It had only been a day, but Ellie was having the most fun she'd ever had in her life.

Her academic classes were all covered by one teacher for three hours every day, from eight to eleven. On Mondays and Wednesdays, for ninety minutes each, math and science were done, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays came English and social studies. Fridays were reserved for any academic work that hadn't been done during the week. From eleven to twelve was lunch and free time, and from twelve to three, each student was sent to their various other classes.

Ellie wasn't worried about the academic part of her new school. She, like her brother and best friend Sam, was a straight A student. She was worried about her creative classes, which came after lunch. She had been placed in a music class, where she was expected to learn how to read music and possibly compose her own, and in a drama class. If she wasn't so worried about finding out what was going on with this ghost, Ellie believed that she might eventually thrive here.

But, as she'd long ago come to learn, Winchesters weren't allowed to thrive at anything other than hunting.

So Ellie put her brain to work, trying to come up with who, or maybe what, the ghost could possibly be. She'd asked her classmates what they thought, and got no shortage of answers. Her name, according to one source, was Lily Crabtree, and she'd died after being hit by a car when the school first opened. According to someone else, her name was Jenna Fisher, and she'd been killed during the construction of the school. Ellie heard five more stories just like those in the space of her first two days.

Sam, Dean, Bobby, and John were all searching for the prior history of the campus. Before the current school had been built there, a boarding school for girls had been on the property for nearly a century. Much to everyone's frustration, there was no record of any unusual or suspicious deaths the entire time the campus had been open. Ellie and John's thoughts were apparently running along the same track.

"No place is that clean." They both said at exactly the same time.

So Ellie went in for her second day. Bobby had given her the advice to just focus on school and clear her mind, and then maybe another idea would come to her. Just as the bell rang, something caught Ellie's eye.

A girl. She looked to be about twelve, standing at the end of the hall, staring at Ellie. She was wearing what looked to be a school uniform-a white dress shirt, blue sweater, blue and white checkered skirt, white socks, and black shoes. Ellie had pictured the girl in her head as lost, but she didn't look lost. She looked like she knew exactly where she was going.

"McCoy! Get to class!"

Ellie jumped at the sharp voice, then turned back to the girl. She was gone. As she took her seat, Ellie took a piece of paper and made a note of the ghost's appearance to give to her father. Unable to focus on her lesson, Ellie asked to be excused halfway through it to go to the 'nurse'.

Ellie found John in what was to become the new PE teacher's office. It was bizarre to say the least. John was wearing a suit, and had Ellie not known the books he was looking at were lore books, she might have assumed he was coming up with a curriculum.

"Daddy."

John looked up, surprised. He'd been so wrapped up in his research that he hadn't seen or heard the door open.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you in class?"

"I saw her." Ellie said. "The ghost. I saw her."

"What? Where?"

"In the hallway right before class started."

"What did you see?"

"Hang on. I wrote it down. Wanted to make sure I didn't forget." Ellie handed John her notes.

John read it over and nodded. "Okay. This is good, Elle Belle."

Ellie smiled. Praise from her father was rare and valuable. And when she could tell it was genuine, and not an effort on his part just to be nicer, that made it even more valuable.

"Did she do or say anything?" John asked.

"No, sir. She just looked at me. She seemed…I don't know. She didn't seem like she was lost."

"Lost?"

"Well, I always pictured ghosts as lost. Maybe looking for something. Was I wrong?" Ellie asked.

"Not wrong, exactly. Just incomplete." John explained. "Some ghosts are looking for something. But some of them want to get revenge. Some of them want to pass a message on. Some of them just want to be laid to rest. And there's times where it's a mix of all of that. We have to figure out what exactly it is that she wants."

"How do we do that? We don't even know her name."

John sighed. "I don't know. But we'll figure it out. Right now, go on back to class, okay? Come find me when it's free time and we'll see what else we can find out."

"Yes, sir." Ellie said.

Another two days of searching brought no other leads. Friday came, and everyone was frustrated. Everyone except for Ellie. Ellie was still having the time of her life, though she knew she couldn't tell Dean or John. Focus on the hunt. That's what matters, not your own selfish wants.

Friday came, and Ellie was waiting in the library of the school while her father attended a staff meeting. The school was quiet. Too quiet for Ellie's liking. She'd gotten permission from John to walk around the school, but chose instead to try and finish her homework. Getting nowhere, and starting to wonder what kind of a staff meeting took two hours, Ellie stood up to stretch her legs.

The second she stood up, Ellie's books were thrown to the floor. Just as she started to realize what had happened, Ellie felt herself pushed down to the ground along with the rest of the books. A sudden, paralyzing fear gripped her, and she wanted to scream but couldn't.

"Ellison."

Ellie's eyes searched the library. Despite the fact that she was on the floor, no one seemed to notice. At five o'clock, the library was nearly deserted anyway, but there was still a teacher and a librarian on the other end of the room.

"Ellison."

Ellie chanced speaking. Her voice came out in nothing more than a terrified whisper. "Who's there?"

And there she was. The ghost, looking exactly as before, was standing over top of her.

"Was that you?" Ellie asked. "Was that you I heard calling my name?"

"Yes." The ghost said. "I'm sorry. I have no other way to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Ellie asked.

The ghost frowned, then turned away from Ellie. Was she…crying?

"Look, can you at least tell me one thing? What's your name?"

The ghost turned back around and smiled. "My name's Ellie too."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Is that why you…I don't know, connected with me?"

"You seem like you really care." The ghost Ellie said. "Like I'm more than just a spook to you."

"I do. I want to know what happened to you so I can help you."

"What about your father?"

"My father? He'll help you too. Just tell me what happened."

"No. I can't tell you."

Ellie sighed. "Can you tell me anything? We're trying to find it, but we can't…wait. No one knows you're dead, do they?"

The ghost Ellie shook her head. "No."

"Okay. That's good, that's a start. Are you missing? Is someone looking for you?"

"I don't know. My mother might be."

"Okay. What's your mom's name?"

"Rebecca Jamison." The ghost Ellie said.

"Okay. We can work with that." Ellie assured her. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"

The ghost Ellie shook her head. "I want to. But I'm scared."

"Listen to me. My dad and I will help you. The more you tell us, the faster we can help."

The ghost Ellie looked away. Ellie waited patiently, and finally the ghost Ellie turned back. "My real name is Lily."

"Lily? Lily Jamison?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what happened to you?"

"No. I remember having a fight with my father, and the next thing I knew, I was here."

"What was the fight about?"

Lily suddenly looked panicked. "My strength is leaving me. I can't tell you about the fight, but if you'll allow me, I can show you who killed me."

"Okay."

Lily placed a hand on Ellie's cheek, and the next thing Ellie knew, someone else was calling her name. Someone was patting her cheek and calling for 'Josie'. Ellie opened her eyes and found John and the school nurse standing above her.

"Hey, sweetie." Nurse Jones said. "You okay? We found you passed out on the floor."

"Um…" Ellie eyed her father, praying he would get the message that they needed to talk alone. "I stood up and felt real lightheaded."

"Do you feel okay now?"

"Just a little bit dizzy. Daddy, can we go home? Now?"

"Mr. McCoy, you need to take her to the ER." Nurse Jones urged.

"We'll do that." John promised. "Come on, honey. Grab your stuff."

Ellie allowed herself to be led out of the building, still pretending that she felt faint. As soon as the two of them were in the car, Ellie excitedly told her father the story of what had actually happened in the library. She could tell John was skeptical, and even more so when she revealed who it was that had killed Lily.

"Principal Adams?"