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Amity Park wasn’t a big town, exactly, but it wasn’t small enough for a lot of people to know Danny Fenton. Yes, they knew his parents, or at least of his parents. It was hard not to hear about Jack and Madeline Fenton, ghost expertise, when the town was constantly under ghost attacks and needed to look up at the people who could save it, even if those people happened to be pretty… weird, to put it delicately.
Plus, with the Fentons always on the lookout for ghosts all over the town in their RV, people needed to know to stay out of the street and out of their way to stay alive and not turn into ghosts themselves because honestly, Jack Fenton’s driving was so bad, people often wondered where the police was. The police was there, watching carefully and yet staying out of the way as well. The officers learned early on that trying to take in the Fentons meant getting a load about ghosts, their mayor, Vlad Master and an excessive interrogation to make sure they weren’t overshadowed or contaminated in any sort of way.
Suffice to say, it got old pretty quickly.
The people of the town also knew who Jasmine Fenton was because she was the top student of Casper High and an overachiever that tended to stick her business just about everything. People who met her often ended up getting an entire psychological analysis of their personality and more than enough pieces of advice to help them get through life in the best way possible.
A few of these people smiled and thanked Jazz, genuine with their gratitude because they really needed the peptalk or felt like Jazz’s eagerness to help others was something worth being cherished and admired. She was a bright young woman who looked at others and sought ways to help. Most people weren’t that good, so Jazz was a person at least some of the citizens of Amity Park wanted to support and encourage.
Others... others either didn’t care much about Jazz’s advice and tended to just ignore her or respond passively to her peptalks… or actively shot her down, trying to get away from her or to tell her to get away from them and that they didn’t need her to judge them or their lives like that. They drove her away the best they could and rolled their eyes at her attempts to help people around them.
But those people – all of them – still knew her. They knew who she was and could point her out in a crowd. Her ginger hair wasn’t too bad a clue as to who she was either, but that was just a bonus. People could just tell she was a Fenton because she looked a lot like her mother and because she seriously didn’t know how to keep to herself.
But Daniel Fenton? People knew the name. They knew Jack and Maddie had a young son who went to Casper High as well. They knew he was ‘the nicest, kindest, warmest, funniest, most amazing person in the world’, according to Jazz. They knew he was the one to lead the teenagers in the town when all of the adults were taken by Ember and Young Blood and that he managed to make the teens fight well up until the ghosts made him walk the plank and dive down to the town only for Phantom to catch him. But they didn’t know much more about him.
Frankly, the most surprising piece of information was the way Jazz spoke about her little brother. When the girl handed compliments they were always restrained and accurate. She never went overboard because she claimed she didn’t want to make people overconfident about things they should work on. Sure, she was willing to boost up your confidence a little, but nothing seriously major.
So they fact that she spoke about her brother like he was some kind of saint? It confused the town. How can a person no one knew… be such a sweetheart? How can a person who never stood up to anything (at least in front of the public) be as amazing as Jazz’s description? Sure, there were good people hidden amongst groups of people – it wasn’t that surprising. But when the subject of those compliments was a Fenton… it didn’t make sense. Because Fentons were loud and liked to get their hands dirty with the mess of other people rather than stay out of the way. So how could the youngest Fenton be different?
A group of bored college-age students pondered this predicament for the sake of passing the time. They read everything they could find about Jack and Maddie Fenton, asked people about Jazz Fenton and looked for articles or even just school records of Danny Fenton. But they couldn’t find much on the boy. It was like he was just.. an average teenager. And it was so confusing to the group that they decided to hang around Casper High to try and find out who Danny Fenton was.
It took them a week and a half before they heard his name coming out of a jock’s mouth. The group watched as the blond approached a group of three teenagers who sat under the shade of a tree, minding their own business. Although at the sound of Danny’s name they looked up and sighed as one. It almost looked enchanting, in a way, how they all moved like a well-oiled machine.
“Fenton!” The jock stomped over to the trio and the one girl out of the three teens rolled her eyes and mumbled something to the other two. The boys seemed to take her words very differently because the one to her right started snickering while the other one pouted at her. The moment the jock got to them, the girl and the snickering boy got up and left the jock and, the group realized, Danny Fenton. “Do you know what this is??”
Danny pulled back a bit when the jock shoved a piece of paper in his face. Then he seemed to read whatever was on it before his shoulders slumped and he sighed. “Come on, Dash… it’s not like you’re new to getting bad grades.” He smirked a little. “What do you say about studying instead of whaling on me?”
The answer was clearly a resounding ‘no’ because soon enough the Fenton boy was glaring daggers at a smirking, distancing Dash from the top of the flag pole. The group of older teens grimaced at the sight of it but stayed away – this was none of their business. They were simply here to learn. Take in the information and break it apart. They wanted to know who Danny Fenton was and they weren’t actually going to interfere with his life. Eva, one of them, was already writing notes, claiming she could actually use the information for one of her assignments for her course. The others didn’t mind as long as they got to figure out the mystery that was Danny Fenton.
Which… so far… wasn’t very exciting. Just a kid who got bullied at school and who was snarky despite knowing he’d end up suffering for it in the end. Or maybe because of it. Maybe he could afford being snarky because he knew it wouldn’t change the outcome. The group didn’t know and they didn’t mind much either. They just needed more information about the boy.
Tommy worked at the Nasty Burger to get some extra money and because of that he knew Danny Fenton’s face. He was a regular, as were half the students of Casper High, really. But the thing was, he knew him even better than the rest because he used to briefly date his coworker – Valerie Gray. It was really embarrassing to realize her ex’s name was Danny and finally make the connection between the two with the rest of the intrigued college group, but Tommy let it slide.
