Danny woke with a start. The cabin was quiet but for the soft snores of a couple of the other campers. The nearly full moon shone brightly through the windows providing a half-light that make objects in the cabin easy to see. A faint smell of campfire drifted in through the screened windows.

Danny looked around, trying to see what it was that had awaken him. No one was stirring. There were no unusual noises. He looked over at next cot were Tucker was sleeping, buried down under his sleeping bag although it wasn't all that cold. Then he noticed his breath, coming out in a little fog. His Ghost Sense! Something supernatural was on the prowl.

Danny decided he ought to go see what it was, but first he would let Tucker know in case he had to cover for Danny. He slipped out of bed and reached over to shake Tucker's shoulder. But his hand met something spongy and cool.

"Tuck?" he whispered.

There was no answer.

He felt around on the bed. All he could feel was a fluffed up pile of clothes and blankets. He pulled the top sheet back and saw. gleaming in the moonlight, Tucker's PDA. The PDA that Tucker never went anywhere without!

Danny sat on the edge of his cot perplexed. Tucker had obviously snuck out. Why would he do that? Why would he not tell Danny? Make-Out Point! Of course. Tucker and T'Keisha must have snuck out to go there. He could understand why he had made up the cot to look like he was still in it. But why had he not told Danny, his best friend? He could keep a secret. He had a bunch of really big secret he had to keep, and besides, it wasn't like it mattered that Tuck snuck out for a make-out session or not. It just stung that he hadn't confided to Danny.

Danny looked at his wristwatch. It was well past midnight. Danny had no idea when Tucker had snuck out but it seemed to him that he ought to Have been back before this. Not that he had any idea what one did at a make-out point, but surely it wouldn't take all night, did it?

He sat there for a few more minutes thinking. The more he thought, the more he was sure Tucker was in trouble. He was sure that what woke him up had been his ghost sense. He was sure that he had to find Tucker -- now, before it was too late!

Danny stooped down below the level of the cots so no one could see him 'going ghost.' Turning intangible, he flew through the wall of the cabin and soared over the small group of cabins. He flew in a widening circle looking for his friend. All was dark and quiet. No where could he see his friend, no where could he sense the presence of another ghost. When Danny came to the clearings of the other clusters of cabins, he quit searching and flew back to his cabin. He thought for a moment. He needed help.

Danny flew over to Hemlock cabin and slide intangible under the floor until he came to where he thought Sam's bed was located. She would be pissed if he just phased through the walls looking for her so he was going try to locate her from outside, then grab her and carry her outside. But he couldn't make a mistake and grab the wrong girl...

So when he was sure he was at the same spot under the cabin where he had talked to Sam before, he stuck his head up just far enough to look at who was sleeping there. Sure that it was Sam he took hold of her arm, when immaterial and carried her through the roof and landed at a near-by picnic table.

"Sam! Shh! It's me, Danny," he called as he gently sat the sleeping girl down on the bench.

She woke with a start, her eyes bugged out as she saw herself outdoor, hissed and took a swing at Danny.

"Sam! It's me!" Danny whispered

"I know it's you, what do you think you're doing? Kidnaping me? You're just lucky I wear pajamas at camp!"

"You don't wear pajama normally?" Danny glanced down and saw that Sam was dressed in an ankle length black nightgown. "This is important," he said, shaking his head in confusion. "We have to talk."

"It can wait till morning." Sam snapped.

"No! Tucker's missing."

"What?" Sam was caught completely off-guard. "Have you looked?"

"I've been all over the camp but I can't find him from the air. I think we need to do a ground level search."

"Why me? Get Dash."

"Because I don't think Tucker went alone. I need for you to check to see if T'Keisha's in her bed."

"You think they ran off together?"

"Yeah."

"You think they're making out somewhere. Danny. I don't think either will appreciate it if we walk in on them."

"Sam, it's after midnight! Even if they were making out somewhere I don't think they would stay out this late. Anyway, my ghost sense went off so I think they're in trouble."

"We should tell Dash and Mrs. Doi." Sam suggested.

"Mrs. Doi would insist on calling the Head Ranger, Dash might, too. I'd rather we find them with out so many people knowing. I don't want them to get into trouble."

"You right about that. Ok, I check. You'll have to float me through the wall. But you stay out!"

