Eidolon
26. Hints

The man rummage through one of his pockets before producing a business card. "Frederich Showenhower at your service – purveyor of mystical and paranormal lore. I'll gladly point you in the right direction for at least some of your answers if you'd share some of the rumors about your town's recent events with me."

Danny frowned as he took the business card. It seemed legitimate enough – it included a website, email, and what appeared to be some sort of social media tag. Yet, there was something that unsettled him about the entire exchange.

Sam once again took the lead and relayed the information they'd heard around town regarding the unusual doorways and new and out of place ghosts. Danny chimed in here and there for occasional details but mostly listened. He did provided that local ghosts haven't been seen as often since the weird occurrences started but left out anything regarding his sources.

Showenhower gave a show of being interested and wrote down information in a black notebook which he'd retrieved from one of his coat pockets. He specifically requested further details regarding what specters were reported and if they noticed anything leading up to the events. Once they finished providing him with information, he hummed, took out a different notebook, and flipped through it a few times.

"It isn't very often that you see such a large spiritual disturbance," he explained once he finished finding flipping through his notebook. Danny wasn't entirely certain if the statement was meant for them or if he was speaking out loud. "Anywho, I did promise you I'd help point you to where you'd find possible answers," he stated with a clap of the hands.

"While you will see occasional fluctuations in paranormal events, it is rare to see one this large. While it's difficult to say with certainty, I have a feeling that your towns currently troubles have something to do with something or someone very old and powerful being disturbed."

"What do you mean?" Danny couldn't help but be reminded of the warning he'd previously received.

The pale man grinned, as if he enjoyed the chance to share his information. "Though the stories are hard to find, you can find tales of beings and items of ghostly origin which are strong enough to alter the physical world, our world. Whenever they get disturbed, you find situations like this."

"Would you happen to know what might have been upset?" Sam questioned. When he raised an eyebrow at her, she quickly added, "I mean, we might as well try to prepare or protect ourselves from whatever it is, especially if its angry."

Showenhower gave a strange laugh. "That is a fair point. While I'm not entirely sure myself, from the reports of the ghosts who appear out of time, I'd say it has something to do with a creature or thing of European origin. Why that is specifically affecting this area as opposed to Europe, that's harder to say. It could have something to do with the rotation of the earth or that the veil is thinner here, so to speak."

He wrote a few things down on a piece of notebook paper before handing it over to Sam. "You might want to see if you can find copies of those books. They might be able to get you closer to what you seek."

"Err, thanks, but what about you?" Danny questioned, not knowing exactly what this strange man got out of the conversation.

"I believe I'm going to talk to a few others around town, but I have a suspicion that what I am seeking is probably not here. However, extra knowledge is never a bad thing, and there are those who will pay for it. Ta!" With a wave of the hand, he turned and moved to a different part of the store.

Danny shared a quick look with Sam before she pulled out her phone, snapped a pick of the business card, and forwarded to Tucker. Once she was certain it sent, she started searching for the book names Showenhower provided them.

"Wow! These seem to be really rare," she whispered as she showed him her phone. "Hey, this one looks similar to the one…" she glanced over to see if anyone was in earshot, "Well, you know. But, I don't think it's the same one. Maybe it was written by the same person?"

A chill that didn't seem to be associated with core raced across his skin. The book on the screen appeared to have a similar writing and image style to the one he stole from Vlad. "Yeah… do you think we should start there?" he whispered back.

"Probably. Jeez, is this expensive, but maybe it'll help us make sense of the current problem and whatever Vlad was doing. I guess I should get it?" She muttered something to herself before whispering, "And then we'll burn them later, or bury them, or something. I'll have to double check safe disposal measures for grimoires."

"You said it was expensive?" He glanced at her phone again. "Holy…! At least let me pitch in."

She waved him off. "Don't worry about it. Remember, I have a decent allowance, and it's the least I can do for you know… saving me. Anyways, let me just grab the mythology book I was eyeing earlier, and we can go met up with Tucker."

….

"Sam, next time I want a game early, could I possibly order it through whatever delivery system your family uses?" Tucker almost pleaded when a courier delivered the book Sam ordered just hours ago to her house. He had joined them at Sam's house once they finished at Skulk and Lurk.

"I'll consider it if you tell us what you found out about Showenhower," she replied with a smirk as she laid Vlad's copy and her copy of the book side by side and began flipping through them.

"Gladly." After a few moments of typing, Tucker brought up something on his PDA. "Here are the basics. He's twenty-eight, single, and from a long line of folks involved in paranormal studies. He's released a few books regarding lore surrounding paranormal artifacts. Looks like he would like to create a horror-themed circus and has a Fund Me page up and running."

