Lady Phantom

By Nyassa Kaiba

Chapter 2

Danny was flying to school the next morning when Hexa found him. He was warned by the barest puff of blue and tensed, ready for an attack.

It never came. "Hey there! Nice morning ain't it?"

"Yeah, for the first day of school that is."

"I'm kind of a geek, so I don't mind school." Hexa told him. "Hey, I made something for you last night, catch!" She tossed Danny a small talisman. "That's a hex disk. It allows you to use Telekinesis on somebody, kind of a voodoo thing. But it's only good once."

"Thanks." Danny looked at it. The disk was tiny, made of clay. It had small symbols etched around the edges, but it looked kind of like one of those Buddhist mandalas. "So how do I use it?"

"I'll teach you later, is that it down there?" Hexa asked.

"Yeah, that's the High School." Danny replied. "Come on, I'll take you to get your schedule."

Turning invisible, the two of them descended through the ceiling. Danny found a separate closet for Hexa to use before descending to his own. They met right outside of Mr. Lancer's office. "Mr. Lancer." Danny said as he knocked. "I have a friend here who's new and has to get her schedule."

"Hi." Hexa said shyly.

"Lexain Spellman?"

"That's me." Hexa replied.

"You and Fenton have me for homeroom." Mr. Lancer told her. Danny groaned. "And first period. Fenton, I'm expecting you to show her around today."

"Can do Mr. Lancer." Danny said cheerfully. "I was going to anyway."

Hexa took a seat while Danny went to get his books. He came back a few seconds later with his eyes rolling and his head wet. "What happened?"

"Dash… stuck head… in toilet… ambush…" He groaned. "Room swirling…"

"Are you alright?" Sam asked as she and Tucker came in.

"He got ambushed, something about Dash?"

"What did he do?"

"Stuck head… toilet… need towel…" Danny replied. He shook his head to clear it. "Okay, fine now, but I wouldn't mind a towel."

"Here. He gets detention later." Mr. Lancer threw a towel at Danny, who caught it and began to dry his head off.

"I'm taking a shower when I get home. That was GROSS!" Danny growled. "And I am SO getting him for that! See how HE likes being flushed down a toilet."

"Danny, revenge is never the way to do something." Mr. Lancer warned as he came back in and sat down. He was digging through his bag to find a book. "Have a look at this. This is your first reading assignment for the year." He handed each of them a copy of a green book with an African folk mask on the front. "This book is called Things Fall Apart. We didn't get to cover it last year. So consider it catch up." Mr. Lancer warned. "You shouldn't find it too hard."

Danny opened the book, but he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Sam was steeling a peek at Hexa every so often. "Sam, what's with you?" Danny whispered.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, peering over at Hexa again.

"You keep looking over at Hexa?"

"I just think she's pretty, that's…" Sam slapped a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean what I just said!" She cried, sounding like she was going to hyperventilate for a moment.

"Sounds like somebody's got issues." Tucker smirked.

"Issues? What kind of issues?" Sam asked warily.

"Like sexual orientation issues. Don't worry Sam, your secret's safe with us."

"I DO NOT HAVE SEXUAL ORIENTATION ISSUES!" Sam smacked Tucker with her binder, it broke over his head and Tucker slumped back in his seat with curlicues for eyes.

Danny edged away. "Oooookay. You have no issues."

Hexa sighed, having heard the outburst but not what started it. "Will you three keep it down? I'm trying to read."

Sam turned beet red and opened up her book. Danny fingered the Hex Disc in his pocket. Anything to help him beat Skulker once and for all.

Sam sulked. Then she put on her headphones until class started, it was a mix that she'd asked Tucker to put together for her. He had a CD burner, and she didn't. Unfortunately the song first on the CD was show me love by tATu. Sam couldn't help steeling another glance at Hexa. She noted the curve of her hips, and strong powerful shoulders. Her legs were rather shapely too. Sam shook her head, getting the thoughts out of her mind. Lots of girls compared themselves to other women. She couldn't be a lesbian could she? But…

The incident with Ember came to mind, and Sam remembered that Ember's comments had disturbed her, A LOT.

"I'm not…" She muttered.

Suddenly Sam saw Danny straighten in his seat. "Danny?"

"There's a ghost around." Danny whispered. "I don't know who, but he or she is there."

The rest of the day was TENSE, very tense. Sam kept looking around for ghosts EVERYwhere. There was no signs of overshadowing, no flying hardware, no boobytraps, nothing.

They made it outside and met at the park. "There was nothing. All day no sign." Danny was clearly confused. "My powers haven't been wrong before."

