After the incident on Saturday at the mall, the weekend progressed in a quiet manner.
Sam spent Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday in her room looking through her album. However, when she wasn't doing that, she was out in the backyard to pick up the pieces of her poor Gramm's garden. She was mostly just tearing out the dead stuff and enriching the soil again. Without magic. What she would plant in place was what she was still contemplating.
When Monday came around, Sam was filled with a strange sense of dread. And not the typical dread that comes with Mondays. It was heavy. Like her bones had been replaced with thousands of pounds of stone. And there was the most uncomfortable tingle on her left side.
Maybe after what had happened to Zoey less than four weeks ago, she was still in shock. Maybe it was because she was going to be the "New Girl"; whoever felt great about being the new kid in class?
Or maybe...a rift had reopened somewhere? It wouldn't surprise her, but it certainly would infuriate her.
Sam shook her head. Ridiculous.
These worries were unfounded; she just wasn't used to this town or its people...or its ghosts.
After breakfast with Gramm, Sam left for her first day of school.
Somehow, she found Danny waiting for her at her gate unsurprising. The two of them walked to school in comfortable silence.
It was strange; she felt comfortable enough around him to let her guard down a little and be lost in her thoughts. And she's only known him for a week or so.
Sam stopped at the entrance, staring at the foreign building that would become a big part of her daily life. Danny walked two feet before he realized she was no longer beside him.
"You okay, Sam?" Danny stepped closer, concern clearly marked his face. "It's not that bad. As long as you're not getting stuffed into lockers." He thought back to the incident at the food court, though. It was quite obvious Sam could handle herself.
Sam took a deep breath and unconsciously pulled a bit of calming energy from the earth. She felt the soothing sensation prickle from her toes to the tip of her nose. It was like a warm hug. It didn't stop the frustrating itch in her side though.
If she could fight demons, banshees and a goddamn succubus from France, then she could damn well go to a new high school.
"I've had my share of bullies in New Orleans," she spoke icily. "They all just met the end of my boot."
Danny chuckled and gave her a gaze of amusement.
"I won't doubt you on that. C'mon, I'll walk you to your, and inevitably, my doom." Danny linked his arm with Sam's as he led her into the school.
Once again, no trace of agitation from this boy touching her.
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"Ugh, check out the new girl. Do you see what she's wearing? Can you say poor Wednesday Adams?"
Sam had only been in class five seconds and she was already starting to loathe this annoying Hispanic harpy that Danny had earlier identified as Paulina Sanchez.
Sam checked her outfit. There was nothing wrong with the baggy black jeans and cropped green top she wore. With a black sweater cardigan over it all. She also had her artifact watch hanging around her neck. Sam could make it look like Paulina's hair was falling out with just a quick glamor spell, but since she was no longer casting, she would have to settle for her second most fearsome weapon, her sharp tongue.
"I've heard better wit from toads. Next time, bring a textbook, maybe I'll actually hear something intelligent out of you," Sam waved off Paulina dismissively, not even caring about the war she had just fueled.
Paulina narrowed her blue eyes at her in fury.
"Whatever, goth-geek," she huffed before she and her little group sashayed off to begin some sort of mindless gossip swap.
A dark-skinned girl, dressed in yellow leaned over to Sam. "As entertaining as that was, you probably just started a war with the School's Queen Bee."
Sam rolled her eyes. "As if I care."
"You should," the unknown girl stated carefully. "She could make life hell for you."
"That harpy knows nothing of hell..." Sam muttered, crossing arms.
Not hearing what Sam had said, the girl in yellow stuck out her hand for Sam to shake, a sisterly smile on her face. "I'm Valerie."
Valerie's grip was strong. Sam noticed the slight callous' on her hands first then the manicured nails and finally the fact that both their thumbs were on top. Valerie had only just met Sam and already she was seeing her as an equal. It was the same comradery that common among her and her coven sisters.
Sam quickly pushed such emotions aside.
"Sam, nice to meet you." Sam felt the corners of her lips tug upwards slightly.
It was then their teacher walked in. Mr. Lancer, balding with a potbelly; he reminded Sam of a Kurash beast that she had met in the Library of Tore.
It troubled Sam that even though she was attempting to lead a normal life, she kept drawing parallels to her old life; demon-filled, spell casting glory days.
"Alright, class, today we're going to continue our discussion on Shakespeare's Macbeth. We last left off at the beginning of act 4," Lancer began. "We open the act with the 3 witches who gave the premonition of Macbeth becoming King..."
Well into the lesson, Sam was startled out of her musings a few minutes later as Danny re-entered the classroom. He had left abruptly a few moments before Sam's confrontation with Paulina. At first, she thought nothing of it, but then it became curious that he had been gone so long, even for a bathroom break. Even more curious was the exchange of looks between Danny and Mr. Lancer. Whatever Danny had been doing, it seemed that Mr. Lancer already knew, seeing as he didn't scold Danny for missing a chunk of class.
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Sam was actually quite athletic.
