By Nyassa Kaiba
Feralae looked at the calendar in her journal. Then she circled the day in red and sighed disgustedly. Three months since she became a gatekeeper exactly. She lit the white candle and set it on her desk, then took up a lotus position and began to chant. "Azarath Metion Zinthos,Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."Feralae chanted the incantation she'd learned from Ravenas she meditated.
"Feralae!" Came a happy cry.
Poindexter dove through the ceiling and gave her a happy hug.
"ACK!" The sensation was much like being dunked in ice water. "Poindexter you almost gave me a heart attack!" Then, "How did you get here?"
"Mrs. Fenton left the portal open!" Poindexter explained. "I went invisible and slipped through the portal when she wasn't looking."
"That was dangerous." Feralae scolded. "Don't EVER do that again!"
"I know it was, but I was tired of hanging around the school. And I have important news! Remember the school dance that's coming up?"
"No I don't know Dex." Feralae was digging through the stacks of junk in the room, trying to make room for her to get to the computer and printer. "I haven't BEEN in this dimension that long."
"You mean you AREN'T from this world?"
"Didn't I saw that earlier this afternoon?" Feralae asked, straining as she lugged a stack of books over to a free space on the bookshelves. "What school dance, and how do you know about it?"
"I have a peephole in the boys locker room. I heard that old bully Dash talking to his friends about it." Poindexter explained. "Then later, I heard a ghost named Ember talking about crashing it!"
"Ember's going to crash the school dance?" Feralae asked. "Oh great, well thanks for telling me. Uh… Dex, you're sitting on a stack of books that I need to move."
"Oops, sorry." Poindexter floated down and sat on a stool near a slightly smaller stack. "Who's books are these anyway?"
"I think they belong to Mr. Fenton, they're all about technology and the supernatural." Feralae replied as she started stacking the books on the shelf one by one. "But they're also in my way."
"Some of these look pretty old." Poindexter said, holding one up to look at it. "Oooh here's one that's not about science, the Tale of Genji!"
"Gimme!" Feralae dropped her stack and dashed over. "OH WOW! I always wanted to read this one!" She flipped through the first few pages. "Yup, definitely the Tale of Genji. Good find Dex."
Poindexter chuckled nervously. "I didn't want to go to Danny, he doesn't like me, so I figured I'd go to you about this Ember Ghost. You guys CAN do something about it right?"
"About Ember? Definitely." Feralae told the nerd ghost. She set the Tale of Genji aside on a clear space on the desk. "I've fought her before, and so has Danny. It took a little bit of teamwork, but he managed it." She FINALLY had a clear space on a set of shelves, so she began pulling things out of her gym bag and her backpack.
Her journal and Book of Shadows were set apart, along with her dictionary of Gods and Goddesses. The Book of Shadows was where she wrote all the incantations she learned as a gatekeeper, as well as any other magic she learned.The dictionary was a gift from Robin for her Birthday. It helped her learn the names of New Gods and Goddesses so that she could learn new attack calls from them. The Book of Shadows had been a gift from Raven, who had assisted her in training her mind.
Next came the flute, a gift fromBeastboy (where he had gotten it she had no idea) and her boline (ritual dagger), and several crystals that Feralae had found in her travels, as well as a framed picture of herself, ZP, Delphine and the Teen Titans. She pulled out her deck box. It contained a Yu-gi-oh Deck (her pride and joy) and a Magic the Gathering deck. The last items were a necklace that her mother had made for her for her fourteenth birthday, and a picture of her mother, father and younger brother. The necklace had a pentacle with a dragon coiled around it and was strung with beads of some kind of sapphire blue stone.
The picture was them all at Mountain View Summercamp's last day. There had been a huge bonfire and hot dogs and marshmallows, smores and a waterfight. They'd gone swimming and boating and hiking before plopping down in front of the fire to hear stories about the camp itself. Mountain View was as special to Feralae as her own home.
/The tower is my home now. And when I get back, I'll be able to help the others fight with the new powers I've gotten./ Feralae's gaze lingered on the picture of her family, then traveled to the picture of her friends. /I'll be back. I promise./
"Hey, what's wrong? You look so serious all of a sudden." Poindexter told her.
