Author's Note: This particular chapter is the initial incident rewritten entirely from Maddie's perspective. Interested to know what was going on in her head whilst holding Phantom at gunpoint? Then read on! But be warned that it might make you uncomfortable. I felt a little uncomfortable writing it. Some parts were so difficult to write that it took me several days to finish it. I feel more vulnerable uploading this than I did when I uploaded it from Danny's viewpoint.
Since I got a review from a guest I cannot reply to, I will answer it here to clarify the connection between this story and "The End of Danny." Most of you are not reading "The End of Danny" which is totally fine since it's quite a bit more disturbing than this, but if you are reading it, keep in mind that "Disparaged" is meant to be part of "The End of Danny," an elaboration of an incident that is mentioned briefly in the latter fic.
And to another guest reviewer, the technique I'm employing quite heavily here is free indirect discourse which is basically third-person narration that possesses characteristics of first-person consciousness. I love expressing and understanding the emotions of my characters, and I find that free indirect discourse accomplishes that so well.
Disparaged
The disparager
Pulled out of a dream, Maddie opened her eyes to look at the time on her bedside clock.
Midnight.
She turned over on her back and tried to drift back into sleep, tried to slip back into her dream, a dream that had been so pleasant, a dream she so hoped would come true someday.
Tossing and turning. The minutes moved forward, and Maddie could not reclaim sleep. Her throat felt dry, her lips cracked. Water, lip balm, then back to bed.
Jack did not stir at all as she climbed off the bed and out of their bedroom. Down the hall, she walked by the rooms of her children. She paused for just a moment between the doors, her daughter's on one side, her son's on the other.
She glanced at Jazz's door, lingered longer on Danny's.
Down the stairs, a glass of water, back up and right at his door again. Maddie stood before it with a pensive frown. She didn't need to worry about Jazz, but Danny…
His teachers had been sending her concerned e-mails. Danny's often late to class. Danny often turns in his assignments late. Danny often seems tired. Danny's often inattentive. Danny, Danny, Danny, what is wrong with Danny, Mrs. Fenton? Can you please fix him already? Sorry, but this is not in our job description.
There was nothing wrong with him. He didn't get the best grades, certainly not as good as his sister's, but he was doing decently well, and he was trying his best. Maddie couldn't possibly hold him to the same expectations as she did her daughter. He excelled in other areas, and he had the most innocent and most sincere heart of anyone she knew.
And the biggest dreams.
Maddie put her forehead against his door and closed her eyes. He had so many aspirations and hopes for the future, and she couldn't bring herself to crush them, to tell him that his performance in school could never be conducive for a career exploring the stars. She could never do that to him, would encourage him to the end to keep pursuing his passions.
But in recent months, it seemed that he had been slowly giving up on these dreams, had consigned himself to the life that his teachers kept warning him he was headed for.
No matter what, she wouldn't let him feel abandoned or hopeless. Whatever happened to him, wherever his education took him, she would be there to help him. Even if his dreams were never realized, she'd see to it that her son was at least independent and happy.
She imagined him sleeping beyond the door. She used to read him bedtime stories, used to stroke his head and kiss him good night, used to whisper that she loved him in his ear, and he used to sleepily whisper it back. How long had it been since she last tucked him in? How long had it been since she last watched him sleep?
He was right there, so close, and yet she missed him fiercely. Her only son was already no longer her little boy. One day, someday soon, he would not be so close, somewhere faraway with his own family.
Just once more, just a quick glance, something she could hold onto, something to help her fall asleep.
She turned the doorknob and slowly opened it, cringing at the small creaking sound, hoping it wouldn't be enough to wake him.
But he didn't wake.
Because he wasn't there.
Maddie opened the door the rest of the way and approached his bed, pulled back his covers to be sure. She looked around the room, turned on the light so that she could see better.
She had just been downstairs. The bathroom was definitely empty when she walked by.
Where was he?
Panic was setting in quickly. She could feel it closing up her throat. She had said good night to him just a couple hours earlier, saw him retire to his room for the night.
He wouldn't sneak out. That couldn't be it.
She walked through the whole house, looked for lights or any other sign of him. But he was nowhere.
Back in her room, she picked up her cell phone and tried calling him. No answer. She sent him a text: Where are you? She tried calling him again, two, three, four times.
She shook Jack awake. He groggily opened his eyes.
"Jack, Danny's gone." Maddie tried to keep her voice calm, but she was shaking with worry.
Jack sat up. "Gone? What do you mean?"
