Chapter Thirty-Two

(Brief lyrics in this chapter are from the song "Secret" by The Pierces.)

Siren looked at Danny and seemed a bit surprised to see him, but she quickly covered her reaction. "Danny Phantom," she said, "You're still alive." Danny growled and I could almost feel the hatred radiating off of him. "I was absolutely sure tormenting you would do you in."

"What?" I said looking between my evil side and my best friend.

"Danny, what is she talking about?" Sam inquired.

"Now how did that song go? Oh, yes," said Siren with an evil grin.

"Got a secret

Can you keep it?

Swear this one you'll save"

I recognized it as the phrase Danny kept muttering to himself when he was sick. I shot him a glance to see his eyes flash dangerously.

"Better lock it in your pocket

Taking this one to the grave"

Danny shot into the air, towards Siren, but with fast reflexes, I caught him by the ankle. My grip was slipping, however, since I was still holding Anne-Marie in my other arm. "Danny, don't. She's just trying to get a rise out of you."

"If I show you then I know you won't tell what I said

'Cause two can keep a secret if one of them is dead"

On the last word, Siren's gaze shifted to me and I shuddered, a sense of foreboding washing over me.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Danny cried out in rage, break free of my grip and rocketing towards the villainess.

"Danny, no!" Tulio shouted, surprising me. I shot him a suspicious glance. Why would he be so against Danny going after Siren.

My evil side just stood there, and a second before Danny collided with her, she vanished in a puff of black smoke. The ghost boy skid to a halt in the air.

"Where did she go?" Alyss inquired.

"Over here, little heroes," came a reply from our left. We all turned to see Siren standing in the doorway of a flower shop. She was twirling a white rose between her fingers. "Your favourite flower, Aralyne. A sign of sympathy, spirituality, purity, and innocence." She locked gazes with me, a smirk playing at her lips. It suddenly shriveled up and died in her hand, the petals turning black, and dark red blood pouring out from the center. "How easily and quickly all of that can be destroyed."

"What do you want, Siren?" I demanded glaring at her.

"You gone," she said simply.

"Leave her alone!" Danny yelled out, going after her again. Just like before, she disappeared within the black smoke before he could even get to her.

"Why do you smile like you've been told a secret?

Now you're telling lies 'cause you have sworn to keep it"

Again, we turned to see Siren somewhere else entirely. She was now sitting on a wall, the rose gone, and she was swinging her legs almost innocently. With another evil she grin, she paused her singing to ask, "Danny, does Aralyne know your little secret?"

"She knows," he growled out, frustrated he couldn't reach his target.

"But no one keeps a secret

No one keeps a secret

Why when we do our darkest deeds do we tell?

They burn in our brains, become a living hell"

"SHUT UP!" Danny roared again, clamping his hands over his ears. He fell to his knees and looked as if he were in physical pain.

"Because everybody tells

Everybody tells"

"Danny?" Sam said worriedly as she rushed to her boyfriend's side.

"What are you doing to him?!" I demanded angrily.

"Don't you get it, you little twit?" Siren snapped at me, "I'm trying to break him!"

A dark thought suddenly came to me. Danny Fenton died because he was ill, but how did he end up that way? "Sam," I said shakily, "how did Danny get sick?"

"Got a secret

Can you keep it?

Swear this one you'll save"

"He was worried about you," she said trying to get Danny to calm down, "it all started happening after your memories were erased."

"Better lock it in your pocket

Taking this one to the grave"

Sam continued, "His guilt started to eat away at him and he got sick around the time you returned from Treasure Island."

"If I show you then I know you won't tell what I said

'Cause two can keep a secret if one of them is dead"

I suddenly felt like throwing up. Siren had said she tormented Danny, and he got sick after my memories had been erased. The lyrics of the stupid song Siren was singing suddenly made sense. She was the one responsible for Danny's death!

"You bitch!" I screeched, releasing Anne-Marie and charging after Siren. I didn't get far when Tulio suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist and prevented me from getting any closer. I clawed and kicked the air, trying to reach the villain, but it was useless against my restraint. "You killed Danny! I'll kill you for this!"

"Killed Danny?" Siren repeated blankly. A second later, understanding crossed her face and she sneered. "So it seems my plan did work. Just not how I expected it to. No matter. Even in his ghost form, I can still mentally torture him."

"Aralyne, stop," Tulio grunted, "If you attack her now, she'll use your anger against you!"

"I don't care!" I shrieked, "She's dead!"

"Look into my eyes, now you're getting sleepy

Are you hypnotized by secrets that you're keeping?

I know what you're keeping

I know what you're keeping"

"Listen to me, Aralyne," said Tulio as I continued to struggle in his grasp, "You'll get to fight her one day, but not now! Not while you're like this!"

"She killed Danny!" I exclaimed, "It's her fault he's full ghost!" Tears were now streaming down my face. Danny Fenton had died because of her, and so did many others!

"Got a secret

Can you keep it?

Swear this one you'll save"

"Aralyne, I swear as long as I'm around, she won't harm you or Danny!" Tulio proclaimed.

