Title: Prospero

A Story in the Jane series, Episode 4

"This thing of darkness I
acknowledge mine."
-William Shakespeare, The Tempest



"Ugh! Ugh! Ha! Ha! Urmph!"

John stopped in mid fight. "What kind of sound was that?"

Jane stopped and wiped the hair out of her face. "Hey, don't make fun of my sounds. I like my sounds. Besides, you're just stopping because I'm kicking your ass."

John laughed. "Oh, so not true."

Jane held her hands up and motioned to herself. "Come on, then."

They began fighting again. John wanted to go patrolling, and Giles said he could... if he learned how to fight properly. So he and Jane had been training everyday for almost a week, and Jane had to admit, he was getting pretty good. Of course, she hadn't gone full out on him yet.

They continued to fight and he was actually close to getting the advantage. John came at her with a roundhouse, but she managed to duck. Unfortunately, that's what John was planning on, and he took her legs out from under her, knocking her to the ground. Jane lay there, breathing hard, underneath John. They looked into each other's eyes and their faces got very close. They were about to kiss when Jane rolled out of the way.

"Okay," she laughed nervously. "I think that's enough training for today." She seemed to be breathing harder than she was before.

John stood up and walked over to her. "Why? What's wrong?" He touched her on the arm and she pulled back, as if an electric shock had gone through her. "Are you okay?"

She crossed her arms in front of her. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just... I need to do homework before patrol and it's getting late."

John nodded. "Okay. I'll see you at eight for patrol?"

She shook her head. "Um, no. I think I'm going to do it alone tonight, if that's alright?"

Normally, he would have argued, but he saw something in her eyes, almost pleading, saying that she needed to be alone tonight. He nodded again. "Alright. I'll see you at school tomorrow. See you," he said as he gathered his stuff and walked out the door.

"See you," she said, without even looking at him. She waited until she heard the door close and then kicked at a punching bag near her. "Argh! What's the matter with me?"

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As Jane patrolled that night, millions of thoughts wafted through her head. I like John, I really do... but every time he gets too close, it's like there's this big warning bell that goes off in my head. 'Ding! Ding! Ding! Getting too close, must back away now!' I just can't get over it.

She continued to think about it as she walked through the graveyard. To her surprise, she noticed an elaborately detailed headstone that she hadn't noticed before. That's weird. She walked over, to look at it further and was startled when she read the inscription:

Help Me
Jane,
You're The Only One
Who Can



She jumped back, almost afraid and rubbed her eyes. She took another look

Ellie Friedman
1945-1997
Beloved Wife
And Mother



And now, I'm going insane as well, she thought ironically. This is nice.

Jane looked at her watch and saw that it was already eleven. Well, I doubt there's going to be much more activity tonight. I'm heading home.

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"Giles, got a question for you."

Giles didn't look up from his paper. "Yes, Jane?"

"Okay, I know that some Slayers get those prophetic dream things. What about visions?"

Giles looked up. "What kind of visions?"

"Like during the day, awake, bam! there they are visions."

"Sometime." Giles seemed extremely interested. "Why?"

"Well, I was going through the cemetery on patrol last night and I saw some writing on a tombstone, and when I looked again, it was gone. It said "Help Me" or something like that."

"Hmm," Giles said and turned around in his seat.

Jane walked over to him. "What 'Hmm.'? That was a something 'Hmm.'"

"I was just thinking... this morning I was making tea and I could have sworn that the sugar cubes were spelling out the same thing."

Jane looked him straight in the eye. "Are you kidding me, because if you are, you are one sadistic bastard? Tell me you're not kidding me."

Giles looked at her for a moment, and then began laughing. Jane threw her hands up and walked away as the bell rang. Giles still laughed as Jane picked up her books. "Oh, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help myself."

Jane walked to the door. "Fine! But when there's another mad ghost or something stalking me, I'll come and say a big 'I told you so!'" She exited with a huff as Giles continued laughing.

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"And he wouldn't believe me. He just laughed at me!" Jane sat in sixth period talking to John.

"Well, it does sound like something out of a cheap horror novel. You can't blame him."

