Another Way Ch 6

Cold Dishes

Being able to sit normally in the Fenton RV with Jack Fenton as the driver was an art form few learned – and Danny had never counted himself amongst those few, even if he could keep his balance better than most of the guests they'd had on one of his father's wild rides in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle.

Jazz was doing her best to seem unperturbed, but he caught her throwing the driver's seat dark looks every once in a while. He knew it was only a matter of time before she lost her cool and started off with her horror stories of the human psyche and safe driving again.

Not that she was wrong about any of it; but sometimes he really wondered if she wasn't secretly trying to freak them out on purpose. He was actually surprised that she'd kept quiet this long, but he guessed it had something to do with where they were going.

When their parents had first told them that they were going to stay with a friend of theirs for their college reunion, Jazz hadn't exactly seemed thrilled – a sentiment which he'd openly shared with her. But when she learned that this friend was the one and only Vlad Masters… well, he wasn't exactly sure why that was such a big deal to her, but he supposed that she thought he was an excellent role model or something.

Or maybe she was just stunned that their parents could have a normal, hardworking friend who didn't believe in Bigfoot - or something equally preposterous.

Though, she might just have been glad to get out of Amity Park for a while, what with all the ghosts that were suddenly swarming the place. She'd spent most of her life pointing out how they couldn't possibly exist, and now she had a whole town full of them. Danny half-expected her to break down under the shock, but she seemed to have adopted an age old, well-tried method to deal with the impossible scenario; denial.

She had yet to comment on any of the ghost attacks, even if they happened right in front of her. If she couldn't outright ignore them, she'd scoff and glare at them - which often made the things pack up quickly. Not that big of a surprise there, Danny thought with a smirk, it's Jazz after all. Who wouldn't want to run after they see her?

As effective as Jazz's unintentional help had been, the last two weeks had still been the longest in his life; he kept getting harassed by ghosts, and if he weren't, it was because they were off harassing someone else – usually someone who couldn't defend themselves. Which mean that he'd had to take up patrolling the town in the evenings the last couple of days, after he realized that any ghost he left alone somehow always seemed to find its way to him – 'coincidentally' in the middle of the night.

He hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. Fortunately he didn't seem to require as much rest as he used to, but being constantly shaken awake by crazed ghostly octopuses and 'well-meaning' friends was almost worse. He wasn't sure which deity had it out for him, but he sure wanted to give them a piece of his mind.

His friends were torn between anger at his constant crankiness and worry over the obvious nervous twitches he was developing. Tucker seemed fine with pretending nothing was wrong, although Danny caught him eyeing him now and then, but Sam…

She was not fine with it.

A day hadn't gone by without her badgering him about what was wrong. When he tried to lie to placate her, she'd see through him and get mad. If he pretended nothing was bothering him, she went ballistic.

A part of him was touched that she could see through his lies when both his parents and his sister couldn't tell – but her anger with him was only making him more stressed and with how his friends talked about the ghosts that had been attacking Amity, he just knew he couldn't tell them what was really going on with him. He could stand Tuck's disappointed looks and Sam's rants – but he wouldn't let them see him as just another one of those 'monsters' that spread chaos wherever they went.

"Isn't that right, Danny?" a voice suddenly cut through his thoughts. He looked up to see his mother turned half-towards him in the passenger seat.

"Uh, what? Sorry, mom, I didn't catch that…" he said sheepishly, rubbing his neck nervously. He couldn't keep zoning out like that; even his parents would notice at some point. Or was he this absent-minded before the Accident? He couldn't even remember anymore…

She rolled her eyes fondly, "I was just telling your sister that ghosts are terribly destructive to the real world. But you know that best, after all that dreadful Ghost Boy outright attacked you!"

Danny cringed at the dangerous look in his mother's eyes as his mouth went dry. That incident had been the first 'ghost attack' on the city, and those following it had the town in a complete panic. His parents had never been so busy making ghost-weapons before, and the press had milked the 'ghost tries to assassinate renowned ghost hunters' son'-angle for the past two weeks. Danny's alter ego was feared more than any of the other ghosts that showed up in town, and it didn't help that he showed up more frequently too. People were starting to think that he was haunting Amity Park.

I guess that is basically what I'm doing, he thought downheartedly, at least, I don't see myself leaving willingly. "Right. Murderous ghosts. Why are we talking about them again? Aren't we going on a, a… ghost-free vacation or whatever?"

