"It's almost midnight!"
"I just need you to watch the boys while I get the mail."
"They're your spawn, you watch them!" Kay Lemon rolled her eyes as her employee, Natalie whacked the two eight year-old twins on their behinds, shooing them upstairs. Kay smiled. Living above the bookstore she and her husband had run together seemed like a dream. It was tough at times, and Kay sometimes wished for more, but with the sounds of the rambunctious twins giving Natalie the runaround crashing about upstairs, Kay knew that she would never find a better way to spend her life.
Brian had been a good man, and his children took after him, always finding ways to drive her up the wall and make her laugh at the same time.
Kay tried to open the glass door, but it hit something.
The something groaned.
Kay turned on the porch light. Right on the welcome mat, half covered in the kudzu that plagued most of the south, was a small girl, who Kay estimated to be about eleven or twelve. Kay pushed through the crack that the door could make.
"Kid? Kid?" Kay looked about herself desperately. Most of the lights were out, and there was no sign of anyone else around. "Is anyone out there?" she yelled, hoping for an answer.
The girl stirred slightly, moaning.
"Daddy?" she mumbled.
"Where's your father, sweetie?" Kay asked the girl gently, but the girl had fainted.
Kay pulled the girl up into her arms.
"Natalie! NATALIE! Get down here quick!"
Natalie pounded down the stairs, ragged and covered in toothpaste.
"WHAT!" she spat.
"Natalie, there's a kid out here! I think she's hurt!"
Natalie sprung down the stairs, running to where Kay was crouched, moving slightly out of the way so Natalie could open up the door.
"How'd she get here?"
"I don't know. I found her like this when I opened the door."
Natalie kneeled down beside her employer, looking the girl over.
"She seems a little scuffed up, but doesn't seem to have any serious injuries," the pre-med diagnosed. "But she looks exhausted and dehydrated. We need to get her upstairs, get her some water. I feel bad for anyone left outside in today's heat."
Kay nodded, struggling to hoist the girl up. Natalie helped pull her employer and the mysterious girl off the ground.
Holding the girl bridal style, Kay carried her into the store, laying her down on a large couch that she usually designated for her laid-back customers.
Natalie ran behind the counter in the back, grabbing a bottle of water out of the cooler of drinks that Kay insisted on selling. She also reached beneath the counter where they kept the rags. Kay's two sons had made keeping cleaning supplies handy a necessity.
Natalie ran back over to where Kay was kneeling next to the girl, pouring a little water on the rag and laying it on the girl's forehead.
The girl stirred once more, opening up two large blue eyes.
"Sweetie?" Kay was relieved to see the girl waking up. "Drink this." She offered the water bottle to the girl, prompting her to drink.
"Wh-where am I? The girl asked, spilling a bit of water on her hoodie.
"Get that shirt off of her" Natalie told Kay.
Kay obeyed, pulling the hoodie off with little resistance from the girl. A sweat-ridden white tee lay beneath, and Kay could see the girl's ragged breaths moving her small chest up and down.
"Where am I?" The girl asked again.
"You're in Derytown, Georgia." Kay answered.
"That's far enough, I guess." The girl sighed, her eyes starting to close again.
"Wait, what's your name?" Kay asked.
"Danielle… Danni for short. With an 'I'."
Danni opened her eyes, the Georgia sun peeking over the winding trees, filled with moss. She blinked, shielding her eyes. She heard voices, and turned her head in their general direction.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Lemon, but we don't have the facilities to take her in."
"I can keep her until you can find her parents."
"I don't know; it's highly irregular. Of course we'll have to take her to the hospital…"
"The doctor gave her a clean bill of health. He agreed that it was exhaustion."
"But Mrs. Marks said that she could set me up as a temporary foster parent until they find the girl's parents."
A plump lady nodded.
"It's not the usual course we'd take, but there really is no good place to send her at the moment, and if Mrs. Lemon is willing to take care of her, then it would probably be best for the girl."
"We'll need to ask her when she wakes up, though." A black haired woman piped in.
The police officer scratched his head.
"Fine, just let me get a statement from the girl first…"
The three of them stared at the girl, bewildered to not only see her up all of a sudden, but rummaging through the cooler behind the counter.
Danni stared up at them innocently. She'd hoped to move on before the police could find her, but this time she seemed to of moved too slow.
"Umm… is there anything to eat around here?"
"Sure, kiddo," Kay beamed at her. "The kitchen is in the back. I'll throw something together for you."
Kay opened the back door, and gestured for Danni to enter.
