I laughed with Sam and Tucker, the ghost things still looming in the back of my mind but with summer it being warm outside and Tucker telling a story about the time his father got stuck in a revolving door it was enough to make me feel normal. Most everyone was on the other side of the lawn, we were sitting at a table around the corner of the school, and it was kind of tucked away and secluded. Sam had chosen it to keep me safe from Dash and she tended to hit anyone who came close so there wasn't that much of a problem with people coming around. Just as Tucker got to the part about the fire department being called I grabbed a spoonful of mandarin oranges but got to watch as the spoon passed through my hand and that strange opaque color traveled up my arm and over my body. I blinked staring down at my body Sam and Tucker looking at me mouths open before I suddenly dropped to the ground becoming abruptly tangible as I hit the ground the wind knocked out of me.

"Danny?" Sam and Tucker peered over the edge of the table looking at me; I shoved myself up onto my elbows only to find my foot stuck in the bench.

"AAAAAHH!" I screamed tugging at it futile. My heart started to quicken in pace as I pulled at the limb stuck in the wood.

"Danny calm down someone is going to see." Sam said warningly. I stopped then breathing heavily stared at my foot peeking up through the wood my pant leg sticking awkwardly through the bench as well. I then looked over at Sam.

"Then what do you suggest I do?" I asked. But my concern was unneeded as at that moment my foot and leg fell through the wood bench and landed with a thud underneath it along with my other leg. I gave a sigh of relief.

"You know, just maybe we should ask your parents about this." Tucker said.

"No way." I said wiggling out from under the bench and clamoring back up to the table. Tucker looked to Sam who shook her head.

"As much as I'd like to agree for Danny's sake, I'm also not so sure about it. Parents don't understand." Sam said angrily, I couldn't help but to think she was talking about her parents rather than mine. I sighed and continued eating my oranges. Sam went back to her tofu soy melt and Tucker to his double bacon cheeseburger; we had begged Jazz until she got us food off campus for lunch. I continued eating my fruit cup before draining the juice and staring at my empty plate well wrappers.

We sat awkwardly at the table for a while none of us daring to speak about what just happened.

"Well… maybe it's that much more energy you've expelled." Sam finally stated, "You're that much closer to being normal." Sam said. I looked down at my hands.

"Well I guess that is good news." I sighed then burped a bit Tucker smiling.

"Nice one." Tucker said taking a sip out of his soda. I shrugged then swirled what was left of the root beer in my soda before taking a sip.

"We have study hall to day with Mr. Pearson; maybe we can go to the library and look up ghosts." Sam suggested. Tucker and I looked at each other.

"Pass." We both said.

"No offense Sam but old legends aren't going to help very much." Tucker said.

"Besides I don't think these are the kind of ghosts that just moan and move stuff." I added. Sam glared at me. I put my hands up, "I guess we can check it out." I relented, "But count me out I am not sitting in a library reading for who knows how long. I do that enough in English." I said. Sam glared at me one last time but that was one condition I was not compromising on.

The bell rang at that moment and I grabbed what was left of my soda and sucked it down Tucker and me standing at the trashcans till the last possible moment finishing our food… well Tucker food my soda. Sam rolled her eyes yet waited nonetheless till we threw the empty cups and wrappers away and headed inside.

(I love this show… :D)

I yawned walking out of the school, I had fallen asleep during study hall and now was being punished by Sam and being made to carry half of the books she'd gotten, and trust me she'd gotten a lot of books. I had actually had a pretty good day despite the whole ghost thing. Well until that moment.

"Hey Fentoad!" I heard a second before the football hit me in the back of the head sending me and Sam's book sprawling to the ground.

"You missed your daily beating." Dash said pounding his fist into his hand.

"Somehow I doubt he'd want to be present for that." Sam said sarcastically behind her mountain of books, Dash just glared over at her before grabbing the front of my shirt.

"Eep!" I squeaked as he brought me close to his face his breath smelling of school lunch. And school lunch doesn't smell good to begin with.

"So you get to pay for it double now." Dash said fist raised. One thing I will confide is that when the punches stopped at the kicking started, I was ready to call it quits. It wasn't a long beating, but for me, it took hours. And as Dash promised I did pay for it double. I held my ribs as I crawled to the table, before I made it thought Sam and Tucker helped me up, the books I was carrying were still on the ground I gasped for air trying to catch my breath.

