Jack and Bunny slipped in and out of houses and reported back to each other that every kid in every house was crying about having nightmares. A couple of kids had noticed Bunny but Bunny was, well, as quick as a bunny, and they didn't get a good look. Jamie however had noticed a couple of people running through the streets, following the crying and lights.
They'd just finished checking every house on that street when North, Tooth and Sandy arrived through a snow globe portal. They'd argued that it was too dangerous for Jamie but Jamie convinced them, like Jack and Bunny had been, that they needed him. Danny landed on the street a few feet away. He frowned at Jamie and shook his head.
"Let me guess, Jack or Bunny woke you up and you convinced them to bring you," Danny commented. Jamie nodded and gave him a determined scowl, daring him to tell him to go home. Danny sighed.
"Just don't get yourself killed alright. Let me and the guardians deal with Pitch," Danny retorted. Jack blinked in surprise. Danny noticed the guardians watching him, surprised by his reaction, or lack thereof.
"He's made up his mind. I'm not going to be able to change it. Besides I did worse when I was his age… and alive," Danny explained and turned to scan the road.
"So, where have you been?" Bunny asked.
"Scouting Amity Park. Hasn't changed much since I was last here but I had to refresh my memory. I'm not going to be able to track Pitch using my fear sense. He's too erratic. I'm feeling fear all around me. Thankfully not enough to scar any kids but it's disorientating," Danny answered.
"You can feel fear?" Jamie gasped. Danny glanced at him and nodded.
"And it's all around us. So much, I can't block it out and it is confusing," Danny admitted.
"Are you going to be okay?" Jack inquired. Danny smirked and nodded.
"I'll be fine. Can't be worse than having my powers going haywire in a ghost fight which happened to me more than once," Danny replied.
The guardians and Jamie followed Danny as he began to walk down the street. They went down a few darkened streets when a scream and crying reached them. Danny raced to the source, quickly leaving all but Bunny and Tooth behind. But once they reached the house, Danny simply phased inside and checked the child. It was a little boy, already being comforted by his parents. Danny smiled at the sight. In his line of work, helping scarred kids pull their lives together, he didn't see these touching moments enough. He phased back out of the house and noticed the guardians and Jamie watching him. He shrugged. Pitch was long gone.
Jamie suddenly noticed two people running down the street and to the house Danny had just been inside. The girl knocked on the door and waited. Jamie shrank into the shadows alongside the house with the guardians.
"I don't get it. This isn't like any ghost we've seen. The Fright Knight would be flashier than this and the Box Ghost, although this annoying, isn't this fast or frightening," The boy panted. The girl nodded.
"True, but I can't think what else could get in and out of all these houses fast enough. It could be Nocturne. He could be using his sleep walkers to get everywhere so fast," the girl replied.
"But wouldn't Nocturne want everyone to stay asleep. Not waking kids up," the boy pointed out.
The girl opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the front door opening.
"Hi, we heard your child's crying. A lot of kids have been frightened by something in the last twenty minutes. Do you mind if we have a word. We're trying to track down the ghost responsible," the girl greeted the father of the crying son. The man nodded.
"Of course but Eric is really upset. Be patient with him please, he's usually very shy," the man answered and ushered the two young adults inside.
Jamie frowned as the two people disappeared inside.
"I've seen them running around the town a lot. I wonder who they are," Jamie announced. The guardians shrugged and turned to Danny, who, to their astonishment, was staring at the door with an unreadable expression. He looked upset, happy, worried and nervous all at the same time. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"Danny?" Jamie called cautiously. Danny didn't seem to hear him. Jack edged closer and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Danny?" Jack repeated. Danny blinked and turned to him.
"Jack, what's up?" he asked in a cracked voice.
"Do… do you know them?" Jack ventured. Danny suddenly looked extremely sad and shook his head.
"No, not anymore," he muttered. Jack blinked in surprise.
But before Jack or anyone could offer any words of comfort, Danny turned away from them.
"Guys, I'm going to take to the air. I can cover more ground on my own. No offense but I need to be faster in order to catch up to Pitch and may be an aerial view will help," Danny decided and jumped into the air. Everyone blinked in stunned silence.
"Woah, coming here mustn't be easy for him," North remarked.
"Well, he didn't die that long ago. It must be hard to see his family and not being able to talk to them," Tooth added sadly. Jack frowned as he recalled that Danny mentioned it was probably easier not to remember everything after you die. At the time Jack had thought it was because of bad memories, but now… perhaps it was the good ones that were the hardest to remember. Jack shook himself out of those thoughts. They had a job to do. They had to find Pitch and stop the boogieman from making Hallowe'en everyone's worst nightmare.
And we start to see why Danny doesn't visit Amity Park. Like we learned earlier, Danny's still mourning his death. Let me know what you guys think so far.
Until the next chapter.