"All right, guys, clear out." Daly said.
Mr. Brownie looked up from his brownie cake. "But we were just about to sing."
"Happy House-Painting-Day tooooo youuuu-" Teresa began.
"Lovely, Teresa. Be quiet." Daly said. "Listen, guys, Perry's had a bit of a shock and I don't think he really wants to eat your brownie cake right now."
"I'll leave it for later, then." Mr. Brownie said.
"No party? Aw." Regina Lynde said. "I guess I'll go back to my tree."
One by one, the ghosts left the house. Finally, just Daly, Terrence and Perry were left.
Daly handed Perry the broken clock.
"Getting out of a coma is difficult." Daly said cheerfully. "It takes a while. You have to get somewhere close enough to the surface to call out to your body. Once your body hears your spirit, it will absorb it and you'll be whole again. Luckily, I built Gluum Mountain exactly for that purpose. You climb up there, you'll be able to get back. It's hard, but doable."
"…What did you mean, my time is running out?" Perry asked.
"The longer you stay down here, the more your spirit becomes attached to the non-living world. You're far from your body, and your body cannot hold onto your spirit. Once your spirit is freed from your body, your body will continue to function for a little longer, but eventually it shuts itself down once the brain loses consciousness."
"So… I should go now."
Daly shook his head. "No. Absolutely not." He glared at Perry. "You can't climb the mountain until after the spring storms of Gluum have died down."
"Spring Storms?"
"I'm not explaining it all." Daly grumbled. "Just keep a close watch on your clock."
He vanished.
Terrence put a hand on Perry's shoulder. "You okay, Per?"
"No." Perry said honestly. "No, I'm not."
...
"What, no invention today?"
"Go away, Candace." Phineas said unhappily. He was trying to get the right amount of sugar in his iced tea. Ferb wasn't helping matters by pouring six packets of sugar into the pitcher every time Phineas looked away.
"Ferb, please stop." Phineas said. "You can make your own glass sugary."
He knew adding sugar was Ferb's way of distracting himself from thinking about Perry, but Phineas just couldn't take anything else not going the way he wanted it to.
"It's because Perry's gone, isn't it?"
"He's not gone." Phineas said. "He'll be back."
"I wonder if it had something to do with those robot elephants." Candace said. "I tried to warn you, Phineas. Those stupid inventions were gonna be the end of you one day. You already broke your arm. And your ugly platypus probably got sucked into some void in the elephant-building process. I'm right, aren't I?"
"Candace." Ferb said calmly.
"I am!" Candace said. "Phineas, why don't you LISTEN to me? You should have stopped building those things when you-"
"SHUT UP!" Phineas yelled.
Candace fell silent.
"You wanna know what happened to him? He got HIT BY A CAR, Candace. It had NOTHING to do with US our OUR INVENTIONS, so the next time you assume something, DON'T! HE GOT HIT BY A CAR AND HE'S IN THE HOSPITAL AND WE DON'T KNOW IF HE'S GONNA WAKE UP."
"I… I don't understand." Candace said, her eyes wide.
"YOU KNOW HOW WE KNOW? BECAUSE HE'S NOT A MINDLESS ANIMAL! HE'S A SECRET AGENT AND WE'VE BEEN COMMUNICATING WITH HIM FOR TWO YEARS NOW! SO SHUT UP BECAUSE YOU DON'T! KNOW! ANYTHING!"
Phineas covered his mouth.
"He's… a what?" Candace asked.
Phineas burst into tears and ran out of the room.
Ferb unwrapped another sugar packet. "A long while ago, we found out Perry was an agent, but we had our memories erased. Phineas remembered again after a bit, and we began secretly communicating with Perry using animal translators." Ferb pulled a tiny device out of his ear and showed it to Candace. "His Major- the man in charge of his organization- found out, and so we're not allowed to tell anyone or Perry will have to be relocated away from us to keep his identity a secret. That's why we never told you, or anyone, really. And as Phineas said, this week Perry was hit by a car and is now in the hospital. His Major called us a few days ago."
"Woah. Slow down, Ferb. What?"
Ferb turned and left in the direction Phineas had gone.
...
The moment Perry had finished his breakfast, he heard a knock on his door.
Perry licked the butter from his fingers and went to answer it. He wasn't too surprised to see Mr. Brownie standing there.
"What?" Perry asked.
"I just came to ask you if you knew about the annual Gluum party tonight."
"No. And I don't do too well with parties."
"Oh, a shame." Mr. Brownie said sadly. "It's quite a fun event. All the people get together in the village square and eat campfire food. I expect your friend Terrence is going. He comes every year."
"…I guess… I just really don't do too well around crowds."
"We're no crowd here." Mr. Brownie said. "There are a lot of us, but Gluum is small enough that it's more like a giant family. I know Teresa would be glad if you came. Ruby and Arthur, too. You've made quite an impression on them."
"I'll consider." Perry said.
"Oh, good!" Mr. Brownie said. "I'll tell Michaela to bring some marshmallows for you."
"That's oka-" Perry sighed. Mr. Brownie was already running down the path into the town. "Never mind."
...
Perry let himself into Willow's home and knocked on the wall. "Is this a bad time?"
Willow didn't look up from watering her flowers. "Whatever. What do you want?"
"I found a flower in the middle of town that I thought you'd like to give a home." Perry said. "I don't know what kind it is, sorry. I'm bad with flowers."
Willow set down the watering can and approached him. Perry held out the flowerpot.
