Chapter 54:

.

Paulina ran off after the first visible light, one that Sam knew perfectly well was a wisp. Sam, on the other hand, didn't bother to move at all.

"Sam," said Valerie. "Do you know where he went?"

"He didn't go anywhere," said Sam. "Isn't that right?"

"Ah, but you know me so well," said Mirage, reappearing, this time in human guise. His dress was still somewhat archaic, but much simpler. His feet were firmly planted on the floor. Sam thought that his skin was a little more translucent than Danny's, though, and that his hair was a little more windswept than Danny's usually was. But that could just be her imagination. "Or, maybe," continued Mirage, "I should say that you know Phantom well. I've only existed for a couple hours, after all."

"So," said Valerie, "Phantom is Danny's copy."

"Ah, unfortunately, that's the second mark against you."

Valerie scowled. "Where did you send Paulina off to, anyway?"

Mirage made a humming sound, then something like a pair of harmonicas and a tuba, "is just going to lead her back to the cabins. She'll be fine."

"Who?"

"The wisp she caught sight of," clarified Mirage. "Now, it's our turn. Sam, do you want to ask the question?"

"You know about Vlad," said Sam.

Valerie's mouth fell open. "You know about Vlad?"

"That would be a yes," said Mirage. "Your turn."

"Danielle isn't actually your cousin."

Mirage's smile faltered. "She might as well be."

"But she isn't."

"No," said Mirage, shortly. Sam winced. This was a sore spot for Danny and Ellie, and, apparently, it was a sore spot for the shadows as well. Then, something occurred to her.

"D- Mirage. Is Ellie connected to this lair too?" she asked.

Mirage looked at her, surprised. "I don't know," he said. His eyes got a kind of distant, unfocused look to them. "That would be nice, though, wouldn't it? Or, oh, I think that some people combine their lairs. Maybe we could double up if she winds up having her own lair? I don't know how that works, though." He frowned, thoughtfully. "I bet that Clockwork knows."

"Was that story about the apocalypse true?"

"Statements, Valerie, that's the rule."

Valerie made a face. "That story about the apocalypse is true."

"Unfortunately."

"But it was all Phantom, wasn't it? Danny was just covering for you. For Phantom."

"It's a matter of perspective. But Danny wasn't covering. So, that's a third mark." He smiled, gently. "You should be careful about Vlad, though, Valerie. He's not the worst, but he can be dangerous."

"I don't need you to tell me that," snapped Valerie. "And you should take off the disguise. It's creepy."

Mirage shrugged, and the image of Danny and the medieval clothes peeled away, leaving Mirage in Phantom's form, complete with his typical suit. "Is this better?" he asked.

"I guess," said Valerie.

"But you aren't satisfied."

"Not on your life."

"Good thing I don't have one! But maybe you'd like to play something else?" He laughed, but stopped suddenly, mid-chuckle. "You guys don't think that I was too hard on Paulina, do you? I didn't want to hurt her feelings."

"Gosh, no," said Sam.

At the same time, Valerie said, "She needs to grow up."

"Oh. Alright, then," said Mirage, clearly surprised. "So, Sam, you pick the game."

"Gin rummy," said Sam, almost automatically. "What?" she demanded, noticing the look Valerie was giving her. "It's a game," she said, defensively.

"Yeah, Valerie, it's a game. Do you know how to play?"

"I know how to play poker," said Valerie.

"Eh, it's similar. More fun, though. We can teach you."

"Okay, okay, hold it. I'm not playing cards with you. Do you even have cards?"

"Then what will you play? Or would you like me to show you the way back? And," he added, contriving to look offended, "of course I have cards. Lots of cards. I even have some full decks."

"You'd better be playing with a full deck," said Sam.

"But it invites chaos, and Chaos can be so much fun," said Mirage.

"Bring that up and you're Doomed."

"Am I missing something here?" asked Valerie.

"Nothing you're not meant to," said Mirage. "If you don't want to play gin, why don't we-"

At that moment, a bright white light zoomed into sight, keening. Mirage raised his hands to cup the little wisp. "What's wrong?" he asked. He sang a few bars of music. The wisp responded, and Mirage hissed. "She what?"

He looked up, sharply, into the trees. A single, sharp tooth peeked out from between his lips. There was a crash of foliage and a girlish shout. Paulina ran out from around a tree.

