"In the hearing of Fenton v. Paranormalics this morning, the judge ruled in favour of his previous verdict; the abandoned Kane Manor belongs to Mr. Fenton, and what goes on there is his to say. Limited ghost-hunting licence was given to Paranormalics but not to the point of destroying the ghosts. Sarah Frost, the head of Paranormalics has proven gracious in defeat. Due to the damage done to parts of the mayor's home last night, Frost has agreed to host the town's annual Halloween Costume Ball at her own residence just outside the south end of town. Mr. Fenton has received an invitation and responded in the resoundingly positive. And now, the weather," Danny turned off the tape and turned to the video screen.
"Wow," Tucker smiled, "Looks like she's not that bad after all!"
"I'm sure she's up to something," Danny looked suspiciously at the T.V. since Frost wasn't there.
"You guys are actually going?"
"Yeah. My dad thinks that there'll be ghosts. He spent all night fixing the Fenton Van. My mom, Jazz and Sam took it down into town to help with the clean-up and to get their costumes. My dad's gonna go as..." Jack jumped downstairs in full ghost-hunting gear. He had the Ghost Gloves, Ghost-Tracking Goggles (only work when a ghost is invisible), a mini Fenton Weasel built into the gloves, a metal backpack, and his fishing vest.
"Well," Jack asked proudly, "You think the ghosts will buy this as a costume?"
"I'm positive, Dad," Danny said to humour him, "I'm positive."
"And what do you think, Tucker?"
"Great, Mr. Fenton," Tucker definitely did not want to be involved in this conversation.
"Now if I could only find the Fenton Fisher," Jack ran back upstairs, oblivious to the fact that the Fenton Fisher was right by Danny's computer. Danny shrugged and remembered too late that his shoulder still hurt.
"You OK?" Tucker asked.
"Fine," Danny said, "That ghost girl's pretty tough. I'll take the Fenton Fisher with me to the party just in case."
"Who are you going as?" Danny got a sly grin.
"You'll never guess."
---
Sam sat in the Fenton Van, using one of the computers to try and find out what was happening to her. After Volpe had attacked her, she had looked through the same files Danny had; ghost attacks. Nothing matched. Now she was looking under "Possessions and Transformations." She found something.
"Some ghosts have the power to fly into human beings and leave a 'seed' of themselves inside, causing the human to become a sort of hybrid between ghost and man. The side effects, however, make the ability not worth the risk. The human will at first be unable to know what is happening to them, and by the time they find out it is too late. In ghost form the human is emotionally unstable, seeking only to destroy the ghost that planted the seed inside them. The seed takes root alarmingly fast, soon taking over the body permanently. Some ghosts with this power lack the ability to control it, making it a truly deadly ability."
"Sam?" Jazz stuck her head in the van, "What are you doing? You have to pick a costume!"
"Huh? Oh, I already have one, so don't worry about me," she laughed weakly before looking back at the file, more nervous than ever. She seemed to get possessed only when Volpe was near, but the file didn't say anything concerning that. Nor did it say exactly how fast the "alarming rate" of the seed was. She'd have to worry about that later. If Volpe was anywhere near the party tonight...
---
Frost's home was a wonderful mansion, a remarkable surprise considering her personality. The decorations were an interesting mix of Halloween and Christmas, with Jack o' Lanterns serving as candles and mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. A chandelier with lights shaped like icicles hung from high above the living room, which had been cleared for the purpose of being a dance floor. Everyone was in costume, and all the costumes were loved. That changed at the arrival of one person.
"Look at that!" "Huh?" "How rude!" comments like that floated around as everyone turned to Danny, who was dressed dramatically as...Danny Fenton. He was wearing his dance clothes from "Parental Bonding," but many people had combined formal attire with their costumes. Danny ignored all the murmuring and looks he was getting. If everyone saw him (unknowlingly) as a ghost, then this was the costume they'd get.
"Excellent plan, son!" his dad ran up to him, "With the ghosts too busy staring at your lack of costume, they'll never notice your mother and I!"
"Yeah..." Danny humoured him, "Sure Dad. Good luck."
"Thank you, son," he ran off. After he left, ectoplasmic smoke came from Danny's mouth. He checked to make sure the Fenton Fisher was tucked into his inside jacket pocket before calling Sam via the walkie-talkies they agreed to carry when Sam left that morning.
