Truth and Lies—Part 2
My fingers crawled over the thin, flat box with Sam's belated birthday gift in it. I saw her now, eating lunch under the large oak tree in the yard. It was probably the last nice day in October we would ever get, and I hoped it wouldn't be my last day.
"She's still mad isn't she?" I asked Tucker, who stood faithfully by my side.
"Oh yeah," he nodded.
"How long do you think I'll survive before I give her the gift?"
"Less than five."
"And with the present?"
"That can go two ways: either she'll love you forever, or the Box Ghost will be able to kick your butt repeatedly when she's done with you."
I gulped. Facing an angry girlfriend was never an easy thing to do. I would rather face Aragon again.
I took a deep breath and started to walk over to her. She glanced up at me when I stopped in front of her, but she still didn't speak to me.
"Hey, um, okay," I stumbled over my words—this really went better in my head, even if I was doomed to be killed. "Uh, I'm a jerk. You can call me whatever you want for the rest of my life—I deserve it."
"Yeah you do," she said bitterly.
"And, I'm here to make peace. I'm so sorry that I forgot. My calendar was still on July so I would have noticed if I had just flipped the stupid paper."
Sam smiled slightly at that. She knew I could mess things up and she obviously forgave me for not keeping track of the dates.
"And uh, this is a belated birthday gift," I handed her the box. "I hope you like it, I spent a long time on it last night."
Sam looked at me, curious, and took the box. She opened the top up and gasped at what was inside.
It was a pair of earrings and a necklace that I made, with Tucker's help. With my ice powers, if I concentrate hard enough, I can actually make diamond. Shaping the little bats for the earrings hadn't been easy since I wanted to put three on each and they had to be small enough to fit together and be light at the same time. The necklace had been easier. A small string of stars made up the chair and a howling wolf was at the bottom in the middle of it all. Everything was black of course, her favorite color besides lilac.
"You made these?" she asked in wonder, taking the earrings out and trying them on.
"Well, Tucker helped," I intoned. "Do you like them?"
"I love them," she smiled, a true smile now. "And I'll completely forgive you, if you help me put the necklace on."
I grinned and nodded. I was completely forgiven. I took the necklace out and Sam turned around, lifting her midnight hair up for me to click the snap in place. With her back turned to me, I turned back to Tucker and gave a thumbs up. He copied the motion and walked off, giving Sam and me some privacy.
"I'm sorry for being so cold earlier," Sam said, turning back to me.
"It's okay, you had every right to be," I told her, not upset at all, just relieved that I was forgiven and I wouldn't die today. "But I do need to tell you a few things."
I told her about the run in with Valerie, what had happened there, then the thing with my parents when they caught me walking in and made me go to a shrink. Sam listened, her eyes wide as I related everything that had happened in the last couple of days.
"She let you go?" Sam asked, still stuck on the thing with Valerie.
"I was surprised too, and I haven't seen Huntress around since then."
We were walking to our lockers, getting ready to go to class as we talked. The hallways were crowded with kids as they tried to do the same thing.
"That's weird, she never hesitated before. What do you think happened?'
"I think, that when it came right down to it, Valerie couldn't pull that trigger. She saw something when I made eye contact, but made no connection with my two sides. It was almost as if she had seen the human in me."
"That's impossible Danny. Valerie lets her want for your blood cloud her judgment on almost everything. She's a nasty little cretin that does everything for her own good. If she can't benefit from it, then she won't do it."
"As Huntress maybe, but not as Valerie herself. I think she's very lost right now."
"What do you mean?"
"It's hard living a double life Sam. You have to wear two masks almost constantly and before you know it, you don't know who you are anymore. You're lost in your own mirage."
Sam looked up at me, some understanding in her eyes, but there was more concern there.
"You've grown very wise," she said.
"No, just experienced."
"Hey Fenton!"
Sam and I both stopped at the sound of my name. I turned around, but I didn't have to, to know that Dash was the one calling me. He came stomping up to us, glaring down at me with distaste, but I don't think he was here to smash my face in today.
"I need you to do something for me," he said, and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. "I need you to get this to Phantom."
"What?" Sam asked as I took the paper.
It was a letter, no address on it, just Phantom scribbled on the top.
"Why to Phantom? What makes you think I can find him?" I asked Dash, wary enough to think that this might be a trick.
Dash instantly sobered up. He looked tired, but happy at the same time. Years of worry and stress lining his eyes as he looked at me with an almost haunted expression.
"Phantom saved my sister's life," he whispered to me, no hate in it at all, just bewilderment.
"You're sister?" I asked.
"Yeah, you know the girl on the news they keep talking about? The medical miracle at Amity General?"
"Yeah," Sam spoke up. "I've heard about that."
"She's my sister. Kat Baxter."
I froze. Kat was Dash's sister?