Jane rolled her eyes, "Great, you're on his side, too. I'm telling you... I saw something."

"Okay, fine," he whispered as class began. "We'll talk about it later."

Class started and as Jane was paying attention to the teacher, she noticed what he teacher was spelling out on the blackboard.

Jane... Help me... please.



Jane turned around and slapped John's hand quietly. "Look! Look up there. Read it!"

He looked up and read, "'Civil War... 1860... Pres. Lincoln.' Are you okay, Jane?"

She looked up again and the message had changed.

You're my only chance.



"Please, you have to see that, John."

She was getting kind of loud and a few students were looking. John smiled at them, and then turned back to Jane. "Jane. I don't see anything. Are you sure you're okay?"

She frowned and shook her head as she looked up again.

Giles knows now. Go...



Jane raised her hand and stood up quickly. "Um... I'm sick." Isn't that the truth? "I need to go to the clinic. Now."

Mr. Dinkin went to his desk to fill out a pass, but Jane rushed by him with her stuff. "Don't need one. Sorry. Bye."

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Jane rushed into the library and saw Giles standing over a spilt cup of coffee, studying it intently.

"You see it, don't you!" She asked.

Giles continued to stare at the coffee, perplexed. "Well, yes... but..."

Jane rushed over and looked at it. "What is it? Who is it? Another poltergeist?"

After Jane said this, the door opened slowly and a young woman walked in.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know..." Giles noticed the young woman out of the corner of his eye. "... don't know where the paper towels are so we can clean this up. Hello, Miss. can I help you?"

Jane recognized her. She was one of Caitlyn's friends. She remembered meeting her during that night at Kaos. "Oh, hi, Ceily. What are you doing here? I'm just looking up something for English." Jane offered feebly.

Ceily looked around awkwardly. "Hi. Um, I don't know," she said as she came over and looked at the spilt coffee. "I think I need to go to the clinic."

Ceily turned around to leave, but Jane stopped her. "Wait! Can you see that?"

Ceily stopped and turned around. "See what?"

Jane pointed. "The words... in the coffee."

Ceily nodded. "Um, does that mean I'm insane?"

Jane laughed. "No!" She turned to Giles. "See, I told you there was something going on!"

Giles nodded. "Yes, and have fun gloating, but why does your friend see it, as well?"

Jane frowned. "Good question." She turned to Ceily. "Why do you see it?"

Ceily shook her head and walked over. "I don't know. I just... Well, last night, the pushpins on the corkboard in my room, they spelled out 'Help Me.' and the next time I looked, it was changed. And then, I was sitting in class writing and I looked at my paper, and instead of it saying what I wrote, it said: 'Go to the library. You can help me there.' So I did. Is this like The Sixth Sense or something?"

Jane murmured, "More like Field of Dreams."

Giles spoke, "Well, how in the devil...? Well, I'm just confounded. I have no idea what's going on here."

As he spoke these last words, the lights suddenly became very bright and when the three could see again, they found themselves on a beach.

"Toto," Jane remarked. "I don't think we're in New Mexico anymore."


Jane, Giles and Ceily stood on the beach looking around at their surroundings.

"Um..." Jane started. "Giles, where are we?"

Giles took off his glasses and wiped them with a handkerchief. "Honestly, I have no idea."

Ceily started walking off from the group, looking around. "Okay, I understand this all now. I'm asleep. Yeah, that's it. I'm asleep and this is all a very strange dream that I'm having because of that burrito I had before going to bed last night." She looked back at Jane and Giles. "I have no idea why you people are in my dream, but all I know is I should just be able to pinch myself and I'll wake up in my own bed." She closed her eyes and pinched herself, keeping them closed a moment longer. When she opened her eyes, she saw a young man standing in front of her. "Okay," she said, eyes wide at seeing this young man. "Fainting now."

As she said this, her body went limp and she fell to the sand. The young man went to help her, but Jane and Giles rushed over first. Jane grabbed a stick and pointed it at him to keep him away.

"Okay, buster, I don't know who the hell you are, but you'd better back away right now. I have a stick... and I know how to use it."

