Lethean
@ghostpetrol Hello! This is your Winter Truce gift! :)
This is mainly from your ghost king prompt, with a little bit of Skulker and friendly banter thrown in for seasoning. This wound up being much, much longer than I first expected it to be, and I hope it's coherent and enjoyable. Happy holidays!
Read on FFN
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Lethean
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It was a town hall meeting about the ghost problem, so, of course, the ghosts had to show up. They didn't arrive in the usual way, however, which was swooping down on a crowd from the sky, or phasing through the ceiling. Oh, no. That was too pedestrian for these particular ghosts.
No. Instead, they tore the air open in dozens of great, green rents, and surrounded the assembled citizens of Amity Park in a matter of seconds.
But this was Amity Park. Ghosts were expected, not merely ironic.
There were ghost hunters in attendance. Many ghost hunters. The battle was pitched before the ghosts had fully entered the room.
The ghosts wore robes of black, gold, and white. Their skin was green, their claws long and sharp. Each one had a single, huge eye.
There was one exception, a ghost that looked slightly more human, though few present saw him. One ghost wore a purple robe, and held a long staff topped with a clock. A very few who he passed by later claimed he was crying, weeping, whispering, "I'm sorry," as he floated through the crowd.
As for the other ghosts, all anyone heard them say over the screams, ectoblasts, and ghost rays was "The King!" and "For the King!"
(Although there were a few that claimed the phrase wasn't "for the King," but "find the King.")
Then, as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone.
It took hours for Amity Park to realize that five teenagers had disappeared with them. After all, the five of them were always vanishing during ghost fights.
.
Danny awoke to the sound of running water. It was a pleasant sound, but not one he thought he should be sleeping near.
Nevertheless, he opened his eyes slowly. He felt languid and oddly heavy, though that might have been because he was wet.
Why was he wet?
He had been laying in the middle of a large, airy, atrium-like room, in a kind of depression with a drain on the bottom. The room itself was quite pleasant, and its numerous water features had provided the noise he was hearing.
He found what was in the room to be less so. There were people laying on the ground, scorch marks on the walls, and splatters of red and green on the floor.
He ran to the nearest person, a human girl with long, red hair. He checked her over. She didn't seem to be injured very much, except that she was unconscious.
On checking the other four, he found they were much the same.
They felt awfully familiar, but he couldn't recall where from. Actually, now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember any 'wheres' for them to be from.
This probably wasn't a good sign.
He looked around himself, trying to find a clue to who he was, or what he was doing here, other than his name. The only thing that really stood out to him was the complicated spigot set on the ceiling above the depression he had woken up in.
Then he saw the ghost.
His first impulse was to interpose himself in between the ghost and the humans, easily calling spectral power to his hands. But the ghost was crying, and he felt familiar in the same way the humans did.
He felt like family.
Danny let the ectoenergy he had gathered fade to nothing. He drifted hesitantly to the alcove the ghost was huddled in. It was on a balcony wrapping around the room, and Danny didn't see any stairs. He would have to fly up there.
"Hello?" he said, his voice echoing in the atrium. "Are you alright?" He floated up a little farther. "Can you help me? I think my- my friends are hurt, and I- I don't know what to do. Or why I'm here," he added more quietly, "or where I am." Or anything else, really, except his name.
"I'm sorry, Daniel," said the ghost, his voice ragged.
The ghost knew his name! That was a good sign, right? The apology... That was less good.
Danny flew the rest of the way up, and peered over the rail. He gasped. The ghost, who wore purple and definitely had a thing for clocks, was chained to the wall.
No longer cautious, Danny flew to the ghost's side. He tugged experimentally on the chains.
"Do you know if there's anything I can do? Is there a key?" He pulled a bit harder. The chain separated from the wall. "Oh. Huh." Abruptly, all the locks on the chains fell open. "Huh."
The ghost straightened, unfolding from the alcove. Danny flinched back at the sudden motion. The ghost was much taller than he had thought. But then, he suddenly wasn't. He was much smaller, younger, a baby. Then he was old.
Danny wilted back in confusion.
The ghost sighed, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "My apologies, Daniel. I am Clockwork, the Ancient Master of Time." He returned to the appearance he'd had when Danny had first seen him. "I serve reality, the Infinite Realms, and the King of All Ghosts."
"Okay," said Danny. That sounded somewhat familiar. Not that he actually remember any of it, but he might have heard it before. But... King of All Ghosts? The term gave him a bad feeling.
The ghost put a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Daniel, what do you remember?"
"I- Nothing. I don't- My friends, I think they're hurt. They're unconscious. Can you help? I don't know what to do."
"There is nothing wrong. They are simply taking longer to recover from the purification ceremony than you."
"The what?"
"The purification ceremony," said Clockwork. "It is required for the King and his court to be purified with the waters of the five rivers, the Lethe, Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon and Styx, before the King ascends the throne."
Danny looked around, nervously, as if expecting a king to pop out of the floor.
"Daniel, you are the King."
Danny blinked. Oh. He hadn't expected that.
"Did something go wrong?" asked Danny. "You were chained up, and it looks like there's a fight. And I don't remember anything."
"Not remembering anything is part of the purification. It is to ensure that you are an impartial and fair ruler." Clockwork said the words almost as if they were physically hurting him. "As such, I cannot give you the details of what happened. Suffice it to say, there were some who did not agree with your nomination to the throne."
"Oh," said Danny again. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure you are the King of All Ghosts."
"No. That my friends are alright. They are my friends, right?" It wasn't like he had any evidence to back that up, after all. He could be wrong.
"Yes. They will be awake in just a few minutes, and they are your friends. Your very best friends."
Danny nodded, relieved in more ways than one.
"Shall we go down, and greet them?" asked Clockwork.
"I- Yes," said Danny. "Yes, that's a good idea."
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"I don't get it," said the girl who called herself Ellie. She adjusted her ponytail again. She had done so eight times since they had say down. "You're saying he's the King of All Ghosts, but he's definitely human. That doesn't make sense."
Danny frowned. "But I'm not human. Not entirely. I'm half-ghost. Shouldn't I be saying the same thing, anyway? All of you look human."
"None of you are human," said Clockwork. "You are liminal spirits. You may appear human, but you have ghost cores. That is enough for you to be called ghosts."
"Cool!" said the girl who had introduced herself as Sam. "Does that mean we have powers? Dark abilities?"
"Of a sort, yes."
"Nice."
"Hey, Danny," said Tucker, "you don't seem too happy. Are you alright?" His fingers twitched, as if they wanted to touch something that just wasn't there.
