Chapter Seven
Sky was watching as Clyde talked quietly with Xander and Willow. Andrew kept trying to distract her, but she was fairly sure something was going on.
"Talking totem poles?"
"One totem pole. And it didn't talk, Clyde stopped it before it got that far."
"And it just made everyone hate him?"
She nodded. "Sarah Jane thought later that maybe it brought up things that bothered them just a tiny bit, and made them bigger and bigger until they couldn't see anything else. Clyde does tease Luke and Mr Chandra does get angry at him for messing around, and his mother knows he's not telling her things. It wouldn't normally ever bother them, but Hetocumtek made it the only thing about Clyde they could see, and they drove him away."
"Wow," Andrew said, impressed. "That's a nasty weapon. It didn't affect you?"
Sky shrugged. "We don't know why."
"Because you haven't known him as long?"
"No, the museum curator got really mad at him as well, and she'd only seen him once for a few minutes. It's probably because I was made. Although," she considered for a moment. "It did affect Luke. So who knows. It's lucky it didn't affect me, though."
"Yeah." Andrew considered for a moment. "Maybe it's cos you're an innocent?"
"Maybe," Sky said diplomatically.
"Cookie?"
"Thank you."
Andrew might be weird, and really bad at distractions, but at least he liked feeding people.
Clyde came to join them, absently taking a biscuit when Andrew waved the plate at him. "What are we talking about?"
"Hetocumtek," Sky said automatically.
Clyde winced. "Really? Why?"
"It's a good story. Sorry, Clyde."
"It's all right, Sparky."
She frowned, studying him. "What's wrong?"
"What would be wrong?"
"I don't know, but something is. What is it?"
He sighed, shifting to sit next to her. "Your mum met Miss Myers. She's joined up with some big powerful enemy of the Council, and she set a dragon on them – they're fine, Connor and Rachel got it. Xander's going to pick them up and bring them back here."
"She wants me, doesn't she?" Sky asked.
"Yeah," Clyde admitted. "But don't worry. They've taken care of the dragon. She'll have to find something else if she wants to get you."
"We can't stay here, Clyde."
"Why not?"
She glanced at Willow, leaning over the map and discussing something with one of the Slayers. "This isn't their fight."
"Is now," Andrew told her. "Wolfram and Hart have been trying to take them down for years. They don't like the way we keep saving the world."
"Some people are so unreasonable," Clyde agreed. "Sky, you ok?"
"Yes. Andrew, may I go outside?"
"Not the best idea. Sorry. The bedrooms upstairs have balconies, how's that? Fresh air?"
"Thank you. That's fine."
"Atta girl. Come on, I'll show you." He grinned at Clyde, leading Sky towards the stairs.
Giles, coming from the office, watched them go before crossing to Clyde. "Is she all right?"
"She's a bit freaked out, but yeah. She's all right."
"Good. I'm glad."
"Thanks for letting us hang around. And, y'know, saving our lives and stuff."
Giles smiled. "Our pleasure. I must admit, I'm looking forward to having time to discuss your experiences."
"Yeah? You think that's likely to happen soon?"
He winced. "Going on experience?"
"Clyde!" Xander yelled from the door. "You want to come?"
"They're coming back here, right?"
"Yeah."
"No, thanks." He gestured upwards, the way Sky had gone, and Xander nodded in understanding.
"I won't be long. I'll let Connor drive back; he thinks speed limits are for lesser beings."
"Long as he remembers which side of the road we drive on over here."
Xander grinned, throwing off a salute as he left.
Luke let Xander in, directing him to the sitting room. Dawn and Sarah Jane were talking quietly; Rachel was lurking by the door, and Connor, entirely in character, was nowhere to be seen. Luke came in behind Xander a moment later, slipping Connor's phone into his pocket.
"Rani," he explained when Xander raised an eyebrow. "I promised I'd call her when you got here. She has to sneak out."