The thing was, now they expected him to get more information about the guy since he got to see him almost every single day at work. Plus, he could always ask Valerie for more details about him in case he couldn’t get close to Danny. But it felt so… awkward. The boy was always accompanied by his two friends – the goth girl and the creepy techno geek. They walked by his sides like his guard dogs, barking and baring their teeth at the people around who wanted to attack their friend in some way or another. And even though they were a few years younger than Tommy, he still didn’t feel like getting too close to them. The geek was alright – Tommy could deal with him. But the goth girl scared him. Not because she was a goth or because she looked scary, but because she had this aura around her, like she wasn’t messing around.
Tommy really didn’t want to upset her.
And luckily, he didn’t have to. Because one day he looked around the Nasty Burger and realized the place was nearly empty. The students that always occupied the place were nowhere to be seen except for Danny Fenton who sat alone at a corner table, his hands on his milkshake and his eyes staring out the window with a distant look.
Glancing around one more time, Tommy decided to test his luck. What’s the worst that could happen, right? So he left the counter to his current coworker and went over to Danny’s table. The boy turned to look at him, noticed his was a worker and then offered him a weak, polite smile before looking out the window again. He looked back at Tommy again when the older teen refused to leave, though.
“Umm… can I help you?” He asked, lifting an eyebrow.
Tommy put on a smile. “No. I mean… sort of.” He put his hand on the chair of another table and leaned his back against it to face Danny casually. The boy noticed that and turned away from the window to face Tommy. That was good, right? “You know where the other students from the school are today? I’ve never seen this place this empty before in my life. And you’re usually here with your friends.”
For a moment Danny seemed taken aback by the fact that Tommy knew he always showed up with his friends, but then he relaxed and shrugged. “School trip. I’m grounded, though, so I didn’t get to go.” He huffed out in irritation. “Yay me.”
“That sucks, man.” Tommy genuinely felt bad for him. He was grounded? Mr. Perfect was grounded? For what – petting a puppy or something? He noticed the small smile on the boy’s face, as if he wasn’t used to people sympathizing with him. What did his friends usually do, drill him like his parents or teachers for every little thing he did wrong? Or was he just flustered every time he got a sincere response like this? It might have something to do with Tommy being a stranger… “You’re Danny, right?”
He furrowed his brows. “Uh… I-I am, yeah.” He seemed to size Tommy with his icy blue eyes before he locked eyes with him again, looking confused. “Do I know you or something?” Then his lips twisted a bit. “No, wait… you know your sister, right? Or parents. Or both.” He grimaced as if the idea of people connecting him to his family was revolting and Tommy didn’t know what to think about that.
“Umm… no, I just see you here all the time.” Tommy ran his fingers through his hair and Danny seemed to brighten up a bit at that. “I mean, Valerie’s mentioned you a few times, not by name, but I can put two and two together, you know?” He ignored Danny’s surprised hum. “And I guess I do know your family? Who doesn’t? But I didn’t really make the connection until I realized what you name was.”
“I hope you realize how creepy this whole thing sounds, dude.” Danny noted and took a sip from his milkshake. Tommy spluttered in an attempt to explain himself, but Danny was already talking again. “I mean, I get it. It’s just… you make me feel like you’re stalking me.” He gave Tommy a serious look. “Please don’t stalk me.”
Tommy shook his head aggressively. “N-no! I’m not. Not stalking you!” He barked out a laugh and then dragged his hand down his face and leaned away from the chair behind him. “God, I’m sorry.”
Danny just smiled and waved him off. “It’s okay. It’s not like I’m not used to being stalked already.” It was obvious Tommy shouldn’t have heard the end of that sentence, but he did and he couldn’t help but get a little… protective. Like, who’d ever stalk this kid? And why? He was just a normal teenager! Why was he apparently used to being stalked by people around him? But Tommy didn’t get to say anything else before Danny got up and waved at him. He left his now empty milkshake glass on the table and got out of the Nasty Burger, leaving behind a confused and slightly concerned Tommy.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Lisa said and Parker grunted in frustration at her words, his eyes rolling in his head. He knew Lisa didn’t believe in most unnatural things despite living in Amity Park all her life. He knew she took longer than most to believe in ghosts and he knew she didn’t really find it very interesting to explore or talk about them so much, which was also why she ended up disliking the Fentons and their obsession with ghosts fairly quick.
But it didn’t matter because right now they had to do what they had to do in order to understand Danny Fenton better, even if it felt like an extreme thing to do. Summon a ghost? Really? But what else could they do when that was their only lead? So Lisa was going to suck it up and let things happen, even if she didn’t believe in any of this. And if it didn’t work, well at least she’d be able to tell Parker ‘I told you so’ by the end of it, right?
To be fair, Ben was the one who actually wanted to do the summoning with Parker, but he had to babysit his cousin tonight and Lisa was the only one who could come and help Parker, and since he wanted the answers as fast as possible, he was willing to drag her into this after apologizing to Ben. They had a plan and they had to stick to it, no matter who was there to enjoy it and who wasn’t. The show must go on!
The two of them lined up a bunch of candles in a circle on the ground and then drew elaborate thing that Parker didn’t really understand the meaning of on the ground. Lisa was the one to draw it because she was better with art than Parker. And frankly, even if she believed this to be a waste of time, she was willing to help in order to learn more about Danny, because that was a real mystery, according to her, and she wanted to be a part of it.
They already knew that Danny was probably being stalked by someone after Tommy delivered them their strange conversation, so the group wasn’t too keen on spying on the guy, but they just needed to know because it was driving them crazy! Parker at least wanted to know why Danny seemed to… jumpy whenever he was cold. And he got cold in the weirdest times… sometimes, out of the blue, he would just puff out a cloud of blue air as if he was freezing, and then he’d just run off and disappear off the face of the earth. Parker wanted to know why.
