"It's a long story," Fenton breathed. He leaned his head against the wall behind him, closing his eyes against his surroundings.

"I will come over there and … and …" I groped around my brain for a good threat, but I wasn't the threatening type. Finally, I finished with a lame, "or I'll kick you."

"I didn't want to bring you into this," Fenton sighed. "I tried. I didn't want to bring anyone into it. I got Jazz hurt. Tucker … fuck knows what happened to Tucker. And you; you're down here."

He let out a yelp of rage and lifted his fist, burying it in the concrete floor. Cracks were created in the floor from the point of impact and I leapt backward in surprise from the sudden anger. An aura began to glow around him; neon green. His eyes opened and I could see the green of Phantom's eyes, rather than the blue of Fenton's.

I took another step back and found myself flat against the wall. Fenton seethed in anger again; energy crackled around his hands. I wondered if I should say something, try to calm him down even, when a blinding pain came over me. It seemed to originate from the chain around my ankle but it was everywhere, quickly. I swore my heart was going to stop.

I collapsed to my knees, a scream tearing from my throat. My veins were boiling. I was going to throw up … Maybe, if I didn't die first. My body gave out and I collapsed against the hard floor, taking comfort from the cold as the pain, miraculously, began to fade from me. Whatever had caused the onset had now lifted and the pain was seeped from me, though tremors continued to wrack my body. I took a deep breath and promptly threw up on the floor, not far from my head.

I groaned, feeling like swearing, but unable to voice anything.

"Sam?" Fenton sounded far-off, as though he was part of a dream. "Sam, please, answer me? Are you okay?"

"Leave her be, Daniel."

This was a new voice. I was curious enough about the voice, and repulsed enough by my vomit, to whip my head to the other side. I was looking at him sideways, through pain-fogged eyes, and I knew that even if I were looking at him straight on, nothing affecting my view of the world, he would still be an odd looking man.

He was blue; a really, really light shade of blue, but blue nonetheless. I couldn't decide whether to fixate on his blue skin or the shock of pointed hair. He had black hair, shaped into two thick points that resembled horns. He also had a tuff of hair along his chin.

"What did you do?" Fenton hissed, bouncing to his feet.

The unknown man grinned, flashing fangs. The fangs definitely freaked me out the most.

"Me?" He cooed. "I didn't do anything. You did. By using your powers, you cause her unimaginable pain. I warn you, though, if you transform it willkill her."

Fenton roared and lunged for the bars at the front of our cell. A shock ran through me and I immediately yelped, tears wetting my cheeks. I didn't know what I would do if the pain came back; I would probably wish for death. I watched as Fenton shot back toward the wall, though he looked menacingly at the unknown man.

"What did you do?" Fenton hissed at him.

"Nothing," the man casually studied his gloved hands. "Though I may have forgotten to mention that you can't move very far from where you're chained. It also hurts her."

"FUCK YOU!" Fenton roared.

The man made a 'tsk' noise. "Such language. What would your mother say?"

"Probably the same thing," Fenton grumbled. "If she knew the truth about you."

The man laughed. "Then, little badger, she would have to know the truth about you."

Fenton flinched.

"All the things you've done," the man continued. "Including getting your dear sister hurt all of those times …"

"I didn't hurt her!" Fenton screamed. "I would never hurt Jazz."

"Maybe not directly. You are the reason she was hurt though."

I watched Fenton freeze.

"If you hadn't been playing your game, Jasmine wouldn't be in the hospital. If you had listened, dear little Samantha wouldn't be trapped here. Oh, and your poor friend Tucker. What will he think of you if he ever sees you again?"

I felt chilled at how casually he spoke of these horrendous things. And what on earth had he done to Tucker?

Fenton demanded the same thing, heat in his voice.

"Nothing too horrible." The unknown man leaned in close to the bars, voice dropping as he said, "Let's just say, he's gone down a similar path to Jasmine."

"When I get out of here, I'm going to kill you, Vlad."

Goosebumps erupted on my skin. It wasn't the threat – I might have made one similar – it was how he said it. Fenton wasn't angry nor sad; he wasn't anything. His voice was menacing, but only because of how evenly he was speaking. He wasn't shouting something in anger; he was stating a fact. I believed he could actually commit murder toward this man.

Vlad. This man's name was Vlad. Immediately, my fuzzy mind thought of Vlad Masters. I thought of that chill I had found radiating off Vlad that night at his house. I felt bile fill my mouth again.

I didn't know what was going on here, but I knew that I was being used as a pawn. I knew this as well as I knew my own name. As soon as Vlad left, Fenton had some serious explaining to do.

"If you get out of here, little badger." With that, Vlad fluffed his cape out behind him and walked away from us.

I listened to his footsteps fade and, before I could say anything, Fenton spoke.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry; I didn't know. I won't do it again, I promise. But I'll get us out of here. I promise that too."

