A/N: A much longer chapter here. I've worked on this so much over a period of a few months that it's becoming a chore. So I'm just going to post it as is, even if there were parts I wanted to go more in-depth on. Got to find my wins where I can when it comes to free time and writing. Please let me know what you think. Much love.


' . . . It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice.' - Joseph Conrad

Chapter Eight

If I pass this grade it will be a miracle, I thought to myself as I stuffed papers and books into my locker. I couldn't tell you what classes I'd been to all morning, what anyone has said to me. My notes probably look like some kind of jumbled mess about anything other than what I was supposed to be learning. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if all they said was, 'Jesse' over and over again. Sighing with frustration I slammed my locker closed, spinning the lock and turning to rest heavily against it. I felt tense, my body stiff and achy from stress I'm not used to feeling. I wanted nothing more than to punch the crap out of a boxing bag just to release some frustration.

This 'obsession' with Jesse has to end. I need to get Ethan to not possibly do something stupid to join Anna. I need to get Paul to back the hell off with his possessive attitude. And I have to pretend everything is hunky dory with school that I'm definitely going to fail, in front of my mum and step-dad while sitting around the dinner table. Like a totally normal, happy family. As if I don't see ghosts on a daily basis and potentially feel like I'm going to end up in Bellevue one day, rambling the name 'Jesse' over and over again.

"Get your shit together, Suze," I muttered to myself, able to handle juggling my curse with normal life perfectly fine up to this point. What's changed now? Oh, that's right, I've suddenly unlocked some deep seated hidden dormant volcano of emotion and so now I feel everything ten times more than I did before. And if that's not the most overwhelming feeling, pissing me off, I don't know what is.

I need help. Shame I'm so crap at asking for it.

"Hey Suze, coming to lunch?" Ceecee asked me a few feet away, gesturing to the courtyard and our friends sitting on a bench waving us over.

My stomach growled on cue, so I heaved myself up off my locker and followed my albino friend over to our usual bench. I sat down next to Adam, Ceecee perched the other side of him. I ignored his shit eating grin at being wedged between the two of us and mechanically ate my lunch Andy had made for me. I couldn't taste anything, but I swallowed it down without choking somehow. I didn't listen to the sounds of the talk around me, just stared at a dark spot on the ground, my mind racing with how to help Ethan.

What do I know about losing love? I've never been in love. Lust maybe, with Paul for about 5 seconds. But love, the kind of love Ethan had for Anna and vice versa? I can't imagine ever having something like that. I thought a simple message from her that it wasn't his fault would be enough. I mean, normally it is right? But he's not receptive at all. That I at least can understand. He's shut down and flicked his emotional switch off. Looking at him the other day, seeing the life devoid in his eyes? I genuinely wonder if someone can actually die of a broken heart, that actually songs do get it right.

So how the hell am I supposed to save him from that? Show him the joys in life still? Hell, I'm still waiting for someone to show me them! So of course, the first thing to come to mind was sitting on that log, overlooking the ocean with Jesse popped into my mind. That was a moment I'll never forget. Ever. But what am I supposed to do? Take Ethan there and hope he has an epiphany like I did and wait for his heart to heal? As cliché as that sounds. I can't bring Anna back, and that seems the only thing that could possibly help him right now.

Or maybe I need to see if Father Dom can impart some of his wisdom on him first. I mean who knows, maybe a religious angle is what he needs?

"Earth to Suze, are you with us?" Adam asked, nudging me out of my daydream.

I snapped my head up to look at my friends, one looking amused, the other annoyed. I blinked, dropping my half-eaten sandwich back to the brown bag on my lap and gave them my full, distracted attention. "What's up?"

"I said we need to get started on your new campaign slogan for student council," Ceecee griped, glaring at me. I tried not to roll my eyes, because I've been hearing this almost every chance Ceecee has had. "You'll win in a landslide, Suze. And it'll look good on your college transcripts. Don't give me that look, we're not letting you throw this chance away! We need someone who isn't led by the air in their head and actually sticks up for us lesser mortals." she carried on, ignoring a 'Hey!' of indignation from behind us at being called a lesser mortal.

"I'm not interested, Cee. Find someone who cares," I shrugged, turning away from her to lock eyes with Paul staring at me from across the courtyard, sitting with the 'popular' clique. He grinned at me, gesturing for me to come over and sit with him. I shook my head, gave him a half assed smile back and deliberately relaxed back into my seat. I saw a flash of irritation cross his face for a second before he shrugged off Kelly's hand on his arm, trying to draw him back into their circle.

