The Jewels The Guardian and The Ghost.

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Oh you know...

Chapter 10: Precursor to a Nightmare

"...so I jumped through the mirror, and found the whistle like she told me too. Once Danny wasn't under the bracelets power I brought him out here," Tucker explained.

Sam examined the whistle carefully. "It looks like some kind of black quartz." She was about to put the whistle in her mouth when Tucker stopped her.

"Sam don't," Tucker insisted. "That thing hurt Danny."

Danny nodded slowly. "The last thing I remember is finding that secret room. I'd just gone in when I heard something and..." Danny paused and sighed. "The next thing I knew I felt this shooting pain in my head, and Tucker was dragging me out of there."

Sam frowned. "Well we'd better get out here before Miss Daily gets here."

"How come?" Tucker asked. "It's not like she doesn't know we're here. She sent me here to help Danny. I wanna ask her more about that bracelet."

"Tucker she knows we're here! I think that's a pretty good reason to not be here!" Sam shot back.

Tucker glanced at Danny. "Sam take a look at Danny. It's obvious he's in no condition to go anywhere."

Now Sam did look at Danny. He sat curled up in the recliner. His eyes were closed tightly as if against a strong light, and he was frowning slightly. His breathing was short and rapid, and he was clutching his stomach. "Danny are you okay?"

"I don't think so," Danny admitted. "I feel like I ate some of my dad's cooking, and before you ask I only had five of Miss Daily's cookies, and I've got this pounding headache. "

Tucker sighed crestfallen. "I'm sorry Danny. Maybe I shouldn't have used the whistle."

Danny shook his head slowly. "No, Tuck. If Miss Daily said the whistle was the best way to wake me it probably was. This is different from the whistle anyway. That felt like you stuck a knife or something in my brain. This is like a dull ache pounding to get out."

"See," Tucker said. "We really need to wait for Miss Daily."

"I don't like this Tucker," Sam said. "You and Danny have both spent time alone with Miss Daily, and now you think she's our friend."

"You've spent time alone with me too Sam, and you obviously don't feel the same way." Miss Daily said appearing in the front door. Not one of the three teens heard her open the door or come in.

Sam blushed a deep scarlet. "Oh ... uh Miss Daily. What a ... uh a surprise!"

Miss Daily glanced over at Sam obviously amused. She nodded at Tucker, but when her eyes fell on Danny they took on a look of concern. She crossed the room in three steps, and knelt by Danny in the recliner.

"You look lousy," she said gently trying to make a joke of it. "Head hurts?"

"Head and stomach thank you very much," Danny said with a sigh.

Miss Daily nodded sympathetically. "Lets see if I can do something about that."

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked growing worried. This is the woman that kept putting Danny under a sleep spell at school!

"I just want to see if I can find out why Danny has a headache. If I know the source of the pain I can do something about it." Miss Daily touched Danny gently along his cheek guiding his face to meet hers. "Danny, I need you look right at me."

Danny lifted his head, and met his teacher's storm grey eyes. Miss Daily reached out with both hands, and gently touched just below Danny's ears with her thumbs. Instantly Danny's body relaxed completely. His eyes drooped closed for a second, and he let out a jaw splitting yawn which ended in a sleepy surprised smile.

"Oh!" he said quietly. "What...what did you do? It feels like you just gave me an ice pack."

"That's about all I can do without resorting to my teas," Miss Daily explained rising to her feet. "I do have something that will get rid of the headache and stomach pains for longer, but it's pretty strong stuff. You won't be in any condition to fly afterwards."

"We'll be fine thanks," Sam said, but a look from Danny took the sting out of her voice. Was he actually considering accepting a magic potion from her?

Miss Daily noticed Danny's silent signal as well. "Sam, and Tucker could call your sister to take you all home," she reminded them.

Sam could see Danny considering and weighing everything he knew against his discomfort. "Danny you're not - " She began but Danny cut her off.

"I don't want to Sam, but you're not in my head right now," Danny said with a wince. "Whatever Miss Daily did is starting to wear off already."

"It was supposed to be only temporary," Miss Daily said.

"Yeah," Danny said closing his eyes against the light. "You know in that case maybe I'd better try whatever you have to get rid of this."

Miss Daily let out a small chuckle. "All right tea it is. Sam you can come and help me if you want."

Sam didn't want to help Miss Daily do anything, but she wanted to know what this sorcerous was going to do to Danny. With a fearsome scowl on her face Sam followed Miss Daily into the kitchen.

Miss Daily pulled out a long wooden box from her pantry. She placed the box in front of Sam, and said. "You're looking for a blue tin with gold lettering that says "Unicorn Song."

