Chapter 4

Maddie rolled over in her sleep, only to find her mind suddenly awake. She opened her eyes, not sure what woke her up until she noticed Jack's warm body wasn't behind her. She sat up and looked over at his side of the bed to see he'd been gone since she awoke.

"Mom!" Danny's voice hissed.

Maddie looked towards the bedroom door to barely make out her son as he ran in, slamming the door behind him. Maddie turned on the lamp on her night stand and stared at Danny's disheveled appearance as he fought to catch his breath. Maddie jumped out of bed and went closer to him to see cuts and bruises on the visible skin around his hand-me-down pajamas. "Danny, are you ok? What happened?"

"Ghost. Down stairs." Danny said, his eyes wide in fear. Finally gulping down enough air he said, "It's in the living room. Jazz is trying to fight it, but that thing's powerful."

Maddie wanted to ask how her son who normally shrieked away at their ghost teachings knew about how powerful a ghost would be but quickly thought against it as she grabbed an ecto-weapon from on top of her dresser.

"You're going to need something more powerful than that." Danny said. "I think this is the ghost that bent the doors of the portal."

Maddie looked at the weapon in her hand before giving it to Danny. "Go and help your sister. I better get dressed then." She watched as he looked at the weapon, almost unsure before quickly leaving the room. She didn't like the idea of her children fighting a ghost this powerful, but prayed they could hold their own until she got down there.

Danny rushed down the short hall and transformed, his wounds now bleeding green and his suit still shredded from his fight against Proctor right before he realized he needed his mom's help.

"Danny, where's Mom?" Jazz asked, surprised to see her brother coming in his ghost form with a gun now in his hand. She found the Jack-o-nine tails ripped out of her hand as the prongs were gripped by Proctor. She screamed as she dived behind the burnt sofa, barely missing being shot by a blue ecto-blast.

"She's getting weapons." Danny said, knowing she had some powerful anti-ecto weapons in her suit. Danny shot at Proctor, only lucky enough to shoot a hole in the skeleton's overcoat.

"Decedents of John Nightingale, prepare to meet your doom!" Proctor laughed, creating a ball of energy in between his hands. Danny quickly created a dome shield over himself and his sister only for the blast to break it in pieces.

Knowing this would be the last chance he got before he'd have to change back to human, he quickly called out to Jazz, "Cover your ears."

Jazz knew what that meant, hunkering down behind the sofa with her hands over her ears as Danny positioned himself facing Proctor. A powerful cry left Danny's throat, forming into his Ghostly Wail. He slowly dropped to the ground as he put all his energy into the wail.

Proctor held onto a shield, protecting him from the destruction only for the shield to crack. The crack grew bigger as Danny's pajamas slowly appeared. The shield gave way, forcing Proctor against the wall separating the living room and kitchen as Danny dropped down to his hands and knees. The lights passed over him, taking away the rest of his powers as he found himself trying to catch his breath.

Jazz rushed over to her brother, hoping to help him. She glanced up at Proctor, seeing his trench coat and hat had both fallen off of him as he pulled himself out of the wall. He rushed at the two children, arms reaching forwards, only to be blasted into the sofa.

"Get away from my kids!" Maddie ordered. She flipped over the stairs and landed on her feet, hands prepared for combat as her anti-ecto weapons poked out of her jumpsuit.

Jazz helped Danny to his feet and led him into the family room on the other side of the stairs. "How you doing?" Jazz asked as Danny stood on his own.

"I don't use my wail much for a reason." Danny admitted, holding his head. "And it barely did any damage to him."

"Any idea where Dad is?" Jazz asked.

Danny pulled a face of realization as he dropped his hand. "I don't know. He wasn't in their room."

"Great, he might've locked himself in the weapons vault again." Jazz rolled her eyes, heading towards the adjacent hallway towards the said vault with Danny right behind her.

"But I put a handle on the inside." Danny said.

"With Dad's luck, it broke." Jazz said, putting in the code to unlock the vault. Getting the green light, she pulled open the vault door only to see nothing but ghost hunting weaponry. "Or not."

"And stay out!" Maddie declared as the blasting finally ended.

Danny left his sister in the vault and went through the kitchen to the living room to see his mother standing in the wreckage of what was left. Her weapons retracted into her suit as she pulled the hood off revealing her bed hair.

"Jazz, help me gather up as much from that ghost as we can." Maddie said, noticing the blue blobs of the skeleton's ectoplasm attached to the walls and various objects. She glanced up at Danny and said, "Can you find your father, please?"

Danny turned around, passing his sister as she walked through the kitchen. Danny headed down towards the lab, thinking maybe he had sleep walked down there again only to find Jack laying on the floor, dried blood staining his night gown. "Dad!" Danny called out, rushing over to the big man. He quickly checked his pulse, relief washing over him as he realized the man was just knocked out. "Mom!" Danny yelled upwards.

Maddie quickly rushed down the stairs and to Jack's other side as Jack started to wake up. "What happened?" Jack asked as Danny and Maddie helped him to his feet. He reached up to a bump on his head as the two helped him over to a chair. "Please tell me that skeleton is caught."

"Sorry Hun." Maddie said, reaching up to a wall cabinet to pull down a first aid box.