Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Danny was in pain.  His afternoon wasn’t going how he’d wanted it to go at all.  And it was all because of the snake lady.

It had started earlier that morning, headed on his way to school.  It was a sweltering day in the beginning of June, the end of school nearing at a rapid pace.  Danny was ready for the welcomed break; the stretch between his freshman and sophomore year had hardly been fun, what with the reality twisting roadtrip from hell.  Now, ending his sophomore year and getting ready to be a junior, he wanted nothing more than some goddamn peace and quiet.  Sure, he still had the responsibility to protect his haunt.  And yes, said haunt was the international hub for paranormal activity.  But he still could dream, couldn’t he?

“Daniel James Fenton,” a hissing, demonic voice interrupted Danny’s flight to school.  He turned towards the sound, finding a woman standing below him.  He looked down her body and…well, scratch that, she wasn’t a woman.  Her lower half was completely snake, slithering and curling up at the end.

“What kind of ghost are you?” Danny called out in his ghost form, uniquely unnerved by this one.  She wasn’t glowing, she wasn’t flying up to get him, and beyond that, she simply made his skin crawl in a way ghosts usually didn’t.

“I’m not,” she seemed offended, humanly green eyes narrowing as she stuck out a forked tongue and hissed.  “Come down here, half blood, and accept your fate.”

Danny stilled at her phrasing.  He’d been called a halfa plenty of times.  Probably more than he could count.  But half blood?  That one was new.  Without meaning to, he let confusion play over his features before quickly returning to the witty, snarky teen hero he was supposed to be.

“Uh, no thanks.  How about you slither away, ok?” Danny let his eyes flash toxic green for a moment before returning to their ambient glow.  It was a silent warning, one the snake lady didn’t seem to understand.

“Now, child!  I don’t have time for petty games,” she wasn’t backing down, instead intensifying in her anger.

Instead of staying around to see just how serious she was, Danny decided to go invisible and gage her resulting reaction.  Her eyes stayed on him even as he moved a bit, and he felt a pang of fear within him.  She could still see him.  He flew towards the school, praying to the ancients under his breath that he’d lost her.

Of course, Danny wasn’t that lucky.  It was during lunch, outside with his friends, that he noticed her again.  He stiffened, rigid and nervous.

“Shit,” Danny muttered under his breath.

“What?” Sam asked, tone confused as she looked in the direction Danny was.  “Uh, do you know that random lady?”

Danny looked incredulously back at her before refocusing on the snake lady once more.  “You don’t see her snake tail for legs?”

Sam squinted at the lady before shaking her head no.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  Tuck?”

Tucker looked up from his PDA, turning over his shoulder and looking directly at the monster.  He looked back at Danny, confusion coloring his features.  “Dude, what are you talking about?”

The snake lady looked directly at Danny, baring razor sharp teeth at him before closing her mouth into a greedy smile.

“I’ve gotta go take care of this,” Danny decided, standing hastily from his spot at one of the many picnic tables.

He ran behind the school, to an alcove he knew all too well as one to transform in.  As he did transform, he felt a rush of thrilling chill run over him.  He was flying invisibly up to the snake lady just moments later.  She kept her eyes trained up on him, and his attention was solely on her as well.

“Hey, scaly!” Danny called down as he regained visibility, not because he had to but because he wanted to; it soothed him to snark.  “Why are you following me?”

The world slowed around them, and she did what Danny didn’t think she would do; she grew wings.  Her tail elongated so the end had a scorpion’s tail, and a series of terrifying, inhuman heads sprouted from her midsection.  Her green eyes became unearthly, not in the same way Danny’s were, but something entirely different.

“Holy shit,” Danny cursed, flinching back not of his own accord, but out of primal instinct.

“You will be mine,” she smiled devilishly, forked tongue now more snake than human and hissing idly.  She flew upwards, newly sharpened talons aimed directly for his throat.

Without another thought, Danny flew away and turned intangible, though his powers did little to protect him.  Even through his intangibility, she cut him deep in the midsection, right where his internal organs were.

“What?!” Danny cried out, unable to vocalize any other thought as the pain spread to every corner of his body.  He doubled over midair, falling hard to the ground with a few resounding cracks.

“Danny!” he heard both his friends call out in unison as the time around him sped once more.  They started to rush to his side, and his protective obsession kicked in immediately.

“Stay back!” Danny supported himself with one hand, the other held up to keep the others at bay.  While most of his fellow students had run in fear, his friends stayed near their spots, eyes wide with horror.

When Danny looked down at his stomach, he felt colder than usual.  The gash had been substantial, and some of his glowing green organs were visible between sections of glowing white skin.  Chunks of his hazmat suit were completely gone.  Green with red specks splashed over the ground below him.  He felt sick, dizzy, unwell.  With the upheld hand, he tried desperately to cover the damage that had been done.

So, yeah, Danny was in pain.  And it was all because of the snake lady, standing over him with the most diabolical grin he’d ever seen on a creature.

“Thermos!” Danny called out, though his head was swimming and growing slower in its thoughts.  “I need…”

The arm supporting Danny crumbled beneath him like wet paper.  His vision was beginning to blur, and with each uneven heartbeat, he felt more and more sluggish.  His eyes drifted closed, though there was something deep within him that kickstarted a second wind as he forced them back open.  His gaze trained on Sam, who was watching on with horror.  He nodded once, though it took nearly all of his strength.  She procured a thermos from the side pocket of her backpack, tossing it seamlessly to him, just as they’d practiced a thousand times.

But the thermos…didn’t work.  He’d aimed it right.  He’d activated it correctly.  The blue light flew out of it, and went straight through the snake lady.  Danny cursed an ancient slur he’d learned from Clockwork, an indistinguishable static haze to most but a distinct phrase to ghosts.  Snake lady affirmed his suspicions further by looking confused at the entire exchange.  Yep, definitely not a ghost.

Again, Danny let himself fall to the ground, clutching at his midsection with both hands now and awaiting his final moments as a halfa.  Oh well.  It was fun while it had lasted.  Now he would die for good, take up his mantle as ghost king, and slowly lose his humanity as all ghosts did.

“Percy, over here!” a male voice called out, loud enough for Danny to hear over the pounding in his head.  “Are you alright?”  Closer.  The voice was close, as Danny was to dying.

“I’ve got Campe!” a different male voice called out.

“Hey, I need you to open your eyes for me,” the first voice interrupted Danny’s slow and steady death.  “Cmon.  Stay with me!  Open your eyes!”

The last words were spoken with a cadence that reminded Danny somehow, impossibly like Freak Show’s scepter.  Danny complied immediately, though his gaze was so clouded, all he could make out was a dark form framing pale white.  Instead of saying something prophetic, or even intelligible, all he could do was make scrambled static sounds.  Ghost speak.  Danny couldn’t say anything else but a weak ‘help me’ in the dead language.

“I will,” the boy before him promised.  He somehow understood Danny, knew he was a ghost and yet also knew he was dying.  The boy’s hands enveloped Danny’s, applying pressure sure to help, though pressure that also burned.

Danny hissed out of his mouth, the sound rich with ancient meaning unknown to any mortal.  In the ghostly language, he continued.  “My friends.  Are they ok?  Is anyone else hurt?”

The boy (man?  no, boy) laughed humorlessly, shaking his head.  Still, the features were lost on Danny, though he could feel him shaking as he applied pressure.  “You’re the only one she was after.  Nobody else was hurt.  I promise.”

Danny let himself relax then, further than he had yet.  He still kept his eyes open, the command from before fresh in his awareness, though the wet, thick feeling in his head didn’t cease.  It grew worse, actually.

