I don't know if I ever mentioned it to you guys before, but I love to cook. It's fun and relaxing. I like the heat that comes from a homemade meal that just feels good to eat. It's comforting. If anyone ever needs any meal ideas, let me know. I've got a few good recipes cooking.
So, this chapter was initially shorter. Much shorter. It originally ended after the trio talked to Sam's grandmother, but I extended it because I got a great idea halfway through writing. So it's longer than the first chapter. Now, I hope you like it. ;D
Also, a fun fact, I typed the vast majority of this chapter and the next on my cellphone. The aforementioned new parts were added on my family computer – which had me freaking out the day after because my internet browser decided it didn't like me very much. I fixed it, don't worry.
I had a question from NerdyWriterGirl: Is Danny eventually going to find out about Sam and Tucker? To answer that question, yes he will. I can't go too into depth right now but he will.
Summary: Samantha Manson, or Sam, has many things to deal with; her parent's disappointment, she knows all of the police force by name and face (and not because she wants to), moving to a new city, her grandmother's slowly dying, her Necromancy is getting stronger, she has no instructor to teach her, and she's not exactly the most popular girl in school. As she learns about this new city, she learns of its mysterious secrets and as to why so many haunts happen there. While trying to find out how to help this city, she finding that she slowly crushing on a kind of cute geeky boy whose parents hunt supernatural things. AU. She eyed the yellow tape, daring it to keep her from the school grounds. After a moment, she decided to ignore the forbidding warning of the black DO NOT CROSS letters.
Disclaimer: I do not hold any legal rights to Danny Phantom or to any of the characters you are going to read about. This story, however, is my own original idea, with a nod to Meg Cabbot's Mediator series and Kelly Armstrong's Darkest Powers trilogy for inspiring me somewhat.
Do Not Cross
Chapter 4
Complicated
"That's what living in their world is – a big lie. An allusion where everyone looks the other way and pretends that nothing unpleasant exists at all, no goblins of the dark, no ghosts of the soul." Libba Bray
Swirling green, vivid shapes, urgent whispers, a terrified scream – of his name? –, confusion, the world growing fuzzy.
Then, intense pain. He cried out, thrashing his arms and legs around, or tried to anyway. His whole body was numb and torn between searing heat and bitter cold.
And for a single instant, he felt bliss before his world faded to black.
.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
"... going to do?" a voice said. It was female and not as familiar as the male who spoke next but it was definitely recognizable.
"The important thing is that he's breathing." the male said. "We can only hope he isn't dead."
"You know, that doesn't really make sense. He's breathing but has no pulse. How the hell does that work?"
"How should I know!"
"You read the freaking manual!"
"So did you!"
"Ah, but the difference is, I just got it. You've had your's your whole life."
"Excuses."
"Guys...?"
The two stopped quieted. He could feel their eyes on him. They were waiting for him to speak.
"I can't see anything." he said. His throat was dry and sore, his voice an unpleasant croak.
"That's because we put a blanket over your head." the female said.
The blanket was removed and the bright, florescent lights burned his retinas. He cried out in surprise. He was given the blanket back.
"How long was I out? And why did you put a blanket over my head?"
"Dude, you've been out for days."
"What?" He sat up, bright lights be damned. He rubbed his eyes and looked back and forth between the two, his friends he remembered. Tucker Foley, who he had practically been raised to think of as a brother, and Sam Manson, the new girl who he befriended not too long ago.
Tucker was laughing. Sam, clearly irritated, smacked his arm.
"You've only been out for maybe thirty minutes at the most." Sam said. She started fiddling with her fingers. "But, there's something you need to know..."
She offered him a well-polished sheet of metal front one of his parents' newest projects. It was quite reflective. He peeked at himself in it.
"Oh man." he groaned. "What happened? Why's my hair white?"
He blinked and his eyes changed from blue to glowing green.
"I..." Sam started.
"Dude, you're no longer human." Tucker finished.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked slowly.
"You died."
