"Probably all next year." She sighed and moved a little closer. "He'll be across the country. I think the schools they applied to are out west. Colorado and maybe Oregon."

"But he can come home before he leaves? Before fall semester starts up?"

My mother shook her head, dashing my hope. "He'll start right away. They have year-round programs. I know this is difficult and I know Connor is a good boy, but this is the best thing for him. He needs the consistency and structure of a program like this.

I nodded and sniffed because she was right. He needed to get all this under control. The drugs and school. The next time he broke the law, he would be dealing with adult charges. Unfortunately, Connor and I needed time to work some things out and now that wouldn't happen. The sinking feeling in my stomach expanded to my heart. "Can I see him? At all?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks."

She stood up and kissed my forehead. "Let me go make some calls," she said, leaving my room. Once the door closed, I rolled over and snuggled back down under the covers. I had no energy left to face this day.

My mother and I followed the tall, round officer down the maze of endless hallways. I half-expected one of those double-sided rooms with the window in the middle and a phone for us to speak though. My mom said those were for jail not juvie, and we would probably meet Connor in the legal office.

"How much farther?" I whispered to my mother. She didn't answer though because the officer stopped and opened a door.

"Wait here," he said. "I'll bring the inmate down."

Once we were alone, I sat on the metal chair at the metal table. My mom sat next to me and I unleashed the questions I had been holding back since she came out of the hearing. "What happened? Did they approve boarding school? When does he leave? Today?"

"Yes, the judge agreed to boarding school and he leaves today, which is good because otherwise he would be placed in holding until a spot came open. He has to spend the year there though, and graduate from the program. He won't go back to Bates."

Or me, I thought. He'll be gone my whole senior year. No homecoming or prom or spring break.

Countless ghosts pa.s.sing in and out of my life. The seed of doubt that had been gnawing at me since the night Charlotte tried to kill me festered inside. "How long can we talk to him?"

"Maybe 10 minutes." She smiled and smoothed back her blonde, graying hair. "Bringing you down here is highly irregular. I had to use all my charms to get this last meeting. His parents and an officer from the school will be here soon to take him to the airport."

The door opened and the officer from before ushered Connor inside. I expect an orange jumpsuit or something, but he had on a coat and tie. His face was clean shaven and his hair neat for once. I guess he needed to look presentable for court.

"Hi," he said, his face brightened the minute he saw me.

"We're good," my mother told the officer who nodded in reply and stepped outside. She opened her briefcase and pulled out an iPod with headphones. "This is as much privacy as I can give you," she said, opening a file on the table. "Don't make me regret it."

I walked over to give him a hug, but he lifted his hands. They were strapped together. "Well, you can't hug me but I can hug you, right?" I gave him a quick squeeze and a kiss on the lips. My mom may have been ignoring us, but she was still standing right there.

"Did she tell you what happened?" he asked.

"Yeah, a year."

"I'm sorry, Jane. I never meant for this to happen."

His eyes told the truth, but I felt uneasy about our future and what would happen the next time a devious ghost entered our world. He and I were on a bad path. I'd lied to him about seeing the ghosts. He'd lied to me about the meds and contact with Charlotte. We hurt one another. It wasn't right. "I know you didn't, but maybe this will help? Maybe you can get the meds straight and you can figure out how you want to deal with all of this."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Just that it's been a hard summer. And that stuff with Charlotte really scared me, Connor. She could have killed me. It could happen again. I'm not ready to risk that if you get wishy-washy."

His face clouded and he raised his voice. "Are you saying I'm willing to risk your safety? You're my only concern." My mother glanced up and he lowered his tone. "I'd never hurt you."

Those stupid tears, the ones that always come when I don't want them to welled in my eyes. "I know you don't want to, but it keeps happening. I've been doing this too long, Connor. Depending on you and others to make this go away. Charlotte was right, my aunt was right there with all the information and I basically tossed it away. It's time for me to grow up."

"What does that mean? That I don't allow you to grow or something?" He tried to pace in agitation, but the room was too small.

"No... yes. I don't know. You and I are right together. We fit, but we don't understand how to use our gifts. That lack of understanding makes things dangerous."