"Of course he isn't," said Jazz. "He's just been given a huge responsibility he knows nothing about." Jazz was the first person he had checked on, when he woke up. "So have the rest of us, actually. What does the King's court actually do?"
They had left the atrium, and were sitting outdoors on violet grass under a swirling green sky. A few meters away from them, the ground abruptly ended. Clockwork had told them that they were on one of many floating islands in the Infinite Realms.
"That depends largely on the King," said Clockwork, half-bowing to Danny.
Danny squirmed. "It can't all be up to me. Can it? I mean, why even have a king at all, then? I could just, you know, not do anything."
Clockwork nodded. "You could choose to do nothing. Your mere existence is enough for the Infinite Realms. You inform their shape, their nature, and, to some extent, the nature of their inhabitants. For example, the last King of All Ghosts was a violent man. When he took the thrones, the environment of the realms became more hostile, more dangerous, less hospitable. Many larger islands fractured. Wars became more frequent. People as a whole became more aggressive. But there are other traditional roles, that you may take up, or not, if you so desire."
Wow. That made Danny feel even more apprehensive, if anything. He turned to the last member of the group. "What do you think, Valerie?"
Valerie shrugged, crossing her arms. "I think this whole thing is ridiculous, and I'm going to wake up in bed any minute now. I mean, ghosts, really? And you're in charge of all of them? No offense."
"No, that's fair," said Danny. He didn't feel kingly, that was for sure.
"Perhaps," said Clockwork, "I can bring you to your residence."
Danny looked back at the large building they had come from. "So... We don't live here?"
"No. This building is only used for the purification ritual."
"Wait," said Tucker, "how are we going to get there? Do you have a plane, or something?"
Danny turned to look at him. "You don't remember that we can fly? I mean, you've seen me and Clockwork flying."
"I must've gotten a higher dose of purification, or whatever," said Tucker. "I don't remember that at all. I thought that was a you thing. What about you guys?" he asked, turning to the others.
Ellie levitated up from the grass in response. Valerie clicked her heels together, and what looked like a high-tech surfboard popped out from the soles of her feet. The surfboard (hoverboard?) began to float, with Valerie on top.
Sam and Jazz, meanwhile, looked on with confusion. Then Sam snorted, and shook her head.
"Okay, Tucker, pure of heart, let's see if we can't figure this out."
.
The Observants arrived at the black castle only a few days after Danny and his friends had settled in. Clockwork ushered Danny to the cavernous throne room, and his friends gathered close around him, ready to fight, if need be. They had seen the Observants enter the castle from an upper window, and they had disliked the one-eyed ghosts on sight. None of them had yet determined why, and Clockwork wouldn't say anything.
Danny especially didn't like how Clockwork seemed to be almost afraid of the Observants. He hoped the little practice they had done with their abilities and powers would be enough, if things got violent.
He settled into the overlarge throne, very aware that he was wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. Valerie, with her armor-summoning abilities, was really the only one dressed for a confrontation.
"Open," he commanded the doors on the far side of the room. They obeyed, swinging inward.
The Observants filed in. Danny pulled his legs up onto the throne. He probably shouldn't have, he knew it made him look younger and less confident. Too late. Putting them down might make him look indecisive, on top of all that.
The Observants stopped before the steps leading up to the throne. One of them raised up an elaborate chest, and eased it open.
"We have brought you your crown, your majesty."
So they had. The Crown of Fire flickered softly in the confines of the chest.
A second Observant raised a smaller box. "We have brought your ring, your majesty."
The Ring of Rage laid, quiescent, on the crushed black velvet lining of the box, the carved skull on its front glaring up at Danny.
Danny pushed up, out of the throne, and hovered a few inches over the ground. He flew down the steps to the Observants, and examined the Crown for several minutes. The Observants seemed to be holding their breaths, waiting for something.
Of course, they were ghosts. They didn't have to breathe. Even Danny didn't have to breathe, when he was in ghost form.
He reached down and picked up the Crown. The fires it was wreathed in immediately changed from a sickly, rotten green to a pale, icy blue-white. The Crown itself expanded and thinned. Danny tilted his head. He hadn't expected that. He lifted the Crown up over his head, where it stayed, floating.
The Observant closed the chest and quickly withdrew. Danny turned his attention to the ring bearer. It occurred to him, then, that they were afraid of him.
Why?
He'd ask Clockwork, but Clockwork probably wouldn't say.
He picked up the ring. It turned a dark, silvery gray, and the skull disappeared. Odd. He put it on the middle finger of his right hand. It fit perfectly. That Observant pulled back as well, disappearing among the others.
"Your majesty," said a third Observant. "It is time for you take up your responsibilities as King of All Ghosts."
.
Danny retreated in confusion. The Observants wanted a lot of things, most of which didn't really make sense to Danny. Valerie pushed the door firmly closed behind them.
"Alright," said Tucker, pointing at Danny. "If this is going to happen a lot, we need to get you some better threads. Like, something cool."
Danny looked down at his pajamas. "Yeah, probably."
"Also, we should probably look into the laws and precedents of the Infinite Realms, if we're going to be called on for advice."
"And by we, we mean you, mostly," said Sam. "Since you're the King. We'll help you, though." She elbowed Danny, lightly. "As much as we can."
"We can run interference, if nothing else," said Ellie, leaning into Valerie's arm.
"Thanks," said Danny, smiling slightly.
On the inside, he was freaking out. He had felt directionless ever since he had woken up, and that feeling was worse than ever. He didn't know what he was doing, or what he should be doing.
It was awful.
"Hey," said Sam. "Look at me, Danny."
"What?"
"It's going to be fine. Don't worry. According to Clockwork, we don't technically have to do any of this."
"Right," said Danny. It wasn't as much of a relief as it should have been. He felt bad. All his friends were trying so hard to help him, and he was basically useless, no help at all.
There was a knock at the door. "Your majesty, you can't just ignore your responsibilities. We will help you, advise you!"
Clockwork sighed, heavily. "You do not have to do anything, Daniel, least of all whatever they want." His words dripped with venom.
The banging continued. "Clockwork! Open this door!"
Clockwork jerked towards the door.
"Stop!" said Danny.
Clockwork stopped, and seemed to sag in relief.
"Can they make you do things?" asked Danny. "Were they the ones who chained you up before?"
"I cannot tell you."
"Why? Because they told you not to say anything?" asked Danny, suspicious.
Clockwork was silent. He wouldn't look at Danny.