"Ah, sneaking," he said nostalgically. "I remember sneaking. Those were the days."
"How's Sky?" Sarah Jane asked, looking up from Dawn.
"A little freaked out," Xander said honestly. "But all right, I think."
"Good." She glanced around. "I just need to check something upstairs, and then we can go."
"Sounds good. Where's Connor?" he added to Dawn as Sarah Jane left the room.
"Perimeter sweep, or something. The guy's gone nuts. He won't stop."
"Well, he's worried. I'm going to let him drive back. Hopefully that'll let him work out some of his problems."
"Great. You checked the airbags, right?"
Xander grinned, glancing at Luke. "You need anything?"
"No, I'm fine." He glanced over his shoulder as the front door opened, stepping to one side as Rani came in. "Got away?"
"Yeah. I left a note."
"You don't have to come," Xander told her.
"You're not leaving me out of this." She grinned at Dawn. "Hey. Your life always this exciting?"
"Not until recently."
"Used to be, in Sunnydale," Xander offered.
Sarah Jane came back down, glancing around the room. "Ready? Where's Connor?"
"Probably outside leaning against the car," Dawn said with a sigh.
"He does love the drama," Xander agreed. "Let's go, then."
Clyde waved from one of the balconies when they arrived back at the house. Luke waved stiffly, turning to Connor. "You always drive like that?"
"I didn't hit anything."
"I could see what you were doing, you know. Enhanced reflexes don't compensate for everything." Glancing at Dawn, he added, "He's really never got a ticket?"
"I think the police are afraid if they chase him, he might do something even more crazy."
"Wimps," Connor said with a snort.
"Could you do that?" Rani asked Luke.
"Probably. If I wanted to. Who wants to drive like that?"
"Hi Sarah Jane!" Sky yelled, leaning over the balcony.
"I'll take you up," Xander offered with a grin. "Connor, try not to kill anyone, ok?"
"I haven't killed anyone in days."
"You killed a dragon three hours ago!"
"Dragons aren't people. They don't count."
"I may regret asking," Rani said, smiling at Sarah Jane as she passed them, "but what counts as people?"
"You're right, you would regret asking that," Dawn told her. "Come on; I'm starved. Let's see what Andrew's been up to while we were gone."
Connor was watching Luke when he looked up. "Something wrong?"
"No. Nothing." He smiled aimlessly, wandering after the others.
Andrew, it seemed, had been busy cooking while they were gone. Everyone got something – Rani had to smack Clyde a few times to make him stop watching Rachel and Kennedy – and when they were finished eating another strategy meeting started. Giles had found some information about Wolfram and Hart, and he and Sarah Jane began discussing it intently.
"Connor," Luke said quietly, drawing him to one side. "Do Wolfram and Hart know you? Would they recognise you?"
"Probably. We're pretty famous in Wolfram and Hart, my dad and me. Why?"
Luke held up a business card. "They told me to call anytime. If I can get in, look around, maybe I can figure out what Miss Myers is doing."
"It's dangerous. Really dangerous."
"Yeah. That's why I wanted you to come."
Connor considered him for a minute. "Wait here," he said abruptly, turning and heading for the kitchen.
Luke slid the card back into his pocket, watching Clyde tease Sky. She looked better, barely limping at all anymore and much happier.
"This is a bad idea," Andrew protested as Connor steered him into the room and over to Luke. "I suck at undercover."
"No, you're good at undercover," Connor said patiently. "You fooled my father twice and that's not easy to do."
Andrew blinked, puffing out his chest. "I did, didn't I. And Spike, too."
"See. You're perfect for this secret mission that nobody, not even Giles, is going to know about until afterwards."
"Clyde would go with me," Luke suggested. Andrew looked very unhappy with the plan.
Connor shook his head. "Trust me. Andrew's actually pretty useful in these situations."
"I need a little bit of time," Andrew said quietly. "An hour or so."