The young man backed away, submissively. "I have no doubt of that," he said in a calm voice. Jane looked at the young man, narrow-eyed. "You're the Slayer, correct?" He pointed at Giles. "And you're Rupert Giles, her Watcher."

Jane took a step away, but didn't lower the stick. "Yeah... how do you know that?"

"I've been watching you. I need your help. You're the only ones who could help me."

"How!" Jane said exasperated. "Who are you? And where are we?"

The young man chuckled, embarrassed. "It's kind of a long story."

Giles looked out at the seemingly never-ending ocean. "Well, it doesn't appear that we're going to be going anywhere anytime soon."

The young man pointed. "I've got a home, through those trees. We can talk there."

Jane started to bend down to carry Ceily, but the young man stopped her. "No, please, let me."

Jane shrugged and stepped away, allowing the young man to carry Ceily as she and Giles followed him. They walked behind and Jane whispered to Giles, "So, what do you think?"

Giles shrugged. "I don't know, but that young man looks awfully familiar."

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They arrived at the house that the young man lived at and walked in. He sat Ceily down on a couch and went to a kitchen area.

"Would either of you like something to drink?"

Jane and Giles looked around, not sure of what to make of this whole situation. Jane walked into the kitchen and looked at what was in there. "Um... no thanks."

The young man shrugged. "Okay." And took out a bottle of fruit juice for himself before walking back to the lining room area.

Jane was confused now. "Wait, how do you get all that food and stuff?"

The young man smiled shyly. "That's kind of part of the story. Sit down."

As they all sat down, Ceily started stirring and awoke slowly. She looked around at the people and groaned. "Oh, it wasn't a dream, was it?"

Jane shook her head. "Nope, sorry. Right now, I'm thinking it's a mass hallucination."

Ceily sat up. "Oh, well that's nice," she replied sarcastically before she noticed the young man. "Okay, you I don't know. Who are you?"

He laughed shortly. "That's what I was just about to explain to everyone. My name's Noel. I grew up here. That's about the only stuff that's completely normal. The rest is going to be hard to believe." He looked at Giles and Jane. "Well, maybe not for you two." Then he looked at Ceily. "But for you, yeah."

"Why for me and not them?" Ceily asked, confused.

"Well, the whole fighting demons on a ---" he started to reply before Jane cut him off.

"Okay! Yeah, um because I, um... did a report on weird-ish... things, and this wonderful... librarian here helped me research. That's why." Jane shot the young man a dirty look, and he finally got it.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, that's why." Noel sat back and took a deep breath before continuing. "Okay, so here's where I need your help: I'm trapped here. I have been ever since I was young. I've been stuck here for 16 years."

Jane didn't understand. "So, how do you think we can help you?"

"Well, I can see the real world... it's like TV, but I could never affect it before. Well, really I never tried. Then, just recently, I've been able to affect it, get messages to people. Anyway, I've seen you... researching... and I just knew that if anyone could help me, you could."

Jane leaned forward. "Okay, what do you want us to do?"

Noel paused, choosing his words. "I want you to help me get out of here. I want to be in the real world. Interact with real people. And I'm sure you can find a way."

Giles sighed. "Well, I don't know what we can do about it here. I don't have any of my texts."

Jane frowned. "Do you know who trapped you here? And how?"

Noel was about to answer as Ceily stood up. "Okay, this is more than just a research project here! What's going on?" She turned to Jane. "Who are you?"

Jane frowned and looked to Giles, who shrugged. "You might as well tell her. She's here with us. She'll find out sooner or later."

"Find out what?!" Ceily cried.

Jane sat next to her. "Okay, I'm going to tell you something that is going to sound really weird at first. See... I'm kind of special. You know how the cops go out and search for bad guys and make sure they don't do bad stuff?"

Ceily made a face. "Are you an undercover cop?"

Jane shook her head. "No. well, kind of. I'm like a cop, only for demons. Like vampires and stuff. I find them and make sure they don't do bad things."

"Wow. Caitlyn said there was something weird about you."

Jane shrugged this comment off. "Yeah, well, this is kind of a secret, okay. So don't tell anyone, alright?"

