Author's Note: I like books. Chapter title from song of same name by Bonnie Pink.

Chapter 8:

"You're going to run a hole into your rug."

CeeCee paced back and forth in her room, trying to logically put together everything Suze had told her. It made sense, in a weird sort of way. Suze had always been a little odd, but not in a bad way. Just a little stand-offish. The only times she had noticed Suze acting strange was when that body – Jesse's body, she reminded herself – was discovered in the Ackermans' backyard, and second when Paul came to Carmel. That was when things got really weird.

Suze had always been the tough one. She wasn't afraid of Kelly Prescott, Sister Ernestine, or even – as she had just found out – ghosts. According to her, Suze had been doing this for most of her life. But with every scrape and every dilemma she went through, she never burdened it onto her friends.

But Suze seemed honestly scared of Paul. And now CeeCee knew the reason.

"UGH!" CeeCee's sudden outburst almost made Adam fall off the bed, where he had just been watching her walk past him for the millionth time. "I knew there was something going on, but I didn't think it would be this big." She sighed and sat down next to Adam who was picking himself up.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

CeeCee looked at her feet and grimaced, "There's nothing we really can do. Suze is probably already gone by now, and it's not like we can follow her."

"That's true." Adam stood up and picked up a marker that had been thrown at him previously. He studied it before commenting, "You'd think that a girl that lived in the past would know what happens. I mean, if Suze is meeting up with this Jesse guy, isn't Carmen going to be there too?"

CeeCee opened her mouth to retort, but stopped. He was right. Something didn't quite add up with Carmen's story. If she was telling the truth, Carmen was with Jesse right up until the day he disappeared because of the wedding.

"There's something fishy about this, Adam." No sooner had she said that, a cold wind blasted into the room, rattling the furniture and scattering papers all over the place. Something else had joined them.

I gasped as the chill swept into the warm hay storage. The gap I made through the doorway was letting in way too much of the storm. "Crap, give me a hand with this first." Putting their backs against the door, we strained and pushed it shut. I heaved a sigh of relief and looked down at the girl, who was wet and shivering. She couldn't have been more than six. I climbed back onto the hay stack where my pack was and pulled out a couple of towels. "Here, dry off first. You'll catch a cold."

She wordless took the towel and wrapped it around herself. Her suspiciously familiar black curly hair was stuck flat to her head. Without explanation, I sat her down in front of me and pulled out a brush as well. Systematically, I dried her hair and brushed out sections. I don't know why I did it really, but I knew it would hell if she didn't try to fix it now.

Still, she sat there quietly. I tried to strike up a conversation. "So, kiddo, what's your name? Storms aren't good for playing in."

There was a long pause before she asked softly, "Who are you?"

"I asked first," was my reply.

"Carmen." I stopped for a moment, but then kept brushing. I should have suspected this would happen. I glanced down at my pack and noticed that there were two packs of snacks stuffed under the clothes as well. Carmen knew. The ghost Carmen, anyway.

Before I could think about this, she asked, "So? Who are you? Are you here for Jesse?"

"What?"

"My brother, Jesse," she turned to look me straight in the eye. I could tell she was trying to be intimidating, but that's pretty hard for a kid to do. Besides, the hint of fear was clear on her face. She continued, "Are you the one Mr. Slater warned us about?"

I asked simply, "What did Mr. Slater say?"

"That someone was after him." Carmen went on strongly, "Why do you want to hurt Jesse? He's a good person who loves his family. He would never –"

I stopped her since she was about to breakdown into tears. God knew we were wet enough as it was. "No, no! I'm not after Jesse." Not in the way she was thinking anyway. I explained, "I'm from out of town and just got a little lost. I don't know anything about this." Yeah, so it was a half-truth. So sue me.

"Really?" She was considerably calmer now.

I sighed in relief, "Really. Here, swallow one of these before you get sick." I had taken out the box of Tylenol and punched out a couple of tablets. Handing her one, I showed her how to take them with a swish of water from my bottle. She was oddly quiet again.

When we settled back down, I continued brushing her hair out and made light talk. "By the way, my name is Suze. So what were you doing out so late, Carmen?"

She explained softly, "Mama and Papa were fighting. She wants to cancel the wedding because of what Mr. Slater said, but Papa said Jesse's accident was a coincidence."

It suddenly got a lot colder. "Accident?"

"After that man came, Jesse fell off his horse in pain. He is a great rider, so it was no mistake. Everyone is saying it is a sign that the threat should be taken seriously." She was pretty wordy for a six year old, but I chalked it up to those Old World manners I had always thought were endearing in Jesse. Lemme tell you, a little research from David told me a lot about how they educated their little kids in the old days. It was less of hopscotch and macaroni art, and more of droning lessons from old ladies in outdated clothing.

So like high school then, but instead of calculus, it's etiquette. Bleh.

I cleared my head, reminding myself of what I was doing here, and said, "Sounds terrible. Is he all right?" Hopefully the concern in my voice was more of polite curiosity rather than the nervous worry I was feeling inside.

"Yes, he's just been resting. But…" Carmen turned around again to talk to me in a low, cautious voice, "When I saw him, he told me secretly that he does not love Maria. He was going to cancel it before, but Mr. Slater's warning has given him a better reason."

I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. But trust me; I was dancing on the inside.

Suddenly, Carmen frowned and muttered, "I hate her. She's horrible to us when Jesse and Papa aren't around. I wish she would just…" If she completed the thought, I didn't hear it. I knew how she felt though.