Sam lead Danny around to one of the windows, the one nearest T'Keisha's bed. He grasped her hand and turned her immaterial and pushed her through the open window. Then broke contact. After a minute Sam was back, whispering through the mosquito netting. "T'Keisha's gone, too. I'll get a couple of her friends and you get a couple of your friends to help. We're going to need the extra help. We'll meet out here in a couple minutes."

Danny flew back to his cabin, floated up through the floor onto his bed before changing back to his human avatar. He thought for a moment who he could ask to help. Sadly he wasn't one to make friends easily and couldn't count any of his fellow campers as friends. Nor could he think of anyone who Tucker might have made friends with. That left only two choices. Sid and Sam. They were two perpetual malcontents and potential juvenile delinquents. They didn't know Danny or Tucker but they would be happy to help since it would be defying Dash and the camp rules. The three were dressed and armed with flashlights within five minutes. Danny quietly slid the latch off the outside door and they raced across the clearing to Hemlock cabin where Sam and her two friends were also just coming out.

At a glance who she had invited, Danny caught her arm and pulled Sam apart from the others. "Are you nuts?" he whispered. "Why did you invite Abigail along. I thought you hated her? What if I have to go ghost?"

"You'd have the same problem if Abigail was here or not. You can't change in front of any of the others, either. And it doesn't matter what I think of her, if the Camp Ghost is involved then we ought to have as many ghost fighters on hand as possible."

"But..." Since he couldn't think of an objection, Danny let it go.

As they got back to the group, Aetheria, Sam's other choice was discussing what to do about there being two "Sam's" in the group. "We can call our Sam 'Goth Sam' and you can be 'Normal Sam' or -- I've got it, 'Bourgeois Sam' "

"Never mind," Sam said, "we'll figure it out. Let's start at Make-out Point."

Aetheria lead the way. Make-Out Point was a small clearing about a hundred yards from camp hidden inside a dense clump of trees. It had a nice view of the lake, which was brilliantly lit by the full moon. The lake seems unusually choppy. Danny guessed there was a strong breeze coming down off the mountains to the west. The reflected moonlight was scattered in an infinite pattern of tiny glowing specks. It looked very pretty and somehow ominous. perhaps because he was so worried about Tucker. The truth of it was that Tucker didn't do stuff like this. It simply wasn't like him.

Aetheria had been running her flashlight over the ground in the clearing. There was a trampled area in the middle, with the best view of the lake. Some trash lay off to the side. Danny wasn't sure what Aetheria was looking for. "I don't think they were ever up here," she announced. "I was up here earlier tonight and nothing looks different."

Sid and the other Sam sniggered. "Any body we know?" they asked.

"Let's spread out and see if we can find any indication that they were around here." Danny directed.

The kids spread out, keeping within range of their flashlights and started scouring the ground. They hadn't gone very far when Sid called out that he had found something. He held up a boy's left sneaker.

"That's Tucker's" Danny confirmed. "They must have been going west."

The six kids changed their search line to a more westerly direction and continued. Soon the other Sam called out, "I've got something."

"What is it?" Danny asked.

"I don't know?" He held it up and shone his light on it. It was a small scrap of fabric, silky looking, with black ribbons attached at haphazard points.

"You idiots" Sam declared, marching over and snatching the fabric out of the boy's hands. "That's a bra. Don't you know one when you see it?"

"No..."

"Is it T'Keisha's?" Danny asked.

"Who else's would it be?"

"Ok, Ok. So they're definitely heading this way. Come on!"

In short order they found Tucker's pants, his other shoe, his shirt, one sock, his underpants and the other sock. T'Keisha's clothes seemed to alternate with Tuckers around a general line leading west well beyond the cabins and raising above the level of the plains. Her bra was followed by her pants, a sock, her underpants, the other sock, her jeans, and finally her shirt. Tucker's beret was the last item found, sticking on the branches of a thorny thicket running along a low cliff.

The searchers paused, confronted by an impenetrable wall of brush.

"Something's not right," Abigail said.

"We found all their clothes. They have to be around here somewhere," Sid said.

"It's not like they'd try to get through there," the other Sam said. "I wouldn't want to try it with my clothes on, let along buck naked."

Danny looked around the little clearing that seemed to be the end of their trail. He tried to sense any ghost activity but there was nothing. He looked down at the lake, now far away and a couple hundred feet below them, shimmering like liquid fire.

"Yeah know, "Aetheria began, "the thing that bothers me is why did they take off their clothes. In my short life as a moral degenerate making out doesn't generally involved getting undressed. Unbuttoning a few things, maybe, but not a strip routine like we've been following."