Inside the wooden box were small tins of various colors and shapes. Sam found the tin she was looking for, but she also noticed some of the other names on the other tins.

"Petition to Morpheus" " Dragon Fire," "Fairy Dreams"

"What is all this?" Sam asked as she handed Miss Daily the proper tin.

"Magic users version of a medicine chest." Miss Daily answered evenly. "This one will take care of his external symptoms, but it's going to make him a little sleepy, plus he might act a little odd, as if nothing is bothering him, which something is otherwise he wouldn't have the stomach pains or the headache. I can't shake the feeling that after this stuff wears off he's going to be in for some serious nightmares."

"Nightmares?" Sam blinked surprised. "What makes you think Danny is going to have night mares?"

"Because he didn't remember what that band reminds him off," She explained. "It's something he doesn't want to remember, but he knows he has to."

"Do you always talk in riddles?" Sam asked annoyed.

"When solving the riddle is part of the answer," Miss Daily answered. "The water is going to take a few minutes. Cookie? The oatmeal are vegetarian"

Now Sam glared at her teacher. "You really think I'd eat anything you made?"

"I guess not," Miss Daily laughed. "You know Tucker just ate my cookies without any questions. I'm glad one of you is a little more cautious than that, but I'm not your enemy Sam."

"Why'd you make me take your book?" Sam asked, determined to get at least some answers.

"I didn't make you Sam. That book was enchanted long before I was born. It chooses it's own owner. I don't really need it anymore. I have the book memorized from cover to cover. You are going to need that book. Maybe Tucker is right. Danny may be unique enough that you will want to write his story in there, but that will be your decision. For now the book is yours Sam. You won't even be able to get rid of it until it decides to move on anyway."

The tea kettle whistled, and Miss Daily grew silent as she poured the water in a blue ceramic mug. From the blue canister she measured out some tea leaves and placed them in a gold infuser, and placed that in the mug as well.

"Sam, please open the back door," Miss Daily asked as she opened a nearby window. Puzzled Sam did as she was told. Miss Daily held the mug up in the air and chanted.

"North winds give us strength, East winds give us courage. Peace be given to his spirit and draw from him his fears."

Sam shivered in the winds that blew through during Miss Daily's incantation. Miss Daily nodded to Sam to close the door. She placed the tea on a small silver tray and stirred in a generous amount of honey. She then added a plate with two chocolate chip cookies and handed the entire tray to Sam.

"Here, you can bring this out to Danny. I need to write his sister a note." With that Miss Daily turned and left the room.

If I wanted too I could dump this stuff down the sink. Sam thought to herself. Then with a mental shake of her head she thought, She'd probably know though, and Danny did ask for her help. With a heavy sigh Sam took the tray and went back into the room. She found Danny curled up in the recliner with Tucker no where to be seen. From the stressed and pinched expression on Danny's face Sam was glad she didn't dump the tea.

"Here," she said Putting the tray down on a side table. She pulled over an ottoman and sat on it. Once she was settled she handed Danny the mug. "Are you sure you want to drink this?" She asked still uncertain.

Danny sighed. "Sam, if you know how much my head was hurting you wouldn't ask that." He took the mug in both hands and took a long sip. "Hmmm it tastes good."

"It should," Sam answered. "She put enough honey in it. Where's Tucker?"

"I showed him how to get into that inner library." Danny said taking another sip. "Tucker said that Miss Daily told him that it was safe for you and him to go in there, but I had to stay out here."

Sam wanted to go and look in the inner library, but she wanted to stay with Danny too. "So," she asked. "What did you find out about Miss Daily before you went in there?"

"She's definitely here because of me," Danny said. "She's got a couple of books about kids who gain power by accident. Sam, if those books weren't twenty to fifty years old I'd swear they were writing about me."

That surprised Sam. "You mean other people with ghost powers?"

Danny finished the tea and handed the mug back to Sam. "No, not like that. These kids had different powers, but the ones who got their powers by accident were around my age. At least I fell in the middle of it. I think Vlad was on the far end. The book didn't really talk about what the powers were. It talked about things I've been going through because of my powers. Hiding my abilities, being afraid to tell even my own parents. Being treated as something less than human."

Sam looked back at the generous book cases. "Are all those books about that?"

"No," Danny said with a yawn. "Lots of stuff about magic, philosophy, and psychology. Jazz would love it. I just wish I knew why she was helping me."

Sam noticed Danny's relaxed demeanor. "You're feeling better?"