Especially when it was chasing after a demon or scaling down the side of a building in a daring escape from boredom, but this was just ridiculous. High school P.E was the very bottom of the sporting barrel. The trash-talking in the changing room had been bad enough; luckily Sam had gotten the hang of changing quickly, which meant she had been in and out before the other girls had noticed her single remaining scar or even the small pentacle tattoo in the middle of her back.
"So Sam," Valerie started as the two girls stretched. "Did you do any sports back in New Orleans?"
Oh joy, an inquiring mind.
"I suppose." Sam shrugged.
Valerie gave her a look that screamed, Don't be aloof. It annoys me!
"I did my fair share of running, jumping, climbing and checkers."
"Checkers isn't a sport." Valerie quirked her brow.
"Oh yes, it is." Sam gave Valerie a grim smile as she remembered the event two and a half years ago which had ended in Haley nearly losing an arm.
"Okay, Sam, if you say so."
The girls finished their warm-ups just as the rest of the female portion of the class came out of the changing rooms. Sam and Valerie took off for the outdoor track, three laps as ordered by the coach.
"Hey Valerie, what do you know about the ghosts in this town?"
Sam looked at Valerie from the corner of her eye as they ran side by side.
"Finally, someone else who can run and chat at the same time; none of these pansies are ever up for conversation," Valerie snickered.
Running and talking had been a requirement for spell casting on the run, another useful habit from her witch days.
"As for the ghosts, what do you want to know?"
"I've heard about a ghost called Phantom, who is he?" Sam thought she noticed Valerie falter slightly and her curiosity grew.
"Phantom is... hard to explain. He's a very unique case, compared to other ghosts," Valerie hesitantly explained.
"How so?"
"Well, most ghosts have obsessions that are blatantly obvious," said Valerie. "Phantom showed up pretty much out of the blue with the rest of the ghosts."
"So?" Sam inquired.
"He's shown no real signs of even having an obsession, unlike the other ghosts. Some theorize his obsession is protecting Amity Park, though."
"What do you guys think?" Sam asked.
Valerie let out a short laugh.
"I'm honestly not too sure," she said. "I've heard several different opinions on him. Some think he's a savior, and others say he's a menace. I personally think that while he may want to protect this town, it doesn't mean he won't take a chance to harmlessly mess with someone. It seems like the sort of thing a Ghost Prince might do."
This time it was Sam who faltered slightly.
"Ghost Prince?"
"Well, "King", technically. He overthrew the old Ghost King, and thank goodness for that because Dark Pariah was a tyrannical psycho," Valerie shivered. "Every time someone calls him the King, he always requests to be called a prince. Apparently "King" makes him feel old."
The two girls looked at each other quickly before they started laughing.
Sam found it odd. She hadn't laughed in quite a while. How could she be laughing? It didn't seem right and yet, with all the horrors she and her sisters had seen, they had learned to recover. Sam couldn't see how she could recover from Zoey's death. Maybe it was the dream, the one in which Zoey had told her she was becoming a guardian. Perhaps it was acting as a balm.
"Hey, earth to Sam. Come in Sam." Sam looked to her right to see a pair of icy blue eyes.
Oh, gods, he was everywhere.
"Hello, Danny," Sam spoke softly.
"Nice deadpan," Valerie said from her left. "You ok Sam? You went kinda quiet there."
"And just ran a quarter of the track on autopilot," Danny added. "Jeez, and I thought Jazz was an overachiever."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." Sam shook her head slightly and walked off towards the locker rooms.
The class was over.
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Sam was thankful P.E had been the last class of the day. She just wanted this day to be over and the tingle in her side to go away. In fact, screw tingle, screw itch, it was straight-up burning!
Sam waited by the indoor bleachers for dismissal after she changed back into her clothes. Most of the class was out of the change rooms already and their teacher looked ready to let them go. The burning in her side was unbearable, but now that she was actually paying some attention to it...it felt very familiar.
Sam grazed her fingers under her shirt down her side. That's when she remembered it; her scar was on her left side! And wasn't just any ordinary irritation; it was a warning! She got it from...
The gym doors blasted open!
Sam's head whipped around, hoping against all hope she had been wrong.
The rest of the class and the teacher took off in the other direction, all screaming at the top of their lungs.
The residence of Amity Park had suffered from ghost attacks for some time now. So, it amazed her how they could be scared so easily by what could very well be another ghost.
That was the catch, however. It wasn't a ghost. No, it was something much worse.
The beast was a large being. The poor gym door was no long there. Just a giant 25 ft tall hole in the wall.
It had an arched back and long skeletal limbs with taut flesh stretched over the bones. Yet, its skin was black as coal. It rested on the balls of its feel and supported its weight on its knuckles. The horns atop its head resembled broken antlers and the long, twisted, knarly smile on its face would give Marvel's Venom shivers. Its eyes burned more horrifically than the very fires of Hell.
It was a Heat Fiend, the only demonic creature to ever leave a scar on Sam. The very scar rested on her left side right now. The scar burning like that was her body warning her of a Heat Fiend or any of its kind running amock. Unfortunately, Sam only had protection and energy-sapping potions on her; any sort of actual offense she had was currently locked away in her bedroom.
What a great first day in her new school...
The Heat Fiend lumbered towards her speaking in its demonic tongue.
