A/N: Continued for Ectober 2018, Day 15: Explain.

After what happened, Star wants some explanations, and she's not going to let Danny get away with brushing her off.

By the time Star managed to find her way out of the school's basement (it would've been easier if she'd had a flashlight, but she'd lost her phone in the fall and couldn't even use that), the ghost fight was over. The door had been busted clean off its hinges and the classroom was empty but for the melting ice.

She wasn't sure how long she stood there, just staring at the mess, but eventually Lancer found her. "I'm glad you and Mr. Fenton are safe," he said. "Please, consider your detention over. You're free to go."

She didn't have the heart to tell him she had no idea where Danny was, but maybe he'd already sent Danny home. Maybe she was just…late. That could be why Danny wasn't here, right? Not because the ghost had taken him somewhere.

She started walking to the Nasty Burger on autopilot, though she was aware enough to keep an eye out for any sign of ghosts—or of Danny. She still had no idea how she'd gone through the floor and ended up in the basement. It had been solid. Solid. And then…it hadn't been.

But Danny hadn't fallen with her.

And that didn't make any sense.

If Phantom had come to save them, why not save both of them? Or even just take the ice monster ghost away so they work on thawing a window or something so they could get out? She had no idea why Phantom would separate them. It just didn't make sense, not when they were both vulnerable. Why leave Danny behind if he was the target? Wouldn't it make more sense to get him away first?

Star reached for her cell phone, remembered it wasn't in her pocket, and groaned. Lancer had begun cleaning up when she'd left. If her phone was in the classroom, he'd find it and give it to her tomorrow.

If it wasn't…. Well, if it wasn't, she'd have to explain how she'd ended up in the basement. And she couldn't. But it had definitely sounded like Danny could, which is why she needed to find him. He…. He knew what had happened. He must. But how?

The Nasty Burger was busy as usual, but not so busy that she couldn't tell at a glance that Danny and his friends hadn't claimed their usual table—or any table, for that matter. Paulina was there with the other A-listers, and Star hunched and turned away, not wanting to be noticed or at least to able to pretend she hadn't seen them if she was. She hadn't stopped to fix her hair, and it was no doubt a mess, but that worked in her favour right now. It would make her more invisible to her friends, someone beneath their notice. And that's…. That's what she needed right now. She couldn't talk to them, tell them what had happened, until she came to terms with it herself.

And until she got some explanations.

Star stood off to one side, half-hidden by the dwindling line. Once it disappeared entirely, she went up to Valerie, who was on cash. "I need to borrow your phone," Star said.

Valerie frowned. "I just got on shift. I can't—"

"I'll be like five minutes. Please."

Valerie glanced behind her, but her boss didn't materialize, so she passed Star her phone. She didn't have time for questions now, but Star knew from the look she received that Valerie expected answers later.

"Thanks," Star murmured, already scrolling through Valerie's contacts. She knew Valerie had dated Danny, and it hadn't been a messy breakup, so surely—

There. Star hit dial and held the phone to her ear as she left the restaurant and walked around back. He had to pick up. He had to be safe. He hadn't lost his phone, and with the fight over—

"Hey, Val. I thought you had a shift today. What's up?"

"Danny?" Star's voice cracked. She couldn't stop it. "I…. Can we talk?"

Silence.

She wasn't even sure if he was breathing.

"Danny?" she ventured again, just to make sure he really was still on the line.

"I'm…I'm still here."

"Can we meet up and talk?"

"Now?"

"No, next week," she snapped, her nerves frayed. "Yes, now. And we're both still supposed to be in detention, so don't pretend you have something on."

"Why are you calling from Valerie's phone?"

"Because I lost mine and don't have your stupid number anyway." She took a few steadying breaths and then said, "Look, I'm sorry. I just…. I don't know what happened back there, and it's freaking me out. I just…. Please. I want to talk. Somewhere quiet."

It was a few long seconds before he sighed and said, "Okay. Football practice will be over by now. Meet me by the bleachers behind the school. I'll see if I can find your phone."