"I hate him." I said glaring at the retreating back of the star quarterback. My hands in tight fists as I stood, my knee buckled and nearly sent me to the ground.

"You should tell someone Danny." Sam said, and not for the first time. I just glared harder at the back of that jock.

"No way, I won't give him the satisfaction." I growled before standing up. Sam was picking up books. Tucker was looking at me mouth open. I stopped glaring at Dash and looked over at Tucker blinking.

"What?" I asked. Tucker stared at me then shook his head.

"I just thought… it looked like your eyes were glowing dude." Tucker said before turning back to his PDA.

"Glowing?" I wondered confused. Tucker fiddled with his PDA nervously.

"Yeah… green. You know like when you were a ghost." Tucker said. Sam shoved a book into his chest.

"Shut it!" She hissed, "We don't need the entire school knowing." Sam glared. Tucker nodded, I held my bruised ribs and wiped the dirt of my face before dust myself off along with the shoe prints on my shirt. Usually the beatings weren't that bad, a couple bruised arms, or a head full of toilet water, sometimes a class period or two stuck in my locker. I coughed a little almost expecting blood, but there was none. Dash must have had a bad day, Mikey stopped noticing my bruised state.

"He got yelled at by the coach and failed two tests then got caught with Paulina in the broom closet and nearly got detention." Mikey said. I nodded.

"Why is it when he has a bad day he always takes it out on me?" I asked. More rhetorically than anything else.

"He has nothing better to do I guess." Mike shrugged, "see you later Danny." He waved. Tucker put his hand on my shoulder.

"Oh well, nothing we can do really. Except maybe tell someone, but you know how that goes." Tucker shrugged. I nodded as we started walking I took some books from Sam.

"Or rather how it doesn't." I yawned again grimacing as a nice forming bruise on my cheek pulled with the motion of my mouth.

"I just hate that nobody does anything. Teachers piss me off in that way." Sam growled angrier than I was about it.

"Well they say if they don't see it they can't do anything and nobody else is about to go against Dash to testify what they saw." Tucker said.

"I just wish I could get him back." I frowned as we walked down the street. I let my head rest on the stack of books my arms getting tired as it was already. I nearly closed my eyes and almost walked into a pole, but instead of meeting painfully with the pole and falling back onto the ground with a pile of books on top of me I just passed through, unfortunately that meant that while I made it through the pole, the books however did not. It was a strange feeling. The book passing through my body as I walked forward, the spines of the books at first giving a small shove into my chest before they passed easily through then fell as I walked through the pole. I froze hearing the books fall then made a move to pick them up my hands passing through the leather bound volumes as I grasped for them.

"Danny." Sam said putting her hand on my, or rather where mine was. She gave me a look of sympathy then picked up the books handing them to Tucker and adding a few to her load.

"No I can carry them." I insisted holding out my arms. That weird opaque color dominated my form though and I couldn't touch them nor could they touch me. Sam shook her head.

"Just forget it." She said walking onward. I hung my head and walked beside trying to get my body to go back to normal.

"It's no use I'm stuck." I said after a while angrily staring at my hands. Tucker shrugged.

"Well hopefully it will wear off soon." He said. I glared at him.

"Wear off? What if it doesn't? What then?" I growled angrily, "If I'm like this for the rest of my life then what?" I asked pissed.

"Well it is your fault." Sam said. I blinked and looked over at her.

"My fault?" I asked angrily. Sam shrugged.

"Yeah, I mean you are the one who went into the portal in the first place don't take it out on Tucker." Sam said. I blinked.

"Why would you say that?" I asked confused, "you make it sound like I wanted to go in." I said, "You're the one who convinced me to go."

"Look we're just trying to help, don't get mad at us." Sam said.

"I'll be mad if I want to be mad!" I yelled, "It's not all my fault! You're the one who convinced me to go in after all!" I yelled angrily, "Don't be pointing fingers when you're just as much to blame."

"Danny…" Sam started. I shook my head.

