Danny kept his eyes locked on the door. The knob to the counselor's office rattled. Thank god we picked a room we could lock… way to go, Tucker!
"Hello!? I hear you in there, open the door this instant!"
"Is that Lancer?" Sam hissed quietly.
"Jesus, doesn't that guy ever go home? It's gotta be like 6:00 pm!" Tucker whispered, looking back at the door.
"Let the Right One In, how in the world did you get in there?" Mr. Lancer exclaimed, continuing to rotate the knob.
"Let the what?" Tucker asked under his breath.
The rattling stopped. "Alright, fine. I suppose I wouldn't want to reveal myself with the looming threat of detention, either. But when I return with the janitor and his keys, you'll have no choice."
Thuds echoed as Lancer stomped off down the hallway.
The trio looked at each other, wordlessly acknowledging the gravity of the situation. Even if Danny could avoid floating or disappearing in front of the vice principal, his eyes still shone like flashlights, not to mention all the wounds on his face.
"We've gotta move," Sam said, raising her voice back to normal volume.
Tucker walked up to Danny then turned around to kneel in front of him, offering a piggy-back ride. "At this rate, I'm gonna be buffer than the football players."
Danny hesitated. "Tucker, you don't have to-"
"Save it. We both know you're in too much pain to run, and this requires speed. I may have a C in gym right now, but I know I'm faster than a half-dead kid with a limp."
Danny nodded, mentally sending a silent thank you to his friend. He reached toward Tucker's shoulders to steady himself – and his hands sunk right through.
"Goddamn it!" Danny shouted, his voice cracking with the rising panic.
Sam looked between her friends frantically. "Can't you just, I don't know, turn it off or something?"
"Gee, Sam, thanks! Why didn't I think of that!?"
Tucker groaned. "Can you guys just shut up for two seconds? Lancer will be back any minute. Danny, unless you can turn invisible or something, we've got to go. Now."
Danny racked his brain in a frenzy, searching for any possible alternative. He found none.
This was gonna hurt. A lot.
Danny stood up quickly, hoping to warm up his body a little for the sprint ahead. His joints screamed in protest. His headache, which had dulled, flared back up with a vengeance.
At least I'm not fainting again, he thought, trying to ignore the ache in his legs and head.
Sam quickly reached over to steady him, then lowered her hands, doubtlessly realizing she couldn't do much if he was intangible. She grabbed his blanket lying on the counselor's chair instead.
"You ready to move, Danny?" Sam asked, her voice laced with concern.
Danny gave a humorless chuckle. "No. But it's now or never, right?"
Tucker gave a nod. "Sam, you stay in the back and keep an eye on Danny. I'll lead and make sure nobody's in the halls. Let's go!"
Tucker unlocked the door and peered out into the hallway. He opened the door further and poked his head out, looking the opposite way down the hall.
"We're clear," he whispered. "Come on."
Tucker took a left down the hallway. The soft, quick thuds of his boots echoed off the metal lockers.
Danny took a deep breath, preparing himself for the pain to come, trying to calm himself.
It's not like anything will ever come close to what I felt in the portal.
Danny took off after Tucker, wishing he could pull the blanket around himself like he'd done on the way over. He tried to jog down the Casper High hallways as silently as possible, anxiety swirling in his chest. What would they do if they were caught?
If he was caught?
Horrible thoughts rushed into his head. Captured, sent to the local ghost hunters for extermination. The glee in his parents' faces as they ripped him apart. It wouldn't matter if he told them the truth. They wouldn't believe him. He barely recognized his own face, how could they? They'd torture and study him until he was nothing but a pile of disgusting green sludge. Laugh at his pain. Then cry for their son that never came home.
Danny started gasping. Furious that breathing didn't bring the relief it did as a human. No oxygen, nothing but those stupid clouds of condensation.
But the mental torture couldn't compare to the physical. Sharp pain stabbed up his legs with every step. His weak knees buckled. Tucker said he weighed less as a ghost, but Danny felt like he was lugging a thousand pounds of dead weight. Sweat dripped down his face. It burned the open sores.
Tucker stopped up ahead where the hallway reached a T, slowly peeking around the corner. Danny sped up, desperate to escape the school, end the pain, be free from the terrifying threat of discovery.
Instead, his legs gave out.
His face and chest slammed against the filthy linoleum as he skidded to a stop. Sam's heavy boots thudded up behind him. He felt her arms scoop under his torso, and she pulled him up to his hands and knees.
Danny realized with dismay that he was tangible again. Couldn't I have turned solid, like, five minutes ago?
"Come on Danny, you've got this. You need to stand up, then we can carry you again."
Danny wobbled, lacking the energy to even rest on all fours. He began to slump back down to the floor before Sam caught him. He felt so dizzy – a cold, writhing sensation built in his stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting the nausea to no avail.
He vomited on the floor of the hallway – slimy and cold like it had been in the lab. He barely had anything in his stomach, the acid stung his esophagus. The cold sensation in his stomach swam up towards his throat and down to his feet.
His heartbeat pounded in his head, sending blinding pain with every wave of blood. His body felt uncomfortably hot all of a sudden.
He coughed and spit on the floor, praying his stomach was finally empty. He was mortified that Sam had to hold him during that episode.
"Tucker!" Sam shouted, excitement in her voice.
"Sam, keep it down," Danny hissed. "I'll be fine, just give me a second. You can let go."
"With how much weight you're putting down? Doubt it."
Danny heard Tucker dash over. "Okay, I honestly can't tell if this is the best or worst possible time for this to happen," he said at full volume.