"Oh, what, that you're completely insane and see demons? Okay, I won't tell anyone." Ceily laughed.

"I'm not..." Jane stammered, before figuring it was just as well to have her think she was insane. "Whatever. So, Noel, do you know who trapped you here and how?"

Again, Noel was about to answer as a tall man, late thirties, walked through the door. Noel stood, shocked to see the man. "Father!"

The man smiled oddly. "Son."

Giles had recognized the man from when he first walked in. His acknowledgement of the man's name came out almost like a hiss. "Ethan."

The man, Ethan, laughed. "Ripper."

Jane looked around, completely confused once again. "Who?"

Ethan looked at Jane. "Oh, so this must be the new Slayer. I'm surprised they gave you your job back, Ripper. After the way you did so badly at it the first time." He took another look at Jane. "I must say, I fancied Buffy much more, but then again, redheads have never been my suit."

Giles gritted his teeth. "I'm going to kill you, Rayne!" He jumped at him, but suddenly Ethan wasn't there anymore. Giles fell to the floor, and quickly got up, looking around for Ethan, who now appeared walking in from the back door.

"This is my world, Ripper. I can come and go as I please. You can't touch me. But I think I'm going to like having you trapped here."

He laughed as Giles made another run for him, but again vanished before Giles got to him. Giles turned around to see three faces staring at him. "What? There's nothing to look at here."

"So you're Ripper?" Noel asked quietly.

Jane looked at him. "What? What's Ripper? Giles, did you know him?"

Giles came back and sat down. "I don't really wish to discuss it, but Ripper was an old college nickname of mine. That was Ethan Rayne. He's a sorcerer and a bloody bastard."

Jane made a face. "Well that's nice." She turned to Noel. "And he would also be... your dad?"

Noel sighed. "Yes."

"And I'm guessing since he's a magic-doing dude, he's the one who's got you trapped here."

Noel sighed again and nodded. "Yes."

Ceily joined in. "Wait. I'm still not understanding this, but didn't he say that we're trapped here now? I'm thinking that's a bad thing."

Noel just stared at Giles. "So, you're Ripper. My father told me plenty about Ripper. He said you were a very bad person." Noel saw the face that Giles was making. "But then again, I don't quite think that my father is the most trustworthy person in the world. So, I guess you're not as bad as he said."

Giles smiled lopsidedly. "Thank you, I believe."

Ceily stood up. "Um, hello! I think you're all missing the point. We're all trapped here now! We can't leave. That's a problem, cause I kind of like living in the real world."

Giles returned to the group. "She's right. But now that Ethan knows we're here, he's going to try his damnedest to keep us from getting out. I can't think of what options that leaves us."

"I do." Jane said and turned to Noel. "How did you contact the real world?"

He shrugged. "I just thought about it really hard I guess. I don't know how else to describe it."

"Do you think you could teach me how?"

He shrugged again. "Well, I don't know. I could try."

She stood up. "Okay, well, I need to see the world. Where do you do that?"

He stood up and started walking. "Come here. I'll show you."

-----------------------------------------------------------



Noel led Jane to a room with a large mirror in it. He led her over to the mirror and they stood in front of it.

"Now, think about who you want to see. You have to think hard though, or it won't work." Jane closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could. When she thought her brain would explode, Noel shook her. "There! You did it!"

Jane opened her eyes and saw John, driving his car away from the school. She smiled and turned to Noel. "Okay, so how do I get a message to him?"

Noel frowned. "You'd better let me do that. It's really hard." He paused, watching the mirror. "And maybe you'd better wait until he's out of the car. People don't seem to have good reactions to this."

Jane smiled. "True. Good idea." The two sat down and watched as John drove. After some momentary silence, Jane turned to Noel. "Okay, question. I get why you brought Giles and I here... why Ceily?"

Noel looked down and blushed. "Well... I don't..."

Jane smirked. "You like her, don't you?"

Noel turned even redder than before. "I... I mean, she's pretty and..."

"And you're never seen another real live girl in your entire life." Jane finished for him. "I think she would like you... you know, if she wasn't so freaked out about this whole thing."

