A/N:

Alice and the Twins were still at the school. "Man, cannot believe this!" Jonathan exclaimed. "Do you know how long that collection took me?"

"For the last time, I don't care!" Alice screamed. Jeanette sighed. Alice was pacing and had been pacing for nearly five minutes. She stopped. The Twins looked at her, expecting another out-burst. But to their surprise, Alice swayed slightly on her feet instead.

"Feeling...dizzy," she mumbled, hand on the side of her head. Her vision seemed blurry for a second or two. She shook her head, trying to shake off the dizziness.

"You okay?" Jonathan asked, putting a hand to her shoulder. He backed off instantly at the sudden energy that was sent trailing up his hand. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

Jeanette quickly moved towards Alice, standing in front of her. "Alice?" she asked.

Alice squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly falling to her knees. Visions. Rapidly flowing through her head. Figures. People. She didn't recognize them. Her head ached like hell. She felt cold. Every sound was magnified. Every nerve-ending was flaring. Her teeth clenched.

The Twins gasped. She was glowing. A dark blue glow. "Alice!" Jeanette and Jonathan both exclaimed at the same time. Alice didn't seem to be conscious of them being there. She didn't seem to be able to hear them.

"Faces." The word was so low, the Twins barely heard. "Voices." This time they caught it and were afraid. They didn't know what to do. They stood there, helpless, afraid to even touch her. Jonathan still held his hand. It felt as if burned or something, but no mark was visible. Only the feeling lingered.

Alice was actually oblivious to this all. She couldn't hear them, but she could hear so many things in her head. So many faces that she didn't recognize. Some looked a little familiar. They were friends of the family. But others didn't even seem alive. She knew the name for these beings. She knew it. But perception was not something she fully understood at the moment.

Then the word came. Ghosts. These beings were monsters that did not belong among the living. They reside in the Ghost Zone. The Ghost Zone. She didn't understand the words but knew a big chunk of her life would be entwined with it.

The faces came back into focus. Clearer. Some looked pale, with ghoulish eyes. Other looked human. But then suddenly changed. The ones that stuck out the most were the smiling faces ofa teenage boy and his two friends. One looked like the others she'd seen. Pale. With glowing green eyes. The same face she'd seen in all her dreams. The other two looked very familiar. She recognized them as Tucker Foley. Samantha Manson. Her mother and her friend.

Slowly the images faded. Then a scream. She didn't know whether it was her own, or of someone else, but she knew she heard a scream. Then nothing. Darkness. The feeling of fading. Fading from reality.

At FentonWorks, Danny waited. He had sent Sam off to sleep because she was not used to staying up late. He was. He waited in the dark, twiddling his thumbs, expecting to see the door open quietly any minute now. Imagine his surprise when instead of a door opening, he heard loud knocking on the door.

He found himself jumping to his feet and running to the door. He quickly opened the door. If it was Alice, he would be totally surprised. But it wasn't. As he opened the door, he was torn between shock and fear. "Mr. Fenton!" came the startled cry. It escaped Jeanette's lips with great urge in her voice.

The Twins carried Alice. She was unconscious. "What happened?" Danny asked then, horrified.

"We don't know, she just...collapsed..." Jeanette was scared. Danny could see it on her face and read it in her voice. Her voice was trembling.

"I'll ask where you guys were in the first place later, just come in, we need to see if she's okay," Danny said quickly, moving to one side and allowing the teens to enter the house. He took a minute to make sure they weren't followed and closed the door.

He turned to them, sighing and walking towards them. "I"ll take her to her room, you guys better get your story straight," he said, taking Alice into his arms.

Both Twins looked somewhere between exhausted, afraid, and guilty. Danny made his way up the stairs, the Twins trailing close behind. He pushed open the semi-open door of Alice's room and walked in, laying Alice on her bed carefully and looking at her for a second. Why had she collapsed? Was it because of her ghost powers? Or was it because of something else?

He turned back to the Twins, taking to Alice's computer chair and sitting down. He turned to them. He took note of everything. They were panting which means they'd come running. So that, in turn, means Alice didn't collapse too long ago. Joseph isn't with them, nor was he with them when Danny ahd saw them at the school. Danny concluded that Joseph is most likely working against them without them knowing so. He looked at Alice. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead even as she slept. Dreams. Probably not very pleasant obviously.

"Welcome to my temporary office," Danny said then, turning back to the Twins. "Please, take a seat, you'll be here a while. It's story time."

