It was dark. That's really all there was to describe this new place. Oh,
and cold. Terribly cold. I could barely move from the effect the numbing
chill had on my spectral self.
It was not long before Jesse, and Paul, who had his hand around Jesse's ankle, joined me.
I looked around, and all I could see was the inky blackness that blanketed everything around me. I only knew that Jesse and Paul were with me because I could hear them sniping at each other, and making serious threats of amputation, disembowelment, decapitation, and other stuff involving one's anatomy that sounded just GROSS. I mean, seriously, this was getting so immature.
'Well, if you don't shut up Slater, I'll knock your nose into your skull so far, you won't be able to-'
'Uh, Jesse? Paul? What the hell are we doing here?' I interrupted, not very politely. I looked over at where I thought they were, but it was hard, because their voices were kind of everywhere. I mean, seriously, you couldn't see a THING. No slightly lighter black shadows moving around on a sheet of ink. Nup, nothing. No stars above, no fog even. It was really scary, like loosing one of my most precious and vital senses.
Paul answered. 'We're waiting, Suze-'
But Jesse cut him off in fury, 'Call her Susannah, you limp-'
'All right! Susannah then!' snapped Paul, his irritation heavy in the cold air.
This was really pissing me off, but I kept my cool, because, well . . . oh, okay, I was scared that Jesse might lose it again. Okay, happy? I said it!
I shivered. 'Well? What are we waiting for then?' I asked.
'Shhhh . . .' hushed Paul, and both guys went very quiet.
'What? Why-' I began, but a hand flew to my mouth.
'Silence, Susannah,' said Jesse, but to my utter astonishment and bliss, he sounded a little like his old self. Was the curse over? Was it? Oh, cool! My Jesse was back! Joy, oh joy! A bubble of ecstasy inflated within me! He lowered his hand slowly as he felt me calm down.
'Jesse? Is the curse over? Are you-' I said, but with such severity, he grabbed my hair, yanked it, and his hand was over my mouth again to shut me up. Yeah, that bubble?
. . . Uh, it just popped . . .
So, I was listening to a silence that was so loud, my ears were ringing. My head ached from Mr Da Silva's brutal tugging episode, but I didn't feel helpless anymore. That was something, at least-
WHOA!
With a sudden rushing wind and a flash of white light that burned my eyes, a whole herd of these black horses came charging at us! For real! I jammed my eyes closed expectantly, screamed and leapt to the side, but I didn't hear Paul or Jesse make any movement. When I heard the sound of hammering hooves stop, I dared to open my eyes. There, I saw the most ferocious looking horses I have ever seen. Their whole bodies were completely black, and they were bridled with thick leather strips. Their coats were shiny, but the manes and tails were long and bushy, so that the hair fell to the ground in messy layers. But their eyes were the most disturbing of all. Like Jesse's and Paul's had been before, they were jet black, and glared out accusingly.
But it was what Paul said that made me freak.
'Okay, come on, I'll help you up.'
I stopped dead, and tore my eyes away from the horses and snapped them onto him. (I could now see him and Jesse from the faint glow that was still illuminating from the horses.) 'Uh, what? No, I'm best with my two feet on the ground, thanks,' I answered quickly. I mean, in the normal world, I don't like going on thrashing, wild animals that are heavier than myself, (well, I'll make one exception . . .) but these things? Oh, no. I was staying well aaaWAY! AHH!
Jesse's hands had planted themselves around my hips and had hoisted me up onto the nearest one before I could conclude my thoughts. I had to grab on to the horse's mane very sharply prevent myself from falling off, which must have riled it, if the way it reared up and attempted to fling me twenty feet away was any indication.
'Get me off this mad thing!' I said, as it bucked like billy-o.
'Susannah, you will be obedi-'
'No, I won't be obedient, Hector!' I yelled, calling him by his proper name to annoy him. I saw his eyes narrow and his body tense, but Paul stepped in front of him before he could act.
'Get on a bloody horse, Da Silva,' Paul said dangerously, 'Or . . . we might be late.'
