Melinoe glanced at Danny once again despite none of them saying anything since they left Fentonworks. Melinoe nearly preferred their walk to Fentonworks when Tucker muttered numerous pointless comments. But now, they all walked in silence even though it had taken half an hour to reach Melinoe and Sam's road. Melinoe took the lead and dug her keys out of her pocket once she spotted her home. She glanced at Danny who had his hands in his pockets, waiting calmly for her to open the door. She blew out a low breath before she unlocked the door and pushed it open. She hesitated on the threshold before Danny stepped up to her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay to be nervous. We're right here if anything happens," Danny muttered in her ear. Melinoe glanced at him before offering him a grateful smile and stepping into her house.
She hugged herself, a shiver going down her spine as she surveyed the familiar hallway. Tucker hovered at the doorway while Danny stepped further into the house, scanning the walls intently.
"It feels so… empty. And cold. I… dunno why," Melinoe mumbled.
"Places ghosts touch can feel a bit strange," Danny remarked.
"No. I don't think this is because of the ghost. I'm not… there's usually someone here. Or at least on their way," Melinoe corrected. Danny turned to her with a concerned frown.
"If you want to go, it's okay. We can take you back to Fentonworks," Danny offered. Melinoe shook her head, ignoring Tucker's relieved sigh behind her, and stood up straighter.
"No. I'm okay. Just didn't expect to feel so weird about being in my own house," Melinoe concluded. Danny smiled warmly at her before he held out a hand for her to take the lead.
"After you then Mel," he commented.
Melinoe flashed him a smile before leading the two men into the kitchen. She headed straight across the room and opened the closet where she found Sam's phone which she dug out of her pocket.
"I found mom's phone in here and this was where Danny Phantom picked up a trail," Melinoe explained. Tucker nodded and pulled out a small phone-sized device. He tapped a couple of buttons and the dark screen lit up with pale green with dark green lines highlighting the items in the kitchen. Tucker waved it broadly over the room before making his way to the closet. As he neared the cluttered cupboard, a glowing white hue appeared, hiding the details within the closet on the screen.
"Yep, definitely picking up some ectoplasm residues. I might be able to isolate which ghost they belong to," Tucker commented.
"Which ghost?" Melinoe repeated in confusion.
"Phantom will have left a trail too," Danny clarified with a slight shrug. Tucker put away the phone like device and pulled out a small disk from his back pocket and set it down on the ground in the closet. He pulled out his phone and after a few taps the disk began to spin. It twitched on the ground and Tucker nodded.
"Yeah, two signatures. Phantom's and another ghost's," Tucker announced as he tapped his phone.
"Can you follow the other ghost's?" Danny asked.
"Sure can. Give me a sec," Tucker confirmed.
Melinoe waited with bated breath for the disk to do something other than twitch and spin on the spot within the closet. Tucker scowled at his phone before looking up to Danny.
"Danny, you might want to look at this," Tucker mumbled. Danny raised an eyebrow and knelt beside his friend, surveying Tucker's phone. Danny blinked at the screen.
"Those readings are usually with new ghosts," Danny muttered in confusion.
"That's what I thought. If a new ghost took Sam, this can't be Leto can it?" Tucker pointed out. Danny shook his head, perplexed by the finding.
"Scan again. Maybe it's not picking it up right since there's two signatures," Danny suggested. Tucker nodded obediently and hit a couple of buttons and they waited for the result. Both men frowned when the result appeared on Tucker's phone.
"What's going on?" Melinoe asked, leaning over to glance at the screen.
"The readings are all over the place. Normally that kind of reading is for a new ghost. New ghosts can't always monitor their energy or powers like older and more experienced ghosts. So, their readings can be a little erratic. But Leto isn't a new ghost. She's at least sixteen years old, old enough to be experienced enough not to give off these kinds of readings. But I did get the impression back then that she had been a ghost for a while, even back then," Danny explained.
"So, this wasn't Leto?" Melinoe assumed.
"Maybe. Although, I have no idea why a new ghost would want to take Sam. There were no deaths in this house when we picked it. And a ghost this new would have formed after Sam moved in and had you. Have either of you experienced a loss within the last couple of years?" Danny admitted.
"No. Both of my grandparents are fine. No friends or distant relatives, none that I heard of anyway," Melinoe replied. Danny frowned, glancing at Tucker who also shook his head.
"Is this a random attack then?" Tucker wondered.
"I doubt it. Ghosts don't tend to attack without a reason," Danny retorted with a confused shake of his head.
"But ghosts attack Amity Park all the time," Melinoe argued.
"Yes, they attack the town but not specific people. Sam didn't get caught in a ghost attack; she was targeted directly. Or at least your family was targeted," Danny corrected.
