Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as a yawn spilled out of her, Mary asked "Man. What's a girl got to do to get some sleep around here?"

And now, to pick up where we last left off. Enjoy. =)

Mary

Looking in front of her at the crowd at the door and Mr. Calloway, Mary asked "Don't you think it's a bit late to be having people over, Mr. C? It's barely after midnight."

The family of four at the door temporarily forgotten, Mr. Calloway walked over to Mary and, after making sure that it was really her, asked "Maryanne? How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know. A few minutes, I think. Guess it was just time for me to be waking up," Mary said, shrugging. Looking around the teacher to get a better look at who was at the door, Mary immediately saw Jeff surrounded by who she was guessing to be his family. But that wasn't the thing that made Mary worried; what made the brunette worried was the fact that it seemed like Jeff was in pain for some reason. Worry on her face, Mary asked "Mr. C, what's wrong with Jeff?"

"I'm trying to figure that out myself, Mary," Mr. Calloway said. "Jeff and his family just got here and it would seem as though Jeff is in a deal of pain."

"Did he at least say what was wrong?" Mary asked.

"No," Mr. Calloway said. "But, I think it might have to do with our troubles with Dean."

Hearing Mr. Calloway mention Dean, Mary looked over at Jeff and, her eyes widening in slight panic, said "I think I get what you mean." Looking up at Mr. Calloway, Mary asked "Do you think, maybe, I could do something to help Jeff?"

"You just woke up, Mary. Are you sure you're up for it?" Mr. Calloway asked.

Sending a smirk up at the teacher, Mary said "Of course I'm up for it, Mr. C. I've gotten better at controlling my abilities. I know can do this."

Seeing the determination burning in Mary's eyes, Mr. Calloway sighed and said "If you think you can, then I suppose you can try."

Getting the OK from Mr. Calloway, Mary walked over to where Jeff was being supported by a light-skinned brunette boy and a shorter dark-skinned brunette girl and stopped in front of the trio.

The brunette boy, taking a protective stance between Jeff and Mary, asked "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to try to help your brother," Mary said. "You need to let me at him, though, before I can help him."

Sharing a look with the shorter girl and the older man that was with them, the boy sighed and, gently laying Jeff on the floor, said "Please don't hurt him."

"I won't," Mary said. Dropping down on the floor in front of Jeff and taking his head in her hands, Mary looked into Jeff's eyes only to find herself momentarily lost in the green orbs that stared back at her. Shaking off her momentary distraction, Mary said "Jeff. Jeff. It's me, Mary. I don't know what happened to you, but I'm going to do something to take away your pain from it all. Do you trust me?" Getting a slow nod from Jeff, Mary pressed the palms of her hands to Jeff's temples as her irises started to glow pink and a pink glow emanated from her palms. Sending a pulse into Jeff in the hopes of that being the thing to help break Dean's hold on the boy, Mary watched as Jeff slumped forward into her arms as Jeff's breathing seemed to slow down from the frantic pace it was coming at earlier. Looking up at the brunette teens that had been supporting Jeff, Mary said "I think that was enough to block what was hurting Jeff."

From behind Mary, Mr. Calloway asked "Are you sure it was such a good idea to use one of your abilities so soon, Mary?"

"Of course I'm sure, Mr. C," Mary said, turning back to look up at the teacher. "It's just my Sealing ability that wears me out. It takes a lot more out of me to Seal a person's ability than it does to just put up blocks."

"And, you're sure Jeff'll be okay now?" the brunette boy asked.

"Of course," Mary said, sending a reassuring smile up to the three standing in front of her. "Jeff just needs to sleep his headache off and when he wakes up tomorrow morning, he'll be just fine."

Before she could say anything else, Mary found herself get caught in a hug from the girl that was with Jeff, his brother, and their dad with the girl saying "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for helping Jeff." Smiling at the girl's concern, Mary said "It's no big deal. I just wanted to help a friend out. Besides, this is just my way of returning the help Jeff's already given me."

"We can't thank you enough," the brunette boy said, kneeling down to be eye level with Mary. "I'm sure if Jeff were awake, he'd thank you."

"I have a feeling he would too," Mary said, looking down at the sleeping Jeff. Looking between the other two teens, Mary said "I believe I should introduce myself. I'm Mary Williams, just in case Mr. C didn't tell you guys already."

Pulling away, the brunette girl wiped at her face and said "I'm Alexis. But, if you want, you can call me Alex."

"I'm Matt. I'm the oldest out of me, Jeff, and Alex," Matt said. Pointing to the man standing behind them, Matt said "That's our dad."

Looking up at the man, Mary said "It's nice to meet you, sir. I hope it doesn't seem too weird what I just did to Jeff, Mr. Hardy."

