Chapter Fourteen
Tucker's eyes filled with tears as he sat in the Specter Speeder. Someone was now sitting between he and Danny. He could barely make out their form, but he wasn't sure if it was because she was barely there, or because of the tears in his eyes.
"You're not going to get all mushy on me and start crying are you?" Sam asked wryly. Tucker blinked and the tears spilled over onto his cheeks. He hiccoughed back a sob and met Sam's smiling gaze. Tucker shook his head and sighed as Sam moved forward and hugged the Techno Geek.
Danny swallowed the lump in his throat as he moved the Specter Speeder forward toward Skulker's lair. He listened with a heavy heart as Tucker spilled out his heart to Sam who kept her arm around her friend and listened. Danny wished he could be as free with his feelings as Tucker was.
"You're my best friend Sam," Tucker sobbed. "My best, best friend. I love you so much."
"I know," Sam said. "I love you too Tuck. We've been through so much together."
"You can't leave us," Tucker said frantically. "You can't!"
Sam pulled away from Tucker and laughed. "I'm trying not to," she said. She turned to Danny who had his attention focus on navigating through the formlessness of The Ghost Zone. She smirked slightly at the look on his face.
"I believe you have a note." She said. "Which you were supposed to give to Jazz to hold, but you can give it to Tuck."
"What?" Danny asked almost in shock. He'd forgotten about the note. "You were really there?"
"Duh!" Sam said as she held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. Danny rolled his eyes and placed the note in her hand. She nodded her head in satisfaction then gave it to Tuck, for safe keeping. Tucker chuckled slightly as he slid the note into his pocket.
Danny looked at his two friends worriedly for a moment then stopped the Speeder as Skulker's Lair loomed before them. He clenched his hands on the steering wheel then looked again at Tuck and Sam.
"We'll stay here," Sam said before he could say a word. Danny smiled slightly, she'd taken the words right out of his mouth. He looked at Tuck who was watching him nervously.
"You don't think he'll be mad that Indrajit escaped do you?" Tucker asked.
Danny shook his head. "I'm not going to give him a chance to find out," he answered then phased out of the Speeder and flew into Skulker's Lair.
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"You have payment?" Skulker asked as Danny appeared before him.
"Yes," Danny said as he held the horse up for Skulker to see. "I'll give it to you after we find Desiree."
Skulker nodded his head, "I understand your distrust, but it isn't necessary. I need the horse." He held out his hand.
"You need it to find Desiree?" Danny asked worriedly.
"No," Skulker answered. Danny closed his hand over the little green figure and shook his head. Skulker growled in annoyance.
"All right Whelp," Skulker hissed. "I'll tell you what I've found out so far." The ghost paced back and forth. He looked at Danny thoughtfully for a moment.
"Desiree returned to The Ghost Zone, but was going to head back out to watch the havoc she caused, so she was heard discussing what she did with a few others."
"Others?" Danny asked. "Who?"
"Others," Skulker answered. "But then they came and took her away. It was overheard that their intention was to punish her for power misuse."
"Who are they?" Danny asked.
"Jinn," Skulker said. "The kind of creatures you do not wish to encounter Whelp. They are born of fire. They are powerful creatures and that is all I know of them."
"Where can I find them?" Danny asked urgently, wondering if maybe one of these creatures could help him.
Skulker smiled grimly and produced a map and showed it to Danny. You'll find them at the edge of Melika's territory. If you can get by Melika that is.
Danny sighed heavily he wished Skulker would simply elaborate instead of making him ask question after question. "Who's Melika?" he asked.
"A ghost," Skulker answered then smiled. Danny wanted to say, "Well duh!"
Skulker continued to grin. "You might call her the Box Ghost's idol. She likes to catch unsuspecting creatures in her webbing, box them in and feed on their power as they are made to face their fears." Danny nodded his head. He had faced Melika before, he was sure.
"I know who she is," Danny said. "How do I get by her?"
Skulker shrugged. "I don't know. Never have. Seems I question my self worth too much. Angst is very attractive to Melika. The more angst, the better."
Danny raised his eyebrows. "You're full of angst?" he asked skeptically.
Skulker snorted. "I'm a ghost. All ghosts are angst ridden creatures."
"Yeah and I'm a teenager," Danny sighed. He wondered if Melika could be reasoned with.
"So, if you can get past Melika," Skulker continued. "You'll find that the Jinn are holding Desiree. Seems she violated some ancient code." Skulker shook her head, "You'd think that they would let it pass considering she's not really Jinn, but I don't make the rules."
"Thanks," Danny said then started to leave.
"Wait!" Skulker said. "The horse?"
