So, I know that it's weirdly late in the day for me to be posting, but I forgot to upload this before going to the all-day fundraiser at my church. I'm really sorry for faking you out like this.
iamtheartofcake: It doesn't really mean anything, except that I forgot to name that chapter. The chapter name is usually the last thing that I do.
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Chapter 46: Sleepless Night
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Danny had nightmares.
Danny was having nightmares.
He knew they were nightmares. He knew he was asleep, knew he was dreaming. He knew he was lying in bed, in the cabin in his lair. He could almost feel the sheets, Jazz trying to wake him up.
He hated this kind of nightmare. Well, he hated all kinds of nightmares, but being trapped like this was worse than he would think, if he had been told about it by someone else.
In the dream he was sitting on top of an open, freestanding doorway. Grey-green stone stretched beneath it in all directions. Above, the sky was overcast blue and beaten. Danny was wrapped in a long, dark cloak, and a sword was balanced across his knees. A long, golden arrow was plunged through his chest, and it stung with every breath.
As far as nightmares went, it wasn't especially disturbing. But, there were things to be done. Things he had to do. Here. Fire was on the horizon, the sky was burning. Dripping. Things were coming. Enemies in armor.
And he couldn't move.
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Lairs did not have minds, as humans would recognize them. They did not have thoughts. Not anymore than a computer would have thoughts. But they did have processes. Systems. Functions.
One such function was 'looking' outside the door. It used this to identify and pick up things to furnish its interior. Objects that the lair itself could not duplicate. Food, clothing, clocks, knives... all things picked up from the void of the Infinite Realms.
But, right now, it was using that function, that ability, to watch something else. Someone else. Several someones else. It wasn't particularly pleased about this development, inasmuch as it could be pleased or displeased about anything. The men and women who now floated outside the door on odd, white and camouflage scooter-like vehicles were not ones that the lair intended, inasmuch as the lair could intend anything, to welcome.
"Agent Alpha," greeted began one of the men.
"Agent Beta. Report?"
"Phantom's ectosignature is definitely coming from behind this door," said Agent Beta.
"Agent Nu?"
"We are also detecting multiple 'real world' signals on our radar, sir. The targets are definitely inside."
Agent Alpha nodded, and pulled a radio set from the dashboard of his vehicle. "This is Agent Alpha-Eurydice, calling Alpha-Orpheus, and Alpha-Inanna. Over."
"Alpha-Orpheus receiving, over."
"Alpha-Inanna receiving, over."
"We have reached a door. We believe that the targets are inside. Alpha-Inanna, please advise. Over."
There was a beat of silence. "Team Inanna will continue to target prime. Team Orpheus will join Team Eurydice, to set up camp at the door, then Team Eurydice will enter and eliminate secondary targets, then call back to Team Orpheus to acquire the tertiary targets. Agent Alpha-Orpheus is in command in event of radio-contact loss with Team Inanna. Over."
"Understood, over."
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He woke up and decided his name was Shade. This was a simple decision. Other decisions would be harder. Sharper. He sat up, peeling himself off the roof, and ran a hand through his hair. Short. He plucked a hair out. Black. Interesting.
Below, people walked the streets, in and out of the empty doorways. Peaceful. He breathed in, breathed out. A moment to savor. These were the people who had been welcomed. Who had come through the door, and lived in harmony. These were the people they should protect. Who had been protected.
Plane disappeared in Bermuda, hikers lost in the forest, people vanished from locked rooms. Danny had always wondered where they went, the people who fell into the Infinite Realms. Clockwork never told him. This couldn't be all of them, though. No more than a fraction.
Still. Shade was happy. Looking at them. He smiled, faintly, the expression foreign on his new face. The expression faded when he remembered the men outside. He would need more than his fists if he were to fight them off. He'd need weapons.
Well, there was a workshop in the lair. The weaponry that had been removed from his parents had probably made its way there by now, too. Perhaps he should find his own way there. He looked to his left. Another shadow was already forming there. Shade nodded, and blinked out of existence.
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Anthony Trent, the mayor of Harmony, formerly copilot of AquillaAir Flight 221, stared up at the roof. Life in Harmony could be weird, as the last two years had shown him, his passengers, and all the other people who had wandered (or had been led) into the odd sanctuary. An unfamiliar naked teenager sitting on the roof of the Door Building was a different kind of weird.
But when he blinked, the boy was gone. Anthony frowned, and scanned the sparkling, rippling, midnight-fire sky, before returning his eyes to the roof. The Door Building was by far the strangest building in Harmony, what with the UFO perched on its roof, and the only one that lead to the twisting, green Outside. Maybe someone had come through? The Door was supposed to be guarded, though. Protected, in case something or someone unpleasant tried to come through. Anthony would have to have words with whoever had that duty today, and get someone to find that poor boy.
