Shadow Rose
Chapter Four
please review! i love this chapter...
Sam was still in shock when we got back to my room. "Foley?" She repeated incredulously, "That wimp of a human being, Tucker Foley?" I laughed as she headed towards my room where she had a change of clothes, soon to exit as herself.
"Hey Sam, I think you've got a problem," I called out to her, removing my jacket and pulling my hair back.
"Which would be?"
"I know two guys who have crushes on you, very obvious crushes I might add." She stuck her head around the doorway.
"And your point is?"
"You may have to choose between Fenton and Phantom." Was it me? Or did she blush when I said the name Fenton?
"Why would I want either," she retorted, disappearing again, "Fenton's a dork and Phantom's a freak."
"You have a crush on Danny don't you."
"No!" She protested wildly, "I have nothing of the sort."
"Do so."
"Do not."
"Do so."
"Do not."
"Do… oh hi Phantom."
The ghost in question had just flown through the door. "Rose?" he said in confusion. I realised that I was not wearing my mask having dropped it in the PDA's lair.
"Not good," I muttered to myself "Hey Sam, I've got a problem." Sam came into the room and nearly jumped.
"What's he doing here?"
"Erm, floating?"
"Isn't this the Shadow Rose's lair?" Phantom said in confusion.
"Yes," I told him evenly, he's so cute when he's clueless! "That would be me."
"You?!?!!?!"
"Do I need to say it twice?" I asked, "Or do you need confirmation?"
"Confirmation?" I rolled my eyes and sighed in exasperation. Very soon I was kissing Danny Phantom for the second time in two months. And I shocked him enough to change back, yes! Sam was wide-eyed and Danny was equally as Shocked. "Okay, I believe you, just, don't do that again." I stepped back and hit the side of my head.
"Damn side-affects!" Danny looked at me strangely until he noticed Sam.
"Rose," he said carefully, "Can I talk to you for a sec?" I led him into the other room and he hissed at me.
"You just revealed my secret to a mad-woman!"
"She's not a madwoman" I said defensively, "She's just a poor… misunderstood…"
"Night Rider," Sam said, interrupting our whispered conversation, "I am the Night Rider, and if you ever call me poor again, I'll break your neck." She turned to Danny, "A secret for a secret, it's only fair."
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The next day at school Sam sat between me and Danny in the cafeteria, and she actually smiled. Ha, I knew she had a crush on him. Valerie was eyeing me nervously; I think that was because I had a scratch down the side of my face and I had already been beaten up by Margot Blakeney twice, yes it's true; I have a cover to maintain! She punched me in the face once and I still have a bruise along my side from the time she cornered me by the dumpster last week, but anyway. The scratch in question was the result of kissing a defensive halfa, again. I still had an ecto-plasmic burn along my wrist where he grabbed me.
"It's just a scratch Val," I said, not looking up and she jumped, "And no, Margot did not beat me up again."
"My name is Madison!" Margot yelled from across the cafeteria, honestly, that girl has better hearing than me.
"Whatever Mads," Sam yelled back, "Leave her alone." Everyone looked at her in surprise when Madison let me be. "What, we were friends for years, and we had a small falling out last semester." She said defensively and turned to her Caesar Salad. I grinned to myself.
"Strike one," Sam gave me a warning look.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blue mist come out of Danny's mouth and a panicked look come over his face. By Sam's sudden comment I knew she had seen it too. "Hey look, a butterfly!" She said, pointing out the window, everyone turned to look. I hit Danny over the head.
"Hey Danny could you take this to the bin for me?" I smiled sweetly and he left, nearly breaking into a run. Valerie's watch beeped and she suddenly stood.
"Um, I gotta go." Tucker was gob smacked.
"What did I do wrong?" He yelled as Sam and I also left.
Outside, after we'd made a slight detour to the girls locker room, we found Danny Phantom facing Ember who smirked at us. "Oh look, the Dark Duo, need your girlfriends to back you up Dipstick?"
