Chapter Text
Maddie was fuming. She knew it was irrational, maybe silly to have gotten so upset, but she couldn't shake it.
She’d had a few calls with their lawyer already, and while he did seem very knowledgeable, she'd quickly developed a dislike for him. Vlad had insisted that he would cover their legal counsel, hiring his own personal lawyer who was apparently one of the best in the country. He was as competent navigating the legal red tape as he was callous in his interactions with her. This particular time, he pivoted the conversation away from the criminal element of their suit into the civil, pressing upon her that she could easily pursue avenues to sue for damages.
Damages. As if Danny were shattered glassware caught in the middle of a dispute. As if there was any amount of money in the world that could repay the destruction Jack had inflicted on their family.
He had begun to ramble about how much money she would win from the suit, how it was a slam-dunk, but it was him saying how easy Jack had made it for them to win that was the final straw that made her hang up on him.
Body buzzing with rage, she checked her watch, relieved that the call hadn't taken up too much of her time. She decided to spend a few minutes burning off some angry energy before her next task, needing to get her mind sharp and focused again.
The room at the end of the hall from hers was a mostly unused space, the center of it cleared and empty and the walls lined with antique furniture covered in plastic to keep them safe from dust. Large windows lined the wall facing outward, letting in plenty of natural light through the thin white curtains attempting to shield the space from the outside world. It was calm, serene, and she'd found it a perfect spot to do some practicing.
She tried to meditate first, as that was how she normally liked to start her exercises, but found she was too wound up to focus, so she skipped it, instead getting straight to work in practicing her martial arts forms, letting her rage seep into each punch and kick.
She only gave herself fifteen minutes, but already felt the relief of venting her anger, and even if she hadn't been feeling better, she didn't have any more time to spare. Vlad had told her they would be gone for about two hours and she didn't want to run the risk of Danny walking in on her.
She retrieved her handheld scanner from her room, once again double-checking the settings to make sure it still had a lock on Phantom’s signature. She then checked her laptop for any more pings, but found none, glanced at her notes again, triple-checked the scanner, and thought perhaps she'd forgotten something she needed.
It took her a moment to realize she was procrastinating.
She shook her head, reminding herself that this was necessary. Phantom hadn't shown any aggression outright, but it didn't change the fact that there was Danny's safety to consider if Phantom was indeed haunting something of his.
The reminder strengthened her resolve, allowing her to determinedly cross the hall to Danny’s room, hesitating only once more as her hand gripped the handle. She pressed on, letting the betrayal pass over her as she entered.
It had been over a week at this point since they had moved in, so it was very concerning to find that most of Danny’s belongings were still packed in suitcases, and what wasn't was scattered over the floor or pushed under the bed in piles. Other than that and the computer he had set up on the desk, none of his personal items had been pulled out at all.
It worried her. He spent so much time in this room, isolating himself, rejecting any efforts to coax him out, and apparently hadn't even been talking with his friends so... what was he doing?
She checked the computer, finding with some dismay a thin coating of dust covering the keyboard. Beside it sat his phone, plugged into the wall to charge, big white letters announcing that it had reached one hundred percent.
Curiosity and concern coalesced as she stared at the screen. It didn't look broken, but maybe something was wrong with the battery?
She thought to turn it on, check to see what was wrong with it so they could maybe fix it instead, but found her hand only hovered over it, the worry warping into guilt again as she considered violating yet another layer of her son's privacy.
Guilt won out and she turned away from the electronics, settling down on the floor next to the piles of clothes and mostly untouched suitcases beneath his bed.
She pulled out the scanner, deciding to start with items she didn't have to move first. She was quite surprised that there was an ectosignature reaction just from scanning the room, although the majority of her scans were barely over five percent. Some locations had higher spikes, but nothing that would indicate anything other than Phantom passing through the walls or floors, which alarmed her some, as none of her other scanners besides the one in the theater had indicated ghostly activity.
