Without even thinking, Danny took about three steps backwards into Lancers room. Two blue rings formed around his waist, and before he knew it, he was in his human form. He ran outside of the room, hoping that nobody saw what had just happened.
"No!" Danny took a step in front of Dash. Everything told him to step out of the way, to just let this Skulker guy take Dash because hey, Dash never did anything for him except for show him the inside of his locker. No matter how many reasons Danny came up with to move out of the way, something inside of him snapped. He couldn't move. His whole body seemed to be buzzing with electricity.
"Oh, it's you! How could I have not seen you?" Skulker laughed. "Oh, Mr. Masters will be very pleased indeed."
"Leave us alone and go back through whatever portal you've come through," Danny said, his voice strong and unwavering.
"Let's make a deal, boy," Skulker said, pointing his gun directly at Danny, "you come with me, and I leave everyone in this school alone."
"How about," Danny took a steady step forward, never breaking eye contact with Skulker, "I stay here, and you leave everyone alone?"
"Oh, puny boy-" Skulker started, only to be interrupted by a beeping sound coming from his wrist. He sighed, looking down and reading the small screen. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Skulker threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "I may not get you today, but I'll have you soon enough, boy!"
The ghost hunter pressed a button on his watch, creating a vortex in the wall next to him. The vortex glowed with a mix of blue, green, and yellow, reminding Danny of distant memories, too far away to ever recall, but close enough to make him feel something in his chest, like a longing to return to a different life. Skulker stepped through, and the vortex closed almost instantly.
Before everyone in the hallway could say anything, Danny smiled, turned and nodded at Dash, and walked right through the wall. He passed through the basement and floated up through the floor, turning back into a ghost and running into the hallway before anyone even noticed he was gone (except for Sam and Tucker, of course).
"Who was that?" Dash asked, looking around at the other a-listers.
"I don't know, but whoever he is, I think he's just so…so brave!" Paulina, the most popular girl at the school, said dreamily. She had eyes like moss, and perfectly tanned and flawless skin. Like Danny, she hadn't died because of the illness, but because of a car accident. She wore a neon pink crop top and a pair of black leggings that hugged her curves perfectly. She had long black hair, and wore perfect makeup.
"Hey Danny," Sam said, just loud enough for Danny and Tucker to hear. "Whatever that was, it was pretty awesome."
Danny smiled a little bit, rubbing the back of his neck nervously before chuckling a little bit. "Yeah, thanks, I guess."
"So, what now?" Sam plopped down on Danny's bedroom.
"Yeah, Danny, what even happened today?" Tucker asked, leaning against the wall as Danny closed the door.
"I don't know guys, but it just felt right, you know?" Both Tucker and Sam stared at Danny blankly in response. He sighed, taking a seat next to Sam on his bed. "I don't know guys. I mean, I know I didn't really want these powers and stuff, but it's like, standing up to that human today just felt so right, like that's what I have to do. I've just got to stop all they guys who are coming through!"
"Well, dude, do you really want to do this, though?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah, Tuck, I really do. Well, wait, it's not that I want to, it's more that I need to."
"Ok Danny," Sam smiled widely. "This'll be fun."
Friday came quickly enough. The trio messed around with Danny's powers a little bit, finding out that if Danny concentrated hard enough, he could control where he floats to the point where it was a bit more like flying. They figured out that whenever Danny felt the wisp of heat, it meant that organic material as somewhere near him, that he could go through pretty much anything in the ghost zone, and that he could even see ghosts as they were when they were alive with enough concentration, which was a weird one. No more humans bothered them, which was alright with Danny, because he really just needed to get used to his new powers before anything else happened.
Although, Danny had to admit, when he walked into school on Friday and felt his 'human sense', as his friends called it, go off, he was a little excited. Although practicing after school was pretty fun, Danny was secretly excited to try out his powers on living people.
"Guys," Danny said, glancing at his friends with a look of urgency.
"Is it…?" Tucker asked. Danny nodded, and Tucker and Sam both nodded, signaling for Danny to go do his thing.
Danny ran off to the bathroom, changing into his human form, and concentrating on not being seen (which he'd also found out he could do. It wasn't exactly like going invisible, but more like just not being seen unless people were looking for him).
Danny did a quick sweep of the school, looking for anything suspicious, but finding nothing. He returned back to his ghost form, and met his friends in front of his locker.
"Find anything?" Sam questioned, her seaweed eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Nothing. It's weird, because I swear I felt something in this building," Danny threw his hands up in the air before grabbing his books without even opening his locker by just putting his hand through it. The bell rang, and the trio groaned, heading to Mr. Lancer's class.
"So, what now? You just wait for the human to come to you?" Sam asked.
"I don't really have any other options, you know?" Danny sighed as they entered the classroom, only to find that it was boiling hot in there.
"Man, what's up with the heat wave?" Tucker asked, taking his seat across the room from Sam and Danny's. Once they were all in their seats, the late bell rang, and Lancer walked into the room with a woman right behind him.
