As with most of my chapters, you can take the title more than one way xD review plz

Chapter 36: Freedom At A Cost

"Ah yes, him. You can have him."

"Just like that? He can go free?" Tucker asked in shock. "After all that's happened?"

"What's the catch?" Valerie asked grimly.

"Hmm. There is no "catch". And I want nothing in return, save the happiness of my people."

Cecelia crossed her arms. "But we aren't—"

"You're close enough. Go to Walker's jail. Tell Walker I sent you. And ask for Garth's release." Lyon waved the servant to come back over and escort them out. "Fair day, now." Lyon bid them goodbye.

"Well that was weird." Tucker said as he drove them to Walker's jail.

"Maybe it's a trick to get us all into jail." Valerie suggested keenly.

Tucker programmed the Specter Speeder to charge into the jail if the group did not return with Garth in twenty minutes. "We can never be too sure." He said as they all stepped out.

Not just anybody could walk into this top-security jail now that they wanted a prisoner to be released. It took a while to convince the guards to let them in.

Eventually, the three kids found themselves in front of Walker's office. "Here it goes." Tucker winced as he turned the knob.

The knob turned the rest of the way by itself. Tucker drew his hand away and the girls gasped. The door opened to a dark interrogation room.

Valerie was frightened. "This is his office?"

"Walker? Walker? Are you here?" Cecelia called.

"Oh yes, I'm here." A large white ghost in a hat assembled right in front of their faces. "My door does that from time to time. After all, this is a ghost realm. Come here. And tell me what you want. Have you broken any rules?"

The three shook their heads. "No sir." They said simultaneously.

"Good." Walker relaxed in a reclining chair. "So why are ya here then?"

"Prince Lyon sent us for the release of Garth Lloyd." Cecelia said bravely.

Walker raised an eyebrow.

Tucker was expecting Walker to decline the request, but surprisingly, Walker pressed some buttons on a keyboard and picked up a loudspeaker. "Three kids are here for the release of Mr. Lloyd."

Within a few minutes, two prison guards and Garth entered the room. Garth was confounded but at the same time he was relieved that he had been released.

"I'll release him into your capable hands." Walker looked down on the humans with harsh eyes.

Garth gave Tucker, Valerie and Cecelia hugs.

"I don't understand!" Tucker said to Walker. "You're just going to let him go like that? This isn't a trap?"

"Yeah. How do we know you're not using Garth as bait to capture all of us?" Valerie sneered.

Walker sighed. "All of a sudden, Lyon's had a change of heart. He's a much better Prince now and he's letting prisoners go right and left. I'm not saying that's a good thing, I'm just saying that he's become a much better guy. And I'm only following the rules when I set your friend free. I'm irritated that Aragon made up that phony law just to put this kid in jail…"

"Well thanks anyway." Cecelia said quickly.

The four teens shied their way out of Walker's jail. Valerie seemed a little jumpier than usual. Tucker drove the four of them back to the Fenton portal. "Well, this is the best day I've had in a while." Garth said laughing. "And boy am I famished." His stomach growled loudly.

"That's great because so am I the first thing we're going to do when we get back is to go to the Nasty Burger." Tucker parked the Specter Speeder where they had found it. The four of them casually walked outside.

What they saw when they opened the door was chaos...and it was undeniable. They all stared about in surprise. The skies were red, there were pink bunnies everywhere, there were people screaming and running around, the trees were walking and attacking people, and it was all because of one ghost in the sky—she was beautiful, and extremely powerful. And she was laughing.

"Desiree!" Tucker shouted with angst. "I shoulda known it was her! She's the one that's been behind these strange happenings. I'll bet it was her who caused Lyon to suddenly become a saint, and her who is making Danny act batty!"

"What's going on?" Cecelia and Valerie asked in unison.

"Desiree's a genie ghost. She grants every whish she happens to hear—which means this all can't be good." Tucker clenched his teeth. "We need to tell Danielle."