Jazz was frowning at their mother in displeasure. "Apparently Mr Masters worked with mom and dad on the prototype for their 'ghost portal'," she air-quoted the word with obvious disdain in her features, "You know, the one that electrocuted you? So they think he'll want to waste his time talking about useless ghost-inventions during the whole reunion."

Danny felt his stomach sink through the floor as his head went numbingly blank. Masters was a ghost hunter too? What if he noticed? His parents hadn't put 2 and 2 together, but they were his parents, and they were… a bit scatterbrained at times, and they'd had a lot of work since the ghosts appeared. But what if Masters could somehow tell what he was?

"He's a ghost hunter…?"

Jazz waved his question away. "There's no way a successful businessman like Vlad Masters would chase ghosts. Where would he even find the time, between taking care of his companies and his castle?"

His eyebrows rose. "His castle? He has a castle?"

His dad suddenly turned around in his seat and leaned against the back, leaving one hand on the steering wheel. "He sure does, Danny! Vladdy's loaded!"

"Jack! Eyes on the road!" his mom cried, grabbing her husband's shoulders and forcing him back into the seat.

Danny grabbed onto the edges of the bench as the RV swerved, the tires screeching against the pavements as the other drivers honked at them or froze in shock.

Jazz continued as though nothing unusual had happened. And it hadn't. "Successful people don't chase myths."

His mother frowned. "Jazz, what do you mean with 'myths'? Ghosts are a very real threat!"

Jazz just rolled her eyes and mumbled something under her breath.

Danny sighed mentally and slumped in his seat.

This is going to be the longest two days in my life…

Vlad Masters had castle.

Yes, he'd heard what Jazz said, and no he hadn't really believed it was an actual fudging castle.

Like a true medieval example of its kind, it stood tall and imposing in front of them as they drove up the meticulously kept gravel road leading to the front doors. The grounds were filled with greenery and gardens obviously meant for afternoon walks rather than a place to grow produce of any kind. It put to shame the monotonous and unimaginative park that he and his two friends usually hung out in back in Amity.

The awing exterior was nearly enough to dwarf the magisterial presence of the man waiting for them on the porch.

Vlad Masters himself was clearly a match for his home; he was fastidious with his perfectly unrumpled suit, silver hair pulled back into an impeccable ponytail and a slightly condescending smile playing at the corners of his lips.

He doesn't look like someone who suffered from ecto-acne in college, he thought, bemused. He was sure his father had said that the condition had endangered Masters' life and would leave horrible, permanent scarring (and he wondered how his dad could say that with a big smile – but then again, he waves weapons around like they're toys, he mused) and yet the man before them didn't seem like he'd ever had as much as a zit – in fact, he didn't look like he had any scars on his body at all.

Not that I have anything to critique on that. He brought his hand up to his eyes as the RV pulled up in front of the porch. Whatever had happened to him during the Accident… had not just healed the damage from the electrocution; even his old, far-since healed scars were gone. It was one of the things Sam was suspicious about. He was only glad that he hadn't had any grand and obvious scars; how would he have explained their disappearance?

His dad jumped out of the vehicle with a cry of joy. "Vlad! Old buddy, how are ya'?!" he stormed towards the silverhaired man and put his arms around the man's chest, trapping his arms. Masters' face was a study of horror as his old college friend lifted him off the ground.

"It's – ugh – good to see you too, Jack." He managed to croak. "Now if it isn't too much trouble, would you mind putting me down?"

His dad reluctantly let go when he caught his wife's disapproving look. After he'd discreetly dusted off his suit, he turned to his mom with a soft grin. "Ah, Maddie! How good of you to come!" To Danny's slight amusement the man completely ignored his dad.

He felt his amusement mix with disgust as he recognized the dreamy look on the billionaire's face.

No way. Vlad Masters can't have a thing for my mom. He glanced at Jazz and was discouraged to see her looking both surprised and a little smug.

He took a step closer to her as his mom exchanged pleasantries with Masters while his dad butted into their conversation as though the other man wasn't completely disregarding his presence.

He whispered to his sister, "Jazz, this isn't funny!"

