Hello! Did you think I had deserted all of my readers? No way! I was just a little busy and all over this summer, and I was updating my spur-of-the-moment Harry Potter fic, which I must say I am incredibly proud of.

So, here is the much awaited (I wish) chapter seven of my story. Not too long, but it's something. Yay!

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Paul's house had no doorbell.

There was just a cold, metal knocker on the door which I practically ran into when we walked up to the house. I knocked three times and then Jesse and I waited. He looked calm, but apprehensive, and was eyeing the house with a sort of curious foreboding. I was just fiddling with my J. Jill skirt, an asymmetrical cut with a flowy edge to it, and the matching mauve tank top.

I had the day off from school because it was the day that the Spanish Missionaries left Salinas County. There was this one-day fair, which is a big deal to eeveryone and that's where my family was. I had told them I'd catch up. As for Paul, I knew for a fact that he was visiting his parents at the Pebble Beach Hotel and Golf Resort. They were in town for a day to see how he was doing.

After about a minute no one had answered so I knocked again, harder this time. Then there were footsteps inside the house, coming closer. I quickly put on my beige imitation leather jacket, because Paul's house was cold.

The door opened and I saw the familiar face of Dr. Slaski's nurse.

"Oh, hello Miss Simon," said the nurse in a friendly voice. "Paul isn't in right now, I'm afraid."

"That's okay," I said, "Um…actually I came to see Dr.—Mr. Slater."

"Oh," the nurse sounded pretty surprised at this, but somewhat pleased. After all, how many people came to visit an old man who was only lucid when he felt like it? "You're in luck. He's quite lucid today. Come on in, he's watching TV."

No surprises there.

I followed the nurse in, motioning for Jesse to follow. The house, in its entire steel and glass splendor, was as cold as ever and the fireplace in the living room had in front of it an electric fire which was off. These people are crazy.

We had gone over the plan before. Jesse would create a distraction in the backyard to get rid of the nurse while I talked to Slaski. We figured the nurse wouldn't be too happy leaving his charge inside alone with a teenager who had almost given Paul a black eye the last time she was at the house. Still, it wasn't like I wasn't going to at least try to do it the peaceful way first. Just in case.

The nurse brought in Dr. Slaski's wheelchair. He was staring into space, but his eyes flickered towards me looking surprised and suspicious. Then he saw Jesse. His head actually jerked up to get a better look and make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. The nurse, completely oblivious of this wheeled him in and then looked at me expectantly.

"Uh, sir? Could I talk to Mr. Slater…alone?"

The nurse frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. (Eyebrow movements seem to be taking over my life) He looked thoughtful for a couple of minutes before looking resigned and saying, "Oh, all right. But not for long. You have as long as I'm making Mr. Slater his lunch."

The nurse nodded and left the room. My jaw, which felt like it was level with the floor, snapped back up. I looked at Jesse in amazement. We hadn't thought it would actually work! Still, we didn't have much time so I decided to cut to the chase.

"Dr. Slaski, this is Jesse De Silva. Jesse, this is Dr. Slaski. Now, Dr. Slaski, ou ma be unaware of this, but your grandson has been threatening me and Jesse for a few months now. He stranded me on the spectral plane once and he had Jesse exorcised. He claims to love me, but Jesse and I are, well…together. But Paul won't leave us alone. He keeps trying to come between us, and…I'm afraid he'll exorcise Jesse again. I know I'll be able to go up and bring him back but how long can a game like that go on, sir? How long before either Paul or myself is killed by the consequences of shifting?"

Dr. Slaski had remained silent throughout my little speech. He looked up at me and I got something of a shock. He looked…concerned. More than that, he looked almost sorry. There was an urgent look in his eyes as well and I didn't feel too comforted by that.

"I may have been a little too vague the last time we spoke," he said, speaking each word cautiously as though I was a bomb about to explode. "Shifting is dangerous when done too carelessly, there's no doubt about that. But when there is a great need to shift, do it. There are forces of nature. Not of the world and the weather, but of life and death. They're like the spirits on the astral plane. They can feel what's happening to whom and why. I'm guessing that your friend here often feels disturbance on the spectral plane. The Forces are what communicates disturbances to him."

He paused here, I suppose for effect. And let me tell you, it worked. Forces? Who knew? I always thought that maybe Jesse was dippin' back and forth between the two planes of existence through his mind or something. I never thought that there were actual people…I mean, entities that communicated everything to him. But that wasn't all of what was dawning on me. It was the other thing Dr. Slaski had said. They can feel what's happening to whom and when. That could only mean…

"Yes," Said Dr. Slaski, apparently reading my mind. "They can understand that you like this…Jesse--" understatement of the century, "—and will know if you have to go get him because of Paul's interference. However, this does not mean that you can be entirely frivolous when shifting. Please, exercise extreme caution when doing so. And do not leave for more than an hour. You won't be stranded on the next plane of existence, but you may not be able to get back to your own in perfect condition."

Well, that was something of a relief. Oh, who am I kidding? I felt like someone had just taken a 5000 pound Acme anvil off my shoulders and make no mistake about it, it felt good. But something in the back of my mind was nagging me, tugging at my tongue so it could be said…

"There's something else, Dr. Slaski." I took a deep breath. "Your grandsom and I made a stupid deal a while ago, a deal I assure you I plan on breaking off--" I said that to ease the look on his face that implied he might want me dumped in the loony bin, "—where he teaches me about shifting. Well, during the first…'lesson', he and I shifted through time. And, I couldn't help noticing that I didn't get that killer headache I got the last time I shifted. Why exactly did that happen?"

To my surprise, Dr. Slaski was smiling now. He looked much calmer than he had when we were discussing shifting to different planes of existence.

"Ah, yes," he said, with the air of someone proposing a toast. "There is no splitting headache necessary when shifting through time, Miss Simon. See, since you aren't going to a different plane of existence, your powers remain thoroughly strong and you can travel through time as you please."

Oh, yeah! Who was right? Me! Ha! I totally knew it. It was just good to have a second opinion.

There was a beeping noise from the kitchen.

"Oh," said Dr. Slaski. "That'll be my dinner. Microwave meals." He made a face. "You had best be on your way. Miss Simon," he nodded, "Mr. De Silva. It was nice to see you both. Don't be discouraged from coming back." He winked.

The nurse came in with a plate of what looked to me like something from Gerber's. Not too appetizing, if you catch my drift. He grinned sheepishly then proceeded to wheel Dr. Slaski away and make him eat that pigeon food. Excuse me when I say, Ew.

I smiled at the nurse and then made my way towards the door, Jesse following in my wake. As, we shut the door behind us (and I took off my jacket since we were no longer in a house that reminded me of Alaska) I clapped gleefully and squealed.

"Yes! Oh, Jesse everything's okay! Yay! Paul's going to get his stupid butt kicked by the formerly ignorant Me!" You may think I was overreacting, but I was just so relieved. And the best part of everything I had just learned was that I hadn't learned it from Paul Slater.

I spun around and jumped a few times then leapt up onto Jesse and hugged him as tightly as I could. We kissed, and this time, I didn't care if anyone saw me kissing thin air. But someone did. And they didn't see thin air, either.

"Hello, Suze."

Oh, no.

A/N- LONG REVIEWS!!!!!!