Danny stabbed his scrambled eggs irritably and tried to ignore his father's blathering on about ghosts. His parents had awakened bright and early at 7:00, and he had spent almost fifteen minutes trying to explain to them that he wasn't tired and didn't really feel like sleeping in, and yes, that was despite the fact that there was no school, and no, he wasn't sick, he just wasn't tired, really he wasn't.
"Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Maddie remarked teasingly. Danny resisted the urge to glare; he was afraid if he looked up, he would let his eyes turn green. Auspiciously oblivious to her son's thoughts, she asked, "So what are you planning on doing today, sweetie, since you don't have school?"
Before he could think to come up with an answer, Jack interrupted. "Did they figure out what started that fire yet?"
"I'm just going to go back to my room, now," Danny mumbled. He pretended not to notice the looks of concern from his parents and was simply grateful that Jazz was still asleep.
"What is wrong with me?" he asked once he was safely inside his room again. He thought about calling Sam and Tucker, but they would kill him for getting them up this early. He toyed with the notion of calling Paulina, but he was kind of afraid that she would start hating him again at any moment. Besides, she probably wasn't up yet either. He stared out his window and sighed. Then he smiled. There may not have been any ghost attacks for a few days, but he did know of one ghost in town. He grabbed the Fenton Thermos just in case, made his excuses to his parents, and went ghost hunting.
Now, of course, the question was how to catch a ghost that didn't set off his ghost sense? If only he had some way to track spectral energy…
He smacked his forehead. The Fenton Goggles. Duh. He flew, intangible and invisible, back into the house to retrieve the goggles from the lab, then he really set off.
He began his search in Electra's last known location: the school auditorium. Although it had been well over twenty-four hours, he thought he could still pick up the trail. Of course, it was much obscured by the one he left, but he was able to catch it where it left the school grounds.
He followed the trail on a winding circuit through the city. It took him through an unusual amount of electronics stores, though maybe that wasn't so strange considering what she called herself. He also tracked her through night clubs, karaoke bars, and a grocery store. This was definitely one strange ghost. He finally found her lounging against someone's headstone in the cemetery, sans mask. He thought she looked familiar, which only served to cement his theory about her identity.
"Electra," he called.
She pushed her hat back and looked up at him. "Apologies? Or did you come back for a beating?"
"I…" he thought for a moment as he realized that he had not actually planned for this contingency. "I just want to talk." He paused again; her expectant gaze prompted him to confess, "I was bored."
She gestured at nothing in particular and said, "Pull up a headstone, then. Pardon me if I don't sound as eloquent as I did before; I'm having far too rotten a day to be in character."
"Heh, join the club," Danny laughed mirthlessly. "What's yours about?"
Electra sighed theatrically and pulled off her hat. "The fire destroyed my organ; I really liked that organ. You?"
Danny blinked. "That sounded kind of wrong…"
"Bite me, ghost boy," she answered good-naturedly.
They looked at each other for several minutes without speaking. Danny almost couldn't help but like the strange spook. And she was right; he had far too many enemies and not enough allies in the Ghost Zone. If only he could figure out why she didn't set off his ghost sense.
"Did I just say that aloud?" he asked.
"Yes, yes, you did," she confirmed, amused. "And the answer lies somewhere between the sun and the moon, but I'm not going to tell you where."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"It wasn't supposed to." She crossed her legs and propped her head on her chin. "You really are a fascinating creature. Is it true you're half human?"
"Um…does everybody know about that?"
Electra laughed and leaned back again. "Everyone knows about you, Danny Phantom. Not many believe, but everyone knows. You're like…the Bigfoot of the Ghost Zone."
Danny started to say something, then he lost track of what it was and chuckled quietly instead. "You know, you're pretty fascinating yourself. I've never met a ghost quite like you."
"Maybe I'm not a ghost," she responded mysteriously. Before he could react to that absurd statement, she continued. "Or maybe I am. Really, who's to say? Hm?"
"Right. I think I'm going to go now."
"Cheerio," she said and vanished.