"Just thinking of home." Feralae said as she took the two pictures down and sat on the bed to study them.
Poindexter looked over her shoulder. "Is that your family?" He pointed to the summer camp picture.
"Yeah." Feralae said sadly, simply. "That's my brother Mikael, and my dad Denton, and my mother Merika."
"I didn't know you were Asian." It was a statement, for Feralae's mother did indeed have an Asian cast to her face.
"I'm a Sansei, a third generation Japanese American." Explained Feralae.
"I didn't even know they had a word for that." Poindexter said, blinking in surprise.
"They do, Nisei, Sansei, and I've forgotten the others."
"Mikael looks like a troublemaker." Poindexter said, scooping up the picture.
"Mikael could be a trouble maker. And you never saw a better shot with a super soaker." Feralae said with a chuckle. She put the other picture aside. "And this is my family away from family." She handed the other picture to the nerd ghost. "The Teen Titans." She said proudly.
"Wow, you're friends with superheroes?" Poindexter's eyes widened.
"Yup." Feralae grinned. "They took me in, taught me, trained me. And I help them inbetween missions."
"But what's your power?"
"The ability to mimic other people's powers, ghosts too, I snatched Ember's power the other night." Feralae told him.
"So you've fought this Ember person?"
"You don't know who she is?" Feralae asked. "Ember is rather famous. She gets power from people chanting her name, and she uses music to hypnotize people." Feralae explained. "That's probably why she's targeted the school dance."
"Do you need backup?" Poindexter asked.
"No, but I think you should come anyway. Just to hang out okay? Or as Starfire would say, 'do the hanging out.' You've been stuck in the past too long." Feralae turned on the computer and turned on the CD/MP3 player.
"What kind of a device is THAT?" Poindexter asked curiously as Black Eyed Peas began to play.
"It's called a computer." Feralae explained. "Man, Tucker could tell you more about them than I could, or ZP. But what they do is store data, everything from homework to games. They even store music, although most people don't like you to store music files."
"How come?" Poindexter asked, giving the screen a tentative poke.
"Because once they're on the computer Music Files can be sent to other peoples computers and that's generally considered stealing. People do it ANYWAY, but the music industry still considers it stealing." Explained Feralae. "Me, back home I ripped tracks from CD's I already owned, and I didn't share them with anybody, so that's generally considered alright."
"This is most definitely a very strange device." Poindexter agreed. "It even has a television."
That was when the knock came on the door. "Feralae it's a perfect night for stargazing. Wanna come up to the roof?" Danny asked.
"Danny can you come in for a second?" Feralae asked, opening the door.
"Sure… hey what are YOU doing here?" Danny asked Poindexter, annoyed.
"He came to warn us. Ember is going to try to crash an upcoming school dance."
"I didn't know there was going to be a dance." Danny said, blinking.
"I heard Dash talking about it! I found a mirror in the locker room that I can see through too. He was talking about it with his posse!" Poindexter said as Danny closed and locked the door behind him.
Feralae quickly hid the pictures. She didn't want to talk about her family again, not for awhile. Besides, it was business now. She turned up the computer so that Danny's parents wouldn't hear what they were talking about. "Any idea HOW Ember's gonna crash it?"
"Her usual fashion I'll bet." Feralae sighed. "Hoodwinking one of the records to hypnotize the crowd. We're ready for her now though."
"Don't you have any details?" Danny asked.
"He's never MET Ember!" Feralae protested. "How is he supposed to know who she is? Let alone be able to figure her out."
"Yeah, you're right, sorry." Danny apologized. "At least we're warned." He sighed. "Listen, Poindexter, is there a place where you can hide? If you go up to the roof my folks will pick you up on their ghost sensor and then all... trouble… will break loose." Danny quickly substituted one word for another.
"Your folks have a ghost sensor?" Poindexter asked. "It didn't find me before did it?"
"The surveillance records will probably show you were here, but also that you're gone somewhere." Danny told him. "If you stay out of sight maybe they won't find you."
"I know a place, if its still there." Poindexter said, rising from his seat and stretching. "See ya later Alligator." He said as he waved goodbye.
