Camp is going great. I'm getting a lot more done by forcing myself to write around 2400 words a day. This was finished sometime last week and edited today. Hopefully I'll remember next week when the chapter needs to be posted and not around ten.
By the way, congrats to KimuraSato who solved the code last night! For everyone else (except DB-KT who was there during the discussion), you'll have to figure it out or wait until next week when it all will be revealed. ;D All this week, though, I will be adding clues to my Twitter page. Just search #DoNotCrossIOC for the hints.
Speaking of DB-KT: I think I told you, but this chapter explains what happened to Vlad.
So, I have some news for you guys. Originally, this was just going to be a duology (a series of two books), however after talking to my fellow campers, the end of book 2 would lead to a third book. The DNC duology has become a trilogy. And it's going to be awesome, especially since what I have planned for book 2 will be heart stopping. And you'll hate me, no doubt. Only two people know what I have planned for one character. You can blame them some other time.
Because of this, book 3 is still in the planning stages. I'm thinking of doing DNC for camps only for the next couple of years and work on other projects the rest of the year. Sound good to you guys? It works for me. :D
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 12
Mindset
"I keep thinking about blood, I dream about it. Wake up thinking about it. Pretty soon I'll be writing morbid emo poetry about it." Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes
Jazz untangled herself from her sheets, feeling the sweat on her skin turn sticky as it cooled. She shook her hands in an attempt to stop the trembling.
It was just a dream, she told herself. Nothing more than a bad, bad dream.
But what had she dreamed? She remembered flashes of green and those terrifying eyes of the same hue. Danny had been there, she knew that. He'd been crying out in pain. And there was blood. His blood. Someone was trying to kill him. And she felt guilty about it. Why? Was she the cause of his pain?
"Impossible." she said. The word barely even a whisper to her own ears in the deafening silence of her room.
It was too dark in the place she slept, she decided. She discarded the sheets and quilt into a heap on her bed, making her way towards her window. The shades were old and faded, no longer mass-produced really. She twisted the plastic and the shades jerked open little by little, letting light from the street in.
The moon was waning, giving off very little light and it was barely a sliver in the sky. She couldn't see the stars from her room, the lights of the nearby city were too great. Stray clouds would mar the sky from time to time, clawing at the deep, blue expanse.
Jazz used to stare at the sky with Danny when they were younger and neither one of them could sleep. They would creep up to the roof and sit beneath the emergency OP center and it was still being built in those days. They would giggle the entire time they made their way up. She still wondered if their parents knew that they did that. The two of them just sat and pointed to constellations, making up ridiculous stories for them.
She looked over to her closed door. Danny was sleeping downstairs, due to an unexpected guest. Maybe she could wake him up and they could talk on the roof. They hadn't done that since she was eleven.
A soft creak alerted her to someone in the hallway. She tiptoed over to the corner of her room where she kept some of her parents' inventions. The Anti-Creep Stick — it was really just a baseball bat with the word "Fenton" on it — would suffice as a weapon if there was an intruder.
She slowly opened her door and peeked out. There was a shadow.
"Jazz?" a voice said. It was very familiar. She recognized it immediately.
"Danny." she said quietly. "What are you doing?"
"I, uh, needed an extra blanket. Did I wake you?"
"No, I woke up. Bad dream."
"Dream? What kind of dream?"
"I… I don't really know."
"Come on, let's go downstairs and get you some water. We can talk about it."
He grabbed her hand, which was surprisingly warm. She hadn't realized that she was cold.
She allowed him to pull her downstairs to the kitchen. He flipped on the light, burning both their eyes.
"Sorry." he mumbled.
Jazz rubbed her eyes and sat down at the table as Danny got her a glass of water. He set it down in front of her. She didn't drink it, instead she held onto it as she stared down at the table and tried to make sense of her dream.
He waited patiently for her to explain. When Jazz didn't speak for several minutes, he did.
"So what was this bad dream about?" he asked.
