"Detective Patterson," said Danny, "why did you leave five messages on my phone on a school day?" After the whole 'I've been sort of dead for a couple years and also I get into massive amounts of trouble all the time through no fault of my own' revelation, his parents had gotten the whole family cell phones.
Danny still generally preferred talking to people face to face, but he was definitely developing a slight addiction to cell phone charms.
"You didn't listen to any of them?"
"Why would I do that when I can just call you?"
He heard a loud groan from the other side of the line.
"Oh, is Detective Collins there, too?"
"You heard that?" asked Patterson. "That's- Okay, Collins. I'm getting there. I know we're in a hurry. Look, how fast can you get here, Fenton?"
"That depends entirely on where you are and which one of me you want. Also, can Sam and Tucker come? We were going to hang out."
There was a sort of staticky blaat from the other side, and the skritch skritch cha of a phone being moved, accompanied by unintelligible arguing. "Did you really just ask if you can bring your friends to what might be a crime scene?"
"Is it a crime scene?" asked Danny.
"Not yet," said Collins.
"So?" prompted Danny. "Can I bring them?"
"You don't respect us at all anymore, do you?"
"I respect you plenty," said Danny, "but I like hanging out with my friends, I'm doing this for free, and there aren't any explosions where you are."
"You tell him, Danny," said Sam, giving him a little fist bump, even though she was mostly watching Tucker play bootleg Tetris on his PDA.
"Just because there aren't explosions doesn't mean there isn't anything dangerous," argued Collins.
"Sure," said Danny. "But it isn't like they aren't in danger all the time anyway. Ghosts attack the school, like, daily."
"That is a terrible argument."
"But true," countered Danny.
"Fine, they can come. Just get here quickly."
"I would, but you know, you still haven't told me where you are."
.
Danny, when touching down in a nearby alleyway, didn't see anything particularly out of the usual. For Amity Park, that was. Except that no one was out on the streets, and there were several police cars. Still, that could be for anything. Normal things, even.
Except, they had called him.
"You don't think it's a dead body, do you?" he asked. "I mean, I don't really want to see a dead body…"
"If there's a dead body, I'll be throwing up on you," said Tucker, who had, as a matter of fact, been icy calm when faced with Danny's body the first time around, and had only had a breakdown the next day. "Just, you know, as revenge. Between friends."
"They did say it wasn't a crime scene, right?" asked Sam.
"Yeah," said Danny. He returned to human form. This way, he didn't have to worry as much about people connecting Sam and Tucker to Phantom… although, that might be a lost cause. He had seen that 'who is the ghost boy dating' article a while back.
"So, there probably aren't any bodies," she said, reasonably.
"Right," said Danny. "That makes sense. I think they were this way."
The street they walked onto was heavily decorated for Halloween. There were skeletons and streamers, blow up monsters, orange and purple lights, spiderwebs, black cat statuettes, blood splatters, houses that almost looked really abandoned, except for the neat lawns… The neighborhood had really gone to town, especially given that this particular town was Amity Park.
Of course, there were also dozens upon dozens of jack-o-lanterns. They were lit, too, which was odd in the daytime, flickering with rainbow colors. Maybe someone was doing a Pride event?
His core chilled slightly, and a thin stream of mist emerged from between his lips. "Oh," he said, delighted.
"Hi, Danny," said Patterson, briskly walking over to him from where she and Collins had been observing the street. "We got the call a few hours ago, apparently a bunch of little ghosts have infes- Uh. Gone into all the Halloween decorations here."
"Were you about to say 'infested?'"
"Maybe," said Patterson. "Sorry."
"Apology accepted, please continue."
"Anyway, after the whole ghost invasion thing where we got sent to the shadow realm-"
"Nightmare Realm," corrected Tucker. "The Shadow Realm is completely different."
"I was making a Yu Gi Oh reference," said Patterson. "But people are sensitive to this kind of thing."
"Have they done anything yet?" asked Danny.
"No, but we've issued an advisory," said Collins, finally joining them. "Do you know why they're here? Or how to get rid of them?"
"There's not really any reason to get rid of them," said Danny. "Wisps are mostly harmless. Here, I'll show you." He jogged over to the nearest jack-o-lantern and waved the others over.
"Hey, is this the best idea?" asked Tucker. "Aren't these the guys who accidentally drugged you?"
"It's fine, it's fine," said Danny. "We've moved past that." He knocked on the top of the pumpkin, and several wisps flew out, happily whirling around Danny. "See? They're just little guys."
"Great," said Collins, "why are they here?"
"Uh, because they were invited, basically?" said Danny. "They're will-o-the-wisps. And these are jack-o-lanterns. They're, uh, originally, both of those were names for the same thing, and jack-o-lanterns are supposed to ward off evil spirits and represent good spirits, or house good spirits, and stuff, so…" Danny gestured vaguely.
"This is going to be a city wide thing, isn't it?" asked Collins.
"Probably," said Danny. "I mean, wisps are basically all over the place. They're good little guys."
Collins placed his hands in front of his face like he was praying. "And if the GIW come after them?"
That would be bad. Danny felt himself bristling.
"The GIW are dumb enough that we could convince them they're just candles, as long as no one told them otherwise," said Sam.
"Maybe sow the idea a little bit beforehand," said Tucker. "Put an ad out for rainbow tealights, maybe?"
Collins looked at them, unamused. "And we're going to be the ones doing most of that 'convincing,' aren't we?"
"You are the adults," said Sam, shrugging.
Danny felt himself tearing up. "You guys are the best friends," he said.
"Oh no," said Tucker, eyes wide. "It's happening again."
"What, what's happening?" asked Patterson.
Sam pulled Danny away from the wisps. "Wisps are great," she said, "but they can overcharge other ghosts."
"In other words, they make Danny high," explained Tucker.
"I'm not high this time," protested Danny. "I can't be grateful for good friends?"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," said Danny.
"Right," said Collins. "Well, we're going to give you a ride home. Patterson, you get to explain to the Fentons what happened."
"What, why do I have to tell them that ghost drugs are a thing?"
"Because I had to tell them about the time his arm came off."
"I still don't get why you're so upset about that," said Danny, "I put it back on, like, a minute later."
"That is, in fact, part of why we're upset."
"I don't get you guys."
