ch 12 Tender is The Ghost
Turns out, when you skip out on half a day of school, during a ghost crisis, your teachers are going to be pretty unhappy with you. Who'd've thought, right? Mrs Smith had given him one of her famous hallway yelling fits, which everyone on the second floor could hear. Coach Tetslaf swung between admonishment and listing off the benefits of joining the highschool track team. And, of course, Mr Lancer couldn't miss an opportunity to drag Danny into his office for a lecture. All in all, Friday left a faint ringing in Danny's ears and extra homework assignments in lieu of detention.
So, like any average teenager in Danny's shoes, he was currently spending his Saturday afternoon at the local internet cafe with his friends, Sam and Tucker. They were all hunched around one computer, taking turns playing flash games and laughing at random videos. Sam, however, was quickly growing stern as time passed.
"Danny, you really need to get started on those essays. I already promised to help you." She stated, frowning at the boy on her far left.
"Ah, don't worry Sam, I'm sure I'll burn that bridge when I get to it." Said teen replied, eyes never leaving the screen.
"Ha ha." Sam said flatly. "Look, if you wait 'til tomorrow, you're not going to have any time to finish it all."
"Sure I will." Danny reassured, fingers mashing different keys as his pixel character dodged tiny enemies. "I always wait until the last minute, and I always manage to get things done."
"Not lately." Sam admonished. "You're grades are going down, Danny. Is there something you're not telling us? Are you not getting enough sleep?"
"Are there other ghosties bugging you that we don't know about?" Tucker put in. Danny had filled them both in on the wolf attack, keeping the small bit about revealing himself to a crowd of strangers out of it, of course.
Danny groaned aloud, both at his character on the computer dying, and his friends' worry. He knew that it was wrong to keep them in the dark about nearly everything. They were willing to do anything to help him out, and it was unfair to make them worry. But how was he supposed to explain the fact that he never had time to do his school work because he was too busy hanging out with his old dead body in the Ghost Zone. The same old body that his friends believed was nothing more than bones buried in the city dump. Not to mention the new training regime Vlad had him on now. The guy had seemed all too pleased with himself over the phone Friday night as he explained to a confused Danny just what he expected the boy to perfect and practice. Danny wasn't looking forward to this new schedule. He'd barely stayed awake through school, even with adults yelling at him. Inside, Danny was growing concerned. He hadn't actually felt tired since his injuries at Vlad's mansion, and the fatigue was only growing.
As his mind pondered this new development, a yawn overcame him. Tucker and Sam watched on, frowning. No wonder they thought he was exhausted.
He looked over at them with a smile, waving off their concern as he spoke.
"Come on, guys. It's nothing, I'm fine. Lack of sleep isn't anything new. We'll go over to my place in an hour and get started on all our homework, alright?"
"You said that two hours ago." Sam muttered.
The loud beat of drums caused all three kids to jump slightly in surprise. Their heads turned in unison toward a neighboring computer, occupied by a younger boy. He was paying no mind to the surrounding people who frowned at him in annoyance. The computer's speakers continued to blast out the song, a guitar and voice quickly joining the drum beats.
"Geeze, could you turn that down?" Danny shouted over the music, hands covering his ears against the over-loud onslaught.
"Hey!" Danny called out again when the boy didn't respond. He made to stand up, intent on shutting off the speakers himself, only to be halted by Sam grabbing his arm.
"Hang on, this is pretty good." The gothic girl said.
"Yeah." Tucker agreed, smiling at the source of the new song. He raised his voice, getting the kid's attention. "Hey, who's singing that?"
"Ember!" The boy yelled back. "She released this single yesterday! It's already at the top of the charts! She's amazing!"
Tucker immediately began typing furiously on their keyboard, and the three teens watched as images of a young woman popped onto the screen.
"Woah, cool effects." Tucker said, pointing at the woman's hair, which rose into the air in a blue ploom of flame.
"Uh, okay guys." Danny said. "Let's go to my house now. I'd rather not get permanently deafened."
"Huh?" Sam replied. "Oh, sure, sure. We can leave."
The friends rose and Danny led the way out of the building. Their progress was slow, as Sam and Tucker kept pausing and looking back toward the still-blasting speakers.
As soon as they entered Danny's bedroom, Tucker and Sam practically ran to his computer, booting it up and searching for the new song. Danny watched in confusion as they turned up his speakers and loaded the music. The drum beat started, and both teenagers grinned widely at the screen. As the voice rang out in melody, they jumped up and began dancing around the room.
"C'mon, Danny!" Sam said, waving for him to join them.
Jumping around their rooms to loud music was definitely something all three did often. But there was something very strange about this particular occasion, and Danny could only stand back and stare at his friends and the music pumping out of his computer. Sure, it was a good song, and the woman had a pretty voice, but Danny just couldn't get the sudden hype. That kid had said she released the song yesterday? How could a song that had only been out one day reach the top of the music charts? Was that even possible?
Danny pushed all these questions out of his mind, chalking it up to the media as usual, and scowled at his friends.
"Guys, hey guys! Turn that off; we have work to do, remember?" He stated loudly.
'Wow, I feel like Sam.' Danny thought to himself as he shrugged off his backpack. His friends gave him confused looks as they turned off the music and joined him on his bed.
The next hours were spent in frustration, agitation, and procrastination as the three friends proceeded to get nearly nothing done. Danny's tired mind kept drifting off toward thoughts of his powers and the Ghost Zone, and Sam and Tucker couldn't go ten seconds without asking eachother pointless questions about the new singer, Ember.
All in all, Danny felt like something was incredibly off about his friends as he watched them walk down the sidewalk toward their homes, the sun dipping behind tall buildings, afternoon shadows expanding. A yawn forced its way out of Danny's mouth, and the teen wondered idly how someone could yawn without breathing.
He shrugged at his mental wonderings, closing the front door and joining his family at the table for dinner. As he sat down in his chair, Danny found himself eyeing the food as it was passed around. His stomach growled loudly, and Danny ended up piling enough food onto his plate to rival his father.
"My, Danny," Maddie commented with widened eyes. "You sure are hungry tonight, huh?"