The other Sam snorted. "Maybe because you weren't doing it right."

"Says the man who doesn't know a bra when he's holding one!"

Sam looked down at the bundle of clothes she was holding. As each item of T'Keisha's apparel was found she had taken possession of it. "It's weird that the first thing of T'Keisha's we found was her bra. and the last was her shirt. Why take her bra off first?"

"How could she do it?" Danny asked.

"It's easy. I'll show you if you're interested," Aetheria answered.

"Not now!" Sam ordered.

"And why did we find her underpants before her jeans, and her jeans before her shoes. Her pants were pretty tight fitting. I don't thing you could pull them off with your shoes on, and especially not if they're running through the woods." Abigail said.

"We've been duped," Danny said. "We've been following a clearly laid out trail away from where Tucker and T'Keisha are. Someone doesn't want us to find Tucker and T'Keisha too soon."

"Who would want to do that?" Sid asked.

"The Camp Ghost," Abigail said.

"The what?" the other Sam asked.

"The Camp Ghost," Abigail repeated. It's been haunting this camp for fifty years but no one ever seems to remember it."

"But why would it want to kidnap Tucker and T'Keisha?" Aetheria asked.

"It's a poltergeist ghost, it's drawn to sexual energy. "Abigail explained.

"Well, not wonder it's haunting this camp, it's got hormones coming out the wazoo," Aetheria injected.

"But why would the ghost lure us out here," Sam wondered.

Because it's going the other way. The ghost's body was found in the lake, so I think that makes it a nexus point for it. I don't know what it plans to do to them, but it's going to do it at the lake. Come on!"

Danny took off before anyone else has quite taken in what he was saying. He was a twenty five yards in advance of them before they started running down the hillside towards the lake. Danny had done that intentionally. As soon as he was far enough ahead of them, he ducked behind a tree and changed into a ghost, then at a hundred and twenty miles and hour, his top speed, he flew to the now sinister looking lake.

What looked like the full moon glittering on the waves turned out to be the glow of the ghost as it moved out onto the lake. It's form was still vague and indistinct, tough now huge, twenty feet or more tall. Danny could see the appearance of arms holding Tucker and T'Keisha. A vague split in the bottom of the ghost could be have been legs. It had no head, as ever, just glowing orbs where it's eyes should have been. There was an electric quality to the air, like just before a thunderstorm. As he swooped in on the ghost Danny could feel a miasma of fear, horror and hate. Just bearing in on the ghost took an act of will.

Danny started by firing a series of ectoplasmic fireballs at the ghost. He could see the balls of fire explode over the ghost, the eldritch energies snarling at the ghosts forms, writhed and died. Danny swooped around in a tight loop and came back at the ghost hoping to physically smash into it. An arm holding Tucker swept through the air, knocking Danny into the lake. Water closed over him like a wall of cement. He turned intangible and flew up, lacing into the ghost with another series of fireballs.

This time he aimed for the eyes, or whatever they were. The ghost flinched. Danny was able to get in close to grab Tucker's arm but the ghost was holding on too tight for Danny to pull Tucker free and when Danny tried going intangible he found he couldn't extend the intangibility to Tucker the way he usually could.

Suddenly a sharp blow hit him in the back driving him once again into the lake. As he surfaced he could see a line of fire streak for the shore and play over the ghost. A roar of pain and anger beat upon him, a psychic cry from the ghost. Looking landward he saw that Sam and the others had finally arrived. Abigail was standing on the end of the pier wielding the Fenton lipstick. The others were huddled around Sam waiting for her to tell them what to do.

"What's the use of having the calvary arrive when they can't get to you?" Danny grumbled, before making another pass at the ghost. Abigail's lipstick fire was keeping it distracted making it easier for Danny to get in close but at the same time Abigail didn't seem to be discriminating between the ghost and him, making it difficult to maneuver without getting hit by friendly fire.

Sam and the others had skidded to a halt at the edge of the water and watched the two ghosts fighting. Abigail fished in her pants pocket and pulled out a small cylinder that looked like a tube of lipstick. It was a tube of lipstick but like every other FentonWorks product also contained a deadly ghost-fighting weapon. Abigail gave to tube a reverse twist that extended the built-in blaster. She took aim and squeezed off a shot.

