Nasty Burger is the kind of restaurant that thrives on its youth culture, rather than its food. The employees are paid minimally, the quality of the meat is a solid B-, but the crowds continue to flock nearly every day after school and on the weekend. The students of Casper High, freshmen through seniors, consider Nasty Burger the classic "haunt" of Amity Park, and if you aren't a fan of their food, you're usually there for the gossip.

"Sam, don't you think this place is way too public for, you know, the things we need to talk about?" Danny asked as she continued to pull them along.

"Yep. Which is why we're getting food to-go and then we'll go to the park instead."

"The park?"

"Yeah, it's noon, outside on a Saturday in September. Who goes to the park then?"

"Not many people," Tucker offered.

"Exactly," she grinned. "Tucker and I will order to-go. Danny, you wait in the alleyway out back and then we'll all head to the park to talk… whatever this is... over."

"You're sure?"

"Don't worry, Danny. We'll figure this out. I promise."

Danny gave them his order and waited in the alleyway per Sam's plan. Flexed his fingers and stared down at his hands. Still there, he thought, relieved. But what if something happened again? It felt very important in that moment not to be seen by anyone. Especially someone like—

"Is that 'Fentonio' that I smell?"

"Wow, Dash, you can smell him over the garbage? That's impressive."

"Yeah, Kwan, he really does stink, doesn't he?"

Danny grimaced and turned, disbelieving that even after three full years at Casper High he could still be subject to the 6th grade humor of school bullies.

Dash Baxter and Kwan Phan were standing at one end of the alleyway with their arms crossed; self-important grins stretched across their faces.

"Really? Now?" Danny hissed under his breath.

"What'd you say?" Dash immediately accused.

Danny narrowed his eyes, about to retort with something rude, when his chest ached once more; like he was in the hospital bed all over again.

Instead of jabbing back, Danny rolled his eyes and turned to walk away, determined not to get into a confrontation. Dash didn't like that, though, and as soon as Danny turned, he could hear their footsteps advancing upon him.

Danny picked up the pace and started running, but just as he was reaching the opposite entrance to the alleyway his foot sunk into the earth, phasing through like the baseball had in his bedroom, and he tripped. He would have broken his ankle if his foot hadn't come out of the ground in the nick of time.

He fell upon the cold concrete and scraped his elbows up, and it was almost immediately after that he felt the rough hands of Dash and Kwan around his arms.

"Hey!" he cried out. "Let go!"

"Heh, listen to him scream!" Dash barked with laughter. "Another year together makin' memories, eh, Fenton?"

Danny ground his teeth together and tried to wriggle out of their grip, but between his sudden intangibility and the ache in his bones, he felt weak and powerless.

Just as they were about to pick him up and grind him back down into the dirt where they felt he belonged, Sam and Tucker reappeared behind them.

"Hey!" Tucker snapped at the two jocks in their letterman jackets. "Put him down, now."

Kwan dropped Danny quickly, but Dash did not, resulting in Danny flopping lopsided down onto the ground.

"Oh, what, Foley? You think you're so cool now that you gained a few pounds and you wanna be tough? What're you gonna do? You're just a techno geek with some pretty pathetic muscles!"

Sam threw her bag of fast food into Tucker's arms and stalked up to Dash without hesitation. Her combat boots clicked loudly on the asphalt.

"Oh, look, Dracula's cousin. Come to save your boyfriend-?"

But Sam reeled back her foot and kicked her steel-toed boot directly into Dash's shin.

The resounding 'crack' made everyone wince, and Dash went down so fast that Danny was almost worried he'd break his face.

"Come on, I'm not in the mood for Frick and Frack, today," Sam hissed.

She reached down and pulled Danny gently up by the arm, and the three of them high-tailed it out of there so fast they could barely hear the spitting curses coming from Dash behind them.

.

.

.

They finally made it to the park and sat down on the grass near one of the fountains. It was quiet, and they were able to spread out, distribute food, and comfortably talk.

