Hey guys! Glad to see you here, and I hope you all like it. This chapter maybe be a bit odd, but bear with me. And, as always, thank you for taking the time to read.
That night, Danny Fenton slept quite soundly, not thinking of ghosts or school, and would have continued in that manner well into the morning if his alarm hadn't rudely awakened him, reminding him of the cold horror of school. He turned it off distractedly, rubbing his hand through his hair and trying to remember what he had been dreaming about. He had the feeling that he would remember it later, but dismissed the idea quickly as he headed to his bathroom for a shower.
Walking in, Danny stripped of his clothes and turned on the hot water, letting it run for a minute before getting in. He liked his water hot, something that no one else in his family seemed to display. Once, he had left the shower running while looking for a towel and Jazz tried to sneak in. He had heard her screech clear across the house. Needless to say, she never tried to steal his shower again.
When Danny decided the water was hot enough, he got in, pulling the curtain shut and spending just a few seconds just thinking. The water swirled around his feet as steam rose and filled the bathroom, fogging over almost too quickly. It was a normal scene, for a normal family, doing-
A loud crash shook the floor as Danny was washing his hair, and he opened his eyes, groaning. He didn't bother getting out of the shower, but instead continued rinsing the shampoo out.
"Its okay!" his dad's voice echoed, coming from the stairs. "Nothing broke!" Danny turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, drying off quickly and then wrapped the towel around his waist, heading back to his room. Just a normal day.
Once he was dressed in his usual attire, Danny headed down the stairs hoping that nothing was on fire. Luckily for him, nothing was.
"Well hello there Danny." his mother said sweetly, the hood of her jumpsuit back - another good sign - as she flipped a pancake. "Are you hungry? I hope the noise earlier didn't bother you. Your father isn't doing so well in the test runs of the Specter Detector… And he didn't pay attention to the levels of distilled ectoranium…" Danny nodded weakly, not like the sound of his father's latest invention. "Do you want one pancake or two?"
"Uhm, one." Danny said, his eye on the door to the basement. "Is there any orange juice left?" He was the only one who actually drank orange juice. However, his mother seemed to have failed to hear him, so Danny took matters into his own hands.
He walked to the fridge and opened the door, spotting the orange juice quickly and taking the carton out, shaking it. He uncapped his drink and began drinking directly from the cartoon.
"Oh Danny, I wish you wouldn't do that." his mother said, pointing her spatula at him. "Its not very hygienic."
"Mom, I'm the only one who drinks orange juice." Danny said. "Worst case, I catch my own germs. No problem"
"I don't know." Maddie said, looking upwards. "Those ghost eating bacteria that I was developing escaped recently… I'm pretty sure it feeds on sugar solutions." Danny swallowed hard, hoping that his ghost trauma quota was filled for the day. "Ask your sister if she knows where they are, won't you Danny?"
"I just remembered that I… have to go to school." Danny said lamely, walking out of the front door quickly.
"But what about your pancake?" his mother asked after him. Danny was already well out of the door, having forgotten his backpack and shoes. This fact was not lost on him, and he quickly circled around the house, preparing to go ghost and stealthily grab the things he needed from his room.
"Hi Danny!" Danny spun around quickly to see Illusen all too surprisingly standing behind him. "Hey, uhm, I just kinda noticed you were outside, and uhm, wondered if you were walking t- uh, where are your shoes?"
"I… forgot them." Danny said, looking at her. He could have sworn that she hadn't been there a second before, and the neighbors opened front door coupled with Illusen's slightly rapid breathing seemed to back up his theory. "In my house. I'm going to go get them… Through the back door." Even to himself his cover up sounded silly. Illusen, however, seemed willing to believe him.
"Oh, okay." she said, hugging a notebook to her chest. "I'll just wait here, okay? Unless that's creepy." She looked down suddenly, seeming to think. "I'm not trying to be creepy, I'm just a bit… nervous. I don't want to…" She bit her lip. "I'm going to go home now. If you want to walk with school with me, I'll be in the hallway. If not, I won't stalk you bye." And with that, she ran back into her house, closing the door quickly, leaving Danny standing at the side of his house.
"Well that was weird." he muttered, looking at his wall and then back at her door before turning invisible and quietly retrieving his things from his room.
He got his shoes first, pulling them on quickly as he chanced a moment of being tangible, then floated around as best he could without going ghost, grabbing stray papers and textbooks.
Illusen, on the other hand, was leaning again her stair rail, notebook clutched to her chest as it heaved.