Luke nodded, raising his voice. "Clyde, borrow your phone?" Clyde pitched it over without looking away from Sky and Luke dialled quickly. "Mr Smith, I need you to relay a call for me. It needs to look like I'm calling from there."
"I see." Mr Smith was silent for a moment. "What number do you need to dial?"
Luke reeled it off from memory. "You can't tell my mum about this, Mr Smith."
"That implies this is not a course of action she would approve of."
"I just don't want her to worry. Please."
"Connecting," he said neutrally.
Luke went through the motions with a woman who assured her that yes, Mr Johnson remembered him, and yes, of course she could set up a meeting for that afternoon, and would he like someone to come and pick him up?
"No thank you. I can get there. I'll be bringing a friend."
"Of course," she agreed diplomatically. "Whatever makes you feel more comfortable. Mr Johnson will be expecting you at half past two, then."
"Thank you." Luke waited until Mr Smith had hung up. "Mr Smith..."
"You're bringing back up, Luke?"
"I'm standing with Connor and Andrew right now. Mr Smith, please. Don't tell Mum."
"This is not a wise course of action, Luke."
"It's to protect Sky. Look, I still have Connor's phone. You can listen to everything that happens and if it starts going wrong you can let Mum know."
There was silence for a long moment before Mr Smith said reluctantly, "That is acceptable. Luke...be careful."
"I will. Thank you." He hung up, erasing the call history before tossing the phone back to Clyde. "We've got about two hours, Andrew. Is that long enough?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll be ready."
"Good." Connor nudged him gently towards the door and he vanished. "Go sit with Sky," he added softly to Luke. "They're looking at us weird."
"What are you two up to, lurking in the corner?" Xander called.
"That is spooky," Luke told Connor. "Just swapping embarrassing stories," he added more loudly.
"Embarrassing, eh?" Xander eyed them. "What exactly are you talking about?"
"There was something about Dracula," Luke offered, dropping to sit beside Sky.
"And exploding aliens," Connor added.
"And singing?"
"Enough. Let's talk about something else."
Just over two hours later Andrew walked very stiffly into the room and, entirely unconvincingly, proclaimed, "I have to go out and buy some things. For food. Eating. Who will come with me to help carry the eating? Food."
Luke almost rolled his eyes but caught himself in time. "I'll go," he said instead, standing up. "I'm not really helping here at the moment."
"Of course you're helping," Sarah Jane said automatically.
"Take..."
"Connor is coming," Andrew said over Xander. "Um. Sorry. You first."
"Take someone who can fight with you," Xander said, watching him with a slight frown.
"Connor is coming," Andrew repeated. "Come on, Luke, or all the good deals will be gone!" He turned, stiffly, and marched out again.
"I won't be long," Luke promised Sarah Jane. "Do you want anything?"
"No. Thank you." She smiled at him, turning back to Sky. Luke watched them for a moment before leaving.
He was aware of Clyde watching him all the way out.
"Luke, seriously, I am not good at this!" Andrew hissed. "You should have brought someone else!"
"You're fine," Luke said patiently. "Just remember the plan."
"I hate the plan!"
"I don't like it much either, but it'll work. As long as they don't figure out what you're doing."
"They won't. I'm not actually doing anything at the moment." Andrew took a deep breath. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Let's go." Luke grinned at him, pushing away from the car and heading for the Wolfram and Hart building. Andrew fell into step behind him, still nervously wringing his hands.
They stepped across the threshold and Andrew straightened. "There is a lot of power here," he breathed, almost too low for Luke to hear.
Luke nodded, heading for the desk. "I have a meeting with Mr Johnson," he told the man there.
"Luke Smith," the man said without checking his book. "Come this way, please." He rose to lead them to a lift, where he tapped a code into the panel. "You'll be met," he said, stepping aside so Andrew could get in.
"Thank you," Luke said automatically. The man smiled as the door slid closed.
"Luke..." Andrew whispered.
"No backing out now."
"No. I'm just...It's a lot of power. This is not a good place, Luke."
