TrueHeart—Chapter 31—Murky Undercurrents
Even though Danny and Sam were still upset at what had happened at lunch, and the fact that nothing had really been resolved between the two of them, they were a bit relieved that at least they hadn't even seen either Al or Armen during all that time. But they didn't know that those two teens had been avoiding them as well.
Still, their avoidance of one another was a good thing, especially since Danny and Sam's lack of sleep was fast catching up with them. With their fatigue now taking a significant toll on them, they were having a hard enough time concentrating in class, much less having to deal with confronting those stranger-by-the-second kids again.
But, fortunately, they were going to be getting a break from the class thing, since most of the end of the school day would be devoted to a school rally to cheer on the basketball team.
Just as the entire student body headed for the gym for the event, Danny searched for Sam in the migrating crowd. Shrugging it off that he couldn't find her at first, and knowing that he'd eventually catch up with her, he continued toward the gym when he spied…them—again!
Armen, overshadowed by Derek again, had an overshadowed Sam enveloped within his arms snuggling in a corner! But Danny frowned in confusion when he looked at his girl from this angle. Somehow, her face didn't look right. Still, he threw that thought out, irritated that it had momentarily distracted him from the real—and disconcerting—issue just in front of him.
"Sam!" he yelled to her mind as he hurried toward the controlled pair. He wondered why she didn't answer him, but then he guessed it. She was purposely blocking him again!
But Spectra, who was overshadowing his girlfriend, got at mental jolt when she heard him in her mind.
"What was that?" the shadow ghost mentally hissed, still smarting from his inadvertent mental attack. "And who was that?"
But before she could think about it any further, her hold on Sam suddenly began to wane.
"And what is happening now?" Spectra asked herself as she felt herself unwillingly being pushed out of Sam.
But then, she heard a tiny Bertrand whisper to her through Sam's ear, "The Ghost Boy's coming!"
With one last effort before she would be out of the girl, Spectra made Sam grab the dazed Armen and give him a big kiss.
Danny gasped. There was no mistake this time. Sam was doing the kissing! He quickly pried the pair away from each other, pulling at Armen with such force that Armen staggered backward and slammed into the wall.
More upset with Sam this time, Danny firmly whirled her around to face him and hissed, "Now you've crossed the line, Sam!" But he jolted when she didn't even look at or say anything to him. He became more infuriated, his earlier thoughts of her purposely hiding things from him suddenly rearing their ugly heads. She must be doing it again! He felt his heart pounding with hurt.
But a moment later, Sam came back to her senses, her eyes barely focusing at first, but her gaze had drifted not to Danny, but rather to an overshadowed Armen lying dazed and on the ground not too far from her. She gasped in confusion.
But then, her blurry eyes turned to an obviously angry Danny, and she gasped again just as she heard her boyfriend say, "And looks like you've been lying all along to me! I can't believe it! Why, Sam, why? What made you do this? What made you kiss Armen?"
But he didn't give her a chance to answer. He darted away, feeling as if his heart had been stabbed and all of his emotions were pouring out from it. But he left mainly because he was afraid of what the answer might be.
Sam stood stunned, not believing what her boyfriend had just said and why she was even here…with Armen—again! What had happened? That couldn't be true! She would never kiss Armen! But…Danny wouldn't just make that all up…So, then, what possible explanation could there be?
She stopped when her next thoughts jumped right in front of her. Was she going crazy? Were her telepathic powers making her forget things and making her totally unaware about what was happening around her? She gasped. Were they going haywire and making her do crazy things?
She instantly bolted after Danny, desperately screaming his name to his mind as she did. But she couldn't get through to him. He was too confused, hurt, and angry; and the powerful combination of those very strong and real emotions totally blocked her out of his mind.
She didn't stop running even in her failure to connect with her boyfriend. She hoped that she could catch him before he could morph into Phantom and get away.
