Chapter 25:

~DANNY~

I went back to check on my friends and I noticed something strange. I scanned the dance floor and I saw Sam and Aaron dancing together. I also saw Tucker talking to a girl, and she was actually talking back! I walked up to Tucker.

"What's going on with Sam and Aaron?" I asked.

"Oh, them?" Tucker said. "I think they're dating now."

"WHAT? Dating? How did that happen?"

"Turns out they liked each other for a while."

"Man, a lot can happen when you're gone for 3 minutes." I said.

"I know, right?"

"Like for the fact you were talking to a girl and she didn't pelt you with her purse yet!"

"I KNOW, RIGHT?!" Tucker cried, squealing like a teenage girl.

Everyone's getting their happy endings... Now it's my turn.

I exited the gym and looked around the school.

"Where did she go?" I said to myself.

In the silence, that's when I noticed the banging and crashing sounds. For a second, those noises stopped before a single note carried into the hallway.

A whistle.

My ears perked up and my heart raced.

Oh, no... No, no, no, no, no...

My fast paced steps turned into a full-out sprint down the hallway. A second whistle sounded and I changed into my ghost form and flew. I waited for a third whistle.

Nothing.

I arrived at the balcony where I last found Saralyn and I cried out when I saw Rudy and Ember there. Rudy turned around and smiled at me.

"Look who decided to show up. You're just in time..." Rudy said. "...sort of."

He stepped out of the way and I saw...

"Saralyn!" I cried as I rushed to her side.

She laid against the ground. Ember's guitar rested limply in her hands. Her left cheek swelled like a balloon and her eyelid blackened. A jagged tear in the side of her dress revealed a steady trickle of blood. I think I could see broken bone.

"What did you do to her?!" I said. "Saralyn, please, wake up!"

Ember chuckled. "She actually thought that you would come to her rescue by whistling for you like a lost mutt. How romantic." she said. "Too little, too late, baby doll."

"You... you MONSTERS!"

"Why, thank you." Rudy said.

"You will pay for this!"

"Not before you join her!"

In a split second, a rocket launcher came out from Rudy's armor and launched towards me. I could feel my eyes glowing, but I couldn't tell what color. Or colors. Instinctively, I shot my hand out and a thick, green shield enveloped before me. The rocket crashed into it and exploded. My hair rustled as the air whipped around me. Rudy's eyes became as wide as dinner plates. His mouth hung open, but he was too terrified to speak. Looking at my reflection in the shield, I noticed the colors of my eyes:

One white. One gold.

Just like Saralyn.

Rage exploded through my body. I brought my arms up. A ball of power the same green as the shield formed in my hands and continued to grow. I could feel the power rushing excitedly through my veins.

"It... it can't be!" Rudy finally said. "You're one of them?!"

The power ball was now the size of a balloon after you've blown it up to the point of popping. It throbbed with great intensity, matching the power that flowed inside me. With a grunt, I thrust it as hard as I could at the two fiends. The ball of power smashed into them. The sounds of their shrieks would haunt me forever. Ember disintegrated instantly, dissolving back into the Ghost Zone where she belonged. I watched Rudy writhe within the power.

"NOOO!" he cried. His voice faded away as he slumped back and fell to the ground.

I recognized who I now saw. Bulks of armor melted away. The yellow eyes changed back to a pure, neon green, matching the flaming hair that sparked up once again.

"Skulker?!" I said.

Skulker sat up slowly, clutching his head. His eyes locked with mine.

"You... saved me." he said.

"You're Rudy?!" I said. "Wha... How is this possible?"

Skulker's face drooped to solemnity.

"You don't know what you're up against." he said. "If Vlad can do something like this..."

"Vlad did this to you?"

"Black magic. So dark and evil..." Skulker slumped against the wall. His voice fell to a raspy whisper. "Save the goddess."

Skulker melted away into the ground. I gulped and ran my fingers through my hair. Realization struck me and I turned around.

"Sara!"

I turned back to Saralyn and knelt by her side, shaking like a Chihuahua. I took her into my arms. She was cold. As cold as death.

"Sara..." I said. "Saralyn, please... wake up!"

She stayed motionless.

"No... this can't be happening! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

I held Saralyn gingerly in my arms. Not even the rain could mask my tears. I bowed my head and let out a scream.

There's got to be something, ANYTHING that can bring her back.

A bright light flashed, yet it didn't faze me. I looked to see Clockwork floating in front of me.

"Clockwork!" I said. My eyes widened. "You're here! Thank goodness! You're just the ghost I needed!"

"I've come to take Saralyn." he said.

"...What?"

"Her time is up. I have come to take her to the Ghost Zone."

"No... no, you can't!" I said. "You're the master of time! You have to bring her back to life!"

"Are you a fool?" Clockwork's appearance changed to a child. "I've never used my powers to bring someone back from the dead!"

"You have to!"

Clockwork looked at me discouragingly as he turned to an old man.

"Please..." I whimpered. "I love her..."

Clockwork's gaze softened.

"Yes..." he said. "I can see that your love for each other is strong. Unbreakable..."

There was a long pause. Clockwork held out his arm and his staff appeared in his hand.

"Stand back." he said forcefully while his appearance changed to a young man.

I laid Sara down and backed away to the wall. Clockwork then did some weird ritual that I've never seen before. He moved around Sara, twirling his staff around as he recited words that I didn't understand. When he finished, he touched Saralyn with the staff. Her wounds closed, and she looked as if she was only sleeping.

"Did... did it work?" I asked.

A faint smiled appeared on Clockwork's face before he vanished. The silence that came after was deafening. But finally, I saw her eyelids flutter open.

"...Danny?" Sara whispered.

~SARALYN~

I experience firsthand what it was like to be a complete ghost. In fact, I felt sorry for the apparitions doomed to forever roam the Ghost Zone. I sat in complete darkness. That is, until Clockwork appeared, and he reached out his hand to me, like he was calling my spirit. The next thing I knew, I woke up in Danny's arms in the pouring rain.

"...Danny?" I whispered.

"Sara!" Danny cried.

I could see the tears in his eyes, Ember's guitar in my hands, which melted away after a few seconds, and my ears were ringing. Danny pulled me into a tight hug.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You were dead," Danny said. "But Clockwork revived you."

"Wow... I..."

There was a little pause.

"You came all this way to find me?"

"Our group wasn't the same without you..." I knew the secret reasons behind his words.

Danny helped me to stand. Another pause.

"Danny, look, there's something that I-"

Danny took my face in his hands and kissed me.

And finally, that moment when everything turned into slow motion. Faint music playing in the background from somewhere in the school, the rain pouring down, and everything was perfect. Danny pulled away and my body felt numb.

"That was a really nice way of telling me to shut up." I said, breathless.

Danny smiled. "I love you too, Saralyn."

If a heart could explode from happiness, it would have happened to me in this moment. I breathed out a laugh and kissed him again. I could feel his heart flutter in his chest.