SO! I'm back everyone! After that painfully long hiatus, I finished writing chapter five two days ago. I suggest you read it before reading this one. The chapter is actually called Apologies and Explanations, which I find hilarious, considering that it replaced my little Authors note that was solely me apologizing.
This chapter is really short, but I just wanted to write some fluff to counter that bit of angst from the last one. Hope you guys enjoy!
"What?" Sam asked, confusion clear on her face and in her voice.
Danny's ears became tinted red as he repeated, more clearly this time. "Ghosts purr."
"You purr." Tucker parroted. "You mean, like a cat?"
Danny grumbled out something in ghost that sounded vaguely similar to 'Oh fuck this' and nodded.
Tucker burst out laughing, while Sam chuckled lightly. "How did we not know about this before? It's been over a year and neither of us heard it." Tucker muttered as he gasped for air.
"Laugh all you want, guys. It's embarrassing as hell." Elle so helpfully added. Danny punched her arm.
It was okay because she's also got super strength.
"You do it too, even more so 'cause you're younger." Danny pointed out.
Elle stuck her tongue out at him.
"So, let me get this straight." Sam stopped laughing and took on a slightly more serious tone. "Ghosts and half-ghosts purr." At Danny's and Elle's nods she continued. "So, when you're extremely content, or sleeping, you purr." Another set of nods. "So, exactly like when cats purr?"
Danny spoke now, slightly less embarrassed now that they weren't laughing anymore. "Yes, but when I'm awake I can keep myself from doing it. That's probably the only reason you guys didn't know before. The problem is that when I sleep, I can't control whether I purr or not, meaning that if I sleep too close to everyone else, and someone wakes up in the middle of the night and hears me purring in my sleep, I'm screwed."
Sam nodded in understanding, though now Tucker needed to voice his question. "How would you even purr anyways? That's not typically a sound that humans can make."
Elle answered. "It has to do with our cores. For regular ghosts, the core is a replacement of the heart, but for hybrids, it just kinda chills right next to it. Anyway, about the purring, the core vibrates, making a sound that's actually really close to a cat's purr." This received a nod from both humans.
"Not only that," Danny added. "but a ghost's core is always vibrating. The problem is that sometimes it's loud enough to hear, and that's usually if the ghost is injured, showing affection, sleeping, or just happy."
"Injured?"
"It stimulates healing."
"Cool. Okay, so with this new info, we should definitely make sure Danny and Elle sleep away from everyone else." Sam slapped her hands together. "So, we'll need to think of a convincing lie to explain why you and Elle aren't with the rest of the group."
"That'd be useful, but I don't think it'd be necessary." Tucker said. "They could wait until everyone else is asleep before going down themselves, then wake up earlier than everyone else with a little help from Sonya." He waved his PDA in the air. "She's got an alarm."
"Thanks, Tuck, but I don't think we'll need… Sonya, either. We need way less sleep than you guys do." Danny said. "Only, like, five hours over your eight."
"Oh, yeah." Tucker trailed off.
For the next hour, Danny, Elle, Sam, and Tucker discussed their game plans for tomorrow.
"...If we go as far as we did today, we should get to Aragon early in the afternoon." Danny calculated.
"I can't wait to see Dora!" Elle exclaimed. "She's always so nice to me!"
"That's probably because your cousin there helped me save her kingdom." Sam smirked.
"Granted, you were doing fine on your own, but Tuck and I got you out of there." Danny grumbled.
"I know, but teasing you is great." Sam intoned gleefully.
Danny, oh so mature Danny, stuck his tongue out at her in retaliation.
Soon, the class and adults went to sleep, leaving only the quartet of friends awake.
"We'd better go to sleep soon." Tucker yawned. "My feet are killing me."
Sam lay down on the dirt. "Good news for you, techno-geek. Sleeping on the ground is gonna leave you even more sore." She heard Tucker groan beside her. "This is why you should exercise with me."
Tucker made a face. "No way am I doing that." He lay down a few feet away from Sam.
Danny returned from a small patrol of the area with Elle. "So, should we sleep near you guys or like, way over there?" He leaned over the two humans.
"Well, Elle should probably sleep over there, but if you end up purring it'll just sound like weird snoring, right?" Sam said tiredly.
"Yeah, I guess." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.
Elle floated over to him lazily. "Nope, you're staying with me mister." She dragged him away from the group of humans, near the edge of the island. The two lay down and Elle changed back to human form, cuddling up against Danny. The gentle purr of Elles core calmed Danny's nerves and soon after, he too fell asleep.
This chapter and the last one together are over 3k words, I believe. Hope you liked it, and please don't forget to review! That's really all that's keeping my motivation up enough to write more.
-Barely