It was irresponsible, and both of him knew it.

But sometimes, Danny was alone.

Sam and Tucker got busy with family stuff. His family got busy with their own stuff—parents locked in the lab with the next new gadget, Jazz at study groups or student events, networking, always networking.

So when Danny needed someone to talk to about things he couldn’t talk to anyone else about, he reached for the Ghost Catcher.

And usually—always, so far, anyway—one or the other of himself would remember to smoosh them back together before anyone noticed. He’d saved up some allowance to get himselves a set of digital wristwatches so they could set an alarm, just in case they got separated.

But since that was the opposite of the point, that happened less and less often these days.

“What if we got some weed?” Danno asked from the floor, squinting up at the glow-in-the-dark stars tacked to his ceiling, trying to decide which to hit with the tennis ball in his hand next.

“I’ve told you, we are not adding controlled substances to our list of malfeasances,” replied Super Dan, though the admonishment was half-hearted. A well-worn conversation. He knew Danno didn’t mean it.

“And I’ve told you,” said Danno, throwing the ball and hitting one of the larger stars dead-on, “not to use such big words.” He put both hands in front of his face, not trusting himself to catch the ball. It bounced off his elbow, and he winced.

There was a pause before Super Dan said, “Our parents will smell it.”

Danno groaned, his left arm still flung dramatically over his face while the right groped for the tennis ball. “Sure. But would they care?”

A longer pause this time. A more contemplative one. Then, “It is . . . difficult to say what they will and will not care about on any given day.” Super Dan drifted down from his spot in the corner, the only part of the ceiling free of stars and thus safe from “star tennis.” He scooted the ball back within reach of his counterpart, who peeked from behind his own arm to nod his thanks.

“Shouldn’t risk it anyway,” Super Dan added, crossing his arms and leaning back as if sitting on an invisible chair.

“Yeah,” Danno agreed. The reluctance was feigned. He’d only half meant it anyway.

It was in the moment of languishing that followed that both halves of Danny heard the scrape of a chair in the kitchen and froze.

Even though they were a floor away and the bedroom door was closed, Danno whispered, “Parents out of the lab so soon?”

Super Dan’s cape had gone as still as the rest of him. He whispered back, “When have you ever known our father to be that quiet when entering the kitchen?”

“Touche.”

They cracked open the door and listened. No more chairs. Just the small tink of glass being moved around. Not a ghost, then—none they knew would be so subtle. Nor a regular robber, surely, because who would break into the extremely noticeable house of the Fentons and risk getting blasted with substances beyond mortal comprehension for their trouble?

“I’m gonna go look,” Danno said suddenly, pulling the door the rest of the way open.

“Not alone!” Super Dan insisted, remembering at the last second to keep his yelling at a low volume. “If it’s something dangerous, you’ll be powerless. Should we . . . ?” He gestured toward the Ghost Catcher sitting just outside the closet door.

Danno took one look at it and shook his head. “Only if we have to. It’s not time yet.” He tapped the plastic face of his watch, then turned for the door.

They crept down the stairs, Danno peeking first in case it was, somehow, a family member trying to be quiet, Super Dan right behind him in case it wasn’t.

There was no one to be seen. Which didn’t mean much given that the fridge door was wide open, one large container of leftovers floating in front of it, turning over slowly as if it was being examined—which was a fair amount of caution with which to handle anything left in the Fenton refrigerator.

Without thinking, as was his way, Danno said, “Um, hello?”

The container flipped suddenly, fumbled by invisible hands, then flew back into the fridge. The door was slammed, a chair moved out of place in the intruder’s haste to get away. But before either half of Danny could move to intercept their path, they heard a familiar laugh.

“Oh, Danny, it’s just you!” Danielle let herself and her relief become visible, one hand over her heart. “You scared—Whyyyyy are there two of you?” she asked, pointing up the stairs at them.

Still catching up to the situation, both halves of Danny said in unison, “I can explain!”

--

“Come oooon!” Dani plead, flopping over the end of the bed.

“No,” Super Dan insisted, shoving the Ghost Catcher farther away. “You could destabilize again, and we don’t have Ecto-Dejecto on hand.”

“Urgh, you guys are no fun!”

Danno gasped, as insulted as he’d ever been in his half-life. Then he sat on the bed next to Dani and poked her in the stomach until she sat up with a giggle.

“You know what’s not fun? Melting into goop on the carpet. Or watching your cousin melt into goop on your carpet. Or having to clean up the cousin goop from the—”

“Okay, I get it!” Dani interrupted. “So, like, why are you guys like this, then? I thought you said it was an accident last time.”

Danno reached up to fiddle with his hat, while Super Dan turned to face the window pensively. “We were, uh . . . bored?”

Dani took another look around the room. The door, closed even though there was no one around to stumble through it. The light on the other side of the window changing as the summer afternoon faded fast. And the Ghost Catcher, living in the closet like a lonely lifeline.

She brought hand to her chin in thought. Then she offered, “I could probably get us some weed.”

“Yeah, now we’re talking!” Danno cheered at the same time Super Dan demanded, “Who taught you that word?!”

Dani shrugged, the picture of innocence. “Orrrrr you could put yourself back together and we can go mess up people’s shots at the put-put course?”

Danno seemed slightly less enthused by this, while Super Dan seemed slightly less horrified, but in the end, they settled into such a similar expression of acceptance, it almost made Dani dizzy to see. Then they nodded at each other once and marched over to the Ghost Catcher. Super Dan lifted Danno and flew them both through.

A slightly dazed Danny landed on the other side.

“So cool,” Dani commented as her now singular cousin rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah, sure,” he said once he’d reoriented himself. Then he turned to Dani with a smile that looked more than a little tired. “Ready?”

Dani hopped off the bed. “Just a sec!” She dug around in the pocket of her shorts. A moment later, her hand emerged holding a small cell phone. “Here, put your number in! And then you can call me next time you get, uh, bored. We can talk about ghost stuff or whatever.”

Danny’s smile widened just a fraction—before diving into a stern frown. “Where did you get that?”

Dani smiled wide enough for the both of them. “Don’t worry about it?”

Still eyeing her suspiciously, Danny took the phone and created himself a contact. He couldn’t help but take in the others on the short list, just a handful of names and photos, some of which he recognized. He didn’t dare question how any of the Ghost Zone denizens had gotten their own phones. Probably from Dani.

Dani whooped as she dropped the cell back into her pocket. “All right, let’s go ruin some tourist’s day!”