Danny bit his lip, incensed on Clockwork's behalf. He threw open the door. The Observants weren't going to take advantage of him, and they certainly weren't going to take advantage of any of his friends.
He threw open the door.
"Your majesty," started the Observants.
"No," said Danny. "Whatever you're doing to Clockwork, you're going to stop. You can't order him around anymore."
"Your majesty," said what he was taking as the head Observant, "I don't know what he's been telling you-"
"Nothing. Which is the problem," said Danny. "Did you tell him not to? Were you the ones who attacked the purification ceremony?"
"No one attacked the purification ceremony!" protested the Observant. "We were running the ceremony."
Alarm bells started to ring in Danny's head. Big, nasty ones.
"You were running the ceremony." Danny looked between the Observants and Clockwork. "The ceremony where we all lost our memories."
"It was necessary," said the Observant. "All the Kings go through it."
"He's lying," said Jazz, suddenly.
"How do you know," asked Valerie.
"I don't know, I just do. How did you know how to use your suit?"
Danny turned a glare to the Observants. "Stay away from me and my friends. Including Clockwork. Don't you dare order him around anymore. Or else."
"Your majesty-"
"Get out."
"But-"
"Get out of our home. I don't want to ever see you ever again. Ever." He slammed the door.
"So, uh, we didn't have to forget our lives?" asked Ellie. "Is that the takeaway here?"
"No, I think the takeaway is our memories," said Tucker.
"That's one way to put it," said Danny. He rubbed his eye, angrily. "Clockwork, is there any way to get our memories back?"
"I can't say," said Clockwork, miserably. "I'm sorry, Daniel."
"That's the first thing you said to me," said Danny.
"It is."
"Because the Observants made you lie?"
"I can't say."
Danny groaned.
.
The Observants weren't the last petitioners. Surprisingly, most of them wanted to work in the castle. Cooking, cleaning, guarding, tailoring, doing various... castle-things. They wanted to fulfill their Obsessions in service to the King. Which was Danny.
Honestly, he didn't get it. He wasn't nearly cool enough to deserve that. He especially wasn't cool enough to deserve the praise the big white yetis heaped on him. But they were nice.
Danny was finally becoming more relaxed, too. Somehow, having more people around was helping him. He liked seeing what people were doing. He liked seeing them happy, and they seemed to like him helping them, and explaining various things to him.
Which was very good. Because he didn't really know a lot. Hardly anything, actually. He was pretty ignorant, sadly.
Right now, he was with a pair of tailors who were putting him into a suit vest with long tails and short pants. The vest was probably very nice, but Danny didn't know much about suits. All he knew was that it sort of made him feel sort of elven, or fairy-like.
There was a knock on the door, and Jazz stuck her head in.
"Hey," she said, "we have company. I think you'd better come."
"Is it the Observants again?" asked Danny. The one-eyed ghosts hadn't given up. He, Sam, and Tucker were looking for ways to keep them out of the castle.
"No. They're from the Far Frozen."
"Okay," said Danny. "Sorry guys, but I need to go."
"That's fine, your majesty, we are almost finished." The tailor waved her hand, and the stitching finished itself off. "Do you like it?"
Danny looked in the mirror, and smiled at the star patterns in the embroidery. "Yes, it's very nice. Thank you."
"No, thank you. It has been far too long since my work was worn by someone deserving."
Danny blushed. He didn't know if he was deserving.
"Okay. Well, bye," he said, slipping out the door. He turned to Jazz. "Did they say what they wanted?"
"Just that it was important, and you could help. They were worried," she added.
They entered the room where Jazz had left the yetis to wait. They both bowed immediately. Danny still wasn't used to that.
"Jazz said that you needed my help?" he prompted.
"Yes, Great One," said one of the yetis, rising. "I am Snowfall of the Far Frozen, and I have been sent by Chief Frostbite."
Danny nodded. He'd only met Frostbite the one time, briefly, along with a bunch of other leaders, but he liked him. He was big, soft, and friendly.
"The Far Frozen is in danger. A recent battle has displaced one of the Fire Islands, sending it flying towards the Far Frozen. The temperatures are becoming unbearable, and collision is imminent."
"What can I do?" asked Danny. He wanted to help, but he felt that averting a natural disaster on this scale was beyond him. "Do you need help evacuating? New homes?"
Deep-seated worry passed over Snowfall's face before being hidden again. "One of the powers of the King is redirecting the movements of the floating islands."
"Oh!" said Danny, brightening. Maybe he could avert a natural disaster. "How do I do that?"
The two yetis looked at each other. "We were hoping you knew."
"Oh," said Danny, much less energetically. "I guess I'll... go see if Clockwork knows."
.
Danny stood barefoot on top of a snow drift in the Far Frozen. The Far Frozen was beautiful and peaceful. The snow felt good on his feet.
Less good was the giant, flaming, erupting volcano floating a few miles above the island. He could taste ash on the wind. The tips of the Far Frozen's great glaciers were melting. He could feel the heat on his face
He reached into himself, into his core. Cold flowed out from him, chilling his surrounding. Snowflakes condensed from the air around him, and fell gently to the ground.
He looked over his shoulder at his friends. "Do you think it's getting farther away yet?"
Sam and Tucker were almost unrecognizable under all their layers. Both of them had relatively warm cores. Valerie was wrapped up in her suit, which was impervious to temperature changes. Jazz was dressed warmly, but not like Sam and Tucker. Ellie, meanwhile, had had much the same reaction to the Far Frozen as Danny, which was to say, she loved it.
"It is not," said Clockwork.
"Has it at least stopped getting closer?"
"No."
"Has it... Slowed down?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's progress, right?" He looked back up at the volcano before he got an answer. "What if I went up there, and just, you know, froze it? It'd still hit, but it wouldn't melt anything any more, right?"
"Daniel, you can do this."
"I know, I just don't feel like I can." The sentence came out as a very un-kingly whine. "It's a giant mountain! It's ridiculous."
"Maybe that's the problem," said Jazz. "Not feeling like you can do it."
Danny groaned.
"We all have weird powers," said Sam, teeth chattering. "Tucker has that electricity thing, I have my plants, you have ice, Jazz has mind powers... Why is this so much weirder."
"I don't know!" Danny threw up his hands, and glared at the approaching island. "Why won't you just go away?" he demanded. "You're hurting people! Go somewhere you aren't. This place is huge! You have plenty of room!"
"Ah, there we go," said Clockwork.
"Wait, what, really?" asked Danny, flabbergasted. "That's what worked?" But even as he said it, he felt a sensation of rightness settle in his core. It was moving away. The Far Frozen was safe. He had done a good thing, today.