"Maybe the ghost got the wrong house?" Melinoe offered hopefully. Danny shook his head again.
"Sam had enough time to hide away and call you. She would have had enough time to talk down a confused ghost. She has enough experience from being with me to know what to do and how to handle herself. This ghost had to know to go after whoever lived in this house. And again, a ghost this new would have formed after Sam had moved in and had you. Far too long for this to be mistaken identity," Danny replied as he stood back up.
"So, how do you want to play this Danny?" Tucker prompted.
"See if the trail is strong enough to follow. If we can find the ghost, we might be able to find Sam. And once Sam is safe, we can start puzzling everything out," Danny decided. Tucker nodded obediently and started tapping on his phone again.
"What if the trail takes us to a closed portal?" Tucker asked, not lifting his bespectacled gaze from his device. Danny sighed.
"We'll get to that if it happens. But hopefully you'll have enough data to log the unique ecto-signature and we can rig a tracking device to find the ghost in the Ghost Zone for us," Danny answered.
"Ecto-signature?" Melinoe repeated.
"It's like a ghost fingerprint. Every ghost has a unique ecto-signature. It's the reading their energy gives off. It can change over time but generally it doesn't. It's the only sure-fire way to track a ghost wherever it goes. But a few trace ectoplasm residues isn't enough to register the full signature. But since this new ghost can't fully control how much they let off, we might get lucky and detect enough of their energy to get most of their ecto-signature, enough to track it at least," Danny explained.
"And the Ghost Zone?" Melinoe added, already suspecting what it was but wanted to confirm her suspicions.
"It's kind of like a parallel world. It mirrors our world in a way too. Honestly, it's the type of place you need to experience to understand. But it's where ghosts belong. They're stronger and humans, well they're kind of the ghosts there. Think of our world as one side of a coin, the living plain. The Ghost Zone is the other side. Some things are the same, but some things are totally different. But the short story is that it's a ghost dimension," Danny struggled to describe before shrugging, giving up. Melinoe nodded.
"Er, Danny," Tucker called nervously.
"What Tuck?" Danny prompted.
"I'm picking up a stronger ectoplasmic signal," Tucker revealed. Danny knelt beside the inventor.
"Phantom?" Danny asked, confusing Melinoe. Tucker shook his head.
"I don't have enough of a reading to be sure, but it's a new ghost. I think it's the same one," Tucker replied, tearing his worried eyes away from the screen to his friend. Suddenly Danny gasped, his eyes widening in alarm.
"Yeah… a ghost is close by," Danny mumbled.
"How do you know?" Melinoe whispered. Danny blinked, almost like he forgot she was there for a split second before gesturing to Tucker's phone.
"Ectoplasmic readings. I've grown up looking at this kind of stuff. I know when a detector like this picks up more than an ectoplasmic residue," Danny offered before standing up again.
"Stay here. I'll go do a quick sweep in the house," Danny ordered, pulling out his ectoplasmic gun from his waistband before he ducked out of the kitchen.
"Should he really go alone?" Melinoe muttered. Tucker shrugged.
"Like Danny said. He's grown up around this kind of stuff," Tucker retorted.
Melinoe frowned at the door while Tucker fiddled around with his inventions, kneeling in the closet doorway. In the silence that followed where Tucker focused on his invention and Melinoe stared apprehensively at the door, a soft rattle alarmed Melinoe. She spun around and scanned the room. Another rattle and she jumped in fright when a cupboard door slammed open. Tucker cried out in surprise, jumping to his feet and pulling out his ecto-gun Madeline gave him. Tucker edged closer to Melinoe, putting himself in front of her and faced the now still cupboard. Melinoe tried to stop her hands shaking in fear, fixing terrified wide eyes on the innocent cupboard. Tucker yelled in fright when all the other cupboards suddenly threw themselves open, Melinoe backed away and felt her back bump into the door behind her. Tucker blew out a rough breath before he squared his shoulders.
"Show yourself! The show is impressive, but I've seen better," Tucker called, forcing his voice to sound strong and firm.
Melinoe blinked in surprise when a ghost faded into view. It was a young girl with blue skin, black hair tied into pigtails and red eyes. She wore dungarees with navy freckles on her cheeks. She seemed confused as well, but she soon recovered.
"What is with this house? First the woman and now you. How come you aren't scared? Hello ghost haunting you," the girl growled in frustration, baring her braced teeth at the man aiming a gun at her.
"Woman? You mean Sam," Tucker realised.
"I dunno what her name was," the ghost sniffed uncaringly. Melinoe scowled at the girl ghost, suddenly her fear was forgotten, and she stepped forward, closer to Tucker but not quite level.
