This is actually the new Iceheart's chapter 1...tentatively. I rather like it...it's vastly different from the first attempt at the fanfic and has a more dreamlike, fairy-tale feel and strays a little further from the original fairytale (the necklace, the bat-cat, you'll see.) Chapter two is proving hard to write, and now I'll be almost completely away from home until August (except for a few days)... poo. I'll have time for ideas though, plenty of time :) see you soon!


7

Even as I hold this little wonder of a necklace in my hands, I still don't quite believe it.

Just a few days ago it was the sparkling icy gem Danny had made for me with his new power after the Undergrowth attack. I remember him gently closing my fingers over it, and it felt cool in my warm hand. It didn't melt, though, and I spent that night awake stroking it and marveling at its amazing similarity to a diamond.

The next morning, I found myself tucked into my bed, snug and warm, but the crystal was gone. Had my parents been in my room? I silently wondered, but said nothing about it, and tried to forget about it. Maybe it had just melted after all.

Two days later, it came back.

"You two and your phantom romance going on, you think I don't know? I saw that little jewel—"

"Shut up," I said, stony-faced.

"Whoa, Tuck, that reminds me," Danny said, his sheepish expression disappearing. "I fixed it!"

Out of his jeans pocket, he pulled out the crystal I'd so missed – except it now glowed faintly green. I saw that it also now had a small round hole in the top of one of its points, and a simple black leather cord had been strung through it. A necklace, and a gift for me!

"I know your birthday is next week, but I decided to give it to you now anyway," he said, unabashed and smiling. "Look, I fused some ectoplasm in it so the cold ice and hot ectoplasm are in equilibrium – it will never melt!"

Tucker immediately forgot about his teasing and shifted into chemistry-genius mode. "Wait, how does that work? They can't exist together like that –"

"Apparently, they can. How it works, I don't know, you're the one who's good at chemistry..."

While they began a lively discussion of the possibility (or impossibility) of ectoplasm and ice fusing together at the molecular level, I eyed it carefully before tying it around my neck. Its center seemed to glow and swirl like the ghost zone itself, except all green and silver and smoky. I fingered it where it lay between my collarbones: it was slightly warm to the touch. A miracle. Just another of the amazing and undiscovered properties of the element Ectoplasm.

On the day of my birthday, I ended up at Danny's house after school. "I can't stay long," I told them. "My parents are no doubt planning a huge dinner party for my advancement to official socialite age and status."

"Sweet sixteen," Tucker said sympathetically. "At least you get cool presents from us!"

Danny's family turned out to be quite involved with my birthday celebration. Jazz baked a cake, which I knew would be good, as she is a good cook, but her mom had made the frosting for it and it was glowing, which is a sure sign ecto-contamination. It was a case of ecto-acne just waiting to happen if ingested, and I wasn't about to eat it.

Tucker picked up on this, and saved the day by thrusting his present in my face. It was humungous, and of course, not gift-wrapped. One, it was too big, and two, I think gift wrap wastes paper.

I stumbled back, clutching the thing in my arms. "Tucker, what—"

I held it at arm's length and realized it wasn't so big after all. It was a strangely light but large stuffed black cat, with black bat wings, about three-quarters as long as I was tall. Its deep purple eyes were intelligent-looking, and its wings were tinged dark green at the joint, but that was all—the rest of it was pure black and short-furred. It was abstract, cuddly, definitely cute. It even included my favorite colors! A/N: Gaia users, think CoCo Kitty with purple eyes, and bat wings. That's basically it.

"Wow, Tucker!" I exclaimed as I hugged her close. "She's beautiful! Thanks a lot!"

Tucker grinned and said, "You're welcome."

"I already gave Sam her present – she's wearing it," Danny pointed out. The other Fentons crowded around me and ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the gem at my neck.

"Peculiar...I've never seen anything like it. Where did you get it?" asked Mrs. Fenton.

There was a sudden silence.

"Umm, uh...the thrift store?" Danny blurted. Everyone laughed, and he blushed harder, but at least the matter was dropped. "We'll let that remain a mystery, then," Mrs. Fenton added, winking at me.

Unfortunately, Mr. Fenton wasn't so tactful. "Well done, son, you're buying her jewelry already?"

