The Samhain Chronicles

Danny's freefall into the abyss was halted suddenly when he crash landed onto a bed that was slightly too small for him. The wind was driven from his lungs on impact, and he was greeted by another sharp flare of pain from his upper back. Two women were leaning over him as he struggled to catch his breath, both looking deeply worried and alarmed. "Daniel," the shorter, slimmer woman said sternly, "Daniel, it's alright... just relax and breathe. Do you know where you are, Daniel?"

He blinked at her and the plump woman beside her in utter confusion, "Wh-What? Miss Penelope...? What's going on? What happened?!" He tried to sit up, his mind reeling as he frantically grasped at straws. The details of the frighteningly realistic vision were rapidly slipping away from him by the moment, yet he tried desperately to cling onto them as best he could. "Th-There was a bonfire," he murmured, "and... a woman...w-with red hair..."

"He's hallucinating," the plump woman tusked, shaking her head so that her unruly blonde curls flounced, "poor duck. He must have a fever." She reached out and placed a soft, pudgy hand on his brow, then cooed pityingly, "Just as I thought: you're burning up something awful, Professor. You just rest here for me, Ducky, and I'll be right back with a thermometer and a cold compress."

Once the kindly, heavyset woman had waddled off, Danny laid back heavily with a deep sigh that transformed halfway into a groan, "My scars... th-they feel like they're on fire. This has never happened before. What's... What's happening to me?" He reached back with a grimace to touch the brand between his shoulderblades, but to his surprise and confusion his fingertips touched bare flesh instead of the linen shirt he expected. He looked down at his chest bewilderedly, then gasped in horror when he realized he was bare from the waist up. Instinctually, he yanked up the covers to his chin and scrunched his tall frame lower on the mattress, "D-Don't look at me, please! Where are my clothes?! I-I need-"

Penelope shushed him gently and nodded to the chair by his bed, where his shirt, jacket and tie were folded up carefully on the seat in a neat stack, "They're right there, Daniel. It's alright. I told you, your scars don't bother me...er, n-not that I've been looking, I just-... Well, you know what I mean!" Danny looked over at the chair, then at the bed he was in and the cheerful green curtains on either side of him.

"I'm... I'm in the Medical Ward," he murmured, but it was more a question than a statement, "Why...? Why am I here...?"

Penelope perched on the side of his bed and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You were hurt," she said quietly, "in your room. Surely, you remember, Daniel?"

Danny lowered his gaze as he searched his memory, nodding slowly as he vaguely recalled the incident, "Right... And the red-haired woman, she... Sh-She was never actually here?"

"No one has been here at all, Daniel," Penelope assured him, "except for me and Nurse Lovejoy. And I'm quite sure neither of us have red hair." Her hand tightened a little on his shoulder, and her deep brown eyes searched his face with intense curiosity, "You were talking in your sleep, Daniel... Something about a fire and dancing. Are you sure you weren't simply dreaming?"

Danny exhaled deeply and wiped the sweat from his brow, then slid his hand lower to rub his eyes, "Not entirely, no... but it must've been a dream. It just-... It felt so...real..." He glanced over at Penelope again once he'd straightened his spectacles, and his heart began to sink at the worried, pity-filled expression on her face. "Ye must think me mad," he muttered glumly, "It's alright, I cannae say I blame ye." He tried to sit up, but she pushed him back down onto the bed a bit more firmly than she probably intended to.

"You have a fever," she sniffed matter-of-factly, "Whatever influence that may or may not have on your overall mental faculties is purely temporary and inconsequential. Just... rest, alright? You need it."

"Miss Penelope, the school day is not yet over," Danny frowned defiantly, "I still have classes to teach, so if ye don't mind-"

Once again he tried sitting up, and once again she pushed him flat onto the mattress. "Prof. Morgan is covering for you," she snapped, "now stop being so stubborn and let me take care of you!"

There was a brief moment of silence between them, their faces so close together that Danny could feel the heat radiating off her bright pink cheeks. "Very well," he murmured softly, swallowing a mild groan of pain, "If ye insist."

Penelope's blush deepened and she leaned back, tucking her hair behind her ear as she cleared her throat, "I apologize for being so forward. I-... Honestly, I don't know what came over me." She patted his knee briefly through the blankets covering him and wet her lips nervously, "I just...want you to know that I care about you, Daniel...very much. If... If anything were to happen to you, I-..."

