Chapter Fourteen

"Sam, no!"

Fear is what clouded Danny's mind as he bolted forward. His stomach was churning and his heart was hammering wildly in his chest as the vehicle accelerated down the sidewalk. He had to get to Sam before the car did, but because it was closer to her than he was, there was no way he was going to reach her in time, even if he went ghost.

Just before the vehicle struck her, however, somebody knocked her out of its path. As they both tumbled to the ground, the car swerved back onto the road and narrowly avoided Danny, who probably would've gotten hit if it kept moving straight down the sidewalk.

"Quick! Somebody get the plate number!" a random bystander shouted as she followed after the vehicle, which was now continuing down the street and away from the scene. Several people sprinted after the car as instructed, but Danny and Tucker both ignored them and raced over to where Sam was.

She was sitting upright on the ground and burying her face in her hand, groaning loudly. The guy who pushed her out of harm's way was now on the phone, apparently calling the police. Danny and Tucker squeezed their way through the large crowd of people to get to the center, and after they did, they fell to their knees beside her.

"Sam? Look at me." Danny kept his voice calm and soft, as though he were talking to a small child instead of his girlfriend. She obeyed and raised her head, but when he caught sight of her face, his eyes widened. "Shit."

Blood was leaking from her nose and dripping down to her lips. Aside from that, she didn't appear injured anywhere else. A young woman was next to her, instructing her to pinch her nose shut and lean her head forward. She did as she was told while everyone else surrounding her started murmuring to each other.

"Oh my god. Did the car actually hit you?" Tucker slammed his eyelids shut as soon as he saw her bleeding. Blood reminded him of hospitals, and that wasn't an image he was trying to put into his own head.

"No. That guy accidentally elbowed my nose when he fell on top of me," she answered. Danny frowned and rubbed her knee in a circular motion, eyeing her warily as her nose kept bleeding. He wanted so badly to just catch up with the driver of that vehicle and give them a piece of his mind, but he or she was long gone now.

"Did anybody get a good look at the driver?" He was hoping someone could at least describe the person behind the wheel to compensate for the absence of the vehicle's license plate number, but unfortunately, everybody shook their heads.

"The windows looked like they were tinted, so it was hard to catch anything," Tucker answered. "The car was going so fast that if anybody did write down anything from the plates, they most likely didn't catch all of what was there."

Danny fell silent for the next several minutes until he heard sirens blaring in the distance, which gradually drew closer as the seconds rolled by. Before he knew it, an ambulance truck pulled up, followed by two police cars. He and about three other people helped Sam up and led her over to the ambulance while some of the remaining bystanders waited to speak with an officer.

After he practically delivered her to the awaiting paramedics, he started to walk back over to Tucker, who was chewing his lower lip and narrowing his eyes. "Whoever was driving that car had Sam locked in as a target. They were driving out of control until she got knocked out of their path, and that's when they started driving normally. This was intentional."

Danny's brows rose and he hummed once. There was only one person that came to mind when he thought of who would do something like that, but he didn't want to believe the person was that sick in the head to pull something like that.

"You don't think it could've been Alyssa, do you?" He looked to the street, where Sam's parents were rolling up their car behind the ambulance. As soon as they parked there, they both flew out of the vehicle and dashed over to Sam. He was certain they were going to bombard the poor paramedics with questions about the incident that they barely knew the answer to yet.

"I actually don't think Alyssa did this." Tucker jammed his hands into his pockets and focused his attention onto the street. "Sure, this is just as obvious as breaking into, or walking into, your house and trashing your room, but I don't think she did this herself. She was probably only involved in it because she mentioned once that nobody in her family owned a car."

"So, what, she hired someone else to do this?"

"I don't know. Maybe, but we probably shouldn't accuse her without evidence because this is a pretty strong accusation."

Danny's gaze shifted away from Sam's parents and onto Tucker. "Dude, my hands are still shaking. I could've lost her just like that. If only I was closer to her, then—"

Tucker propped his hand up on the boy's shoulders and shook his head. "I already know you're about to blame yourself, man. Stop. That's not healthy. The car was way too close to her for you to even be able to go ghost and fly there fast enough. If anything, this is her parents fault."

Danny knew he was only kidding and was just trying to make him laugh, but he wasn't in the mood to do so. The image of the vehicle flying straight towards Sam kept replaying in his head. He could only imagine what would've happened if that bystander didn't pull her out of the way in time.

Eventually, he left for his house with Tucker after realizing that her parents weren't going to let them near her at that moment. He was definitely going to visit her later; that is, if her parents and grandmother weren't surrounding her along with a dozen nurses her mother probably hired.

He sat in the kitchen with Tucker, his right leg bouncing up and down and his forefinger rapidly tapping the surface of the table. Maddie was in the kitchen with them as well, busily fixing dinner and washing dishes. She didn't seem to notice that her son was on edge, but Tucker did.

He hunched towards Danny and lowered his voice to a whisper. "If you really think Alissa did this, now might be a good time to talk to your mom about that security system." He leaned away as Danny's eyes lit up and he straightened his posture.

