I was going to solve the ring situation in this chapter. I was going to make it easy, but the status of the storyline has changed quite a bit and I've been challenged to make things a little more difficult. So without further adieu……
Chapter Eight
"Just cut it off," Sam yelled as she held out her hand and turned her head. "Do it now before I change my mind!" Tucker and Jazz blinked at Sam then they both laughed. She had to be joking.
"I'm serious!" Sam yelled as she flapped her hand between Tucker and Jazz. "Just get this thing off of me. I'm not going begging to Vlad for anything! No!"
"It might not be that bad," Danny said as he looked at Sam worriedly. "Maybe I've been too harsh on Vlad lately. Maybe he's been as innocent as he says."
"No!" Sam said. "What's the other option anyway?"
"The Elixir of Odio," Tucker said. "Whatever that is."
"Elixir of Hate?" Sam asked having passed Spanish in both school and college. "What the heck is that?"
"Working on it!" Tucker replied as his fingers flew over the keyboard.
"We only have until the new moon to get the ring off of her," Jazz said importantly.
"I'm the one who told you that," Tucker said dryly. Jazz leaned over and tickled Tucker's neck and he laughed. Danny just watched. He wasn't in a laughing mood.
"Oooo!" Tucker said as he read a new page pertaining to the ring and the elixir. "It's not an actual drink," he said almost to himself. It's a spiritual sorta thing. He frowned as he turned the laptop to keep Jazz from reading over his shoulder. "Get back Busy body," he told her. Jazz ignored him and continued to pester and tease.
Sam walked over to Danny and he put his arms around her. "They're kind of cute together." She said as she leaned her head toward Jazz and Tucker.
"As a button," Danny said dryly.
"So," Tucker said then sucked in the corners of his mouth and sighed. He finally looked toward Danny and Sam. "There is good news. I mean I don't know how good it is. It could actually turn out to be bad new you know? You know how complicated things like this can get. Something can seem like a piece of cake but then turns into this whole big ordeal and…
"Just get to the point Tuck," Danny tried to say in a normal voice, but the request came out so forcefully that Tucker paused and gave Danny a wary look.
Tucker started reading again as he talked "Well the ring was put there with love so ummm yeah that's bad. Sorry." He shook his head and paused as he read. "Yeah, that's bad. The ring was put on with love and umm well it binds the wearer and the giver, making the giver the servant of the wearer."
"That doesn't sound so bad," Jazz said as she tried to move so she could see the computer screen, but again Tucker thwarted her attempt.
"We're talking about the total loss of free will." Tucker announced. "Eventually Danny won't even be able to breath unless Sam commands it."
"Ooh sounds cool," Sam teased.
Tucker looked at her from over his glasses then continued. "From there Danny will become the destroyer of the Ghost Zone, and then Sam."
"Ohh that sucks," Sam sighed as she leaned against Danny who tightened his arms around her.
"Good news is. That hate will loosen the ring." Tucker said. "So all you have to do is hate someone or something intensely and the ring will come right off."
"Really?" Jazz asked as she finally managed to wrest the computer away from Tucker and read the screen. "It's just that simple?"
"But I don't hate anyone," Sam said.
"Paulina?" Tucker asked. "I know you hate Paulina."
"I hate what she stands for, but I certainly don't hate Paulina." Sam said then laughed. "I mean she's pathetic, but my feelings just don't go deep enough for hate."
"What about that professor you had Freshman year?" Danny asked. "As I recall you really hated him."
"But I learned a lot from his class," Sam countered. "And it turned out in the end that he wasn't so bad."
"What about Vlad?" Jazz asked. "You must hate him. You'd rather cut off your own finger than ask for himself. I'd call that hate."
Sam took a deep breath. "All right," She said. "To be honest I don't like Vlad. I don't trust Vlad, but more than anything I feel sorry for him. I mean really he's pretty pathetic."
"So who do you hate?" Jazz asked. "There has to be someone."
Tucker laughed. "Our Sam is a fair and noble person with love in her heart for all creatures great and small. We're not even allowed to kill the spiders in the apartment!"
"True," Danny laughed. "Except that time we had cockroaches. Sam hate's cockroaches."
Sam shivered. "That's true. I hate them! They don't need care or sympathy. Nasty little suckers…OUCH!" she began shaking her hand, then her eyes lit up. "Look it's loosening!" Everyone rushed forward and looked at her hand to see that the gold was now more apparent and less melded into her finger, unfortunately, it didn't take too long for the ring to glow and shimmer and embed itself back where it was before.
"Darn," Sam said as she rubbed her hand against the leg of her pants.
"What about people who kill animals for sport?" Jazz said. "I know you hate those people."
"Aghh you're right!" Sam said then winced as her finger began aching.
"And the movie stars with clothing lines which are nothing but fur!" Tucker added.