"Oh yeah," Danny laughed nervously. "I almost for got." He threw the horse to Skulker who moved to catch it, and ran.
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"What did Skulker say?" Tucker asked as Danny sped off in the speeder. Danny was glad he knew just the direction to go.
"He told me where to find Desiree," Danny answered.
"What did he say about the horse?" Tucker questioned.
Sam snickered to herself then smiled. "He's just finding out now," she said. "You're in big trouble Danny."
"Yeah well," Danny said as he focused on moving the speeder as fast as he could. "We have bigger issues to deal with than him." He filled his friends in on Melika. Tucker had a good laugh and called Danny nothing than a jumbled ball of angst ridden angst.
"Thanks a lot," Danny replied as he glared at Tucker. "That's really going to help the situation."
"So deal with your angst," Sam said softly. "I mean it's not that hard. You accept who and what you are. Accept your place in life and accept the desires of your heart and what more do you have to be angst ridden about?"
Tucker smirked. "And therein lies the secret to life."
Sam narrowed her eyes. "Stop being so facetious," she growled angrily, though her eyes smiled at her friend merrily.
"Oh yeah," Danny laughed. "Doing all that is so easy, that it's done already." Sam shook her head and reached and put her hand over Danny's. She stopped the Speeder then took his hand and looked into his eyes.
"Other than perhaps the loss of your friend, me," Sam started. "What else is troubling your heart?" Her ever changing eyes glittered and Danny was aware that she knew all his secrets. It didn't matter now anyway.
"Okay," Danny said then took a deep breath. "Do I have to confess everything out loud?"
Sam shook her head. "Just accept that your human Danny," She said. "That's all you want to be anyway."
"Yeah," Danny said as he looked into Sam's constantly changing eyes. "I guess I am."
"Accept that you're going to mess up. You don't have to be perfect. You're just normal." Sam smiled. "It sounds like a greeting card, but you have such love for your friends and your family. It's okay to love yourself too and okay to make stupid mistakes. It's part of growing up."
"Are you going to remember all of this?" Danny asked worriedly.
"I hope not," Sam said playfully. "I know things I'd rather not know." She gestured to Tuck who looked a little guilty. Tucker blushed bright red. Make that a lot guilty. Danny laughed and Sam sighed then smiled.
"Okay," Danny said determinedly as he started the Speeder. "Let's do this."
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She was waiting for them just at the edge of the unmapped territory. Danny felt this was a good sign, since last time he didn't see her at all. She looked just like your average girl, except for the green skin.
"Hello Danny!" She called and waved as she stood before the Specter Speeder.
"Hi." Danny replied a little unsure of what to expect.
The ghost came a little closer and Sam put her hand on Danny's. She smiled sweetly then looked at Tucker who was sitting with his mouth open. Sam laughed then closed Tucker's mouth.
"I thought I warned you not to come back this way," the ghost said as she approached the vehicle.
"I need to get by," Danny said. "I'm looking for someone."
"No one gets by without my permission," Malika said. "Who are you looking for?"
"A ghost named Desiree," Danny answered.
"Desiree?" Maklia said a few times. "Yeah? I'm sorry. Were you going to save her or something?"
"No," Danny answered. "She did something to a friend of mine and I'm…"
"Looking for revenge?" Malika asked. "Well you've got it. I do believe by now she's been shattered to oblivion. It's not wise to mess with Jinn or their code of ethics."
"What!" Danny and Tucker said in unison.
"Calm down," Sam said. "Getting all upset will not help the situation."
"We need to get by," Sam yelled to the ghost. "Maybe Danny can stop and visit with you on the way back."
Malika blinked at Sam in surprise. "Are you formally requesting to pass?" she asked.
Sam looked at Danny. He shrugged his shoulders then gestured to Malika. "Yeah," Sam said. "If that's what it takes."
"You may pass," Malika said then shook her head as she watched the Speeder go by.
"Well that was ridiculously easy. I wonder why she did that," Tucker said as he gave Sam a worried look. "I mean what's so great about Sam?"
"Hey," Sam said in a hurt tone. "You don't think I'm great?"
Danny shook his head as he focused on piloting the Speeder. He ha no idea where they were going. "I think there's something Sam's not telling us," He said to Tucker.
"I guess I umm," Sam started. "Get respect because I'm a soul in transition. You know I have these certain powers."
Tucker started laughing then said in a sing song voice, "Sam's got ghost powers!"
"Don't ask me to use them though okay?" Sam asked softly as she looked down at her hands. "Because it's bad. I think."
"The only one around here using their ghost powers is me," Danny said forcefully as he looked around. "Does anyone have any clue where we should be going?"
