Hello readers! Here's another one for you guys! Thanks to my readers and reviewers, your continued support makes it all so worth it each time.
Previously In The Love We Had Before: With Danny and Infe missing, Jazz is forced to play peacekeeper between an infected Jack and Maddie Fenton. With a plan to divide and conquer, she and Amor team up to find her brother.
Chapter Fourteen
"Couldn't you have put him on the couch?"
"The one that smells like dirty feet? No way."
Danny heard the voices in a distorted fashion, as if they were standing on an island and he was barely managing to stay afloat in a sea of darkness. And every time he tried to breach the surface, he'd get hit by another wave that would drag him back down again. He drifted in between dreaming and awake, nightmares and silence.
He remembered flying through the hole Infe had created, charging through the portal while feeling the burn of anger at the Wrecker fighting with the cold dread of guilt that his sister had taken the lightning bolt meant for him. He remembered feeling disoriented as he crossed through to the other side, looking around for where Infe had escaped to.
"You shouldn't have followed me here, kid."
And then there was nothing, as if the memory feed in his head hit a snag. The more he tried to remember, the more faded it became.
"Wait…" he pleaded aloud, as if it would help.
But then there was another voice. "Hey, hey, he's coming to."
"Ask him what happened!"
"Oooh, fresh, emotional scars. I can feel it."
Suddenly he recalled the feeling of tree bark against his back, the lingering impact of being thrown into the tree. The spark of electricity running through his veins repeatedly. He lashed out instinctively with his fist, swinging at Infe's laughing form.
"Whoa! Whoa, it's okay! You're okay!"
Through blurry vision he saw a face only a few feet away. A woman with kind eyes and flowing blonde hair. He didn't recognize her but she was holding down his hands gently. "You're okay. You're safe here."
For some odd reason, he couldn't focus on her long. He could feel his eyes close, his mind retreating to that same darkness. Everything finally went black and silent and he saw and felt nothing.
He didn't know how much later it was when he was fully conscious. Bright sunlight was streaming through the window onto his face and he felt warm and cozy wherever he was. He slowly opened his eyes but it was almost as if they were stuck together with glue. He blinked several times and looked around, trying to get a sense of his surroundings.
He was in a small bedroom with blue walls and wooden panelling. Nostalgic items were posted around the room, like the orange lava lamp on the headboard above him. There were posters of music artists like Duran Duran and Micheal Jackson hanging up on the walls. The dresser on his right had several bowling and basketball trophies and an old piggy bank. There was a window next to him with half-drawn curtains. There were dirty socks and a deflated basketball in the corner next to a full trash can of papers crinkled up into balls, as if someone had been trying to toss them from far away.
Naturally, he had no idea where he was. He didn't recognize anything around him, either. He was in some stranger's house. Context clues led him to believe he was in a guy's bedroom, but hadn't there been a woman?
Think Fenton, Danny thought to himself. Backtrack. Retrace your steps.
What did he know: Infe had broken out of the Fenton Thermos and attacked. Jazz had shoved Danny, had been struck by the lightning, and then she'd shot at the Wrecker, successfully at that. He'd followed Infe through the portal. And then…
Of course... now he recalled. Infe had ambushed him from behind, struck him in the side of the head. He'd felt faint, dizzy even, as the hit had revamped his previous head injury and sent shockwaves of pain and weariness through his whole body. He remembered falling to his knees but then Infe grabbed him and threw him into a nearby tree.
"Oooh, fresh, emotional scars. I can feel it." He'd had his hand wrapped around Danny's throat, grinning as if he'd caught a mouse. "You should have taken my offer, Phantom. Now I'm going to destroy you."
And then there'd been the lightning - a bolt so strong it had blazed through Danny's body like wildfire. He could hear his own screaming in his head long before the sparks had stopped dancing in his eyes. There'd suddenly been someone calling out - someone who had prevented Infe from wasting him. But he'd been so out of it, he'd passed out before he'd viewed who had rescued him.
However, he had the strange feeling whoever had saved him wasn't too far away. He had another inkling that he was in the house where that person lived. Straining his ears, he tried listening for anything past the closed door of the bedroom he was in but couldn't hear anything besides the hand clock on the wall and the noise of the busy street outside.
He attempted to raise a hand to clear out the sleep from his eyes but found his arm wouldn't obey immediately. His whole body was sore and exhausted and he knew the lightning bolt had done its usual damage and then some. He felt as drained as a battery; the last time he'd felt anything similar had been when he'd used the Exoskeleton suit to defeat the Ghost King.
You have to get up, a voice urged in his mind, fighting against the way his muscles protested. He could feel how tired he was mentally as well, the dull throb of the continual migraine lingering at the back of his head. It would have been all too easy to go back to sleep and wake up refreshed but his conscience wouldn't let him.
It took everything in him to sit up but as soon as he did, the bed shifted underneath him, making him cry out in shock.
"A waterbed?" he questioned, realizing what had spooked him was actually just the rumble of a waterbed mattress instead of the box mattress he was accustomed to. The feeling of the water shifting under him was weird, but not in a bad way.
Danny lifted the thick blanket off him and inched his way off the bed, but before he could slide off onto the floor, the bedroom door opened.
