Chapter 7 *A Dream*

Her teeth chattered and her lips felt chapped. She couldn't feel her hands, feet, or face. It didn't feel like she was even wearing a jacket, but rather a two-piece swimsuit and no shoes in the dead of winter.
She didn't think it was supposed to be this cold, and even so, it wasn't smart to camp out in it. Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had come prepared. In both tents there were little mini-heaters (designed by -well- you know) called Fenton Warmers. She could only imagine the other gizmos they had brought along with them.
Sam glanced across the fire at Danny. He looked a little on the miserable side. His arms were wrapped around himself tightly and his head was bent low, as if by doing this he could lock in the warmth. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was sleeping, but he must have sensed her staring and opened eyes to look up. And in spite of his discomfort, he gave her an encouraging smile, probably to settle her nerves and put her mind off the bitter cold. And it did, partially. But that lingering despair tickled in the back of her mind until it became a full on nuisance. She gave a disguise-smile back and looked away.
"This trip is NOT turning out how I hoped it would have. It'll be better tomorrow." Maddie stood up and went to their luxurious tent, Jack followed, and then Jazz.
Sam made a move to stand, but remembered Violet still hadn't come back from the woods.
'Good,' she thought. 'Now I don't have to worry about her stabbing me in my sleep.'
Tucker had already left and was in the tent when she finished her happy thought. Sam hovered near the end of the log, waiting to see if Danny was coming or not. He didn't move. He just sat and stared into the flickering flames like he could see his future in future in them. Sam went back to the tent with a last glance over her shoulder.
Snuggling into her somewhat warm sleeping bag, Sam didn't hear any movement, so she thought Tucker had already fallen asleep. But when she got up to check she realized he was on one of his few gadgets that hadn't shorted out in the water. Rolling her eyes she fell back into her pillow with small smile.
But that smile immediately disappeared when she heard the shuffling of blankets and someone laying down in the corner of the tent. She knew it wasn't Danny, but Violet. She'd chosen to sleep as far away from them the moment they'd pulled out the bags and pillows. And Sam couldn't have felt more uncomfortable.
***
 When she next woke up, she was in a panic. Her heart raced to the point where it didn't even feel like it was beating anymore. It was pitch dark and she couldn't see a thing, but she realized it was because she had her eyes glued shut. Slowly she opened her eyes one by one to see Danny had finally gone to bed, and so had Tucker. His device lay flat on his face like he had dropped it and fell asleep before he could remove it. Another look around showed Violet wasn't sleeping, or even in the tent. Sam was a little relieved and a little nervous, but right now she was trying to shove the Nightmare out of her dreams, the dreams that she never had due to the Nightmare.
When she'd managed to get control of the darkness and lock it in the vault of the forgotten, she let her mind wrap around the fact that Violet was missing. She could be anywhere, waiting for the right moment to launch her attack on them. At least, that's what Sam believed.
Sam nudged Danny, because he was the closest, with her foot. "Danny! Hey, wake up!" she whispered urgently, on the verge of kicking him instead of politely waking him up.
"Mmmph...go away," he mumbled irritatedly, swatting his hand at her as he rolled over, his back now to her.
Sam muttered some unflattering words and crawled over to Tucker, shaking him. "Tuck? Tuck, get up! Violet is-"
"Sshh! I'm sleeping..." Tucker stuffed the pillow over his head. He was out cold.
Sam groaned inwardly and leaned back on her heels. Then, she stood up and tried one last time to get at least one of the two boys to come with her.
"Danny? Seriously, listen! Wake up!"
No response.
"Tucker! Pssst, Tuck, get up, I'm trying to tell you something!"
Again, no response.
With a withering look Sam unzipped the tent flap and stumbled out into the ever-cold night air. Without all the animals or bugs, all Sam could hear was the screaming silence of nothingness, of a lifeless wood. How coincidental.
It was a good thing she'd chosen to wear her jacket to bed, even if it still felt like she wasn't wearing anything more than a swimsuit.
Sam re-zipped the flap and looked out into the darkness, wondering if she would be able to see well enough in the full moon. Besides, she didn't have a flashlight. But when she looked across the camp sight she could tell she would be able to see just fine seeing through the trees. Finding the direction from which she came would be the difficult part.
She decided to not to go too far, but just far enough to know Violet wasn't snooping around the perimeter of the campground. Although why Violet would be doing that, she didn't know.
Sneaking into the woods without a sound, Sam went through all the worst case scenarios that could happen to her at any moment.
