Author's Note: I own nothing.

17 Learning On The Fly

Maddie woke shivering slightly. The fire had gone out and the cold was doing its best to make its way into her temperature regulating jumpsuit. She could only imagine how Dani was feeling. She'd given her the thicker of the two sleeping bags and had fed the fire a few times before she fell asleep. Dani was still in her shorts and t-shirt. Maddie stood stretching slightly to alleviate a few aches from sleeping on the hard ground. The remains of the fire were still somewhat warm, it couldn't have gone out too long ago. That was good. She didn't want Dani to freeze in the middle of the night. The night was moonless, so dark it was difficult to see without the fire. Maddie pulled her goggles on, they were equipped with night vision, since ghost fighting mostly took place at night. She clicked on the night vision and her heart nearly stopped.

Dani's sleeping bag was gone. Dani was gone. There was no sign of where her bag had even been. Dani was gone. Maddie couldn't breathe for a moment. Why would Dani leave the camp? They were in the middle of nowhere with nothing that they had found yet save Vlad and his chalet. It was downright freezing out here and Dani was still in her shorts and t-shirt, even though she seemed to have taken the sleeping bag with her. If it hadn't been missing too Maddie might have thought she was just going to the bathroom. But with the sleeping bag having vanished too Maddie was certain her daughter had wandered off on her own.

Before she could fully even begin to panic an unearthly howl split the silence of the night. Her heart dropped out of her chest. Nothing earthly made a noise like that. That was the kind of unnatural sound that could only come from a ghost. Maybe Maddie had been stupid not to take Vlad up on his offer to stay if only for the night. Maybe then Dani would be safe. She pulled her machete out of her boot and took off into the dark trees.

The night vision made all the difference allowing Maddie to dodge and dive around trees, roots and stones she never would have seen coming otherwise. She mercilessly slashed through the undergrowth desperately searching. If the ghosts found Dani first she was doomed. Maddie felt like kicking herself. It had been so stupid of her to not arm Dani. What the hell had she been thinking? She'd given Jazz a Fenton Peeler, why had she never armed Dani? The thought had crossed her mind but something always happened to the weapons she planned for Dani. Accidents in the lab weren't completely uncommon though, so maybe she just hadn't thought anything of it. But now she was regretting even asking Dani to come with her on this disastrous trip.

She had no idea how long she spent tearing through the trees when she heard them. The growling alerted her to them, there was a crowd of ghost moving through the trees, all animalistic, that was good. Humanoid ghosts were harder to deal with. Animalistic ghosts were easy to destroy. Above the noise of their grunting growls Maddie could barely make out the sound of frightened breaths. That was better. She pulled herself up into the tree limbs and scaled through the trees over the swarming ghosts. She managed to get just a bit ahead of them, spotting a figure in white barely keeping ahead of the ghost. Dani reached the tree Maddie was in and scrambled at the branches, screaming slightly as Maddie reached down and yanked her up into the trees; the sound only stifled when she spotted her mother as the culprit.

"Remind me later how much trouble you're in for leaving the campsite." Maddie said setting down her daughter on the branch. She handed her the machete and pulled a collapsible bo staff out of her belt, flicking it open. "I'll be right back."

Without another word Maddie leaped down into the fray. Her bo staff was treated with a thin coating of experimental ecto-resin. It seemed that her theory about the resin had been correct it let her touch the ghosts, and deal damage to them as well. It was enough to drive them off. Once they were gone Dani clambered back down the tree. The machete hung limp at her side.

"Wow that was really impressive." Dani stammered. Maddie took a good look at her daughter. What she saw wasn't great. Dani was shivering violently. She was covered in dirt, leaves and scratches, her shoes and ankles were spattered in mud. It looked like she'd been running for a while now. There was a large scrape on one of her knees and some scratches on her face. A growl behind Dani had her whirling, the machete in hand. Maddie made to leap around her daughter and take care of the threat, a large green bear with the horns like a mountain goat, but Dani swung the blade without hesitation. Green sprayed and the bear creature reeled back, Dani dancing backwards away from the flying ectoplasm as the bear toppled and dissolved. Maddie grabbed her daughter and pulled her into a hug.

"Are you ok sweetie?" Dani froze in her mother's arms then wrapped them around her in the biggest hug Dani had given Maddie in years. She buried her head in her mother's shoulder and held on for a moment. Maddie held on a little tighter and only released Dani when a rustle in the bushes caught her attention. She whipped her bow staff out striking the creature which hissed and dissolved.

"We need to get out of here. I hate to say it but there's really only one place we can go. Vlad's." Maddie pointed out. Dani pulled back.

"But he's my arch nemesis! I mean… He said all that bad stuff about dad." Dani floundered. Maddie nodded.

"Trust me I don't like it anymore than you do, but it's safer than staying out in the woods. And since for some reason the ghosts are focusing on you this should help." Maddie slipped off her belt. "I know the Specter Deflector isn't exactly your style but it'll keep you safe." She said as she clicked the key in the belt. She handed Dani the bo staff and took the machete, slipping the key onto her belt. They made their way into the forest, back towards the chalet. Dani shook her head, just out of her mother's earshot.

"Great at midnight my powers come back, at twelve o one the belt zaps me, and at twelve o two Vlad tries to make out with my mom. Worst night ever." Another rustle from the trees had Dani rushing to catch up with her mother.