"Note," said Tucker. "Talking inanimate objects does work, I'm not crazy."
"You are crazy," said Valerie. "You named that PDF-"
"PDA," interjected Tucker.
"-Janet. Who does that?"
.
The Far Frozen might be a snowbound wasteland, but Frostbite really knew how to throw a party. There was food, music, dancing, lights, everything.
Danny was maybe just a little intimidated by all the cheering they were doing, but, hey, it was still pretty cool.
After a while, though, the yetis calmed down or were distracted, and he was able to slip away and find a quieter side room to hang out with his friends in. He collapsed gratefully onto an icy couch.
"Wow," said Tucker. "That was a party. Like, the best party ever. I don't think I've ever been to a better party."
"I don't think we've been to any parties, except this one," said Danny.
"Huh?"
"We haven't been to any parties. Not since we lost our memories."
Tucker blinked. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I hadn't really thought about that. Maybe we should throw one when we get back to the castle."
Danny sighed, and was surprised to hear a nearly identical one from Ellie.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I just-" Ellie sighed. "I don't want to go back to the castle."
"You want to stay here?" asked Sam, sounding shocked. "But, it's so cold."
"Well, it's really nice here, and it would be good to learn more about our ice powers, but, I mean..." she trailed off, uncertainly.
"What if we traveled around?" asked Danny. "I've been looking at some history things with Clockwork. Human kings used to do that, travel around and see where they were needed. I think we could help more people that way. The castle is kind of hard to get to."
Ellie sat up from where she had been laying. "That would be nice," she said. "I think I'd like that."
"We'd be able to learn more about the Realms, too," said Sam, thoughtfully. "But we should probably put a limit on how long we stay in any one place, except for the castle. So we don't put too much strain on anyone. Either our hosts, or ourselves." She gestured to herself and Tucker. "We don't all like the same things. Obviously."
Danny nodded. "We'll want to stay if we're in the middle of something, though."
"That's reasonable," said Sam. "Just-" She shivered. "Well, you get it. It's cold here. You two Phantoms probably wouldn't feel great about hanging out in a tropical jungle."
"That's true," said Danny. "What do you guys think? Val? Clockwork?"
"Sounds cool to me," said Valerie, shrugging.
"It will open many opportunities for you," said Clockwork. "It will, however, be wise to return to the black castle periodically."
"Okay, cool! I guess we're decided, then. Tomorrow, we'll have to ask if they have any maps here, and figure out where to go!"
.
"They don't look dangerous," said Valerie.
"They're really pretty," said Jazz. She sighed. "It's so cool that they're real."
"Are you kidding?" said Danny. "Do you see those horns? Those hooves? Feel that ectosignature? They're dangerous." He narrowed his eyes and peered over the large rock he was hiding behind. "And evil. Very evil. The most evil."
Grazing in the center of the floating island was a herd of unicorns. They were black and hot pink, with long, grey horns, and sharp teeth and hooves. Their manes were made of ghostly flame. On the other side of the island stood the flaming ruins of a once-thriving community.
Removing them was the latest task Danny and his friends had taken on. They'd been traveling and helping people for some time. Months, maybe. But it was hard to tell exactly, because the Infinite Realms didn't have strictly defined days and nights. Some of the individual Realms did, but not all of them together.
"Come on, Danny. They're animals. They don't have the awareness to be evil," said Sam. "They're just acting according to their nature."
"Either way, we still have to chase them off."
"No, no, that's not going to work," said Sam. "They'll either come back, or bother someone else. What we need to do is relocate them."
"What's the difference?" asked Ellie.
Clockwork wasn't with them today. As Master of Time, he did have other responsibilities. He had said something about a complex paradox he needed to untangle before he left.
"The difference is that one is humane, and actually fixes things, and the other just makes the problem repeat later."
"No, I mean, practically. What would we have to do differently?" asked Ellie.
"We'd need to find a place to relocate them to, first," said Sam. "Then we'd have to catch them, somehow, or guide them away."
"Oh yeah! Clockwork gave me a thing like that! Look." He showed them the shiny green and white cylinder.
"I've got something that looks like that, but square," said Valerie, "and redder. Actually, it doesn't look like that at all. Why did I think it did? Anyway, it catches ghosts. Yeah. I'm pretty sure, anyway. I haven't tested it."
"Okay. So, we can't just leave them here while we search for a place to put them. Sorry, Sam. They're just too dangerous. They might attack somewhere else. Once they're all caught, then we can find somewhere to relocate them to."
Sam sighed, but nodded. "You're right. So how should we approach this? Maybe Val and I could go around from behind, and we can kind of pinch them together?"
That was a good idea. "Yeah, I was sort of thinking-"
"Hey, guys?" said Tucker. "They're looking at us."
The unicorns were indeed looking at them, Danny saw. The closest stamped its hoof, and lowered its horn.
Danny swallowed. "Oh, jeez."
.
A few hours later, Danny and the others laid, out of breath and exhausted, on another, much smaller floating island.
"Okay," said Danny, weakly raising an arm. "That didn't go to plan."
"There was a plan?" asked an unfamiliar voice. "You could have fooled me."
Danny snapped upright, his first instinct being to defend his friends. Of course, their first instinct was to defend him, so all their various weapons and glowing fists wound up pointed at the hapless ghost.
The ghost in question was encased in silver armor modeled (very roughly) on human anatomy. He had rivets, a green, fiery mohawk, and sort of stubby legs. He also looked rather intimidated.
"Uh," said Danny, lowering his fists. "Sorry. Who are you?"
"I am Skulker! The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!" He puffed out his chest.
"Hunter!?" screeched Sam. "You mean you hunt poor innocent animals?"
Skulker looked sideways at Danny. "What can I say that will make her not attack me?"
"Do you hunt animals?" asked Danny.
"It's not like I kill them! Make your girlfriend stop looking at me like that!"
"She's not my girlfriend!" objected Danny, quickly.
"I'm not his girlfriend!"
"You're back at that? Really?" asked Skulker. "I know your memories got erased, but really?"
"You knew us?" asked Jazz, with interest. "Is there anything you can tell us?" They had met several people who had knew them before, but their accounts of what they had been like were... confused. At best.
"You were the greatest prey I've ever had the pleasure of hunting!" said Skulker. "And also one of the best hunters. Except for me, of course. But that," he pointed back towards where the unicorn horn still was, "that was pathetic. What happened?"
