Chapter 4
The last bell rang, and Danny couldn't get out the doors of Casper High fast enough. It was stifling in there, all the rumors and half-truths filling the air with malice and spite.
He and Sam walked together until they reached her house. They said their goodbyes and she hopped up the steps to her front door, promising to research the new ghost in town. He nodded, waved, and walked on.
When he reached his own block, he stopped and thought for a moment. "I should check on Hayley," he decided, and instead turned down another street, taking a shortcut to the hospital.
He cut through a barren alley, populated by only a few cardboard boxes, trash cans, and the occasional rat. He was listening to the echo of his footsteps on the asphalt when he heard a large rattling behind him. He whirled around, blue mist escaping his lips, and saw one of the trash cans rock from side to side before falling over. Behind it crouched a girl with pale, ashen skin and long brown hair that turned a deep crimson at the tips. She stood, eyeing him nervously. Danny could see that she wore a gray minidress and a low-slung golden belt, all of which, including herself, were semi-transparent.
The sudden activity of his ghost sense, as well as the unusual translucence of the individual before him, led to only one conclusion.
"Great, another new spook?" Danny assumed a battle stance. "I'm going ghost!" Again, blue rings of energy spread over his body, transforming him into Danny Phantom. He glared at the ghost girl, whose slight figure was tense with fear.
"You're new around here, aren't you?" He asked her, not particularly welcomingly and not waiting for her answer. "Let me fill you in. Any ghost messes with Amity Park, I mess with them. And since I doubt you're here for the Nasty Burgers—" Danny reached for the FentonThermos in his backpack. "—you're going back to the Ghost Zone."
"Wait," the spirit cried out in a soft voice. "I… I don't want to go back there. That girl… it wasn't my fault, what happened…"
Danny stiffened. Though he had been ready to suck her up in the FentonThermos simply for being a ghost, he hadn't thought she'd caused any serious trouble. She looked pretty harmless, like she should be haunting a shopping mall, or something. But she knew what had happened to Hayley. More than that, she knew he knew. She had to be the ghost behind the attack.
"You…" Danny glared at her. "It was you who attacked Hayley. She was an innocent girl and you invaded her thoughts, publicly humiliated her—"
"What? No!" The girl's eyes widened. "That's not it at all."