There was a hidden message in there that I must have missed, but alarmingly, my horse stopped bucking, and Jesse listened to Paul willingly without promising he was going to sever specific parts of his body, which was not a relief, believe it or not. It made me worry.
Jesse mounted his black beauty with ease, and gave me the impression that he was very familiar with horse riding. Well, he must have been, being the rich son of a rancher. Paul straddled his also, but lacking Jesse's grace and confidence on a creature so feral natured. My anger was starting to overwhelm me again, as no one was telling me where we were.
'Listen, you guys had better tell me what is going on, because-' I started, but was cat short by Jesse's yell of 'H'yah!' accompanied by a painful sounding slap on the horses thigh. It neighed in indignation, reared, and sped off.
'Do the same, Suze!' shouted Paul over the rumble of moving hooves as the others in the herd began to canter after Jesse. I looked at him crazily, and then turned to the back of my horses head uncertainly. Then, with as much vigour I could muster in my hesitation, I walloped the horse on the upper leg. It kicked back, and galloped rapidly after Paul, who'd just taken off. Being constantly jerked around wasn't a very rewarding sensation. I felt like I was ready to puke.
My hands closed firmer on the bridle, and I squinted my eyes at the bobbing black behind of Paul's horse. I sped my own up, until I was beside him.
'You think you could tell me what's up?' I asked in a shout, as those horses were LOUD.
His head darted at me, and I could see his curls were being blown back.
'Suze, you got to understand, I didn't want you to come with us-'
'I don't care about that,' I said impatiently shaking, 'just tell me where you two are going.'
Paul screwed up his face on his untamed horse. 'All right,' he said. 'Well, this place is kind of similar to your Shadowland. Except, well, this isn't a very nice bit. You think these horses are just here to scare little girls like you?' I sniffed with affront. 'No, these are the only creatures that can cross here. Although you don't see it, the ground absorbs souls. And seeing as us ghosts are purely souls, we are in big trouble. This darkness is to hide the floor, and tries to trick people into walking on it. Where we landed is the only place that has ground that is safe to stand upon-'
'Okay, yeah, enough on this place,' I said, as our horses sped across inky oblivion, 'What are we doing here at all? I mean, I know you're getting us back to life, but how?'
Paul whipped his head back to me, his eyes reduced to thin slits in an effort to protect his eyes. 'Well, there's a certain dude we have to go see. We have to negotiate with him and if he thinks that we died unfairly, and are worthy of resurrection, we pop back onto earth. But if not . . .' He trailed off and stopped looking at me. I frowned in suspicion.
'If not? What, Paul?' I asked, my voice laced with accusation.
Paul looked pained, but took a quick breath and said in a would-be casual tone, 'He'll just Delete us.'
'Delete us?' I asked, 'what does Delete mean? Send us back as ghosts?'
Paul laughed hollowly. 'Oh, no,' he laughed, although there was no humour in his voice, 'He restores us to life, but . . . uh, we aren't us anymore.'
I stared. 'Wassa watta?' I asked in disgusted confusion.
'Well, it's the same effect with the Ghost Hunter's Knife, isn't it. Except, he replaces our bodies with evil souls, rather than sending our ghosts back into our bodies.'
My jaw fell. 'What?!' I shrilled, and pulled on my reins. Paul stopped too, and advised, 'Keep moving, Suze, or Mr Murderer will chuck a spaz.'
'Hey!' I snapped, nudging the horse with my feet, 'Don't call him that. If I remember correctly, this is all your doing. Don't try to pin it on him just because you stuffed up when you cursed him, and made him all evil! It's your fault that I'm dead, and I wish that I'd never met you, Paul.'
I twisted around so I wasn't facing him anymore and rode faster, but he caught up to me.
'Now, Suze, don't be like that,' he said ruefully, 'I said I was so-'
'Sorry won't cut it, Paul!' I shouted, my voice crackling dangerously. I felt a large lump swelling in my throat. 'I'm dead because of you, and there's a good chance that I'm going to have to either stay that way, or worse . . .' I blinked savagely, but decided to ride away again. But once more, he caught up. This time, he grabbed my hand, and made me face him. Our horses were very close, which seemed to infuriate them, but Paul didn't notice.