"I…" she began, pausing as she sorted through her thoughts. "I'm not sure."
"You said something like that earlier."
"I know."
"If you don't want to talk about it with me, I'm sure mom will listen."
Jazz shook her head.
"I was actually going to wake you to talk about it." she said, looking at him. "Why are you wearing yesterday's clothes? Did you go somewhere?"
"I fell asleep on the couch in my clothes." Danny said. "Let's get back to your dream."
It was clearly a lie. She could tell by the way he stroked his arm with his hand. Danny always did that when he lied. He also kept eye contact. These were subtle hints to the untruth, but it was obvious he didn't want her to know. So, she acted as if she had just brushed it off.
"What do you want to know?" she asked.
"Was anyone in it?"
"You were."
He perked up at this.
"What happened?"
Her brow crinkled as she tried to remember.
"I don't really know. There was green everywhere, though. And there was blood. Your blood. People were trying to hurt you — kill you."
"Who were they?"
"I couldn't see. Everything was all black and green and red." she said, shuddering. "It was horrible. It was chaos and horrible and… and…"
"You can't remember everything can you?"
She shook her head and mumbled a 'no.'
"It's alright."
"I think… I think I'll make a dream journal. This is the seventh time this month that I've had this dream. It gets more vivid every time."
His eyebrows shot to his hairline.
"You've had this dream more than once?" he asked.
"Yeah. Like I said, it gets more vivid every time. Maybe next time I'll be able to remember everything."
"Maybe."
For the first time, Jazz sipped at the water. It felt good. She felt it settle in her stomach. That was a weird sensation, if there ever was one.
"So, what woke you up?" Jazz asked.
"I was cold, remember?" he said. "I got cold and I needed an extra blanket."
"What do you make of dad's old college buddy?"
"I'm not sure what to make of him. He's… odd." His brow crinkled as he thought. "I sort of feel… uncomfortable around him. Why, after all this time, did he decide to visit mom and dad?"
"I think he's in love with mom." Jazz said. "He talked about her a lot when mom and dad went out to catch those ghosts. What were you doing at Nasty Burger?"
"We were going to meet up with Valerie."
"At ten at night?"
"I'm a teenager. Since when does everything I do make sense?"
Jazz rolled her eyes. He did have a point.
"Thanks for the water, by the way." she said. "And the talk. We haven't just talked in a long time."
"Yeah."
"Some night, do you want to go sit underneath the OP center?"
"That'd be great." Danny said, giving her a big grin.
"I'll let you go back to sleep."
"Good night, Jazz.
"Night, Danny."
.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
When Jazz woke the next morning, it was from the dream again. She quickly scribbled down what she remembered underneath her entry that she made after talking with Danny. Her recollection of the dream hadn't changed any. It would take some time, she knew, for her to recall every miniscule detail.
Sighing, she got herself ready for the day. She was thankful that she had showered the previous evening She did this so it wouldn't take her as long as it usually did, at least it felt that way. How long had she been brushing her hair? She really must have spaced out because it had been twenty minutes since she woke up.
A knock on her door jolted her from her thoughts.
"Yes?" she answered.
"Are you okay, honey?" her mother said, opening the door slowly. "You're taking longer today than you normally do. Do you want to talk about something?"
"No, I'm fine. Danny and I talked about something that's been bugging me last night."
"Like you two used to?"
"Sort of." was the reply.
Maddie nodded and left the room, closing the door most of the way.
Jazz collected her things for school and got ready to leave. No sense in having to come all the way up to get her things when she could bring them down on her first trip.
She noted that her paper had to be printed out still. Frowning, she booted up her computer and waited impatiently, tapping her nails on her desk. She grumbled to herself as she fixed last night's error for not being perfectly ready for the next day.
It didn't take long to complete the task, but Jazz felt set back. She had a rather strict regime that needed to be followed precisely. Her family's shenanigans would pop up at random times, true, but at least she was prepared for them.
