Yay! New chapter! As a heads up, I probably left out all questions Valerie wanted answered in here (knowing me and my memory) so if I left out a question you really want answered let me know and I'll answer it.

Thank you my reviewers! (Yay! I got 3. Finally more than one, even though PhantomShadowKat was the first to review, I'm still more than excited about the fact that katiesparks and bluename did too.)

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Chapter Eight: My Insanity Proven

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Well, another question to add to the mountain of questions already established.

It was about eight by the time I got out of the house, and the time now was about eight-thirty. I wasn't sure where I needed to start. The easiest way to ask dad about his reasons to stay with the group would be to ask why he stayed even though he knew Phantom's secret. I mean, that was my main question, but the fact that he knew I shouldn't know about Phantom's secret made that way a little difficult.

I could simply ask how he got started and get a repeat of what Sam had said and build off of that. That would probably work. And it better work, considering the fact that I was now standing in front of dad's house with no other plan. I looked down to my hand. I was carrying the book from the night before. Just because I didn't feel like it was the right time to totally come clean with dad didn't mean I couldn't leave hints.

I knocked on the door.

"Oh, Nicole. What a surprise. Is something wrong?" Dad asked.

"No, I just had some questions about your job," I told him.

"Danny would be able to--"

"No. You're part."

He scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion but allowed me to enter anyway.

"So what do you want to know?" he asked once we were sitting down in his small living room.

"Just how you got started and why and things like that." I stopped myself short from mentioning that Sam had told me about his daughter being a ghost hunter, knowing it would bring back some painful memories. But it happened that I didn't have to bring that part up...

"Well, it wasn't the thing I thought I'd ever do. When Valerie, I've heard Sam telling you about her, was here I didn't like the idea of her being a ghost hunter; never have, never will."

"But you hunt ghosts now?" I asked, confused and slightly angry.

"Well, yes, but only because I feel the need to protect the city. Besides, I'm not that involved in the field. I mostly spend time on the computer with research."

"Oh," I stated, my anger slipping away as fast as it had come. "So, how did you get started?"

"As I mentioned my daughter was a ghost hunter so I was pretty familiar with some of the reappearing huminoid ghosts. There were a few times I even had to protect her and myself from some of the ghosts. And the worst attacker; Phantom. Danny Phantom, the one considered a hero today. I'm sure you've heard quite a bit about how Phantom was once considered evil."

"Yeah, I have," I commented.

"Well, he was Valerie's number one priority so I got to see a lot of him. Of course, there wasn't a person who didn't." My eyes shifted to the window where I saw Phantom flying by for reasons I didn't even want to know. "Not even now," dad continued, apparently seeing Phantom as well.

But was that bitterness I heard in his voice?

"Now-a-days, though, I suppose its a good thing that Phantom is everywhere. If he wasn't, it would mean more ghosts and fewer people to deal with them," he explained further.

"You suppose?" I questioned, not completely believing what he'd just told me.

"I—between you a me, I still have a few grudges held against him," dad finally leveled with me.

All of my thoughts halted. Dad wasn't as hot with following Phantom as he made it seem? He had second-guesses, but he was still a part of the team? If my own father still didn't entirely trust Phantom, should I?

Of course I should. I had made that decision on my own. I didn't believe Phantom was the bad guy anymore. He was a hero.

"How come?" I asked out loud.

"He—I can't just let go of the past that easily. He did horrible things, Nicole. You have no comprehension of the things he claims he was framed for. Now, he's considered a hero because of one good dead he did nine years ago and I don't get why the entire town of Amity Park would let go of their past that easily either. He's the—" dad stopped himself from saying whatever he was going to say next.

"I don't see any kind of evil in him, Mr. Gray. Sure I've only been here like three days, but he hasn't done anything that has even a hint of deception. He's been nice and sweet and helpful, if not a bit cocky," I described, but stopped myself, realizing I had started to list off the qualities Phantom masqueradad as a human.

"How do you know so much about him?" dad asked. "Have you really been in that much contact with Phantom?"

"Some," I replied vaugly. Then something clicked in my mind. "Why'd you tell me that you don't trust Phantom and not someone else your closer to?"

"I don't know. I suppose it's because you're not as close to Danny as his sister, or wife, or best friend--"

"What's Danny have to do with this?" I asked, hoping I'd gotten dad in a corner.

"He's partners with Phantom, remember? Pretty much everything Danny finds out is transfered to Phantom so I don't want Danny finding out either," he replied smartly.

"And if you don't entirely trust Phantom why are you part of his team?"

"Like I mentioned earlier, I feel the need to protect the city. Ghost hunters are a very important part of protecting the city, you know. And as an added bonus to my job, I'm kept in the loop with Phantom."

I didn't even want to think about what that was meant to imply.

"It's been great talking to you, but I think I'd like to talk to some other people about their jobs and such," I informed my dad, standing up.