“I killed her!  Now get him on Mrs. O’Leary and we’ll get back to camp,” the second voice from before called out.

“Got it,” the boy before him affirmed before tilting his head back down towards Danny.  “I’m going to move you.  You might pass out.  But I’m not letting you die.  Do you hear me?”

More ancient phrases fell from Danny’s lips, something about his duty as king.  He wasn’t totally sure what he was even saying.  Before he knew it, the boy started to move him, and as predicted, Danny passed out.

Chapter Text

Danny was standing in a void of color and light, the shadows clinging to him like long lost friends.  He shifted his weight, and the void moved around him, an aura encompassing his entire body.

“Where am I?” he asked no one in particular.

“He speaks,” some of the shadows spoke in unison, voices different pitches and tones distinctly.

“Uh, yeah,” Danny muttered, trying to see past the thick veil around him.  Light peaked through occasionally, though was quickly obscured by more of his shadowy friends.  “Where am I?”

“You are safe, my child,” a voice from behind shook Danny from the slight feeling of safety.  He startled around to see a tall woman, her black hair pulled back into a loose pleat.  Her eyes were dark brown, and her rosy red lips pulled into a smile.  Her olive skin shifted idly, shadows creeping around her like animate webbing.

“Uh, I already have a mom?” Danny more asked than said.  He was somewhat used to ghosts trying to claim him as their own, but this woman was no ghost, he knew that much.  So, he stood his ground, despite the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him that she was right.

“You will see,” her voice seemed to pity him.  “They all shall see.  My work is not done yet.  You, my child, are the golden apple I have tossed into this mortal world.”  Her lips spread into a wide grin, eyes wild with determination.  “The world will kneel to you.  My son.  The king of ghosts.”

Danny shivered hard at her words.  He knew she wasn’t bluffing; she truly believed Danny would rule the world.  The thought terrified him.  “Look, lady—“

“Hush now,” she cut him off with her words, a hand held up.  At the move, the shadows around him shuddered in fear.  He could feel their terror, their disdain for the lady before him.  “You will wake now.  Remember my words.  I believe in you, Daniel.”

Danny sat bolt upright, gasping in air and looking frantically around.  He was lying now, in a small room he didn’t recognize.  The building smelled old, and the creak of wood directly to his right was proof enough of its age.  He whipped his head to the right, coming face to face with someone he didn’t recognize until he spoke.

“Hey, you’re ok,” the boy from before spoke.  Not the one who was far away, but the one who’d spoken to him, who had understood his ghost speak.  “Do you know what’s going on?”

Before he could think to answer, Danny looked down.  He was wearing his normal clothes.  He looked around for any reflective surface, frantic and beginning to hyperventilate.

“Calm down, you’re ok,” the boy tried to dissuade Danny from panicking.  It didn’t work, however, as Danny pulled his hair down in front of his eyes.

It was black.  His hair was black, his transformation had dropped, and he was completely screwed.  “You can’t tell anyone,” Danny rushed the words out through quick breaths.

“I won’t, I—“ the boy started.

“You don’t understand,” now Danny was pulling at his hair in frustration.  “If they find out— I can’t— I—“

“Calm down,” the boy laid a hand on Danny’s leg, and he finally got a good look at him.

This boy was somehow paler than Danny was.  He had dark bags under his eyes like he hadn’t slept in ages.  His jaw length black hair was just as dark as Danny’s, eyes hazel and focused solely on him.  There were a few rings that adorned his fingers, and his dark leather jacket was too big for him, the cream colored sherpa within poking out just a touch.

“Who are you?” Danny asked, trying desperately to cling to something he could understand.

“My name is Nico,” the boy — Nico — was patient as he spoke.  “Can you let go of your hair and take a few deep breaths for me?”

Slowly, shakily, Danny removed his fingers from where they were tangled in his hair.  He followed the action by trying to gather his breath into something coherent.  It was difficult, but eventually, he was breathing at his usual rate.

“Sorry,” Danny muttered, wrapping his arms tightly around himself in a sort of self hug.

“Don’t be,” Nico smiled just a little at him.  “Your secret is safe with us.”

Danny stilled at his words, overly anxious nervous system threatening to take over once more.  “Us?  Who’s ‘us’?”

“Percy will join us soon,” Nico explained without really explaining.

“Who’s Percy?” Danny asked, trying desperately to keep from overreacting.

“He’s the one who killed Campe, the monster who attacked you,” Nico was quick to answer.

Danny settled a bit at the information.  Nico and Percy were the ones who had saved him.  He would be alright.  Finally being calm enough to truly take stock of himself, Danny let tentative hands slide down to his midsection.  Nico removed his hand from Danny’s leg, quick and careful.  When Danny lifted his shirt, he found he was bandaged.  Red with hints of glowing green seeped through the thickly wrapped area, and whenever he breathed, he could feel skin pulling at itself.

“You took a pretty nasty attack,” Nico spoke with a hint of regret.  “I’m sorry Percy and I couldn’t get to you in time.  We could have helped you fight her.”

Danny let his shirt fall, looking slowly back up at Nico.  “She wasn’t a ghost, was she?”

Nico shook his head no.  “She wasn’t.  If she was, I’m sure you would have made quick work of her.  But that’s ok, we can train you to take out monsters like her.”

“Monsters,” Danny tasted the word in his mouth.  “What kind of monster?  What…where am I?”

“Campe is a Greek monster.  A pretty gnarly one, too.  You’re lucky we made it back to camp when we did.  Will was able to patch you up and get you some nectar and ambrosia…some medicine.  Just a few minutes later, and we wouldn’t have been so lucky,” Nico finished with a long sigh.

“Camp…like…a summer camp?” Danny asked.

Nico snorted once.  “Yeah, kinda like that.”

Before either of them could say or do anything more, someone knocked three times on the door across from Danny.  Neither of them answered when someone walked in, head held high and concern cornering his features.

“Oh, thank the gods you’re ok,” he spoke like he was relieved, though why was beyond Danny.  He didn’t recognize this person at all.

“Uh, yeah.  Who are you?” Danny asked.

The teen straightened up, amusement creeping onto his face.  “Right.  I’m Percy.  Nico and I intercepted you from Amity Park three days ago.”

“Three days—!” Danny tried to sit further up, at which point Nico held him down with one hand.  Danny glared, eyes going green in the heat of the moment.  “Why didn’t anyone wake me up?  Amity needs me!”

“They’ll be fine,” Percy chided, taking a seat next to Nico, who seemed to squirm uncomfortably at the close proximity.  “Listen — you could’ve died.  Do you not understand that?”

Danny snorted out through his nose, crossing his arms over his chest and looking pointedly away from the other two teens.  “I almost die all the time.  What’s so different about this time?”

“You know this was different,” Percy urged Danny to hear him out.  “You know it was.”

“Whatever,” Danny bit the word out.  He shuddered as he breathed, tears threatening to fall though he blinked them from his misty eyes quickly.  “What about my friends?  Did you at least tell them where you were bringing me?”

After a stretch of silence, Danny looked back at Nico and Percy, who seemed to be having a silent conversation via looks alone.  Finally, they looked back at him, faces taught and unmoving.

“We didn’t,” Percy spoke slowly.  “You can send an Iris message, though, and get in touch with them.”

Danny furrowed his brows, confused and not afraid to show it.  He shook his head slowly, not knowing what to say right away.  “What the hell is an Isis message.”

Nico almost burst out laughing, at which point Percy sent him a stern look before addressing Danny once more.  “An Iris message is something demigods send to avoid phone usage.”

