Danny opened his eyes slowly. He twitched his fingers involuntarily. He groaned as he lifted his head. He was lying on his front with his head bent painfully to one side. He had a terrible crick in his neck. He tried to push himself up off the sheets but black spots danced across his eyes and a sharp pain erupted through his back. He fell back onto the soft bed. He shut his eyes and let the pain fade before he opened them again. He lifted his head slowly and scanned the room. He wasn't at home. He was in a large room with bare stone walls. There was a large red rug on the flagstone floor. He could hear a fire crackling on his other side but his neck ached too much for him to look that way.
He blinked again and put his hand in front of his face and saw it was bare. He pulled a tuft of hair down to eye level and saw his black hair. He was human. It had become a worrying habit that whenever he woke up somewhere he was unfamiliar with, he had to double check which form he was in. He smiled grimly to himself and shut his eyes again as he tried to remember why his back hurt and how he ended up on this bed.
Then his eyes snapped open as he recalled Mariah Dark. The queen of the Ghost Zone. She had told him that she wanted to make him king by marrying him. He and his friends and family had tried to talk her out of it. Sam… the queen had lunged at her with a knife. He'd gotten in the way. He vaguely remembered being dragged to his feet. He faintly remembered snatches of green and the eerie cool silence he'd associated with the Ghost Zone before he blacked out. The queen must have brought him here and he would've reverted back to his human form when he passed out. He tried to get up again. The pain was unbearable and when he was struck by a wave of nausea, he was forced to stop.
He lay on the bed thinking. He had to get away from Mariah Dark. He had to get back home. He had to get his back treated. But first, he needed to change back to Phantom. Being human in the Ghost Zone always made him feel vulnerable. Despite being able to walk through walls as a human in the Ghost Zone, the idea of being less in touch with his ghost powers didn't sit well when he knew there were enemies lurking nearby. He decided to try and charge his hand with ghost energy first. If Mariah had done something to prevent him changing into Phantom, he wanted to be careful and avoid whatever she had done. It would be better if he only endangered a hand rather than his entire being. He placed his hand back in his eye line and built up energy in his fist.
His hand glowed a reassuring green and nothing bad happened. He allowed himself a small smile. She hadn't done something to stop him from using his powers. He allowed the energy to dissipate and he took a breath and willed himself to change. A near blinding flash of light enveloped him as he suddenly felt a chill and became lighter. He nodded to himself painfully and instinctively massaged his aching neck. He floated straight up and slowly tilted himself into a standing position. There was a dull ache in his back in protest but it was manageable.
He slowly turned in a circle and took in the rest of the room. He had been lying on a large four poster king-sized bed. A massive stone fireplace was set in the wall beside a wooden door. The room was simple enough but still showed the wealth behind it. Danny floated experimentally over the bed. He didn't want to venture too far until he was certain he could do so without his back erupting in agony. He nodded to himself again and winced as his neck ached.
He floated over to the door and put a hand on the handle. He tried to pull on the door but the movement aggravated his back and he had to bite back a moan of pain and blinked away the spots from his eyes. He took a breath before deciding to try and push the door. He pressed his hand down and leaned into the door. However again, his back erupted in pain. He frowned to himself. Alright, the door was a little beyond him right now and he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to phase through it.
He glanced around the room and hissed in pain when his neck ached again. He spotted a window which showed him a boring view of the empty green gaseous expanse of the Ghost Zone. Unfortunately a part of the Ghost Zone he didn't recognise. He examined the window carefully and found that it didn't open. Angry, he punched the glass and earned himself very sore fingers and knuckles. He bit back a curse as he shook the pain out of his hand and floated back to the bed. He floated back on to it, once again laying on his front. It was the better than laying on his very painful back.
He didn't go back to sleep though. Instead he massaged his cricked neck until he could easily and painlessly turn his head. He then began to think. Mariah Dark wanted to marry him. To help the human world? No that didn't sound right. She could have offered to pass laws in his place if that was what she wanted. No she didn't want to protect the human world. She wanted him for some reason. Telling him that being king would enable him to protect his home was a way to get him to agree. Stabbing him in the back… he guessed it was an accident or another way to get him to come with her.
At least Sam was safe. He hoped that Mariah had left them alone after she kidnapped him. He wondered what his family and friends had done after Mariah had taken him. Danny thought about it for less than a second before a gut wrenching realisation came to him. They would've gone after him. He knew that. That meant that they were all in the Ghost Zone. And he wasn't there to protect them this time. He wasn't there to tell any ghosts to back off or to scout ahead or… Danny shook his head. Sam and Tucker knew their way around the Ghost Zone. They knew which ghosts to watch out for and which ones they could talk to. As long as his parents listened to them, they'd be fine.
He smiled grimly to himself. Back to square one with mom and his argument about being allowed in the Ghost Zone. He laughed softly to himself. He shouldn't be thinking of that. He should be thinking of a way to make sure that the argument meant something. If he kept getting distracted by those kinds of thoughts, he'd never get out of the Ghost Zone. He sighed to himself and shut his eyes as he tried to refocus his thoughts on the problem when he heard the door creak open. He stiffened.
Heh heh, cliff-hanger… trust me there's a lot of them.
Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.
Anyway, until the next chapter…