Yes I am back. All explanations will follow at the end of this chapter if you can manage to get through it. If not just read my A/N at the bottom. Thank you!

Chapter Thirteen

It was with a great deal of evil laughter that Technus rifled through the computer at the Amity Park City offices. Danny and Tucker stood waiting worriedly as they watched the green glowing screen, hoping that Technus didn't decided to go power hungry and try to take over the world, not that it could be done from the little computer at the City Clerk's office, but with Technus, you never knew.

"All right," Technus said as he pulled himself out of the computer. He smiled evilly as he walked around the room. "I'll give you all the information you need, but you have to promise to bring me regular upgrades."

"Fine," Danny said then listened as Technus listed the itinerary for the specific carnival they were looking for. Danny sighed in relief and Technus smiled.

"I hope you can save her," the ghost said. "She's a nice girl. Not many of the spirits like her would sit down and have a friendly conversation with a ghost like me." He laughed slightly then looked at Tucker who was watching Technus with an open mouth. Danny only nodded his head.

Danny said nothing more as he escorted Technus back to The Ghost Zone and tried to remain silent as he turned to look at Tucker who had followed him down to the lab instead of going to Danny's room like Danny had asked.

"What did Technus mean, she's a nice girl?" Tucker asked almost angrily as Danny sat down.

Danny tried to keep his face emotionless. "I don't know Tuck," he answered. "He's a ghost, he's weird."

"Sam's in The Ghost Zone isn't she?" Tucker asked accusingly. "She's there and you you're being selfish and not letting her out or letting me see her! Why?"

Danny rubbed his hand over his face. "She can't really come out," Danny answered feeling frustrated. "She's not that kind of ghost. She's kind of weak. Besides, you really don't want to see her."

Tucker frowned. "Yeah I do,' he said sadly. "She's my friend too Danny." Tears filled the Tucker' eyes and Danny frowned.

"Maybe after we get the stupid horse," Danny told him. "I'll take you with me and you can see Sam."

Tucker looked wistfully at the ghost portal. The look on his face was filled with so much determination that Danny was afraid his friend was going to take a running leap straight into The Ghost Zone.

"Tuck," Danny said gently as he put his hand on Tucker's back and pushed him toward the stairs out of the lab. "Let's just go find that psychic and get Sam back okay?"

Tucker nodded his head as he allowed himself to be herded away from the portal. "We have to save her Danny," Tucker said softly.

Danny frowned as he listened to the emotion in Tucker's voice and watched as his friend moved, he'd been so caught up in the fight to save Sam that he wasn't seeing what Tucker was going through. Danny closed his eyes and let himself imagine for a moment that Sam was gone out of their lives. He took a deep breath, no it was too horrible to even contemplate. Maybe he was wrong from keeping Sam's spirit away from Tucker. Danny chastised himself, of course again he was thinking of no one but himself.

"Do you want me to drive you?" Jazz asked as she met the two boys outside. "I mean it might be better if I went along." Danny surveyed his sister's pale face and sighed. Why hadn't he stopped to think of their feelings before? His sister caught his eye and she gave him a quizzical look.

"Are you doing all right?" he asked her. Jazz gave him a look of surprise then smiled slightly and shrugged her shoulders. She looked at Tucker and then gave Danny a pointed look, indicating that if he should be worried about anyone, it was his Techno Geek friend. Danny nodded his head in understanding.

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"This is all too easy," Tucker said nervously as they stood outside the psychic's tent and looked at a sign which read: Madam LaRouche Psychic extraordinaire. Find the answers you seek! Love, Money, Career, Connect with Loved Ones in the Great Beyond.

"Tucker," Danny said softly in an angered tone. "This hasn't been easy at all! Are you hoping it will be harder?"

Tucker shook his head. "It's just too easy Danny. I just feel like something bad is going to happen. I'm really scared."

"You don't need to worry," Danny said reassuringly. "We've been through worse." He understood it took a lot for Tucker to admit how scared he was.

"No we haven't," Tucker disagreed. "We've never been through worse. We've never lost each other before."

Danny smiled grimly. Tucker was forgetting about Dan and the alternate timeline where he, Sam and his whole family were gone. There was no way he was going to bring that bad memory up now. He was confident that Sam could be saved. After all, they weren't fighting against anything more powerful than Desiree.