"And people who run medical tests on animals!" Danny shouted.
"Hey!" Jazz said indignantly. "Those tests save lives!"
"Aghh!" Sam growled. "It's horrible caging those animals and making them live miserable lives. I hate that…Ouch!"
"Eating meat," Tucker said. "While wearing leather and throwing soda can holders into the ocean."
"That's just disgusting," Sam yelled in outrage. "How can you think of such horrible things? It's awful to know that people do just those things!"
Danny grabbed Sam's hand and twisted the ring. "It's almost loose," he said excitedly.
"But it hurts," Sam complained as she pulled her hand away.
"Hey Sam," Tucker said causing the Goth girl to turn and look at him. "Guess what Danny did this afternoon?" Sam gave him a quizzical look.
"Danny," Tucker started then looked at Danny who was giving him a quizzical look of his own. "Invited Valerie Grey to your art show on Saturday."
"Valerie Grey!" Sam said then shuddered. She turned to Danny. "When did you talk to Valerie?" Jazz, at Tucker's prompting snuck up beside Sam, took her hand and tried to pull the ring off her finger it almost came off, but instead it sank back into her hand.
"I didn't think you hated Valerie," Danny said as he frowned at Sam.
"I don't hate Valerie," Sam tried to cover.
"Much," Tucker added as he frowned at his computer screen.
"I didn't know you hated Valerie," Danny sighed as he rephrased.
"I don't hate Valerie," Sam repeated.
"Much," Tucker said again.
"Okay!" Jazz interrupted. "Before we go through all that again. Obviously you do hate Valerie, but not enough to take the ring off."
Sam looked down at her hand "We have six days to get this off. I'm tired lets give it a rest. I don't want to stress about it right now, besides, Valerie has reared her ug..um head and well to me that's a big sign."
Danny let out a deep breath. "A big neon sign that says?"
"Run away to Las Vegas and elope," Sam said trying to lighten the mood. "Except it's a big pink neon sign with, beware the end is nigh tacked on to the end." She smiled at Danny who shook his head.
"I thought you were already making plans," Danny teased. "What happened to two weeks before the Fall semester starts?"
"Getting married in August huh?" Jazz said trying to direct the subject away from volatile matters such as Valerie Grey and follow Sam's mood lighting cue.
Sam turned to Jazz and smiled shakily. "You'll be my Maid of Honor right?"
"Yes!" Jazz squealed then pulled Sam with her upstairs to start making plans. "After all we have less than two months to pull this all together," she said. Assuming they could get the ring off Sam's finger, hung the unsaid statement in the air, as the two young women headed upstairs.
"So," he said as he watched his other best friend of many years sit in deeply troubled thought. "What further complications do we have?"
"Further complications?" Danny asked. "What makes you think…"
"Because I'm observant," Tucker said. "Dude I've known you so long I know what every facial expression you have means. Your current one says, "More mega bad news dude". So spit it out."
"When I went to the Ghost Zone," Danny began. "I was ambushed. Skulker accused me of breaking the truce then told me about the ring."
"Okay," Tucker said impatiently. "We know that part. Get on with the rest."
Danny looked over his shoulder to make sure Jazz and Sam couldn't hear them and lowered his voice to say, "Skulker said that it's against Ghost Zone law for a ghost to marry a human."
"What?" Tucker screeched loudly. "Hold up there! What?"
"Shhhh!" Danny said trying to get Tucker to quiet down. "I don't want Sam to know or she'll back out of this whole thing. She already thinks our relationship is cursed. I can't go back to being nothing but friends with her not after…we…" Danny blushed slightly and Tucker raised his eyebrows as he watched his friend's face intently. "got engaged," Danny finished then sighed.
"Dude," Tucker said keeping his voice down. "You're not just a ghost. You're human too. There is no way the law can apply to you."
Danny shook his head. "Skulker says my human half doesn't matter, I'm still ghost and it's still forbidden and I risk breaking the truce if…"
"Sounds like a bunch of bologna to me," Tucker said as he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "I think Skulker's just jerking you around Danny."
"No," Danny said as he shook his head. "That's just the way things are going to be for Sam and I. But screw the truce. Damn the truce to hell. I don't care if I have to fight ghosts for the rest of my life I'm not going to let them stop me."
"Whoa there," Tucker said. "You gotta tell Sam. I mean if you spend the rest of your life fighting with the whole population of the Ghost Zone, it's going to impact her significantly. Even then if you don't tell her, then you'd be entering into a contract without fully disclosing important information. That's fraud, which is grounds for annulment."
Danny gave Tucker a strange look. "How do you know that?"
"Renee Zellweger and Mark Chesney, " Tucker answered. Danny gave Tucker a strange look.
"I hang around celebrity snark boards on the net," Tucker defended. "So sue me."