She trailed off when Nurse Lovejoy suddenly returned with a small basin and a rag, moving off the bed so that the nurse could more effectively treat her patient. "Here we are," the nurse smiled warmly, then produced a thermometer from the pocket of her scubs, "Now, say 'ahh' for me, please." Danny opened his mouth to protest the need to have his temperature taken, and the thermometer was briskly shoved under his tongue a moment later. "The entire school has been twittering about the state of your classroom, Professor," she clucked, setting the basin on a rolling cart by the bed and dunking a rag in it, "I admit to being quite a bit curious myself. Could you elaborate a little on what caused all that kerfuffle?" Danny's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed around the thermometer, shuddering at the fragments of memory that floated to the surface of his mind.

"Wouldn't believe me if I told ye," he mumbled, finding it difficult to speak clearly and keep the thin glass tube in place under his tongue.

Nurse Lovejoy plucked the thermometer from his mouth with a sharp tusk, "A simple 'no' would have sufficed, Ducky. Alright then, keep your secrets. None of my business, after all." She examined the level of mercury in the tube and her brown eyes widened in shock, "Blimey, I've never seen a fever like this in all my years! This can't be right. Here, let me take it again."

Danny shook his head, strategically holding a hand in front of his mouth to block the trajectory of the thermometer, "That isn't necessary, Nurse Lovejoy. I'm feeling much better, really. Would it be alright if I just retire to my apartment? Please?"

Nurse Lovejoy frowned and waggled a chiding finger at him, "You can't fool me, Professor. I've been at this job long enough to tell when a patient is fibbing. Besides, no matter what this dodgy old thing says, a fever is a fever. You're not leaving that bed anytime soon, I assure you." She pulled the rag out of the basin and wrung it out vigorously, then laid it gently across his brow. Danny shivered a little at the pleasantly cool sensation, almost positive he heard a small sizzle when the damp rag touched his skin. He wrote it off as another hallucination though as neither of the women seemed to hear it. "You look peaked," Nurse Lovejoy announced, patting his thin cheek, "When was the last time you had anything to eat, Professor?"

Danny averted his gaze and cleared his throat softly, "I, er...had a protien bar for breakfast."

Nurse Lovejoy pursed her lips with a nod, "That's what I thought. I'll have something brought over for you from the cafeteria. You've got to keep up your strength if you want to get better, Love."

After she hurried off humming a tuneless little ditty, Penelope sighed and shook her head exhasperatedly, "I knew you haven't been eating properly. Daniel, when was the last time you had a full, decent meal? Be honest with me now."

Danny gnawed his lower lip and picked at a loose thread on the sheets, "W-Well, I... honestly, can't recall. I tend to... forget things like that, and... I suppose I'm just used to going without. It's fine, Miss Penelope; I'm not bothered by it in the least."

"I am, Daniel," she snapped hotly, "I'm incredibly bothered by it! You've got to take better care of yourself." As she watched his gaze move to the scars on his right arm, she sighed and softened her tone considerably, "I'm sorry. Honestly I... I think I understand, at least partially so." Danny's skin prickled up like gooseflesh as her fingers delicately traced a few of the deeper scars on his bicep and shoulder. "I've never asked about your past, Daniel," she murmured somberly, "but it is fairly obvious that something... or, possibly, someone... has hurt you very badly, and I'm sorry about that." When he squirmed on the bed and turned his head away sullenly, she pulled her hand back with a soft sigh, "I won't pry, Daniel...you have my word on that. It's quite clear that whatever happened is difficult and possibly painful for you to talk about." When he felt her cool touch on his cheek, he turned back apprehensively to look at her. "If you ever do want to talk though," she smiled reassuringly, "and I mean about anything, I'm always available and willing to listen."

A strange warmth began spreading throughout Danny's body from the tips of his toes to the top of his head, which he was almost certain had nothing to do with his fever. Before he realized fully what he was doing, he raised a hand to her cheek tenderly, "Penelope... That means the world to me. Thank ye. Your kindness ne'er fails to surpise me. I'm so very lucky to have you as a friend."

Penelope uttered a soft noise of frustration and shook her head, "Daniel, for someone so brilliant, you really are an idiot!" Danny blinked in astonishment, taken aback by the comment. Before he could ask what she meant, though, she leaned forward suddenly and pressed her soft, full lips against his. Danny froze solid, his heather grey eyes widening in shock and disbelief...then slowly began melting into the kiss.