She wore a red blazer with black accents, and a pair of black five inch heals. Her firetruck red hair was styled into a 'v' shape, and perfectly pointed at the ends. Her makeup was done perfectly to match her pale-tan complexion, showing the whole class that she must've been in an accident instead of being killed by the illness. All around her, a faint white glow was only slightly visible, as if it was a mirage. Hey eyes were more of a turquoise color than green, and were just barely glowing.
"Class, this is the pep-expert I was talking about earlier this week, Ms. Penelope Spectra," Lancer introduced. The class was dead silent, showing their lack of enthusiasm.
"Hello, students!" Penelope waved excitedly, her eyes twinkling with enthusiasm. "I'm here to build the overall school spirit by having private meetings with each and everyone of you in the next week!"
Ms. Spectra waited for a response from anyone in the class for a few moments before Mr. Lancer stepped in and said, "Any questions, class?"
Dash raised his hand a little, and Ms. Spectra pointed to him. "Um, why is it so hot in here?"
As if on cue, Danny shuddered, a wave of heat going through his body. He assured himself that it was just the temperature of the room, although he still felt a little suspicious.
"Good question!" Ms. Spectra clapped her hands with joy. "You see, I believe that by turning up the heat, I'm turning up the pep! Isn't that just great?" The silence must've meant yes to her, because she looked around again and asked, "Any more questions?"
Paulina raised her hand a little bit. "Yes, um, Ms. Spectra, do you know anything about the human boy?"
The class started to chatter a little bit over the mention of the human boy. He was known as a mysterious stranger who helped out the whole school, like some kind of human superhero. "Oh," Penelope's eyes zeroed in on Danny, sending a shiver down his spine, "I know about him." Her eyes darted away from Danny before anyone else could notice, but Danny couldn't help but feel even more suspicious. Nothing quite added up.
"Ooh, like what?" Paulina asked, her eyed twinkling.
"Just that he may not be all he's cracked up to be," Ms. Spectra said nonchalantly. Before anyone could ask any more questions, Ms. Spectra clapped her hands, her perfectly white teeth showing. "Oh, this is going to be so much FUN!"
"Oh, Mr. Phantom, come in, please," Ms. Spectra motioned for Danny to come in. He took a seat in her small office and felt a shudder of heat go through him again, but figured it was just because of the fact that the thermostat read 95 degrees Fahrenheit. "Can I call you Danny? Oh, I'm just going to call you Danny. So, Danny, what brings you in here?"
"Well, just the fact that my parents and Mr. Lancer are making me," Danny mumbled.
"Oh, Danny, it's not that bad," Ms. Spectra got up, drifting behind Danny while he continued to stare straight ahead. "It's just a little bit of counseling. That's all, really."
With a click, Penelope locked the door. Danny turned to face her in the chair, only to see her holding a key. She stuffed the key in her blazer pocket and grinned smugly.
"Look, Danny, I'm not playing around," Penelope walked around so that she was behind her desk. Danny put his hands on the armrests and prepared to get up, but before he could, Penelope pressed a button on a remote from her desk, and straps wrapped themselves around Danny, pulling him back down to the seat.
"Let. Me. GO!" Danny struggled. Without even thinking, he transformed into a his human form and tried to phase through the straps without success.
"Oh, Danny, I'm afraid it's not that easy," Penelope pressed another button on her remote, and instantly, her faint white glow dissipated. Her turquoise eyes turned completely blue, and everything else even remotely ghostly about her faded away.
"You're human!' Danny seethed, still struggling to break the straps.
"And so are you. Well, partially. Now, please, do tell, how is that?" Penelope got a pen and pad of paper out, looking intently at Danny for an answer.
"Who are you?" Danny countered.
"I'm Penelope Spectra, famous ghost psychologist. Now, you must tell me! What are you? A human trying to fit in with ghosts? Or some creepy little ghost with creepy little powers?" she smiled malevolently, awaiting Danny's answer.
"Both! Uh...neither! I don't know!" Danny continued to struggle, a thousand thoughts going through his head. He'd been having similar thoughts about his powers, and hearing someone else say them outloud just made it more real.
Penelope laughed, walking calmly over to Danny after putting down the pen and pad of paper. She took a small syringe out of her pocket, crouching slightly so that she was eye level with Danny and holding the syringe off to the side, ready in case anything went wrong.
"My employer required that you not be harmed physically, but he never said anything about mental harm. Now, do tell, what do you remember about your life?" Spectra asked, her eyes dancing with curiosity.
"I, uh, don't remember, I don't think, I…stop it!" Danny struggled even more, and Penelope backed up, a grin etched onto her face.
"Oh, I guess enough is enough. If all goes well, we'll see much more of each other," she brought the syringe down into Danny's arm, injecting the clear liquid. Instantly, Danny's vision blurred. His head lolled to one side, and his whole body began to feel disconnected from his mind. After just a few seconds, everything went black.
Hey guys! First week of school - done! And because I'm so excited, I've posted an extra long chapter for my extra awesome readers.
Oh, also! I LOVE the feedback! This chapter was really hard to write, and every time I got stuck I just looked at the comments, and I was good to go. Thank you all SO much!
I'll update soon, I promise!
-Samantha