"Can I look at the information you found about the ring?" Danny asked. Tucker nodded his head and passed the lap top over to his friend.
Danny read over the page and sighed. "Tuck," he said tiredly. "And you call me clueless."
"Cause you are," Tucker said smugly.
"Did you read all of this?" Danny inquired.
Tucker nodded his head. "Why did you find something more?"
Danny put his hand over his face. "This isn't going to be easy," he said. "Not easy at all."
Tucker took back the laptop and began to read. "Okay fine." Tucker said. "We completed the first step, well sort of."
"I think it will be easier for Sam if she doesn't know all of this," Danny said.
Tucker shook his head. "Again Danny. I do not recommend hiding this stuff from her. Besides she's never going to admit to thoroughly hating any body. And the last thing she's going to do is tell Valerie to her face that she hates her guts, and if and only if you can get Sam to do that then Valerie is more apt to kick Sam's butt than tell her she hates her back."
"What sadistic soul set up this curse anyway?" Danny asked feeling like whoever did, made it just for he and Sam. Tucker only shook his head.
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While Jazz was in search of bridal planning books stowed in her closet, Sam slipped down the hall into Danny's room. Maddie hadn't changed either of her children's rooms yet. She said she was keeping them in case they wanted to come back.
The nice baby blue walls in Danny's room were a welcome relief for Sam's pink strained eyes. She wondered if Jazz realized other colors existed as she smiled at the blankets on Danny's bed. They were still the same.
"I can almost imagine a fourteen year old ghost boy," Sam whispered to herself. "Phasing through the floor and grabbing my feet." She smiled as she touched the dresser and the chest which she'd sat on so often as she and Danny along with Tucker discussed weekend plans and ghosts.
"Hey Sam," Jazz called. "What are you doing in here?"
"Reminiscing," Sam answered. "Lots of good memories in this room. I haven't been here in a long time." She picked up a model rocket from Danny's dresser and sighed.
"Reminiscing can be healthy," Jazz said importantly. "It's good to recognize where we came from and acknowledge the progress we've made in our lives." Sam said nothing as she sat on the bed.
"Things have changed a lot," Sam said as she looked up at the ceiling, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at the picture stuck to the ceiling. How long had that been there? It was a picture of the three of them Maddie had taken, and considering how high the ceilings were and how perfectly the picture was placed, Sam was pretty sure how it got there.
Jazz looked up at the picture and smiled. "Danny's always been a goofball," she said. "Can you believe there was a time when I encouraged him to seek out more friends? I didn't think it was healthy that he kept such a tight knit circle with you and Tuck."
"I remember that," Sam said recalling the brief period where she and Danny went without talking for almost two weeks thanks to a fight precipitated by Jazz. "I really hated you for that back then." Sam's finger tingled as she recalled crying each and every night because she missed Danny so much. She looked down at her hand and pulled at the ring which had momentarily surfaced, but the pain was intense. No, it was not going to be easy to remove the cursed thing.
Jazz watched Sam for a moment and sighed. Her heart ached for the girl. She'd seen so much come between her brother and Sam.
"Jazz," Sam said as she laid back on Danny's bed and looked up at the picture. Jazz tensed slightly. She could sense by the girl's demeanor that she was about to either confide in her or ask for advice, it was something Sam did very rarely. "Danny and I are star-crossed,"Sam said in an almost heartbroken tone.
"Star-crossed!" Jazz said feeling tears prickling her eyelids. "I don't think you and Danny are star-crossed. I just think the path to true love is a little rocky."
Sam laughed dryly. "Danny is of the belief that all we have to do is get married and everything will fall perfectly in it's place."
"That's because all he knows of marriage is my parent's example," Jazz said. "For all their craziness, they were good examples. Though I think Mom is just a little bit too wrapped up in Dad. She put aside all her brilliant plans to follow his passions and if something had happened to him Sunday night…"
Sam sat up and looked at Jazz. "You're parents are like the opposite of Danny and I. Everything just fell into place for them, and even with all of Vlad's plotting to tear them apart, trouble just rolls off of them like it never existed. If people are meant to be together it just falls into place. Right?"
"Not always," Jazz said thoughtfully. "Some people are just born to struggle. I don't think Danny is ever going to have things easy. It's always going to be something for him. Maybe he's the one who is star-crossed. I'm sure you could move on and find a simple uneventful life with someone out there. But I seriously doubt you'd be happy."
Sam closed her eyes. "You're right. There's no one like Danny."
"He's worth fighting for," Jazz said as she walked to the bedroom door leaving Sam on the edge of falling asleep. "That's what counts. Not how easy your path is, but having something worth fighting for. I'm just happy that he has someone like you to guard his back."
"Yeah," Sam said. "I just hope I don't have to cut off my finger."
Jazz smiled. Sam was as good as asleep. She crept from the room and closed the door behind her.