“Oh.”  Danny thought for a moment.  “When can I talk to them?”

“How about we get you through orientation first,” Percy started, staring Danny down with the intensity of a tropical storm.  Those sea green eyes pierced right through him, loyal and dependent yet acutely volatile.  “What do you know about the Greek gods?”

Chapter Text

So, Danny had a lot of questions for his parents.  For his dad, in particular.  Like, for example, what the hell?!  Why hadn’t he at least warned Danny of his godly nature?  Why the hell was he learning about some godly fling his father had from two people he just met?  All this to say — he was pissed off.

“Maybe he wanted to protect you,” Sam reasoned.  After talking with Nico and Percy, Danny had Iris messaged his friends, effectively scaring the shit out of them.  Now, they were talking about the recent events, most of which Danny had a problem with.

“I guess…” Danny agreed reluctantly.  “Percy did say that once demigods know about their true parentage, they attract more monsters.”

“Percy Jackson…” Tucker trailed off, deep in thought.  “That name sounds so familiar.  Doesn’t it sound familiar?”

Danny thought for a few moments before looking around the alcove he’d claimed.  When he was sure nobody was listening in, he leaned into the misty image.

“Look him up,” Danny instructed.  Tucker nodded and typed away on his laptop.  A few moments later, he looked up, completely and utterly shocked.

“I knew it!” Tucker exclaimed.  “Percy Jackson, at the age of twelve, four years ago, was on an FBI most wanted list for terrorism?”

Danny let out a short chuckle, not entirely sure what else to do.  “What?”

“He was absolved of all crimes,” Tucker went on, “but the manhunt was wild.  They chased him and two other kids across the country.”

“Well…” Danny smiled a little, “I guess I’m not the only one with a bit of a bad boy streak.”

“For the love of god, please behave yourself,” Sam muttered.

Danny’s chuckle erupted into a short, harsh laugh.  “Behave myself?  Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“Dude, if you have to stay there until you’re fully healed and trained to fight monsters, maybe you should keep your head down,” Tucker suggested, tone tight with worry.

“Whatever,” Danny crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, unsuccessfully trying to hide a wince at the action.

“That thing got you good, yeah?” Sam asked, concern lacing her tone.

“I’m fine,” Danny mumbled.

“You’re obviously not,” Tucker stated the obvious.

There was a pervasive silence for a few moments.  Danny broke it with a long sigh, looking down at his feet and trying to stop trembling.  “Well, I should get going.  I stay in the Hermes cabin until I’m claimed by my godly parent.  Or until the new arrival cabin is finished being built.  Whatever comes first.”

“Well,” Sam smiled, genuine and caring as usual, “take care of yourself, ok?”

Danny let a small smile play on his lips.  “Yeah.  I will.”

“And kick some monster ass while you’re there, yeah?” Tucker tried for supportive.

“I will.  Just…” Danny thought out his next words carefully.  “Take care of yourselves.  Don’t overexert yourselves trying to protect Amity Park.  Ok?”

His friends wore tight lipped smiles as they nodded, and Danny wasn’t very convinced.  He waved a hand through the rainbow mist shortly thereafter, wiping away tears collecting in his eyes quickly once he was done.  This didn’t feel right.  He needed to be home, had to protect his haunt.  If he couldn’t, if he didn’t…he didn’t want to think about that.  So he didn’t.  Instead, he meandered over towards the amphitheater, where a group of teens were gathered.

“Hey,” Danny waved a hand in front of him, offering a small, cautious smile.

“Oh my gods, this is the guy I was telling you guys about!” a girl with long black curled hair and pristine makeup squealed.  She was practically vibrating with energy, sparkling dark brown eyes staring him down.  “Isn’t he a cutie?”

Now, Danny was used to that kind of energy when he was in his ghostly superhero form.  But as just plain old Danny Fenton?  No, that didn’t happen often.  It didn’t happen at all, actually.

“Uh, thanks?” Danny tried not to offend her, tried not to make an enemy of her, though he still showed his disinterest.

“Oh, don’t be that way,” the girl waved a hand in front of her.  She held it out, looking down at it before looking back up at Danny.  “It’s called a handshake.  Wanna try?”

Danny reluctantly complied, shaking her hand once before pulling back quickly.  “I’m Danny.”

“Drew,” the girl, Drew, spoke with an air of importance.  The other kids around her watched on, forgetting their prior conversation completely.  “So, what do you say we get away and get to know each other a little better.”

It was difficult for Danny not to laugh in her face.  He wasn’t especially interested in anyone these days, let alone girls.  For a while, he’d thought maybe he could be with Sam, but then she came out as a lesbian and that went down the drain.  The idea of being with someone he just met wasn’t congruent with what he wanted, so he shook his head no.

“I think we can get to know each other just fine here,” Danny said, tone hesitant.

Drew’s pristine smile dropped, a small scowl gracing her features.  “Ah, I see.”

“It’s nothing personal!” Danny was quick to try to defend his actions.  “Really.  I just got here and need to get to know the place.“

There must have been a certain vulnerability in Danny’s voice, as Drew’s face softened into a gentle smile.  “I get it,” she spoke again, tone different somehow.  Lighter.  Less powerful.  “Want a tour, then?  Myself, Mitchell, and Lacy can show you around.”

Danny nodded, thoroughly relieved.  “That would be great.”

The girl with Drew introduced herself as Lacy, and the boy as Mitchell.  Together, they took a tour of camp.  Drew pointed out the Aphrodite cabin, a garishly pink building that he could smell from yards away, the scent flowery and somewhat like his grandma’s perfume.  Next, the other cabins, each of which was so acutely different it would take ages to describe each one.  Then, the new cabins being built, one of which was for newcomers unclaimed by their godly parent.

The climbing wall had spikes and lava.  Cool.  The training was with real weapons.  Again, cool.  What wasn’t so cool were the woods, whispering promises of mystery and untold stories of the dead.  Danny’s ghost sense went off the moment he was even near the forest.  He decided to stay clear for the time being.  He needed time to rest, after all.

By the end of Drew’s tour, they were near the lake by the strawberry fields.  Drew had since released her cabin mates, so it was just herself and Danny talking.  She seemed more genuine now, when it was just the two of them.  They were sitting on the dock, legs dangling off the edge and bare toes grazing the water’s surface.

“So, I hear you’re from Amity Park?” Drew asked.

“Yeah,” Danny huffed out a low breath.  His head hurt thinking about his haunt and not being in it.  He rubbed his forehead with a cool hand anxiously.  “Yeah.”

“We don’t have to talk about that, if you don’t want to,” Drew rushed her words out.  “I just heard it’s, like, super haunted.”

Danny nodded.  “It is.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah.”

Silence crept in, though not the uncomfortable kind.  Something about Drew reminded him of Sam.  Sure, she primped and preened like Paulina, but at heart, she was just trying to keep it together.  Danny could almost sense it.  He let himself smile at the reminder of his friend.

“You’re going to do ok here,” Drew determined after a long stretch of not speaking.  “I can tell.”

“Yeah?” Danny asked, genuine and cautious as he eyed her carefully.

“Totally.”  She beamed at him, smile near blinding.

The rest of their conversation was about nothing in particular, just random things.  Danny told a story about his sister’s stuffed animal, Bearbert.  Drew talked about the traditional sushi her dad would make.  It was nice.