"No," Luke agreed softly. "It's not a good place."
The doors hissed open and they were met by a woman in a very short skirt, who escorted them to a conference room, fetched them drinks and snacks and then left, promising Mr Johnson would be with them very soon. They barely had time to look around before Mr Johnson himself was with them, shaking hands and bestowing smiles all around.
"Luke Smith," he said when he finally sat.
"Mr Johnson," Luke answered.
"I thought you'd be back once you had some time to think about it."
"Yes," Luke agreed awkwardly. "I'm still not sure I want to be a lawyer, but I thought I could come and look around and see what kind of work you do. Is that possible?"
"Well, here in the office it's mostly talking on the phone and working on computers. Not very exciting."
"No, I suppose not," Luke murmured.
"Of course, we do have some interesting personnel on the premises. Perhaps you'd like to meet some?"
"Yes, that sounds fine. Thank you."
Andrew shifted, moving his chair a little away from Luke's and starting to sketch on the refill pad in front of him. Luke glanced at him, watching him doodle while Johnson spoke on the phone for a moment. "Now, Luke." He smiled, turning to face them. "What can Wolfram and Hart do for you?"
"I'm sorry?"
"What can we offer you to get you working here?"
"I'm not sure. I still want to finish my course."
"Yes, of course. Anthropology, isn't it? Fascinating subject. I've always been interested in history."
"Yes, it is fascinating." Luke went into a long description of the last lecture he'd attended – had it really only been three days ago?
Johnson listened, nodding in the right places, but there was clear relief on his face when someone knocked on the door. "Ah. Come in. Luke Smith, meet our newest partner."
Miss Myers smiled when Luke turned. "Oh, we've known each other for a while now, haven't we, Luke? Since your mother stole my daughter, anyway."
"She didn't steal her!" Luke took a step backwards, bumping into Andrew, who didn't give way. He glanced at Johnson, who was watching, utterly unsurprised.
"Did you really think this could work, Luke? Did you think we wouldn't get suspicious?"
"No. I thought you might. So I had a plan." He glanced at Andrew, who didn't move.
"What, the little warlock?" Miss Myers laughed. "He can't do anything here, Luke."
"We'll see," Luke said confidently.
"No." Andrew stepped away from him, holding his phone in one hand. "We really won't, Luke."
"Andrew, what are..."
Andrew grinned, tossing the phone to Johnson. "They're listening."
"No. They're not," Johnson said. "No signals out of this building unless we allow it."
"Oh, Luke's a genius. He had your field pierced before we even got here."
"Andrew," Luke hissed, shifting from one foot to the other. Andrew shrugged at him, watching Johnson.
Johnson slowly tipped the phone onto the floor, where Miss Myers crushed it underfoot. Luke winced. "That's not my phone."
"It's not anyone's phone now." Miss Myers glanced down at the pieces littering the carpet. "Whoops."
"Oh, you sound like a native," Luke said mockingly.
"Careful," Miss Myers warned him.
"Mum will not hand Sky over to you."
"Oh, she will eventually. Or Sky will hand herself over. She has a noble streak, my girl."
"She's not yours," Luke hissed. "Andrew..."
"Oh, yeah, let's make Andrew save us again! Let's get him to take the risks! Andrew, fight demons while the Slayers stand around and look pretty! Andrew, lie to the vampires who can smell lies and will rip your throat out for it! Andrew, cook and clean and be house mother while we look down on you and make fun of you!"
Luke stared at him. "They don't..."
"You've known me two days, what would you know?" He turned to Johnson. "I want in."
"Excuse me?"
"Wolfram and Hart, I want in."
"Get rid of the boy," Miss Myers said. "Luke is all we need."
"I am a powerful sorcerer!" Andrew yelled. "Abeo!" The fragments of phone transformed into several very confused fish.
"Terrifying," Miss Myers said dryly.
