Links in the Chain
By Lacey52

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

So, ever just inexplicably feel like your were going to have an awesome holiday season? Yeah, that's how I was and now I know why.
This morning, at about 8 o'clock, I get woken up and my Mom drags me to the living room. There, in full uniform, was my Marine. He came home for the holidays.
Then…he hit his knee…and I was proposed to.
Yeah. Awesome holiday season.
So, this chapter is a little short because of it, and I'm going to be taking a few days off. I am by no means abandoning this story, I just want to spend some time with my boyfr…er, I mean fiancée. God it feels so good to write that!

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

A note: I don't own Abhornsen…Garth Nix does, and he is a pretty darn good writer…you should read his trilogy! I don't own Lord of the Flies or The Scarlet Letter either…also both very good books!

Um…didn't proofread it…too excited!

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

Chapter Twenty Five: Chortling

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

"Oh, come on Danny," Sam said with a slightly twisted smile on her face, "No one has done anything in over a week! That's gotta' be some kind of sign. Let's just see if we can still do it. Just one time."

"No way Sam," Danny shot back, feeling slightly frustrated that she was actually beginning to win him over, "I don't want to risk anything. You know my luck. It'd be like asking for someone to notice!"

"You even said you missed it, Danny," Sam pouted slightly, "That has got to count for something in this argument."

"It's not exactly an argument," Danny sighed as he beat her to her locker and opened it for her.

"Thank you, and yes it is an argument," she said as she gathered her things, "I just want to see if we can still do it. It might come in handy. I mean, the 'calling' sure did...and really since we have that back already we should technically be able to do this…"

Danny's mind began to argue with itself as he weighed the pros and cons of what he was about to do. His face was set in contemplation as Sam watched him finally think it over, 'One last little push should do it, and no one can push Danny's button like I can…I'll even play two cards at once…'

"I mean, if you don't think we can anymore it's no big deal," Sam said disinterestedly, then changed to an extremely pleading look, round eyes, clasped hands, and trembling bottom lip included, "One time, Danny! That's all I'm asking you for, and seriously, how often do I ask you for anything?"

"I hate you sometimes," Danny tried to glare at her, "how do you manage to talk me into these things?"

"Feminine wiles," Sam replied calmly with a smile as she marched past the boy into their English room, leaving him standing in that particular door for the second time that semester.

"Feminine…" Danny trailed off as his mind processed this information. It went something like this, 'Sam…and feminine…Sam is a girl. And that makes her feminine…I mean she may not wear pink, but she does wear a skirt all the time. Wait. Sam's a girl…she did that girl thing on purpose!…Sam's a girl…'

"You alright Danny?" Sam asked as he sat down with a very odd look on his face, "You look like something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Danny sent her a tiny half smile, 'Other than the fact that I seem to forget that Sam is not just one of the guys…and she tricked me into this…oh she is evil…'

"If you say so, Danny," Sam checked over her worksheet on the book they had been reading one last time, "Hey, what did you think of those chapters we had to read last night? I really like this book so far."

"I'm happy to hear that Ms. Manson," Mr. Lancer entered the classroom, the bell ringing a few seconds later, "Few students enjoy the literary masterpieces that are usually first encountered by a youth in high school. If everyone would please pass their homework on The Scarlet Letter forward."

Papers in and lesson started Danny looked over at Sam. She wanted to play one of their old games. She wanted to help the link grow and strengthen. There were so many things that could go wrong, but it was fun…

'Okay,' Danny said to himself as Lancer handed out another worksheet for them to start on, 'She really wants to try this. The link is already getting stronger on its own anyways, so this can't hurt that much right? I can't believe I let her talk me into this…if I didn't like her this much I wouldn't have. Darn this stupid crush!'

Sam sat in a similar contemplative state as Danny, 'Maybe I shouldn't have asked Danny to do this. I know how paranoid he is…I think that if he just remembered the fun stuff that he wouldn't have such a hard time with thi…'

But Sam was cut off mid thought by a certain feeling, one of humor mixed with tentative nervousness and, as she cracked a smile, a tiny bit of pride. The feeling was not from her. She knew exactly what was going on. This mixture of emotions was a prelude to something that used to be ridiculously fun.

Letting her eyes fall shut, Sam focused on that feeling and her best friend, 'This used to be a lot easier,' she groused to herself as she began to concentrate harder, 'I guess what Tucker said was true. You don't use a skill, you get rusty at it…'

Slowly, ever so slowly, the feeling of humor, and affection, increased and Sam started to think of…what was that? She was starting to picture…pink. Something pink came into her mind…followed by it shaping into a person.