When he told the group about this weird revelation, Ben chimed in and said that Phantom had the same symptom sometimes, only he didn’t run after breathing out those blue mist clouds. He just stayed there and looked ready for a fight. And since that was the only thing they had going for them at the moment, the group let Parker have this little… summoning ceremony. Even if it could end up being a scam. Which it probably was, but who knows.
Taking in a deep breath and appreciating the sight of their circle of candles, Parker smiled over at Lisa and nodded. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” She replied dryly and looked bored when Parker started chanting whatever nonsense he could find about summoning in the book they borrowed from the library earlier this week. And then the candles started flickering out, one by one, and Parker noticed the way Lisa seemed to take a step back, clearly surprised by whatever it was that was going on.
The drawing on the ground lit up for a second before a burst of blue mist climbed up from it, morphing into ---- the Box Ghost. Parker and Lisa stared for a moment before they both groaned in frustration. The Box Ghost was busy monologuing but they just looked down at the chant in their book to see what mistake they’ve made. Parker was a little surprised by the fact that Lisa was actively trying to help him now, but maybe the fact that a ghost did appear change her mind a bit, or at least showed her that it wasn’t THAT ridiculous.
“Hey, what is this kind of invisible box containing me within its walls??!” The Box Ghost asked and Parker and Lisa looked up to find him fighting an invisible wall in order to escape. He was clearly stuck within the circle of candles. Weird, but the two didn’t care that much at the moment. They were too busy trying to figure out what to do to get Phantom over and not some… stupid, random ghost.
After Lisa pointed something out to Parker, she went over to light up all of the candles one again, ignoring the ghost between them the entire time. And then she backed up and gave Parker a nod. He tried again. The mist was pink this time and made the Box Ghost cough for a second before he disappeared, replaced by the Wisconsin Ghost of all ghosts. The two of them gaped for a moment, taken aback by the appearance of the evil ghost that stared at them back, just as shocked.
“What is the meaning of this?” The ghost demanded eventually.
Parker furrowed his brows. “Oh, COME ON!” He looked at Lisa. “What went wrong this time?” He saw the way the Wisconsin Ghost tried to break out of the circle of candles with no success and watched as Lisa went over the words written on the book one more time. Parker looked up at the Wisconsin Ghost. “Sorry. We didn’t mean to bother you or anything – we’re trying to summon Phantom. Not you.”
The ghost stared at him for a moment and then grinned, his fangs showing. “You’re trying to summon Daniel?” He asked, his voice smug. “Why, my boy, I believe I can help you with that. If you’d just show me this book…”
“No way.” Lisa huffed and eyed the ghost skeptically. “Everyone knows you and Phantom hate each other. You’d probably end up using the summoning spell to get him into some kind of trap.” She stated and Parker watched as the Wisconsin Ghost scowled at her. “Here. You said that word wrong.” She handed the book back to Parker and lit the candles back up, completely disregarding the annoyed ghost still inside the prison of wax. The moment she was done, she gave Parker a death glare. “This is our last try, Hansen. I’m not wasting my entire evening stuck in this place trying to… hunt ghosts or something.”
He grinned back at her and chanted the spell again as quietly as possible to make sure the Wisconsin Ghost couldn’t hear anything. The next time the candles went out, green mist curled up into the air, making the Wisconsin Ghost to cough uncontrollably before it faded away to revealed a stunned Phantom floating there. He looked like he was just about to reach out and grab something before they’d caught him and he quickly retracted his hand, his green eyes dancing around the room to figure out what was happening.
Eventually, he noticed Lisa and Parker and floated down until his feet touched the ground. He looked at the two of them for a minute in silence and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Crud.” Was the first thing he uttered out. Then, “I can’t believe people can just summon me like that. I’m gonna get tired of this really quickly.” He put his hand up and met the force keeping him there, not looking surprised in the least. “Alright, you called?”
It felt surreal, to actually be able to just… summon the Ghost Boy at will, but Parker quickly snapped out of it and took a step closer, observing the ghost. He was shorter than him, which wasn’t very surprising considering he looked younger than him from up-close. He was, what, sixteen at most? Wow… he must have died at that age, huh? What the heck happened to a teenager?? Parker timidly looked for some kind of injury – a scar or something – that might tell him what the cause of the death was but other than being a ghost, and thus dead, Phantom looked perfectly fine.
Clearing his throat, Parker grinned sheepishly under Phantom’s intense gaze. Right… dead or alive – Parker would have hated being summoned and imprisoned like that. “We actually had a question about one of your powers.” He said and the ghost looked taken aback by this. He stared at Parker and then at Lisa for a second, seemingly trying to understand what their deal was. “See, we’re trying to make sense of something, but till we get the answer from you, we can’t really get forward.”
“And are you gonna tell me what you’re working on that’s so important you have to SUMMON me in the middle of the day?” He looked annoyed. “I have places to be, you know? I don’t just exist to help everyone. I have my own life to take care of.”
Parker decided not to tell Phantom his life was over – that would have been extremely rude and uncalled for – and instead smiled. “Come on, dude, it’s just one question.” He said and then spoke up before Phantom could say anything else. “What’s the deal with the mist coming out of your mouth sometimes? Like… are you just freezing in your afterlife all the time or something?”
Phantom blinked at them in surprise before he smiled – his friendly smile. He was no longer that annoyed, then. “It’s just… a power I have. I wouldn’t say I’m cold, really.” He hesitated and seemed to size them up. “How familiar are you with the way ghosts function?” Lifting her hand, Lisa tilted it this way and that in a so-so gesture. “Well, ghosts have cores. Like… you have a heart that makes your entire body function, and we have cores that are like our hearts, only… we’re not alive.” He stopped to ponder for a moment. “It’s located in the middle of our body and it’s different to different ghosts. For example, Plasmius’ core is a fire core if what I’ve been told is true. Mine is an ice core, which enables me to do this!” He held his hand out for them to see and Parker watched in awe as particles of ice appeared above his palm, creating what looked like a frozen flower. It was beautiful. Phantom let it rest there for a few moments before he dropped it to the floor where it exploded into tiny shards of sparkling ice.