A man and woman stood there, watching him in a mixture of confusion, concern, and wariness. Danny slid to the edge of the bed, slowly raising his hands in a placating motion. The woman made a strange humming sound and walked over to him.
"How are you feeling?" she asked. He recognized her voice from his warped memory. This was the lady who had called out to him when Infe had zapped him.
She was shorter, maybe 5'2-5'3, and had curly blonde hair piled high on top of her head. There was a jean jacket around her shoulders and a mini skirt around her waist. She came to sit in front of Danny, her hazel eyes focused on his.
"I'm… I'm alright," he said softly.
She took his chin in her hands and turned his head slightly, and although it was uncomfortable having some stranger command his face, he didn't have the energy to fight her off. The numerous bracelets she wore around both wrists jingled in the quiet.
"Dilated pupils. Muscle weakness. Both signs of a concussion," she murmured after a second.
"She's a nurse," the guy suddenly said, still standing in the doorway. He was buff, wearing a yellow tank top that accentuated his muscles. His hair was buzzcut and he wore a single earring in his left ear.
"I'm Mara," the woman in front of him said. "That's Georgie."
"I'm...Danny," he said after a moment.
"Well, Danny. The fact that you're awake three hours after being tasered repeatedly is fairly impressive."
"Tasered?"
He noticed that she exchanged glances with Georgie before she said, "Wasn't that guy electrocuting you with a taser?"
"Oh, y-yes," he stammered.
She clearly didn't recognize him, which was a blessing and a curse, as he couldn't exactly explain that his powers had a habit of speeding up the healing process without revealing that he was half-ghost in general. At least a taser was an easy excuse instead of trying to explain how Infe had glacked him with ecto-lightning. Most people didn't believe in ghosts, let alone accept that a hybrid kid had saved the world on multiple occasions. If she assumed Infe had used a taser, he didn't really have the heart to tell her she was wrong.
"Are you in some kind of trouble, kid?" Georgie asked, his arms folded across his massive chest.
Danny wasn't sure how to answer. After all, Georgie and Mara probably already knew the answer, given they'd saved him from Infe. He wouldn't be able to lie - even if it would save him from a lot of explaining. Besides that, he couldn't continue to lie to himself either.
After all, he had no real idea where he was - if he was somewhere in Amity Park or located geographically somewhere else. There was no telling where Infe's portal had led him. Besides, he didn't want the Wrecker finding him here and retaliating against Mara and Georgie.
"Yeah," he said, looking away. "Which is why I should probably go."
"Who was that guy?" Georgie asked, which earned him a disapproving look from Mara.
"A jerk," Danny answered simply. He then attempted to get on his feet but his legs were shaking so badly, he nearly fell over again.
"You can barely stand," Mara pointed out. "Why don't you eat something and we can chat some more. Get your strength back." Georgie pointedly cleared his throat but Mara shot him another look. "He can eat something and then go."
"I'm fine."
Which then earned Danny a motherly look. "You are absolutely not fine. So let me ask you this," she insisted. "Danny, is the world about to end?"
Perplexed, Danny stared at her a moment, trying to understand what she was asking. "Umm no?"
"Then surely you have time to eat a little breakfast and get some color back in those cheeks," she said, gently tapping his face with her hand.
Georgie sighed but didn't protest. Mara smiled brightly. "I'm going to get you some flapjacks going on the griddle. Sit tight, don't overdo."
With her ponytail swishing cheerfully, Mara practically dragged Georgie out of the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Danny alone again.
He took a deep breath and considered his situation. He already knew without testing the theory that his ghost powers were currently unreachable. He was simply too drained to even change, let alone fight. Infe had almost decimated him right there and then but Mara and Georgie had obviously witnessed the encounter and saved him. And he was appreciative, he really was. But there was no way they'd understand what was happening. It was obvious Georgie didn't trust him, which made perfect sense to Danny. He was a stranger in their home and although they'd been kind enough to shelter him, it was time for him to go.
He managed to stand and cross the small space to the window. He pulled the curtains apart and was temporarily blinded by the bright sunlight that hit him full force. Blinking, he looked down and realized he was four stories up, in some sort of apartment complex.
"Great," he whispered, setting his head against the cool glass. There was no way for him to get down safely, even if he mustered the energy. And with his powers out of commission, there'd be no quick getaway.
Time for Plan B. He studied the outside world through the window, wondering if he maybe at least recognized where he was. But he'd flown over Amity Park and the surrounding areas like Elmerton and Westview a billion times. He knew the city from the streets and the skies. And wherever he was now, it definitely wasn't one of those places.
But then something else caught his eye. There was a busy street running from east to west at the edge of the complex filled with cars and people walking. However, the details of the car hit his sense of reality first. Chevy Cavaliers? Oldsmobile Cutlasses? Every single car driving down the road looked to be older, like the ones Danny had seen in junkyards or the ones elderly people in his city drove.
It dawned on him the new massive problem he was facing in seconds: Danny hadn't just followed Infe to another place. He'd followed him into another time.
Hope you liked this little cliffhanger. I imagine hardcore fans will probably guess what's happening easily, but I like to tease possiblities regardless. Thanks for reading!
Kat Day