"Oww!" Danny yelled as he hit solid ground. Actually, it felt more like bedrock or cement. "What the... where and when am I?"
"What do you mean, where and when?" asked a snarky voice. "Are you stupid or something, idiot?"
"Okay. This is even more confusing," he muttered. "Sam? Is that you?"
"Who the heck is Sam?" asked the voice. Danny looked up and through blurry vision, saw a girl who looked almost exactly like Sam. The key word was "almost".
For one thing, her hair was black, but it had hints of chestnut brown in it. She was wearing a sweater and a vaguely 1940's style skirt, both of which were cream colored. Her hair was short, like Sam's, but it was a curled bob instead of the straight chin-length hairstyle Sam had. She had a slightly worried expression, but Danny thought he saw some contempt in her dark brown eyes that she was trying to hide.
"S-sorry," he settled on, his head throbbing. "I mistook you for someone else. What's your name?"
"Ida," she replied. "Ida Pesses."
"Ida? Is your father, by any chance, named Izzie?" Danny asked, slightly in disbelief.
"Yeah. What's it to you?" she asked accusingly. "Wait a second, how do you know that...?"
"It's nothing, don't worry," he said, making a mental note not to mention this to Sam. "I'm an old family friend." Yeah, let's go with that, he thought.
"You're dodging my question, idiot. Why did you ask where and when you were?" she said again. "It's 1949, and time travel isn't real."
"Well, it was a slip of my tongue," he replied defensively. "Is a person allowed to make mistakes around you?"
"Ida, who's this idiot you've got pinned?" asked another female voice.
"Gladys," Ida greeted her. "This idiot hasn't told me who he is yet."
"Excuse me, the idiot's sitting right here," Danny cut in.
"Well, why don't you ask the idiot what his name is?" the girl named Gladys asked. She had green eyes and a blonde shoulder-length haircut. She was also wearing a skirt, but her shirt was more lightweight than Ida's sweater.
"Hello?" Danny tried.
"Because he's an idiot. How do I know he'll answer me?" Ida asked.
"That's a risk you have to take, if you want answers from this idiot," Gladys pointed out. "I know he's an idiot but he can't be so idiotic that he doesn't know his own name."
"True," Ida allowed. "All right, idiot. I want straight answers. Who are you?"
"My name is Danny Fenton," he said.
"All right," Ida said. "For somebody who's glowing green and has white hair, that's a pretty normal name."
"Oh," Danny said, realizing his mistake. "Um. About that. I'm sorta a ghost."
"You're 'sorta' a ghost? What do you mean, 'sorta'?" Gladys asked.
"Er," said Danny awkwardly. "You probably wouldn't believe me."
"Try us," said Ida, crossing her arms across her chest, and setting her feet.
"But I can't..." he replied. "You wouldn't believe me."
"Wayne," said Gladys. "Knock him out."
"What?!" Danny exclaimed, turning around just as a huge book came crashing down on his head.
When he came to, he realized that his hair was black. And getting hit in the head with a dictionary wasn't helping his headache. He couldn't even see straight anymore. "Aw, crap," he muttered. "Clockwork's really gonna kill me now."
"Clockwork?" asked Ida. "Who's Clockwork?"
"That's something I can't tell you," Danny replied.
"Fine," Ida said. "Then you can at least tell us exactly what you are."
"Er, I-" Danny began.
Gladys interrupted, "You can tell us, or you can find yourself unconscious."
"Threatening people is illegal!" Danny protested.
"Is it?" Ida asked. "We had no idea."
Danny wasn't having the best day. It all started with Clockwork smiling. Man, he HATED it when Clockwork smiled. Why did he do anything for Clockwork when he smiled? He was interrupted by a tapping on his shoulder by a stocky boy, about 5 or 6 inches taller than him. The boy had a crew cut that was dark reddish brown and bright blue eyes. The boy smiled, but his eyes didn't quite express the smile. He held up a dictionary threateningly and shook it at Danny.
"Okay, okay, fine!" Danny surrendered. "I'm sorta a ghost because I'm only half-ghost."
"What? How is that possible?" Gladys asked.
"It's got something to do with ghost hunters and technology you people don't have yet..." Danny said. "If I told you any more I'd be spoiling."
"I see," Ida said.
"Well, I don't," Gladys said.
Just then Danny's ghost sense activated, continuing the bad-day streak. Man, jobs for Clockwork really sucked.