I woke up about two seconds later and I was still in my ghost form. A small portal in front of me started to vanish and I realized far too late what had happened. Jazz had used the portable ghost portal to send me into the Ghost Zone.

The portal vanished right as I was about to go through it. Seconds before it vanished I saw Vlad trying to get through it also. I looked around the silent world I was in, hoping that there was some way out. In this world, Vlad didn't have a ghost portal, and the one that Jack had had been destroyed.

Other ghosts stared at me but they didn't seem alarmed by my sudden appearance. Suddenly I realized something. These ghosts didn't know me. How could they? This Ghost Zone was separate from my own, and I hadn't fought any of these ghosts.

An old lady ghost floated up to me. "Oh, it's so sad when someone dies so young. Let me guess, you were driving home drunk from a costume party." She said this with such cheer in her voice that it scared me. If all ghosts here were like this then I was doomed.

"Um, no, I'm too young to drive." The old lady smiled, and I tried not to shudder.

By now a small crowd had gathered around us. "Well, tell me dearie, how did you die? And why are you wearing that strange costume?" The other ghosts all had curious looks on their dead faces, and I realized that I would still have to make up excuses even though this time instead of stopping humans from discovering I was a ghost, it was stopping ghosts from finding out I was human.

"My costume? Um… it's the new fashion, and as for how I died, I… uh, was hit by a car." It was a bad lie, but since most of the ghosts looked kind of old, they didn't really notice that the idea of wearing jumpsuits died in the eighties. All of them floated off except for one.

My first questioners smile became impossibly large, and she reminded me of the Grinch in those old Christmas specials. "How sad. You know something, I'm not sure I believe you." Her skin seemed to ripple. "I can sense the vibes that ghosts give off when they die; in fact I feed off of them."

She started to grow and change and her skin appeared to melt off. Coarse black hair sprouted up over her body and her eyes became impossibly large. Floating in her place was a large fly, its proboscis oozing acid, and somehow the hideous creature still could speak. "And your not giving off vibes dearie!" the thing buzzed.

Apart from being totally disgusted I was also angry with myself for letting it get so out of hand. I was trying to lay low, and somehow I still managed to draw attention to myself. The fly floated closer and started sucking in air through its acid filled tube. The voice was becoming more fly like, and I had to listen closely to decipher the fly's words.

"In fact, zzzzz, you taste almost human!" My eyes widened and I knew that I had to end this before she figured out my secret. She flew forward and I just barely managed to dodge. The stench of rot filled my nose and I tried not to gag. She buzzed angrily and turned around. The fly spit its disgusting acid at me, and to my disgust a tiny fleck hit my arm.

The black section that the liquid had hit started to fade. I watched transfixed as white showed through, and I realized that it was my t-shirt. The fly started to buzz happily, and somehow I managed to catch the words. "You'rezzz hiding somethingzzzz" the rest was just buzzing, but for some reason I knew it was laughter.

She pulled her proboscis back so that she could spit again, and before I could attack I suddenly dropped from the sky. The air whistled past my ears and the fly quickly vanished as I plummeted farther and farther down.

Finally I caught myself after what felt like hours of falling. If I had a heart, it probably would have had a heart attack, but I was glad that I was away from that fly. I assumed that my sudden loss of powers had been caused by the fly's acid, but something about that didn't seem right. I didn't know what though.

I looked around the strange world I was in again, and realized with dread that I had absolutely no clue where I was. At least from my house I was familiar with the surrounding Ghost Zone, but now it was completely new territory.

There were fewer doors here, and most of them looked old, their hinges were rusted, so I decided that they were uninhabited. Finally curiosity took over and I floated over to one of the oldest looking doors. I tried to open it but its hinges squeaked loudly and it wouldn't budge.

Still my curiosity was getting the better of me, and I looked around to make sure that there were no ghosts. As soon as I was positive that there were none I switched into my human form and stepped through the door.

Someone was sitting in a chair faced away from me. I quickly became a ghost just as he turned around. He was old and decrepit like his door, and it took me a moment to realize that he looked oddly familiar. The wrinkles in his face shifted into a knowing smile.

"Clockwork?" I asked, and the figure nodded. Sometimes I had seen Clockwork as an old man, but I had never seen him this old. I suspected that this was his true age. I walked over and tried not to stare at him.

"I'm surprised you found this place Danny," he said, and his voice was quiet and hoarse. "Only the very lost find their way here and usually they can't get in. I can tell that you are shocked at my current appearance, but I'm afraid that I can't change it."

The hope that had been slowly rising since I had seen Clockwork vanished, and his face fell to as he read my emotions. "Time is unraveling. I don't even know what's going to happen to me anymore. Nothing I can do will help you, but I will give you this." He waved his hand and a strange sensation spread through me.

Clockwork looked extremely weak, and before I could ask him what he had done to me he answered. "I have increased your sense of direction. All ghosts know their way around the Ghost Zone, but since you are half human you didn't have that power." Clockwork groaned and clutched at his chest.

I jumped forward and tried to help him but he pushed me away. "No, don't waste anymore time. Mine will not run out, but your future looks grim if you do not hurry." I tried to talk but he cut me off. "Go!" The door swung open and I floated out.

As soon as I had left Clockwork's door it slammed shut, and I knew that I shouldn't go back in there.

The same sensation I had felt earlier seeped back into me, and I instantly knew which way to go. It was very strange; almost like I had been here before and knew all of the paths like an expert.

Now the only problem was deciding where I wanted to go. I was desperate, but something was urging me to go to Clockwork's castle. Clockwork wouldn't be there, but still I knew that going there was important.

I flew as fast as I dared without attracting attention to myself. The ghost population increased, but none of the locals gave me a second glance. Finally I came to the huge castle surrounded by floating gears.

The castle was silent and I floated to the main room. All of the portals were black. Dread filled my chest as the last possible way to escape vanished.

A chill went down my spine and I turned invisible. Something very large entered the room and I realized that it was Skulker. Another ghost was with him as well, and this one was also very large. It was the puppy that had haunted me and had destroyed Axon Labs.

"You can't hide from me ghost boy I know that you're here. It's only a matter of time before my dog sniffs you out. Unlike the last time I had encountered the puppy, this time it looked very fierce, and I was pretty positive that it didn't know who I was.

The dog turned and growled at where I was standing, and before I could dodge Skulker had thrown a net over me. I fell to the ground and the ghost dog picked the ends of the net up in its drooling maw. Skulker chuckled darkly as I turned visible out of defeat. "Won't Doom be pleased to see what I caught today."