The dream was still lingering, haunting her. She couldn't shake it, no matter how hard she tried.
She remembered reading something about dreams in her psychology books. She had never really big into those sections, brushing up on new theories every now and again, sure. But she wasn't one to follow them as religiously as Casper High's psychology teacher did.
She knew that dreams held a psychological meaning, a way to help a person solve their problems in a way that most scientists didn't even fully understand. What research had been done showed very little comprehension beyond the metaphysical manifestations of a person's desires and knowledge.
Jazz wondered if she should ask her teacher to help her decipher the meaning. With little thought, she added her little blue journal with her paper.
Her steps were light on the carpet as she moved to the bathroom to brush her teeth before breakfast. She nearly bumped into Vlad Masters, her father's guest and college "buddy," as he exited.
"Sorry." she said.
"It's quite alright." he said, smiling. "Did you sleep well?"
She shrugged and looked at her feet. She was quite uncomfortable with him around. He had this… feeling about him that put her on edge. She wasn't quite sure what it was about him, though, that would have her head towards the hills than stay in the same room as him.
"Ah, well." he said. "You have school today?"
"Yes." she replied automatically. "It's my senior year."
"The most exciting time in a young adult's life before they emerge into the collegiate world. Enjoy high school while you can, Jasmine."
Jazz winced as he walked past her to go downstairs. What was his malfunction? There was something for everyone, and she had her family's problems all laid out in several books. Their consistencies were, well, consistent. They were very predictable.
This friend of her father's was something she had never predicted. Spending five minutes alone with the man she could tell he was inconsistent. He was snake-like.
She shook her head. She probably just had a bad first impression.
She quickly brushed her teeth and headed downstairs to join her family for breakfast. They were all seated around the table, Vlad Masters amongst them. And the only empty seat was across from him.
She set down her bag right outside the kitchen and took the seat. She added food to her plate and ate silently as her parents and Vlad conversed. She only halfheartedly listened to their discussion. They were talking about their college days.
She peeked over at Danny. He looked tired. There were bags under his eyes and his shoulders slouched forwards. Plus, he only seemed to be stirring his cereal around his bowl. He hardly ever ate anything else. She wondered why that was.
She polished off her plate of food and dumped it into the sink. Danny followed her lead. He ate maybe one or two bites.
"Ready to go?" Jazz asked, startling him.
"Huh?" he asked.
"School. Are you ready to go?"
"Uh… let me get my stuff."
She watched as he darted up the stairs with surprising speed — had he always been that light on his feet? — and to he bedroom. He was back down by her side in a minute. They were nearly the same height now. When had he gotten so tall?
"Can we pick up Tuck and Sam?" Danny asked.
"Sure." she said, picking up her bag. "Think Sam can handle to RV?"
He chuckled, remembering how the girl nearly had a panic attack with their dad's reckless driving. Reckless did not even begin to cover how the man drove. It was actually the nicest way to describe it.
The Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, or the RV as it was best known, was the Fenton family's number form of transportation. It was suited for travel and was able to go to speeds that were only legal on the one road in Germany. It was more than capable of protecting them when their father drove.
It didn't take the two of them long to gather the other two teens, who welcomed the change. The weather was starting to get bitter and cold. Danny didn't seem to mind it like he used to, Jazz noted. He seemed to like it.
There was a very obvious change in him. She wondered what had caused it. It had definitely started when Sam moved to Amity. Did her brother have a little crush? She smiled at the thought. The dark-haired girl would be more than capable of keeping him in line.
They arrived at the school in a short time. All of them exiting the vehicle immediately, Sam darting out the fastest. She leapt over Tucker and out the door quicker than any of them could blink.
Jazz gaped at her. Danny had said that Sam was teaching him and Tucker some self-defense. That was perhaps the cause of his speed. Maybe she should get Sam to teach her a few things…
"You coming, Jazz?" Danny asked, heading towards the building.
