Written for Day 6 of Ectober Week 2021: Summoning!

The case of Vlad Masters was an odd one. No one had yet identified what caused his mansion to collapse, though there was much speculation. Going through the ruins of the site had yielded few results. There were some interesting apparatuses of interest such as large tanks with ectoplasmic residue, what appeared to be a defunct ghost portal, and a private mainframe. The Amity Park Police Department was in over their heads and there was talk of the FBI getting involved, which no one saw going well. Not with all the ghostly aspects of the case. No, if they wanted this case solved they had to keep it local.

The biggest handicap they'd been given was the disappearance of Vlad Masters' body just half an hour before the autopsy. If Chief Nakamura hadn't watched the footage himself, he would have never believed Phantom was the thief.

"It just doesn't make sense! Why would Phantom steal Masters' body unless he's involved with what happened at the mansion! They did find ectoplasm that was near-identical to his at the scene!"

"Near-identical, not a match," Nakamura corrected. "It'll take more evidence than that to place Phantom at the scene."

"Like what? He's a ghost, he won't be leaving many physical clues at the scene. Ectoplasm is all we have to go off of."

"If we brought the Fentons on, they might know?"

"We've already discussed this. The Fentons are too involved with Masters. They're to stay out of this at all costs, got it?" Nakamura said.

"Got it…"

Officer Fogwell scoffed. "It's not like we can talk to Phantom!"

"Why's that?"

"Well, no one knows where he goes most of the time. With all the ghost activity in town, we'd be looking for a needle in a haystack!"

"Oh, true."

"Yeah, what are we supposed to do? Summon him?"

There was a beat of silence.

Officer Jemerson raised her hand. "Uh, why can't we?"

"What."

"I mean, has anyone ever tried summoning a ghost? It has to be a thing, right?"

"My lord, she's right." Nakamura realized. "What do we know about summoning?"

"Not as much as the Fentons probably."

"Don't go there—!"

"I can ask my contacts in the cults what they know," Officer Anderson offered. "Plus, I'm sure any Casper student could give us a step-by-step Wiki page on summoning."

"Casper students are built differently these days," Fogwell sighed. "Back in my day, none of us knew the difference between a ghost and demon and now one will jump your skin if you even suggest that there's no such thing as the Twilight Zone."

"You got that right! Kids these days…"

Ultimately, the cults refused to cooperate with the police. According to Anderson, his contacts clammed up at the mention of summoning ghosts. They'd mentioned that it was their 'divine duty' to withhold that information from anyone intent on harming their lord and savior Phantom. The suspicious thing was Anderson hadn't even mentioned Phantom. Had the cults succeeded in summoning him before?

"I wouldn't read too much into it, Anderson. The cultists are loons."

"I wouldn't say that," Jemerson said. "Five percent of our citizens belong to a cult."

Fogwell snorted. "Why so eager to support them? You one of them Kool-Aid drinkers, Jemerson?"

"I don't think the cults are good for our town, but they have intel on ghosts beyond most people. Sure, they worship Phantom as some false God, but they're a peaceful minority."

"Peaceful now. What happens when they learn that Phantom's snatching bodies from the police? He can turn them against us at a moment's notice. The whole lot of them are dangerous!"

Jemerson grit her teeth. "They're still our citizens."

"If I may," Anderson intervened. "The cultists are misguided, yes. They're all people of interest, and that's why we—the APPD—keep a special eye on them. But above all, they're residents of Amity Park and we best not forget that."

Fogwell rolled his eyes. "If you say so."

Nakamura cleared his throat. "Has anyone else had any luck with intel?"

Back on topic.

"I hit up the high school and may have a source," Jemerson spoke up. "Paulina Sanchez, sophomore. She's an excommunicated cult member and head of the Danny Phantom fan club. She agreed to speak with me here after cheerleading practice."

"What do you have to do to be excommunicated?" Anderson guffawed.

"She wouldn't say, but I doubt it's anything good."
"Are you sure we don't have anyone better…?"

"She's a high schooler, Fogwell. Don't tell me you're afraid of a girl," Jemerson teased.

"We'll hear her out," Nakamura decided. "At this point, anyone's better than the Fentons."

There were murmurs of agreement all around. No one would forget Maddie Fenton's voice anytime soon, not after her shouting match over the phone with Anderson.

