Previously:

Ellie's brow furrows as her eyes dart from place to place, putting what must be happening together quicker than her two friends. "He-hello?" she asks tentatively, keeping her voice low. "Is… is there someone there?"

Well, he's already blown his cover. Might as well introduce himself. He straightens up a bit and assumes the most relaxed pose he can manage. No need to scare them. He braces himself, and then drops his invisibility, giving them a smile.

"Hi. I'm Phantom, and you," he says, pointing at Ellie, "are at least part ghost."

"Wha-what do you mean 'part ghost?'" Ellie stammers, clutching at her chest.

"I mean that you've got a baby ghost Core growing in your chest, duh," Phantom says, fake examining his nails.

Sam and Tucker haven't moved and have been staring at him since he showed himself, their faces frozen in a weird mix of confusion and fear. Phantom turns to them, ready to help ease them into at least a state of acceptance, when Sam says, "You look like Ellie did, after the accident." Her voice is quiet, stricken, and it gives Phantom pause.

At Sam's side, Tucker nods. "Like. Exactly. Same hair, same eyes." He pauses and looks at Phantom's clothes, cracking a wry smile. "Same color scheme."

Ellie crosses her arms. "Hey! It's not my fault that the only jumpsuits in my parents' basement that could fit me looked like that!"

Phantom tilts his head. "Your parents' basement?" He shifts in the air to get a better look at her. "I overheard you mention something about a portal. You wouldn't happen to live in that FentonWorks place, would you?"

Ellie pales. "How… do you know that?"

Phantom levels her with a flat look. "I have eyes. I can read." He shrugs, nonchalant. "Plus, I overheard that Dash guy call you 'Fenton.' I just put two and two together."

Sam glares at him now, apparently over her fear, her need to protect her friend taking priority. "Why do you know that?"

Phantom groans and flops over onto his back in midair like it was solid ground. "Ancients, you humans. The portal is in the basement of that place. It's where I came out."

The girls deflate a bit, looking chastised. "Oh," Sam mutters. "I knew that."

Tucker elbows Ellie. "Isn't your bedroom straight up from the portal? Wouldn't that be, ya know, kind of the obvious answer?"

"Shut up, nerd," Ellie grumbles, without heat. She turns back to Phantom and frowns. "What did you mean by 'a baby ghost Core?'"

Phantom sits up and looks at her with a shrug. "Exactly what I mean." His brow furrows. "Wait. Exactly how much do you know about ghosts?"

Ellie crosses her arms and tips her nose up a bit. "Well, my parents are ghost hunters, so—"

Phantom blinks and drifts back a bit, subconsciously. "So… The ghost hunters I was told about… They're yourparents?" He doesn't realize when he lets his form lose a bit of his solidity. It's not full intangibility, or even invisibility, but it gives him a bit of comfort, being less present.

Ellie lunges forward a bit, one hand hitting the tile in front of them and other reaching out towards him. "No, please, come back! You're first ghost we've ever met, and you don't seem anything like my parents say ghosts are!"

Phantom doesn't let up on his semi-solid state, but he resumes his spot closer to the trio. "What do your parents say about ghosts?"

Ellie bites her lip, trying to think. "They think—"

The bell rings then, long and loud. The four of them pause and look around, suddenly realizing that the halls are quiet and deserted.

Tucker jolts to his feet. "Oh, no. We're late. We missed the warning bell."

Sam and Ellie stand as well, and Phantom, not one to be left out, lands on his feet, back to his normal state. "Well, this is a one way to make a good first impression," Sam says, looking more irritated than worried.

Ellie starts to speed walk away, grabbing her friends as she goes. "Less complaining, more moving. Where are we going, Tuck?"

Tucker pulls out his phone and taps through a few screens. "English with Mr. Lancer." He shoves his phone back in his pocket and takes the lead, guiding the girls and their ghostly tagalong down the halls. Phantom notes that it's the same way he came from earlier, and the same direction the larger boys went.

For a moment, he wonders if they've forgotten about him. His next thought is if he should remind them that he's here, and then the thought after that is that once they're in class, he can get back to exploring.

Ellie turns to look at him over her shoulder without stopping. "Phantom, can we talk later? Maybe after school? I have so many questions." Her eyes look a little desperate and he can't help but sympathize.

"Yeah, sure. I'll be hanging around him. Don't worry, I won't go anywhere." The humans come to a stop outside of a door. The nameplate on the wall reads "Lancer."

"Thank you." Ellie smiles at him, and Phantom notes that it makes her whole face light up. She fiddles with overlong sleeves of her jacket. "I could really use some help."

Phantom smiles back. "I'll find you later," he says, and shifts off the visible spectrum.

