Chapter 3
A buzz worthy of a beehive permeated Casper High for the rest of the day. Everyone was talking about Mr. Binney's eventful math class, and Hayley's spastic fit. It was rumored that she had epilepsy, that she suffered from schizophrenia, that she had ingested radioactive matter, even that all three had resulted in her violent outburst of tears and purple smoke. Students whispered and gossip flew from ear to ear until the entire school had heard some version of the story or another.
Danny heard it all, and was worried for Hayley. He contemplated it as he flew back from the hospital just in time for lunch. What kind of a reception would she receive upon returning to the halls of Casper High? She hadn't been an A-lister like Paulina or Star, but she was friendly and outgoing and had been kind of subtlety popular in her own way. Now that the entire school thought she was mentally ill, who would she hang out with? Who would talk to her? Who, thought Danny as he spied Sam sitting alone at their regular table, would she sit with at lunch?
"Um, hey," Danny said awkwardly, walking up to the table where Sam was munching on a garden salad. "I, uh… I wanted to…"
Sam lowered her plastic fork from her mouth. "Just spit it out so we can move on," she said matter-of-factly.
"I'm sorry I was kind of a jerk to you this morning," Danny spilled.
"Apology accepted," Sam replied. "Now, about Hayley. Is it true, what everybody's saying? That she had a major meltdown in the middle of math?"
"Yep," Danny set his tray down on the table across from her, pulling up a chair. "She started bawling, and then screaming, and then there was all this purple smoke, and then it was over." He summarized. "She had passed out by then, and I flew her to an emergency room."
"What did you tell the doctors?" Sam inquired.
"I told them she had an attack, which isn't entirely untrue," Danny explained. "She was attacked. By… something. A paranormal something, I'm pretty sure. When I went ghost, I could hear all these voices telling her things, cutting her down… and the purple clouds were a pretty sure indicator that it wasn't just in her head. Something is trying to chip away at her, break her down. Maybe that's how it gains strength," Danny suggested.
"That sounds like Spectra," Sam pointed out. "Do you think she's back?"
"I don't think so," Danny ventured. "It's been following her for a while—a couple weeks at least. It seems to like going after Hayley one-on-one, and Spectra likes to spread the depression around. Plus, Spectra just sucked the joy out of our lives. This thing, it's making her more than miserable—it's driving her insane."