Ghost in the Falls

Chapter 7

"Rise and shine!" Jack Fenton's booming voice broke through Danny's sleep, prompting him to shoot up in bed at the sudden loud noise. The sun poured through the window, Jack standing to the side, tying the curtain back. Danny groaned and dropped his legs off the side of the bed. Jazz had already left the room, leaving her bed neat behind her. "It's lovely day today, up and at 'em," encouraged Jack, prompting Danny to slink down the stairs and into the kitchen.

He automatically located the cereal and quickly began eating breakfast. Dipper and Mabel were seated at the table, Dipper excitedly conversing with Ford, who was stood next to him by the counter. Jazz was absorbed in a book, doing a good job of blanking out the rest of the world while she ate - particularly the ghost-related conversation that Dipper and Ford were having. "Hey, Danny, we've worked out a way to contain the Basan, you can give it to me now," Dipper called out to Danny, who wanted nothing more than to have the earth swallow him whole at this moment. After a painful few seconds of silence, Danny shrunk back into his chair and slowly shook his head.

"What?" exclaimed Dipper. "You do have it don't you?"

"I, um, let it go," Danny said reluctantly. "Away from the shack, and the town."

Unfortunately for Danny, his mother had been listening in on this conversation, and she was livid. "You went out in the forest, alone, at night!?"

Danny wished he could just turn invisible there and then. "Um, yes?" Danny said nervously. "But, I wasn't alone, Stan was there too, so it wasn't dangerous or anything." Danny added, trying to shift his mom's focus off of him. Stan began to choke on his corn flakes, which apparently seemed to be all the proof Maddie needed to give him a death glare as well.

"I have no idea what you're talking about kid," he said, dismissing the claim.

Thankfully, Jazz chose that moment to interject. "Danny was with Stan, don't worry Mom, I spoke to Danny afterwards, he's fine, I checked." Danny gave Jazz a sideways glance, praying that their mom would buy her lie.

"Well, if you say so..." Maddie conceded. "But I don't want to hear of any more late night escapades, and you have to be back here by eight in the evening, latest. Danny let out a breath in an almost comically exaggerated sigh.

Dipper gave Danny a suspicious glare. "Why would you let it go?"

This time, Danny could actually tell the truth, more or less. "Because it doesn't seem right to let you experiment on it. It belongs in the wild, not in captivity as a lab rat."

Dipper opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. "I wouldn't experiment on it!" he shouted.

Danny pushed his chair back and carried his bowl to the sink. "Maybe you wouldn't, but Ford would, and so would my parents," he said bluntly.

"That's not true, right Ford?" Dipper protested, but Ford merely shook his head.

"Well, I was intending on doing some experiments," he began. Danny stood smugly, then tried to get his face back into a neutral expression, and strolled back to his room to get dressed and ready.

He returned downstairs just in time to see that the other children (Jazz included) were either leaving the kitchen or had already gone. His parents had decided to go on a ghost hunt early, to 'get a head start on the spooks', leaving while telling Danny to behave. He walked into the living room, only to come face to face with Stan and Ford, who were bickering, standing confrontationally. Danny stood in the doorway, watching the events unfold, practically holding his breath.

"For the last time, I didn't go into the forest with him," said Stan, annoyance lathered onto every word.

Ford folded his arms. "Then why were your footprints on the ground when I came down this morning, and why was there dirt in your room?"