Ethereal

07

Mabel and Dipper stuck to the forest like they were a part of it, sneaking only close enough to see Danny's distant figure. Dipper held his journal tightly in his hand while Mabel tried to contain giddy excitement. Every footstep sounded like a yell down a hollow cavern, the forest silent except for the quiet hum of insects.

Danny froze in his tracks and took a sharp turn.

Dragging Mabel along, Dipper ran to keep sight of the teenager. Where was he heading? Delving deeper into the forest, light began diminishing and sounds began heightening, making Dipper shiver on the hot summer day.

Danny was aware someone was following him, though he didn't know who. He had taken an abrupt turn into the woods to get rid of the eyes, but the action had proven to be a bad idea. Out here, every creature he passed was looking at him, and his ghost sense made him tick like crazy. There was no way he would know if that specific set of eyes was watching him. To make matters worse, he believed he might have gotten lost.

He sneezed loudly.

There was silence throughout the forest, making Danny's unease and guiltiness rise. He felt as if he had somehow disturbed the woods, and when the silence was replaced by the sound of birds crying out, he knew something had happened that was worse than sneezing.

There was a yell of surprise coming from his left, followed by a loud scream. Danny's head had barely turned in that direction when a ginormous green dog came bounding through the trees and on top of him, two preteens dangling by their shirts in the dog's powerful jaws.

"Danny!" Dipper yelled in horror, waving his hands.

"Cujo!" Danny said, standing slowly. "Cujo, drop it!"

Danny's tone made the dog's ears fall against it's giant, muscular neck.

"Drop. It!"

The two preteens came falling from the dog's mouth, landing in a heap on top of each other. Mabel was the first to stand, running behind Danny in terror.

The teen's angry look faded instantly.

"Who's a good boy?" he asked, and Dipper lifted his head to see the ghost dog shrink to the size of a puppy, it's tail wagging excitedly.

Dipper dropped his head on the ground and closed his eyes. He was so done with Danny and every single turn that the teen made. Ghost hunting teen? Strange, something worth studying. Ghost hunting teen with giant ghost dog that shrunk to the size of a puppy when it was happy? Sometimes Dipper just wanted to call it a day, even though it hadn't even reached noon.

Mabel, however, was ecstatic. She dropped to the forest floor and opened her arms as the puppy jumped into them, sniffing her before licking her face excitedly. Danny looked nervous, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips turning into a frown.

"He only comes out of the Ghost Zone when he's searching for something," Danny muttered.

"What?" Dipper asked, and his interest heightened. He sat up, studying the dog with wary eyes. It growled at him from Mabel's lap.

"Nothing."

In a swift, practiced motion, Danny took the Fenton Thermos out of his back pocket and opened the lid, a tornado of blue color reaching out towards the dog. It yapped once before it's figure was washed away like water, the dog stretching and breaking apart before being sucked into the thermos. Danny screwed the lid on tight and shook his head.

"You know that dog?" Dipper inquired, tilting his head and walking over towards Danny. He had somehow managed to keep his journal tucked in his vest pocket throughout the entire extravaganza.

Danny closed his eyes momentarily before looking straight at him, studying his face like he had never done before.

"Why were you following me?"

Dipper was taken aback. He hadn't expected that question; in fact, he had completely forgotten about sneaking up behind Danny. He blushed and looked down at his feet.

Mabel sighed loudly. "I told him to."

"What?" the two boys asked in surprise, whipping their heads around to face her. She was still kneeling on the ground as if the puppy was still next to her, but her hands were still.

"Yeah! I wanted to go see where you were going, and Dipper wouldn't let me walk around by myself without him. It's honestly really thoughtful of him, and I just think that we should go back to the Mystery Shack and let bygones be bygones." She suddenly gasped. "You can meet my pig, Waddles!"

Danny stared at her for a moment before standing, sticking the filled thermos back in his pocket. "Come on, then," he said, ushering the kids away from the forest.

Once back on the road, Dipper grabbed Mabel and leaned close to her ear. "Thank you," he whispered.

"It's no problem, bro-bro!" She answered before skipping ahead, her brown hair bouncing off her back.

"She seems like a handful." Danny noted.

"Oh, trust me, she is."

[][][]

The trio walked through the creaking shack door, only to be bombarded by a group of teens surrounding the main desk.

"Hey, Dipper!"

"What's up, Mabel?"

"Yo, Danny!"

This last one was from Wendy, who was leaning over the main desk with laughter in her eyes. He smiled and walked over to her, studying the group of teens. Wendy whistled.

"All right everyone, listen up! Danny's new to this group and he has no idea who like, any of you are, so shut up and tell him your names!"

A guy with dark brown eyes that practically matched his dark colored skin spoke first. He looked over at a blonde man with fists clenched, practically spitting the words. "Name's Nate."

"Lee," the blonde stated, though it seemed mostly directed towards Nate rather than Danny.

"Thompson!" He shifted his gaze to a big teen with chocolate brown hair.

There was a sigh from the far corner of the room. "Tambry," the girl said quickly, not bothering to look up from her phone.

"There you have it, City Boy. These are the weirdos we're gong to be hanging out with until you leave to go back to wherever."

"It's Danny," he told Wendy, mostly hoping the rest of the group would hear.

"Nope, it's City Boy. You ever swim in a lake?"

With that, Wendy hopped over the counter and walked outside, the rest of the group following her.

Danny had no choice but to follow.