"I mean he's gone!" snapped Maddie. "He's not in his room. He's not anywhere in the house. He's not answering his phone."
Jack didn't say anything for a moment. "Do you think he snuck out?"
"I don't know," said Maddie. "I mean, that doesn't seem like him, but I don't know what other explanation there could be." She chewed her lip, put a hand to her chin. "I mean, unless—but who would—?" The worst scenarios ran through her mind. She didn't want to believe that Danny would deliberately break one of their biggest rules, but it was still preferable to someone forcibly taking him.
Jack stood and put a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to call the police?"
"I want to go out and look for him myself." Maddie moved to her closet and pulled out one of her jumpsuits. "Honestly, I think we'd take this far more seriously than the police would, especially since we just saw him a couple hours ago."
"Right," said Jack. "He was here when we went to bed, for sure. And that was what, around ten? What time is it now?"
"After midnight." Maddie pulled on the hood of her jumpsuit over her hair. "Are you going to come with me?"
"Do you really think this is necessary?" asked Jack. "I'm sure he's okay. We could just wait for him to come home."
"But this isn't like him, Jack. This doesn't feel right to me. I could never forgive myself if something happened to him and all I did was wait around for him to come home." She headed to the door. "I'm going to grab some weapons. You know how ghosts are this time of night."
"Ooh, yeah!" agreed Jack enthusiastically. "I can try out my new Fentonuzi!"
Maddie power walked down the hall, stopped at Jazz's door. Perhaps Jazz knew something?
She opened the door and switched on the light. Jazz immediately opened her eyes and sat up in alarm. "What's going on?"
"Danny's gone," said Maddie. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"
Jazz shook her head. "Danny? No, I don't, but I'm sure he's—"
"I've tried calling him, but he hasn't answered." Maddie glanced at her phone again to check if he had tried to contact her, but there was still nothing from him. "I don't like this. He's not the type to sneak out. Your father and I are going to go out to look for him."
"Really? But—ah—"
"If you hear anything or if Danny comes home while we're out, call me." Maddie left the room and entered their basement lab, looked through their various ghost-hunting weapons and inventions. The Finder, the Ghost Weasel, the Specter Deflector. But perhaps it would be best to keep it simple. She picked up a Fenton Thermos and her trusted ecto-gun, made sure both were fully charged.
She was about to leave when something else caught her eye. A solution she had just recently finished, one that she knew worked after trying it out on smaller ghosts. She picked up a vial of the liquid. A concentrated dose could temporarily halt any changes in ghostly molecules. An injected ghost would be unable to become invisible or intangible until the effects wore off which was useful for the more invasive procedures and experiments she conducted on the ghostly specimens she captured.
But there was one ghost in particular she had created it for, the one ghost she was determined to have under her knife someday.
She grabbed a dart gun and loaded up a dart with the solution. She was going out to look for Danny and only Danny, but if Phantom happened to show up and she wasn't ready for him, she would kick herself.
"Ready?" asked Jack behind her. Maddie turned to see him holding up his newest weapon, an ectoplasmic assault gun that he had not yet tested but was very excited about.
"You sure you want to take that one?" asked Maddie. "Wouldn't it be better to take a gun you know definitely works?"
"What better way to test it than on a real ghost?" Jack's eyes were wide and bright.
Maddie shrugged and didn't argue. She had a gun that she knew worked, at least. And besides, they weren't going out to hunt ghosts. They had to find their son.
After switching on their ghost shield that surrounded their house, Maddie and Jack took to the streets, opting to not take their Assault Vehicle to be as inconspicuous as possible. They could more easily get around and sneak up on any ghosts on foot.
"Do you have a plan where to look, Mads?" asked Jack as he followed her. "Nothing's even open this time of night."
"Parks. Near the school. Maybe he's with some friends." She hoped this was true. She hoped he was safe wherever he was, with others he could trust.
A flash of green light farther up the street caught her attention. Such eerie luminescence could only mean one thing.
Maddie clutched her ecto-gun and started running toward the light.
"All right, a ghost!" exclaimed Jack, running beside her. "I can't wait to try this baby out." He caressed the length of his newest gun affectionately.
They sprinted onto the scene. Maddie abruptly stopped when she saw the ghost, a huge entity that resembled a spider. Maddie studied the creature through her orange-tinted goggles, noted its dripping fangs and shining eyes.
"That's what I'm talking about!" Jack excitedly aimed his Fentonuzi at the spider ghost. He pulled the trigger which resulted in nothing but a clicking sound.
