Maybe he should have followed Jazz to the home theater. She was probably eating popcorn for dinner while watching boring football documentaries. What's so wrong with football anyway? Other than the way the sport inherently reminded him of Dash, that is.

But this was definitely worse. It was like going to a school dance with your parents. And also everyone else's parents. While you're the only person in the room born after the 1960s. Was it normal to bring your kid to your college reunion? It couldn't be, Danny was the only kid here.

He flinched as a new song began to play on the speakers over head. Oh no, this was his dad's favorite song. He was gonna track him down and make him dance that stupid pogo stick dance where they jump up and down like idiots. Time to get out of here.

For the first time Danny realized his stature was working in his favor. He slipped in between the other dancers easily and had almost made it across the room when he felt a meaty hand land on his shoulder.

Oh no.

"Listen Dad I can't dance right now," Danny said. "I really need to go to the bathroom!"

"That's not important," his dad said. "I need to talk to you about Masters."

Danny blinked. His dad never addressed Mr. Masters by his last name. It was always Vladdy or V-man or something. He squinted up at his father and was startled to note that the man stared back with strange green eyes. Green eyes!

"Phantom?!"

The ghost flinched with his father's face. "Let's talk somewhere else."

"What are you doing?!" Danny slapped the hand off his shoulder and spun around to directly face him. "Get out of him. Right now!"

"Wait," Phantom said. "It's not safe for me to-"

"If you don't get out of there right now I'm going to scream for my mom," Danny said. "I swear to God I will. And she'll, I don't know, vacuum you out. And then torture you!"

Phantom puppeteered his dad's arms to lift in mock surrender. "Fine. Meet me in the kitchen." Then he saluted.

Danny knew he was gone when his dad blinked, his eyes blue once again.

"Whoa," his dad said. "It took me so long to find you the song's almost over!"

Resigned, Danny allowed himself to get dragged back towards the dance floor.

oOo

"What the hell possessed you to think that it was okay to, to," Danny sputtered. "To actually posses my dad?!"

Phantom chuckled. "That one was weak."

They were standing in the pantry. Well, Danny was standing. Phantom was floating. And glowing faintly, enough that they could see each other without a light.

"Seriously," Danny said. "What are you doing out here anyway? I didn't know ghosts could just…"

"Leave the place they haunt?" Phantom reclined in the air, floating on his back now. "It's not always as simple as that." He cradled his head in his palms, fingers interlocked, elbows sticking out. "Ghosts are more complex than you Fentons give us credit for."

"Yeah, yeah my parents are racist, spare me," Danny said. "I thought this was urgent?"

Phantom frowned. "It's Masters."

"What about him?"

"He's possessed," Phantom said. "There's this really powerful ghost-"

"Wait you mean like the way you possessed my dad two seconds ago?" Danny grabbed the back of Phantom's jumpsuit and tugged him out of the air. He overestimated just how light the ghost was and pulled with too much force, falling backwards as Phantom bounced against his chest.

If he were a normal person affected by gravity or momentum Phantom might have landed in Danny's lap. As it was he hovered over Danny stiffly. As if he'd decided to flip over, he no longer floated on his back. He lay on his stomach, chin propped up on his palm.

His elbows rested as if there was a floor under them. Phantom bent his knees and crossed his ankles together, peering down at Danny like last week's incomplete History essay.

It was this strange stillness in him that allowed Danny to see for the first time that Phantom was not as relaxed as he pretended to be. Something had seriously freaked him out.

Regretting his interruption now Danny picked himself up off the floor and regarded Phantom carefully. The ghost continued to hover over him as he moved, his eyes followed his movements like a cat waiting for its owner to feed him.

Danny gulped, disturbed by this weird silence he'd accidentally knocked them into.

"A really powerful ghost?" he prompted.

Phantom blinked. "Right." He straightened himself out, vertical at last. "He can make clones of himself." Shuddering, the ghost placed a hand on Danny's head. "He slipped into Masters like a pair of shoes. Look, it wasn't exactly the same way I did it with your dad."

"I'm sorry about that," Phantom continued. "I just wanted to check."

Phantom's hand remained on Danny's head. Idly patting him. Danny grabbed it and pulled Phantom down, more carefully this time, so that the ghost was forced to stand with his feet on the ground.

"What do you mean?" Danny said.

Before the ghost could respond the door to the pantry opened. Phantom went invisible and Danny blinked into the light.

"Ah, there you are Daniel," Vlad Masters said. "Just the Fenton I wanted to see."

oOo

Danny told him he was looking for guacamole. So Masters had taken it upon himself to make some from scratch, preening at the opportunity to slice open the avocados he'd just had shipped from… Some foreign country.

He was having trouble paying attention. Nodding and smiling, trying to look suitably impressed as the older man bustled around his chrome and steel kitchen, Danny wondered if Phantom was still in the room. He'd said Vlad was possessed by a powerful ghost, so it was likely.

