"Push me higher Daddy!" I giggled as I swung throught the air. Jeremy Tanson, my father, laughed and gave the old swing another push. I screamed in delight and kicked my feet back and forth. My father heaved a sigh and leaned back against the tree to my left, rubbing his knees. When the swing slowed down enough, I jumped off and landed on my toes, flailing my small arm in the air to steady myself. I ran over to my dad and pulled on his pant leg.

"Tag! You're it!" I giggled and ran as fast as my short, chubby child legs could carry me into the forest surrounding the house. I glanced behind me to see if my father was following me when I bumped into a tall, dark figure. He had his hood pulled up but I could still see his fair hair peeking from beneth it. He knelt down infront of me and smiled a sinsiter smile.

"Hello there dear. What's your name?"  The man asked in a hoarse voice.

"Catalyst! What's yours?" I giggled.

He gave a short chuckle and pushed his hood back. He was very pale and he had a long, jagged scar from his left eyebrow to his jawline. The thing that stood out the most though, was his eyes. One was a bright, vibrant green while the other was pale grey.

"You can call me Sam," grinned the man with the mismatched eyes. From behind me, I heard my father crash through the forest and shout my name. Sam frowned and looked back down at me.

"I'll see you again, dear. You can count on it," He said with a wink and disappeared as soon as my father found me.

I bolted upright in my bed with a gasp. I wipped my head around and sighed, dragging my hands down my face.

"Bad dream?" Oliver asked, striding toward me from my doorway.

"I don't really know," I rubbed my head and yawned, "I can't remember it."

I hopped out of my bed and stretched as Oliver dropped into my office chair. I yanked open my bathroom and went through my normal morning routine and threw on a pair of dark skinny jeans, a light grey tshirt, and a dark red cardigan. As a side effect of falling asleep with my hair wet, it was wild and sticking up in all directions. I tamed it into a loose, messy ponytail before heading into the kitchen to scavenge for food.

I poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms and sat down at the table, shoveling spoonfuls of cereal into my mouth. I ignored Oliver's disgusted look as I finished off my cereal and leaned back in my chair.

Oliver sat back in his seat and laughed. "I don't know how you can eat like that and still be so skinny."

I grinned and hopped up from my seat to grab my bag. "I'll take that as a compliment!"

I  slipped on my sneakers and stalked out the door, calling a quick 'goodbye' to my grandmother. I walked down the driveway, fallen leaves crunching beneth my feet, and Oliver followed. I hopped into Ty's truck and gave Oliver a quick wave as the trucks engine roared to life and we were off.

I dropped my tray down and sat in the seat infront of Ty, Oliver taking the seat to my right. I sighed and poked at the 'meatloaf' on my plate.

"Why does school food have to look like alien body parts?" I asked, pushing the tray away from me.

"Because that's probably what it is. I bet Area 51 is under out cafeteria," Ty snorted and pushed his food around on his tray. Oliver snorted and stared at the 'food' with a smirk.

Ty looked up, his eyes falling on something behind me, and scowled. I turned around to see Ashtns High's very own popular, Rebecca Smith sashaying towards us. I groaned and dropped my head on the table as she slid into the seat beside me. In the seventh grade, she moved here from California. She had hated me from the moment she saw me and had been out to get me ever since.

"Well, if it isn't the Wicked Witch of the West Coast," I smiled sweetly, propping my head up on hand.

Ty snickered and Rebecca shot him a cold glare, silencing him.

She rolled her eyes and looked at me, brushing her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"You are going to the dance tonight, aren't you?" She ask as she clicked her nails on the table.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What's it to you?"

She clapped her hands togetther and grinned. "I'll take that as a yes!"

I sighed and leaned back against the table. "Why does it matter Rebecca?"

She looked at me and smiled. "It matters because you're going to vote for me as Pumpkin Princess tonight!"

I erupted into laughter and clutched my stomach, trying to catch my breath. Once I calmed down, I matched her annoyed look and smirked.

"And what makes you think I'll do that?" I inquired.

"If you don't, I'll tell everyone about your little imaginary friend," She stated plainly, putting on a bored expression. When she saw my confused look she rolled her eyes and smirked. "Don't play dumb. I've watched you talk to yourself in Mr. Stouts' class," She said with a wicked smile.

I shot Oliver a quick 'I told you so' look and turned back to her and sighed. "Fine. Whatever. I'll vote for you," I huffed.

"Great!" Rebecca squeakled and got up from her seat. "I'll see you there then!"

I wiggled my fingers at her and she sashayed away and muttered under my breath, "I hope not."

I turned back to Ty, who looked like he was gonna pass out from holding in laughter. I sighed and dropped my head onto the table as he laughed hysterically. Oliver sighed and propped his head on his hand.

"Sorry about that," He said. "That was kind of my fault."

I looked up and him and shook my head. "No it wasn't. She's always like that to me."

Tyler composed himself and sighed, looking over at me. "Sorry Cat but that girl just cracks me up. She thinks she's so high and mighty and its very entertaining when you put her in her place."

"Yeah, well, if I don't, who will?" I smirked and Oliver chuckled. When the bell rang, I gathered my stuff, said my goodbye to Ty and a thought crossed my mind.

I may not be your average teenager, what with my spirit magnatisim and all, but I still had a few normal teen problems.

I groaned as my grandmother ushered Ty and I into 'good lighting' so she could take pictures of us. We had fifteen minutes to get to the dance it was gonna be terrible trying to find a parking spot.

"Come on, Catalyst. Smile for your Grams now would ya?" My grandmother said firmly, wacking me upside the head.

I yelped and rubbed my head. "Is this really nessisary?"

"No, but I'm doing it anyway. Your mother would have wanted pictures," She said.

