It was quiet, and had been for some time. It was shortly before noon; the sun kept most of the monsters away. Only arsonists were willing to venture out in the light, and a lone triggerman captain that couldn't even call for reinforcements. Somewhere behind them, maulers bayed out their insatiable hunger. Copperfield was following them.

Ed had taken to jumping at every sound. Danny suspected Silver was talking to him, but he couldn't be sure. The man was remarkably close-mouthed when he wanted to be.

"Danny?" Maddie whispered. He drifted down to hear her better. "Where would Silver be right now?"

He considered that. Despite being able to speak telepathically, the psychic couldn't read minds. She could walk out of her body, but he didn't know if she could actually hear that way. Finally, he simply shrugged. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm tired of this 'game' of hers. If we knew where she was, we could make her tell us where Jack and Jazz are."

Danny smiled slightly. He knew exactly how she felt.

Audible, high-pitched laughter cut through the silence and made them all jump. A derelict car rested just to their left. From behind it ran two little children: a dark-haired Mexican boy and a white-haired albino girl. "You can't catch me!" yelled the girl as they ran around a corner and vanished.

"Silver's memories," Danny explained. "That was her and her husband when they were kids. She must have been here before."

"So what do we do?" Ed asked, his voice shaking.

The boy looked at him like he was a complete moron. "Follow them."

Maddie took the lead in case it was a trap. Since the maulers were still behind them and Danny didn't really think he was, he was only too happy to let her. Ed cowered between them, shaking and whimpering. They had found another police car and offered him a weapon, but he had refused for some obscure reason.

Do you know whose game we're playing, yet, amante?

He had an idea. He hoped he was wrong, but there was something very off about Ed and his behavior.

I used to hate it here. Father brought us here on his vacations. It was never as interesting as Carnate. After mother…well, died, for lack for a better term. After she died, he stopped coming here. I'm glad she died.

There was very little she could say that still had the power to horrify him. Coming from anyone else, he may have been shocked, but not from Silver. Even the, at first, near-constant barrage of the gruesome deaths of assorted family members only evoked a feeling of mild annoyance. Apparently realizing this, she hadn't tried in a few hours, for which he was grateful. He didn't like not being able to feel grief and rage at the thought of his parents and sister being murdered.

Was this how Plasmius felt? Was that Silver's plan, to turn him into someone like Plasmius, who could happily order another person's death? Was it working?

They continued to follow the children at play around a winding circuit of abandoned city blocks. None of them spoke, each lost in their own thoughts. When they finally found their way into a large cul-de-sac littered with broken televisions, the only one who was surprised was Ed.

"Tell me, my dear boy," Killjoy said from the cracked screens. "Are you ready to progress? A miracle worker I may be, but I can do nothing to help until you prove you truly want it."

"Danny," Maddie began, but he shook his head.

"I have to do this."

"Do what?" Ed broke in, tearing his eyes away from a monitor. "What are we doing?" He was subsequently ignored.

"I forbid it!" Maddie exclaimed. "I'm not to let you get yourself killed."

"I'm halfway there already!" Danny shot back. His mother flinched at the reminder. "I wish you hadn't found out," he went on in a quieter tone. "But I'm not human anymore, and you are. I'll survive; you won't."

The red goggles hid her eyes quite well, but her voice betrayed her tears. "Be careful," she whispered.

"What are we doing?" Ed asked again, completely ruining the mood.

"You're hiding," Danny answered. He waited until they found their way up a partially collapsed fire escape before he turned back to the impatient doctor. "I'm ready." Killjoy nodded and his monitors winked out.

"You'd best make it easy on yourself," said Copperfield; Danny turned to face him. "I have only been beaten once, and I assure you that it will not happen again."

The boy charged his fists with ectoplasmic energy. "Are you going to talk or fight?"

Copperfield smirked and strode past his salivating hounds to vanish just as Danny's first attack reached him. The boy spun around, expecting an attack from behind. He did not expect to have the butt of Copperfield's rifle slammed into his face. However, if the man though he was going down that easily, he was destined for disappointment.

The boy grabbed his opponent by the wrists and threw him across the alley. Surprised, Copperfield almost didn't dodge the twin follow-up blasts. He ducked and rolled out of the way, then quickly fired his rifle in Danny's general direction. Danny shot upwards and called, "Why us?"

"Your ancestors escaped me," the slave hunter explained. "Although the slaves they helped did not."

For just a moment, Danny saw the scene as must have looked all those years ago: a handful of slaves crying out as they were eaten alive by starving, rabid rottweilers while Copperfield looked on in approval. Then the moment was gone and a bullet grazed his arm.

He went invisible on the off chance that his opponent would actually be unable to see him; it seemed to work. Copperfield scanned the area looking for him, becoming increasingly irate with every passing moment until something slammed into him from behind and sent his rifle flying.

"Got you!" Danny yelled victoriously. Of course, now the question was what to do with him. Unfortunately, the matter was taken out of his hands by a high-pitched whistle. A dozen hunger-maddened mauler captains rushed forward. Although the boy tried to dodge above them, one of them managed to get its mouth around his foot and pulled him back down.

