#ectober trick

Taking boards off a door with a crowbar wasn’t ever going to be quiet. Sam had given up on even trying. At least this building was pretty isolated. She grunted and wrenched the last board free. It clattered to the ground.

Normally she didn’t do this alone. Urban exploring was dangerous. Even if the building wasn’t actually in danger of falling down upon you, there could be other people around who didn’t want you there. Going off on your own without telling anyone where you were was a recipe for disaster. 

Sam tried the door. It shuddered under her hand, but didn’t open. She checked around just to make sure no one was around. Then she wound up and smashed the glass on the door. Once, twice, until she had a hole wide enough to get her arm through. Carefully, Sam reached in and undid the deadbolt from the inside. 

Like that, she was inside the North Mercy Hospital.

It looked nothing like she remembered. When Spectra and Bertrand had opened the hospital up, it had appeared to be a dreary, oppressive building with caged lights and heavy metal doors. Like something straight out of a really awful horror movie about medical torture. Now that their influence was gone, it looked strangely normal. It had tiled floors and walls that had once been painted white, but were now covered in water stains and graffiti. There weren’t many ceiling tiles left, which made the rooms look weirdly skeletal. Moldy chairs and abandoned office equipment littered the back entrance she’d broken into. Overall, it looked like she would expect of a normal abandoned hospital.

For a moment Sam wished that she had told Danny she was going to do this. He would be able to search the building ten times faster. She couldn’t keep relying on him, though. Danny had seemed certain that by blowing up Spectra’s ‘body’ he had ruined any hope of her doing anything else nefarious with the hospital. Tucker was scared silly of hospitals. Sam was going to make sure that all of Spectra’s lab was gone, and she would do it herself.

It was still bright outside, but the hospital was dim enough that she had to pull out her flashlight to see where she was going. It would probably have made more sense to start at the entrance, instead of a side room, but Sam hadn’t wanted to risk getting caught. 

The office area gave way to a hallway with storage closets, all filled with long-abandoned records and equipment. Then she found her way into a main hall. This looked more like where they had been kept, if one exchanged the horror movie skin from her memories for something that looked like an actual hospital. If the hospital had been abandoned for ten years, of course. The whole building reeked of mildew. Some of the doors were broken off their hinges, and bits of what had once been ceiling peppered the floor. Sam was very glad she’d worn her good boots.

At the end of the hall she found a directory. It listed a bunch of doctors by their office and specialty. Initially she just skimmed it just to try and figure out what might need to be close to a lab, but then something caught her attention. 

Dr. Penelope Spencer: Inpatient Psychiatry - 126

Cold spread down Sam’s spine. Was she seeing things? There was no way that this was the same place where Spectra has practiced medicine when she was alive. Hadn’t she started out pretending to be a guidance counselor? It didn’t make sense.

Or maybe it did, and there was just a piece she was missing. Hopefully this wasn’t a trap. Sam wasn’t sure her pride could take it. She looked at the directory again and walked towards where she hoped she would find room 126.

---

It didn’t take too long to find the right room. It was easy enough to find: the wall next to it had been used as a door not too long ago. Sam was pretty sure she knew who’d done that.

Her flashlight didn’t really light up the room very well. She could only make out a small area at a time. A desk, an area of countertop, a suspicious metal table, a large metal thing that was large enough for a person to step into. Sam didn’t know a whole lot about early 90s psychiatry, but she was fairly certain that the whole metal table and weird collection of machinery wasn’t normal. 

It was fairly warm in the room, but Sam felt goosebumps dot her skin. This was a place where one of her best friends had been tormented. It didn’t sound like he’d been in here for long, but Danny always understated the stuff he went through. 

Her flashlight swept over another row of countertops, and Sam stopped dead in her tracks. Something was moving. She considered turning her light off, but it was probably too late for that to matter. Instead she put the beam of light back where she had seen movement.

It was a large glass jar. Considering the state of the building, Sam was surprised that it was still intact. Then something green moved inside it. She moved closer, slowly. Sam felt suddenly very aware of where she was. Both in the sense that she was alone in an abandoned building, and in the sense that she felt over-aware of where she put her feet and hands. Every step could be wrong. Any move could be too fast.

When she took the light off of the jar, she could see inside of it more easily. It held a large green insect. Unnaturally large. The thing had to be the size of a hamster. Its many legs were held beneath it as it flitted around the jar, bumping into the glass over and over. Sam knew a little bit about insects from gardening, but this didn’t really resemble anything other than a giant, mutated mosquito.

Danny hadn’t destroyed everything. At least one of those awful ghost bugs had survived. Sam swept her light near the other jars and found even more ghost bugs in a variety of colors. Why were these here? Had they been some sort of awful backup plan, or had Spectra just decided that she had enough kids as it was?

“Well, then, that’s quite enough,” said a nasally male voice behind her. Sam froze. She definitely should have asked Danny to come with her.

