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I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Holidays are awesome fun ^_^

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all related characters are the property of Butch Hartman. Er, I don't own Guess either.

Enjoy!

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The Soul Sepulcher

-By Sholay

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Chapter 18—Cold Morning

Paulina Sanchez had not become popular on her looks alone. Certainly, her slim waist, flowing dark hair and doe eyes placed her a cut above the other girls, but Paulina's careful ascension through the school's social hierarchy had been a calculated move.

She was no freakish genius like Jazz Fenton, but Paulina had her own wiles. The boys adored her in her cute volleyball uniform and clubs like the yearbook committee and student council did wonders for a person's social network.

Unfortunately, those groups required extra commitments. Which was why Paulina now found herself strolling down the street to Casper High at the ungodly hour of 6:45am.

Born to two landed immigrants from Argentina, Paulina was a first generation American and she revelled in it. She had listened to too many of her Papa's stories of the 'old country' and had no desire whatsoever to experience the impoverished life her parents had led before coming to America. Paulina was the perfect example of a young, modern girl—born and raised in a fast-paced, advancing country. But her Papa was a bull-headed traditionalist—lauding the virtues of hard-work and independence and how nothing in life came to the lazy. Often, Paulina circumvented her Papa's inflexibility by going to her Mama; but there were some days she couldn't escape dealing with her Papa.

Which was why today she found herself taking the long, twenty-minute walk to school, instead of getting a five-minute drive from her Mama.

It had something to do with 'building character' or some such idiocy. Paulina really hadn't stuck around long enough to get the whole lecture from her Papa.

However, if there was anyone who could make walking—the poor person's route—look fashionable and desirable, it was Paulina Sanchez. She used the time to break in her new heels (purchased on her kind Mama's credit card), hooked her Guess purse delicately on the crook of her elbow and chatted non-stop on her hot pink cell phone held between carefully manicured nails.

"Hey, yeah, did you see Valerie yesterday?" Star was saying on the other end of the connection. "I wonder how she sprained her arm, no one's talking."

"And why would they?" Paulina said disinterestedly as she stepped daintily onto the curb after crossing a wide street. The edge of her skirt fluttered in the air behind her and she took a moment to admire how the material flattered her legs. "Valerie is hardly worth gossiping about. You should know that, Star." The Latino girl's voice held a tone of mild chastisement.

"Uh… right." Star stammered and Paulina could almost see her blond, somewhat spacey friend wracking her mind for a more 'gossip worthy' topic. Sometimes, Star was such a grub. "Well, what about Danny?"

"Danny Phantom?" Paulina asked, immediately perking up. Had Star heard something about her handsome Ghost boy that she'd missed?

"Uh… no…" Star mumbled; "Danny Fenton."

"Oh…" Paulina deflated, but her interest remained peaked. Danny Fenton was a loser, but he was also the current talk of the school. The news of his fight with Dash had spread to the seniors and that alone made him worthy of attention. "What about him?" Spotting the shortcut she usually took whenever she walked to school, Paulina turned down a narrow dirt path, mindful of her heels as she walked. The path led around a pretty little lake, and it would eventually deposit her right near the back entrance of the school.

"Well, everyone's wondering exactly what's going on with him… What do you think?"

"How would I know? I've hardly ever talked to him." Paulina said, bemused.

"You went out with him once, though." Star pointed out.

Paulina flushed. That was something everyone kept telling her. But for the life of her, Paulina could not remember ever going out with dorky Danny Fenton. There had been that dance once… but she'd done that to get back at his loser goth girlfriend; that was completely different. But even though she didn't remember dating him, everyone else clearly did. So Paulina couldn't rightfully deny the event without making herself look stupid.

Scowling into the phone, Paulina picked her words carefully.

"Maybe, but that was really not—"

Something large and unyielding caught on her heel and Paulina yelped, pitching forward as her foot snagged. The phone flew from her grasp, clattering against the pebbles a few feet away as she just managed to keep herself from falling to her knees and tearing her tights.

"Paulina, what—?" Star's confused voice came distantly from the phone. But Paulina wasn't paying any attention as she examined her now ruined heel.

"Aie! These were new!" She cried in dismay, holding one, completely detached, flashy, metallic heel in her hand.

Turning back to see what had caused this unforgiveable transgression, Paulina frowned at a lumpy piece of tattered material on the ground. The material was the ugly colour of dying moss and it led into a thatch of heavy grass and weeds. It would have blended in perfectly had it not been for the conspicuous, splotchy, grey… thing sticking out of the end.

