Tara didn't cry when she read the letter. And she didn't cry when she texted Tucker and he circled back to the AirBnB. But she did cry when the past selves of her parents appeared in the living room half an hour later.
"I'm sorry," she nearly screamed as she ran into their arms.
"What happened?" Sam said as she held onto Tara. She looked over at Tucker, who was seated next to Vanessa on the couch and comforting her.
"Tucker!" Sam yelled. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know! I got the same text as you!"
"Tara," Danny said, pulling her out of Sam's hug to face him. "SOS. What did you mean by that?"
Tara's jaw trembled. "I-I-I c-can't-"
"Tara," he said more firmly. "What did you mean? It's going to be okay, we're here, but we can only protect you if we know what's going on. Please, just tell me."
"Show them the letter!"
Danny spun his head over to Vanessa.
"Just show them the letter, Tar," she said more softly.
"What letter?" Sam said.
Tara slowly backed away and headed into the kitchen. She quickly returned, letter in hand. Shaking, she gave the letter to Danny and Sam. Tucker got up to join them.
I have your parents.
You have 2 hours.
Pariah's Keep.
Say goodbye to whoever you need to.
"No…" Sam choked.
"Does Megan know?" Danny said.
"I-I didn't have to t-t-tell her. She s-s-s-saw Van cry."
"We hid the letter from her," Vanessa said. "She locked herself inside her room, though."
"I'm not ready to die, I'm not ready to die, I'm not-"
"You are not going to die. Nobody's going to die," Danny said.
"I'm terrified," Tara whispered.
"I know. But I promised your parents-myself-that I would protect you three with my life. And I'm not one to back out on my promises."
"How'd you get this letter?" Tucker said.
"Angel. He flew it over to us," Vanessa said.
"Where's Angel now?" Danny said.
"He went off to warn Pandora, who's coming in with her troops from the southside of the Ghost Zone. Said he'd try to get us some back-up."
"See? You already have reinforcements coming. Don't worry, you're not going to do this alone," Sam said to Tara in a soothing voice.
"And you won't be going there alone," Danny said. "I'm going with you."
"What? No!" Tara screamed.
"Danny, a word?" Sam said as she pointed to a corner of the room.
Danny and Tucker followed her away from the two girls.
"Danny," she said in a low voice. "If we're going to go, we're going to need a plan. We can't just...show up without one. Otherwise, it'd be like handing ourselves over to a murdering maniac. And the way I see it, we have little time to come up with a good one, seeing as how we have less than two hours to get over to Pariah's Keep."
"Crap…" Tucker muttered.
"Maybe we don't need one," Danny said.
"What? I literally just said-" Sam started.
"My parents...they made these gloves...the Fenton Divider! That's what my dad called them! They're these gloves that can separate any ghosts put together. All we've got to do is use them on the evil, alternative-future version of myself, and maybe we can defeat him once and for all!"
"At the very least we can keep Dark Danny busy until we get reinforcements from the Resistance," Tucker said.
"This could work!" Danny said, brimming with confidence.
Sam stood quietly, looking between Danny, Tucker, and the two girls; Tara was now holding Vanessa, who was quietly crying on her shoulder.
"She really is your daughter," she murmured.
"What?" Danny said.
Sam sighed and raised her head to look at Danny. "Okay. Okay. I'm on board with this."
Danny smiled softly. "Okay. Somebody tell the girls the game plan. I'm going to fly back home to get the gloves and weapons for you two."
"Make it three."
Danny, Sam, and Tucker looked over at Vanessa, who was now standing up.
"If he wants Tara, he's going to have to go through me. I've already lost my mother. I'm not losing my father and my best friend, too."
Danny nodded. "Three it is."
"Let's get this guy," Sam said as she punched into her hand. "He's going to regret ever messing with the Foley and Manson-Fenton families."