Danny sat staring at the blackboard without actually seeing it. He had moved to the back of the classroom rather than sit next to his supposed sister. This meant that he couldn't sit next to Sam and Tucker, but it also meant that he was closer to Paulina. Despite his best intentions, he found his eyes wandering in her direction again and forced them back towards Lancer.

The lights began to flicker. After a few minutes, students began to stir restlessly and mutter to each other. Danny noticed Fiona tense and gaze upward just before the lights went out completely for about thirty seconds.

"It's a ghost!" Paulina cried fearfully. This, naturally, led to a veritable stampede that Lancer was just barely able to get under control again.

"Pride and Prejudice, students!" he exclaimed. "I'm sure it's nothing. Now…"

Danny tuned out the rest of lesson. Everyone except Sam and Tucker were glancing around furtively, which was normal enough; they spent far too much time around ghosts to be properly scared by them anymore. Fiona, however, wasn't looking around like everyone else. She knew exactly where the "ghost" was: directly above their heads.

When the last bell finally rang, he ducked into a nearby bathroom to transform into his ghostly alter ego, then went straight up through the building to the roof. He found Kat slumped next to an air conditioning unit, again in civilian attire. She was difficult see until he got closer; although she was seldom visible at a distance, he should have been well within that range. Even close up, she seemed very faded.

"Are you okay?" he asked, worried, as she closed her eyes and looked away.

"It's not a blackout…" she said quietly. "It's not the power; it's something else."

"What do you mean?" Danny already knew it wasn't a blackout. In fact, he'd actually forgotten about Kat's claim that something was draining the power.

She shook her head. "I tried to get out, but it's like there's some kind of field over Amity. It's not electromagnetic, or even electric. I can't affect it at all."

After a few moments thought, the boy said, "It's got to have something to do with Fiona. It started happening right around when she showed up."

"I don't think she's behind this."

Danny stared at her. He was about to angrily point out that Kat had been defending the intruder since she arrived, but stopped as he realized what was going on. "She's affecting you, too," he informed her. "She's got you hypnotized just like everybody else."

Kat turned back to fix him with a withering glare. "No one hypnotizes me."

"Then why are you defending her?"

She let her eyes glow green, but it was faint. "I have my reasons," she said dangerously. "Don't mess with me."

Danny crossed his arms and sighed. "You're too weak to fight me, even if I wanted to. I'm going to stop her, and then you'll thank me." He took off, ignoring the weak ranting of the narcissistic thespian. The park was unusually quiet, so he landed there to think.

"Okay," he muttered, an unconscious effort to gather his thoughts. Fiona arrived, and everyone loved her. At the same time, a field appeared around town that overshadowed its usual electromagnetic patterns, causing Kat to become ill. The only known person as yet unaffected was Danny himself.

He was alone.

"There you are!"

But not alone enough. "What do you want, Fiona?" he sighed without turning.

"Me and Sam and Tucker are going to the mall," she said brightly. "Do you want to come? Paulina will be there."

The boy found himself torn between his dislike for Fiona and all things related to her, and his puppy love for Paulina. He really wanted to pass, but he really wanted to go. Especially if there was the opportunity that Paulina might talk to him. If Fiona could make Paulina like him, maybe she wasn't so bad…

A memory swam to the surface of his mind. It had never actually happened, thanks to Clockwork, so Danny was the only one who remembered. A spirit of fire bent on the destruction of humanity had manipulated him into freeing it by giving him the things he wanted most. One of those things had involved mind controlling Paulina.

"Pass," he said at last, although it was difficult. After several minutes of silence, he turned to see Fiona in her ghost form regard him in something that was part sadness and part anger. She covered it up quickly with a bright smile and shrugged.

"Well, your loss," she responded. "See you at home."

Danny waited until she was out of ear shot to say, "It's not your home."

He had an idea, something he had been thinking about all day. He wanted to know exactly how that dark haired woman fit into this mess. Although he had no real idea how to find her, he thought the two places she had already been seemed a likely start. Once he had assured himself that she was not in the park, he went invisible and flew to the café. Sure enough, he saw her just as she was leaving.

She walked upright, but just barely alert, as though her mind was out in the galaxy somewhere. Still, there was no trace of the blushing mouse he had seen the last two times. He followed her for a block, trying to figure out how best to approach her. When she turned to cut through a deserted alleyway, it seemed as good a time as any. He landed and became human, then called, "Excuse me."

