‘What did you expect? Susannah, you saw what she tried to do to that young man yesterday—’

‘Yeah, but I could understand that. I mean, she loved him. She’s really mad at him. I didn’t think she’d try to go after me. I mean, I had nothing to do with it. I just tried to let her know her options—’

‘Which is what I’d been doing ever since she first showed up at the Mission.’

‘Right. But Heather’s not liking any of the options we’ve put before her. I’m telling you, the girl’s gone loco. She’s quiet now because she thinks she killed Bryce, and she’s probably all tuckered out, but in a little while she’s going to perk up again and God only knows what she’ll do next now that she knows what she’s capable of.’

Father Dominic looked at me curiously, his concern over the archbishop’s impending visit forgotten. ‘What do you mean “now that she knows what she’s capable of”?’

‘Well, last night was just a dress rehearsal. We can expect bigger and better things from Heather now that she knows what she can do.’

Father Dominic shook his head, confused. ‘Have you seen her today? How do you know all this?’

I couldn’t tell Father Dominic about Jesse. I really couldn’t. It wasn’t any of his business, for one thing. But I also had an idea it might kind of shock him, knowing there was this guy living in my bedroom. I mean, Father Dom was a priest and all.

‘Look,’ I said. ‘I’ve been giving this a lot of thought, and I don’t see any other way. You’ve tried to reason with her, and so have I. And look where it’s gotten us. You’re in the hospital, and I’m having to look over my shoulder everywhere I go. I think it’s time to settle the matter once and for all.’

Father Dom blinked at me. ‘What do you mean, Susannah? What are you talking about?’

I took a deep breath. ‘I’m talking about what we mediators do as a last resort.’

He still looked confused. ‘Last resort? I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.’

‘I’m talking,’ I said, ‘about an exorcism.’

Sixteen

‘Out of the question,’ said Father Dominic.

‘Look,’ I said. ‘I don’t see any other way. She won’t go willingly, we both know that. And she’s too dangerous to let hang around indefinitely. I think we’re going to have to give her a push.’

Father Dominic looked away from me, and started staring bleakly at a spot on the ceiling above our heads. ‘That isn’t what we’re here for, people like you and me, Susannah,’ he said in the saddest voice I had ever heard. ‘We are the sentries who guard the gates of the afterlife. We are the ones who help guide lost souls to their final destinations. And every single one of the spirits I’ve helped have passed my gate quite willingly . . .’

Yeah. And if you clap hard enough, Tinkerbell won’t die. It must, I thought, have been nice to see the world through Father Dom’s eyes. It seemed like a nice place. A lot better than the world I’d lived in for the past sixteen years.