Danny grunted around a mouthful of food in response, barely raising his eyes from his plate.
"Well, I'm glad." His mother smiled. "I was starting to think you were coming down with something."
Dinner was over far too soon for Danny, who looked down at the now empty bowls of food, hunger still scraping at his insides. He was about to stand up and look for more when his mother reached down and pulled up two metal objects, placing them with loud clunks in front of her children.
"Uh, Mom," Jazz spoke uncertainly, leaning back in her seat. "What are these?"
"They're upgraded versions of the Fenton Thermos!" Jack exclaimed proudly, rising from his seat.
"We decided it would be best to make one for each of us." Maddie continued. "What with the recent ghost sightings, your father and I feel these will help keep you better protected."
She stood as well, picking up Jazz's new thermos and pointing to the two small buttons on one side.
"You just turn it on by pressing this, and as long as it's been powered up it should work just fine. You uncap the lid and point it at any spectre near you. Then you just press the big green button and it'll suck them in like a vacuum."
"And then you can bring them to us!" Jack added with a grin.
"Uh, thanks but no thanks." Jazz said with a frown, pushing her chair back.
"You'll carry this around with you, young lady." Maddie commanded firmly. "It's for your own safety."
She pushed the object into the girl's reluctant hands, and Jazz walked off with a huff, heading for her room.
"Danny," Maddie said, turning her gaze on her son. "Do you have any questions?"
"Uh, no." Danny answered, looking at his own thermos with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. He wasn't sure if it would even work properly for him. Ah well, all he had to do was carry it around. He wouldn't actually have to use it.
With that thought in mind, Danny grabbed up the metal cylinder, tucking it under his arm as he proceeded to root around in the kitchen cabinets, locating a bag of chips and tearing into them.
"Ah, teenagers," Jack commented with a tone of nostalgia. "They eat you out of house and home. Speaking of, do we still have any fudge-cicles?"
This question was directed at Maddie, who was already halfway down to the lab.
"Yep!" She called back up, and her husband whooped loudly, hands raised in joy as he raced to the refrigerator.
Danny left the kitchen, thermos and snack in his arms as he headed to his room. He wanted to continue practicing his powers, but he couldn't very well enter the Ghost Zone with his parents downstairs. He really wanted to get to Vlad's level in terms of abilities. That, and he really needed the energy boost that the ghostly realm offered. He was so tired! And the food seemed to do nothing for him, either.
His bed offered no solace, and Danny spent most of the night rolling around, trying to get comfortable. He was so very tired, but he just couldn't seem to get to sleep! He felt constricted by the very air, and tossed his blankets to the floor in frustration. He longed for the lightness of the Ghost Zone, and the warmth of his old body.
Eventually he drifted off, and awoke what seemed like moments later. The suddenness of the bright sun had Danny jolting awake, and he fell the short distance back onto his bed with a thump. He rolled reluctantly onto his feet, a groan creaking its way up his throat as he rubbed at his eyes, his vision bleary as he stumbled toward his closet.
He spent a few moments fumbling through his shirts before it clicked home in his brain to check the time. Danny felt about in his jeans pocket for his new phone, feeling a little better at the reminder of his cool gift. The cellphone conveyed that it was now almost nine in the morning, on Sunday.
'Well, at least that means no school today.' Danny thought as he shoved the device back into his pocket, closing his closet door.
He still needed to get his homework finished, however, and that realisation had several more whines and groans leaving Danny and he flopped face-first back down onto his bed. Why did he feel so crappy? Was he getting sick? Could ghosts get sick? Who knew. Maybe Vlad knew. Vlad probably knew.
This string of increasingly blurry thoughts streamed through Danny's fogged brain as he continued to smush his face down into the mattress, attempting to rub away the tired. Despite the fact that Vlad most likely had the answer to Danny's question, the teen was reluctant to give the man a call.
For one, it was too soon to be calling with yet another crisis. Vlad was going to think he was pathetic, or stupid. If he didn't already, that is. That was another thing; Danny just knew the guy wouldn't miss an opportunity to make him feel foolish. Danny didn't think he had the patience to withstand the man's brand of snark just yet.
No, he'd be fine. He'd just stay in his room and half-ass his way through homework and then he'd sleep and sleep and sleep until Monday. Yeah. That sounded like a plan.
Swirls of color inked across Danny's fading vision, flitting in and out. A dulled buzzing tingled at his fingers and along his limbs as Danny's head swung slowly, tracking the movement of the colors, which grew distant. No. He wanted to get closer. To see them better. They swam within the blackness, languid and then quick, darting away from his grasp, every time he drew near to them.
His progress was slow, and the small swirling colors seemed to know this, lingering just beyond his reach in an almost taunting way. It made him frustrated, angry, and hungry. Mostly that last one. If only he could just reach out and touch one. Catch one, just one. Maybe they'd know what to do about this hunger. Have answers for him.
He stretched a hand toward one of the colors, and it swirled inches from his fingers. He grit his teeth in annoyance.
Suddenly, a loud crash caused Danny and the colors to cease their game. The murky blackness shifted, and shapes came into focus around Danny as a voice cried out, ringing overly loud in his head.
"Let go of my son!"
Danny cupped his ears, the dark fog lifting completely now. He was in his room. Looking down, Danny could make out his mother, standing at the doorway, aiming something up in his direction. It glowed green at the tip, its shiny metal barrel resting against Maddie's shoulder.
The memory of a similar, though much larger, weapon filled Danny's mind. Panic entered the teen's brain as he thought he caught the familiar whistling sound again. A rushing sensation was all the warning Danny had that he was dropping, returning to full wakefulness as he hit the floor, his elbows and knees stinging sharply.
"Danny!" Maddie called again, looking across the room at him with wide eyes. She then turned her gaze up, and her expression hardened.
Danny followed her line of sight, dazed and completely confused, and saw to his astonishment that the colors weren't figments of his dream. Rather, they appeared to be ghosts of some sort. Small and shapeless, swirling quickly in circles around one another along a corner of his ceiling.
