A/N: Yeah, I know the last chapter kind of sucked and was a wee bit on the
shortish side, but I've re-read most of the series ((in two days, whoot.
^_^)) and I actually remember where I want this thing to go so expect more
quality in the near future. And again, thanks to all my reviewers, I
appreciate it. ^_^
Monday could not come soon enough. I was honestly sick of the weekend, which isn't anything a sixteen year old girl should ever have to say. It wasn't only because of the whole being grounded thing, although that sure hadn't helped, it was also the whole homicidal Shaman, cryptic Paul, and Jesse leaving without so much as a goodbye to the stupid cat.
Slipping into a light pair of flip flops- the kind they sell at little souvenir stands for like eight bucks-, I shoved my hair up in a bun and grabbed my bag from the foot of my bed.
"Bye, Cat. Don't leave any little presents in my room while I'm gone." I dumped some dry food in his bowl and sprinted down the stairs, hopping into the car just as Adam pulled into the driveway.
"Wow, Suze, you're actually on time for once." He said as I climbed into the back seat of his car as Cee Cee was already sitting in the front.
"Yeah well, I need to talk to Father Dominic about-um, some student government stuff, so I figured I should get there earlier than normal." Another lie to add up to my slowly forming mountain of them, unless of course the Junior Student Government dealt with disappearing people, killer mystics, and impatient spirits on top of school car washes, where to have prom, and stuff like that.
"Whatever Suze, I'm not complaining." Adam said with a shrug as he backed his car out of the driveway.
--------
"You want to know about what, Susannah?" Father Dom asked again for what must've been like, the fourth time in a couple of minutes.
"If any spirits or mediators have gone missing lately." I repeated again, also for like the fourth time. Honestly, it wasn't as if it was that odd a question, well- okay, so maybe it was. But anyway, I figured if anyone would know it'd have to be either Father Dom or Paul, and I really, really preferred to talk to the former.
"Susannah, I hope you realize that this isn't the kind of information I can just find on record somewhere. I mean, I don't even know if there are other mediators in the world-"He rubbed his temples with the tips of his fingers and looked way more stressed than usual. Obviously, whatever little crisis the whole 'disappearing mediator' thing had been earlier, it'd gotten worse since the last time I talked to him.
"But you knew about that spirit guy or whatever he was earlier!" I protested. I was missing most of my first period for this, not that I really minded, but I was kind of hoping that maybe he'd know something.
Which, knowing my luck, was probably stupid of me to think.
"I knew," He began, as he dug through one of his desk drawers, "about the 'spirit guy' because one of the spirits around the school brought it to my attention. Otherwise I wouldn't have known anything about it." He paused and looked back up at me, as if to get his point across, "What you're asking for, I don't know if there's anyway I could-"
"Why don't you just ask that guy again? I mean, he'd-"
"She'd." Father Dom corrected me almost automatically.
"Well, whatever. She'd probably know if people were just poofing away when they weren't supposed- Wait, she?" Father Dom nodded and I couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Hmm, so who is this 'she'? Is there something you haven't been telling me?" I asked teasingly. Yeah, it was mean, but oh well. I enjoyed it anyway, "I'm so hurt, Father D."
"It's not near what you think, Susannah. She's just a very valuable link to the happenings in the Spirit-and even sometimes, human- world." Father Dom didn't even sound annoyed at me, as if he'd suspected what I'd think before he even said anything. That really kind of took the fun out of bugging him about it.
"Then she'd probably know, wouldn't she?"
"Yes, she probably would." Father Dom paused and closed the desk drawer. Peering over at me suspiciously, I squirmed. I knew he was trying to figure out if I was up to something.
"What do you need to know all this for, anyway? Usually when you ask questions like this, it leads up to some, err, rather hasty actions."
I rolled my eyes in the most convincing manner I could muster, "Really, Father Dom, I can't believe you don't trust me more than that." Actually, I could believe he didn't trust me more. It wasn't like I'd proved to be the most honest person in the past, what with all the plans and sneaking around behind his back and getting an eight year old kid to-almost-exorcise me. So yeah, I guess I could see why he didn't trust me. "I just want to know as much as I can so I can help you if things get out of hand. We mediators have to stick together." All except Paul, I thought. He could go take a long walk off a short pier, for all I cared.
