HAPPY DANNIVERSARY MONTH EVERYONE!

Wow, I haven't been here since WINTER! Okay, so getting down to business, apparently, I was wrong, in beauty marked Danny didn't tell Sam "You're mine" , he said "your buying". Oh…I haven't been updating in a while ; (…I missed you guys! Okay, now that that's out of the way, I think its time to say hello.

HEY! ZOMFG-did you guys know! Good news and bad news- good first. I'M FREE! I am no longer bound to my sister's e-mail. I've finally decided not to be lazy, for once in my life, and redid my old e-mail address and its back up and running. SPLEE! So, in doing so, I've also got a new name here-Lieselle…which is pronounced LEE-ZELL. Ha, sorry, just gotta make that clear. Some people are stupid and think it's LIE-ZELLA. Morons…The name itself is a much loner story. I'd tell you, but then we'd all be sitting here for another three hours instead of reading and…stuff. Anyway- I was gonna just add all my stories onto it-but then I'd have to repost them and repost them-AGAIN AND AGAIN! And that just seemed pointless. So, in a way, I'm still not completely free of Tina on here (damn older siblings…I mean-I love you!). And there's my tangent for the chapter-hope you enjoyed it. Now, if you excuse me (Runs away and dances because of new name) insert Coca-Cola 'Break Free' songinsert Coca-Cola 'Break Free' song for a second time

the sleep warrior: Seriously, you went to a three hour long concert?…I envy you, haha. And that episode was grand! My favorite part was when Sam runs into the room and swings off the chandelier : ). Who doesn't want to do that? And I shall ALWAYS push those too closer. I'll trap those two in a closet together if I have to! (Danny and Sam back away slowly in fright)…what?

CharmedMilliE: Really? You think so! Aw…that made my day! You get a cookie-Wait, no-THREE cookies! Uh-Uh-so indecisive today! Here, just take the bag! (Throws bag of cookies)

shadowspinner1: I totally dig on what you said about the matrix thing-which, by the way, is an amazing movie!-only he kinda reminds me of the oracle, 'cept he's a guy…or is he Oo? And I myself love the crow too, it's adorable. Even though…you can't really see it.

dArkliTe-sPirit: HA! I knew you'd love it! It's that foreseeing power of mine. Works EVERY time. Funny story about it too (not really). The idea had came to me about a month before I posted the actual story and started working on it…okay, that's enough staring at the fire, don't you think?

Horselvr4evr123: Aw… "das so nice!" haha. Once again, I feel I am being killed with love. LOVE! And just because I feel like making at least one of your hopes and dreams come true, (Me:…I am so lame) here's the next chapter! WOOTS AND OATS!…wait a minute-those are for pack mules!

Aww…why don't I update anymore? I must be retarded-but, we already knew that, right? So, you guys can read now, I'm gonna go run away and work on chapter 13...yay, what a lucky number. (grabs MP3 and starts singing completely off key)…Visit you at Baskin Robins all the time! To let you know that I am yours and you are mine. So we can take long walks through central park-And hold each others hands to fight the dark. So you know that-(okay that's enough of my suckyness for one day)…

Chapter 12
Hope

Struck with both confusion and fear, Valerie pressed the red button on her wrist and reverted back to her normal self. She quickly reached into her jean pocket, jerking out her cell phone and began to redial Tucker's number. She held the cell phone up to her ear, mumbling to herself as it began to ring. "Come on, come on," she repeated to herself, "pick up already!" The ringing had soon come to a halt and Tucker's voice rang in her ear.

"Hello?"

"Tucker-thank God!" she finally beamed. "It's Val. You, Sam, and Jazz need to get down here-Now!"

"What? Valerie, where are you?…and is there any pacific reason why there's screaming in the background?"

