A/N: Well, here's your next chapter! Sorry I haven't up-dated in a very long time! I was gonna up-date sooner than this, but my computer crashed and along with it went my music and a couple of files I needed... -sigh- at least this chapter was saved! Well, here goes!

Alice ran all the way to her house, hoping to get there soon. She'd left home around ten, right? If she'd been gone for only two hours, then it was around twelve right now. Maybe near one, but she couldn't know for sure. Well, better late than never right?

I seriously need to stop saying those stupid sayings in my head, she thought bitterly and continued to run ahead. The streets were almost empty, a couple of people walking down and up the road with kids, other's with dogs and some alone. But Alice wasn't very aware of them. Her mind was racing with thoughts. Everything else was far from thought and conscious. But she was aware of the small pendant bouncing against her chest with each stride and aware of the small bottle of pills in her pocket making a small rattle noise every time she took another fast step. But what really got her was how Vlad knew she had ghost powers and why he would help her. He had said that he never thought expected to come across her powers, but he never said how he did exactly. And Joseph. How did he know him? Was there some tie she was missing?

Alice frowned, then began to slow down as she came to her street. Her building was coming up. But of course, it wasn't very hard to miss. There used to be a sign that said 'FentonWorks' there - she'd seen it in pictures of when her mom moved in with her dad - and there was an emergency OP center sitting on the roof. Why they called it an OP center she will never know.

She speed-walked to the door and then turned the door knob and walked inside. "Mom, dad, I'm-" she stopped in mid-sentence as she looked up.

Three adults sat on the couch. Two were her parents and the other was a very familiar face. "Tucker!" she exclaimed happily and ran to the dark-skinned man sitting there. She rushed over to the man despite her being tired.

"Hey," Tucker mumbled, standing as Alice came within hugging distance. They embraced each other for a second before they let go.

"What are you doing here?" Alice asked then, only now aware of her being short of breath. Tucker shrugged his shoulders. Alice hadn't seen him in a very long time. The last time he came to visit was her eighth birthday, then he just vanished as if he were never there. She some times had heard her parents talking to him on the phone, or about him in conversations. But otherwise there was no actual sighting of him.

"I was in a bit of a situation at home and decided to stop by. But what about you? Are you okay? Heard you hired Joseph for something," Tucker said, putting both hands on either shoulder.

"I'm just peachy," Alice replied.

"You've been gone for hours, I'm sure you are," Sam mumbled with a bit of a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"How long?" Alice asked then, eyes wide.

"'bout four hours, we've been a little worried," Sam replied.

"I'm sorry! Lost track of time!" Alice frowned.

"Your friends called," Danny added quickly. "Said they were coming over later."

"The Twins? Okay. Where's Andrew? I need to talk to him," she said.

"He's-" Danny started, but stopped at the sight of something. His brows furrowed and he slowly stood before walking over to Alice. The other two adults watched him with curiosity, Alice watched with some horror and apprehension. Danny stopped in front of the girl and took the pendant in his hand. "Where did you get this?" he asked softly, blue eyes suspicious and confused.

"Well..." Alice murmured, trying to think up the perfect excuse, taking a couple of steps back. She looked at anywhere but her father, whom was looking at her with a semi-glare. She was saved by the bell...literally. There was the sound of the doorbell and everyone looked up. Alice turned back to his father. "That must be the Twins! I'll get it!" She rushed for the door and opened it.

"Hey-" the Twins chorused but any other part of their greeting was cut off by Alice's grabbing each of their wrists and pulled them in. "Whoa!" they exclaimed as she began to pulled them up the stairs. They ran to keep up with her.

"I need to talk to you!" Alice explained. The three adults watched as the trio of friends vanished into the hall. Then listened as a door was closed behind them.

"That was suspicious," Tucker mumbled first, breaking the silence. He crossed his arms and was shaken back into reality only by Danny who had put a hand on his shoulder.

"There's something weird about that pendant," he said. "She didn't have it this morning."

"Think it was Vlad who gave it to her?" Sam asked then. She was still seated on the couch, watching her two best friends stand there.

"Could be, but there was also something weird about the energy in the room while she was down here. Her aura was different."

"Why could that be?" Tucker asked solemnly.

"I don't know," Danny sighed. "But we have to find out. My aura hasn't changed at all even with all the other powers I got. Alice's shouldn't be changing even if her powers have become active. It doesn't make sense."

"So what do we do?" Sam asked.

"Either ask Vlad or ask Joseph. One of them should know."

"But Joseph's missing," Tucker argued.

"He may be with Vlad," Danny proposed, looking at him. "We need to find him. I don't want to risk letting Vlad getting his hands on Alice's powers, or Alice altogether. There's no way I'm going to allow that."

"There's way we are going to allow that," Sam corrected swiftly. "She's my daughter too."

"And I'm like an uncle," Tucker added.

"Plus we know just about everything there is to know about these ghosts," Sam added. "We could ask around the Ghost Zone to see if anyone has any idea what's going on. You know how Vlad likes to hire them to do his dirty work."

"True..." Danny said. "But Vlad also knows us and how we work. He's probably just guessing at what we're gonna do next, but I have a feeling he's guessing correctly."

A screen showed the trio of adults in the comfort of Daniel's living room. All the way from Madison, Wisconsin, a couple of fiends were taking a break from everything, watching the happenings.

"But I have a feeling he's guessing correctly," Danny's voice sounds. Vlad grins.

Joseph looks at the old man and then back at the scene. "Wonder how my dad got out of my room. It was full proof," he mumbled as he chewed on a bite of sandwich. Him and Vlad are watching the screen in hopes of learning something new. They know that Danny's gonna do everything in his power to keep Vlad out of Alice's life, but of course Joseph had a free pass because of Tucker. Though the adult knows he's not exactly one of the good-guys, Joseph is his son after all.

"He must have found a way," Vlad answered. Vlad turned away from the screen and looked around his lab. Then something caught his eye. It was a small, silver-colored item that looked a lot like a cell-phone. The man smirked. "Oh my," he mumbled. "Alice's cell-phone. I must return it as soon as possible." Joseph turns towards the device and then looks at Vlad.

"You're implying something, aren't you?" he asks quietly. Vlad does not answer, only broadens his smirk.

E/N: Heheheheheeh, I think I know where I'm going. The plot will be twisty, like I said, but no worries! It won't be THAT twisty!

--Airamé Phantom