The Superstition Spectrum (Danny Phantom)

Chapter 9

RECAP: 

The surprise on her face only lasted for half a moment before that same sort of forlorn sorrow replaced it. "Hijo... Who told you?" she asked aloud.  

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Her somber question left Dude sputtering as indignation immediately filled him to the brim. "Wha-- Buh-- I-- What? What do you mean, 'who told you?' It sounds like it should've been you telling me about all this witch business!"

"Keep your voice down, hijo," Maria Hinojosa chastised him wearily as she moved to set down her purse on a small hallway table. "The walls are thin."

"Mamá," Dude said sharply. "What is going on? You mean, you knew all about this the whole time?" 

She sighed heavily, and in that one sigh the weight of two decades of struggle could be heard as plain as day. "Come into the kitchen and I'll make you some champurrado." 

"I don't want any," he insisted, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. "What I want is an explanation." 

Ari watched her family talk and read their lips to get the gist of the exchange. She didn't put her hearing aids back in, though, and resolved to be something of a passive presence unless she found an opportunity to speak up. Maria padded into the kitchen anyway, her socked footsteps quiet on the linoleum, and began gathering the ingredients and tools for her hot chocolate recipe. Dude followed, still saying how he didn't want any champurrado, but didn't try to stop his mother. 

"Mamá," he started to say, but was cut off by Maria turning to look at him. The expression she wore, so tired and crestfallen, was enough to make him regret how angrily he had been speaking to her. 

"Let me find the words, and I'll explain everything," she bargained, setting a saucepan on the stove's bottom left burner, the only one that worked out of all four. Dude said nothing in response, choosing to just sit in the dining table chair that was closest to the small kitchen. Their apartment was not very large at all, so he was really only a few feet away and perfectly within earshot. 

Ariadna sank down in the chair to his left and rested her temple against his shoulder as a sign of affection and solidarity; he didn't outwardly respond to the contact, but his tense posture relaxed ever so slightly with the familiar gesture. Even so, his blood was close to boiling in his veins. Why the hell had they lied to him this whole time? How could they have kept such a huge aspect of himself secret all his life? He had returned home that night expecting to be the bearer of an amazing discovery, and now he had been relegated to the spot of a young boy about to be lectured by his mother. 

This evening had definitely not gone according to plan.

~

hey

The text notification came in the form of Saoirse's phone vibrating on her nightstand. Thanks to many months of having to respond quickly in case of an emergency, the device was in her hands before the vibration had fully ended. She opened the text window and typed out an answer.

What's up? You okay?

yeah...

Saoirse raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. C'mon, tell me what's wrong, cammie

Well... I didn't get to tell you earlier cuz my parents picked me up (also I might be grounded after the cotillion just fyi)
But there was something I wanted to yell you
*tell

Okay, go ahead. Or do you want to come over?

There was a pause in their reply rhythm, during which Saoirse guessed Camry was deliberating over what to do. They did have school the next morning, and with it already being past midnight, the consequences of staying up so late would be obvious by the time the day officially started. However, the likelihood that Camry was texting so late because of something unimportant was low, and if it couldn't wait until the next morning then there wasn't much for helping the situation.