Sam's mouth dropped open. How the heck had Paulina gotten back here? She would have to put the puddle a few places higher on the 'threat' scale, what with her insane obsession and intermittent bursts of surprising competence.

"I found you, my love," said Paulina, swooning.

"Paulina Sanchez," said Mirage coldly. "I will tolerate a lot of things. I will not, however, tolerate you threatening my friends, or people under my protection."

"What?"

"Apologize," demanded Mirage.

"I- I'm sorry?"

"Not to me. To-" he used the same harmonica-and-tuba sound that he had made earlier. He glared at Paulina expectantly.

"Um. I'm sorry," said Paulina, making a show of contrition.

"You'd better be," mumbled Mirage, looking away. He sighed. "I guess you can play with us, too, but you have to be kind. Okay? Do you even know what that means? Don't answer that." He pouted.

"You guys are getting better and better at copying Phantom, aren't you?" said Sam, contemplatively.

Mirage beamed. "You think so?" he asked. "I try. We each have our strengths. You should see Mirror." He leaned forward conspiratorially, whispering to Sam. "He's even better. I don't think he likes to play quite as much, though. Anyway," he continued, straightening, ignoring Paulina's incensed gaze, "how about we play Doubt? You all know how to play that, right?"

Valerie and Paulina stared blankly at the shadow.

Sam rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "It's sometimes called BS."

Comprehension dawned in the two girls' features, while Mirage flinched.

"What," mocked Valerie, not entirely unkindly, "don't like swearing?"

"This is the Ghost Zone," said Mirage. "The Infinite Realms. The Spirit World. Underhill. Dreamland. Faerie. Words and names have meaning, can have power, here. Especially if people think they do." He shifted uncomfortably. "Words considered curses... I don't want to take the risk. But you do know how to play?"

Paulina nodded, almost hesitantly. Valerie said, "Well, yeah."

Mirage grinned, and there was suddenly a pack of cards in his hands, then two, then three, all with different colors and patterns. Sam squinted at the fourth one. Was that a tarot deck? The heck?

Did Mirage know how to play Doubt? Because it was looking doubtful.

Ugh. Danny was rubbing off on her, if she was using that kind of pun.

"What are we playing for?" asked Valerie, crossing her arms.

"What would you like to play for?"

"I want to know the real story behind the whole apocalypse thing," said Valerie, "and I want to know the relationship between Danny and Danielle."

"Pick one," said Mirage.

"Wait," said Sam, "you're actually going to go along with that?"

"I won't say anything that he wouldn't," Mirage reassured her. "What would you like, if you win, Sam?"

Sam frowned. "Do you have any more Stygian waters?" Could she get Valerie to make some kind of binding promise?

"Unfortunately, no. Have you decided yet, Valerie?"

"Tell me about the apocalypse," said Valerie, finally, seemingly pained by her decision.

"Alright," said Mirage. "Be aware that I will only tell you what happened in the original future time line, and that I will be sticking to what has been confirmed by multiple sources. The fact is, Phantom saw very little of what happened first hand. Do you still want to go that route?"

"You're trying to wiggle out, ghost," accused Valerie.

"Maybe," agreed Mirage.

"Then tell me about Danny and Danielle."

"Okay," said Mirage. "So, Sam?"

Sam glanced at Valerie. She doubted that she could get the angry girl to make a promise that she'd actually keep if push came to shove. On the other hand, this would be a good opportunity to humiliate Paulina. She winced at her internal wording. That wasn't quite what she wanted to do. She just wanted the other girl to stop harassing her and her friends. A bit of payback would be nice, though, all things considered. "If I win, you two have to leave Phantom alone," said Sam.

"Fine," said Valerie.

"What?" shrieked Paulina.

"You have to agree," said Mirage, concealed glee slipping into his tone, "or you don't get to play."

"Fine," said Paulina, with significantly less grace than Valerie. Then her entire attitude changed, and she fluttered her eyelids at Mirage. "Then, if I win, I want Phantom to take me on a date."

"No," said Mirage.

"But-"

"I can't and won't make promises for Phantom. Pick something else."

"Then, you take me on a date."

"I can't leave the lair, and I doubt that you can get here on your own."

"Then," said Paulina, pouting, "I want you to kiss me!"

