A.N - Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I only have one thing to say. School's out for Summer! Okay, I stole it from Alice Cooper, doesn't make it any less true. More time for updates now.

Chapter 15

I had to act quickly. I knew that. I also knew that too long up there in Shadowland and Jesse could move on, and, whilst I wouldn't stop him if he wanted to, I knew that he had the right to choose.

The only problem is - I didn't know what to do.

I'd spent the entire three-mile walk home thinking about it after detention. Paul offered me a lift, of course, but I didn't accept. Paul killed my boyfriend. In a weird way.

I needed to get to Shadowland somehow. But the only way I could think of was, well, to exorcise myself. Only, that wouldn't work, because I'm not dead. Or a ghost.

But … I had a soul, right?

And what is a ghost but the soul of the person who'd died?

Excited, I ran straight up to my bedroom the second I arrived home.

So, I could exorcise myself. Well, have someone exorcise me. Now the problem was who would do it for me.

All of this to save the ghost who might hate me. I never did know his reaction to the me-finding-out-how-he-died thing.

Nevertheless, I had to do it. As I said, everyone has a choice right? This is America, after all.

I slumped down onto my bed.

Who could help me?

Father Dominic would have a fit if he found out who I'd spent the past two and half weeks outside - and, sometimes, inside - of school with. Paul would never help me. So he was definitely out. Plus I didn't really trust the guy enough to stay in a room with my unconscious body for who knows how long.

And now I'd run out of ideas. It's not like I knew any other mediators. Well, except for Paul's little brother …

"Jack," I gasped aloud. He could help me.

Not wasting another second, I grabbed my favourite biker jacket and shrugged it on as I ran downstairs.

"Susannah Simon!" My mom called from her seat at the dinner table, where the rest of the family were sitting - besides Jake who was working a shift at Peninsula Pizza. "Where do you think you're going, young lady? It's time for dinner."

I froze in the doorway.

"I'm going over Paul's."

Well, it wasn't a lie.

It did the trick though, my Mom's face softened.

"Oh Susie!" She exclaimed happily. "Are you two going to try going out again?"

My mom. She'd give anything for her only daughter to have a boyfriend. Well, I did have one. Only he was kind of dead at the moment. More so than usual.

I plastered on a fake smile and nodded.

"Mm-hmm," found its way passed my lips.

Brad scoffed and I shot him a glare.

"Suze can miss dinner tonight, can't she Andy?" My mom urged.

"Sure she can." Andy nodded acceptingly before adding, "Go get him."

Cringing, I left the house as quickly as possible.

Brad's call of, "Don't touch the car - I'm using it later," was what found me walking the length to Paul's house on Scenic Drive.

By the time I got there, it was getting quite late. The sun was setting over the view of the sea.

Deciding to ring the doorbell, as opposed to just walking in, I stood and waited for someone to answer the door.

Please be Jack. Please be Jack, please be Jack.

My hopes were crushed when a shadow way too tall to be Jack's grew closer and closer to the door.

He opened the door whilst pulling out his wallet, obviously expecting a food delivery of some kind.

"Well, well, well," Paul drawled when he saw me. "Come to take me up on my offer of getting back together, have you?"

"Yeah," I snorted, pushing past him as I walked past him into the house. "Right. I'm actually here to see Jack."

Paul's eyebrow raised.

"Jack?" He asked incredulously. "My parents aren't paying you anymore Suze - you don't have to baby-sit him."

I glared.

"For your information," I spat. "I happen to like hanging out with Jack."

"Well then, by all means," Paul switched his voice back to the drawl from earlier and added a flourish as he welcomed me into his house. "Go right on up."

Barging past him with my head held high, I clutched my bag to my chest. The bag that held everything I'd need for Jack to be able to exorcise me.

It wasn't long before little Jack Slater was bounding down the hallway to meet me.

"Suze!" He called. "Did you come to see Paul?"

"Actually," I kneeled down to his level. "I came to see you,"

"Really?" He grabbed my hand and led me to his bedroom. Funny how I wasn't afraid to go into this Slater brother's bedroom. Then again, he was only eight.

"Are you going to stay for Pizza?" He asked. "Paul ordered some."

"I might do," I answered cryptically. "First of all Jack, I need you to help me with something, alright?"

"Sure," he spoke with the childlike innocence of all boys his age. "What is it?"

"Well, remember what Paul did to Jesse? The Spanish Ghost?" How do you explain to an eight year old that you want him to, more or less, kill you?

"Yep." Jack nodded popping the 'p' at the end of the word. "Sent him away."

"Yeah, well," I swallowed. "I want you to do that to me."

A look of confusion crossed his face.

"Why would I do that?" He asked.

"For a game," I said. "An experiment. Just to see what happens."

"Wouldn't that kill you?"

A very good question.

"Well," I told him, as if I knew what I was talking about. "No, because my body will be here to come back to."

"I don't know…" he trailed off.

I rolled my eyes. This kid thought things out way too much for an eight year old. Old before his years.

"Come on Jack," I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the bathroom where I pushed him in and locked the door behind us. "Just help me, okay?"

I pulled out the plastic container of red liquid.

"Is that," Jack stuttered. "Is that blood?"

"It's just Chicken's."

Jack gulped.

Ignoring him, I started to draw the necessary shapes in the blood on the floor, lit a ring of candles and thrust a small book at Jack.

"What language is this?" He asked incredulously.

"Latin," I replied dismissively. "Just read it out loud. You don't have to know what it means."

Hesitantly, Jack began to read the words as I lay back in the circle I'd made, staring up at the ceiling. Whirls of smoke slowly began to form an opening in the ceiling. Hmmm, interesting.

The opening itself was filled with smoke with tendrils that began to reach down the floor towards me.

I glanced over at Jack's face and he looked horrified.

Sitting up, I realised only half of me actually moved. Well, my soul, I'm guessing it was. My body lay silent and still on the floor.

"Suze!" Jack exclaimed. "You're a ghost."

I smiled, glad that this had actually worked.

"Way to go, Jack!" I praised, "Thanks."

I stood up and began to climb into the opening.

"Jack!" I heard Paul banging on the door below me. I sped up my climb. "What are you and Suze doing in there?!"

The banging grew louder.

"Jack!" Paul bellowed. "If you don't answer me, I'll break the door down."

"We're," Jack paused as he thought of an excuse. "We're doing an experiment."

That's my boy, I thought proudly. By now, I was looking down on the scene with interest from my point of view in the ceiling. Well, Shadowland, I suppose.

"Experiment?" Paul's voice was confused. But the pounding on the door had stopped. "Oh no. Jack you open this door right now!"

The concern in Paul's voice obviously got to Jack, as he stood up and opened the door.

Paul barged in and took one look at my still body when his face paled of practically all its colour.

"Jack," he whispered. "What have you done?"

Paul glanced up at the wisps of smoke that were still flying down from the open hole.

"It's alright," he announced proudly. "Suze has her body to come back to. She's still up there!"

It was as Jack gestured wildly to me that I decided to turn my back on the scene below and instead look at what I'd chosen to come to.

Shadowland.