Danny forgot all about his mother and any pain, his mouth dropping open as he watched the small ghosts. His eyes tracked their every movement; the way they turned and curled around themselves. They were scared. He could tell. And it made him hungry.
He began rising to his feet, intent on lifting from the ground once more to resume his hunt, but a blasting echo rocked the entire room, sending Danny back to the floor.
"Stay down, Danny!" His mother cried out through the dust before firing again, hitting the same spot on Danny's wall.
Danny could feel it when the small ghosts were obliterated. He felt the sudden absence of...something. Something was lost, and Danny felt cheated. He rose onto his hands and knees and looked up once more. A lightly charred section of ceiling was all that met him. No colors. No swirling, taunting spirits. Nothing.
Danny's expression darkened, and he turned his gaze to settle on the source of the intrusion. The large gun was now smoking slightly, a green haze rising and dissipating in the air. Maddie lowered it, her eyes sweeping along Danny's ceiling before turning to look down at her son. Her expression blanked out when she was met with a deep scowl. Danny looked quite...unlike Danny, and more like some kind of animal as he sat hunched forward, glaring from around his bed at her.
"Danny?" Maddie spoke, her voice uncertain. "Sweetie, are you hurt?"
At the worried tone, Danny suddenly snapped back to himself. He was crouching on the floor like he was about to pounce forward or something. What had he been doing? He was hunting something, that he was sure of. But what? Those ghosts? His mom?
Danny stumbled to his feet, and Maddie walked fully into the room, dropping the gun onto his bed before gripping Danny's face in her hands. She looked into his eyes, not saying or doing anything, and Danny found himself looking away. He was glad when she let go quickly after, taking a small step back.
"Are you alright?" She asked, her voice hushed in the silence.
"Yeah, Mom, I'm fine." Danny answered, grateful that his voice didn't waver. His eyes drifted to the bed, first to look at the gun, then at the papers and books strewn messily across his blanket. Homework. Right. The plan.
'I must've fallen asleep.' Danny figured as he moved to sit down on his bed, picking up papers and trying to organise them.
Maddie remained quiet, standing and watching Danny for several moments. The teen tried not to let it get to him, continuing to organise his school work in silence. Inside he wondered where those ghosts had come from, and why they'd been floating around in his room, of all places. He supposed he couldn't really find out now. His mother had gone and killed them. A frown developed on Danny's otherwise unreadable features as he kept his eyes downward, on the papers in his hands.
Finally, he heard his mother shift, and Maddie picked up the gun, slinging it onto her shoulder with ease. She walked slowly toward the door, turning back to look at her son one last time.
"Goodnight, Danny. Don't stay up too late."
"Alright, Mom." Danny answered.
The quiet click of his door closing had Danny dropping the papers down onto his lap with a sigh. How was he supposed to get all of this junk finished when he couldn't even think straight? His head hurt, he was confused and exhausted, and still so friggen' hungry! Those ghosts could've helped him, he just felt it. They had the answer, somehow.
The sounds of his parents walking around the house, calling to one another frequently as they searched for more unwelcome spectres, was all Danny could focus on as he lay on his stomach, papers crinkling underneath him, his head propped up on one hand. He really wasn't looking forward to going to school tomorrow.
Danny felt as if he'd stepped inside one of Sam's indie goth films, or a band poster, as he walked down the front hall of Casper High. He'd ended up sleeping in late, with Jazz nearly pounding his door down, and had to run the entire way there. He'd had to skip breakfast as a result, something he was deeply regretting. His stomach roiled within him, begging for something to eat. On top of it all, he felt like he hadn't slept at all.
Blue and black covered nearly every inch of the school hallway, including the students. Danny wondered if he was somehow still dreaming as he watched the strangely dressed teenagers chatting and moving about. He finally looked closely at one of the posters taped to the wall. Ember. Her face, her name; they were all over.
'Seriously?' Danny thought. 'Is she really that great?'
"Hey, Danny!"
The boy looked toward the voice, and spotted Sam and Tucker, smiling at him from their lockers, dressed head to toe in Ember paraphernalia. Sam wore a black Ember dress and large flame earrings. Even her makeup mirrored the pop idol's. And Tucker wasn't much better, the only non-Ember clothing of his being the usual red beret. He seemed to have also let Sam put eyeliner on him, something that definitely didn't happen often.
"Uh, are you guys feeling alright?" Danny asked as he absently twirled the combination lock to his locker.
"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Sam answered, pulling out her textbooks.
"Hell yeah!" Tucker added enthusiastically. "We can't wait for the free Ember promo. It's gonna be sweet!"
"Ember promo?" Danny asked. Was he supposed to even know what that was? "Uh, when is that?"
Both friends glanced at him with weird expressions before Tucker smiled once more, closing his locker with a slam.
"Today, duh. Around noon."
"Wait, what?" Danny said, feeling like he was the only one out of the loop. And judging from the sights around him, he was.
"Noon as in, skip out on school noon?" he asked.
His friends were now looking at him like he was the one acting strange, shrugging their shoulders nonchalantly.
"Yeah, why not?" Sam said. "It's not like we've never done it before."
"Aren't you guys forgetting something?" Danny replied, blindly shoving random textbooks into his locker. "I'm in hot water as it is. I can't skip classes on top of all this."
"Sure you can." Tucker smiled. "We'll just do some extra credit thing to make up for it."
The bell rang out, signalling the fact that every student in Casper High was simultaneously late for first period. The voices all halted, and soon it was like an angry bee hive, with teens running left and right, dodging each other and calling out meeting points to friends for later. It appeared that everyone planned on going to the promo.
"Hey, we'll meet at our lockers, okay?" Tucker yelled, he and Sam racing toward their own classes.
Danny was quick to start sprinting as well, getting shoved three times before he finally made it the short distance to Lancer's classroom. Once in the doorway, he had only a moment to sigh in relief before he was pushed to the ground for the fourth time in under five minutes.
Rubbing his sore chin, Danny looked up to see Dash, grinning down at him smugly as he walked toward his desk.
"Jesus, Fenton, it's like knocking over a pole or something." The jock laughed, plopping down in his seat.