"Uh-oh, watch out, Paul's about," Ceecee snarked, not hiding her disgust with my boyfriend as he got up and stalked towards me.

"Babe, come sit with us, you're missing out," Paul smiled, reaching down to grab my hand and pull me to my feet before I had a chance to blink, my lunch bag almost hitting the floor. "We're talking about a party Kelly's throwing this weekend," he told me, turning to pull me along.

But I yanked my hand out of his and rooted my feet to the ground. "No thanks, I'm happy here with my friends. You go ahead though," I waved him away, because I knew Paul was as unwelcome here as I was over there.

"Suze, we've talked about this," Paul commented idly, like he was talking to a child. "You're with me now, you're one of us. You belong over there, not here with . . . Well, them." And the asshole didn't even bother to keep his voice down or look even the slightest bit ashamed for talking about my friends in such a disgusting way. As I clenched my teeth together, my hands in tight fists at my side, I reminded myself that if I slugged Paul right now, I'd land in detention and not be able to potentially see Jesse tonight. "Come on."

"And I told you then, what I'm telling you now - I wasn't interested in being popular before you and I don't want to be now just because we're dating. I'll see you later." I turned to grab my bag up off the floor, aware of Paul's burning eyes in my back as I walked away. My skin itching from the shocked stillness of my friends on the bench when he'd said what he had. I was seething, I was raging, I was ready to gauge someone's eyes out.

So of course, Paul followed me, grabbing hold of my arm and yanking me behind a thick pillar where we had a bit of privacy. My back slammed up against the hard surface as Paul loomed over me, caging me in. "What the hell, Paul?" I gasped, that anger threatening to turn into a full-blown hurricane if he carried on.

"I should be asking you that, Suze. What game are you playing here?"

"Game? Since when is turning down sitting with you and your groupies a game to you? I've got my own friends; I don't need to be in your pocket every second of every day. I have my own life. I might be your girlfriend, but I'm sure as hell not your property." I growled, shoving at his chest to take a step back. I needed space, air. God, I needed to just go to bed and wake up when this is all over. I was exhausted!

But whatever it was I said seemed to snap Paul out of his haze too. His twisted expression smoothed back into the pretty-boy good looks that caught my attention in the first place. Though I'm struggling to remember that. Whatever 'attraction' I'd felt for him at the time seeming to be gone now. He ran his hand through his blond curly hair and took a deliberate big breath before letting it out. When he opened his eyes again, the bright blue was back to normal and he was looking like the poster boy for a perfect boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, Suze," he started, reaching out to fiddle with the ends of my hair hanging over my shoulder. "I just miss you and can't help but feel like you're pulling away from me a little since school restarted," he began, laying the guilt trip on hard. "We haven't been able to have any alone time together for a while and it's driving me crazy. You drive me crazy. Come over tonight? I'll order us pizza and we can finally go over some of the Shifter stuff I was telling you about."

My heart thumped in my chest after that proposition. Up until a couple of days ago I had no serious interest in whatever this Shifter news was. My life is complicated enough with ghosts. Adding in more was hassle I couldn't be bothered with. But since meeting Jesse - the seeming catalyst for a lot of stuff recently - I've been thinking about it a lot. And I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wondered if maybe it could help Anna and Ethan in some way too. Paul hasn't told me anything about these extra powers, so I'm clueless. But I have to bite the bullet and hear about it at some point, right? And maybe Jesse is one too. Paul seems adamant Father D and Jack aren't. But Jesse . . .

Maybe he is. And maybe he has a right to know about it too.

I raised my head to look at him, trying to gage if there's some kind of ulterior motive to this. I'm sure he does miss me. I had every intention of this being a stellar year. I had a sweet new designer wardrobe, a hot guy on my arm, I was going to be the happiest I've ever been. Then everything came crashing down and my interest in Paul has gone from, 'Lucky me having a super-hot boyfriend.' to 'I can't even stand to have you touch me.' in a matter of days. I should just loop everything to BJ and AJ - Before Jesse and After Jesse. Cause he's shown me what a connection should really feel like, and he hasn't even done more than give me a hug.

I am so screwed.

"OK, fine," I tried very hard to smile like I meant it, I mean I should be happy a hot guy wants to spend so much time with me. Except it's the wrong guy I want.