'Suze, I told you before, I'm going to do everything possible to get you back alive, and I don't care what it takes. I'm more sorry than what I can say that Jesse did that to you. I shouldn't have cursed him. Can you ever forgive me?' He looked at me hopefully. His grip on my hand tightened.
I seriously considered it. Forgiving him, I mean. I mean, that way, we could have gotten on, and he would have tried harder to help me and respect my wishes. But I was too stubborn, wasn't I.
I pulled my hand gently from his. 'Paul, you screwed up big time. I mean, that time when you lured me to your room was bad, and what I had to go through with my feet was torture, but hey, if you haven't noticed, I'm DEAD. That is a big thing that's hard to forgive, you know. I might never see my family and friends again, you realize, and you want me to say that is okay? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but you can live with the guilt. Mind, you're not exactly flesh and blood yourself, so living isn't exactly one of your specialties at the moment wither,' I said coldly.
That was when his look hardened. 'Hey, you killed me too,' he said angrily, 'I'm dead because of YOU. How does that make you feel?' he demanded.
'It makes me feel even,' I retorted. 'We're even. You killed me, I killed you. But it doesn't mean you get my forgiveness, you ass.'
It was about then, I think, when my horse reared up sharply and unexpectedly. I screamed, and was thrown over the side of my horse, but still clung for dear life. The stupid thing went cantering violently all over the place, and I knew that I was slipping . . .
'Suze, hang on!' Paul shouted, and pulled his horse up near my own crazy one. His head kept turning from side to side, as he was looking forward, and then down at me to check if I was okay. I was still yelling, because those hooves? Yeah, they were coming really close to my face. I mean, we're talking millimeters here!
'I'm hanging on!' I bit. Then, the horse stopped, and with almighty force, flipped me into the air, so I gained several meters in altitude. Then, gravity acted, and I fell back down . . . Of course, my horse was long gone, so I was destined to fall onto that fatal floor of blackness, but with lightning reflexes, Paul's arm whipped out just in time, caught me around my torso, and pulled me onto his own horse. Okay, I was WAY too traumatized to remember that I hated him, and so I kind of let him position me between him and the back of the horses head, my legs dangling over one side, and both his arms on either side of me to prevent me from falling off his horse.
'Shit,' was all I could say.
'Shhhh,' he soothed, 'It's all right. You're fine, you're all right.'
Okay, having a big fat hoof almost in your mouth isn't what I consider to be all right OR fine. But I was just too freaked, and WAY pissed off with that bloody horse. I mean, how rude!
So, against Paul's warm chest, I just closed my eyes, and tried not to think about anything. It was actually a very nice spot to be. But, well, I did my nut when he kissed me gently on the forehead. I mean, come on, I was still angry at HIM too, wasn't I, so I wasn't welcoming any romantic attentions from him any time soon.
'Hey, lay off!' I said, and pushed myself as far away from him the best I could on horseback, which, when you think about it, isn't very far. He just shrugged, and looked in front of him. Okay, my ass was starting to go really numb from all the bouncing of our steed. As if an answer to an unspoken prayer, Paul pulled the reins abruptly, so that we came to a complete stop. I saw that Jesse had done the same, and all the other wild black horses were pawing the mysterious ground. I inhaled a breath of air that was lined with iciness.
'What happened to Susannah's horse?' asked Jesse, his tone corresponding with the temperature.
'It went nuts, and she almost fell off,' Paul explained, dismounting, and pulling me down carefully. I found that I was shivering, and so Paul gave me his jacket, ghostly as it was.
'Hey, a question,' I said to Paul. 'Why can I still feel the cold? I mean, I'm dead.'
Paul looked at me seriously while Jesse was checking all the horses. 'Well, this place affects ghosts, demons, the alive, whatever. You are not immune to the usual things that most are on earth. Everybody suffers and feels here,' he said. I felt like my back was sagging under his jacket.