Mirage sighed, long and hard. "Fine," he said, a slight frown playing over his features. "Now," he said, eyes regaining a mischievous glint, "if I win, you all have to do a cannonball in the big pool!"

"What?" said Sam. "That's what you want?"

"Yes," said Mirage, hiding a grin behind a facade of seriousness. "That's what I want."

.

.

.

"So," said Jack, drawing out the word. "Are all lairs like this?" The walk so far, with two humans and two shadows, had been unbelievably awkward. The way Mirror looked, and acted, so much like Danny while making no effort to hide that he was not, in fact, Danny, was especially disconcerting to Jack and Maddie.

"I must confess," said Fractal, adjusting his glasses, "that we have limited experience with the lairs of others. I suppose that it depends on what you mean by 'like this.'"

"Well," said Jack, "I mean, are all lairs this big?"

"I think Clockwork's is," said Mirror, "but, other than that, the ones that Danny has seen are all smaller."

"I believe that there may be an inverse relationship between direct, active control of ones lair, and the size, as well," added Fractal. "Remember TV kid?"

"Oh, yeah," said Mirror, "TV kid."

"TV kid?" asked Maddie, trying to find her footing in the conversation.

"Yeah. Um. He didn't actually give Danny a name," said Mirror. "He- Danny- was looking for directions, and he opened the door to TV kid's lair. The lair was just the one room, but he had a lot of control over it." Mirror shrugged, and then turned his attention to hopping over a stream.

"And you call him TV kid because..?"

"That's what he was doing," said Fractal. "Watching TV." He paused. "There are a lot of ghosts that never leave their lairs once they find them, you know. Not all ghosts have social components to their obsessions."

"You want Danny to stay, don't you?" asked Maddie.

"I'm ambivalent," said Fractal.

"Echo does," said Mirror.

"There are pros and cons to the proposition," said Fractal. "You can't deny that he would be less likely to get injured here, but at the same time, he is very attached to Amity Park." The shadow shrugged. "You have to recall that Echo doesn't particularly like you. I think that he was half-hoping that you'd take things badly, and that Danny would stay."

"He was-" Maddie's eyes narrowed. "How closely connected to Danny are you, anyway?"

"We aren't parts of his personality, if that's what you mean," said Mirror.

"That said, he could undoubtedly act like any one of us, given proper provocation. But, as before, it would be better to think of us as needful things. We fulfill roles."

"It's in our names," said Mirror. "Like, Fractal's the smart guy, I'm here to give you a different way of looking at things, and Mirage is mostly there just to mess with people."

"And Echo?"

"Well," said Fractal, "we didn't exactly mean to make him, now did we?"

"Echo is a knee-jerk reaction to a massive amount of pain," said Mirror. "Not pretty, but true. Don't let him throw you off, though. Danny loves you, and even if it doesn't seem like it to you, what he's done here has been for your protection."

"Including making us sign a leonine contract?"

"D- Don't give us that. The agreement is fair, and we intend to follow through."

"Yeah, and if virtually any other ghost found out what kind of weapons you were making, they'd kill you," said Mirror. "Probably. Or report you, or something. Do something you wouldn't like, anyway."

"What happens if you break a Stygian oath?" asked Jack, abruptly.

"I hope you aren't planing on trying to break one," said Fractal, glancing over his shoulder.

"No," said Jack, "just curious."

"I don't know," said Fractal, looking forward again.

"How do you not know?" demanded Maddie.

"I don't know," said Mirror, "because we actually keep our promises? It's never come up."

"You've never broken a promise, even by accident?"

"I've only been around for a few hours, so, no. But for Stygian oaths, breaking a promise by accident doesn't count. You just have to try to keep it. And before you ask, Danny doesn't break promises either."

"Then how do you know Stygian oaths even exist?" asked Maddie with a little exasperation.

"Well, you took one, so I'd say they exist."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"No one that I know of has ever broken a Stygian oath," said Fractal. "Considering who and what I know of, that's really impressive. If it was possible to break one, it would have happened by now, and I'd know about it. Probably." Fractal sighed. They had reached the stairs. "You do know the rest of the way back?" he asked. Jack and Maddie nodded. "Okay. Good. We need to go take care of something."

Before Jack or Maddie could ask what they needed to do, the shadows vanished.