I'm baffled by how during days when I'm doing literally nothing else I can barely manage 1500 words, and then when I spend half the day working on lesson plans and syllabi I still write 1500 words. What gives? Does this happen to anyone else? Am I wasting that much time surfing the internet?

Anyway, I have a couple of questions for you guys.

1) Would you like me to post whenever I finish a chapter, or build a buffer? Pro to the first option is that you'll get things faster. Pros to the second option are that I'll have more time to think about errors, and updates might be more consistent.

2) If I posted some original fiction work on fiction press, or something, would any of you be interested in reading it? I'm not saying that I'm going to do that, just that I might.

Answers for you:

StormFen: YES. ABSOLUTELY.

.

.

.

Chapter 58: Inescapable

.

Vlad was no longer angry, but he was annoyed. He had been searching the Ghost Zone for hours and hours, and he had yet to uncover any sign of Daniel. Where could the child be? Vlad knew that whatever new idiocy Jack had come up with had torn open a temporary portal, and that such portals could lead anywhere, usually they followed some logic. Usually a portal opened in Amity Park would appear in Amity Park equivalent space in the Ghost Zone, or at least somewhere nearby. Vlad hadn't had nearly enough time to explore every such location, the Ghost Zone folded in strange ways, even discounting all the doors, but he'd explored a great many of them, starting with those closest to the school. He had set the vultures to the task. He had recruited Skulker. He'd even scoured Sidney Poindexter's lair, for all the good it had done him.

At this rate, he'd start running into GIW goons.

To top it all off, Vlad was beginning to suspect that he was being followed. He kept seeing figures out of the corners of his eyes. The same figures. Four of them. Three with wings, the other with too many arms.

Now, Vlad wasn't what anyone would call a good person. Even he wouldn't call himself a good person. He wouldn't label himself as evil, of course. As he had told Daniel long ago, all he ever wanted was love. Perhaps he had done a great many... distasteful things in his life time, but he had always been careful to stay on the correct side of ghost law.

Even so, he had made an effort to learn who he might have to fight against, if someone took exception to one of his less laudable acts.

He was certain that he would win, but this wasn't a fight he wanted to waste time or effort on.

No matter. He knew a shortcut. He could loose them. He knifed right, behind a small floating island, and threw open the door he found there. It lead not to a lair, but to a different part of the Zone. He dropped to his left, changing his perception of 'down' with the ease of years of practice. This was often faster than simply flying, took no energy, and left little to no trail to follow.

He touched down on a larger island, and vanished into the feathery trees that adorned it. There was another door here, and he went through. This door lead into a set of ruins, the last remains of a once-great realm. Vlad turned human to avoid the traps that grew like weeds in such places, and padded through the halls. He doubted that, even if the four ghosts tracked him through the doors, they would be able to follow him through the ruins.

Pleased with himself, Vlad strolled straight through the walls. There was, of course, still the problem of why they were searching for him, but Vlad was more than prepared to put that problem to the side while he searched for Daniel, and he needed the victory.

He emerged from the last wall into the green-white light cast by the Ghost Zone sky. His eyes adjusted rapidly, to reveal the presence of a winged figure.

She smiled toothily at Vlad, her braids swinging over the shoulder pads of her riot gear. "You didn't really think that'd work, did ya?"

.

.

.

"Who are you and what do you want?" demanded Vlad, perched on a floating bit of rock, nursing what was probably a broken arm.

"For serious?" asked the girl with the ponytail, and the red dress. "I thought you were s'posed to be, like, smart or something."

Vlad growled, low and deep in his throat. How dare these three who chose, for some ineluctable reason to emulate air-headed valley girls, who could hardly form a coherent sentence, insult him? So what if they had managed to beat him? If he had been in ghost form to start with, they would never have won!

"Hey, calm down there, kiddo," said the most normally dressed of the three, hands on her hips. "We aren't after you. We just wan' you to answer some questions, appear in court, that kinda thing. Give us some info, give Addy's cuz some info, y'know?"

"Assume I do not. Enlighten me," said Vlad, his voice cold.