But Danny found it hard to believe as he watched this man, his father's old college pal, get so excited about homemade guacamole.

However, there was definitely something weird going on here. The way Danny had found Masters last night, sitting in the middle of that tornado disaster zone of a room, had been disconcerting, to say the least. Though Masters had sworn up and down that there were no ghosts and locked the doors before Danny got back with his parents. They'd gone back to sleep at his assurances, disappointed. His parents had, that is. Danny remained awake for the rest of the night.

"Did you sleep alright?" Danny said, finally, while Masters' back was turned. He was focused on chopping up some tomatoes. "After I, uh, woke you?"

"I slept quite well in my little mess," Masters said, jovially. He drew his shoulders back and laughed heartily, like a bad actor in a cheerful school play. "I'm sorry I woke you."

Masters turned around to look at Danny directly; to assess his reaction. In answer, Danny shrugged.

"I've grown so used to an empty house over the years," Masters continued. "I've forgotten the basic decorum of leaving a night undisturbed."

"Though I was also surprised you heard me," Masters said. "The guest rooms are on an entirely different floor."

"Yeah, this place is ridiculously big," Danny said. He tugged on the hairs at the nape of his neck. "But it's also, uh, really empty. Sounds echo far."

He felt fingers on his back, lightly making their existence known before Phantom's palms pressed down on him. The ghost lifted them to his shoulders slowly, it was like a weird back rub, and then he clamped down. He held Danny like this, by the shoulders, and then his chest was pressed against Danny's back. He whispered, "Tread carefully."

Danny did not react. "Oh and my room was closest to the staircase," he added. "But anyway I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions like that. Guess it just runs in my family, huh? Any strange little thing happens and my dad's first reaction is: 'Ghosts!' It's contagious."

Masters laughed again, normally this time and Danny grinned.

"I understand," Masters said. "I understand your father's enthusiasm for ghosts better than anyone else possibly could. Well, aside from your mother, of course."

"Of course," Danny said. He tried to make his smile as easy going as possible.

"Tone down the teeth," Phantom whispered. Danny dropped the smile. He reached for the hairs at his neck again, with both hands this time, and made as if to stretch his back so he could elbow Phantom off of him. He missed, but Phantom left on his own with an indignant huff of air.

Masters had gone back to slicing up his tomatoes during this exchange. He hummed to himself as he poured the little cubes into a bowl.

"While I've got you here Daniel," he said. "There's something I've been meaning to ask."

"Okay," Danny said. Now he regretted not knowing where Phantom was. The ghost was still in the room, obviously, but it was disorienting not being able to just see him.

"The portal," Masters said. He paused, frowning to himself. Danny blinked.

For a moment they both just stared at each other.

"The day it was finally, well, operational," Masters said. "There was an accident."

It was a statement, but Danny thought he knew what Masters was trying to ask.

"I didn't have any side effects," Danny said. "No, uh, ecto-acne, was it?"

"Yes," Masters sighed. "It afflicted me for many years."

"I'm sorry about that," Danny said. "It must have been, uh, alienating."

The way Masters laughed just then was loud enough to startle them both. It was not the showy fake laughter he had started with, nor the mild amusement Danny had pegged as his real laughter. It was a short burst of breath, like it had been punched out of him, and Masters covered his mouth as if he'd burped.

To assure the older man that there was nothing to be embarrassed about Danny giggled. It sounded stupid, but it was the best reaction he could have chosen. Masters beamed at him.

"You're an intelligent boy," Masters said. "You must get it from your mother."

"Nah, my sister is the real brainiac," Danny said. "She aces everything and then reads ahead. You know she's already taking college classes? She hasn't even graduated yet!"

"Don't underestimate yourself Daniel. With guidance, I'm sure you could-"

With a groan, Phantom popped into existence between them. "Oh my god I'm going to barf!" he said. "Stop it!"

Masters blinked. Then he gasped. "A ghost!"

Danny winced. "Sh-should I get my parents?"

"Enough with the sham!" Phantom hovered over Masters with his shoulders squared, his hands planted on his hips. "Reveal yourself you, you ghost!"

Masters gulped. "You're calling me a ghost?" He shook his head. "There must be some sort of misunderstand-"

Then Phantom grabbed Masters around his midsection and pulled. "You're not," he huffed. "Fooling me!" Something faintly glowed in his fist. Danny squinted at it.

It was red? No. Pink.

"I can see," Phantom planted his feet on Masters' shoulders as he continued to tug on his midsection, upside down now. "Your core!" Phantom grunted.

The older man was so confused by the ghosts actions that he remained still as the ghost slowly pulled a glowing tendril of pink energy out of him. When it was out Masters collapsed.

"Whoa!" Danny sprang forward to catch him. Too late, he was already on the floor. But Danny propped him up against the cabinets. Or tried to, Masters' body tilted sideways, nearly squashing the teen.

Meanwhile the ball of pink energy in Phantom's hands exploded. It was the last thing Danny saw before he blacked out.