"In awhile crocodile." Danny said with a chuckle as Poindexter disappeared and flew out.
Feralae breathed a sigh of relief. "He reminds me more of Mikael than he realizes." Feralae chuckled sadly.
"Don't mope around about your family." Danny told her. "It's only going to lead to trouble."
Feralae nodded. "I'll try. Are the others going to be there?"
"Nope, its just you and me tonight." Danny told her. "Hey, what's circled on your calendar?"
"The circle indicates the day of the month that my parents split." Feralae said, this was said in a slightly gruff tone. "It's been three months to the day since I became a Gatekeeper, the exact same day my dad left."
"Whoops, didn't mean to offend you."
"It's okay. The wound just hasn't had time to heal." Feralae said as she picked up her flute. "Let's go."
Danny led her up to the roof. There his parents and Jazz were busy taking turns at looking through a rather large and complex looking telescope. Jazz had a laptop out and a camera lens attached to the telescope. "Wow, check out this view of Saturn." She clicked on zoom in. "I didn't think we'd be able to get it this time of the year, but the view is perfect."
Feralae leaned over her shoulder. "I only saw a Saturn through a telescope once."
"It's hard to see most times, because the moon and sun's positions get in the way." Explained Jazz. "We're lucky tonight. Mom, see if you can get a picture of Mars? It should be…" And Jazz rattled off a series of equations that Feralae didn't recognize.
"Mars, coming right up." Mrs. Fenton said cheerfully as she put her eye to the telescope and searched at the coordinants. "Jazz has an astronomy report due in a week, and all she needs for it are pictures of the planets." She explained. "So we're trying to get them for her."
"Which ones are you missing?" Feralae asked. "And how did you get the coordinates. Jazz said smugly. "Astrology may be debunked, but the stargazing part of it is entirely accurate. And I'm missing Jupiter, Venus and Mercury. Anything beyond Saturn is impossible with the equipment we have. But its worth getting the pictures myself. Might get me extra points with the teacher."
Feralae sighed, sat down on a chair a couple yards away and began to play a soft, mysterious tune on the flute she'd brought up with her. It was from a CD she'd ended up leaving behind, but it worked. When she finished the song, Mrs. Fenton, who had found the picture that Jazz had been looking for, applauded. "I didn't know you played an instrument."
"I haven't had the chance to unpack it until now, but yes, I do have a flute." Feralae replied. "It's made of wood, this one was a gift." She held it up for the elder Fentons to see.
"It's beautiful, look at how its carved like a dragon." Mrs. Fenton ran a finger over the carved wooden head of the dragon flute. "And its stained blue. Do you know the story of the Azure dragon?" She asked, curiously.
"You mean the story of Seiryuu, king of the dragons? I've heard a lot of stories about him."
"Who's this… Seiryuu?" Danny asked.
"He's the dragon god associated with the direction east. Instead of breathing fire he whips up hurricanes." Mrs. Fenton told him. "He's one of four gods the Japanese associate with the directions. He rules the heavens with his friend Suzaku the phoenix god."
Danny looked up at the sky. "No storms, guess he's not at work."
"Don't be silly Danny, Seiryuu doesn't exist." Mrs. Fenton laughed. "But it's a good story to tell on a starry night."
"Uh… mom… a few years ago they said that ghosts don't exist. Then you build the Fenton Portal and BAM all these ghosts start appearing."
Mrs. Fenton looked at her son strangely. "Point taken, perhaps they do exist. I never told you the story of the incident in college."
Oh dear, Danny thought, for some reason parental stories about college never lead to good things. He was thinking, of course, about Vlad.
"I was on an exchange trip to Kyoto and I was staying in a remote area outside of the city, and it was a very dark night. Not like this one, clouds threatened rain and an incredible thunderstorm. It was almost as if… as if the world were waiting for something, as if the sky was holding its breath.
"Then I heard the crack of thunder. And I saw it, how could I not? The clouds parted before them as they dueled. An enormous bird of black fire and a blue dragon a thousand feet long, hurling thunderbolts.
"I thought it was a ghost, since I am interested in the supernatural. But they didn't speak. Most ghosts would have made sound by then, announced their presence with a noise. The only sounds to be heard from either were the crackle of fire and the boom of thunder and lightning.