Danny groaned audibly, while I looked down in shame, my cheeks burning hot. Jazz was hiding a smile behind a hand, but Tucker was snickering, as was typical in these sorts of situations. He's adorkably funny and too handy with gadgets to lose, so we keep him around. Really. Yeahh...—no, he really is a loyal and true friend. Just a little tease-happy. We love him as he is.

"No...ugh, you know what? Next present, if you guys have one for Sam!" Danny said loudly.

"Why sure!" Mr. Fenton said cheerily, and presented me with something in ghostly giftwrap. It was neatly wrapped: probably a female Fenton's work. I would recycle the paper later. It was shaped like an ectogun, and that's exactly what it was. "Newest model! Smallest and most powerful we've got," Mr. Fenton told me. I thanked them heartily. Tucker immediately seized it at his first chance and pored over it with Danny.

"Hey! What happened to the cake? Don't you want some, Sam?" Mr. Fenton asked.

"Uh, no thanks, I have to go home now, it's really late," I said quickly. "Feed it to the garbage disposal and think of me!"

Oh, that was rude. I grabbed my bat-cat and shut the front door quickly, but then opened it again for a split second to shout, "You guys can bring that ectogun over tomorrow if you want!"

When I opened the door to my own house, my dear mother was sitting in the sitting room right next to the door. "Samantha dear, you're home finally, you have to get ready for tonight's dinner party – good heavens, what is that?"

"My birthday present," I said, starting up the stairs, hooking the bat-cat's paws around my neck. "Please, don't make me stay for the wonderful conversation."

"Samantha!"

My door slammed. I flopped on my bed and stroked my new cuddle buddy a little. You're never too old to play with a well-deserving toy. I loved how it was firm, and not like a beanie baby. Its stomach made a very nice pillow besides. I put my head on it and stared at my open wardrobe, trying to decide whether to wear the black evening gown or the purple one. Those were the only ones I would agree to wear to a dinner occasion out of my wardrobe. All the rest were ones my mother had gotten me: all flounce and lace and Barbie pink. Floral patterns, too. I know it's supposedly in style now, but these floral patterns aren't the same. These are bold pink and yellow daisies; the style now is more abstract, dark, and varied. I've tried to explain it to her, but she says all flowers are the same.

I decided on the purple. It was my birthday; and I was feeling happier than black. I quickly changed and lay back down with my bat-cat, suddenly remembering I had school tomorrow. I relaxed when I remembered I'd finished it in class.

At that moment, the warm little jewel at my neck went from warm to boiling in a nanosecond, searing my skin, then as painfully cold as dry ice, and finally settled at a cold temperature, so that it looked and felt like a finely-cut piece of ice. The soft green glow of the ectoplasm within had all but disappeared. The cold only slightly soothed the small red jewel-shaped burn between my collarbones. It had all happened in about two seconds, and I barely had had time to put my hand to my chest to feel it.

"What..." I said dazedly, still hurting from the burns that necklace had given me. How did it burn me like that? And why?

I was still stupefied when my cellphone rang. It was unfortunately blatantly bubblegum pink, but my mother said "pink or nothing", and so it was.

I answered it, knowing by the ringtone it was Tucker.

"Hiya," I said cautiously.

"SAM!" came a frantic voice on the other end. "Please get over here fast, something came out of the portal and shattered – Danny's hurt. Come now, stay on, I'll tell you on the way!"

"What – okay! I'm coming now! Hang on!" I said, jolted from my lazy position. I swung my feet over the edge of the bed and gave my bat-cat a quick hug goodbye. I stuffed my feet in my usual combat boots – dinner party or not – and ran down the stairs two at the time and suddenly realized I was in my favorite dress. Ugh! Dress or not, I had to get to my friends. I lifted my scooter from the hallway closet and found myself face to face with my tall, blond father. "Samantha, the guests will be here in fifteen minutes. What are you doing?"

"Following the golden rule," I shot back, sidling by him and pushing my scooter out the door first. "Dinner party or not, they would rush to my side like I'm doing now."

I dashed down the front steps and roared into the night on my scooter, forgoing my helmet completely.

"All right, Tucker, brief me," I said into the phone clutched in my left hand. It was a late November evening, so the wind was cold and biting, and I knew snow was near. "Brrrr."