Waving off Mary's concern, Mr. Hardy said "It's not weird at all. I've gotten used to the fact that my kids have special abilities. I've just never seen them in use before."

"I'll make sure to keep them under control next time," Mary said, smiling. Hearing a throat clear behind her, Mary looked back and saw Mr. Calloway nodding his head towards the living room. Turning back to face Matt, Mary asked "Hey, Matt. Do you think you could help me carry Jeff into Mr. C's living room and lay him on the couch?"

"Oh, sure, Mary," Matt said. Throwing one of Jeff's arms over his shoulders with Mary doing the same, the two teens carried Jeff into Mr. Calloway's living room with Alex, Mr. Hardy, and Mr. Calloway coming behind them as Mary and Matt laid Jeff down on the couch.

Once Jeff was on the couch, Mr. Calloway looked over Jeff and saw that Jeff was at ease more than he was when he had first gotten brought to his house. Resting his hand on Jeff's forehead, Mr. Calloway closed his eyes as he did a quick sweep of Jeff's mind to make sure the block Mary put on him was in place. Once he found that it was, Mr. Calloway opened his eyes and, looking to Mary, said "I'm quite impressed, Maryanne. You've become quite adept with your abilities."

"I'm not that great, Mr. C. I'm only as good as the man that taught me," Mary said, blushing. Looking down at Jeff, Mary asked "So, apparently Dean had something to do with Jeff looking all hurt and stuff?"

"That's what we think," Matt said. "It just seems like things have been going downhill ever since the other night."

"What happened the other night?" Mary asked, curious to know.

"Well, Dean showed up in my dreams and started threatening me. Next thing I know, Jeff's coming into my dreams to get me away from Dean," Alex said, leaving out the parts about her getting cut and punched by Dean. "I don't know what Dean could've done to Jeff, but I can only guess that it was bad."

Hearing Alex say this, Mary looked down at Jeff as she brushed a few stray strands of hair off of Jeff's forehead. With Mr. Calloway and the Hardy family talking around her, Mary thought 'What the hell did Deano do to you, Rainbow?' Mary wasn't even aware of the Hardy family leaving until she looked up and saw Mr. Calloway walking away from the front door. In her confusion, Mary asked "Where'd Jeff's family go, Mr. C? Why'd they leave him here?"

"I told them that they could go home and to leave Jeff here under my watch," Mr. Calloway said. "I decided it'd be best to let Jeff sleep here tonight so that we can better see how he'll be feeling in the morning."

"Oh, OK," Mary said, nodding her head as a yawn escaped her.

A low chuckle rumbling in his chest, Mr. Calloway said "Funny how you've only just woken up and you're ready to go back to sleep."

"Helping someone that's having issues is a lot to put up with when you're just waking up from a long nap," Mary said, smiling. "Especially if said issues are psychic issues."

Smiling a rare smile at the teen, Mr. Calloway said "I think it's best we both go back to bed. We've got a lot to deal with tomorrow."

"OK, Mr. C," Mary said, standing up from where she had been previously kneeling on the ground. Before walking over to Mr. Calloway, Mary planted a kiss on Jeff's forehead and turned on her heel and headed back to the guest room she was staying in while she thought 'Night, Rainbow. I promise, I'll be there for you in the morning.'

...

Jeff

The next morning, Jeff woke up to find that he had been sleeping on a couch; only, it wasn't the couch in his living room. Sitting up as he looked around, Jeff soon found that he was in Mr. Calloway's living room. 'How'd I manage to get here? Pretty sure when I went to sleep last night, I was at home,' Jeff thought, trying to figure out how he ended up at Mr. Calloway's house. Jeff tried to stand up, only for a wave of dizziness to sweep through him. Sitting down just as quickly as he stood up, Jeff rubbed at one of his temples as he tried to sort through the fog that settled in over his mind.

"I'd be a little careful standing up, if I were you," said a voice from elsewhere in the room.

Turning in the direction of the voice, Jeff looked over to his right and saw Mary standing in the entryway to the living room, a teasing smile on her face. Returning her smile, Jeff said "I think I got that now."

Walking over and taking a seat on the couch beside Jeff, Mary wrapped her arms around Jeff in a tight hug that he returned as she said "I'm glad you're okay, Jeff. I thought something was really wrong with you when your family brought you here."

"You were awake when my dad, my brother, and my sister brought me here?" Jeff asked; even though he knew the deal about Mary waking up, Jeff was a bit surprised to hear that she was awake when he was brought to Mr. Calloway's.

"I was just really waking up good when you all yelling got my attention. Especially your sister, Alex," Mary said. "Kid sounded like she was going to lose it if we couldn't do anything to help you out."