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Danny looked up as Jazz came down the stairs and sat next to Tucker. He waited a moment or two then turned his attention back to the stairs.
"Where's Sam?" Danny asked.
Jazz smirked. "She's asleep on your bed."
"It's the fulfillment of your pubescent fantasies," Tucker teased. "You should get up there quick." Danny blushed which was the perfect pay off to Tucker's teasing.
"I'm supposed to go up and see Dad this evening," Danny said as he looked up at the clock. "And he wants me to bring Sam." He stood and walked over to the stairs then went up them without a look back.
"Time them," Jazz said with evil glee. "If they're not down in ten minutes I say we go up."
Tucker smiled. "You're evil you know that? And I love you for it too."
Jazz raised her eyebrows. "You do huh?" It was Tucker's turn to blush. He turned to his lap top and started typing which made Jazz laugh.
"Here we go with avoidance again," She teased. Tucker looked up at her and smiled.
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Danny's ghost sense went off as he walked up the stairs and a chill that was more than an alert that a ghost was around went through him. He transformed to his ghost form and walked slowly down the hall. He phased himself through the wall leading to his room.
Standing over a sound asleep Sam was Skulker. He had her hand lifted in the air and held a blade poised and ready to cut.
"Didn't I warn you about touching her?" Danny growled as Skulker turned and looked at him guiltily.
"I'm doing this for your own good!" Skulker told Danny as he moved forward to cut off Sam's finger.
"No!" Danny said as he shot the blade out of Skulker's hand.
"I have another…forty five where that one came from," Skulker told Danny as he produced another blade.
"No," Danny said angrily. "I won't let you hurt her."
"You are not being proactive in an attempt to get the ring off her finger," Skulker announced. "I told you that if you didn't do it. I would."
"Give us until Saturday night," Danny said feeling sick at what he was about to promise. "If we can't get the ring off by then, I promise you, Sunday will not dawn with the ring on her finger. I'll even do it myself."
"Deal," Skulker said then flew out of the room. Danny let out a breath of relief then walked over to the bed. Sam was asleep, blissfully unaware that Danny had just saved her from a horrible fate, at least for the time being.
"Sam," Danny said as he smoothed the hair off her face. She opened her eyes and looked at him and smiled.
"Hello Danny Phantom," she said happily as she sat up.
"Good morning sleepy head," Danny teased.
"Why are you here instead of my beautiful fiancé Danny Fenton?" Sam asked as she looked Danny up and down. "Not that I mind. I sort of have a little crush on you."
"You're seriously warped," Danny laughed .
Sam raised her eyebrows. "And I'm seriously wondering why you are in ghost form."
"Because it's so much fun," Danny said. Sam reached for his hand then remembered the ring. She looked down at the offending object. It wasn't glowing like it was before. She gently touched Danny's hand with a finger tip. Nothing happened. She then took his whole hand and smiled.
"I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to kiss you like this," she said as she edged forward.
"You want to kiss me?" Danny asked. "I don't know Miss. What would your fiancé say?"
"He'd say take advantage of what ever you can," Sam answered then put her arms around him.
"You do realize that Jazz is downstairs timing me. If we don't show up down there in a few minutes, she'll show up in here."
"That gives me ten minutes of kissing time," Sam told him then leaned forward and… she pulled back. "Wait! You never told me why you are in ghost form."
"You're wasting precious make out time Miss," Danny said as he pulled Sam into his arms. "Not many women get the opportunity to make out with the infamous Danny Phantom."
"Oh My!" Sam gasped and fluttered her eyelashes. "I'm like, your biggest fan girl!"
"Fan Girl?" Danny asked as he raised his eyebrows. "You're a fan girl?"
"Just yours," Sam replied and kissed him.
"Wow," Danny said as she ended the kiss and laid her head on his shoulder. "I should kiss all my fan girls."
Sam laughed slightly. "If you want to live, I wouldn't recommend it."
Danny smiled then sighed. "I promised my father that you and I would be up this evening to see him."
"And I need to go get my car," Sam said.
Danny's eyebrow furrowed. "Where's your car?"
Sam shrugged. "It's on the side of the road somewhere." Danny laughed.
Sam moved out of his embrace and stretched. "Jazz will be up here any minute."
"Then lets just leave," Danny said wickedly. "She'll come stalking in here thinking she's going to have something to tease us about, but well be gone."
"Okay," Sam said her eyes filling with a mischievous light. Danny took her hand and they both blinked into invisibility and were gone.
A few minutes later the door flung open and Jazz stood in the door way. Her face awash with disappointment. "Aw man!" she said then closed the door and walked back down stairs.
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So, I hope you like this chapter. To me it feels kind of sleepy, and yeah no big cliff hanger this time. So it's time to review, therefore, I humbly submit my request that you please review.