But no matter where she desperately searched, she couldn't find him. She stood all alone in the empty classroom in which she found herself, confused and devastated. She should be angry at her boyfriend for his reaction. After all, she didn't do anything, and had no clue how all of this could have happened. Suddenly, she jolted. If what he said was true, he must have been feeling the same way that she had felt when the very same thing happened to him—when Al had kissed him earlier today! Suddenly she understood his reaction—even if she couldn't explain what had happened at all—and knew that he had every right to be upset.
She searched her tired mind, trying to make any sense of it. So then, how did this happen? Her mind drew a blank. Trying not to panic, and thinking once again that maybe her telepathic powers were the culprit, she drilled the question into her overwrought mind again: what did this all mean? Once more, she could not come up with that elusive answer. But what if she was right about her telepathic powers? She had been feeling so strangely lately about them. What if she was losing total control over them?
The dull headache she had had most of the day suddenly ratcheted up a notch, and the pain dulled her reasoning—and unleashed her panic. But, she didn't want to lose control. So, then, what was she going to do? She had to find Danny! But when she thought about him, about how upset he was and must still be, she suddenly felt as if her heart had been seized in a vice. Then, she felt her confused heart pounding in her chest, struggling to yank itself from that force. But she couldn't. She bolted out of the school, running toward home. She had to go. She couldn't take the swelling of emotions that were about to overtake her, and didn't want to let anyone see her cry.
Meanwhile, Bertrand commanded Derek to release his hold on Armen and the human fell against the wall in confusion. But when Armen saw he was all alone, and on the ground, and he didn't know why—again—he gasped. He did the only thing he thought he could do. He had to find and tell Al! His memory finally coming into focus, he instantly pulled himself up and headed where she would eventually be, and that was towards the gym.
After the dazed boy left the scene, Bertrand instructed the wildcat to return to Spectra at their agreed upon rendezvous point. Derek growled in acknowledgement; and just as he left, Bertrand soared after Danny.
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Derek saw Spectra waiting for him. But at first, he was confused. The shadow ghost was laughing, barely able to contain herself over what just had transpired between Danny and Sam. He floated nearer, searching his mind as to why she would find all of this so amusing. He did not think it was humorous at all. In fact, he was still very ashamed about it all. And he felt a dome of doom sagging over him because of it. And he did not want to bear any of it much longer. He just had to think of some way to get him and his wife out of this mess. However, his thoughts were interrupted once Spectra saw him.
She chuckled; but Derek felt an uncomfortable chill move up his ghostly spine with how evil a laugh it was. "So, you and your wife have been perfect this time!" she began. "And I think that the wedge has finally embedded into those two silly hearts. It won't be long now and then I'll have enough pheromone ambrosia from that Ghost Brat to last indefinitely!"
The wildcat growled in disgust, but was slightly confused by her comment. What 'Ghost Brat'? He saw no ghosts save the three of them. And the only other beings there were just humans. But he quickly and angrily threw that thought out. It did not matter! He was only interested in getting him and his wife out of this predicament.
He finally braved a response, "Now that we have done your ugly and despicable bidding, will you let Sarah and me go? We cannot bear the guilt of this evil we have done anymore. You have what you want and more. You have dealt us a shameful blow in helping you tear all those innocents apart, especially these last two tender hearts. You should be happy to know that we will never forgive ourselves and will add this burden of shame upon us for all eternity."
"I swear! Do you have to be so melodramatic?!" she replied, irritated. But she wasn't interested in whatever his answer might be, and her voice instantly turned cold. "But as far as letting you and Sarah go? Not in your afterlife! You both are my insurance, just in case the final blow takes too long! I want to make certain that the Ghost Brat's love life is destroyed. In fact, I want to make sure he's so broken, he won't be able to fight me again. So, you both will just have to hang around until that's final."
The lynx roared in anger, this time bearing his fangs and claws and lunging toward her.
But Spectra was the quicker and before Derek could strike, she had shot him with a large and powerful purple energy ray. It struck him head on, instantly electrocuting his entire body before knocking him out completely.