Danny floated where was for a few seconds longer, then shook his head and headed back home. He wasn't sure what to think about her save that she was probably a little crazy. But at least she didn't seem to want to kill him.
"So I'm surprised you didn't want to spend today with…Paulina," Sam said, adding more than her usual sneer to the name.
"Her mom wanted to take her shopping," Danny replied, inadvertently confessing that he had called her first. He cringed sheepishly as Sam and Tucker glared. "Uh, that is…"
Tucker waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, Danny. I think it's cool Paulina finally came around to the ole Fenton charm."
"Or was that Phantom charm?" Sam asked in her driest tone.
"I didn't tell her," Danny reassured them both.
"Man, but why not?" Tucker exclaimed. "She'd be all over you like…she already is…never mind."
They fell into companionable silence for a few minutes. The local ice cream and malt shop was unusually devoid of customers with most of the Casper High student body gathered to watch the remains of the school be knocked down. Danny looked around to make sure no one was near before he spoke.
"I met the weirdest ghost," he began quietly. "She calls herself Electra, and I think she may be related to Technus. She looks and sounds a little like him, anyway."
"And then you sent her back to the Ghost Zone," Tucker finished.
Danny sighed. "No, not yet. She seems really nice." At the double dose of skepticism, he continued, "Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't trust her. But if I can make friends with her, then that's one less ghost trying to kick my butt."
His friends tentatively agreed that this was logical. Sam shook her head. "She really calls herself Electra?"
Danny shrugged and laughed slightly. "Yeah, I know. And she dresses like a guy who just walked out of the eighteen hundreds. She's…really weird. Worse than Box Ghost weird."
"Is she cute?" Tucker asked.
"Tuck, she's a ghost," was Danny's dubious reply. "And probably a couple hundred years older than you."
Sam smothered laughter with her hand. "Okay, you know he's getting desperate when he wants to go out with a ghost."
Tucker was quick to defend himself. "Hey, come on! I've asked out every girl in the school and a few who weren't, and now Danny's going out with Paulina, which is so not fair…"
"You never asked me out."
"Um…we're friends," Tucker replied. "That would be kind of weird." Sam rolled her eyes. A sudden high-pitched beeping noise interrupted further conversation, and Tucker pulled out his PDA. "Oh, darn it. My folks are almost home. I gotta go!"
They said hurried goodbyes as he practically flew out the door to head home. Danny gave Sam a questioning look. "Still grounded," she explained.
"Still?"
"Yeah, apparently, his mom found out about that 'F' on the math test; he's grounded until he can bring his grades up."
Danny looked after Tucker, then back at Sam. "But…there's no school."
She shrugged. "That's Mr. and Mrs. Foley for you. He'll probably be grounded until the new school is built. Did you know they're actually trying to say they'll have it up by the end of the month?"
Danny snickered. "Yeah, right. It'll be a miracle if they have it up by the end of the year." He shifted a bit uncomfortably. "So, uh…do they know what caused it?"
"No, not yet. I heard they think an accelerant was used because it burned unnaturally hot or something like that. But they don't know for sure."
It crossed Danny's mind to hope that they never found out. He thought he smelled smoke then, but Sam was speaking again. "Sorry? My mind was elsewhere."
Sam huffed. "Probably on Paulina…"
"What is it about Paulina?" Danny demanded. "You're acting like you're jealous or something."
"Who, me?" she stammered in a botched attempt to keep her cool. "I am so not even jealous of her. I'm just worried for you, Danny; you're my best friend."
"Look, Sam, I know what I'm doing. I really wish you would just forget about her."
Sam blinked and looked down at her empty malt glass. Danny was about to apologize for being snappish when she looked back up. "So you want to go to a movie or something?" He decided this was her way of trying to make up and agreed.
Danny sighed happily as he walked Sam home. The last few ghost-free (except for one) days had almost made him feel normal again. He had forgotten what that felt like. Apparently, Sam was of the same mind. "You know, it's really nice to be able to have fun once in a while without Box Ghost or Skulker or somebody butting in. This was really nice, you know, just us."