"Hey, mom, can I talk to you about something?" He wasn't planning on explaining Alissa to his mother quite yet, but much like his Phantom secret, time would reveal the truth. "It's nothing that serious," he added when Maddie raised an eyebrow and practically dropped one of the dishes into the sink.

"Oh, then go ahead, dear." She turned back to the sink and retrieved the dish before continuing to drag the sponge over it. She was waiting for him to say something, but when he didn't, she asked, "Everything okay, Danny?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering," he paused and clasped his hands together, glancing over at Tucker for a second, "if we could get a security system installed here. You know, a real one that detects forced human entry instead of forced ghost entry."

"Amity Park is already a danger zone because of all the evil ghosts lurking around, but your house is already protected from them, so why not secure yourselves even more from any evil people lurking around?" Tucker smiled confidently and lifted his head a bit. "After that whole Disasteroid incident, most people aren't afraid of ghosts anymore, so it's only a matter of time before the crime rates by humans start skyrocketing."

Danny's mouth almost fell open in surprise when Maddie stopped washing dishes and started to hum, seriously considering Tucker's pitch. He persuaded her so casually, which was something he himself was never able to do.

"That makes sense." She inserted some of the dishes into the dishwasher, still humming thoughtfully. "Well, I don't see why not. That might actually be a good idea. We've spent so much time ghost-proofing this house that we didn't even think about protecting it against burglars."

Tucker nodded slightly and tapped his fingertips together. "Because, Mrs. Fenton, only in Amity Park are ghosts more common than burglars, but that can change at anytime." He glanced over at Danny and smirked. "Why not be prepared for it?"

"You're absolutely right." Maddie paused in placing the dishes into the dishwasher and twisted around, quirking an eyebrow and crossing her arms. "What suddenly spurred this idea on, though? Did something happen?"

"Yeah." Danny was quick to swoop in because he didn't know what crazy thing Tucker was going to come up with. He brought his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it sheepishly. "I, uh, may have lost my spare key outside somewhere and I don't know who has it. I don't think the fact that it says 'Fentonworks' on it is going to help either."

Maddie gasped out and moved her hand to her chest. "Oh, no! Why didn't you say anything?" She walked briskly towards the house phone, murmuring something about needing to change the locks as soon as possible. The boys looked to each other for a second before grinning and sharing a fist-bump.

"No more Alyssa means that we can finally relax." Tucker paused briefly and frowned. "Well, apart from that whole mystery car situation earlier."

"Don't mention it. It's still pissing me off." Danny's grin faded as he rose from the table and locked his wrists behind his back. "Let's just be thankful that she only made it out with an unintentional nosebleed. It could've been much worse."

The fact that it could've been much worse terrified him, but he tried his best not to think about it. That moment with Sam scared him more than Dan ever did, which definitely meant something. He hated feeling so helpless when his loved ones were in danger, and that's exactly how he felt during that situation.

He visited her later that night like he planned. Luckily for him, her parents weren't there, as they went to the store to purchase things they felt as though she needed for some reason. Leave it to Jeremy and Pamela to treat a simple, accidental nosebleed like it was a serious illness.

"They want me to miss school tomorrow and everything," Sam told Danny, who laughed in response. She was sitting upright on her bed with her lower body tucked beneath her favorite purple blanket. "Even though they said they were going to the store, I have a sneaking suspicion that they're actually hunting down the person who was driving that car."

"I should've just gone ghost and flew after them, but I had bigger things, or people, to worry about." He smiled faintly and patted her knee. Her cheeks scorched, but she didn't bother to conceal it this time. "I'm just glad you're okay. Tuck and I tried calling out to you."

"Sorry about that. Blasting my music when I'm alone has always been a bad habit of mine." She looked towards her room door and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that stops now. It almost cost me my life. I hope the police catch whoever that was driving like a maniac." Danny nodded his head once at her.

"They will, Sam. Don't worry." Her gaze lifted from the door and onto him. He puffed up his chest and flexed his arms, attempting to look big and tough. "If they don't, though, I surely will."

She chuckled softly at his macho act and lightly poked his chest with her finger, pretending to deflate it like it was a balloon. "Oh, stop." His body wilted, but his smile remained intact. "I guess this shouldn't be such a surprise considering we've all almost died plenty of times."

"Yeah, but this time, what happened wasn't caused by a ghost." He froze for a second before a dark expression swept onto his face. He lifted his hands and waggled his fingers menacingly. "Or was it?" She rolled her eyes at him and gently shoved him down onto the bed. "Kidding. By the way, my mom approved the security system, and she's even changing the locks."

"Really?" She puffed out her lower lip and slowly nodded her head. "I'm pleased to hear that. How did you convince her?"

"I didn't. Tucker did." Danny cracked his knuckles and leaned upright again, smiling when Sam's eyebrows rose questionably. "Long story. I basically told her that I lost my spare key somewhere outside, and because it says Fentonworks on it, she wants to change the locks so nobody can try to get in. I didn't tell her Alissa took the key, though."

"Not a complete lie, but not the complete truth." Her expression fell serious and she downcast her gaze for a few seconds. "So, does that mean all of this Alissa drama is finally over?"

Though he really wasn't sure if it was, Danny nodded his head and smiled gently at her. "Yes, I promise."