"You're such a strange child. You bleed green. Your hair is white. Clothes are different too." Barry chuckled. Danny squirmed again, trying in vain to loosen his bonds. "Now, don't do that," Barry chided, raising the meat cleaver up to Danny's face, running its sharp edge along his jaw line. Danny flinched, and the blade cut lightly into his skin.

Danny wished his powers would work. Something was keeping him from performing even the simplest ones, like turning himself invisible and phasing. Still, he could still do a little…

He swung out with his feet, kicking Barry away from him and into a cow corpse with a grunt. The momentum from the action left the ghost boy swinging like a pendulum, slowly spinning. Barry growled angrily.

"You little!" he spat, lunging back to the boy, cleaver raised, swinging it down with precise aim. Danny cried out, trying to swing over to avoid the attack aimed at his chest. He swung awkwardly, missing most of the blade. Barry attacked again, hitting Danny in the shoulder and causing him to scream out in pain. A mad gleam was now in the man's eyes, he was quickly leaving his self control behind with every swing of the cleaver. Danny, bleeding from several deep cuts, kept trying to keep the man at bay with kicks. This trick didn't last very long; Barry eventually just grabbed one of his legs, freezing the boy in mid kick and holding the cleaver to his throat. "Quit that!" he barked into the boy's face. "Hold still so I can cut you up!"

"No! Get away from me!" Danny shouted, kicking him back again. The cleaver sliced him as Barry fell back, fraying the ropes and breaking most of them. Danny rolled his shoulders quickly, breaking the rest of the rope. He fell to the ground just as Barry ran back at him.

"Stay there, you little creep!" he yelled. Danny shot to his feet, running away as fast as he could, Barry chasing after him.

Alex and Sam stumbled when they touched back down on solid ground. They were back inside the study. They weren't alone. Alex cursed.

"Now, Alex, is that polite?" Vlad said, smirking. He was still in his human form, hands clasped behind his back. "I see that you made it out alive. The book is quite amazing." He smiled in a would-be fatherly way. Alex remained silent, moving to stand in front of Sam. Both of them were still shivering from the cold water they had narrowly escaped from. Sam pulled the guitar in front of her, positioning her hands so she could attack at a moments notice. Vlad laughed coldly.

"Let me guess. You think that you can easily defeat me and be on your way?"

"We're getting Danny back, and we're not going to let you stop us!" Alex said strongly. Sam nodded.

"Yeah, so get out of the way!" she snapped, stepping around Alex and playing a few threatening notes. Vlad calmly stepped to the side, avoiding all of them. He straightened, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve.

"If you're going to get him back, then why haven't you?" he asked quietly, looking over at them, eyes emotionless. "The book has been yours for over ten minutes. What is it that's keeping you?"

"We're not going to let you get near him, that's why!"

"Near him, you say? Child, I could take that book from you right now, if I wanted to. It would be mine before you could even blink."

To prove his point, Vlad duplicated his body, and sent the copy over to snatch the book. Alex cried out angrily, kicking the copy in the chin and destroying it. The book clattered to the ground, and Alex quickly picked it up again, keeping his eyes on Vlad the whole time.

"What is it that you want out of all of this, Masters?"

Vlad growled, phasing away. Sam made to call him back and fight, but Alex held a hand up. He knew that Vlad was waiting for something. Either he was about to attack, or he was just waiting. The middle-aged halfa didn't want the spy dead though, and had no sensible reason to kill Sam, so he bet that they were safe for the moment.

"Let's go, we shouldn't stay in one place for too long. Besides, we should dry off."

"I'll second that! Lead the way."

Alex checked his phone, which, remarkably, was still working. The scan from earlier appeared on the small screen, altered again to match his position. There was a hall of guest rooms nearby, so they went there first, each claiming a guest room. There was a bathrobe and several towels in each room, which one of them put to use. They met in the hall, Sam leaving her wet clothes behind and instead wearing a fluffy robe. Alex brought the book out, dressed in his normal clothes, which were dry, reading a page as Sam dried her hair off with a small towel. He showed her the page.

"I used this to dry my clothes and stuff. Pretty handy, why don't you try it?"

"It's better than wearing this stupid robe. Give me the book and I'll try it out."

Sam took the book, going back into her room, locking the door behind her. Taking a deep breath, she recited the spell:

"Spirits of the air blow for me, lend me your strength."

At once, the sad pile of soggy clothes that had been thrown into a sink dried, the water escaping through the bathtub pipes. Her hair had dried as well, and she gratefully pulled her dark clothes back on. She stepped out of the room when she was done to give the book back.

"What now, Alex? Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve?"

"Not any tricks, but I have an idea: let's get moving. We need to get back to Amity."

"The ghost camp thing is tomorrow." Sam stated.

"You're worrying about that?"

"No, but… never mind."

He had been running for what seemed like forever. His breath came out in short clouds of vapor, falling behind him with each stride. At random, he'd take a turn, pushing through a row of cow bodies to try and put some distance between himself and the madman. There had been too many close calls this way; half a dozen corpses were left in ribbons, barely hanging on by their hooks. Danny was able to judge about how far away Barry was by the man's insane, gasping, laughter.

"Where is the exit?" Danny wanted to scream aloud. "This freezer is endless!"

In his state of panic, Danny had begun to run in one big and crooked circle through and around frozen cows. His outfit was filthy from the number of times he had tripped, and from the blood. He was holding one gloved hand to try and slow the flow of blood from his shoulder. He succeed a little, but ruined the glove.

Barry cackled, causing Danny to falter in his pace. The boy made the mistake of looking behind him without actually stopping. If he had known better, he would have never even considered doing so. When his head was turned, his body collided with a cow. He toppled to the ground, instantly rolling over as his pursuer appeared. The cleaver fell, embedding itself no more than a breath from Danny's face. Danny yelped, scooting under the frozen body to escape down another aisle.

"Damn you! Stay still!" Barry screeched, grabbing the cleaver and slicing the chain supporting the cow free. The corpse fell, trapping Danny's legs. The cow fell with a loud thud, taking all noise from the room for a second. In that second, hunter looked upon prey, wild eyes upon terrified ones.

Alex took off running, following Sam as she tried to find the way back to the bike. He had split his concentration between following her and trying to think of a decent plan.

Sam had taken the book from Alex, leaving him without any weapons. It had been done at the spy's request. He knew that if Vlad was going to attack or take one of them, it would be him. It would have been pointless for him to be captured while carrying the book because it would make it all the more convenient for Vlad to destroy it. It wouldn't have been too pleasant either if the man had the guitar, which could be very dangerous in its own way.

"There's the window! Sam, go, I'll be right behind you!" Alex called, smiling at the thought of getting out of the castle. Sam nodded, trusting his words, and vaulted out of the window and landing, rolling, in the grass. She jumped up to get out of the way for when Alex jumped out. She was facing the window in the moment, so she saw everything. Alex leapt out, soaring through the air. Time seemed to slow down as the boy prepared to land without injuring his legs, when everything went wrong. An invisible hand reached out, seizing Alex by the back of his shirt.

"Hey!"

"Alex!"

Sam picked up a stray stone, chucking it when Plasmius made his body visible. Instead of trying to avoid the rock, the ghost simply pulled Alex in front of him, allowing the rock to hit the boy on the leg. Alex cried out, violently cursing the ghost.

"Must you really use that foul language, Alex?" Plasmius said calmly, smirking again. Alex ignored him, looking down at Sam instead.

"Sam, go! Get Danny back to Amity Park!" he shouted before being pulled back into the castle.