"No time to explain," she cut in. "I'm down town near the Amity Apartments. You guys need to get here as soon as possible,"

"Okay-just take it easy," he told her. " We'll be there in a second,"

Valerie sighed as she ended the call and stuffed her cell phone back into her pocket. 'You better be right, Tuck'…

But seconds had turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours, and still no sign of Tucker or anyone. It was getting late, and smoke continued filling the air and the fire on the apartments still hadn't die out completely. But Valerie-being as stubborn as she was-still waited nonetheless. But once the ambulance and a fire truck came speeding down the road, she saw Jazz's car driving onto the sidewalk curve. Jazz, Tucker, and Sam--along with the flimsy crow in her hands--got out of the car and stumbled over to a dazed Valerie.

"Where have you guys been for the last hour?" she demanded as she folded her arms.

Sam stroked the black bird in her hands and gestured towards Tucker. "We would have gotten here sooner…but Tucker was driving and broke one of the tires,"

"Hey!" he snapped at her. "How was I suppose to know someone dropped a box of nails on that road?" The three girls shook there heads in dismay and ignored him.

"What are we doing here anyway?" asked Sam.

Valerie rolled her eyes and pointed to the burning building. "You see that? That's why we're here! Danny would've had to have come her if he's following the killer,"

"How do we know he caused it though?" Jazz asked.

"I just know," Valerie assured her. Sam continued stroking the bird, until it began to caw and tilted it's head to the side. Valerie raised an eyebrow. "What's with the bird?"

Tucker snickered slightly. "Looks like it's having a miniature seizure," the Goth girl glared at him, and raising her right hand, gave him a rude gesture with her middle finger that shut Tucker up quickly. The boy's face turned slightly crimson as he stuffed his hands into his pockets in shame.

Jazz glanced over to the alleyway the bird had been chirping at and rubbed her chin. "Seriously…I think it's trying to tell us something," Valerie began to roll her eyes as Sam started walking in the direction the bird crowed. The others shrugged, but ran after her and they continued down the damp alleyway until the bird stopped crowing.

"…that's it?" Jazz asked. Sam sighed, slumping against the brick wall behind her and sat down. Tucker put out his hand to help her up, but stopped dead when he looked at the wall.

Sam gave him a bewildered look. "What?"

Tucker slowly raised his index finger and pointed behind her. "D-dude!" he stuttered. Jazz and Valerie also looked at the wall and gasped, but Sam still had no idea what was going on.

"…what?" the oblivious girl asked again. Valerie sighed, starting to become irritated with her friend and helped her to her feet and spun her around to the wall. She quickly gaped back when she saw what was on the wall. There, which seemed to be written blood, was a message.

"'Keep following me…and I'll kill him'," Valerie repeated.

Sam starred at the wall. "Uh…sorry about not believing the fire thing, Val,"

She nodded. "It's cool…it's cool,"

"No it's not!" Jazz finally shouted. "Are you all illiterate-AND deaf? You know what that says!"

"Wait a minute," Tucker cut in. "So…he's got Danny?"

"Or is tracking him," Valerie thought aloud. Sam tucked the crow tightly around her arms and began walking back down the alleyway.

"We have to go after him-"

"Are you insane?" Tucker insulted her as he spun her around. "You saw what that said. If we go after him, he dies-"

"And what do you suppose will happen if we don't go after him!" Sam spat in his face. The boy went silent, and so did the other as they starred at Sam. She was breathing fast, and the crow in her arms looked up at her. "Do you honestly think he's going to be fine if we just stand here like idiots?…Whether we go after him or not, something's going to happen to him. And I for one am not just going to stand along the sidelines and wait to see what happens."

Tucker tried to convince her to stay, but she only ignored him and forced herself down the alley until she stopped dead. The others looked up at her, but not because she had stopped, but because they heard a gunshot. Jazz, Tucker, and Valerie all rushed over to her side, calling her name out as they did so. But Sam was still silent, falling to her knees as she clutched her bleeding shoulder. But as she looked up, she noticed the roughly outlined face of a dog, growling in front of her as the crow cawed back at it.

"Easy there, Cuddles," A voice boomed as a hand held back the Doberman by it's collar. "Wouldn't want to scared anyone, now would we?" Tucker narrowed his eyes at the man as Sam still clutched her shoulder.

"What the fuck did you just shoot her with!" he spat at him.