The station had seen better days.

All in all, the conversation with Ms. Sanchez had been short and to the point. The girl was more than eager to help, not even asking which ghost the police intended to summon.

"I've performed the summoning ritual once. It was when I was still a cult member too, so it was a total shitshow."

Jemerson nodded. "What happened?"

"We wanted to summon Phantom for worship. It worked too, but Phantom wasn't pleased that we'd summoned him. He asked us to stop our worship of him and made us swear to never summon him again. Obviously, the cults still exist but to my knowledge they've stayed true to their word—they haven't tried summoning him again."

Well, that explained their reluctance to share information. It was also well known that Phantom didn't approve of his cults. Despite his body snatching, that was at least a redeeming feature.

"How is it done?"

Paulina perked up. "Well, you need at least five participants. Then, you have to follow these steps…"

Her description of the ritual was far too detailed for someone who'd only performed it once, but Jemerson didn't press. She discreetly recorded the conversation and played it back for Nakamura.

"That's definitely doable," he said. "We might even be able to do it this afternoon."

"That's what I thought too. Should we prepare in one of the interrogation rooms?"

Nakamura shook his head. "No. We'll do it in the morgue."

"In the morgue!" she cried. "This is already spooky enough!"

"We have a ghost shield in the morgue, we don't have one in the interrogation room. We have to keep him from leaving somehow."

"Might I remind you, Phantom is able to break through the ghost shield somehow." Jemerson pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is turning into a bad horror movie, Chief."

"We don't know for sure that he can break through," he pointed out. "The footage made it unclear exactly how he circumvented it. Given that, I think it's crucial we utilize the ghost shield as an extra layer of protection."

"I guess… that makes sense. I won't pretend to like it for a minute, though."

They went to work immediately, preparing the room in the way Paulina described. The other officers had objections about the morgue as well, but Nakamura held his ground.

"In all my years, I never thought I'd be drawing a pentagram in blood," Fogwell chuckled. "What would Ma say if she saw me?"

"It's just pig's blood, grow up!"

"Ah, yes," he nodded. "That does sound like my mother."

"You're such a comedian." Anderson rolled his eyes. "Does anyone else find it concerning how fast we're able to put this together, though? I mean pig's blood, an object of importance from our ghost, and thirteen tallow candles?"

"Oh, it's definitely concerning," Jemerson agreed. "We're lucky that Chief kept one of Phantom's busted thermoses as a memento."

Nakamura nodded. "I'm a sentimental man."

Dr. Mohler, the usual coroner, cleared his throat. "So, uh, if we actually succeed, what do you figure we'll ask Phantom?"

"How he got into the morgue, for one; why he stole Masters' corpse; what he plans to do with it; and where it is now," Fogwell listed. "Am I missing anything?"

Nakamura nodded. "That about sums it up."

"Hm. Well, now that the pentagram is finished I'd say we're about ready to go."

"Let's get this over with," Jemerson approached the edge of the pentagram. Each of them was supposed to stand at one of the points of the star, two candles between each person. The thermos was at the center of the pentagram, circled by the last three candles. "What are we waiting for?"

Following her lead, the four men shuffled into place.

Nakamura pulled the script Paulina had written from his pocket. It was just a few words, all in Latin. He was a bit taken aback that she'd been able to write them from memory, but these days such feats surprised him less and less.

Nakamura clutched the lined paper and read aloud.

"Veni ad nos spiritus, quem obla-vimus; tuum phylacterium nostrum est."

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, one by one each of the thirteen candles blew out on their own.

In a swell of wind that furled down from the ceiling, all thirteen candles were set ablaze once again; except now, they were lit with ectoplasmic fire. The green light contoured deep shadows across the faces of each officer, surreal.

Dr. Mohler jumped. "Holy shit!"

"Get a grip, Mohler," Anderson snapped. "It's working."

The plumes of green flame filled the room with smoke. The smoke was densest at the center of the pentagram, and if Nakamura squinted he could vaguely make out a figure flickering in and out of the haze.

Jemerson's mouth was agape. "Unreal."

Unreal indeed.

Moments later, the smoke cleared and Phantom fell to his knees at the center of the pentagram.

"What now?" he moaned.