The kitchen was a cheery yellow color, blue counters and a wall border at the top, which strangely enough, involved many ducks in blue bows.
Danni sat sown at the table, which was covered in a slightly frayed tablecloth of blue and white checks.
Kay rummaged through the fridge, pulling out a casserole dish filled with pasta and small meatballs. She tossed it gently into the microwave, and as it whirred, she pulled a half-filled jug of juice out, placing it on the table in front of Danni.
The policeman and the plump lady followed them in, sitting across from Danni.
Danni lowered her head as they both watched her past Kay's arms as she set down bowls, silverware and drinking glasses for the lot of them.
"Oh no, dear, you don't have to feed us too." The plump lady waved her off.
"I'd insist, but the boys need to eat too, and I've yet to go grocery shopping. Thus the leftover pasta for breakfast."
The police officer smiled. "I hear that. My boys go through food so fast, I'm surprised there's ever any left over for myself when I get home."
Danni sunk her head lower. The microwave dinged, and Danni could hear the pounding of feet above her head.
"BOYS! FOOD!" Kay yelled at the ceiling in a curt, commanding voice.
The pounding descended, and out from a door on the side of the kitchen two young boys burst into the kitchen.
"Hey! Why is Officer Michaels here?" one asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Why is there a girl here?" the other asked, sticking out his tongue at Danni. Danni returned the gesture.
"Hey! David, Danni, keep your tongues in your mouths unless you want me to confiscate them." Kay told them both, whapping David slightly on the back of the head.
The officer and the plump lady laughed.
Danni blushed.
"How did you know my name?" She asked Kay, wide-eyed.
"You told me last night, kiddo. Or don't you remember?"
Danni shook her head to the negative. Kay turned to pull out the casserole dish as her two sons sat down next to each other, both pushing away from Danni, whispering about cooties.
Danni wanted to poke her tongue out at them again, then remembered Kay's playful warning.
"Now, Danni, right?" The plump lady asked her. Danni nodded, moving slightly to allow Kay to spoon some pasta into her bowl.
"My name is Mrs. Marks. I'm a social worker and a child's advocate. This is Officer Michaels. We need you to tell us where you're from, and who your parents are so we can find them and get you back together."
Danni's eyes widened.
"I... uhh, I don't remember?" she lied, trying to think of something.
"Do you remember your last name?"
"No."
"But you remember your first name."
"Yeah."
"Why not your second name?"
"Dunno" Danni shoveled some pasta into her mouth. Chewing, she realized that though not actually that hot, it was still tasty, she started to scarf it down, only to see the disapproving looks on the social worker's face.
"What do you remember?"
Danni thought fast. What could she tell them? That her so-called father was an evil billionaire half-ghost mastermind who created her by cloning the ghost-kid Danny Phantom in a bid to make the perfect, obedient half-ghost son? That when she found out that he was just using her to trap Danny Phantom to perfect the clone she betrayed him then ran away?
"I umm… I remember running. There was a bad man… and he was after me and my cousin."
"So there was someone else?" the cop leaned forward.
"Uh huh… I think. I don't remember much else… just waking up here."
"Do you remember who was chasing you?"
"That part might have been a dream." Danni wished she hadn't added that.
"Dreams are sometimes memories we don't want, or things we need to face in our waking lives." Kay piped in. Officer Michaels and Mrs. Marks just stared over their shoulders at her.
"What? Like I'd sell all those new age books and never read them?" Kay laughed, refilling David's glass as he scarfed down his second bowl of pasta.
"That's it." Danni sunk down her head, trying to look sad and succeeding marvelously.
"Officer, may I speak to you in private as the child finishes her breakfast?" Mrs. Marks got up, gesturing for the officer to follow.
Kay sat down as they left.
"It's okay Danni. They'll sort it out, and they'll find your folks."
"What if I don't want them to?" Danni mumbled.
Kay leaned forward.
"Danni, if you're hiding something, it's best if you tell us."
Danni swirled her spoon around the empty bowl, feeling guilty.
Kay sighed. "Look, Officer Michaels will take you to the P.D.-"
"That's short for police department!" piped in one of the boys, who had been more or less hanging on everyone's words.
"They'll put out a search, try to find you among the missing children files, that sort of thing. If you like, Mrs. Marks said it would be all right for you to live here with my boys and me until they find your parents.
"What if I don't have any?" Danni asked darkly.