"Danny, you're a ghost." Sam said.
He looked over at her. He was surprised to see her glowing a pretty light. What color was it? It seemed to shift from one hue to another. Why hadn't he noticed it before?
Tucker was no different. He, too, had a glow. However, unlike Sam's it didn't shine as brightly or as vibrantly.
"Do you two know that you're glowing?" Danny asked.
"We need to go see my bubeleh. Now." Sam said. Tucker nodded. When Danny didn't say anything, she continued. "She knows more about this stuff than anyone else. Trust me, Danny, when I say that she'll know what to do."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, because there's no way in hell I'm sending a friend to, well, Hell. It doesn't matter if it's my job or not."
He was about to question her when a cry from upstairs announced his parents' return.
"We have to hide Danny." Tucker said. He looked around and grabbed a white sheet that had been used for something or another in the lab. He tossed it over Danny's head and attempted to look nonchalant.
Sam looked nervously at their disguised friend and Danny could understand why. Placing a white sheet over a person's head in the house of ghost hunters? Not a bright idea, especially with his father.
"Danny, are you and your friends down here?" Maddie asked, her shoes clicking down the stairs as she descended.
"Sorry, Mrs. Fenton." Sam called. "Danny was just showing us -"
"Ghost!" Jack cried, spotting Danny under the sheet.
"No, that's –" Tucker cried out too late.
Danny was blasted with a heaping clump of ectoplasm from a gun-like weapon. He quickly tossed the tainted sheet aside to reveal his normal self, black hair and blue eyes. Sam and Tucker looked quite surprised.
"Sorry, son." Jack said, scratching the back of his neck. "You looked just like a ghost there for a second. Great costume, though. Maybe I'll be a ghost for Halloween!"
"Danny," Maddie chided, "you know that you're not supposed to be down here. Someone could get – Is the ghost portal working?"
She looked back between the teenagers and the strange invention. Jack, too, looked impressed. Sam and Tucker twitched nervously under their sight.
"What did...? How...? When...?"
"We unplugged the machine and then turned it on with the power switch." Tucker said matter of factly. "Then we plugged it back in. It was Danny's idea."
"And, now we have to go." Sam said, grabbing their wrists and dragging them upstairs. "My bubeleh wanted to talk to us about something and we're a little late for seeing her. Sorry about intruding. Bye!"
She quickly closed the door to the lab and glared at Danny.
"How the hell did you do that?" she gaped. "Ghosts don't normally do that. Ghosts can't do that."
"I don't know!" he said, seeing himself in the toaster. "I am so dead. My parents are going to find out and tear me apart, molecule by molecule. I'm a freak of nature... And what did you mean earlier that it's your job to send ghosts to Hell?"
Sam looked at him nervously. She was about to respond when his pants fell down.
Danny quite mortified, quickly pulled them back up. That had never happened to him before. He went to lean on the counter, which he managed to do for a few seconds before his arm phased through and his head cracked against the plastic lined wood.
"We need to jet." Sam said. Tucker nodded. They both looked at Danny, who delicately rubbed the tender flesh atop his head.
She was adamant in not saying anything about her mysterious "job" and Tucker, too, was being quiet. It was far too unnatural for the trio; they felt the need to practically run to the Manson mansion.
Sam called out for her grandmother, whose response came to a great relief for the young woman. She led the boys to the kitchen and found her father and grandmother in conversation. Her father, embarrassingly enough, was still in the skimpy Speedo.
"What's wrong, Sammy?" Mr. Manson asked, seeing the slightly panicked look of the small group.
"Nothing, dad." Sam said. "I just made these two run faster than they've ever had to. You know, keeping ourselves in shape. Do you guys want a glass of water?"
Danny and Tucker nodded numbly. Neither of them were used to lying, especially too adults. Sam, however, did so flawlessly, almost as if she did it very often. She filled their glasses and handed them to the boys, whose hands trembled. She whispered something to her grandmother, who raised her gray brows and looked at the boys.