Sam sighed to herself. Danny watched her munch on her Nasty Salad and contemplated her mood.

"What's wrong?"

"We're just too old for this shit," she murmured. "They deserve whatever comes to them."

"I know that I just…"

"You don't fight, we get it," Tucker said, reassuring him. "Even though you totally could lay him out."

"I don't know about that." Danny said.

"I do. And if not, next time we'll be there before you get scraped up. Nice work on Dash's shin, by the way, Sam."

Sam raised her forked cherry tomato in salute.

"Right, down to business," Tucker continued. He pulled out his smartphone and tapped away at it for a few minutes while they ate. Danny watched them munch on food in quiet thought, but he couldn't touch his burger or his fries.

It seemed… wrong somehow.

"Okay," Tucker finally said. "There's articles here from a University in Wisconsin about the effects of great trauma on the body that would suggest a half-life."

"As in?"

"Sort of like, people living between this world and the next."

"Do their eyes glow, too?"

Tucker grimaced. "Actually, this is more about people who've had serious injuries or damage to their brain. You know, near-death experiences and all that?"

"Which you… sort of had?" Sam offered.

"And I came out fine! Well, different, but still living a full life. Not a half one."

"So, what else could it be?" Tucker asked as he flipped through online research theses and articles about the living and the dead. "Some kinda ghost mutation because you got microwaved?"

"Maybe you should ask your parents?"

"Oh, good idea, Sam," Danny bit out sarcastically. "I'd love to spend the foreseeable future as a lab rat until we figure out what happened to me. They'll probably call me a half-ghost, waste me, and dissect me for science."

"A half-ghost…" Tucker murmured.

Sam and Danny looked at him.

"Sam, I think you were right. Danny's half-dead, right?"

"Disagree," Danny said immediately as Sam said, "That was just something random I-"

"But it makes sense! He can disappear completely, fall harmlessly through the floor, and his eyes spookily glow like some kinda movie monster. But that's only when he uses his… I dunno, ghostly powers! Danny, maybe you're half-human and half-ghost now!"

"Tucker, ghosts aren't real!"

"After all that's happened today, you're gonna tell me that ghosts aren't real?"

"Yes!"

"So then why are you floating six inches off the grass?"

Sam gasped and Danny looked down to find that it was true. His fries seemed to be getting further and further away from him. Tucker stood calmly and put a hand out for Danny to grasp before he floated away forever.

"See what I mean? You can fly, you can turn invisible? You're like a superhero!"

"A dead one," Danny reminded him,

"You're not really dead," Sam said again, firmly. "You're okay. You're just… special now."

"Special?" Danny asked once the floating had stopped. His shoes dug into the dirt and he felt his throat tighten. "How special is it to get fried like chicken in a microwave, come out the other side seemingly fine and then a month later find out I'm not dead, but I'm half-dead, Sam? How am I special?"

"Superpowers are special," Tucker added, eating away at his food. It was amazing how little his appetite was affected by anything at all. "Pretty cool, I'd say."

Danny didn't know how to respond to that. Clearly Tucker wasn't really listening.

"Look, Danny," Sam said, approaching him. She placed her right hand over his heart and pressed gently. "I can feel your heartbeat. You're alive, you're with us right now."

Tucker nodded in agreement; his head bent over his phone as he continued to search for anything useful.

"You just… might be half-ghost and that's okay - don't interrupt!"

Danny closed his mouth because he had been about to protest. Maybe he shouldn't tell her about the quiet, aching feeling in his chest when he "went ghost" on them. Almost like his heart… stopped.

"What I'm saying is," she continued, "once we figure this out, we'll get through it. Together, as a team, remember?"

Danny closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"We can't tell anyone."

"We won't," she told him. "Ever."

"Totally, dude," Tucker agreed from his spot on the grass.

Danny opened his eyes again and Sam was staring at him so intently that his spine tingled.

"Okay. Okay, let's figure this out."