A green, ghostly form swirled around in front of her. Bertrand. He was a weird one - strong enough to have a human form, but he rarely bothered except when acting as Spectra’s assistant. Instead he usually went around looking like a jumbo-sized blob ghost. He was also an incredibly dangerous shapeshifter. 

Sam flipped open the wrist-ray on her right arm and raised it at him. “I will shoot you,” she said, hoping that her voice didn’t shake. 

“Oh, yes, you probably will. But your dear little loverboy isn’t here, is he? No one to protect you. What a shame.” His voice was like oil, slippery but clingy and impossible to ignore. 

“What are you doing here?” Sam tried to slowly back out of the room, one step at a time. She didn’t really think it would work. He could go through walls; she couldn’t.

“Checking in on our experiments,” Bertrand said with a grin. “Would you like to see one? These were something of a Plan C that never really got implemented.” 

Sam remembered how she felt during the whole ghost sickness thing. Floating had felt wonderful for about half a minute, until she realized she couldn’t stop it. She had no control. No matter what she did, she was moving upwards until someone stopped her ascent. If someone hadn’t grabbed her in time, she would have floated up into the sky until she froze to death, too far to cry for help.

Bertrand smiled, toothy and vicious. “Oh, I see you understand. Well then. What shall we do for you?” He pointed at each of the jars before settling on one. “Ah, yes, you did have an interesting encounter with that overgrown shrub.” He raised the lid on the green bug.

It was way beyond time to run. Sam turned and dashed through the broken wall. Even with her flashlight, the halls seemed suddenly too shadowed, too confusing. Which way was out? The way she had come in was too far. 

The worst part-

Something cold and wet wrapped around Sam’s ankle. She hissed out a breath and grimaced at the feeling, even though she wanted to screech and jump. That was just going to encourage him.

“We’re in class,” she whispered at the ice-covered hand around her ankle. They were supposed to be doing silent reading. The hand went away. A few seconds later, Danny popped back into visibility in her peripheral vision. He pouted at her, those big puppy dog eyes of his really working overtime. Sam wasn’t immune to it, but she was tired, so she just shook her head and went back to the reading.

The worst part was the ghostly pranks and scares. Danny was so far keeping his desire to spook people to Tucker, Sam, and Jazz. If they hadn’t been in class, Sam might have played along with it and acted surprised. Ignoring him ultimately meant that he was going to try harder next time. But if she had made a noise, people would have looked, and they might have noticed Danny wasn’t in his seat, and…

For the first time in her life, Sam couldn’t wait until Halloween was over.

Thankfully it was the last class of the day. When the bell rang they ran to the lockers - some more literally than others. Sam grabbed Danny's arm to keep him at least slightly grounded.

They got to Tucker’s locker first. He opened it up to grab something, but stopped. Inside, all the books were lined up so they stood on their edges, somehow balanced on top of each other. If one moved, the whole thing would come down.

“Okay, I’m honestly impressed with this one,” Tucker said. “How did you balance them like that?”

“It took… a while,” Danny admitted. “Did you really think catching the Box Ghost took me all of lunch?”

In the end, the books did end up falling out of the locker. Danny grinned at the chaos, but he instantly launched into trying to recruit them for his next prank.

“Come on, it’ll be fun! You just have to mess with the circuit breaker to her room. When she sees I’m not doing it, she’ll be freaked out.”

“This isn’t sounding like a very ghostly prank, dude,” Tucker argued. “Besides, last time your sister got mad at me, I ended up with ecto-goo in my hair. You don’t know how long that takes to wash out.”

Danny groaned. “I already pulled everything else I can think of. Put all her books in the wrong order, moved everything in her room slightly to the left, taped a knife on Bearburt and made it fly around. She’s jaded. I even put food coloring in her shampoo, but apparently she’s been checking it every day just in case.”

Sam laughed. “Then what makes you think that Tucker playing with the lights is going to get any more of a reaction?”

“I don’t know! I’m just trying to think of something that won’t get me sucked in a thermos again.”

The argument continued as they walked to Danny’s house. Rather than put Danny’s plan into action, they went up to his room and got out the Mario Kart. Danny kept spending more time messing with them than trying to win. As far as Sam was concerned, it was a perfectly acceptable use of his energy. It hadn’t stopped her from winning almost half of the games, after all.

Then the power went out.

“Oh, come on!” Danny grumbled. “I really hope Mom and Dad didn’t blow the power out again.” He got up and opened the door to the hallway. It was still perfectly well-lit. Danny blinked and tried the light switch. Nothing happened. “Uh, Tucker?”

“I’m right here,” Tucker said. “Sure it’s not a ghost thing?”

“My ghost sense didn’t go ott,” Danny said. “And I kinda doubt Plasmius would bother just turning off my lights. I’m gonna go flip the breaker.”

Sam and Tucker shrugged but stayed where they were when Danny went to go fix the lights. As soon as he stepped into the hallway, the lights there went out.

