"U-um, I, heh," Phantom nervously stammered. "Well, yeah! There was a ghost attack, so..."
"Funny, 'cause many students were quite shocked that you hadn't been there," Sam narrowed her eyes at him.
If she wasn't mistaken, she could've sworn she saw a bead of sweat trickle down Phantom's brow.
What kind of ghost sweats?
"O-oh, well,..." he stammered once more. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I-I showed up later! The ghost had made his way outside the school building. I guess no one saw me."
He then sent her a distracting, flirty smirk her way. "Were you, uh, expecting me? Sorry to disappoint."
But Sam refused to be thrown off by his charm; her cheeks did remain a shade of light pink, however. "If you came later," she inquired. "How did you know I fainted?"
The smirk on his face was wiped clean off, and she could clearly see the spark of panic in his eyes.
Phantom couldn't help, but gulp. He was stuck.
"Well, y-you see..." he cleared his throat. "Sam, I-I..."
"ARF! ARF!"
Absolutely out of nowhere, the unmistakable sound of a puppy barking echoed through the air.
Sam looked around for the source of the sound. "Huh?"
Phantom, while relieved by the distraction, groaned in exasperation as he smacked his forehead. "Oh, no..."
Sam laughed. "What?"
"It's nothing. It's just-GAH!" Before Phantom could even finish, he was tackled to the ground by a little pitbull puppy with a black spiked collar. This canine's random arrival would be unusual if the fact that it was glowing a bright green didn't take all her focus.
"Ugh! Ack! Cujo!" Phantom struggled against the endless dog kisses landing on his face. "Down, boy! Down, boy!"
Sam laughed at the amusing sight of the ghost boy and his...ghost dog?
Phantom quickly chucked a ball of ectoplasm into the park across the street. "FETCH!"
Cujo excited leaped off of Phantom and ran after the ecto-ball to retrieve it.
Phantom sighed in relief as he stood up, rubbing a sore spot on his back.
"I didn't realize ghosts could have pets," Sam said as she stifled her laughter.
Phantom chuckled nervously. "Heh, um, sorry, he's a little hyper. He loves to jump whenever he sees me."
Sam scoffed. "You still haven't answered my question," she said, crossing her arms.
"Um..." Phantom hummed tensely.
"I'm sorry, Phantom, but your story and what I've been told just don't line up," Sam said. Laughter had been completely wiped from her face.
He seemed determined to stay away from eye-contact with her. "You see...WHOA!"
Before Phantom even knew what was happening, Cujo had returned and had playfully sunk his sharp teeth in the white belt around Phantom's waist, causing the poor white-haired youth to be slammed down on the pavement.
"No! Cujo! Down! Down!" he yelled as the amazingly strong green ghost puppy dragged him off like a chew toy.
Sam's eyes widened to see him being benevolently taken away by the strange dog. Phantom looked back at her apologetically.
"We'll talk later, Sam, I promise!" he hollered. "I gotta put this guy back in Ghost Zone!"
And just like that, he was gone with the puppy.
What the hell just happened?
Sam just shook her head before the bell rang for her next. Knowing she probably couldn't get away with missing another class, she walked away from the oak tree and back through the school doors.
--------------------------------------------
That afternoon was beautiful. Being late August, while it was still a bit warm, there was a lovely touch of autumn chill in the air.
It was perfect weather for gardening! Sam was pleasantly planting some thistle. It was a very good addition to your garden if you wish for protection against negative forces. And you can't get anymore negative than roaming demons.
Sam diligently dug at the soil for it to be deep enough for the roots to stretch. The garden was starting to look much better. All the dead plants had been removed and she had laid out some her own special blend of soil that was perfect for any plant she wished to have.
Perhaps some foxglove? I'd have to put some sort of ward on it so no animals will be tempted to eat it. Definitely some lavender for Gramm. She likes it in her tea, Sam thought excitedly. Her eyes glimmered at this rare bout of giddiness. Maybe some lotus flowers in the pond? Great for meditation.
Thinking about the pond made her thirsty. Sam stood and stretched her back and her limbs after being crouched over the garden all afternoon.
She walked along the cobblestone path and up the steps of the back porch, leaving her muddied gloves on a bench.
As she was making her way to the kitchen, she heard her Gramm watching the news in the living room. Sam wasn't really listening until she heard something that almost made her choke on the lemonade she poured for herself.
"A witch!" Came the voice of a child on the TV. "I saw her!"
Sam rushed to the living room and saw the face of one the little boys from the park. He had a news anchor's microphone held in his face.
"A witch, you say?" said the news anchorman.
"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "I saw her use her powers to beat the monster! She saved me and Ricky!"
"Amazing," the anchorman said in awe. "What else did you see, Miles? How did she beat the beast that attacked you and your friend?"
"It was so cool! She used some sort of blue magic to throw the monster all the way across the park!" Miles stated. "I know she told me to run, but I just wanted to watch a little bit more. She pulled out this bottle of weird juice that hurt the monster. She also controlled plants that caused it to explode!"
"That's quite a story! Are you positive you saw all this?" the anchorman asked.
"Yes! It was...incredible!" the boy smiled gleefully, the youthful gap in his teeth gleaming on the screen. "She's a witch! A real, live witch!"
