The Jewels The Guardian and The Ghost.

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all related characters belong to Butch Hartman. I don't make money out of this. If I did I wouldn't need to work for a living.

Chapter 15: Games and Guardians

"Miss Daily took in a deep breath and dusted her hands off. "Good that's done, she said. She took a handkerchief from her belt, and cleaned the jeweled dagger before replacing it in it's case. Once done she gestured in Danny's direction, and the floating cape moved towards him. "It's all right now Danny, they're gone."

Danny came out from behind the chimney. "You knew I was here."

"I could sense you," she answered softly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to get caught up in that, but I couldn't shield you out of it without the marble.

Danny fished the marble filled with his ectoplasm out of his pocket. "You mean this? What is the deal with this thing anyway?"

Miss Daily smiled. "You don't like to let go of it do you?"

Danny frowned looking at the marble then at Miss Daily. "I'll bet you know why to. Care to share?"

"It's a part of you, Danny," Miss Daily explained. "In the wrong hands it could be used to put spells on you or control you. In the right hands spells will still be placed on you, but they would help you. Like me telling my wards that you're allowed to go through. Or in this case I would have instructed the spell to pass over you. I couldn't do that without the marble."

Danny glared at her suspiciously. "You want the marble back."

"I'm not going to ask for the marble back Danny," she said surprising him. "It would make my work easier, but I can live without it."

"So do I get to find out why Walker hates you?" Danny asked.

Miss Daily smiled sadly. "Walker's problems are Walker's. It's not just me he hates. He dislikes all guardians."

"Yeah about that," Danny said folding his arms across his chest. "What is a guardian, and why are you assigned to me?"

Now Miss Daily's features flushed slightly embarrassed. "I wish you hadn't heard that," she admitted. "But what's done is done, and if I didn't know better Walker said it on purpose with the idea that you might be eavesdropping. "She fixed her storm grey eyes on his. You remember what I told you about Merlin, Simon, and Modred,"

Danny answered warily, "Yeah."

"Well Simon kept his vow that any other person with power would find a trusted friend and confidant to help him. According to the story it was a young hermit who could hear thoughts. Telepathy is still a very common power among inheriting families. The hermit eventually was able to control his power, and return to a village where he married and had a son with similar powers. It was he who ran into a girl about to be burned as a witch because she could see the future. He saved her, and together they helped other young men and women throughout Europe with magical or divine gifts. Eventually these guardians spread to Asia, and Africa finding other like minded gifted individuals. They found enemies too, dark sorcerers, and those who would use their gifts for evil. It was about then they realized that most people who somehow gained magical powers were mostly young people. The mentors began to organize during the Renaissance so that any time a being of power was found some one, now called a guardian, or a mentor would be able to drop what they were doing and move to help that individual. Now we're even more organized. When a being of power is discovered, he or she is watched and studied so a compatible guardian can be found for them."

"So how did you guys find out about me?" Danny asked.

"He'd prefer to be anonymous, but he was at your mom and dad's college reunion. His primary job is to keep an eye on Vlad . He's an aura reader so he knew exactly what was going on with your dad, and to tell you the truth Danny, you and Vlad both have an aura that is pretty unique now. The fact is that you were lighting up a neon green to his vision without ever doing anything. Since he knew about Vlad, knew what caused Vlad's transformation, and knew who your parents were, it wasn't a very hard leap to understand what was going on with you. Since then we've had watchers keeping an eye on you while we figured out who would be the best guardian to assign to you."

"And you won the job," Danny said still trying to sound suspicious. "If you guys knew about Vlad why the heck didn't give him a guardian. He needs one more than me."

"We did," Miss Daily said, her voice dropping angrily. "He strung her along for three years after his accident, made her fall in love with him, and when she tried to stop him from overshadowing one of those millionaires he robbed, they fought, and he killed her."

Instantly Danny felt guilty. "I'm sorry."

"You were barely a toddler when all this happened Danny it wasn't your fault." Miss Daily said with an encouraging smile. "She didn't want to see that he didn't love her. She was so sure she could make him into a good person."

"No offense Miss Daily, but Vlad would flatten every person from Wisconsin to Los Angeles to get what he wants. I don't even think he really likes my mom, he just wants her."

"He wants you too," Miss Daily reminded him.

"I know," Danny replied. "And if he can't control us or possess us, he'll try to destroy us. I just do the best I can, and if worse comes to worse I will tell my parents."

