Seeing Double

Ghosted - Part 6

The necklace had some kind of magic to it. Though Danny felt silly for thinking it, he had no other way to describe it. The brief glimpse he'd gotten of the dragon shrinking was stuck in his head. There had been a regular person wearing the necklace, right? He didn't know who it was, but he thought they were wearing a dress. A student who had attended the dance?

Not a ghost, in other words. He was sure of it. Whoever she was, she hadn't been glowing at all. She'd looked completely solid and-

Or maybe he just wanted to believe it was possible. The urge to try the necklace on was powerful. He'd broken the string, but it would be easy to tie it back together. Though, if he did, would he have control over the dragon? Or would it take on a life of its own?

Better not to, he decided. But he added it to his utility belt. For emergencies, he reasoned. There were so many ghosts in Amity these days, after all. Most of them weren't as friendly as Phantom.

He was just taking off his coat and tie when Phantom knocked on his window. He dropped the jacket and left the tie loose around his neck so he could run over and open it. But he held up his hands. "Don't come in yet!" Danny whispered. "Let me turn off the ghost alarm."

Phantom nodded.

He had to run down to the basement to find it. Dropped something on the way, probably broke it. Oh well. He was in a hurry, he'd deal with that later.

When he got back to his room he waved Phantom in and tried to control his breathing.

But control was uncontrollable. The harder you try, the more you lose.

So he shoved a pillow against his face and panted into it. He groaned.

"Are you okay?" Phantom said.

Danny gave him a thumbs up.

Phantom took his pillow.

"Just breath, don't fight with it."

Easy for him to say. Danny didn't dignify that with a response.

He just opened his arms.

It surprised him when Phantom hugged him. He thought he'd just toss the pillow back.

That's what Danny had been asking for, but this was nice too. Phantom was cool. Pleasant against the sweat he'd worked up running down and up the stairs.

Danny's breathing went back to normal without him noticing.

But Phantom noticed and pulled away. He hovered above the bed with his legs crossed.

"Is this the part where I give you my I'm Sorry I Was a Dick speech?" Danny said.

"Sure, then I'll follow it up with my Whoops, Sorry I Stalked You speech," Phantom said.

With a straight face!

The monster.

Danny chuckled. "You weren't stalking me."

"Haunting, stalking, same difference."

"Aw c'mon, it was a perfectly normal human-ghost friendship." Danny wanted to pull Phantom into another hug, but the desire embarrassed him. So he ignored it.

"I popped in on you getting dressed one too many times," Phantom said. "Loitered while you were sleeping. Ignored too many boundaries."

"I would have said something if it bothered me."

"You did."

"That doesn't count! I was angry."

"Because I crossed the line."