The Phantom Anomaly

Chapter Eleven

This time, when the world floods his senses, Danny is ready for it. He embraces it, riding out the wave until all of the information has settled in his mind. There, he quickly sifts through it and determines that all is calm.

When he turns around, Sam and Tucker have concerned looks. He flies up to the front windshield of the Specter Speeder. A bright green light reflects back at him. He glances down to see the crown shape on his chest shining though his hazmat suit.

"You alright, man? You've been out of it for nearly ten minutes now. Did Clockwork stop time?" Tucker asks in rapid succession.

Danny glances back at the time ghost, who smiles mysteriously. There is one answer.

"I'm fine. The Zone just overwhelmed me for a moment there, but it's okay now. Nothing is sti...." He pauses as something flashes right in the middle of the Zone.

He whips towards the source of the disturbance.

"Danny, what is it?" Sam asks. Her tone is worried, but tired. Too many 'new' things have happened in the last few days.

"You didn't see that?"

"It wasn't a visible sign, Danny." Clockwork says. "Only you can feel it. It's what I wanted you to discover."

Danny wordlessly starts flying in the direction of the disturbance. He vaguely notices his friends following him. The disturbance is suddenly very obviously not a threat-and it calls to Danny in a way that he hasn't felt before.

———-

If he were not drawn to this place, it would have been nearly impossible to find. Rocks float in a tight formation around the structure, blocking it from view. If Danny had to compare the view in front of him to something, it would be an asteroid belt. A wry smile crosses his face as he realizes that he is still making references to space, years after his astronaut dream died.

"Is this it, Danny? A cluster of rocks?" Tucker asks, his voice projecting from the Speeder.

Danny, without meaning to, finds himself raising a hand. As his palm faces the rocks, they glow slightly, then begin moving. Danny is shocked. So are his human friends.

"Is that....a castle?!?!"

Danny thinks that description is generous. The 'castle' is actually rather small. But it is no less grand. The white exterior walls do give a marbled impression. As Danny floats closer, he sees green mixed in with the white. He looks up at the roof, four stories above. It is a stony gray, in contrast with the walls.

"It's not a castle, Tuck." Danny heard Sam say somewhere behind him.

"It has towers." Tuck argues. He's right, Danny concedes. The towers, which he instinctively knows are for observation and defense, make the building look like a castle. Or a fort.

Danny reaches out to touch the wall in front of him. As he does, a set of green doors appears under his fingertips. The doors swing inward.

Danny turns back to his friends with a grin. "Welcome to my lair."

———

After calming Sam and Tucker down and explaining that no, he did not know why his lair only just appeared, Danny led a tour of the house. Castle. Mansion? He could choose a name later.