“Okay, what the hell,” Danny said with a bit of a waver. Instead of going downstairs, he knocked on his sister’s door. “Jazz?”

She opened the door. “What is it?”

Danny’s face fell. “There’s something going on with the lights.”

“Okay? I don’t know what you want me to do about it,” Jazz said in a short tone. “I’m trying to get my homework done tonight.”

“I know, I just… wasn’t sure if you were doing it?” He smiled a little nervously as he said it. Jazz huffed.

“I’m not nearly as childish as you, Danny. Why don’t you go figure it out?” With that she closed the door. Danny turned back to Sam and Tucker.

“I’m gonna be right back. It’s probably some wiring that got messed up last time Mom and Dad recalibrated the house defenses.” He walked down the stairs right in time for the main living room lights to turn off.

“You okay?” Sam called down.

“Y-yeah! Just give me a minute!”

Beside her, Tucker whispered, “I forgot how scared he gets when there’s no ghost involved.” She elbowed him, but either Danny wasn’t paying attention or was slightly too far for his super-hearing to pick it up.

As Danny made his way to the garage, more lights turned out around him. Tucker and Sam lost sight of him when he got to the garage. That’s when all the lights turned back on.

Danny flew back upstairs - literally. His eyes were wide. “Yup, just dumb wiring! I’ll let Mom and Dad know later. Nothing weird.”

Tucker and Sam shared an amused glance. “What happened?”

“Nothing!” he said in a voice that was way too high. “Went in the garage and there was nothing wrong with the fusebox.”

The lights went out again. Danny jumped so high he almost hit the ceiling.

“You alright, Danny?” Sam asked. “You look like you saw-”

“BOO!” shouted a voice directly behind Danny. This time he did go through the ceiling.

Danielle burst out laughing. Sam couldn’t help laughing along. “That was great! He didn’t suspect anything!”

“I was so worried when he came up with the lights idea earlier,” Tucker said. He went back to texting Jazz. She came in with a big grin on her face and a very grumpy-looking Danny Phantom at her side. Danielle instantly stopped laughing.

“Happy Halloween?” she said. Her shoulders came up a little nervously.

Danny sighed. “Yeah, okay, you got me.” That instantly put a smile back on Danielle’s lips. “Good job, guys.” He floated over and put Danielle into a headlock and gave her a noogie. “But there’s still two days left!”

There were plenty of reasons for Danny to be worried about Halloween. Ghost attacks often went up around now, for one, and after last year Fright Knight was bound to have a grudge against him. If someone let him out now, Danny would have a hell of a time getting him back into the pumpkin.

For now, though, he was going to focus on a non-cursed pumpkin. Danny and Sam were over at Tucker’s house for his family’s annual pumpkin carving party. Some of Tucker’s younger cousins ran around laughing and wearing costumes. His cousin Abby, who was two years older, was also carving a pumpkin with them.

Danny could have easily gotten the pumpkin guts out with his powers. He was getting more precise with his ectoblasts, so using one like a laser to cut away the sticky fibers wouldn’t be too hard. Instead he was doing it the hard way, with a little plastic scoop that he had to scrape against the sides.

“I’ve seen guts that were less nasty than this,” he complained. Danny scooped out a quivering blob of pumpkin innards and dumped it into a bowl with a wet splat.

“This is nowhere near as barbaric as meat,” Sam said with some frustration. She was somehow covered in bits of slimy orange string up to her elbows. At the beginning of the party she’d had on black gloves, but those were long gone.

“I dunno, Sam, I think he’s got a point,” Tucker teased. He was long done with the scraping part and was already looking for a pattern to pin to his pumpkin. “If you really think about it, we’re hollowing out a formerly living thing and using its skin as decoration. That is pretty ghoulish!”

She glared at him and plopped another glob of pumpkin into the bowl. “How long have you been planning this comparison?”

“About thirty minutes. What should I put on this bad boy, a Frankenstein or a spider?” Tucker asked. 

“There’s no robot this year?” Danny asked. 

Tucker sighed dramatically. “There’s not enough science monsters for Halloween.” He picked up the Frankenstein pattern. “Hey there, Mister Frankenstein, it’s one more year of carving your gorgeous face into a gourd.”

“You know you don’t have to stay on brand, right?” Tucker’s cousin Abby said. “You could carve a ghost, or a bat.”

“The bat is mine,” Sam declared, looking around to make sure everyone else agreed. Abby put the sheet of paper with a bat on it in front of Sam.

“Are you doing a ghost, Danny?” Abby asked, amused. She’d seen this play out every year with about the same outcome. 

Danny thought about it for a moment as he scraped the rest of the guts out of his pumpkin. “I don’t think so. I think I’ve had enough ghosts for a while. I might just do a spooky face.”

“Nice choice.” She showed them the design she had inked onto a paper earlier - a skull and crossbones that had Xes for eyes.  

“How are you going to keep it all together?” Sam asked. Abby started to describe how she could make some parts thin enough to let through light, but not completely cut out. 

