Authors notes:

I want to formally apologize for making you guys wait… I've gotten a few reviews that have made it pretty clear that my break on this has been more than long enough and I should just get writing already… and the fact that I'm updating another story probably had a lot to do with this… I have a lot going on in life… and I had a lot of ideas on where to take this story… I've decided to just write it though… come what may. So take of that what you will.

I also wanted to thank you all for continuing to follow and like this story. I know it's frustrating to wait and I ended the last chapter saying this story had hardly begun. And that's still true as far as I can see…

Depression is a funny thing… I feel fine- or I guess I've been telling myself over and over that I'm fine… I was told that thought has a strong effect on how we feel- and therefore on how we act. I have been telling myself that I'm good that I'm happy… and I feel good and I feel for the most part happy… but my actions suggest otherwise… I'm still not doing things. I'm still stuck in a rut. I haven't drawn as much lately- and I've only written a bit… I'm trying to break out of this funk… but I don't know what I need to do… Sorry. You guys don't need to hear this and it's all just excuses at the end of the day anyway. I mean maybe I'm just lazy…
Still, I wanted to apologize… I've been in this fandom since the day the first episode aired… I have written almost exclusively in this fandom… and I kinda needed a break too I guess… but I think I'm okay now. I think I can get this story rolling. I hope to get back into the swing of things… I'm working on it again at least.
I even know what I want to happen…(even if I did lose some of my notes) there's just more than one way to get there is all… and… I have a hard time making decisions…
Also… I think it was suggested that I bump this story up to an M rating… after this chapter, it, maybe, might be necessary… but I would like to know what you all think… Is this a T rated kind of story or is it M… I honestly don't think my writing's descriptive enough in the gory details for an M rating… but I could be wrong… so I let me know, please.
Anyway… I'm gonna shut up now and let you all read… that is if you still want to read this story…

WARNING: Minor character death ahead… and I don't remember how much language I used in this story pryer... but there is a bit of it in it now.

Ghostly Clues

File 8:

Ziva and Gib's stood in the library looking down at the items they'd collected from Merry's locker. "In her planner, she has several notes of "meet ty after school." Ziva said.

"T. Y." Gibbs frowned. "Is it short for something?"

"A name maybe?" Ziva suggested. "She hardly uses proper punctuation at all in this."

"Ty does tend to be short for Tyler." Gib's noted.

"Tyler?" The librarian Mrs. Logan walked in then. She was a stout woman with her graying red hair pulled up in a tight bun. Green eyes shielded behind thick glasses settled on the two agents with open curiosity. "Are you talking about my nephew?"

"Maybe…" Gibbs said uncertainly. "Does your nephew go to school here?"

"No." Mrs. Logan shook her head. "He's homeschooled. He does tend to spend a lot of time here though since I work here. My husband is in charge of teaching him though."

"What about his parents?" Ziva asked.

"His parents…" Mrs. Logan looked sad. "They've passed. His father was in the Navy you see and well… he never made it home. His mother, my sister, did not handle his loss well and… well, she left us of her own accord."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Ziva said.

"It is… what it is." The woman said then shook her head waving her hand as if to ward off distracting thoughts. "Que sera sera. I hear you are looking into Merry's disappearance."

"We are." Gibbs said.

"I knew her fairly well… or as well as anyone I suppose. She was very quiet and kept mostly to herself."

"Did she have any friends?" Ziva asked.

"I believe Tyler and her were becoming as such…" The librarian frowned sadly smoothing out her patterned shirt. "I was happy for them… Tyler has such a hard time making friends. Being homeschooled and all."

"Can we set up a time to speak with him?" Gibbs asked jumping on the lead.

"I don't see why not. Do you have time this weekend?"

"Sunday." Gibbs said.

"Sunday at 3? How does that sound?"

Gibbs took out his notepad and wrote it down. "Here or at your home."

"My, how studious." The woman giggled clearly amused and pleased by his action. "My home would be best. Here I'll give you my address."

Tony and McGee sat parked outside the group's apartment. The inside of the car was silent as Tony sat hands firmly wrapped around the steering wheel. McGee was giving his teammate hesitant side glances. He'd broken out of the shock of what had happened at the shipping yard halfway back and had become intently aware of the heavy atmosphere in the car. That, plus the fact that Tony was driving like a robot, had Timothy sure he was still processing. As they came to a stop Tony, after performing a flawless parallel parking maneuver, had made no move to get out of the car.

McGee waited. He had no idea what to say or what it was that Tony was having trouble with. Out of everyone on the team, the computer geek thought that DiNozzo would have been the most open-minded to the actuality of ghost. They couldn't sit here all day though.

McGee could practically feel his bosses gaze shifting their way- even though he couldn't see him in the house. "U-ub…" It was better to break whatever inner trance Tony had found himself in than to wait for their boss to come out and do it for them. "Tony…? We, uh, gonna go inside?" He ventured.

"What…" Tony's voice was quiet then he slammed his palms against the steering wheel's handles. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"

"Um…" McGee didn't know what to say. Wasn't sure Tony was actually asking. This felt more like an expression of disbelief than a request for information.

"That was like a battle zone! These people put up with this every day? How is this not national news? What the hell is going on? I can't-!" Tony threw his door open and stomped up to the apartment they were using as a base of operations. "Come on McGee! We don't have all day!"

McGee huffed but followed anyway.

Inside Gibbs was standing in front of a laptop a distressed Abby on the screen. Abby pulled at her hair. "I don't know! Okay. I've run it through everything I can think of and it seems to be a component of a few specific chemicals I recognize like sulfur and copper but there are things in this compound I nor the computers have ever seen before! As far as I can tell this stuff doesn't exist."