“So… what, this mist is you losing control of your power?” Lisa asked, her voice making Phantom turn around to face her.
“No. It’s just another power. A power I’ve had since I became…” He trailed off, coughed awkwardly and then quickly moved on. Parker couldn’t blame him. “It’s like my core’s way of telling me there’s another ghost around.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s a ghost sense, you might say.” He frowned a little at Parker. “I don’t know of anyone else who might have this power. Do you?”
Lisa and Parker looked at one another before turning their grins back to Phantom. He didn’t need to know. Not yet, at least. And knowing that they could just summon him, just like that, meant they could always tell him everything later. Right now, they had to investigate Danny Fenton and see why he had this ghost sense. He was human and didn’t have a core, so what was his deal?
Ignoring the way Phantom eyed him with disbelief, Parker grabbed a candle and moved it aside, breaking the circle. “Nah, it’s okay. It’s nothing you need to worry about, Phantom.” He watched a little anxiously as Phantom floated up and out of the circle slowly, still not looking too sure about this. “It’s no big deal – nothing you need to worry yourself about.”
Phantom watched them intently for a moment longer before sighing. “Fine. But next time you wanna talk, just… look for me? I can’t stress how horrible this could end up if you summoned me like this whenever.” And he flew out of there.
Lisa came up to Parker and pursed her lips together. “So… we have a kid who can, what, sense ghosts for some reason?” She said. “How do we continue THIS line of questioning?”
Parker had no idea, but he was willing to let Eva take care of this.
“Hello, Mrs. Fenton.” Ben smiled politely at the woman that opened the door for him, her familiar teal suit almost making him want to turn around and flee right now, while he’s still safe and not in front of one of her crazy, freaky weapons. But he had a missions and he was going to go through with it, just like the rest of the team. Were they a team? It felt like it, even if they were only trying to uncover the secrets of a random teenager, for some reason.
They couldn’t help it, alright? This Danny Fenton kid was a mystery and Ben felt like he HAD to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. He HAD to.
Maddie Fenton blinked at Ben in surprise before her face broke into a grin as well and she let him in. It was all Lisa’s idea. They needed information on Danny, so she suggested actually talking to his family – mainly his parents. And since they couldn’t just come up to them and ask questions about their son, Lisa came up with a different subject to cover up their investigation – ghosts. Those people were obsessed with ghosts, so what better than to use said ghosts as their story, right?
Earlier this week she called the Fentons and said she and Ben had a paper to write about ghosts and that they would like to interview the Fentons. Once Maddie and Jack agreed to it enthusiastically, Ben was sent to their house. He walked into the house, following Maddie towards the kitchen, and quickly explained that Lisa was sick and therefore couldn’t show up as well. The truth was that Lisa needed a break from all of this ghost nonsense and Ben wasn’t ready to force her to join him.
Which left him alone at the Fentons’ house with Maddie sitting across from him, cookies on the table between them. She said that her husband was out, patrolling to try and find some ghosts and Ben realized that meant he was left alone with this woman who thought he was here to research one thing when in reality he was lying to her face.
Squirming a bit to try and get rid of his uneasiness, Ben glanced around the room. It looked normal – just a kitchen with a fridge, a sink and a table. Nothing out of the ordinary. Well, she did open the fridge before to reveal a bunch of living potatoes grumbling to themselves about the cold, but Ben was honestly not sure he wasn’t just imagining things at this point.
Honestly, Ben was mostly afraid of what he would possibly mess up because sure, going to the Fentons and pretending to care about ghosts was easy, but actually discussing ghosts without sounding like he knew nothing about the subject – because he didn’t know much – seemed hard to him. Until he realized he didn’t need to say much – Maddie was ready to talk his ears off about everything she could think of and it was a lot. As in, he just sat there and nodded and watched as she droned on and on about ghosts and how horrible they were and how ghosts were created and what they actually were and, most importantly, how to capture, hurt and take them down.
“So…!” He used the moment Maddie stopped talking to take some air and finally perked up, ready to try and actually get something out of this conversation. “Your entire family hunts ghosts, right?”
Maddie’s lips twisted a bit. “Well, I wouldn’t say the ENTIRE family.” She rolled her eyes fondly. “Jack and I have been at it since college and we tried to get the kids on board – Jazz and Danny. I know Jack thinks Jazz might end up being a ghost hunter since they’ve had the pleasure of fighting together once or twice. But I truly believe she won’t go down this path – she’s too much of a ghost sympathizer.” She sighed and then smiled. “And Danny – “
“What?” A young voice cut through her sentence and Ben found himself turning around to find the real subject of his research standing a few steps away from him, his blue eyes darting from his mom to Ben and back to his mom. He didn’t look like he minded the presence of a stranger in their house, but he did look tense. “Danny what? Am I in trouble? Because might I remind you that I didn’t actually fail my last test – “
“Oh, you’re not in any trouble, Danny.” His mom dismissed his words with the wave of her hand and the boy relaxed a little. He took a few steps forward and filled himself a glass of water, his eyes constantly coming back to Ben as if he was trying to understand what he was doing there, talking to his mother. Ben couldn’t blame him. Maddie seemed to remember Ben’s presence because she grinned and pointed at him. “Danny, meet Ben Topaz. He has a project about ghosts and wanted to interview your father and I!” She didn’t notice the way Danny seemed to inch a little away from Ben, but Ben did. “Oh, and I was just telling him about how you don’t want to hunt ghosts, right?”