"Yeah," Noel mumbled.

Jane could tell that he was embarrassed by the conversation and went back to watching John. Another moment of silence went by before Noel spoke again. "I... I know your secret, you know."

Jane's face flashed with shock for a moment, but then she just smiled. "About being the Slayer? Yeah, well, I guess it's not such a secret anymore."

Noel shook his head. "No. The other secret. The one your friends don't know."

Jane kept smiling, but began to speak with a nervous shake in her voice. "I don't know what you mean. That's the only secret I have."

"Come on, Jane. I can see the real world. I know about it. What's in those milkshakes... what you keep in the little fridge in your laundry room." Jane turned to him, not smiling, almost scared, but Noel just smiled sweetly. "I just wanted you to know I knew. I'm not going to tell anyone."

"Thanks," she answered quietly, then something on the mirror attracted her attention. "Oh, look! It's John. And he's at my house for some reason."

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Back in Cannon Hill, John walked up to the door of Jane's apartment. Okay, she left in the middle of class, and she wasn't with Giles when I went to look for her after school. Come to think of it, Giles wasn't even there. Where could they be? He got to the door and started ringing the doorbell.

"Jane! It's John! Open up!"

He waited a minute, and then knocked on the door. "Jane! Hello! Are you there?"

He waited another minute, but couldn't get an answer. He went around the corner, to look in her window, and saw something extremely strange spelled out with the refrigerator magnets.

John, its Jane
Don't get freaked out.



John turned around and laughed. "Okay, I get it now! You're getting back at me for not believing you before. Okay. Ha Ha. You can come out now.... Jane?" He looked back in the window and to his surprise saw a new message.

It's NOT a joke, I promise.
I need you to do me a favor.



John wiped his eyes and looked again.

There's a key under the mat.
I need you to look something up.



He nodded dumbly.

GO!



John ran around to the door, got the key out and opened to door.

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Jane turned to Noel. "I hope this works."

Noel nodded. "You and myself, both."

As Jane and Noel explained what to do to John, Giles and Ceily sat awkwardly on the couch, in silence. Finally, Ceily turned to Giles.

"So... is all that stuff, about demons, is it true?"

Giles sighed. "Yes, it is."

Ceily nodded. "Hmm. That explains a lot. Really. Like that night at Kaos. So, those were demons?"

"Vampires, yes."

Ceily perked up. "Ooh, like Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt vampires?"

Giles shook his head. "Not really."

"Oh." Ceily sat back a moment. "So... what do you do?"

Giles sighed again. She's almost as tedious as Cordelier, he thought. "I'm a Watcher. I guide Jane and assist her in vanquishing demons."

Ceily nodded and thought about it. "So you're like her zany sidekick. Only not so... zany."

"If you must degrade it to those terms... yes."

Ceily nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Okay."

There was another pause in conversation as Jane and Noel came back into the living room area. Giles stood quickly.

"Jane, update us, please."

She sat down across from him. "Well, I've got John looking through my books for a binding spell. We're going to get a hold of him in half an hour and hopefully find a way out of here and back home."

Giles sat back down. "Well, is that going to be enough time for John?"

Jane shrugged. "I told him exactly which books to look through. It shouldn't take him long. Until then, I suggest we enjoy the scenery."

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Ceily took Jane's advice and wandered around the island. She came upon a little babbling brook and sat down by the water. Taking her shoes off and putting her feet in, she relaxed to the sound of the water, before feeling a shadow behind her and looking over her shoulder.

"Hi," Noel said softly. "Sorry for scaring you."

She took her feet out and turned around to look at him. "No, you didn't."

He sat down beside her. "I meant before. When I made you faint."

She laughed. "That wasn't all you. I was kind of in a state of shock. Anyway, all's forgiven." She held out her hand and he looked at it oddly.

"I'm supposed to shake it?" He asked, uncertain.

Ceily laughed again. "Yeah."

They shook hands as Ceily put her feet back in the water. They sat in silence before Noel pointed and said quietly, "Look, over there."

She looked and gasped as she saw a baby deer standing not five feet away, drinking from the brook. "Wow!" she whispered. "It's just like Bambi."

