The school was abuzz when Danny, Sam, and Tucker entered. The jovial atmosphere was uncharacteristic for the hour, better suited to the time school let out, rather than began. "Wow," Tucker said, laughing lightly. "I haven't seen everyone this excited since Kat told everyone you had a boyfriend."
"Shut up," Danny muttered. He still found tabloid articles about his alter ego's potential sex life.
Sam snickered suddenly. "Hey, you remember that magazine with the guy claiming to be impregnated-"
"Sam, enough!" the ghost boy exclaimed, turning an interesting shade of red. He found it painfully difficult to forget that particular cover. Fortunately, the sound of Valerie's voice calling his name distracted his friends from pursuing the issue.
"Hey, Danny," she said, arriving out of breath. "Can I talk to you alone?"
Sam seemed about to argue, but Tucker turned her around and started to push her away. "We'll just leave you lovebirds alone," he laughed. Despite his amusement, however, the look in his eye told her they didn't intend to go far.
Valerie spared a moment to wonder why they disliked her so much before dragging her attention back to her purpose. "Listen, remember how you used to be friends with that ghost girl, Electra? You know, back when we all thought she was human?"
Danny repressed a grin and the desire to mention that they still were friends. "Yeah, I remember her. What's up?"
The girl looked furtively around and dragged him to the side of the hall. "She sent me an email last night. I thought she just sent it to me, but now it's all over the school. You knew her better than anyone, and I just…" She trailed off helplessly, confused and unsure. It wasn't as though she could just admit to being the mysterious ghost hunter, after all. "I guess I'm just wondering why."
"What was it?" After a moment's hesitation, Valerie handed him the sheaf of papers she had printed earlier to study in school. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes, and she almost thought that they glowed. But that was silly. He shrugged with careful nonchalance, but his voice was tight with anger when he finally said, "Couldn't tell you."
Valerie wanted to press the subject, but the bell rang, and he took the opportunity to get away as fast as his feet could carry him. Obviously, he knew something more than he was telling, but what? She shrugged mentally and decided to confront him about it later. Her ribs still hurt, and she needed to sit down.
First period was always the worst. It wasn't as bad on the days that they had health because she often spent the hour exchanging notes with Danny. This was not one of those days. Fortunately, she had some interesting reading material to survive the class, and a glance around told her it would not be out of place. Everyone seemed to have a copy of Phantom's journal. She repressed a smirk at the thought that the ghost kid was probably going crazy by then and turned to where she had left off from breakfast.
'I am never going back to Carnate Island. Ever. Ever! Oh man, I swear she's right behind me. I keep seeing white out of the corner of my eyes, and I turn but it's just the wall. Or a cloud out the window. Or my shirt. We got there at night. It was getting close to dark when the storm hit, but it was still light out. I don't know how long I was asleep, but the moon was pretty high when I woke up. Jazz said that was weird actually. It was a little less than a half moon, but she said it should have been almost full. I don't know, maybe Silver was messing with my head.
'But those monsters. I'm almost afraid those were real. I didn't see them after she let me go, but it was daylight. They didn't seem to like the light. Mom and Dad said it was just a dream, and I did wake up in the RV and maybe it was a dream, but it was still real! Silver was real. I know she was. She had to be. There's no way all that stuff was in my head. Even the most twisted ghost I've ever met wasn't that insane and twisted. She scared me. More than anything.'
Valerie lifted her head quickly when the teacher raised his voice, but he was only trying to make a point. It didn't appear to have dawned on him that no one was paying attention. After a moment, she read the entry again. She knew Danny had gone to Carnate Island, and she knew whatever happened there had messed with his head. He hadn't been quite the same when he came back, and the subsequent trip to Baltimore followed by whatever it was later attacking Amity Park had only made things worse. He was doing better, but he still got that haunted expression whenever someone mentioned it. She had quickly learned not to.