"Forget it." I said turning on my heel and running the opposite direction. I suddenly very much wanted to be a ghost, at least that way I could fly away from this place. I felt the cold I had felt before and grasped at it. I flinched as it started spreading two white glowing rings formed at my waist and started to move.

"Nnnuuggh!" I put my hands in front of me to protect myself as a wave of cold broke over me. Other than that everything was normal… until I felt my body, that same shadowing feeling and the light floating sensation. I opened my eyes and put my hands down. White gloves, I grabbed my hair, white hair, I stared at my chest, black and white jumpsuit and I was glowing. I looked back at Sam and Tucker who were staring at me mouths wide open. One look at Sam and I forgot my fear. Did she think I wanted to be like this, wanted to be this ghost. My eyes narrowed and I started running down the once more before jumping into the air unstably and speeding haphazardly away from Sam and Tucker.

After a while I got the hang of it more than usual, it was hard to keep altitude so I mostly flew above buildings till I was able to keep a constant height the distance to the ground from where I flew not making a difference as to whether I stayed that high up or just that far from the ground. I drifted down and sat on the pier where I had been last night. I dropped my back pack and walked to the edge of the pier where I sat down.

I needed to think. I glimpsed Phantom in the water and grimaced laying on my back still in the ghost body. Had I been childish? It wasn't my fault… I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't try to become dead, or a ghost, or a freak. I just wanted to be Danny. I closed my eyes again and let tears fall. I'd become quite the crybaby in the past twenty four hours I decided. But who wouldn't cry knowing they were dead, well at least sort of dead.

What was I now? Was I a ghost? Or was I human? More importantly how did I go back to being human?

"Well it is your fault." I could hear Sam saying. I growled.

Why? How was it my fault? It was her fault. If she wasn't there then this never would have happened to me. I instantly hated myself for thinking that and I tried to make it up.

Well I guess I could have said no. I reasoned, however the little devil on my shoulder had other ideas.

Say no? To someone like Sam? If I said no then she probably would have pushed me in regardless.

Well that's a little extreme… but possible, in that case it's my fault for letting her down into the basement.

She would have just kicked the door open threw me in there.

No that's not true.

She just doesn't want to take the blame for killing me. She doesn't want to be the person who killed her best friend.

Who would want that though? I wouldn't want to be the person to kill her. Maybe she wouldn't have done it if she knew I would die.

And may she likes that I'm a ghost now, she is a Goth and she does like weird things.

No Sam wouldn't do that.

Would she?

Was she scared of me like tucker was?

Wait… Tucker was scared of me. He was…. I saw it in his eyes when he looked at me.

Were they both scared of me now?

Was I even Danny to them anymore?

Now that was a scary thought…. And if I wasn't Danny… was I Phantom? I shivered. Did they see my differently now? I frowned not wanting to lose them even if I was mad at Sam for placing all the blame on me.

While I would own up to some of that she also had some of the blame. That didn't worry me so much anymore as a new scary thought took hold in my mind. What if I wasn't Danny to them? What if I was just a ghost that looked like Danny? I felt like I was Danny for the most part but the ghost thing worried me? Was I still Danny? Was I ever Danny? I sat up. These questions scared me and I didn't want to answer them, didn't want to think about them, didn't want to even consider them.

I could hear the soft quack of ducks in the distance, a few teens were hanging along the beach down the way, I didn't suspect they'd come this way. I sighed then let myself sink through the wooden boards and landed with a splash in the water. I drifted down a few feet before coming to rest on the sandy bottom a few rocks sticking into my back from where the fake beach had drifted away. I stared up through the water the soft pull of the minimal waves steadily dragging me out from under the pier. I let out a breath after a few minutes of feeling the water currents and watched the bubbles make their way toward the surface like miniature jellyfish. I smiled a little laughing as more bubbles escaped at made their way upward. I blinked. It was quite peaceful down here.