After a long while, dinner was announced and they had to put their shoes back on and leave.  The food was magically served, though Danny could see the outlines of the invisible servants.  When he asked if anyone else could, the Hermes cabin campers stared at him like he’d grown a third head.  He moved on to focus on his comfort meal — a chicken dish his sister made whenever his parents animated the food with ectoplasm.  It made him both happy and sad, at home and homesick.

That night, after everyone had fallen asleep in the Hermes cabin, Danny crept through the cabin carefully, light on his feet with a touch of flight.  He phased through the door, stepping out into the space just outside the Hermes cabin.  With a long sigh, he went invisible, floating up above camp and scouting things out.  He’d seen camp half blood from the ground, but from the sky, it almost looked like a normal summer camp.  Almost.  If only that were true.

Chapter Text

Getting called to the big house was pretty much like being called to the principle’s office.  That is to say, it’s not pleasant.

Danny had been training with the rest of the Hermes cabin when it happened.  He’d just sent his fourth arrow into the unknown, almost hitting someone in the process.  Apollo’s head camper, Will, had taken the bow from him and given him disapproving look.  So, apparently he wasn’t in that cabin, though that much was clear already.  He’d had visions of a woman veiled in shadows, not of a man draped in sunshine.  Still, it was important to explore all options.  It was after he’d been dismissed from archery practice that Chiron himself had galloped up to him and summoned him to the big house.  A series of ‘ooo’s followed shortly.  Danny wasn’t happy, though he bit back his indignation.

“You’re probably wondering why I called you here,” Chiron started upon settling into his spot on the porch.

“Yeah,” Danny sighed as he spoke.  “I am.”

“Well, I think it’s important you talk to your parents about where you are,” Chiron stated, tone matter of fact.

“Oh?” Danny raised a brow.  He laughed once, chest puffing with the action.  “Have you met my parents?  They’re fine.  I’m sure they haven’t even noticed that I’m gone.”

Chiron nodded before turning towards the TV on wheels that had been brought out.  It had antennas that stuck straight up, as well as a place to put on a VHS tape.  All that to say, the thing was old.  He turned on the TV, and it was already to set to a channel Danny recognized: the Amity Park local news.

“This is Lance Thunderman, reporting from Fenton Works.  I’ll hand it over to Jack and Maddie Fenton to elaborate on their claims,” Lance explained.

The camera zoomed out, and there were Danny’s parents on either side of the reporter.  Jack took the microphone as soon as he could, anger brimming in his usually joyful eyes.

“Phantom, you get back here and bring me my son!” Danny’s dad screamed into the mic, effectively causing feedback.

Danny’s mom reached out and grabbed the mic from her husband, shushing him when he tried to complain.  “Sweetie, I’ve got it from here.”  She looked directly into the camera, eyes serious as a heart attack.  “Our son, Danny Fenton, has been taken by our local menace, Phantom.  He must be stopped, once and for all.”  A picture of Danny’s ghost form filled the corner of the screen before she could continue.  “If anyone has any tips as to where our son or Phantom are, please call the line below.”

A phone number flashed across the screen, most likely a direct line to the police tip line.  Danny shuddered, the thought of being hunted like game flashing through his mind.  He worried his hands in his lap, blinking a few times to make sure he was really seeing what he was.  Upon realizing he wasn’t mistaken, he sat on his hands to keep them from trembling.  He hardly knew Chiron, after all, and having a full blown panic attack in front of him might not be the best way to get acquainted.

“What are you thinking, Danny?” Chiron asked, tone low and nonjudgmental.

“I’m thinking my parents want me dead,” Danny sneered, looking pointedly away from the screen as a commercial came on for a new hummer or something else Sam would hate.

“And why do you say that?” Chiron continued his nonchalance, as though he truly just wanted to get to the bottom of this.  As if he wanted to understand.

“Because you know about my secret.”  Danny looked back at Chiron now, flashing his green eyes and letting them return to their natural blue.  “I know Percy and Nico told you.”

“Yes, and?” Chiron asked.

“And,” Danny took a shaky breath.  “I’m not a human.  I’m part ghost.  And my parents hunt ghosts.”

“I suppose,” Chiron ventured, “but would they hunt ghosts if they knew about your condition?”  He said the word ‘condition’ like it wasn’t something good nor bad, simply something that was.

“I don’t know,” Danny’s answer was a whisper so soft he could barely hear it himself.  He cleared his throat.  “I don’t know.”

“Well, that is not a question we need answered today,” Chiron determined.  “What we can do is talk with your parents and assure them that you are safe.”

Danny clenched and unclenched his fists, looking down at his empty palms.  He could fly, erect frozen structures, battle primordial beings.  Yet he couldn’t stand up to his parents.  But, like Chiron said, that’s not something for today.  So instead of lingering on what he didn’t need to do, he focused on what he did need to do.  And that was calling his parents.

Chiron let Danny take up his office inside the big house, an old leathery room with countless books and soft jazz filling the air.  He dialed his home phone number, the one his parents had engrained in his mind from a young age.  It was hardly a single ring when someone picked up.

“Hello?” Danny’s mom sounded frantic.

“Hey, mom,” the words half stuck in his throat.  He cleared it, trying to maintain a level of confidence he didn’t have.  “I saw you on TV.”

“Jack!” she called out, voice loud against Danny’s ear.  A few moments later, and there was a click.  Then, they were both there, laughing in the way he knew meant they were crying too.  “Oh, honey, where are you?  Are you ok?!”

Danny took a deep breath, trying not to be combative with his words or tone.  “Dad, what do you know about the Greek gods and goddesses?”

All noise from the other end still save for heavy breathing.  Danny almost thought the call had dropped, but no, there the breath of his father was, loud and daunting.

“Jack, I told you we should’ve told them!” Danny’s mom scolded, voice heavy with concern and regret.

“I thought we had time!” Danny’s dad replied.

“Well, apparently we don’t,” his mom countered, tone sharp as a whip.

“What, exactly, are you two talking about?!” Danny chimed in, thoroughly confused at this point.

There was a long, pensive silence before his mom spoke again.  “Sweetie, your father and I didn’t have you and Jazz together.  Your father met a goddess years ago, and I met one, too.”

Danny stilled at the information, trying desperately to figure out exactly what she was saying.  “So…wait…what?”

“Well, for me it wasn’t exactly an affair a child would come out of!” his mom was quick to try to explain it away.  “Athena and I just had a really great few days at a convention on biochemical neurobiology.  Next thing I knew, Jazz showed up at my doorstep.”

Danny, admittedly, didn’t know much about Greek mythology, so he knew he must have been missing some sort of details as to how that was possible.  Still, he relented with a sigh.  “Ok.  And you, dad?”

“Well, the goddess I met wasn’t as forthcoming about her true nature as Athena had been,” his dad explained in the softest voice Danny had ever heard him use.  “We talked at a convention.  She watched me fumble around.  She was…intimidating.  Beautiful.  Nothing compared to your mother, of course.  Ah, er, my wife your mother.  Not the goddess your mother.”

“I get what you mean,” Danny fought the urge to poke fun, as much as he wanted to.  “So who is she?”

Again, silence rang.  “I don’t know,” his dad admitted.

“What?!” Danny all but yelled, unable to contain himself.  “But— what do you mean you don’t know?”

“Look, we can figure this out later,” his mom chided.  “Where are you, Danny?”

“A place called camp half blood,” Danny mumbled his answer, thoroughly upset and not afraid to show it.  “So you can call off the witch hunt for Phantom.”

An eery beat of quiet came between them.  “Honey,” it was his mom who broke the silence, “it’s not that simple.  We still need to get Phantom.  He’s a menace to society.”

“Ok.  Well.  Don’t expect me to help,” Danny barked.

