APOLOGY NOTE AT THE BOTTOM! Dx

I don't own any of the CotRK series, that's Nimmo's gig. Only Elle, possibly George, and this plot, as well as some minor characters that probably don't matter much at all are mine.


"So tell me, what exactly do people at a dance do when they aren't dancing?" Tancred questioned, genuinely curious about it. He cocked his head to one side absently. "I mean, it is called a dance, but people don't just dance the whole time, do they? 'Cause that's be really weird. They'd get tired sooner or later, or they can't dance but still want to go to the thing or something right?"

Elle shrugged as she played with the edge of the tablecloth. "I wouldn't know. Why should I? I know as much about these things as you do, and I wouldn't be lying if I said that that's not very much."

Silence.

And more silence.

Tancred sighed heavily, dropping his head forward until it gently collapsed upon the table. A small gust of wind followed it, accompanied by some feminine (or sometimes masculine) shrieks from the people that it hit. He huffed, pouting slightly. "Man, this is boring. It's like, the boringest thing ever invented since…um…"

"Badminton?"

"Nah, that's actually king of fun if you know how to play. Something else…"

"Watching ice melt?"

"…How did that…Why…Never mind. Sure. Boring enough." He leaned back dramatically, throwing a floppy arm over his eyes. "Ugh. Why didn't someone tell us the only thing you do here is sit around watching other people do stuff that you're absolutely horrible at?"

"Because many people don't know that the all-mighty, ultimate icon of supreme greatness names Tancred Torsson is an absolutely wretched dancer, that's why." Elle teased, and then paused, sighing. "You are right though. I'd rather be doing something way more fun right now. Jeez, even feeding those crazy squirrels was better than this."

"No kidding." Tancred snorted, before a maniacal grin slowly spread over his face. "You know, that was actually pretty fun."

"I know, right? Who would've guessed that squirrels even liked pie?"

"Exactly!" He nodded enthusiastically, waving his hands around in excited motions. "I always thought that if they tried to eat anything other than acorns or bugs, their stomachs wouldn't be able to take it so then they would fall off their tree branches or whatever area they were inhabiting and have a seizure where foam starts dribbling out of their mouth and their eyes bug out and they make these creepy 'crrraaaaaarrrrggggg' noises. And then, the squirrel would be all gross looking and then it would blow up or spontaneously combust or something incredibly awesome like that."

Elle burst out laughing, wiping at her eyes for the dramatic touch. Then, she sobered, looking slightly serious. "You know, sometimes I worry about you, Tancie." She sighed, grinning. "Buuut then I realize you're just too lazy to use your brains for anything other that things like this, and I feel better."

The said boy just smiled proudly, nodding. "I know. My mum tells me that all the time."

There was, yet again, another silence.

"Hey, you want some punch? I'll get it."

Elle shrugged. "Sure."


Charlie, don't worry.. Quit acting like a baby and just get this over with.

But I can't! It's too hard and too embarrassing.

It's not that bad! Just-

Wait, I'm having mental arguments with my inner Charlie. That's bad. I'm going psycho like Tancred! That's just great! Well, he started going mental after he met Elle, so that must be it! Maybe Elle is infecting us all with her insanity, like a…disease or something! Yes, that's got to be it! Ugh. I am going insane. How horrible.

Yes, it is bad. But things like this require going a bit crazy don't they?

Charlie scowled, still looking at his black, a bit scuffed up, dress shoes. They were awfully uncomfortable actually. His toes were wiggling inside them, threatening to stretch them out, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets to try and stop them from twitching. Stupid fingers. Why couldn't they just stay still? Why did he have to be cursed with such odd habits that just wouldn't go away?

He was still outside the main hall with Olivia, an awkward silence stretched out between them, or so he though. She was leaning on the window, challenging herself b attempting to pry it open with a couple pins even though it refused to budge. She didn't seem to notice anything else around her, especially Charlie, since the task had painted her face into one of utter focus and determination. Charlie found himself thankful for her short attention span. It was one less person to see his troubled face.

