Danny carefully picked Valerie up, flew her to Sam's home and placed her in the large bed.
"Why on Earth did I yell 'Die, Inviso-Bill, die.'?" Sam fretted.
"For just that moment, you were that Sam, the hunter." Clockwork stated. "The Time Quake affected you as well. But your knowledge of why Danny erased people's memories prevented the attack that would have happened otherwise."
"What about Val?" Sam asked
"She needs rest. She wasn't ready for a time-quake of that magnitude." Ember replied. "I only hope she recovers fully. She may develop partial amnesia and regress to an earlier version of herself. She might go back to vengeance."
"I hope she doesn't. It was her fate sense, wasn't it?" A statement not a question.
"Yes. She lacks the knowledge of how to buffer herself from it, and since she had not yet re-focused it on the proper timeline, this timeline change affected her far worse than the others. Don't you think that was short-sighted of you, Ember?"
Ember sighed. "I know she inherited powers from me, but Val is half-human and so I can only spot certain powers when they turn up. I can't assume she has all of mine, even if she got classed as a ghost. After all her voice isn't hypnotic like mine. I wasn't expecting her to need that training. But then you already know that."
"I never do anything without a reason. You've forgotten who else needed to hear this." Clockwork nods towards Danny and Sam. "We'll see if we can track the people responsible for all the chaos. And Sam, you should talk to Danny." Clockwork and Ember vanish.
"Talk to me? About what?"
Sam looks at Danny. "Valerie. You trust her, because you fear she may be right. That active ghosts are dangerous, and need be sent back to the zone. And that has to be worrying her. Valerie's only coping with being partly spirit by denial at the moment. And I have seen through her eyes, and I cannot blame her, not anymore."
"I never did, Sam. I never did." Danny replied.
"No, you didn't," Sam replied then thought to herself, "But I never wanted to see through her eyes. Because, for once, I knew that if I did I would start to respect her, and therefore fear her more."
Danny sighed. "Clockwork mentioned that a very powerful and completely irresponsible ghost was responsible for this. Who do we know who's like that ?"
Sam answered honestly. "Of the three I know, only two are that crazy, and you didn't do it. So therefore it's Vlad. And we'll need to get everyone in on this. We can't expect Val to wake up anytime soon. I'll pick up Tucker, you get Jazz."
"You're picking up Tucker?"
"I need to. I've hurt him so badly. He's always been our friend and we should have realised how badly we behaved towards him when he started retreating into his technology."
Danny blinked. He sighed. "I've been busy, not that that's an excuse."
"Yes, but I should have noticed even if you didn't, though I probably wouldn't have noticed even if I wanted to. I'm not too good with other peoples feeling."
"We're your friends Sam. We know that there are times you go too far, even though your intentions are good. Sam's eyes flick to Valerie at that. When Danny sees this he puts his arm around Sam. "Hey you were never vengeful. While Valerie did start with poor intentions, yours have always been good."
Ember and Clockwork arrive inside Damon's house. Damon looks up from his work and sees Clockwork. "Okay, how much worse is it?"
"Time Quake. Someone is altering time. Using the ritual of Chronos. They got all the ingredients right except one." Clockwork states
"Which one?" Damon asked.
"The hair of an active Valkyrie. They took mine instead." Ember stated. "I'm retired. How on Earth they could miss my daughter's hair I have no idea."
"And your hair can no longer be used to restabilise the timeline. Why is it whenever I see you now, disasters follow?" Damon sighed
"My old job?" Ember questioned. "But we're going to need a lot to deal with whoever this is. We need you as C&C."
Damon notices the tone in Ember's voice. "What aren't you telling me, Em?"
"Val got hit by the backlash. Badly. She'd just detached her fate sense from a dead timeline. And without the training to buffer herself..."
"Oh god. Take me to her, Clockwork. I need to see her before we head into battle." Clockwork vanished with Damon quickly arriving at Sam's home.
"Good since you're now here I can get my parents rounded up." Danny stated.
"They don't know, do they? At least not consciously."
"No, but Jazz does. I'm going to need her to intervene on the Red Hunter's half as well as my own. The Wisconsin ghost will get their attention. I only hope I can prevent Mom blasting every ghost that is an ally."
"There will only be two allies in that Mansion. One is of course the Dairy King. The other will be on Vlad's side for a while, so be careful."
Damon looks at Valerie carefully. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. If I'd just let you go out you would never have been hurt this badly. I was only trying to protect you. Nastily ironic how my actions only put you in more danger."
"The Wisconsin Ghost? Vampire or Dairy King?" Jack asks quickly.
"The Vampire Ghost. He's dangerous, and as you know the Red Hunter and Phantom do not get on. So if they ally, it means something big is happening."
"I just thought they were territorial squabbles like Jack and I occasionally have. Ghosts tend to be exaggerated in their behaviour, so..." Maddie stated
"Partially, but ghosts asking us to help?" Jack asked.
"Remember the Ghost King? He was bad enough that it needed everybody, including Damon, and he's getting his old skills out again. The Vampire ghost is the priority, only once he's dealt with can we all go back to blasting each other."
A subdued "Aww..." comes from Jack. Deep down he has already weighed the options up and has decided that Jazz's suggestion is the best one. Maddie is wary and considering if this invitation is a trap. Jazz sighs. The block is not helping Jack at all. And Maddie has always been a bit gung-ho against ghosts. Still even she has to accept that "Jazz is right dear. If this ghost is as dangerous as they're saying we'll need to help them. Not that I'll ever trust a ghost."
Vlad laughed. His guards were all here. Even Daniel wouldn't be able to get past them all. This was far too important to leave to chance. He would succeed in his plan. Why the Ritual wasn't working he had no idea. He would try again and this time he would succeed. And the risk was worth it. If he couldn't have Maddie and Daniel then no-one would.
Back at Sam's home Valerie stirred. "What the hell hit me? It felt like a ton of bricks were dropped from a great height and I should know."
"A Time Quake. You're fate sense had become decoupled from one time-line and was not yet back to normal. I'd prefer you to stay behind. Someone irresponsible enough to meddle with time is not someone I want controlling it."
"But you know I'm going."
"Yes, Val I do. Be careful."