"I suppose." He said finally, giving into my outstanding reasoning skills, "But you'll have to wait until I can find her. She can be quite difficult to locate sometimes."
"How long do you think it'll take?" I asked as patiently as I could, although I really was about ready to go there and drag her by her hair from the afterlife if it came to that.
"A few days at the most, I'm sure. I'll ask Jesse to help with-"
"Wait, what?" God, I sounded like a freaking broken record today.
Father Dom looked startled, and I could blame him. I'd spoken just a little louder than I'd meant to and seeing as I hadn't been trying to keep my voice that low, well, I could understand. The receptionist even seemed to have heard me, as I watched her turn around in surprise through one of the windows on the closed office door.
"Well, he's seemed quite overcome with boredom since he moved to the Rectory, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping. It would probably be the fastest way-"He began, nervously fidgeting with a paper weight on the table. He always hated talking about Jesse in matters that concerned me, especially since the last time he had I'd spent the next three hours bawling my eyes out.
"Wait, he's at the rectory? How long's he been there?"
"I believe since Friday afternoon. I thought we already went over this, Susannah. I'm sorry if you still don't agree-"He looked even more uncomfortable talking about the little matter of how he'd been involved in Jesse moving in the first place. About that, yeah, I hadn't been too thrilled when I'd first heard about it. Not that I was really happy with the whole thing now, of course.
"Nothing, I just didn't know where he'd been lately. He was supposed to tell me when he left, and he didn't take his stupid cat with him."
"Oh, well, Sister Agnes is allergic to cats and you know you can still talk to him if you want to. That's quite alright."
Damn right it was.
"But not right now. It's almost second period and you've already missed enough class time. I'll try to get in touch with January as soon as I can."
"So that's her name?" I grinned as I stood up, feeling much more relieved than when I'd first come in, even if I hadn't found out a thing about the Shaman. At least Jesse was safe, even if he had the gall to leave without telling me.
There was sun on my arms where the skin was exposed from my green tank top as I strode across the courtyard, as first period still had about five minutes or so to go. It was turning out to be a pretty good day after all.
Or that's what I was thinking before I heard the sickening thump and blacked out.
Monday could not come soon enough. I was honestly sick of the weekend, which isn't anything a sixteen year old girl should ever have to say. It wasn't only because of the whole being grounded thing, although that sure hadn't helped, it was also the whole homicidal Shaman, cryptic Paul, and Jesse leaving without so much as a goodbye to the stupid cat.
Slipping into a light pair of flip flops- the kind they sell at little souvenir stands for like eight bucks-, I shoved my hair up in a bun and grabbed my bag from the foot of my bed.
"Bye, Cat. Don't leave any little presents in my room while I'm gone." I dumped some dry food in his bowl and sprinted down the stairs, hopping into the car just as Adam pulled into the driveway.
"Wow, Suze, you're actually on time for once." He said as I climbed into the back seat of his car as Cee Cee was already sitting in the front.
"Yeah well, I need to talk to Father Dominic about-um, some student government stuff, so I figured I should get there earlier than normal." Another lie to add up to my slowly forming mountain of them, unless of course the Junior Student Government dealt with disappearing people, killer mystics, and impatient spirits on top of school car washes, where to have prom, and stuff like that.
"Whatever Suze, I'm not complaining." Adam said with a shrug as he backed his car out of the driveway.
--------
"You want to know about what, Susannah?" Father Dom asked again for what must've been like, the fourth time in a couple of minutes.
"If any spirits or mediators have gone missing lately." I repeated again, also for like the fourth time. Honestly, it wasn't as if it was that odd a question, well- okay, so maybe it was. But anyway, I figured if anyone would know it'd have to be either Father Dom or Paul, and I really, really preferred to talk to the former.
"Susannah, I hope you realize that this isn't the kind of information I can just find on record somewhere. I mean, I don't even know if there are other mediators in the world-"He rubbed his temples with the tips of his fingers and looked way more stressed than usual. Obviously, whatever little crisis the whole 'disappearing mediator' thing had been earlier, it'd gotten worse since the last time I talked to him.