Okay, this is just stupid. He scoffed to himself. We're supposed to be havin' a great time partying and here I am ruing the whole thing by doing what…Oh, that's right. Nothing! That shouldn't even make sense, but it does. Ughhhh. Maybe I should just ask her to dance. I mean, I didn't ask Uncle P for those dance lessons just so I wouldn't get to show them off for Liv. If I did then I'm…I don't even know the right word, but it probably isn't something that nice people can call each other. I'm pretty sure I'm a nice person, 'cause Liv would never date someone mean like…like Manfred! Ew. Gross. "Ugh. Liv and Manfred?" He muttered, not even noticing it had slipped out.

"Hmm?" She responded, looking away from the window. "Did you say something?"

Crap.

"Uh, umm…" he turned beet red then, flushing to the tip tops of his ears. "Ummm…"

"Um?" Olivia's eyes glittered with silent amusement, and she raised an eyebrow at him expectedly, something of which Charlie found himself half-heartedly hating her for.

"Umm…"

"Would you like to dance Charlie? It's getting a bit stuffy out here."

I gave myself that bug huge pep talk and then she goes and asks me? I don't think….ah screw it. "Sure."


"You know, you aren't a bad dancer. I'm rather surprised at that actually." Emma smiled as he blushed a faint shade of pink. "But I suppose you learned from Charlie's uncle too, didn't you?"

He blinked. "Um, yes actually. But how did you know that?"

"Oh, a little birdie told me ." She grinned mischievously, but laughed a bit. He joined her, his heart fluttering .

He'd never really though about those little phrases. To Gabriel, they just seemed like a bunch of silly words and phrases that love-sick authors used to make the setting all dramatic and whatnot. Because, really, your heart can't flutter, it's a solid organ made of tissue and cells and all that. All it does is pump blood, and possibly some other equally important functions that people care not as much about to teach to middle school children. It your heart really did flutter, that might be a health hazard. And why would "a shiver run down his [her?] back as she [he] touched him, sending light tingles shooting through his body?" That doesn't even make sense. She or he just held his or her hand for goodness sake, not punched them in the gut. Now that would send tingles all over. Ouch.

Then she became…perfect.

How?? It hadn't even occurred to him how fast she went from Emilia Moon, to Emma Tolly, to Emma-that-girl-he-liked, to suddenly Emma-his-girlfriend-that-made-him-feel-surpisingly-good-about-himself. Those tingles, the fluttery hearts, the blush, the everything that was completely cheesy and utterly stupid sounding was real to him. It wasn't just some phrase that the love sick author stuck in to make a scene seem romantic or whatever, it was actually true. (Plus, romance wasn't exactly his field anyways.) Now he felt first-handedly the aches when she was gone, the strange giddy shocks he got just by seeing her again, the stuff that they say only happens in the movies. He ever got the urge to pummel guys to death if they looked at her strangely (although, if he thought about that too much, he knew he'd most likely lose if he tried to pummel anyone to anything, seeing as masculine manly muscles weren't really his think either), something hard to avoid if you were known as bird-girl. He couldn't stand when people, namely other guys, lingered on her for too long. And according to Teen Thrive magazine, jealousy and protectiveness came in a nicely wrapped package with…

Well, you know. Not that he read that silly stuff anyways.

Teen Thrive. Psh.

A sharp prop in his ribs brought him back to reality. He hissed, rubbing at the the spot that was now sore quite a bit. "What?" He whined, not really wanting to come out of his thoughts.

"Are you okay there?" Emma asked shyly. "Because you've been standing there staring at me for a while now. You hardly even seemed to notice my poking,"

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I'm perfect," he grinned.


"Hello."

"Well, that was…" Elle trailed off, her smile dimming slowly. It faded away to a grimace. "Oh, it's you. You're not Tancred." She muttered under her breath.