"But you really would rather deal with Vlad yourself," Miss Daily said. When Danny nodded Miss Daily said, "Just know that you don't have to anymore. I can help you. I'm supposed to help you."

Danny had a feeling there was more to this guardian thing than just helping him. "So that's it? You're just here to help me with ghosts you think I can't handle? I've been doing fine without you."

Miss Daily shook her head. "Not just the ghosts, Danny, or Vlad. I'm here to give you a hand with whatever you need, school work, covering for you at school, making sure you come home in one piece. Anything you want help with Danny I'll help. I'll even help when you might not want me to help, but you simply need my help."

"Like those little sleep spells you keep putting me under at school?" Danny asked with a wry grin. "We couldn't figure out why you were doing those."

"I had a feeling that after a few days of not falling asleep on your feet you wouldn't mind too much." Miss Daily said with a grin. "Haven't you noticed that since I've been around you haven't gotten that much detention?"

Danny had to admit it. Miss Daily was right. "You're also doing something to keep Dash off my back." He told her. "Now that I think about it he hasn't bothered me that much since you showed up."

"Dash is easily distracted," Miss Daily said laughing. "But seriously I'm here to make your life easier, and less stressful."

"Even though you've been the cause of a lot of my stress for the past few weeks?" Danny asked.

Miss Daily sighed. "I'm sorry about that. I figured it was easier to have you figure out most of this on your own. Most of our charges do. Its supposed to teach you about how do deal with someone you don't entirely trust."

Danny thought this over. "Well I suppose that explains all the philosophy and psych books, but are they for me to read or you?"

"A little bit of both," Miss Daily admitted. "All I knew about you at first is what the watchers wrote in their reports. I knew quite a bit about Danny Fenton, and a little bit about Danny Phantom, but part of my job is giving you time to be just Danny."

"Just Danny?" He wasn't sure to make of that. As far as he and his friends were concerned there was no difference between his human half and his ghost half.

"I can read your thoughts Danny," Miss Daily explained. "It took me years of practice but I am a decent telepath. Even though Sam and Tucker think you share everything about being Danny Phantom with them, there are things you don't tell them. The things your frightened of. Things you don't think they will understand, because they don't have powers. Did you know that you use very rarely your powers around Tucker and Sam unless you're training or there is a ghost around?"

Danny didn't follow that one. "So?" He asked.

"When your home, or alone, you'll switch from human to ghost without thinking about it. Even if your parents are in another part of the house. You do it just for little things like reaching something from the top cabinet or if you're parents aren't home you don't use the stairs. Logic would stand to reason you would use your powers more around your friends."

An uncomfortable memory surfaced but Danny forced it down. He didn't want Miss Daily to read it from his mind.

A knowing smile played across Miss Daily's face. "Ahh so it's Tucker not Sam, and whatever happened you blame yourself."

"Can you please not do that!" Danny said offended. "That's invasion of privacy!"

"But Danny, if there is a problem between you and Tucker I might be able to help." Miss Daily explained.

"There isn't!" Danny insisted. "You just stay out of Tucker's and Sam's heads!"

Miss Daily dropped her eyes sadly. "Danny I just want to help you that's why I'm here."

"You can't help me," Danny insisted. "Not with that. Just let me handle it by myself. So what's the connection between my nightmares and those rubies you were telling the others about?"

"How do you know there is a connection?" Miss Daily asked.

"Easy guess." Danny answered. "You told Jazz that the band with the gems on it triggered my nightmares. Now you go out of your way to tell Walker and the others that the rest of those rubies are being stolen one by one. They're afraid of those gems, so stands to reason they're the reason nobody's telling me anything anymore."

"They were right, you are smart," Miss Daily said. Then confused she asked. "Nightmares? You had more than the one last night."

"Sort of," Danny answered with a sigh. "I tried to get Tucker to tell me what you guys wouldn't tell me, and he told me bits of it, but when Sam came he shut up. She was scared of something, and not for herself. I don't know where it came from, but I knew that she was afraid something was going to happen to me, and then..." Danny closed his eyes and shook his head. The fear was suddenly back, and he didn't know why he was feeling this. "I don't know something clicked in my head, and I remembered something. Something bad was happening to me, but I can't really remember what I saw."

"You had a flashback," Miss Daily said nodding. "It's kind of like dreaming when your awake, but its usually a memory."