Sam gave a gasp as it hit Danny, knocking him into the lake. Was he alright she wondered? "Be careful!" she yelled at Abigail, "Can't you see that that smaller ghost is trying to help?"

"A ghost is a ghost!" Abigail shouted back, taking aim again.

Sam grasped her arm, spoiling her aim before she could fire. "That's not true," she shouted in Abigail's ear. "That one is friendly. He -- it is trying to rescue Tucker and T'Keisha."

"How would you know? And if you ever get in my way when I'm trying to shot I'll knock that smug head off your block."

Sam grabbed Abigail's arm again. "You harm ...you..." she swallowed what she was going to say, realizing that she had almost reveal Danny's secret.

"Hey, hey, guys!" Aetheria broke in, muscling the two girls apart. "Fighting among our selves won't help anybody."

"But she..." Abigail argued.

"She's right, look! That smaller ghost is fighting the bigger one. We need all the help we can get so do what Sam's says, only shot at the big ghost. The one who actually has our friends."

Abigail angrily shook off Aetheria's hand and started running towards the pier, as she left she threw back a "bitch" in Sam's direction.

Sam turned to take after her but Aetheria held her back. "We gotten get out there to help. Any ideas?"

Sam looked around the beach. There weren't even stones to throw at the Camp Ghost. And the ghost was traveled too far out for them to follow. The Camp Ghost was floating above the water a hundred yards from shore. While the lake had a gradual slope it was over their heads by then.

"We need some canoes." Sam said. "Anyone have idea how we can get into the storage shed?"

The boy Sam, nudged his friend, "Isn't that your specialty."

"Once! I broke into a house once." Sid protested.

"...but can you break into that building right now?" Aetheria asked.

"Well..." Sid equivocated. "I need a lockpick."

"Will this do?" Aetheria asked. She had removed one of the larger rings from her ear and was straightening it out."

Sid hesitated, Sam bumped him on the shoulder, "Come on, we don't have a lot of time. There can't be that much of a charge built into that lipstick."

Sid picked up the bit of metal and hurried over to the storage shed. He grabbed the padlock on the door and, after bending a small hook in one end of the former earring began fiddling with it inside the lock. After a moment he gave the lock a jerk, when it didn't open he cursed and tried a again. After the third attempt the lock popped open. He pulled the door open and handed the bit of metal back to Aetheria. "Look," he whispered, "I'm still on probation, so don't tell anybody that I did that. OK?"

Sam and the other Sam pushed passed them and grabbed a canoe, threw in a couple paddles. Sam stopped and grabbed a seat cushion as well. "In case we have to jump in the water to rescue them," she explained.

Sid and Aetheria was right behind them with another canoe.

"Hey, where's Danny?" the other Sam asked "Shouldn't he have been here before us?"

Sam thought fast. Danny was there ahead of them but she couldn't explain that he was the smaller ghost out on the water fighting to save Tucker and T'Keisha.

"I don't know. Maybe he went to get the Head Ranger," Sam offered lamely.

Danny saw the two canoes coming across the water and redoubled his efforts. With the ghost distracted by a couple close spaced shots from Abigail he flew in and threw his arms around Tucker and tried again to pull him away. He thrust this way and that but the ghost's grip was too strong. Danny let go with one hand so he could fire ectoplasmic blasts at the ghost. The blast must have made a mark because the ghost whipped its arm up and down trying to shake Danny off. He smiled, thinking he was close to success, when he suddenly felt himself slipped and grabbed on to Tucker again.

He found his nose pressed against Tucker's belly button, his arms were encircled around the small of Tucker's back. Only the swell of his friend's butt had stopped Danny from being completely flung away. Another couple inches and Danny would have been seeing parts of his friend he never wanted to see.

Danny pushed himself up with his power of flight and wrapped his legs around Tucker, kind of like a wrestler's hold. With one arm thrown over Tucker's should and neck Danny clung to Tucker like a leech. He reached deep within himself to find all the energy he could muster and directed it along the line of the ghost's arm.

Since the fight had begun the ghost had increased in solidity and strength, as if it has been pulling in a mass that had been previously spread all over the camp. But as it became more solid it seem to become more vulnerable to Danny's blasts.

Danny's energy bolt bit deep into the ghosts form. He could see it's substance start to boil where the bolt was aimed. With a deafening roar the ghost flung Tucker and Danny away from itself. It swung its other hand, with T'Keisha clutched in it at them, smashing Danny hard in the back. Pain flared all through his body. For a moment he lost consciousness, splashing into the lake alongside Tucker's unconscious body, reverting back to Danny Fenton.

