A/N: And this story is far from over!

Chapter 26: (Vanessa) As Onward Stars Silently Aloft

Back at the theater, it was as if much of the good cheer had also departed along with Neil. "Is it okay if we walk back, Captain?" Charlie asked Mr. Keating anxiously. It no longer seemed as if they would be celebrating Neil's theatrical triumph anytime soon.

Mr. Keating did not say anything for a long moment as he continued to stare after where Neil and his father had gone. "Just stay safe," he said after a while.

Charlie nodded to the group. "Come on, let's go." He noticed Knox and Chris approaching them. "Well look who we have here."

"Behave yourself, Nuwanda," Vanessa warned, elbowing him.

Knox cleared his throat. "Guys, meet Chris Noel. Chris, meet my friends Charlie, Todd, Meeks, Pitts, and Cameron. You've already met Van."

"The name is Nuwanda," Charlie corrected.

Chris smiled and nodded cordially to them. "Nice to meet all of you. I'd love to chat but I really should get going."

"I'll walk you home," Knox offered.

"It's quite a long way. Are you sure?"

Knox nodded. "I won't be able to sleep well if I'm not sure you're safe."

Cameron gagged and Meeks and Pitts exchanged long-suffering looks, while Charlie and Todd tried to stifle their giggles. Vanessa merely smiled as she watched Chris loop her arm through Knox's. "Nice going, Knox," she thought, adjusting her scarf. "Spoken like a true gentleman," she remarked.

Charlie cleared his throat. "We'll go with you. Can't have Knox losing his way back to Welton."

"I'm not that bad at getting about!" Knox protested.

"You go with them. I'm going right back," Cameron groused.

"We'll go with him. I'm freezing out here," Meeks said while Pitts nodded in silent assent.

"See you later. And uh, stay safe," Todd told them. "Van, what about you?"

"I could use the adventure," Vanessa replied with a shrug. The night was cold, but too beautiful for her to simply sit inside. "And I can't go to sleep feeling as I do," she thought. Everything, from Neil's rather obvious failure to sort things out with his father, all the way up to his abrupt departure, was far too disturbing for her liking. After bidding goodnight to Cameron, Meeks, and Pitts, she followed the rest of the group up the street leading to the town proper. Knox and Chris walked ahead, wrapped up in a world of their own. Charlie whistled snatches of tunes as he walked at his own pace, leaving Vanessa and Todd to bring up the rear.

"You think Neil will be okay?" Todd asked after a while as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know," Vanessa whispered. She shivered at the memory of the last glance Neil had given her; his eyes had been shell-shocked, nearly empty so to speak. "Not like when he was crying and just trying to let it all out," she thought. She would have rather had him in the latter state. She kicked a pebble aside and took a deep breath. "I'm going to ask about him in the morning."

"Don't think his old man would want to have you calling," Charlie warned.

"Well there has to be some way," Todd pointed out. He looked up at the sky and a bemused smile spread across his face. "There aren't that many clouds. It's odd for winter."

"Todd, it's not even the holidays yet," Charlie said. "No one's hanging Christmas decor. It's just this part of the country being cold, as usual."

"I know; I've lived here most of my life. It's just that..." Todd trailed off. "It's as if you could imagine that the play was happening here. Right now, even if it's not Midsummer."

"Whitman would have written about this night," Vanessa said.

"I wander all night in my vision, Stepping with light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping," Todd murmured. "It's from one of his poems."

Up ahead, Chris burst out giggling. "Knox! How do you know so much poetry?" she asked.

"I just like it," Knox said sheepishly.

"Which one is your favourite?" she asked.

Knox reddened. "It starts like this: I arise from dreams of thee In the first sweet sleep of night, When the winds are breathing low, And the stars are shining bright,"

"Who wrote that?"

"Percy Bryce Shelley."

Charlie laughed. "A little cliché, Knoxious."

"I like it. If I hear it again, I'll remember you," Chris said to Knox.