"Yeah I figured out that part," Danny said with a nervous sigh. "But I can't remember what happened. I came out of it with Sam and Tucker telling me that I tried to run away from them, and I was scared of something, but I don't know what."

Miss Daily was looking directly at Danny now in a way that made him want to end this conversation and leave. "Danny come here. You can sit on the cape with me."

There was something about Miss Daily's tone that made Danny obey despite wanting to do the opposite. He floated over to the flying carpet like cape and sat down indian style copying Miss Daily. Once he was settled Miss Daily said, "I'm not going to do anything too you Danny, but I want you to try to calm down and relax, otherwise you are going to trigger another flashback."

Danny didn't want another flashback any more than Miss Daily wanted him to have one. He tried to clam down. Miss Daily said in a quiet tone. "Close your eyes, Danny. Clear your mind. Think of snow falling. Bright white fluffy snowflakes softly falling on a frozen pond in winter. Keep that picture in your mind and take a deep breath, hold it, and exhale. Again, deep breath. Hold, exhale."

Ten more times Miss Daily instructed him to take deep slow breaths. After the tenth time Miss Daily said. "All right Danny open your eyes."

Danny did so, surprised to find that his heart was no longer racing, and his breathing had gone back to normal. "You didn't do anything?" He asked his teacher skeptically.

Miss Daily laughed. "Nope you did that all by yourself. It's a basic calming exercise that most beginners use if they're having trouble controlling their abilities. Now after over nine months you're hardly a beginner, but it helps center you so you can get control of whatever is out of control."

"In this case my own mind," Danny said sullenly. Then trying to make a joke out of it he said, "It felt like you were trying to hypnotize me or something." When she looked slightly embarrassed he asked, "You could couldn't you? You know how to hypnotize people normally without magic." When she nodded he asked. "You could help me get these memories out of my head?"

"I'm still not sure that's a good idea," Miss Daily explained. "And if we keep talking about it there's a good chance you're going to have more nightmares tonight, and I don't' think you want to worry Jazz like that."

That was true enough. "So you got a magical answer to keep me from having nightmares?" Danny asked.

Miss Daily smiled. "Better, I have a non magical way to keep you from having nightmares. Mundane cures for internal problems are more often better than magical ones."

"Oh? Do I get to hear what it is?" Danny asked.

Danny's only warning was a mischievous gleam in Miss Daily's eyes as she reached over and tickled him, at the same time pushing him off the flying cape.

"Hey!" Danny cried out. They were high enough in the air that he only dropped a foot before he began floating under his own power. It was obvious that Miss Daily wasn't out to hurt him, but he was annoyed all the same. "What's the big idea?"

Miss Daily laughed and rolled herself in the cape somehow attaching it to herself. For two seconds her altitude dropped then she righted herself, hovering exactly like Danny. Her grey eyes sparkled with amusement.

"You did that on purpose!" Danny accused.

"Yep!" Miss Daily said. There was something about her tone that told Danny that this was a challenge.

Now Danny was getting angry. "What kind of sick game are you playing Miss Daily?"

"Now her look grew even more wicked. "How about tag?" She said. She swooped around Danny and threw a ball of silver light at him that exploded over his head. Danny's luminescent skin began to tingle. "You're it!" Miss Daily laughed.

She's baiting me on purpose, but why? Danny wasn't sure, but he was positive she didn't mean any harm, and there was just something about the look on her face that made Danny want to play along, and figure out her motives later. "We'll see about that!" Danny threw back the challenge. And the chase was on.

Miss Daily dove for a forested area near the edge of town. Danny followed eagerly hot on her heels until she ducked under the tree tops. Danny realized that Miss Daily didn't have his ability for speed. He watched as she wove in and out of the tree branches, and knew instantly that he was dealing with an experienced flyer. Danny didn't need to be maneuverable though. He simply turned intangible, and flew in straight lines. Still it wasn't easy to catch Miss Daily. She would make sudden turns or dives or stop short allowing Danny to shoot past her then doubling back on her trail.

So what are you going to do when you catch her? Danny asked himself. I can't use my ghost rays. I don't wanna hurt her. Whatever she threw at me just tickled. She's not out to hurt me, just tag me. Zipping through the trees, an idea suddenly came to him. Turning invisible and intangible He shot past Miss Daily, and waited until she hovered under a tree branch laden with leaves. He ecto-blasted the branch not breaking it, but shaking it enough to scatter the leaves right on his teacher's head.