The shock of the cold lake, the spasm as water entered his lungs brought Danny back to consciousness. He swam back to the surface, hacking and spitting out the water he had swallowed. He still held on to Tucker, making sure that his friends face was out of the water. The canoes were nearby. He could easily swim over to them and hand over Tucker. He felt too weak, too tired to go ghost again. It would be so easy to just stop and rest, now that he had gotten his friend free. Then Danny remembered that T'Keisha was still held by the ghost. It didn't matter how tired or sore he felt, he couldn't quit until both were free.

In case he was close enough for the people in the canoes to see him, Danny ducked under water before changed back to a ghost. He flew up with Tucker and soared over to Sam's canoe. He dropped Tucker into the middle of the canoe and took off again before anyone could ask any questions. He turned towards the Camp Ghost only to find that it was coming towards him -- or towards Tucker.

"Get Tucker away from the ghost," Danny hollered to Sam. "Don't let him get him again!"

Reluctantly Sam picked up her paddle and headed back to the shore. Aetheria, in the other canoe, called over to her, "We'll stay and try to pick up T'Keisha."

Danny floated in front of the Camp Ghost, waiting to see what it does. The ghost had grown to over thirty feet tall while it had been fighting Danny. But since Danny had pulled Tucker free it was beginning to shrink a little bit. It still towered over Danny. The ghost tried to brush pass Danny but he moved back in front of it. It tried to move around him again. Again Danny blocked it. Suddenly there was a roar and a miasma of despair. To his shock Danny found himself growing weaker as the miasma rolled over him. Abruptly he was splashing around the water as the ghost strolled past him towards the shore.

He was trying to shake off the sudden weakness when he heard shouting from near-by. Loking up he could see Aetheria and Sid waving and hollering at the ghost. They had maneuvered their canoe in close and were trying to strike at the ectoplasmic monster with their paddles. The ghost turned and wonder a gigantic arm in their direction, knocking them both into the water twenty feet from their canoe.

Off in the distance he could see that Sam and the other Sam had beached their canoe and carried Tucker onto the shore. The other Sam had gone back to the canoe for a paddle and stood in front of Sam and Tucker, paddle held at guard.

The ghost tried to stride past the other Sam but he rounded on it with a tremendous blow from the paddle. Even out on the lake Danny could hear the smack at the paddle struck the ghost. The ghost turned to swat at the other Sam but he countered with a backhand blow that spoke of numerous tennis lessons.

Abigail had ceased firing, possibly she had exhausted the charge in the lipstick. He saw her running back down the pier, grabbing up the other paddle as she passed the canoe and swinging at the ghosts backside as it faced the other Sam. The ghost turned and knocked Abigail to the ground, only to find the other Sam had leaped up, grabbed T'Keisha's foot and was trying to pull the girl out of the creature's grasp. It swung it's free arm at the other Sam and knocked him cartwheeling down the beach. With no one in its way it reached out for Sam and Tucker.

Seeing his friends in danger sent a burning rage throughout Danny's body. As suddenly as it had come the despair and weakness was gone. He exploded out of the lake and streaked towards the monstrous ghost. He slammed into the ghost at his maximum velocity, driving it to it's knees, or what appeared to be knees. It abandoned the two teen-agers on the beach, Sam desperately trying to drag Tucker's inert body away, and rounded on Danny. He splashed ectoplasmic goo over the entities twin glowing orbs. It thrashed it's arms in front of itself, trying to avoid more of the ooze. Danny swung in close and peppered it with light energy bolts. The monster seemed to turn two shades brighter in hue and took after Danny, who lead it farther and farther away from the shore and Tucker and the others.

It was a relief to get them safe again but how was he going to free Tucker's girlfriend? He could have used some supporting fire from Abigail about now but suspected she had used up the limited charge on the lipstick. The fire-power hadn't been enough to really harm the ghost but it had kept it distracted so he could fly in close and hit it with his own greater power. Now with the ghost concentrating solely on him it would be hard to get in close again.

Suddenly there was a thud and a loud smack. Looking down Danny saw Sid and Aetheria, back in their canoe, paddling between the ghosts stalk like legs, slapping at them with their paddles as the opportunity presented. The ghost paused in its stride and looked down at them. It bent to reach after them. Danny saw his chance and roared in.