"Well we have to stop it." Garth said with a sense of urgency.

Tucker sighed hopelessly, "Without Danny or Danielle, we're basically useless against Desiree's power."

"You're forgetting about me." Garth said as he transformed into his dragon self.

"And me." Cecelia readied her electrical fists.

"I'm definitely not useless." Valerie scowled as she hopped onto her hover board and activated her suit into protection mode. She put the helmet on and loaded her weapons.

Tucker gave them a thumbs' up and said, "I'm going back to the Specter Speeder to grab a Fenton thermos. Be back in a sec."

Garth began to fire at the attacking trees, but it seemed to be no use. Whenever a tree was destroyed, there came another to take its place. Tucker was sucking the harmless pink bunnies into the Fenton thermos. "Who wished for those?" Tucker complained to himself.

That left Cecelia and Valerie to fight Desiree. "I wish you would just come out and fight instead of hiding like the coward you are." Valerie wished.

Suddenly Desiree appeared close by. And she was huge. "Yes! Keep wishing!" She said with jubilation.

"Why don't you just give up now before I destroy you." Valerie aimed a weapon at Desiree. It was an ecto-cannon. It hummed as it was preparing to launch a deadly amount of energy. But before it was ready, Desiree smacked Valerie far, far away. That left only Cecelia.

"There must be something you'd like to wish for, child?" Desiree turned to the muscular brunette girl.

"It's nothing you can grant." Cecelia glared. Her electricity formed in her palms. She released a bolt, but Desiree dodged it.

Desiree scoffed as she easily dodged every bolt Cecelia could release. "I grant all the wishes pathetic human minds can desire, and this is the kind of thanks I get? What are you giving me in return, child?" Desiree was about to smash Cecelia with her ghostly tail. Cecelia had released alot of energy and was now too exhausted to move out of the way.

"A gift." Valerie swooped in with angry eyebrow. She picked up Cecelia and threw her at Desiree.

The moment Cecelia made contact with Desiree; she shocked her using the last bit of energy she had.

"I wish that the bunnies were gone and the trees went back to normal and the skies were blue again." Valerie said in the nick of time.

Desiree's hair stood on end and she was all crispy from Cecelia's attack. Valerie caught Cecelia just before she would have hit the ground.

"Nooo!" Desiree had to grant the wish that would lead to her demise. She moaned obnoxiously in anguish. "Not my bunnies!" The pink bunnies evaporated into the air. "But I must obey." The trees took root again. The sky went back to being blue. "I hate my power." And the townies stopped panicking and cheered for the heroes.

"I wish you'd get far, far away from my town!" Garth commanded.

Cecelia managed a half-smile.

Garth transformed back once nobody was looking.

And Valerie just stood there. Her three frends looked at her.

"Doesn't it feel good to be part of a team?" Tucker hinted.

Valerie tried to avert her eyes from them. She didn't want to give a reply. She helped exhausted Cecelia onto a bench where she could hopefully recover some lost energy.

"You're all part of something bigger than just yourself." Garth brought Tucker over to the girls. "Together, we can handle almost anything. We all proved today that we're just as good of fighters as Danny and there are no weaklings on the team." Garth said. "None of us are deadweight."

"I told you this was a one-time deal. Now Garth is free. I hope you guys will keep your end of the bargain and leave me to my business." Valerie started to walk away.

Cecelia lost her smile. Tucker's shoulders dropped. Garth crossed his arms.

"Well I think you might want to help Danny though." Cecelia said.

Valerie froze.

"Don't push her, Cecelia." Tucker warned.

"Remember, he disappeared? Well, he went to France. And he's been acting kinda flaky about the whole thing. And we'll need you to help convince him to come home." Cecelia knew her friend would not say no to anything Danny-related.

Valerie turned back around. "Why France? That's where Sam is, and—"

"Desiree must have put him under a spell." Tucker shared his theory.

