Jazz led Maddie down the school hallway towards the guidance office. Jazz insisted that Danny see a therapist or counselor of some kind since Danny's grades had gone down after the accident and Casper High just hired a new guidance counselor. Jazz thought this would be the perfect opportunity for Danny to start seeing someone. But Maddie wasn't sure about this. She thought it might be better if the guidance counselor had been in the school for awhile, but a new hire? And Danny certainly wouldn't want to talk to anyone at all.
When they get to the office and she walks through the door, Maddie freezes on the spot. And not because of the frigid temperature inside the office.
Maddie stares at Penelope Spectra who hasn't aged a day in the twenty years since she last saw her. She was Vlad's therapist while he was recovering in the hospital after the accident. She had only met the woman once, but there was something about her. She never forgot her. This was who Vlad was seeing when he just suddenly stopped talking to her and Jack.
Jazz startles her out of her thoughts when she grabs her by the arm, dragging her the rest of the way into the office and up to the desk.
When they stop Maddie thinks she sees a flicker of recognition flash through Spectra's eyes, but it's gone in a moment as she stands up.
"Why hello there! Welcome to my office! I'm Penelope Spectra." She holds her hand out for Maddie to shake.
After a moment, Maddie raises her hand and grabs Spectra's, shaking it.
"So, Jazz." Spectra starts. "Lancer's told me you wanted to talk about getting your brother set up with some counseling meetings?"
"Yeah!" Jazz says. "I really think it would benefit him. Ever since the accident his grades have been slipping and he hasn't been himself. He seems so tired lately and I figured talking to someone might help!"
"Oh, he was in an accident?" Spectra touches her cheek with her hand. "How unfortunate. That poor boy."
"Yes. His physical recovery was miraculous but my husband and I are worried that it's still upsetting him. He avoids us and our work now. He used to love visiting us in the lab."
"Oh?" Spectra says. "What do you guys do for work?"
"We study and hunt ghosts."
"Ah." Spectra sits on top of her desk and crosses her legs at the ankles. "If I may ask, what kind of accident was it?"
"He was messing with our parent's ghost portal when it turned on." Jazz said. Maddie looked away, rubbing her fingers together. Guilt filled her stomach.
"Oh my. That sounds like quite an accident." Spectra stands back up. A knowing glint in her eye. "Well, right now my days are mostly free. Danny can come by during any free period he has. Just let me know and we can-"
Suddenly one of the trackers Maddie was carrying on her went off, letting out a shrill beeping sound.
"Speaking of work, it looks like I have something I have to track down." She pulls it out of her pocket. "I'll let you know if Danny wants to plan a meeting."
"Alright! Have a great day, you two!" Spectra calls cheerily, waving at them as they walk out of her office.
As they walk away and Maddie checks the tracker, her brows furrow as she sees the location it says the ghost was in. It looked like it was on the fritz, the dot flickering in and out on the screen.
This tracker used a combination of temperature and ectoplasm readings to alert her to where the ghosts were. The cold temperature in the office and the ambient ectoplasm in the air must be making it go off incorrectly. She'd need to recalibrate it when she got home.
But she still had an unsettling feeling in her stomach at seeing Penelope Spectra again.
"I'm not sure that I like this new guidance counselor." She says quietly to Jazz.
"What?" Jazz turns to look at her. "Why? Ms. Spectra seems really nice. She's so cheery! Maybe some of that would rub off on Danny."
"I don't know." Maddie tucks the tracker back into her pocket. "Something about her sets me on edge."
Jazz sighed. "Will you at least think about it then?"
Maddie nodded. "I'll think about it."
QQQQQ
Later that day, Maddie was at home cleaning up dishes after dinner. Jazz and Danny were up in their rooms doing homework while Jack was sitting on the couch reading the Ghost Weekly paper.
"Hey Jack." Maddie said as she placed the last cleaned dish into the cupboard. "Do you remember when we met Vlad's therapist that he had after the accident? While he was recovering in the hospital?"
"Yeah, I think so. The one with the pointy hair right?" Jack turned the page in his newspaper.
"Yes." She turned to face where he sat. "I think I met her at the high school today."
"Oh! That's cool! How's she doing?"
"Exactly the same as she was doing twenty years ago. She doesn't look like she's aged a day since we met her."
Jack hummed. "Maybe she had a daughter?"
"I don't know. I don't think the ages add up. She was too close to our age for that to be her daughter."
"Her sister then?"
Maddie chuckled and sat down in another chair at the table. "A sister with the same name as her?"
Jack shrugged. "Maybe their parents weren't very creative. It's happened before."
Maddie shook her head. "Thanks, but that's pretty unlikely."
"Maybe she's just aged really well."
"Maybe." Maddie said. But it still wasn't sitting in her stomach right. Especially that look of recognition Maddie saw flash across Spectra's face when she first walked into that office.