His face lit up, his smile full and wide and I tried not to take an involuntary step back. "Great! I'll meet you by your locker. See you later, beautiful. Can't wait," he smirked, leaning in and kissing me hard. I forced myself to respond back and judging by the delirious look on his face he didn't notice I wasn't into it as he walked back to his friends, leaving me with some much-needed air to breathe.

"What the hell have I just agreed to?" I muttered, dropping my head back to stare at the bright clear blue sky above me.

xXx

I spent the rest of the school day trying to gear myself up for spending the afternoon with Paul. I told myself I need to know more about Shifters, find a way to help Ethan. Maybe, maybe I can find a way of helping my dad too. That thought pushed me on more than helping Ethan. I've been seeing ghosts since I was three years old, I've been dealing with them on a weekly basis since I was a kid. So, the more I thought about hearing there's more to us than just simply making sure a family heirloom goes to the right person so that Grandma can move on? Sign me up for that degree, I guess.

I stayed focusing on that while I sat in Paul's convertible with my sunglasses on hiding my eyes from the gorgeous sun and him. I thought about how much my life might change hearing all this new stuff as Paul rested his hand high on my thigh. I daydreamed of telling Jesse all about it, how it would secretly keep bringing us together because it was another thing connecting us. But then we arrived at Paul's large glass house and I pushed all those daydreams away.

Take one for the team Suze, I told myself. You've got this.

"Pineapple and cheese pizza OK for you?" Paul asked as we walked into his house, throwing our bags and jackets on his low leather sofa.

"Sure," I distractedly replied, not giving a rat's ass that he was violating a perfectly good pizza by adding pineapple to it. I just wanted to get to the part where he tells me more about this curse. Patience has never been a friend of mine as I waited for Paul to finish ordering. Once he got off the phone, he walked up to me with a predatory look, his arms encircling my waist and pulling me flush against him. "How long will it be?" I asked, my hands barely resting on his arms.

"Long enough for us to reacquaint ourselves with each other," he grinned, leaning in to give me a long, lingering kiss. Pulling away completely he took my hand in a vice like grip and led me upstairs to his spacious and minimally furnished room. I eyed the bed warily, kicking myself for believing he might actually tell me something about Shifters as soon as we got here. Of course, that wasn't his first priority. It never has been I thought, as he backed me up to the bed, nudging me down when the backs of my legs hit the mattress.

Inwardly sighing with resignation, I laid back and let him run his hands up my jean clad thighs and under my top. His hand which should have been warm and tingly on my skin, felt cool and uncomfortable. Closing my eyes, I willed my body to relax, just to give in to the moment. After-all, how many times have I been in this situation with him over the summer? How many times have we made out on this bed, his hands running all over me? Too many, my mind quivered. A normal girl would be writhing with happiness beneath a hot guy like Paul right now. But I shut that down, turning my head to the side when he started kissing and nibbling at my neck.

It felt . . . nice. I guess. I mean my body was reacting a little bit. I'm not a total nun! But it wasn't earth shaking. It wasn't Jesse's warm rough hand on me. It wasn't his strong, masculine scent wrapping around me, encasing me in warmth and familiarity. And I knew I shouldn't have been thinking about him while Paul was on top of me, pressing me down into the mattress. I shouldn't have been wishing it was him who was kissing me as if deprived of oxygen and I was the one giving him life to sustain himself. I barely even know the guy! But my mind went there anyway. Reminding me that he was safe, Jesse was - well - mine, my mind screamed.

That thought had me ripping my mouth off, Paul's, twisting my head to the side for air.

Where the hell had that thought come from?!

I clutched onto Paul's shoulders to ground myself, my gasp as I tore my lips away from him pushing him on to moan into my neck as he went on kissing me, his mouth moving down while my stomach fluttered with unease.

This is wrong, this is wrong, Suze. You shouldn't be here, it's not right. My intuition was screaming at me, and it took everything I could to not tear myself away from Paul atop of me and bolt from the house like a bat out of hell.

"Paul, slow down," I said, pushing at his shoulders to give him the nudge I needed. "Paul, seriously stop."

He lifted his head off where it was trailing kisses across my collarbone, the straps of my top and bra off my shoulders, my underwear on show. "Suzzzze," he groaned, propping himself up on his forearms to look down at me, doing a bad job of hiding his irritation. "Why?"

