Chapter 3

Danny followed the strange girl out of the front door, leaving the door open for Jazz to follow him, as he caught sight of a group of kids playing down the sidewalk towards the parking lot. He looked back at Amanda, not wanting to look like he was staring at the group, as the girl pulled out a set of keys and locked the door. He looked up and noticed she lived in a row of townhouses only to notice the window above the door she was at showed a little girl as she pushed it open.

"Hey!" the girl called out, waving.

"Hey," Danny said, waving back.

Amanda looked back at Danny before looking up and smiling, giving a silent wave as well. She turned to the two and nodded her head towards the group on the sidewalk before leading the way towards the parking lot. She gave the kids an "excuse me" as she passed three boys, leading Danny and Jazz down a set of stairs and away from where most of the kids were playing with two dogs.

Danny looked over the mix of cars in the parking lot, noticing a lot of the cars were more rounded than he was used to only to remind himself there was a sixteen year difference between himself and the world he was in. He looked back at Amanda as she pulled out a separate set of keys and clicked a fob as she stopped at a light blue car.

"I'll let you two fight over shotgun," Amanda said, stepping up to the driver door.

"She's your fan," Jazz said with a sly smile as she motioned for Danny to step ahead of her on the passenger side.

"You know I've never had good relations with my fans," Danny retorted, passing his sister. He grabbed hold of the door handle and slid himself into the seat, shutting the door as he noticed Amanda put the key in the ignition. The car came to life, blaring out a song he couldn't figure out the words to as he reached for the seatbelt. She quickly reached over and lowered the volume, getting him to look at the screen he was used to only expecting the time to see it read Relovne's. "What type of song is that?" Danny asked as Jazz got in her seat behind him.

"French song played backwards," Amanda admitted, pulling on her own seatbelt. She threw a glance into the backseat before looking ahead and started to pull the car forward out of the spot as she added, "You'd be surprised how many songs sound really good backwards." She reached over to the controls under the screen and hit an arrow, skipping the song and sending it to the next one.

The intro caught Danny's attention, getting him to read the song was Remember by Ember. He quickly reached forward and hit the same button she had as they drove up hill through the parking lot and line of townhouses.

"Hey, what was that for?" Amanda asked, giving him a glance. "The song's not evil here."

"How can it not be?" Danny asked as Renegades started playing, a song Danny wasn't familiar with. "She's a ghost siren."

"Sure, in your world," Amanda pointed out, going slowly over a speed bump as they made their way to the main street. "Here it's some girl that I wish I could find more she sang."

"Still don't trust it," Danny mumbled, sitting back as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You didn't see what she did."

"Dude, I even know about the girl's night out thing," Amanda said as they came to a stop while traffic prevented her from making the right turn. She looked over her shoulder at Jazz and asked, "Have you told him about that?"

"With Ember, Kitty, and Spectra?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah." Amanda looked back at the road and watched a white car that looked more familiar to Danny, though it looked like it had seen better days, pass them. She pulled out behind the white car, following the car down the street.
"Yeah, we told him."

"Was this while Dad and I were fishing?" Danny asked, vaguely recalling Sam and Jazz telling him something about the three ghost girls getting together.

Jazz let out a sound of confirmation, getting Danny to focus on the world outside the windows.

"Hey, it's past twenty-twenty," Danny stated, looking up at the blue sky. He turned back to Amanda and asked, "What happened to flying cars?"

"That's a nightmare waiting to happen," Amanda retorted, a southern accent showing in her voice. "I don't trust half of these idiots on the road and you wanna let them fly around in their death machines?"

"Fair point," Jazz said. "So why not make it just harder to obtain a flying car license?"

"They've done that," Amanda said with a laugh. "There's only a few cars that can fly. Though we've got self driving cars."

"So your car?" Danny asked, pointing to the dash board screen.

Amanda released the steering wheel for a moment as they slowed down at a red light. Amanda let out a laugh and put a hand back on the wheel. "Sorry, not this car. It's ten years old now. This timeline just gets cars with cameras to remind us Big Brother's always watching."

"Big brother?" Danny echoed.

"Like from 1984?" Jazz asked.

"Yap." The light changed to green, letting them pull forward as Amanda turned on a blinker.

Danny noticed a blue and white sign with a lion-looking animal at the entrance of a parking lot. They pulled in and found a space as Amanda said, "I don't know how long you'll be stuck here so I'd recommend getting toothbrushes and things like that." She put the car in park and killed the engine, adding, "I'll just be the cart pusher and any food veto-er since I'm paying."

"We do have money," Danny retorted, unbuckling his seat belt.

"Is it all green?" Amanda asked, grabbing her purse off of the center glove box.

"Yeah."

"Then it wouldn't work here," Amanda said, stepping out of the car.

Danny looked after her a moment only to quickly push open the car door and step out to ask, "What do you mean?"

"The only thing still green is the one dollar bill," Amanda informed, closing her door as she tossed her purse strap over her head. She looked over the car and added, "And that's if they're accepting cash- shoot! I didn't even think of that."

"Think of what?" Jazz asked as Danny shut his door at the same time she did.

"Covid, but you should be fine," Amanda said more to herself. "I mean, you've already been exposed to it just by being here but between your ghost half and her nanobots…"

"Covid?" Jazz echoed with concern.

"You'll be fine, come on," Amanda threw off as she walked around the nose of the car towards the grocery store.

Danny gave a concerning look at Jazz only to see her as confused as he was. He turned to follow the local, just hoping she was right.

AN: I had plenty of conversations in my head with them about covid, gas prices and everything else… they didn't fit so covid got convinced to her believing they should be fine and not telling them. By the way, gas in Virginia was about 4.25 in April, while in August 2006 in Indiana gas was up to 2.69 due to the start of Israel's invasion of Lebanon. To think back then we thought 2.69 was expensive for a gallon.