This story keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Menciones:

flonshoe: Hehehe, thanks. As soon as I think of a suitable title, I'll post the other one. But that could take some time...

Anywien: Yes, forgive me! Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

EasyTiger: Thank you so much. For the compliments and the cookies and chocolate. They keep me going. :D

cassie89: I know, I think Rob's got lost somewhere. But I'll try and find him again very, very soon...

Living2Love: I know, I'm starting to miss him too, and I write the damn thing! But thanks very much for reviewing and I hope you enjoy this chapter too...

Angel Gemmam: Hopefully, I'll clear up the cell phone thing in this chapter... Merci for the review and I hope you like this update.

Mrs Nikki Slater: Thanks for reviewing, hope you enjoy this.

Finally: I hope I didn't take too long with this update... Anyway, hope you like it.

R: Hehehe, thanks very much. And here is an update...

Banana Yellow Flip-flops: Realistic and Meg-sounding? Whoa, thank you very berry much. And reading over the last chapter, I completely get what you mean about the Jess' dad thing. You're right, I did put him largely out of character there and I'll try and fix it sometime. Thanks for reviewing!

sexy-tease: Jess should have done that. Except, maybe the people at the garage aren't the kind of people Rob would ask? I don't know, hope you enjoy this chapter anyway...

Disclaimer: For the last time, I don't own it, ok? Meg Cabot does.

I pulled the car up smoothly alongside the pavement of a pretty residential street. I'd never even visited this town before, but because of the whole psychic thing, I knew exactly where I was going.

"Is this the house?" Doug whispered unnecessarily, staring out at the house we were parked beside.

"No, nimrod," I said, keeping my voice casual, "The actual house is the next street over. What, you thought I was just going to pull up outside and ring the doorbell?"

"You mean you have a plan?" asked Doug, with evident relief in his voice. Which was actually kind of weird, because normally Doug assumed any ideas I ever came up with were amateur and poor.

I bit my already poorly bruised lip. I hoped this wasn't going to become a habit – the whole lip biting thing. It was kind of painful. Plus, it probably made my lips look gross and I needed them to look as inviting as possible in hope that I can occasionally wear Rob down.

"So," prompted Doug, "What are we going to do?"

"Ok, Doug," I began, trying not to show any signs of panic or uncertainty. "There isn't a plan as such... but I'm getting there," I hoped. "I'm going to go over to the house and try and get to Sean. Meanwhile, you're going to take the car, find a payphone and call Rob."

"Jess, that plan sucks." See? "Firstly, you really think I'm just going to let you go waltz into some evil man's house on your own? Secondly, what makes you think Rob is going to be so much help? I mean, I know he's your boyfriend but he's hardly going to be more effective than the feds. You need a proper plan."

"There's no time. I've done the whole 'infiltrating evil people's places before'. Remember Jim Henderson?"

"Yeah, and we all ended up down at the hospital," interrupted Doug.

"And I already told you we can't go to the feds," I continued, ignoring him, "Rob is the best bet. Seriously, he has loads of friends who can help."

"Really?" asked Doug, suspiciously, "What kind of friends?"

"Grits," I answered simply, "They helped bust me out of Crane, and they saved my life from the True Americans. Like I said, they're the ones who can help."

I just hoped they'd be prepared to help us again.

I looked over at Doug and he still didn't seem inclined to move.

"Come on!" I whined, "Seriously, Doug, we need to start moving now. I've got to go get to Sean and you've got to call up Rob. Here," I scribbled Rob's number on the back of Doug's hand with some crappy biro, "Now get moving."

I got out the car, marched over to his side and yanked his door open so he could get out. Not looking happy at all, Doug resignedly got up. I walked him over to the driver's seat, keeping a running commentary about how I was going to be fine, so long as he got reinforcements as soon as possible.

I just hoped it was true.

Just before Doug sat back down again, he suddenly pulled me into a strong and protective hug. And even though it was a little weird, it was really comforting.

"You know," I said, when he released me, "I'm actually kind of glad you're here, now."

Doug smiled grimly. "Jess, you've met Sean's father before, haven't you? He knows who you are."

"Well, we'll just have to hope he's not there," I grinned broadly and probably rather inanely.

Doug just stared at me.

I guess it must have been a bit of a shock to see me acting like everything was hunky dory, when I was about to face a load of dangerous men. But he's my brother. He should be used to my weirdness by now, right?

"I'll be fine," I said quietly. It was kind of obvious that I was trying to convince myself as well as him.

"You better be," Doug threatened me as he slid into the driver's seat, "Mom'll kill me. I'll see you again very soon."

And he started the engine and drove off real fast. Just as fast as I would have done if I'd known one of my brothers was about to be in some pretty serious trouble.

I stood staring after Doug's car for a while, hoping that he was going to manage everything ok.

But then, you know, I realised that I was just standing there doing nothing. And I'd already left Sean for way too long. So I immediately turned around and headed off in the direction of the house.