"That's only a fraction of my power. I can do far more scary things than that." He gestured towards Luke, still hovering uncertainly by the table. "And I can tell you everything they know about you. Which isn't much."
"Andrew!"
"Shut up, Luke."
Johnson smiled faintly. "It seems we've been wasting our team bringing in off world specialists. The Slayer's own teammates are so eager to betray her."
"It's like you're not part of the team until you try and kill her," Andrew muttered.
"Off world specialists," Luke said abruptly.
"Pardon?" Johnson said politely.
"Off world specialists," he repeated. "You were providing Korst with his materials. I knew there was something weird about them. He was supposed to – what?"
"Now Luke, we can't give away all our secrets," Miss Myers told him. "Call your mother."
"You destroyed my phone, remember?" He glanced at the fish, still flopping around on the floor. "Andrew, what are they breathing?"
"They don't breathe. They're not real fish." He scooped one up, dropping it into a water pitcher on the table. "Now it's breathing."
Johnson slid the table phone across to him. "Call your mother. Tell her we want Sky."
"No. What do you want her for anyway? She's nothing to you."
"Payment." He glanced at Miss Myers.
"Little warlock," she said thoughtfully. "You want in? I want him to call his mother. Make him do it and you have a deal."
Andrew turned, eyeing Luke. "Not a problem. Give me half an hour."
"Andrew," Luke said warily, backing up. He knocked into a chair and almost overbalanced.
Johnson smiled. "Try not to damage him. Wolfram and Hart have plans for him."
"He'll be capable. Half an hour."
Johnson nodded, ushering Miss Myers out. They got halfway down the corridor before Luke started screaming.
Clyde had been watching for a while. Sarah Jane and Dawn between them were mostly occupying Sky, and Rani was talking to Willow. Clyde was listening to both conversations, interjecting where it was necessary.
But he'd been watching Xander and Giles. Xander was pretending to listen to Willow, putting in a few words here and there, but Clyde knew exactly how that looked and he knew Xander wasn't paying any attention. Giles was occupied with one of his ubiquitous books, occasionally asking Sarah Jane something about the Doctor – apparently he kept showing up in the demon tomes under different names – but every so often he'd look up and catch Xander's eye.
When Xander excused himself from the room, Clyde waited a few minutes before following, collecting various drink orders and heading to the kitchen. Xander was there, poking aimlessly in one of the cupboards.
"Hey," he said when he saw Clyde. "Anything wrong?"
"The girls are thirsty." Clyde found glasses in one of the cupboards, lining them up on the counter. "What's going on?"
"Sorry?"
"Something's going on. You and Giles are worried. What is it?"
"Nothing's going on."
"Xander." Clyde leaned against the counter, watching him. "I'm not stupid. What's going on?"
Xander grimaced, hitching himself up to sit on the counter. "We lost contact with Connor and the others."
"Connor and...Andrew and Luke. Right. Are we worried?"
"Not yet. Connor's a match for more or less anything, and Andrew's actually pretty competent. How's Luke?"
"Not so hot with the actual fighting, but if there's thinking to do, he's your guy. Why are you worried?"
"I just said...
"Yeah, I know what you said. Why are you worried?"
Xander studied him for a minute before laughing. "You're the me, aren't you? You're the one who's watching out all the time."
"Someone's got to."
"Yeah." Xander nodded. "Someone's got to. I'm worried because before we lost contact, they were in Wolfram and Hart."
"They...Luke! Idiot boy."
"He do this often?"
"He's supposed to run his plans past me so this doesn't happen. Do you have a plan?"
"Not sure yet. We're waiting for Connor to check in, or miss his check in, whichever comes first."
Clyde's phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket, studying the display. "Unknown number."
"Answer it anyway."
"It's not going to be them."
"Stranger things. Come on."
Clyde shrugged, flicking it on to speaker. " 'Lo."
"Clyde."
"Luke." He glanced at Xander, who smiled faintly. "Where are you?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said distractedly. "Listen, I need you to bring Sky to me. I think I have a way to hide her from Miss Myers."
