Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, other people do.
(a/n: reviews are appreciated and depending on my schedule next chapter should should be in the next few days or in the next week. See livejournal for futher comments.)
Chapter One
Amity Park really was a nice place to live. Nice schools, a well established community, museums, parks- all the amenities that a larger city could offer but with a much more personal atmosphere. Amity took pride in being as pleasant as its name indicated. For instance: the mayor had pointed out in his last campaign for re-election the sign that stood at the city limits to welcome newcomers had always read "Amity Park: a nice place to live" since there had been an Amity Park, and he had promised that it always would.
It was hard to miss the newest addition to that sign; even with the rain coming down in torrents against the windshield of the taxi the driver could still see the new phrase painted in ghoulish dripping green letters that seemed horribly out of sorts to him, "Amity Park: Ghost Capital of the World!".
"Load of crap that one." the driver muttered to himself, turning his eyes back to the road. He had to squint to see the road, even with the wipers going. He liked to think of himself a practical sort of man, and practical persons didn't believe in such nonsense as boogies and ghosts. Whole thing was probably a some publicity stunt to drag in tourists he reasoned sagely, bring a little economy into the area. It seemed public officials were always trying to do something like that.
"You think so?" a voice chimed in from the back seat. The driver jumped, eyes flying to the rearview mirror. He had forget for moment that he still had a passenger. First time the kid had spoken up since he'd picked her up at the bus stop an hour ago. He felt a stab of guilt, poor thing wasn't much older than his niece out in California and had looked scared stiff about traveling alone.
"Course." the driver said gruffly. "There's no such thing as ghosts." he told her firmly, "And anyone who tells you otherwise is a crackpot!" But despite his words he couldn't help but press the gas pedal a little harder so that the cab sped past the looming shapes of the downtown buildings a little quicker. There was no point in scaring the poor kid, but ghosts or no ghosts, he'd heard of some strange things happening in this city and didn't care to linger here any longer than necessary.
"Sometimes the crackpots are on to something." was her response. "Something that the rest of the world just doesn't want to see."
"Yeah and sometimes they're full of crap." The driver snapped, irritated for a reason he didn't understand.
"True." she laughed, but the instead of lightening the mood in the cab the sound only set his nerves further on edge.
He licked his lips nervously, watching in the rearview mirror as a shaft of light from the streetlight briefly illuminating his passenger in the backseat. Quickly he looked back at the road, trying to ignore the chill crawling down his spine. He was being ridiculous, he told himself firmly, stupid town had him seeing things that weren't there at all, like glowing eyes...
"Wh- where did you say you were going?" He asked, tightening his grip on the wheel.
"206 Wick Road. It's the next left up there." a arm covered in a black sleeve emerged
from the backseat pointing to a turnoff up ahead, a silver charm bracelet tinkling around a wrist that was a little too thin. Harris swallowed hard and tried not to think about how pale her skin was...
"You live around here then?" he asked, pleased that the trip was near over. He'd call in sick to the dispatch, he decided, go home and spend the rest of the night with his wife watching reruns of CSI from the comfort of their safe, normal living room and forget all about the cold feeling in his stomach...
"Just moving here, really." his passenger mumble absently as he made the turn, watching the other houses on the street as the slowed to a stop. All the windows on the street were dark. "-My Parents!" she added suddenly, voice a bit high than before, "-they, uh, came ahead of me! To get the house ready! Its, um...a real fixer upper!"
His brother had bough a house like that, nearly gone bankrupt trying to keep the place from falling apart too. The driver winced, poor dumb saps probably didn't know what they were getting themselves into. Not that he cared much, he just wanted to get this trip over with...
"Stop. It's this one here." the girl instructed.
Curiously the driver peered out his window. "Doesn't look like they made much progress." the driver said stiffly. Number 206 Wick Road was nothing more than a rickety old ruin that looked like it should have been condemned thirty years ago. The front steps were rotted away, the porch roof sagging where it was still standing. And judging from the jagged glass gleaming like teeth in the dark windows no one had lived there for a long, long time.