"Where's my mom!?" Melinoe demanded. The ghost flicked her annoyed gaze from Tucker to the teen before folding her arms defiantly.
"So, you're who Madam wants," the ghost mumbled before she lifted her hand towards Melinoe. Melinoe's eyes widened and her fear returned full force. Tucker gasped in alarm and clicked the safety off his weapon.
"Try anything and I'll shoot! Trust me you don't want to get hit by this," Tucker threatened as the gun whined with power. The ghost hesitated before she turned her hand to Tucker. He yelled in pained surprise when a cereal box leapt out of a cupboard and hit him, knocking him off balance and his glasses clattered to the floor. Tucker recovered quickly before squinting, desperately turning his gun back to where the ghost was before she effectively blinded him. However, the ghost had drifted to the side and out of his crosshairs. Melinoe gritted her teeth fearfully as the ghost lifted her hand towards Melinoe. Both girls, alive and dead, flinched in fright when Tucker fired his weapon, hitting the ceiling and leaving a scorch mark.
"Mel! Tucker! What's going on?" Danny's voice shouted from somewhere above them.
"Danny! There's a ghost in here!" Melinoe informed him. Melinoe turned back to the ghost as she narrowed her eyes and flicked her wrist towards Melinoe. Melinoe screamed and ducked as several tins exploded out of a cupboard and hammered the wood above her head. Melinoe held her arms up, protecting her head, as the metal projectiles fell on her, bruising her arms.
"Mel! Hold on!" Danny's voice called again, alarm in his voice now. Melinoe lifted her frightened gaze from the floor, now littered with tins, to Tucker who was trying to both find the ghost with his blurred vision and search with his feet for his fallen glasses. Melinoe gulped nervously, thinking that she should have listened to Danny before and stayed at Fentonworks. She didn't think Danny would be able to run downstairs and get into the kitchen, especially with her now blocking the door and unable to move before the ghost could hurt her or Tucker.
"Get away from my daughter!" Danny's voice growled, surprising Melinoe at its closeness. She turned her head to the voice and spotted Danny standing in a ready position in the corner by the sink. Melinoe blinked at him in shock. He didn't go past her, and she was in front of the only door into the room. The ghost seemed to be surprised also, spinning around to face the newcomer.
"How did you get in here?" she questioned in confusion.
"You really don't know who you're dealing with," Danny retorted, an angry bite to his tone. Melinoe gasped as she could swear she saw a flash of green in Danny's blue eyes. The ghost hesitated and that was all Danny needed. He leapt at the ghost girl, grabbing the small ghost by the arms and fell to the floor, pinning her to the tiles with his larger body.
"Let me go!" the ghost shouted fearfully.
Tucker finally tore his attention away from blindly fighting the ghost and located his glasses, shoving them on his face and standing over Danny, aiming the gun at the ghost girl's head.
"I've got her covered Danny, get out the thermos," Tucker informed his friend, but Danny shook his head.
"Box Lunch?" Danny asked, seeming to calm down and think clearly again, frowning in confusion at the ghost.
"Is that an insult?" the girl snarled. Danny blinked in surprise.
"No. It's your name," Danny corrected uncertainly. Melinoe glanced at Tucker but he seemed confused by this interaction between the ghost and his friend also.
"That's not a name. My name is Rosie," the ghost retorted.
"Rosie?" Tucker repeated.
"Yeah! Got a problem with it?" the girl growled, her red eyes pulsing at the men. Melinoe edged closer.
"No. But that's not a ghost name," Tucker replied, frowning in confusion himself as well.
"Ghost name?" Melinoe repeated but her question pulled Danny's attention to herself.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"A few bruises and a scare. I'm fine. But what's a ghost name?" Melinoe assured, ignoring the frustrated grunts the ghost under Danny was making as she tried to escape.
"Ghosts often, not always, adopt a new name when they die. Usually it pertains to their powers or appearance. Not always though. But… don't ask how I know but I already know what um Rosie's ghost name will be. She must be a really new ghost," Danny explained.
"Then how do you know?" Melinoe retorted in confusion.
"I already told you not to ask that," Danny muttered as he turned his attention back to the ghost beneath him when she shouted in anger.
"If I let you up, will you stop trying to hurt us?" Danny called over Rosie's angry grumblings.
"Don't count on it," Rosie hissed. Danny rolled his eyes.
"You can either float in Sam's kitchen while I ask a few questions or we can go to a ghost hunter's lab," Danny retorted. Rosie blinked.
"Ghost hunter lab?" she repeated nervously.