"Sounds fairly normal," Danny noted as he lounged in his favorite beanbag chair, now happily free of his previous gothic attire.

Tucker raised a finger in a 'wait a minute' fashion. "That's just the stuff on the surface. After a little more digging, he seems to be directly involved in some black-market occult trading. Like the serious stuff – things supposedly related to sacrifices, some of the more illegal items needed for various black magic rituals, things with the vampire subculture, stuff related to high ranking people related to the occult… you don't want to know the nasty things I found on TOR."

Danny cringed. "I'll take your word for it."

"Well, that kind of explains why he's currently in Amity Park," Sam mentioned as she checked something in the companion book. "Any connection to Vlad?"

"Not on the surface anyways, but if my hacking skills are on point, and you know they are, then it looks like the two of them had several interactions regarding the sharing of information. I don't know exactly what that was, but it looks like one of Vlad's subsidiaries paid him quite a hefty sum for what might have been a handful of artifacts."

"You know, that makes sense, in a weird way," Danny agreed as he changed positions. For some reason, he really wanted to change into his ghost form and float a bit, but since that risked him being caught on one of his mother's sensors, he begrudgingly settled for laying backwards on it. "Vlad is power hungry. Got that much from all the lovely training sessions I had with him. He'll do almost anything for it, and I know he had some weird things in his home. You could feel they somehow held power."

"Anyways, you said Showenhower mentioned something about people paying him for information. Do you think maybe he was talking about Vlad?"

"Dunno. He seems plenty involved in the dark and spooky so that honestly might be a coincidence."

"Hey, guys, recognize this?" Sam interrupted from her spot on her bed. When they looked over to her, they found her holding up the new book. The page held images of a creature like what they found on the scattered pages they found all those months ago in the cemetery.

"So, what exactly does it say?" Chills ran down Danny's spine as he moved to join Sam on the bed. Tucker found a spot on her opposite side.

"So according to this, the creature depicted is a corrupted spirit created by a curse," she explained as she pointed to one of the descriptions. "It says this thing is a result of being exposed and overwhelmed by a powerful evil. If given the chance, it would destroy for fun and little can be done to stop it. Here's where it gets strange." She turned the page and gestured at a different passage. "The book mostly talks about what abilities it might have, but here it says this thing is only a possibility if the relics of the king of ghosts get disturbed."

She flipped back a few pages where images of a ring and a crown sat. "These are supposedly the ring and crown of the former ghost king. Both are said to be very powerful and very dangerous in the wrong hands."

"Sam, what's that drawing of a key?" Danny questioned. Something about it stood out more than the other images.

"That? That's the Skeleton Key. It's supposed to unlock the protective enchantments around the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire. Why?"

Tucker reached over and shook his shoulder. "Danny? Dude, you okay? You're starting to frost the bed."

"Huh? Oh shit." Glancing up, he noticed frost gently tracing the grain of wood on the bed posts. Instead of immediately responding, he took a few moments to calm himself. Even with his training, keeping his core from involuntarily taking heat from the nearby area when the 'flight or fight' instincts took a hold of him continued to be a problem.

After getting his core to settle, he gave them an apologetic grin. "Sorry about that… it's just that I recognize it. Vlad had it… or at least something that looked like it."

Tucker gaped at him as the book slid out of Sam's hands. "Hold up! You're telling me that Vlad, the closest thing we've seen to a real-life supervillain, might have something that could literally unlock a power up for him?"

Danny helplessly moved his hands. "Maybe? Look, we don't know if it's real. We don't even know if these things actually exist."

"But, you said that Vlad would do anything for power…" Sam tapped the book a few times as she frowned. "So, whether or not they actually exist is one thing, but we know that Vlad seems to believe at least parts of this, so maybe he's been looking into whether or not they actually exist."

For a moment, Danny wanted to argue, but he stopped himself as her words sank in. "That… that makes sense. Other than he wanted me to help him with his plans, I never really got a clear picture of what his main goal is. I still don't even know how he found out about me."

"Well, at least know you're not going to turn into some dangerous monster unless you somehow get exposed to these super powerful things that may or may not exist. So, that's a bonus," Tucker added resulting in Sam swatting him for 'not being helpful.'

"Ignoring him, I'll continue looking through these books. Tucker, you keep an eye on Showenhower and Vlad via your internet surveillance. And Danny, I know you probably don't want to do this, but you might want to check with your mom regarding anything she knows about Vlad and his goals."