Danny stood up, dusting off his jeans. Ah well, he figured, it was only a matter of time before Dash went back to making skinny jokes and pushing him around. As weird as it was having Dash avoid him for a while, it had been a nice reprieve.
Sitting in his own seat, Danny slouched down, his eyes unfocusing before Lancer even began the morning's lecture. If Danny propped up his book, he wondered how long he could get away with laying his head on his desk.
Deciding that it couldn't hurt to try, Danny rifled through his backpack, grabbing out the desired textbook as well as several loose sheets of paper. Danny picked them up from the floor, looking down at them tiredly for an entire minute before it clicked that these were the unfinished pages he never got around to completing. He groaned out loud, stuffing them back into his backpack haphazardly. Maybe Lancer would forget.
"Daniel." The man himself called. "Are you alright?"
"A-okay, Mr Lancer." Danny answered in a monotone, holding up a meager thumbs-up before letting his hand drop back to join the other on his desk.
The man looked at him for a moment, and Danny didn't have the will to decipher whether it was irritation or worry on the teacher's face. Thankfully, Lancer continued with the lesson, turning back to the whiteboard and writing out entire paragraphs. Danny didn't bother to even pretend to copy all of them down in his notebook, still at the bottom of his backpack. Instead, he propped up his book, making sure it could stand on its own, then rested his head on his folded arms, ignoring the annoying jab from his elbows digging into the hard desktop.
Everything went murky almost as soon as Danny closed his eyes. He didn't know how much time passed before a hand was gripping his shoulder, shaking him out of sleep. He swatted at the offending hand, cracking his eyes open, the brightness of the classroom lights blinding him. He recognised the silhouette of Mr Lancer standing over him, and quickly sat up, rubbing at his eyes.
"Mr Fenton, are you feeling well?" Came the question, and Danny had a hard time coming up with an acceptable answer.
"Pfff, yeah, fine. I'm fine, Mr Lancer." Was all he could come up with as the teen stretched an arm out, reaching out to lower his book down. His eyes didn't turn to look up at the teacher, instead choosing to stare at the clock on the wall. It took him a moment to be able to read the small black numbers. Nearly time for second period. At least in Biology Sam and Tucker would be there.
"Do you think you should go to the nurse?" Came the voice again, and Danny wanted to swat in Lancer's direction again. Couldn't the guy just go back to teaching and leave him be?
"Nope." Was the one-worded reply he gave.
Silence lingered in the room, but Danny was too busy basking in it to notice the eyes of everyone on him, the awkward way Lancer shifted from foot to foot, trying to decide what to say. Finally, the man just turned and walked slowly back to the front of the room.
The squeak of marker against whiteboard coupled with Lancer's voice lulled Danny back into a haze, and his head slowly tilted downward, shoulders further slumping as he slid down in his chair. By the time the bell rang, he was nearly horizontal, and had to struggle to right himself. Lancer had no words for him as Danny lifted his bag and exited, drifting slowly out into the hallway and heading for Mr Falluca's class further away.
As Danny entered the room, he was greeted with a sight unusual enough to wake him up a bit. Sam and Tucker, who'd arrived before him, sat at their desks, talking animatedly with several neighboring students. In fact, everyone seemed to be amiably chatting with one another, no matter their social standing. This was indeed a very strange sight to witness in Casper High, where cliques and peer groups were the defining factor of each student's young life.
And yet here was the entirety of second period Biology. Geeks, preps and outcasts alike, all conversing with bright eyes and animated gestures. Danny knew right then that he must still be dreaming. He'd wake up either back in his room or in a puddle of drool on his desk.
His friends didn't take notice of him until Danny dropped heavily into his chair, backpack falling off his shoulder to land on the floor. The utter surrealism of the last month since he'd stepped into the portal was finally catching up with him, Danny thought. And now he'd snapped; he'd gone mental and this was all a dream. His thoughts smeared and blurred further as he slid down in his desk, leaning heavily on the right side. Through his muddled wonderings and questioning of reality, Danny could make out only one thing clearly. A name. A name that he was rapidly becoming too familiar with.
It took Falluca several minutes of clapping and raising his voice to get the students to quiet and face the front of the classroom. With a collective groan of disappointment, silence finally reigned. Mr Falluca cleared his throat with an annoyed huff and began the lecture, scribbling in his near-unintelligible handwriting. Once again, Danny neglected to take notes, instead letting the words before him blur along with the garble the man was speaking. Danny didn't think he'd even brought along his Biology textbook, and hoped there wouldn't be any required reading.
Luckily for Danny, Falluca either didn't notice or care that he was gradually sagging down in his chair, eyes unfocused and drooping closed. The bell ringing much later startled Danny enough that he sent his right knee cracking upward into his desk.
"Danny, you okay?" Tucker said, standing beside him, backpack slung over one shoulder.
"Yeah, fine." Danny mumbled, rubbing at his knee before moving to stand as well. He bent down to grab up his bag, missing the first time. Maybe skipping at twelve wasn't such a bad idea, after all. He could always find a spot to close his eyes while Sam and Tucker did whatever.
His friends' voices buzzed just beyond Danny's hearing as the three headed up the stairs toward third period, Danny shuffling into Mrs Smith's classroom while the other two went to Study Hall, calling out something about lockers at Danny.
Mrs Smith was neither as ignorant as Falluca, nor as hesitant as Lancer. Her shrill, piercing voice as she yelled at Danny to raise his head and pay attention every time he zoned out kept the boy more or less awake through the entire class.
As time passed, Danny found himself focusing on the clock, hanging just over the whiteboard. Soon it would be twelve o'clock, and he would let his friends lead him to wherever they were going, and then he'd find a nice quiet place where he could rest.
The big hand landed on the twelve, and Danny soon realised that he wasn't the only one who'd been observing the time. The entire class was up and running toward the door before the bell even rang. Even Mrs SMith's almighty roar of outrage couldn't stop them, and Danny scrambled to his feet, snatching up his backpack and following after the moving throng.