Then she heard a voice. Two voices. Tiptoeing lightly over to the sound and taking care not to accidentally step on any leaves or twigs, Sam leveled her breathing so it wouldn't be as noticeable. But she was certain they could hear her heart pounding repeatedly against her chest. Sam edged near a bush and crouched down out of sight from whoever was on the other side and wedged herself between the branching sticks.
Sam slowly peeked over the thorny hedge, but before she could comprehend what was happening someone or something clamped a hand over her mouth and another hand over her eyes. Another person wrapped their arms around her arms and waist to keep her from fighting back, so now all she could do was kick, but that did nothing to slow them down. A sharp zap came and pain flared in her head. She blacked out.
***
Shivering, Danny sat up groggily, yawning and complaining in his mind.
'Ugh, I don't want to get up...sleep...'
"Okay, Sam, what is it? This better be good," he mumbled opening his eyes to the dark. No Sam.
"Sam? Are you out there?" Danny patted around for his jacket and shrugged it on, unzipped the tent, and tripped out.
"Sam!" he whispered hoarsely, squinting out into the moonlit woods. Grumbling, Danny trudged over to his parents and Jazz's tent and quietly opened it, peering around the flap. No Sam.
Silently he re-closed the tent and turned around, frustration building up inside him. Where was she? Did she decide to take a leisurely stroll at 3:00 a.m. in the morning? He knew she wasn't the morning type, but being creepy and stalking around in the dead of night was beyond weird.
"Sam! Sam?" he called a little louder. All he wanted to do was go back into the tent and lie back down, forget what was presently happening and just close his eyes. But he knew she was out here, and whether she was in trouble or just restless, he didn't know.
So he set out for the woods, and not before long, he heard voices drifting through the trees. One sounded familiar and the other was a complete blank. The familiar voice was talking with someone else, and whoever it was spoke with authority.
Danny crept closer, following the floating voices to a clearing. He ducked down abruptly when he realized who it was. Violet. And another woman. And Sam.
The woman's hair was a fiery orange and accentuated her forest green eyes, which didn't look too inviting. She wore a red business skirt, crimson jacket, and ruby red high heels. She also had a pair of black sunglasses on even though it wasn't much lighter than ash in a burnt out fireplace. Weird part was, she had a strangely uncanny resemblance to Violet...
And the worst part about her was her voice. It dripped with false hope and artificial happiness, the venom seeping into his skin like poison from a snake bite. Each syllable, each word, was like a jagged stab to his soul, digging deeper and deeper, twisting the knife this way and that to make the wound fatal, unfixable. He felt suddenly depressed, drained, empty. What was the point in getting his memories back? Or helping Sam? What was the point of his existence even then? They would all crumble into dust and be swept away by either wind, water, or fire. Buried deep beneath the earth's crust and forgotten like the rest who were passed and long gone. He could just lie here and sleep, wait for it all to pass, and move on. Who cares?
Danny shook his head violently. What was he thinking? Why was he thinking such dark thoughts? Of course this all matters!
"Don't worry, she won't remember a thing. Shows her not to snoop." Violet's words were just as painful, but in a more hypnotizing way, like a blissful death that was long awaited and finally received.
"Yes. But that's not the matter at hand. Tell me, have you done what it was you needed to?" The woman?'a voice sliced through Danny once more, but he tried with all his might to ignore the hollow ache beginning in his chest where his heart was.
"Almost. I just have to find the-"
"Sshh!"
"...What?" Violet hissed, obviously not a commoner to being interrupted. But when she said this, she kept enough genuine curiosity in her voice to make it sound polite enough. It seemed this lady was of some importance.
The emerald eyes of the older woman scanned the bushes surrounding the open space until she looked directly at Danny's hiding spot. But there was no possible way she could have seen him!
"Come out, Daniel. There's no need to hide." She spoke the last word sharply, practically outright telling him that this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation.
Violet looked to where the woman glared, but puzzlement was evident in her delicate features.
Danny knew it was no use to pretend, so he stood up cautiously and took three steps forward. No more than that.
"Danny?" Violet said, confusion so hilariously written on her face that Danny almost laughed out loud, but he kept a straight face.
"What did you do?" Of course, he was referring to Sam, who was unconscious and lying at the base of a tree behind them. But either Violet didn't understand or she didn't care, because she answered an entirely different answer. More like a threat.
"We're filling out our plans as scheduled, so best not to interfere." She raised her hand as if to stop an oncoming car, but it glowed a dangerous purple-red.
"Violet, he's no longer a threat! Stop fooling around and let's go!" the other female ordered, crossing her arms in annoyance.