It was everything he dreamed it would be, and more; it felt like liquid electricity was coursing through his veins, sending little tingles and jolts all throughout his body. He drank deeply from her lips, as a man dying of thirst in a desert would from a cool oasis spring. Slowly he moved his hand to the back of her head, deepening the kiss as his fingers tangled in her short, brown tresses. An immeasurable amount of time passed before Penelope broke the kiss, leaving both involved parties to stare breathlessly into the other's eyes for a moment. Penelope then straightened up and stood, smoothing her mussed hair back into place with a deep blush as she took a few steps away from the bed, "I-I'm sorry... that was...incredibly unprofessional and exceedingly forward of me! I swear, I've never done anything like that before."

Danny swallowed dryly and ran his tongue over his oddly parched lips, still able to taste traces of Penelope's tinted raspberry lip balm, "No, it's... it's quite alright; no apologies necessary. I..." He managed to sit up, hiding a grunt of pain as he did so, and took her hand in both of his, "...I carry strong feelings for ye as well, Penelope. Truly, I do. That was...quite enjoyable, actually." Penelope's eyes widened and glittered with hope as she took a timid step forward, the desire to taste his lips again plain on her heart-shaped face. Danny pulled away though before she got close enough to kiss him again, groaning lowly as he sagged back onto the mattress. "No, Penelope," he said sharply, then tried again more softly, "I mean... please don't. Ye must understand: I... I have feelings for ye, but... but I-..."

Penelope looked utterly crushed and confused while he struggled to find the words. Honestly, what could he say? "Sorry, but we can't be together because the evil voice in my head wants to kill you"? He didn't see that one going over very well at all. While he was still attempting to organize his thoughts, a strange, ominous icy wind whipped through the ward.

"Goodness, what a chill," Penelope gasped sharply, shivering as she pulled her cardigan a little tighter around her slender frame, "Nurse Lovejoy must have left a window open somewhere. How careless of her. I'd better find it quickly before you catch pneumonia!"

A swell of dread filled Danny's chest as a distant, familiar laugh began echoing from somewhere above him, and he shook his head frantically, "No... No, not again! Penelope, ye must leave! Go now, quickly, before it's too late!"

Penelope stared at him as if he spontaneously sprouted a second head, "What?! Why? Daniel, you're not making any sense!"

Danny cowered as the Phantom Voice's laughter filled the rafters overhead, then he gripped Penelope's hand tightly, "Penelope, please, listen to me: people I care about... th-they tend to get hurt around me, very badly. I cannae explain how or why, they just do!"

She yanked her hand away, angry and obviously frightened, "Let go of me! This is insane, Daniel! If you do not reciprocate my feelings, then you can just say so! I'm a big girl; I can handle rejection!"

Danny grimaced in pain and frustration as he cupped her face desperately, "Penelope, ye're not listening to me: I care for ye, more than I've e'er cared about anyone else...that's why ye must leave! I cannae bear it if something were to happen to ye!" The Phantom's laughter rang out again ear-piercingly loud, forcing Danny to cover one ear while he shoved Penelope away with the other, "Go, now!! It's here! Get away from me, as far and as fast as ye can!"

Penelope caught the foot of the bed to regain her balance, then scowled at Danny defiantly, "Daniel, I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me what's going on! No one is here, just you and me. Obviously, you're suffering from another hallucination or some sort of psychotic break. Just calm down, and tell me how to help you!"

Danny tried to speak, but he didn't have time to get the words out. Just like before, the furniture and windows around him started rattling and shaking off their bolts and hinges. Medical implements -most of them quite sharp - began flying off shelves and out of drawers, and hurled themselves at Penelope. She hugged herself tightly, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief as she had become inexplicably wrapped in a cyclone of bracingly cold wind. Little by little she was pushed backward toward a window on the opposite wall, which opened wider the closer she got to it. "No," Danny cried, gripping the sheets as he reached for her futilely, "Leave her alone! Don't hurt her!!" It was no use; he was far too weak to stand, let alone to pull the covers off, but he couldn't just sit there and let her be injured by the mysterious invisible force. "Leave her alone," he growled again, putting more power behind the demand, "Stop it!! Ye will not hurt her!! I won't let ye!!"

