Fifty reviews! Thank you everyone for your positive feedback.

Just a heads up, I'm probably going to skip either tomorrow or Monday, and possibly both. Thank you for being understanding.

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Chapter 18: Deceptions

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"You get out of Danny right now."

Yeah. Danny should have seen that coming. "I can't."

Valerie scowled. "You expect me to believe that?"

Danny laughed brokenly. "It doesn't matter what you believe. I can't. You think I haven't tried? You think I want to be stuck like this?" Careful. Don't lie outright. "Does this look like a normal overshadowing?" He gestured at his ears, his eyes, his teeth. "You didn't even notice before, and you know you looked at his eyes. The best I can do is pull myself back. Let Danny drive." Danny noticed Valerie's unyielding expression, and sighed. She wasn't making this easy. "Look, we've dealt with this before."

"What?! When?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"It's true," input Sam.

"Shut up," said Valerie. "You've been covering for him. I thought you were Danny's friend."

Sam glared at Valerie. "I am Danny's friend. I have been covering for Phantom, but so has Danny. We have dealt with this kind of issue before. It isn't easy, but we do have the equipment to fix this back home."

"And what exactly is 'this kind of issue?'"

"Getting stuck."

"So... Is this something that happens to you, or something that happens to Danny?"

Danny bit his lip again. He wasn't sure what to say. What Valerie was asking was kind of like saying, 'is a maple a plant or a tree?' However, Sam was the one that answered. "It happens to Danny. When ghosts try to overshadow him, they either get kicked out right away, or weird stuff happens. Not always getting stuck, but that's happened a couple times." Wow. That was actually really creative. It was also true. Overshadowing did not work well on Danny, even when he was in human form. Poindexter, Danielle, and about half a dozen other ghosts could attest to that. The kinda-sorta body swap with Poindexter wasn't even the weirdest result.

(No, that honor belonged to an incident wherein Danny and another ghost managed to swap memories. Danny still had his human brain, so it didn't affect him that much, but the other ghost had been utterly convinced that he was Danny. Thank goodness it was temporary.)

Valerie's frown only deepened. "You knew this could happen, but you still possessed Danny?"

"It wasn't like it was a conscious decision," defended Danny. Great. Now he was feeling guilty for something he didn't even do.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Danny finally looked away from Valerie. "You have no idea what it's like."

"You said that before, what does it have to do with anything?"

"Have you- Have ever been scared? Like, really scared. Not like a phobia, but of something that you know is reasonable. Something that you have every reason to be frightened of. Something- Something that you thought you didn't have to worry about ever again but- Surprise!- you were wrong. You were so, so wrong, and you ran headfirst into it and it hurt you and you're hurt, and you can't think, and you can't even-" Danny took a deep breath. He was rambling. "I was scared. I wanted to hide, and I wasn't thinking."

"You're saying that it's just a coincidence that you pick the son of ghost hunters."

"I- That- I know Danny. I- I guess I thought he wouldn't mind? I don't- I don't know."

"Phantom's one of the ones who's helped Danny get back home," added Sam helpfully.

"Whatever. You said that you can pull back."

"Yeah."

"So who have we been talking to?"

"Danny, mostly."

"And when you ran off with Danny?"

"Um. I panicked. I knew I screwed up. And, um, I was kind of having a bad reaction to, um, being here. I've never been here before." Heck, too much information, too much information!

"But- This is your lair, how-?"

"I stay in Amity Park. And do you know how big the Ghost Zone is? People call it the Infinite Realms for a reason."

"What do you mean, this is his lair?"

Danny hadn't forgotten that Ricky and Mikey were there, but he was surprised that Mikey had asked anything, considering how much tension there was. "Um. A lair is a pocket dimension in the Ghost Zone that a ghost is subconsciously linked to."

"So you control everything here?"

"Uh, kind of?"

"So you can get us out?" asked Mikey, excitedly.

Danny shook his head. "It doesn't work like that."

"Why?" asked Ricky, clearly disappointed.