Through the stampede, Danny eventually reached the ground floor. As elbows and other invasive body parts shoved him this way and that, Danny had to resist the urge to turn intangible and simply pass through them all. His fingers tingled only slightly, but it was enough to warn Danny that he couldn't let himself slip up. He'd already done that twice, his sleepy mind reminded him. If it were even possible, gym class was harder now that Coach Tetslaf was on his back about her beloved track team, and Danny was still half-expecting cops to show up at his house.
Danny spotted Sam and Tucker, pressing against the lockers in an attempt to keep from being swept away. When Danny reached them, all three friends grabbed hold of each other's arms and waded into the sea of people.
'God, how many kids go to this school?' Danny thought in exasperation, looking over his shoulder at the never-ending stream of students.
Once they broke free of the confining front hall, the mass exodus of teenagers spread out, most running to cars and piling in. Cursed to be fourteen, the three friends resigned themselves to the fact that they'd need to walk.
"Ah man!" Tucker complained. "We're gonna get stuck at the back row!"
"Come on." Sam said, she and Tucker breaking into a jog down the sidewalk.
Danny kept pace for all of two minutes before his lowered stamina caused him to stumble to a halt. He looked down at himself in confusion. It wasn't as though he were out of breath or sweating, he was just...drained. He felt like he could just lay down and sleep for weeks. What was happening to him!
"Danny?" Sam called as she and Tucker came back to stand before him.
"Hey, you okay?" Tucker asked, caught between being concerned for his friend and impatient over their lack of motion.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Danny tried to reassure them. "Can we just, y'know, walk the rest of the way?"
Both friends groaned at this, but slowed their steps to match Danny's as the trek continued.
In his foggy mind, Danny wondered for the hundredth time just what it was that was making everyone go crazy over Ember.
"So, uh, where'd you guys hear about this new Ember promo, anyway?" Danny found himself asking, his voice coming out more dream-like than curious.
"At her website." Tucker answered, "I can't believe you didn't already know, man. Must've been too swamped with homework, huh?"
"Yeah, something like that." Danny replied, staring down at his feet as they moved along the pavement.
"Seriously, Danny, are you feeling alright?" Sam asked.
"I could ask you the same thing." Danny said back, glancing up briefly before his eyes dropped back down, too heavy to stay raised for long.
"What?" Sam asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Yeah." Tucker put in. "You're the one acting like a zombie."
"And you aren't?" Danny argued, getting frustrated. "You guys didn't even know who this lady was a few days ago, and now everyone's completely obsessed with her."
"Uh, that's because she's awesome." Tucker said, his tone patronising as he raised an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yeah, she's really cool." Sam agreed, smiling. "She's got a kickass look going on, and her song manages to be both pop and dark at the same time. She's really talented!"
"Not to mention she's smokin' hot." Tucker added with a smirk. "Y'know, Sam, if you dyed your hair blue, you'd actually look a lot like her."
"Really?" Sam looked positively excited over this idea, rather than smacking Tucker over the back of his head like she'd normally do. She touched the shaved side of her head thoughtfully.
"I could grow my hair out again and style it up." She said, sharing a grin with Tucker as Danny looked between the two in mounting confusion.
"But you love your hair style." Danny objected.
"Yeah well, Ember's is better." Sam replied.
"There's the stage!" Tucker exclaimed, pointing ahead.
The three kids had reached the park, where several picnic tables had been relocated to make room for the new elevated stage. A large banner hung behind it, solid black with Ember's logo drawn dead centre in electric blue.
Surrounding the empty wooden platform was a growing crowd of people, their arms waving nearly in sync as they shouted the lyrics to Ember's song together.
Tucker whooped as he and Sam rushed forward into the crowd, joining in on the chanting. Danny hung back, eyes drifting from his friends toward the cluster of tables. With a small sigh he walked over to one sitting under the shade of a large tree, and sat down on it. He rested his head on his arms, closing his eyes and letting his worried thoughts drift away.
A sudden chill climbed its way up Danny's spine, and the teen's eyebrows furrowed as his eyes reluctantly cracked open. He lifted his head and squinted in the direction of his friends. A loud bang filled the air, causing Danny to jump in surprise and the crowd of fans to cheer. Smoke billowed from the stage, and in its wake stood three people. Two lanky men and a petite, blue-haired woman.
"Hello, Amity Park!" She shouted, raising a fist high. "Tell me who you love!"
"Ember! Ember! Ember!" The crowd answered enthusiastically.
The chill spread through to Danny's bones, settling in and creating a familiar feeling. It was the same sensation that had hovered constantly over him while in the company of Vlad. Well, that and annoyance.
And then it dawned on Danny. There was a ghost in the area.
Standing up, Danny had to take a moment to right himself as a slight dizziness overtook him briefly. His eyes swept side to side as he scanned the area, searching for the telltale glowing wisp of a ghost. His stomach grumbled at the idea of finding another small spirit, like the ones from his room. He frowned in disappointment when no such entity flitted into his sight.
The man sitting behind the drum set took up his sticks and began the opening beat to Ember's one and only song. The crowd immediately dropped their hands, going silent as they stared up at the band members in worshiping glee.
Danny walked slowly around the small area as Ember began singing, searching around for the ghost he knew was hiding somewhere. He closed his tired eyes, rubbing at them hard in frustration. He then looked up toward the stage, watching the pop star as she strummed wildly on her guitar, voice rising and falling in melody.
'She really is pretty.' Danny thought absently. 'I wonder how she does that with her hair.'
Catching a few lines of her song, Danny had to wonder at the rather depressing lyrics. He could understand people like Sam fawning over Ember, but Tucker? Dash? Danny could even see Paulina near the front, trying to reach out and touch one of Ember's studded boots. It just didn't piece together.
Finally, the song came to a close, and Ember grinned down at the sea of teens beneath her. Her fingers plucked a small tune as she addressed the crowd.
"Now, kids, don't forget to purchase tickets for my show! They'll be sold out soon, and you don't want to miss it!"
The people all shouted in distress at her words, most scrambling for their phones in order to buy tickets then and there.
A car screeched piercingly from behind as it came to a quick stop on the road just a few feet away. Danny turned to look, and inwardly groaned at the sight of Lancer stepping out of the car. The look on his face showed exactly what kind of mood he was in.