"No, I'm not, and I don't exactly hope to be any time soon."

"That's nice. Can I help you?" She scowled darkly, hopping she wouldn't blow up anything. After all, this guy had pretty much kidnapped her before.

"Actually, yes. You can." Dagbert replied smoothly, looking the least bit disturbed by her unfriendly nature. "Drink? I didn't add some deadly poison or anything to it, promise. Not that you'd believe me if I really did promise or anything, but it doesn't hurt to say it." He added quickly to her suspicious look.

Cautiously, Elle took it, giving it a sip. After a small, satisfied smile, she cleared her throat. "How so?"

"Good question. You see, we have this little…alliance here at Bloor's, and there's still a bit of time for you to make up your mind and join it."

"I am not going to join the dark side you-"

"Is that really what you guys call it?" He replied, amused. "Well, what a dramatic name, a bit like Star Wars or something isn't it, but I suppose it fits, seeing as the lot of you on the…would it be light side?…Are all pretty much like that, aren't you?"

"If this is our way of trying to get me to join, you really have to take some persuasion classes. I mean, who tries to convince someone to leave somewhere that they are plenty happy being at, but goes and insults her friends at the same time? Really? That is quite pathetic." Dagbert scoffed, though she could tell he was silently berating himself for the slip up. "But don't worry. You are only twelve right?"

"I don't think my age-"

Elle shook a finger at him. "Uh-uh. You know, you really should consider your age. It does matter. What if you look back on this eighty years from now, granted you live that long, and say "dang, what did I waste my childhood on? I was helping destroy a little league of kids to do…" Well, what exactly are you doing? Rule the continent with an iron fist? Kill all cute a fuzzy little adorable animals in this world? Oh, how terrifying! "

"Actually, we're not doing any of that, we're just going to- oh. Oh, no. You're good, and you almost got me there, but you aren't good enough."

Elle smirked crookedly but her eyes glowered at him coldly. "Aw damn. I was sure I had you there."

"Well, you didn't."

"Okay then. Speaking of being young, where's that girlfriend of your's? I wouldn't like to be taking you away from her."

Dagbert almost visibly cringed. "Uh, she's somewhere."

"Right." Elle replied disbelieving.

"Well," Dagbert said, looking away. "We shouldn't stray of topic. Are you in?"

"Sorry, I don't think you heard anything I've said in the past, oh, I don't know, 2 minutes?" She scowled lightly, trying to keep a yawn out of her voice. Strangely, this conversation was making her tired. Then again, she was talking to Dagbert here. "Should I repeat it all to you?"

Dagbert snorted. "Well, you're…for lack of better terms, you've got your panties in a bunch."

"No shi-" She paused, turning around to yawn. Shaking her head to clear away the drowsiness, she turned back. "Of course I do! Here I am, poor little innocent me, trying to have the time of her adolescent life at this grand ball of which the Bloor's graciously threw, for reasons of which I am still a bit concerned that no one knows, and you come and ruin it with your face. Oh, and trying to convert me to whatever you call your "alliance," but believe me the former is much more disturbing. I think I'll have nightmare's forever!" Elle threw a hand over her eyes in mock distress, but groaned, moving it over her mouth to stifle a new growing yawn. "Oh all times, I feel like falling asleep now?" She muttered, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"I didn't put anything in your drink, but I know I didn't say any one else didn't. I believe that Joshua Tilpin had the honors of doing it. You see," Dagbert smirked, his green lanky hair making it all the more intimidating, "Manfred had a feeling that you'd be slightly uncooperative, so we didn't want to take our chances. We did arrange this whole dance-thing especially so we could win you over, you, so feel special. We couldn't lose an opportunity like this one.

Elle had to keep her head from hitting the table from her seat, and her voice slurred. "I knew it!"