"Stupid stupid stupid." she muttered, shaking her head. "You don't just sneak up behind people that scares then…"She exhaled heavily. "Oh Danny." she said in an unrealistic falsetto. "I just so happened to notice you walked out of your house, not that I'm being a terrifying stalker, just being cool. And I want to walk to school with you for like, no reason…" Her voice returned slowly to normal. "Ugh, why do I sound like such a creep?"
"Berating yourself again Lou?" her uncle asked, coming down the stairs quickly. "I can hear you clear upstairs."
"I just want to be friends." Illusen said, sighing. "And I don't want to seem crazy or distant or like I hate him but I keep coming off as some kind of deranged stalker or something and I don't think I'm doing it right…" She pushed her glasses up before burying her head in her arms. "Oh, I just know I'm going to ruin this…"
"As much as you like to think, you're not some harbinger of doom Lou." Recut said, stretching beside her. "I don't think you really have the power to ruin anything. Just be yourself." She looked up at him, glancing through squinted eyes.
"Uncle, I can't be myself. I'm a teenaged girl. There is no myself. Only a crazy, irrational lack of self esteem and complete and utter randomness. It doesn't work."
"Then just be all of that, if you so want." Illusen looked at him, sighing. "I'm being serious, Miss Crazy Niece. You forget, they're teenagers too. Besides, I can't be constantly bolstering your self esteem." He elbowed her gently. "You gotta go out there and get 'em tiger."
"Uuuuncle." Illusen pushed him back. "You cannot call me tiger. That's for boys and stuff." She thumbed her notebook, and stood up. "But… thanks. I'll try."
"Just think, what would I do?" her uncle added. Grinning broadly, he pretended not to notice Illusen attempting to tackle him. "I'm telling you the truth."
"Yeah yeah." she said, walking out the door. "Excuse me while I look like I'm a creep."
"I'm sure he doesn't mind." Recut said, knowing she couldn't hear him. "And Lou, you're not a creep. Not even close."
Danny made sure to very carefully phase through the floors and land just in front of the backdoor, creeping out. Luckily for him, his parents didn't notice and no alarms sounded. He walked outside, shoed and holding his backpack, and looked to see Illusen waiting on the sidewalk. She smiled and waved. He waved back, and walked forward.
"Hey, sorry if I was weird a second ago." she said, still holding her notebook tightly. "So, uhm, you wanna walk to school?"
"Yeah, sure." Danny said, relaxing slightly. Maybe today would be normal. No more explosions, no ghost, no flesh eating bacteria… "This morning was weird…"
"Was it?" Illusen asked quietly, looking interested. "Uhm, how so?" Danny stalled mentally. He didn't want to freak the new girl out, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if he could trust her yet. They had known each other for barely a day, and she was already walking with him to school. It seemed a little creepy, almost planned.
At the same time, she seemed really earnest. She was a total stranger to the town, and a ghost freak at that. She didn't have much chance at being popular, and she had probably picked up on that fact. Not to mention, she did live just next door. She was probably just trying too hard to be his friend in hopes that she wouldn't be completely alone. And she seemed safe enough. Maybe she could even help with some of his ghost woes. Maybe.
"Oh, nothing major. My dad blew something up in the lab downstairs." Danny said. "His first ghostly accident of the week."
"Oh yeah, Grandpa's just like that." Illusen said as they stopped at a crosswalk. "My grandpa, I mean. He's really… Not the safest. He's pretty smart though." She blushed. "Not that your dad isn't!" she said, looking flustered as the walking man lit up. "Ah, I'm not making sense again… Uhm, was anyone hurt?"
Danny wasn't entirely sure what to think of Illusen. She had such an odd way of talking, constantly overcorrecting herself, like saying the wrong thing would make him explode. He chalked it up to her just being nervous.
"No one was hurt. That was the first thing Dad made a point to mention." Illusen nodded, relaxing slightly. "Oh yeah, your uncle mentioned you guys were ghost researchers." Illusen nodded, then smiled.
"Oh, yes." she said, her eyes sparkling. "We're entirely humane in our ghost research, and we've been studying ectoplasmic variations for years. Uncle is this close to creating a synthetic ectoplasm, working with labs all around the country, and we've just recently figured out how to create co-habitable environments for humans and ghosts…" She looked incredibly relaxed now, and Danny found himself being drawn in. "We can painlessly capture ghosts, and I know first aid, plus we've got this excellent ghost analyzer… Nothing compared to what your parents build, of course." She blushed, and pulled her backpack higher on her shoulder. "Sorry if I'm talking too much."