Maddie groaned. "See, Jack, I told you—"
"No, wait, I got this." Jack inspected the gun, snapped some parts into place, shook it out.
The spider ghost shrieked and quickly moved toward them. Maddie held up her own gun, fearlessly locked onto it.
A blast knocked the ghost away, a blast that was not from her gun.
Maddie blinked in confusion and looked around for the source of the blast. There was another ghost hovering in the air above.
No, not just another ghost.
Maddie's gun dropped to her side as she gazed up in awe. The first ghost she had ever seen, the ghost that had restored her belief in the existence of ghosts, the ghost that was nothing like any of the others that haunted their town.
Crystalline hair of winter, glittering eyes of radioactivity, toned muscles that could be seen through the tight confines of his jumpsuit, a glow that outshone the moon.
He looked like a god.
"Hey, it's the ghost kid!" Jack cried. He was still trying to get his gun to work, was working more frantically than ever now that Phantom was present.
Phantom stared down at them, stared down at Maddie. She glared back at him intently.
I will have you.
She fingered her dart gun attached to her belt, slowly reached for it so as not to alarm Phantom with any sudden movements.
But all that noise, all that scuffling from Jack as he desperately tried to get his own gun to work. Too much distraction.
With a loud sigh, she snatched the Fentonuzi away, eliciting an offended whine from him. She looked the gun over and hastily tried to assess the problem.
She could see movement on the upper periphery of her vision. Phantom was flying away. She yelled after him, but he ignored her.
I'm not letting you get away. Not this time.
She thrust the Fentonuzi back into Jack's arms and chased after Phantom at full speed. But he was faster than her, and it wasn't long before she lost sight of him.
Irritated, Maddie continued her search, ran through the streets and glanced down every passage and alley. She had already forgotten why she was out there in the first place. Right now, all that mattered was that Phantom was somewhere nearby.
An ethereal light from an alley caught her attention. She stopped running and stared down the darkened passageway.
Anticipation and desire. So much desire.
She crept into the alley, kept her steps as light as possible.
There.
She held her breath. A tall gate, two silver trash cans, and the ghost she wanted more than any other to lock away in her basement lab.
He was facing away from her, looking up into the sky. Maddie removed her goggles and placed them on top of her hooded head so that she could see him with her own eyes.
His stance was normally confident and cocky, but as he gazed upward, he seemed only pensive, lonely even. Although she couldn't see his face, she could sense a hint of melancholy longing as he silently held his arms.
The bounty on his head was remarkably high. So many others wanted him, the Guys in White and other ghost hunters. She could turn him over to any of them for a handsome price.
But he was worth far more to her in her possession.
I won't let anyone else have you.
She held up her dart gun, steadied and aimed it.
You belong to me.
She pulled the trigger, watched the dart tear through the air and hit him in the back near his neck. He yelled and immediately pulled it out. Maddie could see his hand shaking as he tried to understand what it was.
He began to turn around.
"Don't move!" Maddie shouted. She held up her charged ecto-gun, directed it right at him.
His whole body tensed. The dart fell out of his hand and clattered to the ground.
"What you have just been injected with won't let you change your molecules in any way for a while," Maddie informed him. "You won't be able to become invisible or intangible."
He tried to turn again to face her.
"I said don't move!" she snapped at him viciously.
He froze and made no further attempt to turn.
Maddie approached him until she was close enough that she didn't have to yell for him to hear her. "Get on your knees," she commanded coldly, "and place your hands on your head."
He remained motionless.
"Phantom, now! I will shoot you if I must!" She kept her gun trained on him. She hoped he could hear its whirring.
At last, he lowered himself, slowly dropped to one knee and then the other, raised his hands and interlaced them on the back of his head. Maddie reveled in his reluctant compliance, his nervous discomfort. Euphoric victory filled her head, lifted her high.
She had him. He was hers.
For so long she had pursued him. For so long he had evaded her. To have him here now, trapped and cornered and at her mercy, the most exhilarating delirium. Joyriding on his arrest, thrilling herself on his submission, swelling with lustful vehemence.
Time was stopped just for her, intensifying this triumphant climax that penetrated deep to her core.
Phantom turned his head to try to look back at her.
"Keep looking forward, Phantom."
He obeyed, remained in the subservient position she had forced him into. "How long are you going to keep me like this?"
He was trying to sound calm, but Maddie could sense his apprehension. She was in control, and he knew it. "As long as I feel like keeping you like this."
If only there was some way to bottle this moment, this sensation.
"Look, I'm sorry you have such a bad impression of me—"
"Shut up, ghost."