"Why are you even interested?" He asked.

"Ghosts aren't the topic of information in every town," I answered. "Thanks." I let the book in my hands slide out of my grasp as I walked out the door.

"Uh, no problem."

I quickly exited the house. I took to walking at a brisk pace towards the boarding house. Dad was the last person I'd figured would get involved in a lieing scheme. His apperance said he was right beside Phantom while in his head he was way behind him, as if expecting him to mess up or go evil all of a sudden. And what's worse is that he knew Phantom's secret.

"This presents more of a problem for my sanity, which at the moment is slowly but surely falling to peices," I murmered as I continued walking.

I mean, it only took ten years, a good deed, some mighty fine pursuading, a trip back to my hometown, and my own "secrect identity" to convice myself that my teenhood foe, Danny Phantom, wasn't really that bad. So the fact that my dad still didn't completely trust the guy didn't add any problams to anything!

Man, I'm more sarcastic than people tell me...

My thinking time was cut short as I heard someone scream in the near distance. Instantly, I snapped my head in the direction of the screech. I couldn't see a thing that looked out of place except that people were running from the direction of the noise. So, doing what any person would in this situation, I ran...

...right into the world of danger.

I ran as fast as I could toward the horrible scream that had just sent everyone else running the opposite direction. I didn't care that people were looking at me funny or that people were screaming for me to run the other direction. I stopped caring about what other people thought of me long ago and this wasn't the place or time to question my motives.

Another scream. This time louder and followed with smoke. Was this some ghost attack? If it was, I was sure fine on helping out any way I could. But who was doing the screaming? And where was Phantom? Or any of the other ghost squad members?

"Nicky!"

I had no choice but to stop upon hearing my name from behind. I turned around to face Tucker.

"You shouldn't be running toward the danger. Be smart and run away, like everyone else and let the fighters handle this," he tried to reason to me.

Unfortunaltly for him, I was hard-headed and wasn't going to be drug away that easily. "No! As far as I'm concerned, I'm just as qualified as you to help out whoever's causing that damage down there, and I don't intend to stand around, waiting for some crackhead who says he can fight ghosts to rescue whoever's in danger when I can help out, myself." I waited for no response, taking one of the two ecto-guns he held in his hands, and began running again.

"But Nicole--" the rest of his words were drowned out by another scream, screaming townsfolks, and me getting further away.

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It wasn't the kind of place I'd hold someone hostage, but I'll give whoever's behind this their props for originality. I had ran the rest of the way toward the awful sounds and come upon a run-down shack with smoke coming out of cracks and windows. I hesistated not, to run inside the open door and look around for any signs of a person.

There wasn't any. Most of the smoke had already gotten out of the shack so it was clear enough to see, but there wasn't anyone in the room, and as far I could tell there weren't any other doors. I knew there had to be a catch or something

I got against the wall and edged my way around the small building, feeling for anything that might give away a secret door. I was about half-way around the building when another scream startled me and made me jump. My ears told me that the person was down below the floor. Could there be a secret passage under the wood?

I decided to act on my thought and got down on my hands and knees to feel around as I had done on the wall. It wasn't long until I had came across a place where I knew there had to be some sort of passage underneath. I pried the trap door open a lot easier than I figured it would be and was greeted with a flight of stairs.

Just as I was building up enough courage to decended the stairs into a dark hole I heard someone exclaim, "Nicole! Wait!" Exasperated, I turned around to find Tucker running through the door. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean by that? I told you that I'm helping out whoever might be trapped down there," I replied, not resisting to show all my anger through my words.

"But you don't have any experience with--"

"And that's where you're wrong," I told him as I began to decened the stairs.

I could hardly hear him mutter, "You are so hard-headed! I'm just trying to keep you safe."

No one protected me when I had the chance to do it myself.

I felt my feet hit solid ground. I looked up, surprised to find that I could hardly see a small bit of light coming from the opening. I moved out of the way, figuring Tucker would be down any second, and moved the only direction the path took me. I held my ecto-gun out in front of me as I pressed forward so that I'd be prepared in case a ghost attacked.

"Don't turn around..."

What the? Who said..."Tucker, now isn't the right time to play jokes on someone," I expressed to the young man.

"Tucker's being a good little boy at the moment. Too bad you're out of your place."

Still thinking Tucker was playing a cruel joke, I turned around...against my better judgement I might add. A scream of shock and fear exploded from my throat as I fell backwards upon seeing a figure dressed in a black robe (There was a little light from some unknown sorce ahead, but it was still dark).

He raised something above his head and that was the last thing I remember happening before I blacked out.

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I wonder if I left it enough of a mystery for you guys to figure it out...

((runs away to secret hiding place to laugh my head off.))

Seriously though, I'd like to see who you guys think it is. And remember: please ask all question that went unanswered.