She read the last paragraph a third time; if she hadn't known any better, she would have guessed Danny was the one who wrote it. He even mentioned Jazz and "Mom and Dad". Ghosts didn't have families, did they? And even if they did, what were the odds that Phantom had a sister named Jazz, and that the whole Phantom family had followed the Fentons to Carnate? The answer was painfully obvious, and she made a conscious decision not to believe it. There had to be another explanation. There just had to be.
Immediately upon finding out what, exactly, was going around school, Tucker convinced Mikey to photocopy Danny's journal. It was a horrible thing for a friend to do, and he almost felt guilty. But, like Kat, he wanted to know what Danny really thought of him. Thus it was that second period found him skimming the first few entries for his name. He was surprised to realize that he wasn't surprised by what Danny really thought.
The he found the entry about the day Fiona arrived in everyone's lives.
'Okay, I just had the weirdest dream. I dreamed that I was running home from school, and I ran inside, and there was this girl there who looked just like me, and Mom and Dad told me she was my long lost twin sister. Okay, it wasn't a dream, but I really wish it had been. It's like everyone expects me to be so happy to see this girl I've never met and just love her immediately and she kind of freaks me out. She's way too perky and happy. And I don't believe these stories she's telling us for one second. Actually, I'm kind of hoping she's an evil ghost that has everyone under some kind of spell.'
Tucker repressed a snicker. He didn't remember much about when Fiona was there; once her spell wore off, everyone had hazy memories at best. He did remember how much Danny disliked the girl, although personally, he thought she did him some good. Fiona had arrived shortly after Danny came back from Carnate Island, and he was almost his old self again when she left. Still, try telling him that.
'And now, she's got me thinking about Silver again. Great. I went the whole day without freaking out because someone wore white, and she had to go mention playing games. Whatever. Everyone was acting crazy today. Tucker was practically drooling. It's kind of creepy because she looks just like me, but everyone thinks she's hot. Even Dash was trying to get me to get her phone number and I'm like Dude, it's the same as mine. Then she was trying to convince us that she had been sold into slavery in Mexico, and I'm the only one not believing this! Anyway, I saw Kat, too. Man, she's looking bad for some reason. She said something's overshadowing the patterns of power or something. I can't help but think that this started when Fiona showed up.'
'Okay, I'm now officially freaked out. Kat said Fiona's not a ghost. She doesn't set off my ghost sense, so I think I agree. But just now, while we were walking home from practice, she said she was half ghost like me and transformed right in front of me. Well, no. What she said was that she was a halfa, which is the most ridiculous name anyone has ever come up with. I haven't heard that term in months, not since that time I met Pointdexter. I wonder where she heard it.'
Tucker glanced around quickly to make sure no one had noticed his errant chuckle. Memories of the time Pointdexter had switched bodies with Danny were too funny not to laugh at. Although he resented being accused of drooling, he had to read on. After all, he would to need tease Danny about it later.
'Today was the worst day ever. I was just trying to chase a few ghosts, maybe blow off a little steam, and Fiona kept showing up. And she's stronger than me, or something. No, I think she must have a deal going on with these ghosts because she beat every one of them in like one hit. On the bright side, I met someone she seems to be scared of today. I don't know who this person is, but I think she has some kind of power. I'd been wondering why the Box Ghost kept appearing no matter how many times I sent him back, but I think this lady was bringing him back. I just wish I knew why. I've been searching Google for Deus ex Machina because she mentioned it. It seemed pretty important, but all I can find is stuff about how it's used in fiction. This isn't fiction; it's real life. Still, some of this stuff describes Fiona perfectly.'
'I've change my mind. Yesterday was the worst day ever. That woman, Elegy got blasted back to her home planet or something by Fiona, and then it was like I was under her spell. I just spent the whole day, actually day and a half honestly believing that she was my twin sister and happy to have her around. I never ever want to do that again. It was worse than the time Freak Show had me hypnotized. Well, at least she's gone now. For good if we're lucky.'
"Foley!"
Tucker cringed and glanced up. Apparently, the teacher had been calling his name for some time. With a sigh of regret, he put the sheaf of papers into her outstretched hand and dropped his head on his fist.