"Better lock it in your pocket -"

Siren suddenly stopped singing and stared at us. Well, mainly Tulio. I could almost see a plan forming in that evil brain of hers. She lowered her lids, giving off a bored look and said, "I'm done playing for now. But don't worry. I'll be back to have some more fun with you." That last sentence was towards Tulio and I felt him stiffen. With another puff of black smoke, she disappeared. Tulio's hold on me had loosened and I shoved him away, turning to Anne-Marie. When I had let her go, Catherine had taken the child into her arms.

"What are we going to do with her?" Alyss inquired coming to my side.

"I... don't know," I admitted using the sleeve of my sweatshirt to wipe the tears off my face.

At that moment, many of the heroes came out to see if the zombies were really gone, including Aurora, Eilonwy, and Irenie. The oldest of the three ran forward and scooped Snow White's little sister into her arms.

"Anne-Marie! I'm so sorry! I came looking for you after you left the house and I heard what had happened to Snow and the dwarfs!" She looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Thank you for saving her!" Eilonwy and Irenie joined the hug, the lot of them now sobbing. "Come on, you can stay with us."

With that settled, I turned my attention to Danny and Sam. The ghost boy looked worn out as if he had been fighting for days. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about him getting sick and dying on me again. Unfortunately, that didn't mean he couldn't be driven insane from all of this torment from Siren.

"Danny," I said, kneeling beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder, "Maybe you should go home and relax. Try to forget about Siren, okay?"

"But -" he began to protest but I held up a hand to stop him.

"Please, Danny, for Sam and me, go home and relax. We'll be fine. I promise."

He reluctantly nodded and I gave him a hug before he flew off with Sam. I stood up and returned to Catherine and Alyss.

"Well, what now?" asked Catherine with hands on hips.

"How about we get back to the Benbow Inn and change?" Alyss suggested looking down at her duck footie pajamas.

As we headed back towards the inn, I glanced back to see Tulio watching me for a moment before leaving down the street. Again, I felt sad and lonely, but I quickly pushed the feelings aside. I was going to stand by what I had said to him in the woods!

When we had returned to the Benbow Inn, we all changed into some nice party dresses. Catherine and I pulled brightly wrapped presents out from under the beds, because it was Alyss's seventeenth birthday. I had found that out the day I met them when her birthday was, and had given Catherine money then to buy her sister a gift from me, because at the time I didn't know what she liked. Well, turns out Catherine had bought both presents after the Ember concert while Alyss was indulging herself with sandwiches.

"Come on!" I said leaving the room and running down stairs. The sisters followed me into the kitchens where we grabbed a basket, and swerving around the workers, packed it with sandwiches, a couple slices of cake, a large thermos of hot tea, and three tea mugs. After leaving the inn, we made it to the beach to have a little picnic party for Alyss.

"I'm sorry for how your birthday started," I said pouring Alyss some tea, "First, I was being so moody, and then the zombies attacked."

"It's fine," said Alyss with a smile, "It's actually been one of my more exciting birthdays. So what'd you guys get me? Huh? Huh?" She grabbed Catherine's present first and shook it trying to listen to what it could be. Alyss then tore off the wrappings to find another pair of footie pajamas. These being a pale blue with fluffy gray kittens printed all over. "Kitties!" she squealed in delight. She then opened up the present from me. It was a white teapot with blue roses painted all over it. "Thank you!" she exclaimed giving us hugs.

From there, we talked as we ate our sandwiches and cake, and drank our tea. After letting our food digest for a while, we went to swim in the shallow areas, splashing each other. Alyss and I even managed to dunk Catherine twice. We played around all day, Sam eventually joining us once she had located us.

Even amongs our laughter and merriment, I couldn't help but think about the last few moments with Siren. She seemed to have focused mainly on Tulio towards the end of our encounter, but why? What could she possibly want with him? Something just didn't feel right, and I had feeling we would find out what she meant very soon.

Around sunset, we all left the beach, completely exhausted and ready for sleep.

Not wanting to at home any longer, Danny went on a night patrol when he saw four ghosts - two male and two female - phase into a jewelry store. Having a feeling they were up to no good, he followed them.

"Woah! Who are you guys?" he inquired catching up to them inside the store. One of the males, a dwarf, jumped onto Danny's shoulders and pulled on the teenager's mouth, covering Danny's eyes. "Hey! I'm not a hat person! Especially if the hat is a dwarf!" He threw the dwarf ghost off of him. The dwarf crashed into a case and set off the alarm. The second male who was incredibly large stood before Danny Phantom. "Okay, all things considered, maybe the tiny hat guy was better."

The large ghost grabbed Danny with one fist and threw him toward a female, who stretched herself across two columns, making a slingshot, and sent him flying across the room. The other female removed her scarlet cloak to reveal tattoos all over her body. The drawings came to life and attacked Danny. The teenager powered up and fired at the tattoo creatures into the other ghosts.

"You know, it's ghosts like you that give ghosts like me a bad name," Danny snarled.

The cloaked ghost collected her tattoos, and she and her companions phased through the ceiling, leaving Danny. When he followed them out of the building, he was disappointed to find they had disappeared.