"What do you mean you can't find him?" Jazz whispered into her Fenton Phone. If it were Danny, she could understand. Danny knew the Ghost Zone better than any of them did, even Sam or Tucker, so if he was in there after all, he'd have a good idea of where to go so he wouldn't be easily found. But Jack?

Jack Fenton shouldn't be hard to find, even in the Ghost Zone, not when all the ghosts nearby surely knew him by reputation if not by sight.

She wasn't sure he knew how to be inconspicuous.

Someone must have seen him.

Desperation caused Jazz's voice to rise as she insisted, "You must have missed him." It was a faint hope, but it was all she had. "It's not like the Ghost Zone is small."

"Sure, but there's a lot of us looking for them now," Sam said, which only made the knot of worry in Jazz's chest tighten. "No one's seen Danny or your dad. Clockwork was a bust, but Kitty and Johnny 13 agreed to help, and Kitty talked Ember into it, and Ember talked Youngblood into it, and— Everyone's looking, okay? Even the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady. None of these guys really like the idea of an unsupervised Jack Fenton on their home turf any more than you like the idea of him being lost here. As far as I can tell, everyone who's on Vlad's payroll is looking, too, even the vultures, but they're not having any luck, either. Ember and Skulker have this weird competition going on for who will find one of them first and— Look, that doesn't matter. Point is, we're spread out and still coming up with nothing."

"And Mr. F isn't going to be easy to miss even if he left the Spectre Speeder for some reason," added Tucker in an echo of Jazz's earlier thoughts.

Why couldn't they find him? How far could he have gotten?

Jazz looked over to Vlad, who was still fiddling with something at the table where he and Maddie had been working earlier, and frowned before covering her mouth with her hand again. "He can't be back here yet. He would have called to find out if we had any news. He'd have done it before eating any of the fudge."

Well.

He might've called at the same time.

It's not like he was incapable of dialling with one hand and holding a slab of fudge in the other.

Jazz took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she closed her eyes and tried to envision the map of the Ghost Zone Danny had shown her once. "Maybe he got caught in one of the swirling vortexes? Or—or the Carnivorous Canyon?"

"Nope. Pandora's been checking the tricky spots for me, and they're all clear. Of humans at least. Not sure about ghosts."

Jazz blinked open her eyes at Tucker's words. "Wait, Pandora? Like, Pandora Pandora?" She noticed Vlad looking in her direction and dropped her voice again as she continued, "She's real?"

"Do you not remember the whole Pandora's Box trouble with the Box Ghost?"

Jazz rolled her eyes at Sam's dry voice. "Yes, I remember, but I didn't realize that it was the Pandora's Box and not just something called Pandora's Box."

"Surprise. Anyway, can you at least check to make sure your dad isn't home? This is starting to feel like a wild goose chase."

"I'll give him a call," Jazz promised. "If I get a hold of him, I'll let you know." She bit her lip. "Thanks for doing all of this. And good luck."

"Right back atcha," came Tucker's quick response, and then the Fenton Phone was silent once more.

"Any news, Jasmine?"

"Shut it," Jazz growled as she pulled out her phone and dialled the house. Vlad's light, teasing tone only served to release her fury, and it burned in her veins. If he'd hurt her dad, she was going to do so much worse than never forgive him. "If you want news, get it from your lackeys."

Jazz counted seven rings before she heard the click of it shifting to the answering machine, and she hung up and tried Jack's cell phone.

That went to voicemail immediately.

No service in the Ghost Zone.

Crud.

This felt too much like trying Danny—only this time, she knew what had happened.

This time, she knew who was responsible, and the slimeball was in the same room as her.

She turned her most venomous expression in Vlad's direction. "What did you do to Dad?"

His brow creased slightly as he looked over at her. "I haven't the foggiest what you're talking about."

Jazz shoved her phone back into her pocket and stalked over to Vlad. "I'm not an idiot," she ground out. "Dad going into the Ghost Zone alone? You knowing about it? Encouraging it? When you have however many ghosts on your payroll including one who can mess with technology?"

