-1I paced around the room. A small voice in my head kept saying, help her, help her. But why should I? But I could almost hear her calling me. I found myself materializing to see her falling over backwards.

"Get up" I hissed, "I thought you said you were good at this" A stone statue's head slammed to the ground dangerously close to her face. I pulled her up and dragged her to the breezeway.

"Jesuscrísto" Igasped at her as we leaned against the door of a classroom. "'I can take care myself' you said 'I'll just have to get rid of her first' you told me. Right!"

"Shut up" She mumbled.

"Cadaver breath." I said, still breathing hard. "Do you realize that's what you called me? That hurt, querida. It really hurt." There it was again. It slipped out. I did not want her.

"I told you not to call me that." She said, as some thing heavy was repeatedly thrown against the door.

"We I would appreciate it if you didn't make disparaging remarks about my-"

"Look" She interrupted desperately." This door isn't going to hold up forever"

"No" I agreed, "But may I make a suggestion?"

"Sure"

"Run" She jumped onto the window ceil and struggled to life it. "Uh, hurry please."

She disappeared out the window, and then I heard her screaming back through at me. "Jesse, come on!"

The door was going to give any minute. I dematerialized outside, right behind her. Just as she was yelling up at where she thought I was, surly not running. "I thought I told you to run." I told her irritated.

She turned around fast. "Oh my God, oh my God, Jesse" Her face was pale and she reached out and grabbed handfuls of my shirt. "Are you all right?"

Was I all right? Not to sound too conceited or anything, but it is very difficult to injure me. She should have known that. "Of course I'm alright. Are you all right?"

"Me? I'm fine" She looked back at the window. "Do you think she's done?"

"For now." I replied.

"How do you know? How do you know she won't come busting through that wall there, and start up rooting trees all those trees and hurling them at us?"

I smiled "She won't"

"How do you know?"

"Because she won't" I tried to comfort her, "She doesn't know yet all she can do."

It obviously did not work. She let go of me and began pacing around franticly "We've got to do something." She said. "We've got to warn Father Dominic-- Bryce. My God, we've got to warm Bryce not to come to school tomorrow. She'll kill him the minute he sets foot on campus--"

"Susannah" I tried my hand at soothing her again, but she continued.

"I guess we could call him. It's one in the morning, but we could call him and tell him-I don't know what we could tell him. We could tell him there's been a death threat on him, or something. That might work. Or-we could leave a death threat. Yeah, that's what we could do! We could call his house and I could disguise my voice, and I could be like, 'Don't come to school tomorrow or you'll die.' Maybe he'd listen. Maybe he'd-"

I was defiantly intrigued by Susannah's attitude. She was throwing out suggestions like a whirlwind. "Susannah"

"Or we could have Father Dom do it! We could have Father Dom call Bryce and tell him not to come to school, that there's been an accident, or something-" "Susannah" She was pacing again, so I stepped in front of her and she collided into me and I caught her before she could fall. "Susannah" I said a forth "It's not your fault there was nothing you could do."

"Nothing I could do? Are you kidding me? I should have kicked that girl back to her grave!" She exclaimed.

"No," I said, "She'd have killed you"

"Bull! I could have taken her. If she hadn't done that thing with the guy's head-"

I don't interrupt people often, it's rude. But I seemed to be doing it a lot lately. "Susannah"

"I mean it, Jesse; I could totally have handled her if she hadn't gotten so mad. I bet if I just wait a little while until she's calmed down and go back in there, I can talk her into--"

"No" I put an arm around her around her shoulders and lead her to where her bike was. "Come on. Let's go home."

"But what about--,"

"No" She wasn't going back in there. I gripped her tighter.

"Jesse you don't understand. This is my job. I have to."

"It's Father Dominic's job too, no? Let him take it from here. There's no reason why you have to be burdened with the responsibility yourself."

"Well yes" Susannah admitted, "There is. I'm the one who screwed up."

"You put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger?" You put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger?" I asked.

Of course not. But I'm the one who got her so mad. Father Dom didn't. I can't ask Father Dom to clean up my messes. That is totally unfair," she replied.

"What is totally unfair is for anyone to expect a young girl like yourself to battle with a demon from hell like-"

"She isn't a demon from hell. She's just mad. She's mad because the one guy she thought she could trust turned out to be a-"

"Susannah," I said. I stopped. I had to steady her as she tried to keep walking. She stared up at me. Then I noticed the blood pouring from her wrists. "Your bleeding"

"I am not" She said indignantly, then she looked down at the stained ground and my stained shirt." Oh what a mess I'm sorry about you shirt."

"It's nothing" I pulled out a hankercheif and wrapped it around her wounds "There, does that hurt?"

"No" She cleared her throat, "Thanks"

"It's nothing" I repeated.

"No" her voice choked as though she might cry. "I mean it. Thanks for coming out here to help me You shouldn't have done it. I mean I'm glad you did. And well thanks. That's all."

Well that was slightly embassrasing. "Never mind" I said. We began to walk, I wheeled her bike. "Let's go home."