Chapter 301: Where Next?

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Amity Park was a city of layers, secrets, and tricks.

It hadn't always been. At least, not to the extent it was after it had a metaphysical hole poked in it, was saturated with ectoplasm, claimed as a haunt by a powerful ghost, and mirrored in the Ghost Zone as the lair of that ghost.

There were neighborhoods whose existence depended on the weather. Restaurants that didn't exist without a reservation. Ghosts of buildings that had been demolished or had never been build at all. Some mirrors were windows to the Infinite Realms, others could take you across town, and still others opened into silvery labyrinths. Gravity didn't work evenly. Walking through the hollow tree in the park took you to next Thursday. The rotunda in one of the newer cemeteries had grown a trap door that led to a literally underground ghost dance club that featured rave lights and the lindy hop. There were giant flowers and mushrooms. Some people wanted to live in the giant flowers and mushrooms. Some parts of the zoo functioned more as a hotel for terrifyingly intelligent animals.

As a venue for a city-wide party, it could only be called interesting.

The air smelled like flowers and gingerbread and cold water. Clean, sharp, and evening-cool. Will-o-the-wisps spiraled by in long lines, tolling like bells. A tiger painted in neon strolled up the street, pausing to let a trio of middle schoolers with sparklers run by. An older woman picked glowing red berries off a vine growing around a stop sign and strung them directly onto a string. A live violin and a boombox on opposite balconies competed with one another.

And this was the smallest part of what Jazz saw. Stray glimpses through a crowd. The adults were following somewhere behind them, but for now there was an illusion that is was just them, siblings and friends.

"Well," said Danny, bouncing with every step, as if gravity didn't quite have a hold of him, "we have until midnight. Where should we go?"

"I'd like to go to the mall again," said Ellie. Unlike Danny, she was still in ghost form, floating along with the others. "Or the skate park, if it's intact."

"What's a skatepark?" asked Dmitri. He'd been encouraged to try out his human form, and he kept playing with his red hair.

"It's a place that's set up so you can do tricks on skate boards and scooters."

"And roller skates and bikes," added Sam. "They're usually near actual parks, too. Playgrounds and basketball courts and stuff. Community centers."

"Hey, you guys want to know a secret?" said Ellie, floating behind her siblings.

"Sure!" said Damien, cheerfully. He was still in full, blue-black armor, but he made it look festive.

"Danny owns a skateboard, but he doesn't know how to use it."

"That's debatable," said Danny.

"Yeah? Which part?"

"The owning part. I think it got confiscated along with most of the rest of my stuff." He shrugged.

Jazz knew that Danny could have added something about when he'd gotten that skateboard - only weeks before his death. He didn't really have time to learn how to use it. But he was smiling, and his grin only grew larger as his younger siblings nudged him.

"I'd like to see Father's house," said David, rather loftily.

Damien and Ellie's faces scrunched into identical expressions of distaste.

"Boo," said Ellie. "Why'd you want to go there?"

"I think it would be interesting," said David, shrugging. "He was always talking about the places he would bring us, and the things we would have. Aren't you curious?"

"Maybe," said Damien, "but he didn't intend for us to actually have any of that."

David frowned but nodded. "Alright," they said. "We don't have to go there."

"They're selling things," said Dustin, looking down one of the crossroads at a well-established outdoor bazaar.

"Let's walk through," said Jazz, wanting to encourage Dustin, who, along with Dmitri, seemed the shiest. "Maybe you'll see something you like."

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"Heyyyyyy!" cheered Johnny, raising a beer can. "He made it!"

Johnny and Kitty's place was, unsurprisingly, a mess. Drifts of socks and other trash occupied the corners of the room.

"I was forced to be here," said Dan.

"Hah! You're a riot!" Johnny tossed him a brown bottle labeled 'Slay Bell Special!'

"Do I even want to know what's in this?"

"Nope," said Ember, taking a pull from her own bottle. "Speaking of riots, have you ever worked gig security? You have the shape for it. Like a muscular corn chip."

"I hate you all so much. I hate this season. I hate everything."

"Hey, hating everything is cool, but don't let it bum you out."

"After all," said Kitty walking into the room with a box overflowing with tinsel, "you did come all this way to help decorate!"

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The market ended right in front of the Skulk and Lurk, where Spike and The Beholder (still his legal name) were struggling to put up a large Christmas tree. Danny transformed and flew over to help them. The other Phantoms didn't need much encouragement to join in. Even David and the reserved Dustin helped. There was a bit of a cheer from bystanders as they got it upright in its stand.

