Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The air should’ve been thick with pollen, what with the ample flowers surrounding them. An unnatural breeze carried the flowers off their trees, stray petals twisting in the air, licked by the wind. Trees with bark so black it could’ve been purple carried hardly any leaves, only blood-red flowers.

Red was all around, the trees, the air, and the piles of petals and flowers littering the dark grass like pools of blood. Fields of red, blood-red trees spanned every direction, only broken by the black-purple trunks.

Three teenagers stood in a clearing with the rest of their class, they couldn’t help but register that they never actually bothered to look into where blood blossoms came from; until they were standing in a forest full of them.

A girl from the class, Star Strong, let a flower fall onto her outstretched hand. She examined the black stem and its purple rim, and turned down to her feet where red flower petals were already covering the chunk of upset ground. Where her class’s field trip bus tore out of a portal and crashed. It was smoking in a ditch not too far away, flower petals lazily settling on top. As if in a trance, Star plucked the pink flower she regularly wore out of her hair and replaced it with the blood blossom.

Beside her, a raven-haired boy grumbled from the ground, “Ghost portals choose the worst times to pop out of nowhere.”

His pale friend dropped to her knees to rest a hand on his shoulder and helped him up. “You can say that again,” she supplied, cringing back with him as a red petal landed at their feet. No one except the trio seemed to recognize the amount of shit they were knee-deep in. Suddenly, going back inside the smoking bus they’d just evacuated was a much better idea than being out here.

“We need to get back inside the bus.” Tucker’s gaze flitted between the smoking yellow mass, their frazzled teacher calling attendance, and his friends.

With Danny in between them, Sam and Tucker pushed through the muttering crowd. Some students simply sat in awe at what was probably a beautiful sight for them, others scoffed to emphasize their clear disinterest in some random forest of flowers.

Tucker’s hand itched towards his pocket, “Man, if we’re not still in the same time period,” He muttered, “then we are so screwed, the portal already closed.”

Danny’s groan wasn’t heard over Mr. Lancer calling his name.

“Here!” He shouted over the chatter.

“Mr. Fenton, Miss Manson, Mr. Foley,” Lancer parted his way through the class, having caught sight of their beeline towards the bus, “where do you think you’re going.”

The trio exchanged glances, “To the bus, sir.” Sam answered.

Mr. Lancer pinched the bridge of his nose, not noticing Danny hiss when a falling petal brushed his arm, “Why? Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but the bus is smoking .”

Another petal twirled past him, and Danny blurted “I have an allergy!” It wasn’t technically a lie. The conversation around them slowly died as they listened to the altercation. “These flowers,” he waved a hand around them at the surrounding dark trees, “I’m very very allergic to them.”

Lancer’s eyes widened, something akin to surprise and incredulity pulled at his face. He glanced down at his emergency roll sheet as if it would supply answers. “Really? I should’ve been informed of a serious allergy. Especially with how… ah, protective your parents are Mr. Fenton.”

Danny bit his lip and Tucker rushed forward, “It was only discovered recently! I’m sure his parents just haven’t had time to update anything yet. But it is deadly serious, so,” He started pushing Danny towards the bus’s jammed-open doors, “We’ll just be going in here now.”

Mr. Lancer seemed to take the excuse with little thought, checking off Sam on his attendance and nodding his head, turning to address the class, “as soon as I finish roll, I’ll be contacting emergency services. In the meantime, does anyone have an EpiPen for Mr. Fenton?”

Mutterings and a few chuckles replied from the class but no one stepped forward.

“Very well,” Mr. Lancer glanced at the trio entering the bus before returning to his sheet, “Paulina Sanchez?”

Tucker, Danny, and Sam sandwiched themselves into a seat in the middle of the bus, Tucker finally able to check his PDA.

“Oh thank goodness,” he sighed, slumping against Danny, “same year, different date. The portal spat us out a few days after we first left.”

Danny nodded, staring out the window, “that’s good.”

Sam leaned forward to peek past Danny’s head, “What about where we are? I think we would’ve known if there was a field of blood blossoms anywhere near Amity Park.”

Tucker grimaced, fiddling with his PDA, “I… don’t know, I barely have any signal. I don’t know if it's because of the blossoms or if we’re somewhere really remote.”

The trio stayed patiently inside as they waited for Tucker to try and get a signal. Outside, the class chattered aimlessly, the shock of the crash having long since worn off to the students well-seasoned with emergencies. The trio watched the dangerously red petals brush against the windows for some time, filtering out whatever Lancer was lecturing the class on.

Lancer’s shouts of, “Everyone settle down for a while, I can’t reach emergency services!” Had students slowly filtering back into the bus, as it became apparent that the bus wasn’t going to spontaneously explode—also because it was cold outside.