"Sam?" Danny said into it, "Any sign of anything?"
"Not yet. You?"
"There's a ghost somewhere in here. Just don't know where," there was a pause, "Sam?"
"Nothing. Think it might be a good idea to lay low for a few minutes? I think there's a dance coming up."
"Sure, I'd love to. Where are you?"
"Upstairs. Be down in a minute," Danny turned it off.
"Ingenious costume," someone whispered into his ear. Danny just barely turned around fast enough to see a cloaked Frost walking away.
"Thanks," he replied sarcastically to no one. The next dance began, going to the song "Face to Face" from the movie Batman Returns. As the first bit of introductory music began, Danny saw Sam coming down the stairs, dressed dramatically as...Sam Manson. She was wearing her dress from "Parental Bonding," but not a costume. She was getting the same looks and comments that Danny had got and ignored them just the same. Danny didn't know her reason for not having a mask; probably her being unique again. They made their way over to each other, Danny not noticing Sam's slight limp. Their dance began as the first lyrics of the song began to fill the ears of those on the dance floor. Sam accidentally hit Danny's wound on his shoulder, causing him to grimace.
"Whoops! Sorry," she said quickly.
"No problem," Danny said, "Where's Jazz and my mom?"
"Your mom's upstairs in a ghost-catching suit looking for ghosts and your sister's dressed as a psychiatrist trying to convince everyone that your parents are just in costume."
"That's a surprise," Danny said sarcastically, "Don't think she'd be too happy if she knew I didn't have a costume."
---
Upstairs, Jazz was drinking punch when someone walked up behind her.
"Excuse me..." he started to say...
"For the last time, I am not related to the girl without a costume!" Jazz yelled and then realised it wasn't they same person who had asked her that seven times.
"I just wanted to ask you to...wait. Do you also know that other kid without a costume?"
"What other kid?" Jazz looked downstairs and saw Danny and Sam dancing...and Danny without a costume.
"I'm gonna kill him for that," Jazz murmured.
---
"So what's the town like?" Danny asked Sam while they danced, "They still terrified of ghosts?"
"Not as much as if Frost had gotten away with last night," ectoplasmic smoke came from Danny's mouth again.
"Speaking of ghosts..." he turned his head to look around, "That's the second time my ghost powers have done that. There's a ghost somewhere around here, I just don't know..." Danny stopped talking. Ectoplasmic smoke had appeared again, but not from his mouth. It had passed by his face. He turned around to see the smoke just leaving Sam's mouth.
"S...Sam?" Danny could barely speak. He just stared at his best friend, never so confused in his life as he was right now. Sam looked like she was going to burst into tears over his finding out.
"The night Volpe attacked," she managed to sob out, "he accidentally...planted..." it was getting harder for her to talk, "a seed inside me..."
"A seed?" Danny was even more confused. They had moved closer together as the dance went on.
"It lives inside someone, and it only seeks to kill the ghost it came from," she was whispering right into his ear, "and if we can't get rid of it..."
"It'll take over you?" she nodded. They moved away from each other a little, still dancing and both confused and terrified. Danny wiped the tears from Sam's face. He looked down at her foot; the one he hurt. She moved her hand over where she had hit him in the ribs, accidentally causing him to grimace again.
"I'm sorry," she started crying again. They got closer.
"Me too," Danny whispered, "Let's go outside," as the haunting song ended, both made their way off the dance floor.
"GHOSTS!" they heard Jack yell, "GHOSTS! GHOOOOOOOSTS!" he ran downstairs, readying the Ghost Gloves and the Fenton Weasel.
"Volpe," Danny and Sam said together. Sam's headaches returned, worse than ever.
"I think you'd better go outside," Danny said to her, "Your going ghost isn't gonna slow down that seed."
"Right. Get him for me," she covered him as he went ghost and left the building. Going invisible (and avoiding his parents), Danny flew upstairs. Sure enough, Volpe was there, ready. Their fight was brief. Volpe kept pushing their fight down, going through the floor of the house and down to the network of tunnels Danny had discovered before. Once they were down to the level Danny was the other day, Volpe became vapour and disappeared. Danny was surrounded by armed Paranormalics agents. He got ready to fight, but shots from above and below (apparently there was another level) showed there was no escape.
"Move and you're dead," the major smirked. Having no choice, Danny raised his hands in surrender.