The clothes on the floor and much of the furniture also had a mild reaction, further confirming that Phantom had either spent a good deal of time here, or he had been here extremely recently.
She started scanning other easily accessible things in the room. The computer had a very low trace, but the phone spiked significantly, which she thought was strange. Everything else; the bed, the desk, the chair, even the closet door, showed some indications of the specter, but nothing strong enough to indicate a full-blown haunt.
Typically, haunted items were in the sixty to eighty percent range, as a ghost's energy became concentrated both through creating a link to the object and to spending a significant amount of time around it, but everything here was closer to the ten to fifteen percent range, only echoes.
The phone, however, was a little higher, nearly forty percent, and she wondered if Phantom had something to do with it breaking.
Still, none of the readings she had gotten were strong enough to indicate Phantom's haunting of them.
She frowned, feeling hesitant again. Whatever it was Phantom was haunting, it wasn't something she could easily access, and she was left with no choice but to start looking through Danny's bags. She didn't want to disturb more of his privacy than she absolutely had to, but she was worried enough to press on despite her own reservations. She knelt down and pulled out one of the suitcases from under his bed, starting with the unopened one. As she suspected, and judging by the neat way everything was folded inside, it hadn't been touched since it was packed.
She felt some semblance of relief as, although some traces were present, they were so minute as to be nearly zero, and one by one she cleared the items inside the suitcase of having any significant traces of Phantom's signature on them.
As she settled into a rhythm of scanning and returning items, she couldn't stop her mind from festering, worry tainting her thoughts despite the clinically methodical way she rifled through her son's things.
It had to be Danny. Of all people.
Her stomach twisted and knotted with shame, but she merely grimaced through it and kept scanning. She wasn’t about to fail him again. Not again. The least she could do was keep a ghost from... from... well, she wasn't sure what, per say, but it had to be some kind of hazard for the specter to be in such close proximity to her son. She could at least remove the object and give Danny some real privacy.
She put away the first suitcase and pulled out the second one, which was already open and had clearly been rifled through. This time, she got much stronger pings and as items reached into the forty and fifty percent range, she set them aside.
The items giving her the highest indications were... strange. And random. She couldn't see what, if any connection for why Phantom's signature was more strongly connected to them; just that they were things in Danny's room. It did beg the question though... Did Danny know something in his room was being haunted?
She at first assured herself he would have told her if he'd seen anything odd, but the thought fell flat nearly as soon as she'd thought it.
No. He wouldn't. And not just because he'd become distant since they got here. Danny hadn't liked talking about the paranormal in at least a year. Plus, Phantom was well liked by most of the kids in Amity Park. Even Jazz had implied she liked him.
She glanced at her little pile of items that had significant traces of Phantom's signature, an odd collection if looked at objectively, but her worried mind moved her away from the scientific, and she looked at the pile of her son's things--Danny's things--subjectively.
"I like to help."
Phantom had said it with such sincerity and a kind of somberness she would never have expected to hear from a ghost, and now, looking at the items, items Danny would certainly be finding comfort in right now, a theory started formulating in her mind.
She felt silly even for thinking it, but...
She wondered if it was possible Phantom was trying to help. Or make up for a mistake.
The timing couldn't be discounted. For Phantom to show up so shortly after Jack had become so... hostile to Danny, was an odd coincidence. The two developments couldn't just be chance. They had to be related somehow.
She wondered if it was possible Jack had thought Danny was possessed, but tossed the idea quickly; Jack would have ruled out that possibility first, or done more to try to catch Phantom--behavior she would have noticed. He'd been less than discreet when he'd expected Jazz of being one. And anyway, ghosts couldn't possess people for that long. Possession was too demanding on a ghost's energy and they became unstable after a few weeks. Even Phantom couldn't tolerate that kind of prolonged energy drain.