He laid down a row of blasts around the ghost's torso then tried to grab T'Keisha. He got his arms around her waist but came up with an abrupt jerk as the ghost's hold on the girl proved stronger than Danny had anticipated. He found himself once again hanging from someone's naked waist. "Geez," he muttered, "I do not need to see this!"

He dropped loose and dived into the lake, flew through the water behind the ghost then popped up and hurled more ectoplasmic blasts. He tried to get in close again but the ghost brushed him off with a pile-driver like fist.

The ghost smashed him into the lake again but this time Danny had sort of seem it coming and had ridden it down into the water without fighting it. He came shooting out of the water almost as fast as he went in. He grab hold of T'Keisha's ankle and held on as the ghost thrashed her about.

With all his strength he climbed up her leg until he could throw an arm around her knees. From there he lashed out with a series of blasts that seemed to pain the ghost. While it was somewhat distracted he pulled herself up higher until once again he was wrapped around her waist.

The blasts weren't doing it and without some help from the shore he wasn't going to able to pull her free the way he had with Tucker. It was a desperate gamble but there didn't seem any other choice. He pulled himself up higher, until he had an arm under her shoulders. T'Keisha's head lolled on his shoulder, giving him a clear view of the ghost's headless shoulders and the two glowing orbs. He took a deep breath and concentrated, reaching deep within himself. He found a sound, a vibration, a stream of energy rising from his stomach, reverberating in his throat and bursting out of his mouth in an undulating wail. It struck the ghost with a shattering force. It traveled past the ghost, reaching the shore where trees exploded into splinters from its force.

This was Danny Phantom's "ghostly wail." A power so immensely powerful that most times he dared not use it. But against this ghost he did not know what else to do. The wail drained energy from him at a prodigious rate but during it's brief sounding the ghost wavered, blurred, seemed on the verge of dissipating on the spot.

Danny hoped that T'Keisha was sufficiently sheltered from the sound. Later Danny realized that he had completely forgotten about Sid and Aetheria in the canoe below him. It was only luck and his elevation that kept them from harm as well.

With his last bit of energy Danny pulled away from the ghost, dragging the girl with him. The ghost tried to hold on to her but its fingers, weakened, dispersed by the ghostly wail, slid around her. With a final jerk Danny burst free, T'Keisha in his arms. With a scream of rage the ghost shrunk into a glowing whirlwind that rose through the sky and disappeared into the glow from the moon.

Danny sailed high into the air before plummeting down to crash into the lake. Unconscious, in his human form again, he sank towards the bottom. Suddenly he felt a thrashing in the water. Someone had dived into the water and was swimming down to them. He tried to open his eyes to see what was happening but the effort was too much. He felt someone grab hold of him and T'Keisha and begin to pull them to the surface.

For an instant he was content to let who ever this was do all the work of rescuing him, then he remembered. He had changed back to Danny Fenton after using the ghostly wail. But Danny Fenton wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the lake. He could not let anyone see him in his human form. With a great act of will Danny changed back into his ghost form, slipped out of the hands of his rescuer and flew -- invisibly past the edge of the lake, safely out of sight of anyone down there before turned human once again. He took a step and fell on the grass, too weak to even stand up. He lay there panting, aching with a thousand and one pains.

Finally he felt strong enough to push himself up and scramble to his feet. He limped down to the beach, pausing long enough to pick up the bundle of Tucker's clothes that he had cached before going to fight the ghost. He arrived just in time to see Aetheria and Sid beach the other canoe and carry T'Keisha ashore. Sid must have been the one who dove into the lake; he was drenched in water while Aetheria was merely damp from her dunking.

"Hey. What's up," he asked limping through the sand.

"Danny!" the other Sam called. "You missed all the excitement. It was awesome!"

"Did you get the Camp Ranger?" Abigail asked.

"Uh -- no. Was I supposed to?"

"We thought you had gone to get the Head Ranger," Aetheria filled in. "Where were you?"

"Slacking like all Fenton's, I'll bet," he heard Abigail mutter.

"I tripped over a root while running down here. I think I sprained my ankle. I've been limping here as fast as I could."

Abigail grunted in disbelief.

"How are Tucker and T'Keisha?" Danny asked, trying to change the subject.

"They seem to be OK, but maybe in a trance or something. They're not responding when we talk to them." Sam replied. She was holding T'Keisha, whose head was lolling back limply.