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"Do we really believe that there's a workshop on the other side of this library?"
"We've believed so much else," said Maddie, peering cautiously around a bookshelf. "Besides, if we obliged to him by that contract, he's obliged to us."
"So?"
"So if we get lost, he has to find us."
They hurried down another row of bookshelves. "I think I see it, Maddie!"
"Where?" asked Maddie, looking up.
Jack picked her up, and put her on his shoulder. "There," he said, pointing.
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Danny woke up with a start. "Heck," he said. He rolled out of the bed, thumping into the floor. Jazz had fallen asleep in a spine-bending position next to his bed. Danny winced. Danny looked around, found Sam, and then Tucker, tucked into their own beds. Jazz's bed looked slept in. He must have woken her up at some point in the night.
He hated those kinds of nightmares. He hated the sensation of being awake and aware, but not really. He hated that feeling of being trapped. Not that he particularly liked any kind of nightmare.
Something about this one, though... He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to remember. He gasped as his memory of the second half of the dream coalesced. Oh, this was not good. Not. Good.
"Jazz?" he said, shaking her shoulder. "I need your help. Please."
Jazz came awake quickly.
"What's happened?"
"Mom and Dad have gone to the workshop," said Danny.
"What? How'd you know?"
"I had a dream. And Shade- There's a new shadow, and I don't think that he's quite as in tune with the lair, and what's going on as the others and he was going there too, and- and he has black hair, he looks like human me and there's just- They're going to run into each other and they're figuring things out. What do I do, Jazz?" The litany was hissed at whisper-volume.
"Um," said Jazz, blinking. "That's- Well. Do you want Mom and Dad to figure things out?"
"I- Um. I don't know, Jazz. I- I don't want to wake Sam and Tucker to wake up."
"Okay," said Jazz, getting to her feet, and cracking her neck. "Maybe," she said, once they had left the cabin, "you could get Echo or Fractal to stop them? Or tell the other one?"
"Not really," said Fractal, pulling the appearing out of nowhere trick. "We can't make big changes to the lair, and I doubt we could stop them otherwise without it turning into a fight. Which we can't do. As for warning off Shade... What he's doing is important. He needs all the time he can get. I should actually be there, helping him." Fractal rubbed his arm, nervously.
"Why?" asked Jazz.
"There are Guys in White people in front of the door. At least, we think they're Guys in White. Some of them are in camo." He shifted uneasily. "I'm worried about the people in town."
"What town?" asked Danny, aghast. There was a town now? Was Fractal talking about Amity Park? Or something in the Ghost Zone? Did his door open up in a town?"
"Um," said Fractal. "Your lair is really, really big. Obscenely big."
"There's a town. Full of people. In here?"
"Yes. Mostly humans, a few ghosts."
"How? Why?"
"After seeing the library made of trees, you're asking how?"
"Fine. Again. Why?"
Fractal shrugged. "They needed somewhere to go. We- The lair- could only give them a place to be. So we did."
Danny sighed. "Okay. Great. Good to know that there are potentially hundreds more people in here, and also maybe the Guys in White. I'm going to go back to freaking out about the first problem now, because it looks like that's the only one that I can do anything about. What am I going to do about my parents?"
"I could bring you to them," said Fractal. "Or to the workshop."
"Okay, just- Let me think," said Danny, rubbing his eyes. "Are my eyes still green?"
"Yes," said Jazz. "A little."
"Okay," said Danny, squeezing them shut. He opened them. "How about now?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"No. Danny, are you going to tell them?"
"I- I think so," said Danny. "I think I have to."
"Do you want to."
"I don't know," whispered Danny. "I don't want to fight them anymore. I don't want to fight anyone anymore." He sniffled. "I want to rest. I want a break."
"Danny..." Jazz trailed off, her voice full of concern. "You know, we're here for you, right? Sam, Tucker, and I?"
"Not that kind of rest, Jazz," Danny said with a weak smile. "Like I said, that's not one of my problems. I'm just... tired of being hated."
"Okay," said Jazz. "I just worry about you." She looked at Fractal. "Can you bring me, too?"
Fractal shook his head. "I don't think that it would be healthy for you to travel like we do," he said. "You aren't connected like we are, like Danny is."
"It's okay, Jazz. I can do this. Really. I-" he faltered. "Take me to them, Fractal."
They vanished.
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Valerie Gray had been having trouble sleeping. She'd been lying awake for hours, tossing and turning in her bed. She'd finally summoned part of her suit, a combination ecto-scanner/listening device that was notoriously buggy, just to distract herself. It was supposed to pick up only ghosts, but it often homed in on humans, and, well, after accidentally eavesdropping on her neighbors one time too many, she had stopped using it.
She hadn't meant to overhear that whispered conversation. She hadn't even heard more than half of it. But what she had heard...
Well, it was more than enough to keep her awake for the rest of the night.