As she sneered at the small animal now at her feet, she impatiently hissed, "Now where's Bertrand when I need him?"
But her assistant, of course, was going after Danny at the moment.
She sighed indignantly and produced another amethyst beam, which engulfed the senseless cat within it, and formed a bubble around him. It was quickly followed by still another beam which supported the energy orb and levitated it. The shadow ghost turned herself and the sphere invisible right away, and returned to the outside of the school, towing the energy ball behind her.
The shadow ghost headed right to the area where she had left Derek's cage as well as the still encased Sarah. The little bird gasped within her own cage when Spectra suddenly arrived on the scene, becoming visible with her unconscious husband as she did.
As Sarah watched on, the shadow ghost quickly dissipated the glowing purple orb around the senseless lynx and lifted the ghost animal with another energy beam almost instantly afterward. The ghost dove looked anxiously on as Spectra's purple ray then suspended her husband as it steered toward his cage.
Once the evil ghost had placed her husband in his pen, Sarah demanded, "What did you do to him?" But she had unconsciously pressed herself against the same area of the birdcage that she had been trying with great difficulty to pry open these past several days in order to see what was happening to her husband. She gasped when she suddenly felt this part of the cage give a little under the weight of her body.
But Spectra hadn't noticed the enchanted girl's last reaction, only her preceding words. She hissed through her incensed fangs, "Silence! Or I'll pay you with the same compliment!"
The dove shuddered and immediately cowered in fright.
With an evil, satisfied smile, Spectra replied, "That's better! Now, it's time to return to our home!"
The shadow ghost immediately followed that comment up with making two new energy bubbles, which instantly enveloped the two cages. Spectra then lifted herself upward, pulling both cages in tow. She soared toward the area where she knew would contain several natural portals. She had to use them this time since both of her hands were full. Once she saw one, she plunged into it without hesitation, lugging the hapless encased ghost animals behind her.
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Bertrand finally caught up with Danny just as the boy morphed into Phantom, became intangible, and violently shot himself upward. Spectra's assistant himself morphed into his human form as he got closer, pulling out the little pheromone-sucking machine out of his pocket and turned it on.
The shape-shifter poured on more speed then, trying to keep up with the fleeing Ghost Boy. He quickly glanced down at the instruments, never losing sight of the teen who was not too far away. He grinned and muttered, "Unbelievable, but perfect!" The readings were off the scale!
He immediately pushed the right button and aimed the machine at the boy ahead of him. It rattled violently, as if it couldn't contain its own delight over the amount of energy it was lapping up. Bertrand fretted with the machine's reaction and instinctively steadied it to keep it from jumping right out of his hands.
The vial cradled within the machine seemed to fill instantly. Bertrand, though surprised at this development, looked down at the vial and gasped at it in glee. Not only was its color the deepest violet that he had even seen—in fact it looked almost black to the shape-shifter—but it was also glowing. And then, Bertrand also noticed that the Ghost Boy inadvertently slowed down when his pheromones had been sucked away from him by the machine.
A hungry thought hit Bertrand and he devoured it. "Delicious!" he said as he pushed another button, delivering the contents to him by aerosol. As he eagerly breathed the entire glowing mist in and felt the energy rejuvenate him, he gushed, "I think I'll be in euphoria for months!" But noticing that he had slowed his speed when he had indulged himself, he quickly chided himself, "But, that doesn't mean I have to waste time! And, I do have to get more of it for Spectra!"
Bertrand quickly increased his speed, and narrowed his lag behind Danny. And just when he was satisfied that the gap between them was sufficiently close enough, the older ghost pushed another button on the machine. As before, the vial filled almost as instantly.
And again, Danny unwittingly slowed down, feeling suddenly ill. But he concentrated and poured on more speed.
Bertrand gasped when he saw that and rapidly changed the vial as he tried to match Danny's speed. Once again, he was successful in both weakening Danny and obtaining more of the boy's precious commodity. But Danny rebounded once more and increased his pace.
