghost said with a sheepish shrug.

Vlad hummed and gave a small nod, taking the Dairy King's statement at face value. The ghost had at least not been in the kitchen or Vlad would have sensed him.

"To answer your question, I need to keep an eye on him; see if he slips up and reveals something. I have a sneaking suspicion that he, Danny or Danielle tampered with the Fenton's ghost portal to make it work."

Danielle was the only one he even remotely saw experiencing symptoms of overexposure to ectoplasm, which was very unlucky on her part, and frustrating on Vlad's. He hardly ever got to see the Fenton children, making it hard to reach her and tell her what was happening to her, and harder still to even determine if she had truly transformed. There was also the looming threat of Jack and Maddie Fenton, though Jack was the much bigger threat in his mind than Maddie.

But perhaps all three children had been exposed. Vlad stifled a sigh at the thought. That would make things incredibly difficult, but he supposed it was a possibility. Everyone could have a different reaction to ectoplasm and thus not show the clear cut signs he had.

"Er...Vlad? You still there buddy?" The Dairy King said.

Vlad snapped out of his reverie and looked back at the ghost. "I apologize. I was just thinking. Anyway, have you noticed anything off with Dan?"

...

Vlad looked at the Dairy King with cold probing eyes, a trait he and his son shared (although Dan didn't use such a look as often). The ghost was careful not to fidget in front of Vlad.

"Maybe a little. But he always acts a little funny after Christmas. This just isn't the time of year for him," the Dairy King said, using a half truth.

The Dairy King had kept the boy's secret for almost four years and he wasn't about to give it up now. It wasn't his secret to tell, just as it wasn't for him to tell the boy his father's.

Vlad sighed again. "Well, I suppose it can't be easy."

The ghost didn't quite understand Vlad's meaning. It wasn't easy for Dan? Or it wasn't easy to solve the mystery he now found himself with? The Dairy King didn't bother to ask.