Sam took a deep breath, rolled her eyes. "That way," she said softly as she pointed. "It's that way."
"She's really starting to scare me," Tucker said to Danny. Danny said nothing, he only smiled grimly as he turned in the direction indicated.
"Did we really need to ask for Skulker's help and get that stupid horse?" He asked as he cast a sideways glance at Sam.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't know who took her," she defended. "I only know how to find her now because Skulker knows and some how I know what he knows, but I don't know how!"
"Okay," Tucker said. "Say all that five times fast."
"Shut up Tuck," Danny and Sam said in unison.
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"Oh man!" Tucker said as a large congregation of green glowing creatures all centered around a platform. On that platform stood a large reddish brown glowing creature who in form looked much like your average Genie and Desiree, who was in sitting at the bottom of a large cage, curled up and looking forlorn.
The trio looked at each other a moment. "At least she's okay," Danny said half heartedly, wondering to himself how in the world they were going to rescue her.
"Maybe," Tucker said. "We can like speak on her behalf or something, considering that she kinda messed up Sam's life."
"Yeah," Sam said as she gave Tucker a worried look. "She just messed up my life a little. Not too much."
"You guys stay here," Danny said trying to sound much more confidant then he actually felt. "I'm going to check out the situation. See if there's any hope of like, talking our way out of this one."
"Good luck," Tucker said as they watched Danny phase himself out of the speeder then fly toward the center of the crowd.
Tucker took a deep breath then looked at Sam who was smiling at him strangely. "What?" Tucker asked then checked to see if his fly was open. Sam laughed then pushed a button.
"I want to show you something," she said as the Specter Speeder shielded its windows. The interior of the vehicle was now dark with only the faint glow of the instrument panels illuminating the two friends.
"Uh, Sam," Tucker said. "This is romantic and all but…"
"Shut up Tuck," Sam growled. "This is serious. I'm going to show you something, but you can't freak out."
"What?" Tuck asked in alarm.
Sam took a deep breath. "Brace yourself," she warned. "This is my true form."
Suddenly the vehicle was filled with an intense blinding white light. Tucker's eyes were so overwhelmed that he could barely make out the outline of Sam's face. He wasn't aware that he was screaming until the light faded. And then he blinked and blinked and blinked again.
"Dude!" he said to Sam as his eyes adjusted again to the darkness. "What was that?"
"It's a weapon of last resort," Sam told Tucker. "If I have to use it, you need to shield Danny some how or I'll blast him to bits. That's why Malika let us past. She knows I can destroy her."
"That's so cool!" Tucker said. "Why did you let Danny even go out there. You could have gone to get Desiree yourself."
"Funny you should say that," Sam said then laughed nervously.
"Oh great," Tucker sighed. "What's the draw back?"
"The further I get away from life, the brighter I glow. The brighter I glow the easier it is for those who are hunting me to find me," Sam answered. "Once they find me, I'm off to the afterlife." She paused. "Which isn't a bad thing really, but…I don't think it's really my time to go."
Tucker scratched his head under his hat. "If it wasn't your time to go, then why didn't you just turn into a ghost?"
"Because I guess I was at peace," Sam answered. "I remember being at peace. I was happy. I guess that's what matters."
"This is seriously messed up," Tucker said. "So we only have like what two weeks before you can't hide from the afterlife and if you use your power you could get caught?"
"Yup," Sam answered as she pushed the button and the shielded windows of the Specter Speeder opened. "So let's just hope these creatures are nice to Danny," she said as she watched the Ghost Boy in question. "If I have to come to the rescue…"
"Then you're putting yourself at risk," Tucker finished. "Great. So we could still lose you couldn't we?"
Sam shook her head. "No. You'll never lose me Tuck. I promise."
Tucker gave Sam a worried look. "I hate to say this Sam, but really I don't think you're in any position to make those kinds of promises." Sam only laughed then hugged Tucker. Both friends looked out the window at Danny who had just reached Desiree and was talking to the creature on the platform. They both took deep breaths and crossed their fingers.
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Wow ten chapters and this is the first time you see interaction between characters without Danny. Man! I hope this all doesn't come off as too lame. I've had great difficulty with this chapter. I feel like I've really lost the rhythm of this story...and…well this is a tough story to tell, that's all I have to say on the matter.
If you look up Jinn in the Wiki you'll find interesting information. I'm not following the mythological Islamic version of the Jinn, but more the Westernized version…which is kinda what Desiree is anyway…so though I am calling these creatures Jinn (who are born of fire), that's not REALLY what they are. Make sense? No? Well.. that's okay I hope.
Reviews?