"You say there was no sign of ghosts? Nothing?" Hexa asked. "That fits the MO of two ghosts I know, Nevermore and Black Velvet. They wait and watch their target for awhile before they attack."

Danny sighed. "The last thing we need is for this Black Velvet to find Skulker and team up with him."

"they won't." Hexa replied. "I may not know as much about Skulker as I do the ghosts back home, but Black Velvet doesn't normally associate with ghosts. She works with humans, because even if she's physically a ghost, she still thinks like a human. Get what I mean?"

"I think so." Danny commented. "That's a good thing though… uh… listen… Hexa. I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh?"

Sam tensed, would Danny tell her about the conversation that morning?

"I was thinking, since my parents study ghosts, maybe they could help you fix your powers without changing into a ghost permanently. Mom already thought it was possible."

"Danny, they're ghost HUNTERS. They don't help ghosts, they send them back to the ghost zone!" Sam pointed out.

"I think I can get them to listen." Danny commented, nonchalantly.

"Oh no, you are NOT revealing your identity to them!" Sam growled. "Think about how WE reacted!"

Danny drooped. "But if it helps Hexa…"

"Danny don't. Don't blow your cover on my account." Hexa told him.

"Think about it Hexa. Your powers could be stabilized, forever! Wouldn't you want that?"

"Would I want that? Definitely, but not at your expense. Not at the expense of another!" Hexa told him. "My grandma was a witch Danny, and she said that there were two things that I should never do above all else. The first was never to walk in another's shadow. And the second was to never ever EVER gain at another person's expense."

"Sam Danny's parents would have found out eventually anyhow." Tucker argued. "If Danny comes forward first maybe they'd listen to thim. I mean… Danny that's manipulative of you at best. Because they'll try to 'cure' you of being a ghost, but in the process they just MIGHT figure out a way to help Hexa."

"Danny, its YOUR gravestone. All I'm saying is just THINK about this!"

"But they're my PARENTS Sam! If I can't trust them then who CAN I trust?"

"Fine, not my problem." Sam growled. "But do me a favor, have Hexa come out first, that way you can be sure of their reaction."

"Actually I was thinking we'd come out at the same time." Danny said, scratching his head, curiously. "But that might be a little much."

"You're right it would." Sam told them. "One at a time okay? And the two of us will be waiting outside. And I want Jazz in the room at the same time okay? That way she can help you placate the parental figures. When were you planning?"

"Tonight, when I get home." Danny explained.

"I may not like the idea, but this is important to you. I'll be there." Sam said with a sigh. "If it's to ask for help for Hexa."

"Why Sam, I didn't know you cared…" Tucker teased.

Sam swatted him in the back of the head with a stick. "NOT THAT AGAIN!"

"Oh dear. Sam, calm down." Hexa told her.

"Right, so are we going or are we going?" Sam asked, regaining her composure.

Danny turned to Hexa. "If you carry Sam, and I carry Tucker, we can make it to my house in five minutes."

"Good, let's go." Hexa scooped Sam up bridal style and phased, leaping into the air with legs strong from climbing the hills near her old home in the mountains.

The flight was made in silence.It gave Sam a LONG time to think about the strong arms holding her, and to wish that the ride would last awhile so she could enjoy the touch.

Hexa and Danny let Sam and Tucker down and changed back. Then all four of them walked out of hiding and knocked on Danny's door. Danny knocked and called, "Mom! Dad! I'm home!"

"Danny! There you are!" Jazz greeted him. "Mom and dad are in the basement. What's wrong? You look like somebody canceled Christmas."

"Jazz, this is Hexa. She's got powers like mine, and she's in a similar predicament. Except that if she doesn't take a weird medicine every night she turns into a ghost forever. We were hoping that mom and dad could help her stabilize her powers."

"Danny to do that you'd have to…"

"Exactly, which explains why everybody's here. To back me up."

"I want you to be ready to talk to them." Sam said, stepping forward. "I think he's making a HUGE mistake! I REALLY do!"

"I think so too Sam, but it's Danny's choice. I'll support you Danny, I will I promise. I'll put in a good word for you too."

"Good, let's go down to the basement and have a talk." Danny opened the door and, with Hexa and the others seconds behind they made it down to the workshop.

"Danny, there you are, finish your homework and help me out with this thing." Mr. Fenton said, squinting at the Fenton Thermos he was fixing.

"Dad, can you set that down and talk to us for a moment?" Jazz asked. "Danny has something that he wants to talk to you and mom about, mom can you come over here too?"

