Danny laid on his back, staring up at the sky, with a text book propped against his knees, a notebook open on his stomach, and cell phone to his ear. "It rains constantly," he informed his two listeners on the other end. "You'd like it, Sam. It's really gloomy."
"So it's not any fun?" Tucker asked half-heartedly.
"Well, it's alright. I mean, it's worth it just for the view, but it's too cold for anyone to be enjoying the beach."
"You are so lucky you missed out on today," Sam broke in. There was the sound of muffled laughter, then, "Dash almost blew up the school, and we had to stay and clean it up so that he wouldn't be late for gym."
"I don't know, guys," Danny replied skeptically. "I think I'd still rather be there than here putting up with Mom and Dad's ghost hunting."
Tucker made a sympathetic noise. "That bad, huh?"
"I swear, if Dad charges into my room one more time yelling 'Ghost!' I'm going to go ghost! Then I'm going to scream!"
He could hear Sam's grin as she asked, "A normal scream, or a Ghostly Wail?"
He snorted. "Pick one." A noise caught his attention, and he tilted his head back to see a Boeing 747 coming straight at him; he shook his head and went intangible until it passed through him.
"What the heck was that noise?" Tucker demanded in a startled tone.
"The inside of a trans-Atlantic flight heading back to Sea-Tac airport."
There was the mumbling of a message being passed on, then the sounds of laughter in the background joined with Sam and Tucker's. After a few seconds, Sam said, "Kat wants to know how high you are."
Danny rolled slightly to see the ground without disrupting his homework. "I can't tell. The clouds are in the way." More laughter greeted this only slightly serious statement. He grinned. "What? If I hover below them, I'll get wet. Hey, can you put Kat on?"
"Just a sec," Sam laughed. There was some muffled discussion punctuated by Tucker trying, and failing, to stop laughing. Apparently, whatever was being discussed in Sam's house was the height of hilarity as the girl was in the same situation.
"She says she's not talking to you," Tucker relayed around snickering.
"What?"
"She says you just want to ask about homework."
Danny gave a muttered "Darn it" and responded, "Tell her I just want to ask about…about…her mom."
His bright idea had the intended effect. Mere moments later, Kat's excited voice exclaimed, "Oh, did you find her?"
"Did you know there's about twenty Cadwells in Federal Way?"
A paused, then, "Try looking under Keith. Keith J. if I'm not utterly mistaken."
Danny made a note of that at the top of his page as he started to ask, "So what's the formula for-"
"Goodbye, Danny," Kat cut him off, foregoing her usual parting in favor of a sarcastic lilt.
"Yeah, we'd better go, too," Sam told him regretfully.
"Say 'Hey' to the family for us," Tucker added.
Danny promised to do so, then shoved his books into the backpack he'd brought to keep them dry. He looked around the featureless sky one last time, loath to give up the peace, and dropped below the clouds. The rain had picked up since he left, making him fall in love with the power of intangibility all over again. Without it, he would have been drenched in seconds.
He made his slow, leisurely way down to the boring ground and, after finding a relatively dry and hidden place to change back, ducked through the door of Vlad's new house and stopped. He looked around furtively and wondered if something had happened. For the past two days, every time he walked into the house he was ambushed by his father. In light of the ghost hunting equipment tracking Danny without fail, Maddie had come around to Jack's idea that he was being followed by a ghost. So far, they weren't suspicious that he was one, but that could change at any moment.
Although part of him hesitated to press the issue, the rest of him was getting very concerned. This was, after all, one of the homes of his worst enemy. "Anybody here?" he yelled. Immediately, something heavy and burning dropped over him. He clamped his mouth shut as his parents jumped out of nowhere and hoped they would mistake his pain for anger.
"Did we get it?" Jack asked eagerly.
Her expression one of the utmost frustration, Maddie replied, "No, dear. It's just Danny. The ghost must have gotten away." Her husband contrived to look like a disappointed puppy as she pulled the net off of Danny.
"Right," Danny said. "I'm going to go my room now."
As he ran up the stairs in a record-breaking sprint, he heard Jazz say, "See? My parents are insane."
He could only assume it was her new boyfriend Roy who replied because he had just slammed his door shut and collapsed against it. His arms were starting to turn red where the net had touched him, and by the way it felt, his face was doing the same. "Great," he muttered, sliding down to the floor. "Thank you, Mom and Dad, for inventing a net that burns ghosts."
And weakened them apparently. As he started to stand, his legs collapsed underneath him. "Remind me again why keeping this from them is a good idea?" he asked the empty room. "Oh, yeah. They're ghost hunters; I'm part ghost."
After a few minutes, a knock on his door heralded the arrival of his sister. "Danny, are you okay?" she asked worriedly through the door.
"Where's Mom and Dad?" he returned.
"Downstairs. And Roy went home. It's just me."
"...I'd let you in, but I'm leaning against the door."
Jazz wisely decided not to pursue the issue. He heard a shuffling noise, and when she spoke, her voice came from right next to his head, confirming that she was sitting against the door as well. "So what do you think of Roy?" she asked in a fond, faraway tone.
"Jazz, you ask me that question almost every time you see me," he replied. "I guess he's alright."
"Dad doesn't like him."
"Well, you are his only daughter. He's just being protective."
Jazz sighed mournfully. "No, I think he really hates him. I could definitely sense some hostility there."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Of course, he's being hostile. He's Dad."
"I know, but this is different."
Danny waited for a moment, but Jazz didn't elaborate. He shrugged and fought his way to his feet. "Listen, Jazz. I'm just going to try to sleep this off for a while."
"Okay," she answered, standing as well. "Don't be surprised if Mom or Dad comes barging in around six. We're eating at Salty's again."
He thanked her for the warning and gratefully crashed onto the bed. Within minutes, a few hours had passed.
Danny opened bleary eyes onto an unfamiliar room. The walls were covered in parchment colored paper with black and white photographs strewn over every available surface. Then, the image was gone, to be replaced by white paint and bare furniture. He rubbed his eyes and tried to figure out what had awakened him.
Once his brain kicked in again, he noticed that everything felt off somehow. His ghost sense wasn't active, but he felt like it should be. Then the sobbing from the night before began again. This time, rather than go through Jazz's room to the balcony, Danny went straight outside and up. He was invisible this time, as well, which is quite possibly the only reason he saw the woman on the balcony.
"Jazz?" he called tentatively, fading back into focus.
"Father hates him," the apparition whispered. She looked up suddenly, and all resemblance to his sister vanished to be replaced by a seaweed-tangled corpse whose loose black hair and sepia toned clothing swayed as if under water. It reached for Danny with a green claw-like hand.
Danny lunged away and threw an ectoplasmic energy blast. With an outraged howl, the creature burned into nothing, but things still felt wrong, as though whatever was in the house was still there. After making sure Jazz wasn't harmed, Danny went invisible and intangible to fly a grid pattern around the house. His ghost sense never went off, but the feeling that it should be remained. He checked the foyer last. There was still nothing out of place, although the sounds of the surf seemed louder…
He spun in place to face the wall mural. It seemed to be moving even as it hadn't changed in the slightest. Looking at it made him a little dizzy, but he floated closer to look at the two figures. There was only one.
"Father killed him," the apparition whispered from everywhere at once. Suddenly, everything seemed perfectly back to normal, except for the lone figure in the mural. Danny went to check on Jazz again, but she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He returned to his room and a very uneasy night.
A/N: Man, I wish I lived in that house. It'smy dream home, although in my head, its actually on the beach.It doesn't really exist. So, first Faded and now Faith. I've started a trend. Cheerio!