I nudged him again and he rolled off me to lay on his back in frustration. "Because I asked you to," I replied, sitting up to pull my straps back up and right my top, my lungs feeling like they'd been squeezed of all air. "Shouldn't the pizza be here soon?" I asked, shuffling to the edge of the bed and firmly planting my feet on the cool wooden floor. Breathe, Suze.

Sighing dramatically, Paul sat up and pulled his t-shirt back on. When the hell did that come off? I thought, surprised I was so lost to my own mind that I hadn't even noticed that it was gone. He checked the watch on his wrist and shrugged. "Should be any minute. Wait here, I'll bring it up." Without a backwards look to me he strolled out of the room, his steps a little heavier than normal.

Once he was out of the room I took in a huge breath before blowing it out. I jumped to my feet, wedging my feet back in my shoes and paced over to the large floor to ceiling wall of glass with the most incredible sea view. I knew from experience that sunsets here were amazing. But I wouldn't be staying here long enough to witness one. I wanted information and then I wanted to get out as fast as I could. I righted my hair in the reflection of the glass before stepping away to walk around the room. I wandered over to his glass desk, nudging a few school books aside, my hands trailing over titles without really taking it in.

But then as I moved one, I saw a very old, brown tattered envelope sitting underneath it. The handwriting looked familiar, but the paper looked old. Like, really, really old. The ink like something from a quill rather than a pen. I went to reach out and touch it when I heard Paul's footsteps coming back down the hall. I quickly put the book back over it and darted back to the bed. Sitting down and fluffing my hair like a good little girlfriend waiting for her gorgeous boyfriend to come back should. The picture of innocence.

I had a bad feeling Paul would not have been happy with me going through his stuff.

"Hungry?" he asked as he came over to sit on the bed with me, opening the pizza box between us. I nodded, reaching in automatically, hoping that the quicker we ate, the quicker he would tell me what I was really here to hear. "Do you want me to order another one?" he asked ten minutes later after I'd demolished my portion and sat waiting for him to finish. He cocked an eyebrow at me, raking his eyes over me.

"No thanks, that filled a hole," I smiled sweetly, hoping he wasn't still pissed about me stopping our make out session. "So, are you going to fill me in about 'Shifters' now?" I asked, because I knew he wouldn't go there unless I pushed him.

Chuckling Paul threw down the crust of his pizza slice into the box and pushed it aside. "Aren't we eager?" he grinned.

"So, shifters can do far more than what your friend Father Dominic can do. And you Suze, are one of them. All this time you've been going around thinking that your job is to help these poor unfortunate souls stuck here with unfinished business. But we're more powerful than that, Suze," he smiled, leaning forward making sure he had my full attention. Which of course he did, but that he'd already told me before. "Shifters are mediators, but with more advanced powers. You didn't need to go through all that voodoo crap with chicken blood to exorcise Heather. You could have done it with just a touch of your hand.

But want to know the really, really cool parts? We can go back in time too. We can toss a soul out of a body and give it to a different spirit. We can change fate and write our own destinies." he said, completely straight faced and serious in his conviction.

The hysterical laughter that was just bubbling on the end of my tongue was stopped only because the look in his eye said he was one hundred percent serious right now. He believed himself, genuinely, everything he was telling me right now. I blinked at him, past the hysteria now and ready to just admit I've wasted a day of my life waiting for answers to my curse, just to be laughed at and strung along like some stupid little girl. And Paul must have known that I was ready to fly from the house in rage as he reached over and took my hand tightly to keep me still.

"I have proof, Suze," he let go of my hand and reached down to pull a large clear box out from under his bed. Inside the box was a bunch of old newspaper clippings and a really old looking tome. Paul lifted it out of the box and placed it in front of us, opening it slowly. The pages looked brittle and crumbly, and the smell coming from it was like something had crawled inside and died. He placed an old newspaper clipping on top of a page; it was a picture of a man standing in front of what looked like a Hieroglyphic wall of an Egyptian tomb.

"Dr Oliver Slaski - that's this guy here in the photo - worked for years to translate the text on the wall of King Tut's tomb," Paul explained. "He came to the conclusion that in ancient Egypt there was actually a small group of shamans that had the ability to travel in and out of the realm of the dead without, in fact, dying themselves. These shamans were called, as near as Dr Slaski could translate, Shifters. They could shift from this plane of being to the next, and were hired as spirit guides for the deceased by the deceased's family, in order to ensure their loved ones ended up where they were supposed to, instead of aimlessly wandering the planet."

