The Devil's Nine
by what-happened-2-nice
Chapter 3: A Fray
What is louder than a horn?
(Sing ninety-nine and ninety)
What is sharper than a thorn?
Sing I am the weaver's bonny.
Tucker and Danny exited the front doors of Casper High, riding a wave of fellow students as it crashed out onto the sidewalk. They worked their way over to the left side of the stairs to wait for Sam, kicking away some snow to lean against the ornate light pole there. A roaring wind trumpeted in the distance, rolling down the hillsides outside of town. The boys both pulled their coats tighter.
Danny squinted his eyes against the bright sunlight, "What pages were we supposed to read tonight for English?"
Tucker pulled out his ever-present PDA. "Umm. The final three chapters. We're also supposed to do the exercises after chapter seventeen and fill out the worksheet Lancer gave us at the beginning of class." He shook his head in dismay.
"You're kidding me. On top of everything else we got today? This is supposed to be a half-day!" Danny started digging through his bag to be sure he had all the materials he'd need.
"Nope. Looks like our long weekend is going to be a long weekend. Do you need a copy of the handout?" Tucker asked.
A thorough rummaging showed Danny hadn't been as prepared as he'd hoped. "Yeah. I didn't even see any when I came in. I was only a couple of minutes late!" He groused.
Tucker nodded, making a note on his electronic calendar. "I'll go ahead and scan you a copy when I get to the office."
Danny patted him on the back with a playful smile on his face. "Way to abuse city resources, Tuck."
Tucker laughed, slipping the PDA back into his hip holster. "Hey! Everybody else might be getting a half day for teacher conferences, but I have to go sit in a meeting for the board of commissioners and then talk to some small business types. I think City Hall can afford five cents to make and send a copy for our resident hero."
Danny swung his backpack back and forth by its straps as they waited. "Do I hear griping? You're the one who wanted to be mayor."
Tucker made a face, waggling his hands in a 'down-down' motion. "Yeah, whatever. It's just more work than I thought, even with my Deputy doing most of the heavy lifting. I…" The PDA buzzed with frenetic energy. "… hold on, I've got a high priority message coming in. Lemme just…"
Tucker pulled up the message on his trusty handheld and read it with increasing confusion.
'Hey, Tuck. Sam here. Don't say anything. I need you to use your super-duper web crawlers to track down info on some very vague leads I've gotten. Paranormal, not necessarily ghost. Maybe some human involvement. DON'T TELL DANNY. I don't have anything solid yet, and don't want to worry him. Forward any results to my e-mail a.s.a.p. this afternoon. Use the following search terms and anything that YOU can make from them.' There followed a series of terms and phrases that only made Tucker feel even more confused. Paranormal, but not ghostly? He thought Amity Park only got paranormal that was exclusively ghostly. And why couldn't he tell Danny? Well, never mind that. Danny did tend to over-worry about things that weren't necessarily his responsibility. Let his friends carry what burdens they could.
Tucker scrolled down to the end of the note. How had she even gotten the code for his emergency messaging service? 'Also, I'm right behind you. Don't look up.' He immediately looked up.
Danny started to ask what the message had been about when thin, black-clad arms slipped around his waist from behind. "Boo."
A tremendous smile graced Danny's face as he twisted to look back over his shoulder. "Hey, Sam. What took you?"
Instead of moving around in front of him, she nestled into his back. "I had to send some e-mails. By the way… I'm cooooooold!" And she held him as close as she could. Danny wrapped his arms over hers, returning the embrace as well as he could given their positions.
Tucker laughed at them. "You know. I thought that you finally getting together meant I'd have to come up with new material for my teasing, but I think the classics still work. Don't they, Lovebirds?"
Danny and Sam both spoke simultaneously, though Sam's voice was muffled by the back of Danny's jacket. "Shut up, Tuck."
"That's Mayor Tuck to you. Oh, and here's my ride." They all looked streetward to see a late model Towncar pulling up to the curb. "I'm off to City Hall to toil away for the benefit of my fellow citizens."
He was busy typing into his PDA as he moved towards the car. Just FTP the search parameters Sam sent him into his home network, get it going, set up junk filters and an automatic bounce back to her private account… and done. He made eye contact with Sam where she'd just barely peeked around Danny's shoulder, nose still firmly buried in the warm cloth. Tucker nodded very deliberately to show he'd done as she asked, then spoke to Danny again.
