Seventeen - The Missing Persons
His coffee thermos was still untouched in his hand as Mr. Lancer grabbed his briefcase from his car and began walking to his classroom. He wished he could say he was surprised by the police call he received last night.
Jasmine Fenton was an excellent student, such a hard worker with an affinity for biological sciences, mainly psychology, and an ability to recall facts after only hearing them once. The girl had martial arts that she fell back on to meditate when overwhelmed.And, she was a protective and caring sister.
Mr. Lancer had done his research on Danny before the boy arrived at Casper Hill. The boy was a natural with sciences, excelled at math, and aspired to become an astronaut. He had all As and Lancer couldn't have been more eager to have Danny join them.
When that school year started, the Danny Casper High had received was not the same as his middle school records. A nervous, paranoid, and timid boy who constantly dropped things and couldn't focus. Over time, the problem had not improved but worsened. Mr. Fenton started sleeping constantly in class and had started to actually become physically weaker. Ms.Tetslaff had been baffled as Danny became too weak to even complete a pull-up. It made no sense, considering his parents had put him through martial arts when he was younger like his sister.
Nothing seemed to fit the cause of this shift for his student. Drugs didn't match because even while Danny was having difficulties, there were times when his natural brilliance shined through. He would floor the class with a science response or solve a math problem with ease. Even a few of his history responses had clear thoughts and evaluations. No, the problem was he was not present. Even when he was not excusing himself to the bathroom or simply missing, he was asleep or his mind was elsewhere.
Mr. Lancer had considered abuse, but his experiences with the Fentons from being near Jasmine had always pointed towards possible neglect, but they genuinely cared and loved their children. So Danny had remained an enigma that Mr. Lancer was determined to understand and help.
Not anymore, his own parents had reported him missing. The police had jumped on it, especially after the Fentons had apparently shown footage of the front of their house. Danny had been kidnapped by ghosts and was missing. Mr. Lancer wished this was his first missing student, but it wasn't, and he knew the students and staff were going to react, especially after the fight in the cafeteria last week. So Mr. Lancer arrived early to pull Danny's records and those of any of his classmates. He had already asked Danny's other teachers to arrive twenty minutes early.
He opened his door and flipped his light switch, and froze. In between the rows of desks laid a familiar head of black hair. Mr. Lancer's eyes shifted to his student's arm. Danny's hand was gone, and a belt had been tightened painfully around the stump that was left.
He reached for his phone, ready to dial 911, but stopped as he came closer and saw Danny's neck. There was a slash all the way around it, but something was odd. The muscle was partially healed. The section of ligaments near the front was nearly completely healed, but by the cuts appearance, that part should have been the deepest. The tube sticking up of his student's throat made a soft sound of air as Danny's lungs filled. Someone had helped him.
"Mr. Lancer, please don't call 911," the familiar voice made him jum, and he dropped his phone.
"Frankenstein! Mr. Weston?" the teacher looked in shock at his familiar student and a young pirate ghost that was set down by another missing student of his. "Mr. Poindexter?!"
Sidney Poindexter had disappeared when he had first started at Casper High as just a teacher.
"Hello, Mr. Lancer," Sidney gave a wave, "Sorry I never turned in that paper."
"Mr. Lance, please don't call the police. They might hurt Danny," Wes spoke, drawing Lancer's attention.
"The police are looking for him, Mr. Weston, and he obviously needs help," Mr. Lancer reached for his phone, still staring at Poindexter, his apparently ghost student. He did not know who had hurt Danny, but a ghost had taken him. The young pirate was crying, and Sidney… the boy never would hurt anyone.
"Look, Mr. Lancer, Danny is a ghost. We can't hide that from any hospital. There is no way a human could heal that slash. Trust me last night, his head… it wasn't even… on," Wes swallowed, looking sick. "We need to call his sister. She knows he is Phantom, right?" Wes asked the ghost beside him.
The Vice-Principal was going to argue that Danny was not Phantom, but his once student now ghost nodded. "She does, plus she might help with whatever this ghost illness is. I can almost bet that's why the shields are up."
The facts that he had just been obsessing over on his drive over snapped into place. Danny was Phantom. The bathroom breaks were to fight ghosts. The sleepiness, the inability to complete work, and maybe even his changes in his physical fitness.
"Lord of the Flies, you're telling the truth," Mr. Lancer whispered. "You want me to call Ms. Fenton and not Mr. and Mrs. Fenton?"
"I would suggest it," Sidney shrugged. "They didn't know about Danny."
That was not surprising to hear as Mr. Lancer pulled the girl's number up from his notes from tutoring on his phone. The girl picked up on the third ring, "Good Morning, Ms. Fenton, I'm sorry to have woken you."
The girl responded with a weak, dry voice, "Mr. Lancer, I won't be in today…"
"Ms. Fenton, this is about your brother," Mr. Lancer pressed forward, hoping to cut the girl off as he sometimes did. "He is here in my classroom. A couple of ghosts brought him and Wes Weston in."
"Danny…" she sobbed and Mr. Lancer winced as he heard it. "He was so hurt… how? Can I talk to him?"
"He is unconscious. Great Gatsy," Mr. Lancer gasped, "You know what happened to him."
"Yeah… Valerie was there," there was rummaging on the phone and voices on the other end. "I'll be right there. What does he need?"
