Cleft the Devil's Foot
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom, by rights, belongs to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman.
My cat's meowing for fish, so I'll make this note brief. I know school lets out at 3:00, but for the sake of this story, I'm going to put it half an hour earlier.
"Thank you, Healer," the ghost girl whispered. "Gilda the Golden will not forget your kindness."
Danny bowed from the waist to her. "It is an honor to help the daughter of the Firebringer," he said. His long white bangs flopped into his eyes; he blew them out of his face.
"Perhaps, Healer, you should spike your hair like some of the human younglings of your age," Gilda laughed. "You would be cute, methinks."
Danny grimaced. "You sound like Princess Dorathea," he observed. He flicked one wary eye at his parents. "I think you should go now."
Gilda flicked her wrist and a small golden ball of ectoplasm appeared. "The customary payment, Healer."
"Accepted," Danny replied, allowing the glowing ball to absorb through his skin. He formed an icy rose with his cryokinetic energy and passed it to her. "This should appease the mutt."
Gilda threw her head back and laughed. "Oh, the Hell-Hound would be furious to hear himself so described. Fare thee well, young halfa." She flew off through the open portal, which mysteriously shut behind her.
Danny turned in time to see his father aim the Fenton Thermos at him. "Why?" he asked in a barely audible whisper, as he was sucked into the apparatus.
Jack felt bittersweet glory in his mouth as he eyed the clock. 3:00 p.m. "Why isn't he home yet? Doesn't school let out at 2:30?"
Maddie looked up at the clock and then at the front door. "Jack, I don't know how it is possible, but for some reason, I think that ghost was telling the truth. We saw him transform before our eyes."
Jack sighed. "I know, Mads, but I still can't believe Danny could be dead. I mean, it's not possible for someone to be half-dead and half-living. Is it?"
"I don't know, Jack."
Mr. Lancer paused in the act of closing his classroom door, when he heard a most unusual conversation coming from two very familiar students by the lockers across the way.
"He didn't come back, Sam They won't start missing him for another hour at least."
"I think they caught him. Don't you think it's strange none of the teachers in his afternoon classes asked where he was?"
"Could be part of the Healer thing. Maybe we should stop by his house just in case. We may have to let him out of a thermos or something."
"You're probably right, Tucker. It's just that..."
"You're afraid his parents'll kill him if they knew. They won't. I've known the Fentons since forever. They would never kill Danny, maybe figuratively for breaking curfew, but never for keeping the fact that he's Phantom."
Mr. Lancer quietly closed the door behind him. The school faculty was well aware of Danny's dual identity; you couldn't hide that fact from the ghost cameras the school had installed due to the increased ghost attacks. Still, he mused, perhaps he should come clean.
"Mr. Foley, Mrs. Manson," he called to the two students. "Will you accompany me to my office, please? I think there is something we need to discuss."
"Yes, sir," both students mumbled, shooting worried glances at each other.