'Oh, right,' I replied, not really understanding, but yeah . . .
Jesse walked over to us. 'Slater, I'm making a new rule. If one of us falls behind, they stay there. No going and lending a hand, it's their own fate,' he said irately.
Whoa, wasn't this a bit too Pirates of the Caribbean for me?
'So, what, if you're hanging over a cliff, you want me to leave you there, is that it?' asked Paul, as though he'd have liked nothing better.
Jesse's look darkened. 'Slater, I assure you, that situation will never arise.'
'It could happen, so watch your back,' muttered Paul evilly under his breath, and slipped his hand in mine. Jesse didn't hear him. Instead he looked right at me, and his eyes flashed black, so they matched the horses'. I rolled my eyes, knowing that he was trying to look like Mr Scary Himself. Well, it wasn't working. I was getting stronger as a ghost, thank you very much.
'Both of you follow me,' said Jesse aloofly. Then, he turned to me, saw that Paul's hand was clasped around my own, and his eyes flashed an evanescent, scorching red colour. He pushed Paul over, and dragged me away from him.
'What's your problem?' I wanted to know, as he pulled me towards what seemed to be more nothingness.
'Silence.'
'No, Jesse. You're acting like the biggest ass to me. Are you going to admit that you are cursed, or what? You don't still think that you are just having a bad day or something, do you? I mean, I'd put it down to PMS if I didn't know that ghosts, let alone dudes, couldn't get it, so what?' I said savagely. His grip on my wrist intensified.
'Ow! Now, Jesse, that hurts! See? See, you're at it again! You're acting like a loser! Do you see yourself? It's way-'
'Shut up, Suze!' hissed Paul in my ear. I glared at HIM to shut up.
'You should really listen to Mr Slater, Susannah,' growled Jesse, 'He has the right idea at the moment.' Then, all of a sudden, he just stopped. Paul ran into me, and his chin bashed on my head. We both groaned, and looked at Jesse, who seemed to be searching for something . . .
It was not long before Jesse, and Paul, who had his hand around Jesse's ankle, joined me.
I looked around, and all I could see was the inky blackness that blanketed everything around me. I only knew that Jesse and Paul were with me because I could hear them sniping at each other, and making serious threats of amputation, disembowelment, decapitation, and other stuff involving one's anatomy that sounded just GROSS. I mean, seriously, this was getting so immature.
'Well, if you don't shut up Slater, I'll knock your nose into your skull so far, you won't be able to-'
'Uh, Jesse? Paul? What the hell are we doing here?' I interrupted, not very politely. I looked over at where I thought they were, but it was hard, because their voices were kind of everywhere. I mean, seriously, you couldn't see a THING. No slightly lighter black shadows moving around on a sheet of ink. Nup, nothing. No stars above, no fog even. It was really scary, like loosing one of my most precious and vital senses.
Paul answered. 'We're waiting, Suze-'
But Jesse cut him off in fury, 'Call her Susannah, you limp-'
'All right! Susannah then!' snapped Paul, his irritation heavy in the cold air.
This was really pissing me off, but I kept my cool, because, well . . . oh, okay, I was scared that Jesse might lose it again. Okay, happy? I said it!
I shivered. 'Well? What are we waiting for then?' I asked.
'Shhhh . . .' hushed Paul, and both guys went very quiet.
'What? Why-' I began, but a hand flew to my mouth.
'Silence, Susannah,' said Jesse, but to my utter astonishment and bliss, he sounded a little like his old self. Was the curse over? Was it? Oh, cool! My Jesse was back! Joy, oh joy! A bubble of ecstasy inflated within me! He lowered his hand slowly as he felt me calm down.
'Jesse? Is the curse over? Are you-' I said, but with such severity, he grabbed my hair, yanked it, and his hand was over my mouth again to shut me up. Yeah, that bubble?
. . . Uh, it just popped . . .