"No, no, that sounds great." Danny said, feeling better. She made it sound like she was a safe ghost hunter, or even just a researcher. "Amity Park is full of ghosts, so I'm sure you'll have plenty of… research subjects." Just not me he thought to himself, looking as Illusen again. She didn't look especially vicious, but her Uncle was definitely big enough to take him down. He could avoid them though. "Hey, why did you transfer here anyways?" he asked as they approached the school.
"Same reason we always move." Illusen said, pushing her hair back. "Ghosts. The basis of my life…" She smiled sadly and looked at the ground. "You understand, don't you Danny? How weird it is… Being in a family obsessed with ghosts. Sometimes they just seem like humans aren't quite as important, you know?"
"Yeah…" Danny looked at her sideways, and Illusen shook her head, hard. "Hey, why do you know all about my family and I've never heard of yours?"
"Psh." Illusen actually laughed. "Danny, your parents make weapons. They save people in big, well publicized battles. You've been splashed all over the news."
"Really?" Danny asked too sharply, thinking back to the Reality Gauntlet. It had erased everyone's memories… Hadn't it? "When?"
"Uh, I d-don't remember." Illusen said, pushing up her glasses as they approached the school. "I was t-trying to say that your family is… Action-packed. Mine is purely s-s-science. Scientists don't make the news, especially not by name." She looked at the pavement, then at the school doors. "Uhm, thanks for walking with me Danny. And… thanks for helping me up yesterday. I'm… not the best at making friends. So… if I seem weird or stupid, just tell me, and I'll stop."
"Uhm, don't worry about it." Danny said, scratching the back of his head. "If you want to be our friend, you're kinda basically in." Illusen looked up, eyes bright, and for a second, the sun made them look almost violet. "So yeah…"
"Thanks." she whispered, ducking her head slightly. "I, uhm, mean it." And then, shouldering her bag again, she twisted back beneath a tree. Danny was confused as Sam came up, using him as a armrest.
"Hey Danny." she said, leaning on him. "You look quite cereal free today. What brought on the sudden change?"
"Lack of cereal attack." he replied. "You're in the sun." Sam shrugged and moved her arm.
"I'm building up an immunity." she said, looking at the school. "Hey, why are you just standing around out here? It looks weird."
"I was talking…" Danny turned to point at Illusen, but surprisingly, she had already walked away. "Well, I was talking to Illy…"
"Uh Danny," Sam said, looking around. "She's not here."
"She was." Danny said, feeling slightly foolish, and at the same time wondering where she had disappeared to. That girl seemed to habit of moving quickly when he wasn't looking. "Anyways, have you seen Tucker? He's normally here by now."
"Ask and you shall receive." Tucker said, slapping Danny on the back. "I just got a update on your website. They changed the color theme." He proudly pulled out his PDA. "Black and green. Isn't that cool?" Danny leaned over and Sam sighed.
"You boys are so egotistical." she said, folding her arms and tapping her finger.
"Sam, you're just jealous that no one made a website for you." Danny said. "Besides, why shouldn't Danny Phantom get a little more positive spotlight? Someone obviously appreciates his heroic deeds." Danny smiled to himself, feeling good. Recognition every once in a while was nice.
"Or they're trying to find out who he is." Sam said with a huff. Didn't Danny see that this was dangerous? What if someone did see him change back, or even flying home. It felt too much like a trap to her. "And I'm not jealous." she added. She didn't need a fansite to boost her ego, and she knew it.
The bell chose then to ring, and they all shuffled inside to a unexciting homeroom. Lancer looked bored out of his skull, and Paulina was nowhere to be found. The rest of the class was already sleeping, in stereotypical fashion, except for Dash and Kwan, who were muttering to each other in a miniature huddle. Danny, Sam and Tucker all assumed their normal seats and waited for the final bell to usher in the stragglers.
"Oh my gosh." Paulina giggled, walking through the doorway with Mary Sue's hand in her own. "I had no idea you could do that with baking soda." They leaned in and giggled together, heads almost touching. "I think we're going to be great friends!"
"I know we will." Mary Sue said, smiling a little too broadly. "If you think that was cool, wait until you hear about all the things avocadoes can do." Together, they sat down not in chairs, but in beanbags that had not been there yesterday. Danny just assumed that a member of the Paulina fan club left them there as a offering, and almost regretted not doing it himself. It didn't hurt that Mary Sue was pretty too…
Lost in his thoughts, Danny almost didn't notice the bell ring, and would have missed it completely if Sam hadn't stabbed him with a pencil.
