Old and New Love
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon, etc.
Elysian Fire
"How was the carnival, Danny?" Maddie called out, upon hearing the front door slam.
"Fine," came the reply. "Tucker paid two bucks to a fortune teller to tell me some weird garbage that was supposed to be my future. She gave me some old lamp and told me it contained 'one who would make all my wishes come true' or something like that."
Tucker stuck his head into the kitchen doorway. "And I won a stuffed tiger at the color wheel game. Danny threw up after riding the Avalanche."
Maddie smiled as her son appeared and yanked his best friend back. "Can it," he replied. "At least I didn't throw up after eating 6 corndogs and 3 funnel cakes."
"Hey, Sam wasn't there to hold me back!"
Maddie hid a smile. "Where is Sam anyway?"
"Some corporate big wig invited her parents to a party," came the reply. Danny made a face, remembering Sam's wailing on and on about the horrendous hot-pink sunshine yellow flowered monstrosity (with bows!) her parents were forcing her to wear.
"That bad, huh?" Maddie asked, noticing the antique lamp in her son's hands.
"Yeah," Tucker said, before Danny opened his mouth. "Looks expensive, Mrs. F., but really, it is glue and cheap metal and glass."
Danny nodded vigorously, before Tucker dragged him upstairs. "Hey!"
"You owe me a game of Doom, dude."
Maddie stared after them. "Most peculiar," she murmured, thinking she had seen that bottle somewhere before.
Upstairs in Danny's room, the two teenage boys stared down at the genie's lamp that had been thrust upon them. It looked cool sitting on Danny's desk sitting amongst the ruins of another one of his model rocket kits.
"So, what do you think she meant by rite of passage?" Tucker said, breaking the silence.
"When a ghost is ready, he or she is presented to the populace and chooses a first companion," Danny said, lightly tracing the strange lyrical script on the lamp's lid. "Mine was to be Desiree, the courtesan. Didn't work out-I ended up here."
"It's not so bad in the human world," Tucker reassured him.
"No, it is not," Danny agreed. "Darn, I can't read what this says. Let me polish it up a bit."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Tucker warned, too late, a thin form of pink smoke began to emerge from the lamp's lip. "Uh, Danny..."
Danny's breath was instantly visible and he changed to his ghost form. Soft velvet lips tasting of honey and spice pressed themselves to his. He opened his mouth to protest and the kisser deepened the kiss.
"Prince Phantom, at last, I have found you," a woman murmured, breaking the soft assault on his senses.
"Des," he moaned, moving closer to her. "Please."
"So you have wished it, so shall it be."