He hung up before she could agree, let alone ask him how the heck he expected to find her phone.

She slipped back inside, passing Valerie her phone with a quiet thank you before running off. Another customer behind her ensured that Valerie's questions would have to wait, and Star was back out the door before Paulina had time to realize that she was out of detention early.

Danny wasn't anywhere to be seen when she got there, so Star sat down on the bleachers to wait for him. It occurred to her that he could easily just not show up and she wouldn't be able to track him down if he stayed away from his usual haunts. He'd know better than to answer a call from Valerie's phone now, and she didn't know if anyone else would have his number.

"I'm such an idiot," she muttered, drawing her knees up to her chest so she could hug them. "I'm going to be waiting here half the evening, and tomorrow he's—"

"Star?"

She straightened up and looked over. Danny's voice sounded small, almost like he was afraid of her. It was so unlike how he'd been while facing down the ghost that she almost started to laugh. She might have, if he hadn't been holding her phone out in front of him.

"Where'd you find it?" she demanded, snatching it out of his hands.

"I, uh, found it in the classroom? After the fight?" He was rubbing his neck and staring at his feet.

She frowned. "Then why not just tell me you had it all along?"

He froze. "Uh—"

She rolled her eyes. "Fenton, I'm not stupid, okay? Just tell me how you got it."

"I went to look for it," he mumbled.

Sure he did. Inside the school when the doors would be locked from the outside, so people couldn't get in even if the people inside could get out.

She sighed. That wasn't important right now. "Look, Danny, thanks for finding my phone, but that's not really the pressing issue. Just…you can explain, can't you? What happened?"

He met her gaze now, still looking like the spooked kid Dash routinely shoved into his locker. "There was a ghost fight."

"I know that. But…. What happened? Who was that guy? How come he knew you? Why was he going after you?"

Danny laughed, but he sounded more nervous than she did. "Well, you heard him. Apparently he's called Icebreaker."

He didn't continue. Star crossed her arms, not willing to let him get away with playing dumb when she knew he knew more than he was telling. "So who's his brother? Frosty-something? Frostbite? I didn't even know ghosts could have brothers. Especially ghosts like that."

He gave her a nervous smile. "You, uh, ever hear about yetis? I'm pretty sure they're related. And the ghosts of those guys."

"Yetis aren't real, Fenton."

"Yeah? Well, most people would say the same about ghosts."

He had her there, but she was willing to concede such a small point. "But most people don't know ghosts as well as we do. And most people here don't know those guys as well as you apparently do."

Danny held up both hands. "Hey, that was the first time I'd even heard of Icebreaker, let alone met the guy."

"Maybe, but you were his target. You told me that. And he didn't seem to have much trouble tracking you down. Why would some ghost want to kill you if you've never met him?"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "My parents are ghost hunters. That's, like, a natural target on my back."

She glared at him. "But that's not the reason here. You guys were talking about secrets. Teaching or training or something."

Danny pulled a face at her. "Why ask me questions if you already know the answers?"

"Because I don't know all the answers. And because you're still trying to lie to me!"

"Technically, the only thing I lied about was finding your phone in the classroom. And that hardly counts."

She narrowed her eyes and stepped into his personal space. She wasn't big enough for it to be a good intimidation tactic, but Danny still backed up. "Then forget about the phone," she growled, taking another step forward, "and forget about this Icebreaker guy. New question, Fenton. How'd I wind up in the school basement?"

Danny hit the chain link fence, but he actually looked relieved. "Phantom," he said. "He showed up. Phased you down there and me through the wall, actually. I guess so Icebreaker wasn't sure who to try to follow? Anyway, Phantom dealt with him pretty quickly."

That…actually made sense. She hadn't thought about it like that. If Danny really was Icebreaker's main target, then having her out of sight might put her out of mind. And if he'd decided to get rid of both of them, since he'd seemed pretty set on it earlier, then dividing his targets might make him hesitate long enough for Phantom to get in a good hit.