Morbid curiosity drew her closer and, as Paulina neared the lumpy mass she realized that the material was actually the sleeve of a long shirt. Her brain froze as she stared at the bloated, unsightly grey hand sticking out of the cuff. She did not comprehend as her eyes followed that arm back up to a torso, half hidden in a ditch of grass and leaves. And she still didn't understand, couldn't make sense of the horror overloading her senses—not until her wide eyes fell on a bloodless, sagging face, sightless eyes staring at nothing and gaping mouth like an open wound, stretching the face with a silent cry.

And then it seemed like Paulina could understand too much—could see every detail of the discoloured flesh and the horrid nest of thatch-like white hair, could smell the awful stench of death—she backpedalled, falling over her uneven heels with a cry. Then, as though realizing she had a voice, the cries wouldn't stop falling from her mouth, melding until they became a shrill, panicked scream that split the air.

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Early Saturday morning saw Danny slumped at the kitchen table. One elbow rested on the counter, providing support for the hand that held up his head as weary but insomnious eyes focused stubbornly on the sheaf of papers scattered before him. Among and around the papers was a small but potent gathering of his parents' best gadgets, not the least of which was the Fenton Bazooka—fully charged and almost Danny's equivalent in height—resting carefully against the table. The porridge that was supposed to be his breakfast was largely forgotten as Danny stirred the lukewarm mixture listlessly, his attention fully taken by his whirling thoughts.

Jazz had gone. Abandoning him for some school committee or the other, his sister had apologized in the same breath that she'd justified her actions. They had to 'act normal', she'd said. 'Pretend nothing was wrong.' And Sam's parents were apparently going to be at whatever high-society thing Jazz was organizing, so all the more reason for her to go.

Honestly, Danny did appreciate all the interference his sister was running: thinking through all the angles and making sure to sweep away Danny's tracks at the end of it all was what she excelled at. Nonetheless, he still found himself feeling resentful at how she'd left him completely alone to search the Ghost Zone.

At least his parents weren't home. They were out investigating the mysterious, impenetrable ghostly dome that had inexplicably snapped up around the museum yesterday. Thank God for small favours.

Danny was half-way to spooning a mouthful of tasteless mush onto his unsuspecting taste buds when the doorbell rang with a loud, ghastly screeching. Danny's head shot up from the papers and he padded over to the front door in his socks.

'Don't be Vlad, don't be Vlad…' He really didn't have the energy to get into another mind numbing battle of wills with that man.

It was a pleasant surprise then, to see not Vlad but Valerie standing in his threshold, arms crossed with an amused smirk on her face.

"Hey, nice doorbell." She teased.

The corners of Danny's lips pulled upward, he couldn't help it—Valerie always had a way of making him laugh. "Yeah, I know," ducking his head, he ran a hand through his hair embarrassedly. With his eyes averted, Danny missed the softening around Valerie's eyes as she watched his sheepishness. "I'm not even sure what Dad did to it; just be glad it didn't shoot you with ecto-foam or something."

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "Ecto-foam?" She asked, feigning ignorance. She knew full well about the substance and its ghost repelling abilities, but Danny didn't need to know that she knew that.

"Yeah, he tried to rig that up once." Danny said, referring to his father. "But Mom wouldn't let him. After Dad nearly vacuumed off Jazz's hair while trying to prove she was a ghost, Mom set some ground rules."

This last statement was said with such seriousness that Valerie didn't even doubt its veracity. And without a remote idea of how to address that topic, she just blinked and let it bounce off. Instead, she weighted Danny's appearance with a concerned look.

"Wow Danny, you look terrible." She said, taking in his glassy, tired eyes, slumped stance and dishevelled hair. "You must have been really sick yesterday. Are you feeling better?"

Danny opened his mouth and almost outed himself with a 'What do you mean?' before his brain caught up and he licked his lips, mentally thanking Jazz for covering for his absence at school yesterday. He had forgotten all about it. "Yeah," he said, looking down at his sweatpants and worn T-shirt. Suddenly, he was very glad that he'd at least had the foresight to change out of his salmon-coloured pyjamas. Now that would've been embarrassing to show to his ex-girlfriend. "I'm feeling better. You're hardly one to talk though, are you feeling okay?" He asked, slanting a critical eye on her.

For her part, Valerie was a little taken aback at Danny's perceptiveness. Sure, she'd been having trouble sleeping lately, and her Father was starting to voice concern over the circles under her eyes, but weren't boys supposed to be oblivious to that kind of stuff? Then she remembered her sling and heaved a relieved sigh—Danny must have been referring to her arm, not her apparent exhaustion. "Heh, you mean this?" She gestured to her bound arm. "It's coming along. Slowly, but surely. I'll have this thing off in no time and then I'll be taking you up on that sparring match." At these last words, her green eyes lit with challenge and she congratulated herself for successfully diverting the subject.

