The Superstition Spectrum (Danny Phantom)

Chapter 13

Just as he had done twenty times before, Endellion whispered a short but powerful spell down into the nearly-finished knot resting in his hands. As he chanted, he picked up the final asphodel seed and pressed it into the cradle of the knot. With it firmly secured, he tightened his crude creation one last time and finished the incantation. Almost immediately, a soft white light began to glow from the entire rope's length; even with so many knots tied into it, it stretched almost thirty feet from end to end. 

Endellion slumped back in his chair and let out a relieved breath. "I thought it would never be over!" 

Fan Liu grinned at him from her perch on a three-legged stool beside her workbench. "Very impressive work, especially for your first time."

"I thought those were my first times," he corrected mirthfully with a jab of his thumb over at the discarded lengths of white rope that had gathered into a tangled pile. As per the delicacy of the spell and importance of its absolute perfection, if he made a mistake anywhere down the line he had to start over lest the ghost find his mistake and escape through it. 

"Your first successful time," Fan Liu amended, also smiling at his quip. "So, tell me your plan for capturing and commanding your target. I'm curious to know what you have in store for it."

Endellion rose from the wooden chair and walked over to the bench, where he selected another piece of white rope. "It isn't entirely formed in my head yet, but I do know that it's going to require another one of these."

Fan Liu leveled a stern look at him. "Are you sure you're not biting off more than you can chew, Endellion? You're going to have enough on your plate with controlling just one ghost."

Even so, the grin on his face was confident and boyish. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I've got until Friday-- almost a whole week. I'll have this down by then. And besides," He pulled a section of the rope taut, making it shake like a plucked guitar string, "my plan requires a second angle."

~~

It was a pleasant Saturday morning for most in Bailey Lake. The sun was shining with little to no threat of a springtime shower on the horizon. The lake's surface was like glass, so still and reflecting the sunlight effortlessly. To the more perceptive citizens, staring hard and long into an exact spot in the water could lend them a faint flicker of green brighter than the natural shades of the water itself. Then again, most were too busy relaxing on towels or throwing frisbees to their dogs on the pebbled beachfront to notice or care. 

For one particular girl, however, this Saturday was a kick in the teeth as she had been directed into the car and driven with her mother to the mall, where they were about to return the camera and go shopping at a boutique for a last-minute cotillion gown. Watching the return process was painful for poor Camry and left her in a sulky, childish mood even as she was dragged into the classy boutique. There they were greeted the second the door opened with a faint bell's jingle, and a peppy saleslady snatched them under her wing immediately. 

"So, what're you two lovely ladies looking for today?" she asked cheerfully, looking back and forth between them like she was trying to guess who the dress or dresses would be for. 

"We need a dress for a cotillion that's coming up in less than a week," Sadie Dowell answered readily, patting her surly daughter on the shoulder for a brief second. "So, something that's classy and easy enough to dance and dine in." 

"But functional," Camry tacked on quickly. As per the usual, her concerns were more geared toward whether she could fight in it if necessary. 

"Classy, functional, dancing," the saleslady murmured as she jotted down the key phrases on a clipboard. Her name tag pinned to the lapel of her shirt described her as "Iris." Iris nodded at the same time as scrawling the last letter of 'dancing.' "Perfect! And any thoughts on a neckline style? We have some catalogs you can flip through if you're not entirely sure on anything yet."