Act Two: Glimmers of …
Scene Four: Ghost Sense
"All right, two more hours, and it's done," Maddie said confidently, flipping the hood of her hazmat suit off her head.
"It's done!?" exclaimed Jack.
Maddie tried to protest, but Jack Fenton was not to be stopped. He bounded over to the Ghost Portal and its newly installed doors. "Fantastic! Ooh, let me try them!" He pressed the installed button next to the Portal, and the black-and-yellow-striped doors slid open to reveal the swirling ectoplasm beyond.
Jack and Maddie were thrilled with the working Ghost Portal, although it presented an interesting problem. They had expected that the dimensional portal would allow them to peer directly into the Ghost Zone, but the Zone was made primarily of ectoplasm – which was, apparently, green. And largely opaque. It acted like a fog on the border between the human world and the ghost world, preventing anyone from looking into the Ghost Zone. Maddie had expressed a theory that it did the same on the other side.
However, the problem hadn't stopped the Fentons. Danny's ghost sighting two days after the Portal had opened had confirmed their fears (and hopes): ghosts could travel through the Portal and into the human world. It only made sense that humans would be able to travel into the Ghost Zone as well; they were already making blueprints for a speeder that would survive the conditions of the Zone. They had samples and samples of ectoplasm for examination and study.
Now all they needed was a ghost.
The doors were designed to ensure that a ghost wouldn't be able to escape the Ghost Zone unless either Jack or Maddie were prepared; that is, the doors were not to be opened unless one of them were in the room.
"Jack," Maddie sighed, pushing her hand under Jack's large one to press the button again. The doors shut. "Well, it seems to be working all right …"
"Maybe we should leave it open, just for tonight. Just in case a ghost wanders by and decides to come in!" Jack was desperately eager to see his first ghost.
Maddie was too, but it wasn't wise. "Now, Jack, we should wait until tomorrow at least. It's late. Let's go get some rest." She smiled at Jack and kissed him on the cheek; he may have been overeager and a little bit of an idiot, but she was his idiot.
"Oh, all right," Jack grumbled, persuaded by her kiss. "I just can't wait …"
"Neither can I," Maddie enthused as they started up the stairs.
They came into the kitchen for Jack's midnight snack and stumbled upon Danny. "Isn't there anything in here that doesn't bite?" he was grumbling as he rummaged in the fridge.
"Danny! It's a school night! You should be in bed," Maddie pointed out with motherly concern. Since 'the accident', Danny had become more nervous – a natural reaction to such a shock, she supposed, but he'd fallen down the stairs twice and kept dropping drinking glasses. She was considering having him see a doctor for possible nerve damage.
Danny yelped at the sound of Maddie's voice, and he thumped his head on the ceiling of the fridge. "Ow!" He turned around, holding a jar of mayonnaise and looking uncertain. "… hi, Mom, Dad." He waved a little.
"Look at him, Maddie! Getting a midnight snack just like his old man!" Jack lumbered past Maddie and slapped Danny across the shoulders. "Is there any more ham?"
Maddie put her hands on her hips. "Well?" she asked bemusedly. After all, Danny was a growing boy; he was probably hungry all the time.
Danny looked sheepish. "I was just finishing a homework assignment," he explained. "I got hungry."
Maddie shook her head, turning to go to her room. "Well, go to bed as soon as you're done, honey. You've got to be up early tomorrow."
"I know, Mom," Danny groaned, knowing all too well. "Night."
"Goodnight, Danny. See you upstairs, Jack!" Maddie started for the bedroom as Jack put together a ham-mayonnaise-lettuce-tomato-turkey-bread sandwich, and Danny watched her go with a look of regret.
&
The truth was, the slight scare had startled Danny right out of his appetite. He went to his room and shut the door behind himself, sighing.
He had been finishing his math homework, but the reason he'd been working on it so late was that he'd been over at Tucker's house with Sam. Danny was up to 22 dropped beakers, and he had fallen through his bed – and the bedroom floor – to the kitchen twice in his sleep; additionally, his right arm had become invisible in the middle of an English test, startling him so much he had been forced to flee to the bathroom and spend five minutes trying to make it come back. Lancer had accused him of cheating, and he'd spent lunch with Mr. Lancer trying – and barely succeeding – to prove that there was nothing in the bathroom for him to cheat off of.
The regular biology teacher hated Danny already. If Danny spilled one more sample on the floor, he knew he was going to be seeing Lancer in his Vice Principal office.
Danny was severely torn. On the one hand, he really wanted to tell his parents about his problems. They loved him; they would accept him! But what if they don't? he couldn't help wondering. They were desperate to see a ghost, and now that the Ghost Portal had been opened, he knew his father especially was eagerly awaiting his first sighting. It was nearly all he talked about.
So in the end, it was his inadvertent transformation into a white-haired, green-eyed, non-breathing and heartbeat-less thing last week that stalled him. That … that part of him seemed to be a ghost. What other explanation was there? And with that thought in mind, he couldn't help but be scared that his parents would be so eager to see a ghost that they wouldn't necessarily care it was their son.
On the other hand, he knew they loved him. If he told his mom and dad, there was a chance they could figure out how to reverse the problem. He felt terrible about hiding things from them as well; it would be a huge weight off his mind if he just explained.
He couldn't bring himself to do it anyway. It didn't help that Tucker still thought his powers were cool – and they kind of were, when they weren't doing things he wasn't expecting, which was most of the time. And Sam thought that they made him unique and cool. She also didn't approve of telling parents anything they didn't directly need to know; she was rebellious to the core.
So Danny had been over at Tucker's with his friends, practicing keeping himself completely tangible; they'd surrounded him with pillows and handed him books and glasses and other things to hold.
