Authors Note: Hope you all enjoy this one, and thank you for reading!

Zinnia99: Tucker is "with" Valerie. That's who he is walking with, and I was always upset when their relationship didn't take off in the show. Thanks again for the review. You brighten my day!

Chapter 10: Explosion and Inferno

"I have special healing abilities?" Sam was leaning on Danny's desk staring down at her x-rays. They had showed her body could heal a completely broken rib in less than ten minutes.

"Sam," Danny said carefully choosing his words, "I know you might be a little freaked out-"

"Freaked out?" Sam asked laughing. "Are you kidding me? This is amazing!"

Jazz exchanged a surprised glance with Danny.

"I'm glad you're taking this so well, Sam," said Jazz as she placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and smiled at her.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sam replied standing straight up arching an eyebrow at the older girl. "This is incredible! You know what? I think I'm going to enjoy being a Halfa!" Sam was walking around Danny's room in circles with a silly grin on her face.

"I'm going ghost!" Sam shouted raising her arms above her head. There was a bright flash – Danny and Jazz had to avert their eyes – and Sam looked down at herself giggling.

"Sam?" Danny asked warily. "Are you feeling alright?" He was getting dizzy from watching the new Halfa twirling in midair and doing front-flips.

"I've never felt better!" Sam exclaimed. She floated gently to the ground and phased back to her human form. "There is one thing though," she said looking at her boyfriend. "I'm going to need a mentor, and you look to be the only one besides Danielle."

Dani was still waiting at the station for Maddie and Jack to arrive. They would be returning by train, but the train should have been there fifteen minutes ago. What could be holding them up? Now, Danielle wasn't one to worry, but ever since Fright Night had been annihilated into dust particles, she'd been anxious for her new parents to come home.

Dani started to wonder if Danny had ever told Tucker and Sam about Fright Night's sudden demise. Surely he would have. That's not something you can easily forget, right? She decided to ask Danny about it when she got home. Twenty-five minutes late. . . .

Thoughts started swimming the the young girls head. What if a ghost had attacked them on the train? What if they train had blown-up because of a bizarre gas leak? What if – Stop, Danielle. There's nothing to worry about. Everything will be okay. She sat down on a particularly shiny cobalt blue bench and rested her chin in her hands. Someone sat down right beside her and she looked up, gloomy eyed. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened and her jaw nearly dropped.

Jeans, a gleaming red and white football jacket, masculine figure, crystal-like blue eyes, sleek blond hair. Dash?

"Hey," Dash said. "Are you new? I don't think I've seen you around before. . . ."

Why is he being so nice? "Um, yeah, I am actually. Just moved here recently from Wisconsin." Better just be nice back. . . . .

"So you didn't live too far away from here then?" Dash gave her a small smile. "I'm Dash by the way." He extended a hand towards her.

Dani shook it and said, "I'm Danielle."

"Now that I think about it, you look really familiar. Are you sure you just moved here?"

Maybe I can scare him off. "Well, I do look an awful lot like my brother, Danny."

"You mean, Danny Fenton?" He had an odd expression. Dani couldn't pin-point it exactly.

"The one and only," Danny said to the football star nodding her head.

"Oh. I, um. . . . I thought he only had one sister?" Dash seemed even more interested now. Dani mentally cursed herself.

"Well, the Fentons adopted me recently. That's why I just moved here. My parents were good friends of Maddie and Jack's. One day they went out to the grocery store, and they got into a crash. They didn't make it out, so Maddie and Jack took me in." Not the total truth, but not a total lie either.

"I'm sorry. My dad was always going on business trips to other countries. One time he never came back. Mom went a little crazy afterward, and she started drinking. She really doesn't even notice I'm there most of the time, so it's like I really don't have parents either." There was a slight shake in his voice. Dash cleared his throat. Dani placed her hand on his. That's why he's always trying to be the center of attention. He's never had anyone at home to care for him.

"At least you only have three more years to endure it. Then you can move out and live on your own." Dani smiled at him. Now she really didn't feel the need to hate him. Instead, she felt sympathy towards him.

"Yeah, I suppose. But I'll always feel like I need to take care of Mom and – wait a second. How did you know I only had three more years of high school?" Dash furoughed his eyebrows obviously confused.

Snap. She blew it. Maybe she could still cover it up. "You just look that age. Fifteen, right?" She started chewing on the insides of her cheeks. A nervous habit.

