Maddie pulled her hood back to wipe her eyes. She didn't want to watch Silver fight her little boy, but she couldn't look away. The psychic barely moved, but Danny was thrown all over the cul-de-sac. Her heart stopped for a moment when he suddenly vanished from sight.

Silver laughed. "I was wondering if you were going to put up a fight!" She was knocked to the ground suddenly by something that hit her from behind. "Should have seen that one coming, huh?"

"I beat you once, Silver," Danny pointed out. "And I'll do it again. Just let us go."

The psychic holstered her gun and smiled. "Doc says you thought that was a dream."

"Wasn't it?" Danny knew what she was trying to imply, but Carnate had to have been a dream. They had only been gone for a few hours, maybe twelve at the most.

"Ah, amante. The human mind is so easy to manipulate. Think for a moment. If I can't read your mind, how can interact with you in a dream setting?"

"You made me talk in my sleep!"

"I did that, yes," she agreed. "But I also…suggested to you that you were there longer than you thought. It only takes a few hours to walk across Carnate. While your familia thought they saw you sleep, you were busy seeking me out."

Danny stared, surprised, yet not. "Then they weren't in any danger…" he muttered.

Silver laughed again. "Don't be silly, amante. Of course, they were. If you had not defeated me, they would be dead, just as I promised."

She was so good-natured about it, as though it was all a joke. The ghost boy clenched his fists, glowing brighter in his anger. "Why?" he demanded. "Why do that? Why put me through all that?"

"I…I…" In a tone that dripped with misery, she said, "Estoy enamorado de ti."

Danny didn't speak Spanish, nor did he particularly care what she said. If he had, he might have been even more disturbed by her than he already was. Because he did not, he simply resumed his attack. Silver dodged the energy blast, an expression of fierce joy on her face, and returned fire with both colts.

Stay with me, amanteshe whispered. Stay with me forever, and never leave me.

"You're sick!" Danny retorted. He thought the image that accompanied those words was even worse than the ones she showed him of his family's brutal murders.

Silver nodded. "Diego said that, too, just before he tried to leave. He doesn't try anymore."

The boy felt an invisible hand grab him around the throat and slam him into the ground. The second it let go, he went intangible and sank into through the asphalt to come back up directly beneath Silver. She flipped herself back onto her feet. A flash of silver metal was Danny's only warning before burning lead shot through his chest, the pain overriding even the deafening sound. If he had been human, he would be dead.

Maddie couldn't stand by and watch any longer; she raised her rifle and fired. With a yelp, the psychic dropped her gun and stared in disbelief at the color that dripped from her wrist. She had to have seen her blood before, but it was still a shock to see that it was red and not white or grey. Then her brain kicked in again and she bit back a howl of agony.

"Get away from my son!" Maddie yelled, aiming at Silver's head and praying she wouldn't actually have to fire.

"Repulsivo perra!" Silver screamed. This wasn't part of the game; she wasn't supposed to get hurt. She never got hurt. "I will kill you for that!"

Danny called a warning, but his mother had already dived behind a fallen section of wall. Unfortunately, a little rubble was no match for telekinesis; the wall exploded in a shower of bricks. Maddie rolled out of the way and tried to dive for safety behind a dumpster, but she was lifted into the air and thrown repeatedly into the wall.

"Leave her alone!" Danny yelled, blasting his opponent from behind.

Silver climbed to her feet, dizzy and somewhat weakened from blood loss. "I won't let her take you from me," she informed him. "I'm in love with you, and I'll make you part of me."

Later, Danny wouldn't remember what he had been thinking, except that ectoplasmic energy blasts never stopped her for long. He saw Mongoose lying at his feet. He saw Silver raise Cobra. He saw Maddie cringe in unwilling surrender. There was a gunshot.

Silver turned slowly and muttered, "That works…too…" She fell to her knees, then to her face. A faint, sepia-toned image of Jack and Jazz safe and unharmed in their hotel room flitted across his mind.

"Danny!" Maddie exclaimed, pulling him to her. He hadn't even noticed her approach.

"I…I didn't…" he stuttered. "I mean, I…I…"

Maddie hushed him and whispered that it going to be alright, but he wasn't paying attention. The color red seemed so very out of place as it spread slowly across her body and pooled on the ground from her wrist. He hated her, but he would never have…

Never have…

He fainted.

"When you take a life, you make it part of you," Silver said.

He closed his eyes. "I didn't mean to do that," he whispered.

A cool hand gripped his chin and tilted his head upward. "Don't worry; it ends the same anyway. Now, I'm tired, amante. I'm going to sleep for a little while. But I'll be back. I'll always come for you, my love."

Danny was afraid to open his eyes, afraid it would all have been real. His mother was there, and he was comfortable. He wanted to forget it had happened. As much as he hated Silver, he would never have killed her. Not on purpose. He regretted it, but he couldn't seem to feel sorry. Was that wrong?

"Mom?"

"Danny," Maddie breathed, relieved. "Sweetie, do you remember-"

"Yeah," he interrupted. "All of it."

They fell silent; Maddie wanted to say something, but she didn't know what. She wanted to tell him that it okay, but she didn't know how. Jazz was the psychology expert of the family.

"They're fine," Danny said suddenly. He pulled away and stood, refusing to look at his mother as she followed. "They're just at the hotel. They may be unconscious."

They fell silent again as they walked back across the city. The monsters seemed to have vanished with Silver's death, which suited the boy just fine. He was too busy fending off the buzzing noise in his head. He almost thought he could hear his mother's thoughts, but that was impossible.

Wasn't it?

Or was it a new power? It wouldn't have been the first time his desperation had awakened some latent ability. His Ghostly Wail had become active ten years prematurely because his life had been in danger. Maybe the intense emotions he had felt when Maddie's life was threatened had activated some kind of telepathy.

He might have felt a little better about that if it hadn't have been one of Silver's powers.

He jumped, then blushed as he realized it had only been Maddie calling his name. She smiled apologetically. "Sweetie, did you mean it when you said you wish I'd never found out?"

Danny sighed and shook his head. "Not like that," he replied. "I wanted the chance to tell you what happened. You know, explain everything to you and dad. I…" He trailed off. If he could read minds, maybe he could implant suggestions as well. It made him uneasy, but knowing what he was had hurt Maddie. He clenched his fists.

I'm not the ghost boy, he thought at her. Somehow, he knew that would be sufficient, that the mind needed to fill in the blanks on its own.

After a few moments, Maddie looked around. "Wasn't Phantom just here?"

"Uh…I think he went that way," Danny answered, gesturing vaguely off to the left. He wasn't sure whether to be happy or disturbed that it had worked, so he decided to think about it later.

His mother sighed and shook her head. "He almost had me convinced that he was you, you know," she admitted.

"I think he just didn't want you to worry."

"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter now. He did help save you."

Danny looked at her finally. He couldn't resist asking, "Are you still going to hunt him down?"

She considered that for a long time. "I don't know. We'll see when we get home."

Well, close enough.