"Yeah. Listen, Sam, I wanted to apologize. About Paulina."
Sam thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Who's Paulina?"
Danny stopped short and stared at Sam, willing her to be kidding. She wasn't. "Oh, uh…" he stammered. "No one. Nothing. Um, see you later?"
Sam gave him a confused look, then shrugged. "Sure. Bye." She paused at her door to look back, but Danny was already running. He ducked behind a car to become a ghost, then went invisible and shot into the sky. He didn't even bother with the front door, this time; he flew straight into his room and yanked Pandora's Box out from under the bed.
"Why did you do that?" he demanded, both hands planted on the sides of the box.
You did say "I wish", Master, was the perturbed reply.
Danny was very sorely tempted to say a few words that would have gotten him grounded if his mother ever heard. He settled for an exasperated huff. "Well, I didn't mean it. Not that one. I was just ranting. She just made me a little mad, and I was ranting. That's all. Now, give her back her memory."
There were a few seconds of decidedly shamefaced silence before Pandora responded. I am sorry, Master; I cannot. To wipe someone's memory is one thing; to put it all back is impossible, even for me. When knowledge is lost, it's gone for good.
Danny stared at the silver cross. Something was nagging at him, some sense that all was not right. There was something missing, something he was missing, and he couldn't figure out what.
But that was ridiculous, of course. There was nothing wrong at all. Pandora only had his best interests in mind. It wasn't her fault he hadn't been specific enough. If he didn't want the wish granted, he shouldn't have made it, after all. It really was his fault. He sighed, though whether it was irritation or dejection was up for debate, and pushed the box back under his bed. "Alright," he said at last. "It's not like its hurting her, right?"
Of course, not, Master. Merely a few lost memories, and ones she did not like, at that. Doubtless she would thank you for the wish if she could remember to.
He laughed slightly. "Yeah, yeah. So can I wish that we'll have pizza for dinner without the kitchen blowing up?"
Consider it done, Pandora replied happily.
He ran downstairs to say hi to his parents and try to explain how he had gotten in without being noticed. He needn't have bothered; his entire family was glued to the TV screen. "Oh, sweetie!" Maddie exclaimed as she noticed him. She motioned him to join them. "You weren't at the school, were you?"
"Uh, no, Sam and I were at the Cineplex," he answered in confusion.
The relief in the room was palpable. "Apparently, the fire wasn't quite out yet," Jazz explained. "When they started to knock it down, one of the trucks caught fire and there was a huge explosion."
"Was anyone hurt?" Danny asked in trepidation. At his mother's nod, his heart sank under the weight of guilt.
"A lot of the workers were hurt," she confirmed.
"And a bunch of your classmates were killed, too," Jack interjected.
Maddie hugged her son, misunderstanding his devastated expression. "It's all right, sweetie. We're just glad you're okay. Why don't we all go out for pizza and try to put all this bad news out of mind?"
Danny nodded numbly, but he had never felt less like having pizza in his life. It was his fault that this had happened, and he would never be able to tell anyone.
A/N: Electric Ammo: I don't think you're a flamer. You're kind of right, and I deliberated on that for a long time. I finally settled on using Electra because she was a key figure in Greek mythos, just like Pandora. Electra was one of the Pleides. Another story has her as being the mother of Harpies. It is also the word that inspired our word "electricity", which she is self-titled master of. Plus, look at her for a minute. She's completely spastic; its just her personality to choose such an unoriginal name.
Faith's melody: Yes, missing words is one of my biggest downfallings. My brain runs faster than my hands can type, and I can't seem to help it. I try to read through and fix all those mistakes, but I don't always catch them, obviously.
Faded Hope: Heh, I'm not telling if Kat and Electra are related, but I will explain the gentleman comment. She's dressed like and, thus,behaving as a gentleman from the late 1800's, or "in character" as she puts it. Were she out of character as sheis in the beginning of this chapter, she would have used a different term.