Set Alight

Chapter 11

Jack's home is huge. At least his ghost side's. It's a freaking castle.

The castle is made of smooth white marble with a black roof and door, with Danny Phantom's logo on flags at the top of the cone-shaped topped towers and on the front door, which is at least three times my height.

"Your Dad is King?" I ask, surprised this didn't come up before.

"No. He's the High Counselman of the Ghost Zone's system of government-- An executive department of five equally powerful ghosts. I don't know what that's called."

"Unitary," I reply absently, approaching the doors. Surprisingly, they are quite light and open easily. "But why does he have a castle like this?"

"All the counsel members are full ghosts, so they already have all of their domains. But my Dad didn't have one, so they built him one. They have style."

"A lot of style," I agree as I take in the grand entry way, complete with a huge chandelier of glittering crystal... or real diamonds? Wow, they really don't half-bake anything here. "Who else is on the Counsel?"

"Uh... Frostbite, he's the leader of the Frozen Wastelands, which isn't too spectacular but they have a lot of wisdom, so Dad wanted him... Queen Pandora for her ability to decide which is good and which is evil... Walker, he's the justice side, if a little rash. And... Princess Dora. She's the super compassionate side."

"Okay, so why did he choose?"

"Because he was supposed to be the sole leader of the Ghost Zone because he dethroned the previous King, but he didn't think a dictatorship was the best idea. He wanted the citizens to have control, so Dad chose the people for the Counsel and the people had to approve. Including himself."

"Smart." Jack leads me down a hallway and stops at a door.

"This can be yours for the time-being. It's just a guest room."

"Guests come to the Ghost Zone?"

Jack shrugs. "You're here, aren't you?"

"I'm a halfa," I argue. "That's different. I half belong here."

"Wrong. You fully belong here. Ghosts really like halfas because we give ghosts good rap. Except for that one evil guy. More on that later. For your guests question, Dad has a lot of friends that come to stay often. Anyway..." He opens the door, and I'm struck by how homey it looks. It's not black and white like the rest of the castle, but white gold and red.

There's a four poster bed with bed curtains and too many pillows to count. It has two bedside tables beside the bed and a chest at the foot. There is a large bureau and a dresser, both made of embossed white wood. There's a floor to ceiling window with thick red curtains pulled back with gold rope, showing the swirling patterns of the Ghost Zone's sky. Several comfortable seats are scattered around the room, and there's a bookshelf.

It's empty.

Disappointed, I set my small suitcase of items I'd thrown together on the chest in front of my bed.

"What?" Jack floats over. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I reply. "This place is beautiful."

"Please, Emma. I'm a healer. That includes emotional pain. Ergo-" He points to himself proudly. "I'm an Empath. Why are you disappointed?"

I growl a little in annoyance. "And you didn't mention this before?"

He grins. "Nope. I can't do it very well in my human form anyway. It's fairly new." That's why he didn't sense me in the clearing. I breathe out in relief. "Relieved?"