She spared him an unimpressed glance. "Isn't it? One of the most influential and wealthy men in the world has a puppy-crush on mom." She sniggered. "Besides, it's not like mom is interested. I don't think she's even realized what he's doing." Her smile slipped into a pensive look. "But I wonder why he didn't make his move when they were in college? Hmm…"

Danny hurriedly stepped up on the porch, determined to get away from his sister before she decided to include him in a psychological analysis of Vlad Masters' and his mother's love-lives.

He'd intended to silently hide behind his dad – whom the Masters was still purposely overlooking – but as soon as he drew near, the man's piercing blue eyes suddenly turned to him. "And you must be Daniel, am I right, son?" still ignoring his father, the man smiled as though he'd mentioned an inside-joke between the two of them.

For some reason he couldn't quite place, the expression made him feel uneasy. "Uh, yeah. I prefer Danny."

"Daniel," the man drawled, "I am so glad you and your sister decided to come along. I wanted the chance to meet Maddie's children."

Danny cocked an eyebrow at the obvious disregard for his preferences. And why, exactly, is he so opposed to using my nickname? He's not calling mom 'Madeline'! "It's, uh… nice to meet you too, sir."

He seemed like he wanted to say more, but Jazz decided to steal that moment to make her own acquaintances with the famous Vlad Masters.

"Mr Masters! It's just so incredible to actually meet you in person! I've read so much about you in Genius Magazine and Entrepeneurs of the Century!" she almost squealed, eyes shining in honest awe of the man before her as she grabbed his hand with both of hers in an overenthusiastic handshake.

Danny suspected she was making a bit of a show of it for the sake of their parents, but she might as well not have bothered; Jack wouldn't notice and Maddie was busy placating him with cookies.

Masters looked suitably surprised, but his lips soon curled into a pompous smirk and his other hand came up to return the double-handshake combo Jazz was apparently trying to pull off. "Ah, you must be Jasmine. Your … father told me all about you two," he said to Jazz, but Danny thought his eyes drifted to him. Then the man's face lit up in a winning smile. "Have they really mentioned me in those magazines, Ms Fenton?"

Jazz' smile grew at being referred to as 'Ms'. Obviously, she was glad to be recognized as an adult by someone she admired. "Yes, amongst many others, Mr Masters. It's amazing how quickly you created your fortune."

"Yes, I guess you can say that I have certain… talents when it comes to convincing shareholders."

Danny didn't know the first thing about business, but there was something about the way Masters said that sentence that made him wonder how much actual convincing had taken place.

"Hah!" his dad suddenly interrupted the conversation, proving that Masters was, in fact, an old college friend; his eyes widened in alarm and then took on a resigned air, knowing there was no escape from what was coming. "Vlad is talented, alright! We'd never have made that prototype ghost portal if not for this guy, here. I told you about how he tested it for us, right?" he beamed.

Masters immediately developed a twitch in his right eye, but otherwise showed none of his disdain; it was enough to make Jazz back up a few steps, however, and she shared a worried glance with her brother.

"You mean the accident, right, Jack?" their mom stepped in with a hand on her husband's shoulder. She didn't seem to notice Masters' reaction, but apparently she had a better grip of the reality of what transpired that day. After Jack had told Danny and Jazz about Vlad's Ectoacne, she had discreetly pulled them aside to tell them how it really happened.

"Yes, I believe he is referring to the Accident, my dear. I'm glad I could be of assistance for you, Jack." Masters bit out with barely retrained fury. None of the two seemed to notice.

Jazz' frown deepened and Danny might have been more concerned with Masters' obvious dislike for their father, if the way the man pronounced the word 'accident' wasn't so similar to the way he referred to his own run-in with an activating ghost portal. I guess getting electrocuted isn't pleasant, no matter the situation.

It occurred to him that he would have been more traumatised by that if he hadn't had his budding ghost powers to worry about; he had also noticed that pain didn't seem to bother him as much anymore, but he wasn't sure it was because of his changed physiology, or if the shock had damaged his nerve-receptors. If he wasn't determined to keep his problem a secret, he would have asked Jazz. How ironic would it be if Jazz was right about Danny Fenton being traumatised… but then again, I'm not really the Danny Fenton she knew anymore, so who knows what a normal reaction would be for me?

He cut off the depressing trail of thought when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Masters smiling at him and realized embarrassedly that he'd tuned out their conversation.

"Danny, my boy, would you like to join us on a tour of my castle? I promise I'll show you your rooms afterwards." His smile seemed genuine, even if he refused to look in Jack's direction, and Danny couldn't help but smile back.