"Ancients, you sound like my aunt, and not the fun one," complained the four-armed ghost, using her free hand to sweep back her starry hair.

"Which is kinda rich of you, seein' as you're the one who started the fight," said the ghost who wore body armor.

"I did no such-"

"Oh-kay," said the four-armed ghost, bringing the incipient fight to a screeching halt. "Let's do introductions, okay? Let's start with that, since it's, you know, the least common denominator as far as politeness goes. Okay?" She got nods from her compatriots, and a glare from Vlad. She snorted. "Well, we all already know who you are, Vlad Masters-Plasmius, formerly Vladimir Vasiliovitch Pavlov. Yeah, Libra has a file on you three inches thick. You do know what Libra is, right?"

"Yes," said Vlad, shortly, taken aback by how the girl had rattled off his full name.

"Cool. So, I'm Adrestia the Inescapable," she said, making, to Vlad's extreme consternation, 'finger guns' at him, "bountyhunter. This is my crew, my squad, my fam away from fam. The one in red is Tess."

"But you might know me better as Tisiphone," said the indicated girl, baring her teeth.

"Then that's Alex in the riot gear."

"That's Alecto to you, though," said Alecto, crossing her arms.

"And, last, certainly not least, and most patient of the three is Meg."

"Hey," complained Tisiphone, "I can be patient. D'you know how long it take to put these braids in? Meg's got just the one!"

"Tess, your hair braids itself."

"That's not the point!"

"Isn't it, though?"

"Don't go sneaking away on us, Plasmius," said the last girl, Meg. Curses, Vlad had thought that all four of them had gotten absorbed in their internal dispute, but it made sense that 'Meg' would be the one to notice him, if she was who he thought she was. Megaera, the jealous one. The envious and jealous often had sharp eyes. He was one who would know.

"Anyway," said Adrestia, "to business. Meg, write this down. You know Phantom, right?"

"Yes," admitted Vlad. There really wasn't a point denying it. He had been looking for Daniel all day, and any of the ghosts he had encountered could confirm it.

"And you know Jack and Madeline Fenton?"

"Yes," said Vlad again. Where was this going? Could Daniel be in Libra custody? He almost smacked himself. Of course Jack's bumbling and the idiocy that Daniel's class clung to like a spar in a shipwreck had caused an incident. They probably had asked a ghost what they had died of, or something equally moronic. Daniel was probably finally reaching out to Vlad as the only person who could extract him and Maddie from this mess!

"Have you ever known Jack or Madeline Fenton to harm or attempt to harm Phantom physically or emotionally?" Adrestia sounded like she was reciting the question from memory.

Vlad blinked. He opened his mouth to categorically deny any such an allegation, then snapped it closed again when he realized that, not only could he not do so, but that he had, on occasion, instigated incidents that had resulted in exactly that. His eyes narrowed. "What is this about?"

"You've been mentioned by others in connection to Phantom several times," explained Adrestia. "We heard that you offered to adopt him, but were rejected because of obsession incompatibility."

"There's nothing incompatible about our obsessions!" objected Vlad. "The child is simply too loyal to that oaf he calls a father. He doesn't understand that the man destroys everything and everyone he touches." Vlad would have said more on his least favorite subject, but he could recognize an evasion when he saw one. "But that doesn't explain why you four are running around asking about Phantom."

Adrestia regarded him coolly, but then nodded. "Libra's thinking about bringing a case against Jack and Madeline Fenton," she answered.

"What- Against humans?" Then he groaned. "What did they make?"

"According to one witness, a weapon that forces the Dead to relive what made them that way. Normally we wouldn't go after humans for murder, it really isn't any of our business. The problem is who they used it on."

Vlad felt his blood drain from his already-pale face. "No... They wouldn't have."

"That's what we're trying to establish. It'd be a lot easier if we could figure out where the portal Phantom opened came out, and we could interview the primaries, but, hey, we've got to work with what we've got. Which is you right now. So, if you could help us out here, and answer our questions, it'd be appreciated."

Vlad sighed. "Could you repeat the last one?"