Heeey! Sorry the update took so long. I got lazy. This chapter was sitting on my computer half-done for the longest time!

Reviews, plz? I know you're going to love it…

~Prenn

Chapter 42: Decisions In Affect

"What can we do?" Danielle kept her cool during the crisis.

"I'll help. Just tell me what I can do." Cecelia followed Danielle's fine example.

"Um…what could be doing this to him?" Valerie asked.

"Think, guys. There isn't much time." Danny said.

"Appendix?" Jazz asked.

"He got had out when he was nine." Cecelia said.

"Heart attack? If that's the case, then I know CPR." Jazz said.

"By all means, give it a try!" Danny and everybody else stepped out of the way for Jazz to do it. But there was no change. She even gave him the Heimlich, but still he wouldn't breathe.

Sam was crying. Tucker was whimpering. Bob was whining in panic and hugging his cousin, Tucker. Valerie was starting to get misty eyes as well. She couldn't hold back the tears once they started to come.

"Maybe there's something else blocking his breathing." Cecelia suggested.

"Like…an amulet?" Danielle suggested. Without giving the theory any further thought, she phased her arm through his abdomen and in a second she pulled out the amulet. The dragon amulet that had been fused inside him for so many years and had given him his powers.

Garth opened his eyes and started to breathe again. But he felt all dizzy and even threw up a little. He went all pale when he saw Danielle holding the amulet and he nearly fainted.

Danielle took Valerie and Bob back home, and Danny took Jazz back to her campus.

"Thanks for an exciting night, little brother." She hugged him and waved goodbye as he flew away with her.

By then, the ghostly guests had all gone home—except for Perniculous, that is. He received a good talking to by all the members of Team Phantom.

"It was an accident, I SWEAR. I would never ever mean to hurt any of my friends, ever, honestly. It was just an accident. If there's anything I can do, well, er, please let me help—I'm sorry Garth." Perniculous hung his head down in shame.

"Don't ever come back to our lair." Garth said with a detesting gaze fixed on the ghost whose little accident nearly killed him.

Perniculous flew away to his own shriveled home and never visited them again.

Sam sat next to Garth, stroking his hair. "You're completely human now." She whispered in disbelief.

"Yeah…" Garth glanced at the amulet which now resided on the coffee table. He picked it up and studied it intently. Never before had he been able to get it out. But since it had shifted, well, it had to come out. He almost wished he could put it back.

That night, Danny flew his older sister back to her campus. When he returned, all but Garth were asleep.

"Gee, I'm glad Danielle saved you, Garth." Danny said. He was about to turn in for bed when he noticed Tucker asleep in the easy chair. "Best get to sleep, Garth."

"Danny," Garth stood up. "Do you think it would be possible…to put it back? In the right place? I'm just not myself without these powers. I never really appreciated my dragon self until it was gone."

Danny sighed. "Are you sure? You could finally have a life free from being the responsible one. You wouldn't have to fight ghosts anymore…"

"But that's a big part of being me." Garth said.

"Okay then." Danny said. He placed the amulet back where it belonged—inside Garth and in a place where it would not affect his breathing. "There. You're back to normal."

Garth smiled.

Danny went into his bedroom.

Garth transformed briefly into his dragon half just to make sure he was back to being himself before he called it a day. He wrapped himself up in all the covers. No matter how comfortable the bed was, Garth still couldn't sleep. No, not with all the sounds that were coming from the eerie ghost world outside. And so Garth had to accept the fact that no matter how tightly his eyes were shut, and no matter how tired his brain was, he was never going to get any rest.

So he slipped out of bed and did some working out. He was careful not to make a sound. All night, the memory of Perniculous haunted his mind. It was driving Garth absolutely crazy! Now that he'd found a team of friends, he had changed. He had become more of a team player. He wasn't as selfish as he used to be.

And promising to himself that he'd never forgive the poltergeist only brought up the reoccurring thought that Garth knew he was a hypocrite. He had every right to hold a grudge. But that doesn't mean it was the right thing to do. The only way to make peace was to go straight to the root of the problem itself. Garth had to pay his neighbor a visit.