Noel turned to her. "What's Bambi?"

She smiled. "Oh! Only my favorite movie. See, there's this little deer, Bambi, and his daddy if the King of the Forest, and so he's the little prince, and then his mommy gets killed by a hunter and it's so sad, and I cry every time I see it."

He smiled. "Okay."

She blushed, embarrassed that she went on and on about it. She never would have done that around her friends - they would think it was too 'uncool.' "You'll have to see it - when we get out of here."

"Yeah." Noel sat there for a moment, looking at her... and she looked back. They sat like that for a moment before Jane ran up.

"Noel. It's time."

Noel turned to Jane. "Yeah. Let's go." He stood up and put a hand out to help Ceily up.

She smiled. "Thanks," she replied as she stood up and walked with Jane and Noel.

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They all gathered around the glass as Noel got John up on the screen and wrote on John's paper.

We're back.
Find Anything?


John saw the message and took a start. "Damnit! Jane, can't you give me a warning before you do that?"

Sorry.
What'd you find?


"Um, just what you said. What are you trying to do? And I still don't get where you are."

Explanation Later.
Keep books open.


"Okay," he said incredously and opened the books. After a moment her reply scribbled on the page.

Perfect!
See you soon.


"See you. I guess." John said as he thought, What was I getting into when I said I wanted to be friends with a vampire slayer?

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Jane had Noel focus in on the book pages as she turned to Giles.

"Okay, I need your help. I don't know why you know Noel's father or why you hate him so much, but we're going to make it work for us." She leaned over and whispered to Giles. "You need to lure Ethan into here. Into this world. I had John find a binding spell. Hopefully, that'll work and we can leave here, with that guy trapped here. Can you get him in here?"

Giles smiled. "Gladly. You have no idea the joy that I will get from that."

Jane whispered. "Good. So, go. Provoke him or something."

Giles smiled again and turned around. "Ethan! Are you watching? Why don't you come in here and fight? Or a you a coward still?" Giles paused a moment, seeing if that was enough to get him in, then continued. "As I remember, Buffy could always take you down. How would you like to try out the new Slayer?"

As he said this, Jane looked up, surprised. "What? No. Slayer gave you no permission to speak for her. Especially when offering her to fight."

Giles went back to Jane and whispered to her. "Go along with it. I'll do the binding spell."

Jane looked at him, her jaw set. "Oh, that's low. Very low, Giles and I'm ashamed for you."

Giles was about to respond as Ethan walked into the room.

"So, Ripper." Ethan said with a smile on his face. "Who's the coward now, sending your Slayer to fight me?"

Jane shot Giles a dirty look, and then turned to Ethan. "Actually, I just wanted a shot at you. To prove that this redhead is better than Buffy."

"Ooh. Slayer's got moxie. Come and get it."

Jane tried a roundhouse, but, just as she expected, Ethan was gone before it connected. She turned around to Giles. "Do it now. I'll keep him out of here."

Jane ran out of the room and into the living room. "Oh, come on. You are the coward that Giles said you were. I try a teensy-weensy movie and you run away with your tail between your legs. I guess that's the only thing between them, huh?"

Suddenly, she felt something behind her and jumped out of the way just as Ethan swung at her.

"Oh, so predictable." She said, shaking her head. "Why don't you try staying a little longer this time? Make it a real fight."

Ethan smiled. "You asked."

Inside Noel's cabin, Giles was reading through the spell, making sure that they had everything he needed.

"Okay," he murmured to himself. "Fairly simple... I should be able to do it. Noel..." he looked up at the boy. "Do you have some type of glue and something of your fathers?"

He thought for a second and then nodded and went into another room.

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Ethan smiled. "You asked."

Jane matched his smile. "Bring it on, oldie."

Ethan laughed and charged her.

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Noel returned with a small book and a tube of superglue. "Will this do?"

Giles looked at the spell again and then nodded. "Perfect, hand them to me."

Noel did as he was told and Giles took the articles and crouched near to the floor. He opened the tube of superglue and squeezed it out in a circle on the floor.