'Figures the Principal sent him to find us. In fact, I bet he volunteered.'
The balding man walked up to Danny, who now stood just beyond the crowd. He settled the teen with his seething glare, hands on his hips as he sighed roughly in agitation.
"Mr Fenton, I don't know what's come over you kids today, but it ends now."
Without waiting for a reply, Lancer moved past Danny and faced the rest of the teenagers. He cupped his hands around his mouth, raising his voice in order to be heard over the shouting.
"Students of Casper High. You will report back to the school immediately! You will all be serving detention for the afternoon!"
Ember observed Lancer with a spreading smile. She stepped once more up to the mic, her voice echoing throughout the park.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Lancer, but this is a teen only zone. Senior citizens must vacate the premises!"
Lancer sputtered at the insult, face going outright red in anger. Danny stood behind the man, wondering if the vein in Lancer's neck was going to pop, and also how Ember even knew his name.
"Children!" Lancer shouted, any pretense of patience now gone. "You will get back in your vehicles and drive back to the school right now! Or so help me, all of your parents will be getting a phone call!"
"You know what." Ember spoke smoothly, a frown now decorating her pale face. "You're really bummin' me out, teach. Hey, kids, why don't you show Lancer just how unwelcome he is here."
It was as though her words were a spell, and the teens all turned as one toward Lancer. The teacher had opened his mouth to shout further, but paused as every single pair of eyes settled on him, glaring with hate.
Danny and Lancer both stepped back, growing nervous as the teens began advancing. Suddenly, one tall boy in front pulled a switchblade from his jeans pocket. He flicked it open, holding it up in the air. It glinted in the sunlight as he cried out, diving toward Lancer.
The vice principal stood rooted, arms half-raised in a feeble attempt at blocking the incoming attack. Danny reached forward, grabbing Lancer's shirt in his fists and throwing the both of the to the ground.
The unknown student tripped over them, crashing to the ground. Thankfully, he didn't land on the knife, instead rising slowly to his feet. Danny looked back toward the others, and felt his stomach drop as they only continued forward, some brandishing weapons of their own.
'Are they seriously going to attack Mr Lancer?' Danny thought in bewilderment.
He had no time to search for Sam and Tucker. He had to get Lancer away from the crowd, and fast. A growl caught his attention, and Danny looked up to see the same boy standing over them, knife held high as he prepared to bring it down.
Reacting without thought, Danny reached out a hand to stop the teen. He felt the energy as it left his hand, colliding with the boy's chest and sending him flying backward with a heavy thud. Not waiting around for the others to reach them, Danny stood quickly up, keeping his grip on his teacher as he jumped up into the air. He rose quickly, out of the teens' reaching grasp. Lancer finally seemed to realise what was happening, as he began kicking and screaming, trying to crane his neck in order to see who it was that held him high above the ground.
Danny willed himself to vanish from sight, becoming invisible as he flew quickly away from the park. Thankfully, it didn't look like anyone was following after them, and Danny felt it was safe enough to lower Lancer back down onto a street one block over.
Still invisible, Danny landed on his feet as well, letting go of Lancer and backing quietly away. The man looked around himself with wide eyes, rotating in a slow circle as he attempted to locate his unseen savior.
Danny stood with his teacher for a few short minutes, making sure that no teens came screaming out of nowhere toward him. He was also trying very hard not to panic. There was no way all those people had attempted to hurt Lancer. Despite popular jokes and complaints, an entire crowd rising up to kill their vice principal was just...well, insane. That one with the knife; Danny had shot him. Had he seen? Would he be alright? Was he going to run straight to the police as soon as he snapped back to reality? Danny's head ached with all the what-ifs piling into his head.
When it seemed Lancer would be safe, Danny lifted back into the air, the small current of wind this created causing Lancer to nearly jump out of his skin.
Danny quickly raced back to the park, landing in front of the stage. There was absolutely no one in sight. Every vehicle aside from Lancer's was also missing, so Danny assumed the teens had finally heeded the older man's words.
With this in mind, Danny rose back up again and slowly flew toward the school, searching below for any sign of his friends. His mind was blurring again, mushing his thoughts together, and Danny shook his head so vigorously he nearly crashed into a tree. When he reached the school, he flew around it a few times before it hit him that none of the students had actually returned.
Filled with worry, Danny took off quickly for Tucker's house. His increase in speed had Danny dropping in height, until he was nearly on level with the road. His exhaustion was making a fierce comeback, now that the immediate danger was over. As Danny neared Tucker's street, he began skidding painfully across the sidewalk, unable to keep himself in the air a moment longer. He came to a stop, flat out on his stomach with skinned arms, just outside Tucker's doorstep.
He picked himself up, looking down at the nasty red patches on his arms. He faded back into visibility before ringing the doorbell on Tucker's front door.
He was soon greeted by Tucker's mother, who smiled politely down at him.
"Hello, Danny." She greeted.
"Hey, Mrs Foley." Danny replied, pulling his arms discreetly behind his back. "Are Tucker and Sam here?"
"No." The woman answered. "Tucker called just a minute ago, actually, to let me know he'd be spending the night over at Sam's. Say, why aren't you there, as well?"
Danny and Mrs Foley paused for a moment to mull this question over. Both seemed to reach different conclusions. Danny feared that something was indeed very wrong with his friends, and had a feeling they were on Ember's website buying tickets at that very moment. Mrs Foley went red in the cheeks, fuming loudly as she bid Danny goodnight before shutting the door.
"I can't believe that boy! Thinking he can spend the night alone at a girl's house!" Danny could hear her yelling through the door. "I'm gonna call him up right now!"
Danny didn't wait around to hear Tucker's father try to calm the now irate woman down. He began running toward Sam's house, angry at his weakened state yet grateful that Sam lived nearby.
The Manson home glowed as the sun reflected off its brightly painted walls, the garden flowers blooming one last time before autumn officially arrived.
The last thing Danny wanted to do was have to face Sam's parents, so he walked around to the side of the large house, where the Manson's garage camera couldn't see, and concentrated hard on lifting his body up.