"Yeah, Phantom, why?"

"How much conscious control do you have over your dreams, even when you know you're dreaming? This is all subconscious." It certainly wasn't what he had expected his lair to look like, either. When he had thought about it, not a frequent occurrence, he had imagined something colder. "And I'm not exactly at my best right now."

Valerie made another face. Danny could feel her indecision. Literally. "What about these... things?" she nodded at the wisps. The wisps flickered and whistled, offended.

"They're will'o-the-wisps," said Danny. "They're harmless."

"I need more than that."

"They're, uh, the technical term is vassals. They're like remora. You know, those little fish? But for ghosts. They, um," he faltered at the blank look on Valerie's face. "They have symbiotic relationships with other ghosts. Vassalage. Like, they help other ghosts out, and in return, they live in their lairs and haunts and get protection and stuff. They aren't dangerous on their own. They usually aren't even tangible."

At that point, leader and the wisps that had gone with him, popped up from beneath the ground, all crowded together in a tight knot. They dispersed a moment later, leaving Valerie's blaster on the ground. Then gathered again at Danny's side, mumbling possessively.

"And they're here because?"

"Like I said, they live here, they're-"

"No, I mean, why did they just show up like this?" asked Valerie, picking up her blaster.

"Oh, um. I don't know. Got kinda distracted by all this. You going to shoot me or..?"

Valerie sighed through her nose. She looked at Sam. "You think that he's telling the truth about letting Danny be in charge?"

"I know he's telling the truth. It's hard to fake Danny's level of awkwardness."

Valerie looked back at Danny. "I'll do your truce. But if I say that I want to talk to Danny, you'd better let me talk to Danny."

"No problem," said Danny. Literally no problem. She was talking to him now. "Just... Hold off on telling the Fentons about this, if you see them."

"What? Are you more scared of them than me?"

"Yeah, actually. You've never killed me, so yeah. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to ask these guys what happened and why they decided to swarm again after last time."

When Danny turned his attention to the wisps, they gathered even closer to him. They didn't entirely understand what was going on. There was nearly infinite variety among ghosts. Danny was weird, but not unbearably so. They brushed up against his exposed skin like icy butterflies. Danny sighed, and sang to them, asking what had brought them there, what was wrong.

They answered.

Danny felt all the blood drain out of his face. "Oh, heck," he whispered. "Oh, no, no, no, no." He struggled to his feet, Sam helping him up.

"What did they say?" asked Sam.

"They, argh, it's hard to explain, we've got to go now, I'll explain on the way."

"Hold it!" said Valerie. "I want to talk to Danny first."

"Fine," said Danny. Whistled at the wisps, and the group split, half of them going on ahead. He shut his eyes, and pulled back the green light that he knew was flooding them. When the insides of his eyelids were no longer tinted green, he made a show of looking around and blinking, before blanching, and exclaiming, "Oh, jeez, we have to go right now!" He pulled Sam along with him, hoping that Valerie and the other two would come along. They should be able to keep up. He wasn't going very fast. Whatever had happened with those vines a few minutes ago, it had taken a lot out of him.

"Wait!" said Ricky. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"That's-" Danny was breathing heavily, which was rather worrying. He trilled a request for extra energy at the wisps. He needed it. "You ever watch Forbidden Planet?"

"Duh, it's a classic," said Mikey.

"Monsters from the id?"

"Yeah, like- like I said, it's a classic."

"Well," huffed Danny, "some things can do that- well, something like that to ghosts. And Dad- and Dad is making something that- that looks like one of those things, to these guys. Calling it a shadow thief, or something, it doesn't- doesn't translate well. Unless- Unless you want to be dealing with Phantom's monsters, we've got to get him to stop."

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Maddie was the first out of trees. The others followed quickly thereafter. Maddie, Dash, Kwan, and Mr Lancer all expressed relief at being out from under the trees.

Jazz didn't share in their relief. Something felt off. Wrong.