"That's right. Scary place for a ghost. Lots of machines that can destroy you. Lots of things to contain you, most painfully. Or, if you behave, you can float calmly here. You won't get away from me so don't bother trying to run away," Danny confirmed. Rosie stilled beneath Danny before stiffly nodding. Danny climbed off the girl before jumping forward and grabbing the ghost's arm when she tried to dart away.
"You won't get away Rosie. Next time, you go in the thermos," Danny threatened as he released her arm. Rosie floated anxiously in place, eyeing the thermos Danny mentioned on his hip.
"I'm guessing that's not nice," Rosie mumbled. Danny stepped back and crossed his arms, giving the ghost a curt nod in confirmation.
"Why are you here?" Danny asked firmly, narrowing his eyes at the ghost. Melinoe turned to Rosie, waiting for her answer. Rosie glanced around at the three humans before sighing.
"Madam L promised to find me a new mom and dad if I did a favour for her. She wants her," Rosie answered, jabbing her thumb towards Melinoe.
"You're sure Madam L wants Melinoe," Tucker insisted, glancing at Danny who was frowning.
"Well, I didn't have a name but yeah. She told me to follow the scent of ectoplasm. Said other kids she asked to do it tracked down an ectoplasm scent to this house but couldn't find the source," Rosie explained. Danny's eyes widened in realisation while Melinoe frowned in confusion.
"Ectoplasm scent?" she repeated but was ignored.
"Did you take a woman from here yesterday?" Danny pressed. Rosie shifted nervously before nodding.
"She said she'd go with me quietly. As long as we went then," Rosie confirmed.
"Where is she?" Danny prompted.
"Back at the orphanage," Rosie replied with a shrug.
"Orphanage?" Tucker echoed with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's where we all live. Madam L finds us new moms and dads. You know since we're dead we can't stay with our actual moms and dads," Rosie agreed. Danny nodded in understanding.
"I did wonder what happened to ghost children," Danny mumbled to himself.
Melinoe frowned at the two men and the ghost, realising that she was being ignored or had been forgotten.
"Where's the orphanage?" she pressed, wanting to remind them all of her presence. Rosie blinked at the living teen and shrugged.
"Ghost Zone. Where else?" Rosie retorted.
"Will you take us there?" Danny requested.
"No way. Why would I bring humans to our orphanage?" Rosie answered firmly, folding her arms defiantly. Danny sighed in frustration.
"You took Sam," Tucker pointed out.
"Because Madam L wanted me to bring someone back. I didn't realise that she didn't want the woman," Rosie admitted. Danny glanced at Melinoe before chewing his lip before stepping a little closer to Melinoe. He flashed her a reassuring smile before turning back to the ghost. Melinoe frowned at the man in confusion, it was almost like he was apologising to her for something.
"Madam L wants Mel, right? She didn't say she didn't want us as well. If… if you lead us all to your orphanage, then you're still doing what Madam L wants," Danny offered, ignoring Melinoe and Tucker's alarmed and confused eyes. Rosie paused, considering the comment before nodding.
"I guess that's okay. But I'm not gonna be able to carry any of you. Well maybe one. But not all three," Rosie relented.
"You won't have to carry any of us. But… I do need to do this, sorry," Danny assured before he whipped out the Fenton thermos and turned it on without any hesitation. Rosie wailed in fear as a blue light erupted from the device and sucked her into the thermos.
Danny screwed the lid back on before turning to Melinoe. She was staring at him, confused by his deal with Rosie.
"The only way to find Sam is for Rosie to lead us. She won't betray this Madam L so, sorry, but I kinda had to convince her that we were willing to let her take you there quietly," Danny explained with an apologetic smile.
"You sure that was a good idea dude?" Tucker muttered.
"Not really. Especially since I can guess who Madam L is really," Danny admitted.
"Who?" Melinoe asked.
"Leto. She's the only one with a reason to want you. And Madam L… L could stand for Leto. It does make sense now why I couldn't find her. If Leto changed her name, then anywhere I looked for Leto wouldn't help. I needed to have been looking for Madam L," Danny admitted with a shrug.
"Even with the map?" Tucker inquired in surprise. Danny nodded and once again ignored Melinoe's questioning frown.
"Even with the map. I asked to find Leto. Not Madam L. If no one, even Leto, recognised her as Leto, then Leto wouldn't exist," Danny confirmed.
"You didn't ask to find the ghost who threatened Mel?" Tucker pointed out with a raised eyebrow. Danny grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Technically Leto threatened me. And there are a lot of ghosts out there that have threatened me. But I didn't actually ask that," Danny confessed. Tucker snorted and rolled his eyes before he tucked his gun away while Danny clipped the thermos to his jeans again.