"Don't call me dipstick," Danny roared and ... wailed? I felt a penetrating pain hit my ears and passed out. When I came to Phantom and the Night Rider were leaning over me, Phantom was concerned… and I think Rider was yawning.
"Rose, are you okay?" Rider hit him over the head, he was going to develop a bruise at this rate.
"Don't call her Rose, it's Shadow, you idiot."
I propped myself up on my elbows and felt my head swim. "What was that?"
"Ghostly Wail," he said. "It doesn't normally have that effect on humans, just a headache usually."
"Well I'm not human," I said wearily as they lifted me to my feet "I can hear a pin drop a mile away in dead silence."
"Have you been in the Ghost Zone?" he asked "It is anything but quiet. Hang on, you're not human?"
"I'll tell you later," I promised "But there's something we need to deal with." I gestured to the Huntress who was hovering above us.
She dropped to the ground and I took a step forward, only to lurch like I was on the boat. Supported by Phantom and the Rider I stood properly. "We need to talk," I told the Huntress "My place, now. You can come too Tucker." I called over my shoulder and he crawled out of the bushes to follow us "There are a lot of secrets to reveal, yours is one of them."
We stood in a circle, four of us as our alter-egos. "So here we are," I began, "The Huntress, the Night Rider, the Shadow Rose, Danny Phantom and the Hidden PDA." Tucker flinched, the Huntress was scowling, Rider's eyes were sparkling mischievously, Phantom kept rubbing the back of his neck and I was unnerved. If not extremely weak, when I said 'stood' before, I actually meant that all but me were standing, I was wilting in a chair, my ears still ringing. "We all know who the PDA is, but who are the rest of us, who's going to go first?" I turned to the Huntress. "Valerie? Would you like to do the honours."
To my mild surprise she complied and removed her helmet. Tucker drew in a breath and Phantom gaped at her, Rider wasn't surprised, she'd put two and two together. "I'll go next shall I?" she said to my surprise, I was sure she'd wait until the end. She slowly raised her hands, one to the front of her face and the other to the back where she fumbles with the tie for a moment. She paused, savouring the suspense, and ripped the cloth off, taking all pieces with it and letting her dark hair swing free.
To my chagrin the only people who were surprised at all this were Tucker and Valerie, because Phantom and I knew. Phantom took a deep breath and transformed, then it was my turn. As I raised my hands Valerie gave a weak laugh "Wouldn't it be funny if the Shadow Rose was our Rose, not that that's possible, she's so delicate." I removed my mask and stared gravely into her astonished eyes.
"I have a cover to maintain," I said innocently.
"How?" Valerie said simply, Tucker was looking unusually smug.
"I knew it! It was obvious to figure out!" Sam looked at him blankly.
"You only know because you saw her take off the mask she wears on your security camera, and she did it on purpose."
"And your point is?"
"My saying!" I snapped "But that's beside the point, there's something out there that's coming closer and we are the only ones who can stop it." I stood angrily only to lurch and fall, Danny caught me, again.
"Jumping to conclusions aren't we?" Valerie said, "I mean, some half-ghost is on the rampage, the Ghost-Frea… I mean Danny can take care of it.
"He's not just any ghost," Danny said angrily "His name is Vlad Plasmius, also known as Vlad Masters, and he's evil. His main goal is world domination, and he's freakishly obsessed with my mom."
"Is your mum's name Maddie?" I asked, he looked at me in surprise and nodded. "I thought so," I said grimly, "I've run in with him before."
"I don't understand," Sam said, "How can someone be half-dead?"
"How can a mere human live for three hundred years without aging more than 10? How can a human bleed profusely from the tiniest scratch and not be affected? How can …" I stood, again, I was agitated, and I lurched, again, falling on the floor this time. I was pulled to my feet and opened my mouth to say something… I heard a screeching and everything went black.