"Ouch Sam." he said, straightening up. He hadn't noticed that he was leaning over. "What was that for?"
"You were being drawn in by their collective powers." Sam said, putting her pencil away. "You shouldn't look directly at more than one popular girl at a time. Their vapid makeup heads can cause blindness. And the bell rang, so raise your hand when Lancer calls your name." He then noticed that during the time he had zoned out, Illusen had appeared in the seat beside him and was smoothing out her skirt. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" And with that, Sam leaned over to rather viciously stab Tucker.
"Ow! What was that for?"
The morning was painfully tedious, with Geometry being the most interesting class only because the teacher was incapable of drawing a three-sided triangle. Danny actually spent most of his time staring out of various windows and wondering how the Ghost Portal had opened itself. By lunch, he had narrowed the possibilities down to ninjas, evils ghosts, or evil space ghost ninjas, none of which seemed especially plausible to him. However, he was willing to put his thoughts aside for food.
On his way to the cafeteria, he noticed that the hallway seemed to have more enclaves and hiding places than normal. Nathan was hiding in one, Star was texting behind a plant, and Illusen was squished behind a water fountain, writing in the notebook she had been carrying around all day. Her back was facing him and Danny walked closer, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was inside. All he managed to see was rows of tiny handwriting before Illusen snapped the book shut and very quickly stood up, banging her knee on the water fountain.
"Hi Danny." she said, hiding the notebook behind her back. "Uhm, are you on your way to lunch? It is lunch time, right?"
"Yeah, its lunchtime." he said, looking back down the hall. Sam and Tucker were probably already at the table. "Hey, are you going to eat with us today? You kinda vanished yesterday." She had, slipping out of sight while Danny was talking to Tucker. She actually seemed to do that a lot, just dash off or on while no one was looking. "I mean, if you want to. You don't have to sit with us."
"No, it's fine great." Illusen said, quickly rubbing her knee. "I mean, I would love to eat with you guys, Thanks. That would be… cool." She smiled and shoved her notebook rather violently into her book bag. "Uhm, are you going now?"
"Yeah." Danny said, walking forward. "Here, you can follow me. Its hard to miss our table though… Since its just me Sam and Tucker." She smiled, looked down and seemed to just be watching his feet. "Uhm, any reason you were hiding?" Illusen looked up, grinning opened mouth and the slowly closed it, her face returning to normal.
"Absolutely no reason." she said, following Danny as they walked into the cafeteria. "I was just writing. And, I uhm, like water." Danny accepted her reason without protest and she sat down across from him. "Hi guys."
"Hi!" Tucker said, waving cheerfully with strips of bacon wrapped around his fingers. "Did you bring food? If not, I have extra bacon." Sam glared at him and put up her umbrella, presumably shielding herself from the bacon.
"No thanks, I brought my own." Illusen said, smiling gently as she reached into her bag and pulled out a industrial metal lunchbox that she put down with a soft clank. "Though I do like your, erm, creative use of bacon." Tucker gave her a bacon-y thumbs up and Illusen ducked her head slightly, pulling out a juice box and a sandwich. "Do you have to do anything to make it curl like that?"
"It cooks that way." Tucker said confidently, eating the bacon off of his pinky. "Its very cool." Illusen smiled and bit into her sandwich, which Danny thought looked like just two pieces of bread. "You sure you don't want any?"
"I don't really like bacon." Illusen said softly. "But thank you anyways." Danny noticed how oddly polite her language was, and that she always seemed to be half smiling, looking down. He also noticed that he was noticing her quite a bit, possibly because he hadn't had anyone new to notice in a few years. But there was almost something more than that, something that made Danny feel almost drawn to her.
"Meat is murder." Sam said, lowering her umbrella just enough to glower at Tucker.
"Delicious, well cooked murder." Tucker replied, crunching loudly on the bacon. "Lighten up. Its lunch time. Don't you have grass to eat?" Glaring, Sam pulled out her grass and tofu sandwich and bit into it about as viciously as one can bite into something with the consistency of fresh mud.
The almost civil lunchroom chatter continued and slowly it was revealed that Illusen was a vegetarian and that her steel lunch box used to be her father's, that she didn't have any interest in driving and that she still tied her sneakers using bunny ears. The whole time, she was slowly eating her sandwich and drinking out of her juice box, and when lunch was over, Illusen was the first one gone.