The old man rolled his eyes, smirking as he spoke. "Well, obviously, with a gun…but it looks like I missed-"

"Missed!" Sam wailed, clutching her arm even harder. "You just shot my arm!" The man bent down, scratching his chin as he looked at the girl's shoulder. Removing her hand from her shoulder, he reached at it, his hand fazing through her wound as he grabbed the bullet and fazed his hand back. Sam gazed back at him, her eyes filled with awe and fear.

"What I mean is, I meant to shoot the wall," he told her. "You know, for dramatic effect,"

Sam felt her arm again, which was no longer stinging with pain and was drenched in blood. She raised and eyebrow at the man "…Who are you?"

The man grinned, holding out his hand and helped Sam to her feet. "Just call me Al,"

Tucker's eyes widened. "Like that guy from 'Angels In The Outfield'!"

Everyone starred at the boy and Jazz just rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you watch way too many Disney movies,"

Al bent down again, picking up the crow and stroked it's head. "I see you've kept this little fella' safe-despite the broken wings, but that can be fixed easily," Al stroked the bird's wings, and then, tearing off the bandages, watched it flutter into the sky and then onto his shoulder.

"H-how did you do that!" Jazz asked in disbelief.

"I can do a lot of things," he replied as he patted the bird's head again.

"Hold on-time out!" Tucker shouted. "How can you do that-where's Danny-…and why do you smell roast beef?"

Al chuckled, motioning to the dog and began walking down the street. "I'll explain when we get there-" The old man turned his head to see the four teenagers just standing in the alleyway. He rolled his eyes. "Well…are you kids just going to stand there like idoit, or are you coming?" he asked.

"Coming where?" Valerie asked.

"Let me rephrase the question," he said. "You guys wanna know if you're friend's alright, don't you?" the four of them nodded. "Then come on," Sam watched as Al walked off with the crow on his shoulders and his dog trotting along right beside him. She turned to the others and motioned to Al, and then paced down the street to meet up with him. Jazz and Valerie followed, but turned around to see Tucker still standing in the alleyway, his arms folded and a bit unsure if he trusted this new stranger (despite his Angels In The Outfield comment). Valerie rolled her eyes and walked over to her boyfriend.

"Get over here!" she scolded at him as she yanked at his shirt collar and dragged him down the street.

The four of them continued following the old man in silence, whispering to each other as they did so. It was nearly midnight and they still had no idea where they were going. Sam decided to get some answers and ran up ahead to Al. "I don't get it-how do you know where Danny is?"

He shrugged casually. "I had a conversation with him earlier today. Thought the four of you should know exactly what you're up against before you go in way over your head,"

"What do you mean?"

Al turned around and he began to stride up the steps to his house. "It's a bit complicated to explain," he answered as Jazz, Valerie and Tucker soon accompanied them. "Now tell me," he asked the teenagers. "How do you four like your tea?"

Tucker scratched his head in confusion and shrugged. "Um…with a tea bag in it?" Valerie sighed, rolling here eyes and sinking her face into her hand while Jazz and Sam giggled to themselves. Al joined in with them.

"That, I can do," he laughed warmly as they all scurried into the house. Al ran straight towards the kitchen were a boiling kettle was whistling on the stove. He turned off the stove and took out five tea cups, pouring the hot water into each of them. "Hope you don't mind, but all there is seems to be Herbal Tea!" he called into the other room. "I was never really a big fan-I much rather prefer peach flavored, myself," Ignoring him, Tucker followed the dog into the next room, eyeing a few very peculiar statues that sat on the edge of a wooden bureau. One of which was a small box, with the edges carved like bones and a dark lavender covering. There was a small lock that appeared to be open on it and Tucker shrugged, reaching for the box and opened it up. Although he had suspected to find a ring or some sort of jewelry, he found quite the opposite. Once opened up, the box released a shrilling cry that spread around the room, and Tucker quickly closed it shut and hid it behind his back as Al came into the room, carrying the tray of tea. "I wouldn't be touching everything I see if I were you," he said.