When Star stepped onto the bus, Danny sneezed and Sam hissed. “Take that out of your hair, Strong.”

Star scoffed, “Or what?”

Sam stood up, ready to go into detail about ‘or what’ entailed, both the girls glared at each other in the bus’s aisle, Paulina backing Star up. Everyone became quiet, excited to watch the girls fight, when Mr. Lancer appeared behind Star, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Now Miss Strong, I thought I made myself clear earlier that no flowers were to be brought near Mr. Fenton.”

She grunted, “Fine,” and tore the blossom out of her hair, stomping it on the floor. Star went to sit down and Sam kicked the squashed petals off the bus’s steps.

Tucker stood up suddenly, “I might be able to make a signal booster with parts from the bus! Hold on, I wanna check.” He clambered over Danny and Sam, pushing past the students near the doors.

Danny scooted down the seat, taking Tucker’s spot next to the window and trying to reign in his runny nose. The sky was darkening, not because they were losing daylight, but because gloomy gray clouds were turning the weather overcast. Branches and bushes creaked as the unnatural wind picked up, pulling more blood blossoms from trees.

Sam and Danny deduced that there was no way they could be in the Ghost Zone, blood blossoms couldn’t be there. Or maybe they could, maybe they were like an invasive species that could ravage the Ghost Zone. However, the sky was grey, not green, and surely blood blossoms would create a disturbance in the ectoplasm-filled atmosphere if they truly were in the GZ.

They watched through the bus’s windshield where Tucker was trying to justify scavenging the bus for parts to their teacher, amused enough to ignore Dash and Paulina talking in the seat behind them.

“Maybe Phantom can come rescue us! He likes me after all, and we did pass through the Ghost Zone right?” Paulina squealed.

“I dunno.” Dash replied lamely, “The sky was green when we went through that portal, so probably.”

“What was a portal even doing there anyways? And where did it go, it’s like it disappeared.”

Sam fought the urge to scoff, basking in the superiority that she knew the answers to all her questions. 

Instead, she groaned into Danny’s shoulder, who decided to steer the topic away from something not ghost related, lest someone eavesdrop. They were talking about how they would tackle the next Doomed level when Dash tapped on his shoulder, reaching through the crack between the bus seat and the window.

Of course. Of course. Dash would do something stupid, rash, impulsive, and idiotic; he was Dash!

So naturally, Danny found himself wondering how he could’ve not foreseen the potential disaster waiting to happen when he practically shouted to the whole class he was allergic. Dash asked, “Hey Fenturd, do you like flower crowns?” As Danny craned his neck to see what the fuck he wanted.

He frowned, uncomprehending, “No, why?”

“Because I made you one!” Paulina popped up, leaning over the seat and voice sickly sweet. She dropped something down on Danny's head.

A beat passed, Danny barely registering someone gasping over Paulina’s, “I bet he’s not even allergic. He’s probably just afraid of flowers, the freak, flowers are so pretty!”

Then, like blood slowly seeping into his head and soaking his hair, blossomed a hot wetness. Danny sneezed, not feeling Sam plucking red petals out of his hair. 

He glared up at Paulina, recalling his only other encounter with blood blossoms. They had barely affected Vlad’s human form, as he had walked through the flowers to fling Danny into the circle.

Danny blinked, his head clouding like the sky outside. Sam leaned closer to see if he was okay, and Danny blinked again, her form fuzzy like he was trying to see through semi-transparent cloth.

Backing up a few inches with a shudder and very aware of the whole bus watching him, he murmured to Sam, “Don’t worry, I’m not feeling anything, just some weird side effects.”

Danny should be very glad he wasn’t Phantom right now.

“What were you thinking!” Tucker rounded on the A-Listers after confirming Danny was okay, he held the flower crown he’d snatched from Danny’s head away from the seat as if it was a poisonous snake poised to strike.

Mr. Lancer boarded the bus, sputtering behind Tucker, unable to convey his anger.

“He’s probably lying!” Dash defended, tearing his eyes away from the shuddering teen.

Tucker shoved an uncompleted contraption into his bag, zipping it up and hoisting it over his shoulder. He walked over to the open door, silently seething, and flung the flower crown like a frisbee into the forest beyond. Returning, he grabbed Danny’s bag as Sam shouldered her spider one. “We’re moving Danny to the back.”

No one argued, the bus was silent. A few stragglers who hadn’t yet entered the bus poked their heads in to see what was happening. No one said anything as they passed, their anger radiating through the bus. Red petals squashed into the floor under footsteps, leaving small red marks behind where they’d been pressed. Danny sat down, still blinking experimentally, and glared at the staring crowd. Everyone hastily looked away, still sneaking glances from the corner of their eyes.