"I'll go first," Danny said. "I'll call for you if I need help." Tucker nodded his head then turned to Jazz who had been standing silently a few feet away, not unlike a ghost herself. She walked closer and put her arm around him comfortingly as they watched Danny enter the tent.

Danny pushed through the beads and the curtains hanging around the inside of the tent and tried to ignore the smell of incense which took his memory back to the beginning of the summer when he'd been in the tent, before he made so many stupid mistakes.

He sat at the table in the center of the room and waited what seemed like forever. He began to feel scared. What if this wasn't the same woman? What if she didn't have the horse statue? What if she refused to help him? Would he be able to find Desiree without Skulker's help?

Danny looked up as a woman pushed her way through the curtains and sat down across from him. She looked the same as she had before. Short, dowdy, average. Danny reflected that had he seen her at the grocery store or library, he would have never known she spent her time in a carnival tent playing a psychic.

The woman didn't meet his eyes, instead she placed the deck of tarot cards before him. Danny looked at the deck and then at the woman. She still hadn't looked at him. He cleared his throat and was about to speak.

"Cut the deck," the woman said. "Then place one card face up in the center of the table." Danny hesitated for a second then did as she asked.

She took a deep breath as she looked at the card. "The Eight of Swords," she said. "Reversed. It means interference. You need to focus on the crux of your problem, come to grip with past failures and mistakes and move on. You will learn a valuable lesson from an unexpected consequence of your past decisions."

"I don't need to know my future," Danny said hoarsely. He cleared his throat. "I'm not here for…" The woman put up her hand to silence him. She still hadn't looked up.

"Another card," she said as she tapped the card on the table. "Please. On top of the other." Danny frowned then did as she asked.

"The Six of Cups, reveresed" she said. "This indicates the departure of an old friend."

"Yes," Danny said as he tried to pick up on what the woman was saying. She kept her hand up, her eyes cast down at the table.

"Another," she ordered. Danny sighed and did as she asked.

"Temperance reversed," she said. "Indicates lack of self control, losing ones cool. You need to keep your wits about you. Do not let them manipulate your emotions."

"Who?" Danny asked, but she didn't answer. She just kept her head down and tapped the table again.

"The World, reversed," The woman said as Danny placed another card. She shook her head. "Fearing change. Failure to reach goals. Regret from your past actions." She tapped the table again.

Danny hesitated. He didn't like what he was hearing from this woman, he knew there was some truth to the things she was saying even if it didn't really make sense, and he was scared. He took a deep breath and told himself this was the last time.

The woman made a sad sound and Danny's stomach began to ache. "Reversed, The Seven of Swords, futility," she said. "Being trapped in a hopeless situation and unable to withdraw. A feat of daring that is too much for you to handle. Being caught in the middle of a desperate act of cunning."

Danny closed his eyes. "I need your help," he said the woman held up her hand again and tapped the table. Danny sighed and angrily threw a card down.

"The hermit, again reversed," The woman said as she shook her head. "Do not listen to the wrong advice or refuse good council. Do not withdraw from your friends." She tapped the table.

"This is the last time," Danny growled as he threw a card down.

"The Page of Cups," The woman said then looked up at Danny. She shivered and withdrew from him a little as she wrapped her arms around herself. "An unexpected relationship. Personal relationships. Rebirth."

"I need your help," Danny said again.

"You need my help?" She asked. "I just gave you my help." Danny shook his head. He fidgeted a minute. Then frowned as the woman looked over his shoulder. Her expression saddened. "And obviously you didn't listen to me." She looked down at the cards on the table and fished out the second to the last card he'd chosen and ripped it in half.

"I'm trying to save my friend's life." Danny started. "She's my best friend. She died because of me and my foolishness. She's not supposed to die. You told her she wasn't going to."

"And you want my dear friend Indrajit," the woman said sadly, still directing his attention over Danny's shoulder. "In exchange for the life of your friend, you come here asking for the life of mine."

Danny opened and closed his mouth. He hadn't even considered that the object he sought would be of any importance to anyone but himself. His heart squeezed painfully. He took a deep breath of air trying to expel the growing ache blossoming in his heart. Maybe he could find Desiree on his own, unfortunately he really didn't know where to begin to look.

