Phantom Falls

Chapter 10

Danny tiptoed past the bottom of the attic steps. It was past midnight, and he was determined to get the scoop on that Bill demon. He had almost given himself away with Dipper earlier, and he couldn't afford to stick around much longer. He was confident that Mabel would keep his secret, especially if she never saw him again. But Dipper was way too curious, and would probably follow him back to Amity Park if he found out he was Phantom.

Danny stopped dead as he heard a creak from upstairs. He had to make sure the kids stayed out of this. He was here to do a job, and he had to get it done quickly and go home. Secrecy was imperative.

Confident now that no one else was awake, he hurried out of the Shack and into the woods. Just to be safe, he would wait to transform until in the cover of the trees.

-----

Dipper froze, hidden in the complete darkness. Danny was looking toward the stairs. Dipper was sure that he had heard the stair creak as Dipper had set foot on it. Danny shook his head and continued to creep towards the door. Dipper slowly followed, taking care not to make any more noise. He got to the bottom of the stairs as Danny slipped out the door. He hurried after and peeked through the door. Danny was running into the forest. Dipper hurried to catch up, but lost sight of him as he entered the trees.

Dipper crept from tree to tree until he heard Danny's voice.

"Finally..."

Dipper turned toward the voice and saw Danny standing in a clearing. Dipper quickly ducked behind a bush to watch.

Danny looked around one more time, then sighed. "I'm goin' ghost!" he said to himself, a determined look on his face. Then a ring of white light appeared around his middle. It split and passed up and down his body, and as it went, he was transformed.

Dipper gasped. Danny had turned into... "Phantom?!"

Phantom turned, startled. "Huh? What-?"

"You were Phantom the whole time?" Dipper said incredulously, emerging from his hiding spot.

"I-"

"I can't believe this! You lied to me? All of that interrogation stuff- you were just trying to distract me!"

"Dipper-"

"Did you even consider that I could help you? I trusted you! I showed you the journal!" Dipper was shouting.

"Look, I couldn't have anyone else finding out, the whole point of a secret identity is to keep it secret!" Now Danny was on the attack.

"What do you mean anyone else? Do other people know?" Dipper stared accusingly at Danny, trying to catch him lying again.

Danny shifted nervously. "Well, Mabel guessed." He said, looking slightly ashamed.

"Mabel?! She kept this from me? Seriously?"

"Well, I asked her not to tell. Like I said, the point is to keep it secret."

"But we tell each other everything! You wanted my own sister to turn against me!"

Dipper was yelling so loudly that he was sure to wake something up. Danny glanced around the forest clearing quickly before saying, "Okay, that's going too far. Do you really think I'd do that?" Before Dipper could get out another word, Danny continued. "I came here to do something. I thought if you guys could give me the background info I could get it done faster. The first time you found me, Mabel figured out who I was within a minute. I swear I didn't tell her. You didn't know, and I saw no reason to enlighten you. The more people who know who I am, the more dangerous it is for me. I wanted to get this done and get out. Now will you please leave me alone to get my work done?!" Danny seemed unusually angry.

"You can't just leave me out of this!" Dipper shouted back.

"Yeah? Watch me." And Danny vanished.

"Come back here!" Dipper yelled, spinning on the spot to try to spot him. "I can't believe you're doing this to me! I thought we were friends!" But try as he might, Dipper couldn't get Danny to reappear. He was probably deep in the woods by now.

Dipper stormed off back to the Shack. It was time he had a word with his sister.

------

Danny zoomed off into the trees, invisible. Dipper was really starting to get on his nerves. He should have known the kid would figure him out eventually. He groaned to himself. What was he going to do in the morning? Everyone else would question it if he wasn't back at the Shack the next day.

He would just have to make some excuse and get out as fast as he could. His mission was in jeopardy.

------

Mabel woke with a start. Dipper was shaking her, an uncharacteristic look of anger on his face.

She yawned. "What is it, bro?"

"Why didn't you tell me about Danny?"

Mabel was suddenly wide awake. "What about Danny?" She asked nervously.

"Phantom, Mabel. I know." Dipper crossed his arms and looked at her accusingly. "Come on, you never keep secrets from me. What gives?"

She looked down. "I'm sorry Dip. Danny asked me not to say anything."

"So what? You're my sister! And you know I'd want to know about something like this." Under normal, non-betrayal circumstances, Dipper would be ecstatic to find a human-ghost hybrid. He could add so much to the journal. But both Danny and Mabel had deliberately kept this from him. How could they? Especially Mabel, she knew him too well.

"Dipper, I'm sorry. I just..." She trailed off, not knowing what to say. Dipper shook his head and climbed into the bed across from hers. He eventually fell asleep with his back to her. Mabel didn't fall back asleep at all.