Phantom Falls

6: Deceit

The above artwork does not belong to me.

Two days later, Danny got up and left for the Mystery Shack. He'd been avoiding Pacifica somewhat successfully, but he knew he'd have a confrontation at with her at some point. He was just hoping that she hadn't told either of their parents about their argument at the ice cream shop.

He'd spent the last two days with the Pines twins, and sometimes Wendy's friends. He'd even gotten to know Soos and Stan a little. But he'd only seen the elusive Ford once, and even then it was for just a moment. Dipper and Mabel wouldn't say anything beyond how Ford was their great uncle, a scientist who mostly liked to keep to himself.

Danny didn't try to dig any deeper, though. He respected secrets. Dipper and Mabel seemed curious of his, and he wished they would just leave it be.

He was walking through town, hands in his pockets, making his way to their house. It was early enough that no one else was out and about yet, and he liked that just fine. He shivered and pulled his jacket closer around his shoulders. Hopefully the exercise would warm him up soon.

The boy was nearing the ice cream shop when his blood ran cold. He remembered the nightmares he'd been having for the past few days. The voice always led him to the rocky clearing and told him that it would "get him soon" in his dreams.

Only this time, when the consciousness brushed his mind, he was wide awake. He froze, unable to move as the fear gripped him. The voice didn't say anything, it just laughed faintly. Then it was gone.

Suddenly he could breathe again, and he leaned against a nearby building, clutching his chest. The presence was gone, be he could tell that it had done something horrible. What was going to happen to him?

After a few minutes, he slowly started to walk again. His eyes roved around cautiously. He felt like . . . like he was being hunted.

Cold dread settled in Danny's stomach. There was something watching him from the forest. Hesitantly he turned around to face the trees.

Danny almost had a heart attack, but then he saw Dipper looking at him from the woods. He breathed out a sigh of relief and walked towards the younger boy.

"Hey, Dipper," he greeted coolly. "Jeeze, man, you scared me, watching me from out here like that."

Dipper chuckled, but it was forced. "Sorry, man."

Danny glanced around. "Where's your sister? I was thinking we could go hike around today. Maybe go up to the-"

"No," Dipper interrupted. "I don't think so. My sister is waiting for us over here." He started walking deeper into the pines.

The halfa was uneasy. Dipper wasn't acting normal. Yet there were no ghosts in the area, so he wasn't being overshadowed. Shrugging, Danny followed.

They walked for about ten minutes in silence. "Are we there yet? Why are you guys out here so early, anyways?"

Dipper smiled, but it wasn't right. "You'll see, Daniel."

Immediately Danny halted. "What did you just call me, Dipper?"

The younger boy hissed. Legit hissed. He turned around, and stared at Danny with clouded pink, pupil-less eyes. He growled, revealing sharp, jagged teeth.

Danny stumbled back. "You- you're not Dipper."

It laughed. "Looks like little Daniel has figured it out. I was hoping you wouldn't realize until I could bring you to them."

"Who are 'they'?" Danny demanded. The Dipper-not-Dipper just hissed again. The halfa looked around, and seeing no one else there, shouted, "Fine, I'm going ghost!"

He morphed quickly, but not nearly fast enough. The moment his hair turned white, the creature pounced on him. It grew a snout and fur, until it was a large werewolf-like creature with a spider's mandibles on its face on either side of rows of crooked, razor-like teeth. Its paws looked like hairy dragon's feet, the four-inch claws digging into his chest.

It breathed on his neck as it spoke. "If only I could rip you to shreds, Daniel. If only you weren't needed."

Danny tried to shrink into the ground, but it somehow stopped him from phasing. Its dripping lips twisted into a foul grin. "You're not going anywhere."

The creature stood up and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, bounding deeper into the forest. Its teeth made him bleed. He struggled, desperate to break free, but it just shook him, and he stopped. He was too dazed even to speak.

Finally it set him down for a moment and morphed into some sort of sick cross between an owl and a bat, snatching him up in its claws. "We will fly the rest of the way," it snarled in his ear. It still had massive teeth.

Danny concentrated hard. Though its talons were still digging into his shoulders, at least now the creature couldn't snap his neck in half a second.

He touched one of its feet, and willed his power into it. Sure enough, a thin layer of ice began creeping up its leg. It hissed and dropped him, then swooped down again, but Danny was flying on his own now.

He fled. The thing wasn't a ghost. Even if he'd had the Fenton thermos, he wouldn't have been able to trap it. Danny had never fought anything like this shape-shifter before.

The creature was gaining on him. He saw the Mystery Shack a little ways away and went for it, his heart hammering. It was the only building close by. Come on, come on . . .

He was near the large clearing where the Shack resided when the shape-shifter morphed back into the wolf-like beast. It dropped down on him from above like a ton of bricks. He crashed through the trees, gasping as the branches cut him.

"You won't escape so easily, halfa," it whispered in his ear. It dragged his broken body back into the forest, away from any hope of help.