Charlie smirked. "I prefer Dylan Thomas': If I were tickled by the rub of love, A rooking girl who stole me for her side, Broke through her straws, breaking my bandaged string,If the red tickle as the cattle calve Still set to scratch a laughter from my lung, I would not fear the apple nor the flood Nor the bad blood of spring."

"The 'rub of love'? What a way to put it," Todd chuckled.

"Says the one who came up with the sweaty toothed madman," Charlie pointed out.

"I said the first thing that came to mind!"

"Do they always argue like this?" Chris asked Vanessa lightly.

"No. I'm surprised Todd is even joining in," Vanessa replied over the boys' banter. Still the talk was welcome; it made the night seem less fey and that much more charged with magic. She took a deep breath, enjoying the crisp night breeze as it blew over the snow-filled fields and bent branches of the bare trees around them. It seemed as if the world was covered in a veil of cold crystal and ice.

It was nearly ten in the evening by the time they reached Chris' house near the middle of the town. While Knox walked Chris to her door, both of them thanking each other for the evening, the rest of the students hung back. "How long can we stay out?" Todd asked Charlie and Vanessa.

"Curfew is supposed to be at eleven-thirty," Charlie muttered. "Ah well, we can try to climb in through the back door or something. We've been out walking so I don't think anyone will give us much trouble. Just in case, let's find some biscuits to give to the dog."

Vanessa was about to say something to this when the sound of an ambulance's siren cut through the night. Slush splashed everywhere as the ambulance sped down the road. A small car followed in its wake. "That doesn't seem good," she muttered.

Todd ran forward. "That's Mr. Perry's car!"

"Todd's right," Charlie said. "Something's happened. "

"To who?" Knox asked, hurrying up.

"We don't know," Todd replied.

"Please, please don't let it be Neil," Vanessa prayed silently even as she followed the boys down the road. She swallowed hard as she saw the ambulance drive up to the hospital emergency room entrance, and Mr. Perry's car parking someplace nearby. She turned away as she saw Mr. Perry and his wife getting out of the car. It only meant one thing.

Todd grabbed on to Vanessa and Charlie. "They're bringing someone out on a stretcher. It's Neil," he said shakily.

Despite all her past foreboding, Vanessa felt as if her legs were taken out from under her. "Oh God," she murmured as she watched Neil's parents hurry into the emergency room, Mr. Perry enquiring loudly from the doctors about what would happen to his son. Nevertheless she walked up to one of the nurses at the door. "Excuse me, but my name is Vanessa O'Donnell. I'm a friend of Neil Perry..." she said, hoping her voice didn't shake.

The nurse nodded. "Sorry you can't see him till the doctors say so."

"I know. But I want to know what happened."

"He was found hanging in his parents' basement," the nurse said in a low voice.

Vanessa paled and felt her stomach lurch. "Just now?" she quavered.

"When else?"

"Is he going to be okay?"

"He's lucky someone found him in time."

Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulder. "You. What are you doing here?" Mr. Perry growled at Vanessa.

"I was just walking by with my friends, and I saw..." Vanessa trailed off. "I have nothing to do with it, I swear."

Mr. Perry unhanded her as Charlie, Todd, and Knox walked up. "You stay away from my son too. I don't know what you did to him, young lady, but I will never forgive you for it," he said bitterly.

"The only thing I did was not to see what was going on," she thought as she watched Mr. Perry return to the emergency room. She swiped at her eyes before looking at her friends. "Neil tried to kill himself," she said quietly.

"What?" Todd whispered.

Vanessa nodded. "Tried to hang himself," she explained. She shuddered, momentarily imagining Neil's face. It was all she could do not to cry at that moment, thinking that she might never see him again. "He's alive at least. At least. I can't believe it-I just can't."

"This has to be a joke," Knox said.

"It isn't. Neil...he rather would have..." Todd trailed off.

"We have to tell Mr. Keating," Vanessa said. "And the others."

Charlie sighed as he fished in his pocket for quarters.