As I was doing so, I suddenly realised that I'd completely forgotten to tell Doug exactly which house I was going to.

Which just proves how completely moronic I am.

But I tried not to let that completely awful bombshell faze me. So I continued walking in the right direction.

Unfortunately, I was the only one who knew it was the right direction.

I was still trying to work out exactly how I was going to let Rob and everyone – assuming Doug got them to come – know where I would be, when I realised I was standing at the gate of the right house.

I blinked a bit in surprise – I had no idea I'd been walking so fast. But I ignored my shock, pushed open the gate, walked up the path and rang the doorbell.

And you know what? Even though I did all that, I had no plan. No plan at all.

Patience has never been my strongpoint. Which is probably why I've always had a problem choosing calm discussions over fighting.

I looked around me while I waited for someone to answer the door. Instead of trying to figure out what I would do in the event of someone letting me in, I was looking at the house and thinking, "Whoa, for a kidnapper's house, it's actually kind of pretty." There was a kid's bike in the front garden and the grass had been cut really nicely.

I was thinking all this; when the door suddenly swung open.

"Hello," I began, in my best girl guide voice, "I'm really sorry for bothering you like this, but I'm afraid-"

The words died on my lips when I saw who was at the door.

You know when you spend a long time preparing yourself for one thing you think is going to be awful – say, a family event? Something you really don't want to do, but know there's no way you can get out of it - and you spend your whole time predicting how awful it's going to be and how you'd rather be getting fillings at the dentist? So you go, and it turns out that actually, this family event is pretty fun. Still awkward and occasionally uncomfortable, but nowhere near as bad as you thought. You know what I mean?

Yeah, well that's exactly how I felt when the woman opened the door and smiled down at me.

I had been expecting strong, tough men – maybe armed with guns and scars running along the length of their faces.

Instead, I was faced with a homely looking, middle-aged woman, who was smiling at me in a positively motherly way. And, she was most definitely not wearing a kerchief.

To say I was relieved would be a major understatement. But I was also confused. Way confused.

"What did you want, dear?" she asked, patiently.

"Uh... Oh. Uh, ma'am, my car broke down a little way down the street and I wondered if I could use your telephone. If it's not too much trouble, of course."

"Oh no, of course not, I'd be happy to help. Now just come on in."

Completely bemused, I followed her in. I felt like I was intruding on Sean's visit to his grandma. It didn't fit in with the vision I'd had at all.

"I chose this house," I said, continuing on in the same polite tone, "because you had the children's toys in the yard. I figured this would be a safer bet."

"That's right," said the woman, leading me into the lounge where there was a phone on a little table, "You never can be too careful. Now you use the phone all you want and then come join me in the kitchen when you're ready. It's just down the hall."

And then, unbelievably, she left the room. Now let me tell you, if some person randomly knocked on my door and asked to use my phone, I would so not leave them in a room alone. Not even if they were a vertically challenged girl like me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a harsh and untrusting snob. It's just, you never know, right? For all she knew, I could be grabbing her family silver and throwing myself out the window.

Although looking around the sparsely furnished room, I wouldn't say there was a lot of silver going.

Whatever. I finished my musings and hastened over to the phone. You can never be sure who's listening – for instance I could have sworn I saw the eyes of the painting following me around the room. Although, you know, that could have been going a little far.

Anyway, I was not going to be stupid enough to ring someone up going, "Hey, it's Jess, I've come to save Sean! I'm at 39 blah-blah street..."

No, I would not be doing that. Instead I would employ a way more subtle method.

I hadn't taken too long to get inside the house, so I hoped that there was a still a chance for me to communicate the information about where I was.

So I picked up the phone and dialled Ruth's cell-phone number.

I know! If only my parents had done what nearly every other decent parent had, and bought me my own cell phone, I would not be having the problems I was currently experiencing. I mean, you would have thought, that for a girl who is known to randomly go off and rescue little kids, a cell phone is a necessity. But clearly, this was not a vein of thought my parents shared. Which was a pity, considering how much simpler everything could have been.

I listened anxiously to the phone ringing, whilst mentally willing Ruth to pick up – too bad my physic powers couldn't travel over phone lines. Hey, I wouldn't even need a cell phone then.

"Hello?"

"Ruth!" I called out in relief.

"Jess is that you? Oh my God, where are you? Don't you think for a minute that you've got away with skipping school today. I mean, I fully covered for you, but I'm guessing you don't have a good reason. Did you forget we had an English test today? And what about our shopping trip after school? I swear, I am going to kill you if I find out you bailed on me to go see That -"

"Ruth," I interrupted, calmly, "Good to hear you. Listen, could you possibly call my mechanic and tell him that my car's broken down." I quickly gave her the address of the street and then casually mentioned the house I was in. "It would be great if you could do that for me, because I need this car fixed as soon as possible."

