Danny meets Johnny and Kitty. Jazz reunites with her brother.
Danny had gotten bored of shadowing Sam and Tucker. There was only so much one could do at school when you were invisible.
Instead, he had taken to haunting FentonWorks. He enjoyed watching Jazz and his parents chat at the dining table, and work on essays and inventions. He did have to be careful around his parents though. He didn't want to get caught.
One day, while Jazz was at school, and his parents were chasing a ghost in town, Danny was exploring the lab.
He was fiddling with something that looked like a fishing pole when he heard an engine revving, and something burst through the portal. Danny spun to face the noise and froze.
The ghosts, a young man and woman on a motorcycle, froze too.
The three stared at each other.
Finally, the man said, "Uh. Hey, kid. Just passing through."
"Right," Danny said awkwardly.
The two ghosts watched him for a minute, then turned to each other, holding a conversation with twitches of eyebrows and tilting of heads. Finally, the woman sighed and turned to Danny. "We've never seen you around before. You new, kid?"
Danny tipped his head like a bird. "Relatively."
"You have someone to help you out?"
"Yes." Clockwork had warned Danny against telling anyone he knew him. Apparently, it would cause a lot of chaos. Danny didn't know why, but it was best to be safe.
The ghosts shared another glance. "I'm Kitty, and this is Johnny. If you ever need something, we're happy to help, okay."
Johnny looked like he disagreed, but he didn't argue.
Danny fought back a smile. "Okay. Thanks."
Kitty nodded, satisfied. She wrapped her arms around Johnny's waist and they flew out of the lab without another word.
Danny turned back to his snooping, and after a while, he had almost forgotten about the encounter. Then, that afternoon, Jazz snuck the two ghosts back into the building.
She sat them down at the dining table. "Okay, I've gotten you in the building, now for your part. I want answers."
Kitty and Johnny were busy looking around the room, looking nervous. It seemed they had finally realized that the house belonged to ghost hunters.
"Excuse me!" Jazz said impatiently. "Answer me! Have you or have you not met someone called Danny?"
Danny, watching the scene from the doorway, sucked in a breath.
Kitty heard him and glanced over. She looked between him and Jazz, and seemed to realize that he was who she was looking for. She turned to Jazz, looking defensive. "We have not met anyone who introduced themselves as Danny."
Jazz opened her mouth again, but Kitty interrupted her. "My turn. Why do you looking for him?"
Jazz seemed uncharacteristically angry. Danny wondered what had happened before coming back home. "Because he's my brother," she hissed.
Kitty blinked.
"Oh," Johnny said. "I was worried he was, like, an ex-boyfriend or something."
Kitty hit him.
Jazz deflated. "It doesn't matter. You can go back through the portal. Just, keep an eye out for him?"
The two ghosts nodded and thanked her, then followed her down into the basement. Danny followed to watch.
"What about your bike?" Jazz asked.
Johnny shrugged. "Eh. It'll reform in our lair. It's fine."
Jazz still seemed confused, but let it go. She pointed towards the portal. "Well, there you are, I guess."
Kitty smiled. "Thanks sweetie." She stepped through the portal. Johnny followed her with a discreet gesture for Danny to follow.
Danny stared at Jazz for a moment. She seemed defeated. She sighed, and walked back upstairs.
Danny flew through the portal. Kitty and Johnny met him on the other side. Johnny's arms were crossed, and Kitty was staring at him in concern. "You are Danny, right?" She asked.
Danny pursed his lips. "Yes," he said.
"Why haven't you talked to her?" Johnny asked. "She seems pretty desperate, kid."
Danny shrugged. "You guys saw. My family are ghost hunters. I don't really wanna get shot by my own parents."
Kitty shook her head. "Keyword being 'parents'. Your sister seems pretty chill."
Danny snorted. He couldn't imagine Jazz as 'chill'. "No, she's really not."
Johnny grinned. "Alright, yeah, she seemed pretty high-strung, but I don't think she'll pull a gun on you."