"Then they'll find your closest relatives, and if not, then they'll find you a nice family to live with." Danni sighed. It was better than running she supposed. But if her father…no, if Plasmius found out where she was, he wouldn't let her live, not with everything she knew, not with what she had done.
"Mrs. Lemon, could you come out here?" Kay pushed herself up away from the table.
The two boys stared at Danni.
"What?"
"You wanna know where Mum hides the ice cream?" one asked.
"What? Kay asked."
"The girl is lying." Mrs. Marks said.
"Maybe." Kay shrugged.
"That old amnesia story is a complete fabrication." Mrs. Marks asserted.
"Probably."
"You still want to take her in?" Officer Michaels asked.
"Look, last night that kid was exhausted. Like she'd been going nonstop all day. She was running from something. That much I believe. Whether it was home, a bad situation, or someone who was actually out to get her, I don't know."
"She strikes me as a runaway." Officer Michaels agreed.
"She could be a flight risk." Mrs. Marks argued.
"Maybe. But would it be any better to lock her up? You said that you couldn't handle any more kids at the moment."
"I did. I just don't like runaway cases." Mrs. Marks sighed.
"I understand. I'm just concerned about her."
"You've got a lot of love for the children, Mrs. Lemon, and I respect that, but it leaves you blind to what they are capable of."
"Look, Mrs. Marks, you said yourself that it would be best to keep the girl in a comfortable surrounding."
"Yes I did…"
"And you know I'm capable of dealing with multiple children, not just my own."
"So I've heard…"
"So aside from locking her in jail, is there a better solution?"
Mrs. Marks sighed. "I'll get to the paperwork. Just keep a close eye on her, Mrs. Lemon. Your usually method of childrearing by letting them run wild won't work in this case."
"I assure you, Mrs. Marks, I never 'let' them run loose. They've just managed to do that by themselves. And again, I apologize about your parakeet."
"So what are your names?" Danni asked the twins. They'd dug into a tub of Ben & Jerry's that had been hidden behind several bags of peas.
"I'm Damien," said one. Danni noted that he had longer hair and a baggy shirt with a picture of Spider-man on it. "And this is my less literate brother David."
David stuck his tongue out at his twin. David wore an equally baggy sports jersey and dog tags, which jangled every time he moved. "The dork is just jealous because I beat him at basketball yesterday." David retorted.
"Dad used to play basketball with us all the time." Damien said in a faraway voice.
"Where is your dad?" Danni asked.
David and Damien hung their heads. David fingered the dog tags.
"When the war started… Dad had to go. He was a captain or something. Mom used to talk about it while he was gone. She said he was hero."
Danni stared at them for a moment, trying to figure out what they meant.
"I'm sorry."
"Holy Hannah R, boys! What have I told you about raiding my secret ice cream stash!" Kay appeared at the top of the stairs, the officer and social worker peeking out behind her.
Damien and David stuffed the tub into Danni's hands.
Kay clumped down the steps, grabbing her sons by their shirt collars.
"Come on, troublemakers, it's time to go."
"Go where?" Danni asked as she shoving the ice cream back into the chest freezer they'd pulled it out of.
"To the PD, then we're going to get some stuff for you, kiddo."
"Get what?" David asked, grinning.
"Clothes, she can't keep going around in that shirt all the time, it's rank. And we don't have anything that will fit her."
"Clothes?" David and Damien groaned in unison.
The clothes store Kay took them to (after a long and drawn out trip to the PD, which included fingerprinting, picture taking, and lots of paperwork for Kay), was small. The walls were lined with various outfits in multiple colors, shades, etc. the name on the desk in the back was Charisma Ashleigh.
"Kayla Darling!" A younger woman wrapped in loose fabric swooped out of the back. She swept up to Kay, hugging her closely.
"Did my books come in?" she eyed Kay up and down.
"No, I'm not here about that… and they won't be in for another week, Carrie." Kay pushed Danni forward.
"This is Danielle, she just flew into town and needs some new clothes."
Danni smirked; Kay didn't know how right she was.
Carrie came down on Danni with a tape measure.
Damien gravitated towards the back, looking through Carrie's book of designs.
"Hey David! Over here!" David walked over to his twin.
"What?"
"Danny Phantom!"
Danni's head shot up. She pushed away from Ma, who was writing down her sizes on a small notepad.
"Danny Phantom?" she asked the twins.
"Look at these designs, she's making Danny Phantom shirts!" Damien said.
"Not just shirts," Carrie interrupted, "A whole Phantom wardrobe line. His look… it's dynamic! Bold! It makes a statement, no?" She looked at them expectantly.
