Chapter 8

"I'm not joining you, Plasmius!" Danny yelled, glaring at his archenemy. But Vlad's smile only widened.

"Oh, but my boy, you promised." Danny shook his head.

"Promises are nothing. Promises are just...words." A fierce wind blew in from the broken and cracked windows, nearly knocking Danny off his feet.

"Well, then" Vlad shouted over the roaring of the wind. "If you won't join me by choice...then I guess I'll just have to make you!" The wind, instead of dying down, grew even stronger. There was a bright flash of light, and all sound was gradually filtered out until the only thing Danny could hear was his own, piercing screams. Sam and Emily clung to each other, terrified. Then Danny turned around, but Emily wished he hadn't.

He looked empty and soulless. His face was blank, devoid of all emotion. He moved slowly, almost as if he was a robot. And the most terrifying thing of all were his eyes. Instead of the green they always were when Danny was in ghost form, they were a blood red color, and there were no pupils, drowned in the sea of blood. Then he spoke, and his voice was Danny's voice, but yet, it was not Danny.

"Goodbye, cripple." He showed no remorse, no guilt, no concern as he slowly raised a hand.

That's not Danny. Danny would never call me a cripple was the only thought that comforted Emily before Danny shot an ectoplasmic blast out of his hand. It hit Emily square in the chest, knocking her over. She hit the ground hard and blacked out.

"Emily? Emily, wake up!" The voice that Emily recognized as Sam's sounded panicked and worried. Emily slowly opened her eyes to see Sam and Tucker kneeling next to her. She was lying on the cold hallway floor. There was no sign that the battle, nor whatever Vlad had done to Danny, had ever happened, except for the broken and jagged windows.

"Are you ok, Emily?" Sam asked in concern. Emily nodded and slowly raised herself into a sitting position.

"Where's Danny?" Emily demanded. Sam shrugged casually, but Emily wasn't fooled. She knew that Sam cared where Danny was.

"We don't know." Tucker answered. "After he hit you with that ectoplasmic blast, he disappeared, and so did Vlad. We were busy checking to make sure you were ok. When we looked up, they were gone."

Leaning on Sam for support, Emily shakily got up. Then, leaning heavily on her ghost crutches, she made her way out the front doors (which, she noticed, had been ripped off their hinges). The late afternoon sun greeted her by beating its warmth on her face. It had been morning when they had first entered the school, prepared for battle. That now seemed like a million years ago.

Emily paused to survey the scene in front of her. The rest of Amity Park looked undisturbed. Apparently, the Purists hadn't touched anything in their haste to get to the school. She was brought out of her thoughts by Sam gently touching her shoulder.

"Emily?" Sam asked softly. Emily shook her head to clear it of the lingering thoughts and focused on the task ahead of them.

"There is one place that this...evil Danny is sure to be. Danny's being controlled by Vlad, right? So Danny's bound to be wherever Vlad is. And the one place Vlad is sure to be is-"

"The Masters Mansion." Sam breathed quietly, finishing Emily's sentence. Emily nodded silently.

"One problem," Tucker broke the silence that had settled over them. "How are we going to get there?" Emily smiled in spite of herself.

"Duh, Tucker-ghost style!" And with that, Emily placed a hand on both Tucker's arm and Sam's arm, making them intangible. Then, with Emily's ghost crutches activated, they flew up and into the sky, on their way to Wisconsin.

Some time later, the trio was growing tired, hungry, and frustrated. Emily was growing tired, and her legs were starting to ache, like they always did when she got tired. They were, apparently, lost.

"Shouldn't we have been there by now?" Sam asked irritably. Emily stared down at the countryside.

"Guys," she began, but was cut off by Tucker.

"No. According to my PDA, we still have .23 miles to go."

"Guys," Emily tried again, but this time was interrupted by Sam.

"What is it with you and technology? You can't live without your PDA! Face it, Tucker, we're lost."

"No, we're not!" Tucker argued. The argument soon turned into a full-blown squabbling match. Emily raised her voice above the squabbling.

"GUYS!" she yelled. The argument quieted down until both Tucker and Sam were looking at Emily expectantly.

"Thank you!" Emily said in exasperation. "If you'd just stop fighting for one second you would have seen that we're already there!" She pointed down below them. Tucker and Sam looked where she was pointing.

There, below them, stood the Masters Mansion. It looked dark and evil, with a shadow falling over it. By this time it was evening, and the first stars were starting to appear in the sky, but there were none over the Masters Mansion. It was just a curtain of darkness. Emily took a deep breath.

"OK." she said firmly, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "Let's go."