AN: OMG!!!!!!! Thank you all for the reviews!!!!!!!! I love it when I get reviews! And I've been getting more on "The Ultimate Consequence" too! THANK YOU!!!!!!!! (grabs everyone in a headlock). Hee hee! Well, keep the reviews a-comin'! If you do, I will love you all forever! Thanks again!!!!!!!!

Chapter Four

"Whatcha doing?" Danny's sister, Jazz, asked, walking into the kitchen.

Danny was at the kitchen table, doing homework. Although, it was a bit difficult to concentrate. Tomorrow, he and Valerie might take their relationship to the next level. How could he focus on homework? But he had to get it done before the slam he'd promised Sam he'd go to. Otherwise, his parents wouldn't let him go. Earlier, he had asked and they were a bit hesitant to allow him to go. It was a Goth poetry slam, after all. But they allowed him, as long as his homework was done.

"Homework," Danny replied, filling in an algebra problem.

Jazz sat down next to him, looking over his shoulder. Jazz was one of the most intelligent people Danny had ever met. Sometimes that was a good thing. Sometimes…not. Like now for instance. If he made a mistake, Jazz would point it out, correct it, tell him what he did wrong, and go into an hour-long speech about how he should pay more attention to his work. But the good thing about that was that Danny knew he'd get an A on his assignments that way.

"Mom and Dad said you're going to some Goth thing," Jazz said.

Danny nodded, still trying to focus on his assignment and not the other five million distractions jumping around in his mind.

"With Sam?" Jazz asked.

Danny nodded.

"And Tucker?" she asked.

He nodded.

Jazz appeared a bit crestfallen. "Oh," she said. "Okay. That's…cool."

"Mmhmm," Danny hummed in response.

There was a pause as Danny scratched an answer on his paper. "Are you sure Tucker's going?" Jazz asked.

Danny looked up at her. Why was she so concerned about Tucker going? "Yeah, he is," Danny answered.

"Well…what if Sam just said he was going but he really isn't?" Jazz wondered.

Danny sighed with frustration. "Jazz, Tucker told me he was going. So…he is," he told her.

"Do you want him to?" she asked.

Danny looked back at her again. "What?" he wondered. "Of course I do. He's my best friend."

"Well, don't you ever wish it was just…you know…" she couldn't seem to find the words to what she was saying. "Like instead of Danny, Sam, and Tucker, don't you wish it was…just Danny and Sam?"

Danny cocked an eyebrow. "You have something against Tucker?" he asked.

"No! Of course not!" Jazz said. "But…maybe you should have a little more alone time with Sam, you know?"

"Why's that?" Danny asked.

"I just think you've been ignoring her lately," Jazz explained.

"Ignoring her?" Danny yelled. "I'm going to her slam tonight. How is that ignoring her?"

"Well, compared to all the attention you've been giving this Valerie girl-," Jazz began.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up. How do you know about Valerie?" Danny asked.

"I've met her before, Danny," Jazz said.

"No. I know you've met her, but how do you know I …you know…like her?" he asked.

"I hear things," Jazz simply said.

"Sam told you, didn't she?" Danny asked.

"No," she replied, but he could see right through her. She wasn't a good liar in the least bit.

"Jazz," he said.

"Yeah, she did," Jazz said, with a sigh.

"Since when have you two been talking?" he asked.

"Well we haven't been formally 'talking' but just casually from time to time," Jazz explained.

"And you've never told me about this?" Danny asked.

"No. I didn't tell you because Sam tells me things in confidence, and if I told you we talked, your curiosity would get the better of you and you'd find out things that Sam doesn't want you to know about," Jazz said, getting a bit frantic.

"Sam's my best friend. If she can talk to you about it, she can talk to me," Danny said, setting his homework aside.

"You'd be surprised," she answered.

"I don't get it," Danny said. "What's so secret with her? Why can't I know?"

"Danny, I-,"

"No, Jazz!" Danny yelled, jumping up and smacking the table. "I don't want her to keep things from me. I didn't keep my secret from her."

"That's only because she was there when your accident happened ans you couldn't really hide it. If she hadn't seen, you would have kept it from her. You kept it from me and you're still keeping it from Mom and Dad," Jazz explained.

"That's not true," Danny argued. "For one thing, I didn't tell you, Mom and Dad because I didn't know how you'd react. Sam and Tucker are my friends and they accept me for who I am."

"You're family does, too," Jazz said.

"All the same," Danny said, trying to keep the topic on Sam. "If Sam's in trouble or something, I want to know. I might be able to help her."

Jazz just looked at Danny, sadly. "Danny," she said. "I can't."

"Jazz-,"

"She's not in trouble or anything. If she were, I would have told you in a heartbeat. It's important, though. And that's why I don't want to tell you…she should," Jazz said.

Danny wanted to know, though. He didn't want to wait. He cursed his natural curiosity and lack of paitience. "Jazz…" he said.

"I'm sorry," she said. Jazz got up from the table, looked aplolgetically at her brother, and walked out of the room.

Danny just stood there, thinking of all possible things Sam could be keeping from him. Was she sick? Was she being stalked? Was she doing something harmful to herself? No. Jazz said she would tell him if there was something wrong with her. It couldn't be any of those. Did she not want to hang out with him and Tucker any more? No. Sam wasn't one to repress frustration with her friends. She would have told them if she was getting sick of them. Danny thought and thought but he couldn't seem to wrap his mind around a decent theory. What could it be? He thought.

His thought were interrupted by a thin, blue mist coming from his mouth, almost as if the room temperature had dropped fifty degrees. A ghost was around. And that was never a good thing. Danny looked around for the spectral being until he heard a faint tapping behind him. He turned around and saw the source of the noise.

A small, green ghost bat was knocking against the glass, repeatedly. Danny assumed it was just a stupid little creature who couldn't tell there was a pane of glass blocking his way in, no matter how many times he hit against it.

But then Danny recognized it.

He'd seen it before.

It wasn't just a stupid ghost bat.

It was a tattoo of a ghost bat.

It belonged to the only ghost with live tattoos he could think of.

Lydia.