Icy blue eyes scanned Ben for a moment longer before Danny smiled, although it looked strained. “Right.”
Maddie turned to look at Ben again. “Danny wants to be an astronaut!” She exclaimed proudly and Ben noted that for later. Was this helpful? Not really. Was he going to let a random piece of information go? Not without his friends’ agreement about its uselessness. “Ooh, maybe you’ll find ghosts in space?? That would be exciting, wouldn’t it?”
The boy gulped down his water and put the glass down on the counter before going towards the exit of the room. “Sure. I’ll send you postcards.”
“Danny, don’t forget that Vlad is coming over tonight for dinner!” Maddie quickly called after her son and Ben noticed the way the boy froze in place, his back to them. His hands clenched into fists at his side but Maddie seemed to glaze over this detail. Ben didn’t. He took note of that too. Vlad… who was Vlad and why was this Danny’s reaction to the news that he was coming over? Danny left a moment later without saying another word, practically running away. When Ben turned his curious eyes back to Maddie the woman smiled. “Oh, it’s just Vlad Masters, the mayor. We were friends in college and Jack invited him over. Again.” She didn’t sound too happy with that either, but she didn’t look quite as upset as her son. “Where were we, again?”
And… more useless knowledge about ghosts!
Drumming her fingers on the strap of her bag, Eva eyed the students exiting the school and waited. And waited. And waited. She was alone since the rest of the group was busy. Lisa could, technically, join Eva today, but she declared she wasn’t going to help again anytime soon after summoning Phantom for their project, claiming it was enough weirdness for a whole month. Honestly, Eva would have preferred Tommy’s help, but he had to go to work and so… that left her alone outside of Casper High.
Eventually – FINALLY! – a raven-haired boy walked out, his friends nowhere in sight for once. Of course they weren’t. Eva knew that the Manson girl was busy with some kind of formal event her parents made her attend and the techno-geek was sick after the friendly ghost, Klemper, escaped the Ghost Zone again and chilled the entire town. Honestly, Eva wasn’t too hot either, her nose practically running and her body shivering every few seconds, but she was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. And if she had to sacrifice her health, she would do it. To some extent, at least.
Eva’s bright eyes followed Fenton as he walked down the steps of the school, crossed the schoolyard, avoided the football players and pretty girls (A-Listers, the students called them) and started walking down the street. She followed him, trying to look innocent and like she was just making her way somewhere, nothing suspicious to see here. She was pretty sure at least five people were onto her, but she was determined about keeping her eyes trained on Fenton to make sure she didn’t lose him accidentally.
Five blocks from the school, Eva decided she could drop the act and she hurriedly caught up to Fenton, noting the way he eyed her, not entirely surprised but not at ease either. She wouldn’t have been at ease had she been him either, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. Her friends were all subtle with their attempts at figuring out the truth, but she wasn’t going to do the same. There was a reason plenty of people saw her as too eccentric and outgoing. She could barely find friends with how blunt and to-the-point she was, but in these kind of cases… it served her just fine.
“Fenton kid.” She greeted him and the boy sent her a look with his icy eyes, his lips pressed into a line that indicated he was listening but not saying anything. That was fine. For now, at least. “My name is Eva. Eva Pryde.” Still not reply from the kid, but she did call him Fenton, so he must have guessed she knew who he was. “I need to ask you a few questions.”
Fenton gave her another long look before he looked ahead again. “Are you a cop?”
“No.”
“So why would I say anything?” He smirked a little. “Have you ever heard of stranger-danger? Maybe not ‘cause right now you’re under that category and in a town where ghosts are everywhere, you might just be a stranger-ghost.” He adjusted his backpack over his shoulder and cast another look her way when she returned his smug smirk with one of her own. “What?”
Eva straightened her back. “But you’d know if I was a ghost because your ghost-sense would have been activated, right?” She said sweetly. His reaction was immediate. He stopped in his tracks, his feet stuck in place. His entire body seemed to just… exist. Eva noted the fact that he was very still – too still. It almost looked like he wasn’t breathing. And then he snapped around to face her, giving her his full attention for the first time. He looked like he was trying to put pieces of a puzzle in place to complete the whole picture.
With a frown on his face, Fenton opened his mouth. “What?”
“Your ghost-sense. Blue mist coming out of your mouth.” Her grin grew at his clear distress. “My friends had to summon Phantom to get to the bottom of this, but now that we know what this phenomenon means… I have to ask – why can you sense ghosts? You’re human, after all, and the only other one who has this ability – that we know of, at least – is Phantom.” She sniffed and suppressed a shiver, noting the way Fenton’s shoulders slumped a little in relief. She noted that for later. “Anything to say, Fenton kid?”
For a few moments Fenton just observed her, and then he sighed and rolled his eyes before his hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was dealing with annoying kids. As far as Eva was concerned, the boy didn’t have little brothers or young cousins/nephews. So that was unlikely something he was used to.
Fenton sighed. “Fine, you’re not a ghost.” He admitted and then shrugged, a small – fake – smile on his face. “I had an accident in my parents’ lab a few months ago. I got contaminated enough that I guess now I have this power.” He resumed his walk towards his home again and then glanced at Eva over his shoulder. “Still stranger-danger, lady.”
“I’m twenty-one.” She countered and Fenton just kept on walking. “Why else are you so weird?” She questioned and Fenton snorted without turning to her, clearly not feeling like chatting with her. Eva didn’t care – she was going to push whether he wanted her to or not. She needed to KNOW. “This ecto-contamination is great and all, but you’re still the mystery of your family. I mean, everyone knows your parents – it’s hard living in this town without hearing of them – and your sister is insanely nosy and pushy so people know her as well,”
“Try living under the same roof as her.” The kid grumbled, though his voice was soft, like he didn’t really mean it.