“Danno—“ his dad started.

“Don’t ‘Danno’ me!” Danny was yelling now.  “You’re targeting someone innocent just because you can!  How does that make you any different than the ghosts you hate?”

“Danny,” his mom’s tone was stern and unyielding, “you will not talk to us like that.  You know we’re only trying to protect you.”

“Protect me?!”  Danny let out a sharp chuckle.  “If you wanted to protect me, you would’ve sent me somewhere safe before I was attacked by a monster!”

“Are you alright?” his dad was quick to respond.

“Yeah, I am.  So you don’t need to worry about me.”  With a huff, Danny slammed the phone back down onto the old receiver.

He’d just hung up on his parents.  And it felt good, in the moment.  There was some twisted part of him that wanted them to understand how he felt, the pain and betrayal gnawing at him.  When Chiron found him, he was pacing the old centaur’s office, manipulating an idle ball of glowing green energy between his open palms.

“Danny,” Chiron’s voice was steady as ever, “what happened?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Danny muttered, his pacing still not stopping.

“I’m going to need you to slow down.  To calm down,” Chiron urged.

“Why?!” Danny yelled, a hint of his ghostly wail shaking the entire building.  He stopped his restless pacing now, standing directly in front of Chiron, who was now folded into a wheelchair.  “I don’t need to do anything.  I’m only here to get better, then I’m leaving.”

“That’s not feasible,” Chiron tried to explain.  “Monsters will be swarming you now that you’re aware of your true nature.  At the very least, you must know how to fight them.  Proper training is in order.”

Danny let the ball of ectoplasmic energy die in his hands.  “Great.  Just…great.”

Chiron wheeled closer to Danny, most likely sensing the tears building up within him.  “Danny, I understand that this is difficult.  Probably more than most people would understand.  But I’m only telling you this for your own safety.”

At the word ‘safety’, Danny straightened up, a detail from his conversation with his parents coming to mind.  “My sister,” he breathed the word out.

“What about her?” Chiron asked, patient and calm.

“She’s a half blood, too,” Danny explained, eyes meeting Chiron’s directly and pleading.  “You have to send someone to go get her.  She could be in trouble.”

“Danny—“

“You need to!” Danny yelled, fists balled at his side.

“I wasn’t going to argue with you,” Chiron said.  “I’ll send a team out immediately.”

Danny relaxed at that.  “Good.”  He rubbed a hand down his face, suddenly drained of energy.  “Thank you.”

Chapter Text

“Danny?”

“What?” Danny groaned, languid and annoyed.  He was sleeping, and someone was right next to him and trying to talk to him.

“Danny.  Wake up.”

“Five more minutes…” Danny grumbled.

“You’ve been asleep for almost twelve hours.  It’s time to get up,” it was Nico, Danny was able to recognize him now.

“So let’s make it thirteen…I’m tired,” Danny muttered, turning over and away from Nico, eyes still sealed shut.

“Danny…”

“Say my name one more time, and I’m going to punch you in the face,” Danny threatened.

Shuffling sounded from behind Danny, and he could tell Nico was sitting and getting settled.  There was a long stretch of silence before Nico spoke again.  “You’ve been staying in bed a lot lately.”

“Yep.”

“What’s going on?”

“Go away.”

Again, Nico shifted.  “I’m not leaving until you tell me.”

With a long breath out, Danny sat up and looked at Nico directly.  “I’m fine.  You can leave now.”

Nico scowled, clearly annoyed.  “I’m just trying to help you.  Don’t you know that?”

Finally, Danny broke.  He put his head down in his hands, involuntary tears springing to his eyes.  Over the last two days, it seemed all he did was cry.  It was embarrassing, beyond so.  He didn’t feel like he had anybody to really lean on at camp.  Even Drew, who had proven to be a good friend, wasn’t able to lift him out of his depression.  So there he sat, sobbing into his palms while Nico sat awkwardly next to him.

“Fine, I’m not ok,” Danny relented.  “I don’t know where Jazz is.  My parents want me dead.  Or, deader.  My friends are busy fighting ghosts in my— in Amity Park because I can’t be there.  It’s all my fault they’re even attacking, and I can’t be there to help.  To…”

“To…?” Nico urged Danny to continue.

“Doesn’t matter.”  Danny palmed the tears from his eyes before looking right at Nico.  “I told you.  Can you leave me alone now?”

“Let’s get some food,” Nico decided in spite of Danny’s refusal.  He got up to his feet a few moments later, holding out a hand for Danny to take.

“Fine,” Danny spoke low in tone, grabbing Nico’s hand hesitantly and letting him help him up.

Lunch was being served just as Danny and Nico walked into the pavilion.  Nico gestured for Danny to sit with him, a clear rule broken, and Danny complied.  The invisible servants served a cheese burger similar to one from the Nasty Burger, and Danny couldn’t even muster up a smile at the familiarity.  Nico stared at him while he ate, clearly making sure he ate at all.  The care wasn’t something Danny was opposed to, he just wasn’t receptive to it either.  So, he ate his food after scraping off a part of it to the gods.  He didn’t pray, however.  Why would he?  There was no helping him when he wasn’t in his haunt, when he wasn’t actively pursuing his protective obsession.

During training with the Hermes cabin, Danny was so out of it he got hit a few times, not even bothering to put up his intangibility.  At one point, he’d been knocked down to the ground by a burly Ares cabin camper named Clarisse.  He laid on the dusty dirt ground, staring up at the sky and not getting up.  Percy ran over to him, as he’d been instructing the sword training.

“Danny, are you ok?” Percy’s voice was near frantic as he tried to reign in his obvious worry.

“I’m fine,” Danny ground out through clenched teeth.

He was so done with that stupid sentiment.  Of course he wasn’t alright.  Why would he be?  Everything was wrong.  He just wanted things to go back to normal, back to the way they were before that damn snake lady he couldn’t remember the name of tried to kill him.

“I’m taking you to the infirmary,” Percy decided, holding out a hand for Danny to take.  He did, though reluctantly, and a few moments later they were making their way to the big house.  Again.  Yay.

Chiron looked at Danny with an unreadable expression as the two of them passed.  He went back to his game of cards with Mr. D (who Danny still hadn’t formally met) a few seconds later.  Drew, who had been lounging by the lake, ran over the moment she saw Percy with Danny in tow.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Drew asked, quickening her pace to keep up with Danny, who was keeping up with Percy.  They walked into the big house, one at a time through the old doorframe.

“Nothing,” Danny grumbled.

“Danny’s not acting like himself,” Percy answered.

“You don’t even know me,” Danny muttered under his breath.

“Yeah, you don’t even know him,” Drew agreed, tone high and shrill.  She stomped her foot when they stopped in front of the infirmary’s door.  “What the hell, Percy?  Stop telling him what to do.”

The last statement — the demand — held a weight to it Danny couldn’t quite describe.  It went beyond his cognition and right to his instincts, though he was able to pull away from them with enough willpower.  Percy, however, turned back with a dazed look and nodded.

“Do what you want, Danny,” he sounded distant, as though it wasn’t him speaking.  Without another word, Percy walked past the two of them and out the door they’d just walked in from.

“Lock the door,” Drew whispered, pointing at the rickety white painted door Percy had just exited through.  The persuasion in her voice wasn’t present, though Danny still did has he was told, simply because he wanted to.

“What was that?” Danny asked, a bit of his wild edge coming out as his eyes sparkled for the first time in days.

“It’s called charm speak,” Drew explained without really explaining.  “Now, what do you want to do?”