Every mark on Danny's body began burning like hellfire the angrier he got, blinding him with intense agony. A raging inferno blazed within him, which his skin could barely seem to contain. He sat bolt upright in bed, going completely rigid, and his mouth dropped open in a soundless scream. He found it difficult to keep his eyes open as a brilliant light seemed to be suddenly coming from somewhere behind him, but when he did manage to open them all he saw was Penelope's face. She was plastered against the far wall, no longer trapped in the tornado of debris, and her eyes and mouth were wide in awe, stupefaction and terror. Danny briefly was able to bend his stiff neck down to look at his chest, and his eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. The radiant, white-hot light was coming from within him, shining through his scars like pinholes in a piece of cardboard.

Danny was absolutely speechless. He was in far too much agony to form a coherent thought, and thereby quite incapable at the moment to even begin to reason out scientifically what in the world was happening to him. The Phantom Voice uttered an inhuman shriek and seemed to disappear altogether, leaving the room feeling much brighter and warmer all of a sudden. The furniture and debris stopped flying, but the danger seemed far from over. Danny could feel, in his core, that whatever was causing the light was quickly reaching critical mass. A scream finally tore from his throat as he felt a kind of release, and a massive wave of energy exploded from him like a solar flare. The sound barrier broke as the wave radiated outward, as did every window in the Ward, sending shards of glass flying in all directions. The moment the explosion of energy dissipated, Danny felt his strength suddenly plummet to nothing, and once again he sagged back onto his bed totally unconscious.

* * * *

Penelope raised her head slowly, trembling all over and speechless from shock. Daniel lay on the bed completely still and serene, with thick white plumes of steam radiating off his sizzling skin. The custard yellow sheets underneath him had been bleached completely white, and she could quite clearly see a few burn marks where they made contact with his body. Eventually she stood up from her crouched position by the wall and took a timid step forward, "D-Dan... Daniel...?" The tall, handsome Scot did not respond, urging her slowly to his bedside. It took a few moments for her to pick her way over the bits of broken glass and splintered wood from the windows, and she nearly tripped once over a curtain that had fallen to the floor. A cursory glance upward revealed - to her utter shock - that the rail it had been suspended from on the ceiling was partially melted. Penelope steeled herself with a gulp and reached out to touch Daniel's shoulder apprehensively, "Da-ouch!!"

She yanked her hand back instinctually and blew on her fingers, astonished to see a few small blisters appearing on them. Daniel's skin was red hot to the touch, like a hot plate that had just been switched off. To her somewhat relief, however, he appeared for the most part completely unharmed. To the average person walking by, he looked like he could merely be in a deep sleep. His strong, scarred chest rose and fell laboriously, the only physical sign that anything had happened to him at all, but most concerning was the fact that he seemed to be mumbling in his sleep. She bent her ear close to his lips, wincing a little at the heat still radiating off his skin, and listened closely to try and make out what he was saying. After a few moments however, she realized that the language he was speaking was not Enlgish. Whatever it was, it was harsh and guttural, and sounded like no language she'd ever heard before.

Penelope straightened up as she heard a flurry of running feet approaching, and quickly situated the blankets over Daniel to hide his scars from view. The doors of the Ward flew open just as she finished, and the Headmistress of the school herself charged in with Nurse Lovejoy, several members of the senior staff and half the student population in tow. Silence fell as they surveyed the blown-out windows, twisted, overturned beds, and various other debris scattered about the Ward. Some of the students and staff began speaking in hushed, almost reverent whispers for a few seconds, but all were silenced with a wave of the Headmistress's hand. The peppery, matronly woman stared sternly at Penelope, her piercing blue eyes boring holes straight through the younger, trembling woman's very soul, "Miss Whitehall... Would you care to explain what in God's name just happened in here?! Rumors are already spreading that a bomb was set off on campus!"

Penelope looked from the Headmistress to Daniel (thankful that he'd stopped emitting steam at last) and back, shaking her head slowly, "I... I would if I could, Headmistress Carlisle...but I honestly don't think I can. I'm not exactly sure what happened myself." Daniel tossed his head fitfully and moaned again, continuing to mumble senselessly in the odd, rough language Penelope couldn't identify. She wrung her hands with tears in her eyes, unable to hold back her worry and fear any longer, "Will someone do something, please?! Help him!" Nurse Lovejoy snapped out of her stupor and waddled over to Danny's bedside, dropping the tray of food she carried on one of the beds that was still upright before checking his pulse.

Headmistress Carlisle shooed the students away, seemingly just realizing they were there, "Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day! Off to your dorms, all of you. Spit spot!!"

