Most of the patients had woken up by now. Many of them spiraled into a panic when they processed what had happened to them and that they were exhibiting powers. Some took their anger out on the staff, spitting accusations and threatening to place lawsuits. Others blamed the Fentons and their ghost-shield一they were the experts after all! They should have foreseen this and included a failsafe! Meanwhile, a select few slipped into a reserved silence, perturbed by their new powers.

There was an air akin to horror within the entire facility. Word traveled fast and they wouldn't be able to keep this under wraps for long. Soon, it would spread outside the hospital and then to the media. Then,everyone would know.

Hopefully the government would keep their distance. That'd be a pain to deal with.

"Ugh," Danny groaned. "I don't know what I should do, Jazz."

They were on one of the upper floors now. After Danny monitored the patient for a few minutes, he helped Jazz transport the rest of the boxes upstairs. Mom met them with gracious apologies and took everything from there, whisking boxes under her arm and frantically talking herself through possible procedures.

"You two stay here for now," she instructed. "We have a lot to figure out and right now I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you two aren't directly involved. These people… they're struggling. They could be dangerous, even if they don't mean to be."

They nodded.

"We understand, Mom," Jazz said.

Maddie huffed and brushed her hair away from her goggles. Her mouth was ajar as if she were tempted to speak but was holding back. She looked between her children and her notebook and sagged.

"Alright. Love you both."

She whirled around and vanished into the motion of the hospital. Danny and Jazz silently settled on some waiting benches, observing the madness.

"What do you think you should do?" Jazz asked, picking up from where they had left off before.

Danny looked down, playing with the hem of his jeans. "These halfas… nobody knows how to help them, nobody except me. But if I do anything I'd put myself at risk and I don't… don't know."

"You're still deciding," Jazz summed up.

He blushed. "Yeah."

"That's alright," she consoled. "You don't have to do anything at the moment. But… where do you think you'll draw the line? What will it take for you to make that decision? Before or after someone goes too far? Because like you said, nobody knows how to help them. By not doing anything you're trusting that nothing bad will happen if you just sit by." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not trying to pressure you, I'm just preparing you. Because I know that with your… heroics you don't like sitting by when something poses a threat to others."

Danny gulped. The way she put it, if he didn't do anything now, things could progressively decline. People could get hurt as a result of his parents' and the hospital's ignorance. And once that happened… it might be too late.

Revealing his secret was the best option. If he outed himself, he could save so many people! But exposure came with a price. A price of two years of lies he wasn't ready to claim.

He didn't want to be here anymore. Deep down, he knew he should've stopped the Viking sooner. Then he wouldn't have to make this choice and all these people would be normal again.

Danny repeated it like a mantra一what he should have done.

"Danny?"

He flinched. "I get it."

Should he take the plunge?

He was scared, scared of all the repercussions. Mom and Dad… they'd been so relieved that he hadn't been affected by this. Could he really drop the bomb on them that he's been some half-ghost freak of nature all along? Could he really disappoint them like that? Could he admit that he was the town's hero, their worst enemy, and ideal specimen?

Jazz's eyes darted around the hall. She reached out again but drew her hand back. "I didn't… I really didn't mean to stress you ou一"

"No. I needed to hear that. That's the truth. You're right."

"I could've worded that better," she said.

"I have to do this, don't I?" Danny realized. "Before I get in too deep again. I have to stop lying so these people don't go through my worst fears. Because that isn't fair."

Jazz shook her head. "I didn't say that."

"But it's true!" he said. "All these lies… have been snowballing. This is inevitable. I'm going to have to come forward now before it gets worse! Because there's these people, and they're just innocent! They didn't walk into a ghost portal! They didn't break their parents' rules! They didn't goof off and put a HAZMAT suit on and pose for some stupid pictures and trip on a fucking wire! They were just trying to stay safe and I couldn't keep them safe!"

His eyes were glowing green now, but Jazz didn't flinch. She frowned, but she didn't speak. She didn't respond.

