Thanks so much to the folks following! Let me just say that watching the views of the story skyrocket is actually kinda cool! I enjoy watching you guys read this almost as much as writing the story. There's a NASCAR event in town so it's been kinda crazy around town (that's why I haven't updated). Here's a fairly big chapter (2940 words) with explanations, insight on the OC, some mental processes of our lovers, and just general story all around. Also, hopefully I can earn more brownie points with the author of my reviews :) I'd like to thank LacedWithIce and Lemonybean for writing really good stories that introduced me to the fandom: What Doesn't Kill Him Makes Him Stronger and Dude! I'm No Damsel! If you like my story, you might wanna check them out, too!
As 7th period started, Danny was sitting in history, contemplating on how to go about telling his best friends that: a) Al wasn't a halfa, but a warlock, b) not only does his ghost sense pick up ghosts, but they also pick up magic, and c) Al had fought Spectra before, so he knew that Sam would ask if Al knew anything about the other ghosts Danny had encountered so far. His head was hurting from the sheer amount of information thrown at him in just the past couple of hours. However, overall, it was a good day. He still kinda mad at Al for calling him out as gay, but at this point, he didn't care. Dash was coming over tonight around 2100 to work on their project and, hopefully, he wouldn't be spending the night (although he wouldn't object this time around if his mother imposed it on the two boys). Seeing Dash as a victim of abuse was startling to Danny. He hadn't told Sam or Tucker about the scars or the bruises on Dash's shoulders and back, but he did want Dash to talk to someone about it. It wasn't right. It was even less right of Dash to take it out on the kids at school, but Danny thought that it was better than bottling it up or throwing it back out at his father. If he did…Danny shuddered at the thought of what might happen.
…
Al had skipped French class to go the condo he owned here in Amity Park. He opened his door, and realized he had forgotten to pick up all the books he had brought from his parents' house. Some were on the coffee table, others were in the recliner, and a large cauldron was sitting on the stove in the kitchen. He looked around and shook his head. "What a mess I left when I went for school. Ms. Gavia would have tanned my hide if she saw this mess. I'll take care of it when I get back. It'll take me…" he paused to look at the grandfather clock in the corner of the living room, "Well, it's 1430 now… I might be back around 1800 or 1700 if I fly straight here when I deconstruct the portal. Let's check the flight schedule."
With this thought, he plopped in front of his laptop that was on the dining table and started searching, pricing in he always traveled first class when he had to fly 'by conventional means', and flying time between the house and the Albany International Airport (ALB) and O'Hare International (ORD) and Amity Park.
"Alright, so it takes me an hour to deconstruct that damn portal every time I break it down. So if I leave now, that'll put me there and done at 1545. Then from my house to ALB, it's another hour. So, I'll arrive at the airport at 1645. Then the flight departs at 1815 for a two-hour flight to ORD. So, that makes landing time 2030 at ORD. Then, from ORD to Amity Park is another four hours to drive 280 miles. But, I can fly at a speed of 85 mph, so that would make that trip about three hours. Meaning, I would be back at Fenton's house by 2345… UGH!" Al sighed as he was going over the calculations. "I wonder if there's any spells in Agatha's book to slow time," he said as he got up from the chair, "or at least a simple teleportation spell so I could get back quicker."
He walked out of the kitchen and over to the bookcase that was in the living room. He placed his right hand in front of him, bowing his head and closed his eyes, whispering a spell. His hand and the bookcase both became shrouded in a black aura. He looked up as he moved the bookcase to the right its position, perpendicular to the sofa now. Behind the bookcase was a swirling, gaping hole of darkness, almost like a void of space and time. He looked around the house, and made a quick gesture with his left hand towards the door, "Obice," he spoke as he waved his left hand behind him, sealing the lock to the door.
He walked through swirling void and found himself standing in his parents' lab. "Well, time to get to work."
…
…
Danny, Sam, and Tucker got out of History and went to their lockers. Danny waited as Sam and Tucker got out the homework materials they would need for the night.
"So, anything happen during study hall?" Sam asked.
"Nothing really–just a wandering ghost who really didn't put up a fight. But I did sorta run into Ross, who's pretty good at ghost hunting."
"Man, I'm missing all the action this week!" Tucker exclaimed as he closed his locker door.
"I'm tellin ya, Tuck, you didn't miss anything," Danny said to kinda quite down his friend.
"So, Ross is a ghost, who's a ghost-hunter. Sounds a bit like you, Danny," Sam remarked nonchalantly.
"He's not really a ghost. He's more on the side of gothic magic," Danny said, trying to ease into the subject that Albert Ross was anything but ordinary.
"Really, now?" Sam said, as her interest was piqued.
"Yeah, he's coming over tonight around 2100. Are you guys coming over as well?"
