A/N: I am absolutely horrible at updating. See, I was distracted by writing a bunch of one-shots that went absolutely nowhere. And I finally got back to this. So, to reward my patient reviewers and appease the not-so-patient ones, I wrote a new chapter.

Of course, it was a little bit more complicated than that. First, I had to convince David to let me do this.

"Jake, I don't mind doing this," David insisted. "Really."

"Well, that's great except you're not doing this," I told him. "That'll be over my dead bod—" I paused. "Maybe I shouldn't finish that sentence."

David looked slightly pale. "Jake, I can do this."

I sighed. "David, in thirteen years I've never kicked your ass. I haven't even attempted to kick your ass. Do you really want to ruin that record?

"No."

"Then shut up already. I'm doing this, end of story."

"Jake, you don't have to protect me."

"Of course I do," I replied. "You're my little brother. Now I've got an exorcism to participate in."

~*~

"Comfortable?" Dr. Slaski asked.

"Pretty much," I said, wriggling around a little bit on the pillows. "Kinda creeped out though. Feel like I'm about to be sacrificed or something."

Everyone just looked at me, and I winced. "Sorry. Bad choice of wording there."

As he lit the candles surrounding me, Father Dominic apparently felt it necessary to ask one more time, "Jake, are you sure—"

"I'm doing this, Father," I said, cutting him off. "So, do your thing. Exorcise me already."

My exorcism wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. There was smelly incense and lots of Latin chants. I couldn't understand a thing, but the rhythm of the words was soothing somehow and I started to doze. Funny…I hadn't had a good night's sleep since Suze…since Suze…

"Jake, it's time," Father Dominic said.

I turned to look at him, and saw David's face. His face was so pale that it made his freckles stand out even more. I sat up, worried. "Jake, what is it?"

David pointed at me. "Jake…you…look down."

I looked. And I saw…myself. I literally had split into two people. There was my body, eyes closed and the other me, my…spirit? Soul?

And you know what my spirit looked like? It looked just like me, only with this faint glow.

I mean, it shouldn't have been such a shock. The ghost had already done plenty of tricks to convince me. But for this to actually happen…I don't know, it just made it all real somehow.

"Look up," Paul said softly, and I did. And the dome was just…gone, and all I could see were stars, surrounded by smoke. The thing was, there were no constellations that I could see. No Big Dipper, no North Star, no…this wasn't the night sky I was used to. None of the constellations that my mom had taught me when I was little were there.

"Oh God," I whispered, and stood up. "Oh…oh my God."

"Jake, you have to focus," Dr. Slaski told me.

"Focus? You've freaking opened the door to another dimension, my soul has been separated from my body, and you want me to focus?" Yeah, I was pretty much shrieking at this point.

"We talked about this," another male voice said, with a faint accent. I whirled around, and saw a Latino guy in an outfit that was straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean.

"You…you're Jesse," I realized.

"Jake, you knew what was going to happen. You accepted it."

"I know, but…" I shook my head slightly. "No, you're right. You're right, I have to do this." I stopped and looked at him. He was a pretty good looking guy…the sort girls swooned over. Girls like Suze…

"Hey, wait a minute," I said, turning to everyone else. "This is the guy that was living in Suze's bedroom? Are you serious?"

Paul laughed at that, while David grinned for what felt like the first time in forever. Dr. Slaski snorted, while Father Dominic protested, "Now, Jake, Jesse is a very honorable young man…"

"Who cares?" I asked. "You're a priest for crying out loud, you're supposed to oppose co-ed living arrangements on principle unless there's a marriage license involved."

Paul was nearly cackling by this point, and even David was laughing. Jesse was turning red—and ghosts blush?

"Jake," Dr. Slaski said, "we are on a time limit here. You've got exactly 24 minutes left." He threw me an end of a very long piece of rope. "Tie this around your waist."

After I did, I turned back to Jesse and pointed my finger at him. "And don't think this is the end of this, dude. I swear to God, you are so lucky you're already dead, because otherwise our parents would skin you alive. And then they'd kill Suze, but they'd definitely go after you first."

"Jake!"

"Right, sorry." I set to climbing up into the hole. When I finally got in, I took one last glance down at them, at my brother's face. There are a million ways this can go wrong, I thought, and only one way this can go right.

Then I went in.

There wasn't really much to this netherworld. Nothing but stars and fog. Not that I wasn't freaking out because I really was. I was wigging out beyond belief. There was literally no sound. Nothing. I couldn't even hear my own footsteps.

Damn, this place was creepy.

I checked my watch. Twenty-two minutes. I took a deep breath and howled, "Suze! SUZE!"

Suze didn't show up. But a guy dressed in full-out gladiator gear did. I'm not kidding. This dude would fit right in during the times of ancient Rome, but here, he kinda stuck out a little bit. But hey, I'd just been exorcised, so who was I to judge weird?

"You do not belong here," Gladiator Dude intoned.

I wasn't in the mood, and time was running out. "Yeah, I kinda know that. See, I'm looking for my sister. About sixteen years old, dark curly hair, green eyes and a major attitude."

"The mediator," he said, folding his arms, which were freaking huge.

"Yup, that's her. Where is she?"

"She is imprisoned here."

I was getting really impatient now. "Again, already knew that. And why the hell aren't you helping her?"

"The spirits won't allow for it. It is beyond my power to assist her."

Oh God. If this…giant couldn't get Suze out, how the hell could I manage to do it?

"But perhaps…" Gladiator Guy said, looking me over, "perhaps you could. It all depends…on how much you're willing to sacrifice."

"I'm here, aren't I?" I was shivering slightly. Damn, it was cold in there, with the fog…

"Go," he ordered, pointing towards a long corridor with doors on either side that hadn't been there a minute before. "Do not open the doors, and do not go into the light."

I stared at him. "Oh my…Jesus, tell me you're kidding. 'Do not go into the light'? Are you serious?"

He looked exasperated. "I am not kidding. You are not supposed to go into the light. What is so strange about that?"

Apparently when you're monitoring the ghostly netherworld, you have little time to see the Poltergeist. "Nothing," I said. "Wait. If I can't open the doors, then how am I supposed to find her?"

He looked grim. "They will come."

"Okay, well how do I recognize them? I'm kinda new at this whole thing…"

His expression got even grimmer, if that was possible. "You will recognize them. Believe me."

I looked at the doors nervously, and when I looked back, he was gone.

I shivered again, but this time not because of the cold.