'What is he trying to show me?' Sam thought, shifting in her seat slightly and hoping that no one noticed that she had her eyes closed. Danny would more than likely be in the same state of concentration, 'I know whatever it is will be funny, unless he's daydreaming about Paulina. Ugh, that would explain the pink.'

The sloppy, out of focus image slowly began to sharpen. Cleaner lines, more detail, and brighter colors filled Sam's mind. It was…it was…

'Ooo! He would think that was funny!' Sam opened her eyes to glare at the quietly chuckling boy beside her, who was looking straight back at his best friend. She couldn't really help it though, and started laughing too, 'It kinda' is funny now that I think back on it. I mean, me wearing pink, for a boy no less…'

Being reminded by Danny of that time, Sam smiled and her quiet laughing continued as she began to plot out what to show him through their special connection.

'Hm,' Danny frowned as he stopped mid-sentence on his paper, the feeling sweeping over him, 'Sam wants to show me something? I thought she just wanted to try it out once…'

For Danny the mental image formed much quicker, having already participated in this mind game once, 'Alright, two blobs…scratch that, two people. Huh…looks like…like me and Tucker hugging on the floor? Oh come on Sam…that's not funny that's embarrassing. Well, maybe a little funny…'

And again Danny and Sam sat chuckling quietly to themselves, smiles trying to break out onto their faces, and the pair valiantly trying to stave them off.

Blessed silence settled over the classroom for a few minutes, and those seated closer to Danny and Sam who had heard them begin laughing finally relaxed. The pair of them were odd enough as it was, they didn't need to randomly start giggling in class.

Sarah flipped her hair over her shoulder, 'They're playing one of their stupid games! They are psychic, I knew that stupid Foley kid was lying. I remember them playing this game. No way a third or fourth grader would be able to do what Foley said. He told us that the two of them would plan out when to laugh down to the second. I can't believe I was stupid enough to fall for it!'

Another giggle from Sam broke out, but this time instead of one laughing after the other, Fenton and Manson laughed at the same time. A few heads turned to witness the pair trying to keep from laughing and smiling as they seemingly concentrated on their work. No words had been spoken, no notes passed, no hand signals, nothing.

How were they doing that?

The students in the classroom weren't the only ones silently pondering this either, as Mr. Lancer observed the two from his desk, stealthily using a book to cover himself as he glanced over the top edge, 'What in the name of Abhornsen is going on?'

Ten more minutes of the random laughter and the students were nervously sending looks at the two and Mr. Lancer had had enough.

"Mr. Fenton, Ms. Mason, is there something you would care to share with the whole class?" Lancer asked as he wondered how exactly they were pulling it off.

"No sir," Danny replied happily, still feeling Sam's amusement and his own, "I was just thinking of something funny and Sam…"

"…thought of something funny too," she smiled as she completed his sentence, "Weird isn't it?"

"Indeed," and Lancer resumed his reading and began to ignore the pair. He had plenty of time to talk to them after class.

.o.O.o.o.O.o.

As he had intended to do, Danny and Sam were held back from lunch to explain a certain questionable happening in their fourth period English class.

"Care to tell me what the guffawing was about today?" Lancer stated as soon as he had the pair seated at the desk in his office.

"I think chuckling is more the word, uh, Mr. Lancer, sir," Danny gave a half-smile and ducked his head slightly, "And it was really my fault. I agreed I'd try it, I could have just said no."

"So this is about drugs?" Lancer's eyebrows shot up in shock and surprise. Only a few weeks ago, he had found Danny a hero, but now the poor kid was into trouble, or rather dragged into it by Manson. She had always seemed the smart type….

Lancer's inner-rambling was interrupted by the girl herself, "What? No way, I'm not dumb enough to get into the sort of thing, and amazingly, Danny isn't either."

"I thought we agreed on no more dising the C student when he's in the same room."

"Oh, shove it, you know I was just playing around."

"Please," Mr. Lancer tiredly rubbed his head at the pair's antics, "If this isn't about drugs, then why were the two of you 'chuckling' pray tell?"

"Well…it's a long story, but to sum it up…" Danny winced and turned to Sam, 'She'll explain this way better than I can.'

