Chapter 25: Day 6: Dreams

The rest of that day was reasonably uneventful. Danny went off on his own again to visit Garrett and write. Brutus and Sam went to some environmental thing, leaving Tucker very confused. Brutus was a tree hugger like Sam? That explained the vegetarian food at every meal, at least.

Jackie and Sophocles Joseph went to the movies with friends. Bruno (who insisted that all of the Amity Park teens call him Uncle Bruno) was working at the library, and Jazz was with him. Jack and Maddie were out ghost-hunting.

That left Tucker, Aunt Sophie and little Jamie home alone. Aunt Sophie was feeling sick again, so Tucker ended up watching Jamie, who was exuberantly pleased by the chance to spend time with a 'cool big kid'. Tucker was very, very glad when the active child finally decided to take a nap, even if it was pretty cool to have someone who appreciated his wicked awesome technological genius.

Dinner was come-when-you're-hungry leftovers, so no one spent much time together in the evening. Danny came home at eight, ate dinner, and went to bed with hardly a word to anyone. This was, perhaps, for the best, after the morning he had had; Tucker had a feeling that any discussion Danny had with his parents in the next few days would be loud and angry.

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That night, Danny fell asleep in the backwards twilight of the false dawn. The shadows in this edge-time are long, and the pile of clothes in the corner look like a huddled man in a long cloak. Watching it sleepily, Danny almost thinks he can make out a face. And old, old man in a ragged cloak, he imagines.

The man looks up at him and smiles, a broad smile from ear to ear, like a gaping hole across his face. "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, will you come and join the dance?" he whispers hoarsely, and the smile on his face is a hole, a gaping tear in the flesh of his cheeks. He holds up his hand and gestures Danny forward encouragingly. "Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, won't you come and join the dance?"

Danny shakes his head mutely, once again bereft of speech.

The old man laughs, and his eyes are like black pits. "Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance," he murmurs. "Would not, could not..."

Danny tries to pull away, but his blankets are like shackles pinning him in place. The man takes a step forward.

"Shhh," a warm voice whispers, and a gentle hand tugs his twisted blankets loose and covers him again. "Shhh, allkay, Fetch'mi." The old man backs away and turns into a pile of clothes again, and Danny leans into the warmth with a soft out-breath of relief. The darkness comforts him, and he sleeps.

And Danny woke up, and it was dawn, and he was alone.

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"I'm going to the library," Jazz said at breakfast. "Does anyone want to come with me? They have sign-ups for summer events there."

"I do," Sam said gloomily. "It's not like there's anything better to do around here."

"Sure," said Tucker, mostly to get out of babysitting again.

"いいえ," Danny muttered, "今日図書館に行きません."

"Danny? Are you alright?" Maddie asked, studying his pale face anxiously. "You look pale."

Danny shook his head. "悪夢に魘された," he explained.

"I don't speak Japanese, Danny," she said with a sigh.

Finished with his breakfast, Danny took it silently to the sink. "お休みなさい," he called cheerfully as he left the large room.

He went to bed, and he dreams of immortal green.

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AN: The words that Danny dreams ("Will you, won't you," etc.) come from Lewis Carroll's song 'The Lobster Quadrille'. This song is no longer copyrighted.

If your computer doesn't recognise the characters that Danny speaks in, have no fear: it's Japanese anyway, so you probably wouldn't understand it. (And, if it really bugs all of you, I can change it to Romaji later.)

Translation: "No, today I'm not going to the library." "I had a nightmare." "Good night."

Yes, the dreams are in present tense on purpose, including the final line.