Danny scanned the room for the ghost, but without turning invisible, he had no chance. And he couldn't go invisible without going ghost. He didn't even dare try and call on his powers in human form. Who knew what that would do? For a few seconds, he was tempted, but then the look on Spectra's face flashed before him and he shuttered, closing his eyes.

"So, you're the infamous halfa?" the scratchy voice cackled.

"Who are you?" Danny asked, trying to keep his anger under control.

"Just a ghost looking to be...entertained." Danny looked down and away from the source. "I heard the halfa puts up quite a fight. Looking up again, Danny felt as if his regular defense mode had kicked in, and he held out the net and the thermos.

"I am who you're looking for, and I will put up a fight." The ghost didn't respond, but Danny felt like he was staring hard at him, and it made it uncomfortable. He felt much more in control now, and his crystal clear blue eyes reflected his now obvious inner strength.

"You'll put up a fight?" The ghost said finally. "As a Ghost Hunter? Please," Danny saw movement out of the corner of his eye. "You can't even see me." Realizing what he'd just seen, Danny suddenly sat back, and grinned.

"Maybe I can't..." he started, when a blast of ectoplasmic goo suddenly hit something several yards in front of him, and the Ghost went flying.

"But I can!" Valarie crowed in triumph coming up beside Danny. The ghost was now half-visible covered in the green, sticky substance. He growled at them, and floated a few feet.

"Very well, I shall leave, but this isn't the last you've heard of me," and with that he disappeared.

"NO!" Valarie and Danny yelled at the same time, lunging forward to try and catch him, but to no avail.

"Darn it," Danny growled, and turned to look at Valarie in her ghost-hunting suit seething, obviously glaring (despite the fact that Danny couldn't see her eyes through the darkened plastic on her helmet) at the Ghost's last position. She realized he was looking at her, and turned to face him.

"Thanks," she said, holding out her hand.

"No problem," Danny grinned, taking the offered gesture, trying to ignore the irony of it all.

8 8 8 8 8

Danny stayed at school for the rest of the day, although they only had two or three classes left, one of them being biology. Lancer kept staring at him, and even asked if he had been excused. Sam came to Danny's rescue and said that he'd felt better and called her at lunch, and Jazz had returned home for him. Lancer seemed to buy it, but he continued to glare at him for most of the remainder of the class period. It started to get on Danny's nerves, and hedecided to tryglaring back. After he'd started glaring back, lancer's face suddenly went pale, and he looked quickly at his desk. Grinning as if he'd won, Danny went back to the worksheet they were supposed to complete by the end of class. He hadn't done more than a few problems when Lancer came up behind him.

"Mr. Fenton, distracting material, such as color changing contacts, are not allowed in school." Danny couldn't help but look at his teacher like he was insane.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Lancer leaned in and looked hard at Danny's eyes.

"Very well, but if I see them again, you will get suspended," Lancer growled and returned to his desk. Looking at Sam, who shrugged Danny still felt like it had been a victory, even if he didn't have enough time to finish the worksheet.

8 8 8 8 8

"Thanks for walking me home," Danny said to Tucker and Sam, turning around on the front steps of . "I think..." His friends exchanged glances, and plastered smiles onto their faces. They'd been trying to hide their nervousness around him all day, not that he could really blame them. It was almost as if they expected him to suddenly try and strangle them or something. He hated the worried looks they kept giving him, but he was able to shrug it off, although he had to concentrate to do so. He seemed to get angrier a lot easier, and it scared him. He avoided Dash all day, and he tried his best to just be invisible-well not literally-with the exception of the Lancer incident, which he still couldn't figure out.

"Yeah," Sam said, pulling him out of his thoughts. "We'll be here if anything happens. Jazz said she'd call us if..." She trailed off. Danny sighed.

"If I go postal again," he turned around. "Yeah, see you later." He pushed open the door, and a paper fell away. He bent down and picked it up, seeing as it had his and Jazz's name on it.

Dear Jazz and Danny,
Your father and I found some ghost energies emanating from the school again, and have been preparing all day. Dinner's in the fridge, and be nice to our guest.
Love,
Mom

Guest? Danny looked up, having walked towards the kitchen, still looking over the note, when he heard the voice.

"Why, hello Daniel," Danny dropped the note, and forced himself to turn around and face the voice.

"What are you doing here?" hehissed as Vlad Masters stepped out of the shadows by the stairs.