Chapter 7

By the time Sam and Tucker came out of their shocked state and chased after Danny, he was already about a mile ahead of them. By the time they caught up to him in the basement of Danny's house, he was already dashing through the open ghost porthole. Sam and Tucker slipped in just before the porthole closed.

They chased Danny through half the Ghost Zone, through countless lairs, dodging photon blasts from angry ghosts who didn't like being disturbed in their lairs. Danny stopped at the edge of Mysteria.

It was dark and gloomy, lit only by a strange emanating eerie green light. Danny hesitated for only a moment before plunging into the unknown depths. Sam and Tucker followed.

Sam realized almost immediately that Mysteria was populated with horrible creatures that she could barely call ghosts. They were slimy, scaly ghosts, the ghosts of half-evolved life forms like slugs. Ghost spiders spun a thick canopy of webs dripping with ghost venom. It was here that the Fright Night had built his lair.

Their surroundings opened up into a clearing after a few minutes. Even by the dim light of Mysteria, Sam could see that Isabelle was captured. She was straining against some invisible rope that bound her to the slimy wall. Catherine and Vlad were nearby, looking smug. So Danny was right, thought Sam. That was her last thought before Vlad turned.

"Ahhh, Daniel." he said in his oily voice. "And Daniel's two little sidekicks! How nice. Come join us, won't you please?" Then he shot something out of his hand almost lazily, which pinned Sam, Tucker and Danny to the wall beside Isabelle, held by the same invisible bond that Isabelle was struggling so hard against. Vlad laughed, a cruel, harsh laugh.

"Of course, I forgot! You don't have a choice!" Vlad laughed again, and this time Catherine joined in. Her laugh was high and girlish, but still every ounce of evil.

"What a pleasure, wouldn't you say, Catherine? Here we thought we were just going to kill Little Miss Cripple tonight, but now we get three bonuses! Oh, aren't we lucky!" Vlad's words dripped like poison into Sam's head. Oh, how she hated him. Catherine nodded eagerly, like a puppy waiting to do her master's bidding.

"Oh yes. And many, many people will be so glad to have the ghost boy out of the way. Skulker, for instance. And Ember...Technus...all of us ghosts can do what we want in peace.

"So it was you changing Emily's ghost sense...you were trying to send us a warning." Sam murmured to Isabelle, who was bound next to her. Isabelle gave her a small smile.

"Healing's not the only thing I do." she murmured back. Sam turned her attention back to the allied foes when she realized Vlad was speaking again.

"And as for Catherine's stupid little sister here, well, we're just going to put her to ghost death." Sam leaned over and whispered in Danny's ear.

"Ghost death? What does she mean?"

"It can only be accomplished by a powerful ghost or halfa. It doesn't kill the ghost, because of course they're already dead, but it puts them into a sort of coma. It can't be reversed." Danny explained, looking worried.

Sam was worried too. Isabelle had done so much for them over the past few months. If she got put into ghost death...Sam didn't allow herself to complete the thought.

"Right now your little cripple friend is dying." Vlad informed them with his evil smile. "Once Catherine goes and puts her necklace on Emily's neck, she'll be dead within the hour. And I'm finally going to kill you, Daniel. Oh, isn't this just my lucky day!"

Danny struggled to retrieve the Fenton Thermos, with no avail. The invisible bonds had them so that they couldn't move anything below their chests. This, unfortunately, included their arms.

"Now, normally I would let you suffer and watch your friends die first." Vlad continued. "But I just can't wait. So I think I'll kill you now."

Vlad fired a greenish ball of energy from his palm. It seemed to hang there, slowly spinning sinisterly, for a few seconds, then it streaked towards us. It hit Danny square in the chest. There was a whoosh, like Danny was letting out his final breath, and then all was silent.

"Danny!" Tucker and Sam screamed. Vlad laughed. Sam would remember that horrible moment for the rest of her life. She turned her head slowly to look at Danny's motionless body. His face was pale and colorless.

"Catherine, my sweet. Go kill the cripple for me. And, could you bring back the body? I want them to see what has become of their little cripple friend." Catherine obeyed, swooping out of sight. Then, about fifteen minutes later, she came back, holding something with the tips of her fingers. It was Emily...or maybe her body.

Emily was in her human form. Catherine's green stone necklace was fastened around her neck. It looked like she was asleep, though one thing was wrong. There wasn't the usual wheezing breath that she had. As Catherine brought Emily close enough for the captives to touch, Sam gently lifted one of Emily's eyelids. It was dull and had a glazed look to it, not at all the usual sparkle of play and humor that was in it. It was then that a rock seemed to drop into Sam's stomach.

Sam started screaming, a long piercing shriek that seemed never-ending.

A/N: Oooooh major major cliffhanger! ooh I love cliffhangers. I'll update soon. I promise. Its the weekend and I have NO HOMEWORK so I'll be devoting all my free time to fanfiction. Review and I'll update sooner, rather than later.