Maddie was still picking at her meal, long gone cold like her half-drunk cup of coffee, when Alicia returned.

Alicia slid into the chair opposite Maddie and promptly stole a couple of fries, popping one into her mouth and gesturing at the remainder of the food with the other. "Tastes the same as it always does to me."

Maddie swallowed, but she should have known Alicia wouldn't bring up everything while they were still inside. There were far too many listening ears. "It's as delicious as always. I'm just not as hungry as I'd thought I'd be when I ordered."

That earned her a raised eyebrow. "You had to order?"

A snort came from behind Maddie, and she started, looking up in time to see Margie put a fresh cup of coffee in front of Alicia. "Course she didn't. I ain't that old. You want the special or are you heading out after the coffee?"

"Heading out," Alicia said, "but you can warm her up in the meantime, thanks." She nodded towards Maddie's cup, and Margie filled it before moving along to the table with Johnny, Eugene, and George. Frank had been there earlier, Maddie remembered, but she hadn't noticed when he'd left.

They'd tried to get her to join their table, and she'd only managed to avoid it by insisting she was meeting Alicia.

None of them had believed her, but they'd let her get away with it. She suspected they wouldn't have if she hadn't stood at the edge of their table visiting until Margie came out with her food. (Margie had confirmed Maddie's order, of course, though she hadn't gotten it wrong. Maddie would have been concerned if she had.) Still, she'd gotten an extensive weather forecast and crop report, along with a smattering of the town gossip—including the news that Jasper was seeing Polly, something Maddie would have never imagined, and that Sara and Ellie were planning to move so they could be married, at which point Maddie had signed Alicia up to make her famous rhubarb pie to auction off at the town fundraiser. Between that, Shelley's pecan pie, and Pete's torte, most of the town should show up for the dessert auction.

At least, Maddie hoped they would.

She hoped no one else would make a similar mistake to hers.

Spittoon tended to rally around its residents—Alicia's ten-year divorce party would hardly have been as well-attended as it was if they didn't—and had a fierce rivalry with the nearby towns (which town depended on the rivalry in question) more out of spite than anything else.

As far as Maddie could tell, the townsfolk were already standing behind Alicia, and they didn't even know the truth of the situation.

If they knew Danny was here, they didn't know why.

If they did, Maddie wouldn't be able to go anywhere without someone keeping an eye on her.

As it was, she still wasn't sure she could do that. If they knew Danny had come on his own, the speculation as to why would be enough for them to keep tabs on her. If they didn't know about Danny, if they thought she'd come on her own, unannounced, it would beg the question as to why.

And then there was the fact that Alicia had started calling in favours, which would start its own mess of rumours if nothing else had.

Maddie sipped at her coffee, but she felt too uneasy to enjoy it. Alicia still hadn't said anything. Not anything important, anyway. She was drinking her own coffee in between exchanging a few barbs with the other residents, something Maddie suspected was born less of politeness and familiarity than it was a desire to see her sister squirm.

It felt like an eternity had passed before Alicia finally saw the end of her cup, even though Margie had only warmed it up once. (That Maddie had seen, anyway; she'd slipped away from the table once, and Alicia could very well have taken the opportunity for what it was.) Alicia spent a further fifteen minutes visiting over the cash register, finally leaving with a toothpick between her teeth, and Maddie got to her feet so she could strategically stand between Alicia and the others still at coffee row lest Alicia decide to strike up another conversation.

Or, just as likely, before someone else decided to include her in their conversation.

"Well?" Maddie asked as her feet hit the sun-warmed sidewalk.

"Well what?"

Maddie looked over her shoulder and realized that Alicia hadn't followed her down the concrete steps. Instead, she was frowning with something that befitted confusion more than it did displeasure.

"You know what."

Alicia held up one finger as she slowly walked down to stand so that she was only a step above Maddie, who hadn't moved. "Do I now?"

She was stalling, but something had changed. Maddie decided to play along as Alicia reached for her collar. "Don't you always?"

Alicia's hand came away with something pinched between her finger and her thumb, and Maddie's first thought was that she'd pulled off a tick that mercifully hadn't yet dug in.

Then, Alicia tilted her hand, and the thing that was very much not a bloodsucking insect glinted in the sunlight. "I do try," Alicia said as she let Maddie guide her hand closer so she could get a better look.

Up close, it looked more like a beetle than a tick, but it was a bug of the electronic type—or at least the robotic one—and she'd seen the like before.

She'd helped Vlad put the finishing touches on a larger one.