So, I was listening to a silence that was so loud, my ears were ringing. My head ached from Mr Da Silva's brutal tugging episode, but I didn't feel helpless anymore. That was something, at least-
WHOA!
With a sudden rushing wind and a flash of white light that burned my eyes, a whole herd of these black horses came charging at us! For real! I jammed my eyes closed expectantly, screamed and leapt to the side, but I didn't hear Paul or Jesse make any movement. When I heard the sound of hammering hooves stop, I dared to open my eyes. There, I saw the most ferocious looking horses I have ever seen. Their whole bodies were completely black, and they were bridled with thick leather strips. Their coats were shiny, but the manes and tails were long and bushy, so that the hair fell to the ground in messy layers. But their eyes were the most disturbing of all. Like Jesse's and Paul's had been before, they were jet black, and glared out accusingly.
But it was what Paul said that made me freak.
'Okay, come on, I'll help you up.'
I stopped dead, and tore my eyes away from the horses and snapped them onto him. (I could now see him and Jesse from the faint glow that was still illuminating from the horses.) 'Uh, what? No, I'm best with my two feet on the ground, thanks,' I answered quickly. I mean, in the normal world, I don't like going on thrashing, wild animals that are heavier than myself, (well, I'll make one exception . . .) but these things? Oh, no. I was staying well aaaWAY! AHH!
Jesse's hands had planted themselves around my hips and had hoisted me up onto the nearest one before I could conclude my thoughts. I had to grab on to the horse's mane very sharply prevent myself from falling off, which must have riled it, if the way it reared up and attempted to fling me twenty feet away was any indication.
'Get me off this mad thing!' I said, as it bucked like billy-o.
'Susannah, you will be obedi-'
'No, I won't be obedient, Hector!' I yelled, calling him by his proper name to annoy him. I saw his eyes narrow and his body tense, but Paul stepped in front of him before he could act.
'Get on a bloody horse, Da Silva,' Paul said dangerously, 'Or . . . we might be late.'
There was a hidden message in there that I must have missed, but alarmingly, my horse stopped bucking, and Jesse listened to Paul willingly without promising he was going to sever specific parts of his body, which was not a relief, believe it or not. It made me worry.
Jesse mounted his black beauty with ease, and gave me the impression that he was very familiar with horse riding. Well, he must have been, being the rich son of a rancher. Paul straddled his also, but lacking Jesse's grace and confidence on a creature so feral natured. My anger was starting to overwhelm me again, as no one was telling me where we were.
'Listen, you guys had better tell me what is going on, because-' I started, but was cat short by Jesse's yell of 'H'yah!' accompanied by a painful sounding slap on the horses thigh. It neighed in indignation, reared, and sped off.
'Do the same, Suze!' shouted Paul over the rumble of moving hooves as the others in the herd began to canter after Jesse. I looked at him crazily, and then turned to the back of my horses head uncertainly. Then, with as much vigour I could muster in my hesitation, I walloped the horse on the upper leg. It kicked back, and galloped rapidly after Paul, who'd just taken off. Being constantly jerked around wasn't a very rewarding sensation. I felt like I was ready to puke.
My hands closed firmer on the bridle, and I squinted my eyes at the bobbing black behind of Paul's horse. I sped my own up, until I was beside him.
'You think you could tell me what's up?' I asked in a shout, as those horses were LOUD.
His head darted at me, and I could see his curls were being blown back.
'Suze, you got to understand, I didn't want you to come with us-'
'I don't care about that,' I said impatiently shaking, 'just tell me where you two are going.'
Paul screwed up his face on his untamed horse. 'All right,' he said. 'Well, this place is kind of similar to your Shadowland. Except, well, this isn't a very nice bit. You think these horses are just here to scare little girls like you?' I sniffed with affront. 'No, these are the only creatures that can cross here. Although you don't see it, the ground absorbs souls. And seeing as us ghosts are purely souls, we are in big trouble. This darkness is to hide the floor, and tries to trick people into walking on it. Where we landed is the only place that has ground that is safe to stand upon-'
'Okay, yeah, enough on this place,' I said, as our horses sped across inky oblivion, 'What are we doing here at all? I mean, I know you're getting us back to life, but how?'
