Danielle was back at the park after she got out of detention. The sunlight should help her see the place where the other ghost had appeared and to find whatever he had hidden in that rock. Of curse, this could have been easier if three portals hadn't suddenly appeared in the area, making a bunch of annoying ghosts haunt the park.

Since when could three bigass portals open at the same time in the same area?

"I swear, Danny!" She murmured to herself while she flew around the area looking for more wild ghosts (after trapping three ecto-squids in her termos). "If you've been a ghost all this time, and you've been taking a vacation while I take care of all the ghosts, I'm gonna be so mad-OUCH!" She exclaimed as she collided with a big beach umbrella. "Starting with whoever this guy is…" The girl complained, this time actually paying attention to the person lying on the ground. "You again?!"

"Sorry…!" She heard the boy apologize. "Not everyone can just be intangible at will, miss Ghost-hero" The ghost girl was taken aback when she heard the retort.

"Wha-?" Long sleeves, hood, umbrella…? She recognized this fella. "Aren't you the…?"

"Please, don't say 'Vampire Boy', I prefer Night Owl, thank you very much". A slightly unnerved expression accompanied that comment.

"S-Sorry…" She answered, still a little dumbified."I just… Uh, the nickname kind of stuck more than your actual name…"

"Is it really that difficult to remember Engel Daniels? Sure Engel is an uncommon name but Daniels isn't" Dani smirked at his distress, a familiar feeling nagging in the back of her head.

"You gotta admit it sounds cooler, and it just rolls out of the tongue" She kept teasing the poor victim of her lack of attention. "So… you're taking a walk...?"

"I wanted to come to the park" He answered as he picked himself up, "my sister said it was ok as long as I took this thing with me…" He pointed to the umbrella. "Sometimes I just want to see things during the day" He explained. "I mean, I love starry nights as much as everyone, but some greenery is also welcome"

"Oh!" The girl exclaimed as realization came to her "It was you! I'm sorry about the other day." The girl quickly apologized as soon as the other finished. "It had been a tough day and I… I was rude to you, you didn't deserve it"

"Don't sweat it. My days would be tough too if I was related to a fallen hero" Engel pointed, understanding (or trying to) .

"Please, don't call my sibling that" Danielle pleaded with a sigh. Danny was not a fallen hero, he had just happened to die while still being a hero (and, although she had just admitted to have had a bad day, her heroic career was not even close to how it had been for Danny). And she knew she had it easy with Lancer giving her extra assignments, her parents helping contain other ghostly threats, and Valerie doing ghost hunting at night, in addition to Sam, Tuck and Jazz being there to back her up).

"Sorry. Do you miss him?" Awkwardly asked the pale boy.

"Sometimes I do, most of the time I'm mad at him for leaving so soon and leaving me to deal with pesky ghosts alone" The ghost girl tried to joke, but melancholy visibly invaded her.

"Are you ok?"

"It's nothing, I just… I'm still wondering what happened with him. I mean, if ghosts can actually die… I'm sorry, it's a very complicated subject and all..."

"Well…" the boy answered, even when Dani had implied an answer wasn't needed " I'm not an expert, but a ghost is a person that died and had unfinished business that made them stay, right?" The boy interrogated.

"Yes, we're on the same page there"

"Ok, I heard that an exorcism was referred to as 'the dead's death', but it didn't actually, you know, kill-destroy-evaporate-them-into-nothingness." He explained. "But what it did was liberate them from whatever that bound them to the plane of the living" Danielle listened, not sure she wanted to know what he would say next. "This might sound a little crude, but it was like force the ghosts continue their journey to wherever-people-are-meant-to-go-when-they-die. Of course, if all ghosts were like the Canterville ghost, it would be easier and less The Exorcist scary"

"The what-ghost?"

"Uh, Canterville Ghost? You've never read that story? The whole deal with the ghost was, to put it simply, that he was bored and the only fun he had was scaring people. At the end, the girl finds out the reason of it all was that he couldn't open the cemetery gates to rest in peace."

"Ok… that's kind of random." Danielle commented with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, the author pretty much put up a Deus Ex Machina… I think I have a better example. Some time ago I was looking through some newspapers in the library and found something about a fire about ten years ago:

One of those big houses in a rich neighborhood, big garden, piscine, the whole show. Everything burnt to a crisp. The fire was difficult to contain, but the neighbors were all convinced the house was the only thing to be worried about, since the family had the habit of leaving for a camping trip every year. However…"

"There was someone in there?" Predicted the ghost girl, entwined with this tale that she could swear was being projected in the back of her head.

"Yep. The eldest daughter died". He affirmed with a pinch of sadness. "The mother of the girl said her daughter had signed up her band for a music competition that weekend, and had been practicing the entire week, she had practically begged them to let her stay home just so she could audition. Coincidentally, the firefighter department said it was a short circuit in the garage what provoked the fire. The mother also mentioned her daughter's only dream was to play for the whole world to see and having the crowds calling her name." The boy with bicolor eyes paused for a moment. "I suppose her unfinished business would have to do with: her audition or the people calling her name in a great concert or something like that. Maybe she's out there with her guitar, still burning… Sounds like our local rocker ghost, doesn't it?"

"Ember?!" Danielle exclaimed not believing what she had deduced.

"Yep, her".

"But she already did that once. Live broadcast, mental control… If what you're suggesting is real, why didn't she, you know, go away, then?"

"I really doubt she remembers, but it certainly has something to do with her constant hunger for more and more fame and attention." The other kept talking as if he was connecting dots himself "Maybe she has a vague idea about her dream being her unfinished bussines, but she doesn't really know a thing. I really doubt she remembers even her own mother. Perhaps, by reminding why ghosts do what they do, they would be freed from this world and go away... "

"Ok, stop". Danielle intervened, her mind three seconds away of being blown "Let me see if I got this right: ghosts have unfinished business, sometimes they forget what those issues are, but unconsciously do stuff that has to do with 'finishing them'…and by being reminded of their unfinished business they - I repeat: unconsciously- want to finish, they could realize they've already finish them… and they, as stereotypically shown in movies, need help to go away? So, we could, basically, get rid of ghosts permanently by… giving them therapy?"

"That's a way of seeing it" He shrugged. "It might seem like dying all over again, since we don't know where people go when they die." He paused and Danielle used those few seconds to try and make that theory fit among her knowledge about ghosts. "I'm pretty sure your brother didn't just go puff, and out of existence. He's probably out there, but not like ghost-ing as he usually did… am I making any sense?"

"Probably not, but thanks" She smiled. "Sorry about bumping into you again"

"It's fine, falling on my butt is not as life threatening as a day in the beach for me." He looked around and, after making sure the sun was low enough, he closed his umbrella and carried it over his shoulder. "I should get back home. It's my turn for making dinner."

"Nice talk, Mr. Night Owl" She said and looked in the direction he went. Danielle now understood what Sam and Tuck had said the other day. This guy really resembled Danny a lot, from his way of speaking to his sarcasm. Except his eyes, of curse, they seemed be mostly hazel, but parts of blue could be seen too. It was very odd, that color combination reminded her of-

"RED LIKE ROSES…"

Her phone rang and got her out of her thoughts.

"Hello…?"

"Finally! I've been trying to reach you for 30 minutes, young lady!" Tuck practically yelled, urgency implicit in his voice and blasts could be heard in the background.

"What's going on?!"

...