"Well," drawled Danny, "it might have something to do with that whole memory erasing thing you were talking about. By the way, are you, like, really a tiny little ghost inside a robot suit?"
"Oh my gosh!" said Tucker, floating higher. "You're a mecha? That's so cool! How do you work?"
"I am cool," said Skulker, "and- Wait. How did you know that? How did you know about that?"
"I don't know. Your ectosignature is just kind of weird. But, back to you, you're a hunter? Have you hunted, you know, unicorns before?"
"They're actually why I'm here," said Skulker, proudly. "But then I saw what you were doing, and it was just so hilarious that I couldn't stop laughing long enough to properly pilot my suit."
"Cool. But have you ever caught one before?"
"No. Actually, you once saved me from being brutally dismembered by one. But, today, that will change! Today, I capture a unicorn for my collection!"
Danny tilted his head. At this point, no one was threatening Skulker anymore.
"By collection," said Sam, slowly, "what do you mean, exactly?"
"My collection," repeated Skulker, "on my island. I let all my prizes roam free, of course, so I can have the pleasure of hunting them again!"
"Okay. Yeah. That's good enough for the demon horses," said Sam. "We're teaming up and giving them to you."
"I- What? No, that's a terrible idea," said Skulker.
"That's a great idea!" said Danny.
"No."
"Yes!"
"I'm the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter! I don't team up with anyone."
"But shouldn't the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter be able to teach people how to be great hunters?" asked Jazz.
"Ohhhhhhh," groaned Skulker.
Danny smiled.
.
"Ssooooo," said Danny, sliding in next to Tucker. "You were a pharaoh before. I wonder how that works, what with your tech Obsession?"
"Well," said Tucker, vaguely waving his hands at the tall, shiny pyramids in front of them. "I don't think tech is my only Obsession. Protection isn't your only Obsession. But, I probably fell in here through a portal from Egypt. That happens."
"Speaking of which, do we even know what time period it is out in the human world?" asked Danny. "I've seen people from all over. Like, the farthest back person I've seen is from, like, prehistory, and the farthest along had this raygun thing going on for them. But maybe they were just Obsessed with science fiction."
"Who knows," said Tucker, shrugging. "Hey, I think- I think I need to stay here for a bit longer. I just want to, I don't know. Find out who I am."
"That's cool, dude. Take all the time you need."
.
"... and he just... gave you a sword?"
"Yep," said Jazz, looking down at the object. "I think he was an Ancient, like Clockwork. Fright Knight."
"So that's... That's Soulshredder," said Danny, pointing. "The sword that will send you to a dimension that contains your worst fears if you get cut by it."
"Yeah," said Jazz.
Danny rubbed his eyes, and sat down on an overstuffed chair. They were staying in a rather nice house in Logres-Prydain, which was a rather nice, large archipelago ruled by certain deceased and imaginary British monarchs.
They hadn't done anything there, except for playing tourist, Logres-Prydain was a very stable realm, apart from its fits of melodrama. Not at all like Albion, the other realm ruled by former British leaders, which had far more than the occasional colonial impulse. Still, it had been a nice, relaxing vacation.
Until now.
"Did he say why?"
Jazz shrugged. "He said that it belonged to the first defender of the King, and he wasn't doing that anymore."
"Oh. Well. I guess that makes sense. You're going to have to get sword lessons, though. I told you that you should have joined the rest of us when Frostbite gave us lessons."
"But the library."
"Yeah," said Danny, remembering. "The library. It was pretty cool." He paused. "Do you think Fright Knight would give you lessons, or should we get, like, the Green Knight, or something?"
"Uh. Since he kind of left right after giving this to me, I'd say the second option."
"Good call."
.
They stood over the hulking, but defeated form of Undergrowth, former Ancient of Plant Life.
Danny had never seen Sam look so awesome.
"How did you take control of his plants?" he asked, tapping one of Undergrowth's vines with his foot and freezing it. Maybe Undergrowth was tied up by Sam's plants, but Danny didn't want him to root himself again.
Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I think I might have done it before? It felt sort of familiar. You know how it is."
"Yep," agreed Danny. He sighed. "So, what do we do with him?"
"Isn't he wanted?" asked Valerie. "I think I saw a poster or two, back in Logres."
"Mhm. By the Observants, though," said Danny.
"Okay," said Ellie. "So what? Make them work for their keep, or whatever."
"Not a bad idea," said Danny. "I kinda feel like we might regret it eventually, but I don't really care. What do you say, we wear Undergrowth down until he fits in the thermos, take him to the Observants, and then go back around, pick everyone up, and go home?"
Sam stretched. "Sounds good to me. This whole thing," she waved at the ghostly jungle around her, "has given me some ideas about how to Observant-proof the castle."
.
"This is actually really cool," said Sam. "I thought it would be like a zoo, with all the animals in cages, but it isn't."
"I told you it wasn't," said Skulker, sulkily.
They had stopped by Skulker's island while circling back to Logres-Prydain to pick up Jazz. It wasn't quite on the way, but Sam and Valerie had wanted to see it. Sam because she was still suspicious as to Skulker's treatment of animals, and Valerie because she wanted to learn more about hunting. She really liked hunting. Almost to a disturbing degree.
Danny hoped she wouldn't wind up after his skin like Skulker apparently had been.
His life had been weird before. He wished he knew more about it, wished one of the ghosts he met would tell him something more than, Oh, hey, I used to fight you a lot, but I want to be best friends now.
He wished he knew why none of the ghosts would say anything. It couldn't all be because of the Observants.
Could it?
"Skulker," said Danny, interrupting. "What were our lives like?"
The ghost went quiet. "Complicated," he said, finally. "More than I ever knew about, even if I did hunt you and observe your behavior meticulously!"
"Wow," drawled Ellie. "That's not creepy at all."
"You lived with your parents, and your sister," continued Skulker.
"Ellie?"
"No, the red-haired one. You went to one of those human schools with your girlfriend and her," he pointed at Valerie, "and that tech-y boy."
"You mean Tucker's not from ancient Egypt?" Oh, boy, he hoped that wasn't going to turn into a problem later on.
"No. Why would you think that?"
"Long story. What about me?" asked Ellie.
"Honestly, I don't know where you came from. You're related to him, somehow, though."
"Oh," said Ellie, clearly disappointed.
"But that's really all I know."
"That's it?" asked Danny. "Do you know what happened to our parents?"
"No. It isn't like we were best friends. Oh, yes, that's right. You and the huntress used to be enemies. Once I pitted you against one another on this very island! Good times."