For a long moment they just sat there, the engine rattling. The cab driver could feel his face flushing in embarrassment. He never should have pick up a kid, he decided eyes focused on his white-knuckled hands gripping the steering wheel. Not when the stupid brats pulled stunts like taking him out on wild goose chases to abandoned houses in a haunted city that was giving him the freaking creeps...
"Damn kids." he muttered quietly.
"How much?" the backseat squeaked, breaking the driver out of his own thoughts.
"This is your house." he said slowly, "You really live in - that?"
"I do now." came the answer from the backseat, cautiously slow. "How much do I owe you?"
"Double."
"Pardon?"
"You heard me kid." the driver growled, "It'll be double the usual fare."
"But why?" the girl demanded irritated. "You can't charge that much for no reason!"
"Because brats like you pull stunts like this!" he declared loudly, slapping his hand on the steering wheel. "Dragging me off on a goose chase to some damn abandoned house-" he snarled. "You're lucky I'm not calling the cops. So pay up and get the hell out of my cab!"
The cab was silent for a long moment "You shouldn't yell at people like that."
"Listen kid! I'll yell as much as I damn-" the driver said angrily turning in his seat to face her. The words died in his throat, fear constricting his chest.
A ghastly green face grinned back at him from the backseat of his cab with very sharp teeth. A ghost, a real life freaking ghost, the driver realized with a strangled breath. It was very hard to breath now. And his eyes felt like they were falling out of his head.
"What was that?" the ghost demanded, "I couldn't quite hear you." Red eyes glinted maliciously in the darkness. Darkness that threatened to overwhelm him, and god his heart was beating so fast it hurt...If only he could find his voice...
Screaming, the driver slammed his foot down on the gas, more by instinct than any real thought. The cab roared It wasn't until twenty minutes later and what was left of the gas in his tank that he realized that there wasn't anyone - or thing in his backseat at all. And while he waited Cold and stranded on the side of the highway for the tow truck he'd wonder if he hadn't just imagine the whole thing.
Meanwhile, back in Amity, floating crossly beside the luggage she just barely had snagged out of the trunk of the quickly retreating cab a teenage girl stared grimly up at the ramshackle house. If anyone had gotten close enough to her they were sure to have noticed the pallor of her skin, and hair that seemed almost prematurely gray.
Or the fact that she was floating, and where her feet should have been her body faded into nothingness
"He could've at least found a house that was livable for a normal person." she muttered furiously under her breath, feet emerging from the trail of mist below her torso to land on the pavement with a firm smack. Water soaked her pants to the knee and rain immediately began to plaster her now black hair to her head.
"Normal people live in normal houses with normal things like intact roofs!" She muttered rolling her eyes and quickly scanning the area for any sign of a certain resident hero. The last thing she needed right now was to end up crammed into some damn thermos. If she got sucked into that damn thermos she was resigning immediately. It was only after that she was satisfied that she hadn't been seen that she made haste in getting out of the rain.
"So how am I suppose to pass as a normal, absolutely non-paranormal, human when I live in the Amityville Horror?" she grumbled aloud, snatching the handles of a suitcase in either hand and dragging them up the front steps the porch. "I'll be known as freak girl by the end of the first week of class."
Trying to find safe footing among the wet rotting steps and balancing the heavy suitcases proved more difficult than she anticipated, especially since her balance hadn't re-adjusted yet from the move and the rain made everything slippery. She let herself rest for a moment at the top of the steep stairway and under the edge of what remained of the porch roof to catch her breath.
"But I suppose that's really asking to much of the all-mighty protector of time, to find a normal house." she snickered loudly between catching her breath, knowing that the subject of her frustration was sure to hear her sooner or later, since he heard everything at some point. One of the perks of the job. "Especially since he wouldn't know one if it bit him on the--!"
In a blink the familiar weight of the luggage was gone from her hands, messing up her balance and sending her teetering backwards. She went down hard on her but landing on one of the few intact steps which mercifully didn't giver way under her weight. Glaring she looked at her luggage sitting innocently in the middle of the street where it had started, almost as if they'd never been moved at all.
"Clockwork! That isn't funny!" she shouted at the empty sky.
"You should watch that mouth of your Alexandria." a cool bodiless chuckle wafted past her ear. "It might cause trouble for you in the future."