Reunion by Meg Cabot Page B

Sleepy.”
    â€œNo,” Jesse said. “I meant about the boy, Susannah.”
    â€œWhat boy?” Then I remembered. “Oh. You mean Michael?”
    â€œYes,” Jesse said. “If what you’re telling me is true, he is in a lot of danger, Susannah.”
    â€œI know.” I leaned back on my elbows. The two of us were sitting out on the roof of the front porch, which happened to stick out beneath my bedroom windows. It was kind of nice out there, actually, under the stars. We were high enough up so that no one could see us—not that anyone but me and Father Dom could see Jesse, anyway—and it smelled good because of the giant pine tree to one side of the porch. It was the only place, these days, that we could sit and talk without fear of being interrupted by people. Well, just one person, actually: my houseguest, Gina.
    â€œSo, what are you going to do about it?” In the moonlight, Jesse’s white shirt looked blue. So did the highlights in his black hair.
    â€œI have no idea,” I said.
    â€œDon’t you?”
    Jesse looked at me. I hate it when he does that. It makes me feel…I don’t know. Like he’s mentally comparing me with someone else. And the only someone else I could think of was Maria de Silva, the girl Jesse was on his way to marry when he died. I had seen a portrait of her once.She was one hot babe, for the 1850s. It’s no fun, let me tell you, being compared to a chick who died before you were even born.
    And always had a hoop skirt to hide the size of her butt under.
    â€œYou’re going to have to find them,” Jesse said. “The Angels. Because if I’m right, that boy will not be safe until they are persuaded to move on.”
    I sighed. Jesse was right. Jesse was always right. It was just that tracking down a bunch of partying ghosts was so not what I wanted to be doing while Gina was in town.
    On the other hand, hanging around with me was not exactly proving to be what Gina wanted to do.
    I stood up and walked carefully across the roof tiles, then stooped to peer through the bay windows into my bedroom. The daybed was empty. I picked my way back down to where Jesse was sitting, and slumped down beside him again.
    â€œJeez,” I said. “She’s still in there.”
    Jesse looked down at me, the moonlight playing around the little smile on his face. “You cannot blame her,” he said, “for being interested in your brother.”
    â€œStepbrother,” I reminded him. “And yes, I can. He’s vermin. And he’s got her in his lair.”
    Jesse’s smile grew broader. Even his teeth, in the moonlight, looked blue. “They are only playing computer games, Susannah.”
    â€œHow do you know?” Then I remembered. He was a ghost. He could go anywhere. “Well, sure. The last time you looked, maybe. Who knows what they’re doing now?”
    Jesse sighed. “Do you want me to look again?”
    â€œNo.” I was horrified. “I don’t care what she does. If she wants to hang around with a big loser like Sleepy, I can’t stop her.”
    â€œBrad was there, too,” Jesse pointed out. “Last time I looked.”
    â€œOh, great. So she’s hanging out with two losers.”
    â€œI don’t understand why you are so unhappy about it,” Jesse said. He had stretched out across the tiles, contented as I’d ever seen him. “I like it much better this way.”
    â€œWhat way?” I groused. I couldn’t get quite as comfortable. I kept finding prickly pine needles beneath my butt.
    â€œJust the two of us,” he said with a shrug. “Like it’s always been.”
    Before I had a chance to reply to what—to me, anyway—seemed an extraordinarily heartfelt and perhaps even romantic admission, headlights flashed in the driveway, and Jesse looked past me.
    â€œWho’s that?”
    I didn’t look. I