Unfortunately, it threatened to fall again as soon as they let it go.

"I've got it," said Sam. She leaned around Spike and put her hand on the trunk of the tree. It grew downwards, roots digging into the already degraded asphalt.

"Is that… alright?" asked Jazz. "The road…"

"Who cares?" asked Spike with an elaborate shrug. "Nothing more punk than nature, am I right?"

Danny surveyed the road with a critical eye, then shrugged himself. "I think it should be okay. People aren't driving much anymore."

"Where would we get the gas?" asked The Beholder with a shrug. "I hear someone is trying to get flying carpets imported, though."

"That'd probably be the Goblin Market." Flying carpets were popular among some of the merchants there as a means of transporting goods.

"Not genies?"

"I mean," said Danny, "they could be involved, but most genies aren't really what you think. Neither are the djinn. Or efreet."

"Aren't those all synonyms?" asked The Beholder.

"Sometimes," said Danny, "but they were all imagined differently at different times, and sometimes people take on a role." He shrugged. "Take the carnivorous unicorns for example."

"Ghost Zone sounds wild. Hey, you want to help us with the decorations, so we don't have to take out the ladder?"

Danny's core hummed pleasantly. "Sure!"

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There were holiday markets and then there were holiday markets, Vlad mused as he walked among the tables of the Mute Auction. He had been thinking about Damien and Daniel's words to him about forgiveness and apologies. He did not know if he could say that he had taken them to heart, or to core. Even with the experiences of the Digressed Tower, he had to admit that he did not understand Daniel and his ilk.

However… 'Twas the season for truces, physical and social.

He'd already come to the conclusion that bribery wouldn't work, but social gift-giving was something else entirely. It was about the situation as much the gifts themselves. Symbolism. Thoughts counting. That kind of thing.

And… There was one other thing he was contemplating. Something that might not be useful in repairing any of his relationships, but something inside him still itched to pursue.

For now, though, the auction.

He did not have access to the esoteric currencies the rarer items went for, nor the desire to barter parts of his being, which was required for the objects of genuine power, but his more mundane wealth was enough for the trifles. They would be acceptable peace offerings.

Jotting his name and bid down on one auction sheet, he sighed. Silently, of course. This time tomorrow, he'd be on his way to Washington DC. It was, on some level, exciting. As a billionaire, he'd always had access to politicians, yes, and he'd been invited to many fundraisers. But usually, he was invited only for his money, not for anything he'd, well.

Actually earned.

Like his ectological expertise. He'd worked hard to learn as much about ghosts as he had. A little appreciation for that, even from someone who saw only the tip of the iceberg, was nice.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel like he'd squandered opportunities. Chances to connect with Daniel, Ellie, Damien, Dustin and the others. Leaving for DC would be shutting the door on those opportunities.

Being filled with regret was nothing new for Vlad. But perhaps this time he could ease it.

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Casper High, being possessed of a gym, auditorium, field, PA system, musical instruments, and other accoutrements, was the site of a large dance party. The music and strobe could be heard and seen all the way down the street. Someone had evidently figured out how to modify the ghost shield into a flat-topped, upside-down cone and a number of ghosts were ballroom dancing on top of it, several stories above ground.

"Huh," said Danny, as they walked down a nearby street. "I didn't know it could make that shape. That's pretty clever."

"I'd be too afraid of falling," said Tucker.

"I don't think Danny would let you fall," said Ellie.

"He wouldn't be able to stand on it, though, would he? Are you guys liminal enough to be affected be a ghost shield?"

"I don't know," said Sam. "We haven't tested that."

"We shouldn't though, right? You go through ghost shields when you're human," pointed out Jazz.

"Your circumstances are a little different than mine, though."

"Maybe we should leave the test until we have something that isn't quite so high off the ground," said Tucker.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I wonder if there's a theme," said Ellie.

"Why would there be a theme?" asked Damien.

"I don't know. That's a thing parties do sometimes, though, isn't it?"

"The whole town is having a Christmas themed party," pointed out David. "Wouldn't another theme be redundant at best?"

"It just looks like everyone up there might be in fancy dress," said Ellie with a shrug. "It could be a theme."

"You can see that far?" asked Dmitri, squinting.

"Sure," said Ellie. "Can't you?"

"Aren't a lot of ghosts always in fancy dress?" asked Tucker. He pushed up his glasses. "All of you guys, for example."

"Ugh," said Ellie. "Actual fancy dress. Not just costumes. Like, ballgowns and stuff."

"We are going that way," said Danny. "We don't need to argue about it."

"I would argue that arguing for the sake of arguing is valuable in itself, regardless of need," said David.