She blinked and nodded, following after the three up the steps. She felt a cold breeze lap at her legs through the black dress pants she liked to wear. She held back a shudder. Winter was coming but it was still a few months away.
Teachers greeted her as she walked past and she offered her greetings in return.
First period was, of course, gym. Danny, Tucker, and Sam shared the same class but they had different teachers. She had to suffer through Paulina, Dash, and Kwan. Mostly Dash, and his fawning over her.
She held back a roll of her eyes as she changed into her uniform. He was a nice guy, when he wasn't picking on Danny, but he was incredibly annoying with his advances. She wasn't romantically interested in him at all.
And, of course, he stood waiting for her outside the dressing room doors.
"Morning, Jazz." he said.
"Good morning, Dash." she said, trying not to grit her teeth. "You could have taken your spot for role call already."
"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to wait to see if you were coming today."
"Why wouldn't I be at school today?"
"You've been looking a little tired." he said. "More so than usual. You're brother's not looking too good either. Something going on at home?"
"No. Well, my dad's friend from college just arrived two days ago, but other than that everything's normal."
"Oh, okay then." he said. He seemed a bit dejected.
"If anything is wrong," she said, "I'll be sure to tell you. Thanks for caring, though. It's awfully nice of you."
"Yeah, well, you listened to all of my problems last years, so I thought I'd offer you the same courtesy."
She smiled and patted his arm before taking he designated spot on the floor, right next to the head of the school's mascot, a raven. She looked down at the black, white, and red colors painted on the floor, tracing her fingers over them.
White was the color of purity, goodness, and innocence. Black was the color of power, death, and evil. And red was the color of blood, warfare, and passion. Ravens were interesting creatures. They were thought to be bringers of ill omens in ancient times, but they were intelligent and could remember faces of people who wronged them for several generations. They were creatures of magic and divination (pseudopsychology was not her forte), and they were symbols of courage, wisdom, messages, secrets, and truths.
She wondered when it was voted to be their mascot. It wasn't hard to figure out why, there were plenty of ravens hanging around Amity Park all year round. They weren't migratory birds and over the years Jazz found an interest in them. She would sometimes feed them some bread if she had any when she was at the park, something she hadn't done in a while.
She shook her head and waited for the class to start. The teacher called out names and the students answered one by one.
"Okay," their teacher said, "today we're playing volleyball. Same teams as last week."
The students stood up. Jazz was the last to rise and she had help. She internally groaned as Dash helped her up. Him and his silly crush on her. She could really do without it.
"We were on the same team last week, weren't we?" he asked.
"Yeah…" she sighed, unhappily.
"Okay. I couldn't remember. Do you like volleyball?"
"It's alright."
She watched everyone went to their reserved courts. She saw her brother's class going off to a different section of the gym. He caught her staring and he waved. She returned the gesture and smiled.
He seemed more at ease when Tucker and Sam were around. It was almost as if they were meant to be by his side. Almost as if, even if they were in an alternate universe, they would still be friends. It put her mind at ease to know that.
"Ready to play?" she asked Dash.
Danny sat with Tucker, Sam, and Valerie at lunch. He ate his sandwich he had bought from the cafeteria irritatedly. The pregnant silence between the four of them was growing more uncomfortable by the minute.
Valerie had returned to school that morning, this time with a strong warning from exerting herself with physical activity. She had to sit out through gym that morning and she was told to refrain from working for the rest of the month — not that it really mattered, of course. The Nasty Burger was undergoing reconstruction from the ghost attack. She had questioned why Danny, Sam, and Tucker returned to the eatery but she received no answers from them.
She was the one to break the silence.
"What's up, Danny?" she asked.
"Dash." he grumbled. "He's hitting on Jazz. Again."
"Wait, that blond muscle head?" Sam asked. "Why would he have a crush on Jazz? No offence, Danny, but she's not really his type. They're in two different leagues."
"I know. Why can't he, I don't know, be interested in Paulina? She's his type."
"Paulina's everybody's type." Valerie said, rolling her eyes.