"So, the little nymphling is all alone? Where are the witch sisters now, nymphling? Left you to burn all alone, did them? Much joy in snacking on your crispt corpse." The Fiend began to laugh; the sound filled Sam with a primal fear.
The scar she bore now might be small but the original damage... she couldn't even think back on that day without feeling nauseous. She would have died if not for...the Growth.
She could not dwell on the past now, now she had to figure out how to destroy it. The demon moved closer to Sam, but she was rooted in place from fear. She hated the feeling. Heat Fiends were one of the few creatures that could hold Sam in her place out of pure terror.
The Fiend's volcanic hot air pocket was drying out her skin. She had to move. She had to put distance between herself and the Fiend until she could create a spell to destroy it.
Screw your new life! You're not going to have any life if you don't act!
The damned creature let out a wicked snicker. "The fear of a nymphling, sweet, lustrous fear. Goes good with their charred remains. Eats you, eats humans, then eats your trees, I think."
Sam hated the way Heat Fiends spoke. They made strange clicks and crackles, and had a strange grammar.
The fiend reached for Sam and she could feel her body become dangerously hot and it was getting difficult to move; her mind slowed down and her thoughts became hazy. She didn't entirely register the green light blast that hit the fiend's air pocket; she didn't entirely register falling backwards into the arms of a certain white-haired ghost or him carrying her outside.
Sam's consciousness ebbed back slowly. She felt like a flower that got too much light; she couldn't function properly and couldn't survive. Sam stayed in a semi-sleep until she felt a cold hand stroke the side of her face gently. She forced her eyes to open and when she did, there was a pair of concerned bright green eyes staring back at her.
"Phantom?" She could barely speak, her throat was so dry and it hurt to even breathe through her mouth.
Sam quickly took in her surroundings and she realized Phantom had brought her into the girls' locker room.
"Sam, are you alright?" the spectral echo in his voice was even louder in the empty locker room.
"Mm," Sam could barely answer him. She was so focused on the hand he still had on her cheek. It was so cool against her feverish skin; it made her want to cry. Thank goodness ghosts didn't generate heat.
She felt him gently place her on the cool tile, relieving a bit of her skin from the continuous burning.
"Don't worry, Sam," he said confidently. "I'll take care of this...whatever it is." She watched him stand to get ready to fly off to fight.
"Heat Fiend..." she croaked, grabbing the spandex on the leg of his suit.
"Huh?" He gave her a confused glance. He crouched down to hear her.
"A Heat Fiend," she repeated. "You have to cool the air around it then attack." Speaking was such a strain on Sam's tired body that she blacked out for a few seconds, only rousing in time to see Phantom phase out the doors, probably to follow her instructions and get rid of the monster.
Sam weakly dragged herself off the floor and crawled to the showers. She didn't have the strength to stand. Witch or not, she was still human, and getting as close to a Heat Fiend as she had without a protective shield was bordering on life-threatening!
Sam made it into the showers and turned the cold water on, full blast and not caring if she still had her clothes on. A few years ago, after the first time she had fought a Heat Fiend, Sam had learned to regenerate from wounds, and while she couldn't regenerate limbs (which, thankfully, was never anything she had to worry about), she could absorb water straight through her skin. It acted as instant-hydration and purification against the blackest of magick. Sam lay under the water for about ten minutes and all the while could feel the crippling heat leave her skin. She turned the water off, wearily stood up, her clothes thoroughly soaked and heavy as she exited the showers.
That's when she found Phantom floating right in front of the showers, waiting for her.
"U-um, Sam, what are you doing?" he unsurely asked, planting his feet solidly on the floor. "You're soaked."
"I nearly got cooked alive, what do you think I'm doing?" Sam huffed.
She crossed her arms across her chest and had just managed to walk past Phantom to find a towel until he got a hold of her arm to stop her and had her turn to him.
"How did you know?" He asked, looking at her inquisitively.
Sam narrowed her eyes at him. "Know what?"
"That attacking that thing will only work after the external air temperature has been lowered substantially."
""Substantially"? Didn't expect such a big vocabulary from you, your Highness?" She rolled her eyes.
Phantom stiffened at the title. "Who told you?"
"How to defeat the creature?"
"No, that I'm the Ghost Prince."
"Does it matter?" She replied. "Let go of my arm."
Phantom narrowed his gaze at Sam but did as she asked.
"Are you going to tell me or not?" He asked impatiently.
"I said it doesn't matter," she sneered. "It's not that big a deal to me if you're a Ghost...Prince...King? Whatever you are."
"No, not that. I mean how the hell you knew how to beat that thing!"
"Why do you jump around so much in your conversations? You must confuse a lot of people. Hell, I'm surprised you don't confuse yourself."
Sam glared at Phantom. Phantom glared at Sam.
He glared until he let his gaze trail over her figure. His firm glare changed to a look of amusement and fascination, and strangely enough a slight ghostly green blush across his cheeks.
"You know, you may wanna think about changing," he spoke slyly. "That shirt sure is clinging. Not that I'm complaining."
Sam's face glowed a bright pink. She continued her glare at him as he phased out of the locker room. "Pervert."