The tension broke when the trio began whispering to each other again, soft whispers filling the bus as everyone began to theorize and gossip. They tuned out Lancer berating Dash and Paulina to focus on the increasing issue.

Danny explained his thought process to Sam and Tucker, that, as long as he didn’t need to tap into his ghost powers, the blossoms shouldn’t affect him.

After laughing at Dash’s sulking form as the jock stormed off the bus, no doubt needing some air after being scolded by a teacher who favored him, they returned to their theories and guesses about the natural portal and where they might be.

Chapter Text

The sun peaked through the line between red trees and stormy grey clouds, casting long shadows across the darkening forest. The wind hadn’t yet relented, and small droplets of rain soaked the pools of petals in the grass.

A battered school bus hung in a ditch, its hood no longer smoking. Bits of metal strewn across the grass and the flown-open hood could be the work of none other than Tucker Foley, who swung himself out of the bus to grab another part before returning to his friends’ sides.

Tucker was almost finished with his handmade signal booster, he’d enlisted the help of some of the smarter kids to get it done faster. They would be able to call for help, wherever they were—hopefully at least still in the country—and get the heck home.

Sam shared an idea that they might be in Massachusetts. Since that’s where they’d been the only other time they’d seen blood blossoms, and they didn’t exactly get the chance to look around and tour Salem since they were being assaulted with pitchforks; so they couldn’t be sure.

If only they had internet, Danny had lamented, then they could research where blood blossoms grew, or even just look to see where the heck they were. They completely forgot after the whole thing with the Infi-Map, Frostbite, and Vlad.

After that, all there was to do was wait.

As the sky darkened and the droplets of rain quickened, Dash returned from his walk, looking white as a sheet. Danny might’ve thought he’d seen a ghost if not for their current predicament.

The rain picked up, creating a steady pounding on the bus’s roof. Water saturated with red streamed down the edges of the bus and the windows like blood-soaked tears. Blood blossoms swirled in the wind around the bus, dampened and heavy with rain. They taunted Danny from inside, who vowed to never go anywhere near another blossom for as long as he half-lived.

Dash never met the trio's gaze, taking quick glances in their direction and tapping his foot. Probably worried that Mr. Lancer will follow through with his threats of pinning this on his record, Danny thought.

The withdrawing sun in the West was replaced by a rising crescent moon in the East. A few students who’d packed blankets shared them with the rest of the class, the A-Listers stubbornly huddling together under one cat-print blanket Kwan had brought.

“Even when we’re stranded in a death trap in the middle of who knows where,” Sam gibed, “they still insist on social classes.”

Danny hummed, still resting against the window. Usually, the A-Listers took the back of the bus, as was normal across America. But after Danny was brought to the back to get away from the blossoms, the seating arrangement inverted. Nerds and outcasts clustered together in the back, and the A-listers sat up front under the irritated eye of Mr. Lancer.

“What do we do if the signal booster doesn’t work?” Danny whispered, eyes still closed and enjoying the hushed murmurs created by the bus’s occupants.

“You wound me. Of course it works.”

Danny peeked an eye open, to be met with Tucker’s sarcastic grin and a makeshift metal box in his hands. An antenna wrapped in tinfoil stuck out one end, and bits of lunch gleamed on the aluminum.

He pushed himself up, meeting Tucker’s eyes. “It’s done?”

“Just finished it.” He said eagerly, earning the attention of everyone on the bus.

Someone coughed from behind Tucker, Mikey the redhead fidgeted nervously, “A-all we need to do know is call 911.”

Sam, Tucker, and Danny exchanged a knowing look and waited for the inevitable shoe to drop as Mr. Lancer spoke up.

“We should also tell them about your allergic reaction, Mr. Fenton. Even if your reaction is very mild, you should still get checked out…”

There it was.

“No! No, it’s fine,” Danny shook his hands to get the point across and Lancer raised an eyebrow, “Really! I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Really Mr. Lancer,” Sam shifted in the seat, “Danny’s perfectly fine.” She squeezed Danny’s hand.

“I don’t feel comfortable-”

“His allergic reaction was very tame,” Tucker began, spouting his medical knowledge acquired from patching up and monitoring the health of someone half dead, “usually it takes between twelve hours to three days to come down after being in contact with an allergen.”

Danny hissed, “ Tucker! You’re not helping.”

“But~ since he’s, you know, conscious… and, not gasping for air from a blocked airway, that means he’s fine. If we promise to make him take some antihistamines when we get back, will you not bring it up… please?”