"Jeremy, do you mind if we continue our conversation later? Good. Sam and her friends were curious about my life in Paris. I promised to tell them about it yesterday." the elderly woman said, wheeling out of the kitchen with the teenagers right behind her. "Go spend some quality time with your wife. Or meet the neighbors, they're quite nice."
Mr. Manson stood there stunned as he was abandoned for his daughter and her friends. He normally would have spoken out but they did have company. Darn his good manners!
.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
Danny followed the three to a library with half of the shelves waiting for books to be placed on them. With the amount of boxes scattered about the room, it looked as if it would take a long while.
"All of the books are categorized by genre, then author, and finally title. Sometimes series, but that's another matter." Sam's grandmother said. She gestured for them to sit down. "Samantha, would you mind getting your guidebook? If I'd known sooner that you would need it so shortly after receiving it…"
Her eyes drifted from her grandchild to Danny. Her eyes were like Sam's but older and wiser; they could see through things that weren't there and they made Danny shiver.
It didn't take Sam long to return from wherever the book was; she came back, cradling it in her arms. She looked fairly tired, whether from today's events or what, Danny wasn't sure but he knew she would sleep well tonight – hopefully. School registration was tomorrow. She seemed like the kind of girl who could do that.
"Any specific page?" Sam asked as she sat down.
"No, no specific page." her grandmother said. "Not yet, at least. Now tell me what happened."
"We were in the Fenton's basement. They're building a ghost portal –"
"Sam, that's highly classified info!" Danny cried, surprised that she would spill his parents' biggest secret to a woman he barely knew.
"As I was saying, they're building a ghost portal. Or rebuilding it, from what it sounds like. Anyway, it didn't work. At first. It was plugged in and everything but there was one tinsey little problem: it wasn't turned on. Someone built the on and off switch on the inside and well, machines don't work too well if they're not turned on…"
"So you hit the power switch." Sam's grandmother said, looking directly at Danny. "That still doesn't explain everything. Is there something you're not sharing?"
"When Danny came out of the portal…" Sam began. She stopped, biting her lip. She looked over at Danny and then down at the book on the table in front of her.
"He didn't look like himself." Tucker said, speaking up for the first time. "His hair was white and his eyes were glowing a freaky green color."
"It's not possible. Could it be…?" The woman nabbed the book from Sam and flipped through the pages. Her eyes scanned over the words at an unusually quick speed, her frown growing deeper and deeper. The three teens jumped up from their seats. Danny when he landed fell right through it and hit the floor. He jumped back, letting out a cry of alarm as he did. "That's certainly interesting. I'm going to need a couple of days to research a few things, I'm sure you kids won't mind waiting. I don't need any more time than that. I should have some answers for you before school starts next week. Don't worry, Danny, we'll figure this out."
The night had been interesting to say the least. While Danny had video chatted with Sam and Tucker simultaneously, he floated up to his ceiling. He had a good bump on his head from that. In fact he had several bumps. His body just did not seem to want to obey the laws of gravity.
The following morning wasn't any better. His spoon, which had fed him since his birth, fell from his hand and waiting mouth to clatter back into his bowl of milk and Frosted Cheerios – which did not bring him any cheer. Then there was the matter of his eyes changing at various moments when his parents and older sister were around. He had to keep looking down and away from them to keep them from seeing.
What was going on?
He prayed that Sam's grandmother would have the answers he needed and hopefully she knew how to fix whatever happened to him. And hopefully she could do it before school started up.
He quickly polished off his breakfast and prepared for school registration. Yesterday had been for the freshmen. Today was for the sophomores. Tomorrow, the juniors and Thursday was for the seniors. Jazz was already buzzing about being back in class. She didn't enjoy the summer like Danny and Tucker did, she preferred to be in a classroom learning something. She would make a great psychologist someday.
"You ready to go, Danny?" Jazz asked.
"Huh?" Danny looked at her skeptically.