She wished she could punch the smug smile off his face, but it was entirely too likely he'd just go intangible and leave her to hit the wall behind him, and she couldn't afford to be injured on top of everything else right now.

"Surely you know I wouldn't risk doing anything untoward."

Then again, maybe the chance that she might catch him by surprise was worth cracking a bone or five in her hand.

"I've played nice before for the sake of Danny's secret," she hissed as she stood across the table from him, "and you know we're well past that now. You think I left the house without bringing that blood blossom extract when I knew we were coming here?"

Vlad's eyes widened just enough to betray his surprise, but he kept his silence.

A few seconds later, she felt a slight jolt that was accompanied by a pop from her midriff and a sugary curse from behind her, and dismay settled on Vlad's face.

"Tough luck," she spat as she readjusted her shirt over her clunky belt. It was a wonder Vlad hadn't called her on it before, but maybe he never paid that much attention to her—even when Danny or Maddie wasn't around. "I put the spectre deflector under my bed the first chance I got, and it hasn't broken in the meantime. I know you can duplicate yourself. I was not going to risk you overshadowing me and trying to turn this mess in your favour."

Vlad blew out a breath and got to his feet. "Contrary to what you believe, I am not trying to antagonize you."

Opting to change the subject entirely rather than admit what he'd just tried to do, huh? Fine. She could pick her battles. She didn't need to fight that one.

This one, on the other hand….

"Oh, trust me, if this is you being yourself, you don't need to try. You're antagonizing me just fine as it is."

The throaty sound he made didn't quite deserve the term of growl, but it was certainly on its way. "Like you, like Maddie, I am trying to find Daniel. I would like to see him returned here safe and sound. Did I want to do this without your oaf of a father getting in my way? Yes. Did I strap him into the Spectre Speeder myself and banish him to the Ghost Zone? No. Just as Daniel chose to run away, Jack chose to search for him in the Ghost Zone. Believe it or not, I do not have a hand in everything."

"Uh huh." She didn't need to argue with him about why Jack was in the Ghost Zone, either; she needed him to admit he was the reason they could no longer find him. "So what orders did you give your lackeys? Strand him on a rock somewhere? Trick him into someone's lair? Throw him into whatever the Ghost Zone equivalent of a black hole is?" A sudden, unpleasant thought occurred to her and curdled her stomach. "Force him through a natural portal? Or one of the doors?"

Was he not to be found in the Ghost Zone because he was no longer in the Ghost Zone?

Was that what Danny had done?

She'd been thinking that maybe her mother had heard something about Danny, that that was why she'd left despite everything, and she knew Vlad had to have been thinking the same thing, but—

But where better to hide—or hide someone else—than in a place no one was expecting them to be?

Vlad's smile came with sharp teeth this time. "Wonderful ideas. Mind if I take notes?"

Surely, if Vlad had just stranded Jack on a rock somewhere, he'd have been spotted by now. And, hopefully, if there was something more black hole-like than the swirling vortexes, Pandora would be able to check them out with just as little trouble. But Jazz didn't know if there was a way to track natural portals or if ghosts were allowed in other ghosts' lairs without a specific invitation—unless that was just vampires?—or if the floating doors led to different lairs or times or dimensions or if they just opened out to different places on Earth.

What if they managed to find Danny only to find out that Vlad had gotten rid of Jack for good? He would do everything to convince Maddie it was an accident, and without proof to the contrary, Jazz was pretty sure her mother would believe that, at least off the start. Jazz had barely been to the Ghost Zone often enough to understand it; her parents certainly didn't have enough experience to accurately gauge the risks, let alone the friendliness of ghostly allies or harmless acquaintances.