Maddie took a couple steps forward.
Wanna do something painful, Phantom?
She moved until she was close enough to touch him.
Wanna listen to something that hurts, Phantom?
She put the barrel of her blaster right next to his head, close to his ear so that he could hear its droning charge.
"I should just shoot you now, end your problematic existence," she said evenly. But no, she wasn't really going to kill him. She wanted only to frighten him, wanted him to understand just how powerless he was.
He scoffed, as if he dared to think he knew more than she did. "Problematic? Without me—"
But she wasn't about to let him talk to her that way.
She hit him over the head with her gun, right above his interlocked hands. "Just because you've saved our town a few times doesn't mean you're a saint."
"What does it mean, then?" demanded Phantom with a tremor.
"Tell me why I shouldn't shoot you."
"Amity Park would be teeming with ghosts by now if it weren't for me, and if you get rid of me, the ghosts will completely take over."
Maddie gritted her teeth. "You think we can't handle them ourselves, Phantom?"
Phantom shook his head. "It's not that at all! It's just…" He paused. "I kind of have a slight advantage when it comes to ghost-fighting."
"Because you're a ghost yourself?"
Phantom nodded.
Maddie studied him for a silent minute, his gloved hands still on his head, the outline of his face in profile. "You've always been fascinating to me, Phantom. From the moment I first saw you, I could tell you were different, not like the other ghosts. I wanted to capture you for science, for experimental reasons. I wanted to…rip you open, look inside you, see what you're made of."
Her gaze went lower. She noted the tautness of his back and the muscled definition in his thighs.
I dreamt that I was trailing my fingers down your bare chest, your arms restrained above your head and unable to stop me.
His breaths became deeper, more labored.
"But Phantom, all of our problems started with you. Maybe if I just get rid of you, those problems will disappear with you."
She watched his brow crease in thought.
"What do you mean they all started with me?" he finally asked.
"My husband and I were just about ready to give up on ghosts." Maddie lowered her eyes. "We were…about to give it all up. We had never actually seen ghosts before, you see, and we were starting to wonder if we would ever see any." She paused. "One day, we almost gave up our belief in ghosts altogether." Another pause. "At the exact moment my husband was about to declare that ghosts weren't real, you, of all ghosts, flew by."
He had been in sight for only a short second that day, but she could never forget that moment. At last, after innumerable hours of research that seemed to never pay off, his existence validated it all, restored her confidence in everything she had been working toward.
"Ever since that moment, Phantom, we've had an overwhelming number of ghost problems. Why is that?" She moved even closer to him. "Why is it that as soon as we saw you, we've had these ghost problems when we never had them before?"
Phantom made no reply.
"If you don't have a good answer, I can only assume that you're behind it all." She pressed the barrel of her gun to his head.
He gasped, shut his eyes. His muscles tightened, his hands shook. "Please don't shoot me."
The corners of Maddie's mouth curled up.
I've never seen you so afraid. I'd kind of like to see you cry.
"Tell me why we've been having ghost problems," she ordered.
He hesitated.
"I'm losing my patience, Phantom."
"I'll give you an answer if you could just back away a little," he said slowly. "Your gun being right up against my head is making it hard for me to focus."
He was grasping for any power at all, and she wouldn't let him have it.
"You'll give me an answer, or I'll kill you."
He faltered, swayed.
That's right. The charges against you will be judged at my discretion.
"It's…it is actually kind of sort of my fault that all these ghosts appeared—"
"Really?" With her gun still pressed to his head, Maddie pushed him lower.
"Hear me out! I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"
Maddie lifted her gun in intrigue. "An accident?"
Phantom straightened up. "You know your ghost portal, right?"
Maddie frowned, did not reply right away. "What about it?"
"Remember how it didn't work when you first created it?"
Maddie chewed the inside of her cheek. "How do you know about that?"
"Because…well…I saw it myself. I was there when it wasn't working."
Maddie stared down at him with both curiosity and irritation. Was this true? How else would he know about the troubles they initially had with their ghost portal? If it really was true, then he had been in their house before she even knew he existed. Maddie did not like the thought of Phantom intruding without her knowledge. What else had he seen? Had he been spying on them?
"I was…trying to get back to the ghost zone. As a ghost, I knew that was where I belonged. The way I had gotten here was no longer accessible, so I was looking for another way. When I came across your portal, I knew that was my chance." His voice quavered. "But it needed to be turned on properly. So, when I saw your son alone by the portal—"
"My son?"