"I figure you'd like me to go with you instead of mom or dad for registration. I'm less likely to embarrass you with talk about ghosts."
Sam's sentence from the day before struck him.
"Danny, you're a ghost."
Was he really dead? A ghost? No, he was quite sure he wasn't. His family could still see him, and although he had some difficulty doing some things he had managed not to mess up too much so far.
"Sure," he said. "Let's go."
He quickly texted Tucker to tell him he was heading to the school. Maybe Sam and her grandmother would be there? He hoped so.
Danny followed Jazz out to their parents' vehicle, the Specter Speeder. He would be learning to drive this year using that monstrosity. He hoped that whatever instructor he had wouldn't be too freaked out by the sight of it.
Jazz was fairly quiet on the drive over, not questioning him once. It unnerved him as she hummed along to whatever Katy Perry, Ke$ha, or pop star's song was playing on the radio. He generally listened to everything, but his preference was in folk and country.
"Mom gave me the checkbook." she told him as she parked. The school had been open for a little more than an hour and already to parking lot was full. The only spots were way in the back. Typical.
"So if you need anything, like a new gym uniform or whatever," she continued, "it's on mom and dad."
He gave her a half-hearted smile and got out of the Specter Speeder. The siblings made their way up to the main entrance and stopped upon hearing their names.
Tucker was sprinting over, gasping for breath the entire time. When he reached them, he wiped his brow and smiled.
"Good time to go for a jog." he said. "It's not too hot yet. It's supposed to be a scorcher later today."
"Gross." Jazz said, wrinkling her nose.
"I know." Tucker's phone went off, signaling that he got a text. "It's from Sam. She's talking to the counselor. They're setting up her schedule and they'll be done in a moment. Head over to the main office?"
"Head over to the main office." Danny agreed.
Danny, Tucker and Sam had traded emails, cellphone numbers, landline numbers and various other ways of communicating with one another before the two boys left the Manson mansion the day before. It was vital that they kept in contact with one another should Sam's grandmother come up with a solution to their current predicament.
The night before, the three of them had stayed up talking until one in the morning. Sam and Tucker explained a few things about themselves – Danny learned that Sam was a Necromancer (which sounded pretty cool) and that Tucker was an Alchemist (which wasn't cool because he'd never shared the secret before). Of course Danny was a little miffed at his friend but Tucker explained a few things and everything was fine five minutes later. The grudge would have lasted longer but Sam smoothed things over. Civilians weren't supposed to know of their world, after all.
The three meandered through the building, the main office on the opposite side of the school from the gymnasium where registration was taking place. Along the way, Jazz stopped to chat with one of the school's English teachers, Mr. Lancer. She waved the boys to move on ahead without her.
The counselors' offices were set in the way back of the main office and they were adjacent to the nurse's office. The waiting room had a few people in it, who needed the schedules fixed before the semester started, but it wasn't overcrowded like it would be the first couple of days.
"Do you two need to see a counselor?" the girl behind the desk asked. Danny knew she was in Jazz's class – probably one of her friends – but he couldn't place her name to her face.
"No," Tucker said, "we're waiting for a friend who's in a meeting right now. Since you don't have much else going on…"
"Leave her be, Tuck." Danny said, watching as his friend attempted to flirt. It was rather appalling.
"Oh, Opal, you're working desk today?" Jazz asked when she finally joined them.
"Yeah, Lancer asked me to yesterday. I didn't have anything else to do today, so I figured, why not? What are you here for?"
"My brother's registering today. His friend, Sam Manson, just moved in so we're waiting on her before we go to the gym for them. Do you know how much longer she'll be?"
Opal looked at the computer screen where people clocked in and out to see their designated councilor. She scrolled up a smidge and nodded.
"Oh, so she's the new girl Paulina was talking about on the forums last night. Said the girl's kind of a downer and a loser."
"She's nice, actually. She'll probably be a good influence on those two dunderheads." Jazz jabbed her finger in Danny and Tucker's direction. "Besides, you know not to take what Paulina says seriously. Unless it's about music or fashion. She has really good taste in both."