Danny stilled at the question, unsure of how to answer it.  What he desperately wanted was to go back to his haunt, but that wasn’t an option at the moment.  So instead, he looked down at his feet and sighed.  “I don’t know.”

“And you don’t have to,” Drew nodded as she spoke, confident and reassuring at the same time.  “Hey, have you ever explored the big house?  Like…alone?”

“No,” Danny said as he looked up, a mischievous smile working its way onto his face.  “But I’d love to.”

When Drew grabbed Danny’s hand to lead him up to the attic, he knew she felt the rush of cold he was emitting.  He saw her shiver, after all.  But she didn’t say a word, instead simply running with him in wake up the rickety stairs.  Upon entering the attic, Danny felt a definitive shift in energy.  Something horrible had happened there, he knew it.  There was a three legged stool in the center of the far end of the room, and the dark aura swirled dangerously around it.

“That’s where the old oracle used to sit,” Drew pointed to directly where Danny was staring.  “Now, the new one lives in a cave.  She’s weird.  And redheaded.”

“Hey,” Danny looked back at Drew, joking tone evident.  “My sister’s a redhead.”

Drew snorted.  “Ok.  Well, maybe she’s the exception, then.”

“Whatever,” Danny sighed as he spoke, staring back at the stool and trying to put together the puzzle pieces Drew had laid out for him.

Unable to get a clear picture, he turned to a long table along the edge of the room.  There were various dented shields and bottled monster heads, all labeled meticulously.  A few objects stood out, however.  One was a small piece of fabric, pink and shimmering.  When Danny stepped closer, Drew held a hand out in front of him, shaking her head slowly with a cautious expression on her face.

“That’s love magic.  Straight from Aphrodite, my mom,” Drew’s voice was low and warning.  “Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near it.”

Danny nodded, turning his attention to a long claw instead.  It almost reminded Danny of Dora’s claws when she’d once been cursed as a dragon.  This one, however, wasn’t attached to anything, looking to be long since ripped out.  The label read ‘Luke Castellan, Landon’s Claw’.  Danny didn’t know what that meant, but Drew tensed as she looked on as though the thing might reach out and grab her.

“What about that one?” Danny asked.

“You don’t want to know.”  Drew looked pointedly away from it and at a stuffed monster heads on the wall.  “This stuff is weird.  Maybe we shouldn’t have come up here.”

“Why not—?” Danny started.

The door to the attic slammed open from where they’d closed it behind them.  Percy stormed in, looking like a hurricane itself.

“You two are in so much trouble.”

And they were in trouble.  Danny met Mr. D for the first time.  It wasn’t pleasant, and he kept calling him Dave instead of Danny.  Himself and Drew had been put on dish duty, which meant washing the plates and cups and cutlery with hot lava.  That night, the two of them buddied up on the task, chatting idly when Drew brought up a topic he rather wished she had not.

“So, I’ve been looking up Amity Park.  Have you heard of that Phantom character?” she asked, tone leading, as though she knew something she knew he didn’t want her to.

“I said I didn’t want to talk about it,” Danny snarked, looking down at the lava.  He silently thanked the ancients that he had an ice core, and wondered how Drew was doing it without one.  The thought was fleeting, however, as Drew pressed on.

“Actually, you never said that,” Drew pointed out.

“Oh, look, we’re done,” Danny made a quick excuse, shedding his long fireproof gloves and setting them to the side.

Drew turned directly to Danny, removing her own gloves and throwing them behind her.  “You’re changing the subject.  I know you’re him.  I don’t know how nobody else has put the pieces together.  But I did.”

Danny turned and walked out of the back of the kitchen, not even regarding his new friend.  When she followed, he grumbled a few words in ghost speak, a phrase he’d learned from Clockwork about how annoying humans were.

“What was that?” Drew asked.  When Danny didn’t stop or respond, she planted herself just outside the mess hall.  “Stop.  Turn around.”

Again, the words had a certain pull to them.  Danny was able to kickstart his free will with the help of his ghostly nature, though he did turn around and storm up to her, fiery as ever.

“You can’t do that!” Danny near shouted, a finger pointed directly at Drew.  “Stop trying to force people to do what you want.”

“But—“ Drew began to argue.

“And drop the whole ghost thing, ok?” Danny yelled now.  He was aware he was drawing a crowd, though he didn’t care.  “I don’t want to be your puppet.  I don’t want to be your next obsession.  I’m just trying to be.  Ok?  Got it?”

“Danny…” Drew trailed off, looking directly above his head.

“What?  You can’t even look me in the eye?” Danny continued to yell.

“You’ve been claimed,” Drew spoke slowly, gently, even.

“What?”  Danny was quick to look up.  A glowing golden apple shone above his head, rotating slowly and pulsing with idle energy.  When he looked back at Drew, she was kneeling, just as the small crowd around him was.

“Daniel Fenton,” Chiron chimed in from behind Danny, causing him to turn around at a dizzying speed.  “Son of Eris, goddess of discourse.”

Chapter Text

Eris was, apparently, not the most popular goddess.  She started the Trojan war, for one.  She was a minor goddess with little influence except for her role to play in said war.  And now, what with the dreams Danny was having, he had a hunch she was planning something big.  Again.  And Danny was at the center of it.

“So these dreams,” Chiron began, “how often are you getting them?”

Danny yawned, having been roused early that morning on account of the meeting being held.  All cabin heads were present, Nico and Drew flanking Danny somewhat protectively.  Chiron was the first to speak after everyone settled down, sitting at the head of the table.

“Every night,” Danny replied after a while.

“And what’s the vibe like?” Will, head of the Apollo cabin, asked.

“I don’t know,” Danny grumbled, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck at all the attention.  “She’s trying to be this, like, calming mom.  But she’s so not.  And there’s all these shadows that are like, super afraid of her.  They’re nice, though.  Just scared.  And she’s always calling me her ‘golden apple’.”

Danny made a point to leave out the messaging about his ghostly half and eventual ascension to the holder of the crown of fire and ring of rage.  Instead, he looked down at his lap, resting his hands there in a failing attempt to appear calm and collected.

“That’s not good,” a burly man from the Hephaestus cabin spoke low and grumbling.

“Well no shit, Sherlock,” Drew snapped.  “We already know this isn’t good.”

“Hey, no need to get all angry,” Percy chimed in.

“I’m not angry!” Drew yelled, clearly angry.

“Calm down,” Chiron mediated with a long sigh.  “Yes, this is certainly not ideal, but we won’t be able to fully assess until we hear from the oracle.”

At that very moment, the door the to the porch of the big house where they were sat slammed open, revealing a teen with a head of curly red hair.  She smiled at everyone, paint smeared across her face and arms sparingly.

“Hi everyone!  Did someone call for an oracle?” she asked, stepping farther into the porch and letting the door close behind her.

“Rachel, this is Danny Fenton,” Chiron motioned towards Danny as he spoke.  “Danny, this is our oracle, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.”

Rachel walked right up to Danny, hand held out in greeting as her green eyes smiled warmly at him.  Her grin was near blinding, teeth stuck out like an over confident predator.  “It’s nice to finally meet you, Danny.”

Danny took her hand slowly from where he was sat, shaking it once before letting it go.  “Yeah, you too.”

“I think it’s time you stop by my cave.  I’ve got a few things we need to iron out,” as Rachel spoke, Danny swore he felt a bit of his ghost sense coming up.  He decided to tuck that piece of information away for later, however, as he instead stood and followed Rachel out of the big house.

“So…you’re the oracle…” Danny trailed off awkwardly, unsure what else to say.