At this, I shut up and plastered on a smile as the camera flashed a few times. I blinked into the light and groaned.

Ty rubbed his eyes and laughed. "The flash on that thing is equivalent to the sun," He chuckled.

"Like a solar flare!" Announced my grandmother proudly.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed Ty's arm, dragging him toward the door. "Sorry Grams but we gotta go," I said as we flooded onto the porch. She smiled and patted my cheek.

"You look just like your mother did when she was your age. So beautiful," My grandmother beamed.

I smiled at her and gave her a quick hug. "Love you Grandma, we'll be home by 11!" I called as I dragged Ty to his truck. She waved as we drove off, her small figure fading in the distance. I sat back and sighed, crossing my arms. Ty glanced at me and grinned. I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What are you smiling at?" I asked.

"I still can't believe I actuslly got you to wear a dress," He chuckled.

I snorted and tugged at the skirts of my dress. "Neither can I. You must have drugged me or something."

Ty laughed and I looked out the window. The trees went by in a blur and the sky was a pale pink and orange from the sunset. Up ahead a figure caught my eye. It was a tall man in all black and his hood was up. I stared at him as we came closer and he dropped his hood down. His miscolored eyes gleamed and he grinned at me, tipping his head as we passed him. I had the eerie feeling that I'd seen him before.

"Stop the car," I said queitly and gripped the edge of my seat. Ty tilted his head and gave me a confused look.

"Ty, please stop the car," I said, a little louder this time.

He pulled over on the side of the road and I pushed the trucks door open and jumped out. As soon as my feet hit the ground,  bolted for the spot I had seen the man, ignoring Ty's shouts of alarm.

I came to a screeching hault when Oliver suddently appeared infront of me.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, blocking my path.

"I saw a man. I recognized him. I just don't know how I know him," I said, out of breath. "Now get out of my way."

"No way sweetheart. You're gonna hightail it back to that truck," He said casually.

"No way! I need to know who that is! If feel like he might be connected to my parents," I said defiantly.

Oliver sighed and pointed to Ty, who was running towards me. "You hired me to protect you and that's what I'm doing. Now go," He said, his voice firm.

I groaned and turned on my heals, marching back to the truck. Ty stopped by my side and followed me, obviously angry.

"What was that all about?" He asked, his tone frantic. I ignored him and marched on, nearing the truck. Ty grabbed my wrist and spun me around to face him. I yanked my hand back and glared at him.

"What?" I snapped.

I saw hurt flash across his eyes and it was instantly gone, but it had been there. I mentally kicked myself. He didn't do anything.

I sighed and fell against his chest, hugging him tight. "I'm sorry," I muttered, my voice muffled against the fabric of his tux. He rubbed my back gently and tangled his fingers in my curled hair.

"It's fine. You're fine," He whispered queitly, almost inaudible. We walked back to the truck and continued our journey to the school in silence. When we arrived, Ty helped me out of the truck and we made our way to the entrance of the gym, arm in arm. We casted our Pumpkin Princess and Corn King votes on our way in and groaned when I saw how many votes Rebecca had.

Ty and I lingered around the refresments table quietly. Neither of us were very in to dancing. Ty had been trained in classical dance by his father when he was younger but he had hated it. I on the other hand, had no dancing skills what so ever. So Ty and I just sat in the back and talked about the music and such. A slow song started and Ty stood up, taking my hand in his.

"Shall we dance?" He smiled.

"But you hate dancing," I said let him lead me to the dancefloor anyway. We found an opening for ourselfs and he grinned at me.

"For you, my dear, I make an exception," He said and placed his hands on my waist. I rolled my eyes at him good heartedly and wrapped my arms around his neck. I followed his lead as he swept me across the room in time with the music. When the song ended, we broke apart and gave eachother awkward smiles. Ty announced that he was going to go to the bathroom and left me alone in the crowd.

I sighed and pushed through the cluster of warm bodies to the back door that lead out to the football field. I sat down on the bottom row of bleachers and sighed, watching the insects swarm around the stadium lights that burned brightly across the field. I heard someone clear their throat behind me and I turned around to see Oliver. He sat down beside me and looked out over the football field.

"You know, back in my day, we had dances almost every othe night. I was quite the dancer," He said and cast his eyes down at me.

I gave a faint smile and looked up at him. "Really?"

He grinned. "Oh yeah, really. The ladies lined up to dance with me," He said proudly.

I laughed looked down at my feet. "I'm not really any good at dancing."

Oliver frowned and tilted his head at me. "I doubt that. Let me show you how," He said and got to his feet and held a hand out to me.

"May I have this dance, Catalyst Tanson?" He asked, his grey eyes sparkling.

I laughed and took his hand and stood up, ingoring the warm tingling feeling in my hand. He led me to the center of the field and smiled at me, looping his hands around my waist. I put my arms around his neck slowly and sighed.

"If I step on your toes, just remember that you asked me to dance," I warned with a smile.

"Well, I can't feel you so that shouldn't be a problem," He said quietly. I followed his lead quietly for a while in silence when I looked up at him.

"What's it like?" I asked.

"What is what like?" He asked, looking down at me to meet my eyes.

"Being a spirit," I said quietly.

"Oh," He said, "Well, it's kind of like being in a dream all the time. To spirits, we are solid to each other and the living are like mist. We can't touch them with exception of people like you who can see us. We can touch people like you but neither of us can feel each other. Its kind of like touching solid air. You can't pass through it but you can't feel it either," Oliver explained.

"I understand what you meant by the last part," I said. Oliver frowned and passed a hand over my cheek with a sigh. Slowly and cautiously, I layed my head on his chest as we dance across the field, my feet following his in time to an unheard song.