Royalty

Chapter 13: And then it got worse

Phantom woke up early in the morning. The sun rays seeping from the window irritated his eyelids, making the young king stir and rub his eyes. As he was doing this, the teen already noticed that he was not where he should be — his room in a world of mortals. As the realization dawned upon him, the memories of the previous day gushed like water from a broken dam. Danny bolted upwards from his bed with a gasp. The covers flew away, soundlessly falling on the floor covered by a blue carpet. Sam put away the book she was reading, with a soft thud it fell on the white covers, and she looked at him with a small, sad smile.

"Good morning," she mumbled.

"Morning?!" Danny whisper-yelled, not willing to wake up the entire house. After the last time he had started to lock the door, although it was unlikely to stop his giant of a father. "B-but..."

Sam leaned over the blankets and put a finger over his mouth. "It's alright, Danny. Calm down."

"Why didn't he tell me anything?" Phantom got up and paced around. "I'm going to get Fright for this."

"Calm down, Phantom!" The raven haired girl raised her voice sternly. Her calling him by his new last name struck a chord within the half ghost. Sam got up and approached him. "Rambling will do nothing to change it."

"How can you be so calm?! Your father is probably already turning your whole home upside down. And the entire world by extension. What are we supposed to do?"

"First, take a deep breath. Second, I had an entire night, I did worry, I was scared, but I cooled off and so should you."

Danny's lips thinned in thought while Sam gently took his hard hand. God, those beautiful ever-gleaming eyes of hers, pleading for him to heed her words. She didn't need puppy eyes of his to convince someone. He had grown too attached to them. Phantom sighed, putting his other hand on hers.

"If we are late than at least we should come there as quickly as possible. Maybe your Dad won't rip me apart. MUCH."

Sam rolled her eyes at his dramatizing. And his pointless hopes added to the absurdity of all. No, Undergrowth would rip him apart to the tiniest pieces there were. But better put the problem under the carpet for a short while. Danny quickly put on his usual clothes, including the new black jacket. Sam couldn't help but smile at seeing him like this. The jacket really suited him. But that wasn't done without washing up, the ghost girl just waited patiently, looking at the closed door of the bathroom. The dirty implications were quickly shaken off as her face greened. The tension had eased, albeit even after that Danny didn't seem to be in his brightest mood, the long face of his wasn't going to shorten just because of the cool water splashing into his face.

Nonetheless, the two went downstairs. The house was surprisingly quiet, a rare occurrence at the Fentons' place. One would enjoy the morning without any explosions serving as a bizarre alarm clock. But Phantom, on the contrary, was growing concerned. What could possibly make the eccentric scientists to stop their meticulous research for even the tiniest span of time? As Danny was pondering, standing in the middle of the living room, Sam got to the kitchen, humming a song under her nose. Phantom just watched her move around the room, about to make a breakfast. Shaking his head at her ignorance of their predicament, the half ghost chuckled. She looked like a usual human, accustomed to the ways of their lives. Then Danny's eyes widened.

"No, no, no," he stopped her. Sam looked at him with large eyes. "What did I say about the metal and the microwave?"

The plant ghost looked at the plate with oatmeal. There was a spoon. Sam chuckled in embarrassment, before putting it away. Alright, this time she was just inattentive. Smiling, Danny asked her to make something for him, too, before he opened the door to the lab. Sam just looked at his back, which disappeared down the poorly lit staircase. She was curious as well, but they'd better hurry. As it was far from the weekend. And the ghost girl was unsure about this whole concept now. To think that she would risk everything just for the sake of going to some place for extra work. Granted, she enjoyed it to an extent, but there was a much greater prize in all of this. The girl hoped that she wouldn't lose everything in but a moment. After all, the most beloved object is the one people are about to lose.