The woman reached across the table and touched Danny's hand. "I'm sorry I simply cannot relinquish him to you. I know who seeks him. I've guarded Indrajit for the last twenty years, I'm not about to fail him now." She looked over Danny's shoulder again.

Danny turned and looked behind him no one was there. He thought for a moment that maybe Sam had followed him, but his ghost sense would have gone off. He was just about to turn back to the psychic when a slight shimmer in the air caught his attention. He narrowed his eyes and he could just about see her outline. He sighed heavily then turned back to the psychic who was now met his gaze.

"I understand your predicament, but really, it is your own fault." She said hesitantly. She looked over his shoulder again and winced.

"Please," Danny said. "Why should she have to suffer for my stupidity? Why should my friend Tucker and her parents and my sister and all the people who loved her have to suffer because of me?"

The woman sighed heavily the placed a little green glowing statuette on the table. "I'll have to ask Indrajit," she said.

A blast of blue floated from Danny's mouth as the statuette shook and then a very tall, very thin ghost wearing saffron robes and a turban stood before him. The man rattled something off very quickly in another language. Danny turned to the psychic and she shook her head and spoke back. The two argued back and forth for a long time. The shimmering presence that was Sam enveloped Danny as he waited and he smiled.

"Indrajit," The woman said as she turned to look at Danny. "Says that going with you would not be wise, that his presence may complicate things for you in a way which he can't explain."

"I only need the horse," Danny said thinking about what Skulker asked and trying not to panic. "Couldn't we move him?"

Madame LaRouche gave Danny a strange look then looked at Indrajit. She spoke to the apparition who laughed. He pointed at the horse. Then shook his head.

"It would have to be made out of the same stone," Madame LaRouche said softly. "And I don't think it's readily available on our plane of existence" Danny closed his eyes.

"The ring," Sam whispered softly in his hear. "What about the ring?"

"What ring?" Danny asked as he sat up and turned to look at Sam, who wasn't really there.

Indrajit said something to Madame LaRouche who nodded her head. "Indrajit says the ring would work."

Danny shook his head in confusion. "What ring?"

"The ring," Sam whispered, her voice was so soft and so distant it was like nothing more than a sigh carried in on the breeze. "The one you gave me to hold." Danny grimaced a little then looked at Madame LaRoache.

"How long are you going to be here?" He asked.

"I can go with you," she said. "Your friends are stressed enough. No need to make them fear anymore. Of course certain powers that be will be displeased that I remain in your presence, but they can wait."

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Tucker and Jazz were a little surprised when Danny exited the tent with Madame LaRoche in tow. "Call me Edna," the woman told them. She took the back seat in Jazz's car next to Danny and seemed to sleep.

Jazz looked back at Edna then at Danny who was staring out the window with a look of determination on his face. She bit her lip and looked at Tucker who simply looked uncomfortable and fearful.

"Where are we going?" Jazz finally asked.

"Home," Danny answered. "And then I need to run to get something from Sam's house." Jazz looked at Tucker again, started the car and drove as fast as she could, home.

Danny took off as soon as Jazz parked her car in front of their house. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he said then took off running. Leaving Edna LaRouche with his sister and two friends. The psychic smiled at them then offered Jazz a Tarot card.

"I don't believe in that kind of thing," Jazz said as she moved away from the pychic.

"A psychologist or a psychic," Enda said, "We are not that far removed in our professions." Jazz snorted in half amusement then looked worriedly at Tucker who had fallen asleep and now dreamed restlessly.

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Danny was glad for the sentimentality that had caused Sam's parents to leave her room untouched. He walked over to her vanity and searched through the necklaces draped on the mirror until he found the ring. He carefully extracted it from the rest then put it the chain around his neck.

He paused for a moment and looked at his ghostly persona in the mirror. He could see something shimmering around him and could barely make out Sam's face in the mirror. It seemed like she never left him. He worried about her being out of The Ghost Zone, she seemed weak even when there.

Danny swore he could hear her talking to him. She kept saying something about a jewelry box. He really didn't want to root around in Sam's things. Especially with her watching, but he listened to the voice. He really wasn't sure if it was her or his own mind wishing it was her.

He flipped open the jewelry box then lifted the tab on one of the compartments. Inside was a note with his name on it. He looked around.

"Do you want me to read this now?" he asked.

"No," Sam seemed to answer. "Only if you fail."