“Yeah, I sure am,” Rachel was chipper as she replied, a bounce present in her step that confounded Danny.  This was a dire situation, wasn’t it?  So why was she so ok with it all?  He didn’t understand.

The rest of the walk to the cave was quiet save for their footsteps and the sound of gossiping onlookers.  Danny scowled the entire way, completely done with being the center of attention.  Why was it always him and not someone else?  Of course it would always be him, right in the middle of the trouble, the chaos.  Maybe he really was his mother’s son, after all.

When they arrived at the coveted cave, Rachel pulled back thick curtains and motioned for Danny to enter.  He did, taking tentative steps in and looking around skeptically.  It was a cave, after all.  How nice could it be?

The truth was, the cave was lovely.  There were floating candles strewn around the area, easels and art supplies littering the expansive space.  The walls of the cave were either crystals, jutting out at odd angles and scattering light around the cavern, or draped fabric hung strategically.  There was a room off the far end of the cave, a curtain obscuring Danny’s view into it.

“Come, sit,” Rachel spoke calmly, motioning towards the two chairs with an ornate table sat between them.

Danny nodded, walking briskly towards the seat facing the entrance to the cave and sitting down.  Rachel was quick to follow, sitting across from him.  She clasped her hands together and rested them on the table, staring Danny down with unprecedented confidence.

“So…what exactly am I doing here?” Danny was the first to speak, looking down at his lap as he did and fiddling with his fingers in anxiety.

“I have a prophecy for you.  I can feel it coming,” Rachel explained, effectively drawing Danny’s attention back up towards her.  “I host the spirit of Delphi, which is probably why you can sense some ghostly energy coming from me.”

Danny tensed at her correct assessment, bristling against his better judgment.  “How do you know I…how…?”

“Oracle powers,” Rachel smiled wide as she spoke.  “Pretty neat, huh?”

In all honesty, Danny didn’t know what to do with that piece of information.  He knew a great deal of ghosts, but the only one who could look into the future was Clockwork, though his powers went far beyond just watching.  Rachel, however, was nothing like Clockwork.  Where he stood tall and stoic, she was fiery and full of life.  He tried fruitlessly to wrap his head around just what she must have known.  The possibilities were endless.  He swallowed sandpaper.

“Yeah.  Cool.”

“Now,” Rachel laid her hands flat on the table, palms up towards the sky.  “Put your hands in mine.”

“What?” Danny scoffed, shifting a bit in his seat.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” Rachel winked, “hard.”  The joke was lost on Danny, who simply stared on in silence.  Finally, Rachel sighed, speaking in a less chipper, more understanding tone.  “Look, I know you don’t trust me.  You don’t have any reason to.  But I’m only trying to help.  The dreams you’re having?  Yeah, they’ll only get worse until you go on your quest.  And it’s camp policy that nobody goes on a quest without a prophecy first.  So…can you take my hands?”

With a slow nod, Danny did as he was told, placing trembling palms down against Rachel’s.  In an instant, the candle light seemed to dim, Rachel’s eyes glowing bright green in an unearthly way.  A breeze erupted around them out of nowhere, sweeping her thick red curls up with it.  Rachel’s grip tightened just as Danny had the instinct to pull back.  She opened her mouth wide, though her lips didn’t move with the words that came from her.  Her lips didn’t move at all.

“A half of a whole - a part of a ghost, will disappear when needed most, to stop the one who calls him son, or war that will have soon begun,” the words were rhythmic, almost poetic.  Just as Danny tried to pull back again, Rachel’s hands tightened further around his.  She continued.  “Must travel to the world unknown, and meet the one who you call home, return with allies new to the gods, despite mother swaying the odds.”

With a sense of finality, the wind picked up before stopping abruptly.  Rachel let go of Danny’s hands, and he pulled them in towards himself the moment she let go.  Her eyes stopped glowing, and she closed them along with her mouth, taking a long deep breath through her nose.  Danny stared on as she collected herself, taking deep breaths before opening her eyes and staring right at him.

“Is that all?  Is it done?” Danny’s voice was a whisper of his usual tone.

Rachel smiled and nodded.  “Yes.  That’s all.  You remember your prophecy?”

“Uh…yeah,” Danny muttered.  He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to forget it.

“Good.  Then head back to the big house.  Do you want me to walk with you?”

“No, you seem tired,” Danny was quick to deny her offer, standing and taking in Rachel’s clearly exhausted form.  “I’ll go.  Thanks…I guess.”

“Of course,” Rachel smiled a bit as she yawned.  “Please, come visit any time!”

Danny strode hastily out of the cave, looking back over his shoulder as the drapes closed behind him.  He shivered hard, turning out towards camp as his arms wrapped securely around himself.  He hurried away from Rachel and her spectral weirdness, opting to go near the lake instead of the big house.  He wasn’t sure he could face the others right now, and even if he could, he definitely didn’t want to.  So, instead, he let his feet dangle off the dock, flip flops discarded next to him as his toes dipped occasionally into the tepid water.

“There you are,” Drew’s sing song voice came from behind him.  Danny turned to look at her, expression no doubt a mask of distress and anxiety.  “Hey, what happened?”

“I got a prophecy,” Danny explained, shuddering in and out a deep breath before continuing.  “I don’t know how to feel about it yet.”

“Well, let’s go tell everyone else, yeah?” Drew bargained.

“Not yet.”  Danny looked down at the water, noting how the places his toes touched froze over just slightly.  “I just…I need a minute.”

“Well then, can I join you?” Drew asked carefully.

Danny’s gaze fluttered up to Drew’s, the smallest of smiles coming to his face.  “Sure.  That would be nice.”

Drew took a seat next to him, though she crossed her legs and shivered a bit.  Noting that he must have been spitting out cool air like an AC unit, Danny drew his ice core back into himself.  The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Drew cleared her throat, drawing Danny’s attention back to her’s.

“Hey, I’m sorry about last night.  You know, after doing the dishes and everything,” Drew started.

“It’s fine, I—“ Danny began, only to be cut off by a perfectly manicured hand coming up from Drew’s lap.

“I’m not finished,” she continued.  “So what if you’re Phantom?  That was your secret to share on your own.  So, again, I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” Danny sighed, looking down at the water where the little pieces of ice from before were melting.  “Really.  That means a lot.”

“What do you say we go back in there and stir something up, huh?” Drew asked, earning a wide, shit eating grin from Danny.

“Yeah.  I could be alright with that.”

Together, they walked back to the big house.  Danny knew they were going to send him on a quest, though he didn’t exactly know what to expect or what that entailed.  Whatever it was, though, he could rest assured that he had a few friends here at camp.

Chapter Text

They did want to send Danny on a quest.  Upon hearing the prophecy (or, at least, the second half of it) the head counselors immediately began dissecting it.

“It doesn’t feel complete,” Annabeth scowled as she leaned back in her seat, tone low and calculating.  Danny hadn’t had any official interactions with her yet, though she scared him.  She was so smart.  She’d figure out soon enough that Danny was holding back, and he hoped he’d be gone on the quest before that happened.

In response to Annabeth’s disposition, Danny shrugged.  “I don’t know.  That’s all she said.”

“Maybe I should go get Rachel—“ Annabeth started, getting up.

“Hey, come on, we need you to help with this,” Percy coerced her to stay, grabbing her hand in his and smiling up at her.  “Stay.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, a hint of humor in them, before sitting next to her boyfriend once more.  “Fine, seaweed brain.  But we’re not leaving until we figure out what to do next, then.”

“Deal,” Percy agreed, beaming at his girlfriend and giving her a quick peck on the lips.