"Now we know. We know you're shadow bound. We can learn together."

"When? In between make-out sessions and fights?" I asked. Then I snorted. "We won't even have that now. I guess we'll be stuck with letters and, at best, supervised visits."

He shot me a wary look. "It's not like I expected you to wait around for me for a year."

"That's not what I mean! Can't you see that? It's about both of us being healthy and dealing with all this c.r.a.p. We can't protect ourselves if we are constantly protecting each other." I grabbed him by the tie and made him stop moving. "I love you, Connor Jacobs, but you and I need to figure some stuff out. I'm not sure how we're going to do that separated."

The pained look I received told me exactly what he thought of my last statement. I didn't care though. I'd had enough time to think about this and I'd have more than enough time in the next year to know whether or not I'd made the right decision.

"I think we need some time apart."

"You mean other than the 3,000-mile separation we're about to have."

I nodded and he tugged away from me and banged on the door, shouting to the officer outside, "I'm ready." My mother looked up startled and pulled the headphones out of her ears.

"Everything okay?" she asked as the officer opened the door.

"We're fine," Connor said, but he walked back over to me, leaned into my ear and whispered, "I love you too, Jane Watts, and if you think I'm not fighting for you, you don't know me at all." He gave me a fast kiss on the cheek and I watched, stunned, as the guard pulled him into the hallway.

"What was that?" my mom asked, picking up her briefcase and standing next to me at the door.

I touched my cheek and felt the seed of doubt fighting against the warmth that always bubbled inside when Connor was near. I frowned and said, "I think we broke up."

About Angel.

Angel Lawson lives in Atlanta with her family, two dogs and cat. Most days are spent writing, reading, obsessing over gossip blogs and cleaning the glitter out from under her nails. Oh, and preparing for the zombie apocalypse. Always.

Angel has written three other books. Wraith and Fangirl are both YA novels and Serial Summer is an adult romance. All are available on Amazon. The third and final book in the Wraith Series will be available late 2013.

Find Angel Online: www.AngelLawson.com.

Follow Angel on Twitter: @LawsonWrites.

Like Angel on Facebook:.

www.facebook.com/LawsonWrites.

Find Angel on Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/AngelLawson.

Review Angel on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Angel-Lawson/e/B0076KRWY4 Email Angel:.

Wraith: Book 1 ISBN: 1469992833..

Available at Amazon: www.amazon.com/Wraith-ebook/dp/B0076E8ME4 On Goodreads at: www.goodreads.com/book/show/13459147-wraith.

Website: www.WraithBook.com FanGirl!

ISBN: 9781478180296.

Available at Amazon: www.amazon.com/FanGirl-ebook/dp/B008J7CPY0.

On Goodreads at: www.goodreads.com/book/show/15744964-fangirl.

Serial Summer ASIN: B009YLOBUQ.

Available atAmazon: www.amazon.com/Serial-Summer-ebook/dp/B009YLOBUQ.

On Goodreads at:.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/16112374-serial-summer.

Acknowledgements.

Becoming an author has been a strange, long journey. Because I'm needy and require a huge support system to get these books out with any sense of appropriate grammar, theme or storytelling. As always, I have to start with the pre-readers because they help me know if I'm going in the right direction. Liz, Alicia, Tracie, Vanessa, Rachel, Kirsten and Bev are always ready and willing to read and tell me what I'm doing wrong. If you don't have someone willing to tell you you're wrong then you may as well hang it up.

Who knew when I met my friend Anne when we were five years old at the swimming pool that she would turn out to be an awesome editor? Good thing I figured it out because she fixes all the horrible mistakes I make and removes the 96970807 "so's" I add unnecessarily. I thank her and her tiny black notebook for keeping everything in order.

Once again Sam has kept me from embarra.s.sing myself. She also knows I want everything to look as professional as possible and I appreciate her commitment to making this happen. That, and for living in the country so when the zombies come I can hide at her house. Because really, it's always about the zombies.

And finally, I give thanks to my family who must deal with my wandering mind, unfocused writer-mind. Hopefully one day it will be worth it.

end.