Maddie recoiled, not knowing how long it had been there, not knowing if there were more, and she nearly charged right back into Margie's so she could strip down in the washroom and shake out her clothes.

Alicia stopped her with a warning look and a hand on her arm, keeping up a stream of chattered nonsense the entire time they searched Maddie's person for more bugs.

None turned up, and Alicia made a gesture that meant it was Maddie's turn to check her over as she emptied her pockets.

When Maddie stepped back and held up her hands to show that she hadn't found anything, Alicia she put the bug in her mouth and bit down.

Maddie made a face as Alicia spat the metal remnants into her hand. "You're going to ruin your teeth."

"Not going to lecture me on where that was or what might've been inside it?"

"I thought you might listen to the teeth argument."

Alicia shrugged and wadded up the whole mess into a handkerchief before stuffing it into her pocket; all the other odds and ends had already been returned. "Looked flimsy enough to me." She gave Maddie a critical look. "You recognized that."

There was no point in denying it. "I've seen something similar before. You remember how I've told you about Vlad."

"Masters?" Alicia's lip curled. "He still your mayor?"

"Yes, but he—" How could she put this when she wasn't sure what this was? "He never gave up our studies as completely as Jack and I had thought. He's been building his own inventions—"

"That thing included?" Alicia's voice spiked with incredulity. "You mean he planted that bug on you? You really dodged a bullet, didn't you?"

"I doubt that was intentional," Maddie said, though in truth, she couldn't be sure. "I was at his place with Jazz when you called. We were working on something to try to track down Danny, and at some point, I fell asleep. For all I know, it could have caught in my hair."

Except it couldn't have.

She'd washed her hair. She'd changed her clothes. That little machine would have had to actively seek her out—or at least be set to seek someone out, even if she had simply been the nearest person at the time—to have latched onto her after that.

And she hadn't noticed.

Of course, now that Alicia had destroyed it, Maddie couldn't be certain of its purpose. A tracker seemed most likely if it was similar to the one she'd worked on with Vlad, but she'd told him where she was going; he hardly had reason to track her. Then again, he hardly had a reason to send any of his tech after her on purpose. It must be a mistake, even if she couldn't see how.

Mustn't it be?

He's a creep who hates Dad and has a weird obsession with you and Danny.

Had Jazz only said that last night?

"That your best guess about all of this?" Alicia's tone made it clear that she thought Maddie's scenario was more than a bit of a stretch.

"It's one stray piece of technology," she said, but she didn't entirely believe her own words. Under completely innocuous circumstances, she couldn't see a simple path that would lead to this. Every scenario she could imagine involved mistakes, coincidences, chances of timing—

Unless it had been deliberate.

You just can't see it.

Was this another thing she hadn't been able to see? Even after Jazz had told her? Even with the circumstantial evidence staring her in the face, draped in enough plausible deniability and logical reasoning that she'd explained it all away?

Maddie dearly wished she hadn't left all her inventions behind. Alicia would pass over the remnants of Vlad's invention if she asked for them—probably—but Maddie would hardly know if anything was salvageable until she examined the pieces. If this was a trick by a ghost—

By Plasmius—

By Vlad

"Mmhmm." Alicia still didn't look convinced. "Well, in case we missed a second stray piece of technology, come back to my place and change. I'll have something that fits you somewhere, and I can take care of those clothes in case there are more hidden surprises."

Maddie glanced at her sister, keeping pace with her as they headed towards Alicia's cabin. She could tell that Alicia figured Vlad's intentions were dubious, but half the time, she thought Jack's intentions were dubious. For all Maddie knew, the little piece of technology had successfully sought her out—but not for malicious purposes. If Vlad had needed a way to contact her, Jazz would have pulled out every stop she could to make sure he was unsuccessful.

This could simply have been a failsafe.

Maybe.

Or it could have been something less innocuous after all.

Maddie put it out of her mind for now; she could ask Vlad once she saw him, and she hadn't particularly liked Alicia's tone with that last statement. It had never boded well for Maddie in the past. "Take care of them how?"

"Burn barrel's in the same place it always is."

"You can't—"

"You wanna risk it? I'm willing to bet your son wouldn't."

Maddie stopped. "He agreed to see me?"

"Not alone."

"They both—?"

"I get to observe and intervene if needed." Alicia started off again, and Maddie was forced to follow. "It'll just be the three of us."

Right.

She shouldn't have expected more than that.

She was fortunate Danny was willing to see her at all.

"Are you going to tell me where they are?"

"Not yet. Not that it'll matter much, anyway. We're not meeting there."