"So… I'll be tied up the rest of the afternoon. I'll probably be able to e-mail you the worksheet in the next half hour, and I've got our tutor set up for 5:30 tonight. You meeting me there?" Tucker dropped the PDA into its holster again, looking back at Danny.
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna need the help with all the work they piled on us this weekend. Are we still meeting for a late dinner after that at your place?"
Tucker paused in the open door of the car, "You'd better. Mom said she'd be cooking all day. Nobody in their right mind misses out on a Mama Foley feast. She's even making some bunny-food for Sam."
The eyes watching from just behind Danny's arm narrowed dangerously.
Tucker gulped nervously, but continued, "Danny, before I forget. I managed to set up a regular press conference every other Monday for you that we can combine with the regular State of Amity Park report I make. That and the anti-paparazzi legislation that passed last month should keep most of the news ghouls off us. Don't make any other plans for Monday between four and five pm. Oh and one more thing…" Tucker struck a heroic pose in the door of the car, one arm thrust upwards and eyes turned heavenward. He began to extol in a loud, deep voice, "I want to make it known to all my constituents that I still hold the campaign issues of my student body president days close to my heart. As Mayor I intend to push forward on a ballot to institute mandatory MINI-SKIRT-FRIDAYS! Who's your favorite Mayor?"
He managed one triumphant fist pump to the cheers of many nearby male students before he had to laughingly duck into the car to avoid a flurry of snowballs from the ladies. Danny had his hands full trying to hold back Sam from a full-out charge after their retreating friend. When the car had pulled safely away, he tugged at her jacket a little to straighten it. "So, we've got all afternoon to ourselves and I don't intend to even look at what's in my backpack until my tutoring session. Wanna go get some ice-cream at Elmer's pharmacy?"
Sam shivered violently at the mere suggestion and attempted to grit her teeth at him. They only chattered. She jabbed him in the chest with a gloved finger. "You're nuts, you know that? How about we go to the café near the Skulk and Lurk and get some hot cocoa? Then you can go do your tutoring thing with Tucker."
"You're not gonna come with?" he asked with puppy dog eyes at the ready.
Sam rolled her own eyes with an affectionate smirk. "Stop that. I, unlike some other people I could name, am all caught up on my homework. I did about half of what we got today during the breaks and in study-hall so I could have some free time later while you were busy."
He made his face a question mark, and she had to shove him into motion towards the café to keep from laughing at him. "I'm just expecting a reply on the e-mails I mentioned. I want to get that all out of the way so we can enjoy the weekend together, worry free."
"What would you be worrying about?" Danny's eyes were on the icy sidewalk at his feet, so he didn't see the grim look that crossed her face.
"It's just an expression, Danny." He captured her hand in a gentle clasp and they walked quietly for a while, ignoring the curious looks of passersby.
When he began to chafe under the weight of their silence, he threw her a look out of the corner of his eye. A glimmer of gold caught his attention from the neckline of her fluffy jacket hood. "What's that?"
"What?" Sam blinked at him, emerging from her disquieted thoughts.
"This." He pulled a small pendant out into the air from where it hung from her usual black choker. Swirls of gold surrounded a long, unpretentious white stone. A small freshwater pearl, iridescent in blue and purple, hung from the bottom.
"Oh. It's just a fulgurite necklace I bought." She laughed at his completely baffled expression. "It's a kind of natural glass. Listen." Sam pulled off a glove to tap gently at the center stone. It emitted a delicate ringing, reminiscent of far off wind chimes. "It's supposed to be good luck."
Danny made a face halfway between a smile and a frown. "It's pretty… and spiky. Very Goth." The smile flickered out under the weight of the frown. "You've been buying a lot of that kind of thing lately, good luck charms, spooky books. What's up?"
She drew in a deep breath though her nose. "Well, I've always been interested in this type of thing." Sam couldn't tell him everything, but she could tell him enough of the truth to put him at ease until she had something more solid to give him. "It's come in handy before, with the ghost fighting. The recent buying spree, though… that's at least partly due to my parents. They're putting pressure on me to start learning to handle the family fortune. That means making investments. I'm investing mostly where my interests lie: rare artifacts and tomes, green companies, sustainable technologies. And in many of the same stocks that… you know what, never mind. I just figured if I was going to have to do this, I'd do it my way." Sam stuck her chin defiantly in the air. Every word was the truth… just not all of the truth.