Mr. Lancer hesitated, but thankfully relented, “Okay then, Mr. Foley,” he diverted his attention to Tucker, “if you would please hand me the phone after you get it working.”

He barely had to finish the sentence before Tucker held out a ringing phone to Mr. Lancer. It rang once…

“Oh! And uhh… GZ portals usually change time as well as space, luckily the portal shot us out only a few days after when we left.” Tucker summarized.

Twice…

“ Lord of the Flies! ” Mr. Lancer’s cry joined many others’ gasps of shock.

Thrice…

“You mean we time-traveled ?” someone’s mutter cut through the whisperings.

Mr. Lancer gripped the phone, attempting to overcome his shock with a shake of his head and vowing to have a talk with Tucker later. It was in vain though.

Frice…

“911, what’s your emergency.”

“This is– is Edward Lancer, vice principal of Casper High.” Lancer chanced a glance at Tucker, ignoring his students’ muttering about his first name, “My class went on a field trip a few days ago?”

Nothing but deft typing came from the phone, and the class went silent as the operator continued, “What’s your current address?”

“We don’t know, we crashed in a forest somewhere.”

“Okay sir, give me a minute to find your general location, is anybody injured?”

Mr. Lancer opened his mouth, meeting eyes with Danny, “No, no one’s injured.”

Furious typing. A few garbled whispers, indistinguishable except for a few words like, “Amity Park—” and “—ghost.”

“Is everyone from the field trip accounted for?”

“No, the bus driver is missing.” Danny didn’t even think about the bus driver until then, and judging by the looks on his classmate's faces, neither had they.

“Do you know where they went?”

“No, sorry.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for, sir. A rescue team has been deployed, if possible try using flashlights or other light sources to make your location more visible. Stay on the line with me until they arrive.”

“Okay.” Mr. Lancer straightened, lifting his head to address the class, “Anyone with a flashlight or electronic device should go outside and- stay where I can see you!” Before he finished the rest of his announcement, kids started flocking towards the doors and rifling through backpacks all the while. Someone pulled a lever on the dashboard and the doors swung open.

Rain and wind licked the students’ hair as they bounded outside, bright screens waving wildly in the hazy air.

Sam nudged Danny’s shoulder, “You gonna be fine? I wanna go make sure someone doesn’t accidentally kill themselves.”

He chuckled, pushing her hand away, “I’m fine ya goof, go make sure someone else doesn’t try to turn themselves into an obituary.”

Mr. Lancer beckoned Tucker over, leaving Danny by himself.

Danny sat up, watching the retreating back of Sam as she fixed her backpack. He stretched his back, earning a satisfying pop before lurking down the aisle. The A-listers, of course, didn’t bother to help wave the rescue team down. Taking care to not earn the attention of Mr. Lancer at the foot of the door, “the rescue team is fifteen minutes away from your estimated location.” Danny grabbed Dash’s wrist and pulled him back down the aisle and into an empty seat.

“Gah! Wha- oh, it's you, Fenton.” Dash yanked his wrist away and crossed his arms, still not meeting his eyes, “what do you want?”

“I want,” he let out a heavy sigh, “to know why you thought I would be faking an allergy.” Danny deadpanned.

Dash’s eyes whisked from behind Danny, to the window, to his feet—Danny’s eyes—to the cuff of his letterman jacket. Danny’s eyes followed; Dash tapped his middle finger and thumb together repeatedly.

After a very heavy pause, Dash broke, “Fine- okay, I didn’t think you were lying about being allergic. I just thought… that it wasn’t that serious, like a pollen allergy or something. And I was right, wasn’t I?”

After wondering why Dash would think that when he heard Mr. Lancer ask the class for an EpiPen, Danny decided he wouldn’t get a chance to mess with him like this again. “It wasn’t very serious this time . You could call it… extenuating circumstances. But seriously Dash, next time I might not be so lucky.” He summoned his best serious tone and deadened his eyes, “Dash, I could’ve died.”

The A-listers behind Dash were probably listening, Danny didn’t care. The moment when Dash’s face drained of color would exist in Danny’s memories forever. The jock’s eyes unfocused for a moment, hazed and blurry, then he snapped back to attention with a halfhearted apology, “W-well… I– ugh I’m sorry! Is that what you want to hear? I didn’t care and– yeah… Is that it?”

He did his best to hide his smirk, “Yeah, thanks.”

“Okay, if that’s it Fenton-” Dash shoved Danny back and tried to hide his face as he rejoined the A-listers.

“Woah… did I hear that right?” Tucker appeared behind Danny, “Dash apologizing… never thought I’d live to see the day.”