"Okaaaaaaaaaay," said Danny. "This has been fun and all buuuuuuuuuuuut I think it's time to go." He started floating away, awkwardly.
"Sure, whatever," said Skulker, waving. "Visit soon! I have to introduce you to my girlfriend!"
.
"Clockwork?" asked Danny. "Are you okay?" Ever since they'd gotten back to the castle, Clockwork had been acting nervous and stressed.
"I'm fine, Daniel," said Clockwork, fidgeting with the hem of his robes. "I am simply... anticipating."
"Anticipating what?"
"Certain... Events. That will happen."
"Like, bad events, or good events?"
"Events," repeated Clockwork.
"Give me a hint?" asked Danny, half-playfully. He leaned back in his chair, and played with the toes of his bare feet. He actually quite liked the suits with short pants the tailors kept giving him. He was less certain about the pocket watch, anklets and other decorations they were adding lately, but he did like the ticking sound the pocket watch made, so it was all good.
Clockwork shook his head. "No, Daniel. I can't tell you about the future. I apologize for being distracted. Now, where were we?"
"I think you were talking about the Swan Princesses, and the settlement of White Mountain?"
"Indeed." He waved his hand, and an image appeared in the air, like a holographic projection. "Now, if you will turn your attention here..."
.
"How do you like it?" asked Sam. She and Tucker had been working on a new barrier for the castle for the past two weeks. The result was floating, interlocking, shifting hedges of black roses grown over a framework of shiny tech. It was a bizarre, but oddly appealing combination.
"It's great!" said Danny. "But it isn't going to keep people who need us out, is it? As in, people who need us who aren't the Observants?" He'd asked the question before, but he felt the need for confirmation.
"It'll let people who ask for help in," said Tucker, proudly. "People who say they need help. My stuff will also give me alerts whenever something unusual comes up."
"So will mine," said Sam, quickly. "Not as quickly, but it'll be good as backup, if Tucker isn't available."
"That's really amazing, you guys. I wish I could have helped."
"Pft. It's no problem," said Tucker, waving his hand. "You've been really busy."
"Still," said Danny.
"No, dude. You were stopping a war, weren't you?"
"And averting a natural disaster," said Sam. "The Lethe flooding could have been a real problem."
"Not to mention rescuing all those guys the ghost hunters caught, and figuring out what to do with the ghost hunters," continued Tucker. "What did you do with them, anyway?"
Danny shrugged. "I just kicked them back out into the human world. I hope they don't come back."
"Anyway," said Sam. "There is something you can do with this, if you want to. We left room for your ice, and-" she took out a papery packet. "Tada! Iceflower seeds. Between the two of us, we should be able to make them grow, and then you can have just as much warning when someone is knocking on our door as we do."
"Cool!" said Danny. Then he grinned. "Literally."
Sam and Tucker groaned in stereo. "Seriously?" said Tucker.
Danny shrugged. "The pun was just sitting there. You couldn't expect me not to take it. But, really, Sam. Where did you get these? I thought Frostbite said they were almost extinct."
"Eh, well, I got help from the Far Frozen, and we all asked around. I'm thinking about starting a seed bank, or a botanical garden. You know, to preserve ecological diversity."
"In her copious free time, you know."
"Shut up, Tucker."
.
This was Jack and Maddie's fifth trip into the Ghost Zone. Every time they got further in. Every time they improved the Specter Speeder. This time was different, though. Last time, they had seen the Ghost King.
It had only been from a distance, and he had looked very different from when he had dragged Amity Park into the Ghost Zone two years ago, but their instruments didn't lie. He was the only ghost who could possibly have that much power. No other came close.
Maddie wished the encounter had lasted longer, that the Ghost King had stayed still long enough for their instruments to analyze his ectosignature and determine what his powers and weaknesses were. If she and Jack were to defeat him, and get their children back, they needed every advantage possible.
At the same time, Maddie knew they had been lucky. If the portal hadn't opened up before the Ghost King attacked them, they could have been killed. They hadn't been prepared to face him, then. Now they were. The Specter Speeder had been fitted with all of their very best weapons. They were ready. Ready to get their children back, or die trying.
The universe seemed to agree with them. They had yet to have a single ghostly encounter. The Ghost Zone was quiet, quiescent. The sky spun slowly around them, islands passing by in the distance.
"According to the ghosts we questioned," Maddie said, "the Ghost King's castle should be this way, and he should be in residence."
Jack nodded grimly. "I wi-"
"Don't say that word. Don't you remember what happened last month?"
"Sorry, Mads."
Maddie bit her lip. "So am I. I didn't mean to snap at you." She sighed. "I'm stressed. What were you saying?"
"It would have better," said Jack, cautiously, "if any of the ghosts had known why the Ghost King woke up again."
"It would have been nice to know what had woken him up in the first place," said Maddie. "But it doesn't matter. We're not trying to put him to sleep." A flash of odd color caught Maddie's eye, and she leaned forward, looking up through the windshield, to try to see what it was and where it had gone. "Did you see-?"
A bolt of fuchsia energy hit the front of the Speeder and splashed against the shields. Alarms sounded in the cabin as the Speeder was forced down. Maddie cursed, and began activating weapons. Why hadn't the ghost detector gone off?
Oh. Now it activated.
"Big ectosignature, Mads!" shouted Jack over the noise.
"The King?" asked Maddie, as green, then pink, hit the shields.
"Not quite that big, but- What's that?" The Speeder shook under another barrage.
Maddie yanked on the controls. "Two colors! There must be two of them!"
"The engines!"
"What?"
A temperature warning suddenly went off. Were they overheating? No, the engine temperature had dropped. An ice user? Like Phantom had been?
Maddie revved the engine, but it was too late. It had gotten too cold, and they were dead in the water.
Yet another fruitless trip. Maddie hit the steering wheel. They could probably fight their way out of this, with all their weaponry, and rig up a way back, but they'd have to go back to the drawing board as far as their rescue attempt went.
It was probably a good thing. If they were brought so low by these ghosts, they would have been destroyed by the Ghost King. But, still, it was so frustrating.
"Maddie, I can't get a lock!"
Maddie snapped back to the present, and frantically started pressing buttons.
Then the barrage stopped, suddenly and completely.
"Still only one ectosignature?"
"No, I have two, but one is so small, I can't-"
A red figure on a board swooped into view in front of the Specter Speeder. Maddie froze completely. That was Valerie Gray.
Yes, she was wearing that red ghost hunting armor, but Phantom had revealed her, back when the Ghost King had dragged Amity Park into the Ghost Zone. Maddie wasn't likely to forget that, or anything that had happened then.