"Why did you suck the ghost in that thermos?" Melinoe wondered, deciding to get back to the matter at hand. Would Rosie help them find Sam if she was upset with Danny sucking the ghost in the contraption.
"I need to get into the Ghost Zone. My parents have a kind of ship, I guess. It can take us safely into the Ghost Zone, but I need to go through their lab. I didn't want to risk taking Rosie through the lab, especially with my parents there, in case something happened," Danny explained.
"What might have happened?" Melinoe asked. Danny winced as he turned to her.
"My parents might have caught Rosie. They don't think ghosts can be trusted. Although in my experience, ghosts can be trusted, at least to a degree. Rosie has no reason to betray us. I don't think she even knows why Madam L wants you Mel. She's just a kid Madam L is using to get to you. Also, my parents might have left something on, which could have attacked Rosie," Danny admitted. Melinoe blinked at him before nodding.
"I suppose we should get going then," Tucker mumbled, grabbing his disk off the floor and pocketing it. Danny nodded in agreement and motioned for Melinoe to lead the way out of the kitchen.
Melinoe obeyed and they left the house, pausing to lock the door, before they all headed off towards Fentonworks. As they walked, each in their own thoughts, Melinoe recalled how Danny had suddenly appeared in the kitchen without the use of a door.
"Danny… how did you get into the kitchen?" Melinoe asked. Danny blinked before shrugging.
"I have fast reflexes. Being the son of ghost hunters, I need them," Danny offered. Melinoe frowned at him.
"I didn't ask how you got there so fast. I asked how you got in. I was beside the door. You didn't come past me," Melinoe retorted. She saw Danny glance at Tucker before fixing his gaze straight ahead.
"I'm not gonna drop this," Melinoe warned. She waited a few moments but neither man spoke.
"How did you get into the kitchen?" Melinoe pressed, impatience leaking into her voice. Tucker glanced at her before speeding up half a step and putting a hand on Danny's shoulder.
"You have to tell her at some point," Tucker whispered, Melinoe wasn't sure if he meant for her to hear him or not, but his comment deepened her impatient frown. Danny glanced at his friend before shrugging Tucker's hand off.
"Not yet," Danny replied causing Tucker to return to his previous pace. Melinoe scowled at Danny, before she broke into a run and overtook the men. She spun around on her heel and scowled at them, forcing their little group to stop on the sidewalk.
"What are you hiding from me?" Melinoe growled. Danny blinked at her before setting his jaw stubbornly.
"I'm not going to be pressured into telling everything when I don't think you're ready or the time is suitable. We should be focusing on finding Sam," Danny retorted firmly.
"Why do I get the impression though that I'm missing something important? What if what you're hiding will help find and save my mom? Or stop us?" Melinoe pointed out. Danny folded his arms defiantly.
"It won't stop us finding Sam," Danny decided.
"So, it is important," Melinoe prodded with a scowl. Danny blinked before resetting his face into a stubborn frown.
"The longer Leto has Sam, the longer she's in danger. We shouldn't be wasting time like this," Danny attempted and tried to step around the teenager blocking his path. Melinoe stepped into his way again and tilted her head up, pointing her chin at him with a scowl running down her nose, aimed directly into his eyes. Danny blinked in surprise at her.
"Uh oh. The Sam glare," Tucker whispered. Danny shot the inventor an annoyed frown before turning back to Melinoe.
"Sam's glare can't beat my hard head," Danny muttered. Tucker rolled his eyes behind Danny.
"What are you two talking about?" Melinoe demanded, her glare faltering a moment before she returned it to her face.
"Sam uses that glare all the time to get what she wants," Tucker elaborated before ducking behind Danny when Melinoe shot the glare at Tucker.
"Although it only works on weak minds. It doesn't work on me," Danny added.
"Hey!" Tucker interjected indignantly.
"Then what does?" Melinoe huffed in frustration.
"Like I'd answer that," Danny chuckled before stepping around Melinoe and continuing towards Fentonworks. Melinoe frowned at his back before glancing at Tucker.
"He will tell you Mel. Just in his own time," Tucker promised before they followed after Danny.
Originally, I was going to have Danny promise to tell Melinoe the truth but once they got into the Ghost Zone but when I started writing I realised that wouldn't have worked in this circumstance.
Melinoe has just met Danny, and while they both know Danny's her father, they need to focus on finding and saving Sam right now. And like Danny mentioned earlier in the story, he doesn't want to upset or overwhelm Melinoe by just blurting out that he's half-ghost.
But Melinoe is noticing that there's something strange going on and there's a big secret hidden from her.
Until the next chapter.