"Jazz?" he whispered.

She met his gaze. "Whatever… whatever you think is best. I just want what's best for you and if you think that this is what will ease your conscience… I support you. And I hope you know that none of this is your fault, no matter what your core or whatever says."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I guess you kinda get it."

"I love you a lot. You know that, Danny?"

He knew that. But there was a distinction between knowing and active realization. Her words broke through his mental barrier.

It was easy to dismiss Jazz as just some nosy, overbearing nuisance一but at times like this she really shined. She was his rock, more than Sam and Tucker in some respects. There were just some things about their family that other people would never understand, but Jazz got it. She got him. She understood his obsession and his unhealthy tendency to just shoulder all the blame. She cared enough about him that she would try to help navigate all his self-centered bullshit一that really was love.

"Yeah," he said. "I know that. You're really gushy, though. And a loser."

"And you're a dork with a hero-complex who never shuts up." She shoved him. "Kinda dramatic too with those angry eyes."

"Not anything I didn't know." He shrugged and glanced around the hallway, searching for something.

He turned back to Jazz. "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

"I think Mom said it's down that hallway, on the right." She pointed. "You good or…?"

"Don't worry," he assured. "I actually have to pee so don't freak out on me."

He stood up from their bench and started down the hallway. But on his way to the bathroom, he felt something… something almost familiar. And bad.

His core flared, sensing something amiss. He glanced around for the source of the issue but didn't see anything. Nothing was here. Yet he could feel it. It was getting stronger. Dull heat curled around that cold cavity in his chest, his core, almost… electric.

Oh.

He should've known. When in doubt, his parents opted for natural remedies before they attempted anything drastic. Blood blossoms.

Mom and Dad had used blood blossoms in their research before, but Danny had feigned an allergy, convincing them to place their research on hold. Clearly, they hadn't gotten rid of all the flowers. And if he could sense them this far away, then these were likely a modified strain.

The bathroom could wait.

He focused on his core and tried to sense where the blood blossoms were. The pain was thin, but nearby. Something resonated in the air above him. The blood blossoms were only about ten feet above him, on the next floor.

He was tempted to float up to the next floor but that was too risky. The pain around his core would increase if he drew too much on his powers. Luckily, he was near the elevators.

He hopped to the next floor and spun around, searching.

Mom and Dad had to be close一he could still feel those flowers. The pain was getting deeper, hotter. He hoped he could stop them before it was too late, before they administered blood blossoms to an unsuspecting patient.

"Now which room did you say she was in?" Maddie asked.

Danny whirled around and spotted his parents standing by a familiar-looking nurse. Dad was holding a mini-cooler, one of the things that Danny had packed into Jazz's car. He felt another pang of pain and knew. The blood blossoms were in the cooler. Danny had no idea how he hadn't sensed them earlier but if he had to guess, Jack probably placed them inside something that negated their effects to preserve them. He'd seen schematics for a device like that in the lab forever ago, so it was probable.

One thing was for sure; he had to dispose of them, soon.

"I'll take you to her," the nurse said. "Ms. Ishiyama has agreed to experimental procedures, but we haven't gotten her family's signatures yet. Things are sort of hectic, so if you proceed with this… there could be consequences."

They were walking now, and Danny trailed closely behind.

Jack nodded. "We understand. Though, blood blossoms aren't especially harmful. They're anti-ecto plants, so these should flush her system of contamination with ease. If anything goes south, we'll stop immediately."

Danny paled. Things would go south. And once Ms. Ishiyama was exposed to those flowers, they wouldn't be able to cure her so easily. He had to stop them, but… how?

His parents and the nurse filed into the room, leaving the door slightly ajar. Danny stood outside and peered through the crack in the door.

Principal Ishiyama was splayed across the hospital bed. She was also wearing one of those teal hospital gowns, which struck Danny as weird because he had never seen her wear anything but blazers and skirts. Even more peculiar were her legs. They were vaporous, yet still semi-tangible and clearly trying to form a spectral tail. She didn't appear worried, but she was definitely agitated.