No, if the two were related to what happened, it was something Danny had been doing or Jack thought Danny had been doing; something that Jack had become increasingly frustrated with, enough to see Danny as an enemy and hurt him.
Maybe Jack thought Danny was hiding Phantom from him.
Maybe he was.
The thought jarred her and her instinct was to say it was impossible...
But she was starting to get used to being confronted by impossibles.
She knew many of the town's teens had claimed Phantom had rescued or helped them. Most of the them regarded him as a hero and wouldn't offer her or Jack information about him when they asked. It wouldn't be surprising for Danny to feel the same way, and, given her and Jack's opinions about ghosts, it would be equally unsurprising for him to conceal that from them.
It might also explain why Phantom was unwilling to tell her what he was doing there. If he had created the situation, either intentionally or accidentally, he certainly wouldn't want to admit it.
Considering the timing of Phantom's appearance, the items his signature was most prevalent on, his "checking on her" in the theater, his concern about what was bothering her and asking her questions he already knew the answers to, she couldn't shake the thought that Phantom being there was personal.
She wanted to ask Danny, but if that was the reason--or something like it was--he either wasn't aware of it or wasn't going to tell her. With everything that happened, it felt more likely Danny didn't actually know; he wouldn't let things get that far--wouldn't have kept letting Jack hurt him--for a ghost.
She shook her head, actively forced herself to purge the thoughts from her mind. They were barely theories. She didn't have enough evidence to be speculating like that; she didn't even have whatever Phantom was supposed to be haunting yet. Whatever the case was, her best bet at getting the truth was asking Phantom. Truce or no truce.
She collected herself as best she could; tried not to let theories she didn't yet have enough evidence for run away from her as she finished scanning everything in the bag and making one more round to scan everything else in the room. By the end of it, she had collected a small pile of items; some of which Danny wouldn't notice were missing and some that he might. Things like the phone she knew she couldn't remove without him knowing. No matter the item, there would be no way to conceal that she'd gone through his room, but she thought she might could at least justify it.
As she gathered up the "dirty" laundry off the floor and stepped out into the hall, she was met with the sounds of people moving about the entryway. She wondered if she should try to slip by unnoticed, but decided against it. She would rather address the missing clothes and items now when she had some control over the response, rather than later when confusion could prompt Danny to look harder at what all was missing. As for the phone, she'd have to get that later. There was no way to remove that without his knowledge.
So she peered over the banister as Vlad and Danny stepped inside and greeted them warmly. It looked like Vlad must have changed shirts, as the one he wore was different than what he'd left in, but more worrying was that Danny’s clothes were scuffed up and had a good deal of grass stains. She scanned him for any injuries, but he seemed fine otherwise; just messy. His arm was even in a brace and there was nothing in his face suggesting he was in any kind of pain.
"How was it?" she asked. "Did you have a good time?"
She saw Danny's eyes land on the pile of clothes in her arms, narrow his eyes, then widen them confusedly when he recognized them as his. "Y-yeah, yeah, it was great. What, um... what's that?" he asked her, pointing awkwardly.
She was surprised his response wasn't more vitriolic, especially given how he'd acted the night before. She felt a little gratitude towards Vlad that his recommendation to give Danny space seemed to have worked.
"I had some laundry to do and thought you might need a load done, too," she answered simply, then hefted the pile pointedly. "Looks like I was right. If you want to change, I can add those in as well."
He looked down at himself like he'd forgotten, then back at her, looking sort of stuck in confusion and surprise. "Thanks..." he said eventually, glancing upwards towards his room.
"Maddie, I can have that laundry done for you," Vlad told her helpfully. "You really needn't trouble yourself."
Maddie shrugged a shoulder and shook her head dismissively. "Don't be silly. I wanted to. Keeps me busy," she said. "I could use directions to the laundry room, though."
"Certainly," he said, gesturing for her to come downstairs. "Afterwards, how about some lunch?"
"That sounds great," she said.
"Daniel, why don't you change and then wait for us in the dining room?"
