Danny woke up with Vlad Masters sprawled half on top of him. Phantom and the ball of pink energy, whatever that was, were long gone.

He decided not to tell his parents what had happened. They didn't think highly of Amity Park's celebrity ghost, so it was better that they didn't know Phantom had followed them to Wisconsin.

Instead he simply alerted them to the fact that Masters had fainted.

Dad carried him to the nearest couch and that might have been the end of it if Harriet Chin hadn't noticed the dent in the fridge.

"You can't just explain everything away with ghosts," Miss Chin was seething. "This is a real problem, Jack! A man is unconscious."

"C'mon Harry," Dad said. "Vladdy told me himself the place was haunted."

"Sweetie, did you hit your head?" Mom said. She had noticed a drop of blood on the collar of Danny's shirt and was looking for the injury. He tried not to flinch as she lightly ran her fingers over his scalp. She found the scab. "What happened to you?"

"I just tripped," Danny said. "Uh, I mean! When Mister Masters fainted I tried to catch him. But he was too heavy. So, uh, we both fell."

"Did you land against the fridge?" Miss Chin said.

"What?" Danny said. "N-no!"

She snorted. "Of course not, you'd need to be thrown against it at the speed of a jet to make a dent this huge."

Mom laughed too and wrapped her arms around Danny protectively. "Your bones would be crushed by an impact like that," she said, giving Danny a squeeze.

"It's ghosts!" Dad said. "I can feel it in my bones."

"The dent is shaped oddly," Mom said. "It's humanoid. Look Jack. The torso, the head, the limbs."

"A ghost fight," Dad was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Two ghosts!"

"When did the fridge become this way?" Chin was looking at Danny. "Was it already damaged when you came into the kitchen?"

"Um," Danny said. Now all three of them were looking at him. "I don't know?"

"You don't know?" Mom echoed. "What happened while you were here?"

"Masters fainted," Danny said.

"Was the fridge dented before he fainted?" Chin said.

"Um, no," Danny said. "Uh, I left to get you guys. And came back. It was like that when we got back."

"Are you sure? Did you look at the fridge before you left?" Mom turned Danny around to face her, hands on his shoulders. "Danny this is important."

"I don't know," Danny said. He wasn't sure if it would be better or worse for Phantom, should they catch him later, for the damage to the fridge to be connected to Vlad Masters fainting spell. Would they think Phantom had attacked Masters if the fridge were dented before he fainted? "My memory is fuzzy?"

The color drained from Mom's face and Danny winced. He shouldn't have said that.

"Sweetie," she tried to smile calmly, but her eyebrows twitched. "I want you to tell me everything you remember from today. And yesterday. Actually, this is a good time for a Reflection don't you think?"

Danny groaned. He hated Reflections.

He'd told Vlad Masters that there had been no side effects to his accident with the ghost portal, but that wasn't strictly true. Physically he'd been fine. No ecto-acne, no radiation poisoning, no weird glowing of any kind. But there was one side effect.

Amnesia.

"Mom, we don't have time for that right now," Danny said. "We should help Mister-"

"Listen to your mother," Dad said. From the tone of his voice Danny knew he was trapped. It had lost its peppy enthusiasm from earlier. At the word "memory"both his parents had sobered and his dad's voice was subdued. "You can go upstairs to a guest room with her, eh, Danno?"

He squared his shoulders and straightened his spine, punching his own chest like a gorilla as he regained his good cheer, "I'll stay here and take care of Vladdy. And find those ghosts!"

"But-"

"No buts young man," Mom said. "C'mon."

Shoulders slumped, Danny followed his mother out of the room.

oOo

They had finished the Reflection by the time Jazz found them.

"What the hell is going on?!" she said. She was panting and her hair band was missing. "Are you guys looking for that stupid dairy king ghost? Can you not?"

"What's gotten into you?" Mom said. "I thought you were enjoying the home theater."

"I was until I almost got shot in the face by one of your stupid ray guns!" Jazz said.

Mom walked over to Jazz and tried to brush her hair out of her face, but Jazz waved her off. "We didn't fire any weapons," Mom said. "At least not, wait, when did this happen?"

Relieved to finally have her attention off of him, Danny announced, "I need to pee!" and made for the door. He half expected his mother to stop him, or to follow him, but she didn't. She nodded at him and turned back to Jazz, who was ranting about a traumatic experience.

