Now Paul and I were on our feet, completely unnoticed by the two men struggling at the edge of the loft. I tried to rush forward to help, but again Paul wouldn't let me.

"It's a fair fight," he said to me.

But when, a second later, the two men broke apart, and Diego threw aside his belt with a chuckle, I saw that there was nothing fair about the fight at all. Because Diego had suddenly produced a knife. It gleamed wickedly in the light from the lantern, sitting on the loft floor a few feet away from them.

Now the air in my lungs came out in a rush. "Jesse!" I shrieked. "Knife!"

Diego whirled. "Who's there?" he asked in English.

The distraction gave Jesse just enough time to pull from his boot his own knife . . . the one he'd used to cut me loose from Paul's ropes.

"Okay, that's it," I said when I saw this. "Somebody's going to get - "

"That's what we want," Paul said, keeping a firmer grip on me than ever. "So long as it's the right guy."

I couldn't understand what Paul was doing, what he was thinking. Jesse and Diego were circling each other warily now, coming within inches with every other step of the loft ledge. We could stop it. We could stop it so easily. Why wasn't he -

Then it hit me. Was Paul on Diego's side? Was this whole thing some kind of weird setup? Had he really failed to find Diego during the day or had he only pretended to go and look for him, so he could have the pleasure of watching Jesse die later? Because that could be the only reason he'd have gone to these elaborate lengths - so that he could watch Jesse die -

I wrenched myself free of him.

"You want Jesse to die," I shrieked at him. "You want him to, don't you?"

Paul looked at me like I was nuts. "Are you kidding? The whole reason I came back was to make sure he didn't."

"Then why aren't you helping him?"

"I don't need - " Jesse ducked as Diego took a swing at him. " - any help!"

"Who are those people?" Diego snarled, lunging at Jesse again.

"No one," Jesse said. "Pay no attention to them. This is between you and me."

"See?" Paul said to me, not without some self-righteousness. "Would you chill?"

But how could I, when I was standing there watching my boyfriend - okay, well, he wasn't exactly my boyfriend, yet - in a struggle for his life? I stood there, my heart in my mouth, barely able to breathe, watching the flash of cold hard metal as the two men circled each other. . . .

And then it happened. Diego suddenly reached behind him, and in a flash had grabbed hold of -

Me.

I was caught so off guard, I couldn't think. All I knew was that one minute I was standing there next to Paul, barely able to watch what was happening, I was so scared .

. . . and the next, I was in the middle of it, an arm crushing my throat as Diego held me in front of him, the tip of his silver blade at my neck.

"Drop the knife," he said to Jesse. He was standing so close to me, I could feel his voice reverberating through his body. "Or the girl dies."

I saw Jesse blanch. But he never hesitated. He dropped his knife.

Paul screamed, "Suze! Shift!"

It took me a second to realize what he meant. Diego was touching me. Diego was touching me. All I had to do was picture that hallway I hated so much - that way station between existences - and he and I would both be transported there . . .

. . . and we'd be rid of him forever.

But before I could so much as close my eyes, Diego threw me away from him and lunged at Jesse. I tried to scream as I fell, but my throat was so sore from the force with which he'd held me, nothing came out.

I didn't fall from the loft, however. Instead, I fell against something metal - and glass. Something that broke beneath my weight. Something that soaked the straw beneath me.

Something that burst into flames.

The lantern. I'd fallen on the lantern, and broken it. And set the hay on fire.

The flames broke out more quickly than I ever could have imagined they would. Suddenly, I was separated from the others by a wall of orange. I could see them standing on the other side, Paul staring at me in dumb horror, while Jesse and Diego -

Well, Jesse was trying to keep Diego from plunging a knife into his heart.

"Paul," I shrieked. "Help him! Help Jesse!"

But Paul just stood there looking at me for some reason. It was Jesse who finally broke Diego's grip on him. Jesse who twisted the arm that held the knife until Diego, with a cry of pain, let go of it. And Jesse who hauled off and struck Diego with a blow to the face that sent him reeling -

Right over the ledge.

I heard his body hit the barn floor, heard the unmistakable snap of breaking bones . . . breaking neck bones.

The horses heard it as well. They whinnied shrilly and kicked at the doors to their stalls. They could smell the smoke.