"Somebody must have wished it." Cecelia added. "Sam must have wished…"

"…That Danny still loved her." Cecelia, Tucker and Garth said in unison.

Valerie gasped.

"We're going." Garth said.

"To France?" Cecelia looked at Garth warily.

"Now?" Tucker gave him a surprised look.

"Yes to France. No, not now. This'll have to wait till tomorrow, as much as I regret it. It'll be easier to fly then and we'll need all the morning hours we can get. For now let's all just get a good night's rest." Garth decided. "Valerie, you recharge your suit because tomorrow's going to be a long flight." Garth said to his friends. They all muttered some acknowledgement of agreement.

Valerie flew Cecelia to her house. "You can stay over at my house while you…"

"Recharge."

"Yeah."

It was in the affluent house of aunt Jackie's that Danny found himself thinking about Sam, but then trying to obliviate the thoughts once they came into his mind. He didn't want them there, so why was he forced to keep dwelling on them?

The obstinate goth was in his dreams, his mind and his heart. He snapped out of bed because he was so frustrated with the conflict of his feelings.

She was downstairs eating an afternoon snack, twirling her short raven black hair around her littlest finger. As soon as Danny came downstairs, Desiree appeared in the room. "Danny!" Sam scolded.

"Are you happy with what you wished for?" Desiree looked at the terrified gothic girl. Desiree threatened Danny with a plasma blast but he did not even seem to care. He didn't go ghost either.

Sam put all the pieces together. Desiree could see clearly that Sam was unhappy. She was waiting for Sam to make another wish to undo all of this.

Sam looked at Danny, "Danny Fenton, I wish you remembered who you truly love…"

"Your wish is my command." Desiree waved her magic hand limply. She disappeared with a disgruntled sigh.

He stood up and his head ached. When he opened his eyes, it was as if he had no idea where he was. Sam was just as bewildered as he, and she helped him sit down.

"Sam…what? I thought you were in France…?"

Sam just stared at him. "You're in France too." She reminded him slowly.

"What day is it?" He asked, concernedly

"It's five days before Valentine's Day." Now she was beginning to suspect there was something more going on here. And it was freaking her out. "Are you okay?"

"Valentine's Day?" Danny stood up suddenly. "Last I remember, it was February fourth…"

Sam looked away. There were warm tears forming at the edges of her eyes. She dare not let them run. But it hurt so much. Her heart was broken because she knew he did not remember... February fourth was the day she had made her wish about him loving her. And it was also the day he had come for her.

As she walked out of the room in search for her cell phone, she began to finally accept the fact she and he were not meant to be. He did not love her for real; that was obvious. He was only under a spell..

Maybe she didn't love Danny anymore either. She'd always be his friend, but in all this time he's been here, it didn't feel right. And that was because they didn't belong. And she was actually happier now than when she first came to France. She had finally let go of all that pain and remorse for herself. She no longer pitied herself.

Danny passed out on the sofa due to shock.

And now she had the courage to call her parents' home phone. "Mom, dad? I know you can hear me even if you won't pick up the phone. And I just wanted to let you know that I'm coming home. You can't just send me away to a foreign country and expect me to come back as the little princess you've always wanted. I'll never be like Jackie. I am who I am, and you've just gotta accept that. I'll be on the next flight home, and you can count on that."

Sam shook Danny and made him wake up.

"Wha…?"

"Don't worry; there will be plenty of time for me to catch you up once we get back to Amity Park." Sam began to pack her bags.

A few minutes later, they found that Danielle was at the front door. Jackie let her in. Sam and Danny were all set and ready to go home.

"What's going on?" Danielle asked.

"He was under Desiree's spell." Sam explained. "But don't worry about him because he's fine now." Sam took a first class seat on a plane and she decided it would be wise to not tell Danny about their affair.

Danielle and Danny flew back home to Amity Park. On the way home, Danielle told him everything she knew. And she conveniently left out the part about the affair.