The anchorman chuckled as the camera panned over to him. "Well, folks of Amity Park, you heard it here first. Could it be that our town has a witch in its midsts? Who is she? And is she in league with our notorious, ghostly hero, Phantom? We'll go live with a private conference with Mayor Masters after these messages."
"How about them apples, Button?" Her Gramm smiled up at her from seat on the couch, Nyx fast asleep in her lap.
Sam scoffed as she went back in to the kitchen. "The kid's got a good imagination."
Once again, she seemed to have missed her Gramm's coy chuckle as she stroked Nyx's silky fur.
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Back in the park, after all the news crews and investigators left, after the sun had set, the infamous Phantom, himself, arrived at the damaged scene of the battle between that monster and the mysterious woman.
His white boots planted firmly on the grass as his green eyes scanned the all the broken pieces of the playground and the many scorch marks left, including the ginormous one left behind when the hooded woman had defeated the beast.
He illuminated his hand with his ecto-energy to give him some more light. He could still smell the burnt wood from the explosion.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked himself, shaking his head.
"Danny?" Came Valerie's voice.
"There you are, dude," He heard Tucker call.
He sighed and turned to the two of them and Jazz walking towards him. Valerie was dressed in her Red Huntress suit.
In a flash of light, Danny transformed back to black-haired, blue-eyed Fenton. "Hey, guys," he greeted. His uneasiness was still prevalent in his voice.
"Spot anything?" Jazz asked.
Danny ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Not yet. I just got here, myself."
"Well, based on all this damage," Tucker quipped. "We got a lot of lookin' to do."
He pulled out his PDA and began to scope out the area.
"Seriously," Valerie crossed her arms as she observed the destroyed play set. "Danny, are you sure this thing wasn't another ghost?"
Danny grunted. "I'm positive! My ghost sense didn't go off; I only found it by just being in the park. You should know, you saw the whole fight!"
"Then what the hell was it?" Jazz asked, shining her flashlight on the burnt tree.
Danny gave her a irritable glance. "How should I know?" he scoffed. "But, never mind that. What I wanna know is who that girl was that turned it into a pile of ashes."
Valerie searched around for clues as well. "Whoever she was, she certainly knew what she was doing from what I saw."
Tucker snickered, as he tinkered with his PDA. "That kid on the news said something about her being a witch."
Danny raised his brow. "A witch?"
Jazz tapped her chin. "Well, I mean, it's not the most outlandish thing we've come across."
"Or maybe she's a new escapee from the Ghost Zone," Valerie huffed. Despite her truce with Danny, she still had no forgiveness for any other specter they came across.
"Well, ghost or...witch?" Danny spoke, a curious twitch in his eye. "Either way, we should probably find out more about her."
"Including, whatever the hell she needed this glass bottle for," Tucker chimed in.
The other three looked over to see him crouched over scattered broken glass on the pavement.
"What do you think was in it?" Danny asked as he, too, observed the broken glass.
"Not sure," Tucker replied, rifling through his backpack. He pulled out a pair of tweezers and plucked up a shard. A drop of glimmering light pink liquid trickled off the glass and dripped onto the ground.
"It must've been some kind poison or something," said Valerie. "I saw her smash the bottle on the creature's head."
"We'll just have to find this stranger and find out her story," Tucker stated as he stood up, the tweezers still in hand.
"Speaking of strange," Jazz said, throwing a smirk at brother. "What happened with Sam, Danny?"
"What do you mean?" Danny asked. He continued to observe the battered playground.
"You know, when you followed her out after throwing that lozenge at Paulina," she replied.
Danny groaned. "For the last time, it wasn't me!"
"Right," Jazz rolled her eyes.
Danny sighed. "I just went out to check on her. I mean, she freakin' fainted, so I just wanted to make sure she was alright."
Unseen by Danny, Valerie and Tucker sent each other a knowing look.
"I showed up as Phantom, so she wouldn't question why Fenton was missing class, but..." Danny trailed off.
"But...?" Tucker quirked.
"She started to ask questions," Danny said, uneasily. "Questions that I couldn't answer."
"Do you think she's starting to figure out that you're Phantom?" Valerie asked.
"I'm not sure. Cujo came out of nowhere and dragged me off before she could say anything else."
"Wow, so that dog of yours actually came in handy," Jazz snickered.
"He's not my dog, and he's come in handy plenty of times!" Danny protested.
"Whatever, so you're sure that Sam doesn't know anything?" asked Jazz.
"While she may not know exactly, she's not stupid, Jazz. She's definitely starting to notice that something is fishy," her brother stated. "And the worst part is that...I...I don't think I can hide it from her."
"What do you mean "you can't hide it from her"? You've kept your powers hidden from everybody else!" Jazz exclaimed.
"I don't know, okay! It's just this weird feeling that I have around her!" Danny yelled back.
All three of them stared at him.
His cheeks became ruby red. "Not-not anything weird!"
Valerie smiled and just rolled her eyes. "Look, it doesn't matter. This just means we have to be extra careful around Sam. She's a clever one, so we just have to watch our step."
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"It's almost time. It's just a matter months," a vindictively suave male voice echoed through the halls of the grand building of City Hall.
"Are you certain, master?" Spoke a ghostly vulture.
"Absolutely," the man chuckled, his blue eyes gleaming with malevolence. "There's still some work to be done. As well as some troublemakers to care of."