"But you knew about that spirit guy or whatever he was earlier!" I protested. I was missing most of my first period for this, not that I really minded, but I was kind of hoping that maybe he'd know something.
Which, knowing my luck, was probably stupid of me to think.
"I knew," He began, as he dug through one of his desk drawers, "about the 'spirit guy' because one of the spirits around the school brought it to my attention. Otherwise I wouldn't have known anything about it." He paused and looked back up at me, as if to get his point across, "What you're asking for, I don't know if there's anyway I could-"
"Why don't you just ask that guy again? I mean, he'd-"
"She'd." Father Dom corrected me almost automatically.
"Well, whatever. She'd probably know if people were just poofing away when they weren't supposed- Wait, she?" Father Dom nodded and I couldn't help but chuckle a little.
"Hmm, so who is this 'she'? Is there something you haven't been telling me?" I asked teasingly. Yeah, it was mean, but oh well. I enjoyed it anyway, "I'm so hurt, Father D."
"It's not near what you think, Susannah. She's just a very valuable link to the happenings in the Spirit-and even sometimes, human- world." Father Dom didn't even sound annoyed at me, as if he'd suspected what I'd think before he even said anything. That really kind of took the fun out of bugging him about it.
"Then she'd probably know, wouldn't she?"
"Yes, she probably would." Father Dom paused and closed the desk drawer. Peering over at me suspiciously, I squirmed. I knew he was trying to figure out if I was up to something.
"What do you need to know all this for, anyway? Usually when you ask questions like this, it leads up to some, err, rather hasty actions."
I rolled my eyes in the most convincing manner I could muster, "Really, Father Dom, I can't believe you don't trust me more than that." Actually, I could believe he didn't trust me more. It wasn't like I'd proved to be the most honest person in the past, what with all the plans and sneaking around behind his back and getting an eight year old kid to-almost-exorcise me. So yeah, I guess I could see why he didn't trust me. "I just want to know as much as I can so I can help you if things get out of hand. We mediators have to stick together." All except Paul, I thought. He could go take a long walk off a short pier, for all I cared.
"I suppose." He said finally, giving into my outstanding reasoning skills, "But you'll have to wait until I can find her. She can be quite difficult to locate sometimes."
"How long do you think it'll take?" I asked as patiently as I could, although I really was about ready to go there and drag her by her hair from the afterlife if it came to that.
"A few days at the most, I'm sure. I'll ask Jesse to help with-"
"Wait, what?" God, I sounded like a freaking broken record today.
Father Dom looked startled, and I could blame him. I'd spoken just a little louder than I'd meant to and seeing as I hadn't been trying to keep my voice that low, well, I could understand. The receptionist even seemed to have heard me, as I watched her turn around in surprise through one of the windows on the closed office door.
"Well, he's seemed quite overcome with boredom since he moved to the Rectory, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping. It would probably be the fastest way-"He began, nervously fidgeting with a paper weight on the table. He always hated talking about Jesse in matters that concerned me, especially since the last time he had I'd spent the next three hours bawling my eyes out.
"Wait, he's at the rectory? How long's he been there?"
"I believe since Friday afternoon. I thought we already went over this, Susannah. I'm sorry if you still don't agree-"He looked even more uncomfortable talking about the little matter of how he'd been involved in Jesse moving in the first place. About that, yeah, I hadn't been too thrilled when I'd first heard about it. Not that I was really happy with the whole thing now, of course.
"Nothing, I just didn't know where he'd been lately. He was supposed to tell me when he left, and he didn't take his stupid cat with him."
"Oh, well, Sister Agnes is allergic to cats and you know you can still talk to him if you want to. That's quite alright."
Damn right it was.
"But not right now. It's almost second period and you've already missed enough class time. I'll try to get in touch with January as soon as I can."
"So that's her name?" I grinned as I stood up, feeling much more relieved than when I'd first come in, even if I hadn't found out a thing about the Shaman. At least Jesse was safe, even if he had the gall to leave without telling me.
There was sun on my arms where the skin was exposed from my green tank top as I strode across the courtyard, as first period still had about five minutes or so to go. It was turning out to be a pretty good day after all.
Or that's what I was thinking before I heard the sickening thump and blacked out.