Empyreal
empyreal (em-pir-ee-uhl) adj. - pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients.
-Three-
The first time it happened, I thought I was imagining things. Sometimes, when you're just so relaxed into something, you forget what you're doing and where you are and lapse into old habits that should remain hidden.
In the Ghost Zone, I, like many other ghosts, had powers. Powers that were generated by the ectoplasm that made up my body. I had been spending a lot of my existence trying to perfect them constantly.
And I used them.
It was very simple; I was getting frustrated at a book I had to read for school, and in my anger I threw it up – and zapped it. My hand felt oddly warm and I could see the smoky entrails of the ectoblast trickling from my palm. But it took me by complete surprise.
"What the—" I carefully got out of my bed and treaded to the window, opening it as silently as I could. It was an old window that hadn't had much use in a very long time.
Standing at the window, I stretched my hand out, palm forward, and concentrated. I thought of all the times I casually used my powers in the past, and how I just flicked my hand forwards and out a beam of energy came. I never really thought about what I was doing when I was doing it; I just did it.
And then, I did it again. A powerful ectoblast shot into the night sky, briefly lighting up the world around it. I glanced down at my hand, completely overwhelmed with excitement. What did this mean? I still had all my ghostly abilities?
I darted over to the dresser in the room and stood in front of it, watching the mirror. I took a deep breath, (felt momentarily dizzy), and closed my eyes.
I could feel the tingling in my fingertips and my toes. I could feel that familiar energy zooming throughout my body. It was trapped inside this human body, but it was very much there.
And as suddenly as I felt it, it overtook my entire body; I could feel it building and almost radiating out of my hands. I concentrated as hard as I could, just like I was taught how to focus my powers—
I opened my eyes, and nearly fell over in surprise.
I saw… myself. The entire room was now illuminated because I was emanating light. I yelped in surprise and happiness as I stared into the mirror, seeing the reflection I was used to.
My white hair was back; my green eyes. My old clothes were back, the ones I always wore when I was around my various teachers. I could feel all the ghostly energy rushing around inside me, building to almost insurmountable levels. I put my hand on my face, unable to control my excitement.
I was me again!! I can still use my powers. I can still see the way I've seen myself for my entire existence. It was exhilarating and remorseful at the same damned time.
"I… I don't believe it," I murmured. "I'm… a ghost again."
Just as I was admiring my old form, I heard it. It was faint, but it was there.
It sounded like… running.
Against my better judgment, I zoomed to the window, then realizing I had to make myself invisible. I'm pretty sure whoever was running outside would see a glowing stranger in the Fenton household.
A person was running towards the building, the large "FentonWorks" sign the only light source aside from the street lights along the street. The person stopped at the steps, panting heavily.
It was Tucker!
I narrowed my eyes. I could feel it now. He was being followed.
With a panicked expression on his face, he bounded up the front steps and pounded on the door, glancing over his shoulder every few seconds.
"Please!" he cried. "Please – help me!"
I don't know what I was thinking; all I knew was something malevolent was following him, and damned if the person who was the most important to making sure I blended in was going to die at the hands of some rogue ghost.
I leapt out of the window, making myself visible, and landed near to him in mid-air.
"Stay here," I said, although Tucker was just staring with his mouth hanging open anyway. I propelled myself through the air and stopped when I felt the ghost in front of me.
The thing made itself visible, and I saw what was scaring the poor boy half to death; he was being followed by a shape-shifter. I could tell immediately because I was face-to-face with the Grim Reaper.
And everyone knows that there's no such thing as the Grim Reaper.
"Who're you?" the ghost asked, shifting back to its amorphous self. "A ghost? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" I said back, curious. I hadn't heard that this place was haunted…
"Doesn't matter, punk, now does it?" the blob said, making me want to laugh. Obviously he either didn't see the crest I adorned, or he simply didn't know what it meant.
If he did, he was sure putting up a brave front, since no one ever messed with an Apprentice to the Ancients.
I grinned and stretched my arms.
"I'm going to enjoy this," I murmured, feeling that quirky rush of power I always felt just before a fight. "I'm going to enjoy this a lot."
I had forgotten all about Tucker when I was done fighting the ghost. I turned around to head back to the house – when I saw him, sitting on the steps, a shocked expression on his face.
"You… you just saved me," he murmured. "I didn't know that there were ghosts who liked humans." I had just saved him, hadn't I?
I was feeling rather smug.
"Well… you were asking for help, so I answered," I replied. I landed on the ground near to him, but he backed up the steps, a look of shock and fear on his face.
"W-who are you?" Tucker asked. "I… I don't know who you are, but I've seen your face before, I think."
Damn.
"Tell me, do ghosts normally plague this town?" I asked, ignoring his question. Tucker shrugged.
"I dunno, I guess so. Ghost sightings are really common around here – then again, it's a known fact that the founder of this town was a regular ghost enthusiast, so it comes with the territory, I think." Tucker seemed to be easing up, and he relaxed a bit. A light rain had started to fall, and it had to be around midnight by now.
"Really?" I asked, crossing my arms. I had to admit; I felt a lot more comfortable being back in my ghost form. Mainly because I knew I didn't have to pretend to fit in with humans. "So, you see ghosts often?"
"Well, the Fentons… they have this portal thing that goes into the Ghost Zone… and they sometimes escape from there," Tucker explained, giving me a look I couldn't identify.
Hmm. Interesting.
"It's imperative that you stay with the Fentons."
"And… why are you so curious, anyway? Didn't you come through from the Ghost Zone?"
The rain had started to pick up. I could see it bouncing off the ground faster than before. That was when I noticed Tucker shiver. He was wearing a light t-shirt and pants out in what was obviously very cold weather.
"Come on," I said, walking over to him. He tensed up again, but I just grabbed his arm.
"Wh-what are you—"
"Just stay quiet." I made myself intangible and pulled him into the house with me, zooming us up into my room. There I dropped him onto the carpet where he scrambled up quickly and backed against my nightstand, knocking it back a good foot. I brushed myself off lightly and glanced down at him.
"It was too cold out there for you," I explained, grinning. Tucker stood up slowly.
"Did you just—are we in the Fenton house?"
"Well, yes, I just thought—" I started, leaning against the bureau, when I felt it. I felt all of that energy suddenly rush back into every crevice it had crawled from, and suddenly the light in the room died and I could feel and sense and everything my human body felt came rushing back.
Tucker gasped and jumped a little, staring at my now human form. I frowned and stared at the mirror – yep, human again.
"Damn it – how did I do that?" I murmured. Tucker was silent as I stared at the mirror. How in blazes did I change like that? How did I call forth my powers? How?!
"D-Danny?" Tucker said suddenly. I turned around to face him. "You- you're- a ghost?"
"Would you believe me," I started slowly, trying to ease my way into it, "if I told you that I was a ghost with a human half?"
That was the last word I got out before he collapsed on the floor.
I tried really hard to post this on 7-7-07, but my brother let me have the computer six minutes before midnight, and my computer just couldn't boot up fast enough. Anyway, the next update probably won't be for awhile; I have no idea why I've updated three times this week. Guess there's really no point not to, right? I'm starting this habit of updating on special dates. The premiere was July 1st, aka a year since I got my License; chapter two was Independence Day, and chapter three was supposed to be 7-7-07 but... that failed.