I looked closer at the newspaper clipping, recognizing a symbol in the wall of hieroglyphics. "What he meant was Mediators," I said.

"I don't think so," Paul denied.

"That's exactly what it means, Paul," I said. "The ninth card in the tarot deck - the one called the Hermit - features an old man holding a lantern just like this guy is doing," I went on, pointing to the symbol in the hieroglyphics. "It always comes up when my cards are read. And the Hermit is the spirit guide, the one who is supposed to lead the dead to their final destination. And OK, the guy in the hieroglyphic isn't old, but they are both doing the same thing. . . He has to mean, mediators, Paul." My heart was thudding hard against my chest. This is the biggest news I've had since being told why I can see ghosts. To have right here, documented proof of what we can do . . . Well it was making me kick myself for not asking about it sooner. And question why Paul hadn't pushed to tell me about it either.

Paul pulled out more sheaves of paper, also yellowing with age and placed them in front of me. "But that's not all they were, Suze. According to Dr Slaski, who wrote this thesis about it back in ancient Egypt there were your run-of-the-mill mediums, or, if you prefer, mediators. But then there were also shifters. And that," Paul said, looking at me like he'd just dropped a winning lottery ticket in my lap. "is what you and I are, Suze. Shifters."

Hearing him say it like that caused a cold chill to run up my spine, my bare arms breaking out in goose bumps. "No, no I'm not. If I was then - "

"Like I said, you didn't need to exorcise Heather the way you did. You could have gotten yourself to the shadowland yourself. There's more," he commented easily, moving the newspaper clippings away and placing papers down in front of me. "Read it."

"If the 1924 translation is to be believed," I read aloud as steadily as I could considering I felt like my world was being shaken around as though the 'big one' had finally hit California. "the shifters didn't merely include communication with the dead and teleportation between their world and our own, but the ability to travel at will through the fourth dimension, as well." I looked up at Paul for an answer. What kind of cryptic note was that?

"The fourth dimension is time, Suze. He means time travel."

I sat back from the Dr Slaski thesis pages and very old open book; that hysteria sitting on the edge of my tongue again. But Paul carried on. "Dr Slaski is my grandfather, Suze. My dad changed his name to Slater. Like you and me he'd always been able to see and speak to the dead. So, he went looking for answers which led him to Egypt and finding this. He spent years translating it and then more practicing these new powers. It tells all about shifters, Suze. What we can do and how to do it."

I looked down at the book, my hands staying in my lap because considering it apparently held answers to all my questions of what I am, I still didn't want to touch it.

"Ok, but time travel? Bringing people back to life? Taking it a bit far don't you think?" I said, not bothering to hide the disbelief from my voice. I didn't want to give away how freaky I was finding all this. "I mean do we need to make sure we've got a DeLorean and a freak lightning storm to make sure we go back to the past?"

He didn't like my sarcastic tone if the sudden grip to my arm was anything to go by.

"I'm being serious, Suze. Going back in time is easy, according to the translation. And it's been done by my grandfather. How do you think my family became so wealthy with a grandfather who was laughed out of the scientific community? Because he found a way of turning the odds in his favour and he did it. That's how. Now," he took his hand off my arm that throbbed where he'd been gripping it and sat back. "Are you going to shut up and let me explain or carry on being an idiot?"

I narrowed my eyes, my anger raising its ugly head again. But despite that, I did want to know more. Because what he said about his family's wealth, even if it did scream Back to the Future to me, my instincts were telling me Paul was speaking the truth. And maybe part of me just didn't know how to cope with that sudden bit of news. Hey, we can see, speak and touch ghosts. Why can't we travel through time and bring people back from the dead?

My head was threatening to explode.

I nodded for him to go on, keeping my mouth shut for now.

"Good girl. To go back in time, you need something from that period and be in a place that was there at the time, as a conduit and somewhere to place you. It's as simple as holding it, closing your eyes and imagining in as clear a detail as possible that you're there. After that it's up to you. Getting back is just as easy. As for bringing a ghost back, well you need a vessel. An unoccupied body for the soul to transfer into. I don't know as much about that one, I'm still researching it. And for exorcisms? It's a piece of cake. You just close your eyes and visualize that shadow plane and you'll be there. Nice and easy way of ridding yourself of ghosts." he sat back and smiled, looking very pleased with himself. "Want to try it?"

"Try what?" I croaked, my mind trying to process everything he had just told me. Now he wanted to, what? Take a trip through time?!