"Is Dash going to be there?" Sam asked, rather pointedly.
"Well, yeah, he's my partner," Danny answered with a slight smile. He remembered the conversation with Ross about his sexuality and decided that he couldn't let things be taken the wrong way anymore.
"Uh-huh," Sam offered in return. "So, you're telling me this: you want me, the Goth, him, the techno-geek, and the new kid, who gave Dash a swollen eye and bruised jaw, to be in the same room as Dash Baxter."
"He's not all that bad, guys! I promise. I think that he gets a lot of flak at home and he just vents out his frustrations on us kids at school," Danny said, carefully avoiding certain terms, but, nonetheless, quoting Ross verbatim.
"I don't know about that, man," Tucker said with reservations. "He's pretty brutal expressing his frustrations to us."
Sam kept her mouth shut as her thoughts went racing about inviting the two of them over. To his house. While Dash Baxter was there. There's more to this than he's telling us, I just know it. And I still wanna know what that note was on his locker yesterday was about. Who wants to meet him in the park on Saturday?
…
When they got to Danny's locker, he noticed another note, this time etched into the metal of his locker. Will midnight be ok? Al 1 – yes, 2 - no
"Wow," whispered Sam, "he's pretty good with magic."
"Oh, that's not even half of what he can do, Sam," Danny retorted with a chuckle. "So, what's the 1 and 2 for," Danny looked at the note, still lost in thought about the quarterback coming over tonight, and worrying about his parents, his friends, Jazz, and Al all being in the same room as Baxter.
"Dude, really? Tap once for yes, twice for no. Only question, how is he going to know the answer?" Tucker pondered.
"Well, I'll tap once," Danny said, pulling himself to the present situation. Doing the motion, the letters rearranged "Thanks." And with that, the letters disappeared from the locker, leaving no trace of being etched there.
…
Al was in the basement of his home in Massachusetts when the spell he had placed on Danny's locker returned to him. Yes, it read on the floor.
"Cool. Just in case," he looked at the writing of the spell, "did you charm anything in the locker?"
History book.
"Of course you would… Alright, if anything happens let me know. Also, if I need to contact him, did you at least charm something he keeps on his person?"
Thermos.
"So, you're not a complete bust of a charming spell, huh?" Al said playfully to the black magic writing on the floor. "Another fifteen minutes and this portal should be fully deconstructed."
Al was very adept at using magic now. He enchanted or charmed something almost every day, just to make his day run a little bit smoother. Typically, it was a pot with food, but sometimes it would be clothes to fold themselves, or a pen at school so if he were astral projecting part of his conscience somewhere else to locate any sign of his parents, he wouldn't 'miss out' on class notes. On this occasion, he had found Agatha's book, charmed it so that it was levitating in front of him, and turning pages as he was done skimming them for teleportation spell. He figured he'd go with something simpler rather than trying to slow time. He thought that some Time Lord would be busting in his place with the TARDIS if he messed with time.
He had spent forty-five minutes searching the book, with nary a result. Until he looked at the next to last page of the book. Material displacement: November 23, I located a demon that knew the secrets of moving his body from one point to another simply by envisioning the place of which he desired to be located. I fought and captured the demon, inquiring of such a miraculous work. I finally convinced the demon (although, after which, I kill him) to teach me how, teaching me the following spell. This spell, he warned prior to his death, was not for the faint of heart. It took considerable amounts of energy and concentration. I fashioned this spell to function as a portal between two points on our plane of existence as referenced by Uncle Melvin Heth, but in times of extreme measures, can be used a transplanar jump across any distance: Salire localia. Distance must be made in kilometers for the spell to function properly. Also, I personally suggest that one should rest before using this spell if one has expended large amounts of magic in the past twenty-four hours. A minimum of three hours should be sufficient to replicate the spell. Cade Macen
"Great, more waiting," Al chuckled, "but at least I'll get to be there quicker. I'll have to send Danny a note." He spent the last fifteen minutes amusing himself in various ways: he thought of ways to get Dash in the locker room, or kissing Sam, or even getting Danny to explain how he got the ghost powers… Then he realized, I hate being empathic, it does so spoil having emotions…
…
Football practice:
Man, I'm actually kind of excited to spend the night at Fenton's again. He's actually not that bad of a kid. His parents are absolutely bonkers, but he's got a normal family. He's even harsh on his older sister, which is funny. She's cute but his embarrassment was kinda cute, too. I wish I had a normal family. I hate that dad drinks all the time now. Maybe if he hadn't of lost his job three years ago, dad wouldn't have started drinking. He did get a new job, but it's not the same, he actually liked that job at the plant. He was so happy when I was younger. He's always pushing me to be better. I'm good at football, but my grades suck! Mom knows I'm doing my best, but it's just not enough for dad apparently. I'll never be smart enough to get a good job. I want to play football for Green Bay, but Dad wants me to 'actually do something with my life'. Mom'll be happy with that. She always tells me to follow my dreams, but dad he just —
Dash wasn't paying attention. Kwan tackled him a bit too hard.