Danny glanced between them, and for just a second, Maddie thought he looked... off. He seemed relaxed enough, shrugging in a good-natured way as he left them to wait in the dining room, but she thought for that brief moment he'd looked like he was trying not to vomit; a tense, strained look appearing and vanishing almost in the same moment.
She watched him walk away, wondering if she'd imagined it. After all, she was worried and on alert, both from having expected Danny's reaction to her going through his things to have been worse, and because of the still-swirling thoughts involving Phantom, but she considered the possibility that the expression (if it had even truly been there) had more to do with him getting some exercise and sunlight for the first time in over a week.
At Vlad extending his arm out to direct her to follow him, she decided to put it out of her mind for now. She could check up on it during lunch; just to make sure he was alright. She followed Vlad past the study and the kitchen towards the back of the mansion, and as they walked, Vlad asked her, "How was the call?"
She stifled a sneer, replying, "Mostly unhelpful. A lot of it was retreading old ground."
"There tends to be a lot of that in these kinds of things," he admitted sympathetically as he opened the door to the laundry room for her to enter. "Any news on Jack?"
She shook her head as she got to work getting a load started. "No, just the same tactics from his lawyer. Sounds like they're still trying to go with the insanity defense, but I don't think there's been any updates from the evaluations he's been getting from the psychologists."
"Mm," Vlad remarked. "Nothing to do but wait, I suppose."
She shrugged, feeling prickly at the conversation, so she took a breath and changed topics. "How was Danny today?"
Even Vlad seemed to brighten at the change in topic, smiling as he told her with, she noted, some pride, "He impressed me. His stamina is better than I expected, and he got quite creative to overcome the broken arm."
She turned to him, asked hesitantly, "And... he had fun?"
His smile grew wider, pleased as he reported, "A wonderful time. He applied himself more than I've seen him do. It was exactly what he needed. With your permission, I'd like to take him a few days a week."
She finished off the laundry and turned to him, letting a relieved smile make it past her other concerns. "That would be great, Vlad. I think that would be really good for him."
Vlad looked delighted and she tried to let the energy brush off onto her, but she was too distracted, focus somewhat split thinking about Phantom and thinking about Danny.
At least until they got to the dining room. Lunch consisted of an amusingly extravagant dish, seared salmon with a citrus flavor, and roasted vegetables. She was craving something more comforting, but she ate it without complaint, more interested in Vlad's retelling of Danny's eventful day.
It was mostly exercises, from the sound of it; nothing that might risk further injury to Danny's arm, as Vlad had promised, but plenty of drills and apparently Danny had done a great job of understanding and even coming up with his own plays. As she listened, she watched her son, looking for any other signs of that distressed look he had given her earlier. While he was maybe quiet, she didn't see any other worrisome expressions from him. His appetite was good, he seemed engaged in the conversation, and even smiled and and replied when Vlad looped him into the conversation.
"The coach was impressed and fully believes, if he commits to it, he could compete at the collegiate level," Vlad praised, and she was once again taken aback by the pride in Vlad's voice and eyes. It surprised her, especially with how Danny had been acting towards him this whole time, but things started making sense to her. No wonder Danny wanted to come here. Vlad looked and talked about him the way Jack should have been.
Maddie set aside her anxieties for the time being, allowing her own pride to swell, and she looked to Danny to express it, "Oh, honey, that's amazing!"
Danny, also to her surprise, smiled modestly as he replied, "I could have done better, but, you know, hard to do when I'm not at one hundred percent."
Vlad shook his head and remarked, "I suspect your limitations were a major factor in what made your performance so impressive. In fact, the coach expressed to me that it was your ability to adapt that stood out to him. That and your eventual willingness to accept guidance. It's amazing what a little pressure can do; it can be the catalyst to positive change, when you let it."