"Oh, well, yeah." Phew. "So, will I see you at school?"

"Possibly," Dani replied as they both stood up from the sapphire colored bench. Now that she thought about it, what grade would she be in? She was thirteen now, so she should be headed into eighth grade . . . right?

"Well, I'll see you around," Dash said. He smiled again at her and turned around. When Dani saw his back, she doubled over in laughter. It was so loud Dash turned to face her again and asked what was so funny.

"You – you're – jack – et!" Danny told him in between breaths as tears began running down her face. He dragged a hand across his lower back and when he brought his hand back around he saw it covered in blue paint!

"Ah, man! My new jacket! Wait what about yours?" Dash inquired innocently.

Dani slapped a hand to her upper back and looked at her cerulean colored hand. The two began laughing uncontrollably and after several minutes stopped and looked at each other.

"I better get going," Dash said with another odd tone. Sadness?

"See you around, Dash."

"See you around, Danielle."

The young Halfa watched him walk away yet again and before he was out of sight, she called to him, "You can call me Dani! With an I!"

He walked backwards as he smiled and waved. Dani waved back and was careful not to touch her paint covered hand when she began walking around. Finally, a ruby red train pulled up at the station and the small girl saw a man in an orange jumpsuit step out of the train with a fishing pole all tangled up with glowing fishing wire. He accompanied by a woman dressed in a medium blue jump suit carrying two bags full of luggage.

Dani waved madly to them, hoping to get their attention. Finally, Maddie saw her and began walking towards her while Jack still fiddled with the fishing pole muttering to himself under his breath.

"Of course I'll train you Sam! Why wouldn't I?" Danny told her as he swung her around, holding her tightly.

"No reason," Sam replied smiling ear to ear. What would she do without her ghost boy?

Jazz told them that she had to make a run to the library to return a few books and would be back before lunch. They nodded and Jazz left the room.

"When do you wanna start?" Danny asked her, setting her down on the floor, yet keeping her in a warm embrace.

"How about now?" Sam was eager to start ghost lessons as soon as she could. She always thought that having special, unique powers would be amazing. Now she would be living a dream come true!

Valerie and Tucker had been at his house for almost an hour now. Tucker had provided introductions between Valerie and his parents, then the two ascended up the stairs. While Sam slept, they had all decided not to tell anybody about Sam's injury. They had already called Sam's parents to ask if she could spend the night at Danny's. After they had assured her strict parents that she would sleeping in a different room than Danny, they had agreed to let Sam stay. He wasn't sure how they were going to explain about the broken rib – it would take months to heal completely – but he knew they would figure something out. They always did.

Tucker opened the door to his bedroom and cringed at the mess. He hadn't made his bed, a bag of chips was laying on his nightstand, his eyeglass cleaner bottle was laying on its side on his dresser while clothes were trying to escape from the dresser drawers. Tucker scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward laugh. He zoomed around putting everything in the right place and managed to accomplish the speedy cleaning in less than one minute.

Valerie giggled at his nervousness. Who knew a mayor could be so . . . boyish. That's what happens when you elect a fifteen year old to run the city!

"What was it you were wanting to show me?" Valerie asked Tucker as she sat down on the edge of his green bed.

"This," he said taking a silver device of a high shelf. "You might be able to say Danny's parents inspired me. I wanted to add to their collection of ghost hunting tools. At least, add one that worked. So I came up with this." Tucker sat the small instrument down on a desk that had two chairs tucked beneath it. The two teenagers pulled them out and sat down as Tucker switched on a bright overhead light.

"I don't know what to call it, but I can tell you what it does."

Danny had already taught Sam a lot. She was doing exceptionally well. In a matter of seconds she had accomplished flying at a speed of eighty miles per hour, shooting dummies with ecto-rays, plasma bolts, and yellow flames that neither had seen before. Sam could phase through anything and had mastered invisibility – her favorite! The only thing Sam couldn't get the hang of was ice powers, and they had decided to try the Ghostly Wail another time.

The experienced Halfa was teaching Sam how to swap he legs for a tail to fly faster when the couple heard an, "We're home!" from an exceptionally optimistic voice. The voice could only belong to Maddie Fenton. Danny whispered to Sam to change on the count three – that way it wouldn't look like two people were phasing! After they switched back to humans, they ran up the stairs to greet his parents.

