Chapter 17:

Dani POV-

I quickly dismissed myself from the press conference, sighing as I ran into the bathroom. I transformed in a stall after I made sure no one was in the bathroom, phasing out of the building. Very few sun rays still peeked over the ocean at the horizon, allowing me to see the lights of the city in the fading twilight sun. The passing of another day made Vlad's "visit" seem all the more inevitable.

My ghost sense went off again, this time it was stronger, so that meant that the ghost was closer. I tensed, slowly turning circles so that I could better scan the area. Finally from up above me I heard a voice, and I groaned.

"BEWARE! I am the Box Ghost, I have power over all containers cardboard. You cannot—"

"Oh shut up!" I exclaimed in exasperation, sucking him in the thermos and cutting off his annoying endless rant. "I can't believe I left the press conference for that!" I quickly capped the thermos and smirked at it in my hand.

"It must be getting very crowded in there," I said mostly to myself, but partially to the ghosts inside (that is, if they can hear me), considering that I've already stuck three ghosts in there.

'Hmm…maybe Danny has a portable thermos dump thing,' I mused, and made a mental note to ask him if I got another letter from him. The reflection of the sun had now completely vanished, and all that was left of the day was the slightly bluer sky above the ocean. I flew back into the bathroom, checked my hair in the mirror, and went back out into the press conference.

It appeared that most of the people had already left, whether it was because they were bored or because they already had their story, I didn't know. Tony grinned at me from the podium as I joined him. We answered the rest of the questions and then got into the limo and went home.

The ride home was quiet, not awkward but quiet. I stared out of the tinted windows at the passing city, happy to be going home where I could just put on my pajamas and relax.

And I did. Once we pulled up to the front of the house, I got out with Tony and Pepper and went down the hall to my room where I quickly changed out of my dress and into a t-shirt and some sweatpants, propping myself up at my desk. I was supposed to be doing my homework, but that could be done tomorrow, right now, all I was doing was doodling on my notes. I had created a geometric design with a black pen an I was so wrapped up in it, I barely heard Tony's footsteps brush against the floor as he came towards my room.

He came in and leaned against the doorframe like he had the first day that I was here, arms crossed, and smirking at me.

"Hey Dani," he grinned.

"Hey Tony," I replied, with a smile as he came in and sat in my hammock chair.

"So…I had something that I wanted to ask you," he told me, dropping the lighthearted façade just enough for me to take notice of the change. I squinted at him a little.

"Yeah...?" I asked, attempting to hide the edge of suspicion in my voice, Tony had gotten very close before, it was only a matter of time before he asked the right questions and figured it out.

"Why did you run off like that in the middle of the press conference?" he asked. I was taken a little aback by the pure simplicity of the question.

'Really? That's all he want to know? After all of those hard question a few days ago, that's the question he asks?' I thought to myself.

"I went to the bathroom," I told him, the lie coming easily. I was surprised when he looked back at me like he had expected…and almost…disappointed in the fact that I had lied to him.

"You see…" he started.

'Oh here it comes,' I braced myself.

"I would be inclined to believe that, aside from the fact, that you don't have the bladder of a five year old boy, and I saw some kind of blue mist come out of your mouth right before you left," he told me, a look on his face that challenged me to lie again.

At this point, I'm sure my fact had gone white as a…well, ghost, and I would have bet that my eyes were wide as I mentally cursed myself for being so careless. Tony, on the other hand, seemed amused by my expression.

He stood up.

"Come with me, I have something to show you," he told me. I stood up numbly and followed him out of the room. Most of the house was dark, aside from a single light in the kitchen, which implied that Pepper had already left for the night.

Suddenly, we turned down the hallway that I had previously been prohibited from. I hesitated a little at the entrance, not sure if he wanted me to keep going or not. Tony turned back around and motioned for me to follow. The hallway was dark too, adding to the ominous feeling that clung to the atmosphere around us. Finally we reached the end of the hallway, which had only a single glass door and keypad on the left hand side. Tony punched in a code and the door unlocked allowing us inside. Behind the frosted glass of the door, was a staircase that went down. Together we took the dark stairs down to the bottom. As we approached the lab, I began to see more light. Finally at the bottom, we were met with another door, this time clear, and Tony punched in another code, allowing us access. Only a couple of the overhead lights were on, so Tony flipped a switch, illuminating the whole room.

I saw nothing different from the last time I had floated unseen within the cement wall, but I didn't mention that to Tony, considering he didn't know I had ever been in the lab, or, maybe he did.

"Danielle," he finally spoke, moving towards a large computer screen, "There is something you should know."

Haha, somewhat of a cliffhanger there. How will she react? How will he react. What changed Tony's mind? I will update soon to let you know the answer, oh, and sorry for not being around for a while, it was a combination of schoolwork and writer's block, not to mention now I think I'm sick. (Which really sucks with Halloween being tomorrow). Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this, please review if you did.