Phantom Falls

Chapter 17

Dipper and Danny were conducting more 'experiments'. If 'experiments' meant screwing around with Danny's powers.

Dipper was strolling down the main street in town, Danny floating invisibly at his side. "Okay, there he is," Dipper muttered out of the corner of his mouth, jerking his head towards a dark-haired teenager.

"The emo kid?" Danny whispered.

"Yeah, his name is Robbie and he's a jerk. I'll get him out of the way, and you scare the pants off him!" Dipper tried to keep a straight face as Robbie spotted him.

Danny chuckled softly, watching Robbie walk over to them, though he could only see Dipper.

"What are you doing out alone, kid?" Robbie said aggressively. "Where's your lame sister, did she find someone cooler to hang out with?"

"Hey, Robbie," Dipper said nonchalantly, "Where's Tambry? She dump you already?"

Robbie glared. "She's at a dentist appointment, for your information. And-"

"Hey, you want to see something cool?" Dipper interrupted. "I guarantee you're going to like it."

"Yeah, like I'd go anywhere with you, loser." Robbie turned away and walked in the opposite direction from Dipper, into an alley off the street. Suddenly, Robbie's feet froze to the ground in a layer of ice. "Hey, what the-?"

A green glow appeared around a few pieces of trash in the alley started floating in circles around Robbie.

"Ahh!" Robbie yelled, trying to take a step back and landing on his butt as the ice broke. The trash dropped to the ground and Phantom appeared, translucent, above Robbie. Robbie screamed and scrambled backwards, Phantom following him with a blank stare.

"WooooOOOoooo," Phantom said in the scariest voice he could muster. He reached out a single hand toward Robbie, who jumped up and ran from the alleyway screaming.

"GHOST! THERE'S A GHOST! GET RID OF IT DIPPER!" But he was out of sight before Dipper could have done anything,

Dipper was on the ground, laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Phantom turned back into Danny and burst into laughter as well.

"Th-that... was... AWESOME!" Dipper said, panting.

Danny bent over, holding his stomach. "Did you see the look on his face? Priceless!"

Dipper wiped a tear from his eye, then said, "We should go tell Mabel! She'll love it!"

Danny nodded and they started heading back towards the Shack. They met Mabel just outside- she was chasing Waddles around the yard.

"Come here, come back you stupid pig!" She said, her voice a little more nasal than normal.

"Hey, Mabel, are you okay?" Dipper asked, worried.

"Oh," Mabel turned towards Dipper and Danny, "Hey P- I mean Dipper. You're back early."

"Mabel, are you okay? You sound like you have a cold," Danny said with concern.

She shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Okay..." But Danny had a bad feeling about this. As he and Dipper walked past Mabel to get a drink in the Shack, his ghost sense went off. He gasped, and Mabel turned her head to look at him. Something was wrong with her, something about her eyes....

As they entered the Shack, Danny pulled Dipper quickly into the kitchen.

"Hey! What's up?" Dipper asked, confused.

"Dipper, I think there's something wrong with your sister." Danny said quietly, looking over his shoulder as though he expected someone to be watching them.

Dipper tilted his head to the side. "Why, because she has a cold? What's wrong with that?"

"No! Dipper, I know the signs of someone who's been possessed by a ghost. My ghost sense went off when we walked past her, and she's not acting right. I think she might be-"

Dipper waved him off. "What ghost would want to possess Mabel? I think she's just out of it because she's sick. Or maybe she's mad because we've been leaving her out..." he trailed off guiltily.

Danny looked skeptical, but he said, "Maybe. I'm going to keep an eye on her, though. Just in case."

Dipper shrugged. "I guess we should include her more anyway. Let's go tell her about Robbie!"

Danny was still worried about Dipper's lack of concern, but he followed him out to where Mabel was standing in the yard.

-------

"I've really missed you, Dipper. I think we should do something, you know, just the two of us." Mabel said later that day, glancing at Danny.

Danny raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

"That sounds fun, Mabel. What do you want to do?" Dipper asked casually. He hadn't forgotten Danny's warning, but Mabel had been acting fairly normal all day. The only odd thing was that they couldn't get Waddles to come near her.

"Let's go for a walk," Mabel said, gesturing for Dipper to follow her into the woods. She glanced at Danny with a look that said follow us and you're dead. Danny's eyes widened but Mabel shook her head very slightly and he gulped and nodded. Whatever had happened to Mabel, she wasn't herself. What could he do?

Dipper had missed the exchange. "Come on then, let's go!" he said, happily oblivious.

Dipper and not-Mabel ran into the woods, leaving Danny standing at the edge with a shocked look on his face. Okay, obviously a ghost was overshadowing Mabel, but she knew about overshadowing, and she should be able to fight it. Was something even bigger at work? What about that demon, Bill? Was this his doing? Had he overshadowed her or possessed her, or was he just mind-controlling her?

Danny's mind was reeling. He had to do something to save Mabel, and Dipper too. Bill probably wanted him away from Danny for a reason. Should he risk following them? Would Bill recognize his presence, even if he was invisible? What would he do if he caught Danny?

After a few minutes of anxious thought, Danny decided that he didn't care what Bill did. He transformed into Phantom and flew, invisible and intangible, straight on the path the twins had taken.