Danny had known for a long time he wasn't the only doorway. He wasn't even the only doorway between the Ghost Zone and the material world. There had been Vlad, for one, who had been so much like him that fighting him had been more painful emotionally than physically. Then, there was Ellie, who was modeled after him, and Wulf, who while not as large a door as any of the half ghosts, nor as evenly placed between the two worlds, was still a door.
Then there were Clockwork and Nocturne, who opened in many directions and to places Danny barely understood.
Which is to say, Danny recognized it when Nocturne stepped into his dreams. He didn't feel like doing anything about it, though. He burrowed more deeply into the soft, indistinct shapes around him, almost falling asleep within the dream.
Nocturne loomed over him and made a tutting noise. Danny got the impression that he thought Danny was cute, but in a condescending way. Danny, embarrassed, rolled over.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Nothing at all," said Nocturne. "I was only surprised that you allowed yourself to be caught like this. Then again, you've been straining yourself, haven't you? You've closed two gateways to the Unwound World in as many weeks, and you're so far away from yourself." Nocturne reached through Danny's pile of soft things to brush a hand over his face, closing his eyes. It didn't keep Danny from seeing Nocturne's mask flicker into a patronizing smirk. "You've worn yourself out."
Danny felt himself fall asleep and settle into a new, deeper dream.
"You've earned this rest, you know," said Nocturne, pouring Danny a cup of tea. Danny reached out to take it, hands trembling from the exertion. It was hard to keep it from spilling on his blanket cocoon, which he felt was, according to the dream logic he was currently operating on, very important.
Something about that statement… "Acedia?" he asked, even as the steamy scent of the tea made his eyelids start to droop again.
"Even you aren't so unlucky as to encounter another such thing so quick on the heels of the last," said Nocturne. "Oh, there is something of an invocation of sloth, here, but do you think Acedia would do its own work?"
Danny, too tired to answer, let his head droop forward.
"Drink your tea, dear."
He mumbled unhappily, but complied. Nocturne took the cup from his hands before he dropped it.
He was lying on a bed and not sure how he had gotten there. He would have liked very much to go to sleep, but that second half of the statement had him dragging himself up. His eyes refused to focus on the room around him, but it was dim and unfamiliar. There were no windows. Confused, he stumbled to the outline of a door. Beyond, was an equally dim and blurry hallway.
Where was he?
"Asleep," said Nocturne, the hum of his words tickling Danny's ear.
He flinched away, startled, but his heartbeat quickly slowed into the rhythm of fatigue again. His back hit a wall and he slumped down, to the floor.
"You might not think this now," said Nocturne, "but I am, in fact, doing you a favor."
"How?" demanded Danny, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"By keeping you too deep in dreams for them to reach you," said Nocturne. He patted Danny on the head. "From my look at your memories, you would have preferred this to being controlled by Freakshow, hm?"
"You mean… they're controlling ghosts?"
"It isn't something you need to worry about just yet. Go to sleep again. Enjoy your rest."
"And I suppose you aren't enjoying this at all, and you're just doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"
"Of course I'm enjoying this!" said Nocturne, laughing. "Having you under my power after you humiliated me… It's a dream come true. I'll be looking forward to seeing if you can escape from my dream maze once you're well rested… or if I'll get to keep you this time."
Danny, invigorated by anger, pulled himself back to his feet. "I'm going to wake up," he said.
"Oh," said Nocturne, mockingly, "you can certainly try."
.
With Danny firmly asleep and growing less responsive by the minute, they were forced to split up. The final arrangement was that Jack and Jazz would go downstairs while Maddie stayed with Danny. No one was terribly happy about this, but then, usually people weren't thrilled about living in horror movies.
The stairs creaked under their feet, accentuating the quiet. Everything was still. Even the dust didn't seem to want to move. No… there was no dust...
Jazz swallowed back a yawn. It wasn't the time for that.
Something hissed and bubbled inside the kitchen. Normal kitchen sounds, or a sign of something more sinister?
The ghost detector in Jack's pocket started shrieking. There was a clatter from the kitchen, and Bethany and Eliza rushed into the hall from the other room.
"Sorry, sorry!" said Jack, fumbling with the detector. "A little sensitive, haha!"
"Goodness," said Eliza, pressing a hand to her chest, "I thought that was the smoke detector."
"Is that an EMF detector?" asked Bethany.
"No, no! This is the Fenton Finder, a much more reliable ghost detector," said Jack. Someone who didn't know him well wouldn't have been able to tell, but he was slightly offended by the comparison.
Jazz made a face. It was good to know Bethany and Eliza were alright - assuming they weren't the cause of Danny's behavior - but this really wasn't the time for a sales pitch, and besides-
"Who's in the kitchen?" she asked.
"No one," said Bethany, quickly.
"There might be a ghost!" said Jack.
Bethany and Eliza exchanged a long look. "There's actually something we wanted to talk to you and Maddie about," said Eliza. "Regarding ghosts."