"Hey!" the chorused.
"I take offence to that." Tucker said.
"Good, you should."
One of the doors opened. A cheery counselor babbled on about something and shook some hands, saying "Have a nice day!"
She turned to Opal and nodded, signaling her to send in the next person.
Sam and her mother walked out of the office, Sam looking quite pleased and her mother… not so much. There had obviously been some kind of disagreement. Mrs. Manson's mood turned even more sour, if possible, upon seeing Danny and Tucker.
Luckily, Jazz swooped in and brought the woman out of it.
"Oh, Mrs. Manson. It's so good to see you again." the redhead said, striding over to her. "What a lovely dress! Where did you get it?"
Sam made her way over to Danny and Tucker. She flashed them a piece of paper.
"Got my schedule." she announced. "I had to fight for a few classes but I won out in the end."
"What happened?" Tucker asked, plucking the paper from her and looking it over.
"My mom wanted me to take choir or something. I refused."
"Choir's an easy A."
"Yeah, but I like to work for my grades. I'm not going to be a pretty, little housewife like her. I'd like to be an engineer or something inspiring. I haven't really decided yet. How long have you guys been waiting?"
"Not long." Danny said, following his sister and Mrs. Manson as they started toward the gym. He took Sam's schedule from Tucker. "We really just got here a minute or two ago."
"Has your school always had classes laid out like that?" Sam asked.
"No, it's something the school board wanted to try out this year." Tucker said. "The timetable stuff can get weird if you're not used to it. At least we won't have the same classes at the same time, day in and day out. I wonder if we'll have lunch together."
The line for registration wasn't as bad as many expected. The line for I.D. cards, however, was ridiculous. After showing proof that yes, they lived within the district and yes, will be attending this school, they waited in the I.D. line.
Mrs. Manson did not look too happy about the wait but she seemed pleased when Sam showed her the picture on the laminated card. Danny had to admit it was a good shot of the girl. His picture wasn't terrible, but Tucker's… they had to adjust the camera flash and print out several copies before they could get a decent one where he could be seen.
The line for schedules was quick, Danny and Tucker quickly comparing theirs to Sam's. They shared several classes together, much to their liking, and they were relieved to have lunch all at the same time, although they had different homerooms. The boys began rattling off about what teachers they liked and what ones they didn't.
The three of them hadn't been looking where they were going and Sam bumped into someone. She quickly apologized and looked at the person she ran into.
"It's alright." the girl said. She looked at Danny and Tucker and she frowned. "Why are you hanging out with those two losers?"
"They're not losers." Sam quickly defended. "If you took the time to get to know them, you'd see that."
"Whatever." the girl said, walking away.
"Who was that?" Sam asked.
"Valerie Gray." Tucker said with a sigh.
"She's not as bad as some of the In crowd but she's a part of it." Danny explained. "We were partners in science last year. She's really smart and she really cares for her dad. They've had it bad since her mom passed away a couple of years ago."
"She still didn't have to be such a bitch about you two, though." Sam said bitterly.
"Now, we need to sign up for our yearbooks – which won't come in until next year – and then we need to get the new school uniforms."
"The school gets a new uniform every year. Last year we had red shirts and white shorts. It was terrible." Danny said, following Tucker to the table. "Tuck didn't look half bad, but me? Let's all just agree that I'm white; very, very white."
Mrs. Manson and Jazz chatted quietly behind them, quickly writing up checks and then slipping away, to allow the teens some space. When the uniforms were paid for, Sam pleaded with her mother to allow her to hang out with Danny and Tucker.
"Have you met anyone else besides these two since we moved here?" her mother asked.
"Yeah, there's Paulina, Star, Kwan, Dash, Valerie…" Sam said. It wasn't a lie, she had met them. She wasn't friends with them but that wasn't what her mother was asking.
"Alright. Promise you won't get into trouble with the law? I don't want to end up being invited to a policeman's daughter's birthday on account of my own daughter being in trouble far too many times and befriending the police force. Again."
