It didn't take long at all for Danny to be absolutely sick of hearing about the accident.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, Sam, I'm fine."

"Are you sure, dude?"

"I said, I'm fine." Danny cut into a pancake. "Look, it was stupid, but we don't need to keep going on about it, oka- aaaay!"

His hand seemed to fade out of existence, and his fork clattered onto the floor. Suddenly everyone was on him.

"Danny!"

"Ohmygosh, your hand!"

"Man, that is cool!" Jack blinked. "I mean, oh no!"

"Danny!" Maddie grabbed his shoulders, but he shook himself free.

"Okay, okay, personal space, guys!" He watched his hand flicker back into reality, gave his fingers a wiggle, and then waved it at everyone. "See, it's fine! This is just some weird side effect of the portal - now can everyone just leave me alone!"

Maddie looked at him like she was about to say something, but then, she sighed. "Sorry, sweetie, we're just worried about you. Maybe this has been a bit too much excitement for one night. Sam, Tucker, maybe you should head home."

"What?"

"Yeah, not to take my mom's side, but I think that's probably a good idea." His expression softened. "Look, you guys don't need to keep being sorry, okay? I was the one who was dumb enough to go in the portal."

Sam made a face. "Danny-"

"It was my fault, so you guys can stop being weird about it, okay?" He gave a small smile. "I'll, uh, see you Monday."

Sam looked like she was going to argue; she opened her mouth, but then she sighed. "Okay," she said, and then reached over and wrapped him in a tight hug. Tucker got in on it too, and for a moment Danny just grinned and hugged them right back… but then he started getting that odd coldness in his chest, that feeling that came over him just before he started sinking through things.

(And great, he was already getting used to it)

"Uh, so!" Danny held them out at arm's length. "Good hug! That was a good hug, guys, that was… exactly the right length! Anyway, uh, bye!"

He then sat down, phased right through his chair, and ended up with his legs sticking out of the floor. Jack wrapped a line of glowing wire around his shoes and waved at Sam and Tucker.

"Let the pros take it from here, kids! Alright Danny-o, wiggle your toes if this hurts!"

By the time he was back upright, he was thoroughly done with all of this.

"You know what?" He thought about picking up his plate, but decided not to risk it. "I think I'm gonna go to bed early today."

"That's a good idea, sweetie." Maddie moved to kiss him on the cheek, and held him just a little longer than she normally did. "You rest up, okay? We'll talk about this more in the morning."

"Well, I'd rather not talk about it at all, but sure." He waved as he backed towards the door. "Night Mom, night Dad!"

"Sleep well, son! Don't let the ghost bugs-"

The door was closed, and they watched Danny phase right through. There was a muffled yelp from behind it, and Jack and Maddie shot each other wide-eyed looks.

"bite," Jack finished, and gave a nervous laugh. "That portal, ah, really did a number on him, huh?"

Maddie didn't say anything; she gave him a long look, turned towards the door, and sighed.

She wasn't surprised when she found Jack standing behind her. He put his hands on her shoulders, and she leaned against him, and they both seemed to let out a breath of air they hadn't realised they'd been holding.

They stood there for a moment, together in a silence that spoke volumes.


Danny didn't know why he'd thought getting an early night would help; he barely slept enough when he wasn't worried about phasing through his bed. Still, he sat there in the dark for a while, staring up at the stars on his ceiling, trying very hard not to think about everything that had happened today.

It was just side effects from the portal. Just side effects. His mom said they'd wear off in time; they'd just wear off, and everything could go back to normal and he wouldn't have to think about sinking- sinking through the floor!

Danny could feel it happening; he jumped up as hard as he could… and didn't seem to come back down.

"Wh-what?" He saw his feet stretched out in front of him, like he was sitting on the air. "I'm floating. I'm floating. Oh, this is not good."

As if to make it worse, there was a flash of blinding light, and when he opened his eyes again, things looked… different. The room was lit with a dim glow, and when he caught sight of his hands…

"And I'm glowing!" Danny stared in shock at the white gloves on his hands. "Oh-kay, uh... glowing is fine! This is fine. Dad, uh, Dad said he glowed in college. This is just a side effect!"