Danny looked at his pumpkin. It would be really cool to do some kind of scary face. He wasn’t very artistic, but two eyes and a sharp-toothed grin couldn’t be too difficult. He picked up a crayon and started carefully making an outline. The eyes were pretty simple - just two triangles. He had a slightly harder time trying to figure out the mouth so it didn’t look too dorky and also didn’t fall apart. He had to wipe the crayon off a couple times before he got it right.

“There! How about that?” Danny asked, turning the pumpkin around so the others could see. Tucker gave him a thumbs up, already focused on carving out his pumpkin. 

“Not bad. Traditional, but effective,” Sam judged.

“Yeah, that’s good!” Abby echoed with a grin. Pleased, Danny grabbed one of the saw-like carving tools.

The tool was kind of pathetic. It was a really weak, thin blade with a blunt end that made it kind of difficult to start the pattern. Abby had made arguments for real knives earlier, but the Foleys said they didn’t want to risk any of the younger kids getting their hands on them. It made sense, but it was kind of difficult to carve the pumpkin with this little thing. Danny decided to use a tiny amount of ecto-energy to cut it instead. 

He cut out the eyes first, then started on the mouth. It was a sharp-toothed grin so wide that it took up nearly half the diameter of the pumpkin. The middle was easy to do, but when he started to work on the edges the carving tool was a little too big to make the little cuts he wanted to do. Danny looked around to make sure no one was looking at him too intently, and started cutting the pumpkin out entirely with a tiny ecto-beam. It took a long time, but it worked.

“Done!” he announced at last. Finally. His back was starting to get sore from sitting hunched over the pumpkin for so long. Only Abby was still working on her own pumpkin. 

“Wow. Danny, you went all out,” Sam commented. “Very spooky.”

“How’d you get that much detail with these dinky saw things?” Tucker asked. 

“Uh…” Danny wasn’t sure how to answer that with other people around who would overhear. “Trial and error?”

It looked like Tucker was going to say something else, but a cold gasp of air came up from Danny’s lungs. A ghost was near. 

“I need to-”

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” Ian’s overly cheery voice invades her ears.

“Ugh, fuck off, let me sleep some more.” Dani rolls over, covering her ears with the pillow

“Tut tut,” he says, pulling the blanket off her. “Don’t you know today is the big day?”

“You’ve said that every morning for the last week,” Dani snaps. “Fuck off.”

“How disappointing,” he tuts again, “Who ever did you learn such words from?”

“Your mother when I banged her last night,” Dani glares at him.

He laughs.

“Oh, I haven’t heard that in such a long time,” he smiles, moving across the motel room.

“Next time you bang her, ask her for my allowance, won’t you? She’s several decades late.”

“Ugh, you’re disgusting,” she says getting up and rifling through the pile of clothes Ian found.

Somewhere.

She doesn’t ask.

And he never says.

Huh.

There’s a new hoodie in the pile.

“What’s your thing and red hoodies?” she asks, lifting the garment in question.

“Hm?” Ian glances at her as he turns on the news.

“Nostalgia, I guess,” he shrugs.

“Red is a pretty color.”

“Sure,” she drawls.

After changing and brushing her teeth, Dani stands in front of the tv with her arms crossed.

“You do make a better door than a window.”

“Wow, the boy’s got jokes.”

“I have been told my humor is something of an acquired taste.”

“Whatever, I’m up. You wanted to go?”

“Absolutely.”

He turns off the tv, standing with a stretch.

Dani collects her things into the black backpack and hefts it onto her shoulder.

Ian does one more sweep before ushering her out the door.

“So where to now?” she asks, beginning her trek along the wooded highway.

“We have to visit a hag in a cabin for access to the deep passages of the nether.”

Dani pauses.

She squints at him.

“Do you mean the ghost zone?”

“The what?”

He passes her.

Taking the backpack on his way.

“Land of the dead?”

“...”

“Home of all the ghosts that avoid the living world?”

“...”

“The Infinite Realms?”

“Never heard of it.”

Dani charges an ectoblast at his head.

Which he dodges.

Easily.

“I don’t like you,” she says, aiming another at his back.

He shifts.

Not fully.

An empty hole forms in his torso.

The green blast passes harmlessly through him.

“So you’ve mentioned, regularly,” he states over his shoulder.

“It’s more true now than before.”

“Sure it is,” he says, making a sharp turn into the woods.

“Do you have any idea where you’re going?”

“Always.”

“Uh huh.”

“If you don’t believe me, why did you bother asking?”

“I dunno, maybe I just wanted to see if you wanted to be truthful this time.”

He turns, hand to his chest.

A face of shocked horror.

“Me?! Dishonest?! Why I never heard such tarnishing things upon my own personhood.”

“Should add drama baby onto your claimed titles.”

He sniffs, haughty, “Why I never.”

“It’s not like it's anything new.”