"Tag! You're it!" Danny called back. He saw the feral grin on his teacher's face as she brushed the leaves from her, and knew he would have to move fast.

Now though Danny was directing the chase. He shot up above the trees knowing full well that Miss Daily would not be able to catch him if they flew in the open. He glanced down at Miss Daily below him and to his surprise saw her wrap herself up in her cape and disappear into the shadows.

Did she just turn invisible? Or was that some kind of a teleport? I'm not sure, but I'd better not take chances. Danny increased his altitude, hoping that no matter in what direction he was looking he would see Miss Daily coming.

What he didn't see was the blue light from the spell directed from the grove of trees directly below him. It shot up at him and Danny felt as if she dropped ice cubes down his back even though normally he never felt cold in ghost mode.

"What the heck was that?" Danny demanded. Miss Daily just laughed.

"Giving up already Danny?" She asked.

"Hardly!" Danny shot back with a grin. He turned intangible and raced behind his teacher. He managed to grab onto Miss Daily's cape and give it a good tug. "You're it again!"

Danny watched to see if Miss Daily could get control of her flying cape. He didn't want to hurt her or make her fall, just rattle her a little.

Miss Daily continued to fall backwards closer and closer to the ground. After a few seconds Danny realized she wasn't recovering.

"Oh no!" Danny said quickly. He raced down below Miss Daily to catch her, only to have her buzz over his head laughing.

"You sneak!" Danny said even as he was laughing with her. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"In that case," Miss Daily giggled, "You're it."

"Not for long!" Danny said. There was a small pond right above where Miss Daily hovered. Danny used his ecto-blasts to send a stream of water over Miss Daily soaking her thoroughly

"Why you little..." Miss Daily said.

Danny raced away from Miss Daily laughing, but had to stop short when he saw that she placed a glowing circle in his path.

If Danny couldn't stop on a dime he would have slid right into the porthole. Instead he stopped a good foot away, and eyed the opening warily. "Sorry Miss Daily. Not gonna happen." Danny said with a chuckle. It took him completely by surprise when the circle moved, grew and swallowed him whole.

Somehow the circle transported Danny into the pond. It startled him at first, but Danny simply turned intangible and invisible, and waited. He didn't need to breath as a ghost though he still felt out of breath if he over exerted himself, but if he held still intangible there was no problem staying under water for an extended period of time.

And Danny was just betting that Miss Daily didn't know that.

Sure enough after a few minutes, he saw Miss Daily hovering over the pond worriedly calling his name. "Danny? Danny!?"

Danny waited until he could clearly see Miss Daily just above the surface of the water then he made himself tangible and visible exploding out of the water drenching Miss Daily again.

Danny prepared to fly off again, but Miss Daily just floated over to the edge of the pond and began wringing out her cape. "It's okay Danny I think I've had enough."

Danny glided over to her giggling. "You're giving up?"

"I think I've been defeated too thoroughly to try to get you again." Miss Daily said laughing. "Two soakings a day are quite enough."

Danny took sympathy on his teacher. "Here give me your hand. I'll help you out." Miss Daily eyed Danny suspiciously. "No Tricks," Danny said as sincerely as he could. "I promise. Just give me your hand."

Gingerly Miss Daily placed her hand in Danny's. With a grin Danny made Miss Daily intangible, and the water fell off of her, leaving her dry.

"What the?" Miss Daily said surprised. She checked her clothes, her cape and her hair. Everything felt dry. "That's a pretty good trick, Danny, thanks."

"You're welcome," Danny said with a grin. Danny had a feeling that impressing Miss Daily was a good thing.

Miss Daily took off her cape and set it in the air so that it would float carpet style again. She jumped back up onto the cape seated herself and gestured for Danny to join her.

"So how do you feel?" She asked.

Danny seated himself on the carpet like he did before. "Pretty good actually," he answered surprised. He didn't expect to feel good. True he was tired, but it was a good tired, It just felt like he spend the afternoon playing too hard. Wait we were playing. We were playing tag! Danny eyed his teacher confused. "So you just wanted me to play around?"

The carpet rose into the sky, and moved back into the woods. "Look Danny," Miss Daily said. When the carpet stopped Danny followed where she pointed to a fallen tree where a pair of young bobcats played in front of their den.

"As adults they're pretty impressive hunters, but when their young they play like kitten, puppies and human children do. So why do animals play?"