"Promise."
"Good. You will be home for dinner? Your father and I were thinking of ordering in. Does Chinese sound good?"
Sam beamed and nodded. Only on rare occasions did her family order in. This was a good thing, a very good thing. She said her goodbyes, adding in a hug for her mother, and dashed over to the Specter Speeder, where the boys stood in wait.
"So, where to?"
.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
The trio wandered around the shopping mall, eyeing the various end-of-summer sales and gimmicks, promising great discounts for school. Most of the clothes and shoes weren't marked down by much, but they were at least a couple bucks cheaper than they were before. It was one particular sale that prompted Tucker to buy a new PDA for the upcoming school year.
"Lester doesn't even have this one yet." he said, holding it up and cherishing it as one would an infant. "He'll be so jealous."
"That's nice, Tucker." Sam said, rolling her eyes. She looked around and spotted a store that sold some darker, more gothic clothing. "Mind if we check it out?"
The boys shrugged and followed her in. A heavy metal band was wailing away on the speakers and the room was fairly grim looking. The cashier looked up as they entered. She nodded towards them and then looked back down at a magazine.
"I didn't even know this mall had a Hot Topic." Danny said, looking around. He spotted a Batman hoodie. He eyed the price before moving to the back where sales items would be. Yep, it was pricey.
"It's not Hot Topic." Sam said, browsing the racks. "It's Despair. It's sort of like how Hot Topic used to be before they moved into more Emo fashion. Some of the stuff from there isn't half bad, like the perfumes, but other stuff is starting to be made more cheaply, like the shirts. It's kind of annoying."
She found a few things, plucking them off the racks and trying them on in the dressing rooms. Sam ended up buying two of the five articles of clothing. She paid the cashier and they quickly left the store.
"Where to next?" she asked, looking around.
"I'm starting to get hungry." Tucker said. As if on cue, his stomach grumbled.
They made their way over to the food court and they each went to different places. They met up and found their table, snagging it from a group who just left and quickly wiping of crumbs and salt that had been left behind.
"Do you need anything for school next week, Danny?" Sam asked as they ate.
"Yeah, I need some t-shirts and new shoes, maybe some school supplies but I never get most of that until the second day of school." he said, nibbling on his burger. He felt himself hiccup. Out of his mouth came a blue stream of mist.
Sam and Tucker looked at him.
"What was that?" Tucker asked. "Is that a freaky after-effect of yesterday?"
Before Danny could reply, he was cut off by a voice above him.
"I am the Box Ghost – beware!"
And so we end with Danny's first ghost. I debated doing someone or something else, but the Box Ghost seems like a good starter. Ultimately, he is the best comedic character the show has, with the longest running gag in its entirety – next to Tucker and his technology.
I feel pretty content with this chapter. It ran very smoothly. I actually started the beginning of it before my hiatus but I couldn't think of anything to follow it with. Now, however, I'm full of bright ideas. Let's hope that I can keep them coming!
So, I'm thinking about giving a sneak peak sentence or two at the end of every chapter. Should I do it, yay or nay?
Anyway, I was able to watch the entire first season of Total Drama Island yesterday and part of today. I'm about to start the second season. Oh boy. Lots of fun for me! I need to get some sleep…
To finalize NerdyWriterGirl's question: Yes, Danny learns about them but I didn't want to go too much into depth with this chapter. He'll discover more about their world as the story progresses, just as his powers develop and he comes into his own. This is sort of a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story, just as much as it is a supernatural/fantasy story.
I put up a poll for this story, by the way. Go check it out.
Also, I do have a Twitter and a Facebook for my writing. In case you haven't liked me yet or followed me, and you really want updates on what's going on, check them out. The quickest way to contact me is on Facebook. For humor and other such nonsense, check out my Twitter. Both are updated when I post something.
Thank you to everyone so far. You are all beautiful, beautiful people. Have a cyber-muffin of your choice.