Nakamura couldn't recall a time he'd been so close to the elusive ghost. Now that he was seeing him again, he really was just a child, wasn't he? Oh, oh that hurt.

"Phantom," Nakamura said. "Our cameras placed you in the morgue Thursday afternoon, stealing the body of Vlad Masters. We'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

Phantom stood from the floor, eyes darting around the morgue before settling on Nakamura.

"You're shitting me right now," he said. "You're the police?"

He nodded. "I'm Nakamura, APPD."

Phantom opened his mouth and then shut it again.

"Oh, fuck me. You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid I am serious. You were caught stealing a body from the morgue and we need to know why."

Phantom shook his head. "I don't have time for this. Like, for real. I can't do this right now."

"I'm sure that whatever it is can wait."

"No," the ghost growled, "it can't."

Phantom raised a hand, aiming an ectoblast toward the vacant space between Anderson and Jemerson. The shot hit its mark before ricocheting off of the ghost shield and slamming squarely into Phantom's chest. He collapsed to the floor in a heap of limbs.

"... shoulda seen that coming."

"Will you talk with us, now?" Nakamura's voice was even, level.

Phantom glared up at him from the floor. He looked tired.

"You're not really giving me a choice."

"We didn't have much of a choice either," Fogwell interjected. "It's not like we could get you here any other way!"
He scoffed. "You didn't think to ask first? I mean, do you have any idea how awful it is to be summoned? To be going about your business and all of a sudden, you're forced into this foreign place, no idea what's happening, and at the total mercy of your summoners?" Phantom ran a gloved hand through his hair. "It can happen anytime and you have no control over it! It sucks and I hate it. I shouldn't have to deal with this bullshit!"

Nakamura hadn't thought about it that way. How it must feel for a ghost to be called upon against their will. Nevertheless, it was too late now.

"I'm sorry that it had to be this way, but we had no other idea how to ask you. Now that you're here, you might as well tell us what happened last Thursday and what you know about the death of Vlad Masters."

Phantom's legs melted into a spectral tail and he casually drifted upwards from the floor. "Why should I? Vlad means nothing to me, and it's not like you can keep me here forever."

There was something in his voice. He was a good actor, Nakamura would hand him that, but Nakamura had spent years learning to read body language. He knew where to listen for those faint changes of intonation that could make or break a case. As much as Phantom tried to play off his involvement, he couldn't hide the sliver of vulnerability—remorse?—in his voice.

"We have a ghost shield."

The ghost raised a brow. "Your point is...?"

"Phantom," Jermerson addressed. He swiveled to meet her. "On several occasions, you've claimed to be a good ghost. If that's any bit true, you'll cooperate with us on this. Despite what bad blood you have with Mr. Masters, we're asking you to put it aside so we can return his body to his family."
Phantom blinked. "Vlad doesn't have a family."

"Well, yes. But his friends have arranged a burial for him."

He shook his head. "Not anymore. It's a memorial service now. The Fentons and I have an understanding now."

That was news to just about everyone.

"Do you, now?"

Nakamura hadn't meant to sound so skeptical, but the response it elicited from Phantom paid off. Phantom's aura flared green.

"My business with the Fentons is between them and me. Not the police, not the government, not anyone. Got it?"

"I mean, it just seems hard to believe," Anderson pointed out. "Just earlier this week, the Fentons hated you."

"I never said they don't hate me, I just said we have an understanding!"

"An understanding where they're A-OK with you stealing the body of their close friend?"

"That's less words than I would use, but yes. That sums it up." Phantom crossed his arms. "Does that mean I can go now?"

"No. Like you said, whatever understanding you have between the Fentons is between you and them. We want to know why you did it and where you've taken his body. How are you involved in the collapse of the Masters Mansion and what role did you play in Mr. Masters' death?"

"What!" Phantom laughed. "I had nothing to do with that bastard's death! His death is his fault and his only!"

"And how do you know that? Because you were there?"

"No! I was told by—by no one! I just know."

"You 'just know.'"

"I'm a ghost. Are you really gonna argue with me on this?"

Nakamura narrowed his eyes. "You might be a ghost, but that doesn't mean you're incapable of leaving evidence. There were some ectoplasmic samples found at the scene of the incident that were similar to yours, you know?"

"Oh, I'm very aware of Vlad's illegal experiments on me. That doesn't mean I was there!"

