Danni glared down at her white-gloved hands; even her ghost form had been…altered. "But you're so pretty!" Gypsy exclaimed happily, running a brush through the girl's white hair.
"I'm just glad GM isn't around," she muttered. She had enough boys hitting on her between Tucker and Kwan; she didn't want to be anywhere near the notorious lech known as the Ghost Master. "It's like the whole world has gone insane!" she tried to explain. "Nobody's acting normal, but I'm not really that surprised. You are not coming anywhere near me with that."
Becca the flute player paused with a tube of lipstick. "Oh, come on!" she argued. "You can't waltz in here looking like that and not expect a makeover!"
Alto snickered and produced mascara from behind her back. "We're girls. It's what we do."
Danni tried to lunge forward away from Gypsy and the hairbrush, but she suddenly found her arms pinned to the chair by the twins. "Consider it revenge…" one began.
"…for all the rules," her sibling finished.
Then she was surrounded by girls. Any other time, that would have been great. Any other time, when she had still been a boy, even a gaggle of ghost girls doting on her would have made the day so much better. Right then, all she wanted to do was escape. Later, she would wonder why she didn't think to simply become intangible. She didn't think of that, however; instead, she merely closed her eyes and waited for it to end.
"Are you insane? That blue is way to dark!"
"She has a very pale complexion, and that totally clashes with the white."
"Oh, come on! Everything goes with white!"
"You're thinking of black."
"She's wearing black, too."
There was a pause while someone pointed at the vanity. "Put it back and get the light pink!"
"I want her in Mimi makeup!"
"Put…it...back…and get the pink!"
"Pink's not going to go with her eyes."
There was another pause. "You know? You're right. Okay, light blue."
Finally, however, the ordeal was over, and the ghosts moved back. "There!" Gypsy announced. "Now, you're just stunning."
For a split second, Danni agreed. Then she realized what she thinking. "No! Ew! Get it off!"
"Never!" yelled the twins in unison.
Alto exchanged glances with Becca, who said, "And if you try, I'll call GM in to flirt with you." The threat had the intended effect; Danni paused in the act of looking for something to wipe it all off with.
…Maybe it wasn't…so bad…it was certainly better than dealing with the Ghost Master.
Her short hair had been pulled back into two butterfly clips; the straggling strands had been curled, and hung around her face in something that would have looked pretty had it been on anyone else. She steadfastly refused to think of herself in those terms. Pale blue eye shadow graced her eyes, and her lips sported a light pink. There was more, but she didn't much want to think about it. She shook her head and sighed. "Oh, fine…"
A cheer went up from the assembled ghost girls, and someone said, "Girl's night out!"
Becca jumped into the air like a cheerleader; she had been one in life. "Yeah! Let's go the mall! We'll scare the beejeebers out of all the boys!"
Danni was about to object, and then she remembered how much they'd put her through the past two days. She grinned slowly. What good was being a ghost if you couldn't act like one now and again? Besides, it wasn't like anyone was going to be hurt; she'd make sure of that.
Dash sighed and folded his arms, glancing around furtively. If anyone saw him in the Bed, Bath, and Beyond, even through his mother had dragged him there, it would be a week before he lived it down. He knew Kwan and Star were roaming around somewhere, and Paulina practically lived at the mall.
He heard a scream from somewhere in the back of the store and decided to leave. If his mom asked, he would just say he thought there was ghost and was trying to get away. He managed to get turned around before he found that his lie was, in fact, the truth. A blanket rose into the air and draped around something that was humanoid in form. "Boo!" it announced.
Dash lifted an eyebrow. "What are you supposed to be?" he asked the ghost.
"I'm the ghost of…um…" the specter trailed off, a lame ending to a lame haunting.
"Dude!" exclaimed another bodiless voice. "You totally suck! Try it like this."
The blanket was whisked away from its former owner and spun around a few times before drifting down to wrap itself around him. Suddenly, lamps began to flicker and everything that wasn't nailed down floated into the air.
Dash didn't scare easily. He'd been through enough ghost attacks that they didn't faze him unless he was in actual danger. He fought his way free of the bedding and looked around. Apparently, it was some kind of contest to see who could scare him the most. He shook his head and crossed his arms. "You guys are going to have to try harder than that," he offered.
He suddenly found himself in a women's clothing store, standing in the middle of a crowd of jeering teens. He looked down to see that he was wearing a bra and women's panties, then screamed and ran for the nearest dressing room. Above the crowd, completely unnoticed, two ghosts howled with laughter.
"It still counts as a scream," Danni said.
"He certainly looked terrified to me," Becca confirmed gleefully. "But overshadowing is cheating."
"You said anything goes," the half ghost reminded her as they hunted for another victim.
A few screaming people ran by, chased by a pair of white tigers; the twins specialized in shape shifting. An interesting song drifted through the air as Gypsy invoked her siren abilities. Danni was pleased to note that the music didn't affect her as a girl; at least there was one perk. Sadly, it was canceled out by the bad pun that came to mind.
"Hey, there's Kwan and Star!" she exclaimed, pointing.
Becca sniffed arrogantly. "Now, watch the master at work," she said with a grand flourish.
Star held her boyfriend's arm in a death grip and sniffled slightly. He had a somewhat blank look in his eyes, but she didn't care. He also seemed to be drawn toward something, but she was okay with that too. Whatever it was, it seemed to be in the direction of the exit. They were walking a little too slowly for her tastes by the fountain when the water suddenly came to life and rose into the air.
"Kwan!" she screamed, running to hide on his other side. "Do something!"
The bewitched football player did not respond in any way, but merely continued to walk as the wall of water cascaded down over them. Star screamed again and started running; Kwan could take care of himself.
"Not bad," Danni teased. She led the way to the center of the mall where the men were gathering. Gypsy's mournful song was about to come to an end, and she wanted to be there when the spell ended.
The gypsy woman could look absolutely gorgeous when she wanted. She hovered a few feet in the air, her long hair falling around her. The last few notes echoed across the commons, and all the men stirred at last. They looked around, looked at each other, and finally looked at the ghost.
Suddenly, Gypsy's pale complexion turned a sickening shade of green. Her eyes glowed red, her teeth became fangs, and her fingers became claws. She lunged forward, screaming shrilly, while her victims ran around and into each other trying to get away.
"Crud!" yelled Alto, flying by. "It's the Fentons! Run!"
The six ghost girls scattered like the wind as Jack and Maddie Fenton appeared in their midst. Danni ducked through the floor into the underground garage to make her way back home. Finally, she understood why ghosts liked to scare people; that had been fun, and she was sorry it was over so quickly. No one had gotten hurt, and no one had seen her…in makeup…
She became intangible and let the offending stuff slide off. That was definitely one of the best days she'd had of late. Getting revenge on Dash made everything worthwhile, even the lecture she would probably get from Jazz if the older girl ever figured out she'd been involved. For the first time in a while, she truly felt like she belonged somewhere. She'd even managed to forget about being a girl for…
"Oh, no…" she groaned. She should have known there was an ulterior motive to the best time she'd had in three days. "I'm not going to stay like this!" she announced, relatively certain Elegy could hear her.
There was no answer.