"Yes, well, you ought to make sure you're leaning against something," the drowner recommended, seeing her head droop. "You wouldn't want to land on the floor with a crash, because everyone knows that's no good."

The last thing she could remember before her eyes finally closed were two small shadows stepping closer and a whisper.

"Sorry."


"Yeah. I'll catch you around," Tancred muttered, his plastic smile threatening to crack. Oh my god, just go away already!

That's not nice. George chimed. I mean, sure he's got more pimples than the average acne-ridden teen, and maybe he does snort a bit too much, and it is a little strange how he pulls his shorts up too high, and his glasses do frighten me a bit, and his voice makes me want to shut off your eardrums, and he does have a strange stalkerish obsession with people sometimes, and…Well, maybe he is an annoying guy, but he's still not that bad!

George, just admit it. He is.

"Yeah, snort, alright!"

"Ohkaythen. Well, I'll be going now," Tancred said with his plastic smile still glued to his face. "You know, so I'll catch you late Mike."

"Are you, snort, sure? You could, snort, hang around me and Ellie, snort, a bit more , snort, if you want."

His girlfriend, Eleanor, smiled, and Tancred fought the urge to scream. She was just as bad as Mike, but instead of having major nerdy, stalker-like behavior, she had an annoying obsession with questioning just about everything that just about anyone did, although that still might qualify as stalkerish. She also has a tendency to talk about politics, and how fun of a topic is that? "Yeah, Tancred Torsson." Oh, and saying everyone's full name tended to put everyone but Mike on edge. "You don't happen to have anything to do, do you? Maybe go plot something with your little friends or something? Hmm?"

"Um, no actually. Sorry to disappoint."

"Oh," She sighed, looking put out. She instantly perked up again. "Well, what are you going to do?"

"…Go hang out with my girlfriend…?" Tancred answered, feeling small. The lady was practically interrogating him!

"Can't you hang out with Michael Ross and me?"

"No, it's okay, I've got to go to a different Elle now, so, um-"

"Ooh, I gotcha." Mike interrupted, winking. He wiggled his giant unibrow suggestively. It was one of those sights that leaves you scarred for life and just thinking about it brings the feeling of being dosed with a tub of ice cold water. Tancred forced down an upcoming shudder, and struggled to stay where he was. Eleanor giggle, which in itself was just as scary. "Well, run along then."

"Uh, sure." The blond muttered, saying goodbye again and walking away as calmly from the couple as he could.

"Sad encounter with the Mad Mike, eh?"

Tancred's eyes widened at the familiar voice, and then narrowed. He huffed, spinning on his heals to turn in a dramatic rush. "And where have you been mister?"

"You sound like my mom."

"I…didn't mean to and now realize that, but I couldn't care less. Actually, I could, but that's not what we're talking about.."

Lysander shrugged, making the beads in his dark hair jingle, but he smiled all the while. Lauren laughed, comfortably standing by his side. "We were having some time away from you and your psychotic girlfriend."

"Elle is not…well…okay, maybe just a little bit." Tancred admitted sheepishly. "But that's hardly the point. Did you guys have fun snogging in a closet or whatever you two do in your alone time?"

Lysander looked affronted. "Tanc, seriously! I don't do that! I have much more class."

Lauren snorted. "Yeah, because migrating over to the janitor's office is so much more classy than a broom closet."

"Well, obviously. It's bigger isn't it? And that wasn't what we were doing anyways." The African boy sniffed, obviously not happy about being corrected. "That incident was 2 weeks ago, in the mall might I add, not in a school. We were actually looking around for you and Elle and Charlie and Gabe and…Well, basically everyone. But you're actually the first one we've ran into . Congrats. You're special now. I hope you're happy."

"I am actually, thanks."

"Oh, well, that's nice I guess."

"Yeah." Tancred grinned. "It is, isn't it?"

"…I suppose?" Lysander just looked confused.

"Yeah."

"Wait, what?"