"Mom! Dad! I'm glad you're - " Danny caught his breath as he saw who was at the door. A tall figure in a red cape with a hood concealing his face.

"Magnus!" Danny shouted as he and Sam went ghost again.

"Greetings children," he said, as though talking to old friends. "Remember me?"

Jazz was returning her books at the library desk. She always felt comfortable in the library: It was a second home to her really. She always discussed the books with the librarian, Emily. She was in her late twenties and had beautiful curly, caramel colored hair that reached down to her waist. That's why Jazz had such long hair – she always wanted to be like Emily. The girls shared the same eye color and figure, and even dressed similarly. They had grown to be close friends over the years.

Jazz told her all about the books she was returning. One was about a boy who lived in a train station in Paris around the 1930s. His Uncle – the one living relative since the death of his father during a fire – had left the station one day and hadn't came back. The boy had to keep winding and oiling all the clocks in the station to keep them running. If he didn't, the Inspector of the station would notice and come to investigate. The boy met a girl around his age and the set off on an adventure together discovering lost films from the beginning of movie making. The creator of the first films was discovered to be the girl's godfather. Jazz had enjoyed this story the most.

Jazz went on to tell Emily about another book, a series, about a half-vampire when she was interrupted by a blonde lady who was holding a baby and a cookbook. Emily quickly checked her out, and Jazz said she had to go anyway because it was nearly 12:30 p.m. Jazz waved goodbye and exited the library doors. She had walked here because it was a such a comfortable day outside, but now it was freezing! She jogged back to the house to find warmth quickly before she got any colder. As she turned the corner she stopped dead in her tracks. Someone was breathing right behind her.

Danielle offered to carry one of the bags for her mom as they made their way to the RV. Jack had parked it across three handicapped parking spots and there was about half a dozen tickets under the windshield wipers. Dani grabbed them and stuffed them into the bag she was carrying. She reasoned they could worry about them later. She'd probably just over shadow a police man and pardon all the tickets in the system.

The hopped in the large truck and headed home. Although Dani could have sworn her dad would rather be a pedestrian than a driver as he was using more of the sidewalk to drive on than the road. . . .

Danny was trying to stop the bleeding that was rushing out from his arm. It all happened so fast. Magnus had grabbed Sam by her neck and then she vanished, the only thing remaining being red smoke. Magnus had laughed triumphantly then swung out Danny. He struck his right arm, and immediately Danny felt dizzy from the sight of the scarlet liquid.

He rushed outside thinking that he needed some fresh air, and a chilly gale greeted him. Through closing eyes, he saw a girl with long red hair being lifted up and disappearing in a flash of red smoke. Danny realized only too late that it was Jazz, and he fell to the concrete as he heard an explosion behind him.

Danielle wanted the car ride to be over. One because Jack was a horrible driver, and she was getting sick. Two because it had started to get really windy outside. She had never been in such a powerful tempest and she yearned for her warm comforting amethyst bed. Swirling gray clouds blocked out the sun and blue sky.

They rounded the corner, nearly tipping over due to a curb Jack had ignored and drove over anyway, and saw smoke being thrust about in the violent gusts. The three gasped at the horrifying scene before them. Where their house would normally be standing, piles of brick and charred metal remained among a raging fire. Rushing out of the RV and fighting their way to the house through the winds, they saw an unconscious Danny caught underneath a large pile of red bricks. Dani went ghost and phased him through them easily, but not a moment to soon. A large silver dish fell on the spot where Danny had just been trapped.

"DANNY!" His parents called as they rushed over to him and their daughter.

"Oh no," Maddie said, her usually happy voice cracking.

"Where is Jazz?!"

Dani gave her brother to her dad and phased through the blazing fire to look for any sign of her older sister. Maddie was hanging onto Jack and her son, thinking the worst.

When Dani returned, Maddie's heart lifted a little. Then she saw she was empty-handed, and the woman burst into tears along with her husband.

"What happened?" A small feeble voice asked. The three looked down at Danny to see that he had opened his eyes a little. They smiled when they saw him, and told him he was safe.

"Hold . . . on. Where . . . where am I? Who . . . who am I?" The boy took raspy breaths and looked up at the two adults and white-haired little girl staring at him. "I don't know you." He stood up faster than lightning and, stumbling, he backed away from the unfamiliar people. "I don't know any of you! Get away from me!"