Tucker grinned sheepishly as he reached for a cup. "Er-sorry! Won't happen again,"

"I seriously doubt that," Sam muttered under her breath. Tucker raised an eyebrow at her and she only gave him a smirk as she sipped her tea.

Jazz played around with her teabag and finally sighed, looking up at all. "So, where exactly is Danny now-"

"And what did that freak do to him?" Valerie demanded. Sam gave her a warning look, but Valerie paid no attention to it. Al took another sip of tea before answering her, and set his cup down on the table in front of him.

"Well, there's a few things you're going to have to know before I provide that information," he told them. "Number one; None of you are to go after him,"

Sam practically choked on her tea as she spit it back into the cup and coughed. "What!-"

"You heard me," Al said. "None of you are not to interfere with Danny's affairs as of now. Keep in mind, this isn't your fight-"

"Whoever said this was a fight?" Jazz asked suspiciously.

"Look, you don't understand what's going on-"

"Because no one will tell us," Tucker added.

"It's not as simple as you think, Mr. Foley," Al answered. "But what you do need to know is that I'm keeping an eye on him, so don't worry. He needs this time to sort out some things-and you four aren't really helping by butting in your noses every chance you get,"

"Well it's obviously that we're worried!" Valerie retorted. "And you haven't given us one good reason why we should trust you-how do we know your not the one who's been trying to kill him from the beginning?"

Al rolled his eyes in dismay. "What kind of mass murderer invites you into his house for tea?"

"Well…" Sam thought aloud. "If you count Vlad, this makes two,"

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "He invited you guys to tea-"

"That's beside the point. And you'll find out who's been the cause of all this soon, trust me. Just give it a week," Al stood up, whistling and then watched the crow fly back into the room and land on his shoulder. He grinned as he patted its head and glanced out the window. "Looks like there's a storm coming….you might after to stay here tonight," and with his last comment, he withdrew from the room and disappeared with the tea tray. Sam looked at her friends and shrugged.

"So, what do you think?" she asked.

Jazz raised an eyebrow and starred blankly in front of her. "Seriously…For some strange reason…I feel like we all might get raped tonight," Tucker's eyes widened at Jazz's reply and took off his hat, covering as much of his body as he could with it. Valerie just shook her head at Tucker and snatched away his hat, stuffing it into his mouth right afterwards.

"No one's getting raped, Jazz," Valerie said sternly as she rolled her eyes. "Honestly. Friggin' paranoid, all of you,"

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "You're calling us paranoid?" he asked. "You're the one who suggested that Al was the murderer,"

"Hey-I'm not the one who opened the scream box!" she debated.

As the two of them continued with their bitter rivalry, Sam got up from her seat-- unnoticed--and ambled into the other room to find Al. but upon her arrival, she discovered he was no longer there. And the only thing that remained in the room was the tea tray the rested on the table. Glancing around the room, Sam noticed a narrow hallway that lead to a flight of stairs. She hesitantly made her way down the hallway as the sound of Valerie voice calling Tucker a 'Maggot Brains' rang in the distance. Sam finally made it to the end of the hallway, and her boots gathered up dust from the stairs as she made her way up to the second floor. Sam climbed the last step into the room and gasped as she heard a rumbling noise coming from the room. She looked on the ground and spotted Al's dog, Cuddles, resting on the floor. She sighed in relief, almost laughing at her own stupidity and continued to make her way through the room.

There, at the edge of the room leaning against the wall to an open window, was Al. He had a glazed look in his eyes as he starred blankly at the night sky that crept over the city. Sam took one step and Al blinked.

"Go away," he told her, not meeting her eyes.

Sam hesitated to take a second step, but took three more. "Please," she pleaded. "I just want to help. You know where he is, why can't you just tell me?"

Al still starred out the window, narrowing his eyes slightly. "The only person you want to help is yourself. You have no interest in helping Danny, and frankly, I have no interest in helping you. So go," he replied harshly.

There was a certain tone to Al's voice, almost mocking, and it angered Sam. She clenched her fists tightly, and then folded her arms. "You think you're helping him? You aren't doing anything to help-you're going to get him killed!"

"I know more about Danny than you think," Al said.