"You do realize that if you did something to Dad," Jazz said slowly, "it's going to be worse for you than if you did nothing, right? Like, Mom might be buying whatever lies you're selling about not being the bad guy now, but once Danny and I have a chance to talk to her? Really talk to her? Together? And once Dad tells her about whatever is going down now? You're toast. You won't even be tolerated. As a family friend, we'd have to suffer through your company at supper every once in a while, but after this? Nothing. Not even scraps of kindness in public. Just watch how fast they figure out how to target your ecto-signature and exclude Danny's. You of all people have to know that revenge can be highly motivating."

Vlad tsked at her. Tsked. At her! While shaking his head! As if she were going on about impossibilities and she was simply too young to know the truth of it all! Jazz glared, but that only made him smile more broadly. "My dear girl, you hardly understand as much of the situation as you think you do. I'm afraid you aren't in control in the slightest."

Short of filling up her phone with muffled audio from a video recording of the inside of her pocket, she wouldn't be able to record whatever he said, but Jazz knew she wasn't so sleep deprived that she wouldn't remember something as important as this. That was just as well, since the camera on her flip phone didn't hold a candle to her actual camera, and she had a greater chance of ending up with five billion pictures of darkness than she did with the video she wanted if she tried to start taping this without Vlad noticing.

She crossed her arms instead. "If I don't understand, then explain it to me."

If she had learned one thing from Danny, it was that his enemies liked to talk—especially about themselves.

Vlad was not the exception he undoubtedly thought he was.

"Maddie knows I'm as human as Daniel," Vlad said simply. "She cannot, in good conscience, take a scalpel to her dear old friend—especially after the misunderstanding with Danielle. I'm sure you can see how that has shaken her."

Shaken her? Shaken her? Maddie wasn't merely shaken. She'd had her world upended, and Jazz could see it. Anyone could see it. The truth of this wasn't a small thing, and now that Maddie understood it—or at least understood more than she had in the immediate aftermath of Danny's disappearance—everything had changed.

Calling Maddie shaken was as gross an understatement as calling whatever had happened with Danielle a misunderstanding.

She wouldn't get anywhere arguing with Vlad about that, though.

She wasn't getting anywhere trying to find out what he'd done to Jack, either, so maybe it was time to change tack.

"Who is Danielle really?"

Vlad's eyebrows rose. "Haven't we been over this already?"

"Just answer the question."

"She is a ghost girl with a healthy admiration for Phantom—something not uncommon among younger ghosts who don't fancy themselves his enemy, I might add."

"But who is she?"

"She calls herself Dani Phantom. With an 'I', of course. Or, at least, she did the last time I spoke with her. It has been a while since I've run into her."

Jazz pursed her lips. "She calls herself that or you called her that?"

"Do you really believe that I have been privileged enough to name some of my fellow ghosts?"

"Fellow halfas, maybe. Especially ones that look suspiciously like my brother. Mom told me about that. So how'd you do it?"

"You really do think I'm responsible for everything, don't you?"

"Will you stop avoiding the question and just answer it for once?"

"I hardly think—"

"I know it's bad," she interrupted before he tried to dodge her question again. Really, did he not expect her to know the trick of answering questions with questions? "I'm just not sure how bad. Mom's not, either, but believe me, she was definitely thinking some pretty terrible things before we came over here. So why don't you be easy on yourself and let us know the truth?"

"Do you think I haven't been telling you the truth?"

"Yeah. That's exactly what I think. So spill. Is Danielle more like Dolly or Louise Brown?"

"Danielle is very much like herself. I rather got the impression she was proud of that."

Jazz arched an eyebrow. "She rebelled against you pretty early, huh?"

"Does it not always feel early with teenagers?"

Gotcha. Jazz couldn't help but grin as Vlad's own smile fell from his face as he realized his mistake. "I knew you knew her," she said. "I knew you were responsible somehow."

He closed his eyes and heaved a world-weary sigh before meeting her gaze again. "I tried to be responsible for her," he admitted, "but I'm afraid I failed her."

"Yeah, no kidding. You think it's fun for siblings to fight to the death." Jazz planted her palms on the table and leaned toward him. "Newsflash, Uncle Vlad— You'd make a terrible father."