Danny needed to find Phantom. Jazz had seen a blast and it didn't matter if it had been one of Dad's weapons or one of Phantom's ecto-blasts. Either way it meant the ghost was in danger. Phantom had pointed out to Danny, on several occasions, that he was no good in a fight. But he'd been studying his parents inventions for weeks now. He was determined to make himself useful.

He hadn't tested it out yet, but if the Fenton Thermos worked the way it was meant to he could catch that powerful ghost that was fighting with Phantom.

But he'd need to find Phantom first. An arduous task considering the size of the mansion. Danny felt like a Scooby Doo character as he ran through the hallways, taking a peek into each room.

It occurred to him that this was the first time he'd sought the ghost boy out himself. Not that he didn't enjoy Phantom's company, but the dude was like a lonely puppy. Always around the corner, tail wagging.

Interrupting homework, disrupting dinner by setting off ghost sensors, catching Danny half naked while he got dressing for school… not that it mattered. Focus Fenton, he thought.

He was on the third floor when he ran into Vlad Masters.

"There you are Daniel," he said. "You gave me quite a scare."

"What ME? But you," Danny paused. Was he actually talking to the real Vlad Masters or the ghost? "But. You. Fainted. And stuff."

"Ah, low blood sugar," Masters said. "I'm a bit anemic, you know."

Masters put an arm around Danny's shoulder and steered him away from the room he'd been loitering in.

"Take a walk with me, son. We have much to discuss."

"We do?" Danny shrugged the arm off his shoulder, but followed the older man down the hall.

"I was telling you about the accident," he said. "Before we were so rudely interrupted by your little parasite."

That stopped Danny in his tracks. "Parasite?" He reached for the Fenton Thermos on his belt. "Wait. Are you," he hesitated, but the way the older man grinned at him made him think there would be no point in playing dumb.

"You're a ghost," Danny said.

"No," Masters said. "I'm like you."

"What?"

"Both victims of the same invention," he said. "That blasted ghost portal. For me it was just the prototype, but the result was the same."

He led them to an elevator. Danny didn't want to go inside, but the older man grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him in.

"Both haunted," Masters continued. "By warped reflections that were born on the day of the accident."

Danny gulped. "H-haunted?"

"Don't be coy," Masters said. The elevator doors opened to reveal a lab much like the one his parents had set up in their basement at home.

But this one was larger, the equipment didn't look as if it had been assembled from spare parts scrounged from a junkyard, and everything was lit up under a strobe of red lights on the ceiling.

"I've learned all I could about your parents inventions," Masters said. "Every patent they've filed, I've paid for my own versions. For my own protection, you see."

"You're afraid of ghosts," Danny said.

"I'm afraid of losing myself."

The man strode forward, making a beeline for a cabinet in a far corner of the room. Danny stayed by the elevator.

He wanted to leave.

"I have several of these," Masters said, returning with what looked like a really thick metal belt. "You should take one."

"What is it?" Danny said. It was cold, but lighter than it looked. The red plating gave it a sleek look. He could imagine someone wearing this with a leather jacket and a motorcycle helmet.

"Protection," Masters said. "Consider it a gift."

And with that he led Danny back into the elevator.

"Mister Masters…"

"Please, call me Vlad."

"Um, okay," Danny stared at their shoes. Vlad wore an expensive pair of loafers. He noticed there was a hole in one of his tennis shoes. "Vlad. Did you ever tell anyone? That you were haunted?"

"I tried, once," Vlad said. "But it was futile."

"Why?"

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. Vlad strode ahead once again with his hands clasped behind his back. He took large steps, so that Danny nearly had to jog to keep up.

Then he abruptly stopped and spun around.

"This is no average haunting, my boy," he said. "It cannot be solved with a simple invention, a simple weapon. In fact, I fear, to destroy or exorcise the ghost would be…"

He grimaced and blinked rapidly, as if holding back tears. He cleared his throat. "Our souls are intertwined. I might kill myself in the process."

"Your parents would never believe that," Vlad continued. "Your mother especially. For all her paranormal interests she is still, first and foremost, a woman of science."

"But how do you know you would die?" Danny said. "What makes you think-"

"Would you really want to take a risk like that?" Vlad said. "Gamble your life away just to be sure? No."

They had almost reached the ballroom. It felt surreal, to just return to the reunion as if nothing had happened. The music was still playing and Danny could hear people talking and… screaming?

"All I can say is, be wary of your counterpart Daniel," Vlad said quickly. "Do not be seduced."

Danny walked ahead without him just in time to see his dad drive the Fenton RV through a wall.