"Mom and Danny are sleeping," said Jazz, "but maybe you can start with us?"
"I didn't realize you were also interested in the paranormal," said Eliza.
"She's a Fenton!" said Jack, thumping Jazz on the shoulder. "Of course she's interested."
Bethany sighed. "Well, it's no good to try to have the conversation standing up. My feet are already starting to hurt."
.
"You found a way to control ghosts," repeated Jack, dumbfounded.
"Mhm," said Bethany.
"It's how we can run this place without hiring extra help," said Eliza.
"How?" asked Jazz, leaning forward.
"Remember those rituals we were looking into in college?" asked Eliza. "Well, we kept an eye out for some of the more esoteric components-"
"And one fell right into our laps! It's really remarkable, Jack. You just have to tell the ghosts what to do, and they do it!" Bethany waved her hands with excitement. "It's made life much easier for us, let me tell you."
"I'm… not sure how ethical that is," said Jack, slowly.
"Ethical? Come on, Jack, you and Maddie were always telling us ghosts were pure evil."
"We've had to reassess, lately," said Jack. "You have heard what's going on in Amity Park, right? With Phantom?"
"We don't keep up with the news," said Eliza.
"There are good ghosts," said Jack. "I don't think enslaving them is a good thing to do."
"They seem perfectly happy," said Bethany. "Don't worry about it. We only kept the ones haunting this house in the first place, anyway. Think of it like rent if it really bothers you."
"I'm serious, guys," said Jack. "This could be really dangerous for you."
Eliza frowned. "You're just jealous that we figured it out before you."
Jack put his hands together. "Can you at least tell us how it works?"
Bethany laughed a little. "It's magic, Jack. Are you really asking us to explain magic?"
"Magic is just science that we don't understand yet," said Jack, staunchly.
The Bordens burst out laughing.
Jazz closed her eyes. A ritual. But ghosts wouldn't be held by just a ritual, not long term. Danny certainly wouldn't be affected. There had to be a focus, an anchor.
"You say the funniest things, Jack."
"Can you at least tell me how things would usually progress?" asked Jack. "How the ghosts would respond after you did the ritual."
"Usually? We only had to do it once?" said Bethany.
"You mean you didn't test?" asked Jack, scandalized. "Didn't try to repeat your results?"
"Why would we?" asked Eliza, snappishly. "It worked the first time."
Jack made a sort of strangled noise.
"I'm sorry," said Jazz. "I need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."
She reached the stairs, but did not go up to the rooms. If there was a weird ghost ritual in here somewhere, it wouldn't be out in the open. Her best bet was either the basement or the bedrooms. Which one should she-
A knick knack on a shelf tumbled off and rolled down the stairs.
"Are you okay, Jazzypants?"
"Fine! Just knocked something down!"
"Be a dear and pick it up, will you?" asked one of the sisters.
So. She went down the stairs.
The basement door wasn't even locked.
Immediately, Jazz knew she had guessed right. There was a circle of candle stubs on the floor, surrounding a chunk of rough, red crystal and strewn flower petals. Jazz had never seen Freakshow's staff before, but based on Danny's description, this wasn't dissimilar.
She picked it up and raised it over her head. Well. Here went nothing.
.
Every mirror in the house shattered at once.
.
Danny flinched as the memory of something red drifted by him, bouncing between the mirrors of Nocturne's maze. He'd fallen asleep twice more since Nocturne had issued his challenge, but he was becoming more aware with every passing minute.
"Oh, that was rather fast," said Nocturne. "I hope they can handle what comes next."
"What are you talking about?" snarled Danny.
"Nothing that concerns you here in dreamland," said Nocturne.
Danny bared his teeth and reached into himself, far past his tolerance for Nocturne' nonsense, intending to snap himself open and tap into the power he held as a door.
He was too tired to manage it.
.
"Huh," said Tucker, looking at his PDA.
"What?" asked Sam.
"The energy readings from the portal have been weirdly low today."
"Tell Danny he needs more sleep," said Sam, taking a sip of her smoothie.
"You don't really think that's why, do you?"
"I really think that's why."
.
When Jazz made her way back into the sitting room, Jack was alone, hands clasped over his mouth.
"What happened?" she asked.
"The ghosts," said Jack. "Took them. Into the mirrors."
"Ah," said Jazz, looking at all the glass on the floor. "Okay. Um." She wasn't sure what to do with that, so it was time to compartmentalize.
"What happened?" called Maddie from the second story.
"It's complicated! Did Danny wake up yet?"
"No!"
"Well," said Jazz. "Darn. I really thought that would work."
"Thought what would work?" asked Jack.
"Breaking the ritual."
"Thereby unleashing an unknown number of potentially vengeful ghosts on all the occupants of this building?"
Sometimes, Jazz forgot her dad had this side, too. "When you say it like that, it sounds like a really bad idea."
The lights went out.