Trying not to grin, I commented, "I take it you don't like her."

She sighed, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." There's that breeding again. As cute as it was for Jesse, I admit it was frustrating sometimes to get around them. In the present, there's no need for this demure stuff. Just say what you want, but be sure you can back it up with either proof and/or fists.

Then again, the present was the future now.

I patted her now dry hair comfortingly. "Don't worry about it. I feel the same way." In the sudden lull in the conversation, I noticed it was unusually quiet. The rain had stopped. "The storm's over. You should be getting home."

We both stood up and I hung the towels to dry on a rafter. Creaking the door open to have a peek, it was confirmed that even though the ground was still muddy, there wasn't any more winds or rain to worry about.

As Carmen squeezed between the doors, she stopped to ask, "But what about you?"

I did some quick thinking.

"Well, just do me a favor, Carmen. Let me hide out here." Feigning both innocence and ignorance, I continued, "I think I can help Jesse, but it's important that people don't know I'm here. Too many questions since I don't really fit in, you know? Our little secret." I smiled to help seal the deal.

Little Carmen smiled back broadly, "Right!" Then she dashed away, skirts still rumpled and dirty. She was still a kid after all, etiquette or no.

I blew a stray strand of hair out of my face and looked around at my bed for the night: a hay loft. It was no Holiday Inn, but it'd have to do. With the towels wet, there wasn't anything for me to cover myself with. No blanket was found in pack. I made do with simply changing into a pair of jeans, a new shirt, and a sweater. Feeling like some oversized woodland creature, I burrowed into the hay until I had a little nest to sleep in.

Before exhaustion and the Tylenol carried me off into a dreamless sleep, I wondered vaguely if Jesse was warm tonight too.

Brad picked at his food, a little too much on his brain for once. It was lasagna night and the goopy layers of pasta and sauce unpleasantly reminded him of Dr. Slaski's sagging face. He really didn't know why he was so bothered. Suze was capable of taking care of the situation. Brad could keep going about his business and Suze could keep kicking ghost butt or whatever it was she did. But now that he actually knew about this stuff, it didn't seem right to ignore it. He was brought back to reality when he heard his dad ask, "Do any of you know a Paul Slater?"

"The guy who broke the door?" supplied Jake. "Yeah, he's in Suze's class."

Andy's eyebrow rose, but didn't comment.

Brad cleared his throat and asked, "Why do you ask, Dad?"

"Oh, just wondering. He called earlier and asked for Suze." Andy was pouring himself some more water and didn't notice Brad's eyes go wide. "I told him she was at CeeCee's for the rest of the weekend. He better not be planning on spending the night too," he added as an after-thought.

Brad lost whatever appetite he had left. He excused himself from the table and dashed to the phone.

CeeCee lifted her head cautiously from where she was on the floor. Her room was a mess, but there wasn't any sign of what had just blown through the room. Just silence. The icy chill had been replaced by a sudden warmth.

"Are you all right?"

She suddenly realized that the warmth was coming from Adam, who had covered her as whatever it was came and left. "Y-yeah, I'm fine." The waver in her voice wasn't just from the recent visit.

He stood and lent her a hand up as they surveyed the damage. Papers everywhere, chairs knocked over, and every single light bulb had been blown.

"Jesus," Adam muttered as he kicked aside some glass shards. "Why the hell would ghosts be after us?"

CeeCee frowned and answered quietly, "Not us." The only reason that thing didn't stick around was because the person it was looking for luckily wasn't there.

As if on cue, CeeCee's cell phone rang. It had been knocked off the nightstand and was under a few books at her feet. The number was Suze's house.

She answered it, slightly confused, "Hello?"

"Is this CeeCee?" It was Brad's voice. "Is Suze… are you guys okay?"

"A little shaken, but fine. And Suze isn't here anymore; she's with Father Dominic." She could hear him sigh in relief in the background and started to ask, "How did you-?"

"He called," was his blunt reply. It took a moment for CeeCee to realize he meant Paul. Brad continued, "My dad let it slip where she was. Listen, just get out of the house while you can, all right?" He really did sound worried.

"We're headed over to the Mission now." She added genuinely, "Thanks, Brad."

As CeeCee hung up the phone and stuffed it in her pocket, Adam remarked, "If this is how Paul woos Suze, no wonder she's been turning him down. Most guys try dinner and a movie."

She grabbed her house keys and said, "C'mon, we're going to the school. We need to talk to Carmen and Father Dominic anyway." CeeCee really hoped that Suze was okay.

Adam must've noticed her anxiety since he put his arm around her and smirked, "Don't worry, Velma, we'll catch those ghosts!"

Thankfully, the darkness hid her blush.

A/N: So many books had this weekend. Well, Mediator 6: Twilight was among them and it was interesting. I don't want to say disappointing, but it didn't do much for me climax-wise. A little too convenient. It was good for closure and canon though. Cute last chapter.

I will, of course, finish this story anyway using the original plan out I had months ago. If you notice any similarities between this and Twilight from now on, it's purely from coincidence and prediction from before. Although I probably will use the names of Jesse's sisters from canon.

On that note, yes, Jesse will be in the next chapter, I swear. It's just when that chapter comes out that might be a bit sticky. Ah, well. I got another week off anyway. As usual, look to Xanga for any news on it.

And if you're looking for a new book to read, I suggest Midnighters by Scott Westerfield or Sabriel by Garth Nix.