Ch. 9
A sad smile tugged at her lips, and she made as if to reach out to me before pulling back at the last minute. "I…I have so many questions," I said, breathless and conflicted. "I don't even know where to start!"
"I cannot answer them," my mother interrupted with the most heartbreaking expression on her face. I paused, stunned stupid. "I'm sorry, truly I am, but you have to figure things out on your own. It is not my place. Just know this: you are not dead and you must get home." Nothing she said made any sense to me. How could I not be dead? I was a ghost! I opened my mouth to complain, but she disappeared.
"Does aspirin work for ghosts?" I wondered aloud before turning around and floating off back the way I had come. Why did everyone have to be frustrating today? Fifteen-year-olds can only handle so much stress in one day no matter what their vital signs looked like! My head throbbed and all I really felt like doing was curling up somewhere and shutting down for a year or three. Yeah, that seemed nice.
My internal turmoil distracted me until something green streaked past me inches away from my nose. With a yelp I jumped back and looked up, wide-eyed. Skulker was back. He had shot a net at me! "Your disrespect has a price, child!" he warned while aiming some strange gun at me.
"Hey…man. I'm sorry; really, it's just been a tough day and all…" I tried to explain as I raised my hands cautiously into an unassuming position. Slowly, we floated in a circle.
"Your apology is irrelevant," he stated, then pulled the trigger. Panicked, I tried to dodge, but the scalding beam of light struck me. There was more green light and then pain as I hit a wall.
I groaned, managing to swear breathlessly as I slid down the wall and fell onto my back upon the floor, staring dazedly up at the ceiling. It took a moment before I realized that I wasn't alone.
"Isn't that the ghost girl you just put back into the Ghost Zone?" asked a familiar male voice off to my right. Tucker? What the heck? There were footsteps and then three faces appeared above me. Sam, Tucker, and Danny Phantom all had mixed expressions, but honestly none of them seemed incredibly happy to see me.
"Hey…how's it goin'?" I asked weakly. The three of them glanced at each other before the other ghost's hand started to glow bright green.
He raised it above my face and I had no choice but to flinch away. "You have five seconds to tell us how you got out of the Ghost Zone so quickly," he threatened, glaring down at me with glowing green eyes. And here I thought that I was the impatient one.
Before I could gather my thoughts he began to count down, lowering his hand each time. "Okay, okay!" I yelped, holding my arms in front of my face as a shield. "Skulker shot me with some weird gun and now I'm here, alright!? Don't burn my face off for somethin' I didn't even do, man!" I explained hurriedly, squeezing my eyes shut. Luckily enough, he didn't scorch my face off. For a dead person, I sure did get hurt a lot.
"Skulker did this?" the ghost boy repeated. He glanced back at Tucker and Sam, the three of them exchanging equally confused expressions. I didn't really know they were so confused. Out of all the ghosts so far, Skulker seemed to be the most violent and crazy. Was shooting at a new ghost really that bizarre? They all turned to look back at me, and it was then that I could see the uncertainty. They didn't know what to do with me, did they? "Who are you?" Sam finally asked her hands on her hips as she studied me with narrowed eyes.
Damnit. I couldn't very well tell them my real name, now could I? "Ma…xima. Maxima, right, yes," I stumbled over my words, nearly spilling out my real name. It was stupidly close still, but I couldn't take it back. After some hesitation, the ghost kid held out his hand to me and I took it gratefully, getting awkwardly to my feet. Man, I had no idea how much I had missed gravity. I brushed off my obscenely bright clothes—apparently dying reverses the color—and then looked up at them, not quite sure what to do next. Fly away? Attempt to phase through a wall and find my way home and…
And then what? I was dead.
Dead and angry and confused. However, now that I was out of the ghost zone, there was someone who I wouldn't mind visiting and punching the crap out of. "You know…if you're still itchin' to hurt somebody, I know an actual evil ghost," I began, flicking a piece of lint from my shirt. The teenagers perked up considerably, interested. I glanced back up at them, picking and choosing my next words carefully. "His name is Puck. I'd say he's around fifteen or so, bright red hair, dressed kind of like Dracula without the fangs."
The three of them exchanged curious looks. "I've never seen this Puck guy around before. You sure he's in town?" Danny Phantom asked, looking back at me with suspicion. I technically had no way of knowing if he was still around or not, actually, but it was worth a try.
"He disappeared right before you sucked me into that thermos thing. I did not appreciate that, by the way. Do you have any idea how cramped it is in there?" I replied, shuddering slightly at the unpleasant memory.
Tucker nearly doubled up laughing behind him. "Trust me, he's had more time in that thing than anyone thanks to Jazz," he said, wiping at an imaginary tear. Sam whacked his shoulder, effectively getting him to yell with pain before shutting up. I had to admit, Sam was really growing on me. The ghost boy gave them a look before turning back to me, looking uncertain for a moment before giving me a determined nod.
"You think you could lead us to them?" he asked before he took out his thermos, checking it and fiddling around with it for whatever reason.
Being so close made me nervous and I edged along the wall a little, my eyes never leaving its evil, sleek figure. "I honestly have no idea. In case you hadn't noticed earlier, I just died like an hour ago," I said, bitterness creeping into my voice. Surprise surprise, the ghost girl is still peeved that no one had helped her out at the beginning of her afterlife. Who would've guessed?
He had the nerve to look at me sheepishly. "Yeah…about that, I'm really sorry. It's kind of a habit to suck a ghost into the Fenton Thermos when I run into one," he said apologetically. Sam and Tucker both gave me sympathetic looks, though I wasn't really in the mood to forgive the ghost boy just yet. Maybe after he had captured Puck I'd feel better about the whole thing. Thankfully, Danny Phantom put away his thermos of claustrophobia and I was able to relax enough to step away from the wall in order to get a good look around.
As far as laboratories go, this one seemed to fit the description pretty well. My eyes were immediately attracted to the glowing, swirling green vortex on the opposite wall. That must be the entrance to the Ghost Zone. Hopefully Skulker wasn't going to come and try to find me again because being slammed into walls was definitely not my idea of fun. "So, Puck?" Sam's voice pulled me away from my observations, pulling my gaze back to the people who were staring at me.
"Like I said, I dunno if I can really lead you to him. I can try, but it'll be slow going. I'm not much of a flyer with…gravity in the equation," I explained, shrugging slightly. As if to emphasize my point, I started to involuntarily hover above the ground.
Looking somewhat bemused, the ghost kid pushed me back down with a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe we could use you as bait?" he asked, glancing back at his friends. I almost punched him right in his stupid face before I realized that he might actually have a good idea going there.
Pondering it over, I pushed the kid's hand off my shoulder and glanced around the laboratory again, mostly stalling so I could think it over. It wasn't exactly foolproof, but at least I'd have a purpose for more than five minutes. "Alright, fine," I agreed finally, looking back at them. "I'll be the bait, but I swear if you let him touch me I'm going to be the one sucking you into that damned thermos of yours."
My glare was enough to make him take a step back, but he was smirking at me anyways, "Deal."