Chapter Nine

Danny sat in class, his eyes torn between looking at the clock and looking at Mia. She sat at the front of the class, at her own respective desk beside the professor's, filling out paperwork. She had not looked up from it once since class had begun. Danny was happy this was the only class he had this semester but felt a little ashamed of that fact as well. He seriously considered taking on more next semester. However, at the moment, he figured only one class was all he could handle, considering he was growing ever more suspicious that Mia possibly had a lot of ghost work planned for the two of them.

The professor stood up, cleared his throat, and announced the end of class for the day. The class erupted with students ripping free from their desks and dashing for the door. Tucker had fallen asleep a while ago, and was just now waking up from his nap, looking slightly confused. Mia gathered her things and placed them into her bookbag, still not looking up. Tucker yawned and Danny, for some reason, couldn't pull himself from his chair. All packed, Mia grabbed her sweater, pulled her bookbag strap over her shoulder, and finally, almost tentatively, looked up. Danny made sure he was ready to catch her eyes. Their eyes locked instantly. After their encounter at the abandoned house, which has been a couple days ago, Mia had not said a word to him. He had constantly texted and emailed her to no avail. It wasn't only his growing need to be near her, but he was dying in his curiosity for answers. Suddenly, Mia closed her eyes and groaned annoyedly.

"Shit." Danny heard her say under her breath. She looked at the clock and fell back in her chair with a plump! The professor looked away from his erasing of the board and towards Danny and a still half-awake Tucker. He smiled.

"Ah, good. Looks like you have some students sticking around for tutoring today, Mia." He claimed cheerfully. Mia nodded and gave him a very fake smile. "Well, you'll have the classroom to yourself for the rest of the evening. Have fun!" he said as he grabbed his own bookbag and waltzed out the door. Danny grinned to himself; she couldn't leave now. It grew very quiet in the room for several minutes before Tucker broke the silence with a very loud yawn.

"Mmmmm, so what's this all about, huh? Did you guys sleep together already?" he asked tactlessly. Danny shot him a dark look. "Oh, okay, definitely is not that then." Tucker chuckled. Mia ran her hand up her forehead in frustration.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" she said. Danny and Tucker both shot her a confused look. "I-I'm definitely not used to having a partner, and the other night, I threw you in, but I wasn't so sure you were ready for it."

"Kinda had to be ready for it." Danny replied. Tucker twisted his head from him to her and back to him.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Danny's eyes suddenly lit up. "Did you say 'partner'?" Mia gave him a sheepish look. She shrugged.

"I mean, if we are going to work at re-starting this friendship, I don't see why we can't maybe work together." she said, but it felt like she was asking. Danny grew quiet. Having a partner sounded so nice. A person who could handle themselves and could be a big help. He thought deeper about it. If anything, he wondered if he would be the one helping this time around. He had been so out of practice and she had powers that he had never even seen before, much less had himself. Really, he would be the one lending a hand; she would be the one ultimately taking care of the ghosts.

"But then who is the side-kick?" Tucker interjected, pulling Danny from his thoughts.

"Uh, no one? We would be equal partners." Mia replied.

"Yeah, but technically Danny has been openly fighting ghosts longer…. although, you've actually been a ghost longer…. but then Danny…"

"Dude, shut up." Danny shot. He looked at Mia. "We can be equal partners, but I really need to know what I'm getting myself into. Like, what happened the other night?" Mia nodded and dug into her bag. She pulled out a raspberry colored marker and began to draw on the white board. After a few minutes, she pulled away from the board to show a diagram.

"Okay, I guess I will be teaching today after all. What we faced the other night, Danny, was a shadow person. To be honest, there are different levels of ghosts you can be faced with. I've labeled them in categories…kinda like tornados. The other night we faced what I call a Level 3. This is basically a malevolent spirit that can influence humans to hurt themselves and others." She began to explain. Danny shivered, but he had to ask.

"What's the highest level?" Mia flinched a little.

"A Level 5."

"And…"

"And…they can physically hurt people. They can touch people. They can possess people." She paused and looked out the window, "They are basically demons. And the most important thing to remember about these spirits is that…. well, unlike other ghosts…. they were never human…. usually." She said quietly.

"Usually?" Tucker asked shakily. Mia cracked her knuckles.

"Mmmm, well, I've read of one case were a person who had died allowed an evil spirit to fuse with their spirit to create a demon. It's pretty freaky, but at least it's rare." She said sighing. It grew quiet in the room again. After a beat, Mia broke the silence again.

"Danny, you and I…we are considered Level 5 ghosts." She said looking at the floor. Tucker looked nervously at both Danny and Mia. Mia chuckled lightly. "Don't worry, Tucker. It's a level that measures power, not evilness. Danny and I have powers that close no other ghosts have. That's why we are so high on the scale. But it's also kinda not fair. It's because we are also half human that we can have these powers." She explained. Tucker seemed to relax a bit back into his chair.

"Spooky." Was all he said. Danny scratched his head.

"Speaking of powers…there are things you did the other night. Things that I've never seen and definitely have not done. How do you have these powers. I mean, what even are they?" he asked. Mia's eyes seemed to light up a bit and she bounced back over to the board and began writing excitedly. After a moment she pulled away, and Danny saw an entire list of powers he had never seen or heard of.

"Wait, you have all these powers?" Danny asked wide eyed. Mia nodded, trying to hide her pride. He squinted at the board. Mia wrote in cursive and he didn't want to admit he wasn't the best at reading it. "Geez, ethereal stealth, overshadowing, magnetism, telepathy…" he squinted again. "Possession?" he asked. She nodded.

"I was hoping to teach you all of these. I'm kinda surprised you didn't have some of these already, to be honest." She said. Danny felt his cheeks grow a bit hot. "I don't mean to offend you. You obviously have had some sort of shock to your system. I mean…. would you wanna train with me?" she asked. Danny sighed and leaned back into his chair. He looked at Tucker, who had an eager look on his face. He read over the list of powers again that she had written. He imagined himself having all of these new powers. Could one person be so powerful? He looked into Mia's eyes, and they stared at each other from across the room. He wanted to be powerful. He wanted to be able to protect people again, to protect the town, to protect her. He grinned and stood up. He walked over to where Mia was standing at the front of the classroom and stretched out his hand to her. She looked down at it and back at him. She grinned back and gently slide her hand into his.

"Partners?" she asked.

"Partners." He agreed. Suddenly, he gripped her hand a bit tighter and pulled her towards him slightly. "But there is something else I think we should do too."