Disclaimer : Once again, the great and wonderful Meg Cabot owns everything! Well, almost. The plot line is my friend and my idea and the characters of Anne, Adriaan, Alea and Denise are ours as well.

Okay...chapter 16 is now officially up. I hope you guys like this chapter....I think it has a few surprises in it...you'll just have to read it to see. :) And thank you SO much to all of my wonderful reviewers. You guys are awesome and I hope that you enjoy this chapter! :)

Susannah's POV:

"Geez, what was taking her SO long?!" I grumbled impatiently as I sat on the bed after a long day of training. Yes, you heard that right…I am training for my BIG fight with Paul that I am inevitably going to have. Now I know you think its crazy….probably damn near impossible to do….but you see….I've been training for days on end and reading that….indescribable book. If anything that book was as cryptic as Jesse. I groaned in frustration and grabbed the book again, intent on getting a heck of a lot stronger than Paul. You see, even though I'm strong….I'm nowhere nears as strong as Paul probably is. I mean come on….he's had this book for how long? And, he's had a chance to read it a lot more times than I have, which probably explains all his knowledge of mediators…shifters…things like that. Speaking of which, I hadn't seen a single ghost since Maria….which I still haven't been able to figure out. I mean were people just giving up on the whole "unfinished business" thing and going on or what?! And speaking of ghosts who have problems moving on, I hadn't seen Maria in God knows how long and it was really starting to annoy me. It kind of made me wonder if maybe she had just left instead of listening to me, either way I wanted to know what was up.

"Maria!" I yelled….before I realized where I was and lowered my voice. "Maria!" I hissed. I saw a slight shimmer and then…there she was.

"What do you want?" She grumbled.

Well someone must be PMSing. I thought to myself silently, to her I said, "Where the hell have you been?!" I whispered angrily, teeth clenched.

"What do you mean where have I been?" She looked at me hatefully. "I'm doing what you blackmailed me to do. I'm looking for you precious Hect….I mean Jesse." She spat.

"Yea, well could you speed things up a bit or is that too much for you're little pea sized brain?" I hissed at her.

Maria looked at me and, let me tell ya….if looks could kill I'd be in some serious trouble. I saw her hands clenched like she would hit me. I grinned. I knew she wouldn't hit me. Probably too afraid to break a nail.

"What's so funny?" She mumbled.

"Nothing." My face grew serious. "So?"

"So what?" She looked at me, confused.

"So what have you been doing?" I said, sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Have you found him?"

"No."

"Have you looked?"

"Of course, I've looked. Your precious boy toy isn't that easy to find."

I felt my face blush at the idea of Jesse being my boy toy….though…come to think of it….

"Susannah!" Maria hissed.

"What?!" I asked, irritated that she had brought me out of my good daydream.

"Did you hear a word I said?" She sighed. "I told you that I shall go look for him again, but I'm not promising anything."

"Okay." I said, grumpy. I slouched back onto my bed and heaved a huge sigh, watching as she disappeared an angry look apparent on her face.

"Susan!" Someone yelled outside. Suddenly, that someone…Anne…pushed open my door and looked me squarely in the eye. "Who were you yelling at?" She eyed me suspiciously. "Who were you talking to?"

I blinked and looked at her startled for a moment. "Huh?" Oh great choice of words. Real smart. Honestly, I think one of these days I am going to win the "Dumb things said in a bad and getting worse situation" award. I realized my mouth had opened and I closed it quickly. "What….what are you talking about Anne?" I gave her my most innocent look.

"Don't pull that crap with me Susan….I know you were yelling at someone but I never saw anyone come in here. So unless you are sneaking people up through a two story window, Rapunzel….then you have A LOT of explaining to do." She stared at me, waiting for an answer.

I searched around in my mind, trying to find a decent excuse, but coming up with nothing. So….I looked her square in the eye and whispered, "My voices."

Anne stared at me in shock for a second before sitting down on my bed. "What voices?"

"The voices in my head." I grinned. This was kind of fun and it would be the closest thing that she would ever get to the truth. "they talk to me. I just had an argument with one of them. A particularly nasty one at that."

Anne just stared at me. "I think you need some serious help." Anne said, rushing out of the room.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked around. "Well….you can't win 'em all." I sighed and took out the book to begin reading again. Suddenly, a burst of light came into my vision and I looked over to see Maria, who was obviously upset about something.

"Susannah….something's happened."

I looked over at her stunned. "What?" I whispered, hoping that Jesse was okay. "Is it Jesse? Did you find him?"

Maria looked at me. "No, but I just know that something is wrong. Something is REALLY wrong." She shuddered slightly.

"Maria?" I asked, warily.

She shook her head. "Don't ask questions….just go." She looked at me and noticed that I wasn't moving. "Didn't you just hear me?!" She yelled. "GO!"

I looked around the room. "How much time do I have?"

"Not much."

"Okay, you keep searching for Jesse, and I'm gonna get ready to go home." I looked at her. "Go." I stated firmly, as I began packing what little things I had quickly. I saw her leave and I turned my attention back to the book. I sure hoped I was ready.

"Hurry Susannah. Jesse needs you." I heard someone say behind me. I turned around. "DAD?!"
Okay, there's Chapter 16....finally a SUSANNAH'S pov! :) LOL. Alright, well.....I'm gonna go and edit chapter 17 for you guys. I promise to update soon! :) Don't forget to review!