“You’re telling me.” Danny chuckled, lowering his voice, “You could say I didn’t,” Ignoring Tucker’s exasperation at the death joke, he frowned, “How am I supposed to get out of here without my vision going all weird again?” He gestured to the wind blowing petals to and fro.

Tucker grimaced, “I don’t know man… none of us packed umbrellas or anything that could… shield you…” He trailed off, looking at the cat-print blanket shared by the A-listers teasing Dash.

Reading his thoughts, Danny grinned, “wanna help me round up some blankets?”

Many students left their blankets thrown about in their haste to wave lights outside. Also probably because they didn’t want them getting wet, too bad that was going to happen anyway. Just as a bright beam of light flashed through the bustling trees, Tucker finished wrapping Danny up like a mummy, tugging the corner of a blanket over his head like a hood for good measure.

It was not as comfortable as it sounded in theory, and Danny’s sure his face reflected it.

Dusting off his hands, Tucker steered Danny over to Mr. Lancer, who hung onto the doorframe with one hand. He leaned out of the bus and waved down the officer.

“Sir, has the rescue team arrived?”

“Yeah… yeah!” Mr. Lancer said, snapping his attention back to the phone.

“Okay then sir, I’m going to hang up and let them handle it from there.”

“Mmhm…”

Click.

Mr. Lancer turned around to get the A-lister's attention, “Oh! Mr. Foley, Mr. Fenton. Maybe you should wait until last to- to make sure that nothing else happens in the confusion.”

Danny glared at the giggling A-listers, “Yeah, sure.” And slumped down in the nearest empty seat. Tucker stayed with him, watching green and yellow-suited people beckon the class through the forest to—what was hopefully—a road with enough cars to fit them all.

The A-listers waited until last to leave, trying to stay as dry as possible until Mr. Lancer forced them off the bus. Mr. Lancer then hung back to lead Danny and Tucker in front of him. Sam had been forced ahead by the rescue team.

The blankets did their job well enough. Even if a few petals brushed Danny’s ankles, most of the blossoms clung uselessly to the wet blankets.

“Everyone this way!” A dark man waving a stupidly bright flashlight called.

Danny and Tucker followed the path created by the people before them, doing their best to not splash in any red-stained puddles.

Dark purple-black branches shook erratically, threatening to displace more blood blossoms to the wind. The grass was much darker than normal, and now that they were away from the clearing created by the crashed bus, Danny noticed more. Thin purple vines with swirls grew from some of the trees, the ones long enough to brush the ground crept through the grass. Danny didn't want to test if they had similar properties to the blossoms.

A few ledges were home to the longest and thickest purple vines, they crawled up and down the ledges, sprouting small nodes and buds. The emergency flashlights beamed everywhere, casting shadows that danced along the rooted vines. Making the plants look like they were moving. From the corner of his eye, Danny saw a budding blossom unfurl in real time.

There were no bodies of water anywhere, and apart from the grass, no green in the trees.

After listening to Paulina fret about her hair for what felt like forever, the red trees thinned. Ahead, a wet and beaten road shone against the headlights of the brightly colored green vans. Danny jumped over the small dip between the road and the grass, it was filled with stray petals and twigs being carried downstream.

Tucker helped pat all the petals off Danny before being led into the last van. He melted into the soft and now wet leather. The van dipped as everyone piled in, stuck with the A-listers, of course. Tension pooled into the car as Dash clambered in, still avoiding eye contact and sitting next to Star and furthest away from him.

The wet road outside gleaned from the bright headlights of the cars, a green vested woman hopped in the driver's seat and the dark man from earlier took the passenger’s.

“Is everyone alright?” The man turned to check the back after clicking his seatbelt in, his eyes jumping around fervently and voice wavering, “Good. We assumed that this forest had to be where y’all were at–it's the only forest for miles, we were awfully confused when we got a call from all the way out here; stuck in a forest, ‘There are no forests out here!’ we said. Didn't we Erin?"

Wow. Danny noted the empty coffee cups littering the dashboard, “Uhh…” he raised his hand, unsure, “where exactly is ‘out here’?”

“Ohh, tha’s right, you lot were lost weren't yah? Y’all are in the Sunshine State, just North of Vero Beach.” The man waved a half-empty coffee cup around excitedly as the woman, presumably Erin, pressed down on the gas. She followed the vans in front of them.

Star shuffled, squished in between Dash and Kwan, “Excuse me, what do you mean there are no forests out here?”

Erin clarified, “The last time anyone was out here, ‘bout a month or so ago, this was all fields. I honestly have no idea how this weird red forest got here.” She scratched her head.

(Danny was starting to think the plants in the forest really were moving.)