So, I realized, could the O'Neils. I heard shouts coming from outside the barn.

"You did it," I cried, gazing at a panting Jesse through the smoke and fire. "You killed him!"

"Suze." Paul was still staring at me. "Suze."

"He did it, Paul!" I couldn't believe it. "He's going to live." To Jesse, I said, joyfully, "You're going to live!"

Jesse didn't look too happy about it, though. He said, "Susannah. Stay where you are."

Then I saw what he meant. The fire had completely cut me off from the rest of the loft. Even from the ledge. I was cornered by flames. And smoke. Smoke that was getting so thick, I could barely see them.

No wonder Paul had been staring at me. I was caught in a fire trap.

"Suze," Paul said. But his voice sounded faint. Then he cried, "Jesse, no - "

But it was too late. Because the next thing I knew, a large object hurtled at me through the smoke and flame - hit me, as a matter of fact, and knocked me to the ground. It took me a second to realize the object was Jesse and that he'd wrapped himself in the horse blanket I'd slept under the night before. . . .

A horse blanket that was now smoldering.

"Come on," Jesse said, throwing down the blanket, then grabbing my hand and pulling me back to my feet. "We haven't much time."

"Suze!" I heard Paul yelling. I could no longer see him, the smoke was so thick.

"Get down," Jesse yelled to Paul. "Get down and help them with the horses."

But Paul didn't appear to be listening.

"Suze," he yelled. "Shift! Do it now! It's your only chance!"

Jesse had turned and was kicking at the planks that made up the closest wall. The boards shuddered under the assault.

Shift? My mind seemed to be working only murkily, maybe due to all the smoke. But it didn't seem like I could shift just then. What about Jesse? I couldn't leave Jesse. I hadn't gone to all this trouble to save him from Diego just to have him die in a barn fire.

"Suze," Paul yelled once more. "Shift! I'm doing it, too. I'll meet you on the other side!"

Other side? What was he talking about? Was he insane?

Oh, right. He was Paul. Of course he was insane.

I heard a crash. Then Jesse was taking my hand.

"We're going to have to jump," he said, his face very close to mine.

I felt something cool lick my face. Air. Fresh air. I turned my head and saw that Jesse had kicked out enough boards in the barn wall for a person to squeeze through. It was dark through that hole. But lifting my face a little to better feel the deliriously cool breeze, I saw stars in the night sky.

"Do you understand me, Susannah?" Jesse's face was very close to mine. Close enough to kiss me. Why didn't he kiss me? "We'll jump together, on the count of three."

I felt him reach out and grab me by the waist, bringing me close to him. Well, that was better. Much better for kissing -

"One . . ."

I could feel his heart drumming hard against mine. Only how was that possible? Jesse's heart had stopped beating 150 years ago.

"Two . . ."

Hot flames were licking mv heels. I was so hot. Why didn't he hurry up and kiss me already?

"Three . . ."

And then we were flying through the air. Not because he was kissing me, I realized. No, because we were really flying through the air.

And as if the fresh cool wind had cleared the smoke from my brain, I realized what was happening. Jesse and I were hurtling toward the ground, which looked extremely far away.

And so I did the only thing I could. I clung to him, closed my eyes, and thought of home.

Chapter nineteen

I landed with such force, all the wind was knocked out of me. It was like being hit in the back with a railroad tie - which has actually happened to me before, so I would know. I lay there, completely stunned, unable to breathe, unable to move, unable to do anything but be aware of the pain.

Then, slowly, consciousness returned. I could move my legs. This was a good sign. I could move my arms. Also good. Breathing returned - painfully, but there, none the less.

Then I heard it.

Crickets.

Not the shrieks of horses as they protested being dragged from their burning stalls. Not the roaring of fire all around me. Not even my own labored breathing.

But crickets, chirping away like they had nothing better to do.

I opened my eyes.

And instead of smoke and fire and burning barn, all I saw were stars, hundreds of them, glowing coldly millions of miles away.

I turned my head.

And saw my house.

Not Mrs. O'Neil's boardinghouse, either. But my house. I was in the backyard. I could see the deck Andy had built. Someone had left the lights on in the hot tub.