A/N: new chapter! enjoy and please review!

Chapter 27: Alessia

"What the hell?" I stammered as I looked down at my body. I just couldn't comprehend how one minute I was standing there and the next I was in two places at once, I think.

A very distinctive giggled resonated from behind me. I turned to find Sera, Ethan's older sister watching the scene unfold gleefully. "What's so funny?" I asked her.

"Well, it's not funny exactly. I mean, it can't be reversed. But there are other ways to bring you back after all," she said vaguely.

"Bring me back? Why would someone need to bring me back?"

"Duh, you're dead! Soul departed from body means dead," she said rolling her eyes at me. If it weren't for the fact that she was forever ten years old, I probably would have screamed at her that now wasn't exactly the time for all this.

"I can't be dead though. I'm immortal," I pointed out.

Again she rolled her eyes. "But you were killed by another immortal."

"Right." Turning to the rest of the group, still not quite believing that I could be dead, I said, "You'd probably better stop Isis before she turns evil and does something bad to us."

It was weird. They all just kept staring at the me lying in a heap on the ground, ignoring the me standing completely. I jumped up and down, waving my hands in Isabel's face. "Right here! I'm right here!" She appeared to look right through me, however, continuing to stare, quite stunned, at my body.

"Alessia," Gabriol said finally, actually looking at me. I stood still. "They can't see you." He appeared so pained to say this to me, as if it was the hardest thing he ever had to do.

"What do you mean they can't see me?" I felt numb all of a sudden, breaking out into a cold sweat. "You can see me," I said helplessly, knowing why before the words fell from my tongue.

"Oh well," Isis said, shrugging her shoulders. She, too, ignored me. "I seriously doubt she was that important to you guys anyway." She stepped towards Gabriol, grabbing his arm. Fury rose through me, more because someone else was touching my soul mate rather than having just been killed.

"There is a way," Sera said, stepping up to Isis and sticking her arm through Isis' stomach. Isis shuddered, letting go of Gabriol's arm. I smiled at Sera appreciatively.

"A way?" Gabriol asked.

"Who's he talking to?" Ethan asked Isabel. She shrugged, answering, "Probably a ghost."

"Of course, that's why they sent me here. To inform you that you should not have brought back a goddess. She wasn't meant to come back. Blah, blah, blah," Sera said in a mocking voice. "And that Alessia's body is dead, but there is another body that should not have been resurrected to begin with, available if you banish the spirit within."

"Isn't that murder?" I asked. "And why can't he just put me back in my body?"

"It's only murder if you take a life long before it's time. In this case, it's long past time and not considered murder at all." She said it so matter-of-factly, completely assured that it was right. "And he can't put you back in your body because it's been tainted with magic. If you die by magic, you can't resurrect. Isis died by stabbing, therefor, she could come back. You died by magic so your body is no longer able to be resurrected."

"How do you know?"

"They told me and, before you ask, I'm not at liberty to disclose who they are. You'll find out when it's really your time to die. Fortunately, that time is not now."

"How do you get Isis' spirit out?" Gabriol asked. I looked at him quickly.

"You're actually considering this?" I asked.

"I'd do anything for you, Alessia," he said, taking a step toward me. He tried to reach for my hand but his own passed right though. That single act alone broke my heart. Being separated from Gabriol was not an option.

"He's definitely lost it," Rochelle murmured. "Alessia's taking a nap on the ground, not standing in front of him."

"Unless Alessia isn't taking a nap," Ethan said. "And is dead and Gabriol is talking to her." Isabel gasped.

Matt, taking charge, put a power-bind on Isis. Since she was an immortal also it wasn't going to hold very long. The fact that it was holding at all was testimony to the fact that she was rusty at being a goddess. She tried hurling energy blasts at the force field, without success. When magic failed, she resorted to beating it with her fists, which was by far less effective.

"Alessia, if you don't want to do this, that's okay with me. But know this, I refuse to live without you. Either you rejoin the realm of the living, or I'll join you in the dead and we can move on together."

I knew there was no way that I could stand by and watch Gabriol kill himself, even if it meant we could be together again. I really had no choice. Turning to Sera, I asked, "Are you sure it's not murder?"

"Of course I'm sure," she snapped. "I think I of all people know what murder is." She took a deep ghost-breath and smiled. "I have to get back now, they're calling. Tell Ethan I said hi." With that, the ghost of Sera shimmered, slowly fading from view.

I took a deep ghost-breath myself. "Okay."

"That's great," he said, once again trying to touch me, failing as his hand passed right through my cheek. I couldn't feel a thing, but he shivered. Embarrassed, he pulled his hand away. "I'm not really sure what to do."

"Just order Isis' soul out and mine in. All the summoning seemed to be just ordering things to happen."

He nodded. "Matt, could you take down the force field? I have to bring Alessia back to life inside Isis' body because Alessia's body has been tainted by magic."

"Okay..." Matt said, not fully understanding, but obliging anyway. The force field tumbled down and Isis stepped forward. She looked exceedingly angry.

"I command your soul to leave your body, Isis," Gabriol said. Isis shrieked before her body fell in a heap right next to mine. "Alessia, I command your soul to enter Isis' body."

I could feel my soul being sucked into the body, filling it completely. I examined my new body. I was a bit shorter and less curvy and my skin was the color of liquid gold. My once blood-colored hair was now raven.

This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

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