Spectra's assistant wasn't about to let the boy get away and changed this second vial with another. He sneered in triumph when he saw the boy unconsciously slow as a direct result once more. Bertrand repeated the same technique a few more times, turning the machine on after a quick change and as soon as the vial was in place. Having success yet again, he was in the process of changing the vial again when Danny unexpectedly ripped a hole in the dimension and dove right in.
Bertrand stopped in mid-flight when the small portal instantly closed, barring his entry. But he was only chagrin for an instant. He had ten full vials for now. He muttered indignantly, "Just as well. I just wish I could carry more of these vials! But I could only carry so much and still carry the vial with de-ghostifying gas in it. Well, I'll just have to fix that, won't I? And I'm sure the Ghost Brat will eventually go back to his home like a good little boy, which will be even more delicious! It'll be like finding all the candy you want in its own little shop!"
He turned right around when he said that, heading toward the area where he could easily return to the Ghost Zone.
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Tucker didn't get out of the bed the entire school day. He felt as if his arms and legs had melded into lead pipes and must have somehow slammed into his head. That would explain his headache. But, of course, the fact that he hadn't slept for practically the past several days, well really, a week and a half, would also explain it. After all, he really hadn't slept well since a couple of days before Valerie's birthday party. Nevertheless, he was determined to succeed this time. So what if he had already kept his eyes jammed shut all day, trying to force himself to sleep? It would work; he just had to give it more time. But then, he groaned. Why hadn't that worked?
All of the sudden, he yanked his eyes violently open when he heard the small rap on his bedroom door. That rap was followed by a gentle voice saying, "Honey? I have some lunch for you."
"No, thanks, Mom," he said, his voice cracking with exhaustion.
"But I made your favorite soup," she gently objected, as she quietly opened his door.
He groaned, but managed to say, "No, thanks, Mom. I'm not hungry."
"What? He's still refusing food?" his mother jolted with the thought. She placed the tray of food on his bureau, and instantly noticed that he had turned off all of his techno gear. She was just as stunned with that discovery as well. He had to be very, very upset. She bit her lower lip, trying to decide on what to do. She then asked, "Is there anything I can do for you, honey? Maybe I should take you to the doctor?"
"No, Mom! I'll be alright." But, of course, his tone of voice did not convince his mother. "I'll go to school tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay, Tucker, if you think you'll be better by tomorrow. Could you at least take a bite of food and get some rest, then?" she asked worriedly.
"Sure, Mom," he replied, though she definitely knew by his tone that he wasn't going to do either.
She didn't say any more, and turned to go. She debated whether she should just turn around and tell him. But she quietly left his room, closed the door, and went back downstairs instead.
Meanwhile, Valerie, Armen and Al were the only victims of Spectra's perfect scheme who had made it to the school's rally. But, of course, the rally was as far from being a gala affair to them as bathing in lava pits would be.
While Valerie moped with each cheer, Armen and Al, some distance away from each one another, tried to melt into the bleachers. Even amidst the roar of the cheering crowd, each of them could still hear bits and pieces of even newer whispers now circulating throughout the school about their most recent shenanigans. If neither had wanted any trouble or attention before, their reputation they were building from their escapades would certainly guarantee no end of them now.
Al was particularly chagrin on how those ugly rumors had gotten started. And she was still upset on what happened to her this morning when she had momentarily gone psycho. She was at a total loss on just how she ended up with an angry Sam and confused Danny, without ever seeing either of them anytime before she 'woke up'. But what that goth girl said was such a lie! There was no way she was interested in that Danny, even if she had every right to be still upset over the fact that his girlfriend was the 'playing-around' type.