Of course. Alicia wouldn't risk that. Danny…. Danny might not risk it, either. If he really was—

No.

Not if.

Since he was Phantom, he wouldn't risk it. He wouldn't trust her. She hadn't given him reason to do so, and since the— Since the girl—

Her name is Danielle.

She'd been so blind. She and Jack had both been so blind. She still didn't know how she was going to explain all of this to him, and if Danny wouldn't— If he refused to— If he couldn't bear to be—

"Chin up," Alicia said, moving closer so that she could nudge Maddie with her elbow. "You're going to see him. That's what you need."

"It's no guarantee of anything," Maddie whispered.

"Never said it was. It is an important step, though, him being willing to talk to you."

"Is now when you tell me how much you already know?"

Alicia blew out a breath. "I know enough, Mads. Let's just leave it at that."

Maddie left it, but she fiddled with the fraying hem of her shirt sleeve for the rest of the walk.


Maddie's borrowed shirt and jeans were slightly too big, both cinched tight with a belt Alicia had taken an awl to when Maddie had needed it smaller, and Maddie couldn't help but feel more out of place than before.

It wasn't that the clothes weren't comfortable—Maddie had chosen the slightly larger cotton shirt over the heavier but smaller flannel one Alicia had offered—but they were another reminder that she was out of her depth.

Maddie joined Alicia out back by the burn barrel, wrinkling her nose at the strong smell of gasoline. "Isn't this a bit extreme? Couldn't you just wash them?"

"Better safe than sorry." Alicia pulled a matchbook out of the pocket of her overalls—a lighter denim than the previous pair had been, as those were in the burn barrel along with all the other clothes they'd had on. "You want to do the honours?"

Maddie shook her head; she'd destroyed too much recently to take any joy in more.

"Suit yourself," Alicia said. "Better stand back for this, though."

One match was all it took to catch, thanks to the gasoline, and Maddie flinched back at the wave of heat. Alicia stood closer than she did, relishing it, but then again, she had always loved watching the dancing flames.

Maddie wasn't sure having a burn barrel in what was essentially the backyard was strictly legal, but she wasn't about to bring that up to Alicia now. This wasn't the time for that argument. Besides, if she so much as mentioned the environment, Alicia would remind her of the portal in the basement. It ran on ectoplasm now, but it had been connected to the electrical grid initially; they'd really only taken it off in case an unexpected power surge ended up in a town-wide blackout.

"When are we meeting Danny?" Maddie asked at length. "Shouldn't we be going soon?" Alicia had moved to stand beside her when the wind had changed, sweeping the smoke towards the house rather than the rhubarb patch, but the wind didn't pick up enough for Maddie to insist that they douse the fire.

Not unless they were to leave, anyway, and she doubted that from how Alicia was acting. Had Danny asked for another day? Maddie would give it to him, of course—since he'd agreed to meet her at all after what had happened, she could hardly insist he meet her immediately, however much she might wish it—but not knowing any details was nearly driving her up the wall.

Something Alicia would know very well.

Something Danny no doubt knew, too.

"I'll put on a pot of coffee," Alicia said, which very much wasn't an answer, much less the one Maddie wanted to hear.

She turned to go inside, and Maddie fetched a pail from the shed, filled it at the well, and tossed it on the fire before following. Alicia would have let it burn out, and given that it had been reduced to embers, perhaps Maddie could have, too, but she hardly wanted to chance anything right now.

Maddie dropped the bucket by the rocking chair on the porch and was asking more questions as she walked in the door. "Can't you at least tell me when we're meeting him? It's not like I need to know where right now, but if I can at least know when—"

A fresh cup of coffee was shoved into her hands as she reached the kitchen, and Alicia's lack of retreat from the entryway forced Maddie to stop in her tracks. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Maddie turned the mug in her hands so she could hold it by the handle rather than the sides; it was hot enough that doing that was uncomfortable. "I wouldn't be here if I weren't ready for this. You know that."

Alicia shook her head. "No, you always used to bite off more than you can chew and dive into things without thinking it through first. I want to know that you're at least keeping afloat right now even if you are in over your head."

Maddie clenched the mug tighter as it threatened to tremble in her hands. "I'm trying."

Alicia pursed her lips and stared Maddie down for a few long seconds, and then she raised her voice and said, "How about you?"

Maddie's breath caught in her throat.

"I have to be ready, don't I?"

That was Danny's voice.

That was Danny's voice.

Maddie opened her mouth, but Alicia spoke first, not taking her eyes off Maddie's face as she did so. "You can have more time if you want it."