Despite my dizzy head and aching body, I forced myself to sit up and face him, carefully moving away from my dispelled fluids. I stared at him.

"Talk," I ordered him. "I want the whole story, start to finish."

"That man you just saw, the one who looks like a ghost, that's Vlad Masters, Sam."

I closed my eyes, unsurprised, though I had been hoping that it was different.

"And he's like you?" I confirmed.

"Yeah," Fenton admitted. "Vlad's the only other halfa."

Vlad was a halfa. If he was willing to lock two people up and – by the sounds of it – put both Jazz and Tucker in the hospital, what about Gregor? Was Gregor in danger or did he know? I felt Gregor's hands around my neck again, and I realized that I may yet have to think the worst of him. Gregor had been so nice; so sweet to me. It was hard to believe that he'd do anything to me, but he had. I could still feel it.

"Why am I here?"

'Why?' was the only question I had left to ask. Why did Gregor put his hands around my neck? Why did Vlad lock me up? Why were Jazz and Tuck in the hospital? And why, oh why, couldn't I have a normal life?

I opened my eyes and looked at Fenton, who shrugged.

"My best guess? Probably to keep me in line. Vlad knows I'm powerful enough to break out of anything he could cook up, given enough time. He linked my powers and your pain together to keep me passive until he accomplishes whatever he needs to."

"What does he need to accomplish?" I questioned, getting fed up with the back-and-forth. Why couldn't he just come out and tell me the story?

"I don't know! I know it has something to do with the ghosts crossing over, but I don't know what!"

"Crossing over?"

"Ghosts aren't supposed to be here. They got stuck, somewhere between here and the afterlife. Ember, she was the first ghost that I knew to cross to the other side, taught me to help other ghosts. I had helped quite a few of them. But then, a few months ago, right after you left Amity, Vlad cornered me. He said I had to stop what I was doing."

"But you didn't," I finished for him. If he had stopped, if he'd listened, then I wouldn't be here; none of this would have happened.

I looked at Fenton; the way he hung his head and the pain in his eyes. I knew that he was thinking the same thing that I was. I knew that he had placed the blame squarely on his shoulders. Tucker had so much as told me so. I felt a tug of sympathy for him, but not much of one. He had landed me here, after all. I had gotten wrapped up in some strange plot that didn't even concern me, because of him.

"Why me?" I whispered to him. Out of all the people in his life, why the girl he hadn't spoken to in months? Why not his devoted sister? Why not his own mother?

"Because I'm in love with you," Fenton answered.

My heart sank at the reminder. He dared to say he loved me after all he had done. He dared to claim he cared, after months of pain that he'd put me through. I had been trying to distance myself from what he had done and he'd managed to suck me back in by getting me locked up by a madman (for who else but a madman would lock people up?). He just couldn't pull that. He couldn't make those claims anymore.

"Don't," I growled at him. "You don't get to say that."

"I'm just giving you the reason," Fenton explained. "You asked and that's it. Vlad's been watching me. He's likely been watching you. He couldn't use anyone else but you. You don't have ghost fighting experience, so you won't be able to fight back like Tucker or Jazz would. He couldn't use my parents, because neither of them know that we're halfas and he has to protect his dual identity as much as I have to protect mine. There's no one else that really matters to me except for you."

I mouthed the words 'except for me' to myself, looking away from him. I hated this boy. I'd never wanted to spend any time with him again, let alone one-on-one. Yet, here I was, with Lord knows how much time stretching out ahead of us before we could get out.

"Is someone going to find us?" I switched topics, needing to know. "My parents are going to be looking. Your parents have to be looking. We have to be found."

Fenton cracked a smile, though it was sad. "No, they're not going to find us. We're going to have to find our own way out."

"How can you be so sure?"

Fenton tapped the stone wall. "Sam, we're still in his mansion."

(-.-)

I'd fallen asleep hours ago, but there were little noises by my head. In my groggy state, I instantly assumed that it was Fenton. I cracked my eyes open to glare at him, when I got the shock of my life. It wasn't Fenton after all; it was a girl.

A dead girl.

I knew straight away that she was dead, from the deep blue colour of her skin, which seemed to be a common trait amongst the ghosts. I jumped from how close she was to me. I didn't have good experiences with the undead and, in this foreign place, I didn't want them close to me at all.

I scrambled away from her and, for the first time since I'd opened my eyes, she looked at me. She looked as shocked to see me awake as I had been to see her when I woke up. We froze, staring at each other. Then her hand twitched and I screamed, expecting her to fire at me.

She disappeared immediately.

"Sam?" Fenton snorted, waking up from his own sleep. "Are you all right?"

I couldn't answer him; the thudding in my heart was too much.

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky.

Also, I'm going away on Friday and I won't be around until Monday. It doesn't affect the update (obviously!), and I'll be available through mobile, but if I don't answer a review or something until next week, that's why!

~TLL~