All at once, she remembered the real reason she was out here in the first place. He was not in his room. He was not home. He was missing.
And why was Phantom talking about him?
"What about my son?" she demanded with a rise in pitch.
Phantom frowned. "Uh, yes, your son," he said tentatively. "I saw him and—"
"What do you know about my son?" She pressed her gun directly to his head again. "Where is he? What have you done with him?" she snarled.
No more toying with him, no more enjoying his submissive distress. He knew her son. Her Danny. What else did Phantom know about him? Why would Phantom even think about approaching her son? What other contact had he been having with Danny?
And where was Danny now? Did Phantom know?
Surely, yes, definitely, Phantom knew where her son was now. No, rather, Phantom had done something with her son. Danny would never just run off in the middle of the night, would never intentionally break one of her rules and sneak out. Phantom either had to be behind her son's disappearance or at least part of it.
Still on his knees, hands still clasped on his head, Phantom was silent, did not make any sound at all.
"Answer me, Phantom!" screamed Maddie. "I'll shoot you! I'll shoot you right now if you don't tell me where he is!"
She would kill him for this, for daring to hurt her son. She'd kill him now and drag his empty shell to her basement lab where she'd break him apart and violate him in any and every way she pleased.
"What are you talking about?" he cried.
He sounded so afraid, so terrified. Good. Maddie wanted his final moments to be agonizing.
"I'm not playing, Phantom." Maddie grabbed him by his hair, pulled at his shimmery strands. She bent down and kept her gun pressed to his head as she spoke into his ear. "You are not worth any more trouble. Tell me where my son is, and I'll be sure to end your existence humanely."
He was seized by sudden tremors. Maddie could feel them coursing through him.
"I'm…" Strangled by his intense fear, words almost inaudible. "I'm your—"
"Maddie!"
Jack's voice. He sounded distressed. Without releasing her grip on Phantom's hair, she turned to look back at him. "Jack, what is it?"
The spider ghost she and Jack had confronted earlier appeared in the alley behind her husband. Maddie immediately straightened up, yanked Phantom up by his hair with her.
Jack was staring at her, unaware of the spider's front legs that were reaching for him.
"Jack, watch out!" screamed Maddie.
The spider snatched Jack, knocked the Fentonuzi out of his hands and sent it skidding on the ground toward Maddie. The sight of her husband in trouble took over, and she released her hold on her captive ghost. She ran swiftly, picked up the Fentonuzi and fired her own blaster at the spider's legs.
The spider shrieked and leered at Maddie. Maddie continued firing at the spider, but it would not relinquish its hold on her husband.
"Maddie!" cried Jack.
Maddie looked too late to see the spider ghost aiming a shot of webbing straight at her. She sailed backwards and hit a wall. She struggled to break out of the silky entrapment, watched in horror as her husband, still in the spider's grasp, had no way to defend himself. The spider stared down at him hungrily.
But he had a great shot if he only had a gun.
Her own blaster was too heavy for her to throw to him, but the Fentonuzi…yes, she could throw that.
She broke her arms through the webbing and turned the new gun over in her hands to analyze whatever was wrong with it. The bolt was slightly out of place. It would have to be properly fixed later, but for now, Maddie slammed it in tight and raised her arm to throw it. "Jack!" she yelled.
Maddie threw the gun hard and precisely, watched it soar through the air and land neatly in Jack's gloved hand. He grinned and aimed it right at the spider's face, pulled the trigger and delivered a powerfully focused beam of ectoplasmic energy into the spider's many eyes. The spider instantly released him, staggered backwards and rolled onto its back, its legs curling upward.
Jack sealed the ghost in a Thermos, then ran to his wife and pulled the webbing off of her. She grabbed his face and kissed him. His strong arms wrapped around her.
"We make a good team, huh?" Jack looked down at her glowingly, lovingly.
"The best," agreed Maddie.
Jack tossed the Thermos a short way into the air, caught it again in his hand. "This ghost isn't going to fit in our basement. But I wouldn't mind collecting some venom or silk samples from it."
Another ghost in their possession, another ghost to tear into to further their understanding of the supernatural realm.
But not the ghost she wanted.
Maddie glanced around, stared up into the sky.
"What are you looking for?" asked Jack.
"Phantom." Maddie moaned. "I had him."
"Oh, right. I saw that. It looked like you really had him. Why didn't you suck him into your Thermos when you had the chance?"
"I was enjoying the moment way too much," muttered Maddie. She wondered where he was right at that moment, wondered what he was thinking.