"He wears black and white." David said.
"It's high contrast, kid, you wouldn't understand."
Kay stuck her head over their shoulders.
"Hey! You've designed a whole line based off of the ghost-kid?"
"Ever since you showed me those pictures it's like he's taken over my muses. But it's not selling."
"I'd like some." Danni piped in.
"I wanna t-shirt!" Damien said, bouncing a little.
"I want a jersey!" David asked his mom.
"Oh fine, let's buy a whole set!" Kay threw her hands up in the air.
"I'll get started on it!" Carrie said eagerly. She ran to the back room, pieces of fabric flying off her shoulders.
"Charisma, wait! We still need clothes for Danni!" Kay ran after her.
Danni and the twins eyed each other.
"So… you know about Danny Phantom?" Danni asked them.
"Totally!" Damien flipped through the book. "He's only the most awesome superhero out there! Well, next to Spider-man."
"Dude, Batman could totally kick Spider-man's lame butt." David shoved his twin's shoulder.
"No way, Spider-man would use his Spider-sense and web up Batman."
"Yeah, well Batman would cut through the webbing and hit Spider-Man with a Batarang."
"Well Spidey would dodge it and punch out Batman."
"Dude, not even bullets can hit Batman, he's was trained by Qui-Gon Jinn." David argued.
"Buffy could kick both their butts!" Danni added.
Kay stuck her head out of the back room as she heard the rising squabble.
"Mom! Who would win, Batman, Spider-Man, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Danny Phantom?" Damien asked her.
"Buffy. Why are we having this conversation?" Kay massaged her head. "Danni, why don't you pick out a few things? Carrie is gonna start on our orders."
Kay looked back, seeing the tailor scribbling in a notebook, throwing crumpled up papers over her shoulder.
Kay smiled, shaking her head.
By the time she'd checked on the kids again, Danni was piling shirts into David and Damien's arms.
"Hey, they CAN be taught." Kay mumbled to herself.
With their shopping done, Kay lead Danni through Main Street, pointing out the sites.
"The baker's, the butchers, the… well, you get the point." Kay rolled her eyes. "We're pretty old fashioned. It's mainly for the tourists. Derytown mainly brings in tourist money. Over the summer the ghost hunters lead tours, show off their toys and the such…"
"Wait, ghosts?" Danni asked, fearful. She'd been looking to get away from the whole ghost thing, away from her past and her father's obsession.
"Yeah, Derytown used to be on top ten list of most haunted towns… Well until Amity Park knocked us right off the list."
Danni sighed. There seemed no getting away from ghosts.
"But we still get the morbid crowd with all the murders."
"Mom loves this part." Damien smirked.
"Ya see, back during the Civil War, there was a slave massacre. Hundreds killed. Then the Carter family was murdered in their sleep by their butler. And of course there was the Mill explosion of '83. People swear up and down it was an accident, but we all know that it was arson. They found the guy's body, burned to a crisp it was." Kay smiled dreamily, then caught Danni's incredulous look.
"Not that I like those things… It was very, very bad." Kay looked sheepish.
"Hey Davy Jones has a girlfriend!" Someone yelled from across the street. Danni looked over, seeing a group of boys in basketball jerseys, identical to David's.
"Gross! She's not my girlfriend, Mike!"
"Sure. Hey, why don't you bring along your giiirlfriend to the game? Maybe she could cheer you on so you don't feel like such a loser when we kick your butts!" Mike yelled, his friends whistling and catcalling after them.
"Never mind them, David, they're just jerks." Damien patted his twin on the shoulder.
"I'll show them…" David growled.
"With your amazing free-throws, I pray." Kay warned her son.
"Whatever." David moaned.
"Who was that? Danni asked as they filed into the bookstore.
"Micheal Mores." Damien answered. "He and David play basketball on the team, but when school is out they play against each other. They're arch-enemies."
Danni snuck a smirk in.
"Kay! It's about time you got back!" Kay looked up, seeing Natalie running up to her.
"Yeah, sorry about that Natalie. The police took forever, and we needed to get Danni some fresh clothes."
Natalie looked down at Danni.
"She's still here?" Natalie asked, scanning Danni up and down. "I thought the police took her."
"I volunteered to take care of her while they looked for her family."
"You did?" Natalie sighed. "Great, another munchkin to watch. And an obvious runaway to boot."
Danni decided she didn't like this girl.
"Don't worry about it," Damien whispered to her, "Gnat hates all kids."
