"It's the Big Dipper, Fenton! It's the easiest one to spot, look, it's right there." Phantom tried pointing with his head, bobbing it back and forth towards the sky.

He looked like someone who woke up with neck pain and spent their entire morning trying to shake it off.

He looked like someone who wanted to dance, but didn't have the courage to get up so he just nodded along to the beat.

He looked like-

"Fenton, look at the stars."

They were floating just above the clouds. It was a little hard to breath, the air was so thin.

That's why Danny was feeling light headed. It made perfect sense.

"Sorry, sorry," Danny said. "My eyes are back on the distant dots. Yep, they totally look like… something. I can actually see the invisible lines playing connect the dot. What a super power."

"You're horrible."

How was he supposed to pay attention to the stupid stars while being cradled in Phantom's arms? It wasn't exactly a bridal carry. More like Tarzan and Jane. Spiderman and MJ. But there was no vine, no spider web. Just Phantom floating untethered above the clouds.

And glowing more brightly than the stars.

"You're cold, aren't you?" Phantom said. "We should go back."

"Not yet! I'm not that cold." Danny kept his eyes firmly on the sky. "I finally found the Big Dipper."

"Liar."

"I know you are, but what am I."

"You're a human who needs warmth. And sleep. It's getting late."

Danny didn't answer.

Instead he tightened his hold around Phantom's shoulders and put his face against the ghost's neck. He knew better than to try and look around while they were flying.

And that was all the answer Phantom needed.

oOo

At school the next day, he accidentally fell asleep in class. Lancer slammed a textbook by his head and Danny bolted upright. "I'm up!"

Cue laughter, yada yada. He could care less. As Lancer paced around and lectured about responsibility and the importance of the midterm exam a note landed on his desk.

Something's going on.

He glanced over at Sam. She twirled a finger around in a look around kind of way. But when he glanced around at their peers he couldn't figure out what she meant.

Lancer was pissed today because students were slacking off. He had a pile of phones on his desk, each of them attached to earbuds, and he gestured at them as he ranted. "And don't try to tell me the music is helping you study. It's a myth! A needless distraction…"

When he looked over at Sam again she was glaring at him. He shrugged. She rolled her eyes and threw another note over: Look at their clothes!

It was true that there was a lot of black. Ever since Paulina's goth princess makeover it had become a trend, but there were also a lot of of neon blue. Neon blue bracelets and shoes. Neon blue hair streaks and eye shadow. It looked like merch of some kind, but he didn't know what for.

"So what?" he whispered.

She pointed at Tucker, who was also wearing black and neon blue. That in itself wouldn't have been so odd. Except that, for the first time in years, he wasn't wearing his red beanie.

Okay that was a little weird.

When class was over Tucker filled them both in on the pop singer, Ember McLain, and wanted to share her hit song. "No thanks," Sam said. "Looks like garbage."

"Just listen-" He played the song on full blast.

Sam frowned. "Yep, sounds generic."

Looking flabbergasted, Tucker turned to Danny, who shrugged. "Generically decent?"

"I don't understand," Tucker said. "Ember is a goddess. Ah! You need to see her, watch the music video!"

Danny and Sam exchanged a look.

"He wasn't like this yesterday, right?" Sam said.

"He was perfectly normal when we were at his house," Danny said. "And it was kinda late when we left…"

"I stayed up all night watching and re-watching all of her stuff," Tucker said. "As soon as someone sent me a link, I was in love!"

Sam groaned. "Why?"

"B-because?! She's a goddess! Look, look!" He played one of her music videos.

The singer was definitely attractive. Danny took Tucker's phone from him to study the video. Ember had long blue hair tied up at the top of her head, almost looking like a fancy water fountain with the way it cascaded up and then fell back down to her neck.

But then she sang and her hair lifted. Like a smoldering flame. And she had a glow about her. Special effects?

"Don't get roped in." Sam took the phone and handed it back to Tucker. "C'mon we're going to be late for class."

Then suddenly it was like the volume had been turned up. Ember McLain's voice drifted over the entire school, so loud that they all vibrated with it.

Someone yelled "Free concert in front of the school!" and a stampede exited the building all at once.

The three of them got caught in the traffic.

"WHO'S READY TO MAKE SOME NOISE?!"

She was on a parade float set up like a stage with a full band and amplifiers.

Everywhere students were shouting: Ember! Ember!

"THAT'S RIGHT, TELL ME WHO YOU LOVE!"

Tucker tried to climb up Danny's shoulders for a better view, "We love you Ember!"

Danny shrugged him off and looked around for Sam. She was reaching for them, the crowd was surging towards the stage and taking her with them. Danny leapt forward and managed to grab her arm, hauling her back. "This is insane!"

"Where the hell are the teachers?!" she said.

They were sprinkled throughout the crowd, cheering and clapping alongside the students. Even Mr. Lancer was jumping up and down to the beat. He ripped his shirt off and used a black sharpie to write Ember's name on his chest.

"Look at the band," Sam said. "Their skin is blue."

As if that wasn't weird enough, Ember McLain had magical growing hair. As she sang and the crowd continued to cheer it towered over her head, floating like an ethereal flame.

"So, uh, she's definitely a ghost…" Danny tapped at the Fenton phones over his ears, which he'd taken to wearing everywhere. "I'm calling Phantom."

Sam gasped, "These things are more than glorified walkie talkies aren't they?" She pointed at her own. "What else do they do?"

"My parents said they're supposed to filter out ghost noise!"

Ghost noise or not, Ember's concert was insanely loud. Danny wasn't sure if Sam could hear him anymore. He also couldn't tell what the hell Phantom was saying, though he could hear his voice faintly murmuring through the Fenton Phones.

They tried to get out of the crowd, but they'd ended up smack dab in the middle of it. Trying to force his way through just earned Danny an elbow in the gut and a kick in the shin. He almost lost Sam a second time, but she snaked an arm around his waist and they decided to huddled together. Two sane survivors in a sea of unbridled excitement and teenage rebellion.

Not that it could really be called a rebellion, Danny spotted the principal near the stage and groaned. This was a cult! In the middle of the day their classes and responsibilities were just being ignored.

"We have to do something!" Sam shouted. "Don't you have ghost fighting gadgets?"

He did, but there was an insurmountable wall of people between them and the ghosts on stage. His belt was equipped mostly with containment gear. He needed an unobstructed shot.

Useless, useless. Why was he always so useless?!

Then Phantom flew over their heads.