3:19 AM. What was it about 3:19 AM? Bringing Pandora home was supposed to have stopped that, but at least, the dream hadn't come back. He dropped an intangible hand through his bed to touch the box, but Pandora seemed to be otherwise occupied. He could hear the whispers, but she refused to speak. He sighed and rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling for a while. He sighed again and rolled onto his other side. Finally, he gave up, became a ghost, and took off.

The lack of sleep was not making his life any easier, but at least he hadn't had to fight any ghosts in a few days. That was unusual, but he wasn't complaining. His flight path this time took him by the school. He had never really seen it devoid of people before, and he was bored. It was as good an idea as any.

Casper High seemed almost creepy by night. If he had been roaming these halls before he got his ghost powers, he would have turned tail and ran. There were no lights, no sounds-

The sudden discordant noise of an old organ turned him into a liar and sent him investigating the auditorium. The theater club was preparing for their annual musical, so quite a few instruments and props had been set up, but Danny didn't think they would have any reason to be practicing at 3:30 in the morning.

At first glance, the auditorium appeared completely empty, but the continued strange yet familiar music confirmed that the ghost was still around. Disturbingly enough, whatever was in here was not setting off his ghost sense. He became invisible and drifted forward slowly. As he got closer to the organ, his non-detectable prey faded slowly into view.

The specter wore a black top hat and overcoat in the fashion of a gentleman from the eighteen hundreds. A white mask obscured half of his face. Danny clapped his hands over his mouth to stifle his laughter as he realized that his spooky "friend" was trying to mimic the Phantom of the Opera. "Hey, Mozart!" he yelled, fading back into view.

"Weber," the Opera Ghost said simply, without even bothering to stop playing.

"Huh?"

"The song I am playing is called Point of No Return from the Phantom of the Opera, which was written by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Therefore, your pitiable excuse for an insult falls rather short of the mark." Now, he stopped playing and floated into the air to face Danny. "You should learn your composers."

Danny didn't respond right away; there was something a bit off about this ghost. He decided that he didn't care. "Whatever. Time to go back to the Ghost Zone, ghost!"

"And yet, I did not come from there. You should learn with whom you deal, as well, boy. It may salvage your palfrey existence one day."

Danny crossed his arms. "Alright, then. Who are you?"

His opponent doffed his hat and made a grand bow. "I am Electra, master of electricity and all things mechanical!"

No, there were two things off about this…Electra. The first and most obvious was the fact that he was actually a she. Once she tossed her hat aside and removed her coat, it became obvious. The second was her introduction. It sounded painfully familiar. Danny narrowed his eyes and decided that he did not want to know. "Okay, so, now that we've met, time to go to back to the Ghost Zone!" He retrieved the Fenton Thermos from its place slung over his shoulder and activated it; Electra abruptly vanished in a puff of blue smoke. Before Danny even had time to look around, he found himself slammed to the floor.

"It's no wonder you have so many enemies, ghost boy," Electra observed. "You are far too quick to attack a potential ally. Still, I am a gentleman and not given to wonton violence, especially against my inferiors. Cheerio!" With a tip of her absent hat and a second puff of smoke, Electra was gone, along with her discarded attire. Danny searched every inch of the school and most of the grounds, but could find no sign of her again. Disgruntled, he returned home.

"Hey, Danny."

Danny blanched at the beloved voice so close to his ear and whirled around. "Uh, uh, Paulina! Hi! Um…"

She giggled prettily and stepped a little closer; Danny stepped back until he was practically standing inside his locker. It was all he could do to not faze through it. "You're so cute when you're nervous," Paulina breathed. "Want to carry my books for me?"

Danny sent a quiet but heartfelt "thank you" to Pandora as he delightedly accepted. He briefly thought he could smell smoke, but it was gone before he could be sure. He had other things to dwell on anyway. Like the sound of Paulina's voice, or the way her eyes lit up whenever she looked at him. He was very happy with this arrangement.

They sat together at lunch and he listened to her prattle on endlessly about nothing. They sat together in all the classes they had together; when they had to part, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and flirtatious glance. He sighed happily and did not even bother to pay attention Mr. Lancer, who pointedly did not notice.

Anything else, Master? the voice of his personal genie intruded on his thoughts. It crossed his mind that it would be really nice if school were canceled so he could take Paulina to the mall. A considerably easier task. Consider it done.

Suddenly, the fire alarm went off, eliciting groans from the entire class. Mr. Lancer briefly looked worried, but he quickly smoothed his expression. "Alright, class. You know the drill. Calmly and organized. Everyone in single file. Keep it down back there, Mr. Baxter."