A side effect - a side effect of the accident. Little flashes had been coming back to him all night, like zaps to his brain. As he stood there, watching those strange hands start to shake, it was all starting to form into coherency.

He'd been in there, he'd tripped, there was a flash of light and then - pain. More pain than he'd ever been in in his life, like he was being ripped into a thousand pieces. He could feel himself…

Danny shook his head. No, no, no…

He could feel himself dying.

"It's side effects," Danny muttered to himself. "It's just side effects. I need to get down, I need to…"

He tried to will himself downwards, but it didn't work; of course it didn't, why would it be that easy?

While he was making the effort, though, a sound caught his attention. The front door - Danny heard it open and close, and blinked.

Who was that? Was that… Jazz?

He couldn't make out the conversation downstairs, but he could make out her voice. His eyes slid to his clock, reading fifteen minutes to curfew, and he groaned.

Great. Jazz. He hadn't even thought about what she'd say about this, and now that he did, he was dreading it.

Now really had to get off the ceiling. Any minute, she was going to find out about the accident, and-

"He WHAT!"

Danny cringed at the voice downstairs. There it is.

He looked up at the ceiling, and reached up to touch it with his hand. It was pretty close; maybe he could push himself back down.

Kind of like an astronaut, he thought, and gave the faintest grin. He turned himself over, placed his legs on the ceiling, and launched himself towards his bed. It was working, it was working, it was- working too well!

Danny couldn't help but shut his eyes as he went through the bed… and maybe a little further.

"-can't believe you guys!"

He opened them, and almost yelped when he found himself halfway through the living room ceiling, almost right between his parents and Jazz. He thought for sure they'd see him, but they carried on like he wasn't even there.

"Now Jazz, honey," Maddie was saying. "Your brother's okay. It was a bit of a scare, but-"

"A bit of a scare? You could've killed him!" Jazz paced in place. "And now he's falling through stuff? What's happening to him?"

They looked at each other. "We're not… entirely sure," Maddie started, and Jack picked it up:

"But we're looking into it! And whatever it is, Danny's handling it like a champ!"

"Ugh, he shouldn't have to be handling it like anything! Do you have any idea what kind of impact something like this could have on his psyche? And you just… you just sent him upstairs like there was nothing even wrong!"

"He wanted to go upstairs." Maddie crossed her arms. "He said he was going to get to bed early, which I think is a good idea for everybody."

"Go to bed early? Please, have you seen how late his light usually stays on?" She cast a glance towards the stairs. "Clearly he's retreating. I'm gonna check up on him."

Danny let out a squeak before he covered his mouth; Jazz glanced back, and then started up the stairs. Oh, this was bad, this was bad. How were you supposed to pull yourself out of the floor? He almost wished he had that stupid fishing line…

"I think she took that well!" Jack was saying. Maddie rubbed her forehead.

"If she's this angry now, she's gonna kill us tomorrow." She sighed. "Poor Danny. I hope he's doing okay up there."

The way she said that… Danny felt a deep pit in his stomach, and he scrambled back. This time his hands seemed to find some purchase; he pulled himself out of the floor and banged his head on the side of his bed.

"Agh!" Danny shot it a look as he rubbed his head. "Of course, the one time I would've wanted to go through something…"

"Danny?"

There was a knock at the door, and he groaned internally. He took one look at his glowing hands, and said nothing.

"Danny, I could hear you in there. I know you're not asleep."

The door handle started turning, and Danny raced to push it back.

"Hey, quit it, Jazz!" He braced himself against the door. "I'm trying to sleep in here!"

"Mom and Dad said you got in an accident, with a portal? Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine! I'm totally fine - seriously, Jazz, butt out!"

"I just want to make sure you're-"

"I'm! Fine! There's nothing wrong, you're just being-"

He was holding the door, and then he was through it. Danny flailed to the floor, gasped, and jumped back.

"Gah!" Jazz took a step back, staring down at him with wide eyes. "Danny?!"

"Um!" Danny shrank back as she cupped her hands over her mouth. "Uhhh…"

"What the heck happened to you? Oh, this is worse than I thought - Mom and Dad didn't mention your eyes!" She tried to reach out. "Or your hair!"

"My hair?" His hands flew up. "What about my hair? What's wrong with it!"

"It's - it's white!"

