The Mediator: Egyptian Style

She got up from her chair and strode over to me. "I still cannot fathom why he is with you," she drawled, while circling me. There was a smirk evident on her face.

That angered me. I mean, who was she to say that I didn't deserve Jesse? I always thought that, but Jesse proved to me that I did deserve him and vice versa. This bitch was just trying to get on my nerves. "Now I know why she killed you," I said.

She looked a little taken aback. But she regained her composure almost immediately. She laughed easily. "And why do you think she killed me?" she questioned, her voice laced in slight humor.

There was only one way to put it. "Because you're a ruthless bitch who cares for nobody but herself," I spat. Not literally, of course.

She laughed again. "Hit the nail right on the head. But," she said, "you forgot one thing."

Before I could even comprehend what she just said, I was slammed against the opposite wall. "I aim to kill," she said darkly. I crumpled to the floor, my back aching. But I stood up and kept going.

I wondered briefly where Jesse was and if there was any chance he could break out and come help me. But knowing the bitch that stood right in front of me, he probably could not escape from where he was.

Was there another way to approach this? A way in which I did not get hurt even more? Probably not, but its worth a try. "What is it that you really want?" I asked, wincing from the pain in my back.

"Oh, if only you knew..." she trailed off. She stopped and looked at me pityingly.

I tried to reason with her. "I mean," I said, "why do you want to kill me, anyway? I don't know you and you don't know me. And, just by happenstance, I'm related to your murderer, in some way or another. But it wasn't me that did anything."

She tapped her forefinger against her chin. "Well, you do have a point..." Then she jerked her head back to me. "But, I'm still going to kill you."

She waved her hand to make me fly back against the wall again. But it didn't work. Because I stopped her.

How, you ask?

With my shifting powers. I actually got some of it down over the years. Granted, it was not much, but I could at least stop her from killing me - for a little while, at least. The key was mind control. She was doing all of it with her mind.

See? I was paying attention during shifting lessons with Paul. He taught me some things. Um, besides the thing that involved our tongues.

She looked at me, flabbergasted. "H-how did you d-do that?" she stammered out. She was clearly not used to someone who dared defy her.

I grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?" I said nonchalantly. Which would actually be a first. I do not do nonchalance well.

She just stared at me, wide-eyed. "What are you?" she asked incredulously.

I thought a moment, about what to say. I shouldn't say I'm a shifter. Surely she knows what that is. "The Mediator," I settled for saying.

She seemed to recover from the whole thing. She narrowed her eyes at me. "Well, I guess I'll just have to take it up a notch then, huh?"

The bookcase - the one that I was looking in that first day Jesse and I came into this pyramid - was suddenly flung across the room right towards me.

I ducked and it went slamming into the wall behind me. That would have seriously done some damage if it hit me.

"You're fighting fire with fire," I said.

She scowled. "Your right. Fire sounds good."

And the bookcase behind me promptly burst into flames. The flames were inching closer and closer to me. But...shouldn't the sand prevent it from traveling?

"You forgot," she said, reading my mind, "that I can defy the laws of physics. If I want the fire to grow, the fire grows."

Okay, I definitely didn't know what I was dealing with here. What was she? She was no ordinary ghost. An ordinary ghost could not defy the laws of physics.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

"Are you scared, Susannah?" she asked haughtily. Her lips twisted up to form an evil grin.

I grimaced. "No." Then, the fire still burning fiercely behind me, I made the chair that she had made appear fly in the direction of her head. And she didn't see it coming.

It hit her square in the back of the head. And, since she wasn't expecting it, her defense was down and it actually affected her. Somewhat.

After she recovered, which took, like, a split second, she whipped back around and glared at me, a fire in her eyes. She was beyond pissed now.

"You're going to regret that," she growled and started approaching me. The only thing I could do was back up - right into the flame. I felt my back getting hotter and realized, before it was too late, that the fire was still roaring behind me.

I walked away from the fire and started going towards the left wall. She kept approaching me menacingly.