"That's true." Tucker said, eyeing the teen from across the cafeteria. "Do you think I have a shot?"
"No." the other three chorused. They shared looks before laughing.
"So, Shakespeare." Valerie said. "Any ideas on how to present the scene, Sam?"
"I was sort of thinking of a West Side Story kind of thing, you know 1950s gang, but I heard a few others talking about doing it like that. Jazz and her group are doing the traditional style, of course. Another group was doing a modern interpretation. So, maybe… How about if we Kenneth Branagh it?"
"What?" Danny asked.
"He does unique adaptations of Shakespeare's plays."
"He did Hamlet with the mirrors in the soliloquy, right?" Valerie asked.
"Right. Oh! A Victorian adaptation. Thanks for the idea, Val." Sam pulled out her notebook from her schoolbag and started sketching. "We have until the end of the week for making a set and costumes, right?"
"Yeah."
"Awesome. I can set some people on making these costumes right away. Do you guys want to swing by my place tomorrow for measurements?"
"…You really get into this, don't you?" Valerie asked her friend. Sam nodded.
"It keeps me busy." she said.
"I wasn't going to say anything, but you three look pretty wiped. What's been going on?"
"Huh, oh…" Danny said. He looked at Sam, trying to get her to come up with a good lie. She nodded subtly, setting down her fork in her salad bowl.
"I've been whipping these two into shape." Sam said, waving her hand. "You know, with the ghost attacks and everything. Danny needs to learn because he'll be taking over the family business, and Tucker… Well, let's face it, Tuck's never going to get married and he'll be helping Danny out for the rest of his life."
"Hey!" the boys chorused.
"And what about you, Sam?" Valerie asked.
"Traveling the world, chronicling my adventures, listening these two complain via Skype or some other form of mass communication."
Valerie chuckled behind her hand. The Goth's teasing of the two boys, while it annoyed them, amused all of them. She made the group shine at its brightest. She brought out the best of everyone, while helping them find themselves. Valerie noticed how much more confident Danny and Tucker were since Sam joined them.
"So, these are the costume ideas?" Valerie asked, eyeing the sketch. It was very well drawn. "I won't have to wear a corset, will I?"
"It'd be awesome if you did." Sam said, adding some fine details that she wanted. "They help with posture and, besides, you'd look good in one."
"Whatever you say, Goth girl."
Sam smiled at her before going back the drawing.
"Miss Manson?"
The group turned to see a somber Mr. Lancer standing there.
"Will you come with me?" he asked. "You father is here to pick you up."
She looked rather confused as she collected her things. She glanced at Danny and he knew she was nervous immediately. Something is wrong. He tried to telepathically tell her to text him once she knew what was going on. She nodded, seeming to understand what he was trying to convey.
They watched as her figure retreated wit their teacher's.
"Think he'll tell us what's up?" Tucker asked.
Danny shrugged. He hoped that he would find out soon.
.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.
"Hey, Jazz, can we talk?" Danny asked as he sat down in the RV after school.
"Sure." she said. "What's up?"
"Don't go out with Dash, okay?"
She looked at him, blinking for a second before bursting out laughing.
"I see nothing laughable about that." he huffed, pouting.
"I don't like him like that." she said, wiping away tears that had pricked at the corners of her eyes. "He's a really nice guy. Do you want me to ask him to stop picking on you, little brother?"
Danny straightened.
"I'm old enough to fight my own battles, thank you." he grumbled.
"I know. But I'll always be here to help you if you need it."
Danny smiled at her.
"Thanks." he said. "So, we ready to go home?"
"You don't have to be back here today?"
"No, Sam was picked up, so our lessons were canceled. Tucker was excited to actually be able to make a meeting for the computer club this year. It's kind of nice. I'll be able to eat dinner at a normal time tonight."
Jazz chuckled starting up the RV and taking off.
"Were you thinking of joining any clubs?" she asked.