“Defamed! My reputation! Ruined by a mere child!” He wails.

“If it was that easy to ruin you, I’m surprised you're still alive.”

“Hmph, see if I care if you turn to soup.”

“SOUP?!”

Ian laughs and darts into some heavy bushes.

“Get back here, you asshole!” she shouts.

Chasing.

Down the hill.

Along the river.

At some point, Dani shifts.

White light flashing in the woods.

Flying after him.

Air pops, displaced.

Ian is a crow darting just ahead of her.

Laughing at her.

In that annoying way that crows do.

With a burst of power, Dani gains on him.

Reaching out.

Gloved hands wrap around dark feathers.

Dani has a  single moment of pure euphoria.

And then the air pops again.

Displaced once more.

Creating a sound wave and knocking into her.

She registers the white flash of her own form changing.

And then she’s falling.

With a loud, and somewhat painful splash, she finds herself under water.

Surfacing, Dani coughs, choking on mud and slimy water.

The rank smell hits her next.

She gags.

A single fly buzzes around her head.

“Oh fuck you,” she swats at it.

It tumbles in the air.

Once.

Twice.

Air pops again as Ian lands gently on a half submerged log.

Wheezing from laughter.

“I hate you so much!” Dani cries.

“Oh sweet horrors,” he gasps. “You should’ve seen your face!”

“Get me out of here!”

“Okay, just give me a minute,” he starts wheezing again in a new fit of laughter,

“Ian!”

“Oh relax, princess,” he wipes his face before turning into smoke itself.

It engulfs her and lifts her up.

She squeezes her eyes shut from the claustrophobic sensation.

Until her feet touch the ground.

“There, you’re free from the nasty swamp.”

Grumbling swears under her breath, she phases the gross off of herself.

“You are the actual worst.”

“Oh now you complement me,” he rolls his eyes.

“It’s not a compliment,” she snaps.

“For you maybe. For me, it’s the highest honor.”

She kicks a rock at him.

Which he dodges.

“Where are we?”

“In a swamp.”

She kicks him.

Jerk doesn’t even flinch.

“Gee thanks Sherlock, want to give me something more than that?”

“Why, Watson, we’re exactly where we’re meant to be.”

She growls in displeasure.

“Now before you turn violent again,” he says, walking pointedly along the solid ground deeper into the swamp. “ We are here to retrieve something.”

“What are we getting?”

“A gift.”

“For who?”

“Well, there are many people who owe me favors,” Ian states, stepping over a log.

He turns and offers a hand out.

She smacks it away and hops over it on her own.

“Yeah, so many favors and so many gifts,” she huffs. “What’s new?”

“Well, not many may remember owing me. So we must jog their memory.”

Dani pauses.

She tilts her head.

“Are we on a giant rambling side quest?”

“I do not believe I understand that reference.”

“Fuck you don’t.”

“We really should do something about your language, my dear.”

“Fuck you, I speak fine.”

“That isn’t even a proper sentence.”

“Screw off.”

“Oh! We’re finally getting diverse I see!”

“Ugh, I wouldn’t be so cranky if we got food already,” she says. “Why didn’t we eat?”

“Because, in order to hunt efficiently, one must learn how to hunt on an empty stomach.”

“...what are we hunting?”

“A very old fish.”

“Why?”

“To get a gift.”

“From a fish.”

“Precisely.”

“This is a fucking side quest.”

“Ah and we were doing so well.”

“Shut up, where are we supposed to find this fish?”

“Well, to start, we need to find its home.”

“In the middle of a swamp.”

“Now you’re getting it.

“I don’t get anything!”

“Sure you don’t, you’re following along quite well.”

“You’re a crap teacher.”

“So you accept being my protégé?”

“Fuck off.”

“Quiet now, we’re getting close,” Ian says, dropping lower to crouch in the long grass.

Dani drops low too.

“How can you tell,” she asks in a whisper.

“Use your nose,” he answers. “What do you smell?”

“Uh…”

She sniffs.

And nearly gags on the swamp smell.

“I only smell swamp,” she bites out.

“Take a slow deep breath,” he advises, eyes glancing around the area.

“Fine.”

She does as instructed.

The first brunt of rank swamp hits first.

She swallows past the gag reflex.

A slimy sweet smell is laced under it all.

“It smells like burnt fruit?”

“That’s it. The oíche órga is an old species of fae that was abandoned when they tore themselves away from the land of mortals.”

“The burning is their magic dying.”

“That’s…kind of sad.”

“We all have to survive in our own way.

“You adapt to the changing world or you're left behind.

“There isn’t any other option.”

Dani frowns, looking down.

“Now, how does one catch a fish?” Ian asks after a moment.

“You use bait?”

“Correct, and do you know what sort of bait is needed for catching a oíche órga?”

She shakes her head.

Ian pulls out the skull of a deer from the bag.

“What the fuck? Was that always there?” she startles.

“Oh, relax, I just picked it up.”

“When?!”