"Phantom healed her," Dash continued seeing my expression. "My mom was there that night. Kat's free of that hospital now, she can do whatever she wants. She doesn't have to worry about being sick anymore."
I looked down at the letter, wondering how in the world the universe managed to make everything loop back to me in some form. It was odd to think I had helped Dash in some way, and I didn't even know I was helping him. Suddenly, the years of bullying and flunking grades made sense to me. Dash had been alright until the middle of eighth grade, that must have been when Kat was hospitalized. He and his sister were close, and I knew the feeling of having a sister that you wanted to protect with everything you had.
"I'll make sure it gets to him," I told Dash, pocketing the letter.
"You can Fenton, you can do anything," Dash told me, smiling. "Thanks."
"No problem Dash."
He walked away with a giant grin on his face, and for the first time, I saw him genuinely happy. I knew he wouldn't be a problem anymore.
Sam shoved an elbow into my ribs, reminding me that she was there.
"Mind telling me what that was about?" she asked, looking like she wanted the truth and nothing was going to stop her from getting it.
"I will, later when we're all together. I found out what my healing powers can really do."
She smiled at me and took my arm, dragging me to my locker to get ready for class.
To my great surprise, my parents let me go over to Sam's with Tucker so we could have our annual horror flick marathon for Friday night. They kept calling her mansion, making sure that I was still there. Her parents were keeping more of an eye on me than usual, but I tried my best to shrug it off, but it made getting close to Sam pretty difficult.
"Which one next?" Tucker asked, putting the latest movie into its case.
I looked at the clock, almost eleven.
"It's your turn Danny," Sam reminded me.
"Oh, yeah, um—"
The chill in the back of my throat stopped me from making a choice. I growled, letting the usual blue mist float from my nose like a bull snorting at the dust in his pen.
"Hero time," Tucker smiled, but he turned it down when he noticed Sam's mother hovering by the door.
"How can I get out of here with your mother watching my every move?" I asked Sam in a whisper, leaning in close to her on the couch.
"I got it covered," Sam winked at me. "Uh, Mom," she began, getting up from the couch and walking up to her. "I think I heard a noise upstairs."
"The new furniture!" Mrs. Manson practically screamed, running from the room and tromping up the stairs in her heals.
"She'll be at that for hours," Sam smirked. "You better get moving, Tuck and I are right behind you."
I nodded and flew out of the wall, changing into Phantom once outside in the darkness of the shadows and the slim light of the moon.
For me, ghost hunting is simple. My ghost sense can lead me straight to any spector that's terrorizing the town. I breathed out, wondering which way the mist would lead me. The wisp turned right, I looked in that direction and saw the faint signs of red ecto-blasts being thrown at innocent people in the park.
I ground my teeth together and jumped from the ground. I went underground once I saw the damage. Some of the buildings were scorched, but hole had not yet appeared in their exteriors. People were running towards me, meaning away from the threat. Cars, bikes, and anything else that was unfortunate enough to be in the way, were over turned and poking from the windows of nearby businesses.
Being underground was probably my best advantage. I didn't have to breathe under here, and I could feel the vibrations from above. Everything shook down here like the vibrations on a tuning fork, and I could now locate the source of the destruction. I followed the vibrations to the exact spot, using them like the lines on a dart board, and it was time to hit the bull's eye.
I shot out of the ground and nailed the ghost directly in the chest. I flew up over the ghost, still not getting a good look at it with my momentum and the chaotic moment going on, and hammered its head into the ground. I stood on top of it, the chest large and muscled, big enough to hold me entirely. My left hand shot downward and encased the neck, making it impossible to move. My right hand I brought back to my shoulder, green energy flaring and ready to strike.
"Skulker," I noted as the dazed hunter blinked up at me, "trying to get my attention?"
"And it worked perfectly," the metal man grinned at me, crooked teeth showing their malice.
My eyes narrowed at him, suspicious of my surroundings now. Skulker didn't lure me in without having a trap ready. As suspected, a trap was laid and now it was activated. A net from the tree above me sprang down and caught me before I could get away. I yelled as it pulled me back up and away from the ghost I needed to catch. I felt like a fish on a hook, just now being reeled in to the fisherman to be barbequed.
"You better let me go!" I yelled at him, struggling to get out of the net, but that proved to be an utter failure.
"And why would I do that?" Skulker asked, cutting the line from the tree limb and holding up his prize to his face. "I have you now."
I heard the sled before Skulker since I trained myself to listen for her sneak attacks, but I don't think Valerie was after my hide tonight. I watched, horrified and amazed at the same time, as she made a bee-line for Skulker's back. She was going at full speed, a blur of red and pink in the dark night sky and the foggy street lamps. She jumped off right before she could hit anything, but her board kept going and stabbed Skulker right in the gut. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to blink.