Eva noted that in her brain too. “But unlike the rest of your family, no one knows much about you. And seeing as you’re a Fenton, you should be insanely famous around town.” She pressed further even though the kid’s shoulders rose a little, as if he was trying to shield himself from her. She wasn’t that easy to shrug off. “People only know your name and where you go to school, but that’s about it. How is it possible you’re a Fenton and yet aren’t in the spotlight for some reason or another? It's just very strange, don’t you think so? What do you have to say for yourself?”
Fenton groaned and shook his head, giving Eva an irritated look from over his shoulder. Then he turned back around and walked down the street, a little faster this time. If he was trying to lose her, Eva smirked. He was NOT going to be able to outrun her. When she was determined, there was practically nothing that could set her back. Not even a teenager who just wanted to keep to themselves. No, she was going to figure this kid out if it’s the last thing she did. This year. The last thing she did this year.
“Your family is connected to mayor Masters.” Eva kept on going, ignoring Fenton’s lack of reply. She wasn’t going to let this go and she could tell he knew that by the way he squared his shoulders a bit, as if ready for a fight. “You have been mentioned by him when he got elected. He claimed you were the reason he ran as mayor in the first place. Is that true? And if so, why did you later claim to dislike him? Did your parents pressure you into this? Do you genuinely don’t like mayor Masters even though he became mayor for you?”
“For me?” Fenton snorted and let out an amazed laugh, almost like he couldn’t believe what she had to say. His blue eyes trained on her and he looked absolutely ticked off. “Trust me, Vlad and I don’t get along. He became mayor to get back at me for playing those tricks on him. He can’t stand me and I can’t stand him.” He scoffed. “He claimed it was for me just to make my friends and classmates resent me when he enforced all of those new anti-teens laws. And it worked until I actually told everyone I wasn’t with him.”
Eva tilted her head to the side. “Why didn’t you tell anybody about this? The mayor picking on a kid? This could make the news in no time AND probably would make him get replaced.”
For the second time the Fenton kid stopped, but this time he didn’t look surprised or alarmed. He looked determined and deadly serious. When he looked into Eva’s eyes, she felt like he could set her on fire with just a single thought. She made herself snap out of it and returned his gaze, her limbs shaking a bit from the effort of making them not shake. Yeah, not very effective, apparently.
“Eva Pryde, you said?” Fenton asked and at her single nod, his eyes narrowed and their intensity grew. “Listen to me – the last thing anybody in this town needs is for Vlad to get pissed off. You want to hate him? Fine. You want to think he’s a fruit loop? I’m not gonna stop you. But if he thinks his title or his power or his money are in danger, he wouldn’t stop until you’re either dead or completely ruined, with your reputation and friends and family so low, you’ll be underground instead of just a smear on it for people to clean their shoes on.” He leaned in a little and Eva thought his eyes glowed a certain, toxic, shade of green. But it was gone in a heartbeat and she assumed it was a trick of the light. “Leave Vlad alone – don’t get near him and don’t get on his nerves, got it? Take it from someone who tried and ended up with Vlad as their mayor.”
Frowning down at Fenton, Eva bit her lip. “But he didn’t really hurt you. You said you pissed him off but all he did was make a bunch of new laws that limited you – he didn’t actually ruin your life or hurt you or your family. And he retracted those rules on his own.”
Another flash of green from his eyes made Eva lean back a little. “Yeah, and I had to let him blast me with an ecto-gun for him to actually take everything back. And he’s still the mayor, so he can still do whatever he wants.” Fenton growled and pulled at his hair a little. He looked like he was fighting a headache. “Look, just… stay. Away. From Vlad.” He locked his eyes on her as he punctuated each word. “Got it?”
“But – “
“Got it???”
They stared at each other for a few seconds until Eva relented and lifted her hands in surrender, allowing her legs to take her a step back from the Fenton kid. “Fine. You win. I won’t say anything about Vlad. Stay clear and everything. Happy?”
“No.” He smiled, though, and turned bac around. “Now leave me alone too, Pryde!” And he powerwalked away from her.
This time Eva let him go. She knew where to find him and right now she had better things to do. She pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and quickly dialed Lisa’s number, her entire body bouncing in place with excitement already. The moment the girl picked up, Eva’s grin widened. “Grady, put on your party pants and meet me outside the Nasty Burger. We have a new lead, and this one is bound to be GOOD.”
The blue mist that started to engulf Danny made him yelp in surprise, Without much thought, he willed himself to change into his ghost half, mumbling something to his friends about meeting them again later. And then the scene of the Nasty Burger disappeared and Danny found himself standing inside a circle of candles. AGAIN. He groaned and tried to get out despite knowing it won’t work. The candles surrounding him, along with the weird-freaky magic of the summoning, was working to keep him inside. It was like he was trapped inside an invisible dome.
The place was dark apart for the fire of the candles and the faint light coming from a tall window. The room was quiet apart for the low and shaky pants of a couple of people around him. Recovering from the surprise of being summoned again, Danny’s glowing aura flared and lit up the faces of the group of people around him. He groaned. He knew they were all pretty strange, but he didn’t really feel like dealing with them right now. He was supposed to spend some quality time with his friends! What did he ever do to anger the universe THAT much??
He recognized Tommy first. The familiar young-adult was standing awkwardly to the side, his gaze flitting from Danny to the floor and back to Danny again, over and over again. He looked nervous and uncomfortable standing there with his friends. Then there was this Ben guy – the one who interviewed Danny’s mother. Back when the man came over to their house, Danny wasn’t too sure about whether or not he believed him, but now he was certainly leaning more towards ‘NOT’.
