A/N: Okay, as I said before…this is mostly to Shadoe, actually. I appreciate your reviewing me and giving me ideas, but I might remind you that if you want to write a story, go right ahead. This one's mine. Actually, it's theirs. The characters are writing this. Not me. Not that I'm claiming any character aside from Cali, that is. Point a) Cali is not evil. She reflects me, actually, and I'm most certainly not evil. Point b) I can't control what she does. Point c) If you were a true writer, you'd understand what I'm saying. I don't mean to be harsh, but honestly, I don't control what my character does, and how the others respond to her. They do. I have ideas to kind of guide them, but they write the plot, not me. Oh, and as a side note, If you don't like the story, don't read it. *Shrug* No one's forcing you to. Comprenez-vous?

Good, I thought so. Moving on…

Chapter 5: Suze's Disappearing Act

            **Jesse**

"And look at these, Father Dominic," I said, showing him my arm where Calixte had slashed me. "I don't know what to do. She hates me. She seems to hate everyone aside from Susannah."

Father Dominic sighed. "I don't know. Heartbreak, hates men…I don't know what to do about her either, Jesse. Honestly, there are no books on women."

"If there were, it would save us all a lot of trouble," I drawled. I never understood any of them, and I doubted Calixte would be a first. I ran a hand through my hair. "I feel so bad about what I said…I didn't mean to hurt her…but how could I have known?" I was talking to myself, really. "Something's different about Calixte," I mumbled.

Father Dominic, to my shock, nodded. "You're right. There is something different. The way her eyes change colors like that isn't quite…right. You know what I mean? I know she's not evil, or anything…the way she spoke about Paul sounded like she hated him…she couldn't hate him…could she?"

"You're asking me? It sounds to me like she could hate all men. I wonder if Susannah could get her to talk," I thought aloud. "I'll talk to her and ask her to get something out of Calixte. She wouldn't go into details. Only told me she'd had her heart broken, and that's all." I sighed. How was I going to get into Calixte's mind? Even if I did have telepathy and mind-reading abilities, which I don't, she seems adept at all that, and I don't think I'd be able to get past a mental block she had on her mind…

            **Cali**

God, was that embarrassing. I had been thinking about it through the rest of the day. I really need to learn how to keep my mouth shut about my problems. If I never saw Jesse again, it would be too soon. I repeat: I hate men, I hate men, I hate men!! Why the hell did they all like me? I keep telling them to go away, and they keep bouncing back. Goddamn it. I hate my life…

"Hello, hello," said a male voice from behind me. Fuck. "You're new, aren't you?" the guy said.

"Yes. Go away," I snapped without turning around. I almost fell backwards when the guy stepped right in front of me. It was that pretty good looking guy that Suze had been sitting with at lunch.

"I'm Adam," he said, holding out a hand, which I glared at. "Whoa – down, kitty," he said quietly, noticing my glare and taking his hand away. "I see this was a bad time…"

I winced. I didn't like to be mean. I really didn't, but I couldn't handle another guy today. Damn my conscience… "I'm sorry…I'm having a very…off day today. I'm Calixte, but call me that and you'll really regret it. Cali," I said, giving him my nickname.

"Cali. Cute," he said, grinning at me. I glared, mastering the urge to slap him. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Look, I gotta find my ride. Bye," I said, walking away. I walked over to the fountain and surprisingly, Suze wasn't there. No, it was the last person I ever wanted to see. Jesse. Damn it! Why couldn't I escape from him? "Oh no, not you," I complained, dropping my bag onto the ground with a thud. Then I dropped myself onto a bench near it, putting my head in my hands.

"Calixte -"

"What do you mean you don't know – oh shit, I did it again," I mumbled. I've been having trouble controlling when I hear thoughts for awhile now. "When did you last see her?" Okay, so I don't leave you all confused, I just picked up from Jesse's head that Suze was missing. "Susannah," as he called her. Last he saw her, she had been walking into the building and I had been ready to kill him. "Sorry," I said quietly. I searched my mind, trying to figure out how I could find her. I quickly stopped when I started to give myself a headache. Then it hit me. "What do you think happened to her?" I asked him, still not looking at him.

"The same thing you're thinking. Slater. My guess is where we find him, we find Susannah."

I sighed. I really hated to use this part of my power, but it looked like I had to. There were two parts of my power that I really hated. This one, which was essentially separating my mind from my body, was particularly nasty. My body went totally unconscious, and I always had this awful coughing fit when I put the two parts back together, from hardly breathing. Then there was the other part…I hated it. I really hated it. I almost hated it more than I hate guys, which says a lot. I had this…weird power to put guys into trances. Unfortunately, I had to get kind of close to them. I had to be touching them, actually. My hands had to be somewhere on them, and more often than not, they fight me. I could always control it, and hardly ever used it, but I've had to, on occasion. I had a feeling this would be one of them. Damnit… "Okay. We need to get back to my house," I said with a sigh. Unfortunately, my house was about five miles away. Oh, what I wouldn't give to have a pair of bigass wings…

Jesse moved to pick up my bag, but I snatched it away, telling him I was perfectly capable of carrying my stuff. "It just looked a little heavy," he said with a shrug.