"No." he said, staring out the window. "I've thought about it but nothing's really peaked my interest."
"You could be the school mascot again. I heard Lester saying that he didn't want to do it anymore."
"I take pictures during the games this year."
"Hm… Well, if you want to join the student council, just let me know, okay? I'm the president this year. You could be in charge of the sophomore events."
"Thanks but no thanks. I just don't have much time."
"Training, right." Jazz said, a little bitter. "Why is it so important that you learn how to fight?"
"Sam says that I'll take over the family business."
She choked on her own spit. Danny? Taking over the ghost hunting business? …Actually, she could see that happening.
She knew that he always wanted to go up into space, but with his grades being the way they were, his acceptance into the space program was growing more unlikely by the day.
She smiled when she saw that Vlad Master's town car was no longer parked in front of their home. She hoped he left for good.
She pulled up to the sidewalk and killed the engine. The RV always got curious stares from the neighbors and the people in town, especially from her peers from school. However, most people just wanted to everything that it could do rather than why the thing existed.
Jazz was more irritated than anything else when people asked her for a ride when she was out and using it, however she had gotten used to explaining her parents' new additions to the beast over the past two years. It was her normal, after all.
Danny would be using it soon for driver's ed. He wanted to take a private session with this one company. He had signed up for it last year with Tucker. She wondered if Sam had signed up for any driving lessons. She would need them if she would be living in the suburbs.
When the two siblings entered the house, they were greeted by silence.
"Hello?" Jazz called out. "Mom? Dad? …Mr. Masters? Anyone?"
"Maybe they went out?" Danny suggested. "Vlad's car is gone."
"I wonder where they could have gone."
"Who cares."
Danny dumped his things on the floor by the front door, much to her dislike. He kicked off his shoes halfway to the kitchen before he rummaged through the refrigerator to snack on something.
He came out bearing a sandwich and a jar of pickles. He deposited the food on the coffee table, flipping on the TV with the remote that was normally buried beneath the couch cushions and pillows. The news was on.
"…and that concludes the cat videos found on YouTube for the day." the news anchor said. "Now, coming in live from the Nasty Burger, is Dory Avenue. Fill us in, Dory, with what's going on in the streets."
"Thanks, Chad," Dory Avenue said. "I'm here at the ruins of the Nasty Burger where multibillionaire Vladimir Masters has just bought the franchise for $450,000 from its previous owner, Jonathan Tasty. He plans to rebuild the fast food restaurant and revamp it…"
Danny and Jazz gaped at the screen, neither listening as the story continued. After a moment, Jazz broke the silence.
"Well," she said, "there will be an interesting conversation at dinner tonight."
I'm not sure if anyone picked it up when reading this, but this chapter takes place on the Wednesday following the Nasty Burger attack. I dropped a subtle hint in there but not much. Valerie seems to keep getting discharged early from the hospital for some point in this fic…
Jazz's dream is something I didn't want to delve into with her first chapter as the narrator. Her dream in the next chapter is something I've had written for sometime, since the reboot of this. I think that you'll all… fall for it.
Dash's crush on Jazz I decided to carry over into this. Why? Well, for amusement, really.
Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet is pretty amazing. It's something that you guys should check out when you have some free time. The only other film version I like is Gregory Daran's version with David Tennant. That one's particularly cool because Tennant was able to use a real freaking skull for the "Alas poor Yorrick" speech. I was finishing up Hamlet when I wrote this chapter and starting The Merchant of Venice, which I will finish up tomorrow in class.
Sam's disappearance will be explained in the next chapter, which actually caused a rewrite of a few things but nothing that couldn't easily be fixed.
Ultimately, I wasn't quite sure at how much Nasty Burger would cost. Does $450,000 seem like enough or should it be more? And for Vlad being a multibillionaire, I debated a lot on that. It makes sense, as he over shadowed many millionaires to get his money.
I'm tired, I think I shall be chatting with my camping mates tonight and then crashing. So long, my readers.