The dark man turned the heat on, cranking it up to 75 degrees. Danny was glad he was mushed between Tucker and the door, he didn't want anyone freaking out about how cold he was, lest it become another topic used to bully him.

Pleasant, warm air poured in through the vents in the middle of the seats and on the ceiling. That's when Danny saw it.

Red vapor; fleeting and, in Danny’s case, deadly. Now that they were separate from the forest from more than a jammed open door, it was easily distinguishable from the air. He looked around. The ventilation was stirring it about and making it impossible to find the source, but it didn't seem to be hurting Danny. Yet. For now, all it did was turn the air thick, making it hard to breathe.

Maybe there was a petal or two stuck to someone's shoe, hopefully, they would stay stuck and not become a problem. He shouldn't kid himself, the universe just loves to give him a hard time. At some point, after he tensed his shoulders and the desolate road they drove turned somewhat urban, Tucker noticed the vapor.

He nudged Danny's side and didn't get a chance to talk before Danny interrupted him, “I know. I don't know where it's coming from, but it hasn’t done anything yet. So maybe the universe is giving me a break.” He whispered.

Tucker raised an eyebrow, “When has the universe ever been nice to you?”

Danny rolled his eyes, “Right now.”

“Right now does not count.” Tucker huffed.

Kwan shared his blanket with the other A-listers, purposely excluding Danny and Tucker. The blankets Danny had stolen were hastily stuffed in the trunk by the dark man. Star’s shoulders were hunched and her head hung low, making her blond hair block her face. Paulina was using a pocket mirror to fix her flyaways.

It had been about five minutes since the last red tree passed them when Danny felt a weight lift off his chest. His lungs were still heavy, but a looming feeling Danny hadn't realized was even there dissolved. Tucker must've noticed him relax because he untensed his shoulders.

The dark man decided to start the conversation up again, “Y’all have been all over the news, you know? Well, I suppose you don't know since you've been stranded for days. But how did youse manage to get all the way out here? Amity Park is a good thousand miles from ‘ere.”

Everyone in the back seat shared a look. All of America thought Amity residents were either crazy or fully committed to a tourist trap act. There's no way the man would accept ‘we accidentally drove through a ghost portal’ as an answer.

“It's like y'all teleported,” the man continued, “I remember watching on the news, the bus driver was saying that the bus just straight up disappeared from around ‘im…”

“Wonder why the portal didn’t swallow him with the rest of us,” Tucker whispered.

Danny shrugged, “maybe he was wearing some anti-ghost thing.”

“Now that’s a thought.”

Tucker and Danny were pulled from their conversation when Paulina spoke up, “Hey, um… how are we going to get back? The bus is kinda…”

“Busted.” Supplied Dash.

Erin startled, seemingly realizing the predicament, “We’ll get that sorted when we get to the police station.”

The van fell into more silence, watching headlights and turn signals blur together in the rain. Danny’s chest started to tingle as they pulled up to a police station, he yanked open the door the second Erin shifted the car into park.

Wonderful, wet, fresh air rushed into his lungs. Just in time too. As soon as everyone got a few gulps of air that weren’t contaminated with teenage sweat, perfume, and deadly vapor, Erin and the man ushered them into the building. The rest of his class was already inside since their cars weren’t dead last.

The man burst through the door with caffeinated gusto, swiveling his head from the class seated in cushioned blue seats to the attendant at the desk. He grinned, as the attendant updated Danny’s group, “We just got in contact with Casper High and Amity Park’s mayor, Casper High is going to be covering plane tickets for all of you. The plane leaves tonight.”

The attendant sighed with such unenthusiasm she could’ve been harboring all the world's boredom, “You lot will be transported to the nearest airport in thirty minutes, and hopefully through security before the news catches wind of you.”

A few students who’d never flown started freaking out. Danny and Tucker joined Sam’s side, catching each other up on stuff they’d learned. Danny looked around for a clock, there was one above the door; was the longer or the shorter hand the hour? It was either around 9:40 or 7:40 ish, considering the sun had set not too long ago, Danny’d wager it was probably 7:40. That meant the class would be back in Amity before 12 AM if he did the math right. He could always double-check with Tucker, Danny turned to ask him, but he was too absorbed in his newly functioning electronics right now to pay attention.

His phone buzzed.

Between the blood blossoms and the man running entirely on caffeine, Danny completely forgot they were back in human civilization. You know, with cell signal.

He pulled his phone out only to be blasted in the face by about a hundred texts from his parents, fifty from Jazz, and a total of forty missed calls. His phone buzzed again and another notification joined the huge wall on his screen.

It was from his mom, and it read, ‘The school just called to tell us that you’re okay. they said you were flying back and would be here in a few…” The rest of the text faded out of frame.

