Phantom Falls

Chapter 11

According to Stan, Danny had showed up early in the morning to let him know that he was leaving, and to thank him for his hospitality. Mabel looked disappointed as he told them this over breakfast, while Dipper glowered. Good riddance, he thought.

He glanced at Mabel, who gave him a sort of pleading, apologetic look. He looked back at his bowl of cereal.

-------

Danny was wandering through the woods in human form. He kicked a rock to let off his frustration. It didn't make him feel any better. Did Dipper really expect him to tell his deepest, darkest secret within a week of meeting him? How could he have been so careless as to let Dipper see him transform? That kid was too nosy for his own good.

And how was he going to get anything done now? He didn't know enough about this strange town to go it on his own. Maybe he should just leave.

But then, all the other innocents here would suffer. Danny was sure that Bill wasn't up to anything good, and the demon was much more powerful than most fiends he had fought before. He was right up with Pariah Dark on the danger scale. Maybe even higher. Danny didn't know exactly what he wanted yet.

No, he had to stay. He'd just avoid the Pines until this was all over. He pushed through more brush as he ventured deeper into the forest.

-------

"Dipper, I'm sorry, I-"

"Leave me alone."

"But-"

"No, Mabel." Dipper sat on his bed, facing the wall. He looked down at his journal, flipping through the pages about ghosts. He had read them a thousand times, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything else.

He had barely spoken to anyone for the past two days. Danny hadn't come back. That's what he got for trusting a ghost. A slippery, supernatural being that was anything but human. Dipper couldn't believe that he had been taken in like that. He couldn't allow himself to be tricked again, not by anyone or anything.

He heard Mabel leave the room for dinner as he turned another page. He read about the generals of ghosts, the different categories, and ways of getting rid of them. But somehow, Phantom didn't seem to tally with the other accounts he could find. He definitely had a solid, physical form, and that should rule him out as a ghost completely. Maybe he was a poltergeist? Dipper kept looking as the sky outside darkened.

Nowhere in the journal did it mention a ghostly ability to disguise themselves as human. How could he have possibly held that form for so long? Unless Phantom was something entirely different, something more powerful. He had said that he was here to fight other ghosts, but why would he do that? There was nothing specifically posing a threat. Well, except maybe Bill.

Bill! Dipper slapped his hand to his forehead. Bill had given him the answer at the very beginning! He had called Danny "Deadman". We're practically cousins, he had said. Was Phantom here to work with Bill, or against him?

Dipper lay back heavily on his bed. He couldn't decide what to think or how to feel. Danny had seemed trustworthy, but Phantom...

Suddenly, Dipper heard a scream coming from outside.

"Mabel!" Dipper jumped off his bed and ran down the stairs. He swung around the post at the bottom and crashed through the door, tripping down the porch steps and heading toward the forest. Mabel screamed again. It was a terrifying sound, desperate and scared. He had never heard her scream like that.

"Grunkle Stan!" He called, trying to get someone else to notice. "Soos! Wendy!" But nobody seemed to be around. He kept sprinting towards the woods.

She sounded like she was just inside the forest. Close, but he couldn't run fast enough. His feet felt huge and clumsy as he stumbled over rocks and exposed roots. He saw a white glow up ahead in the direction of Mabel's screams. Phantom! Was he attacking her? Dipper ran even faster.