On the other side stood the two who had summoned him before – a boy and a girl Danny didn’t know by name. The boy looked excited and terrified at the same time while the girl had this look on her face that almost resembled Sam’s. She made Danny think that she was surrounded by things she didn’t want to believe in, and yet had no choice in the matter. Not so different to the first time he’d seen her, then. And at the front of the group, right in front of Danny, was a determined Eva. She stared at him, her eyes sparkling.
Danny ignored her in favor of turning to the two he didn’t know the names of. “What happened to never summoning me again?” He demanded.
The boy flinched, but the girl just returned him a levelled look. “We didn’t exactly have the time to look for you properly.” Her eyes glanced over to Eva for a moment and Danny wondered why she looked at her like THAT. Like Eva did something wrong that led them to this situation. He really hoped she didn’t. “And the Red Huntress didn’t believe us.”
“What happened?”
They went after Vlad, is what happened. Danny frowned when they told him in turns about the way they’ve decided to solve the mystery that he was, apparently. They told him about Eva’s conversation with Danny earlier that week – not that he needed them to when he was there himself, but he didn’t tell them that – and then went on to explain how they observed Vlad Masters for the last few days until today they saw him when he shifted into a ghost. At that Danny paled a little. When they added the fact that Vlad SAW them and chased after them… Danny found himself tugging at his hair, trying to calm down enough to think properly.
It was bad enough that Vlad was the mayor of Amity Park, a ghost and his arch nemesis who wanted to get rid of his dad and to date his mom. But for him to chase after a bunch of stupid college students because they accidently discovered his secret? What was Danny supposed to do? Why did Eva ignore his warning like that?? Why did she risk all of their lives just to satisfy her own curiosity? Did she even tell her friends about his warnings or did she simply drag them along?
Groaning, Danny shook his head. This was a lot and he didn’t know how to handle this. And then he heard the doors to the place banging open and his green eyes locked on the red figure hovering before him, ecto-gun at the ready and aimed straight at him. Valerie.
“Huh! I knew you had to be working with ghosts!” Valerie called triumphally. She smirked in the direction of the confused and alarmed teens and then turned her attention back to Danny. “And to think you believed I’d fall for the trick of mayor Master being a ghost. Ha! There’s no such thing – it’s impossible for ghosts and humans to be the same. And now I got you right here, Phantom.”
“You have got to be kidding me…” Danny hissed under his breath and then let his hands glow with ectoplasmic energy, ready to protect himself despite being locked in the circle of candles. Without looking at them, Danny talked to the teens. “Go to the Fentons. Ask to see Danny.”
The unnamed boy lifted an eyebrow at Danny. “Why would we need him right now? We should just tell his parents everything! They hunt ghosts, don’t they?”
Danny shrieked and avoided a blast from Valerie by jumping high into the air. He glared down at the college students and his eyes flashed brighter. “They won’t believe you – Vlad is their friend. Listen to me and go to Danny. Right now, that’s your only chance.” He glared at Valerie. “Red, I’m not trying to trick you! They came to me because you wouldn’t help them!”
“Like I’d believe you, Phantom.” The ghost hunter growled and fired again. This time it grazed Danny’s side and he hissed in pain before regaining his wits and creating a shield around himself. He looked back down at the group of humans.
“He might not be home right now, but just… his parents will let you in, probably. And if his sister opens the door then tell her Phantom sent you there. She won’t stop you.” He grunted when Valerie’s weapon hit his shield forcefully and made him shudder a bit from the effort of blocking her attacks. “Now GO. Before Plasmius shows up.”
They didn’t object this time and ran out of there, Tommy the last one. He actually stopped for a moment to remove one of the candles holding Danny in place, sending an awkward, grateful and apologetic smile Danny’s way. The halfa stared at him for a moment before he left the now-broken circle of candles and hovered in front of Valerie. She kept on attacking him relentlessly, clearly certain he was only trying to fool her somehow. Danny didn’t have time to deal with this. So he turned invisible and quickly flew out of there, hoping he’d be fast enough to lose her and her Ghost Finder.
It took him a while to lose Valerie. She was determined to catch him this time, following the signal showing where he was on her small device, her weapon shooting forward with no visible target. Danny flew around the town, trying to lose her trail and to find a place to transform and run back home. These teens were in trouble and he needed to get to them before Vlad. Where was Vlad anyway? Was he planning what to do or was he just nonchalant about it because he didn’t think those five teens would be able to do much to hurt his image?
Looking over his shoulder, Danny checked the coast once more to make sure Valerie wasn’t around before he dived into an alleyway and transformed back into Danny Fenton, his legs already taking him running towards his house where, hopefully, there would be five older people waiting for him and willing to listen. Honestly, he had no idea what he could do to help, but if anyone could support them now, with Vlad in the picture, it was him. And Danny was going to do his best to keep them safe.
It took him about fifteen minutes to get back home and he had to stop himself from acting suspicious when he noticed Valerie hovering above the ground twice on his way there, clearly still looking for Danny even though his signature must have already disappeared from the screen of her Ghost Finder. He tried to ignore her when her masked face turned to look at him, knowing he shouldn’t let her know that he knew who she was. But it was hard. Luckily, Valerie only told him to be careful before moving on and away from him, allowing him to breathe in relief.
Danny wasn’t sure what would happen when he opened the front door, but certainly didn’t expect for his dad to pull him in without even giving him a moment’s notice. Under a second, Danny was in front of both his parents, their faces half-hidden behind their goggled masks. His mom looked serious and his dad suspicious.
“W-what’s going on?”
His mother’s lips pressed tighter and Danny noted the fact that Jazz was standing near the stairs leading to the second floor, her eyes darting from their parents to Danny and then upstairs. Meaning she was probably aware of Danny’s gusts waiting for him. Actually, looking up, Danny could see their heads peeking out to look at Danny and his parents. He grimaced and turned back to his parents.