“Not important,” he waves his hand. “This is what’s going to catch us a god.”

“I’m sorry, a WHAT?!”

Ian slaps his free hand on Dani’s mouth.

“Do you want to scare it away?” he hisses.

She yanks his hand off of her.

“What do you mean, god?” she hisses back.

“The oíche órga were once believed to be gods by the people of Scotland and Ireland, benevolent beings that would protect their loved ones at sea.”

“You say that as if it’s a big joke,” she frowns at him.

He shrugs, “The Fae are not ones who would be swayed into helping the whims of mere mortals out of anything other than boredom.”

“So what is it?”

“It’s a big glowing fish.”

“Thats-” she swallows a growling hiss.

He arches an eyebrow at her.

“You said that it’s magic is dying.”

“Yes.”

“And it was once considered a god despite being a lost species of fae.”

“Correct.”

“And it apparently eats skeletons of deer?”

“Oh this is a unicorn skull.”

Dani does the equivalent of a verbal key smash.

“That’s what?!”

“A unicorn skull.”

“Why do you have it?”

“For bait.”

“Did you know you were hunting one of these fae god things?”

“No, I only just got it.”

“When?!”

“Unimportant.”

“I am going to murder you.”

“Good luck, it would certainly give me a new form to fall back on.”

She punches him.

Or attempts to.

He dodges easily.

Which she was honestly expecting.

Doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

“Will you, for the love of god, just tell me what the fuck we’re doing?”

“Aw, why’d you have to bring him into this?” he pouts disappointed.

She gives him a dead stare.

“Alright, alright.” he raises his hands in surrender.

“The oíche órga is a species of giant fish, once belonging to the fae. They used to have scales in shining, precious metals and only came out at night.

“Now with their magic dying, they’re scales have lost their shine and reflect the night they once lit up.”

“Well that sounds real pretty and real sad,” Dani deadpans.

“What we’re after is the heart of the oíche órga.”

“Of course we are, and do we also need the eye of newt and a lizard's leg?”

“Why in the world would we need mustard seeds and ivy?”

Dani raises her hands out in exasperation.

“So the plan is, I’m going to lure the fish out of the water and you’re going to get the heart.”

“And how do you propose I do that?” she snaps.

He gives her an innocent smile.

She feels a chill run down her spine.

“By throwing you down it’s mouth.”

“Fuck no.”

“Too late,” he smiles as a great beast erupts from the water behind him.

Black.

The only thing Dani registers is how black it is.

As if all the light has been swallowed by its mere presence.

“Allez-oop!” Ian says as he shifts, growing into a monstrous beast and throwing her at it.

“Fuck you!” she shouts at him.

“Look for the golden light!” he shouts back as she lands in cold wet slimy gross.

Cold is instantly replaced by burning heat.

Something wet and squishy presses against her.

Sending her tumbling down.

A golden light shines in the darkness.

Through layers of flesh.

Pounding.

In an erratic pattern.

Twisting, painfully against the muscles, she raises a hand.

Green glow filling the space.

With a shaking blast, she hits the corner of the heart and surrounding area.

A great shuddering shriek reverberates through her core.

She claps a hand on her one ear and keeps blasting.

Great shuddering shakes and pounds against her.

With a final ear piercing scream.

Everything stops.

She gasps.

Heaving for air.

That is too thin.

Too stagnant.

She shoves out.

Using as much of her strength as possible.

Flesh tears under her hands.

Daylight streams in finally.

With another shove, Dani finds herself gasping in fresh air.

“Great job!” Ian applauds from below her. “I knew you could do it.”

“You fucking fuck,” she hisses. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Of course not, but I couldn't kill it, you could.”

“What the fuck are you talking about now?”

Ian rolls his eyes.

“Why do you think I needed the skull of a unicorn to draw it out?”

“Because it’s fucked up?”

“No, think. What’s the biggest myth about unicorns?”

Danni pulls herself free of the fish and sits on top of the black mound.

“They like virgins?”

“Closer, what do virgins symbolize?” Ian presses.

She tilts her head.

“No clue.”

He gives a big gust of a sigh.

“Innocence! Virgins are innocent! A unicorn only comes to those with a pure soul.”

“So?”

Ian looks up at her and sighs.

Hanging his head in defeat.

“Right, utter infant,” he mutters.

“I can hear you, you know,” she calls.

“I am aware,” he answers.

Looking up, “You are a pure soul, untarnished by the sins of being mortal, true to your emotions and unblemished by the passing of time. You and you alone can kill an oíche órga because only the pure can harm the lost fae.”

“I feel like I’ve been scammed. Doesn’t me killing this mean I'm no longer pure?”

“No, because it was in self defence,” Ian shrugs.

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“You also gave a merciful ending to a starving child, lost and alone” he places a hand on the side of the beast.

“May your soul find rest, young one,” he whispers quietly.

Dani shifts, slime squelching and hardening on her.