Danny spent the next thirty minutes updating his parents and Jazz. Then the dark man swooped out of a doorway carrying a new cup of coffee and a handful of paper.

“Alright, everyone come up here when I call your name and I’ll hand yeh your plane ticket.” He rifled through the papers and silently handed one to Mr. Lancer who appeared behind him.

Danny was the first to get his ticket, followed by Tucker and then Sam. Everyone gathered their bags, people glaring at Danny as they collected their damp blankets from the trunk of their van.

And then, they were back in the cars, squished together like sardines and bags crowding the floor. The drive to the airport was much shorter than from the forest to the police station, and thankfully, no news vans were around. Danny looked down at the ticket in his lap, trying to do the math internally. Boarding began at 9:30, they should have plenty of time to pass through security…

He was pressed against the car door and Tucker again. Danny didn’t mind, because now he could see the sky out the window. The rain had let up and now seldom wispy clouds drifted across the sky. Wherever they were was much more rural than Amity Park, there was less light pollution and Danny could see the stars. He traced the Little Dipper with his eyes before wandering up past its handle where the North Star hung. For a while, he tracked it, losing sight of it every once in a while when a long stretch of buildings cropped up or the car turned.

Danny wondered about the students who didn't attend the field trip, what they had done, and what they were thinking. He didn't know most of the kids, but Valerie couldn’t come, the field trip was after school hours, and-- with a note from her dad-- had gotten permission to miss it so she could work. At least she was there to fend off ghosts during his involuntary disappearance. He doubted Valerie was upset about missing it anyways, she wasn’t the space type. They were supposed to be going to a planetarium after all. While Danny couldn’t help but be disappointed that they never arrived there, at least he still got to see the stars clearer than usual.

The cars slowed as they entered the airport grounds, eventually pulling over at terminal B. Mr. Lancer had already exited the car he was in and nervously going over another roll sheet. Erin got out of the car, slamming the door behind her, and walking up to Mr. Lancer. Danny watched them converse until he nearly had a heart attack as something slammed into his arm.

He jerked up only to be met with Sam, he rubbed his arm and she gave him a wry smile, “That’s for scaring us earlier.”

“Hey,” Danny held up his hands, “it’s not like I chose to become a flower decoration, you can blame Dash.”

She chuckled, her eyes finding the back of the jock's head, “I heard you got him to apologize. How the hell did you manage that?”

Danny smirked, “oh, you know,” he tugged at his emotions and flashed his eyes green, “just had to give him a little scare.”

“Not gonna stop me from getting revenge on him later, might fill his locker with spiders or something- or, no that would be too obvious, he’d know it was me.” Sam thought. She shrugged noncommittally, “Eh, I’ll think of something on the plane. Cmon.”

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the group, meeting up with Tucker, they followed Mr. Lancer through the airport doors and over to the security line. Tucker suddenly jerked.

“Oh man,” he stopped in his tracks.

Danny glanced around, not seeing any threat other than falling behind the rest of the class, "What?”

“Dude…” Tucker looked up at the sign that listed banned items, “our ghost weapons.”

Sam threw her head back and groaned, “What are we gonna do, someone’s bound to find them if we just got rid of them in the trash.”

“Miss Manson, Mr. Foley, Mr. Fenton, please try to keep up with the rest of the class.” Came Mr. Lancer’s usual drawl.

Struck by an idea, Danny plopped his bag on the ground, “one second!” He shouted at Lancer, then dropped his voice to a mutter, “Guys, quickly, put all the ghost stuff in my bag.”

Tucker and Sam caught on, the smuggest grin sliding over Tucker’s face. Along with the ecto-guns, wrist rays, the Fenton Thermos, a few lipstick blasters, and some Fenton Phones, Tucker also put in a few of his more prized electronics that would probably garner him unwanted attention from the TSA agents. His bag was now stuffed to the brim and very heavy on his shoulders, he adjusted the straps on his shoulders and watched the retreating backs of his friends off to tell Mr. Lancer that he was running off to the bathroom. Then, Danny backed into a corner next to an obnoxiously big and fake tropical plant. He examined the ceiling and the walls, not a single security camera could see him from here, the area was empty; not a soul could see Danny right now.

Danny faltered for not even a second as the sensation of invisibility crashed into him not like a familiar blanket, but a tight hotel comforter he had to struggle with to pull free. Making absolutely sure he was invisible, he held up a hand to reassure himself, then walked back towards his class waiting in line at security. Poking Sam and Tucker in the back, he phased through the completely empty TSA precheck line and darted past the agents. As he phased through the machinery and past his classmates, he had to struggle to keep himself intangible. It was as if something was trying to solidify him, trying to force his cold ghost form hot. However, when he settled on the other end of the security checkpoint, the feeling abated.

