Danny approached his home with a growing sense of dread, which did nothing to help the butterflies that seemed to be creating a tornado around his intestines. He gulped as he tip-toed up the steps. It had taken him almost an hour to finish walking home after the fight, half because he still felt awful and it was getting even worse (if that was possible) and half because he wasn't sure if he could continue to hide his powers from his parents in his current condition. "Please let me stay normal," he prayed silently as he walked in the door. No sound could be heard from within, with the exception of several clanking sounds from the basement. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped gingerly over the doorstep.
"MADDIE!" His father suddenly bounded up the stairs. "A GHOST ENTERED THE PREMASIS!" Danny jumped what felt like a mile, and was thankful that he wasn't floating or half-way through the floor when his father appeared. With his powers going bananas, there was no guarantee that he would be normal when he needed to be. Jack took a double take at him and shook his head as his wife zoomed into the living room.
"Jack!" She said, "Where-" She looked around, and spotted Danny, still recovering from being startled. "Danny?" she took a few steps towards him. "What are you doing home?" Danny looked up at her, unable to stop his body from shaking, despite the fact that he had recovered from his father's surprise appearance.
"I...I really don't feel good," he said. Maddie put a hand on his forehead.
"You feel so cold," she said worriedly.
"Yeah," Jack looked worriedly at his son, "and for a minute there you looked green...even your eyes." It was all Danny could do to not look as guilty as he usually did when he was hiding something.
"Heh," he forced a laugh, "I think I'm going to lay down." His parents nodded in agreement, and he turned the corner towards the stairs. He caught his parent's worried looks, and smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile before he disappeared around the corner. For a few moments, his parents were silent, and then he heard his mother's voice.
"So, what about this ghost?" Danny froze, and noticed that his entire body had gone invisible at her words.
"Great," he muttered to himself, and concentrated on changing back.
"He's very powerful," Jack said, "according to the readings though, most of his power is untapped." Danny blinked. He had more ghost powers he could use? The thought had never consciously occurred to him. He had just kind of taken any new powers for granted. "He must be going through some sort of power growth or spike right now," Jack continued, his voice rising with excitement. "With all that power though, he'll be hard to trace," Jack said, "Ectoplasmic energy is radiating all around the house. We'll have to track it manually." Danny breathed out, not realizing he had been holding his breath. "But he'll have a problem hiding," Jack went on. "All we have to do is keep at it." Danny's relief seeped out of him as he heard instruments being prepared. Suddenly the sick feeling in his stomach worsened with the thought that his parents might be finding out his secret. He hadn't wanted it that way. He wanted to tell them...but he was so afraid they wouldn't understand. He had told Vlad that his parents would accept him no matter what, but he had been bluffing. He would have taken the risk at the time, anything to save his mother, but his parents hunted ghosts. Frankly, he didn't know how they would react, but he didn't want them to find out...he wanted to be able to tell them.
He didn't notice that the rings of light had appeared around his waist until they reached his face. Ye suppressed a yelp as he realized he was transforming not three yards from his parents.