The woman turned; when she saw who was talking, the mouse came back. She bit her bottom lip and cowered slightly, though more in awe than fear. She said nothing, but her eyebrows raised slightly in askance.

Danny pulled the page out of his pocket and held it out to her. "You dropped this yesterday."

She straightened out of surprise and took it, then grinned nervously. "Brain like a sieve," she explained with an uncertain laugh.

The boy smiled encouragingly; at least, she hadn't run away yet. "So, what's M.o.C. mean?" At the woman's hesitation, he said, "Sorry, I know I probably shouldn't have read it…"

"Oh, it's okay," she replied quickly. "It means…uh…ah…ah…." She closed her eyes in irritation and held up one finger in a "wait" gesture. Danny shifted uncomfortably as several seconds went by before she finally managed to continue. "M-m-monster of Contrivance," she stuttered with an apologetic look.

"But what does that mean?"

"Oh, you're going to make me talk?" the woman muttered, bemused. She sighed. "It's the name of a literary device, sort of like a d-d-d…" She clenched her fists and laughed bitterly. "I don't stutter," she explained pointlessly. "I just stammer when I get nervous. Sorry. Deus ex Machina."

Danny looked at her blankly. "Okay…"

She scratched the back of her neck. "Think blatant plot device. Sort of like the Box Ghost showing up right in the nick of time."

The boy opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but was cut off by a cry of, "Beware!" The timing was just too perfect. In the time it took to glance at the ghost behind him and turned back around, the woman had vanished. Danny pulled Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos without bothering to exchange banter and ran after her, but she had quite thoroughly vanished.

Clearly, she had some kind of power, and was probably the reason Box Ghost kept finding his way back to the real world. Were she and Fiona the same kind of creature? It made sense, really. Fiona was controlling everyone she came into contact with, and the woman was able to control ghosts. What if Fiona had invaded his life in an attempt to hide from the woman?

The more he thought about it, the more likely that seemed. It would certainly explain why his would-be twin had seemed so scared of her. But then, why didn't the woman just catch her and leave?

He froze. The field, of course. It had weakened Kat, so why not the woman? He suddenly found himself wondering if the woman hadn't meant to drop that paper. Maybe she was trying to help him beat Fiona, since he was the only one not affected by her. Of course, that implied that the woman knew about him, but he was more than willing to entertain that possibility. With all the other strange things that had been happening, it wouldn't have surprised him in the slightest.

When he got home, he ran upstairs without even trying to get his family's attention and turned on his computer. A Google search for M.o.C. hadn't turned up anything more than "Make-Out Club." Maybe Deus ex Machina would be more informative.

Two hours later, Danny clicked the mouse listlessly, having learned nothing of any apparent note. He was almost grateful when the door slammed open to admit his happily squealing imposter twin. He actually turned to greet her, in fact, once he closed the internet window. "Yeah?"

"You didn't come down for dinner," Fiona pouted. "We missed you."

"Somehow, I doubt that," the boy muttered.

His twin sat down on the bed, a saddened look on her face. "I know you don't like me, brother," she said quietly. "But I don't know why. What did I do wrong?"

Danny scoffed incredulously and stared at her. "You invaded my life, you stole my friends and family, you…you're just annoying in general!" He felt a twinge of guilt at her injured expression, and turned away so as to not look at her. "Why won't you just be yourself?"

"I'm trying!" Fiona wailed overdramatically. "I just want you to accept me! I want someone to accept me!"

"You're using me to hide from that lady," Danny refuted, turning to face her again.

The mock sadness dropped away; the girl stared at him blankly, then lowered her head slightly. "You know about her?" It was more statement than question, but Danny nodded anyway. Fiona nodded as though she had been afraid of that. "All right, yes. I'm trying to hide from her. But you don't know how horrible she is. She keeps me locked up all the time. You have to help me!"

"You've been lying to me since you got here," Danny pointed out. "Why should I believe you now?"

Fiona shook her head in disbelief. "I don't get it," she said blankly. "Why aren't you like everyone else? Why do you resist me? I only want to be part of your life? Why do you drive me away?"

"Because you're not part of my life."

They stared at each other for a long time, then the girl narrowed her eyes. "No, Danny. You're not part of mine." She stood and stalked out of the room, leaving a confused ghost boy to wonder exactly what she meant.