A/N: I'm glad you all like it! I have interesting plans…When I finish this story, what I do next will alllllllll depend on what you guys think. Keep reviewing and all that! My loyalish fanishes! *royal wave* =D

Oh – it might be awhile before I update this. I gotta wind down my book and all that so I can get to editing it and writing book 3! Plus I have a veeery busy weekend. Dress shopping, Cait! WOO!

            Chapter 7: Oops.

**Jesse**

            My jaw dropped as I watched Calixte and Paul. She hadn't realized Susannah and I were in the room, which was understandable, considering what had just happened. It had been self defense, though…no one could blame her for that. She certainly had the wounds to prove she had fought for her life.

            I was almost afraid to speak. "Calixte?" I said very carefully.

            She whirled around, just seeing us now. She was looking at us, but I had the feeling she wasn't really seeing us.

            "Paul," she whispered just audibly enough for us all to hear it as she turned back to him.

            ~So stupid, Cali. So stupid…~ he mindspoke to her, but let us all hear it. He stared into her eyes as the last of his life drained from him. I watched Calixte clap her hand over her mouth and the tears – real this time – flowed freely from her eyes. I glanced at Susannah, and she motioned for me to go to her. I cautiously walked to Calixte, who stood, staring in awe at the body of Paul Slater.

            "Calixte?" I said softly.

                        **Cali**

            I jumped when Jesse spoke. I hadn't really seen him until now. I felt this awful pain in my head. I actually touched my temples to make sure there wasn't something like a knife in them, it hurt so much. I don't think I'd ever felt pain that bad before in my life. It hurt to breathe, hurt to blink, hurt to think…the room started to spin…I couldn't help it…my body just collapsed.

                        **Suze**

            I stood up as Jesse lunged and caught Cali. "What should we do? I don't know how we'd explain a floating, unconscious Cali to her parents…maybe we should take her to my house," I suggested.

            Jesse nodded and looked at the hole in the ceiling, where Cali had come through, wincing. "I'll bet she has splinters in her back," he said, looking at the way the wood seemed torn. I looked, too. I was amazed Cali hadn't been killed…but then again, we mediators are hard to kill. All of a sudden, I felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end. I had a bad feeling…

            "Jesse, do you feel that?" I asked him quietly, looking around. When he nodded, I bit my lip. What could possibly be making me tense like this? Why would…Oh god. It hit me. "Jesse…It's Paul…Paul's coming back…"

            "Are you sure?" he asked me, and put Cali down against the pole I'd been tied to. When I nodded, Jesse ran a hand through his hair and looked around, waiting for the inevitable. He wrung his hands as the ominous feeling grew heavier in the air.

            "Well, well, well. If it isn't Susannah Simon," said an…almost evil voice from behind me. I, of course, jumped forward and spun around to find the ghost of Paul Slater. Yeah, you read that right. We were screwed. Totally screwed. "Aww, what's wrong, Suze? Don't like me anymore?" He pouted. "I'm so unloved…"

            "Damn straight you're unloved, you asshole," said a matter of fact voice from behind us. Cali was awake. "Why don't you pick on someone who can teach you a lesson, Slater? Or are you just afraid of me? Hmm?" She was teasing him…I kept saying "bad idea" over and over again in my head, and after a few seconds, I heard someone laughing, but no one was talking. Then I realized Cali was laughing at my telepathically… ~He's just an arrogant, overbearing idiot who needs to be put in his place,~ she mindspoke. ~I have nothing to worry about and neither do you as long as you don't get in the middle of this,~ she told me.

            "Can I just let you know that whatever happens to you is entirely your fault?" Jesse said to Cali, hands on his hips. I suspected she had been laughing at him, too. "Don't come crying to me if he kills you," he said with a shrug. I almost laughed. Just the way he had said it was so…funny…

            "Mm – hmm," Cali said, crossing her arms over her chest, showing off her bloodstained claws. Creepy. "Okay, c'mere Slater. Lemme destroy you and get it over with," she said calmly. Whoa. Down girl, I thought at the exact same moment Paul said it. We had been on the same wavelength for a second…Ahhh!

            Paul said nothing else, but lifted a hand and threw Cali against the wall. "Ow," I heard her hiss through gritted teeth at him. He had telekinesis now. Uh oh. Cali was in for it…

                        **Cali**

            "Don't like that, hmm?" Slater said, walking over to me. When he was close enough, he wrapped a hand around my throat and squeezed. I coughed, then swore mentally as I realized what I had to do. I had to use that power…I hated it soooo much…but if I wanted to live – which I did – I was going to have to use it.

            "Paul," I rasped out. I used my ever so handy telekinesis to punch his shoulder, hitting the nerve that numbed that arm. "Paul…" I called. I called this voice my siren voice. It had a kind of…resonance to it. It was weird. Like singing, but speaking. As was expected, Paul froze up, staring into space. He pulled out of the trance, shaking his head, then lunged forward to try and strangle me again. I opened my mouth and voiced an earsplitting note. I'm not quite sure what note it was, but it was effective, now that I had pushed his guard down.

            I was vaguely aware of Suze and Jesse both clapping their hands over their ears as I stared into Paul's eyes. God, were they creepy. I saw this hollow…hollow void where his soul should have been. I felt the note die, and Paul lunged again. I ducked down slightly so he'd have to bend to catch me. When he did, I did sort of an inverted flip and kicked him upside down against the pole, falling flat on my back in the process. I rolled aside as he slid down, but he landed on my wrist. I heard this sickening snap…but ignored it as I stood up.

Paul raised his hands, standing, and I watched a sphere of brilliant white energy forming…but it was laced with tendrils of black mist, which I took to be a bad sign. Especially when they started to multiply. It was half his size when he finally let go of it, sending it hurtling towards me, and effectively at Jesse and Suze as well, since they were directly behind me. I had no idea what it was going to do, but I lunged and caught it as best I could. When I caught it, it sort of…exploded. Oops. It sent this awful shock racing through me. I swallowed hard, scared out of my wits. Had I just sealed my fate? When the shock stopped, I realized I still had some of the sphere in my hands, but it was now pure white. I blinked at it for a second, then threw it at Paul. I watched it hit him and knock him down flat on his back on the floor.

However, when he went to get up, I realized he was against the pole and I was in the position to hurt him. What I did was exactly the opposite. I braced myself, then lunged forward and kissed him. I was thinking "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew" in my head over and over and over again, but I couldn't pull away until I felt him go into a trance. I shut my eyes, preparing to do something I vowed never to do again the first time I had gone there. I was a shifter. I hated to admit it, but I was. I pictured the shadowland, and felt myself shift realms. When I opened my eyes, I was still liplocked with Paul. I shoved him away from me, fighting the urge to gag.

He pulled out of the trance and launched himself at me. I raised a hand and threw him at a door. "Would you get in there and stop annoying me?" I said, putting my hands on my hips.

            Paul wordlessly glared at me, then closed his eyes and disappeared.