His class filtered through the security checkpoint, having to rummage through their bags to take out electronics, keys, wallets, you name it. And then half the class was held up as the agents searched their bags for suspicious objects, maybe they heard they were from Amity Park. Paulina threw a fit when the agent said she had to throw away her lotion and liquid makeup.

Tucker and Sam looked at random spots nervously as if they expected to see him. Danny waited patiently until the last person got their bag back and everyone was now officially on the other side of the checkpoint. It seemed Mr. Lancer finally noticed Danny never returned from his restroom break as he frowned, “Did Mr. Fenton catch up with us?”

Using the cover of Tucker and Sam, Danny reappeared on the visual plane, “I’m right here,” he sidestepped his friends and tilted his head convincingly, “You didn’t notice me? I came back a few minutes ago.”

Mr. Lancer sighed, “No. Must’ve missed you, it’s been a stressful night.”

That was that. Danny, Tucker, and Sam laughed mirthlessly in agreement and gave each other knowing looks as they followed Lancer to their gate.

Danny bid his time at the gate, staring out the giant ceiling-high windows at the night sky. For the entirety of the flight, he didn’t have any more vision problems, only the fleeting echo of a headache.

Closing the door behind her, Star breathed into the familiar smell of her home. Next to her, her mom lifted the hand she had on Star’s shoulder and slumped into the couch. Star desperately wanted to join her, but she needed to put her bag in her room or she’d never get around to it.

With a, “Be right back Mom,” Star floated past the couch. It felt like floating anyways, exhaustion lifted her head and made everything feel lofty and floaty. She dragged her legs up the stairs and tossed her bag into the middle of her floor. In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the plant pots on her desk next to her unfinished English essay.

Why not, Star shrugged. She really wanted to know what would happen and she was never known for her patience with plants, she might as well do it now so she can have the sleep of a lifetime.

Star reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of rosebud-like red flowers; hip, leaves, and petals all intact, if not a bit frazzled. It might've been the exhaustion, but she thought thin wispy vapor was curling off them in her palm.

Wanting nothing more than to drift off to sleep, she stuck a few buds into the tubes of water neatly organized on a stand on her desk. They floated in the water, she hoped that they still had a chance of propagating, even if they had no nodes. Then, she moved to the plant pots. Already filled with potting pix, all Star had to do was lightly tuck the blossoms into the dirt and mist the pot.

Now. Finally, Star pivoted on her heels and face-planted onto her bed.

The events of the last day flickered under her eyelids and she couldn't tell when processing the crazy day turned into dreaming, but the next thing she knew, she was staring at her wall.

Sunlight flooded through the window above her bed. Casper High had oh so graciously let them have the day off, Star sighed in relief, completely ready to drift back into the realm of sleep.

Star froze, her eyes locked on her desk against the wall she’d been having a staring contest with.

She couldn't see the tubes of water from here, but she could see a purple-black sapling rooted securely in a pot as if it’d been there for months. It was unmistakable. The base was thick and the end thinned into a sharp point, a few nodes and branches were already spreading out from the stem. A beautiful gradient of inky black in the base blended into an almost ghostly purple, with small indented spirals working their way up the sapling.

Before her eyes, a node split one branch into two. Slowly reaching out and growing in real-time. A small bud swelled out of one of the ends. While Star was shocked that the blood blossoms had grown at all, since the ones she grabbed didn't have a node and thus didn't have the structure to grow roots, she was almost happy that they planted so easily.

But then alarm bells went off in her head because it had grown so quickly. The words of the rescue woman Erin echoed in her head like a church bell announcing someone had died, only she was the only one who heard it.

“the last time anyone was out here-- ‘bout a month or so ago-- this was all fields. I honestly have no idea how this weird red forest got here.”

Blood Blossoms are so pretty. Like spectral roses, and the way they danced in the forest wind… Star smiled, lifted herself off her bed in a smooth motion, and watered the sakura sapling. The budding blossoms opened gently like a baby flexing its small hands.

She knew sakura meant cherry blossom, but when she thought about it, blood blossoms looked just like sakuras. Except they were blossoms that thrived on… something other. Not rich, fertile soil and full sun.

Somehow, call it an innate sense from living in Amity Park her whole life, but Star was sure the most haunted city in America provided the best conditions for this flower. It hadn’t been obvious at first, but that forest and Amity Park had something in common, how could she have missed it once she was at the airport, not at either of those places and away from the damning sensation she’d grown used to? 

Star had grown used to the feeling all around her, every day, twenty-four-seven, death; the dead. Ghosts.