"Practice going to the shadow world, so you know what you're doing the next time you get bumps in the night." he reached out and took my hands before I could even process what he was saying to me. Shadowland? That didn't sound ominous at all! What difference was it me sending Heather's spirit to the afterlife whatever that is, and my soul willingly going there? I could feel an unfamiliar emotion clawing up my throat, threatening to choke me. Panic, in its purest form. "Hold tight!" he grinned at me, gripping my hands like steel in his.

I tried to rip my hands out of his as I watched him close his eyes, but the next thing I knew I felt a sensation of floating. My body suddenly feeling weightless and limp as a sudden cold wrapped itself around me, sucking the very warmth out of my body as I broke out in goose bumps and found myself in a place that felt as foreign and wrong, as making out with Paul had been.

I felt like I'd woken up in a nightmare, but I didn't remember going to sleep. All around my feet was a thick, coiling fog that went on for as far as I could see. Still holding on to my hands, Paul pulled me closer to him as I whipped my hair all around me, looking in all directions for some kind of beacon. "Where are we?!" I gasped, the cold dread wrapping around my chest and squeezing. I wanted to rip myself away from him, but I didn't know what would happen if I let go. I wanted to kick and shake the fog off my legs.

"This is the shadowland," Paul said, looking around us completely unfazed by my sudden panic. "This is how easy it is to exorcise a ghost, Suze. Just close your eyes and take them here. Leave the rest up to them."

I licked my lips, staring Paul dead in the eye as I pulled up all my nerves and threw it behind my voice. "Take me back, now."

Chuckling, Paul threw his head back and playfully swung our hands between us. "Oh Suze, it's not that bad."

"Now, Paul!" I growled, my panic giving way to that rage again as I felt a fire building in my belly.

With an abrupt stop, Paul quit laughing. Narrowing his eyes at me, he gripped my hands tighter again and I felt the floor give way beneath me. The sensation of falling so unnerving that I thought I was going to throw up the second I opened my eyes back in my own body, sitting up with a gasp as I lurched on the bed. Beside me Paul slowly sat up too, his movements more deliberate, his hand still holding on to mine. I did rip them away from him this time and lurched up to my feet, stumbling across the wooden floor as a sudden rush of bile threatened to come up my throat from the sudden intense pounding of my head.

"Don't move so fast, you'll only make your headache worse. That's the only side effect to going there. Something to do with your soul being disconnected from your body I guess." God, I wanted to hurl for a whole other reason all of a sudden. "It gets easier the more you practice."

"Ha!" I barked hoarsely, the sound and movement making my head swim as a ringing came in my ears. "I won't be practicing that. In fact, I don't ever want to go there ever again," I didn't bother to look at Paul as I stumbled for the doorway to his room and headed for the front of the house as fast as my shaking legs would carry me. I heard Paul shouting after me as I went, but I wasn't interested in sticking around to hear what he had to say. He caught up to me as I was reaching for my bag and jacket from the couch, his hand grabbing my arm again.

"Where are you going?" he demanded, spinning me around to face him.

"Home Paul. I'm going home."

I twisted out of his hand and headed for the door, sweet freedom and fresh air screaming my name as the heavy weights hanging on my feet made me feel like I was wading through syrup. I half expected him to come chasing after me as I slammed the door behind me. I took in huge gulps of fresh air as I headed down his drive, my head pounding in time with my steps. The memory of that place right on the edges of my mind, the memory of the cold creeping all around me. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to fight off the chill, even though I knew it wasn't cold outside. The balmy heat of the day was only just starting to fall, but I felt like I'd been sitting in a freezer for hours.

I came to a stop once I was far enough away from Paul's house to not be seen, glad that for once he didn't chase me down. I pulled my phone from my bag and with one eye closed to the thumping behind my skull, tried to figure out who to call. Sleepy? No, he already thought I was in a gang. He'd just give me the third degree and ask too many questions to why I was how I was. He'd probably think I was on drugs. Father Dom? No, again he'd want to know what happened and I wasn't ready to fill him in on what just happened. Adam? No, he didn't need to be brought into this mess.

I knew who I should call even as my fingers pressed the call button for his name. I stood by the side of the road, shivering in my jacket as the phone answered on the third ring.

"Susannah?" Jesse answered, sounding worried before I'd even said a word.

"Jesse," I breathed into the phone, swaying slightly in the setting sun. "I need your help."