Violet's head whirled around to glare at her, her auburn curls concealing her face from view.
"Excuse me? At least let me have some fun. I've don't nothing for too long." Violet turned back to Danny with her hand still raised, it grew brighter and brighter with each passing millisecond.
"Violet Penelope Prickston! I said let's go, and I mean now! No more dilly dallying!" Violet tensed at the sound of her middle name.
She spun back to the woman, her arm still pointed at him and glowing.
"No! Stop telling me what to do, you're not the only one with power. I'll show you what I can do," Violet said lowly, her voice losing its velvet quality when she spoke to the lady. It seemed that whenever she addressed her or she spoke to Violet, Violet was no more than a mere mortal to the woman, her powers undiminished compared to Violet's.
As they argued with flying colors, or more like different shades of gray and black, Danny tried to move unnoticed towards Sam. But he reached not even three inches when a scream broke from Violet and a blinding flash erupted, cascading everything in a plum light.
He opened his eyes to find he was sprawled across the ground, ten feet from where he'd recently just been standing. But he realized quickly that that wasn't the only difference in him. He knew the lady. She was Penelope Spectre, the old guidance counselor. A pretty bad one at that. She'd tortured the students and fed off of their misery and depression, almost ending it for his sister Jazz.
And he remembered how to go ghost. And who his family was. And where he was. He remembered himself. He remembered!
But as the memories poured back to him, he felt his eyelids sinking closed, utterly impossible to keep them open for much longer. And he didn't try to stay awake. He remembered, and that's all he could think about.
***
 When he woke up inside the tent all he could hear was the sound of clanking pots and pans. And for a moment, he thought, 'Maybe we never really went camping. Maybe it was just a bad dream.'
But when he got on his hands and knees and crawled over to the exit, he opened his eyes and saw that it hadn't been a dream. Stupid reality.
And he thought about what he'd just experienced; the amnesia, Violet being a ghost, discovering he was half-ghost as well...had that been a dream? But then how had he gotten here? In a tent on a camping trip? Illusions and unrealistic events were jumbled with reality and truth in his head right now. It was very frustrating and dizzying. So, instead of trying to sort it all out, he classified the previous events with Violet and the amnesia into the "I-dreamed-it-all-and-it's-unimportant" file.
Danny forced himself awake and reluctantly came out of the tent, only to be greeted by an overly-preppy mother.
"Oh, sweetie, you're awake! We're just getting breakfast ready, so you can go over there with Sam, Tucker, and Violet if you like." Maddie stood over by the fire they'd remade in the morning and set a pot over the flames, but filled with what, he didn't know.
'Couldn't they just use one of their ghost inventions to make some gourmet meal?' he thought to himself. But he shrugged it off as he sat next to Sam and Tucker, Violet opposite them.
They weren't talking, but rather glaring each other down. When he sat no one paid any attention to him. They probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't said something right then.
"Hey, guys." Sam and Tucker jumped and Violet looked away to clear her throat.
Danny gave all three funny looks, but when he looked at Violet, he grimaced. So Violet wasn't a make-believe girl from his imagination. But how did she come to know them?
And after sitting a few minutes in solid silence, Danny figured this: the part where he'd met Violet at school and walked to her to his house for tutoring and all was true, but that night when he'd gotten the note from Violet to meet her somewhere and he had gone on that walk just before meeting her, well, it had probably been so cold that he'd gotten sick and hallucinated the part where Violet was a ghost and all. And then he'd passed out and Violet had called for an ambulance and he'd been in the hospital for awhile. And all those in-between occurrences were just fleeting dreams or more hallucinations. Then, as side-effects from getting hypothermia or something of the sorts, he had forgotten how he'd gotten here, at the campsite. And that's how he'd ended up here...or something like that.
He knew it probably wasn't the most creative or realistic version of what had happened, but he decided not to stress over it. He'd just go on living like none of that had happened...or been dreamt...or hallucinated, whatever it was!
"Danny? Yoo-hoo, daydreamer." Tucker waved his hand back-and-forth in front of his face.
Danny snapped out of his puzzled thoughts. "Oh, uh, sorry. What'd you say?"
"I said...you know what, forget it." Tucker looked away and dropped the conversation like a bag of rocks. It was quick and abrupt, crushing any chance of casualness.
Before Danny could sink back into his delusional fantasizing of different realities, Sam slightly elbowed him.
He looked at her. "Hm?"
Her eyebrows furrowed together in concern, as if she had a reason to worry about him. "What's wrong? You seem...distant."