Paul whipped his head back to me, his eyes reduced to thin slits in an effort to protect his eyes. 'Well, there's a certain dude we have to go see. We have to negotiate with him and if he thinks that we died unfairly, and are worthy of resurrection, we pop back onto earth. But if not . . .' He trailed off and stopped looking at me. I frowned in suspicion.
'If not? What, Paul?' I asked, my voice laced with accusation.
Paul looked pained, but took a quick breath and said in a would-be casual tone, 'He'll just Delete us.'
'Delete us?' I asked, 'what does Delete mean? Send us back as ghosts?'
Paul laughed hollowly. 'Oh, no,' he laughed, although there was no humour in his voice, 'He restores us to life, but . . . uh, we aren't us anymore.'
I stared. 'Wassa watta?' I asked in disgusted confusion.
'Well, it's the same effect with the Ghost Hunter's Knife, isn't it. Except, he replaces our bodies with evil souls, rather than sending our ghosts back into our bodies.'
My jaw fell. 'What?!' I shrilled, and pulled on my reins. Paul stopped too, and advised, 'Keep moving, Suze, or Mr Murderer will chuck a spaz.'
'Hey!' I snapped, nudging the horse with my feet, 'Don't call him that. If I remember correctly, this is all your doing. Don't try to pin it on him just because you stuffed up when you cursed him, and made him all evil! It's your fault that I'm dead, and I wish that I'd never met you, Paul.'
I twisted around so I wasn't facing him anymore and rode faster, but he caught up to me.
'Now, Suze, don't be like that,' he said ruefully, 'I said I was so-'
'Sorry won't cut it, Paul!' I shouted, my voice crackling dangerously. I felt a large lump swelling in my throat. 'I'm dead because of you, and there's a good chance that I'm going to have to either stay that way, or worse . . .' I blinked savagely, but decided to ride away again. But once more, he caught up. This time, he grabbed my hand, and made me face him. Our horses were very close, which seemed to infuriate them, but Paul didn't notice.
'Suze, I told you before, I'm going to do everything possible to get you back alive, and I don't care what it takes. I'm more sorry than what I can say that Jesse did that to you. I shouldn't have cursed him. Can you ever forgive me?' He looked at me hopefully. His grip on my hand tightened.
I seriously considered it. Forgiving him, I mean. I mean, that way, we could have gotten on, and he would have tried harder to help me and respect my wishes. But I was too stubborn, wasn't I.
I pulled my hand gently from his. 'Paul, you screwed up big time. I mean, that time when you lured me to your room was bad, and what I had to go through with my feet was torture, but hey, if you haven't noticed, I'm DEAD. That is a big thing that's hard to forgive, you know. I might never see my family and friends again, you realize, and you want me to say that is okay? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but you can live with the guilt. Mind, you're not exactly flesh and blood yourself, so living isn't exactly one of your specialties at the moment wither,' I said coldly.
That was when his look hardened. 'Hey, you killed me too,' he said angrily, 'I'm dead because of YOU. How does that make you feel?' he demanded.
'It makes me feel even,' I retorted. 'We're even. You killed me, I killed you. But it doesn't mean you get my forgiveness, you ass.'
It was about then, I think, when my horse reared up sharply and unexpectedly. I screamed, and was thrown over the side of my horse, but still clung for dear life. The stupid thing went cantering violently all over the place, and I knew that I was slipping . . .
'Suze, hang on!' Paul shouted, and pulled his horse up near my own crazy one. His head kept turning from side to side, as he was looking forward, and then down at me to check if I was okay. I was still yelling, because those hooves? Yeah, they were coming really close to my face. I mean, we're talking millimeters here!