The Twins sat down on the floor, each thinking their own thoughts. "Explain," Danny said, resting both elbows on either arm of the roller chair and leaning forward to put his chin on his hands with formed a sort of arc. He looked very intimidating like that, almost boss-like.

The Twins shared a few silent thoughts and Jonathan nudged Jeanette in the ribs. Jeanette scowled at her brother, but cleared her throat and spoke. "Alice wanted to see a few of Jonathan's articles on a certain person she'd recently been...seeing," she said. Her words were cleverly crafted and carefully spoken, giving off a casual tone. Danny nodded.

"Go one," he said.

"Well, we got Joseph to help us break into Casper High to get Jonathan's binder because it couldn't wait. I believe you know his father?" Jeanette said. Danny nodded. "Yes, well, when we got there, Joseph let us in, but disappeared soon after we found that the binder was not in Jonathan's locker as we had expected."

As if on cue, Jeanette stopped speaking and Jonathan began talking. "I don't know how, but the binder was missing. Afterwards, it seemed Alice got really mad and began to jump to conclusions. She became too infuriated for us to even think of consoling and calming her. We did not know what to do." His voice was also casual, uncaring almost. But Danny had learned how to read voices. Deep in both of their tones was a little worry and uncertainty. Jonathan continued. "We don't know how, we don't know why, but suddenly Alice fell to her knees, head in her hands, as if in the middle of a sudden uncontrollable, unbearable, head ache."

Their vocabulary astounded Danny, but he dared not show any emotion on his face. He remained a stern example of pure intent. Then Jonathan stopped talking. There was only a second's pause when Jeanette began to speak.

"We could not even get close to Alice because we were afraid to harm both her and ourselves in doing so. We heard her whisper a few words. I believe they were: faces and voices?"

"I believe so," Jonathan said, nodding feebly. Jeanette continued.

"Then, she screamed. Once again, we don't know why, she just did. Then nothing. She just collapsed," she said. "We panicked and did the first thing that came to mind: bring her home."

Danny nodded again and leaned back in the chair, elbows still on the arms of the chair. He sat silent for a second, thinking over what they had said. It was believable. But the reason for them sounding so casual was beyond him. They probably didn't want to raise suspicion. They have seen way too many detective movies. Thedetective always knows the person is lying because they sound too casual. The innocent person is usually the nervous one. Well, in his theory there was truth to their story. But there was also something that still puzzled him.

Why had Alice asked to see the articles and who was the person she'd been 'seeing' as Jeanette had so plainly put it?

Realization struck him in the form of Sam's voice. 'I do know she sees you in her dreams though...'

He froze. She'd been looking for articles on him. She was so curious to know who this mysterious figure in her dreams was that she had stopped at nothing to achieve information.

The Twins looked at him, surveying his expression, the way he drummed his fingers against each other. Did he buy their story?

They were all startled by the sudden groan coming from Alice. Each head turned towards her. Bewildered. Hopeful. Alice slowly opened her eyes, hand on her head as if she still had a head ache. All of them watched with silent faces.

"What the hell!" Alice screamed, bolting straight up into sitting position. "Where am I? What's going on?" Her voice was lowered, as if afraid of what was happening.

"Don't worry, you're safe," came Danny's reassuring voice. At the moment, Alice had been focused on gathering and straightening her thoughts. Her glance shot up to her father. That voice. She's heard it before.

A vision shot through her mind with the white-hot pain that had began to diminish. Her hands shot to her head, trying to force the pain away. "Alice," Jeanette exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Danny held her back.

"No," he said. "Don't touch her."

"But..." Jonathan started, but only watched Alice. Jeanette looked at Danny's expression. Grim. Serious. But a deep concerned look in his blue eyes. She switched her attention back to Alice.

Alice sat there, head in her hands, grinding her teeth, eyes shut tight.

Danny knew pretty much what was happening. Her powers were trying to find a way out. They were surfacing. Making their appearance. But because Alice's body is not accustomed to them, it can't take it. Her mind's trying to find a way to make her body accustomed by filling her head with everything she should know. The problem? It's too much.

The reason for Danny's caution is because if the Twins touch her and her powers are out of control, it could hurt them because the ghost energy was at its peak. It would find the only way out by making its pathway through the Twins. The only way to solve this would be to leave Alice alone. No matter how heart-wrenching it may be to see her suffer. Secretly, silently, Danny watched and gritted his teeth. Holding back the deep urge to help Alice.

E/N: I don't know...is the plot advancing too quickly?

--Airamé Phantom