"Did you see they took out the classroom door? I dunno who hit that, but I bet it hurt."

Star stared at him, stunned at how easily the lie had left his lips when he'd been so bad at it earlier. But maybe that was it. He'd been comically bad at it earlier. This time, he'd almost had her fooled.

He must've read her expression. "What?"

"How did you get back in if Phantom sent you outside?"

"Huh?"

"The doors. They lock."

"Oh, that?" More nervous laughter. "This was earlier, when people were still going in and out. I was back in looking for your phone before everything was locked up."

But he couldn't have been. He shouldn't have been able to get in either time. "Danny, Lancer would've pulled the alarm. Locked the doors so no one could just walk in and accidentally get caught in a ghost fight. Your parents installed it last month, remember? The only people it'll let through are them, first responders, school staff, and the mayor."

He opened his mouth, hesitated half a beat too long, and then said, "Right. Tucker hacked that system a while ago. I'm, uh, one of the ones included on the clearance list."

She'd been so ready to believe it, so ready to believe all of it. It had made so much sense. And now she had no idea what was truth and what was just a clever lie. "Right," she echoed. He started to relax again, and she asked, "What's a halfa?"

He paled. "It's, ah, a nickname. The one Frostbite gave me."

"Meaning?"

"That it's a nickname?" He winced at her look. "Okay, okay, sorry. But, seriously, it's just a nickname. I wouldn't think about it too much."

"Nicknames always mean something. Even if it starts with an inside joke and spreads so people who don't know the origin use it, it always has to start somewhere. People don't get nicknames for no reason."

"Yeah, this would be one of those inside joke things. Trust me, it'll take way too long to try to explain it."

"I've got time. I don't care if it's a long story. Hearing how the son of ghost hunters spent enough time with a ghost that the ghost decided to give him a nickname should be an interesting tale."

Danny sighed. "Star—"

"Please don't lie to me, Danny." She shoved a lock of hair behind her ear just to give her hands something to do, but it was hard not to fidget beyond that. "This…. This doesn't all make sense. There has to be something you're not telling me. And I think it might have to do with you being important enough to warrant whatever that was."

"Everyone in this town is important," Danny said, deflecting things again, "because Phantom will try to save all of us."

"But Icebreaker wasn't after Phantom. He was after you!"

"I help Phantom sometimes, okay?" Danny mumbled, not looking at her. "Mom and Dad would flip if they realized, so I keep it a secret. Jazz gets enough flak defending him as it is." He finally looked her in the eye, adding, "Frostbite and his tribe in the Far Frozen—they're good ghosts. Like Phantom tries to be. Mom and Dad don't understand that, but Phantom does, and he took me there so I could train with them to be a better ghost fighter. Hone some skills. I guess Icebreaker found out, hated the idea of a human learning stuff like that, and wanted revenge. But what's why I could hold him off for as long as I did; this really isn't the first time I've done this sort of thing."

It made sense.

Star just didn't know if she could believe him anymore.

She stepped back anyway, giving Danny some room to breathe. He hadn't told her what halfa meant. He'd outright admitted that he had lied about where he'd found her phone, and why lie about something like that? She wasn't sure she believed his explanation about having security clearance, either, though she didn't doubt that Tucker could give it to him. And he'd said Phantom had phased her through the floor, even though she'd never seen him. But what other explanation was there?

Trust me, he'd said. I can help, he'd said.

If he'd just meant that he had more skills when it came to ghost hunting than she knew about, why not say that?

"Okay," she said. "I'm sorry for freaking out over this. Thanks for meeting me. And finding my phone. I'm glad you're okay."

He smiled at her. "No problem. See you around, Star."

She let him walk off. Cornering him and demanding explanations wouldn't get her any farther than she'd already gotten. Letting him think she was just going to let this go? That might do it.

She could be patient.

She could wait.

And then she could find out exactly how much of what he'd told her had been the truth.