As the students filed out reluctantly, Nurse Lovejoy cocked her head toward Danny's lips with a frown, "What language is that? Can you understand it?"

"I've never heard it before," Penelope's voice quavered, but she still did her best to maintain her composure, "at least, not to my knowledge. It sounds a bit like Gaelic though...I think."

Headmistress Carlisle nodded to a thin, balding old man to her right with a scraggly beard, "As the Dean of Foreign Languages, Prof. Erstwhyle, perhaps you could be of assistance?"

The old timer adjusted his pince nez spectacles and shuffled forward, bending his ear close to Danny's face. After listening for about a minute, his faded red beard twitched like a billygoat's, "Sounds like Gaelic alright, but like no Gaelic I've ever heard. I don't reckon dat tongue has been uttered aloud in over five hundred years!"

Penelope gripped the old Irishman's scrawny shoulder desperately, "Can you understand it at least? Whatever he's saying may be important. Please!"

Prof. Erstwhyle shook his head, "Ancient an' Modern Gaelic are vastly different from eachudder, Lass, but I'll give 'er a go anyhow." He turned up his hearing aid a little and listened closely for a few more minutes, then tusked and shook his head again, "Ah, 'tis impossible ta say fer shure... the syntax and verbal structure is so bloody different. What I can pick out are two words: 'Clans' an' 'Samhain'... I tink. Does dat mean anythin' to ya, Lass?"

Penelope shook her head with a sniff, "No, but thank you for trying anyway."

Prof. Erstwhyle grumped as he walked away from the bed, "Just doin' me duty. 'Tis mighty queersome, though; how in the world the lad came ta learn such a complex, ancient dialect is far beyond me!"

Headmistress Carlisle nodded her thanks as the crotchety old professor hobbled out of the room, "Your efforts are most appreciated, Prof. Erstwhyle. Nurse Lovejoy, do you think it would be possible to move Prof. MacDougal? If we can, it may be prudent for him to stay confined to his rooms... away from prying eyes."

Nurse Lovejoy followed the Headmistress's gaze to the open doorway, where several curious students were still peeking in despite their orders to leave, and nodded, "Yes, M'um, he seems stable enough for that, I think. He's fever's gone down as well. How strange..."

Two of the younger male teachers were summoned to help move Daniel from his bed to the stretcher Nurse Lovejoy prepared, but before they could touch him Penelope barred their way. "Allow me a moment to re-dress him first, Headmistress. Daniel has...certain marks on his body that he's rather self-conscious about. I don't think he'd appreciate-"

She cut herself off with a small gasp as Danny tossed his head again and his fingers brushed her arm, his voice thin and raspy as he called softly, "Pen...Penelope... Penelope..." She blushed deeply and coughed to cover his voice, hoping her superiors couldn't hear him from where they were.

Headmistress Carlisle sighed sharply through her nose, "It seems highly irregular for a young, unmarried woman to do such a thing, but I understand you and Prof. MacDougal are very close companions. Just make it quick, and no lollygagging or mucking about!"

The small crowd then filed out to allow them some privacy, except for the two male teachers who stood respectfully behind the remaining curtain while Penelope worked. Nurse Lovejoy volunteered to help Penelope sit him up so she could tug his shirt on, gasping in shock when she took a gander at the sheets. "Cor, blimey," she blurted, her brown eyes boggling out of her skull, "Look at that!! How d'you suppose-?!"

Penelope shook her head, trying to ignore the burn marks on the bleached linens that perfectly matched the pattern of Daniel's scars and the Triquetra brand on his back, "I'm still trying to figure it out myself, Minnie." She glanced at the curtain, then dropped her voice low so that the other teachers wouldn't hear, "Minnie... do you believe in angels?"

Nurse Lovejoy pursed her lips in thought, then nodded, "I suppose I do. It's hard not to believe in a higher power in my line of work. Why?"

Penelope shook her head again with a sigh as they laid Daniel back down, and started fastening up his shirt buttons quickly, "Never mind... Forget I even said anything. Thank you for your help, Minnie. I can manage from here on my own." She kept her eyes trained on the still unconscious Scot as the two other teachers carried him on the stretcher to his apartment a few minutes later. It was absolutely scientifically impossible, but she couldn't deny what she had seen with her very own eyes. Less than a quarter hour ago, Daniel MacDougal had shone with a white hot, golden light... and a pair of massive, snow white feathery wings had sprouted from his back.