Lauren rolled her eyes, but cut in. "If you're here then where's Elle?"

"Right. Um, she's over at the table."

"There are a lot of table Tanc and even more people to go through to find the right one." Lysander pointed out.

"Yeah, I know."

Lauren and Lysander looked at each other, both with blank looks. With a simultaneous nod of some sort of silent agreement, they stared back at him, unblinking.

"Can I…help you?"

They still stared, but the corner of Sander's lip twitched.

"Okay you guys. This is not cool. What are you doing?"

Their eyebrows both twitched.

"Tancred looked ready to pull his hair out any second. "You two are kind of creeping me out, I mean, you keep doing things at the exact same time. it's a little unnerving. And you're twitching a lot. Are you sure you're okay? You might be suffering from something, like a heart attack or a mini-seizure or something. Do you want me to take you to th hospital or something? I know we're not supposed to have them, but I think I know a guy who might know someone with a phone I can call an ambulance with, or I could just use mine, in case-"

Lauren broke first. "Look, Tancred, how many people do you suppose are in this room?"

"I don't know, a hundred? This doesn't really have anything to do with seizures though."

She ignored the last part. "Probably too small a guess, but sure. Let's go with that. And if there were a hundred, there's got to be enough tables for at least half of them to sit down, right?

"Um. I guess so." Tancred muttered, still confused and sending looks of 'where-is-this-going' to the couple.

"So, suppose that each table has about 5 seats available. You know, 'cause that's and average number." Lauren continued.

"What's the point of this?"

"Tanc, there are like, a ton of tables here!" Lysander said, exasperated with his friend's slowness. "I mean, sire, we'd find her eventually, but there's still quite a lot of tables, and not to mention there are even more bodies blocking the way, so we'd have to push past everyone to go find her. That's a bit of a stretch just to find one person."

"Oh." Tancred's face lit up as it dawned on him. He grinned, tsk-ing. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"I did!"

"Don't lie!" Tancred accused, giving them a short glare.

"I-"

"Just let it go, Sander," Lauren sighed, slouching against his arm. "Just don't bother."

"Well, do you want me to take you guys there or not? I'm not going to wait forever."


"You know, Mr. Yewbeam did a pretty good job of teaching you how to dance." Olivia commented, smiling at his sputtering look. "Don't worry, I wasn't stalking you or anything. A little bird just happened to tell me."

"What…who?"

"…I don't know."

"Aww, come on Liv!"

"Nope."

Charlie frowned, but his eyes twinkled. "That is not fair at all."

"I know it isn't," Olivia commented laughing still. "But no matter how nice this is, you think you're up for a break? My feet are getting a little numb. He might've taught you to some basic dancing skills, but you aren't a pro yet and my feet sure aren't thanking you for that."

Charlie nodded, chuckling to himself, and lead her towards the snack table. He grabbed one of the min-sandwich/croissant/bread things. "So, um, hey."

"So, um, hello." A familiar voice snickered from behind him.

Charlie scowled. "So, um, jerk."

"So, um, takes one to know one bub." Gabriel smirked in triumph.

Snorting, Charlie replied, "So, um, who says bub anymore?"

"So um, shut up party-pooper."

"So, um, don't start fighting now." Emma smiled, appearing next to a grinning Gabriel. She grabbed four glasses of punch and handed them out. "So how's it been for you two?"

"Oh, pretty good." Olivia answered vaguely. "Although, that little birdie's information was, apparently, pretty accurate."

"I know right?" Emma giggled. "It's quite the surprise."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Do you know who the bird is?" Charlie asked Gabriel. "I can't seem to make Liv tell me, and I swear it's driving me insane not knowing."

After a shocked silence. Gabriel coughed, smothering a laugh. "If you honestly can't figure this out yourself, then I don't think I should tell you. It's break the info limit that your braing is stretching, and you might end up drooling on a hospital table for the rest of your lifetime. It really isn't that hard."