"Mr. Lancer, back in second grade Danny and I had an accident in his parent's lab, which gave us a sort of 'connection' between our minds. Over time, we could feel each other's emotions, 'call' each other when we needed help, guess what the other was thinking, and we would play this game in school," Sam smiled up at him crookedly, "It was the 'Giggling Game' where we'd sit in class and make the other laugh by, uh, sending them funny images in our minds. We'd usually both end up laughing and getting in trouble, and we haven't done this in a long time."

"A 'connection' between your minds?" Mr. Lancer shook his head. First Daniel Fenton was a half ghost who regularly saved Amity Park and the world, and now Samantha Manson claimed that they were psychics. Somehow this all seemed logical, "So you are psychics?"

"No," Danny slumped in his chair and folded his arms angrily, "Why does everyone always assume that?"

"Because it's what it sounds like moron," Sam shot him a glare before turning back to Mr. Lancer, "We aren't psychic. We can't read each other's minds, just the emotions, and we can't do this with anyone else. The accident only affected us."

"So this accident formed the 'connection' you two have?" Lancer looked at them questioningly, "Can you prove it?"

Sam sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I'll go stand in the next room, 115, and you can tell Danny an animal. Then come get me and I'll tell you what it was."

Finding this fair enough of a test, they did so, and to Lancer's amazement, it worked. Danny had been told, not an animal, but rather a person and a number. Sam had gotten both right, and even mentioned that Danny held felt very confident during the test. Lancer could attest to that as the boy had been smiling the entire time.

"Why have the two of you never shown this ability before?" the vice-principal looked between them, "Do not take this as permission to do so, but it seems that this bond would make cheating extremely easy."

"Probably," Sam shrugged, "but I'd never let Danny get away with it."

"Oh yeah, thanks," Danny huffed, "blame the bad ideas on the halfa, he's only half human he won't care that much."

"Have I ever implied that you didn't care about something because of what you are? Well, other than not caring about anything because Paulina was in your line of sight and you're a teenaged boy."

"Um…"

"Enough of the lover's spat," Lancer cut in, laughing on the inside at the blush that his remark caused on both his student's faces, "Why have you never played this 'game' until now?"

"Because in fifth grade," Danny's face hardened, "something went really wrong, and the other kids went from playing with us to playing us. They ended up hurting Sam, real bad, and we both promised each other that we'd never use the link again. It was hard, and kinda' hurt to keep it back, but we did it…it's just been recently that we've developed it again…and it was my fault."

"I don't blame you Danny," Sam said tiredly, "and it's no big deal."

"Some of the people have already noticed and started messing with us again Sam," Danny started and was going to continue but a question came to Lancer's mind.

"So what happened in the class the other day with Jason Dillinger and Sarah Grayson, that was because of the link?" and as the pair nodded, he could only shake his head, "Lord of the Flies, that is quite uncivilized."

"You don't have to tell us that," Sam looked down, "But like I said, it's no big deal. Danny can take care of himself, I can take care of myself, and if worse comes to worse, Danny can always help me out too. He can fight, no doubt about it."

"You should not have to fight in the first place, Ms. Manson," Mr. Lancer shook his head, "Prejudice can be an ugly thing, and I will not tolerate it. If anyone starts to bother the two of you, please don't hesitate to ask for my assistance. It can be formally be called 'harassment' and that is a large issue at this school with all the bullying problems we have."

"You mean you'd keep the jocks and preps off our backs?" Sam looked at him in surprise, "Not that it's just the jocks and preps, but they're the only one's ridiculing us right now."

"Of course," Mr. Lancer smiled as he saw the pair to his door, "I told you, I will help in any way I can. Life is more than likely stressful enough with the everyday nuisances of ghosts and fighting them, I can only imagine what it must be liked to endure scorn at such levels in the usually safe haven of school."

"I think you've gotten your safe havens mixed up," Danny smiled sadly at the man as he turned to leave with Sam for the cafeteria, "The only thing that makes school good are Sam and Tucker and the few people like you, Mr. Lancer. Thanks."

The teacher could only nod, and wonder what the pair went through such a long time ago for them to gloss over it all so vaguely. There hadn't even been any 'You might not believe this,' remarks. Obviously, they didn't care if people believed them or not.

Edward Lancer, already worried for three of his students, suddenly upped his worrying on two of those three. Sending a prayer towards heaven to help keep the kids safe, Mr. Lancer returned to his job, troubles weighing heavily on his mind.

'I can only hope to be there for them,' he sighed as he sat at his desk, 'As much as I can, I will be there.'