Nakamura's blood chilled.

"Vlad Masters experimented on you?"

Phantom froze. "No?"

"Did he experiment on you or not?"

After a moment or so, Phantom relented.

"I mean, sort of? It was just a thing that happened a few times."

Well then.

"Define 'a few times," Nakamura prompted. "Once, twice?"

Phantom fidgeted, phasing his fingers through each other. "More…"

"More than five times? Ten?"

"Somewhere around that, maybe? It all gets jumbled."

How had they not known about this before? Phantom was a high-profile ghost, and more than often people noticed when ghost hunters captured him. Off the top of his head, the Red Huntress had captured him a few times and the Fentons had almost succeeded once or twice. The GIW weren't exactly discreet in their attempts either. So how had Vlad Masters managed to capture Phantom so many times with no one noticing? Why hadn't Phantom ever spoken about it?

… but who would he tell?

Who would believe a ghost?

"And I mean, everything kinda blends together after a while but I know for sure he had samples of my ectoplasm." Phantom ran his hands up his arms. "You tend not to forget when a deranged man captures you and stabs a syringe in your arm."

Anderson exhaled. "What the fuck."

"Eh, it is what it is." Phantom frowned. "You still don't think I like, murdered him or anything. Right? I swear, I'm not vengeful towards him. I sure as hell didn't like him, but that doesn't mean I wanted him dead."

"But you did want his corpse. For some reason," Nakamura pointed out.

He cringed. "It's complicated."

"Well give it a shot, because we'll listen."

"I really can't."

"If you can't tell us why you wanted Vlad's corpse, then you realize that leaves us to assume the worst?" Fogwell sneered. "I mean, what would the public say if they knew that their hero Phantom was snatching bodies for his own sick purposes?"

Nakamura thought that insinuation was going a bit too far, but the comment seemed to do the trick.

"What!" Phantom cried. "No! It's not like that! I—I'd never—"

"Then what is it like, then? What reason could you have for stealing the body of a man who experimented on you other than some sort of retribution fantasy?"

"I buried it, okay! That's all I did! I buried it where no one will ever find him again!"

"Why?"

"Because he asked me to!"

"Who did?"

"Vlad! Vlad did!"

Phantom clamped a hand over his mouth, panicked. Even if Nakamura hadn't believed him, his eyes betrayed the truth.

"... fuck. I didn't mean to—"

"How?" Nakamura couldn't piece it together. "How did Masters know he would die?"

Phantom now looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"He asked you to bury him before he died, right?"

"Uh…"

Jemerson gasped. "Masters is a ghost!"

Oh.

Of course.

Despite dealing with ghosts almost every day, Nakamura often forgot that they were once members of the living. That anyone, including eccentric millionaires, could become restless spirits. That one day he himself might become a ghost, whether he wanted to or not.

"Yeah," Phantom admitted. "Yeah, he was. He didn't want anyone to know why he'd died. I sure as hell didn't owe him anything, but he wouldn't leave me alone. So, to get him off my back I caved and did him a small favor. Didn't expect it'd cause this much trouble."

Something about that didn't line up. Don't get him wrong! Nakamura believed Phantom, but it still felt like there was something he was leaving out of the story. It seemed a bit too good to be true that Phantom did all that only to get Masters 'off his back.' Maybe Masters had some kind of blackmail over Phantom? That wasn't a reassuring thought.

"Where's Masters now?"

Phantom sighed. "Gone."

"Gone?"

"Passed on to whatever's next, I guess. I don't really care enough to speculate what that is."

"How'd that happen?"

Phantom shrugged. "He had nothing keeping him here anymore, I guess. I've only seen it happen a few times, but usually if someone passes on it happens not long after death. Those of us who stay in this world longer are less and less likely to cross over." He stared down at his hands. "I'm not crazy about that."

Nakamura didn't think before he spoke his next words. "How long ago did you die?"

Phantom's aura flared, and the temperature of the morgue plummeted. Nakamura felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "That's a personal question."

Nakamura swallowed but he still felt like something was stuck in the back of his throat.

"Oh, sorry."

Phantom stared at him for a long moment before he shifted focus, tension in the room subsiding. "You didn't know. It's—I can't help but get defensive sometimes."

Of course. No ghost wanted to be reminded of their death. What had Nakamura been thinking?

