Chapter 16:
Danny POV-
Tucker, Wren, Sam, and I walked back to my house, and Tucker had his video camera in his hand to record her reaction. We walked up the front steps and went into the house.
When we saw who was sitting on my couch, we all froze.
Vlad Masters.
Sam and I instinctively stood in front of Wren who was shaking, but whether her reaction was from fear or anger, I didn't know.
"Hey Danny, welcome home," my mom smiled cheerily at me, but I noticed that she cast Vlad a dirty look out of the corner of her eye. Ever since my mom had found out that Vlad was "in love" with her (gag) when we were oh-so-coincidentally dumped at his Colorado house, she has, thankfully, hated him almost as much as I do. My dad, however, was blissfully unaware of the fact that Vlad wants to kill him and marry my mom.
"Danny boy," he bellowed, "Look who stopped by!" he slapped Vlad on the back. Vlad managed to glare at my dad, before turning his well-rehearsed fake smile to us.
"Daniel, Samantha, Tucker, it's nice to see you again. And this must be one of the exchange students that your parents were telling me about," he stood up and walked over to us, "Hello, Wren; I'm Vlad Masters, mayor of Amity Park."
This time, the look on my daughter's face was anger, pure, unadulterated anger, as she reluctantly shook his extended hand.
"Nice to meet you," she replied through gritted teeth.
Sam cleared her throat, "Um…Danny, don't you think it's time we go upstairs and work on our English project," Sam suggested.
"Oh what a wonderful idea, we all know how badly Daniel needs to work on his studies," Vlad smirked, "Oh, and it was so nice meeting you Wren."
The way he looked at her enraged me, and now I was shaking in anger. Sam put a firm hand around my arm, which clearly said 'not-here.' I put myself between Vlad and Wren and allowed her to go up the stairs first as I followed behind.
Still shaking I nudged everyone to her brothers' room where Jackson, Eli, Jazz and Carrie had holed themselves up.
All Jackson, Jazz, and Carrie were on the bed and I heard the sound of running water coming from the attached bathroom, which meant that Eli would not hear our conversation. I'm sure that had been the results of Jackson's planning skills. On the bed I could see that Carrie was in hysterics as Jazz held her tightly.
"Danny, what's going on?" she wondered.
I took a deep breath, composing myself. Jackson only needed to take a single look between the four of us that had just walked in to find out what had happened.
"Wren what did you do?" he asked in an accusing way.
"It wasn't her fault, but the cat is out of the bag," I announced trying to remain calm.
"Which cat?" Jazz asked, now turning the accusation onto me.
"Both," I said.
"Wait, what's the other cat?" Jazz and Jackson asked in unison.
"Okay, Jazz, Jackson, there is something that you both need to know," I sighed. "Jazz, all the kids that came with the exchange program are from the future where Amity Park is at war, a war run by Vlad. Carrie is actually your daughter and Jackson, Wren, and Eli are me and Sam's kids," judging by the look on Jazz's face, I'm not sure if she wanted to panic, scream, or cry as she studied Carrie and honestly, I didn't have time to care what she did either way. Jackson was glaring daggers at his sister for spilling the beans but he also glanced between Sam and I like he was gaging our reactions.
"And Jackson," my firm tone captured his attention immediately as he focused on me, "as your father, there is something that you need to know about me."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before transforming into my ghost self. When I opened my eyes, I knew they were glowing green and the look on Jackson's face seemed like he was almost ready to pass out. Sam recognized it too. She took his arm, guiding him back onto the bed so that he could sit down.
Jackson blinked, and then his eyes darted to his sister.
"There's more…" she mumbled quietly.
"Apparently," I told him, "Ghost powers are genetic." I swear Jackson's eyes looked about ready to pop out of his head.
Eventually, he took a deep breath, calming himself, "So what do we do now."
….
Vlad left after dinner which none of us had attended, and once Eli was safely in bed, we moved the planning council to my room.
"Okay," I paced the carpeted floor, "Since Vlad was here, than I'm assuming he knows something, but likely not everything. Even if he does that gives us at least two days before he will make a move. Which means that I have two days to talk to train you to use your powers and to talk to Clockwork about what we need to do next," I thought out loud, still pacing.
"So here's what we're going to do," I said turning to Jackson and Wren, "And I don't want Eli to know about any of this, do I make myself clear," I ordered in a hushed tone.
"Yes sir," they replied immediately.
"Tonight, Carrie, you will stay over here. Jackson, you will make sure Eli goes to bed and stays asleep without him leaving that room at all, got it?" Jackson nodded, "Okay, then. You all can shoot right?" I asked them, and Carrie, Jackson, and Wren nodded in response. "I'll kill your Aunt Danielle for that later, but for now, you will each be well armed. Tucker, I'm going to need you to go home and protect Thomas and Mikey, it's possible that Vlad will try to use them because they probably inherited ghost powers too."