Garth wanted to turn back, but his subconscious edged him on until he was completely out of the lair. Garth took a deep breath and produced a clean, crisp knock on Perniculous front door. Garth waited about four minutes, but didn't hear any footsteps. So maybe he got lucky and the ghost was asleep. Garth turned and walked away, when the door opened.

There stood Perniculous in his red and white striped night robe and matching night cap. "Garth?" Perniculous made a light of his hand. "What are you doing here so late at night?"

It took every fiber in his body for Garth not to fly away in retreat. He forced himself to turn around, face his problem head-on, and do what had to be done. "Perniculous, I understand now that what you did to me earlier today was an accident. And I…I suppose I can, well, I forgive you, Perniculous."

The magician ghost gasped dramatically. "You do?" He hugged Garth and tumbled around the air jubilantly. "Yipee!"

At that, Garth made a run for his home where he quickly and quietly snuggled under the covers. He even fell asleep.

In the morning, Cecelia and Danielle were the first to awaken, and they got started on whipping up a breakfast.

"How does French toast sound to you?" Cecelia asked.

"Delicious." Danielle agreed. The two girls agreed on nearly everything. So it was no surprise that Danielle was Cecelia's new BFF.

Soon thereafter, everybody else dragged themselves out of bed. Apparently Danielle and Cecelia were the only morning people in the group. Sam had to be practically "ripped" from her bed by Garth and Tucker. It took about twenty minutes for them to convince her to wake up. The only reason this didn't go faster is because Danny refused to help.

"I'm not going in there!" Danny said. "You mess with the bull, you get the horns." He warned them.

And yes, in fact, Tucker took one for the team. Sam bit him in the arm. Sam didn't bite Garth, because, well, he'd probably bite back and a dragon bite would not be pleasant.

So it was Cecelia's idea of "late" when everybody finally sat down in the living room to enjoy French toast together. While Danny seemed chipper, he was still very tired and used to sleeping in. Tucker was especially groggy, and kept mouthing words of nonsense such as "plot bunnies".

Garth had to smack Tucker over the head to wake him up. But by then, everyone had had it.

Once everybody had eaten, they all packed everything up and prepared to leave. Danny carried Cecelia, Danielle carried Tucker, and Garth carried Sam. Flight was slower than usual because they were all very tired.

"When we get back into our world, I'm collapsing on the first couch I find just to let you know." Sam announced.

"Why am I not surprised?" Danielle said to Cecelia, who laughed.

Then the team landed at the island which had the ghost portal back to the human world. They let Garth and Sam go through it first. Sam kept her promise, and fell asleep on the Fenton's living room couch. Garth kept a close eye out for the next person to come through. It was Danielle

"Welcome home." Garth said to the younger girl.

Danielle gave him a thumbs up. "Where is Sam now?"

"…Guess."

Tucker was about to go through the portal, but he had to clamp his hands over his ears because a deafening sound whooshed past him. "Gee what was that?" Nobody could hear his shouting over the sound.

Amidst all the traffic going past was a large flat red vehicle. It averted itself from the mainstream of traffic and was headed straight for our heroes. Cecelia froze. Tucker jumped through the portal, hoping his friends were only a step behind him.

But they never came.

The mysterious vehicle ambushed Danny and Cecelia before they had any chance of escaping. Somebody harshly commanded the three of them to get inside the dark vehicle. Whoever was inside threatened that they'd blast the teens to bits if they didn't come quietly.

What in the world did we get ourselves into? Cecelia thought. Her hands were getting sweaty. She held on tight to Danny. She could feel him panting next to her, but she couldn't see him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded, her voice shaking.

"Be quiet!" Said a disturbingly familiar voice. Cecelia could feel her arm hairs standing on end.

Danny held an ectobeam in his hand to use as a light source so they could see their captor's face. Cecelia shrank closer to Danny's side, feeling better protected whenever she was close to him.

"Wenn?" Cecelia gasped.

Wenn shirked indifferently. "Yes. It's me. So what?"

"What do you want, Wenn?" Danny glared ferociously as he changed into Phantom form.

Wenn rolled his eyes as if Danny was no threat to him whatsoever. "Do you know where Clockwork lives? I've been circling this ghost zone for hours. I could really use your help…before I start to get frustrated, that is. Because if I get frustrated with you, well, let's just say you won't remember anything after that."