"Sure thing, Mr Masters. My dad mentioned you had a pool…?"

His room was bigger than their own living room.

It was done in dark colours with a queen-sized bed in the middle of everything. It was grand, but the gothic-styled windows gave the room an ominous air.

Danny was putting his clothes away in the oversized wardrobe – on their host's insistence – when he heard a knock on the doorframe.

He turned around to see the man himself standing in the doorway, his trademark smirk already in place. "Daniel, I trust everything is to your satisfaction?" he asked as he walked into the room.

"Uh, yeah, it's great, Mr Masters. Much better than sleeping in the RV, that's for sure."

Masters laughed. "Yes, Jack always had a thing for roughing it up. But really, Daniel… I've known your parents since college. Call me Vlad."

"Right, Mr … Vlad. You've got a really nice home here. Wish we had a pool. … or a home cinema" he grinned.

"Who knows what the future will bring, hm?" the man replied cryptically. To his surprise, Vlad walked over and ruffled his hair. "But right now it's time for dinner. Perhaps you will escort me to the dining room?"

Danny smoothed down his hair as he followed the older man out of the room. "Did you really help mom and dad build the prototype to the Fenton Ghost Portal?"

Vlad took on the look of a satisfied cat. "It was indeed my modest calculations that enabled us to create the prototype. … and it would have worked if your father hadn't messed up…" he said the last part so softly that Danny was sure he wouldn't have heard it if not for his ghostly-enhanced hearing. Then he frowned. "I do wonder why it took them so long to perfect it, however…"

"Maybe they were worried someone else would get hurt? I mean, their best friend was landed in the hospital because of that project…" Danny shrugged. Or maybe they just got side-tracked. They get distracted pretty easily.

A strange expression passed Vlad's face before he schooled his features. "Perhaps… though I suspect they were just distracted by other things…"

Hah, great minds think alike, anyone?

"So, umh… are you a ghost hunter too?" he asked, finally voicing his fear.

He was shocked when the man burst out laughing, leaning one hand against the wall and holding his stomach with the other. "Me, a ghost hunter? Oh, my dear boy, I couldn't be further from it."

"B-b-but you worked on ghost weapons with my parents?" he said, flabbergasted.

"No, we cooperated on the more… benign projects. Such as the ghost portal, and a ghost shield… we never got very far on that last one, however."

"Yeah, I don't think they've made that work yet. But then, I don't really stick around when they pull out the ghost weapons" he shrugged.

Vlad was still chuckling but he seemed to have gotten a hold of his mirth again. "I suppose they're still working on that one."

They walked in silence for a couple of minutes while Danny wondered at how easy the man was to talk to. No strange psycho-analyzing of everything he said, no well-meaning but seemingly random advice that always had to have something to do with fudge.

"So if you don't want to hunt ghosts, then why'd you help mom and dad with the portal?"

"Hm, well, I must admit it wasn't so much the scientific part of the work that intrigued me…" Danny stared at the man. Is he blushing? "…but I did think that there might be some value in our work. Even if ghosts didn't exist – and I truly had no opinion on the matter at that time in my life – we still made some interesting inventions. Your mother is truly brilliant. The blueprints she came up with…" he sighed and Danny tried to ignore the part of his mind that went; Eeeww, he's really got a crush on my mom!

He caught onto one particular part of what his host said. "Hold on, you didn't know if ghosts existed at that time? Then what about now?"

The man sent him conspiratorial glance. "Let's just say that I have reasons for not doubting their existence anymore, son."

How come everyone calls me 'son' nowadays? That's what my dad's supposed to call me, not some weird red-eyed ghost and an eccentric billionaire. Come to think of it, I bet those two would get along well. He stifled a laugh at the image of Vlad and Plasmius sitting down for tea and biscuits. Ha, those two could probably take over the world together.

They reached the dining room and Danny was almost surprised to see that his sister wasn't sitting with her nose in a book; apparently she thought their host was impressive enough to deserve her attention. Or maybe she was trying to be a good role model for their father… she still believed he'd learn table manners one day. The rest of the family had long since given up on convincing her otherwise.

When he got closer, however, he noticed that she was gazing at Vlad warily, like she was expecting him to deliver bad news. Okay, I know I missed some of the conversation outside, but what could he have said to make her look at him like that? She was practically worshipping him before we got here!