They'd gotten off track. He needed to remember why they were here, what they'd planned to ask Phantom.

"I understand," Nakamura assured. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, why defend Masters' if his spirit has passed on? Understanding what led to his death would save us a lot of trouble. What did he tell you happened that night?"

"Bold of you to assume Vlad tells me shit." He rolled his eyes. "I didn't hear it through him, but what I do know is that Vlad's death should be left alone. If word got out about the sort of things he was doing… well, that might inspire others to replicate it. Ecto-science isn't the most ethical field if you weren't aware."

"The details of his death can be made confidential."

Phantom snorted. "Confidential? On what grounds? You realize that any ghost can phase through a locked safe? That any digital file can be hacked? If the information is recorded, it's only a matter of time before it reaches the wrong hands—trust me." Phantom stretched in the air, now-corporeal feet rigid and arms raised above his head. "Let Vlad's case go cold."

What could Masters' have been doing that night to make Phantom so unremitting? What could be so horrible?

"Why should we trust you?" Fogwell asked. "How do we know you're not yanking our chain? That you're not lying to cover up that you're the real killer?"

Phantom let his gaze settle on the older officer before shooting the man a chilling smile.

"Well, officer," in a 'pop' his feet slipped back into a spectral tail, which lashed side-to-side, "if that were true, that means you just summoned a murderous ghost. I'd say it's a good thing that I tell the truth, otherwise you might find yourself where Vlad is now."

Fogwell paled. "Is that a threat?"

Immediately, Phantom's smile slipped from his face.

"Uh, no. It was just a joke. I—I guess it wasn't a funny one." He lowered his head. "Sorry."

Nakamura crossed his arms. "I think at this point, Phantom's made it clear that he isn't behind what happened that night, Fogwell."

"So what? We do what he tells us to and let the case go cold? In case you've forgotten, we are the police. We shouldn't give up because a suspect tells us to."

Maybe under normal circumstances, that was true. But Nakamura had a gut feeling that Phantom spoke the truth. There was something about the kid's eyes that convinced him, those young and troubled eyes haunted by unspeakable horrors.

If Phantom wanted them to leave Vlad Masters' case alone, so be it. Nakamura would make it happen.

"In case you've forgotten, officer," he addressed Fogwell, "I am your Chief. Phantom has made it clear that we're to leave Masters alone, and that is what we will do." He made a point to make eye contact with each of the others. "Everyone understand?"

Everyone chimed in agreement. Good. That was settled.

"Aight, am I good to go?" Phantom asked. "'Cause uh, you gotta turn off your ghost shield for me to leave."

"Uh, how do we do that?"

Phantom blinked. "You don't know?"

"We don't have the controls for the ghost shield? The Fentons just kinda installed it without telling us."

Phantom sagged in the air. "Are you fucking kidding me."

"No?"

"Ugh, they always do this! First it's 'oh let's put a power button in our ghost portal' and 'let's install weapons in our house' and then it escalates to 'let's install stuff for other people and not even tell them.' Maybe there's a reason we're banned from fourteen local businesses and all Wal-Marts in Illinois but they just keep pulling this shit like it's no big deal."

… what?

"Guess I gotta do this the hard way. Ugh. I am so not good at doing this incognito."

Phantom touched down to the floor before vanishing. Nakamura would have thought he'd disappeared if it hadn't been for the tell-tale chill tipping him off to Phantom's invisibility. There was a flash of light, almost like a camera flash, but Nakamura couldn't make out where it had come from. Moments later, there was a second flash and Phantom reappeared outside of the ghost shield, panting.

"Don't tell… the Fentons… I can do that…"

Phantom leapt into the air once again and flew through the ceiling. Gone.

It occurred to him too late that they never had asked how he'd broken through the ghost shield. Even having witnessed it, Nakamura still couldn't piece it together.

Just another one of Phantom's idiosyncrasies, he supposed.

"What just happened?" Jemerson was the first to break the silence.

"Beats me," Anderson admitted. "Between himself and Vlad Masters, Phantom seems to have an arsenal of secrets.

"That's for sure," Nakamura said. "Whether you like it or not, it's best for everyone that we leave that alone."

If Nakamura had taken anything from this, it was that Phantom was a child afraid of moving on. He deserved that at least.