“There’s a ghost outside,” His mom said, voice low.
“The Wisconsin Ghost!” Added his dad in his loud, booming voice. “He’s been flying nearby for a while now and we don’t know why. The Ghost Shield is active so that he won’t be able to get in but for now – you’re not allowed to go back to meet with your friend.”
His mom nodded. “Not until the coast is clear and that filthy ghost leaves.” She narrowed her eyes at the window and then put on a warm smile and held out a plate of cookies in front of Danny. “Cookie, sweetie?”
Frowning, Danny shook his head. So Vlad was here and he was probably aware of the fact that those three came to Danny. Or maybe he figured they were here for his parents, to tell them the truth? He didn’t know yet. He did know, however, that a Ghost Shield will not be able to keep Plasmius out. As much as Danny wanted to feel safe, he couldn’t. So he quickly said something about going up to his room before running up the stairs with Jazz in tow.
“Danny, what’s going on?” She asked him quietly once they were far enough away from their parents and the college students gathered up there looked at them with raised eyebrows. “Why’s he around here? Is he trying to…” She glanced over at the group of strangers and pursed her lips. “Do something inappropriate again?”
Snorting, Danny moved over to his room. “Probably.” He signaled for them all to come in and Jazz sent one last curious look towards the group before she obliged and entered Danny’s room, soon followed by the college students who looked around at the walls of Danny’s room, taking in all the posters of space. Danny noted the fact that Eva’s eyes nearly sparkled with enthusiasm at finally being so close to her subject. He felt like smacking her on her head, honestly. Before Jazz could ask anything more, he turned on Eva and glared at her, not caring if his eyes turned green or not. “I WARNED you.” He hissed.
The girl blinked at him in surprise for a moment before she shrugged. “I mean, the more warnings, the more interesting it sounds.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “And the mayor being a ghost? That’s a huge revelation, Fenton kid.” She smirked proudly. Jazz inhaled sharply at her words, clearly surprised to find out they all knew about Vlad as well. She gave Danny an intense look, but the teen just kept on staring at Eva.
“Look,” The boy Danny didn’t know the name of lifted his hands in the air to try and calm Danny and Eva down. “We made a mistake and followed the wrong person, alright? We know.” He moved his eyes from Eva to Danny. “Arguing about that won’t lead us anywhere – we need to know what to do now to, you know, not die.”
Jazz frowned. “Vlad knows that you know?” She asked and when they nodded in her direction, her hands clenched and she turned to Danny. “You have to find out what he’s going to do now, Danny.” She said and then faltered a bit when her eyes drifted towards the group of five. “Umm… I mean… because you are the one he’s least likely to hurt and – “
“Ugh,” The skeptic girl groaned. “We know he’s Phantom.” She stated unceremoniously and the temperature in the room seemed to drop around Danny. He tried to suppress that power, but with the eyes in the room all on him… he couldn’t help it. The same girl kept on talking. “I mean, before finding out about Plasmius it was pretty much impossible to make the connection but knowing it’s possible for ghosts and humans to be one and the same, it’s not hard to put two and two together.”
“Danny Fenton? Danny Phantom?” Ben offered weakly and then shrugged. “Plus, you said it yourself – there’s no one else who has this ghost-sense power.”
Danny glared at them. “Oh right, I almost forgot the fact that you SPIED on me!” He huffed out in annoyance and started pacing in front of them and next to the window. His eyes drifted to the street outside and he found Plasmius looking up at him, a knowing smirk on his face. Danny scowled and pulled the curtain over the glass to hide the inside from the older halfa. “Alright, focus. We can discuss how creepy that is later.” He sent Tommy a disapproving glance and the boy seemed to shrink under his gaze. “In a way, it helps that you guys already know because Vlad would have used this against me in a second. So… one less thing to worry about.”
Eva leaned forward a bit. “We can go to the police or the news or something and tell them everything. Even if people don’t believe us, it’s still better than being at this man’s mercy. At least people would be wary of him and – “
“No.” Danny cut her off, waving his hand dismissively in her direction. “If you expose him like that, any kind of leverage you might be able to have on him will be thrown out the window.” He shook his head to himself. “Your best shot is to keep everything close to the vest. Vlad doesn’t want his secret exposed, but if people knew or even suspected the truth, he’d go all out and as much as I hate to say it, the Fruit Loop is stronger than me – I won’t be able to stop him. Not for certain, anyway.” He frowned and ran his fingers through his hair. “No, I’m going to try and hush things out with him – try and make him stay away from you.”
“We can give you Spector Deflectors to protect yourselves from him,” Jazz added thoughtfully and Danny nodded slowly, already planning on sneaking down to his parents’ lab to get some of those. “They repel ghosts, including half-ghosts. Vlad won’t be able to touch you.” She noticed the look on Eva’s face and quickly added, “This doesn’t mean he won’t be able to hurt you, so you have to still keep your mouth shut about this.”
Humming, Danny kept on pacing. “Yeah, this might work.” He peeked behind the curtain. Plasmius was still there, clearly waiting for him to get out and face him. He almost looked bored. But Danny didn’t focus on him and instead looked at the sky, scanning them. He needed to talk to Plasmius but had to make sure Valerie won’t attack him in the middle of it. The coast was clear. “Jazz, try and get the Spector Deflectors.” He looked at his sister for a moment before looking at the bunch of college students. They stared right back. “Stay here and don’t do anything stupid,” His eyes lingered a moment longer on Eva who squirmed in her place, a little uncomfortable and yet clearly defiant despite everything. “And don’t worry. I promise I won’t let him hurt you.”
He transformed and flew out of there before they could react.