"She sure does run fast." Sam mentioned, pushing her chair under the table. "Did you see her Danny? She kept looking at you every minute and a half, and then me, even when Tucker was talking. Isn't that weird?" Danny did think it was slightly weird.
"You timed her?" Tucker asked, getting up as well. "Don't you think that's a little weird?" Danny also thought that was slightly weird. Danny also really wasn't in the mood to pay much attention, especially not to weird things. Weird things almost always came back to ghosts and he did not want to think about ghosts. Every so often, it seemed like fate could read his mind, and he didn't want to tempt it. "No grass attack!"
The day ended on a normal enough note and Danny was getting ready to head home when, Sam and Illusen appeared at the same time. They were talking animatedly, and Sam laughed at something before she turned to Danny, smiling.
"Hey Danny." Sam said, looking happy enough. "I hear that Illy moved into the old apartments next to Fenton Works. Why didn't you mention that you finally have a neighbor?" Actually, he hadn't thought that it was really significant, but Danny shrugged anyways. "Illy and I were just talking about how weird it's going to be now, two ghost hunting families living right next door to each other. I'm sure not a single ghost will get by them."
"Actually, a lot of ghosts might get by." Illusen said, pushing her glasses up. "We haven't hooked anything up yet, and when we do, it'll take awhile to adjust the frequencies so we don't accidentally down all of the Fenton's supplies… Uncle's a bit disappointed that we didn't think of compatibility to begin with." She looked down, clutching the notebook again. "Uhm, Danny, you want to walk home together?"
"Sure." Danny said, hoping no ghosts would attack. That could be awkward. "I was about to leave anyways." Illusen looked up excitedly, and Sam gave Danny one last glance as he walked away. "Hey, you really think they'll be problems with the equipment hooking up?" He wasn't much of a mechanic, but he knew that Illusen liked talking about them, and she made ghost inventions sound safe.
"Oh, no doubt." Illusen said, sighing. "Might even take out a few of your parents higher resonating inventions, mainly traps and stuff. Like, the Specter Deflector should be fine… But warn your parents. I hope we don't down anything big…" Danny was almost excited. If she took out his parents' alarms, he could get in and out a lot easier. "I, uhm… I heard you have… a gateway." She almost whispered, looking at Danny sideways. "That true?"
"You mean the Ghost Portal?" he asked, cautious. He didn't think anyone else knew about it, but when he mentioned, Illusen's eyes lit up. "Yeah, we have it…"
"Omigosh are you for real?!" she asked, almost jumping. "I don't mean to be really creepy but that's like the coolest thing ever do you know that?" She had bright eyes behind her glasses and her cheeks were red. "Have you ever actually seen a ectoranium blast? Or spectral deposits, or a ghost? Like, an unformed ghost? Can you go inside, see them moving around can they see you what is it like?" She was flustered, but seemed so happy. "I-I mean… What's it like?" She looked down, blushing and twisted her fingers together. "I've always wondered what it looks like… The Ghost Zone, wild and morphing." She had a strange grin on her face, almost like she was trying not to smile.
"Uhm… It looks swirly, I guess." Danny said. Her enthusiasm bordered on creepy, but she seemed benign enough. The ones who wanted to kill him normally seemed plenty normal and then grew fangs or something. In fact, she was almost like a ghost fan version of Tucker… "I've never looked for… spectral deposits." Illusen nodded, still staring at her shoes. "Any reason you're so interested?"
"I'm a ghost geek, through and through." Illusen said, her fingers still twisting. "Ghosts are just such amazing creatures… Its so strange what can live on, you know? They're alive, even though by definition they aren't and…" She spread her hands in an arc about her, looking into the distance. "It's a whole other world. I want to see that new world, belong to that new world…" Then she smiled, looking at Danny. "Don't worry though. I don't have ghost envy."
When he got home, those words still echoed in his head, running around with his thoughts. Why would Illusen tell him that she didn't have ghost envy? Had he mentioned it? Did she know something about him? Had Jazz been talking to her? Was he over thinking this? Around and around the questions swirled, until tired, Danny simply succumbed to sleep.
Ninjas. Ninjas are always the right answer. Remember that in your darkest hours.
Just so you know, I respond to every single review, no matter how small, with a certain amount of happiness. Plus, if you review with questions, you might get super secret awesome hints at to what's up coming. Hope you like it!
~ Natalie