It took a few minutes to spot the others, but when they did see them, or, more specifically, Jack's great caution-orange bulk, they, or, more specifically, Maddie, Dash, and Kwan, ran up, exclaiming happily. Mr Lancer wasn't the kind of person to run unless he was being chased, and Jazz just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Badly wrong. She hung back.

"Maddie!" exclaimed Jack, loud enough to be heard even over the distance between him and Jazz. "You won't believe what I've done! You have to see this! Where's Danny?"

Maddie responded more quietly. Jazz cursed herself. She could have heard if she had been closer. It might have been important. But before her inner Danny could castigate her any more, she saw Tucker break off from the group, and come jogging towards her.

"Jazz, where's Danny?"

"We got separated. What's going on?"

"Argh. This is not good. You have to help me sabotage this thing, I've been trying, but Mr Fenton won't let me near it anymore."

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but there was a wisp here, and it didn't like it and it looks like the Ghost Catcher on steroids so I don't like it, please help me break it. It can't possibly be a good thing." He tugged her sleeve.

Jazz followed him. "Did the wisp say what it was supposed to do?"

"Yeah, but, well, my program isn't perfect. I have no idea what it was trying to tell me, beyond, you know, danger."

"Did Dad say what it was for?"

"I asked him, couldn't follow the explanation. Had something to do with an ancestor of yours?"

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"This is amazing, Jack!" said Maddie. "I can't believe you did this in just a few hours." She threw her arms around him, and kissed him. "We'll be able to pull Phantom out of Danny!"

"Yeah! That ghost will wish he never touched our boy!" Jack put his hands on his hips and nodded, smiling broadly. But then he faltered. "You'll check it for me, right? I'm not always good with calculations. If I got anything wrong..."

"Of course I'll check, dear." It was Maddie's turn to grimace. "This is our fault, though, isn't it? This is just what Danny was talking about earlier."

"I know, Mads, but we can fix this," said Jack, softly. "We just have to get Danny back, first."

"You're right. I just... I wish we'd used another weapon. What were we thinking, the Mortifier was completely untested... And now it's broken."

Jack blinked. "Broken?"

Maddie showed him the pieces. Jack frowned, but looked interested. "I think that we can actually incorporate some of these, to make the effect stronger."

Maddie blinked. "Of course! Here, and here!"

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing?"

"Jazz! Your father has built something that should pull Phantom right out of Danny!"

"Really?" asked Jazz, falsely bright, her eye twitching. "What if- What if Phantom has already left Danny?"

"Then this should still pull him right here!" said Jack, proudly.

"Once he's trapped, we can force him to take us home," added Maddie.

The twitch in Jazz's eye became more profound. "Are you sure that's really the best thing to do? I mean, giving him another reason to hate us."

"Don't worry, Jazzy-pants! We've got- Tucker! Get away from that!"

Tucker flinched, and put up his hands. "Sorry," he said, backing away.

Maddie and Jack began to work on the object. Jazz withdrew to where Tucker was standing. "Were you able to break it?"

"Wasn't even able to touch it."

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Jazz and Tucker tried several more times to either sabotage the device, or to distract the older Fentons from working on it. They even managed to recruit Mr Lancer in one attempt. It didn't work. Jazz was considering just straight up smashing the thing, and she knew Tucker was too, and damn the consequences, when Maddie suddenly straightened, smiling.

"That should be it, dear. Based on your ancestors' writings, well, this should work." She worried her lower lip. "I would have liked to test it in lab conditions first, but I suppose it would only work in a ghost's lair or haunt anyway." She smiled uneasily. "If I can have all of you back away a bit?" she called to the students, waving them off. Jazz and Tucker tensed, ready to run at the device as soon as they had an opening.

Before anyone moved very much, however, a series of crashes and snaps emanated from the treeline. A moment later Danny emerged, followed shortly thereafter by Sam.

"Stop!" he shouted, breathless. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"Hit the button!" yelled Maddie.

"No!" screamed Jazz and Tucker in stereo, lunging towards the device.

There was a flash of light.