"Ghost hunters!" shouted Valerie Gray, loudly enough to be heard inside the Speeder. "Disable your weapons, and open the doors of your vehicle."
A ghost girl appeared out of thin air next to Valerie. The board tipped somewhat, and the girl seemed to laugh, gesturing at Valerie with a teasing gesture.
The ghost looked like Phantom, almost like she could be his sister. His twin, even. That would be incredibly rare, among ghosts. But then, Phantom had always been an oddity, right up until he had disappeared entirely.
Maddie wasn't surprised he was involved in this, however tangentially.
She fumbled for the PA microphone. "Valerie Gray?"
The conversation outside stopped, as both girls turned their attention back to the Speeder. Valerie's mask receded from her face.
"How do you know my name?"
"You don't recognize us?"
"Kind of hard to, considering you're in that big thing. All I know is that you're the ones who've been harassing people and causing problems." Valerie crossed her arms. "Why don't you come out, then we can talk about whether or not we know each other."
Maddie lowered the microphone, and turned to Jack. "It's obviously a trap," she said.
"But she might know where Danny and Jazz are," said Jack, "and even if she doesn't, we have a duty to her, as well. She's a victim, too."
"She might be overshadowed," said Maddie, even as she nodded in agreement.
"She's definitely under some kind of control. Otherwise she'd never work with a ghost. But I think we have to risk it. For Jazz and Danny."
"For Jazz and Danny," agreed Maddie.
She pushed open her door and leaned out. The void of the Ghost Zone yawned dizzily beneath her, the ectoplasmic mists spiraling down forever. She waved at Valerie. "Alright, let's tal-"
The ghost girl was abruptly next to Maddie, and there were four of her.
"Gotcha," she (they?) said, grinning, as they grabbed onto her and Jack.
Maddie's vision blurred, and when it came back into focus, she found herself next to Valerie Gray, supported in the air by two copies of the ghost girl. Jack was similarly imprisoned.
"So," said one of the copies. "What should we do with these guys? Any thoughts, Val?"
Valerie Gray regarded them silently. There were streaks of red in her hair, and flecks of gold in her eyes. An affectation, or a side effect of living in the Ghost Zone for so long?
"You say you know me," said Valerie. "How?"
"You mean," gasped Maddie, trying not to think about the endless drop beneath her feet, "you don't know us?"
"No. I don't. What are you even doing in here? You're human."
"So are you!" said Jack.
Valerie shrugged. "Not entirely. I'm going to ask again, what are you doing in the Infinite Realms?"
"We're looking for our children," said Maddie.
"Oh, we can help with that," said the ghost girl. "When did they die?"
"They didn't," snapped Maddie. "They were kidnapped, by your king!"
Valerie snorted. "I highly doubt that. When was this?"
"Almost a year ago," said Maddie. "The same time you disappeared."
"Uh huh," said Valerie. "Well, it wasn't our king. He hasn't been reigning for that long, yet. I doubt it was the last guy, either. Last time I checked, he was still locked up."
"What were your kids' names?" asked the ghost girl.
"Their names are Daniel and Jasmine," said Maddie.
"Okay, cool. Hey, Val, what do you say we have our resident mind reader take a look at them?"
.
The floating island the ghost girl had set them down on was tiny. Barely large enough to pace on. If the ghost girl or Valerie had been on it with them, it would have been far too crowded. As it was, the two girls had chosen to float some distance above the island while one of the ghost girl's duplicates went to go get the 'mind reader.'
Maddie surreptitiously checked her suit's built-in weapons for the fifth time. Maybe it would be better to attack the ghost now, but then the absent duplicate would still be free to gather reinforcements. If the 'mind reader' was the ghost controlling Valerie, defeating it could free her, and get the Fentons an ally.
If not, then- then-
Maddie didn't know. She had come into the Ghost Zone with so many plans, but they had all depended on having the Specter Speeder, which was now a floating dot in the distance. More than that, she was distracted by Valerie's apparent amnesia.
Would Danny and Jazz remember them? Would they be under the control of ghosts as well? How would they get past that? They had expected them to be imprisoned, yes. They had even expected them to be hurt, or controlled. But amnesiac? That hadn't been something they had planned for.
"Here we come," said the ghost girl, above them.
Maddie looked up, and traced her gaze to two approaching dots. They grew larger and larger, until they resolved into humanoid figures. One was the ghost girl. The other...
The other was Jazz.
She had a blue streak in her hair, and her eyes flashed pale yellow-orange when she looked down at Jack and Maddie, but it was definitely Jazz. It was Jazz, despite her anachronistic clothing, despite the long, thin, and wicked sword strapped to her waist.
It was Jazz, and the blank look on her face when she met Maddie's eyes confirmed her worst fears. Jazz didn't remember them at all.
.
"They're telling the truth," said Jazz.
"They are? Really? You and Danny are their kids?" asked Ellie.
"That's what they think, anyway," said Jazz. She glanced back down at the couple. "They're also hiding enough weapons to equip an army."
"You should have seen their spaceship thing."
"And what Val said to them when they were in their spaceship thing. She sounded like Walker!"
"I did not."
"Did too!"
"Okay, okay," said Jazz. "But what should we do with them? Send them home? Get Danny? What?"
"Well," said Ellie, "what do you want to do?"
Jazz sighed. "I don't know. I'd just as soon not deal with this. I mean, we've all been curious about our pasts, but our responsibility is to the Realms, and they're, well. A menace."
"You don't feel anything for them?" asked Valerie, sounding surprised.
"I do, but..." Jazz shrugged, unable to explain just what she felt. "Anyway, they think we're being mind controlled or something. I don't think we can just get through to them. But if we just send them back to the human world, they'll come back. At least, that's the vibe I'm getting right now."
"It's like with the unicorns," said Ellie. She paused. "Does that mean we have to relocate them?"
"No, I don't think that would work. Or it might work," Jazz corrected herself, "insofar as getting them out of the way, but not in terms of having a satisfying conclusion. I mean, imagine if we left them on an island somewhere. We'd always be wondering and worrying about them, wouldn't we? And they'd always be trying to escape. But... I think you have a point, comparing them to the unicorns."
"Wow, thanks, Jazz. I was beginning to think that everything I said was wrong."
"Oh, come on. I'm just trying to talk myself through this."
"I get it, I get it. Go on. Tell me how I'm right."
"I think we need to give them what they want, at least partially, then they won't feel the need to come back. It might help us get some closure, too, as far as our former lives go."