"Dude, are you alright?" Kwan called out.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, man."
"Dash, where is your head?"
"Sorry, thinking about something else."
"What's on your mind, dude?" Kwan asked as they went back to the locker room, now that practice was over.
"Nothin much," Dash said, "just thinking that project that I've got to work on with Fenton. That and my dad started again last night."
"Dude, I'm sorry about your dad. He's so rough on you. Yeah, but you don't have to work on that project with Foley. He's more a geek than Fenton'll ever dream. Dude, I don't even know half of what he was talking about last night at the library. Speaking of which, where you and Fenton working on yours?" Kwan said as they were changing out of their gear.
They walked over to the shower and started to wash off all the dirt, mud, grime, and sweat that covered their bodies.
"He asked if we could meet out at the Nasty Burger. So we were there until close," Dash lied to his friend. He wasn't about to tell his friend that he spent the night at Fenton's. "Although, tonight I'm going over to his house to finish up the final touches to the project report," Dash continued feigning the dread he didn't have.
Dash looked at his watch. 1945, it read.
…
Dash looked up as his mom picked him up in the family convertible. He saw Phantom. His heart skipped a beat looking at his hero.
"Dash, sweetie, what's making you smile?" his mother asked.
"Oh, it's Danny Phantom. He's flying above us," he said with a smile.
"It's nice to see you smile, dear."
"I know, mom. It's great to know that there's someone like Phantom to protect the town from all the crazy happenings," Dash said as his smile grew bigger. "Hey, Phantom!"
Danny looked down. DASH?! he thought, as he nearly flew into a light pole from looking at the boy in the car with his mother. "Hello, citizen!" he replied, waving down to the blonde, trying to sound like a superhero.
"The name's Baxter! Dash Baxter!" Dash called out as his hero recognized him.
Yeah, I know, Dash, I know. "Have a good night, Dash Baxter!" Phantom yelled out as he flew faster and disappeared out of sight (so Dash couldn't find out where Phantom lives).
Dash slightly squealed as his hero spoke his name. His mother looked over at her son, with a smile beaming from her face. "Now dear, are you sure you don't want to stay the night at Fenton's? I mean, you're always talking about the boy. Do you like him? He seems nice, even if his parents are bit off their rockers."
"No, mom, I don't like him," he somewhat growled at her, "I like someone else."
"Now dear, heroes are good to emulate, but they have reasons to wear that mask," his mom spoke lovingly.
"Mom, I'm not gay," Dash spoke flatly.
"Sure you're not, Dash, honey. You know I love you, right, Dash-y?"
Dash didn't know how to take this comment from his mother. He'd never felt any attraction to guys, but there was something about Phantom that he loved. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Sure, he dated Paulina for a bit, but she was the cheerleader captain and he was the quarterback, so it was expected, but even then, he wasn't even attracted to her.
He really didn't want to date anyone, truth be told. He was afraid of what his father would do or say to the girl or how she would react to finding his father was a drunk. But a guy…
…
The night passes with nary a sound. The Box Ghost was causing havoc down at the local UPS store, so Danny took care of that quickly that and seeing Dash going to his house. He had come back around 2000, just in time to meet Tucker and Sam at the front door. Dinner was being made, Maddie had made sure that Dash, Sam, and Tucker all had plates of food. So, she made sloppy joes, French fries, corn, and a salad mixing for Sam. Sam and Tucker were complaining about their partners, as usual, and then Jazz chimed in with a story from when she had Tolsoyski.
"I understand, guys, but having to work with Biff Bigham. And he was on the intelligence level of Dash. He was the defensive tackle for the football team when I was in that class. He transferred to some school Nebraska."
"Yeah, Jazz, I remember. He had that same look in his eye as Dash does when you're tutoring him," Danny poked at his sister. Just then, his ghost sense went off. Danny felt the thermos rumbling and started glowing black. He looked down at the floor. Inky black letters appeared on the floor. I'll be there shortly. The letters pulled together and then rearranged. Found something interesting in Agatha's book. Another pool. Can I come over? – Al.
"Yes."
Cool. And with the final word, the black pool evaporated without exposing itself to anyone else in the house.
"Yes, what?" Jazz asked, as she looked at Danny confused.
alright, guys just so you know: the names of all my oc's are based on a bird's nomenclature (and if you haven't guessed what type of bird Albert Ross is, I'm thinking it took you a minute or two to get Bert Rand, like Phantom 3). If anyone is actually curious as to the birds I've been basing the names on, I'll gladly tell you :), but if not, then just go on your merry way and continue to enjoy my tale