I didn't know how long I stayed down there feeling the rush of the water and the cool currents around me, a few fish coming up every now and then to inspect me. One small group of fish staring at me and watching me before swimming away probably thinking what an ugly rock I was. I slowly began to feel an uncomfortable feeling in my chest as I laid there, in this cool weightless world there was suddenly this heavy warm feeling. I blinked as my vision grew cloudy, the water around me a bit darker than before then a pressure building upon me. I stood up pushing off the lake floor and speeding for the surface as my ghostly glow faded and black hair plastered to my face. My clothes became heavy wet cotton and I kicked for the surface the oxygen in my lungs already depleted. I broke the surface about a hundred meters away from the pier. Two people sat on the edge one of them stood up and pointed at me.

I gasped taking in welcome lungful's of oxygen as I struggled a bit to stay afloat in my now human body the ghost body I had before was so much lighter or easier to control. I blinked the water out of my eyes and my ears slowly emptied as well.

"Danny?" I looked toward the pier and saw Sam waving her arms. I stuck one arm out of the water and waved back before I started swimming (rather poorly I might add) back to the pier. Sam and Tucker hauled me out of the water for second in twenty four hours.

"How long have you been down there?" Tucker asked as I shivered while a cool breeze blew against my wet body, my arm crossed over my chest for warmth.

"I don't know." I said then shivered again, "Not very long I guess." I looked over at them, "How long were you guys here?" I asked.

"Not too long, we got here maybe fifteen minutes ago, but before then we stopped at Sam's house to drop off all those books." Tucker said, "Then to my house to drop off my backpack and then we walked down here." Tucker said. I calculated, I'd probably been gone at least an hour and a half. My parents probably wouldn't notice because they'd assume I was with Sam or Tucker or they'd be too busy on an invention… my sister was another story. I shivered again then looked down at my body. I needed to get dry.

The sun was still up but since the sun was up till at least eight in the evening it wasn't really a good time measure. I shivered then attempted to wring out my shirt before shaking my head around to shake loose the water droplets.

"Um…" I looked up, "Danny." Sam said looking at me.

"Uh… yeah?" I asked going back to wringing out my shirt wondering if I should take it off to do it. Sam looked nervous though and I hesitated staring at her.

"Well… I was thinking… if… well if you could do that intangible thing you could get all the water off." Sam said. I nodded.

"Or I could fall through the pier into the water below and get that much more wet." I stated. Tucker nodded in agreement.

"I thought about that. But when we were walking even though you couldn't touch anything you still didn't sink into the ground." Sam said, "You know when we were headed to your house." Sam said leaving out our fight, "So maybe you just have to know what you want to touch and what you don't." Sam suggested. I blinked then stared down at my wet clothes.

"Ok… I want to touch the pier and not fall through." I said to myself, "I don't want anything else to touch me though so I can get the water off." I said. Nothing happened.

"You probably have to use the ghost powers." Tucker said.

"Ghost powers?" I asked. Tucker nodded.

"You got a better word for it?" Tucker asked. I shook my head.

"Ok… ghost powers, ghost powers." I said not sure what I was trying to do, "Oh! That cold feeling." I said triumphantly. Sam and Tucker just gave me a weird look.

"When I changed into that ghost thing there was this cold feeling in my chest." I said pointing my thumb at my chest. Sam and Tucker just looked at me, "Here let me see if I can duplicate that." I commented trying to feel that cold core.

"Um…" Sam and Tucker looked at each other; I looked back up at them.

"What?" I asked. Sam and Tucker shook their heads.

"It's not really something we can tell you dude." Tucker shrugged.

"We have fewer ideas about what you have to do then you do." Sam said, "I guess you could try it." I nodded.

"Think ghost. Think ghost." I muttered to myself. I could feel the presence of that cold core. I went to mentally grasp it but it was like I couldn't. I frowned.

"Ghost…. Ghost… Ghost… come on go ghost!" I said angrily my mental hands grabbing the core violently. There was a flash of light. I was a ghost again. I looked down.

"Wait that's not what I wanted." I frowned, "I just needed to be… intangible." I said to myself. Sam and Tucker were once again staring at me.

"What!" I asked angry that I couldn't control these ghost powers or whatever they were. Sam and Tucker blinked.

"That is so weird." Tucker said. I felt suddenly depressed and my focus slipped as I sighed. I shook out my now white hair water droplets scattering from my head. I felt somewhat weak after using so much… ghost energy. The warm feeling returned and I then watched as the ring around my wait formed and split one moving up the other moving down returning the warmth of my human body. I blinked then felt my clothes which were still wet.