Danny empathized with her, remembering when he adjusted to having a tail. He mostly had problems with it in ghost form—not human form—but it was still a major pain. These days, he just let his legs do whatever felt natural, sliding from legs, into a single appendage and back一like water. It was one of those things that took time to accept, and… he'd definitely taken a while.

Ishiyama's head snapped up when she realized that she wasn't alone. She pitifully attempted to hide her legs, but yet they still remained vaporous. "Mr. and Dr. Fenton一"

She cut herself off and exhaled a wisp of blue air. She sensed him, or at least her core had. Danny's own ghost sense hadn't gone off much in the hospital since many of the patient's cores weren't mature enough for him to detect, but this meant that she was developing. Her powers were becoming more well-rounded.

Maddie frowned. "What was that?"

Ishiyama shook her head. "I一I don't know."

"That air was blue," Jack observed. "You saw that, right Mads? It's probably her lungs rejecting the ectoplasm in her body. Her body's trying to expel it any way possible. That's my bet."

Maddie held a hand to her face. "Possibly… but I'm not sure. There's a number of possibilities, so try not to jump to conclusions, honey."

"Right, that's true."

Ishiyama coughed. "So, what do you two need? Just checking up or…?"

Maddie shook her head. "You opted to let us test possible solutions to… this. We may have something, but you have to be open to it."

The woman shifted, glancing between the Fentons and her incorporeal legs. "I'm alright with about anything."

Jack placed the mini-cooler on Ishiyama's bedside table, and Danny felt his stomach sink.

This was happening. His parents were going to administer blood blossoms to a halfa. And he couldn't fucking think or move or do anything一

With his good hand, Jack popped open the cooler and everything tilted. Grating pain pulled at his core and tested his limits.

Danny couldn't tell if Ishiyama felt it, but he was definitely affected from here. Probably because his core was much more mature, and he'd already been exposed to blood blossoms. Instinctually, he knew that he needed to leave, to get away from that cooler before his entire core was dissolved, but he couldn't… couldn't leave Ishiyama.

Danny ground his teeth. Why was this so fucking difficult?

Jack rummaged through the cooler and selected a tube of murky, red liquid. "This is a vial of concentrated blood blossoms," he explained, twirling the vial with his fingers. "Blood blossoms are a natural ghost repellent that expel ectoplasm from your body. They're a bit archaic, but we've proved that these flowers do work well on ghosts."

Danny's blood chilled. Don't say it. Ancients, don't say it一

"Think of it as natural medicine. You just have to down it like Pepto-Bismol."

He said it. Why did he have to say it?

Ishiyama eyed the vial suspiciously. Danny guessed that she probably felt something inside her, but was dismissing it.

That wasn't good, if she was actually going for it…

"Alright," she said.

Damn it.

Jack handed her the vial, and she held it with shaking hands. Danny thought she might back down, but instead she twisted the lid off.

This was happening too fast. Why was this happening fast? Why wasn't she stopping herself? Why wasn't he stopping her? Why was he letting this happen一

And then, Danny moved. He snapped out of his stupor, phased through the door, and flew over to Ishiyama's hospital bed.

The vial was inches from touching her lips. Panicking, he slapped it out of her hand. The vial clattered to the floor and splashed onto Danny's hand, dissolving his skin like acid. It hurt like hell and he bit his lip to prevent from crying out. At this, the nurse shrieked, but Danny ignored her. He had to focus.

The rest of the blood blossom concentration pooled onto the floor, and he kept it from running across the linoleum by subtly phasing off one of his socks and using it as a makeshift rag. Now that that was taken care of, he clutched his burned hand. Ectoplasm seeped from his wound, and he tried to hide it by wiping his hand on his jeans, but it was a futile effort.

Everyone's attention was on him now. His parents were wide-eyed, Ishiyama was trembling in shock, and the nurse held her hand over her heart, panting.

Shit.