"Clearly it does." Gibbs said calmly.

"What's going on?" McGee asked.

Ziva who was sitting on one of the beds flipping through some files frowned. "We're checking up on the analysis of that strange goo that Gibbs found in the ally."

"It's going well I can see." Tony quipped, belying little of the break down he all but avoided outside.

Ziva quirked an eyebrow as she looked up at him, a silent question. He looked away coughing into a fist. "So what do we have?"

"NOTHING!" Abby all but cried.

"Just keep looking." Gibbs said earning a glare from Abby.

"Have you tried a search outside the standard database." McGee suggested nervously.

"Like what?" The little forensic's question wasn't answered as their conversation was interrupted by an insistent flashing on the screen and a blaring noise; Abby frowned. "Wait, hold that thought." The woman said seriously.

"What is it."

"Someone's trying to hack the system."

"Well, stop them." Gibbs words were blunt as he frowned deeply. He hated computers that allowed people who were no were near the source to stick their grubby little fingers into information they had no business getting into. Like a cheat. If the information was national security secret. One should put their life on the line for it. Not sit on their ass and fiddle with a keyboard. Though he may be a bit bias and bitter in that department.

"Working on it boss." Was the diligent reply. The whole apartment room was tense as it seemed everyone was holding their breath in anticipation.

Abby worked quickly her fingers flying across the keys of her computer. It took about 3.5 seconds and the flashing and warning sound's stopped. Abby smirked. "They had no chance. You gotta try harder than that!" Her fingers were still moving. "Man these guys do not know what they're doing! They left an obvious trail!"

"You know who it was?"

"Tell ya in a second." Abby's face creased slightly. "Well, hello…" She murmured then shook her head. Fingers moving that much faster. "Got ya!"

"Well." Gibbs kind of asked. It was less of a question though and more of an order.

"Looks like FBI- No but they are a branch off of the FBI. Looks like the GIW server tried to hack us."

"GIW?" Gibbs growled.

More typing by the goth. "Guy's In White." She said digging further. "Oh, they're a low funded branch of the FBI that specialize in something very specific. I'll give you one guess."

"Ghosts." Gibbs snarled.

"Bingo!" Abby beamed. "I'm going to hack their data- there must have been a reason they were interested in us- and! Check it out! I found our mystery substance!"

"What?"

"It's what set their commuter program on us. My search- the goo you found was what they're calling ectoplasm!"

"More ghost nonsense." Tony snapped.

Gibbs gave Tony a side glance, razing a brow just slightly. Tony shrunk back. "You two."

McGee straitened into attention at the address. "What did you find at the shipping yard?"

"Well…"

It was 3:22 AM Saturday morning and Danny had just finished capturing a small group of echtopuss when there was a scream. It was unlike anything he'd ever heard before and Danny was used to hearing people scream. Ghost tended to have that effect on people. This scream wasn't fear though it was unbridled terror and misery. Shooting out of the sky toward the sound, his protective instincts kicking in, Danny found himself frozen in honor at the sight before him.

There was a teen lying in his own blood. Danny recognized him almost immediately. If his red hair wasn't a give away his tucked in white shirt and pocket protector were. Danny couldn't tare his eyes from the boy's face though. "Oh god." Danny gagged dropping slightly.

At the door to the room standing with wide green eyes and long trembling fingers pressed firmly against her lips was the boy's mother. Danny could tell it was her scream that had drawn him there. "Mikey…" Danny found himself unable to move.

Blank sockets staring him down blood pulling from them like tears. A shiver went down his spine but no mist left his mouth. "Phantom." Mikey's mother was murmuring now. "Phantom. WHY DIDN"T YOU PROTECT HIM!?"

Danny flinched. "I didn't know… what happened?"

The woman shook chocking sobs racking her body as she fell to her knees. "I don't know… I don't Mikey! Mikey! My baby boy oh god!"

Danny gritted his teeth fighting back tears as he floated near her. "I… we should call the police… I didn't sense a ghost… maybe… whatever happened wasn't ghost related…"

"I saw it…"

"What?"

The woman hiccuped. "I saw a shadow. It faded away as I opened the door. It wasn't human."

Danny stared blankly at her. "A… shadow…" His brain was racing. He knew a few ghosts that could fit that description and he knew there were undoubtedly more he'd never met.

Ghost had never flat out killed before, though some of their schemes could have ended up deadly if Danny hadn't stepped in…

There was one ghost he knew had almost killed… Danny would not enjoy hunting that ghost down… but if they were responsible… Danny cringed. "Mrs. T… If it's a ghost… I'll catch it… I'll hand it over to the Guy's in White… I'll do everything to stop it. Still…" Danny glanced at the unmoving form of his classmate. He'd never seen anything so unnerving before he could swear he saw a shadow of the boy floating over his body screaming. "We need to call the police."

"Mikey believed in you… thought of you as a true hero…" She blubbered. "I'm scared. Phantom. Please. Stay. Don't leave."

Danny swallowed. "I won't be going anywhere…"

Authors Notes:

So should I bump it to an M rating? Let me know. Please and thank you! :)

(Also any suggestions for Mikey's last name would be highly appreciated…)

This is a major shift in the story, and things only get more frustrating from here for Danny…
I have decided to put this story on the update schedule like I have TLoaSD. However, I'm only going to update once every month. So since today is 27 I'll update the story on the 28th of next month since I like even numbers more… Hopefully, this will give me enough time to write for both stories… I have an outline for TLoaSD and I have a basic plan for this story. I know who the bad guy is and I know who at least 2 (hopefully convincing) red herrings are.

Please let me know if I'm doing okay… I hope the voice of the story is staying relatively consistent at least…