"Meaning?" prompted Valerie.
"Meaning, we should take them to Danny."
.
"I'm getting a signal from the barrier," said Tucker. He was decked out in all his Egyptian gear, but also with a whole lot of tech. It left something of an odd impression.
Danny looked up from a pile of correspondence. "Oh, yeah? Is it the Observants?"
"No, it's Jazz, Val, and Ellie with a couple of humans." Tucker drummed on the table. "I'm going to go check it out."
"With the side effect of leaving us with all of this," said Sam. She gestured at the table full of letters.
"Hey, it's Danny's fan mail," said Tucker, pointing finger guns at the two of them. "Catch you later."
A few minutes later, he came back.
"Hey, guys. Problem. Big problem."
Jazz came in right after him. "I don't know if it's a problem, exactly, but Val and Ellie are outside the barrier with our parents."
.
"Is this what you were talking about?" Danny asked Clockwork. "That event you were talking about earlier."
Clockwork shrugged, misery evident in his motions.
"Is this the Observant's orders, still? I could smack their eyeballs right out of their heads..."
"What are we going to do?" asked Tucker. "Talk to them? Send them away? What?"
"How about we make them go through our maze?"
"Wh- Why would we do that?" asked Danny.
"I don't know. It sounds like fun. Oh! It might make them reveal their weapons. That would be good, right?" Sam shrugged.
"I guess, but I think that might be, you know, unnecessarily cruel," said Danny.
"Yeah, so?"
"So, that's bad."
"Is it?"
Danny shook his head. "Let's go to the throne room, and let them in. It sounds like a lot of their aggression to ghosts is them thinking that the 'Ghost King' is involved with our kidnapping. Which, I mean, yes, clearly I am involved in my own kidnapping, but, you get it."
"It would be good if they stopped attacking people," said Tucker.
Danny groaned. "Yeah. I can't believe I have to worry about my parents randomly attacking people."
"It isn't all that unbelievable. You're pretty violent."
"And you aren't?"
"Hey, I'm not denying it."
.
The ghost girl, who was apparently named Ellie, held Jack and Maddie as they and Valerie floated over a castle trapped within a ever-shifting framework of barbed-wire-like roses and ice.
It looked like a prison.
Slowly, the spinning layers came to a halt, revealing a path to the castle at their heart.
"Looks like they want to see you," said Ellie, flying down. She set the two humans down on the edge of the island, and then gestured at a huge pair of doors. "Go ahead," she said. "We're right behind you."
Maddie's lips twitched at the threat, but turned away. Let the ghost think Maddie was afraid of her. She and Jack walked forward, past the ghosts guarding the doors, and into a long, broad hallway.
At the end of the hall was a dais. On that dais was a throne. Jazz stood just beyond the last step of the dais, below the throne, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. To the throne's left was Tucker Foley, Danny's best friend. He was dressed like something out of a documentary on Egypt. To the throne's right was Samantha Manson, decked out in poisonously bright flowers and a ragged green dress.
In the throne itself sat Danny, wearing a neat suit and a crown that burned with blue fire. The tips of his bare toes fell just short of reaching the floor in front of the throne.
"Jack and Maddie Fenton," he said, in a clear, carrying voice. "Please come forward."
Maddie looked over her shoulder at Valerie and Ellie. Their expressions suggested that Jack and Maddie had better start walking.
As they approached the throne, Danny pushed himself out of the throne and stood. Other than the odd clothing choice, Danny looked the same as he always had. Unlike the others, odd lights didn't shine from his eyes, and his hair wasn't streaked with strange colors.
"Hi," he said, in a more normal tone of voice. "I'm told you want to talk to me. To us." He smiled faintly. "I'm afraid none of us remember anything from more than, hm, call it eleven months ago, though."
Maddie's brain was still trying to process the situation.
"You really don't remember us?"
"I'm sorry," said Danny. "We don't. You seem somewhat familiar, though, if that helps."
It didn't.
"You're the Ghost King!" exclaimed Jack, suddenly.
"I am," said Danny.
"But," said Maddie, as the throne and the crown suddenly clicked into place for her, "how? You're human!"
"Only half," said Danny. He shrugged, and light rippled across his skin. His hair went white, his eyes green, and his skin darkened.
Phantom stood in his place.
Then, before Maddie could blink, he was Danny again.
"That's apparently enough," continued Danny.
"How..." Maddie couldn't get enough air to ask the question.
"I don't know exactly," said Danny. "But from what I've read, it can happen if a portal opens up on you." He tilted his head. "We would like to hear what we were like, though. Not many people will tell us. Are you alright?"
"Breathe, Mom," said Jazz. "Go ahead, breathe. Everything is going to be fine."
.
The room they were in now was much smaller. Almost cozy, despite all the death symbols and ghostly trappings. Maddie eyed a scythe hung above the fireplace suspiciously.
Jack had taken a ghost detector out of his suit, and was scanning the children. All of them had ectosignatures, but none of them showed up as so much as overshadowed.
"Why don't you remember anything?" asked Maddie as Jazz tucked a quilt around her.
Danny rolled his eyes, and the flames of his crown flickered higher. "A certain group of ghosts thought it appropriate to revive an archaic purification ritual which used the waters of each of the five great rivers, one of which is the Lethe, for my coronation. They have been punished appropriately." He shifted his weight. "But tell us, what were we like? What were our lives like?"
.
"Come home," said Maddie, her voice hoarse from all the stories she had told. "Come home, all of you. Whatever this is, we can fix this."
Danny shook his head. "We can't." His voice was rough as well. He had told his share of stories.
"You can. We can hide the changes to your appearance."
"No, we physically can't. We bathed in the waters of the Five Rivers of the Infinite Realms, including those of the River Styx. We're bound here. We can't set foot in the human world."
"You can visit, though," said Jazz. "Whenever you like."
"As long as you don't attack any of my subjects," added Danny.
"We can't leave you here," objected Maddie, "as slaves to ghosts."
"We aren't slaves," said Tucker, annoyance clear in his voice.
"But you don't actually have to leave," said Danny. "You could live here. The same prohibition against attacking people would apply, however."
Jack and Maddie exchanged a glance that conveyed thousands of words. "We would like that," said Maddie, returning her gaze to her son.
Danny smiled, and clapped his hands together. "Excellent! I'll see about having some rooms made up for you. Come on," he said, standing, "let me show you what we've got.
Maddie followed him out of the room, her eyes fixed on his crown. She wasn't giving up. This wasn't over yet.
This wasn't over at all.