The next Monday, Danny woke up from a fitful night's sleep feeling nauseous and sick, but he shook it off, thinking it would go away when he got to school. His intestines seemed to groan in protest as he pulled on an old pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He trudged to school, trying to ignore the horrible churning in his stomach that, despite his hopes, kept worsening. When he finally walked through the doors to school, he looked pale and sickly. His hands had unconsciously moved to cradle his stomach, although it did nothing to help him feel better.

He did his best to tune out the flurry of students rushing around him in pre-morning flurry of papers and backpacks. The last thing he needed on top of whatever he was coming down with was motion sickness, and he seemed to be unable to focus for long moments on any particular event or object. Still, the last thing he wanted to do was lay down. He felt jumpy and restless, almost nervous. His name cutting through the muffled din around him pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Hey Danny, I..." Sam walked towards him with a wave, but faded off when she saw his face. "Woah, are you okay?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Not really," he sighed, "Well, it's weird. These last few weeks, I've had all the sleep and study time I've ever wanted, but I keep feeling sick, but restless at the same time." He sat down on a near-by bench and leaned gratefully against the back. "And last night, I kept waking up because of it. I told Jazz the other day that I thought I was coming down with something. Well, it's been getting worse, and..." he glanced around warily, "I think it's some sort of Ghost disease."

"Can ghosts get sick?" Sam asked incredulously. Danny shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Why do you think it's even ghost related?" she asked, checking her watch. "Come on, it's almost time for class, and if we take the long way, you can tell me all about it. Tucker will probably be up there somewhere, and no one will hear. It's almost always empty before class." Danny nodded, accepting her hand up, and they walked up the nearest stairwell slowly. They reached to the third floor without incident, grateful that the hall stood empty until later in the day when math and history were taught. Home room was given first, and that meant everyone crowded onto the first and second floors every morning.

"So, why do you think this is ghost related?" Sam repeated her question. Danny sighed.

"Because, it's getting harder and harder to control my powers, even when I'm in Ghost mode," he said. "And the worse I feel, the harder it gets."

"You must be feeling pretty bad," he looked over to see Sam staring at him.

"What?" he asked and looked down. The whole top half of his body had suddenly disappeared. "Oh great," he hit his head. "I've had the worst time trying to keep this from my parents lately." He sighed, "and it keeps getting harder to recover too." Sam looked around the hall nervously, but the only figure that could be seen was just turning the corner and walking towards them. Unfortunately, she also knew the figure instantly, and she almost felt her heart stop.

"Danny!" she hissed, "Lancer is coming!"

-

Sorry about the short chapter guys. ;