"He was releasing the ghost we caught this morning. Old Boxy, as usual, yeah? The split-second when the portal opens to accept the contents of the thermos, this thing comes flying into the lab, explodes on the floor, and one of the pieces gets into Danny's eye and one into his chest."

"No!" I said, disbelieving. What are the chances? How bad was he hurt, was it bleeding bad?

One more block to go. Soon my goosebumps should subside.

"Yeah! So that's how I found him, screaming because it hurt so bad, and there was broken blue glass everywhere. No blood, though, that was really weird. I couldn't see anything in his eye – yet he swears it went in. I grabbed a thermos and vacuumed the mess of glass shards all up for safety's sake. We can look at it later, maybe."

"Anything that hurts like that yet doesn't make you bleed is a bad sign."

"It definitely is," he replied.

I had arrived at Danny's house. I ran up the front steps and leaned it against the wall. I don't think I'd torn my dress at all, but why did that matter at a time like this? "I'm at the door," I said, and knocked. Tucker opened the door.

"He says it doesn't hurt anymore."

The Fentons were all crowded around Danny, asking what had happened and was he sure he was okay. He seemed calm, but looked like he'd had a shock.

I wanted to go ask him if he was all right too, but he was too thickly surrounded. Tucker and I just stood there, watching the flustered family, with me standing awkwardly in a purple evening gown and wind-blown hair. Finally, Danny sat up straighter and said angrily, "Look, here's what I think happened. Something flew in through the portal, shattered, and pieces got in my eye and chest, but it's gone now. Like it dissolved or something. I feel fine! Really!"

Tuck held up a thermos. "I have the evidence right here," he offered.

Mr. Fenton was not convinced. "If it came from the ghost zone, it's dangerous! You could be possessed by a ghost! Let's run a few tests!"

"Um, no, dad," Danny said, edging away from him. "I'm fine! Okay?"

He sounded angrier and more annoyed than he'd ever been. Also, his manner was really bothering me. He'd been in this sort of potential-discovery-of-secret situation before, but he'd never reacted so spitefully. A tinge of uneasiness, combined with my initial worry about his safety and well-being, churned my stomach. I fingered my necklace nervously, and the cool unfamiliarity of it shocked me. I was so used to it being warm! I remembered the searing feeling and the change in the necklace. I looked at Danny, remembering his accident: were the two incidents connected? The instant it burned me, had Danny been hurt? I realized I was squinting at Danny and tried to relax.

I opened my mouth to say anything, anything at all, to break the terrible silence, but in the instant I realized I had nothing to say, my phone rang again. The ringtone was a strong, blustery, minor-key Brahms orchestra piece, to reflect my parents' personality and music preference. "Yes?" I sighed into the mouthpiece.

"Samantha, return home at once! The guests are waiting!" screeched my mother.

I did not answer; only flipped the phone closed and held it. I could not think of anything to say to this Danny I had such a strange feeling about. My shoulders slumped, thinking of my dinner plans. "Well...Danny, Tucker...I have to go. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Tucker waved goodbye sympathetically, but Danny said nothing.

I turned tail and rode home quickly, but not as fast as I had come.

"Your hair is a mess, young lady! Where have you been?"

I stared off to one side, too emotionally and mentally exhausted to be defiant. "Danny's house. He hurt himself bad." More than just bad. I knew it couldn't be just a temporary physical complaint. Pain that came and went like a ghost. Excuse the pun.

"Grammar, Samantha. And that's not a good reason to be late for dinner. Now go wash your hands and sit down politely, and make conversation with the Turners like you've been taught."

I obeyed without much protest for once; my spunk used up for the night. I ate less than my usual small portion of vegan food, and luckily, I was so silent and compliant I slipped upstairs to my room without them noticing. Maybe it was just because our guests had their hands full entertaining their bratty little son, Timmy. I slowly changed into my pajamas, washed my feet, and got into bed...but couldn't sleep. I glanced at my bat-cat, my rounded, adorable, enormous plushie, lying on the floor, and finally pulled her up beside me. Wrapping my arms around her, I closed my eyes and rested my head against her shoulder, and eventually drifted off into a dreamless sleep.