It had been relatively successful until he started getting distracted. As soon as Danny's mind wandered, his grip on tangibility would slip, and he would drop whatever he was holding – not every time, but often enough.
Danny packed up his books once he was in his room before changing into his pajamas. He started for his bed, but hesitated before he got there; wandering over to the window, he propped his elbows on the windowsill and stared up at the stars.
Danny knew all the constellations. It was a long-harbored dream of his to become an astronaut. He wanted to go on space walks; he wanted to know what it was like to feel weightless and look down and see the curve of the earth. He wanted to blast off in a rocket at speeds unimaginable.
There's no way the astronaut program could accept someone who can't even hold a stupid test tube, Danny thought to himself with a sigh. Not to mention he'd have to bring his math grades up.
Suddenly Danny felt as if he'd been hit with a blast of cold air. It was as if his insides had suddenly turned to ice; he shivered, and a blast of misty air came from his mouth as he exhaled. "What the--!?" Danny wrapped his arms around himself, looking around for what had caused this. Was the air conditioning broken?
A head popped up from the floor.
"Aaaaugh!" Danny threw himself backwards in horror, pressing himself against the far wall as a rotund, blue head stuck itself through his bedroom floor. It was very much alive; the red eyes looked around the room curiously, and then the head began to rise, revealing a rotund, equally blue body wearing coveralls and a t-shirt.
Oh my gosh, it's a ghost, Danny thought in horror. It's a ghost, it's a ghost, it's a GHOST! His chest heaved, and he didn't dare move. The ghost floated in front of him, completely unthreatening except that it was there.
The ghost's eyes swiveled to Danny, and Danny froze.
"BEWARE!" cried the ghost in an echoing voice, lifting its arms and wiggling its fingers. "FOR I AM THE BOX GHOST, MASTER OF ALL THINGS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE!"
Danny stared.
"Danny, keep it down!" Jazz thumped on the wall separating their bedrooms. "I'm trying to sleep!"
The voice seemed to startle the self-entitled Box Ghost, who jerked away from the offending wall. "… I am off to find my cubical minions! BEWARE!" it warned once more before suddenly phasing through the wall next to Danny and flying off through the night air.
Danny stayed where he was, still shocked. A ghost. He had actually, truly seen a ghost. His parents had been right all along; they were real. Granted … it was apparently in search of boxes, but it was still a ghost!
And what had that been, just before the ghost appeared? Danny wondered if ghosts really did create cold spots, because he certainly had felt that. His breath had come out in a mist as if it was below freezing in his room!
"Danny!" The door to his room thudded open, and Danny startled again.
"Augh!"
Maddie and Jack stood in the doorway, looking remarkably threatening in their pajamas. "We heard you scream!" Maddie exclaimed.
"Where's the ghost!?" Jack wanted to know.
Danny pointed wide-eyed out his window.
"It ran away again!?" Jack looked disappointed. "Aww … we were so close …"
"Jack," Maddie said, straightening, "how did it get in? The Ghost Portal door was closed."
Danny's parents stared at each other, then pounded away to go downstairs. Danny slowly relaxed as they went, his heartbeat gradually slowing. So his parents had finished installing the door on the Ghost Portal? He started for his bedroom door, wavering between chasing his parents downstairs to see this door and just going to bed. As the adrenaline wore off, Danny felt as if he could have slept for a million years.
His sister stuck her head out through her door, her hair in disarray and her eyes half-closed. "Danny, what were you doing in there?" she asked blearily.
Danny blinked at her. "Oh, uh … nothing," he said slowly. "A ghost—"
Jazz waved her arm. "Don't," she said flatly. "Don't encourage them, okay?" She rubbed her eyes. "Night, Danny." She closed her door.
Danny closed his bedroom door as well. "Encourage who with what?" he asked the ceiling.
The ceiling didn't answer, and Danny decided that was just a good thing.
&
The Fenton Portal's door was wide open, even though Maddie distinctly remembered closing it. "Huh," she said thoughtfully. "That's weird. The door must be defective."
"Maybe ghosts can open it from the other side!" Jack suggested.
"Well, we don't know enough about it to know," Maddie mused. She rubbed her chin. "I'll work on it in the morning."
"And we need another ghost containment device," Jack said forcefully. Maddie looked up at him with curiosity. "One that's easy to carry around."
"Well, if the ghosts are escaping the house, you're probably right," Maddie agreed. "Hmm …"
"Something like …" Jack mused, "… a thermos."
&
Ende act Two
Canon:
--Danny knows that his 'ghost sense' indicates a ghost coming his way. (Mystery Meat)
--There is a door installed on the Fenton Portal, but it opens on its own when a ghost comes in. (Mystery Meat)
--The Fenton Thermos that doesn't work was invented before the beginning of the series. (Mystery Meat)
--Danny's dream is to be an astronaut. (several episodes, notably Mystery Meat)
--When Danny doesn't have ghost powers – or doesn't know how to use them – ghosts scare the crud out of him. (Memory Blank)
--Sam doesn't think Danny should tell his parents about his ghost powers. Tucker thinks Danny's powers are cool. (Mystery Meat)
Sorry there wasn't much action in this chapter. Good news: Next chapter should be action! Specifically: ectopusses.
Thanks again for all the reviews: Celestial Maiden Sukira, Bluemoonalto, phoenix wanderer, phantomphriend, Nonasuki-chan, Linda, Shimegami-chan, YumeTakato, Acosta perez jose Ramiro, Horselvr4ever123, Henshi-anichan, Epona Harper, Mako-Magic, Sword on Fire, and cordria! You are all wonderful! It's such a delight to have so much encouragement for this fic.