Danny nodded slowly, closing his eyes. "Yeah. I think that stuff is starting to work. My stomach doesn't hurt anymore, and my headache is going away."

And I get the feeling that you'd be perfectly happy to curl up here and sleep for the rest of today and tonight, Sam thought to herself. To see Danny relaxed was becoming rarer and rarer. It actually made Sam feel good to see her best friend not paranoid, frightened, or worried for a change. Even If it's because of a magic spell. And he is sooo cute when he's sleeping.

Just then one of the bookcases shifted, and Tucker appeared from behind it. "Man, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff she has back there!"

Sam gave Tucker a cautious glance. "Tucker are you all right?"

"Sure," Tucker said puzzled by her reaction. "I just wanted to take a good look at that bracelet and take some notes." Tucker then noticed Danny dozing in the chair. "Danny?"

"I'm okay," Danny replied in a lazy monotone.

Tucker now looked worried. Sam took a deep breath and said, "Relax Tucker. It's that tea Miss Daily made for him. She said it would make Danny sleepy."

"I'm not asleep," Danny argued with a yawn. He opened his eyes and surveyed they both before closing his eyes again. "I just don't feel like moving."

Sam wondered about that, but didn't say anything out loud. "What did you find out about the bracelet Tucker?" She asked.

Instantly Tucker grew animated. "Oh it's called the Showenhower band"

Sam frowned. "That names sounds familiar, but I can't place it."

"I saw that name," Danny said with his eyes closed. "Telepathic families of Eastern Europe. Second bookcase fourth shelf."

Tucker went to look and needed a step stool to find it. After a few minutes of searching he said, "Got it." He leafed though the book. "Hey there's a picture of the bracelet in here, but it's different.

Intrigued Sam went to look over Tucker's shoulder. "This bracelet has seven rubies on it. The one in the library only has two." Tucker said puzzled.

"Do you think the other rubies were removed?" Sam asked.

"They were," Miss Daily said entering the room. "The family that owed the band felt it was too powerful to keep together, so they pulled five of the seven rubies and scattered them throughout the world. " Then directly to Danny she said, "Your sister is here."

"Huh?" It took Danny a minute to register what she was saying. "Oh, okay." Danny transformed back into human mode, yawned, stretched, then followed Miss Daily out the door. Sam and Tucker followed behind.

Jazz sat in her car out front looking very annoyed at the three teens. Miss Daily as unflappable as ever, said calmly. "I'll see you guys in school tomorrow. Oh and Tucker please return that telepathic families book as soon as you're done with it."

Tucker gulped. He had no idea that she knew he had the book. "Um okay," Tucker said meekly as he got into the car.

"Bye," Miss Daily said cheerfully. Jazz pulled away from the curb. Once they were clear Jazz glared at Tucker in the passenger seat. Danny and Sam shared the back seat . Danny still drowsy from the tea rested his head against Sam's shoulder. Sam couldn't decide if she was amused or annoyed, and since Danny seemed completely unaware of what he was doing, Sam decided not to complain.

"What were you three doing at Miss Daily's house?" Jazz Demanded.

"We wanted to see what Miss Daily was hiding." Sam said with a sigh. "And before you say anything I know it wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do, but Tucker was supposed to be keeping Miss Daily busy!"

"Hey I was keeping her busy. She wouldn't have bothered you guys at all if Danny hadn't gone into the inner library, and honestly Sam it wasn't like she didn't know you were in there."

Jazz dropped Tucker off first, and then Sam. Sam shifted Danny to the other side of the car. Danny muttered a sleepy, "Bye Sam," before Jazz drove away.

Coming Soon Chapter 11 Within the Shadows of the Mind

Oh no, Jazz thought. What kind of dream is Danny having? Jazz raced out of her bedroom and into Danny's in seconds.

Jazz saw Danny tossing and turning in his bed. He appeared to be fighting some unseen enemy. "No! Quiet all of you! I need to think!"

Jazz got onto the bed and gently tried to restrain her brother. "Danny! Danny! Wake up your having a nightmare!"

Danny didn't appear to hear Jazz. He struggled in her embrace. "No...what am I...I can't let...Why can't I let go? No! I have to listen to...to Sam Sam? SAM?" Suddenly Danny's eyes shot open and he shot an ecto blast from one hand knocking one of his model rockets from it's place.

The release of energy seemed to weaken Danny. He slumped back against Jazz closing his eyes again. Jazz watched as the tears began to fall and Danny trembled his body shaking his he cried. "Sam."

The door to Danny's room opened and Maddie came in. "Danny I heard a crash and - Jazz?"