He gave her a look. "I'm fine. What's with you guys, all grumpy and down? Pessimistic clowns seem more inviting." Danny knew the part about clowns would get to Sam. Ever since their first encounter with Freakshow and his staff, Sam hated circuses.
She uncrossed her arms and raised her eyebrows in a disbelieving way, ignoring his jibe about clowns.
"What's with us? Well, first off, that!" she hissed, subtly nodding toward Violet, who was holding her arms to her chest and looking off into the woods with a vacant expression in those shimmering eyes of hers.
"Her? What could she have possibly done?"
Sam was downright annoyed by now, tilting her head to the side and giving him a blank stare. "I'm not kidding. Stop acting like an idiot for once and be serious."
"Settle down. Sorry, Sam, didn't mean to get on your bad side. Though half the time I can't tell which is which."
"It's easy; when I'm in a happy mood, your chance of getting your head ripped off is ten percent lower. Get me angry and all my sentences will be a run-on of one complete threat. I know your memory loss has affected your somewhat of an intelligence, but did that help?"
"Yup, duly noted." He froze. "Wait, did you just say memory loss?"
Sam gave him another withering glance but said, "Yes. I don't like saying it, so please don't make me say it again. And don't worry, we'll get it back." She looked at him with such certainty that he thought he saw something else inquired in that look, but she looked away just like the other two had.
Tired with the evasiveness of them all, Danny took her chin gently with his hand and turned her head to look at him. She looked shocked, which is something to say, but also exhausted. He felt a pang of sympathy and guilt, but feeling guilty he was uncertain as to why.
"Sam, what are you talking about? Get what back? And what do you mean I lost my memory?" Suddenly, it hit him. It hadn't been a dream. Or a hallucination. It actually happened. All of that had happened. Then he remembered the previous night when Violet had shot him. Had that reversed whatever she'd done to him before? If so, why doesn't Sam remember what had happened last night? As he thought this, he realized how stupid he was.
"Sam, are you alright?" he asked worriedly, looking her up and down for any visible injuries. She leaned away with apprehension.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" She squinted at him with suspicion.
"Because of last night! Don't remember? What did they do to you? Are you hurt?"
"I said I'm fine! Nothing happened last night! And who's "they"?" Sam looked about ready to spring off her seat at the table.
Danny understood immediately what had happened. Violet had taken Sam's memory of last night away so she couldn't do anything about it. And it seemed Violet didn't realize she'd given Danny's memories back.
"Oh...Never mind, it's nothing. I just...didn't get a lot of sleep last night, that's all." He shrugged and acted like he hadn't said anything unusual. Sam nodded quietly, but regarded him with a nervous watch.
Danny almost kicked himself for forgetting to simply tell Sam he had his memories. With a silent groan he whispered so Violet couldn't hear. "Sam, I've got my memories back. Last night."
Her eyes widened and she nearly shouted with joy, if not for the fact Danny clamped his hand over her mouth before she could make more than a squeak.
"How? When? Where?" she whispered, careful to keep her eyes on him and not let them drift to Violet.
"I'll explain everything later, just not now, okay? My main worry right is what we're going to do now that I'm back to normal. Didn't you guys say we'll just let her back to the Ghost Zone? Because I don't think that's a-"
It was Sam's turn to put her hand over Danny's mouth. She glanced over to where Violet had been sitting only seconds ago, but she was gone. That was a little bit unnerving. They hadn't even heard her get up and leave.
Tucker hadn't heard anything by the looks of it. He sat in deep thought and was so zoned out that he didn't acknowledge neither Danny nor Sam when they said his name. He started only when Sam slapped him upside the head, and none too softly at that.
"Ow! The heck?" He rubbed his head grumpily, pouting his lower lip like a child.
"Did you see where Violet went?" Sam asked impatiently, ignoring his cry of complaint. He gave her another contemptuous glare but answered without an insult.
"No. I was too busy on forming a new plan. This is going to be harder than I thought." Tucker looked truly tortured by the fact that he couldn't do anything to help with his technology. Danny had to give him credit, he was trying his hardest to create a way to help Danny.
"It's all right-" Danny started, but Sam kicked his shin.
Danny was about to kick her back when he saw Violet leaning against a tree nearby, observing her nails like she had nothing better to do than worry about a chipped nail or scraped polish.
"Oh." Danny bit his lip when he realized he'd almost revealed what they knew and very nearly lost the upper hand that they temporarily had.
"Well? What?" Tucker pressed, never one for letting things go easily.
"N-Nothing. I just meant that it's alright that you're trying! Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it," Danny stuttered, brushing the mistake off not-very-smoothly. But it seemed to work for Tucker (and Violet).