When he moved to sit next to Vlad Jazz suddenly grabbed his wrist and tugged, making him fall ungracefully into the chair next to her.

He sputtered as he fought to sit properly. "What was that for, Jazz?!"

She smiled dodgingly. "Ah… I thought you could sit next to me! We do that so rarely."

He eyes her skeptically. "Our kitchen table barely has room for four people. And I sit next to you all the time! I did so yesterday!"

She waved it away and sent him a slightly overbearing look. "Well, it's good for the teenage psyche to feel a –"

He held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'll sit here! Just don't go Freud on me."

She looked pretty smug, but she couldn't help commenting, "Actually, it's not Freud, it's –" and Danny tuned her out and glanced at the adults at the end of the table.

He only met Vlad's eyes for a fraction of a second before the man turned to his mom with a seductive smile, but it was enough that he knew that the man had been staring at him – or at Jazz. Man, rich guys are weird. But I guess it was better than flirting with my mom, eww!

He watched in horror as Vlad made insinuating comments to his mother and grabbed her hand in a way that made his intentions uncomfortably clear, while his mom tried to scoot away and his dad remained completely oblivious as usual.

It's like watching a trainwreck. I just can't look away. He thought, whitefaced.

He's like Dracula, Jazz thought as a shiver ran down her spine, or some other malignant, occult character.

What was it about him that just set her teeth on edge? It didn't really bother her that he was hitting on mom – as long as she said no, of course – but he seemed so hostile towards her dad. Of course she understood that he might have some lingering hurt from the experiment gone wrong in their college days, but why was he blaming one of his old friends, but not the other? And then there's his strange favouritism of Danny. Not that I'm jealous or anything!

She'd looked forward to meeting the billionaire, and she certainly wasn't disappointed as such, but his strange behaviour didn't sit well with her at all.

She glanced at Danny while their host was distracted by a particularly obscure flirtation. Her little brother sat gaping at the scene; the way he reacted to seeing someone come onto their mother was almost funny.

But he didn't seem as annoyed as he when he'd first seen it outside. Whatever short conversation he and Masters had had, it must have left some sort of positive impression. She could not say the same for herself – there was something about the way he completely brushed off dad; she knew that he could tear on one's last nerve like no one else, but Masters only seemed to tolerate his presence because he brought his wife and children with him.

Or rather, wife and son, she thought petulantly. Sure, he liked me well enough; my shameless praising made sure of that. But the way he looked at Danny and mom? It's like they were the real reason he even invited us.

She'd sulked a bit at that; even if the man seemed to have creepy intentions she couldn't even begin to unravel, it was rather insulting that she wasn't even a part of his calculations.

"Jazz, what's up with you today?"

She jumped in her chair and turned to her little brother who was shooting her questioning glances. "Wh-what do you mean? Nothing's wrong? Everything's completely fine!" she exclaimed in a high falsetto voice, embarrassed to be caught spacing off.

Unfortunately her reply caught the attention of the adults further down the table. "You alright Jazzy-pants? You sound a bit upset." Her dad noted with a frown.

Augh, what do I do? Do I play it off in an adult manner? No, adults don't cry out in the middle of dinner…

Danny sighed and tucked one leg under himself on the expensive dining room chair as though it was one of their living room armchairs. "She's probably just memorizing the scene for her mental scrapbook."

It took quite some effort on her part to not gape at him. She was touched that Danny was actually trying to help distract their parents and host. She couldn't remember the last time he'd done that; maybe her efforts to seem more trustworthy were already paying off?

Or maybe he was just trying to rile her up by mentioning her personal scrapbook. Hmph.

Regardless, "Yes, this is a very memorable occasion. Mr Masters, your castle is simply astounding! I didn't realize it would be this beautiful."

The man smirked and swelled at the compliment. She noticed Danny stifling a snigger with his hand. "Indeed, and you haven't even seen half of it yet. Why, I could walk around half of the day to visit all the rooms."

That had to be over exaggeration. "That must be difficult to maintain," she said instead, "how are you managing it? I haven't seen any servants yet. Are they on vacation because of the reunion?"

The smile that curled their host's lips was ominous. "Oh… they're around…"

She felt a shiver run down her spine but managed to plaster a pleasant smile onto her face. "Ah, I see." Danny was still eyeing her suspiciously.

The man waved his hand dismissively. "But do not worry about the help. Everything will be in order for tomorrow night."

