Danny…or was it Danni…? She didn't know anymore. Either way, she had flown invisibly straight to her house at a speed that would have amazed under normal circumstances. She stood before her mirror on the verge of panic and, and this was the worst part, tears. She'd always wondered why Jazz started crying so easily in romance movies. Apparently, that was something women just did.
"I resent that!" exclaimed a voice. She whirled around, panic warring with attack instincts, to see a vaguely familiar brown haired woman with her hands on her hips and a mocking glint in her eyes. "Just because your hormones are out of control right now, doesn't mean everyone else's are."
"How'd you get in here?" the ghost girl demanded, cringing at how high her voice had become.
Elegy waved her hand dismissively. "I can do whatever I want. And I'm in a bad mood. I saw you're little argument with Sam, and I think I'm just going to let you stay like that for a while."
"What? No! You can't!"
"Watch me." The woman, apparently too amused to even stutter and act like a terrified mouse as she normally would in the ghost kid's presence, vanished.
Alone again, Danni finally gave in and burst into tears. She didn't want to be a girl. "Oh, no…" she whined. "What are Mom and Dad going to say?" Maybe she could convince them it was a ghost's curse. She wasn't entirely certain that it wasn't, anyway.
She had to find Fiona; that was all there was to it.
Finally, she managed to get her emotions back under control and start thinking again. Last time Fiona had invaded her world, she had put a field around the city that had overshadowed the power's natural patterns to the point that it nearly killed Kat. As hesitant as she was to let anyone see her like this, she had to do something.
"How doth the little crocodile improve its shining tail?" quoted a voice. "And pour the waters of the Nile o'er every golden scale?"
"Kat?" Danni called hesitantly.
"O'er here, me Phantom," she returned, fading into view a few feet away. "And good morrow to you. I find I grow bored this fine day, and so I have chosen to quote Alice and Wonderland. How goes your own?"
The girl stared at her friend for a few moments. Several responses went through her head, and she finally settled on asking, "Do I look different to you?"
Kat scrutinized her very carefully and shook her head. "No. Should you?"
Danni looked down at her…self and back at Kat. "I don't look different at all?" she persisted. "Or sound different? Or anything?"
"Well, your vocal patterns are a bit raised, like you're worried. Is something wrong?"
There was a prolonged pause. "I am a girl!" she burst out angrily. Kat raised an eyebrow. "Stupid Fiona came back and turned me into a girl! How can you not tell?" She gestured at her…self.
Kat blinked a few times, then started shrieking with laughter. "Oh, I would kill for a camcorder right now! This is priceless! Just priceless!"
"It's not funny!"
The thespian was actually laughing so hard that her form wavered. "Oh, man! This is so the hot topic all over the Ghost Zone in about five minutes!"
"No! Kat! Don't you dare!" She lunged forward to catch the errant gremlin and got a face full of thick blue smoke for her efforts. Oh, yeah. That was a great idea. "What am I going to do?" she moaned, sitting down on a headstone. If anyone found out, she was never going to live this down.
At least the Fenton Portal was still cordoned off, so ghost attacks would be few and far between. Unless Elegy brought them through. She had done that last time to use Box Ghost as a distraction. But she seemed concerned for Amity Park's general welfare. Surely she wouldn't-
A rumbling noise drew her attention to the sudden presence of the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle. With a panicked gasp, she faded from sight and prayed they hadn't seen her.
Jack Fenton's driving would have made a NASCAR veteran faint. He careened into view, just barely missed a tree, and knocked over several headstones before squealing to a stop and lunging from the vehicle shouting "Ghost!" His wife followed in a slightly more composed, but no less hurried, manner. They were both armed with Fenton Ghost Bazookas, naturally.
Well, she would have to tell them eventually. Might as well be while they thought there was a ghost in the area. She ducked behind a tree to become visible again, took a deep breath, and hesitantly peeked around the trunk. "Mom?" she called and winced as her voice got even higher from nerves.
The two ghost hunters whirled around and stared at their nervously grinning daughter. Maddie pulled her hood back, a suspicious look in her eyes. "Danny?"
Oh, yes. This was the best idea she'd had since telling Kat. "There was a ghost!" she wailed, cursing her dry eyes now that she wanted tears. She gestured vaguely off to the left. "It went that way."
"I'll get it!" Jack yelled as he jumped back into the driver's seat and swerved around, knocking over several more headstones as he did so.
Maddie didn't even appear to notice. "Oh, sweetie!" she crooned, gathering Danni into her arms. "Don't worry; your father and I can reverse this."
Somehow, she didn't think it would be that easy.
Six tests and eight hours later, Danni still had…a few things she didn't want to think about having. She had just barely managed to get out of the various blood tests her father wanted to perform, and then only because Maddie had convinced him that it wouldn't help. She sat in her sister's room, as far away from overzealous parents as she could get without leaving the house.
Jazz slowly paced the room, one hand to her chin in thought. "So Fiona wasn't a ghost?" Her sister shrugged, the picture of uncaring misery. "But why would she do this?"
Again, Danni shrugged. "She said it's because of a fight I had with Sam. I said it was easier to be a girl than a guy."
"Uh-huh."
"Please don't look at me like that. I'm having a bad enough day."
Jazz snickered quietly. "Go to bed. Maybe it'll wear off over night."
She brightened slightly at the thought, even though she didn't really believe it.
"You can't be serious!" Danni exclaimed the next morning.
Maddie folded her arms and sighed. "Danni, this is no excuse to avoid going to school. You are not sick."
"Mom, I can't go to school like this! Everyone'll laugh at me!"
As if being a girl weren't bad enough, Maddie had decreed that she would be borrowing one of Jazz's old bras. It was worse than uncomfortable; it was beyond humiliating. There were no words to describe her feelings on the subject. Then, just when she thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, she had to go to school. As a girl.
As long as she lived, she would never live down the shame. She argued with both of her parents right up until it was time to leave, and Jazz drove her to make sure she didn't become invisible and escape. "The world hates me," she muttered as they pulled up alongside the building.
Jazz was almost moved to have pity on the poor girl, but something reminded her that Danni needed to be taught a lesson. It wasn't until much later that she would question what that lesson might have been.
