Chapter One
Kauffman Apartments, April 19, 2006
Beep . . . beep . . . beep . . .
There was a loud bang as Valerie shoved her fist down on her alarm clock, ungraciously causing a dent. "Stupid alarm . . ." she muttered under her breath, climbing out of bed and staggering over to her closet.
Straightening up a bit, and ineffectively attempting to press out a few wrinkles on her nightgown with her hands, she opened it up, revealing a lineup of her usual outfits. Choosing the one directly in front of her, she slipped it on, running downstairs.
Valerie saw her father sitting at the table, reading a newspaper and sipping some coffee. She slid in in front of Damon. "Morning, Dad. What's for breakfast?" she greeted.
"Fried eggs, pancakes, and toast."
Val blinked, smiling. "What's the occasion?"
Damon shrugged. "There isn't one."
She tilted her head, but didn't think much of it. "How long until it's ready, then?"
"Five minutes, if Danny doesn't mess up like yesterday . . ."
"Wha? What's Danny doing here? And he wasn't here yesterday."
Her father lowered his newspaper and looked at her. "Are you feeling all right, sweetie?"
"Yeah . . . why?" Valerie asked, confused.
"Danny's always with us."
Raising an eyebrow, Valerie peered at her father. "Is this part of another elaborate plan to get me to stop hunting ghosts?"
Damon scowled, narrowing his eyes. "What's this about you hunting ghosts?"
"Huh?" Valerie said, then thought. Nice try, Dad. "Oh, nothing, Dad. Just a stupid game I play."
His face softened, and he raised his paper again. "Okay . . ." He also seemed to have forgotten about Valerie's curiosity about Danny 'always being with them'. "Oh, yeah, we're going back home tomorrow. The renovations are almost done."
. . . What?
"Dad, this is our home."
Damien put his newspaper on the table again. "Is this part of your game, Val?"
"Uh . . . yeah . . ."
If this all was normal, and she was psycho, or something, Valerie didn't want anyone to know it. You can't hunt ghosts locked in an asylum.
"Okay, then." This man trusted her way too much.
Valerie heard footsteps, and she leaned over and looked behind her father. "Danny?" she asked incredulously.
Meanwhile . . .
(normal universe)
"Believe me, Mo - I mean Maddie, I'm not doing anything! And if I was, why would I bring her to you?"
This was infuriating. That pathetic little half-breed ghost was going on as if she was acting weird. She'd run into him on the way to school, and demanded to know what he was doing.
After he'd explained, and she'd reacted (completely reasonably, she assumed), he'd taken her to the Fentons' house, and tried to explain to them that she was acting insane.
No, insane was a completely servile half-ghost boy who'd been disowned by his family running to them and saying that his mistress was completely nuts.
This was insane. Very insane.
"Explain to this miserable ghost that I own him, and you disowned him two years ago."
Jack and Maddie were torn between pointing their Fenton Bazookas at Danny and gazing hesitantly at Valerie.
"Valerie . . . I really don't know what you're talking about."
Blinking, Valerie scratched the back of her head. "Are you playing with me, Mrs. Fenton?"
"No, dear. I think we should call your father . . ."
"No! There's nothing wrong with me!"
"Valerie . . ."
Val gave a low growl and ran out the door. "There's nothing wrong with me!" she yelled.
"Gee, when did she get so bratty?" Danny asked, rhetorically.
Maddie glared at Danny, and he looked down at himself, blinked, and grinned sheepishly for some reason. "I'm going, I'm going . . ."
He flew through the wall, and off to do . . . whatever it was ghosts did.
"Valerie!" the ghost called after her. Still fuming, Valerie ignored her 'slave,' and continued running, until she stopped and started panting.
"Leave me alone, Danny! I don't want to hear your sass!"
She'd say it a million times, really, if the person she was talking to wasn't too far down the social food chain. This was insane. Really, really insane.
"Just listen to me! Either there's something really wrong with you or . . ." he stopped in mid-sentence, seeming to realize something. "I'll see you later," he said suddenly.
Flying off as fast as he could, Danny left Valerie's presence. Her energy suddenly returning, she dashed off in the direction of her mansion . . .
Which, as it turned out, wasn't there. But that was even more insane. Her father had it commissioned a manor to be build right there, a year ago, after he became CEO of the security company for which he worked.
Valerie collapsed to her knees. "What the heck is going on?" she wailed. She saw her friend Paulina approaching, and she stopped crying, standing up and brushing her skirt off. "PAULINA! My mansion's gone and even the Fentons are saying I don't own Danny . . ."
Paulina carefully meandered around Valerie. "Freak . . ." she said, disgusted.
Valerie shut her eyes, breathed deep, and turned around to face the empty plot of land where her house should be.
Opening her eyes, she realized it still wasn't there.