Danny chuckled wryly and joked, "Oh come on, all that was only impressive because I can't move an arm. Since I can't really play football right now, I am thinking outside the box--" he said this in a sort of pointed way, but he moved on faster than she could analyze it-- "But my arm will get better and then..." He shrugged, then smirked. "I can go all out."
Vlad chuckled. "I take it you're going to commit to training, then?"
Maddie saw Danny look at her and she could tell he was asking her for permission, but, despite how positively the afternoon had seemed to go, she wasn't sure in which direction he was asking.
When she didn't answer, Danny returned his attention to Vlad and said, "Ten o'clock, right?"
Vlad went over the details of the practice meets, which would actually be later in the day at one o'clock on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, looking excited at the prospect of getting to take Danny and offer advice from his own experience playing the sport back in college.
Maddie watched and the more they interacted, the more her anxiety ebbed. She didn't see any more strange behaviors or reactions out of Danny for the remainder of lunch; he was relaxed and in a better mood than she'd seen in what felt like a very long time. There was also something grounding about being in Vlad's presence. He maintained an atmosphere of calm; steadfast and sturdy in a way that, right now, she more than welcomed.
Once they were finished with lunch, Vlad leaned back in his chair and announced, "I think some relaxation is in order. Daniel, would you mind if I borrowed your mother for a while?"
Danny looked at him for a beat before asking, "What for?"
Maddie also looked at her friend, tilting her head at him inquisitively.
Vlad addressed Maddie as he said, "I knew today might be trying for you, so I've arranged for a masseuse to come by this afternoon for two hours. You and I can spend some time relaxing."
Maddie's brows rose and she laughed awkwardly. "Vlad, I--I can't accept a gift like that..." she protested, and while that was true, it was really for more than that. She was both stunned, flattered, and mortified by the offer. For one thing, she wasn't really up to relaxing right now, but the gift was also far too intimate for her comfort.
"Why not? I'm happy to offer it, you deserve it, and more importantly, you need it." Vlad encouraged, then looked to her son and said, "Don't you agree, Daniel?"
Maddie looked at Danny and saw him stiffen noticeably, no mistaking it this time, but she couldn't tell what it meant. It felt like Vlad was trying to get Danny to admit something. She wondered if it had anything to do with last night; if whatever Danny and Vlad had talked about was being brought forward now. Had Danny wanted to apologize in some way, and this offer was the reluctant result of that? Was the massage Danny's idea? Maybe the idea had been floated but not fully committed to until now. She didn't want to turn down an olive branch, if that's what this was, even if the idea of getting a massage with her college friend felt a little too... close.
Danny cleared his throat tightly, rigid as he looked between them, before finally turning towards her and managing, "I... think..." He cleared his throat again. "Mom, you should get to... to relax..." He paused again, looked at Vlad, then licked his lips and turned back to her, a kind of resigned slump drooping him as he admitted, "I guess I was just kind of hoping I could... I don't want to mess up your plans or anything--I think you should get the massage, you deserve it--it's just I... I had..." he looked up sheepishly. "I had a lot of fun and I thought I'd get to spend more time with Vlad today."
Maddie looked at him, then at Vlad, who looked just as surprised as she was.
Vlad responded first, smiling patiently as he leaned forward. "I'm very pleased to hear that, Daniel, and I do promise you and I will spend more time together. In fact, I'll find some spare time this evening and you and I will do another activity. Just the two of us," he assured, but Maddie noted Danny still looked a little disappointed.
"It's alright, Vlad," Maddie interrupted. "To be honest, I don't know if I'm comfortable taking you up on a massage. I don't want to sound ungrateful, it's a very thoughtful gift, but it feels a little too personal."
Vlad looked at her, frowning in a worried sort of way. He leaned back in his chair and considered for a moment, then it seemed to dawn on him what she was unwilling to say, and he shook his head at himself, smiling through a wince. "I apologize, Maddie, I meant that we would be receiving massages separately, in our own rooms. I didn't mean to make that sound so forward."