Willow ran her hand over the top of the flower, her eyes on Perry. "Chrysanthemum. I don't have one."
"Now you do."
"Thank you, Perry." Willow said. She took the pot out of his hands and set it down next to her violets.
Perry was glad to be rid of her gaze. He brushed himself off. "I got dragged into this annual party thing tonight. You ever go?"
"No." Willow said, squeezing her eyes shut as though she had a headache. "It's better to stay here. No annoying people bothering me."
"Heeeyyy." Perry said teasingly.
"Not you." Willow said, focusing on the shelves across from her. "Not you. Just everyone else." She tilted her head to one side and looked forlornly at the shelves. "Socializing."
"I get it." Perry said. "I hate parties, too. I've never been a very social person."
"But you're still going." She said.
"Yeah. My friend's going. I kind of have to. Would you want to come if I took you? We could help each other not socialize."
"Why would I want to?" Willow asked.
"Never mind." Perry said, taken aback. "Sorry. I should have guessed. I mean, I'd say the same thing."
"I'll go." Willow said quietly.
"…You sure?"
"Yeah. I just don't know how to get there. You'll have to take me."
"That's fine." Perry said.
...
ANNUAL GLUUM RESIDENT PARTY
Daly stepped back, proud with the way the sign had turned out. Sure, it was slightly torn on one side from where Bucky the dog skeleton had chewed it, and the letters were a little off-center, but Daly still liked the way it looked.
"What do you think?" He asked Kevinly Drake, Mr. Brownie's pet warthog.
"Quite nice, Dalrond Wuaz. I love the simplicity of the design." Kevinly Drake replied. "It makes a statement on the delicateness of one's situation."
"Yeah, and it's crooked!" Daly said happily.
Kevinly Drake tipped his monocle and ambled over to Mr. Brownie.
"Everything's almost all set." Daly told Arthur. "Who's supplying the music?"
"That new rock singer that just moved here." Arthur said. "Tripped over an amp."
"Ah." Daly said. "Well, tell him we're happy he's here to help. Where's Terrence? He said he would help Michaela set up the campfire."
"He's at Dexter's shop, buying some wood." Michaela, a white horse, said.
"Dex is making him pay?" Daly demanded. "This is for the town party. Tell him I'll make him clean up afterward if we have to pay for the firewood."
Michaela pranced away. Daly headed over to Mr. Brownie.
"Mr. Brownie, you're in charge of getting the chocolate for the s'mores. Can you handle that?"
"Chocolate is my specialty." Mr. Brownie said. "I had a chocolate company back in my hometown. Mr. Brown's Crazy Chocolate."
"I know, Mr. Brownie." Daly said. "That's why you're on chocolate duty."
"Oh." Mr. Brownie said. "I thought you just pulled my name out of a hat."
"Yeah, that too." Daly said.
...
"You ready to go?" Perry called from the bottom of the stairs.
"I guess. Whatever." Willow said. She carefully and slowly descended the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she kept her hand on the railing. "Lead me?"
"Uh… sure."
Willow looked above his head and held out her hand. Perry took it.
They started walking. Willow tightened her grip on his hand. She stared straight ahead.
"Ow. You okay?"
"Just haven't been out in a while." Willow muttered.
"You're cutting off the circulation to my fingers."
"Slow down. I can't keep up."
...
"Cool, you came to celebrate." Terrence said. He gave Perry a hug. "Sorry I haven't seen you in a few days. I was busy helping set up."
"Nice sign." Perry said, pointing at the crooked banner that hung above the fire.
"Daly made it." Terrence said.
"Cool legumes."
"Come on down for the campfire sing-along!" Mr. Brownie shouted. "Preformed by me, Mr. George Brown, and Kevinly Drake, my trusty warthog!"
"I think I'll take a rain check on the sing-along and come back for marshmallows." Perry said.
"Same." Willow said.
"Find me when you get back." Terrence waved to them and vanished into the crowd.
Mr. Brownie stood up on a tall podium, strumming a guitar. "OHHHHHHH…"
He and Kevinly Drake began to sing. "AN ORANGE COW FROM GEORGIA, I'M GOING HOME TO SEE…"
"Let's head to that overlook." Perry said.
"Fine." Willow said.
Perry led her up to a small hill looking out over a brook. There were a few twinkling lights bubbling across the water, as though Gluum had the same night sky as Earth.
"It's beautiful." Perry said. "The only pretty place I've seen here. Daly must not have touched it."
"Smells like summer evenings." Willow said. "The grass is warm and wet. Cool breeze."
She was looking straight ahead, her caved-in white pupils blank of emotion.
Perry gave a sharp intake of breath.
"What?" Willow asked, alarmed. "Did something happen?"
"I'm… sorry. I just realized…"
"You scared me." Willow glared at the area above his head.
"I'm sorry… I just… I didn't know you were… blind."
Willow raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry." Perry said again.
"I thought you knew." Willow said. She turned back to the landscape. "I just thought you were nice enough to not make a big deal out of it like everyone else does."
"I wouldn't have even if I knew. But… I'm sorry, I should have figured it out. I'm just out of it right now."
"Whether you knew or not shouldn't matter." Willow said. "I'm still the same cranky anti-social hermit I've always been."
"You're not cranky." Perry said. "You're just lonely."
"I think George's stupid singing stopped." Willow said. "We should head back. And now that you know I'm blind, maybe you could lead me back a little better."
"Sure. Take my arm."