"Well, no point in dwelling on it." Jack shrugged. "We still need to find Danny."
Maddie's eyes widened. "Danny." She turned to Jack in panic. "What if a ghost got him? What if that spider ghost got him first? Do you think he's okay?"
"He's a Fenton. I'm positive he can hold his own against a ghost."
"He doesn't carry around ghost-fighting weapons like we do."
"He's fine," insisted Jack.
The two returned to the streets, looked for any further signs of ghosts and, more importantly, their son.
Maddie's cell phone rang. She looked at the screen. "Hang on. Jazz is calling." She stopped walking and answered the call.
"Mom?" came Jazz's voice.
"Jazz, what is it? Did you hear from Danny?"
"He's actually home now."
"Really? Is he there with you?"
"Yes, he's right here."
"Thank God." Maddie put a hand to her chest. "Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he's…he's fine."
Such a swell of joy broke over her. "Okay, we're coming home right now." She disconnected the call and looked at Jack. "Danny's home."
Jack grinned. "See? I told you he was okay."
They moved quickly through the streets back to their home. In the living room, Danny and Jazz stood up from the couch as they walked in.
His somber expression. His arms down at his sides.
Her boy.
"Danny!" Maddie ran to him, threw her arms around him, hugged him close to her.
Safe in her arms.
"I was worried sick!" Maddie pulled away, her hands moving from his back to his shoulders. She frowned, now cross that he had caused her to feel this way in the first place. "Where have you been, young man?"
Danny's eyes were empty and looking through her. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I was with Sam."
Maddie furrowed her brow. His tone was flat, his response automatic, his focus diverged. "Sam?" she echoed.
"Yes. I'm sorry." So oddly monotonous.
"Ah, kids." Jack laughed behind her.
Maddie turned back to him with narrowed eyes. "Jack, this is serious."
"Uh…yes, it is," said Jack quickly, straightening up. "And we will definitely have a talk with Sam's parents tomorrow."
"We certainly will." Maddie turned back to Danny, her hands still on his shoulders as she looked at him intently. "And we'll have to think of a suitable punishment for you, Danny."
But at least he was here now, here with her. Her expression softened. "But I'm so relieved you're safe. I was afraid that…" The paranoid scenarios that had entered her mind, the frightening possibilities that could have befallen him. "Well, it doesn't matter. You're safe."
"Yes. I am."
He spoke so quietly with a gaze still unfocused. Maddie studied him, his white face and haunted eyes. "Are you okay, Danny?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just…really sorry. And tired."
Maddie frowned. She had never seen him like this before. "You seem…I feel like something's wrong."
She moved her hand up to run her fingers through his thick hair like she so often did, a tender act that she knew was comforting to him.
A gentle sweep through his dark strands—
Danny sharply inhaled and pulled his head back, stepped away so that Maddie was no longer touching him at all.
A flash of something else in his eyes, no longer dull and unfocused.
"Danny?" Maddie asked in alarm.
Danny broke into a smile, a smile that looked misplaced. "I'm fine, really. I promise."
Maddie noted the way his eyes did not match his smile at all. "You know you can talk to me, right?"
Danny inclined his head. "Of course I know that. You're my mother."
His tone sounded so strangely light now, no longer flat. Maddie's mouth opened slightly in worried confusion.
"Is it all right if I go to bed now, or do you still want to talk about this?" he asked.
No, this was not all right. This was not settling well with Maddie at all.
But she nodded. "Yes. We'll talk tomorrow."
She leaned in to kiss his head, but he evaded her, so quickly walked away from her that it could not be interpreted as anything other than purposeful avoidance. She watched him ascend the stairs with Jazz right behind him.
"I guess Danny's not too happy about getting caught like this," said Jack in a low voice. He was standing beside her now.
"You think that's it?" asked Maddie.
"I'm sure it is." Jack yawned. "And he's probably tired, too. I know I am."
"What do you think he was doing with Sam? At this hour?"
"We'll find out tomorrow." Jack began leading her upstairs. "For now, let's just be glad he's okay and get some sleep."
Maddie followed Jack, glanced at Danny's closed door as they walked past. Yes, he was okay, safe at home where she could watch over him. That was all that mattered at the moment.
(So many excruciating ironies. Can you identify all of them?)
(I wrote this chapter not only to give you an idea of just how obsessed with Phantom Maddie is but also because I wanted to figure out how I want to reach the climax and how to end this story. I am pleased to say that writing this allowed me to succeed in that endeavor. I am very excited to share the progression and ending of this story).