Hexa grimaced, two ghost hunters, and she was about to reveal herself to them. She'd had plenty of experiences with evil ghosts, but not ghost hunters themselves.

Danny sighed. "There's no easy way to explain. You're just going to have to trust me." Danny closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and transformed. At the same time every ghost gizmo in the room went off.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Both Fentons demanded, forgetting that they were swearing in front of their children.

"Remember that time I got the ghost portal going? Well, when I did, I was still inside, and it accidentally turned me into a half ghost. That's why your alarms keep going off around me. And for the past year I've been fighting evil ghosts that try to attack the city."

Danny's dad looked ready to faint. "You're a gh… gh… ghost?" Danny's mother demanded. "But… you don't look like any of the ghosts I've seen."

"That's because he's half ghost." Jazz said with a sigh. "I tried to warn him against telling you, so did Sam, but something came up that we need your help with. Show them Hexa."

Hexa closed her eyes, fazing as well. She made her transformation as graceful as possible, but her ghost form flickered in and out of existence. "I'm half ghost too, also because of an accident, but my powers are unstable, and if I want to keep what humanity I have left, I have to take these." She handed them the prescription bottle. "They're ectosynth pills. Without them I would change into a ghost, permanently. And a full ghost, not a half. Danny said that you two might be able to come up with a way to help me stabilize my powers so that I don't have to take them anymore."

Danny's mother turned to her husband. "I think we should listen to them. Danny's our son, and I trust him to make good decisions. And this girl needs our help. Would you want to be stuck in her position and then refused it?"

Danny's father shook his head. "You're right. I think we should make that our next research project."

"We'll help you Lexain." Danny's mother promised. "Uh… may we have a sample of the pill to study?"

"Sure. My mother's a chemist. This all started when…" And Hexa told both Fentons her tale of woe. "And ever since then I've been stuck taking Ectosynth pills. It's a substance with a lot of properties. It heals a ghost's wounds for one. For another it stabilizes their powers if they're having trouble. But if a full blood ghost takes it it makes them unable to dematerialize. They run right into a brick wall."

"And a human?" Jazz asked.

"If a human takes it, then it turns them into a ghost, permanently. That's the stuff that turned Black Velvet into a ghost." She explained. "Mother had made them for me, and BV wanted powers, so she stole one and ate it."

"Does your mother know about this?" Mrs. Fenton asked suspiciously.

"She doesn't believe in ghosts, she thinks that the ectosynth I fell into was going to kill me. And if you consider the fact that at least half the ghosts I've encountered were once humans at one point or another, it would!" Hexa said emphatically.

"This Black Velvet character, is she around?"

"We think she might be following He… I mean Lexain, around." Danny bit his lip on the slip.

"Who did you just call her?"

"Hexa." Danny replied. "Ghosts use TAG names when they fight, like Skulker and Technus and Ember. Well my TAG name is Danny Phantom and Lexain's is Hexa Spellcaster."

"Because of my attacks." Hexa pointed out. She pulled something out of her pocket. "This is a hex disc. They're my trade mark attack."

Mr. Fenton peered at the tiny disc. "They're rather small."

"They're made of solidified ectoplasma." Replied Hexa. "I charge them with fresh Ectoplasma and that activates them. Which means that only a ghost can use them."

Mrs. Fenton calmly took the disc from her husband and handed it back to Hexa. "Okay, we believe you. I need to think about this, but we will help you. And Danny, I REALLY wish you had trusted us earlier. It would have saved a LOT of confusion. Jazz, you should have come straight to me!" Mrs. Fenton's wrath was a rare and terrible sight to behold. "Both of you! And Danny, if it weren't for the fact that you might be needed to help fight off this Black Velvet character I would GROUND you until you were EIGHTEEN!"

"Yes mom." Danny couldn't contain his excitement.

"Now I want all of you out of my laboratory this instant before the sensors go on overload from all the ghosts in it!" Mrs. Fenton jabbed a finger at the staircase they'd come in from.

"YES MA'AM!" Hexa said, also excited.

Neither of them could contain their excitement. "It's going to work!" Hexa cried happily as she flopped onto the couch.

"They said they would try." Sam warned, sitting next to her. "Feeling okay?"

"I thought my heart wouldn't stop pounding." Hexa replied.

"Me either." Danny flopped into a chair across the coffee table.

"I'm going to make some cookies and hot chocolate." Jazz sighed. "To celebrate, and because, if you'll pardon the pun, you two look like you've just died."

Everybody laughed.