Chuckling a little at how Mary talked about Alex, Jeff said "Yeah, that's Lexi for you. She's got a real big heart and hates seeing people close to her hurt."

"Yeah, I kind of got that when she and your brother thanked me for helping you," Mary said.

Pulling away, Jeff looked at Mary and asked "Wait. You were the one that helped me out?"

Smirking as she put her hands on her hips, Mary said "I'm not just a pretty face, Rainbow. I'm what Mr. Bearer calls a Sealer. Also, he's told me that I'm a bit of a live wire when it comes to my abilities."

"The stuff about you being a Sealer, I was told about. I just have no clue what a live wire is," Jeff said, scratching his head.

"I think I can better answer that, Jeff," Mr. Calloway said from the living room entryway, drawing the attention of the two teens. Stepping into the living room, Mr. Calloway said "Live wires tend to have much more control over their abilities and don't have to focus as much when they decide to us them."

Turning back to look at the now grinning Mary, Jeff asked "So, you can pretty much use your abilities as freely as you want?"

Nodding her head, Mary said "It can be really handy to have so much free control over my abilities. Especially with sticky situations."

"That's amazing," Jeff said when he had gotten stopped by something. Pressing on of his hands to his temple, Jeff closed his eyes and found that he couldn't see what Dean had flashed to him the night before. Reopening his eyes, Jeff saw both Mary and Mr. Calloway looking at him. Unable to hold back his laugh as he smiled, Jeff said "I don't see it anymore. I don't see it anymore!"

"See what, Jeff?" Mary asked, confused about what Jeff could be smiling about.

"What Dean flashed to me last night. I don't see it anymore!" Jeff said, better explaining what he was talking about.

With Mary still confused, Mr. Calloway asked "Is that why it seemed like you were in so much pain when your father, Matt, and Alexis brought you here?"

"Wait wait wait wait you guys! Lone female in the room confused here," Mary said. Once Jeff and Mr. Calloway had finished what they were saying, Mary asked "Do you guys mind cluing me in here? I keep hearing you both bring up Dean and I'm confused."

"Sorry about that, Mary. What Dean did to me is pretty much what he did to Alex a few weeks ago," Jeff said. Seeing Mary give him a look that said "Go on", Jeff said "Pretty much what had me in pain was a flash Dean had sent me of him causing major damage. The main thing I remember is that we were all trying to fight him off while he was laughing like a lunatic from behind a force field of some kind."

Her eyes widening, Mary asked "And Dean's been doing stuff like this for a while now?"

"We've been dealing with his mind games for the past month now," Mr. Calloway said. "We think he might have ties to the string of teen murders that have hit this area and after what he's done to Alexis and Jeff, it seems like we've almost got our culprit."

"You're making you guys sound like cops, Mr. C," Mary said, laughing a little. Looking between Jeff and Mr. Calloway, Mary asked "And you guys are sure it's Dean?"

"From what we've been able to find out from the spirit of one of the girls that was killed and Dean's cockiness over what he's been doing, yes," Mr. Calloway said. "In my eyes, it seems almost like he's trying to stop us from finding out more."

Hearing Mr. Calloway say this, Mary stood up and said "Well, it's official."

"What is, Mary?" Jeff asked.

Smirking at Jeff and Mr. Calloway, Mary said "You guys have another detective working with you guys."

"Are you sure about this, Mary?" Jeff asked, standing up. "You don't have to help us just because it's Dean."

"I know, Rainbow. But, here's the thing: I want to help you guys," Mary said. Better explaining herself, Mary said "I know it might seem like I'm only joining you guys because Dean's involved, but that's not the only reason. The thought of somebody, somebody our age at that, killing people just doesn't seem right. Add in the fact that you guys said Dean's been hurting people, and I can't just stand by as that happens; even though I have a family that thinks I'm dead, I want to keep them safe. So, consider me a more than willing addition to you guys' group."

New addition to the Ghost Saver's Guild! Oh wait, wrong thing. ^^, But, yeah...Mary's decided to personally include herself in Jeff's group as they try to find a way to stop Dean from hurting anyone else. And, so far, she's proving where her loyalty lies by putting a block up in Jeff to stop his pain from what Dean flashed to him (To smooth this out, putting up blocks doesn't use as much of Mary's energy as Sealing abilities does.). Now, this poses an interesting road ahead for the mediums. How will Dean react when he finds out Mary's been disturbing his mayhem flow? What will the mediums do now that they've got a live wire in their ranks? And will Mary ever find it in herself to go back to her family and friends? All these questions and more to be answered in coming chapters. Until then, don't forget to R&R please. =)