"No problem. We're in this together." Tucker smiled encouragingly. Danny sighed with relief and he could feel Sam's tenseness ease next to him.
"Kids, the food is ready!" they heard Maddie call cheerily from the fire. Danny didn't even turn around.
"I'm not that hungry," Sam said, practically reading Danny's mind. Tucker was zoned out again. Violet was gone. But only to appease his mother and family, Danny joined them despite his lack of appetite. Sam stayed by Tucker, not talking, but just closed her eyes.
Danny dragged his feet over to where Maddie, Jack, and Jazz sat on the five feet long logs eating bacon, toast, and eggs and sat down alongside Jazz.
"About time you got up, sleepyhead," she joked, ruffling his disheveled hair.
Hey, hey! Don't touch the hair, Jazzerina!" he teased back, knowing she hated that nickname and a dozen others that their father called her. These embarrassing nicknames consisted of; Jazzerina, Jazzerincess, Jazzy-poo, and many, many others.
Jazz's smile fluttered, but she managed to control it. "Don't call me that, dweeb." She stuck her tongue out.
"Of course, I'm sorry, Jazzerincess. Didn't mean to offend your highness."
This time she did frown, but that also turned into a grin.
"Okay," she called to Sam and Tucker. "Who told him? You guys know I hate it when you call me that!"
Sam looked up with a puzzled and irritated expression. "Told him what? You still sleep with Bearstein?" Bearstein was Jazz's childhood toy, but it was also her present turn-to toy.
Jazz gasped. "Sshh! He doesn't need to know that!"
Danny rolled his eyes and smirked. "Oh, chill out. I already knew. Plus all your other secrets...if you could call them that. What about that time you dated Dash for, like, two days? Yeah, I can understand why you'd want to keep that a secret. Someone as smart as you should know better than to date HIM."
Jazz looked between Sam and Tucker and Danny. Finally she said, "So you didn't tell him?" Obviously the question was for Sam.
"Nope. And you dated Dash? What was it like? I bet it felt like being with a monkey with no brains...and probably smelled like it, too," Sam replied.
Jazz stayed focused on the subject at hand, but Danny could see she was annoyed with Sam's observations. Most likely because they were true. "So...the only logical explanation would be...YOU REMEMBER!" Jazz leapt up and flung herself at Danny, locking him in a crushing bear hug. All the wind was pushed out of his lungs, leaving him gasping and choking.
"Oh, this is so exciting! We have to celebrate!" Jazz squealed.
She unclasped her restraining hold and held Danny at arm's length to look at him fully.
"Everything? Do you remember everything?" she asked, nervousness still able to be located in her turquoise irises.
"Yes, Jazz, it's okay! We don't have to celebrate, really-"
"Mom! Dad! We need to go home now! I have great news!" Jazz shouted, even though Maddie and Jack Fenton were sitting only ten feet away.
Danny took this opportunity to get up quietly and make his way back to Sam and Tucker, who were snickering like two dolts.
"What's so funny?" he snapped, plopping down across from them.
"Well, your sister just admitted to dating the biggest and dumbest bully in Amity Park, and went totally spaz-tastic on you. I would have to be humorless to not find that funny," Tucker said as he laughed the seriousness of the situation away.
"Tuck, you do realize you'd have to have humor in the first place to lose it... Have you ever tried to sit through one of your jokes?" Sam laughed again. Tucker just pushed her off the side of the picnic table.
"When were you planning on telling me?" Tucker asked right after Sam made an indignant noise.
"About what?" Danny said, genuinely confused for a second.
Tucker raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, that. Yeah, sorry... But hey! You know now, right?"
"Thank you. Very helpful," Tucker said flatly in a sarcastic tone.
"No problem." Danny gave him a half-smile and Tucker rolled his eyes.
"Everybody, pack up! We're heading home!" Jazz shouted, already loading the tent into the RV.
"What? But-" Sam started, clearly not wanting to let Violet go back so early.
"No buts! Let's go!" Jazz came back out and put out the fire, gathered the supplies, rolled up and put away the sleeping bags, and did every other possible task that needed to be done before they could leave.
"We better go. Jazz'll have this place cleaned out before we can even figure out what our plan is." Danny stood up and went to help Jazz, which she refused because he was to just "relax and not worry about anything." When he came back over he was more than annoyed.
"How am I supposed to relax when all of this is going on?" he asked, but even though it was a rhetorical question, Tucker was the first to answer.
"You don't," Tucker said matter-of-factly. Danny glared at him.