Hey, look. It's an update! Dang, my third updated story in one night. And the first since...February. Dang. smacks self I need to pick up the pace. Alright then. : ) Read on while I decide what to do.

(Daemyn's POV)

Back in my room, Kendra, Fitter and I began to discuss Clockwork's message. Clearly something was going to happen that was big. But too big for Dad to handle? That was so unlikely that even I found myself questioning the ghost's sanity.

"Nothing abnormal is happening in the ghost zone," Kendra said as she poured over readings on her PDA. "In fact, everything is strangely...quiet."

"Quiet as in 'the calm before the storm'?" I asked, peering over her shoulder. No use though, I couldn't decifer the myriad of numbers if my life depended on it. Kendra is my life-saver in math. If there's ever a confusing number or problem I don't understand, she's my go-to girl who can clear my (often) befuddled mind.

"Or quiet as in 'shut up, the principle just walked in the room'?" Fitter added.

"No, neither of those," Kendra gave a small chuckle. "It's just a relatively calm quiet."

Fitter looked confused. "As in what?"

"As in, 'I'm tired and don't feel like talking' quiet."

"Oh."

We sat there in silence for a moment, no one quiet sure of what to say.

Fitter suddenly sat up from her position on the floor. "Dae, wasn't odd that Clockwork mentioned you?"

"No. Why would it be? He was trying to convince my dad to come home. If I were in that mental state, it would have been hard to get me to leave too." Seriously, when I want answers, I'm as stubborn as my mom is...was...no, as she is. I'm not willing to accept she's gone forever.

Kendra mulled it over. "Now that you mention it, it does seem a little odd. Uncle Danny really doesn't have anything more important to worry about at the moment besides Aunt Sam's disappearence. And, no offense Daemyn, but I wouldn't be worrying about my kid if the love of my life just vanished off the face of the earth."

I couldn't help but let out a sigh. They were reading too far into Clockwork's message. "So I'm supposedly special now?"

"Well, yeah," Kendra shrugged. "He did say something about your life taking a drastic turn."

Fitter and I both became quiet. I'm not sure what her reason was, but I had completely forgotten about that part. Clockwork had mentioned that, but I'm sure he was just talking about Mom disappearing completely. Losing a parent is tramatic. I may not be showing it very well, but that's because I think I'm still in the first stage of grief: denial. Mom's not really gone forever. We just have to find a way to bring her back, and everything will be okay. We can go back to living day by day, and maybe this time I'll start eating some of the vegetables she makes for me.

Maybe.

On second thought...no promises.

Kendra coughed quietly, jarring Fitter and I out of our thoughts. "Maybe we should go and ask him."

Fitter's face lit up, and I could see her thinking out the situation and liking the results. Oh, no. We were NOT heading into the ghost zone. Phantom's only kid, defenseless, and wandering around in enemy territory while he was busy mourning his wife?

Could anyone else say, 'bad idea'?

"No way," I scoffed, moving to my bed. "Dad just asked him. Do you really think that he'd tell us something he wouldn't tell Danny Phantom, most powerful ghost in the Zone?"

The sisters both stared at me with hopeful looks.

"But...we don't even know where Clockwork's lair is!"

Kendra whirled to face the computer again, quickly pulling a very detailed map of the Ghost Zone onto the monitor. "Now we do."

Wait a second, where the heck did she get that from? Any map or ecto-related item was immediately hidden, and files untraceable. Uncle Tucker had designed the firewalls himself, giving Dad nothing but the best software and security-

Oh, right. Tucker Foley. His daughter would know how to bypass those, wouldn't she?

"Please tell me you didn't just hack the FentonWorks files," I moaned.

Kendra blushed guiltily. "Technically, you are a Fenton, and we need them, so it's perfectly qualified. I'm not really hacking into anything. Think of it as...unlocking doors I have access too."

Great. This girl was going to kill me someday.

"Please do it, Dae," Fitter's gray eyes pleaded with me. "Clockwork said that something was about to happen in your life, and we simply want to help you through it. Maybe he could just give us a little hint about what's going down so that we can prepare. It never hurts to prepare, right?"

"Besides," Kendra agreed. "It could happen at any time, so the faster we leave to talk to him, the more time we'll have."

I rubbed my forehead. There was no stopping the Foley girls once they decided something. But someone had to try."Fitter, Kendra, I really don't think that we should-"

A loud shout interrupted my couterarguement, and I felt my stomach sinking. The three of us ran from my room and down the hall. Not sure what to expect, we bust into my parent's room, expecting the worse.

"Dad?"

Tucker sat on the bed, eyes wide and red from shedding tears. But his expression is what clued us in. Horrified, his eyes were glued to the slowly disappearing form of Daniel Fenton. The man look translucent and extremely pale. His arms had disappeared, and an invisible cloak was being thrown over him from the waist up. His eyes were wide with panic. I could tell he was trying to say something, but his voice had failed him.

But that's not what made my breath stop.

Dad wasn't in front of me, where he had been standing moments ago. We were slowly watching what was left of him, his reflection, fade away in the closet mirror.

My throat closed, and a unnerving feeling spread throughout my body. Perhaps it was just me, but the room suddenly spiked in temperature. Beads of sweat appeared on my face. I began to hyperventalate.

"Clockwork was right," I whispered. Unbelievable. Dad...DAD WAS GONE!

Kendra's unsteady voice filled the room. "Still think it's a bad idea?"

There was no noise as we loaded up the Spector Speeder in the Fenton Work's lab. Stealthily we grabbed every ghost weapon and defense we could find among Grandpa Jack's old equipment. The green glow of the ghost zone set a solem mood. On top of the tension I'm sure Kendra and Fitter felt radiating off of me, it had to be rather uncomfortable for them.

But that didn't matter. My dad was gone. My father. Danny Phantom.

Danny Phantom was missing. And now I had to find him.

This responsibility has never fallen on me before. I'm not the one with the powers, that's Dad. I'm not the one with the ability to persuade large crowds into protest and reform, that's Mom. But what I am is an emotionally unstable teenager with a deep sense of family ties. I know what family means, and I didn't learn it from Lilo and Stitch. Family is everything. Family is worth dying for. My dad risks his life every day for us. Responsibility. Does it feel this heavy for everyone?

Hastily, I threw my luggage in the back of the Speeder and hopped in the driver's seat. As I buckled in, Kendra and Fitter exchanged worried glances.

"Dae?" Fitter asked, placing a hand unsteadily on my shoulder. "I realize this is an unqualified moment for asking if you're okay, but...you're starting to scare us."

Kendra shared her sister's nervous look. "Your expression is too hard, and, well, should one of us drive?"

Ha. Like I would let that happen.

Not with everything at stake.

"I'm not okay. My family just disappeared. I don't know if I'm next, but I've decided I'm going to figure out what the heck is going on before I have to be." I turned the key and the ignition roared. Slowly we started off into the realm of the dead. Hade's lair.

"And I'm going to find those answers. No matter what it takes."

Yikes, what does Daemyn have in store for Clockwork? Better question, what does Clockwork have in store for Daemyn? Answers to some of the biggest questions and the biggest suprise next chapter.

But that's only three reviews away. Yeah, I feel bad for not updating. So it's three reviews, not five. -smacks self- Go ahead, tell me what you think. I love hearing opinions. Even if it's all flame, I guess. (Although, if it is flame, I can't promise I won't laugh at you.)