"Wait who is Danielle?" Jazz asked at the same time Wren, Jackson and Carrie said, "Aunt Danielle has GHOST POWERS?"
"All these questions can be answered later," I told them and they became quiet again.
"So, Jazz, you guard Carrie, Sam, you guard Jackson and Wren, who will be guarding Eli, and Tucker you guard Thomas and Mikey. Everyone got it?" I clarified.
"What will you be doing?" Sam asked.
"Once my parents are asleep, I'll use the ghost portal to go talk to Clockwork and determine what we need to do next," I told them.
"I'm coming with you," Wren announced.
"Me too," Jackson chimed in.
"No, you're not." Sam and I said in unison.
"But—" they tried to argue but I cut them off.
"No, and that is my final answer. Because, for one thing, I can cover more ground on my own, and for another, it's possible that Vlad will be expecting me to go to Clockwork and I don't want to put either of you right into his hands, understood?" I instructed.
"Yes sir," they mumbled quietly.
"Don't worry; I'll be in constant contact through the Fenton Phones, which I'm assuming you all know how to use?" Carrie, Wren and Jackson nodded. Sam fished in her bag, before handing out Fenton Phones to everyone; I placed mine in my pocket, exhaling now that my plan was finally laid out.
"Okay, now I will answer your questions. Okay, first off, Jazz, Danielle is biologically our younger sister but she is technically my clone. She was created by Vlad so that he could try to achieve the perfect half-ghost son when I had refused to join him. So Danielle has the same DNA as I do and the same ghost powers, but the fruit-loop must have mixed some wires at some point because Danielle is physically two years younger than me and is, obviously, female," I told them.
"Where is Danielle now?" Jazz asked.
"I don't know. I saved her from being melted into ectoplasmic goop by Vlad about six months ago and none of us have seen her since," I replied.
"Danny, your life should be a TV show," Jazz shook her head after a few minutes.
"Tell me about it," I sighed.
"They could cast John Stamos…" I heard Sam mutter and I burst out laughing, Jazz, Carrie, and our kids looked at me like I was crazy, but Sam simply smiled before she started laughing with me.
After several more minutes of laughing, I was able to get calmed down again. I looked around the room. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six pairs of eyes stared at me.
"I'll be right back," I told them, phasing through the floor, through the living room, and down into the lab. The lights were off and only a small white light on top of the power box to the portal flickered weakly.
I changed back, opening the weapon cabinet that hung on the wall. I pulled out One. Two. Three. Four, five. Six. Ecto-pistols for Tucker, Jackson, and Wren, wrist rays for Sam and Carrie, and, my mom's favorite, a double edged ectoplasmic quarterstaff for Jazz. Finally, I pulled out the Boo-merang and the keys to the specter speeder setting them on the table next to the portal, before I phased back through the ceiling and up to my room.
The living room was now dark and so was the rest of the first floor which mean that my parents had gone to bed. I arrived in my room, distributing the weapons.
"Okay. My parents are in bed, so I need to leave now," I told them. Sam nodded, standing up, so that she could close the Ghost Portal behind me.
Wren suddenly embraced me.
"Be careful," she pleaded with tears rimming her eyes.
"I will, I promise," I told her, "I'll be back by morning." Wren nodded sadly and Jackson put his hand on her shoulder before leading her out of the room, but he couldn't help but spare a concerned glance in my direction to.
I gave him a reassuring nod and suddenly, Sam and I were alone in my room.
I held out my hand, which she took knowingly as we phased down into the lab.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked.
"No. But are any of my ideas ever good?" I asked he trying to lighten the mood, it didn't work
"Danny I'm serious!" she exclaimed, "If something happens to you, there is no future, there is no winning the war, there is no Wren, Eli, or Jackson either!"
"I know," I whispered solemnly, lifting her chin for her to look at me. I kissed her. It was a sort kiss but a passionate one.
"I should be back by three. If I'm not back by four," I told her, handing her the keys and the boomerang, "You know what to do."
"What about them?" Sam gestured with her chin to the upstairs.
"Make sure they stay here," I told her. We shared a long look and I finally looked toward the portal with a sigh.
"I need to go now," I told her and she nodded.
"You better not die, or I will kill you," she ordered.
"I won't I promise. Close the portal immediately after I leave and make sure that Wren doesn't get the bright idea to follow me," I said.
"Okay, I'll see you at three," she asked…almost fearfully, which is something that I rarely see from Sam.
"Three," I agreed before I flew through the swirling green portal into the Ghost Zone.