'Playing-around type'. That would explain that newest incident between Sam and Armen at lunch! That goth girl couldn't be trusted! And that must have been all her doing back then, not Armen's! But why couldn't that goth girl leave her guy alone? And what about poor Armen? Al blinked at the memory. Armen certainly didn't seem pleased at all when that Sam-person attacked him. Al blinked again. But, wait, didn't he grab her? No, that couldn't be right! That girl had been the one behind it all! In fact, Armen really looked shocked and dazed during the entire time, she was sure of it. The blond-girl groaned. She sure had made a mess of things for Armen again. And with all this craziness, she now really hated this school.
Armen, in the meantime, was getting more and more depressed about his situation. However, he still hadn't been sleeping well because of it, even if it had helped that he and Al had made up and nothing more had happened to him for the last few days after those first incidents a while back. It still bothered him that he couldn't remember even half of what had happened to him during all those incidents a while ago, but things seemed to have begun to calm down, when now, there was a repeat of it all today!
Plus, he was especially confused about all the frowns and finger-pointing that kept coming his way from kids he didn't know in the slightest. The snippets of conversation he did hear he couldn't understand, but he could tell by the participants' body language that they had been talking about him. He had to know what was being said of him, and what he did during all this unaccounted for time when he had somehow phased out of reality. Was he going crazy from all the stress of not only being new here, but also with all of this unwanted attention and worry? He hoped not.
Still, he was determined to ask the only person who had tried to help and understand him most of the time—Al—if he could find her, that is. And so far, he hadn't. But he didn't know, of course, that she had witnessed his cafeteria act with Sam at lunch. And, fortunately for him, she hadn't seen the last scene with him, Danny and Sam.
Finally, the excruciating assembly–and school—was over.
Valerie went straight home and straight to her bed, never once coming out to even let her father know that she was still on the planet. She wished with all her might that it would be the truth.
In the meantime, Armen finally spied Al among the crowd and made a beeline to her, pulling her behind one of the bleachers. He was glad when she didn't object. He turned to her and with pleading eyes, said, "Pleaze, Al, you, I mean, I…I am ver-ee, ver-ee sorr-ee. It happened to me again. The crazee stuff. I do not know wat happened. I do not know wat to do. I need help in dis-per-a-shun. I-I had no body to help me. Y- I am so not happy and so sorree."
Al was still upset, but she was more upset with herself. There was her own crazy moment this morning, for one, and then her unfair reaction to Armen when that Sam-person had attacked him in the cafeteria. Suddenly, she jolted at her next thought. And now, she was beginning to get the creeps. Too many weird things had happened in the past couple of weeks since Armen had showed up. But when she looked at him and saw how distraught…how abandoned he was, she somehow couldn't help but feel sorry for him. And besides, she could understand now where he was coming from, since she had just had her own unexplainable phase-out. She frowned a little when she thought about all those three who were still involved in all of those crazy things in the past couple of weeks: that Danny, Sam and even Tucker. She just knew that they had somehow been responsible for all her current woes. Of course, she couldn't explain anything that had happened with all of them, but that wasn't the point. She finally said, "Okay, let's go somewhere better than this so we can talk."
"Tank m—you," he sighed as she took his hand and lead him to a more secluded part of the school grounds.
They sat down on the small bench they saw and Armen slowly piecemeal his anxious version of what had happened, and with his broken English, painfully revealed his helplessness through it all.
As the blonde girl listened, she couldn't deny how earnest his eyes were and that somehow he was telling the desperate truth. She just knew he was sincere. Still, she didn't get why he just wouldn't avoid that Sam-person all together. That would keep all of that craziness from happening.
Finally, after exhausting himself mentally from all the energy he was exerting trying to tell her how he was feeling—not to mention that he was already physically exhausted from his lack of sleep—and trying to keep himself from totally losing control—Armen pleaded, "Pleaze, Al, pleaze. I did not know what to do. I are—am-not lying! I do not try to do nothing wrong, but I-I can't explain it, except to say I had to be crazee! I so new here must be getting me crazee. But I do not want to be. Pleaze, bee-leeve me!"