"Hmm…" But Danny was still giving her that contemplative stare. The one that always made her feel like he knew exactly what she was thinking. Valerie stood firm though, and after a few moments he thankfully dropped the subject. "Okay," he nodded. "If you say so. Anyway, is there something you needed? What made you drop by so early?"

With a flash of remembrance, Valerie recalled why she'd come by Danny's house so early. Certainly it hadn't been to mother him. Her cheeks warming somewhat, she quickly reached into her purse and rummaged around until she found the item she was looking for.

"Here, I was passing by the museum yesterday and I saw this on the ground." She held out the PDA in her hand to Danny.

For a moment, Danny just looked at the thing with an odd, stricken look on his face and Valerie's hand dropped as she stepped closer. "Hey, what's—"

But Danny had reached out and snatched the PDA from her before she could finish her query. "The museum, you said?" He asked.

"Uh-huh," she nodded.

Danny was quiet as he fiddled with Tucker's electronic diary. Then, in a low voice he said. "I guess you saw… then…"

Valerie's eyes widened. "Oh yeah… I saw it." Her tone was meaningful enough that Danny's head snapped up as stared at her narrowly. Sensing his suspicion, she hurried to explain. "I was just passing by randomly—" She was definitely not going to tell him that she had deliberately gone to the museum to investigate the validity of this so-called impenetrable shield. Danny was still blissfully ignorant of her ghost hunting side and she wanted to keep it that way. "I saw the crowd and decided to check it out. The thing covers the entire museum, it's causing quite a scene."

"Yeah, my parents went to check it out earlier." Danny agreed. "So it's true then? It really keeps out hu—uh—people?" He stuttered on the last word. Valerie wasn't sure exactly why he'd changed his word choice, but Danny looked honestly curious about the answer so she indulged him.

"Yep. It certainly does. I put my hand on the thing myself. It looks freaky," Valerie recalled the way her hand laid across the mass of glowing green swirls that moved and shifted almost lazily. It had been disconcerting to touch something that looked about as solid as floating smoke, yet felt like rock. "But it was like putting your palm on granite. Cold and hard."

Danny frowned, looking thoughtful. It was then that Valerie realized something else.

"Hey, where are Sam and Tucker? I called Tucker before coming here to see if he was home and his Dad said he was here." It was unusual to see Danny without his two wingmen—wing-girl, in Sam's case—at his shoulders. Usually they would have come rushing over by now. That was probably why Valerie felt like something was missing. It had been a while since she'd been in Danny's presence without having the dubious pleasure of exchanging glares with Sam behind his back.

"Uh… um…" Danny's eyes took on a vaguely panicky look. "They—they're here, just upstairs sleeping. Yeah, that's it, they're still sleeping 'cause they're sick."

Valerie sighed, partly in annoyance and partly in amusement. "Danny you're a horrible liar. And a terrible host. I've been here standing on your porch for—what?—five minutes now and you haven't even invited me in."

"I—I uh…" Valerie decided Danny looked cute when he was flustered, and therefore figured she'd forgive him this once.

"That's fine, don't worry about it." She said, brushing by him as she invited herself into the Fenton home. Danny's mouth was open and he stared at her, then the door, in contemplation before finally closing the door with a sigh.

"Well, come on in, then." He muttered dryly.

"Thanks," Valerie said, mimicking his tone. "So where are they? Sam and Tucker?" She gazed up at the empty staircase then moved toward the kitchen.

"Look, they aren't—don't—" Danny pleaded, followed after her. But he didn't get to finish either of his sentences when Valerie let out a yell.

"Danny! What are you doing with all of this!?" She stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking with shock and dismay at the multitude of diagrams detailing the Ghost Zone and its inhabitants that lay scattered across the spacious island table. Her eyes skimmed over the various ghost weapons and then widened considerably when they reached the bazooka.

She spun around, eyes demanding an immediate explanation from Danny.

He gaped at her, stammered something nonsensical, then let his gaze pass by her into the kitchen. Danny winced. From this point of view it looked very much like he was planning some sort of suicidal assault on the ghost world.

"Look…" He started, raising his hands placatingly. "This isn't what you think. My parents are ghost hunters, of course they—""

"Oh don't even try pulling that with me!" Valerie interrupted acerbically, rolling her eyes. "Look, your parents might be a little out there, but not even they would be planning something so obviously stupid. And this!" She snatched a paper from the pile, strode forward and waved it under Danny's nose. "This is definitely not your Mom's handwriting."

Danny looked down at the paper, noted the nearly illegible chicken scratches that made up his hasty notes, and grimaced as he remembered that Valerie had much experience reading his handwriting after the notes they'd passed during class while they'd dated. In desperation, he tried to turn the argument in another direction.