He kicked at it unsuccessfully and cried out as another sank its teeth into his other calf. They were trying to eat him. They were actually trying to eat him alive. Intellectually, he knew that's what they did, but it had not really hit him until this moment. He was about to be eaten alive.

Well, he wasn't going down with a fight.

He blasted at the dogs, but for every one that he dislodged, another caught him. It didn't just hurt; it burned like fire or poison. Part of him heard the tell-tale click of a rifle being cocked. He couldn't get into air properly with the maulers hanging onto him. It wasn't that they were too heavy; it was more like they were attached to the ground, except that they weren't. With barely a split second to decide, Danny dove into the middle of them as the bullet tore through the air above him. He managed to shove the creatures away using his ghost shield then, while they scrambled to their feet, flew out of reach and started blasting at Copperfield again.

Bueno muchacho… Silver whispered. Good boy…

Danny ignored her, something he was getting better at, and focused on locating Copperfield. Suddenly, he froze. Maddie had a stubborn set to her mouth while Ed squeezed his eyes closed and moaned. Behind them, Copperfield stood with his rifle alternating slowly between the back of their heads. "This way, slowly," he said. "Or these two get it."

"Danny!" Maddie called. She was interrupted by a gunshot.

Time seemed to stand still for just a moment, then the maulers started howling in glee as their former master toppled off the fire escape. Maddie caught an unconscious Ed as he nearly did likewise. Danny rushed to them both. "Are you okay?" he demanded.

I told you, pendejo! Silver exclaimed. "The fantasma muchacho is mine!"

They looked toward the entrance to the cul-de-sac, and Maddie was treated to her first good look at Silver Meryll Santiago. She stood watching as the maulers consumed Copperfield, twirling one of her guns with a smug smile on her face. Her white hair was short and woefully unkempt, as though she had cut it with a dull knife. The simple white t-shirt she once wore had been torn across the bottom to reveal her midriff; her white jeans had suffered the same fate, and now ended several inches above her knees. Her wrists and neck still sported the shackles she had once been bound with, but a pair of grey boots covered the ones around her ankles. She holstered her weapon with a grand flourish and looked up. As if on cue, the fire escape rattled alarmingly, but Danny managed to get his mother and Ed safely to the ground before it fell, crushing the maulers.

"I hope you don't expect a 'thank you'," he said scathingly.

She scoffed. Now, why would I expect something like that? "Gratitude is a sign of weakness, after all."

"Why did you help us?" Maddie demanded.

"I didn't help you. I'm protecting what's mine. Amante…"

"Stay away from me," Danny growled from between clenched teeth.

Silver mock pouted. "But where's the fun in that?"

"We're not playing your game!"

"No, we're not, and the more's the pity. If we had been, it would have been a lot more fun. Next time, I choose the entertainment."

"There's not going to be a next time."

"Am I dead…?" Ed moaned, interrupting them as he came to.

Maddie huffed, having completely lost her patience with him. "You're fine!" she snapped. "Get up!"

Oh, just let him rot. He has no imagination.

Ed's mouth worked soundless for a few seconds while he tried to reconcile the fact that Silver had spoken without moving her lips. Maddie and Danny glanced at each other. They had long since figured out that the head of the Paranormal Society was behind most of this, but it was still very unbelievable. Especially when he stood there like a fish out of water. It was Maddie who spoke first. "Ed, what did you do?"

He stared at Silver for a few seconds longer before he managed to tear his gaze away. "I…I…uh, I didn't…do…anything…" His voice was blank and carried a shell shocked quality.

Silver laughed bitterly. "¿Usted está embromando? Are you kidding? No wonder this game is so boring! Stupid people should be left to die. Remember that, amante."

Danny looked from Ed to his mother, back to Ed, and finally at Silver. "What are you talking about?" he asked cautiously.

"Ask him why monsters walk the streets," she replied. "Ask him who sent the ferry I stowed away on to get here, and ask him why it was sent."

Ed took a few steps back, cowering away from the three sets of eyes. "Th-the malefactors are my life's w-work," he stammered. "I was only trying t-to study them…"

"Study them?" Silver mimicked. "Usted idiota! You brought them here! They escaped, and re-awoke the monsters that live here! And here I thought you did it on purpose." She clicked her tongue in a chastising manner.

The man took a few more steps, then turned and ran, apparently forgetting there was nowhere to go. A click and gunshot knocked him to the ground; he didn't move again. "Now, that that's out of the way…" Silver began.

"How could you?" Danny exclaimed. He thought he was past being shocked by anything she could do; later, he would be happy to note that he thought wrong. At the moment, he was too busy ignoring his mother as she tried to convince him to calm down. A second click and the sight of the silver barrel lowered toward Maddie's head finally forced him to listen.

"You know what I want, amante," Silver said quietly. You and me, one on one. Winner takes all.

He nodded acceptingly and looked at his mother, who sighed. "Danny…good luck…" She hesitated a moment before retreating out of harm's way.

"All right," Danny said dully. "Let's get this game over with."