"Agreed. The sounds of the forest can be relaxing. However, they can also be frightening too. On my first night alone, I heard the howls of a pack of wolves. But over the years, I have learned to tune out those howls. Have you heard the packs of wolves howling in your time out here?" Danny asked as he smiled, happy to just be with Ella and no one else.
"Yes, but I got used to it being in the forest with my father so often," she said softly. "The one thing I'll never forget was the day I got lost. I got so scared I started running around, trying to go back to our camp but I didn't know where that was either. I started to cry and then I heard the wind pick up. It rustled the trees and I forgot I was scared. I listened and heard the stream we camped near and walked to it. My father was actually proud of me that day..." she said, a bittersweet smile on her face.
"Aye. That's one of the many reasons my parents didn't want me going too far from the family home. They were afraid of me getting lost and that I might be unable to find my own way back. They usually had my older sister go with me too, so that I was less likely to get lost if I needed to go a distance from the house. But, the night my family was killed and I ran off, I got lost in the woods. If I was being totally honest, which I am at the moment, I thought that I was a goner. But, believe it or not, a lone she-wolf found me. She wasn't aggressive towards me at all, not evening letting out a growl. However, she tried to get me to follow her, which I did, and she led me to an old, abandoned camp in the woods. It had a small shelter, as well as some hunting gear that was clearly left behind." Danny paused for a moment, trying to recollect his thoughts and well as his emotions before continuing telling Ella about his memory of the female wolf.
"So, naturally, the wolf got me to go into the shelter, and stayed by the doorway to the shelter. She seemed like she was guarding it, and at the time, I didn't know why she had stuck around. I expected her to go back to her pack or something after she led me to the shelter, but like I said, she didn't. She didn't have any interest in leaving me alone either. I tried to get her to move on, but she wouldn't. Long story short, she became my traveling companion for a while. We hunted together, slept together, and even ate meals together." Danny paused once more, unsure if he could force himself to go on without his voice breaking. He missed that she-wolf, and sadly she was gone. The wolf was killed while trying to defend Danny from some hybrid hunters.
She smiled at Danny's story, seeing that even though he lost his real family someone was there for him. As he stopped talking she knew that somethig had happened from how his voice dropped off. She wrapped her arm around him and squeezed him tightly. "She's still with you, just like your family. And I'm here too, but I know I'm not as good," she said with a coy smile.
She stood and stretched, letting out a content sigh before resting her arms on his shoulders. "What should we do now?" she asked tapping her fingers on him. "We ate, finances are boring, we went to the market, there's still plenty of firewood, what do you say we do?"
"Do you have an idea? Because I am drawing a blank here. You're usually better at coming with these things than I am. Maybe that's because I got so used to be alone and entertaining myself." Danny replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Not that having company is a bad thing at all, and please don't think that I am complaining about having you around, because that's not true at all." Danny went on, realizing what he said about being alone might come off the wrong way.
Ella began to think before being interrupted by some sort of apology. She laughed and ruffled his hair, leaning down to kiss his cheek. "I'm not offended, you forget I had to live on my own too." She thought of something and giggled, getting off of Danny she went in front of him and pulled him to his feet.
"We never did finish that game of tag, and I do believe that... YOU'RE IT!" She squealed and took off, not looking back as she knew he'd be right on her heels. If she wanted to stay free of being it, she knew she'd have to stay light on her feet and stick as close to the corners as possible.
"Hey! Come back here!" Danny said, a smile coming to his face as he shifted into his ghost form and started going after her. He took off into flight as he did tried to follow Ella. Of course, he stayed low to the ground, but his feet weren't touching the ground at all.
An idea came to Danny's head and he slowed down a little, giving Ella more of a distance. He wanted to catch her off guard, and he knew that it would be easier to use stealth when using his ghost abilities. But, the first step was to slow down and let Ella think that he wasn't able to catch up to her. Then, he would use his ability to turn invisible and stay as quiet as possible while trying to sneak up on her.
Ella giggled as Danny began to chase her, running as fast as she could while not looking back. When she didn't hear his footsteps she looked back to see him above the ground. She laughed and shook her head. "Hey that's cheating! I can't fly!" She ran up the stairs, keeping close to the banister corners as she took them.
Once at the top of the stairs she saw he had started to slow down. She broke into a sprint down one of the hallways and into one of the rooms. She looked behind her before slipping behind a painting and into the secret passage it lead to. She stopped on the step and took a breath. She giggled to herself before liesurely walking down the stairs.
Danny chuckled to himself, hearing Ella's footsteps slow down. Was his plan working? Danny certainly thought so, and a big smirk appeared on his face. Picking up his flying speed once more, Danny was started to wonder if Ella had given up. But since Danny didn't want to give away his location, he continued flying, looking for Ella.
"Oh Ella, where are you?" Danny mentally sung in his head, thinking the words instead of saying them out loud.
Ella smirked as she walked down the steps, not concerned about Danny at all. Sure he'd been in the castle long before her and knew all the passages, but he didn't know which one she was in. She continued back down the steps, carefully stepping down each one making it as silent as possible. She swore she had this game in the bag.