It took much longer than he would willingly admit, but Danny was finally able to rise up high enough to be level with Sam's large bedroom windows. He landed on the small balcony, drooping down and taking a moment to gather himself before knocking on the glass.
He had to knock three different times, each getting louder than the last, before the heavy curtains were pulled aside and Sam stood looking at him on the other side.
Danny gestured wordlessly at the window latch, and Sam quickly opened up and let Danny stumble into her room. She looked at him in surprise as he went to sit on her bed, in need of a short rest.
"Danny, how'd you get all the way up to my balcony?" She asked.
"I can fly, remember?" Danny answered lowly as he flopped back onto her bed, closing his tired eyes.
The sound of fingers on a keyboard told Danny that Tucker was indeed in the room as well, almost certainly purchasing the three of them tickets to Ember's concert.
"Danny," Sam's voice lowered into an admonishing tone. "What if someone had seen you?"
Danny didn't want to tell her the truth; that he honestly hadn't thought of that. His thoughts were just so muddled and skewed.
Sam scoffed at Danny's obvious lack of forethought. She walked over to stand behind Tucker, her tone going bright once more.
"So, you get the tickets?" She asked, hunching over the back of the chair.
"You know it!" Was Tucker's equally happy reply.
Danny sat up, looking across the dark room at his two best friends. He took a moment to watch them as they surfed through the Ember website, looking over merchandise and glancing at the chatrooms.
"Gee, guys," Danny spoke, sarcasm coating his voice as he glared at them. "It's as if you didn't almost watch our English teacher get stabbed ten minutes ago."
Both teens looked at him, wearing twin expressions of confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked, standing straight. "Who almost got stabbed?"
"Lancer!" Danny exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "We went to that stupid promo thing, Lancer showed, and then everyone just went...went crazy! And some kid pulled a knife on Lancer. I had to fly him outta there!"
"Woah, Lancer saw you flying?" Tucker asked, turning in the chair to fully face his friend.
"No, I went invisible." Danny replied, still frowning heavily. "You guys seriously didn't see all of that?"
"No, Danny." Sam answered, shaking her head. "We went to the promo, you left, and then me and Tucker came here. By the way, you could've told us before you ditched."
Now Sam was crossing her arms and frowning back at Danny, as though he were in the wrong. This was making no sense. Danny's arms shot into the air, waving slightly as his voice raised in exasperation.
"Have you guys just completely lost your minds!?" He yelled.
"I could ask you the same thing." Sam replied. "And could you not yell? We're right here."
Maybe he was going crazy, Danny considered. He sure felt like it. The boy let out a long groan, flopping backwards onto Sam's bed once more.
Danny moaned in pathetic misery as he stared down at the three empty bags of chips he'd devoured. His dad would be angry if he found out Danny'd eaten all his midnight snacks. The teen stuffed them down into the trash bin before walking sullenly toward his room. He'd eaten so much during dinner, then went back for those chip bags, and he was still hungry. In fact, all that food had made Danny feel a bit nauseous, yet the hunger and weakness stayed.
'What's wrong with me?' Danny thought, finally giving in to the fact that there was definitely something bad happening to him.
Locking his bedroom door, as he always did now, Danny picked up his jeans from the floor, rooting through the pockets in search of his cellphone. Whether he liked it or not, Vlad was the only one he could think to ask about this problem.
It rang two times before the calm, smooth voice of Vlad answered, sending Danny's mood dropping further. He didn't give the man time to say more than a simple hello, wanting to cut to the chase and avoid as many quips at his expense as possible.
"Hi, Mr Masters. Look, there's an...uh, issue, I need to talk to you about."
He couldn't tell whether it was a laugh or a sigh that answered him.
"Look, I'm tired, I'm starving, and I'm in no mood for anything other than a straight answer." Danny continued quickly, sitting down on his bed.
This seemed to give Vlad pause, and silence lingered from his end of the phone.
"Hmm. Starving, you say? Tell me when this started." Vlad spoke finally, and Danny was relieved to hear no hint of sarcasm or mocking in his voice.
"Um, it was over the weekend, I think. I don't know, it feels like someone crammed cotton into my head. I get enough sleep, I think. I thought gh- um." Danny lowered his voice, casting a glance toward his bedroom door. "People like us didn't need to eat or anything."
"Oh, we do require sustenance, Daniel. Everything that uses energy does, and ghosts are no exception." Vlad answered.
"Then why didn't you tell me this before?" Danny questioned, irritated. "And why doesn't anything seem to be working? I've been eating more than my dad, and I feel like I'm withering away!"
A long sigh issued from the phone, and Vlad's voice grew quiet and grim, as though he were speaking more to himself than Danny.
"Probably should have talked about this before. It's unusual for ghosts to need to feed this soon, especially ones as young as Daniel."
"Uh, Vlad?" Danny interrupted. "What are you not telling me?"
"Listen, Daniel. All ghosts must feed in order to keep their forms and abilities. When you use your powers, no matter how small, you are using energy. This energy must be replenished at some point, or a ghost will grow weak, and eventually begin to fade. Thankfully, you called me before it's gotten that urgent."
"Well then, how much do I need to eat?" Danny asked, envisioning a truckload of food with a wave of nausea. He didn't know how much more he could shovel down, to be honest.
"No no, Daniel." Vlad said. "Ghosts do not need to eat human food. It will do nothing for you. What you need is something quite different."
"Which is?" Danny spoke, flopping back on his bed. He lay a hand over his tired eyes, wanting Vlad to answer him quickly so he could find the solution and get rid this horrible feeling.
"That ghost that chased you before. It was hunting you, yes? You knew this. Do you know why it is that a ghost would try to hunt and eat another?"
"I don't know." Danny groaned out, his mind churning in slow circles. "'Cause it was a wolf, and that's what wolves do?"
"No, Daniel." Vlad answered, frustration lacing into his own voice. "It is because he needed to feed. Even lesser ghosts must find sustenance, especially when they're outside the Ghost Zone. There is no ambient ectoplasm in the human world to draw from."