"You do have a lot of Vlad in you, don't you?" asked Ellie, looking at them.

"I think it's more a function of him speaking to me while I was forming, rather than genetics. Also, I seem to have inherited a lot of Monty Python sketches via your memories." He tilted his head at Danny, then yawned.

"Are you feeling alright to go on?" asked Danny.

"Yes, I'll be fine. It's just… this is a lot, isn't it? It's not just me."

"It's really not just you," said Dustin.

"Just one more stop, then?" asked Ellie.

"That sounds like a good idea," said Jazz. "I am curious about what they decided to do at the school, too."

White flower petals had gathered in drifts on the sides of the street. Towards the center, they had been smashed into a paste by pedestrians. Butterflies, bees, and moths, alive and otherwise, gathered, drinking the goo. Between the petals, the bobbing wisps, and the bugs, the effect was that of a street-level fog, one that only cleared when they stepped onto the sidewalks in front of the school.

Mia waved to them from a stand set up in front of the school doors. "We were wondering if you would make it!"

She and Sarah were sitting down among boxes and boxes of what looked like clothing, a large binder full of paper and a cup of pens in front of them. They were wearing matching pale dresses that were just shy of being white and fancy enough to be mistaken for wedding dresses and domino masks. Mia had her glasses on over hers.

"What are you guys doing?" asked Danny.

"Well," said Sarah, "when we were setting this dance up, we decided to make it themed, so we have costumes for everyone." She pulled a dress halfway out from under the table. "Some of it's from the drama class, and some of it was dug out from people's closets, but some of them were made just for this. There are so many people into fabric arts that I never knew about. It's inspiring!"

Danny nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said. "You were trying to learn how to knit, weren't you? That's why you had that yarn with you, when we got sucked into the portal."

"Guilty as charged," said Sarah. "It's a much more useful life skill than I would have thought."

"What's the theme?" asked Ellie, peering into the boxes.

They grinned. "It's Royal Masquerade," said Mia. She pushed her glasses up.

"Oh, no," said Danny.

"Which is why it's so great the royal family has arrived! Come on, we saved some good ones for you guys." Sarah piled shimmering piles of mixed ghostly and real fabric into their arms. "The classrooms near the front are set up as changing rooms today. Grab a locker to put your stuff in!"

They were herded through the door by Sarah and Mia, who were still giggling.

As promised, one of the doors immediately next to the entrance was labeled 'BOYS' and the one across from it was labeled 'GIRLS.'

"Well," said David, putting their hands on their hips. "Which one am I supposed to go into?"

"You could change in the hallway as a form of protest," suggested Sam.

"Haha, that'd be great," said Ellie.

"Pass," said David. "Hard pass."

Jazz rolled her eyes and pulled David over to the 'GIRLS' side.

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The suits and dresses had far too many sequins far too much glitter to be mistaken for authentic. They were chintzy. Tacky. Delightfully so. Costumes, complete with costume jewelry. Well. Mostly. Danny's crown sparkled like it was trying to compete with the plastic, and Jazz had belted on her swords. Damien had elected to remain in his armor but had come up with a bedazzled cape that contrasted wildly with his shroud.

Ellie broke away from the group, rocketing towards the music. "Come on!"

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Paulina almost inhaled punch up through her nose. "Oh my gosh," she said, clinging to Star. "Who is that?"

Star leaned away from her conversation with Mikey. "Isn't it Danny? We did think he'd come."

"No, no," said Paulina. "The person next to him."

"Danny's duplicate?" asked Star.

"There's no way that's a duplicate." Paulina waved the thought away.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"What do you think, Mikey?"

Mikey pulled his glasses away from his face. "I think I need to make an appointment for new glasses."

"I'll walk with you tomorrow," said Star.

"I'm going to ask him to dance," said Paulina.

"Good luck!" called Star. "Now, what were you saying about episode twenty?"

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"Oh my gosh," said David, suddenly, their voice squeaking. "Who is that?"

"Who is who?" asked Damien.

"In the, um, in the pink," said David, who was turning pink themself.

"Paulina?" suggested Danny.

"Oh, no, she's coming this way. She's so pretty, what do I do?"

"She'd better not be trying to ask Danny out again," said Sam. She ignored the expression Tucker made at her.

"Well," said Danny, still processing David's reaction. "We'll introduce you, I guess?"

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"… and that's my evidence," concluded Hannah, shouting to be heard over the music.

"Yeah," said Ricky. "I'm still not convinced."

"Come on, dude, the government hid ghosts, why not aliens?"