Danny nodded as he flopped backwards on the bed. He still really wanted to float. "I'll try."

"Good. Now lets put everything aside and go watch some cheesy horror movies!"

As Sam jumped up and ran out of the room, Danny and Tucker shared a confused look. Realization quickly came to Tucker's eyes, and soon, he was racing after their friend shouting something about how she better not make him eat fake butter again.

Instead of immediately responding, he glanced at where the book lay on the plush bed. He probably should read them, to at least understand why his mother and Vlad though he would become some sort of monster, but something, perhaps his gut, told him to wait it out. They didn't even know if it was a remote possibility or even if that creature was created from something else entirely.

Sighing, he decided to fall through the bed and the floor to the basement where Sam's entertainment system was. Sure, it wasn't flying, but it was close enough to help ease some of his pent-up anxiety. His mother probably would already berate him for the frost from earlier, so it didn't matter anymore. Besides, it would be worth Tucker's shocked expression.

….

His mother was waiting for him when he entered the door. She quickly started scolding him, referencing the power spikes associated with his ecto-signature. When he heard Winston and Jazz start to come down the stairs to investigate, he stopped her.

"Look, I get you don't want me doing anything ghostly," he snapped as Winston appeared in the room, "but sometimes they automatically respond to my emotions. I found out today that Vlad might be looking for some sort of very powerful ghostly relics, alright? I need you to be honest with me. What exactly does Vlad want? Whatever it is, it involves me, and that should be more than enough reason to get an explanation."

"Danny," Winston's stern voice made him wince. "Snapping at your mother isn't going to solve this. Take ten minutes to get a drink and freshen up. We'll converge in the living room. Maddie," his steely gaze seemed to make her falter, "we've had numerous conversations about this, and I again remind you of my warning. We will explain what we know to him, because he's right; he deserves that much. I'm going to go fetch Jazz too. She'll probably want to know this." He dismissed them with one final scowl.

After raising an eyebrow at his mother, who vanished into the other room, Danny followed Winston's advice. It was surprising just how calming taking a few moments to wash his face could be. Now that he wasn't as tense as he previously was, he decided to grab a glass of water before heading to the living room and taking a seat next to his sister.

"To start with, I don't know if anyone other than Vlad knows his exact plans," Winston explained as he leaned forward so he could rest his chin on his hands. "We know he's desired power for years."

"When it comes to your involvement… Vlad," Maddie hissed the name, "somehow found out that your generation would be the one most likely to develop…" She gestured at Danny. "The stories say the person who would have your curse would be a powerful and almost demonic entity. Vlad wanted to get you as early as possible in hopes of being able to control you."

"But, that obviously did not happen. Sure, you might be more ghostly than the average person, but you're hardly evil," Winston grinned before adopting a more serious expression. "However, Vlad is always prepared for an alternative. It's probably what led him to becoming what he is."

"You mean a half ghost monster?" Jazz snorted and rolled her eyes. "The man is a high functioning sociopath with narcissistic and delusional tendencies. If he found a way, of course he'd take it. But my question is why didn't he try to be the same thing he thinks Danny is supposed to become?"

"He might not have been able to," Maddie explained. "In Danny's case, we think it stems from some sort of curse. Jack's ancestors were involved with the paranormal for generations. One of them was even involved with the witch trials. Vlad seemed to have found some sort of occult ritual to make himself as similar as possible to what he thought Danny would become, and it's difficult to say what exactly that might have done to his mind." She sighed and leaned back on her chair and grabbed a mug of what appeared to be coffee. "You said earlier you think you know what he might be after?"

"Yeah, we managed to find a book of ghostly artifacts, and I recognized something called the Skeleton Key. If the book is correct, then he's after things that have something to do with a king of ghosts."

Maddie dropped her mug as her face drained of color. "He… he… what? Danny, please tell me you're joking."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Because, if you're right, we need to stop him."

Note: I'd like to point out I had the plot of Eidolon somewhat thought out long before I ever had the inspiration for Verboten. However, parts of the build up are somewhat similar, and I recognize that. So, I now have some new ideas that I'm very excited about which will hopefully allow me to properly finish this, eventually. A shout out to Master Hazama on Discord who helped me figure out how to progress with the plot

Minor random thing – I believe most of you know I've been hinting at Dark Danny/Dan since chapter 3. Was just recently thinking that I haven't seen anyone call him 'Dan Plasmius' in a while. Used to see that moniker a lot. Also, it's a personal headcannon that Dark Danny can't be created without some sort of corrupting force.

I would like to point out that 'badassery' does not flag in Word as being spelled incorrectly. I find that amusing.