"I heard that, shorty." Natalie growled at him playfully.
"I'm surrounded by preschoolers." Kay laughed sadly. "Come on people, let's move Danni in. We don't know how long she's gonna be staying. Gnat, could you bring up the cot from the basement? Danni, you can bunk in the boys room with them."
"What?" the three cried out in unison.
"Look, it's a two bedroom house. Unless we want to shove her in the basement…"
"Why not?" asked David.
"We're just gonna have to put the three of you in your room together. It's the biggest. You'll all have plenty of room."
"But she's a girl!" David and Damien argued.
"See this face," Kay pointed at her face, "It is the face of how much I DON'T care. Now let's get this show on the road, and then we can have a movie night, okay?"
David and Damien cheered and ran up the stairs, dragging the bags of Danni's clothes behind them.
"Don't worry about it Danni, it's a temporary solution."
"Sure."
"You okay, kid?"
"Yeah."
Kay eyed the girl. She couldn't figure her out. Something was bugging her, and she wasn't being very vocal about it.
Kay knelt down, bringing herself eye to eye with the young girl.
"Look, I know this is uncomfortable. It can't be easy just being thrown into a stranger's world. It's not the same, but I felt really scared when I first moved down here."
"Sure." Danni pushed Kay's hand off her shoulder. She didn't feel like sharing a touchy-feely moment. Danni climbed up the stairs after the boys to see where she would be sleeping.
Kay sighed. She'd never been able to comfort her own children. That had been Brian's job.
"Kay? Where do you want this?" Natalie asked. When Kay didn't answer, Natalie dropped the cot. "Kay? What's up?"
"I'm just tired, Natalie." Kay stood up, cradling her forehead in her hand.
"I should say so, getting a third child to take care of in a single day. You didn't think she'd warm up to you immediately just because you fed her, did you?"
Kay smiled weakly. "It works with dogs."
"Weren't you the one who said that kids are a bit more complicated than belly-brained canines?"
"I have a faint memory of saying that to someone once."
"Well it was to me, and you should know that the orders came in today."
"Charisma's?"
"New, that rich guy. The one who wanted the spooky rare stuff and all those genetics books"?
"I can't keep up with all the strange stuff people order from me these days." Kay laughed.
Natalie and Kay picked up the cot, carrying it up the stairs.
"What was the weirdest thing someone ordered from you?" Natalie asked.
"The weirdest thing… I guess it depends on your definition of weird. I personally think 'The History of the Piggly Wiggly' would count as weird."
They found Danni and the boys crowded over a comic book.
"Alright people, let's move the buns. We'll close down early and get the movie started." Kay announced. David and Damien jumped off the bottom bunk where they'd been sitting with Danni.
"Danni," Kay addressed the girl who was still thumbing the comic book. "Take a shower."
Danni looked up at her in confusion.
"Seriously, you reek, kiddo."
Danni rolled her eyes.
"Scoot." Kay pushed Danni out the door towards the bathroom, throwing some new clothes after her. "And don't forget to change out of those old ones! I'm gonna throw them I the wash. I have no idea how I'm going to get all those grass and kudzu stains out."
Danni sat in the tub, the shower water running down her back. She had to get out of here. She couldn't risk her da- Vlad finding her. She'd been on the run so long. It couldn't of been more than a week or two, but it felt like she'd been flying for months. She nearly melted again last night. She'd become all too aware of how close she kept getting to turning into a puddle of green, bubbling ooze. She'd watched four other clones melt. She didn't want to go the same way as them. Danni shivered, even with the warm water running over her. That scared her the most. The sight of the other clones, her brothers melting away into nothing was imbedded into her mind.
"Danni! Finish up! We're gonna start the movie!" Danni turned off the water and grabbed up a fuzzy blue towel. She looked at herself in the mirror. Big blue eyes. She concentrated for a moment, and they turned a glowing radioactive green. She giggled, letting them turn blue again, then green, blue, green, blue.
"Danni! Hurry up! The popcorn is done and the sodas are out! I'm starting the movie right now!"
Danni dried her hair and pulled the nightgown Kay had bought for her over her head. She stared at it. She'd never had a lot of clothes before, just the shirt, hoodie, and shorts. beanie and shoes she'd been given originally. The nightgown was a dark blue, with sparkles in it, like the night sky.
"Opening credits, Danni!" Kay called out again. Danni ran out. Then she stopped for a moment. She should go. She should run, get out of that town; go into hiding far, far away…
"DANNI!" Three voices called out.
Maybe after the movie.