"Bindus fantas"

He held the book in his hands.

"Binded to this fantasy be!"

He placed the book down on the circle of glue.

"Now let's just hope this works."

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Ethan charged her and she deftly swept him over her shoulder and onto the ground, pinning him there. He smiled and she could tell that he was trying to leave the world when his smile faded.

"Ohhh... did your wittle magic backfire on you?" she asked patronizingly.

"Don't worry, love... I've got plenty more where that came from."

She picked him up and threw him against a tree. "Well, don't even think that you're going anywhere." She went for a right hook, but all of a sudden he made a hand movement and muttered something and he was gone.

She looked around, and didn't see him anywhere. "Shit!" She ran back toward the house.

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Jane ran in the room. "It didn't work."

"What do you mean?" Noel asked.

"It worked at first, but then I was going to hit him and he disappeared again." She looked at the scribbles on the page. "Did you do it right?"

"Yes I did, actually.... there are possibilities other than my incompetence, you know." Giles replied testily.

"I didn't mean it like..." she started, defensively, but drifted off. "Wait."

"What?" he asked.

"He didn't leave... he's still here, I'll bet. We just can't see him. Tricks up his sleeve for sure."

"So what are you going to do?" Ceily asked. "How are you going to fight him?"

She looked at Ceily for a moment before answering, "I'm not."

She walked outside, as the others followed her and smelled the air.

"Jane... what do you mean?" Giles asked impatiently. "How are you going to get him to let us out of here?"

"Ssh," she waved a finger at him, and sniffed around some more. "Here! Noel... go tell John to do the spell in the first book that I showed him. And hurry!" She yelled as he ran back into the house.

A moment later, Giles and Ceily heard an electrical crackling, and as Noel came back, the crackling grew louder and a line of electricity started to form in front of them.

"That's how he comes through.... go... NOW!" She shouted at Giles. "Before he figures out what we're doing."

Giles stepped into it cautiously, but Ceily, right behind him, paused, afraid to walk into it. Noel walked up next to her and took her hand. "It's ok. I'll go with you," he said in a gentle voice. She smiled and nodded as they walked through together. Jane looked around one last time and walked through.

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The group sat in Jane's living room that night, exhausted from the experience of the past day.

"So, Ethan is stuck there for good now?" Giles asked her after taking a sip of the tea he had made.

"Yeah, he should be. Can't think of a reason why it shouldn't have worked." Jane replied, rubbing her neck.

"You don't know Ethan... you always think he's gone for sure and then he pops up out of nowhere. Bloody sneaky bastard." Giles looked at Noel and realized what he had said. "Sorry, Noel."

"It's ok... I don't have a deep love of my father by any means."

Giles looked at the boy for a moment... contemplating. "Now what are we going to do about you? You don't even have a place to live."

Jane sat up. "He can stay here."

Everyone turned and looked at her. "What?" John asked.

"Well, we can get him like a Social Security card and everything and get him in school and he can stay here with me. I've got an extra bedroom and it is kinda lonely here by myself... I'd like a roomier." She smiled broadly.

"But... well, I mean... he's... well... he's a boy." John stammered out.

"Oh come on! It's all right. Just like the little brother I never had, right Noel?"

Noel smiled and nodded. "Yes, I think I would like that very much. Thank you Jane."

"Um... guys..." Ceily spoke up for the first time since they had been back. "So... I shouldn't talk about this, right? About what happened today?"

Jane sighed. "Um, yeah, about that. Not telling anyone is probably the best idea. It would just be too hard for other people to understand."

"I think it's a little too hard for me to understand. Maybe you can explain it to me some other time, Noel. Right now, I just kinda want to go home."

John stood up. "Yeah, I should get going too... I'll take you, Ceil."

They started walking out as Ceily turned back, "Hey, Noel... you can explain it to me while we watch Bambi, right?"

He smiled. "Yes... that sounds nice. Goodnight, Ceily."

"Night."

They walked out as Noel turned to Jane with a broad smile on his face. "I think I'm going to like it here," he said innocently, as Jane laughed.

"Yeah... I said the same thing."

THE END.