"They hid ghosts ineffectively. It's only been a few years and everyone knows about them."

"It's been all of human history, and we're only just finding out about them. Besides, if I know about the aliens, are they hiding them effectively?"

Ricky opened his mouth, then closed it. "I hate that I can't come up with a good argument for that one. I still don't believe you. It might make a good campaign setting, though.

"Expand your mind Richard Marsh!"

"Ew, don't full-name me."

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Nathan and Lester tangoed with each other in the middle of the dance floor to raucous cheers. Their coats flared wildly as they twisted and turned. At times, they seemed to hover over the floor.

"Do you think Valerie is watching?" asked Lester.

"I am," huffed Nathan, "literally begging… you to give up on that." He took a deep breath. "We can find… some girls who actually like us."

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Valerie was not watching. Valerie was on punch guardian duty. So far, she'd intercepted wine, champagne, a neon red ghost drink that smelled like cherries, and some kind of pill. She'd put fear into both humans and ghosts.

She was having a great time.

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"Hey, Danny?"

Danny extracted himself from trying to do a no-powers pyramid with Sam and Tucker to find the football team (and a number of popular players of other sports) gazing at him with expressions of various contrition. Dash was standing at the front of the group.

"I know I said this before," said Dash. "But we thought it might be a good idea to do this as a group, too… We really just want to say, we're sorry for everything we did to you."

"Oh," said Danny. "Cool. I don't hold grudges. He might, though." Danny pointed at Tucker.

"Hey," said Tucker waving. "You guys do remember that you bullied me, too, right?"

Poindexter popped out of the ground, startling everyone except Danny. "I have a list of all of their victims, if that will be helpful!"

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Ashley was returning from the bathroom when she heard it – someone chanting. This wasn't a particularly odd thing, but she felt the need to investigate.

"I will be my authentic self, I will be my authentic self, I will be my authentic self—"

Halfway down a mostly darkened hallway was Elliot, talking to his locker.

"Uh," said Ashley. "Elliot? You okay?"

Elliot squeaked and jumped, hitting his head on the door. Ashley winced.

"Yes! I'm just, um." He looked back at his locker. "Doing affirmations."

Ashley blinked. "Did you join a cult?"

"I don't… think so? It's a self-help thing."

"Because of the—"

"Because of the lying, yes."

"Cool," said Ashley. "So…"

"It's just, the whole time we were in the Zone, it was… It was really obvious that people were only barely tolerating me, and some of the things in the Tower…" He sighed.

"Listen," said Ashley, walking towards him, "if there's any takeaway from all of this, it's that there are way worse things than lying. And that everyone lies, sometimes. And for you the problem was more that you were lying to get people to go out with you, which was kind of gross."

"Yeah," said Elliot, shoulders slumping, "I get that now."

"Right. So, as long as you don't do that, people will be a lot more accepting. Come on, let's go back out, and I can tell you about my totally real twin sister. Rebecca still doesn't quite believe me, you know?"

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"Oh, here he comes," said Tiffanie.

"Yep, well, it isn't really a school dance without him, is it?" asked Rebecca. "Which one of us do you think he'll ask?"

"You, probably. He has to know that Dash and I got back together."

"Does he?"

"He was just talking to Dash."

"Do you really think that's the kind of thing Dash would mention?"

"Eh," said Tiffanie, shrugging. "Who knows? Things are changing." She gestured up at the ghosts overhead.

Privately, Rebecca thought that the fact the two of them were hanging out, even in the absence of Ashley, was the bigger indicator of change. Rebecca hadn't been bottom rung in terms of popularity, but she hadn't been A-list like Paulina and Tiffanie.

Tucker Foley broke through the crowd in front of them, waved cheerily, and then walked past them into the school building.

"What were you saying about things changing?"

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"So," said Star, once Paulina made her way back, "how was the dance?"

"I think I'm in love with them," said Paulina.

"Them?"

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"How did it go with Paulina?" asked Danny, once David rejoined their group, somewhat apprehensive of the answer.

"How can I feel both like I'm dreaming and like I'm more awake than ever?" they asked.

"Good, then?"

"The best."

Tucker chose that moment to return from the bathroom. "Hey, Sam, Danny, you guys want to dance together?"

"What, like a conga line?" asked Danny.

Tucker opened his mouth, then closed it. "You know what? Exactly like a conga line. That'll be hilarious in what we're wearing. Let's go! Conga King!"

"You know he wasn't talking about a conga line," said Sam.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but if he's still going to try and play matchmaker like that, I'm going to figure out how to do the waltz with three people and make him join in."