Just then the black girl coughed weakly, rolled her head around a bit then tried to sit up.

"Whoa, whoa, easy," Sam said to her.

T'keisha's eyes flickered open. She looked around blurrily for a moment "What's going on?" She whispered, too weak to speak louder. "Where am I? What are you guys doing here?" With a weak cry, she realized that she was naked and tried to cover up. "What are you doing? This isn't funny!" she cried, burying her head in her arms.

Sid ran over to where T'Keisha's clothes are been dropped earlier and brought them back. He dropped most beside her but opened up her T-shirt, shook out any sand and tenderly laid it over her like a blanket. T'Keisha clutched at it but continued crying.

"You were attacked by a ghost," Sam said to her softly. "We rescued you and Tucker from it. You're among friends."

"Tucker!" T'Keisha spat. "It's all his fault. I should never have listened to him!"

"Me!" Everyone turned to find Tucker sitting up on the beach. He had lost his glasses somewhere in the night's excitement and was squinting now at everyone. "It was your idea to sneak on after dark!"

"I did no such thing, Tucker Foley," the girl snapped. "It was you with your sweet talk and lies and...and..." she began crying again, unable to finish her thought.

"Sweet talk?" Tucker wondered.

"It's the ghost," Danny told him. "You were 'overshadowed'."

"Guys! A little privacy!" Aetheria barked. "You take Tucker over there somewhere and cover his shame while we get T'Keisha dressed. Can't you see she's in distressed!"

Danny handed Tucker his clothes while the others kind of shielded the naked geek as he walked off a ways. Danny remained behind.

"You, too!" Aetheria commanded.

"I just wanted to explain to..." Danny protested

"Later Danny, " Sam put in. "Let her get dressed, then you can explain. Give her a change to settle down. It's a little hard to listen to someone when you're not wearing clothes!"

"Oh... gosh, I'm sorry, T'Keisha, I just wanted to explain..."

"Go already!"

Danny hurried over to where Tucker was sitting, pulling on his shoes. "You OK, Tuck?"

"As well as one could hope after waking up naked on a beach feeling like I've been through a war. I don't know what T'keisha's telling you, but she's lying. I never asked her out tonight."

"Oh, come on," the other Sam scoffed. "You two have been attached at the hips all day. Like you weren't trying to get to First Base?"

"Or third!" Sid teased.

"No! Well, maybe I wanted to but I wouldn't... Danny you believe me, don't you?" Tucker was starting to look more perplexed than angry in the full moon's light.

"Hey, Danny! If Tucker's decent, come over we need to talk," Sam called out. Tucker scrambled to his feet and the boys walked back to where the girls were waiting for them.

But before they could get over there T'Keisha pushed her way past the other girls and stalked off towards the cabins. After a moment Aetheria took off after her.

"That didn't go well," Sam observed as Danny's group arrived. "Maybe after a night's sleep she'll listen to reason in the morning."

"Could someone at least explain to me what happened?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, sure," Danny said.

"While that's going on, we ought to see about getting these canoes put away," Sam said to Sid, the other Sam, and Abigail.

"No way,' Abigail protested. "I want to hear this, too. Fenton wasn't even here and he's going to explain what happened?"

The two boys agreed.

Look, it's almost sunrise," Sam argued. "We need to get these canoes put away and back to our cabins before anyone gets up and we get caught. The explanations are wait until later."

After a bit of grumbling the boys picked up the canoes and carried back into the storage shed, replaced the paddled and seat cushions and snapped the padlock shut.

They hurried off to their cabins, just as they were separating to go to their individual cabins Danny stopped Abigail.

"Thanks for all your help tonight," he said.

"Why are you thanking me? You weren't even there. Your friend should be the one thanking me for saving his skinny butt."

"You helped my friend and that means a lot to me." Danny persisted. After a pause when Abigail didn't say anything, Danny added. "Now that you've had a chance to fight a ghost, still plan to become a Guy in White?"

"Woman -- woman in white! Yeah it was kind of fun. I'm glad your girlfriend invited me."

"She not my girlfrie..." But Abigail had already turned away and was running towards her cabin where Sam was waiting, holding the door open. Danny turned and run to his cabin, carefully and quietly locked the door and crept into his cot. Tucker was already in his sleeping blanket.

"Danny, just one question," he whispered, "Did you just save my life tonight?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Thanks, you're the best."

Danny might have said more but sleep, like a draining bathtub, sucked him down and out in an instant.