Chapter Twenty-Seven
Danny Phantom flashed me a smile. "Miss me?" he said.
"You're alive!" I gasped out, "But how? I was there!"
"I'll explain later," he said setting me on the ground, "But first, let's deal with Kida." He zoomed off towards the crystal woman.
"Be careful!" I shouted after him.
Danny socked Kida in the face, sending her flying. When she got back to her feet, he went in for another punch, but she caught his fist and I gasped, sure he was done for. Except... nothing happened to him. He didn't turn into a crystal. In fact, he seemed absolutely fine. The ghost boy smirked, twisted in her grip and kicked her, sending her flying once more.
"Aralyne, are you okay?" Tulio demanded sprinting towards me.
"I'm fine," I said staring after Danny. If this was a dream, I didn't want to wake up from it! Danny was alive! It was almost as if nothing had happened! Catherine and Alyss joined us.
After watching Danny pummel Kida for a few minutes, he called out, "Aralyne, a little help here?"
I blinked and rushed forward, removing Excalibur from my back.
"Aralyne, don't!" Tulio shouted grabbing my arm. I turned and flashed him an angry look. "You'll get killed!"
"Let me go!" I snapped yanking myself free, "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" I ran forward once more, and swung my sword at Kida. Unlike Tulio's weapons, it glowed a golden light and actually went right through her. She screamed and shattered into a million pieces. That battle seemed a little too easy.
"Come on," Danny said taking my hand, "Sounds like Nesidy's in trouble!" He flew us out of the cemetery and back into town.
The sight before us was terrible, and I was sure I was going to have nightmares about this for the rest of my life. People were running through the streets screaming, there were dead bodies scattered around the place, buildings had been destroyed. Dr. Facilier, Tiana, and Louis were all zombies attacking those unfortunate enough to get caught. I shuddered involuntarily. This was worse than the Horned King creating an army of cauldron born!
Grandpa, Jake, and Haley were all in their dragon forms fighting off Louis as best as they could without being bit or struck by the zombies.
"Help has arrived!" Danny shouted, grabbing the dragons' attention. They gaped at us - well, specifically Danny - in shocked disbelief.
"Danny?!" the Long siblings exclaimed.
He winked at them before zooming past towards Facilier. "Heads up, Shadow Man!" He tossed me towards the zombie. I did a flip in the air, landed on top of Facilier's shoulders, and thrust the sword into his head. Much like what had happened to Kida, he cried out and disintegrated.
"One down, two more to go," I said turning to face the other zombies.
Unfortunately, Louis decided to focus on me, and with the dragons distracted, he charged in my direction, his mouth open wide, black poison dripping from his large, sharp teeth. I raised my sword to strike him, but he was smart for a zombie. Without hesitation, his tail whipped out and smacked my hands, sending Excalibur flying. Uh-oh! Louis faced me once more, and I slowly backed up, my heart hammering in fear. When he lunged at me, I cringed, expecting to feel his awful teeth tearing into my flesh, but instead, I heard a whack and a crash! When I opened my eyes, I saw Danny had knocked Louis into a building. The alligator turned and snapped his jaws at the ghost boy, catching him in the thigh. Danny grunted in pain.
"No!" I shouted. I couldn't lose Danny so soon after getting him back!
Danny seemed unfazed as he punched Louis in the face, and turned intangible to get his leg back. To my utter amazement, the bite mark quickly healed, leaving nothing, not even a scar! The only evidence of him being attacked was a hole in his pants. I sighed in relief.
Turning back to the dragons, I said, "Jake! Haley! Blast Tiana with fire! That should kill her! Grandpa! Help me find Excalibur!" Yeah, I kind of lost sight of my sword when Louis struck me. The dragons nodded and flew off in different directions. I ran to the general direction I knew Excalibur had disappeared to and began digging through the rubble.
"Aralyne, over there!" Grandpa shouted, pointing to my right. I turned my head to see it gleaming, half of it underneath a piece of rubble that had fallen off the building Louis had slammed into. Grasping the hilt, I tried pulling it out, but it was stuck. Lao Shi arrived at my side and lifted the piece of building off my weapon.