"You don't know the first thing about him!" Sam snapped bitterly.

"Oh," Al turned his gaze towards Sam. "And I suppose you do?" he smirked.

Sam rolled her eyes. "What is with you? You just randomly appear out of no where and shoot me! Then all of a sudden you say you know where Danny is and you won't even tell us? His own friends?"

"Go away," Al told her again, but Sam stood her ground.

"But what I still don't get…is why you would help some kid?"

Al paused for a long moment, and sighed. "Because I don't want the same thing that happened to me happen a second time,"

Sam tilted her head to the sighed. "What are talking about. What happened to you?" Once again, Al ignored her and kept his gaze on the stars. Sam shook her head and made her way for the stairs. "Never mind," she mumbled. "I don't even wanna know what happened to screw you up so bad-"

"I used to be a writer, you know," he stopped her, just before she reached the stairs. Sam looked back at him and paused. She started walking back over to him as he continued his story. "I remember, making short stories all the time. Of myths, made up legend that I had randomly thought of. My teacher got her hands on every story of mine she could, and every time she did, she'd always say, 'Al, one of these days, you're going to write a book the whole world's gonna know about!' But I always ignored her comments, because philosophy had taken it's hold of me and I left everything I knew about writing for it. But then one day, I found old stories I had made and started reading and rereading them. I got excited, and started writing again. I was happy. Then the day came where I was finally going to make an old dream come true--I was finally publishing my book. Ghosts and Philosophy; my greatest work. And it had the two thing I loved most in it-"

"Philosophy and ghosts?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

Al rolled his eyes. "No! Writing and philosophy! Weren't you listening?…As I was saying, my book was getting published and I had volunteered to help at the warehouse and pack each copy myself. I was so stubborn--I wouldn't let anyone lay a hand on my new book until it made its way to the store. But that was my mistake--staying overnight to help pack. My old friend, Trevor, hated my book,"

"Why?" Sam asked.

"He accused me of stealing his story ideas. And because of his jealousy, he came into the warehouse that night threw every box onto the ground. We got into a fight that night, and we ended up practically beating each other to death. But Trevor wasn't satisfied, and he brought a gun with him that night. The last thing I remember was seeing the hatred in his eyes as he pointed the gun at me and pulled on the trigger, and hearing the crow from outside the window crow at the two of us. But by shooting twice, he shot me and the boiler next to me. Trevor died that night, and by the time the boiler was shot, I was confused because I thought I was dead too…" Al paused a moment and then turned to look Sam in the eyes. "I feel dead. I've never felt anything after that day. I got shot and the boiler exploded in front of me-but I'm still here!" he shouted. Sam bit her lower lip.

"I don't understand-you said you didn't want what happened to you to happen to Danny. He never wrote any book and Trevor's dead-"

"That's what everyone said," Al replied. "And for along time, I thought it too…but I still think he's out there, striving and starving for something he can't seem to get a hold of," Al jerked up his head as the crow flew back into the room and landed onto Sam's shoulder.

"This is the crow, isn't it?" Sam asked. "The one that was there that day," Al nodded. Sam laughed as the bird nibbled on her finger. "Does he have a name?"

"Ventus," he smiled. "Latin for 'The wind'," Sam held the bird in her hands, and held him out to Al, but he put up his hands and the bird flew back onto Sam's shoulder. "No," He told her. "You keep him,"

"But, he's yours," Sam told him. "You need him more than I do,"

Al chuckled warmly. "I've got Cuddles for company if I desire it, and the only person I really need right now is myself…or at least my sanity for that matter,"

Sam raised an eyebrow at the old man as the bird titled its head to the side and glanced over at his former master. "But why give him to me?" Sam asked.

Al leaned against the windowsill and looked back out at the sky. "These are dark times, Miss Manson, and they're only going to get darker. But for the time being, we could all use a friend…or a little piece of hope to hold onto,"

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Aw…that last line always gets to me…I'm a nerd. Anyway, this chapter was kinda long-glorious fun indeed. Hope you guys enjoyed it and will come back for chapter 13. YAY!

-I Brake For Ghosts