Chapter 80 - 28
Chapter 28: "Ghost Vibes and Haunted Friendship Jewelry"
In which Danny learns that lying to your best friends is harder than bench-pressing your own emotional baggage, and Tucker tries to eat a necklace.
Saturday mornings were supposed to be sacred.
You know—cartoons, cereal, and absolutely no life-threatening ghost drama before noon. But nope. Not in my life. I was already late to the park, where Sam and Tucker were almost done with their workout and looking annoyingly competent about it.
"Hey," I called, jogging over like someone who definitely didn't sleep in until ten and eat leftover pizza for breakfast. "Sorry I'm late. My mentor-slash-demon-ghost-sensei gave me the morning off."
Sam raised an eyebrow, wiping sweat off her face with her sleeve. "That the same mentor who keeps turning your life into a sci-fi horror movie?"
Tucker didn't look up from his sit-ups. "We figured you were busy transforming into a superhero... or a protein shake."
They weren't wrong. I mean, I knew what was happening. I just couldn't exactly tell them that Naruto had basically ghost-infused my muscles while feeding me a diet of pure willpower and secret chakra energy. That sort of thing doesn't go over well before brunch.
Instead, I gave them my best "I'm totally not suspicious" smile. "Yeah, funny thing about that..."
Sam crossed her arms. "Danny, your body has literally changed in three days. You went from 'kinda scrawny' to 'can probably punch through drywall.'"
"I did punch through drywall," I muttered, then immediately realized that wasn't helping my case.