"We'll never help you!" The words escaped Cecelia's mouth foolishly. Danny hushed her.

"Wait a minute here, how did you get in?" Danny asked. "Tossi aren't allowed in here. If the ghosts knew, they'd all gang up and kill you without remorse.

"So how did I manage an entrance? I'll give you three guesses." Wenn smiled darkly, his straight blond hair hanging in those wild and peculiar swirly eyes.

"You followed us in here. You came in right after we did." Danny guessed.

"Nope."

"Skulker helped you." Danny was so sure of this answer.

"Wrong again."

"You followed Danny and Jazz." Cecelia theorized.

"All wrong! You're forgetting about my boss, Vlad Plasmius. He's insisting that I go to Clockwork's place of residence and destroy his real-transportation stick, er, whatever. Just tell me where Clockwork lives and I'll let you go without a price on your head for once in your life."

Danny, the hero, said, "Never!"

"Yeah!" Cecelia agreed.

Wenn raised one eyebrow. "Whatever." He said and he resumed the pilot seat of the vehicle. He was still a psychic after all, and he could tell that Danny and Cecelia had no idea where Clockwork lived. Wenn hadn't accounted for this; he rarely made a mistake. Especially when situations were so tense.

Wenn had to extract the info somehow. And then Wenn had a bright idea. He'd just have to find himself a dim-witted ghost in the neighborhood. Danny tried to phase himself and his girlfriend outta here, but he couldn't. They could hear Wenn chuckling, though.

"You think this is funny?" Danny was angry. His eyes glowed.

"Why do you have to be such a butt, Wenn?" Cecelia grimaced.

Wenn accelerated the speed suddenly, throwing both of his hostages to the back end. Danny landed on top of Cecelia and knocked the wind right out of her. She couldn't talk.

"Cecelia!"

Wenn laughed all the more harder.

"You sadistic little demon!"

"Why thank you, Danny. My car is ghost proof, so no, you won't be going anywhere except where I want you to. And secondly, I just found someone I can ask about Clockwork's realm." Wenn said. "This guy looks like a complete idiot."

Perniculous was floating about his lair, watering his garden and plucking out weeds and casting magic where needed. He seemed bright and cheery as usual, and also very clueless. Wenn pulled up and rolled down his window so he could talk to Perniculous. "Hello there."

"Hi." Perniculous greeted as if Wenn was just another neighbor.

Wenn had to speak differently so as to hide his fangs. He had to be careful not to let this ghost see his eyes either. Either one of these traits could clearly identify him as a Tossi. "I was wondering, where is Clockwork's hideaway?" Wenn asked. "He's an old friend of mine and I felt it was right about time to pay him a visit! It's his birthday too.

"Ooh! I love birthdays!" Perniculous jumped.

Wenn nodded. Cecelia had to admit, Wenn did do a pretty good fake. But that's all it'd ever be—fake.

"No, Perniculous don't tell him!" Danny wailed as he tried to get the ghost's attention by banging from the inside of the vehicle.

"Perniculous, stop!" Cecelia found her breath. "It's a trick!"

Perniculous turned his nose up at Danny. He cast a friendly smile at Wenn. "You just go left for about twenty yards and then take a right at the giant bird cage, a left at the dragon realm, and take a 30 degree spin and you're there." Perniculous said. "And have a nice day! Tell Clockwork I wish him a happy 884th birthday!"

"Thanks. I'll be sure to tell him." Said Wenn smugly as he rolled up the windshield and drove them away at top speed.

The speed blew Danny and his girlfriend face down onto the floor. "You just keep trying to ruin my life, don't you?" Danny said to Wenn.

"Not everybody's out to get you Danny. Come on, don't be so selfish." Wenn took a right at the giant bird cage-shaped floating house, just as Perniculous had instructed. "I assume you'll be more inclined to help me now? Fate will be inevitable either way. But in the end that's all up to me."

"Why on earth would we do that?" Danny said.

"Because if you don't help me, Cecelia will suffer a worse fate than you." "You'll kill her?" Danny suddenly lacked the air to breathe.