Jack grinned enthusiastically. "Speaking of which, what shenanigans have you planned for the reunion, old buddy?"

Masters' nose crinkled like he thought the question distasteful, but the expression was wiped off his face when mom turned to him. "What do you have planned for tomorrow, Vlad?"

"Oh, nothing out of the ordinary, Maddie dear. Just some mingling, dancing, reruns of Packers' games…"

Danny and mom rolled their eyes while Jack laughed. "You and your Packers, Vladdie!"

Masters closed his eyes in a forbearing way. "Yes, Jack, my Packers and I… although they aren't mine…" he looked up to find everyone watching him warily and he smiled tensely. "Well, I say we all move to the living room! Oh, and I do have the most interesting Packers collection…"

It was quiet in the mansion that night. He had not seen any servants, but Mas… Vlad had said that they were around somewhere, so he had expected… some kind of sign of life, not this feeling of complete isolation. If it were not for the comfortable bed, he would feel like he was sleeping in a cemetery.

Speaking of cemeteries, he had not experienced any problems with his 'condition' since arriving, even though any kind of stress or even the slightest nervousness usually set off his by-now-famous pants dropping, if he did not straight-off drop through the floor. Sam had been particularly suspicious when that happened.

Even so, he could not sleep, probably because the foreign bed. He had never slept anywhere than in his own home, except for when he visited Tucker.

Danny sighed and turned his eyes to the window. He had not visited Tucker's home in a while; he was worried that he might have an episode and be unable to blame it on faulty construction or 'there are so many black-haired kids around, that's why you couldn't see me, Sam! Honest!'

He did not know if he was being silly, keeping his problems from them. Maybe he was; but what if they did not want anything to do with him afterwards? What if they told his parents? His parents might be able to get rid of his ghost, but he shuddered at the thought of 'getting rid' of a part of himself. He was starting to realize that his ghost half had its own instincts which even bled into his human half, but as strange as that was, it still felt like 'him'; he could not imagine being without it anymore.

Also; flying? Awesome.

Giving up on sleep, he decided to go for a walk in the super-sized mansion-castle hybrid. Vlad had advised them not to wander, but if he got lost, he could just go intangible and find his room from the outside.

He untangled himself from the sheets, got out of the bed and went into the hallway. He shuddered in the complete silence. In a place like this, any sound would echo throughout the hallways, but the only audible thing was the muted sound of his bare feet shuffling against the plush carpet.

He mused that this place would have been perfect for a haunted house-flic, before remembering what his own role in that movie would be.

I can see it now. Everyone spending one and a half hours finding a way to catch the elusive super ghost, only to find that it was me all along. Although, that would a pretty anticlimactic movie, now that he thought about it. Turns out it was the little brother wearing a sheet to look like a ghost! Lame. Alright, getting a bit off-subject here.

Moving through the mansion, he wondered how Vlad had amassed the fortune to build this place. He seemed like he was used to having money, but would he be studying the paranormal if he was born into a rich family, who probably expected him to take over the family vault? But didn't Jazz mention that he had scraped his fortune together himself? Wouldn't that make him pretty good at financing?

There was something about the man that just didn't add up; Jazz had basically said that much to him, before they each went to bed earlier.

"Danny, I know I indicated that mr. Masters is a good role model, but, umh… just don't take everything he says at face-value, ok?" his sister whispered, a sheepish look on her face.

He raised an eyebrow. "What, you think he's up to something?"

Her eyes widened as she took a step back. "No! No, I just think… mom and dad may not know him as well as they think they do…"

Danny shivered and rubbed his arms. The ominous atmosphere didn't go well with Jazz' warning. Maybe he should have stayed in his room.

A soft sound made him look up from the by-now well-scrutinized carpet. It was faint, but he could just make out the light steps of someone moving around behind the door to his right.

Ghosts? No, wait, I'd have noticed, he thought worriedly. He really hoped one of the ghosts hadn't followed him to Wisconsin. It would totally ruin any chance of a relaxing weekend.

He slowly opened the door, keeping his hand clenched and ready to fight just in case – but when he peeked inside, he found only library with bookshelves reaching the ceiling and his host standing in front of a big fireplace, already turning around as he heard the door open.

"Ah… Daniel. Why are you up and about at this time, hmm?" the man asked. It was hard to make him out with the fire behind him casting his face into shadows, but he seemed to be smiling.