"It's fine."

Maddie had heard that tone from Danny before. It's fine. I'm fine. Knowing what she knew now, it didn't ring true.

Had it ever been fine? Had he ever been fine?

"You sure? Not too late to change your mind."

"Yeah."

Alicia moved aside, and Maddie got a chance to see her son for the first time since—since—

"Danny, I'm sorry." She moved forward slowly, half expecting him to jump up from his chair at the kitchen table and vanish again. Instead, he stayed where he was at the table's head, hunched over a mug that might have been the first cup of coffee out of the pot or might have been hot chocolate or a mocha; she couldn't tell by the smell from here.

She eased into the chair opposite of him, leaving the chair between them for Alicia. She didn't want to push her luck. Alicia caught her eye as she took the empty seat, the corner of her mouth quirked in what might be approval. She took a sip of coffee, and Maddie remembered her own drink and took a sip as well. The heat of it was enough to burn her tongue, and it was stronger than Margie's had been. Maddie swallowed back the bitterness and sucked in some fresh air to try to relieve the sharp flash of pain the scalding liquid had left in its wake.

Alicia plucked a spoon from the holder and pushed the covered sugar bowl towards her.

Danny watched all of this without a word, his eyes tracking every movement they made.

He looked…tired, despite his alertness. The bags under his eyes were more pronounced than usual. His hair was its usual mess, but his favourite shirt was wrinkled and stained now, spotted with rusty brown and dull gr—

Maddie blew on her coffee before taking another sip without adding the sugar, and then she set the mug on the table and stared into it so she didn't have to see her son's immediate reaction to her words. "I can't undo what I've done. There's no way that I can go back and stop myself, but that's no excuse for what I did at the time, and I know that. But I—I—"

Every argument she'd made to Alicia died on her tongue.

I'm human, too.

"I didn't listen," she whispered. "Not to…to Danielle, not to you, not to Jazz. Not when it mattered. And I can't undo those mistakes, either." She risked looking up, but Danny's face was an inscrutable mask. When had he learned to hide his emotions like that? "But I can listen now, and I can do better in the future."

Danny didn't say anything.

Neither did Alicia.

Maddie swallowed. "Jazz told me everything." She wouldn't go into detail when she still wasn't sure how much Alicia knew, but— "I know what happened to you, and I've spoken to Vlad about what happened to him—"

Danny's expression tightened, and he bit out, "Don't bring Vlad into this."

"I know it's all been misunderstanding upon mis—"

"Mom. I don't know what Vlad told you. I don't know everything Jazz told you. But if you want to listen to me, then listen when I tell you that you still don't know the half of it."

She opened her mouth, caught sight of Alicia's sidelong glance, and swallowed back her protests.

She couldn't say she'd listen and then not do that.

"Are…are you willing to fill me in on what you know?" she ventured.

Danny's shoulders rolled in a shrug.

She shouldn't have expected that he'd have his mind made up about all of this already.

The fact that he'd agreed to talk with her surely proved that, as if he had, it was unlikely to have been in her favour.

"May I know how Danielle is?"

Danny raised his chin, just slightly, and said, "You're only asking now?"

She flinched. "I needed to apologize first."

"An apology isn't going to change what happened." Danny blew out his breath but didn't drop his gaze. "She's doing as well as she can be. She's doing well enough to know she doesn't want to see you right now."

That meant she was conscious and coherent, and frankly that was better than Maddie had been fearing. Some of the tension loosened from her shoulders. "I know it's not enough, but please tell her I'm sorry."

"I'll tell her."

Danny raised his mug to his lips and proceeded to take a long drink, and Maddie found herself looking at Alicia. "She's not alone right now, right? Someone's with her?"

Alicia tilted her head towards Danny in answer.

He lowered the mug but held it cupped between both hands, not letting it touch the table's surface. "She's not alone."

No other explanation.

No other hint.

Maddie took a slow breath, trying to make sense of everything, and then said, "For what it's worth, Jack and I— We'll change. Everything. I know he'll agree once I tell him—"

For the first time, surprise registered on Danny's face. His eyebrows rose and then furrowed. "Wait, you didn't tell Dad? Even after you found out? Why not?"

Maddie glanced at Alicia.

"It's okay," Danny said.

"Your dad started searching for you in the Ghost Zone before Jazz told me anything," Maddie said slowly, still wanting to tread carefully despite Danny's assurance. "Vlad was helping me search here, and—"

"You went to Vlad?" Danny groaned. "Please tell me he doesn't know Dad is in the Ghost Zone."

