All the lights were on when Danny got home, and he groaned inwardly. He landed and reverted back to his human form, then walked into the house, trepidation written into his every movement. Seconds after he got the door open, he found himself engulfed in the warm embrace of his mother's arms.

"Oh, Danny! We were so worried!"

He started to stammer out some kind of explanation, but his father started speaking then. "We thought that ghost girl had gotten you!" he exclaimed. "She had us all under some kind of evil ghost spell."

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Maddie broke in. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

Danny couldn't believe his luck. His own parents had just provided him with the perfect excuse for being out this late. "No…uh, she tried, but I got away."

Without actually letting go of him, she turned slightly to address his sister, hovering by the stairs. "Run and get the ghost shield up." As Jazz dashed off to obey, Maddie and Jack pulled their son into the kitchen to convince themselves that he really was fully intact before sending him to bed with the promise of no school the next day.

Danny collapsed gratefully onto the bed, waiting for Jazz to arrive and pester him for details. He sighed happily. Fiona was finally gone.

"It's your own fault, you know," Elegy said, her hands on her hips.

Behind the bars of its cage, Contrivance swatted a tiger's paw at its master and roared menacingly. She sighed mournfully and shook her head. "Believe it or not, I don't like punishing you. You were my favorite plot device; you still are. But times change. When you're ready to change with them, I'll let you out."

Contrivance watched its master disappear, then became a monkey and started picking fleas of its fur. It had a lot of fun in Danny's world. Maybe if it promised to be good, master would let it out again.

Maybe change wouldn't be so bad, after all…

Danny sat in a booth the Hot Pink Lizard karaoke bar. There was a big guy on stage was trying to sing "Natural Woman" in a high falsetto, to the hysterical laughter of the bar's patrons. A waitress walked by and didn't spare the fourteen year old a second glance. In fact, she didn't even spare him a first glance. It was very easy to be overlooked when you were invisible.

He wondered how Kat could avoid getting thrown of here. They were very strict when it came to carding the patrons, and she didn't look much older than he did. Even if she went through the walls instead of the door, someone would notice her; she made no effort to hide herself.

One of the guy's buddies ran on stage to sing some other Tina Turner song. He was halfway through the first refrain when Kat appeared in the seat across from Danny and dropped her head onto head. She still wasn't quite her usual self, but she definitely looked better.

Danny waited for a few minutes, then faded into view, earning a startled exclamation. "So if you see energy patterns," he began, pointedly ignoring his friend's withering glare. "Why can't you see me when I'm invisible?"

She pursed her lips, then gave in and grinned. "Because you dim your light when do that. And I don't know how, so don't ask. I've only met a few ghosts that could do that, and it makes me insane."

Danny returned her smile. "How're you feeling?"

Kat shrugged. "Better now that miss twin sister is gone. That weird field that was overshadowing everything is gone now, too."

"Yeah, I figured it would be."

They stared at each other for a while. The boy was dying to ask about Elegy, but she had said Kat wouldn't remember. That didn't make a lot of sense to him, but then, everything these past few days had been confusing. Confusing and contrived.

"You better get home before your parents miss you," Kat said. Danny nodded and vanished again, but he stayed a few more minutes before he actually left. Thinking he was gone, the thespian leaned back with a sigh and closed her eyes. He wondered what she was thinking, but it would be no use asking. Instead, he just went home.

A/N: Yay! Next up, the sequel to Cat and Mouse. As the last time, you don't need to know the other half of my source material to understand the story. But for those of you who are over 18 and interested, it's The Suffering: Ties That Bind.