Chapter 3

When Danny called Vlad, the butler answered.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fenton. Mr. Masters is unfortunately away on business. Would you like to leave a message?"

Danny shrugged. "Um...no, it's okay. I'll try his cell."

He called Vlad's cell, but there was no answer. When it got to voicemail, Danny said, "Hey Uncle Vlad. It's me, Danny. I know you are busy, but I just wanted to see if you were free to talk some time soon. I'm kind of going through something...please call me back as soon as you can. Thanks, bye."

Danny hung up and breathed in sharply. He really needed someone to he could trust right now. What was happening to him was...incredible. But also incredibly terrifying. It was unthinkable. Was he dead? He certainly didn't feel dead. He almost felt more alive. More energized, more...powerful.

Danny sighed, reluctant to think anymore about the implications of what had happened to him in the portal.

His gaze shifted to the floor where he had stripped off the hazmat suit after the accident. He had to get rid of any evidence that he had gone into the portal and activated it. As far as he knew, no one suspected anything. He had to put the hazmat suit back in the laboratory closet.

He walked down to the lab quietly and breathed a sigh of relief when no one was down there. As he was placing the suit in the closet, he gasped as cold air escaped his mouth. Wait, this has happened before, Danny thought. At the Nasty Burger...right before those two ghosts showed up! Was it some kind of ghost sense? Danny didn't have much time to react. He slipped under the nearest lab table and tightened his body in an attempt to become invisible, but it didn't work...not that he really expected it would.

He heard someone else in the lab rifling through things. He slowly peeked from under the table and saw a man from the torso down, looking through various FentonWorks devices, muttering under his breath. "Useless, useless, hmm maybe." He grabbed the last device - a Fenton Thermos - and put it into a navy blue duffle bag with a V insignia at his feet.

Danny gulped. Who is this guy? Then something occurred to him. This man wasn't a man at all. He was glowing, just like Danny when he was in ghost form.

He was wearing a lavish white cape with a red interior and the rest of his outfit was white with black accents.

Danny knew he should do something, but fear was holding him back. There was something about this ghost that was noticeably darker than those random ghosts he had battled at The Nasty Burger. And besides, it wasn't like this ghost was trying to attack anyone - he was just stealing.

Of course, that didn't stop Danny from accidentally activating his ghost side, and from that change, a bright flash of light enveloped the room as if from a camera with flash on.

The ghost gasped and stopped what he was doing. He looked around the room in confusion. He saw the flash of light, and he had sensed the ghost...but there was no one there that he could see. He picked up his bag, unwilling to risk another minute there and flew into the portal.

It took Danny a couple minutes to calm down. His heart had been racing so intensely, he thought he might pass out. He managed to change back into himself by remembering the warmth of being a human. "I can't believe that actually worked!"

An hour later, Vlad called Danny back. "Uncle Vlad! Thank God. There's something I really need to talk to you about."

"Yes I got your message! Why don't you come for dinner at 6? We are having roasted duck tonight."

"Um, yeah, that would be really nice. Thanks!"

Danny biked to Vlad's mansion.

Vlad opened the door. "Daniel! So good to see you."

Danny smiled. "You too, Uncle Vlad." His body felt tense, but he knew that once he told Vlad what was happening, a weight would be lifted off his shoulders. "Can I use the bathroom real quick?"

"Not a problem. You know the way."

Danny nodded, making his way down the hall. He passed Vlad's room on the way down and was surprised to see that the door was cracked open. Vlad was incredibly private so he rarely left any door open. Danny couldn't help but peer in out of curiosity of what Vlad's room could possibly look like.

His eyes widened. It was extravagant. He should've expected as much but wow. And it was much bigger than he thought it would be. Probably three times bigger than his own. The bed was king-sized with an amazing, intricate red duvet with golden accents. He had a huge set of bay windows with curtains that matched the duvet perfectly. Then something on the floor next to Vlad's bed caught Danny's eye. Something he was not expecting: the navy blue bag with the V logo on the side. The one that the ghost from earlier had put his parents' Fenton Thermos into...

"Wha-?" Danny looked behind him to make sure no one was looking and slipped into Vlad's room to take a closer look.

He knelt down and unzipped the bag slowly, holding his breath. He patted his hand through the bag, but nothing was there. "See?" He told himself. "It's not the same bag." He crossed his arms, satisfied and relieved. Then a silver glint under the bed captured his attention. He got down on the floor and grabbed the object. He pulled it out, and his heart sank. "Oh my God."

It was the thermos from his parents' lab. Its purpose - he had no clue. All he knew was that Vlad had the same thermos that a ghost had stolen from his home only a few hours before.

He felt his heart begin to race. It wouldn't be long before Vlad would come down the hall wondering what was taking so long.

Danny rubbed his neck. Should he ask Vlad about it? Should he take the thermos back? Should he just walk away and pretend he hadn't seen what he just saw?

He closed his eyes and breathed in and out slowly to help calm himself down. He couldn't risk another "ghost episode."

He decided to just pretend nothing happened. Keep the thermos there and leave it at that. It couldn't be that important, right?