"What does it matter to you anyway!? You don't know anything about ghosts! So I'm helping out my parents with a project, so what?" He said, hoping beyond hope that Valerie's desire to keep her own double life secret from him would allow him to keep his double life secret from her.

"Danny…" Valerie's voice dropped several decibels as she backed up to the table, looking at him in quiet concern. "You wouldn't have that expression on your face if all this," she gestured at the table, "was for 'helping out you parents'. Just tell me what's going on. Please. I can help."

If it had been concern alone driving her, Danny would have continued to deny everything. However, the steely glint he saw in her eyes now was the same one he saw every time she raised her gun to his ghost form. She wasn't going to back down; and any denials from him would be matched with fierce argument, and possibly a black eye.

He heaved a sigh, backed up a few paces then sank into the couch that rested at the edge of the family room.

"Don't overreact." He said.

Valerie just stared at him.

"And don't do anything stupid."

Her stare turned into a glare and he winced in anticipation.

"Tucker and Sam are… they aren't here."

Realization was dawning in Valerie's eyes, but she wasn't completely there. She needed him to say it. "Where are they?"

Danny was already cringing, as though he could already hear her yelling in his ears. "They were kidnapped."

"KIDNAPPED?!"

"—by ghosts." He finished.

"GHOSTS!?" Her voice reached an ear-piercingl pitch and Danny dropped his head into his hands, looking like he was already regretting telling her about this.

Then Valerie's eyes lit up and she stared down at the raven-haired teen. "And you were just going to jump into the Ghost Zone after them? Are you mad?!"

"Oh I'm something, alright…" Danny grumbled peevishly, but his voice was too low for Valerie to hear so he escaped a scathing retort.

"You can't just run off after them! If they've been kidnapped by ghosts then you need to go to a professional! Find the Red Hunter, or your parents; heck the Ghost boy would've been a better idea then this half-cocked, disaster-in-waiting plan you're making up!"

Danny just held his head, waiting for her triad to be over. But Valerie was nowhere near done.

"You have absolutely no experience with this! Honestly, I've never seen you in the same room as a ghost. You're always running away; what on Earth made you think you can handle this on your own! Danny, this is by far the most idiotic, stupidest thing I've ever—"

"That's enough!" The sheer force behind Danny's words was enough to make Valerie clamp down on her words.

"Just where the hell do you get off: telling me what I can and cannot do? Huh? What do you know about me? I have two ghost hunters as parents! I've been exposed to ghost fighting all my freaking life!" Danny's electric blue eyes were frightening in their rage. He rose from the couch and advanced on Valerie with the eerie glide of a wraith. She backed up, speechless. Unease rose in her chest as, for the first time, Valerie found herself afraid of shy, clumsy Danny Fenton.

Danny snarled, face contorting into something that didn't resemble him at all. He swept his hand out, clenching it into a tight fist that Valerie eyed warily. "You have no right—none!—to call me a coward. Do you hear me?! Now get out of my house."

"Danny…" Valerie breathed, too shocked to put any strength behind the word.

"GET OUT!"

His enraged scream had her hastening toward the door. She couldn't leave fast enough.

And then, as Danny stood alone in the middle of the hallway, staring at the closed door, his chest heaving with effort, the rage slowly bled out of his eyes. His face slackened from its cruel snarl and a gasp was drawn in between closed teeth. His hand hit his right shoulder, clutching at the pain that seemed to spike from the area and he staggered. His side hit the wall and he slid downward as his legs just wouldn't hold his weight.

For a long time Danny did nothing but sit there, trembling, head bowed as his hand dug into his shoulder.

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End Chapter 18

To Be Continued…

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Good news! I have the next chapter written! Yup! (nods) And it's gonna be a fun one. (grins) Stay tuned!

Okay, so I've decided to use the 'reply' system to respond to reviews. However, to anonymous reviewers, I'll still respond to your reviews here. That way I get to reply to everyone :3

perpetuallyconfused: Hey! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! I hope you enjoyed this one too! Wow, you took a class in Sanskrit? That's pretty awesome; at my university they only offer Latin. I considered taking it, but every time I look at Latin I get flashbacks of biology and medical terms XDD Anyway, I'm really sorry this update took so long to get out (sheepish grin) but the next one will be up much faster, promise!

Thanks to Kirby77DP77, Nylah, BluFox15, If-I-Could-Write-500-Miles, love-toushi, JapaneseAnimeFreak16, Dontestacowman, perpetuallyconfused, xolovebirdox, sciencefreak330, Buttercat, Baka'sAngel, Anemone Axelrod and dragondancer123! Your reviews FEED me! XD

Adio!