"Thanks," I said picking it up and running back to Danny and Louis.
"Aralyne!" I turned to see Alyss and Catherine had arrived as bluebirds and transformed into humans beside me.
"Tulio's on his way and told us to make sure you don't end up in trouble," said Catherine.
"A little late for that," I grumbled, "Besides, he's not the boss of me!"
Danny screamed as he suddenly flew over our heads and crashed into a different building. Looks like Louis finally fought back, and now the alligator was heading for us. He swung his tail in my direction once more.
"Look out!" Alyss shouted yanking me into a crouch. The tail passed by harmlessly above us, and Catherine simply jumped backwards out of its reach. Grandpa soared towards the alligator and connected with the zombie, causing him to skid across the street. Unaffected by the attack, Louis used his tail to grab Lao Shi and sent him flying across town. The zombie turned his snapping jaws towards the sisters and me. Before we could do anything, Tulio appeared, grabbed me by the waist and rolled out of harm's way. The sisters quickly followed.
"I told you to keep her out of trouble!" he snapped at the girls.
"Will you quit!" I shouted, pushing him away, "I had this under control!"
"Get your ass to safety now!" he yelled in my face pointing off to a part of town that hadn't been hit by the zombies.
"You can't tell me what to do!" I snapped back. And to prove my point, I jumped to my feet and ran back towards the alligator.
"Dammit, woman!" I heard Tulio shout.
Louis swung his tail at me again, and this time, I was ready. I waited until the last possible moment before slashing my sword. The blade sliced right through his tail, and it landed beside me, turning to dust. With a roar, Louis turned towards me, his jaw snapping. I jumped backwards, but unfortunately, his teeth scraped against my forearm. Hissing in pain, I dropped Excalibur. Louis would have eaten me then and there if Catherine hadn't appeared, dragging me backwards out of harm's way. Tulio then jumped forward, picking up Excalibur and thrust it into the zombie's neck. The alligator exploded into dust.
My forearm began to burn as if it were on fire, and the feeling quickly spread throughout my entire body. I screamed at the pain, and collapsed onto the ground, writhing. This hurt a lot worse than when I had been crushed saving Hercules's life! I could hear voices, but couldn't tell who was speaking.
"She's been poisoned!"
"We have to do something!"
"Quick! Give her to me!"
"What?!"
"Just do it!"
I was vaguely aware of someone holding me, but I don't know who it was. My vision had faded to nothing, but I was still conscious.
"Hold on, Aralyne! Don't you dare die on me, do you understand?!"
I don't know how much time had passed. It could have been hours, or even days, but finally I heard someone say.
"Danny?!"
"Zombie poison! Do something! Help her!"
"Here! Belladonna and Hemlock! Get it into her mouth!"
"But, those are poisonous!"
"Do it, or she'll suffer a fate worse than death!"
Something was stuffed into my mouth, and I choked on it, unable to scream anymore. Whatever it was slid down my throat, and gradually the burning sensation stopped. I gasped once I had swallowed everything and finally I lost consciousness.
Feeling numb, Tulio stared down at the spot where Aralyne had been before Danny flew her off to who knew where. He had told her to get to safety, but she was just so stubborn! And now she was on her way to becoming a zombie! The sight of her transformation would forever be ingrained into his mind. The poison worked fast; in a matter of seconds, her skin had turned a deathly pale, and her eyes were an inky black. A few moments more and she would have been lost to him.
"Tulio?" Catherine quietly said.
His head shot up and he glared at the sisters. "I told you to keep her out of trouble! You couldn't do that simple task! Now she could be dead, or worse!"
"It wasn't our fault!" Alyss snapped, "You know her better than we do, so you should have known we wouldn't be able to do anything to stop her!"
"If you were unable to protect her, then you should have stayed in the Southern Isles!" Tulio roared in their faces.