"Great. Come back and do it here."
"No, I can't. You have to bring her here."
Clyde frowned. Was that a touch of panic in Luke's voice? "Why?"
There was a long pause before Luke said hurriedly, "Andrew's helping me and he says the place is important. Something about the resonance with the lay lines. I don't know, I wasn't following."
"You always follow. You follow everything."
"Yeah, well, magic, Clyde. I don't have a lot of applicable experience. Can you just bring her?"
"Why aren't you talking to your mum, mate?"
"Her phone's not working. Clyde, timing."
"Yeah. I hear you. Where are you?"
"I'll text you the address. Thank you, you're a life saver. If we can get Sky safe we can worry about everything else."
"Sure. See you soon." Clyde hung up, studying the phone for a long moment before looking up to meet Xander's eyes.
"Trap?"
"Trap."
"You're not taking Sky anywhere," Sarah Jane said for the fourth time.
"Sarah Jane, Luke would never deliberately put Sky in danger," Clyde said again. "He'd give up the rest of us first, you know that. This has to be some kind of plan."
"No," she said firmly.
"If Luke has a plan we have to let him try," Sky said patiently.
"I'll be right there with her," Clyde added.
"Me too," Dawn agreed. She and her friends had been silent, letting them fight it out between them.
"You," Rani repeated.
"I'm a fair witch. Not in Willow's league, but I can throw a few curses if I have to. Besides, I just got him to realise I'm female. I'm not risking losing him to some skanky blonde."
"This is so not the time for that," Clyde muttered.
"We can easily keep track of Dawn, and Connor'll be able to find her," Xander offered.
Dawn glared at him. "You magically lojacked me."
"Yeah," he said unapologetically. "We figured eventually something like this would happen."
Clyde laughed suddenly. "That's how Connor found you at Luke's that day. Remember?"
"To my dying day," she agreed ferverently. "So we'll take Sky, we'll find Luke and Andrew, Connor'll find us, we'll all get back here for tea. Yes?"
"No," Sarah Jane protested.
"Mum, I have to," Sky said softly.
"I can't send one of my children into danger to save the other."
"You're not sending me, I'm volunteering." Sky slid off her chair and crossed to join Clyde. "I'll be back, Mum. I promise."
"Clyde." Sarah Jane rose to her feet, moving to stand in front of him. "Bring her home."
"I'll bring them both home."
She held out the sonic lipstick; when he took it, she turned to wrap Sky in a hug.
Clyde turned to find Rani behind him. "Don't worry, Mum, I'll bring them home," he promised. Rani stared at him in silence until he shifted uncomfortably. "Rani, seriously..."
She caught his chin, jerking him in for a single, fierce kiss.
"Something tells me 'mum' was the wrong word to use there," Xander stage–whispered to Willow.
"Unless he was speaking in an Oedipal kind of way," she agreed.
Rani let Clyde go, pushing lightly to send him back a step or two. "Come home," she told him.
"Yes ma'am," he agreed, blinking dazedly.
"You couldn't have done that afterwards?" Dawn asked.
"Incentive," Rani said with a grin. "Bring them home, Dawn."
"I will." Wrapping a hand around Clyde's arm, she tugged lightly until he stumbled after her.
Luke was sitting in the not–really–a–cell they'd left him in, knees drawn up and arms wrapped around them. He hadn't seen Andrew in a while, not since he'd called Clyde. Miss Myers had really enjoyed that phone call.
He wondered why Connor hadn't come yet. It was past time for him to burst in and save the day. Luke was ready for it to happen, though.
Footsteps passed outside. He glanced up, completely disinterested. People – and things he would have called aliens, but here they were probably demons – had been passing almost constantly. It was little more than annoying now.
More footsteps, faster, and muffled yelling. They stopped outside the room and the lock was thrown back. Luke shifted, letting his knees down slowly.
