Rise of the Guardians: Phantom Nightmares

Chapter 4: Snow White Hair and Glowing Blue Eyes?

Halloween was gone. One of the few holidays Danny enjoyed since his parents weren't allowed anywhere in Amity Park because Jack mistook a five year old in a bedsheet as a ghost. He hadn't even really gotten to enjoy it because all the actual ghosts coming through the Fenton portal or through natural portals that occasionally popped up.

Thanksgiving came and went. Now it was December which meant it was almost, Danny inwardly groaned, Christmas. Another year of his parents completely ignoring Jazz and him for their argument over whether or not Santa Clause was real. He let out another sigh as he met up with Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger.

Somewhere several states over Jack Frost was bringing snow days and winter fun. He landed on a random house to rest when golden sand slowly floated by. The tell tale sign that the Sandman was nearby. Jack looked around until he saw his golden friend.

Sandy seemed troubled. His job was tiring in more ways than one. On more than one occasion the dream warrior had wished he had helpers similar to the ones Toothania had. The other guardians were mostly believed in by children and a couple adults, but everyone needed help sleeping, children just needed it more.

Sandy yawned sleepily. There was no specific schedule for when he was awake or asleep when dispersing his dream sand. He did wonder how he was awake in Amity Park when encountering that dream ghost, usually he was asleep when in that town. There was a small woosh to Sandy's left and when he turned he saw Jack Frost almost crash land onto the roof.

Jack turned to see the other guardian silently laughing at him. "It's not that funny." He paused. "Did I come at a bad time Sandy? You seem tired."

The golden man shook his head while suppressing a yawn. Then a lightbulb formed above his head. A series of images formed and Jack tried to keep up with them.

"Hold on Sandy, I can't understand you when you're going that fast." The other guardian sighed before showing the images again. "So you want me to keep an eye on a town for you?" The Sandman nodded. "Okay so what's the name of the town."

Vlad knew something was going on in Amity Park. He also knew Daniel was acting paranoid lately. It was time for him to start investigating.

Being the mayor of Amity Park really had its perks sometimes. If he weren't then having access to the town's security feed would be considered creepy. Vlad stretched while letting out a yawn. Looking at the time he saw that it was almost midnight. "Time really got away from me. Maddie-kins please start sorting through the rest of these videos and see if anything unusual shows up. Also try to see what's had Daniel so paranoid lately. It can't be the CAT's. Those have been over for months."

A hologram Maddie Fenton appeared and gave Vlad a kiss on the cheek. "You've got it, Dear-heart."

Morning came sooner than expected. Vlad really wasn't a morning person, but he had work to do. "The joys of adulthood." He thought bitterly.

The older halfa quickly got dressed for the day and decided to check the camera footage that was compiled before he went to the mayor's office.

Phasing into his 'secret' laboratory, Vlad was immediately greeted by hologram Maddie. "Welcome back Vladdy-poo. I compromised the videos from the past three months into three separate folders: The Phantom File, Casper High, and Ghost Battles. Is there anything else you would like me to do, darling?"

"That will be all for now Maddie." He turned to leave before stopping. "On second thought. Send a message to the mayor's office that I'm taking a personal day. I'd rather go through these videos review some of the laws the citizens and Jack want to be passed.

"You've got it!" Hologram Maddie blew a kiss before disappearing.

The older halfa decided to start with Phantom File. Daniel might be the center to all the teens at Casper High acting so strange. If only he could've made it to that meeting, oh well.

Hours went by as Vlad diligently watched video after video, clip after clip until he noticed something. During Daniel's patrols, something had been following him. Going back to a couple other videos showed the same thing. zooming in as much as possible on what at first appeared to be just a shadow. The regular camera filter couldn't decipher anything other than a shadow, but replaying the footage with a ghostly lens showed a small bat. It didn't have an unearthly glow so it wasn't a ghost, but it definitely was a spirit of some kind.

Rewatching the videos again Vlad noticed the bat only showed up at night for a certain amount of time before flying away only to return moments later and continue Daniel and his friends. He did note that only Daniel seemed to be able to see the small creature.

The small spirit hadn't shown up in any of the more recent video feeds so he decided to some research on spirits. "This should be interesting. I wonder who's been spying on my Little Badger."