"Jess, oh my God, what are you doing? You're such a headcase, you need a psychiatrist or something. Seriously. I mean, what do you think you're-"

"Ruth!" I interrupted again, with a little more urgency in my voice, "I really need you to do this for me. Now."

Ruth went surprisingly quiet.

"Are you in trouble?"

"Of course I am," I answered cheerfully. "If you could do that for me, you would be a total life saver. Well I have to go now because I'm using someone else's phone. Ok, bye!"

I then replaced the phone carefully back on the hook and hoped Ruth had gotten the message. Which she would have done. For a start, my message was not exactly hard to understand. Plus, considering Ruth's IQ is the highest out of nearly everyone I know, she was hardly gong to have a hard time figuring it out.

And I didn't need to worry about her getting Rob's number or anything. Ever since she got her phone, I'd used it so many times that I'd actually gone and programmed his number in. Well, numbers. His home one and the garage one. And no, Ruth most certainly did not approve. But she couldn't complain now, considering it was going to come in pretty useful.

When I'd composed myself back into the cheerful 'good little girl' mode, I got up to join the woman down the hall, in the kitchen.

"Come on in," she called cheerfully, when I stood a little nervously in the doorway, "Did you get through to everyone you needed to?"

"Uh, yes. Thanks, ma'am," I said politely, as I joined her in the kitchen where she'd thoughtfully laid out cookies. Seriously.

This day could definitely not get any weirder.

"Oh please, dear, call me Mary."

Ok, now that was way upsetting. I was already confused enough about her being here rather than a load of snarling men. Having her share a name with my future mother-in-law was almost going too far.

"Sure, ma- Mary. This really is awfully kind of you."

"Oh it's nothing," she said, modestly, motioning for me to sit down at the table, "It's nice to have a little company during the day. Normally I have my hands full with the kids, but it makes a nice change to have an adult to talk to."

The idea that she saw me as an adult was somewhat questionable, but I decided to let it slip.

"So you look after kids?" I asked, taking one of the cookies she offered me.

"Oh yes, I have my grandchildren here, and a few children from along the street. Mainly the children of people who work."

I nodded understandingly, taking a bite of the cookie. Man, it was good. All moist and chocolately in equal amounts. It was so good, it had to be poisoned. And even if it was, it didn't seem like such a bad way to go. Death By The Perfect Cookie. Mmmm.

"How many children do you have?" I tried to keep my voice mildly interested, rather than interrogatory. "I love children," I added.

"Well, today I have six. Three are down for a nap, two are playing out the back and one's in their room, drawing."

"It must be nice, working with children."

"Oh, it is," the lady's face visibly softened. It was a rather heart-warming sight, actually, "It really is one of the best jobs you can have. Trying to keep the children safe. But there's not much money in that, mind you."

Her eyes filled with tears slightly, and she looked sadly down into her cup of tea.

Slightly uncomfortable at the sight of a woman who was overcome with emotion about looking after children, I rose to my feet quickly.

"Uh, do you have a bathroom I can use?"

What? It had worked before...

She happily gave me directions – up the stairs and last door on the left.

I left the kitchen and slowly climbed the scruffily carpeted stairs. There were loads of grubby hand marks on the walls. You know, the kind children make when they're too young to use the banister properly? Yeah, they used to drive my mom mad. But clearly Mary didn't mind them too much, because she hadn't made any effort to wipe them off or anything.

The bathroom was small, cramped and pretty messy. Yeah, so I actually had to go. There were kid's toys all around the side of the bath.

When I came out, I went and tried the door opposite. It was clearly Mary's bedroom. And clearly the room of a lonely, single woman. I was starting to feel way sorry for her. Not wanting to invade too much on her privacy, I closed the door and moved on to the next door along.

Inside, was a small child, sitting in the middle of the floor. There were a few drawings lying on the floor beside her, but she'd clearly progressed on to playing with building blocks.

Since I've spent quite a lot of time with kids after developing my powers, I've got pretty good at talking to them.

So I crouched down, just inside the doorway and said, "Hello, there. Wow, this is a nice room. Why are you up here by yourself?"

The little girl turned the attention of her large brown eyes from her tower, to me.

"I haven't been bad." she said, quickly.

"I'm sure you haven't. I guess you just wanted to stay in this pretty room, rather than playing with the other kids, huh?"

"Well," said the girl thoughtfully, placing another building block on the top of the tower, "There isn't anyone I want to play with. Except the new boy, but I can't pay with him."

"New boy?" I asked, instantly curious, "What new boy is that?"

She looked at me again. "The new boy. He's a lot older, but I can't play with him."

"And why can't you play with him?"

"Because his door is locked. Auntie Mary said he was bad, so he had to be locked in."

DUN DUN DUN.

Another chapter. It got us nowhere, but it's another chapter.

Now please, make my day and review.

Please?

(Oh, and please don't desert me 'cos there's no Rob...)