Danny could sense a lesson in this conversation, but he couldn't figure it out. "You're the teacher," Danny said with a shrug, "You tell me."

Miss Daily smiled. "If you watch most young animals you'll see that they play. It helps develop their muscles, coordination, and prepares them for adulthood by developing skills that they need."

Now the sudden game of tag was beginning to make sense to Danny. "So you just wanted me to practice with my powers,"

"Not exactly." Miss Daily explained. "Training is all well and good, but play lets you use your imagination more, It helps you stretch your powers, and actually may help you develop new skills. Plus it's good for mind and spirit to just cut loose and have fun."

Danny had to admit that it did feel good to forget his problems, and just have fun for a while. "Is that all?"

"I'll admit I wanted to see what you were made of too," Miss Daily said. "You really can't learn about a person from just reading a report. A good sparing session will tell you more about who a person is than a thousand reports."

"I guess," Danny said stretching. "You did pretty good too considering both of us were pulling our punches. That was harder than a real fight trying to tag you without actually hurting you."

"Tired?" Miss Daily asked.

"Yeah,"Danny admitted, "but it's a good kind of tired."

Miss Daily nodded. "You're sore, but your energy level is up. I'll bet your hungry to."

"A little," Danny admitted

Without another word Miss Daily directed the carpet and it flew back towards the city. To Danny's surprise she guided the carpet towards the Nasty Burger. She paused just over the roof, and held still for a few seconds before flying down to the drive through. She's not serious? Danny wondered. A little worried he asked, "Miss Daily, you're not -"

"It's all right," Miss Daily said with a grin. "Just act as if this is perfectly normal. In fact, don't say anything."

Worried and puzzled, Danny kept silent while the carpet floated before the order speaker. "Welcome to Nasty Burger, May I take your order." The machine intoned.

As if this were the most ordinary thing in the world, Miss Daily answered, "Nasty combo number three with the works, no sauce, chocolate shake, and an extra order of fries with a diet Coke."

"That will be eleven ninety three. Please move to the pick up and pay window."

Without missing a beat Miss Daily directed the carpet to the pick up and pay window. To Danny's surprise the cashier, who thankfully wasn't Valerie, didn't even stare at the flying carpet. Miss Daily pulled out a thin wallet, payed for the food, took the bag with a pleasant, "thank you," and flew away."

Danny still couldn't believe what they just did. He accepted the burger and shake from Miss Daily. "You cast a spell or something on that cashier didn't you?" He accused.

"I supposed you could call it that," Miss Daily said sipping her soda. "I told everyone working in their minds that there was nothing unusual about a flying carpet going through the drive through. It will wear off in about ten minutes."

"So you can control people's minds?" Danny asked warningly. That thought didn't sit well with him.

"You can control their bodies, and their minds if you choose," Miss Daily reminded him. "If I wanted to control them, I could have had them give me the food and not pay for it. Did I make them do anything wrong?"

Danny took a bite of his Nasty Burger. "No," He said now thinking about it.

"Did I do anything other than tell them to ignore you and our mode of transportation?"

"No," Danny said with a sigh. "All right I get it. I still don't like it though." He finished his burger and moved on to his fries.

"I'll keep that in mind," Miss Daily said picking at her fries.

After that they just floated along eating and watching the sky. The sun just set and the stars were beginning to appear.

With a full stomach laying down on the gently moving carpet, with his hands behind his head Danny watched the stars feeling a sense of contentment and peace he hadn't felt in a long time.

Coming Soon Chapter 16 The Warning!

"Hi Miss Daily," Danny said very quietly. "I would have said good morning, but I don't think you're morning has been very good today has it?"

Miss Daily sighed. "You heard me?"

"You'll be lucky if half the school didn't hear you," Sam said. "Good thing I don't think anyone here knows Itallian."

"Sam not helping!" Danny shot back at his friend.

"It's Okay Danny," Miss Daily said sadly. "I shouldn't let my temper get the best of me like that."

"The ruby earrings are gone aren't they." Danny asked. When Miss Daily looked at him shocked he reminded her. "You told Walker and Skulker about them yesterday remember?"

Miss Daily sighed angrily. "I forgot you heard that whole conversation. You didn't talk about the gems that much yesterday, except for how they related to you."

"I was more interested in the guardian thing yesterday," Danny admitted. "But I'm beginning to think that this ruby thing is more important."