"I came out of my room to watch. And eventually the firebird gave up. The dragon chased him away with an Earth shattering roar. Then it sailed down to the shrine where I stood. I was terrified. I was certain that this huge creature was going to eat me in one bite. Just its eye was as large as my head. The dragon gave me a sniff, then snorted as if it found something distasteful. Then it spoke…"
flashback
"A hunter are you?" It asked.
"How did you know?"
"A Ghost Hunter reeks of death and destruction. Yet from your work, comes life. Do you know what… who it was that I just chased away from your door human?"
"No, to be honest, I don't."
"I chased away the dark half of Suzaku, a herald of death and suffering and life and power. Those who look upon him are cursed, after a fashion, something great will happen to them during their lifetime. And the strength gained from that encounter will last them and their descendants a hundred years."
"I don't understand."
"Something great will happen to your children child. And yes, I will call you a child, when you have lived since the great mother took her first breath, then you will most certainly call all others a child." The dragon said with a smile. "Your family will be of two realms, always they will be drawn to the next world, to explore its secrets and its mysteries."
The huge dragon looked up at the sky. "Duty calls. I shall probably not see you again. But remember what I have told you."
The dragon crouched, then leapt into the sky. Within seconds it was gone, streaking sonic booms across the sky.
end flashback
"I felt so sleepy, almost as if I'd been hypnotized. I closed my eyes for a moment and found myself back in my own bed, as if nothing had happened!" Mrs. Fenton told the children. "The next day I went to the library at the shrine where I was staying. There was a scroll telling of a dragon and a dark phoenix that dueled periodically. I've never forgotten that dream, if it was a dream." The ghost hunter smiled at her children.
Danny gulped. "But it's just a campfire tale right?" The dragon in the story had come horribly close to the truth.
"The dragon was Seiryuu. The Dark phoenix was the evil half of Suzaku." Feralae said thoughtfully. "My grandmother was a miko, a Shinto priestess. She taught my mother all the old legends. Then my mom told me." Feralae explained. "Mom said that Suzaku and Seiryuu were enemies. Suzaku hated humans and tended to be destructive. He had a good half and an evil half. The good half represented life and rebirth, the evil half represented death and destruction."
"Quite the Mythologist." Mr. Fenton commented as he repositioned the telescope.
"I study a lot of Mythology. Its amazing how similar it all is, almost as if the Ancient Cultures were one." Feralae knew that, in truth, they had been one, but the Fentons didn't know it."
Jazz glared at her for a moment, as if to say, 'watch yourself.'
"There are some things that are universal Feralae." Mrs. Fenton told the Gatekeeper. "Everybody's born and grows up. A tree is a tree, no matter where it grows. Water will still be water a thousand years from now, and while they'll move over the next thousand years, an ocean is still an ocean."
"I suppose that's true." Feralae said thoughtfully.
Danny sighed, annoyed. "Right, maybe we want to live in the REAL world?" He asked skeptically.
Crouched on a building not far away sat Skulker, staking out the scene. "Sky watching? That little runt is SKY watching?"
"Not a bad idea." Ember commented. She was lying on her back on the roof, hands behind her head and looking up at the stars. "Look at them! The stars are beautiful! Hey, forget about the runt, can we take the telescope too? I mean, look at those stars! They're just SCREAMING, Ember watch me! No Ember watch ME!" Ember made her voice squeaky to imitate the stars.
"Our orders were clear, expose the ghost child to his hunter parents and if possible get the apprentice's real name! Honestly, I'm surprised I hadn't seen it before. Its so simple I could kick myself."
"Let me do it for you." Ember said, annoyed. "I want that telescope! I mean look, it even hooks up to the computer!"
"Ember if you try to take that Telescope I will kill you all OVER again!"
"Says who tough guy?" Demanded Ember.
That was about the time Danny's ghost sense went off. "Oh no." He gulped.
"Danny, is something wrong?" Jazz asked.
"Nothing Jazz, I'm just not feeling too well. I think I'll go lie down for a bit okay?" Danny asked.
That was the exact second when Skulker struck.