The girl was silent for a while, and Armen shifted uncomfortably. He just knew that he had blown his plea just as surely as he had blown everything since he had come to this school. His shoulders slumped.
But then, Al slowly said, "Uhm, look, Armen. I have to say that I do believe you, because—and you're not going to believe this—but, I sorta went through the same crazy thing as you did. I did some weird stuff, too and I can't explain it, either. Maybe we caught some kind of bug?" She ended with a weak smile.
He didn't know what insects had to do with what had happened to him— and, apparently, to her—but he could tell by her smile that it was hopeful. He returned her smile with a weak one of his own. She didn't seem angry at all. He could tell by her eyes that she did believe him and was trying to understand. He sighed in relief and uttered, "Tank I, uhm, I mean, you. Thank you for being...you—my—friend. I go now. Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," she said with an encouraging smile. They got up from the bench and looked at each other again, each not certain on what to do. But, both of them were still very uncomfortable.
But then, Al awkwardly stuck out her right hand and once again said, "Tomorrow?"
He returned her handshake before gently pulling her to him in a much needed hug on both of their parts. He sighed and then replied, "Tomorrow!"
They quickly left and as they did, smiled underneath in relief, though they weren't totally satisfied. Still, they both felt that everything would work out in the end.
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As Sam neared her house, she brushed away her tears. In some ways, she was kinda thankful that she had so much practice in keeping her emotions in check all these years. It was keeping her from totally losing it right now; and kept her groggy head sort of clearer. And she wasn't giving up that easily.
She veered away from her home. Gritting her teeth in determination, she headed to the first of their many hangouts. She knew her boyfriend was probably long gone, understandably using his powers to get as far away as he could from her right now. But she didn't care. She didn't know how yet, but she was going to either find him, or get through to him somehow—even if he was blocking their telepathetic link. She just knew she would.
She continued to search for him, meticulously checking all the places they and Tucker usually went. She wasn't surprised that he wasn't there, but she kept onward. She had called Tucker only once, and had gotten his mother instead. She knew that the way his mother explained it, Tucker was in no condition to talk to or see anyone. After asking her to tell Tucker that she had called, she asked the woman to promise to call her should Danny come, just in case. Mrs. Tucker agreed and Sam continued on her way.
She also checked her boyfriend's house at least a half-dozen times as she sought him out. She didn't really notice the growing bewildered looks of Danny's parents each time she appeared at their door looking for him, yet never explaining why she kept coming back. Luckily for her, Jazz had not been home during this time. She just couldn't handle having Danny's sister in a spazz over this right now.
Finally, after the last time Sam stopped at her boyfriend's house with no luck, she stopped in the nearby alley. She leaned against the cold wall and closed her eyes, concentrating. But after several moments, she realized that she still couldn't get through to him. And she just knew it was because he was so distressed.
She continued onward. But as her fatigue finally started to take its toll on her, her battle to stay off her emotions was waning and her head began to muddle. She could feel the creeping pressure in her stomach, throat and eyes. Finally, she came upon the park and could not fight herself any more.
She felt her tears spill over and as they slowly dragged her face down with them. She stopped at the nearest empty park bench and sat down. Seeing that the place was as abandoned as she felt, she immediately buried her face in her hands and bawled. She had never felt this distressed before. It was as if all her usual defenses that she used to keep her emotions at bay were suddenly shattered. And with those no longer there, all her hurt and fears, all her sorrows and anxieties came crashing down upon her at that moment. Suddenly, she felt totally overpowered by her emotions. But one of them gripped her heart tighter than all the others, and that was her fear of losing the best thing in her life. And when she was finally aware that that might now be a possibility, she bawled even harder.
After a few minutes, her pants slowed slightly. But she had not gained any more control of her emotions. With tears still streaking down her cheeks, and just before falling into her tears again, she yelled to the heavens with her whole heart and mind, "Danny! Darling! Where are you?"
And her boyfriend suddenly interrupted his anxious flight when he heard her.