She spent the rest of the night thinking about it. Something about it wasn't right.
Maddie tossed and turned in bed, ruminating about the whole thing. Finally, she got up and threw the covers off of her. She headed down the stairs quietly and picked up the phone, dialing a number. The phone started to ring.
"Vlad Masters. Who is this?"
"It's Maddie."
"Oh, hello, my darling Maddie. Whatever do I owe the pleasure?"
Maddie rolls her eyes at the complete change in tone. She takes a deep breath before continuing.
"Do you remember the therapist you had when you were recovering in the hospital?"
There's a long pause. "Of course I do." Vlad said. "She's the one who opened my eyes up to a lot of stuff I hadn't realized before then."
Maddie's brows furrow. She doesn't like how that feels, but she ignores it for the time being.
"I met Spectra at the high school today. She doesn't look like she's aged a day since I met her."
Vlad hums. "Maybe she just has good genes. Do you think she's a ghost?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe."
Vlad makes another humming sound. "She did always seem to know exactly what was bothering me." Vlad starts to speculate. "Exactly which buttons to push. It was like the more miserable I felt, the brighter she looked. Like she was feeding off of my emotions, like some ghosts are known to do."
Both Vlad and Maddie are silent for a moment.
"I have some things I need to rethink." Vlad hangs up the phone.
Maddie listens to the phone ring for a few moments before she sets it down.
Could Vlad be right? Could Spectra be a ghost that feeds off of the emotions of humans? It wouldn't be too far fetched, especially with her posing as a guidance counselor or therapist. It would be the perfect cover.
Maddie heads back upstairs and gets back in bed. She spends the night tossing and turning, deliberating on what she should do.
When Jazz came downstairs in the morning for breakfast, Maddie placed a plate of food on the table in front of her.
"Danny won't be seeing Ms. Spectra." She says, turning back to the counter to grab Danny's plate and set it on the table for when he got downstairs.
"What?" Jazz says. "Mom, I really think it would help Danny to talk to someone about what it is that's bothering him. About why-"
"I'm not saying we can't find him someone else to talk to." Maddie says as she sits in her seat at the table and starts eating. "But I don't want him seeing Ms. Spectra. I think she's the same therapist that Vlad had while he was in the hospital and some things aren't adding up."
Jazz sat there for a moment. "But I can find someone else for him to talk to?"
"Yes. We just have to make sure they're a good fit."
"Okay! I'll start looking up some people in town and see if I can find any good ones."
Maddie smiles. "Thank you." She puts the last bite of food in her mouth and stands up from the table. "I'll be going to the school before classes start today. I want to let Ms. Spectra know that Danny won't be seeing her."
Jazz waved bye as Maddie headed towards the door. Grabbing her keys, she left the house and got in her car. The drive to the school was fast and quiet. When she got out of her car, Maddie grabbed her purse which hid the Fenton Peeler inside it.
She walks through the school until she comes to Spectra's office. Maddie knocks on the door and pushes it open when she hears a cheery 'come in'.
"Ah! Maddie!" Spectra says when she looks up from the paperwork laying on her desk. "Welcome back! Did you come to talk about Danny?"
Maddie cleared her throat. "Yes, actually. I decided that we'll have him see someone else."
"Oh?" Spectra raised an eyebrow. "Is there any particular reason why, if I may ask?"
"I don't feel comfortable with Danny seeing you. I don't think you're quite right for the job." Maddie says.
"I know who you are. What you are."
Spectra's expression falls, her whole demeanor changing, and she stands up from her desk. "I thought you looked familiar. You were friends with that ecto acne kid." Spectra started walking towards Maddie. "It was real easy to get under his skin, pull at the strings of his insecurities."
Maddies brows drew down.
"The feelings that his friends never really cared for him. His pain was delicious."
At that, Maddie's blood starts to boil as her anger skyrockets. She pulled the Fenton Peeler out of her purse and pointed it at Spectra, pressing the button that released the suit.
Spectra rushes at Maddie as the suit forms around her. She grabs onto the weapon in her hand.
"If only Danny was as smart as his parents, as his sister. He's wasting all that potential. Who knows what the cause of it is. Perhaps parental neglect? After all, it was your own portal that nearly killed him. Maybe you aren't as good of parents as you thought you were."Spectra said, trying to get under Maddie's skin.
"That won't work on me." Maddie says, frowning at Spectra's implications.
As Spectra struggles to pull the weapon from Maddie's hand, Maddie pulls the trigger.
The beam came out of the barrel, hitting Spectra. Before Maddie's eyes, she watched as Spectra peeled and wrinkled until her appearance was that of an old woman. Maddie pulls a thermos out of her purse and points it at Spectra before pushing the button and sucking her in.
She disables the Fenton Peeler and sticks it back in her purse. Maddie takes a few deep breaths and fixes her hair before walking calmly out of the office.
This school really needed to get better at their background checks.