"Oh," she replied with an awkward laugh, feeling mostly relieved. She wasn't quite sure what the rest of it was that she was feeling. "Oh, it's alright, Vlad. I didn't take it as anything other than a misunderstanding."
In the interest of keeping peace, she glanced Danny's way, to see if she had managed to avoid potentially hurting any feelings, but to her dismay, he was looking down into his lap, expression almost neutral--maybe a little distressed--but she couldn't tell if that had been because of her, some internalized embarrassment, or just the general awkwardness of the situation.
Vlad nodded empathically. "Good. Well, with that cleared up, I still insist you accept the massage and relax," he said decidedly. "Then Daniel, you and I will spend some more time together this afternoon. I believe that meets everyone's needs, hm?"
Maddie still wasn't terribly comfortable with the idea of a massage at all, but she knew all she'd do with the rest of her day was obsess and stress over events that she couldn't resolve until much later this evening, so maybe she should take a page from her own book and do something she didn't want to do, but would be good for her in the long run.
As they all started getting up to disperse to their respective activities, Vlad pulled her aside to privately repeat, "I have to apologize again for the confusion, but it occurs to me that I may need to apologize for the gift itself. Gifting massages is something I do regularly for my guests, colleagues and associates. I admit it didn't occur to me that gifting something like that to you might be just as forward as implying we'd be doing the activity together."
A little swell of guilt of her own rose to the surface at the gentle earnestness in his face and she shook her head reassuringly. "Vlad, you have been nothing but respectful and kind and patient," she said, leaning in close to speak in a hushed tone while Danny cleared his plate from the table. She could feel him watching them for as long as he seemed able to linger, but he eventually ran out of plates and dishware to gather and had no choice but to take them out of the room.
"You don't have to apologize," she told him, noticing that despite their sudden solitude, neither of them moved away from each other, continuing to speak softly. "And I should have brought it up with you in private. I hope I didn't embarrass you."
"Not at all. I rely on your candor and I admire it," he said and she watched his lips twerk up softly. "I always have."
She felt heat rush into her cheeks and she carefully stepped back, a little dismayed at the newly acquired space despite herself. To distract from the feeling, she tilted her head at him inquisitively. "Was that your idea?"
He stared for a moment before giving it away with a playfully sly smile. "The specifics were left to me, but the sentiment was Daniel's contribution. I did tell you he would be feeling regretful today."
"Well, that was very sweet of both of you, then. And I should thank you for spending more time with him today. I'm-..." She stopped as an overwhelming swell of emotions rushed through her, confused and coalescing with the worries from before, and she started to be even more assured that the massage had probably been a good idea; a chance she could take advantage of to sort through the flurry of emotions that she'd been getting pin-balled by. "I'm so relieved he had so much fun. He looks like he feels better."
"A little exercise never hurts," Vlad said with a light laugh.
The feelings ebbed enough for her to focus and separate them, and she realized that his casual reply couldn't be left as it was. A soft seriousness settled over her as she shook her head. "I think it's more than that, Vlad."
This time, when she looked at him, recalling the look of pride as he recounted Danny's game, she embraced their closeness and gripped his forearm lightly. "There's only so much I can do for Danny right now... I'm grateful he has you. That we all have you."
He stared into her eyes, gracious as always as he accepted her severe sincerity, placing his free hand over hers and gently pressing, a comforting acknowledgement. "Always, my dear."
Their gazes remained locked for only a moment or two, but the intensity of it had her chest tightening and heat rushing into her cheeks and ears, and she quickly broke the contact, rubbing his arm appreciatively as she resumed some distance. She didn't, however, want to let any discomfort linger between them, so she quickly commented, "I was thinking about Danny's birthday this weekend."
His expression looked soft, but he didn't chase, instead quirking a brow. "Oh?"
"I had an idea, but I wanted to run it by you first."
Vlad smiled widely. “You have my undivided attention.”