Sky stumbled in. Clyde was on her heels, catching her arm when she almost overbalanced; Dawn sauntered in behind them, looking for all the world as though this happened every day. The door slammed behind them, locking firmly.
Sky scrambled to join Luke, throwing her arms around him. Luke grunted, leaning back against the wall. "What are you doing here?"
"You called, mate, we answered," Clyde said.
"You weren't supposed to bring her!"
"Yeah, well, we're here. What's the plan?"
"The plan was for you not to bring her here. Where's Connor?"
"With you. Isn't he?"
Luke shook his head. "He's outside somewhere. He was supposed to get to you before you got in. Did you see Miss Myers?"
"She's busy with something, apparently."
"Paying her debt to Wolfram and Hart, I guess. She'll get to us." He glanced past Clyde. "Why are you here?"
Dawn was studying the ceiling, counting under her breath, and didn't answer. Luke looked back at Clyde for help.
"Luke, are you hurt?" Clyde asked sharply, eyeing him.
Luke glanced down at himself. "It's nothing."
Sky let go, taking a step back. "Are you?"
"I'm fine, Sky High."
"We can talk now," Dawn announced.
Clyde gestured between them. "We already were talking."
"Yes, but now they're not listening." She dropped to sit beside Luke, catching the bottom of his shirt and tugging it up briskly.
"Dawn!" he protested, trying to pull it down again.
"Oh, come on. I patch up Xander and Andrew all the time." She pushed his hand to one side, lifting the shirt a little higher.
"Luke," Clyde said in surprise. "What happened?"
Luke tugged the shirt out of Dawn's hands, covering the dark bruises on his side. "It's nothing."
"Luke," Sky started.
"It's nothing, Sky. I promise, I'm fine."
"Where's Andrew?" Dawn asked, glancing around as though he might be hiding somewhere.
"He's with Miss Myers, somewhere." Luke leaned back against the wall, suddenly tired.
"What?" Dawn said in surprise.
"He's helping Wolfram and Hart." Catching Clyde's eye, he added, "You didn't think I'd call Sky here on my own, did you?"
"Did he hurt you?" Sky asked, biting at her lip.
"Doesn't matter, Sky High. Clyde, what's the plan?"
"Dawn's lojacked. Connor will be coming to find us any time now, when Xander tells him to."
"Connor's out of touch," Luke reminded him. "I had his phone until Miss Myers destroyed it."
"He'll check in. He always does, there's a rule." Dawn carefully lifted his shirt again, eyeing the bruise. "Andrew never did that."
"No." Luke rolled up his sleeve to show her a set of scars, shiny and new like burn scars. "Andrew did that."
"I'm sorry," Sky murmured.
"Me too, Sky. You weren't supposed to be here at all. I'm sorry."
"It's all right. What's the plan?"
Luke considered for a moment. "There was a plan. I can't tell you. It could still work. When will Connor check in, Dawn?"
Dawn waved a bare wrist; they'd obviously taken her watch. "Soon."
"Good." Luke settled back against the wall, making space for Sky beside him. "You might as well sit down, Clyde. They won't be coming for a while."
"The plan?"
"The plan."
Clyde sighed, dropping to sit on the floor beside them. "How long exactly is your plan going to take?"
"As long as it takes."
"Thanks, Luke, that's helpful. Dawn, if they're not hearing us what are they hearing?"
Dawn shrugged. "General teenage grumbling. It'll trail off in a while, like we're resting. They'll probably burst in then."
"That sounds like experience," Clyde mused, leaning against the bed. "How many times were we kidnapped, Luke?"
"Two. And I was taken hostage twice. No, three times."
"More than that."
"Yeah. Probably." Luke leaned his head back against the wall.
Clyde glanced at Sky, eyebrows up.
"Rani kissed Clyde," she announced loudly.
"Did she?" Luke grinned, tilting his head so he could see Clyde without leaning away from the wall. "About time, Clyde. I'm surprised she was the first one."
