Hello there. This is another short chapter. Sorry...
Thank you for reading!
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Chapter 106: Encounter on the Road
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"My, my," said a voice that Ellie knew too well. "I hadn't realized that you had grown so sensitive, my dear little ermine. Or perhaps it is I who has grown in power."
"Vlad," hissed Valerie, unhelpfully.
The ghost flickered into visibility in the middle of the crowd, causing some of the students to scream, and crowd to the edge of the road. With a lazy flick of his hand, Vlad called up a construct to push those few who were teetering back up onto the path. "I couldn't help but notice," continued Vlad, as if he hadn't nearly caused a disaster, "that you felt the need to reveal my secret to all these people."
"You could have stopped me," said Ellie, building up a charge of ectoplasm in her far hand, "seeing as you're this close and all."
"Oh? And how would I do that? I could never hurt my beloved daughter."
Ellie's eyes narrowed. So, this was a ploy to get on the good side of the court, to rack up points in the arena of public opinion. To convince them to give him Danny.
"What are you talking about?" asked Valerie, sounding utterly disgusted. "You tried to melt her."
"A misunderstanding," said Vlad smoothly, flicking a bit of imaginary dust off of his robe. "I had no idea that you were in such dire straits. I just wanted Miss Grey to bring you back home. I missed you."
Ellie could almost believe him. Almost. She wasn't as gullible as she had been. She'd been born two years ago, not yesterday.
"What do you want, Vlad?"
"To help, of course. Provided," he smiled sharply, "that you keep my secret. If it got out... Well, I couldn't be responsible for the consequences."
"Consequences?" asked Mia, voice thin.
"Yes. Consequences," said Vlad, examining the back of his glove. "You may note that I have quite a lot of power at my disposal, both, shall we say, temporal and spiritual. I generally prefer not to exercise it."
"You're not here to help," accused Valerie. "You're just here to take advantage!"
"Really, my dear, I-"
Danny groaned loudly, and Ellie was momentarily torn between continuing to glare at her 'father,' and rushing to Danny. Then Danny moaned again, and won out. To his credit, Vlad looked worried, too, and had the sense to stay back when Ellie hissed and Cujo growled at him.
Danny was rubbing his eyes with one hand, the other being occupied with holding onto Mr Lancer.
"Danny?" said Ellie, softly, not wanting to startle him. "Are you awake?"
"Waszgoinon?" He pulled back his hand. "Whozzere? 'Llie?"
"Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?"
"Nh," said Danny, pulling himself up. "Ow. Mier Lanner?"
"Danny, maybe you should lie back down," said the teacher, putting a steadying hand on Danny's back.
"Mhm," said Danny. "No. Something's wrong. Something-" His eyes focused as they swept over Vlad. "Vlad? Whatreyu doinere? What're- What're you doing- doing here?"
"I'm here to help, little badger. I heard that you were hurt, and lost, and came straight away to help."
"Really?" said Danny. He didn't sound nearly suspicious enough for Ellie's taste. He swayed against Mr Lancer, tucking his head into the bend between Mr Lancer's neck and shoulder. "Oh. Cujo. Hello. Good puppy. And hello my good buddies on my foot. You're so good and fuzzy."
"Daniel," said Vlad, sounding miffed that Danny had gotten distracted so easily.
"Hi Vlad," said Danny, he blinked once, twice, hard. "Whatcha doing?"
"I am here," said Vlad, "to bring you and your..." He trailed off frowning. "Where are your friends?"
"They're- They're-" Danny sat up straight, wide-eyed. "Ellie, where are Sam and Tucker? Where's Jazz?"
"They're fine, they're back in Elysium," said Ellie, trying to be soothing, shooting another glare at Vlad.
"Oh," said Danny. "Okay." He sounded somewhat more lucid now. "Ellie, where are we, how did we get here, and what's Vlad doing here?"
"Missing Theory, Spectra, and being a jerk," answered Ellie.
"That's not good," said Danny mildly. "Missing Theory is dangerous."
"I understand that," said Vlad, gliding closer, hands clasped behind his back. "That is why I am here, not being a jerk. I have come to take you, and your... classmates to a safe place."
"Ellie's already taking us to a safe place, though, and you tend to put price tags that are too big on your help," said Danny, tone still fairly neutral.
Vlad's lips twitched in annoyance. "Daniel, she is taking you to the Bends, and while it does operate under a truce, it is hardly a safe place."
"Safer than being with you," shot back Ellie. "Besides, I've been there tons of times, and it's perfectly fine."
"The Bends?" repeated Danny, quizzically. "Think I've heard of that..." he muttered, under his breath. "Why've you been there?"
"Well," said Ellie, "Vlad brought me there once. Then, after that, I thought that figuring out who I wasn't would help me figure out who I was."
Danny's lips moved silently as he processed that information. "Oh!" he said, suddenly. "The Digressed Tower! I've hear of that! That's the one that got set up to study psychology! That uses Sojurn's Doorknob and the Lethe to turn you into alternate reality versions of yourself and screw with your memory and stuff! That was mostly abandoned because the scientists couldn't remember the designs and plans that they agreed to outside when they were inside, and they all built different stuff, and made the floors do the wrong thing, and ran different experiments, and there wasn't any scientific rigor." He paused. "I was doing research for Jazz. Anyway, I think that has a bunch of permanent parties, now, on account of it being 'trippy.'" He smiled brightly, pleased with himself. "Clockwork hates that place!" His smile faltered, and his eyebrows went down. "Wait..."
"Hold it," said one of Danny's classmates, a blonde girl with a bob, "where are you taking us?" Several others made sounds of agreement, but they were all ignored.
"Yes," said Vlad, "so you see why it would be imprudent to bring humans to such a place. I, on the other hand, have several much more appropriate safe havens at my disposal."
"Nah, I think we're good," said Danny. "You can come with us, though. So can your friend."
Vlad's frown deepened, gaining a quality of concern. "My friend? Daniel, are you seeing double?" He glided forward, but stopped short when Cujo started growling again. "One of you check his eyes, I think he might have a concussion."
"Actually," said an entirely unfamiliar voice, "I think he is speaking of me."