Vlad put one hand on her shoulder and pushed her back gently. She let him only because she wanted him to talk. "For your information, Danielle was—and perhaps is again—unstable. If she overtaxes herself, her very molecular structure begins to break down. I failed in my attempts to perfect her and make her whole, but you will be happy to know that your brother succeeded where I did not, though I've no idea if his solution was anything more than a temporary one. If I had known Danielle was back in town, I would have inquired."

"As one does," Jazz said flatly. "Let me guess: you're also the reason she's unstable?"

"As I've already said, contrary to your every belief, I am not the behind whatever terrible thing you might hear about on any given day. Ghosts can and do get themselves into a fair bit of trouble without my help, and curious children are liable to have accidents entirely without my involvement. Should happenstance allow those two things to overlap, I hardly deserve to have the blame laid at my feet."

Jazz frowned, trying to figure out what Vlad was saying and what he wasn't. "What?"

"Daniel and I are stable. Danielle is not. Does that not strike you as odd?"

"Considering I'm pretty sure you're responsible for her situation despite what you're trying to tell me, no, not really. If you were that good at stuff, you'd have figured out your ecto-acne without inflicting it on anyone else." She'd been lucky enough to have a therapy session with Spike that day, so she'd had an excuse not to be home setting out the self-imposed quarantine equipment with the rest of the family, but enough embarrassment had come out of that day even without factoring that in.

Vlad gave her a decidedly unimpressed look before saying, "Her circumstances of coming to be must be different than ours."

"Yeah. Which is why I was asking you what those circumstances are. So fess up already."

"Do you truly believe I'm responsible for—"

"Yes! That's the whole point of this conversation!"

Wanting to throttle Vlad was not new to her, though she had no doubt Danny had the urge much more often, but why was he still pretending? Maddie wasn't here. Jack wasn't here. No one who didn't know the truth was here, and she sincerely doubted whatever random paparazzi coming to town to try to get a story on Vladimir Masters this week had managed to find his secret lab.

"I know you're worried," Vlad said quietly. He walked around so that the table was no longer between them and leaned against its edge. "I know you're tired but too anxious to sleep. I'm on edge, too."

What was he trying to pull now?

"How about I make us something to eat, and you can decide if you want more coffee or one of the guest bedrooms to lie down in for a little while?"

"I am not just going to drop this," she said, disgust dripping from her voice as she edged away from him. He might not have been in her personal space, but being in the same room as him was bad enough, and she had to do that even if she didn't like him. For all she knew, this was some weird attempt to drive her away so he could work on whatever it was in peace, and she wasn't about to let him do that, either. "You can't win me over to your side, and you do not get to pretend that we're friends. Whether you want to admit it or not, I know Dad's in trouble because of whatever you've done, and I know you have way more to do with Danielle than you're saying."

"I know I can't change your mind about this right now—"

"Try ever."

"—but I'm going to make us both some breakfast regardless, and you are welcome to supervise and pick your plate if you'll join me for it."

Making breakfast implied a better breakfast than her usual fare—cereal, toast, or a protein bar from a supply she kept hidden in her room well away from the ecto-samples—and if she so much as smelled anything cooking, her stomach would betray her.

She might still have the willpower to refuse it now, but she wasn't sure if she would once they were in the kitchen, and following Vlad to the kitchen was better than leaving him to his own devices. Besides, one meal wouldn't be the end of it as long as she didn't lower her guard.

"Fine."

"Fancy an omelet?"

"Whatever."

Jazz let Vlad lead her out of the lab, and she tried phoning home again just in case.

Nothing.

She tried Danny's cell phone on the off chance he'd turned it back on.

Still nothing.

Sam and Tucker would've reported in if they'd found something, so it wasn't worth the disappointment of—

Her phone buzzed in her hand, and she frowned down at it as she checked the display.

There was a text message from an unknown number. The area code wasn't one she knew, but she clicked open the message regardless.

Vlads up 2 smth. Tracking Mom idk about Dad. Can u search n destroy?