'I'm hanging on!' I bit. Then, the horse stopped, and with almighty force, flipped me into the air, so I gained several meters in altitude. Then, gravity acted, and I fell back down . . . Of course, my horse was long gone, so I was destined to fall onto that fatal floor of blackness, but with lightning reflexes, Paul's arm whipped out just in time, caught me around my torso, and pulled me onto his own horse. Okay, I was WAY too traumatized to remember that I hated him, and so I kind of let him position me between him and the back of the horses head, my legs dangling over one side, and both his arms on either side of me to prevent me from falling off his horse.
'Shit,' was all I could say.
'Shhhh,' he soothed, 'It's all right. You're fine, you're all right.'
Okay, having a big fat hoof almost in your mouth isn't what I consider to be all right OR fine. But I was just too freaked, and WAY pissed off with that bloody horse. I mean, how rude!
So, against Paul's warm chest, I just closed my eyes, and tried not to think about anything. It was actually a very nice spot to be. But, well, I did my nut when he kissed me gently on the forehead. I mean, come on, I was still angry at HIM too, wasn't I, so I wasn't welcoming any romantic attentions from him any time soon.
'Hey, lay off!' I said, and pushed myself as far away from him the best I could on horseback, which, when you think about it, isn't very far. He just shrugged, and looked in front of him. Okay, my ass was starting to go really numb from all the bouncing of our steed. As if an answer to an unspoken prayer, Paul pulled the reins abruptly, so that we came to a complete stop. I saw that Jesse had done the same, and all the other wild black horses were pawing the mysterious ground. I inhaled a breath of air that was lined with iciness.
'What happened to Susannah's horse?' asked Jesse, his tone corresponding with the temperature.
'It went nuts, and she almost fell off,' Paul explained, dismounting, and pulling me down carefully. I found that I was shivering, and so Paul gave me his jacket, ghostly as it was.
'Hey, a question,' I said to Paul. 'Why can I still feel the cold? I mean, I'm dead.'
Paul looked at me seriously while Jesse was checking all the horses. 'Well, this place affects ghosts, demons, the alive, whatever. You are not immune to the usual things that most are on earth. Everybody suffers and feels here,' he said. I felt like my back was sagging under his jacket.
'Oh, right,' I replied, not really understanding, but yeah . . .
Jesse walked over to us. 'Slater, I'm making a new rule. If one of us falls behind, they stay there. No going and lending a hand, it's their own fate,' he said irately.
Whoa, wasn't this a bit too Pirates of the Caribbean for me?
'So, what, if you're hanging over a cliff, you want me to leave you there, is that it?' asked Paul, as though he'd have liked nothing better.
Jesse's look darkened. 'Slater, I assure you, that situation will never arise.'
'It could happen, so watch your back,' muttered Paul evilly under his breath, and slipped his hand in mine. Jesse didn't hear him. Instead he looked right at me, and his eyes flashed black, so they matched the horses'. I rolled my eyes, knowing that he was trying to look like Mr Scary Himself. Well, it wasn't working. I was getting stronger as a ghost, thank you very much.
'Both of you follow me,' said Jesse aloofly. Then, he turned to me, saw that Paul's hand was clasped around my own, and his eyes flashed an evanescent, scorching red colour. He pushed Paul over, and dragged me away from him.
'What's your problem?' I wanted to know, as he pulled me towards what seemed to be more nothingness.
'Silence.'
'No, Jesse. You're acting like the biggest ass to me. Are you going to admit that you are cursed, or what? You don't still think that you are just having a bad day or something, do you? I mean, I'd put it down to PMS if I didn't know that ghosts, let alone dudes, couldn't get it, so what?' I said savagely. His grip on my wrist intensified.
'Ow! Now, Jesse, that hurts! See? See, you're at it again! You're acting like a loser! Do you see yourself? It's way-'
'Shut up, Suze!' hissed Paul in my ear. I glared at HIM to shut up.
'You should really listen to Mr Slater, Susannah,' growled Jesse, 'He has the right idea at the moment.' Then, all of a sudden, he just stopped. Paul ran into me, and his chin bashed on my head. We both groaned, and looked at Jesse, who seemed to be searching for something . . .