"White?!" The bathroom was just across the hall; Danny dashed past her, looked in the mirror, and gasped. "Gah! What the- it didn't look like this earlier!"

His eyes, too - his eyes were bright green and glowing. He didn't just look like a different person… he didn't look human anymore.

"Danny!" Jazz raced up to the bathroom. She reached out a hand, but drew it back when he stumbled back. "Danny, are you okay? What happened to you?"

"I don't know! I-I don't know, I don't- gah!" He found himself floating off the ground again; he grabbed the shower curtain and hung on for dear life. "Help! Jazz! Do something!"

"What do I do?! You're - you're floating!"

"I know!"

"Well… just, just calm down!" Jazz inched closer, trying to reach up. "Don't panic!"

"I'm trying!"

"Just take, uh, just take deep breaths!" She tried to untangle him from the curtain. "Maybe I should get Mom and Dad-"

"No! No, that is not a good idea!" He tried kicking his feet. "Maybe I can-"

"Just take my hand! Danny!"

Danny looked at her hand. For a moment he imagined himself phasing right through it… but he took it, and luckily he stayed solid. Jazz gasped a little.

"You're so cold… uh, hang on!" She pulled, and he came down. He was still floating off the ground at her eye-level; he tried letting go, but yelped and hung on when he started going up again. "Danny?"

"Oh, my god!" He tried to get his legs under him. "Mom, uh, Mom said this was just a side effect, it'd go away in a few days…"

"This? You're glowing and floating!" She looked down at his hands, and shivered. "Danny, I don't think..."

Danny looked up at her, and he could see his own fear reflected in her eyes. She didn't finish her sentence; instead, her face softened, and she pulled him into a tight hug. She seemed strangely warm… or maybe he was cold. He could see his glowing eyes in the mirror behind her, so he closed them and buried his head in her shoulder.

"Oh, Danny…" Jazz started, softly. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know. The portal - Sam wanted a picture with me in it, I-I thought it'd be fine, but it turned on and... I don't know. I shouldn't have done it, it was stupid." He could see his glow lighting up Jazz's hair, and swallowed. "I'm… I'm kind of scared, Jazz. What if this doesn't go away? What if the portal, what if it did something to me?" He took a breath, though his chest was tightening. "Mom and Dad have been hunting ghosts since before we were born - what if, what if I'm a…"

He trailed off, but the unspoken word hung like a dark cloud over them: a ghost. Jazz squeezed him tighter.

"Then... we'll figure it out, okay?" She ran her hands through his hair. "I promise, whatever this ends up being… I've got your back, alright? You're my little brother, and I'll be here for you, no matter what."

"Thanks, Jazz." He took another shaky breath, and let it out slowly. Then he pulled back a little, and smiled at her. "Thanks. But, uh, you're not gonna be literally with me the whole time, right?"

She gave a snort. "Hey, no promises. Who knows when you'll need to be fished out of a shower curtain again?"

"Ugh, never again, I hope." He stepped back - stepped, and he grinned at that. "Hey, I'm not floating anymore! Finally, at least something's back to normal!"

Jazz opened her mouth, but there was a flash of light. Danny blinked, and stared down at his hands - his regular, human hands.

"Wait, did I-?" He looked in the mirror, and breathed a sigh of relief at his black hair. "Oh, yes! Hah! I'm back to normal!"

"As normal as you ever are, anyway." Jazz ruffled his hair, and snorted when he pulled away. "Glad to see you looking yourself again - where are you going?"

"I'm going to bed, before anything else weird happens!" He made his way to his bedroom, then stopped, and looked back. "But, uh, Jazz? Thanks."

"Don't mention it, little brother." She waved at him. "Goodnight."

"Night!" Danny said, and closed the door. As soon as he was out of sight, Jazz's hand dropped, and her smile faded from her face. She looked over at the shower curtain still wrapped around its rod, and shivered. His hands... they'd been ice cold. Were their parents... were they right the whole time? Did ghosts really exist?

And if they did, did her baby brother really...?

Jazz stopped herself there. No, it was too early to think of something like that. There had to be a rational explanation... and whatever it ended up being, she was going to kill her parents for this. She cast a withering glare down at the floor, then stepped up to fix the curtain.

She was only gone one night, and there was so much for her to fix.