"Well, he does, but—"

"Alone?"

"Jazz called Sam and Tucker in to help after she found out," Maddie said, though from Danny's expression, the words weren't as much a comfort as she'd hoped. Perhaps he rightfully suspected that Sam and Tucker had not been sent in primarily to find Jack but to find him. "Jazz is with Vlad now, but if Jack comes back for provisions before Sam or Tucker finds him, he'll see our note."

Danny closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then looked her in the eye. "Okay. Fine. Between Jazz and Sam and Tuck, Dad should be safe."

Should be?

Maddie really didn't want to think that that meant the Ghost Zone was as dangerous as they'd always feared, but it was hard to imagine what else Danny could mean.

Then again, he didn't sound worried about the fact that Sam and Tucker had gone in after Jack, so maybe—

"Really not wild about the fact that you still went to Vlad after Jazz told you, because she must have told you before you decided to go."

"She—" How much could she say with Alicia listening in? "She thought he'd have something we could use. Of Phantom's."

Danny placed his mug on the table and crossed his arms. "Jazz told you everything, huh?"

Maddie nodded.

"You're sure about that? And you listened to her? Like, actually listened to her?"

"Danny—"

"Just pretend Aunt Alicia isn't here," he cut in. "I told her enough of what she needed to know when I asked for her help."

Maddie blinked and glanced at her sister, but Alicia's poker face was as good as ever.

I'm not fool enough to ignore the evidence right in front of my eyes, Alicia had said. Had Danny freely shown her what he'd fought to keep from them for so long? What he still might have kept from them if Maddie hadn't done what she had? If Jazz hadn't broken her silence to say what Maddie had needed to hear but still not understood until it was too late, would she even know now?

"We needed a recent copy of Phantom's ecto-signature to have a hope of the Booo-merang functioning properly again." Her measured, steady tone was as much an attempt to keep the turmoil of her emotions in check as it was to keep Danny talking with her, but it wasn't doing much to help in either case. She felt like she was teetering on the edge of a crevice, that the smallest nudge could have her slipping into darkness and dissolving into tears. As for Danny, if anything, her words had caused him to tense more; he'd dropped his arms but looked ready to spring from his seat at any moment. "I'll confess I still didn't quite realize what that meant for you at the time, but—" Her voice caught. "We didn't know. We didn't listen. That's going to change now. I promise. If you give us the chance to try to make things better, we will."

The silence stretched.

Alicia took another sip of coffee.

Danny let out his breath and made a visible effort to relax his shoulders. "Vlad shouldn't have a recent copy of my ecto-signature. Tucker destroyed it, and the fruitloop won't have had time to get another one."

My ecto-signature.

The words rolled off his tongue with apparent ease, and Alicia didn't react to them at all. Whatever she knew or whatever she'd pieced together—

She'd accepted it.

She'd listened.

"He says he doesn't," Maddie whispered, "but I had— I had a sample of Danielle's blood. When Vlad told me he hadn't given up his paranormal research but continued inventing on his own and had something that might work, I— I gave it to him."

"Jazz didn't stop you?" Danny's disbelief was written all over his face, and incredulity dripped from each word.

"She didn't approve, but the sample wasn't enough. You were already out of range."

Danny snorted. "Fat chance of that." He looked to Alicia. "Know if I'm missing anything important so far?"

Alicia reached into her pocket and then passed a handkerchief to Danny. He wrinkled his nose but took it by one corner, and his expression changed as the remains of the little robotic bug hit the table between them. Even before Alicia had swept it all back into a pile, he was looking at them both with wide eyes. "When did you find this? Where did you find this?"

"Nestled up by the back of her collar," Alicia said with a nod to Maddie, "when we were leaving coffee row. Round about an hour back now. Burned the rest of what we were wearing, just in case."

Danny was standing before Maddie had really registered that he'd moved. "I need to check on Dani." He met Maddie's eyes and added, "I'll come back."

Maddie blinked.

The kitchen was empty but for her and Alicia.

Once again, Danny had disappeared before her eyes, and even now that she knew the truth, it was still hard to comprehend.

The lump in Maddie's throat grew, and this time, she couldn't blink away her tears.

Alicia reached behind her to snatch the box of tissues from the counter and exchanged it for Maddie's coffee cup. As she stirred in a spoonful of sugar, she said, "He's coming back. Just give him a bit of time."

Maddie sniffed, nodded, and wiped at both her eyes and nose, hoping that she hadn't made another mistake and that there was time enough left for her to begin to make amends.