"Huh? Oh, I –uh… I couldn't sleep." He responded, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

"Oh, I hope your room is not unsatisfactory?"

"No, no, it's fine. I just… " he shrugged. "But what are you doing up, mr- Vlad?"

"Hm? Oh, I was reminiscing about my old college days…" the older man trailed off, and Danny realized that he was looking down at something in his hands. Seeing Danny's curious look, Vlad waved him over and the boy found himself obeying the gesture.

When he was standing next to him, Vlad showed the younger the object in his hands; it was a picture frame, with an old photograph inserted into it.

"Your mother and I in college. …and Jack. This was taken right after we completed the prototype portal. We were going to test it afterwards." Danny's eyes widened and he looked closer at the picture; the gaudy 60's clothing, the lab coats… this was taken minutes after his parents and Vlad had created the prototype to the portal that would one day send him halfway to the afterlife. …and only a few minutes before Vlad's own accident.

He glanced up at the man, noticing the sorrowful look in his eyes. His mom had only told them that Vlad had been scarred –temporarily, it would seem –by the unstable energies in the portal. But by the look on Vlad's face, he seemed to remember something a lot worse than a bit of over-enthusiastic acne.

"Mom told us about that. She said you had to go to the hospital with ecto-acne. How did they manage to cure it?"

Vlad frowned and stared darkly into the fire. "They didn't."

"What? But –"

"It went away on its own. Eventually. But it took time… and the acne wasn't the worst of the symptoms." The man muttered.

"Symptoms? So it wasn't just ecto-acne?" Danny asked slowly, something stirring in his mind.

Vlad's eyes snapped back to him, widened in shock. He suddenly broke out into a wide grin and grabbed the boy's shoulder. "Oh, don't worry about that, my boy. It's all in the past, after all! How about we get you some tea and you can get back to sleep, hmm? We all have a big day tomorrow!"

He left little room for any of Danny's objections as he first dragged him back to his room and left, only to come back seconds later with a cup of piping hot tea.

"That was fast," he said, as he took the cup.

"Oh, I made some earlier. Good night, Daniel. We'll see each other tomorrow." The older man said as he turned and left the room.

Danny looked down at his cup with a confused expression. I didn't even want tea…

Jazz stared at the photo in her hands. It clearly showed a younger, curly-haired version of her mother, and a somewhat geeky-looking young man with a strange, spiky haircut. It took her a few seconds to reconcile him with the image of the impeccable Vlad Masters.

What really worried her, though, was that the upper corner of the photograph had been torn off violently, but gently enough that it didn't tear the part with her mom and Vlad. Even worse was that there was the remains of another person in the picture and that she clearly recognized her father's bulk. Vlad, or someone else who worked in the house, had torn her father out of this picture.

She felt the goose bumps break out on her back, from her neck and down. Something was very wrong here.

"It looks like Vlad's dislike of dad is worse than I thought…" she mused aloud, only to slap a hand over her mouth and turn widened eyes towards the study's door. Was that the sound of footsteps? If it was, it was gone now.

She waited several seconds before lowering her hand and letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Let's think this over logically, she thought to herself, maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I'm just jealous. Maybe Danny's right, I shouldn't overanalyse people …

But she was so rarely wrong. She couldn't even remember when was the last time it happened, although statistics would show that she'd have to have been wrong about something at least – no, her mind, her instincts were telling her that something smelled rotten. First Danny starts acting like a misunderstood teenager; he was clearly getting into fights, and he came home late. She was dying to ask him directly, but she didn't want to shatter the fragile rapport they'd been developing.

And now Vlad Masters was … she didn't even know what was going on with him. But why would he have invited them – all of them – to his mansion if he hated her dad? Even if he had a crush on her mom, it just didn't make sense – unless he was planning something. Something to do with her dad. The question was; what?

What had they gotten themselves into?

You know, I always have these grand ideas of what I'm going to write in the author's note while I'm writing the chapter, but when it comes to actually posting it, I always seem to forget what it was.

So why did it take so long to update? Well, it was an unholy mix of procrastination, lack of imagination and school - lots and lots of school work. Seriously, my teacher's are crazy.

As you can probably tell, this chapter is a 'let's get these things down before we go on'-sort of chapter. I am planning actual action for the next chapter :)

Please leave a comment/review of what you thought of the chapter and if you have any ideas for what I could do better.