Jazz
Standing in the doorway of the storage room, Jazz watched her adorable goof of a brother smash into a stack of boxes before flying off. She smiled and turned away. "He can tell me when he's ready."
She started walking back to the gym when Mr. Lancer ran up to her, pompoms in hand.
"Miss Fenton," he said, "you're needed."
Together, they returned to the gym, where the whole student body stood on the bleachers and chanted her name. When she entered, they cheered.
Mr. Lancer sighed. "Everybody's mood has lifted, as though some gloomy malevolence has been shooed away. Your disappearing act worked marvelously. They've got their spirit back."
Jazz looked for her brother but only saw Tucker and Sam. They smiled and waved at her, so she waved back. Maybe Danny wanted to be alone. She hoped he was okay.
Danny
Danny was not okay. He flew to the roof of the school and lay on his back, hands under his head. Spectra's words haunted him.
"What are you? A ghost trying to fit in with humans? Or some creepy little boy with creepy little powers?"
He knew she was just trying to get under his skin, but the thing was… it worked. He didn't know what he was. Was he dead? Was he just a ghost reanimating his corpse? Or was he a "creepy little boy with creepy little powers"?
Danny shivered. He took heavy breaths. He almost cried. He frowned. He ruffled his hair. He pounded a fist into the roof. He did cry. He flew. He flew higher than he had ever flown before. He sighed.
Thinking was getting him nowhere, and there were still classes he should attend. The bell had just rung for the third period. He would be late, but at least he wouldn't be absent. He flew invisibly back to the boys' bathroom and transformed before going to class.
After School
Danny blew off Tucker and Sam so he could go home alone. He would talk to them later. He did his homework in the kitchen until Mom came upstairs to make dinner.
"Oh, hi, Danny!" she said. "How was school today?"
No way could Danny tell the truth. Instead, he shrugged. "Boring. How was your day?"
"Oh, same old, same old," Mom said. "Your dad is working on a new invention, and I'm doing calculations on the ghost portal. Did you know it's resonating with something? Two somethings, actually. I haven't been able to figure out what."
Well, one of those had to be Danny, since the portal opened right on top of him. What could the other thing be?
Mom sighed, "Oh well. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually." She focused on making dinner, and Danny went back to his homework. He found it hard to concentrate.
So he was resonating with the portal. That was interesting. More importantly, who or what was also resonating with the portal? Could there be another person trapped in the portal event? Or maybe he was looking at it all wrong, and he wasn't resonating. It could be something else entirely.
What about another portal? But who would have the technology or knowledge to be able to build another portal? And why didn't his parents know? They knew everything about ghost technology.
Danny pushed his homework aside and helped his mom with the cooking. He was tired of thinking.
Later That Night
Danny wasn't done thinking, though. He had to take care of Spectra and Bertrand. After everyone went to bed, he snuck downstairs and through the portal to the same spot where he released Helen. He noted that he could tell which way the portal was, so maybe he was resonating with it. He decided that was a good thing because it meant he would never get lost.
With that in mind, he wandered deeper into the expanse of the Ghost Zone. He didn't want Spectra or Bertrand to find their way back. Eventually, he stopped and let them out of the thermos.
Spectra was in her black, shadowy form, and Bertrand was in his green, blobby form. When Spectra saw Danny, she lunged for him.
"You!" she seethed. "You took my youth!"
Danny dodged. "No, I didn't!"
"Well, you helped! Bertrand, sic him!"
"Don't make me put you back in here!" Danny threatened.
Bertrand hesitated. "Maybe we should listen to the kid," he said.
Spectra growled and huffed, looking between Danny and her assistant. After a while, she crossed her arms and said, "Fine."
Danny held on to the thermos but lowered it. "That's better. Now leave. I never want to see you in Amity Park again."
"Oooh, scary eyes," Spectra mocked, but she turned around a flew off, Bertrand trailing after her.
When they were out of sight, Danny sighed. That wasn't as bad as he expected. Hopefully, they would listen to him and never come back.
But what did Spectra mean about his eyes? Just another mystery of being a ghost. Not a comforting thought.
The Next Day
"Dude, why'd you bail on us yesterday?" Tucker asked the next day at school.
"I had to work through some things," Danny said and slammed his locker.
"What things?" Sam asked warily. "You don't seem to have worked through them. Unless abusing your locker is normal for you now."
Danny sighed. "Spectra said some things that messed with my head." He stood with his back against his locker.
"She messed with everyone's heads," Tucker said.
"Yeah, you can't take it too personally," Sam added.
"Hey," Danny said, "you two didn't get as down as the rest of us. Why not?"
"I already see the bad in this world," Sam said with a sadistic smile. "I don't need someone telling me what's wrong."
Tucker shrugged. "I didn't really listen to Spectra. She let me use my PDA during our session."
"But back to you," Sam said. "Pull a Tucker and refuse to listen."
"It's not that easy–" Danny said when the bell rang. "Sorry, guys. Another time." He hitched up his backpack and went to class. Tucker shared the same class and followed him.
"Dude," he said, "talk to me. I'm your best friend."
"I will, just, ugh, not without Sam."
"Okay. I get it."
Tucker kept glancing at Danny throughout the class. Finally, Danny glared at him. Tucker scribbled out a note and handed it to him.
"Don't do that. Your eyes glowed," the note read.
Danny looked around in a panic. No one else looked back at him. He slumped in his chair, relieved. He wrote a note back to Tucker.
"Stop looking at me. I'll talk. I promise."
Tucker nodded to Danny after reading the note. Thankfully, he left Danny alone for the rest of the class.
After class was another story. Tucker dragged Danny toward Sam's classroom, and the trio met up in the hallway.
"Spill," Tucker said.
"Not here," Danny muttered. he led his friends to a janitorial closet and slipped inside.
"No more excuses, Danny," Tucker said. "What aren't you telling us?"
"What am I?" Danny blurted. "I'm not a ghost, I'm not a human, I'm a monster."
"Don't you ever say that!" Sam countered hotly. "You're our friend! We would know if our friend was a monster."
"Yeah!" Tucker said. "What she said."
Danny put his head in his hands. "You guys don't get it. I'm not fully human anymore. I'm… I'm… something else. And not just anything, but the thing my parents obsess over. A ghost. A dead thing. Guys… I died."
Tucker and Sam had no answer for him. Good. Maybe what he said got through to them. He looked up. Tucker appeared sad, but Sam looked horrified.
"So you get it now," Danny said quietly. "I'm not the same anymore. Who knows what else might change about me? My parents believe ghosts are evil. Maybe I'll become evil, too."
"We won't let that happen," Sam said.
"We'll keep you on the side of good," Tucker added.
Danny managed a weak smile. "Thanks, guys."
Sam pulled the boys into a hug. "We're a team. Nothing can stop us. Not even death."
The bell rang. The three left the closet to go to their next classes.
Danny didn't feel any better.