Danny smiled. "I'll bet. And you're probably going to make more money at it than both your parents put together."
She scrunched her nose. "You know money doesn't matter to me."
"I know, but it does matter to your parents. Moving your causes forward AND making bank? Tell me that doesn't make you all giggly smug." He maneuvered closer, looming over her conspiratorially.
Sam stepped back in pretend indignation, "I do not giggle."
"No? I'm sure I've heard you giggle. Maybe if I did this…" Danny waggled his fingers lightly up her sides, making her twist away with stifled laughter. When she ran for the café, he pursued.
Interlude
Shanna burst in the front door of their house. "Home! Home, home, homehomehome! We're finally home!"
It seemed like they'd been gone forever. Now that the doctors had told her everything would be okay and that she wasn't sick it felt like nothing could touch her. Even gravity! She bounced crazily from wall to wall with all the grace of a squirrel on a sugar high. She raced into each room, touching the familiar surfaces and furnishings as if to reassure herself of their reality.
Sherry and Greg followed on her heels, laughing at her antics. Her mother hauled in their bags as she scolded gently, "Calm down, sweetheart. The house ain't goin' anywhere. Greg, help me take this load on upstairs? Then you've got your homework before dinner. Speakin' of which… Shanna? Can you go an' check the fridge? See what we've got ta eat. I need ta know if your daddy kept up with the groceries or if the boys just ate out every night. I have ta get cookin' dinner soon. Your daddy'll be wantin' ta see his favorite daughter an' his dinner, in that order." She herded her son up the stairs as soon as Shanna nodded her enthusiastic agreement.
"We didn't eat out every night," Greg protested. "Except for the burgers… and the pizza… and Aunt Jerri came over with some Chinese food on Wednesday… and…," his piping voice faded away as they entered the rooms upstairs.
Shanna sniggered at her brother's rambling nonsense. She missed him so much, the little booger. And now she couldn't wait until her dad got home. She had it all planned out. He would come home from work and walk in the back door, calling out that he was home. She'd run down the hallway at full speed and give him a super flying glomp tackle, kissing every part of his face that wasn't covered with whiskers. And he'd hold her and hug her right up till dinner time so she'd really know that she was finally home again. With her family.
Her head rocked gently side to side as she smilingly tracked her brother's thundering footsteps across the ceiling above. She poked her head into the fridge. It was a little bare, but she saw all the stuff they'd need to make her favorite dinner, spaghetti and meatballs. She pulled out the food her mom would need to start fixing, lining it up very precisely alongside the pots and pans on the countertop. Tonight would be just perfect. Shanna was setting the dining room table when she heard it.
"Shanna," that same stupid, horrible voice that wasn't real, that no one else ever heard. Her eyes immediately spilled over with tears and she choked a little as her lungs seized. But she fought back and remembered. She thought about what the doctors had taught her, and about the kind things that Danny Phantom's very own sister had told her. None of this was real. None of the things she heard mattered unless she listened. And she didn't have to listen. Ever. So she stomped determinedly into the hallway to confront the thing that wasn't there, holding herself so tightly that she couldn't even begin to shiver. She wasn't afraid. She didn't have to be afraid.
"Shanna." She scowled at the shadowed space, resolute in her decision not to let nothing things ruin her homecoming.
"Shut up! You're not real!" Shanna hissed, careful not to let her mother overhear, just upstairs. Her confidence dissipated in a flaring pulse of disorientation when the world around her wavered and flickered. A nearly tangible wave of distortion rippled outwards from an almost invisible hole in midair. And a serpentine trail of fire trickled downwards, burning as it flowed. The smoldering hole rolled back at the edges to snarl ever wider as reality frayed. The pictures lining the walls all began to darken in the heat that spilled forth, glass warping in each frame. Shanna collapsed to her knees, breathless and unable to answer her mother's concerned call from somewhere overhead. She felt a thousand tiny thorns pierce her skin under the pressure of the eyes that watched her from the other side of that hole.
The voice spoke again as its owner stepped into our world. "Of course I am. I'm as real as you are, and you've just let me in."