"And so..." Danny blinked up at his ceiling, trying to think clearly through the mental fog. "Even ghosts like you an' me need to eat, so we can be stable?"
"Yes, Daniel." Vlad answered. "I can tell you're already feeling the effects of your hunger. It's only going to get worse, so I suggest you find yourself a small spirit soon. I'd hate to have to come all the way over there to help you, again."
Danny rolled his eyes at the obvious jab, before his heavy lids closed again, and his mind began drifting once more.
"-you listening to me? Daniel!"
Danny's eyes flew open, and his now empty right hand felt around for the phone. It lay beside his head, Vlad's voice coming out of it in an increasingly cross tone.
"What?" Danny asked in monotone, pushing the phone closer to his face.
"Did you hear what I told you to do?" Vlad said, speaking slowly and firmly. "You need to find another ghost. A small, weak one will be best for now. Don't try to go after anything strong enough to have a solid form. You'll only get yourself eaten, instead. Do you hear me?"
"Why do I need a small ghost?" Danny asked, images of the tiny, colorful wisps from his room floating about in his mind. Maybe Vlad was right; he had wanted to catch those things.
"Daniel." Vlad's voice came again, and Danny could hear the sounds of shuffling and pacing from his end. "I'm going to need to come over there, aren't I?"
"No, no." Danny countered, waving a hand lazily in the air. "Just tell me what to do. I can find a small ghost. They're popping up more now."
"You're going to have to eat whatever you catch, Daniel, so make sure it isn't too strong for you. You can barely use your powers as it is, and now with-"
"Woah, what!" Danny sat up, his head swimming slightly. But Vlad's words were enough to shake Danny back to reality.
"I gotta eat a ghost?" He asked, his voice rising.
"Yes, Daniel." Vlad sighed. "That is what I said minutes ago. You need to listen carefully-"
"I can't just grab a ghost and eat it!" Danny protested.
"Well you're going to have to." Vlad replied pointedly. "Unless you want to dissolve into a puddle of ectoplasm."
"But..." Danny could find no other arguments to voice. It made sense, really. Ghosts would need to consume ectoplasm to survive, and ectoplasm was what ghosts were made of. Still, Danny wasn't sure if he had it in him to actually eat another ghost.
"Daniel?" Vlad's voice broke the teen's line of thought, and Danny held the phone back up to his ear.
"Thanks, Vlad." he said absently. "I gotta go."
With that, the boy ended his call, tossing the phone aside onto his bed and standing. He paced around in his room, shaking off the ever-present exhaustion and trying to think up a plan. He needed ectoplasm, something found in ghosts and the Ghost Zone. With his parents in the lab, perfecting their new table, he couldn't very well enter the portal.
'Wait.' Danny thought, an idea sparking. 'Ectoplasm doesn't necessarily have to be in ghosts...'
Congratulating himself on his genius, Danny practically ran out of his room, heading quickly downstairs. All this time, the solution to his hunger had been right under his nose!
Inside the lab, Danny looked on at the predictable sight of his parents, standing around the examination table. What was not so predictable was the semi-translucent body held underneath glowing straps.
The lunch lady shifted in her restraints, her wide eyes moving about the room in panic. Her twitching halted when Danny fully entered the room, and she attempted to crane her neck up to see him. Danny quickly moved out of her line of sight, catching the attention of his parents.
"Danny!" Jack greeted. "The table's finally finished! After these last few sleepless nights, it's finally functioning correctly."
"Uh, yeah, Dad." Danny replied, glancing quickly to his left, where the small storage cabinet sat. It housed all the samples his parents had collected over the years. Not many, but enough to fill the tall, refrigerated space.
With his parents distracted, Danny wondered how easy it would be to simply slip a hand inside and make off with a sample. Just one. There were no ghost detection devices set up in the lab. All the weapons and test subjects would set them off, his mother had informed him long ago.
The situation was ideal, and yet Danny found himself lingering, standing idle in his spot against the wall. He looked on as his mother drew green ectoplasm from the elderly woman with a needle, placing it into a beaker for examination.
His eyes moved over the restraints, glowing brightly. He figured it was why the ghost didn't simply faze through them and escape. The thought of being trapped so terribly had a chill running along Danny's arms, and he wanted to return to his room as soon as possible.
Inching toward the cabinet, Danny rested his back against its cool metal. His eyes moved quickly between his parents' bent forms. They spoke lowly among each other, paying their son no mind.
Danny moved his arms behind his back, concentrating on his right hand. It passed through the doors of the cabinet, and Danny fished around blindly for something to grab. His hand came into contact with a small glass object, and Danny quickly grasped it. He pulled it along with his hand back out of storage, and keeping his behind his back, the teen moved quietly back toward the stairs.
He was thankful for his parents' single-mindedness as he walked quickly back upstairs to his room. In his hands he held a small sealed container of churning green. It could almost be passed for a strangely colored jar of jam, if Danny didn't know otherwise.
He locked his door, jumping onto his bed as curiosity, repulsion and excitement warred inside him. He struggled to open the jar, grunting and changing hands as he spent several seconds trying to open the tightly closed lid. Either it was magnetically sealed, or his father had been the one who closed it.
Finally, with a small suction of air, the lid gave. Feeling like a starving man being given food for the first time, Danny chucked the lid behind him and reached a hand tentatively into the jar. He winced as he scooped up the slimy substance in his fingers.
'Just pretend it's jelly or something.' Danny told himself, bringing the ectoplasm up to his face.
'If Vlad's yanking my chain I'll kill him.' Was Danny's final thought as he shoved the green-coated fingers into his mouth.
His reaction was immediate. Danny gagged and pulled his hand away, shaking the excess slime off as his face scrunched up. It was terrible! The taste was foul, like something long since rotten, and it left a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"I can't believe I listened to him!" Danny yelled, holding the jar out as if it were a biting creature. He searched out the lid, replacing it on the jar before tucking it underneath his bed. He'd return it later.
For now, all the tired teen wanted to do was go to sleep. The black sky outside reminded Danny that he was no closer to solving this problem, and with each day it only grew worse.
Groaning aloud in misery. Danny pulled the blankets over his head and attempted to get comfortable.