"It's just a suggestion," Kitty said, "and I know you don't know us or have any reason to trust us, but I think you should talk to her."
Danny hesitated. Kitty was right, he didn't know them, but he did feel like he could trust them. It was a rare feeling these days, and he cherished it. So, he said, "I'll think about it."
Kitty shrugged. "That's about the best we could hope for, I guess."
"But seriously kid," Johnny placed a hand on Kitty's shoulder. "If you ever have any questions, come find us. Or, hell, if this doesn't work out, feel free to come take it out on us."
Danny laughed.
Kitty smiled at him one last time, then together they flew away.
Danny floated back through the portal and up to the main floor. Jazz was sat at the table again. Her head was dropped into her hands, and she was hunched over in a way Danny had never seen her sit. It worried him. Danny floated closer. He stopped when he was on the other side of the table and crossed his legs midair. A strange noise was echoing through the room. Danny leaned a bit closer, and was horrified to see tears dropping onto the table.
"No, no," Danny said, forgetting that Jazz could hear him. "Don't cry!"
Jazz gasped and looked up. She looked Danny directly in the eyes and screamed.
Danny flew backwards in surprise. As Jazz continued to scream, he decided to leave the room altogether, and darted into the living room. He curled up behind the couch. He looked around the corner into the kitchen. Jazz had stood from her seat. As he turned back around, Danny caught his reflection in the window. It took him far longer than it should have to realize that he shouldn't have been able to. "Oh my god!" Danny jumped off the ground. He flew up until his back hit the ceiling. He hovered there a moment.
Jazz wasn't screaming anymore.
Danny refused to look at her. Instead, he waited in an uncomfortable silence for his sister to say something.
Eventually, she whispered, "Danny?"
Danny nodded, still facing away. He wrapped himself in his cloak, wishing he could hide in the semi-sentient fabric stars.
Jazz reached up and gently tugged on his ankle. "Please come down?"
Danny drifted downwards. His glowing white boots touched the floor, and he hunched his shoulders. He was facing the window. He could see Jazz behind him, her hand hovering over his shoulder. He could also, unfortunately, see his horribly inhuman appearance. It hadn't bothered him before, but until now he was only visible by equally inhuman creatures. Jazz would be the first human to see him. He didn't want to turn around.
But gently, Jazz nudged him into facing her. Danny tried to duck his head but she grabbed his chin and forced him to meet her eyes. They stared at each other for a long time.
Then Jazz began to cry again.
Panicked, Danny darted closer and wrapped his arms around her. Jazz sobbed into his shoulder. Soon, Danny was crying too, whispering apologies. All the while, he wished he could run away.
Finally, the tears stopped and they simply stood there, holding each other.
"You've been hanging out with Sam and Tucker, haven't you?" Jazz whispered.
Danny winced. "Yes."
"Why didn't you visit me?"
"I was scared." It was a weak excuse, but Jazz accepted it.
They stood there a while longer, then Jazz sighed and stepped back, holding Danny at arms length. She scanned him over, taking in each new detail. She lingered on his eyes, seeming a bit uncomfortable, but moved on before Danny could say anything.
Jazz finished with his cloak. She grabbed the edge and rubbed the material between her fingers. "This is so odd. I've never felt anything like it."
"Clockwork gave it to me."
Jazz sent him a weird look. "Who's Clockwork?"
"Uh, my guardian. He took me in, he's teaching me about the Ghost Zone and all that comes with it. Y'know, ghost stuff."
Jazz snorted.
Danny grinned, happy to get a reaction other than tears.
The interrogation continued from there, slowly turning less personal and more clinical. Jazz asked about everything from ghost biology to politics, but Danny couldn't answer most of her questions. She didn't seem to mind.
Eventually they heard the RV pull into the driveway. Danny and Jazz sent each other a look, then separated without a word. Jazz ran to her room to start on her next essay, and Danny zipped into the lab and through the portal.
Neither could wipe the smile from their face.