"Ok…" I clenched my fists and grabbed for a little bit of the cold, though not all of trying to replicate the strange tingle that passed through me whenever I turned intangible. This time it worked a bit better and the water when rushing off me landing on the planks. I turned tangible and pumped both fists into the air.

"YES!" I cheered, and abruptly my pants fell down causing both Sam and Tucker to laugh. I turned red and pulled my pants up once more.

"Just be glad we weren't somewhere public." Sam said. I nodded still red in the face.

"Let's just go." I said turning on my heel and walking back down the pier.

(Toooniiigggghhhttt~ We're not Youunngg~)

It was dark in the room I was standing in, there were no windows and the darkness seemed endless, strange things would pass through light thoughts speeding faster than ewoks on motorcycles leaving me with faint déjà vu feelings. I just stood there for a while before I realized that I might want to get out of there, so I began walking. Slowly the terrain became sticky and then I felt like I was walking through a lake or a pool. I looked down to see this glowing green substance.

Trying to run back to where I was or find something to pull me out of there I scrambled for an exit. There were strange ghostly faces in the green glowing goop and the stuff was steadily trying to swallow me. Where the goop had touched me I couldn't feel my body that well and as it climbed up my body swallowing me, devouring me, consuming me I felt like I was disappearing losing what was me off me. The harder I fought the more the substance clung to me grabbing me dragging me down.

The acid green glow eating me a way desperately, twisting around me, those eerie ghostly faces dragging me down into the goo as I struggled my arms slowly being covered in green goo as I fought to break free. The goo climbing up my torso as I futilely stretched my head away from the living ghostly goop. The ectoplasmic green covering my vision as I sunk into the goo.

I floated around in the green substance for a while adjusting to my surroundings. I could feel myself being brought in deeper and deeper into the muck. I reached for the surface only to see a gloved hand, I opened my mouth to scream for help and then I could feel myself falling.

I hit the ground with a thud crying out in pain but having nothing in my lungs to cry out with. I doubled checked my body and I was still human. I lay there gasping for breath as mom came barreling down the stairs with the anti-creep stick.

"Danny!" Mom said dropping the anti-creep stick and grabbing my shoulders sitting me up as I caught my breath.

"Again?" she wondered. I coughed then looked at her. Should I tell her? Would she be able to cure me? Could I get rid of this curse haunting me… ok poor choice of words.

"Mom… I…" I began.

"WHERE'S THE GHOST I'M GOING TO TEAR IT APART MOLOCULE BY MOLOCULE!" Dad said barreling down the stairs with an impressive looking gun.

"It's just Danny Jack, but I promise if there's a ghost you can tear it apart." Mom said calming my Dad down.

"I'm fine, just sleepwalking." I said genuinely scared for my life. Jazz came down the stairs looking upset her hair a mess and Bearbert Einstein in her hand which she thrust at me.

"What is going on?" Jazz asked angrily.

"Your brother just tripped down the stairs while sleep walking I assume." Mom said helping me to my feet. Mom and Dad then turned around to look at Jazz.

"You know that might be a mental condition, it's not extremely rare, and he probably got it from living in this…" I turned Jazz out and I my right foot was rapidly sinking into the ground.

I pulled it out and willed it tangible again with minimal success as it slowly started sinking again.

"Danny." Mom said scaring me, "why don't you head back to bed, you have school in the morning." Mom said. I nodded.

"Yeah." I said shifting my weight to my left foot as I willed the right tangible again this time feeling the floor solidly below my foot as I started toward the stairs.

"Goodnight Danny, have sweet dreams." Mom said with a smile trying to get Jazz to stop her psychobabble and go to bed.

"Yeah… sweet dreams," I said knowing full well I would not have a pleasant night's sleep.

"Goodnight." I said as I made it to my bedroom mom a few steps behind me.

"Goodnight sweetie." Mom smiled. I shut the door softly and curled up in bed fully intending to stay awake the entire night.

I think that this is a good place to stop.

It has been a while since I updated this chapter but I hope you enjoyed it.

Fairfarren all.

No answering reviews since I'm trying to post thing quickly.