"He looked kind of worried," Sam whispered to Tucker, who stood in front of her.

"Someone probably just forgot to send him the memo," he whispered back.

"Mr. Foley. Miss Manson. Quiet. Now."

The entire student body was oddly quiet as they left the building; normally, everyone talked during these drills, and the teachers had never seemed to mind. It was to the staff's credit that no one panicked and everyone survived without injury. The school did not fair as well. Although the alarm inside the school worked fine, the connection to the fire department appeared to have been mysteriously destroyed. The school was an unsalvageable inferno by the time they finally arrived.

A cheer went up among the students. "Party at the Nasty Burger!" Dash yelled. The teachers gave up trying to keep order and just got out of the way.

Danny felt a little scared as he looked at the burning building; people could have been hurt. He resolved to be a little more careful with his wishes in the future. A light touch on his arm drove all other thoughts away. "Hey, Danny," Paulina began. "Want to go to the mall?"

He grinned that goofy grin that he always got when he thought about Paulina and nodded. As they went off together, Sam turned to Tucker. Her expression was one of the utmost disgust. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to home and throw up now."

"Yeah, me, too," he agreed, though for a slightly different reason. "Man, how'd he end with Paulina? Lucky!"

Sam shrugged. "Maybe he decided to tell her. That's the only way I can think of."

"That, or she's been possessed by a ghost again."

"Well, that would be an improvement on her personality," Sam snickered. "Want to come over and watch some bad Japanese monster movies?"

Tucker sighed and shook his head. "Grounded, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, see you." As they parted company, Sam shook her head and sighed. How had Danny ended with that shallow little witch?

Danny's head was in the clouds, both literally and figuratively, the entire way home. He had just come back from the best day of his life: school was canceled until they figured something else out; he and Paulina had gone on a date; and she had kissed him goodnight when he took her home. Life was definitely looking up.

He ducked into the small alley next to his house to become human, then ran inside, up the stairs, and into his room where he dropped happily onto his bed to stare at the ceiling.

Then the day went well despite my little…mishap? Pandora asked after a moment.

Oh yeah.

Danny leaned over to look under his bed. "'Little' mishap?" he repeated skeptically. "You burned down the school! People could have been hurt!"

A thousand apologies, Pandora replied, the poster child for innocence. I didn't realize how out of practice I was. I only meant to set off the alarm, not start an inferno.

Something struck him as suspicious, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Really, it was a ridiculous idea; of course, Pandora was his friend. If she said it was an accident, then that's what it was. In fact, he should open that box right now and let her out.

But he couldn't take the chance.

He smiled and leaned back again. "Don't worry about it. It happens to the best of us sometimes. At least, no one got hurt."

Then do you trust me again? I would like to make it up to you.

She sounded honestly apologetic. "How many wishes do I get anyway?" Danny asked curiously.

As many as you want. I am your prisoner, now, after all.

The boy cringed at that; nothing like being reminded that a friend was trapped in a box to make one feel guilty. "Sorry. I just want to get to know you better before I let you out. I just can't take the chance…" It sounded ridiculous when he said it aloud, but Pandora's mental voice radiated reassurance.

It is of no consequence. I know that you will free me, one day… The inevitable whispers behind her words sounded almost frantic, panicked even. His mother called him down to dinner then, effectively distracting him from wondering why.

The whispers were overpowering. They spoke to him of a murder most foul, perpetrated by the vilest of betrayers. Arms reached up from the ground to drag him down; the more he fought them, the harder they pulled. They whispering filled his mind with warnings until he could no longer hear himself think. It was a frantic plea, but of what, he neither knew nor cared. All he knew was that they were trying to take him somewhere, and he wasn't sure he wanted to go. He gasped as the dirt covered his face and reached out for something, anything to hold onto.

Suddenly, a hand grasped his and he looked up into the eyeless face of his tormentor and rescuer. Do you want me to free you from this? she asked.

Please, just get me out of here! he cried.

The hands dropped away and the whispers changed to a mournful wail that faded into silence. He looked up to see the Amity Park skyline in flames. The woman smiled, and it was full of malice.

Danny scratched and clawed his way back to reality. He didn't even have to look at the clock to know what time it was, but he did anyway out of habit. He wondered why he should even have to sleep; he knew humans slept for a reason, but he couldn't remember what it was. Still, he was half-ghost, so he didn't think it applied. "Pandora?" he said quietly.

I hear, Master. Your wish is my command.

A/N: Oh, sorry, JNgirl. I misunderstood your meaning. I thought you had read it wrong or something.