Danny.

It had to be from Danny.

Somehow, it was from Danny.

Jazz swallowed and shoved the phone back into her pocket. "I'll be there in a minute," she said as they passed a bathroom. "Too much coffee already."

Vlad glanced back at her. "You know where to find me."

And he might know how to find Danny if she'd already messed up by reading the message out in the hallway, but hopefully not.

Jazz locked the door behind her before sitting down on the edge of the bathtub and pulling out her phone and texting back. Where are you? We're worried sick! Why didn't you at least tell Sam and Tucker where you were going? And why not call us instead of stealing someone's phone? This isn't your number.

Fine. U call me

Jazz called, and it picked up on the first ring. There was some wind on the line—wherever Danny was, he was outside—but that was hardly a surprise. Jazz consciously made a point of keeping her voice quiet as the questions fought to pour out of her first; she couldn't afford to be overheard by Vlad, so hopefully it wasn't going to be too hard for Danny to make out whatever she said. "Where are you? Are you okay? Why didn't you tell someone where you were going? When were—?"

"I'm fine. We're okay. We're safe. I should be far enough away from where we actually are that tracking this call wouldn't do Vlad much good anyway, so we should stay that way if you make sure he can't send off anything else. I did a sweep and came up clean, so he hasn't gotten to me yet."

Wait.

"You said he's tracking Mom. How'd you know?"

"I know Vlad's tech when I see it, even if it's smashed to smithereens."

"So you are with Aunt Alicia."

"Geez, Jazz, way to spell it out. But, yeah, I'm in the vicinity. Little farther out now so I have cell service."

"On who's phone? Aunt Alicia doesn't have one."

"Dani's. She's got a burner for emergencies. This counts."

Dani's.

"Who—?" Jazz chewed her lip as she tried to figure out how to say this. "Who is she? And how's she doing after…after everything? Is she okay?"

"I think she's out of the woods now, but it's a long story."

"Can you make it short?"

"I trust her, and she's important to me." There was a pause and then a whispered, "Like you are."

It wasn't an explanation, but Danny was right. It was all Jazz needed.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Is blowing up Vlad's lab out of the question?"

Jazz pulled a face. "Considering I'm still in his house and don't want to let him out of my sight for too long? Yes."

"Then go back to the lab and punch in Mom and Dad's wedding date into the main computer when it asks for a password. It's Tuck's override code. That'll get the Maddie program to wipe anything Vlad's currently running and activate the Jack program to mess up anything he tries to do in the immediate future."

"Tucker never mentioned that earlier when I was trying to get the Maddie program to come up."

"It'll run her systems. I don't know if it'll start up the projection if Vlad tried to turn her off or something. But it'll work. Tuck knows what he's doing."

"Yeah. He does." She took a deep breath. "So when I do this, Vlad won't immediately know? It'll buy us time?"

"Right. He shouldn't know until he tries to do something, and even then he may not realize why it's not working right away. Which gives me time to talk to Mom and hopefully for you and Sam and Tucker to find Dad. And more time for Dani to recover."

"Okay. I just— How did we let it get to this point? What's going to happen next?"

There was a bark of laughter on the other end of the line. "Aren't you supposed to be the one telling me everything will be fine?"

Jazz couldn't find the words to answer.

She didn't know if everything would be fine.

She'd always thought she'd be able to stop her parents if it got to this point before Danny was comfortable with telling them, but—

"We'll figure something out," Danny said. "I don't get a redo this time, so we'll be stuck with whatever it is."

This time?

Meaning there was a last time?

Jazz opened her mouth, but Danny was talking again before she had a chance to wrangle her thoughts into proper words. "I know Mom's trying, and I think Dad'll be fine with it once he finds out. About me, I mean. Not Vlad. That'll be a rough wakeup call for him. But Vlad will do anything to come out on top, so just do whatever you have to to stop him, okay?"

Jazz smiled. That, at least, was something she could promise him. "Always, little brother."