Hello there! Sorry for not posting over the weekend. Things got a little crazy, and I didn't have much time to write. Hopefully this chapter will make up for that. Thank you for sticking with me!
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Chapter 13: Red Bird
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Danny and Sam followed the trees without hesitation. Ricky and Mikey needed a little more convincing. They didn't trust the trees. Or anything about the situation. Danny had caught both of them staring into his eyes, so he was pretty sure that they both thought that he might 'still' be 'possessed.' Danny rolled his eyes at that thought.
Only Sam and Tucker had noticed the one time he had actually been possessed. Heck, only Sam and Tucker had noticed when he had been under mind control. For that matter, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were the only ones who noticed anything amiss when he had been replaced by shapeshifters. The fact that he had to refer to the latter two in the plural just went to show how crazy his life was.
It was annoying to have Ricky and Mikey looking at him like they knew anything about what his life was like. Looking at him judging, as if ghosts were always to blame for everything. It wasn't their fault. They really didn't know anything. But it was still annoying.
Even so, his mood had improved greatly since they had found Sam. Having someone who did know, who understood, at least a little bit, with him was amazing. Reassuring. Like having his feet underneath him again. An anchor in the storm. Not that the wisps weren't great, but they were rather alien, even from a ghostly perspective, and there was always that divide between the Dead, the Deathless, and the Neverborn.
There was a muffled, groaning noise from ahead, and Danny's ears pricked. Literally rotated to pick up the sound. That was weird. His ears did do that sometimes, but typically only when he was Phantom. Having it happen to him when he was at least superficially human was new. It felt different. It was hard to quantify how, but it did. Just the way the muscles and blood vessels moved beneath the skin when, overall, his blood was truly blood, his flesh truly flesh, and his nervous system was powered by chemicals and electricity.
Not that it helped him hear. His ears were hidden under his hood, and the angle adjustment was minuscule. Danny hoped that this was temporary.
"Hey," whispered Sam, leaning down slightly, to whisper in Danny's ear, "what happened?"
"Ran around like a crazy person, freaked out a few times, took an hour nap, found out I can't change, ran into those two. You?"
"Ran around like a crazy person looking for you. You know the flowers wouldn't show me where you were. They'd only show up if I asked for Tucker or Jazz. I had to play charades with the wisps."
"Well, we were underground. No flowers there."
"I guess that makes sense. What do you mean, you can't change?"
"It hurts to try," said Danny quietly, glancing back at Ricky and Mikey.
"Heck. We need to get you to the Far Frozen."
"Yeah," agreed Danny, shivering and hiding another puff of mist. "I think that's Valerie up there, by the way."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't hear that?"
"No."
"Well, it sounds like Valerie. If Valerie was a cat that got stuck in a tree."
"What?"
"I don't know. It made sense in my head. Maybe I'm still not quite right. Mom thought I was possessed, right?"
"I think so. I kinda left right after you did. I thought I could catch up."
"Okay, then."
They fell quiet, not wanting to attract too much suspicion from Mikey and Ricky.
"So, Manson," said Ricky.
"What do you want, Marsh," said Sam flatly.
"How did you get separated from the group?"
"I ran after Danny when the ghosts took him and got lost."
"Are you sure you aren't dating?" teased Mikey.
"We're sure."
There was quiet again, and then Mikey said, "Danny, you know a lot about ghosts, right?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"Because of your parents?"
"Oh. Yeah. Some."
"Why do you think that this part of the Ghost Zone is so different from what we saw before? I mean, you do think that this is the Ghost Zone, right? You weren't just backing up your mom?"
"I do think that this is the Ghost Zone. As for why it looks different, um," Danny sucked in his lips, trying to think of a legitimate reason that didn't require knowledge he wasn't supposed to have.
Thankfully, he was spared having to answer when a creaking sound, like highly distressed wood, emerged from the woods in front of them, followed by an echoing snap.
"What was that?" asked Mikey fearfully.
"It sounded a little like a tree coming down," said Sam thoughtfully. "It's on our path. Do you think that it's one of us?"
"Shh!" said Danny, trying to listen. The others fell silent. In a moment, all of them, even those without supernaturally good hearing, could hear a faint moan. "I think that's Valerie!"
"She sounds hurt," said Ricky.
Danny gave the curly-haired boy a look with wide and wild eyes. "Really?" he said. "Oh no." He took off along the flower-illuminated path.
"Dammit, Marsh," said Sam, before she, too, ran.
"That wasn't- You aren't supposed to run towards the loud noise and the stuff that-! Argh!" He shared a look with Mikey, and they followed, albeit more slowly.
(Danny wasn't sure how he knew these details when he was running away at high speed.)
But even though Danny wanted to keep on running until he reached Valerie, he had to slow down. The trees were closer together here, the underbrush thicker. He could just phase through, but, well. Valerie. Danny knew that she still had her suit. Which meant that whatever was giving her trouble was formidable.
But he was still a healthy distance ahead of the others. Good. It might have been better if they had stayed back, safer, but Danny knew that Sam would never do that, and Mikey and Ricky had already demonstrated that they'd follow him if he ran off. This way that had at least a small margin of safety.