Mr. Lancer looked down at his student, "Honestly, he looks half dead. Wheel of Time, Ms. Fenton, his neck and hand… he is so…"
"Hit speaker," Wes chimed floating inches from Mr. Lancer's face. The man nearly dropped his phone before managing to do so. "Jazz, it's Wes, he needs fluids and blood. Youngblood and I, um, were surgeons and helped him, but he is still really bad off, and some sort of ghost… bugs got us. I don't know if you have anything that might help, but if you do…"
"The ghost flu! You got it from Danny… " she sucked in a breath. "Oh no! No one can leave, stay away from anyone, ghost or…"
"I figured that out, thanks, but not it's going to spread to Sidney and Mr. Lancer. Youngblood's friends, Matie, he didn't make it," Wes paused.
The line was quiet for a minute, "Sidney, can you hear me?"
'I'm here," the nerd ghost called.
"Stop using your powers," Jazz informed, "If you fight it with your abilities you get weaker. Don't float, go invisible or anything. Just stop now, okay? We are getting in the car, I'll be there soon. Don't call anyone and keep everyone away!"
"The Graveyard Book, what has happened?!" Mr. Lancer asked as the line went dead.
Wes explained the past day, and Mr. Lancer contacted his fellow staff to tell them he was making use of his sick days for this week and canceled his morning meeting.
At the end of Wes's tale Mr Lancer looked at the despondent pirate and ghost nerd rubbing his back. "Mr. Poindexter, when did you…"
"I got thrown in a dumpster, it was empty, and I hit my head." The ghost gave a grin, "I finally was able to make my way back here after the portal opened."
"Danny!" the group looked up as Jazz rushed into the room. A woman in overalls and Valerie Gray stared in shock at the room's occupants. He didn't blame them as Jazz knelt down over Danny.
"Aunt Alicia, he's breathing!" Jazz called.
"Where are his parents?" Mr. Lancer asked. "And why are all of you here if this ghost bug is so bad?"
"We've had it and are over it," the woman answered as she pulled an IV bag from her purse. "As for my sister… she will be crushed if she sees em' like this."
"Why?" the teacher asked as she leaned over Danny and felt his pulse.
"She will blame erself'," Alicia growled as she inserted an IV needle.
Valerie collapsed on her knees near Mr. Lancer and he remembered what Jazz had said. Valerie had been there when this happened, "Mrs. Gray?"
"I helped put the tube in so he could breath, but what happened?" Wes asked.
Neither teenage girl answered instead Alicia quietly explained the ghost flu, how Danny had gotten it, two ghosts taking him from the house. Ghosts that had been tasked with killing him by the ghost from last week.
"He needs blood," Alicia announced. "He shouldn't even be able to breathe right now. Does anyone know if he can remake blood like he did his neck?"
"I'm not sure," Jazz shook her head. "I've never seen him unconscious for more than a couple of hours, and he was with him fighting Pariah Dark."
"Don't look at me!" Sidney lifted his hands in surrender. "Ghosts don't worry about blood!"
"I doubt he can take in normal blood," Alicia held her face in her hand.
"What are we going to do?" Valerie said quietly. The first words she had spoken since entering the room. "If those ghosts find him, they will just finish the job."
"Who sent them?" Sidney asked.
"Plasmius," Jazz answered quietly. "We have to get you ghosts to the Fenton Flusher and make sure this does not spread."
"How long do you think we'll be sick?" Youngblood asked quietly.
"Us, humans were sick less than 24 hours, but Danny still was," Alicia answered. "Jazz, ya' and Valerie, are going to take these kids back to the house."
"Hey!" Wes, Sidney, and Youngblood exclaimed for different reasons at being called a kid.
"Da' Teach will just have to come with me and Danny to Spittoon," Alicia finished.
Mr. Lancer jerked his head up, "What makes you think I'm going with you?"
Alicia puffed her chest out indignantly, "Ya' can't risk being around people or ghosts. I don't trust ya' ta' keep your trap shut if you were to stay with my sister the next couple of days." Mr. Lancer, almost interrupted by Alicia, sighed, "Plus, another set of eyes might be useful to make sure Danny doesn't take a turn for the worse."
"I can go with you," Jazz stricken her brothers hair gently.
"No," Alicia shook her head, " Ya' need to be here for ya' parents. They already are beating themselves up over this ghost bug. If they find out he actually is part ghost without knowing he'll be okay… well… ya' mom ain't no softy, but that really would be a hard one. She's already throwing a hissy fit, and your dad is such a softee." Never did Mr. Lancer think to associate such a word as 'softee' with Jack Fenton, but it fit.
"I want to go," Valerie frowned.
Alicia's eyes landed on Valerie, "From what I hear, ya' the only one that can keep up with these new ghosts. Now… shouldn't we hurry and get out of here?"
Mr. Lancer cringed, "What about contamination? My students…"
"Luckily, these ghost bugs can't survive long out of a host out of the Ghost Zone. Like ten minutes tops," Jazz explained. "Still, we better hurry. I had Tucker disable and sweep the security footage, but we can't let anyone see or get near us." The younger redhead looked at Danny worriedly, "Alicia, do you think you can help him?"
"Sweety, I've treated triage in battle before. He is improving despite all attempts to butcher him. Plus, I know a couple of people to get supplies from. Have a little bit of faith, will ya'? It's obvious these ghost powers of his can heal him from near death," Alicia smiled at her niece. "Now let's get a movin'."
@Majorastudios
Mr. Lancer is a good teacher and caresMr. Lancer is a good teacher and cares
@Zomb1eTeeth
Mr Lancer isn't quite sure how to react when he comes into his classroom before school on Monday morning to find Phantom unconscious on the floor.
@Mystyrust
Lancer discovers one of his students is a ghost.