I wonder...would I be able to exorcize her? She was still a ghost, after all. But...I would need a major distraction to do that. And I don't have any chicken blood. Or any candles. Or a picture of her. Or the incantation.

Okay, so I wouldn't be able to exorcize her. So how the hell was I going to get rid of her?

Even if I did, how would I get Jesse? Would she let him go afterwards? Or would he automatically be released, because she had been defeated?

Ugh. How do I get in these kinds of situations, anyway? Do I have a big sign above my head that says, "Kill me!"?

"Susannah, Susannah," she tusked. "Why don't you make this easier on both of us and just give your dearest Hector up? Then we can both go our separate ways."

I glared fiercely at her. "And why would I do that? So you can have the satisfaction of winning and get the man I love? I don't think so."

She grinned and shook her head in disapproval. "Ah, love. Yes, I remember that thing." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "You know, there was another reason that Akhantirfu murdered me."

I cocked an eyebrow - something I picked up from being with Jesse. "Oh? And what was that?"

"I was having an affair with her beloved. Then she - what do you call it? - oh yes - flipped out and murdered me. I can't help it if I was more beautiful and more appealing to her man. She should have learned to keep him on a leash." She laughed. "And to think, we were - what do you people call it now? - oh, yes - best friends. Some friend she was."

I tried to absorb this information.

She was cheating with her best friend's boyfriend? How horrible is that?

"Pretty horrid," she commented. "But, its all in the past, dear. And, soon enough, Hector will be mine. All in due time, too."

Then she lunged at me. I guess she figured both of us using shifting/ghost powers was not too much of a match. So she went for hardcore, old-fashioned, rumbling. Fun for me. Not.

Luckily, though, I had brushed up on my ghost-ass-kicking skills recently. But, to tell you the truth, she was quite a match for me. She had quite the right hook for a Miss Priss.

She took me by surprise. I fell to the ground, with her on top of me, having quite the advantage.

She threw a punch at my face, but I moved my head just in time and her fist hit the hard floor. She cringed at the pain, but, her being a ghost and all, the pain quickly ebbed away. But, for me, the pain would stay for at least a few minutes. That blows.

I tried to push her off me but she pinned my one arm to ground and tried to punch me again. But, again, I moved my head and her fist, once again, collided with the floor. You would think she would have learned by now.

Pfft. Ghosts.

Then I employed a move that I had learned in a self-defense course my mom made me take when I was thirteen - she didn't know why I was always being taken home by the police and she figured maybe it had to do with gangs or whatever and she wanted me to know how to defend myself - it came in handy.

I brought my knees up and, since she was laying mostly on my upper body, I brought them under her and pushed them upward so that she fell off of me with her back to the ground. I rolled on top of her and threw a punch at her face. Luckily, she was not as quick as me and my punch hit her square in the face.

She groaned in pain and brought her hand to her face. I took that opportunity to punch her again and again.

But, me being the stupid and forgetful person I am, I forgot that she still had control of her powers. She took a random object in the room and made it fly, at full force, at my head. It nearly knocked me out.

But, even if I was not still in the game, I could still end it.

She came back on top of me again and aimed a punch at my face. She hit me - good. The last blow from whatever the object was weakened my agility and reaction time. There was only one thing left that I could do.

Shift.

I closed my eyes and imagined the eery hall of door. The place the frightened me so much just thinking about it.

I grabbed onto Nefelinuf's arm and shifted. And when I opened my eyes, we were there.

I could think clearly up here, and it felt good. But I knew, if I stayed too long, my headache would be a lot worse than if I stayed for only a little while.

Nefelinuf looked around. "Where the hell is this?" she asked, confused.

"This," I said, "is Shadowland. Enjoy your stay." And then, before she could react, I shifted back.

I remember coming back. But I immediately passed out from the pain I was in. The last thing I remember is a face hovering over mine. And then everything went black.

Disclaimer: Meg Cabot owns all the Mediator characters, not moi. Get over it.