“Now then, let us retrieve what we came here for.” he claps his hands.

“First, can I ask just one thing?” She slips off the beast onto the ground.

“I believe that would be fair.”

“Stand still?” she asks.

“Certainly.”

She winds up and punches him in the face with all her strength.

Sending him flying backwards into the water.

“Whooo,” she whistles, shaking out her hand.

The water ripples and burbles and shakes.

Eventually Ian resurfaces in the form of a half fish horse creature.

Returning to land and shifting back to the form of the boy, he shakes his head with a rueful smile.

“I guess I deserved that.”

They watch as the girl is engulfed in a brilliant white light as she flees through the back wall of the cabin. 

How...fascinating.

They stare at the wall for a moment.

Debating.

They could let her go.

Find her later, when she needs help.

They hum.

They were telling the truth.

These weren't normal woods.

There were many things that would enjoy such a lovely little snack.

But they found her first.

They pull on her fear and shift.

Growing.

Floating up.

It takes nary a thought to follow her.

They keep their distance. 

Shifting again. 

Something smaller. 

Faster.

Trailing.

She doesn't bother dodging the trees, rather phasing through them. 

How clever. 

If they were more reliant on physics, they would most definitely lose her. 

However. 

They are not. 

Keeping pace is easy. 

She takes a sharp turn, zipping through heavy bushes and into a sheer rock face.

They pause.

Oh, isn't this fun!

They shift to gauge where they are.

Oh.

This is problematic.

Hm.

They drift up.

Over the cliff.

Hopefully she didn't go straight through.

Ah.

There's the crack.

Melting like smoke, they slip through.

In little time they reach the cavern.

Oh dear.

She did go straight.

A hulking beast of snarling fur and gnashing teeth have the girl pinned against the back wall of the cavern.

Her black hair has a toxic shine to it.

As does her hands and face.

The taste of the beast's fear is light and subtle.

Barely there.

Lacing through the tartness of the girl.

They shift.

Letting gravity pull them down.

Heavy fur covers powerful muscles.

A snarling mouthful of sharp teeth snap loudly at impact.

The girl yelps in fear and shock as a clawed hand shoves her under.

She squirms but they ignore her.

Eyes on the other.

A battle for food.

She is claimed.

She is theirs.

They shift.

Growing larger again.

Fur gives way to scales.

Hands shift to paws.

Powerful wings beat the wind forcing the beast back.

Heat grows in their chest.

Orange red flames fill the cavern.

With a yelp, it flees.

They huff.

Smoke puffing from their nose.

It floats in the air.

Following the billowing fear of the girl.

The air pops as they drop to their preferred shape.

"I do believe if I said I told you so, you would try to punch me," they say, stepping away from the wall. "But I did say these woods are dangerous."

It has the intended effect.

Blue eyes flare green.

"Why can't you leave me the fuck alone?" she snaps, getting to her feet.

"Tut tut," they chide, “is that really how you thank me for saving your life, again?"

"What do you mean again?"

"I do believe those fellows in white were looking for you for less than stellar reasons, my dear," they say, wandering away. "Now, I do insist that you follow me out unless you actually DO want to be eaten."

They walk a few more steps before glancing over their shoulder.

"I doubt you have enough energy for another impromptu flight let alone enough to phase back through the cliff."

"What's it to you?" She snaps. "Are you that stingy that you can't find another lunchbox of a meal elsewhere?"

They pause.

Studying her.

She shifts.

Uncomfortable under their gaze.

They tilt their head.

She puffs out her chest in defiance.

"What is your name, child?"

She startles.

"What?"

"Your name, child," they repeat. "I can't keep referring to you as the girl in my head, now can I?"

They straighten.

"It does not have to be the name given to you."

She frowns, looking down.

They wait.

"Call me Ellie," she says.

"Well then Ellie," they say, shifting their weight and giving a brilliant smile. "As strange as it may seem, I happen to find you intriguing."

She makes a face like a baby biting a lemon.

"I like to think of it as returning a favor to an exceptional cook."

"So what, you're gonna follow me forever until you find someone who tastes better?"

"Oh no, I doubt you would live that long."

She bristles like a cat.

Voice shifting into a hiss of cold air and storm.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

They laugh.

They can't help it.

Oh how pleasing it is to find another that can feed on fear.

"Come, Ellie, I will tell you a story."

They hold out their hand.

"A story about a boy and a wolf, and how their love for their family tamed a nightmare."

She glares at the hand as if it could bite her.

She takes a deep breath, the green shine pulls back.

The melting quality of her face and hands solidifying.

She stands and walks closer.

Hands shoved pointedly in the pocket of her ratty sweater.

They let their arms drop and start a slow pace out of the cavern.

"Tell me, what do you know about werewolves?" they ask.

Ellie blinks at the non sequitur.

"Uh...that they're people that turn into raging wolf monsters under a full moon?"

They hum.

"That's about as true as all ghosts are evil and malicious."

"Oh."