Skulker, of course surprised by the jet-sled now impaling him, let me drop the ten feet to the ground. I grunted when I landed, but I wasn't hurt. I was use to falling from a hundred feet and still not breaking anything, but the street normally took some damage. Valerie ran over to me and began to untangle the net, trying to free me.
"What's with the change of heart?" I asked her, but she didn't answer.
Once I was free, she pushed me out of the way. I thought she was going to hit me or something, but I saw that she just saved my hide. The tree trunk that was behind us now had a big smoking hole through its center.
"Uh, thanks," I said, shrugging, but she jumped back as another blast hit the ground at my feet.
I had to get my head back in the game.
Jumping back into the air where I could gain the home-field advantage, I aimed at Skulker's jet pack and shot an ice blast at him. I hit my mark since Skulker was occupied with Valerie, the hunter having no idea that I was behind him. The ice short circuited his jets and sent him in a malfunctioning spiral into the ground. Valerie shot him in the head a few times before he landed on the ground, dazed, dented, and defeated.
Valerie sucked him up in her own thermos, only this one was red and not green like Mom and Dad's were. After Skulker was sucked up, she weighed it in her hand, as if contemplating something.
"You know, if its bothering you, I can always listen," I said, tying to be funny and lighten the mood.
Valerie looked at me in the eye again and I saw confusion and helplessness there. This wasn't a time to be funny.
"I'm serious about the listening thing," I said, much more serious.
"Here," she said quietly, giving me the thermos.
"Why are you giving it to me?" I asked, taking it off of her hands.
"You know what to do with it," Valerie said, looking at the ground. "I won't be needing it anymore."
She started to walk away from me, but I caught her arm so she couldn't go any further.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, holding the thermos up. "Are you saying you're quitting?"
"Yes," she yanked her arm out of my grip, but didn't walk away. "All of this time, I thought I was doing the world a favor if you were gone. When I finally had you, it was almost exactly how I had imagined it. I was going to look you in the eyes and take you out."
"But you didn't," I said, bewildered.
"I know," she sounded angry at herself, but she turned back around to face me. "Looking into your eyes was a mistake."
"How so? Couldn't stand what you saw?"
"No, I just saw something that I had never seen in your kind before. I saw life. Every ghost that I have hunted down, they don't have that. Their eyes are dead, unfeeling to everything in the world. You—you're different. You care, you feel."
"How kind of you to notice," my words were a little bitter since I wished she had figured this out a long time ago, it would have saved me a lot of grief.
Valerie flinched at my words, clearly knowing how much she had hurt me. I was surprised by this, knowing Valerie didn't let emotions get in her way very often. To show regret towards me, well, it was odd to see it under that cold visor.
"Is that why you're quitting?" I asked. "Just because you feel bad about what you did to me?"
"I hunted you down worse than an animal," Valerie said. "I know what you did for that little girl, the one in the hospital. I overheard Dash talking to Danny about it. Did you get the letter by the way?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I got it. It's very kind of them to thank me, but it's not necessary."
"You should be thanked, for everything you're doing here. So many years people have been on your case, still thinking you're evil."
"And you don't anymore?"
"I don't know what you are, but I know you aren't evil. Something that can feel like you can, can't be evil."
I blinked at her, amazed that she had come around like this. Who knew that all it took was a look? I was still wary around her, after all, she could be playing me, but something told me that her feelings were genuine. She regretted what she did and she wanted it to stop.
"When do you want your thermos back?" I asked her casually.
"Huh? I don't want it back," she shook her head.
"Yes you do," I argued. "I'm not going to let you give up on me that easily."
"Huh? What are you saying, you want me to hunt you down?"
"No, I want you to work with me, just like we did when we faced the Ghost King's army. We made a pretty good team you know."
Valerie smiled at the memory.
"Huh, so working with you instead of quitting. I like that idea," her smile grew as she thought about it, but then she frowned. "You would trust me like that?"
"Well, no, but I'm big on second chances. It will be a trial bases, and if I can trust you, you'll learn all of my secrets, everything. If you betray that trust, well, I'm not sure I could do what I would feel like doing."
Valerie nodded, understanding me completely.
"Do you need a lift home?" I asked her, remembering that her sled was now crushed to bits.
"Uh, no, there's something else I need to do."
"Alright, I'll see you around!"
I waved at her as I flew off, and she gave me the same courtesy. By the time I was out of the park, I saw two figures running over towards me, waving at me to land. It was Sam and Tucker, both panting heavily from running to help me.
"What did we miss?" Tucker gasped out, falling onto the ruined sidewalk.
I shook my head at him.
I flew Sam and Tucker back to the mansion so we could resume our goofing-off time. We had started thirty minutes into the next movie when the doorbell rang. Sam went up to get it since her mother was still upstairs doing whatever possessed the woman to check up on furniture, and her father was still in his study which was way in the back of the house.
