Oh wow I'm so sorry everyone! It's been so long since I updated! I've been really busy with school and Christmas coming up. On the bright side I'm on break now so I should have a little more time to write. Here's Chapter 15!

Chapter 15 (Danny's POV)

The zone blurred by me in a green and purple haze. If there was a way to do so in the ghost zone, I know I would've broken the sound barrier by now. Even going at top speed, I was still a few minutes away from the ghost prison. It's located in sector four, away from most of the residents that live here. Though it's an essential part of law and order in the ghost zone, Wally and I agreed it should stay separate from everyone, to not show favoritism to any particular people.

"Wally!" My voice is louder than I intended it to be when I make it to his office. I give him a sheepish grin as an apology before remembering what I was here for. "What's going on? Is Frostbite okay?"

"First off, you need to calm down. I can't tell you anything when you're worked up like this." I know he is right, even if I don't want to admit it. Taking a few deep breaths I sit down in the chair set out for me.

"Okay, I'm calm. What's going on? Did you find anything out?" He looks at me for a second more to make sure I'm being honest before he heaves a heavy sigh and sits back behind his desk.

"Well, I found some stuff out, but none of it really makes any sense…" He's tense, which only serves to make me tense, but I force myself to relax before speaking.

"Just tell me what you know and I'll see if I can make anything of it?" I easily fall into the role of King at times like these. Wally gives a soft, proud smile in my direction before narrowing his eyes.

"The troops I sent to patrol the Far Frozen just got back yesterday. We went through the process of debriefing despite… well… not everyone made it back." My eyes grew wide at that. The people on patrol at Far Frozen were handpicked to deal with both climate and danger. For not all of them to come back… What the hell happened out there…?

"Two men were missing from the patrol, and three were injured. Only one with critical wounds, but we were able to patch him up and he's in stable condition. For a total of ten people, only five came back mostly unharmed. During the debrief we found out from my men that they were meant to bring back a message… for you. They won't tell us what the message is, they said if they tell anyone other than you, they'll be killed. Five people came back unscathed. There are five parts to the message. Each person only knows one part. That's the most we could get out of them. They didn't see the face of their attacker. On top of that they have no idea what kind of powers they have. I debriefed the injured soldiers myself, what I got from them is probably the most valuable information. The attacker somehow teleported the group of them to separate rooms. The other men confirmed this. The rooms were dark, and completely void of sound. There was no way to tell time in the rooms, but Joeseph, one of the injured, said by the time they escaped and regrouped they had missed almost a full month."

"This started a month ago? Why wasn't I informed sooner that you lost contact with the patrol?" I know I sounded angry, but to Wally's credit he knew it wasn't intentional.

"At first, we didn't even know we lost contact. They were still reporting as scheduled up until eight days ago. When we lost contact we assumed they were in the dead zone, there's a semi large area right by Far Frozen that's been deemed safe despite its inability to transmit radio. We only started getting worried five days ago, because it would've taken only two days to get out of the dead zone depending on where they were. Our first response was to call you, but someone said they picked up the troop's location heading back, so we thought the radio might've broken and they were headed back to get a new one. It wasn't until they got here that we learned what actually happened I'm afraid." I nodded in understanding, closing my eyes for a minute to think. All of what he said is legitimate, according to procedures he did exactly as he should've. Still…

"Next time something like this happens, if we lose contact with anyone, I want to be notified as soon as possible. It might not make a difference, but I still want to know. Clearly something is going on. The other day at school my ghost sense went off-"

"But your ghost sense has been inactive for two years, why did it go off now?"

"It's basically an early warning system. It tells me when there is an enemy nearby. For ghosts whose signature I'm used to or have been around before, it rarely goes off. I still am aware of their presence, but my ghost sense doesn't kick in. Which means…"

"Whoever it sensed is someone new. Did you see them?"

"Sadly no. I couldn't find them anywhere, I looked all over town. Admittedly my ghost sense has a radius bigger than the town, but it didn't occur to me to check. Even if I did look, I have a feeling I wouldn't have found anything."

"Why is that?"

"After my ghost sense went off, their presence immediately vanished. It was like they were able to completely hide and conceal their ecto-signature."

"Isn't that impossible…?"

"Usually. It shouldn't be possible to hide it from me, though some ghosts do have ways to cancel out their signature. Like technus, he has a device that can cancel out the energy of his signature. I can still sense it though because I'm linked to all ghostly beings. Which means whoever this is, they aren't under my rule." I stare at a spot on the wall in the corner of the large office. Speculation often leads to many things, rarely are they good. Walker is sitting across from me, still stunned silent over the revelation. Suddenly, he whips his head back to look at me, causing me to do the same.

"What is it?"

"Well, you're not going to like this, but there are only a few people who the ghost kings rule doesn't reside over…" My eyes widen at the implications of his words, my mind racing with the dangerous, and horrifying possibilities. People who don't bow down to the ghost kings rule. People who I wouldn't have a connection to. People who could completely diminish their ecto-signature, to the point where it doesn't even exist. There are three groups like this. The ghost of time, people out of time, and people who aren't naturally ghosts. Three groups, three options. Option number one, Clockwork. My friend and mentor, my father figure. I know it's not him, as he was chosen for his neutrality in ghostly and human events, and I would have recognized his signature for how often I'm around him. People who aren't naturally ghosts. That would have to be Freakshow. He was turned into a ghost, but he doesn't belong in either world truly. He's completely free of ghostly bindings, however, fairly weak because of that.

Three people. Clockwork… freakshow…

...or myself...

OOO the plot thickens! ...And yet we're still nowhere near the good parts huh? Buckle up folks cause this story is about to come together. Maybe we'll even get to the major plot point soon! I'll see you all next time!