They were unaffected by his temper, and Catherine simply replied, "Same goes for you." He took a step back in surprise. "You thought we didn't know who you are? Well, we do. Now stop acting like your family, and go check on the woman you love!"
Tulio scowled, took a deep breath and said, "I don't even know where Danny took her."
"Well is there someone here that knows how to cure poisons?" Alyss inquired.
"The doctors, the fairies, Sam..." His voice trailed off and he suddenly got his answer. "I know where he took her!" he shouted, turning and running down the street. The sisters followed closely behind. Within a matter of minutes, they arrived at a mansion, a sign on the front lawn reading The Mansons. Without bothering to knock, Tulio burst through the front door, startling Mr. and Mrs. Manson.
"What is the meaning of this?!" shouted Mrs. Manson.
"No time to explain," Tulio quickly said, "Where is Sam's room?!"
"Now see here, you can't just -"
"Upstairs, young man," said Grandma Manson rolling up in her wheel chair, "Second floor, last door on your right."
Tulio dashed upstairs, following the old woman's instructions. Just like with the front door, he threw the door open and found Sam and Danny locked in an embrace, the former crying into his shoulder. For a second Tulio was scared, but when Danny saw him, he simply nodded towards the back of the room. Tulio entered, moving around the couple to find Aralyne asleep on Sam's bed, and thankfully, she looked normal. He sat at the edge of the bed, brushing her hair out of her face.
"How is she?" Alyss asked, she and Catherine standing in the doorway. Tulio had forgotten about them.
"She'll be fine," said Danny.
Sam pulled away from him, wiping her tears away and glanced back at the girls. "Hi, I'm Sam Manson; Danny's girlfriend. Are you friends of Aralyne?"
"Yes, we met her over at the Southern Isles," Catherine replied with a nod.
"Thank you for saving her," Tulio said without taking his eyes off Aralyne. He then leaned forward gently kissed her on the lips. When he pulled away, she began to stir.
I opened my eyes to see Tulio sitting very close. I flushed until I noticed Danny, Sam, Catherine, and Alyss standing behind him. Catherine had a little smirk on her lips as she regarded me. I so didn't want to know what was going through her mind right now.
"How are you feeling?" Alyss inquired.
I sat up and looked about me, not recognizing the room. "Fine. Tired. Where am I?"
"My room," Sam said, "Danny brought you when you got zombie poison in your system. The belladonna and hemlock I gave you cancelled out the infection."
"Thanks, Sam," I said smiling at her.
Catherine moved forward, nudging Tulio aside and grabbed my hand. "Come on, let's get back to the Benbow Inn to get some food in you." I nodded my consent and she helped me off of Sam's bed. With Tulio sitting on the edge, I had to wiggle around him, and my arm brushed against his, earning me another smirk from Catherine. I shot her a warning look, which she happily ignored. "And you," she said turned to Danny, grasping his free hand, the other being occupied by Sam's, "You need to explain how and why you're not rotting in the ground!"
She began dragging us out of the room, but Tulio called out to me, "Aralyne."
I paused and turned to him. Honestly, I had expected him to yell at me for not listening to him, but he surprised me by remaining silent until this point.
"Here." He held Excalibur out to me and I took it, gazing up at him. "I'm glad you're okay." Tulio stood up, and walked around us, leaving the room.
"Ah," I managed to squeak out. Surprisingly, I was disappointed he was leaving. With a sigh, I glanced over to see Alyss looking slightly amused, Danny giving me a sad look, and Catherine grinning widely. "What?"
"Oh, nothing," Catherine said in a singsong voice, rolling her eyes upwards.
We all left Sam's mansion and made it to the Benbow Inn. After helping Mrs. Hawkins clean up the mess that was a product of the chaos, we ate a small meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. While I ate, I wanted to cry, thinking of poor Tiana. I was never going to see her again, or eat her food, or listen to her jokes or stories. She was one of my dearest friends and now she was gone!
"Now, explain," Catherine ordered looking at Danny, who strangely didn't eat a thing, "How are you alive?"
Danny lowered his green gaze and quietly replied, "I'm not."