"Werewolves are very pack oriented creatures, they rely heavily on their social network. It's when they end up alone that they go feral."

"How do you know so much about that?" Ellie asks before stumbling over a rock.

She windmills to regain her balance.

They reach out a hand to steady her.

"I have wandered for many decades," they say, letting her go easily and resuming their initial space. "I have traveled quite extensively and seen many things in my time.

She doesn't answer.

"Now the point I would like to make is that wolves accept other species into their packs if the bond is strong enough."

"Other species?"

"There are considerably more… less mundane things that go bump in the night, than what even the largest collections of fairy tales could possibly cover."

She blinks, face blank.

"Several thousand species of creatures from as small and common as a typical brownie to creatures so rare and large that only vast galaxies could contain their existence."

"Whoah," begrudgingly impressed.

"But wait, I thought brownies were a type of food?"

They laugh.

Amused.

"There is a type of fae that lives in your home that takes care of things should you feed them sweet treats. Very timid little things."

They lapse into a still quietness.

The sound of their feet echoing off the cavern walls.

"Do you even know the way to get out?" She asks.

"Of course," they smile at her. "Afterall, I did dig out the majority of these caverns ages ago."

"Why?"

"Because I was bored one season."

"You must get bored easily then."

They shrug, turning around a particularly large boulder.

"What point is living if you can't have any fun?" they ask, turning to her.

She smirks, "A boring one."

They smile back, "Ready for some fun then?"

She frowns.

"I don't know if I trust your idea of fun."

"Fair, but this is the fastest way to leave."

Ellie pointedly looks around the dead end. "Sure it is."

"Oh live a little," they say with a laugh.

"Technically I was born dead so-" she starts.

They grab her hand when she glances away, back the way they came.

They yank, pulling her into their arms as they tip back.

Falling down the hole, hidden in the shadows.

She grunts in surprise with only the smallest of squeaks.

They shift.

Feathers erupting across skin.

Bones expanding.

Cloth fluttering.

They tilt, angling sideways before bursting through into night air.

A short glide and they land on soft grass.

Releasing Ellie instantly, they shift back.

"Holy fuck, give a girl a warning," she snaps, stumbling away.

"And where would the fun be in that?"

She glares up at him through her bangs, "You're an asshole."

"Thank you," they chirp with a flourish of a bow.

She huffs dramatically before turning on her heel to storm off.

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" They ask, drifting into step beside her.

"Doesn't matter," she snaps.

"Course it does," they say before humming. "That's what I hear anyways from more mortal type persons."

She gives him the side eye.

"How can a person be born dead? You look perfectly alive to me."

"I thought you could read minds," Ellie counters.

"Only in regards to an individual's fear," they shrug. "And your fear of melting is equal to your fear of what would happen if you father-"

"He's not my dad!" she yells.

"He is your creator, no?" They ask, head tilting.

"Fuck you," she says before taking off at a run.

Well that could have gone better.

They frown at her back.

They thought they were making progress.

Her red hoodie stands out starkly in the dusk of the forest.

They squint.

She either has the worst sense of the supernatural or terrible luck.

They sigh and take off after her.

"Stop following me!" She shouts over her shoulder. "Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Because you appear to have a death wish despite your actual fears," they say.

"I'd be fine if you left me alone!"

"And let you run across a fairy circle? No no, that would be very poor of me."

"Those aren’t real,” she says, breaking through some brush.

They reach out and lift her easily.

The air sparks and zings with power.

“I do hope this is just stubbornness rather than insipid stupidity,” they snap, pulling her away from the ring of mushrooms.

“Let me go!” she kicks out, fighting their grip.

“Would you shut up and listen?” they snarl. “Do you have even the slightest idea of what you just did?”

She doesn’t respond, still fighting their grip, body misting to slip through their fingers.

“Are you so selfish that you willingly trample a grave of millions?” they give her a shake.

That seems to resound in her head, body stilling impossibly fast.

“What?” she asks.

“A memorial,” they say, moving further from the ring. “For millions of lives lost, that is what a fairy circle is.”

“I-I didn’t,” she gulps, staring at the circle. “I didn’t know.”

“Of course not,” they huff, setting her down. “No one tries to desecrate a grave for fun.”

She bites her lip, looking away.

They sigh, stepping around her to stand before the ring.

“Many don’t believe in the power of fairy circles, not anymore.”

They place a hand on the border.

A flash of blue light sparks and shimmers.

Rippling out and along a dome engulfing the circle.

“The few tales that do still exist speak of how mortals are whisked away.

“Never to be seen again.

“Sometimes they can make it back, but aged well beyond their years, dying upon their return.”

“Or worse, find themselves lost to time, in an age beyond their comprehension and are left starving and alone.”

They turn to look at her.

She watches with wide eyes.

“They are portals, and if you ask kindly, with respect.”

The blue shimmers brighter.

“You may be granted access to a land beyond your comprehension.

“A path to places that you could never reach.