Danny forced himself to sit up so he could escape Sam's grasp. His head lolled to the side, it felt so damn heavy. His friends stood over him, looking down at him with perturbing smiles.
"What is wrong with you guys?" Danny whispered. "Lancer could come back any second and hear us! We've gotta move!"
Tucker wordlessly fished around in his pocket and pulled out his PDA. He held it up in front of Danny's face.
"Tucker, what are you-"
Danny saw his face reflecting in the glass.
His face was still injured, no doubt about that… but it was his face. Normal blue eyes, black hair. No creepy, supernatural glow. He raised a hand to his cheek, avoiding the burned patches. Warm, even through the glove of the damaged white jumpsuit. Tears sprang to his eyes without warning.
"We have time to celebrate later," Sam said with a smile. "I'd still prefer to not get detention tonight. Plus, I think we'll have a hard time explaining that."
She nodded towards the pile of vomit on the floor, mostly comprised of glowing ectoplasm. It cast a green glow on the hallway.
Tucker shrugged, returning her grin. "Hey, the janitor is on his way over anyways, right? At least now he won't have wasted his time."
Sam shoved his shoulder jokingly. "Ass."
Tucker laughed and bent down in front of Danny, offering his back again. Danny saved his protests and weakly leaned into his friend. Tucker stood up with a wobble and a grunt.
"Tucker, do you want me to take him? You carried him all the way over here, right?"
"I'm good," Tucker said, nonchalant.
Danny felt Tucker's arms and legs tremble with the effort as he started to walk swiftly down the empty hall. Danny squeezed Tucker's shoulder in a silent thank you. He was already humiliated that Sam had to hold him up while he puked – if he had to get carried in public by a girl he'd probably die twice.
Sam held the door open for Tucker, noting the beads of sweat on his forehead. They all knew he was too weak for this, and although she never understood male pride, she knew it was usually more annoying to question it than to simply go along with it. Tucker quickly waddled over to the nearby bleachers and set Danny down with a loud exhale. The sun was setting; the track team had gone home for the night. They were alone.
"Just… let me catch my breath for a second," Tucker said, panting.
Sam covered her smile with a hand.
She took in the perversely normal sight of her two best friends. If not for Danny's tattered jumpsuit and the large burn marks on his face, this could be any typical day. Danny rested his elbows on his knees, leaning his head in his hands, joking around with Tucker. Tucker took exaggerated gasps for air, no doubt trying to make Danny feel better. From the looks of it, he was succeeding. Tucker could act dumb sometimes, but he had it together where it really counted.
It felt silly to worry about fitting in with her friends after all that had happened in the last few hours. They had something that would bind them together forever… in this life and the next.
"…You just wait, with all this strength training I'll be ripped in no time. Cheerleaders, here I come."
"You couldn't get a cheerleader if you were the Casper High quarterback."
Sam walked over to the bleachers and plopped down next to Danny. She noted his warmth, the breaths he took in when he laughed. Even the human blood that stained parts of his jumpsuit brought her relief. An incredible weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Things were far from okay – but there was no doubt in her mind that Danny was alive.
Partially, somehow.
She had no idea where they were going to go next. It's not like they could sneak into the Manson Mansion with her whole family swarming around – and she wasn't sure she was ready for her friends to find out about her wealth yet, anyway. She knew Danny and Tucker were still getting used to the new "goth" Sam, and she wasn't ready to drop yet another big change on the boys.
Sam waited for a pause in their conversation then wrapped Danny's blanket back around his shoulders. He wrapped it tighter around himself to cover the jumpsuit and gave her a grateful smile. Sam gave a sad sigh, noticing the green stains that wiped across the surface of the blanket.
"So…" she said, cutting off their brief moment of peace. "Where to now?"
Tucker stood up straight and nodded, getting back to business. "I figure we can go back to my house – my mom and dad won't mind if Danny spends the night. Sam, we can just sneak you in through the attic window."
"Why not just sneak us both in? Human or not, Danny looks like a mess."
"I figure it'd be easier to avoid them checking in on me if they know someone else is in the house. Not to mention they'll hear me talking to someone. So Plan A is hoping he conveniently turns invisible, Plan B is telling my parents that Danny signed up for the school play and is practicing his stage makeup. But… we all know how bad at lying Danny is. So I'm probably just going with Plan C: rush him upstairs and hope they don't ask questions."
"Hey! I'm not that bad at lying."
"Dude, please," Tucker said, shooting Danny a look. "Are you serious? Tell me the last time you got away with lying."
"Well, there was one… uh… hm."
"Exactly."
"Just give me a second!"
Tucker turned to Sam with an eye roll. "Plan C it is."
A.N.: Happy Sunday, everyone! Sorry for the later-in-the-day upload, I was out hiking all day and just got back! It was beautiful, and so nice to go outside during COVID-19.
Note on "Let the Right One In," it's one of my favorite books, one I think Lancer would enjoy too. Also, of course, it's a pun about letting him inside the room.
Thank you to Hazama_d20 on AO3 for beta reading this chapter! It would have sucked ass without you. If you've got an AO3 account, check out his awesome fic "Talent Night," which I'm also beta reading.
Aaaaaand lastly, our weekly shout-outs! Dp-Marvel94, you make my heart sing every week, KING! Thank you for the review, as always. In addition, thank you to dpnina, KatkaDragon, and sparkhead for the favorites, and StillUnsure, wornchalice8081, and JannaFayeCosplay for the follows.
Thanks for the unending support, you guys! We just hit 1,000 views, WAHOO!
- Ani