"Hey Danny, I think it's for you," Sam called to me.
I got up, but before I left the room, I just had one thing to say.
"Keep your mitts off of my nachos Tuck."
"Yeah, yeah!" Tucker said, having heard it a million times before.
I walked out of the room, heading for the front door. It was Valerie, standing outside in the doorway.
"Valerie," I said in genuine surprise, so this is what she meant by taking care of something first.
"Hey Danny," she said, not meeting my eyes.
I looked to Sam and she just shrugged at me, not knowing what to do.
"Why don't you come on in?" I told Valerie. "It's too cold to stand out there tonight."
Valerie looked grateful as she stepped in, gaping at the interior as she did so.
"I didn't know you were loaded Manson," she told Sam.
"And I prefer to keep it that way," Sam warned her with a narrowed look and finger in the chest. "Come on, Tuck's in the theater room."
I motioned for Valerie to follow Sam and I walked behind Valerie in a quiet single-file line. When we got back to the theater room, I froze to see all of my nachos gone and Tucker with a small speck of cheese in the corner of his mouth.
"You're dead!" I yelled at him, pouncing like a cat on top of him.
He screamed like a girl as we rolled on the floor. He tried to get me off of him, but I was stronger and pinned him by his shoulders onto the floor. I don't know why I tackled him. Maybe part of me wanted to act a little normal in front of Valerie, but to be honest, I just wanted to goof around.
"Okay!" Tucker yelled, but a smile was planted on his face, knowing we were just teasing each other. "I promise to never touch your food again!"
"Promise me on your mother's grave," I made him swear.
"My mom isn't dead."
"Then, swear on your mother's meatloaf."
"Oh meatloaf! You were too young to die!" Tucker shouted to the heavens.
Ever since that incident with Amorpho, Tucker's mother had never made meatloaf again and Tucker missed it something terrible.
He swore and I let him back up, only to get swatted in the back of the head by Sam.
"You guys are so childish," she shook her head at us.
"But we're your childish guys!" Tucker said, batting his eyes at her in an attempt to look babyish.
"I know," Sam grumbled, and shoved her hand into Tucker's face, making the boy fall back onto his butt.
"Hey, Tucker, get up and get me some more nachos," I told him, settling down on the floor and gluing my eyes on the screen.
"Get them yourself," he pushed me.
"You owe me," I kicked him lightly in the side and he got up.
"Alright," he grumbled, making his way over to the snack machine.
Sam settled on the floor with me. I looked over to Valerie, craning my head on the floor in an attempt to look upside down. She looked lost, out of place here with us. It had always been a trio, but now a fourth person was here, throwing the normal balance off. We would just have to learn to readjust ourselves to fit her.
I was about to say something, but I found that Tucker already beat me to the punch—by handing Valerie my nachos. I let him, maybe Tucker could make her feel more welcomed then I could. Who knows, maybe they would start something.
I sighed and closed my eyes, just letting the whole atmosphere take me away. I was here, with friends, nothing could be better.
My feet were bleeding. I had been running for I don't know how long, but I never got any closer to the light at the end of this endless tunnel. I stumbled to my knees, crying out when the sharp rocks cut through my clothing and scraped my skin on my knees and palms as I caught myself in the fall. I chanced a look back and saw what was chasing me, it was getting closer. I had to run, I had to get to the light. I didn't know why, I just knew I had too.
Everything would end if I didn't get to that light.
I ran, but it never came closer. The faster I ran, the closer my foe got to me and further that light got from my grasp. I screamed when the claws caught my leg, making me do a nice face plant into the ground, my face scratched as if a whip came across my skin. I screamed louder when the claws dragged me backwards, making the light appear smaller and smaller as I was dragged further and further away.
My face was a bleeding river. By body tiered, my heart hurt from thumping so hard in my fear. I gasped, trying to breath, only to find that I couldn't. I tried to kick away from the hand that grasped my leg so tightly, but I couldn't move it. I tried screaming, but I had no voice to use. I was dragged, deeper and deeper into darkness and soon the light disappeared all together.
Everything ended.
I sat up, panting from my nightmare. My whole body was shaking, my clothes drenched in my own sweat. My limbs felt as tired as they had in the dream. My feet ached from the remembered fabrication that had felt so real.
I looked around, trying to find familiarity in this dark place to calm myself. I saw Sam sleeping next to me. I must not have woken her up when I did. Tucker and Valerie were behind me on the couch, sleeping side by side. The T.V. was on a blank blue, bathing the whole room in an odd light, making the shadows sharper and more menacing then before.
"Just a dream," I whispered to myself, rubbing my eyes. "Only a dream."
I didn't know how wrong I was.