"See this?" I said, and flexed my bicep, which I'm proud to say is almost rock hard. (Hey, I gotta keep in shape to kick ghost ass.) "I do not need your help." Besides, if it got heavy, I could pull the weight with my telekinesis. I thought a minute, then groaned in frustration. I didn't know how to get back to my house. "Okay, I take it back. It's going to be Suze's house, since I don't know how to get back to mine," I said, running a hand through my hair. "You lead, Jesse," I said, hating to let a male be in charge. Oh well – I didn't see any other choice. As we started walking, I could hear him thinking to himself in Spanish. "Slow down, amigo. Yo no hablo espanol. How can I read your thoughts if I can't understand them?" I asked. I had to grin…I couldn't help it. "French, I can do. Spanish is almost a nada."

            **Jesse**

"You do realize you just spoke Spanish, right?" I said with a smile. I couldn't help but wonder how she was going to find Susannah. I started to ask, but decided the less I said the better. She hadn't seemed the sensitive type, but apparently the topic of men, or why she hates them, were both very unsafe topics of discussion. I wanted to learn more about her, but she seemed rather mad at me, so I didn't ask any questions.

"Hey, just don't speak Spanish at me, or I'll be forced to speak French at you, mon cherie," she said. She had a perfect French accent. Nice. Stop that, Jesse! I ordered myself. I kept mentally complementing her, and she could probably hear it. I needed to guard my thoughts…

"Don't bother," she said. "You don't have the capabilities to form a mental shield strong enough to keep me out," she said, moving her messenger bag to the other shoulder and rubbing her right. I could feel some sort of power emanating from her…like she was preparing to do something, or charging her power.

I reached out to grab her wrist, but changed my mind and grabbed her bag instead. "This way," I corrected when she started to cross a street and needed to turn right.

"Wait a minute," she said, throwing an arm out and catching me hard in the stomach. Good thing I had muscles there… "How do we get in? I mean, her parents wouldn't recognize me and I couldn't make them think I was her…could I?" she asked me. How could I know what she could do?

"We go in through the window in her bedroom," I told her, pointing to Susannah's house. "This is it. Wait here," I said, and dematerialized. I materialized on the porch roof, which stretched out just under the window, reaching a hand down to Calixte.

Calixte – very hesitantly – reached up, and I leaned down a little farther and grasped her forearm, pulling her up easily onto the roof, and in through the window. "Wow, you're strong," she said to me, shocked.

"Wow, you're light," I retorted. She was, too. She felt…what, about a hundred pounds? 105, maybe. But that was with her bag. She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me. I raised an eyebrow, slightly amused by this behavior.

She raised one of hers back at me. "How did you get that?" she asked, pointing to the eyebrow I realized had a scar in it.

"What? Oh – dog bite," I said, running a finger along it. Almost as soon as she sat down next to me as far away as she could get while still on the cushions, Spike jumped up between us. He turned to Calixte and blinked at her for a moment before clawing at her. I was about to warn her when I saw her flick her wrist and catch Spike's paw.

"Bad kitty," she said in a low-pitched voice, then hissed at Spike, sounding exactly like a cat herself. Spike immediately jumped onto my lap and shrank back, trying to meld into the cushions and failing miserably.

I frowned. I'd never seen Spike act like that before. When I asked her what she did to him, she shrugged and said she'd done nothing. "Animals just respond to me," she'd said. "They called me kitty at my old school. Kitty, Kitten, nicknames along those lines." When I started to ask why, she held up a hand. "I'm balanced, I always keep my fingernails sharpened, I'm flexible, and I can make cats go running from the room when I hiss," she said with a grin. She shook her head. "Down to business. Okay, let me warn you about what's going to happen…I hate doing this. My body's going to go unconscious, and the rest of me will go out in search of Suze's aura. You have to keep watch on my pulse. Time it. If I'm not conscious in three minutes, try to call my mind. If that doesn't work…never mind. It'll work. It's never failed," she said, failing to reassure me.

It sounded like attempted suicide to me. Aside from the fact that she didn't want to die. "Calixte, what if -?"

"No 'what ifs'. This will work. Trust me, Jesse." She sighed. "Alright, here we go…"

            **Cali**

Oh, how I hated this…Oh well. I had to do it. I walked over to Suze's bed. No way was I going to let myself fall unconscious on the window seat and land on Spike and (humiliatingly) Jesse. I laid down flat on the bed after moving the pillows slightly. If I lay on pillows, I'd be likely to fall asleep, and that was bad. "Remember what to do?" I asked him. When he nodded, I sighed. "Alright…" I lifted my index and middle fingers to my temples and closed my eyes. I let go of my air as I pulled the energy out of my head, essentially knocking my body out. Before I went out, I felt Jesse's fingers come to rest on my throat, keeping tabs on my pulse. Good boy, I thought. I could feel my breathing start to slow as my mind soared out the window, searching for Suze.

Oh Suuuuuze, I thought. Where are you? I was just about to loop back and see if I could find her by going in another direction when I felt her aura flare. What was going on? My mind's eye flew farther out, and I saw her. Damn! She was tied up, bruised, and fighting unconsciousness. ~Suze, it's Cali. Jesse and I are coming to get you. Hang in there,~ I mindspoke to her, and sent her a little bit of my energy, as much as I could afford while still living.

Suddenly I felt another presence in the room. I knew it was Slater. He looked around, frowning, and then turned and stared right at my mind's eye. Shit! I saw him lift a hand and start to throw something at me, but before he could, I turned and bolted out of there as fast as humanly possible. I landed back in my body hard, and gasped as that chilly air filled my lungs. As was predicted, I had a nasty coughing fit, unable to speak for about five minutes. Jesse, at some point, went and got me a glass of water.

"Well?" he asked me once I stopped coughing.

"I fou – er," I croaked, then drank more water. I cleared my raw throat gently. "I found her."