Danny could now clearly hear Valerie, although most of what she said was either insults, or frustrated growling. Danny knew ghosts who didn't growl half as much as Valerie.
Finally, he pushed through the last of the brush and into bare spot beneath a huge, twisted tree. The branches towards the center, where they split off from the trunk, formed a cage. One that Valerie Grey was stuck in.
Currently, Valerie was in her suit, her board, though, was nowhere in sight. Her back was up against one of the 'bars,' and she was using her legs to push against the opposite one with all her might. The tree itself was thick with tiny white flowers, no bigger than Danny's fingernails.
"Valerie?" said Danny, his voice lilting up at the end, making the name a question. "Is that you?"
Valerie's reaction was hilarious. She flipped herself over, smashed her face into the branch that had been behind her, recoiled, and smacked into the other side of the cage, knocking loose a rain of flower petals that settled on her red suit like radioactive snow. Then she stared at Danny, completely silent.
Belatedly, Danny wondered if her suit could visually pick up invisible ghosts, or if it still only had that ectosignature radar. There were something like two dozen wisps floating around him, all invisible. It would be rather difficult to deal with Valerie if she was busy being all paranoid about ghosts being around.
"Valerie?" he repeated, more hesitant.
"Danny? You aren't possessed?"
"Um," said Danny, "no? But if you think about it that'd be my answer even if I was possessed. Or... Doing the possessing? Is that the right way to say it?" He blinked. What the heck was he saying? Ancients, he was going to get himself killed. "Look, I've got people behind me, so unless you want all of them to be asking why Red Huntress is here..." Danny trailed off. It wasn't untrue. They all would be asking, even if Sam already knew. Sam was good at the whole no special knowledge thing. Unlike Danny.
Speaking of...
"How did you know it was me?"
Yep. There it was.
"Valerie, I've known you for years and we were dating for, like, a whole week. It'd be kinda embarrassing if I didn't know what your voice sounds like." Not that he was being ironic or anything. Nope, not Danny. (Lancer would be so proud.)
Valerie nodded once, sharply, and deactivated her suit, just in time for Sam to push through the bushes.
"Wow," said Sam. "Nice tree."
"Not from here," said Valerie, bitterly. "How'd you get the ghost out of Danny?"
"I didn't, it left on its own," said Sam, raising an eyebrow. Only someone who knew her very well would see that she was disgusted both by the question, and her answer. "How'd you wind up in that tree."
"It's a long story," said Valerie, uncomfortably. "Are you the only ones here? What happened to everyone else?"
"Mikey and Ricky were right behind us," said Sam, turning around and squinting, pulling back a handful of foliage. "Yeah, they're still coming."
"And everyone else?" prompted Valerie.
"We got separated. Probably at the same time you did. Last time I saw you, you were shooting at those little ghosts."
"Yeah," Valerie frowned. "What was up with those, anyway?" She turned a little to look more directly at Danny. "All they did was grab you and leave. You ever see anything like them?"
"Um," said Danny. This was another question that Danny wasn't sure if he should answer properly, if at all. Ricky and Mikey crashed through the bushes and he was still thinking.
"Valerie?" said Ricky, incredulous and once again out of breath. Those two really needed to exercise more. Seriously. They lived in a town that was constantly under attack. They really should be able to run faster. Otherwise they might be caught by something nasty. Caught by a ghost. Caught by a monster. (Caught by a different kind of monster). Falling buildings. Hurt. Caught. In pain. Injured. Maimed. Danny caught himself starting to hyperventilate, and compensated by holding his breath.
"Danny," said Valerie, sharply, and Danny realized that he had missed a large part of the conversation.
"What?" said Danny, feeling dazed.
"Come on, Danny, you aren't going to get out of the question that easily."
"What question?"
"Those little ghosts. Did you ever see anything like them?"
Danny bit his lip and glanced up at Sam. She shrugged. "Maybe. Well. Actually. Yeah."
"Fenton."
"They, um. They're friendly, usually."
"Oh my god, Danny," said Ricky. "You mean you mess around with ghosts? These ghosts? They attacked us. Are you crazy?"
Danny frowned at Ricky. "No. I'm not saying this very well. Give me a second." He rubbed his eyes. "There are ghosts like these, like, they're the same type of ghost, living... Um. Not living. You know what I mean. There's a group of them in Amity Park. They never cause trouble. I just, you know, figured that it was better for everyone to focus on the ghosts that were actually hurting people. So, I, um, didn't say anything." He looked down and bit his lower lip, raising his hand to mask the action. "They're harmless, really."
"They put a log through your mother's arm and walked off with your body!"
Ducked his head. He had managed to put his mother's wound out of his mind.
"I don't think that they did the tree thing," said Sam, coming to his rescue. "Considering the fact that you're stuck in a tree..." She waved her hand dismissively. "Not to mention, she had that stupid gun," Sam muttered. Then, more loudly, "Speaking of the tree problem, what have you tried to do to get out?"
