Let's get dangerous.

Seriously though, sleep deprived Heather is fun to write.

Chapter 15: Luck


It just has to be the day I haven't gotten more than three hours of sleep in the past two nights. Of cours, with Karma watching over her, things can't go too wrong for her. She kept floating out of bed and waking up because of it. The only place she could soundly sleep was at school, and she was trying to pay attention to her classes. Finally crashing in English class was the only bit of sleep she had since midnight last night.

It will end soon. I hope. Now, though, she had to see Mrs. Spectra. The school just hired her as the school counselor, and they were doing talks with every kid in school in alphabetical order of last name. Everything is in alphabetical order. Why can't there be some other order? Alphabetical is boring.

Wow, I think I'm going insane...

She looked at the hall pass. Mrs. Spectra's name was signed on it. I swear, I saw that name somewhere.

Some gloomy kid stopped and took a look at Heather's hall pass. "Good luck," he said, "you'll need it." He continued walking down the hall.

Too tired to think much of the encounter, Heather continued into Mrs. Spectra's absolutely freezing cold room.

"Ah, Heather Fenton! Close the door, have a seat. Let's get started."

I don't think it's even legal that I can see my breath in here. I don't know how it's even possible. The cold was sharp and biting, yet Mrs. Spectra was wearing short sleeves.

Something isn't right about her. Something... Suspicious. Her instincts were telling her to say nothing, but she forced herself to answer the questions.

"So, Heather, tell me a bit about yourself."

"I'd rather not." Rather not let her get into my head. Something's up here.

"Do you have any hobbies?"

"I do stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Video games." A lie, mostly. But anything to protect myself from this creep.

"What are your common interests?"

"I don't know." If I can just stall for just a bit...

"Sounds like you're not much of a talker. I guess I'll talk first. So, is Danny Fenton your dad?"

Can't get out of this one. "Yeah, so?"

"I did a short term at his school once. You definitely picked up his stubbornness."

"Oh, really?"

Mrs. Spectra smiled. "Yes, he had some unique quirks like you have. The messy hair, secretive personality, ghost hunting skill, gullible with the right words... I could go on."

She knows. I have to play it smart. "What do you mean? What's the deal about ghosts and gullibility?"

"I'm glad he taught you to say nothing about your ghost powers, but obviously he didn't teach you how to avoid traps like this."

She thinks he knows about my ghost half. I did fall right into her trap, but I couldn't have known it. All I can do now is play dumb. "I think I should leave."

Bright green straps suddenly bound Heather to the chair. "You aren't going anywhere."

"Hey! Let me go!"

"I'm not letting you go anywhere. Mr. Rand... or maybe I should say Bertrand, is my assistant. Bertrand! Come in!"

The teacher that gave her the hall pass came in. He gave a quick grin as he melted into a glob of green goop with a face and arms. Spectra promptly changed into a sort of shadow ghost.

"I don't know what's going on here, and I don't know what you even are, just let me GO!"

Bertrand dashed behind Heather and covered her mouth. "Oh, you really don't know, do you?"

Heather forced herself to hide the satisfaction of her working plan. She didn't quite know what she was going to do next except pray to Karma that she gets out of this with her secret intact. For the time being, she used acting skill from her elementary school plays to hopefully show enough fear to be convincing.

"Bertrand, you know what to do."

Spectra picked up the phone on her desk and started typing in a number. Bertrand dragged Heather to the corner.

Heather knew she should've fought back when Spectra spoke to the person who answered.

"Ah yes, Mr. Fenton? This is Mrs. Spectra, from the middle school. We need you."

And in Heather's ear, a quiet, invisible, familiar voice whispered: "Don't beg. You gave your consent."

And one thought entered her mind.

Screw Karma's stupid sense of humor.


Danny and Sam hopped back in the Specter Speeder. Danny was still quite suspicious on this matter.

"Clockwork is always there. He would always have time to be there, he controls it!"

"Danny, calm down! Clockwork has reasons for everything. This Karma dude obviously knows him, and Clockwork obviously trusts him."

Danny didn't reply. He finished getting the speeder started up when his phone rang. He sighed and answered, not even considering how unusual it was to get a signal this far deep into the ghost zone.

"Hello? This is Danny Fenton."

A familiar voice replied. "Ah, yes, Mr. Fenton? This is Mrs. Spectra, from the middle school. We need you."

"What have you done to Heather, Spectra?"

"I think it's cruel you didn't tell her your little secret! I have to bring you to me to have any sort of fun!"

"This isn't a game. Tell me what you've done to her!"

The evil laugh from the other end haunted him. "She's still alive, if you're worried about that. She gave Bertrand a nasty kick in to the wall, left a good sized dent. But we have her tied now, so if you ever want to see her alive again, you should probably get over here. I'll give you half an hour."

And then, she hang up.

Without another word, Danny put the Speeder into maximum overdrive.


It all happened in a flash. Spectra was yanked through the floor by some black and white blur. Bertrand let go of Heather and stuck his head through the floor to look for her. Heather used this chance to use her powers to bust through the straps. It took some struggling and a bit of ghostly strength from her ghost form, but she got out. She barreled into Bertrand at the fastest speed she could pick up, and the ghost splattered.

It was only a second before he re-formed into a green lion. He pounced at Heather, who placed a well-timed kick to the chest and launched him into the wall.

Spectra came out of the floor and hit the ceiling at top speed. Heather returned to human before anyone could figure out what happened. Danny Phantom appeared in the center of the room and grabbed Spectra's tail. He spun her around to gain momentum, than threw her into the desk, destroying it and smacking into Bertrand.

Spectra growled with a mix of anger and pain. She launched herself at Danny, intangibly pushing him outside through the wall.

Meanwhile, Bertrand tackled Heather, who struggled to wrestle him. Bertrand was inches from biting her face off.

Suddenly, a blue beam came from the side. It sucked up Bertrand into a wrist-mounted device on Danny's arm.

The two stared at each other for a couple seconds. Heather was quickly thinking of what to say (which was tough because she was still totally sleep deprived) and Danny was waiting for Heather to speak.

Heather didn't have the best plan, but she had no time to think of a better one. "I'm just gonna let you handle this. I don't know what's going on here. You're Danny Phantom, right? I hope this is supernatural enough for you. I'm gonna go take a nap." She turned to the door and grabbed her backpack that was next to it.

Danny was absolutely confused. "Aren't you scared or something? Do you have any questions? Are you phased by this at all?"

Heather yawned. "I'm too tired to think about it right now. I'll get a teacher or someone to talk this out with you if you want, they probably won't make you pay for it. I'm out of here, though. Lunch is about to start. Peace." She shut the door as she walked out, leaving an absolutely dumbfounded Danny Phantom standing speechless at his daughter's reaction.

And he had only one thought cross his mind.

Did she outsmart me to pin the blame on me?


The ending was fun. Heather just broke his brain. It's funnier in my mind, but I loved this idea of Heather just confusing Danny as much as my math class confuses me. Sleep deprived Heather is a boss.

Danny: You'll never catch me, not when I shift into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE!

...

I knew I should've gotten the turbo.