"I know I'm supposed to be mature and unbiased in this job, but when that moron came back again looking to get a permit with almost the same paperwork that we just turned down last week I really wanted to tell him to get a life. And to kiss my b…" A tinny alarm interrupted Tucker's tirade mid-word. "…umm."
"Kiss your what?" Danny asked, looking up from his fully loaded plate.
"Huh? No, man. This alarm. It's for those sensors. That's so weird." He poked away at his PDA, trying to make sense of the readings it was reporting.
"Tucker, I know it was a really long day for you, but if you don't start making sense I'm going to have to do something truly wicked to you." Sam threatened with humorous menace.
He took the opportunity of being in his own home to sass back, and stuck his tongue out at her. "Not in front of my parents, you won't."
The Foleys only smiled at the byplay as they ate their dinner.
Danny shook his head. "Seriously, what sensors and why were they important enough to need an alarm?"
Now Tucker dropped back into a more sheepish pose. "Umm. Remember those sensors you were having me watch out at the Mills' house? They just went offline."
"Okay, were are they now?" Danny asked, not catching the significance of Tucker's statement.
"I think they're still at the house. They just…" Tucker attempted to explain, but Danny interrupted.
"Wait, they're still out there? I set those up almost two months ago. You were supposed to take them down about one month ago because they never picked up any ghosts. Have they been running this whole time?"
Tucker's response was delayed once more, this time by Mrs. Foley. "Sam, honey, you're as pale as a gho…, er, a sheet. Are you okay?"
Everyone's attention turned to the Goth. "Oh? Yes, I'm just…" Sam's voice failed as she struggled to find a plausible excuse for her indisposition. Finally she was reduced to shrugging and shaking her head. How could she explain her fear to such straightforward people like the Foleys when it was based on superstition and a hodgepodge of ancient rituals?
Tucker tried to explain. "I was busy and I never got around to taking them out, but Mr. Mills never complained. The alarm went off because they stopped transmitting without being properly shut down. What's got me confused is that they all went down at the same time. Let me call, just to see what's going on over there." He excused himself to his parents, stepping into the kitchen. Danny followed. Sam remained at the table, watching them with a hand to her lips.
"Did they read anything before they stopped transmitting? Is there a ghost over there after all?" Danny persisted, but Tucker waved him off.
Finally, he gave up, hanging up the phone. "No answer. The sensors didn't pick up any ghosts. There was some kind of energy surge that apparently smoked the electronics inside of them, but no ectoplasmic energy. What's got me worried is that we didn't lose just one or two. We lost them all, all at once."
Sam said nothing, only rising from her seat to gather her bag from the table by the front door. Danny turned apologetically to the Foleys. "Sorry to interrupt dinner like this, but we should probably check this out."
Maurice Foley stood from his place at the table. "Don't worry about it, kids. We'll keep your plates warm. Danny, should we call your folks?"
Danny shook his head, "No. We don't even know if anything's really going on, yet. I can call them myself if we need to."
Kim Foley followed them to the door. She snagged Tucker before he slipped outside, planting a kiss on his temple. "Be careful, baby. All of you."
"We will be." Danny smiled charmingly, brushing aside the notion of danger. Kim smiled back despite herself.
Danny pulled forth his ghost and stepped outside so he'd have enough room to comfortably grab both his friends. He eyed Sam's large bag skeptically. "Do you need that whole thing? We'll probably be right back."
She snugged the fully loaded bag tightly to her back and gave Danny her hand. "It's got my kit. It goes everywhere with me." Danny assumed she was talking about her first aid kit and didn't question her further. She looked past Danny to Tucker at his other side. "Call the fire department and tell them to respond for a house fire. We'll probably need police, too."
Danny faltered a little as he took them into the air. "Huh?" They both stared at her. She gave them a no arguments look and they fought the urge to shrug. That wouldn't be the best move when they were mid-air. Tucker pulled out his phone with his free hand and started dialing.
Upon arrival they found the house ominously quiet. The few lights along the Mills' street were dim and nearly useless. A crescent moon sailed high overhead. The trio stood irresolutely in the yard. "Maybe nobody's home."
A barely audible creak drew their attention to the left of the house and the only green in a gray and white snowscape. High in the branches of an old yew tree perched a thin, black razorback boar. Tucker blinked and cleaned his glasses as if to correct what he saw. "Umm. Is that a pig in a tree?"