“Barf,” Clarisse, the burly Ares head camper, stated her discomfort.

“Whatever,” Annabeth sent Clarisse a quick, sour glance before turning back to Danny.  “Now, can you say it again?  I want to write it down.”

Danny took in a deep breath before speaking, all the while sitting on his no doubt shaking hands.  “Must travel to the world unknown, and meet the one who you call home, return with allies new to the gods, despite mother swaying the odds.”

Annabeth was quick to scrawl out the prophecy.  “Ok.  What do you think it means, Danny?”

All eyes turned to Danny again, and he shuddered in and out yet another deep breath.  “Well, a world unknown…that’s what my parents said the ghost portal in our basement would lead to.  When I…I mean, when it opened, it ended up letting a bunch of ghosts into our realm.  But there’s plenty of ghosts who stay in the ghost zone and don’t leave.”  Danny thought for a moment, trying to find a way to speak more without revealing too much.  “Maybe that’s where we need to go.  Maybe those ghosts are who we need to find.”

“Makes plenty of sense to me,” a girl from the Demeter cabin nodded as she spoke.

“Ok, so how do you get to the ghost place?” a Dionysus camper asked.

“Ghost zone,” Danny was quick to correct him.  “And you have to have a fully functioning portal.”

“Ok, so how do we make a portal?” Annabeth pondered aloud.  “To punch a hole through realms…that’s some hardcore stuff.  How did your parents do it?”

Again, all attention was back on Danny.  He was careful with his wording, speaking slowly as he thought through exactly what he was saying.  “There was an accident.  Let’s just say…portals like that aren’t opened without a sacrifice.  No, we’re not going to open one here.  We have to go back to Amity Park.  I have to go home.”

Silence pervaded the atmosphere, dampening the mood.  “So that’s the quest,” Percy said near quietly.  “Go to Illinois, get access to your parents’ portal, and…what, make friends with ghosts?”

“I think so,” Danny shrugged.  “I know it seems out there, but some of these ghosts are good.  They still have some humanity left, and they want to help people.  Trust me, this could work.”

“Ok, but why do the gods need more allies?” Annabeth continued to question.  “I mean, they’re gods.  We just took down Kronos.  What else could be out there that’s so terrible?”

“What about the other ghosts?” Drew asked from next to Danny.  “You said some of them are good.  But what about the rest of them?”

Something didn’t sit right with Danny about that explanation, though he didn’t show it and instead nodded along.  “Yeah, could be about them.”

“What other threats could there be?” Drew countered, a hint of sass in her tone.  “Cmon, you know I’m onto something.”

“Well,” Chiron reigned in the discussion with a gruff voice, “the exact meaning of the prophecy is not important at this time.  These things always fall into place at the end.  What we need to do is get a team together to go on a quest to Amity Park.  So that’s begs the question,” he leveled his gaze with Danny, “who do you want to come with you?”

Danny’s eyes went wide, confusion coloring his features.  “Me?” he asked, pointing to himself.  “You’re asking me to choose?”

“Well, yeah,” Clarisse grunted.  “What, do you want us to hold your hand along the way?  Man up.  This is your quest.”

Danny chuckled humorlessly at her words, looking down at the wood grain in the table.  “I…I want Drew with me.”

The atmosphere in the room changed drastically at that admission.  Drew stiffened beside Danny, and everyone else wore expressions of worry or confusion.

“She’s just an Aphrodite kid,” the Hephaestus head camper scoffed.  “What use could she possibly be?”

“Hey,” Danny snapped, gaze going to him in an instant.  “She’s my friend.  And beyond that, she has her charm speak and the ability to help us fit in with costuming and such when we’re in the ghost zone.  She’s a valuable addition.”

By the time Danny finished, he was looking back at Drew, who was blushing furiously and smiling ferociously.  “Thank you, Danny,” she spoke with a fraction of her usual grandiose, though nobody seemed to pick up on it but Danny.

“Alright, then who else?” Annabeth asked, begrudging attitude not lost on Danny.

“Well…” Danny trailed off, looking around the table.

Percy was a skilled fighter, and he knew about Danny’s secret.  Only problem was that he was needed here at camp.  That much had been made clear in Danny’s time at camp half blood.  Quickly, his attention turned towards Nico, who was sat right beside him.  Nico, who had been the first other half blood he’d met (besides his sister, obviously).  Nico, who not only knew about his secret, but also could understand ghost speak.  Most importantly, Nico could control the dead with his words.  That sealed the deal for him.

“Well…?” Chiron broke the silence, voice lilting with recognition.  He must have sensed Danny’s answer, as his gaze lingered back and forth between himself and Nico.

“Nico,” Danny stated.  “I want Nico on our team, too.”

“See, that choice makes sense,” Annabeth was quick to sigh out.  “Thank the gods.”

“So it’s settled, then.”  Chiron got up from his spot, in his full horse glory.  “Danny, Drew, and Nico will be going on this quest.  You will leave tomorrow morning with provisions given by camp.  The three of you will report to the big house after dinner to discuss further details.  Is everyone in agreement?”

There were a few unsure murmurs from the group, though nobody objected to the plan.  At least, not verbally.  With a sense of finality, people began standing and chatting to one another in small groups.  The meeting was over, and Danny now had a hint of a plan.  He needed to take Drew and Nico with him to the ghost zone and find Clockwork.  Or Frostbite.  Hell, even Dora or Pandora would be ok, so long as they were friendly to him and his friends.

After the other campers had left, Danny made his way over to Chiron, who was looking at him expectantly.

“Danny, what is the matter?” he asked coolly, completely engaged and not distracted in the slightest.

“Do you know where Jazz is?” Danny asked, voice quick and biting.  “I’ve been trying to Iris message her, but I can’t get through.  Do you know why?”

There was a long pause before Chiron sighed and motioned for Danny to sit.  He did as he was instructed, waiting patiently for the centaur to continue.  Finally, he did.  “Our rescue party went missing looking for Jazz.  We confirmed that they made contact with her, but…well, that’s about all we know.  I’m sorry, my boy.”

Danny nodded, turning his head to look out at camp.  People were busy with their daily tasks, not a care in the world.  And Danny?  Well, Danny was drowning.  He could feel his energy being sapped.  He was away from his haunt, he hardly knew anyone here, and his sister was missing.  Oh, and his parents wanted him more dead than he already was.  How could he forget that crucial fact?  The world felt like it was against him, and no matter how hard he tried to right the wrongs, nothing changed.

“Ok.  Thanks for telling me,” Danny heard himself mutter.  He stood on uneasy legs, turning and getting ready to leave Chiron when he cleared his throat.  “Yes?” Danny asked, turning back to look at the camp instructor.

“We won’t stop looking,” Chiron said with conviction.  “We don’t accept defeat so easily, you know.”

“Yeah, whatever.”  Danny took a few steps towards the door before Chiron spoke again.

“I’m serious.  I know the adults in your life haven’t cared.  But I do, young man.  So don’t discount everything I say, alright?” Chiron’s voice raised to a slightly louder volume this time, causing Danny to stop in his tracks and look carefully at him.

“Thank you, but…” Danny searched for the right words.  “This is more than you can handle.  I’m more than you can handle.  But I appreciate the effort.”

With that, Danny left, one thought in mind.  He would leave camp, go home, and investigate his sister’s disappearance.  Drew and Nico could continue with the quest if they wanted to, but Danny wasn’t giving up on Jazz that easily.  She wouldn’t have given up on him.  She hadn’t, even in the most dire of situations.  So he would do exactly what she would do, no matter the cost.