"I'm not going to fail," Danny said. "I promise."

"Give it to Jazz to hold on to," Sam's voice whispered through his mind. "If you fail, read it. Promise."

"Okay," Danny said as he closed the jewelry box. "But we're not going to fail Sam."

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It had taken a lot of effort, but Jazz and Tucker managed to sneak Edna past Maddie and Jack Fenton and hid her in Danny's room. Danny for his part changed from his ghost form before he even reached the house.

He bounded through the door and his mother stopped him. "What's going on with you, Jazz and Tucker?" Maddie asked suspiciously. "I can tell you're plotting something."

"It's nothing Mom," Danny said. "We're just. Hanging together."

Maddie ran her fingers through her son's hair. "I'm worried about you Danny," she said softly. "I know right now isn't the right time to talk about Sam, but you've just not been acting like yourself."

Danny blinked at his mother for a moment. "I'm fine Mom," he said calmly. "Everything's going to be all right." Maddie shook her head then watched as Danny ran up the stairs to his room.

Indrajit was sitting on the floor, Indian style. Edna was looking out the window. Tucker was asleep on Danny's bed and Jazz was pacing back and forth.

"It wasn't that hard," Danny said as he closed the door and removed the chain from around his neck then offered the ring to Indrajit. The ghost smiled as he looked at the ring. He read the inscription inside and laughed then said something to Edna.

Edna smiled then looked at Danny. "He wants to know who Wes is."

Jazz wrinkled up her nose as she looked at Danny. "Wes?"

Danny furrowed his eyebrows and took the ring from Indrajit's outstretched hand. He looked at the ring and shook his head. Tucker who everyone thought was sleeping, laughed.

"Sam thought it said Wes for awhile too," he said sleepily as he sat up. Danny turned and looked at Tucker for a moment then sighed as he looked inside the ring.

"It says Sam," Danny said as he frowned.

"Just like it was fated to be," Enda said from her spot by the window. Danny nodded his head and handed the ring back to Indrajit. He put the ring by the horse on the floor, then transferred his form to the horse and then from the horse to the ring. The ring rattled a minute and the room filled with a melodic humming. Indrajit reappeared with a smile on his face. He nodded and looked at Enda and spoke.

"He says thank you," Enda translated. "He says the ring of Sam is much more comfortable than the horse."

"Then I can have the horse?" Danny asked. Indrajit picked up the little green horse and handed it to Danny. He said a few words personally to the boy. He held up his hand and forbade Enda to translate. She shook her head in exasperation.

"We need to get back to the carnival," She said then looked at Jazz.

Jazz looked at Danny a moment then hesitated. "I'm going to take Tuck with me," Danny said. "Do you mind driving Edna alone." Jazz gave her brother an inscrutable look then walked to the door and waited for Edna. She picked up the ring which Indrajit now inhabited and smiled as she slipped it on her finger.

"Good luck Danny," she said. "I wish I could tell you the outcome of your trial, but I fear not only retribution from the one who guides me, but also I fear disrupting your steps. Have more faith in yourself." She patted his arm then followed Jazz out of the room.

Danny waited until he was sure Jazz and Edna were gone then changed into his ghostly form. He looked at Tucker who was looking back uncertainly. "Are you ready to go see Sam?" he asked. Tucker nearly jumped off the bed in anticipation. Danny laughed as he grabbed his friend and phased him down to the lab.

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Forgive me if this chapter is a little weird and off. I'm trying to get back in the groove. Maybe now it will be come apparent why I update each story so consistently and quickly. I tend to lose the rhythm of a story if I wait too long, also my mindset was altered and fitting back into things is a little difficult, especially since I am questioning myself about my writing so heavily.

I know I said I was done writing Danny Phantom fan fic. I had a little bit of a crisis at the beginning of the week. Deeds, my dearest reviewer took time to email me and discuss the issues I was having. I also had a talk with another friend of mine about writing and well…here I am. I am not going to update as obsessively as I was (lets see if I can keep my storylines consistent). I'm going to try for no more than once a week per story.

Oh and I know nothing about Tarot (not my kinda thing really), and Indrajit is a rakshasa, which is a hindu demon, but our Indrajit is not.

So review for me. Tell me if this chapter was too weird or what. I know the last chapter was kinda meh, but hopefully things can even themselves back out now.