Sam stared at the apparition. "The fateful hog." The beast stared back at them, unmoving, its eyes a barely visible glimmer against its darkness. When Danny made a move as if to proceed up to the house, the pig oozed downward off the branch to land with a resounding thud on the ground below. It charged towards them. They stepped backwards in consternation, Danny going into a defensive stance between the threat and his friends. Halfway to them, the beast straightened up to stand on its rear legs, changing into an amorphous man shape. Though they couldn't see its features, each felt its challenging smile as it ducked sideways through the wall and into the dark house.
Tucker asked for their support again. "Tell me you guys saw that too. Was it a shapeshifter ghost?"
Danny shook his head and passed out Fenton Phones from his belt. "No. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't a ghost. It didn't set off my ghost sense. Can your tech find any active transmitters in the area? I'm really hoping this is some really elaborate prank."
Tucker shook off his stupor to manipulate his beloved technology. He came up empty. "No. There's a pretty strong EMF signal, but its non-directional, blanketing this whole area. That wasn't any kind of technology I'm familiar with."
Sam dropped her heavy bag to the snow and knelt to spread it wide and dig through it. She began to pull out various strange objects and deposit them in the pockets of her jacket and pants. Danny looked on in confusion. "I thought that was your first aid kit."
Sam took a moment to glance up at him. She nudged a white pouch with the familiar red cross insignia. "That's in here too. This is mostly my other kit." Having loaded herself down to her satisfaction, she stood up again. A small pouch dangled from her fingers. She ordered Danny, "Change back for a second."
He wrinkled his brow, but complied. She dropped the pouch to hang around his neck. She tucked it into the neck of his shirt and gestured for him to change back. "Sam? What's this? We should be checking on the Mills."
She tapped the pendant at her throat again. "It's the same thing I'm wearing, just less girly. If it's on your human form, it can't be taken off by whatever that was." Sam held up a hand to halt his protest. "Humor me. If it works, it'll be a little good luck for you. Protection. If not, it won't bother you because it's tiny and not even on your ghost-form. You don't know what that thing was; Tucker doesn't know what that thing was. Let me go to work. I'm ready to do whatever it takes."
Danny felt a strange déjà vu, but couldn't place the connection. He waited half a breath to observe her gravely. "We're going to talk about this later."
Sam nodded, "After. Tucker, you stay out here and keep the authorities from entering the house until Danny gives you the all clear. Don't let anyone mess with my bag." She flipped on the Fenton Phone in her ear. "We'll go in and find out if there's anyone inside and deal with that… whatever that was."
A flickering glow licked at the windows as they entered the house and a ghost of smoke wafted out to mock Tucker where he stood watching from the front walk. "Not good." He backed out to the sidewalk to give directions to the arriving emergency crews. Police had set up a perimeter and firefighters had run out their hoses when Mr. Mills arrived home from work. The man abandoned his running car in the middle of the street as he ran up to the police line. He reached the gate, having to be forcibly restrained from entering the dwelling as he demanded news of his wife and children.
Everyone present shouted in fear when tongues of flame pierced the roof, dancing around sharp spires of ice.
Jeremiah 9:21 "For death is come up into our windows, [and] is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, [and] the young men from the streets."
Thunder is louder than a horn.
(Sing ninety-nine and ninety)
Death is sharper than a thorn.
Sing I'm the weaver's bonny.
A/N: This is turning out to be more spiritual than I originally intended, but it works with the whole otherworldly evil theme, so I'm just gonna go with it. The trio has a dedicated tutor now that PP's over. Helps them keep up with all their responsibilities. Fulgurite is known also known as lightning sand or sometimes "thunderbolt pearl". It's made when lightning strikes a clean, sandy bit of earth. Among other 'powers' it's supposed to ward off evil. The pendant I mentioned was very similar to one I actually found online. Pretty enough, but way too expensive to buy for a gift for anyone for Christmas. Sorry. Just like in many myths, acknowledging evil gives it power. In this case, Shanna gave it a name (You) and unwittingly gave it the power to open and enter a window into the human plane. Though she'd talked about the voice before, this was the first time she'd talked to it. Big mistake. Stupid shrinks, they don't know nothin'. No one ever mentioned Mrs. Foley's first name during the show, so I've called her Kim after her voice actress.