"Well, I was busy rushing to the rescue! Otherwise I'd totally have done it."
"You would not."
"Well, I'm still ahead of you." Dawn shifted, and he added, "Shut up, Dawn."
"I didn't say anything," she said innocently.
"You were about to."
"How many times were you kidnapped, Dawn?" Sky asked brightly.
"More than twice. I got pretty good at it after a while."
"How do you get good at being kidnapped?" Clyde protested.
Dawn smiled. "You obviously haven't been kidnapped enough if you can still ask that."
They fell silent after a while; Luke was dozing, or something close to a doze, and Sky wasn't far from sleep. Clyde shifted to sit nearer to the door, listening to the movements outside.
After a little while Dawn caught his eye, gesturing upwards. "Finished."
"Got it," he agreed.
It was only a little longer when the door burst open. Clyde was on his feet; Luke stumbled off the bench, joining him in front of Sky. Dawn rose more slowly, watching them carefully.
"How nice," Miss Myers said, striding in. Andrew skulked in behind her, leaning against the wall. "Almost the whole gang. You were supposed to bring Sarah Jane, Luke."
"I told you, her phone wasn't working," Luke said shakily. Clyde shot him a brief glance but didn't speak.
"Sky, dear, it's time to come with me." Miss Myers held out a hand.
"No." Luke and Clyde overlapped each other, drawing closer together to protect her.
"Agito," Andrew murmured, gesturing. The two boys flew in opposite directions, crashing into the walls. Clyde went down; Luke stayed on his feet, just about, gripping the wall for balance.
"Luke!" Sky cried. Miss Myers caught her arm as she tried to go to him.
"What are you doing, Andrew?" Dawn demanded, leaning down slowly to help Clyde back on his feet.
"He's siding with the winner," Clyde said bitterly. "Or what he thinks is the winning side, anyway. I thought they were your friends, Andrew."
"Friends, yeah," Andrew scoffed. "Andrew, fight the demons while the Slayers..."
"Really? You're going to do the list again?" Luke asked. Andrew made a face and kicked at the ground.
"Oh dear, he's taken all the fun out of it," Miss Myers said mildly. "Come along. You can play with them later." She jerked Sky towards the door.
"No!" The boys slammed into her from behind; Miss Myers rocked but didn't fall, thrusting Sky towards Andrew, and turned to shove them both backwards.
"Careful," she said warningly, catching Clyde's arm when he came at her again. "I could turn you against your friends in the blink of an eye. Be a good boy and just sit down here, and I won't have to."
"Just let her go!" Luke demanded, glaring at Andrew. Andrew backed into the corridor, still holding onto Sky; Miss Myers let Clyde go with a shove, pushing him into Dawn.
"Be good, boys. Or I'll let Andrew play with Luke some more."
Clyde caught Luke's shudder but didn't look at him. "Andrew doesn't even know Luke."
"Yes. Just think how much more fun he could have with someone he does know." She smiled at Dawn, stepping out and pulling the door closed behind herself.
"Luke, when does your plan kick in?" Clyde asked urgently.
"Should have by now." Luke crossed to lean against the door, eyes closed as he listened.
"What are you doing?" Dawn asked, watching him.
"I'm checking the tension..." He took a step back, touching the door lightly. "Clyde, can you kick right here?"
"Think it'll help?"
Luke grinned faintly. "Might make you feel better."
"Maybe. Right there?"
"Yeah." Luke moved out of his way, watched as he squared up to the door.
"What's the plan, Luke?" Dawn asked quietly.
"I can't tell you my first plan. Right now the plan is get out of here and make a lot of noise. Keep Miss Myers from being able to focus on Sky."
"I'm good at noise."
Clyde's third kick split the door around the lock. Another kick knocked the lock completely out of the frame, and he shrugged. "Not great security."
"I don't think they were really worried about us," Luke said grimly. "Come on. We've only got one chance at this."
