Work Text:
Cauldron/Electricity
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The cauldron, or rather, the glowing green substance within it, bubbled and rolled. It did not boil. There was no fire beneath it. Lightning flashed, chartreuse, through the viridian clouds overhead. The air smelled of ozone, limes, and green peppers.
Sam stared down at the cauldron. She had no idea how she had gotten here. A ghost was probably responsible, in her life, ghosts were almost always responsible, but other that, blank. Nothing. Nada. Last thing she remembered, she had been brushing her teeth, getting ready for bed.
Was she dreaming? She dropped the long spoon she was holding, and pinched herself through her pajamas. No, it wasn't a dream.
Option two: overshadowing. The ghost would still be nearby. She felt for her wrist ray, but that, predictably, was gone.
She picked up the spoon. It was better than nothing, and the Fenton's had fought off ghosts with a mundane wooden baseball bat before. With the name Fenton on it.
The surrounding area didn't look promising. It was a high spot, almost craggy, surrounded by black, dripping trees. Between the color palette, and the odor in the air, this was almost certainly the Ghost Zone.
She hated being kidnapped. It played into too many stupid stereotypes. Also, it was being kidnapped, which was bad enough by itself.
She walked, placing her bare feet carefully, to where the ground started to drop off. Rough rocks and spindly, twisted trees laid scattered over a steep, almost vertical in places, slope. She could probably climb down, but it would hurt.
Down there didn't look all that great, either. She could see where the floating island dropped off into the great nothing of the Ghost Zone. Even of she did get down, there was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.
The other side was much the same.
At this point, she was really hoping that Danny knew she was missing, because she didn't think she'd be able to get out of this without him.
Lighting forked down from the sky, shockingly white against all the green, and dipped down into cauldron. Sam threw herself to the ground. She was not going to be toasted by ghost lightning. Danny had never told her or Tucker what being electrocuted felt like, but she could draw conclusions from the screams and thr tender, careful way he moved after fighting with an electricity user.
The lightning stopped. Sam raised her head, ears ringing. Okay, regardless of whether or not there was anywhere to run to, she was going to climb down to where she wasn't the highest point ar-
A hand came out of the cauldron.
It was followed by an arm, a tuft of white hair, and then a body. A familiar body.
"Danny?"
Danny yelped, and threw himself backwards, knocking over the cauldron. He scrambled to his feet.
There was no sign of the ectoplasm that had been in the cauldron.
"Say something only Sam would!" he demanded, pointing.
"Uh," said Sam, mind going blank. "I think you should wear more black on a daily basis."
"You do?"
"Yeah, you could totally pull off the goth look. Where are we and what's going on?"
"You were possessed by this weird witchy ghost who had spells for ghost powers. She caused a bunch of trouble with love potions and curses and stuff, and she kept getting away when I tried to get her out, and when Tuck and I tried to ambush her in you room, she melted me, put me in a bottle, then brought me here and dumped me in that cauldron." He shuddered. "It's been hours."
Sam swallowed back a sour taste in the back of her mouth. "That sounds like multiple days."
Danny flinched. "Yeah, it's been a few. I'm sorry."
Sam took a deep breath. She was angry, but taking it out on Danny would be dumb and mean, and she'd been trying to be better about that kind of thing.
"Well, let's get out of here, and back home. If she's like any of the other ghosts we deal with, she'll be causing trouble."
"Oh, but I'm not like any of the other ghosts you deal with."
Sam spun to face the ghost. Like Danny said, her aesthetic was witch-like. She wore dark, loose, ragged clothing, and a tall pointed hat. Her skin was green, like most ghosts', but so were her eyes, and they were a deep forest green, barely glowing at all.
Danny inserted himself between Sam and the ghost, raised a hand and-
Nothing happened.
The ghost smiled. "It's good to know that at least that part of my spell worked properly. You are a most vexing subject to deal with."
"I do my best," said Danny. He glanced back at Sam.
She knew that look. No powers. Great.
"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Sam.
"My name was Vivian Davise. When I was alive, I was the strongest witch in North America. Real witch, mind you, not one of those children they murdered in Salem Town. But I died before I could pass on my skills." She smiled, too many teeth in her mouth. "Which is why I'm so luck I found you. You're perfect. You have the gift, and you have the inclination. You're even a descendant of mine."
So that's why her name sounded so familiar to Sam.
"So why kidnap us?" asked Danny.
"Well, I need to know if she's the right one for sure, don't I?" She looked at Sam, and flicked her fingers at Danny. "Make this ghost your familiar. Once I do so, I'll return his powers and you can leave. My old books are on this island. They'll explain how to do it."
"And how long will that take?" asked Sam. "Humans need to eat, you know." She was already feeling hungry.
"Then you had better eat fast."
"What if we don't want to do this familiar contract thing?" asked Danny. "No offense, Sam."
"It's fine."
"Well," purred the ghost. "That's not exactly up to you, is it? And don't try flying as humans. I've put safeguards up to prevent that." The ghot began to fade away. "Have fun!"
"Yeah, right," grumbled Sam.
"At least the sky is clearing up?" offered Danny. "And Tuck knows what happened, so..." he trailed off. He sighed, and flicked to human form before peeling off his coat and offering it to Sam. "You look cold."
"Thanks. I guess we'd better go look for those books." She frowned down the cliff. "I'm sorry about this."
"Don't be. You deal with my stuff all the time, and if we're apologizing for our ancestors, I should probably say something about one of mine trying to burn you alive."
"That's true."
Danny wound up giving his socks, shoes and jeans to Sam as well, then went ghost again so that both of them would be fully clothed. Neither he nor Sam wanted to try the climb without footwear.
Sam went first. Unlike Danny, she had some rock climbing experience, and thought it would be easier for her to find a safe path. Danny argued, of course, but Sam had the superior skill there as well, and won.
The climb wasn't too bad, but there were a couple of rough patches where she lost her grip or footing and slipped. She lost a fingernail, which was sure to annoy her mother when she noticed.
She didn't look up, but she didn't need to to feel Danny radiating worry down at her. This had to be hell on his Obsession. She mentally braced herself for the reflexive coddling she would receive later.
Danny started down once she reached the bottom, and she helped direct his descent. She couldn't see everything from down here, and he definitely picked out hand and footholds she couldn't, but she still helped him maneuver him out of a few places that looked like dead ends, and he got down faster than she had. He spent a few minutes fussing over her hands, and pulling band-aids out of his belt. But, finally, he wound down.
"So, I guess we should start looking for those books?" he asked.
Sam made a face. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Hey, it's okay. Look on the bright side: You can learn magic! I bet that'll be really useful."
"If any of it's real, and not just her ghost powers and delusions," said Sam, pessimistically. She allowed herself a tiny smile. "But, yeah, it would be cool."
.
.
.
To be continued in Artifact/Nursery Rhyme...