The humans nod and take deep breaths, then open the door. Phantom catches a glimpse of a balding teacher in a blue button up and a goatee before the door closes behind them.

Alone again. For now.

Who knew coming to the human world was going to be so interesting?

Phantom spends the rest of the afternoon darting all around the school. He reads the names printed beside the classroom doors and takes a peek in at some of them every so often. He's never been to high school but judging from the half-lidded eyes and vacant expressions on many of the students' faces, it's nothing special.

He finds places like the cafeteria, the computer labs, and even drifts into the basement and the cold storage. After coating the boxes in the cold storage in an extra layer of frost, he decides to examine the school grounds. He finds the gym, the football field, the locker rooms, the weight room.

He's about to give the school itself another round, out of new and interesting places to look, when he hears the bell again. This one is a little different, a little louder, a little longer, more mechanical, and he guesses that this means the school day is over.

Students begin pouring out of the doors and Phantom makes sure he's invisible as he flies towards the front entrance. He scans the crowd, trying to catch sight of any of the three friends and he smiles once he catches sight of Tucker's hat.

The three of them are trudging down the steps, huddled close and talking in low voices. He can't hear what they're saying, but he catches them looking around every few seconds, and he can only guess they're looking for him. He hovers above the crowd and watches them as they split from the crowd, Ellie messaging her throat with one hand while the other clutches the straps of her backpack.

Once the three have reached a relatively secluded place out of earshot of any passers-by, Ellie lifts her eyes to examine the sky, squinting as if that will help spot any invisible visitors. "Phantom?" she calls out in a stage whisper.

Phantom lands behind a bit of cover and drops his invisibility. He steps out beside Tucker and walks with them, footsteps silent. No one seems to have noticed him yet. He gives a smirk.

"Ghost boy? Are you here?" Tucker asks, trying to look around as discretely as possible while pretending to mess with his phone.

Phantom can't resist the urge to lean in close and whisper, "Boo."

Tucker screams, which startles a yelp out of the girls, and that has Phantom laugh loudly, folding over and clutching his sides. Even through his amusement, he makes sure to stay firmly grounded.

Ellie, clutching her chest, spins to face him, her eyes flashing green for a second. "Phantom!" she scolds. "What the hell dude?" She reaches over and smacks him on the arm, then freezes.

Phantom wonders what her problem is but decides to brush it under the rug. "You should have seen your faces," he says between chuckles. "Never gets old."

Tucker looks a little clammy as he glares back at him. "That was uncalled for."

Phantom holds his hands up in surrender. "Fine, fine. I won't do it again." His lips twitch as he shoves down his smile. "Or—at least. I'll wait until you're more used to ghosts before doing it again. On purpose. Can't promise I won't do it on accident," he assures.

Sam rolls her eyes and starts to stomp off. "C'mon. We have stuff to talk about and I'd rather not do it out in the middle of the sidewalk."

"Right, right." Phantom nodes and follows the three as they begin to walk off. He takes this opportunity to take in the sights of the town, having spent most of the day at Casper High. The town looks cozy, if a bit quaint, and he thinks he might like it here. It looks peaceful and not at all like the area of the Infinite Realms that he most frequents. That place might as well be the wild west. "So where are we going?"

Sam looks over her shoulder at him. "Well, I was thinking the Nasty Burger, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

"Yeah, dude, you're kinda obvious. Your hair, your eyes, hell. It's like eighty degrees out here and you're wearing an all-black hoodie. Normal people would be roasting," Tucker adds, pulling the collar of his shirt for emphasis.

Phantom looks between them, at Sam's lack of sleeves and Tucker's hat and Ellie's jacket tied around her waist, and he nods. "Right, okay. I can work with this. Sorry, I don't notice temperatures much. Well, not unless they get really extreme, like lava or, like, space dust." He ignores their confused—and excited, in Ellie's case—looks, and closes his eyes, focusing on his Core.

He imagines his oversized hoodie going from all black to half white, and he takes away the sleeves. He ditches his gloves and thinks about wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. There isn't anything he can do about his glow, unfortunately, but he opens his eyes to see the other three giving him surprised but approving looks.

"How's this?" he asks, pulling his sunglasses down a bit to look over the top. He smirks and spreads his bare arms a wide, then turns to show off the back of his hoodie, now all white to match the broad white stripes that reach around the front on his ribs. "This look human enough for you?" He flips up his hood and stuffs his hands in his pocket.

Ellie hums. "Hm, yeah. It'll do," she says, purposefully nonchalant.

Phantom laughs and nods. "Good. Now." He looks between them again, expectant. "You mentioned a place called the 'Nasty Burger?'"