"Yes it is!" Charlie muttered indignantly. "I don't have brains the size of Godzilla like the rest of you insist on having."

"Yes because you insist on having one the size of plankton."

Charlie looked thoroughly confused, was plankton big?, but he scoffed anyways. "Err…Psh. Yeah, of course." He laughed nervously.

That promptly set everyone off on a "coughing fit," making Charlie scowl harder. "Oh shut up."

"Whoa, wait. Hey, what is that?"


"Well, that's only a little bit weird."

"What is?"

Tancred raised an eyebrow, slamming his palms against the table. A passing chaperone scowled as it rattled, sending disapproving looks towards him that he failed to notice. "Well, I mean, look!"

"Tanc, I've got eyes you know. I use them a majority of the day, and so I don't honestly think that you ought to tell me to open them. I think I'd know to do that by now, you know?"

"Lysander, this is not the time to use ultimate sarcasm skills!" Tancred scowled. He pointed directly at a chair not 3 feet away. "There. She sat there. But is she there? No."

Lauren laughed. "Looks like she went on a potty break to the little girls' room if you ask me."

"Not without that purse-bag-thing she wouldn't. And I don't think that her chair would be knocked over either. I just got the drinks right now, so she either got one for herself, so I would've seen her at the stands, or someone got that for her." Tancred pursed his lips and scrutinized the area. He sat after setting the cups down. They wobbled from the windiness that suddenly appeared, sloshing red all over the off-white table cloth. "Something," he concluded moodily, "is up."

"Tanc, Sander! Oh, Lauren you too!" Olivia's clear voice rang sharply thorough the crowds of people as she ran hurriedly towards them, holding her dress up to go faster. She skidded to a snot next to them, leaving Charlie, Emma, and Gabriel jog-dancing as quickly and inconspicuously as they could behind her. "Finally, I found you guys." She huffed, leaning over to catch her breath.

"Liv, what art you talking about?" Lauren asked confused, then changed her mind. "wait, breath first." She said, pulling out a chair for the grateful actress.

Gabriel was the first to arrive after Olivia, having long legs and all, and next came Charlie, who dragged a stressed-looking Emma behind him. They each took a seat around the circular table, stealing chairs from separate tables, to regain their breaths.

"What's up guys?" Lysander asked with a friendly nodded towards them. "You guys look, well, like heck."

"Goodie-two-shoes." Lauren scowled.

"Love me for it." Lysander said with a quirky grin, propping his feet up on the table.

"This," Charlie huffed between breaths, "is not a time for jokes man. I'd laugh at that if it was."

Tancred leaned closer from his spot across the table, his forehead furrowed with concern to show a single premature stress line. A sick feeling in his gut told he what this was about. "What happened?"

"Elle was-"

"Manfred and Dagbert and the twins and Rose-"

"-dragging-"

"-complete chaos."

"I couldn't agree more." Lauren answered shrewdly, but clear worry was etched on her face. "Someone please start from the beginning. And only one person, if you will, it isn't as easy as you might think to listen to a million different stories at the same time."

"Only four dear, exaggeration-"

"Shut up Sander." His girlfriend rolled her eyes at his laugh.

"Okay," Gabriel cleared his throat, rotating his chair to sit backwards on it. "So basically, we were all chillin' by the-"

Tancred couldn't resist. "Oh-ho? What's this? Chillin'? Gabe's going gangsta on us!"

"Shut up." The said boy scowled. "Anyways, see, while we were all hanging out-" he threw a glare towards Tancred '-by the snack area, Olivia looked past us and saw something pretty weird swinging open. So she pointed it out, and we dance-jogged over to it. There we found an opened trick door, which now that I think about it was pretty suspicious. Why would they leave it open so carelessly?"

"Just keep going." Charlie urged.

"Well, we couldn't exactly go into it, because that's rather dangerous in itself, so we backed off a little. Just after that, Manfred came through, muttering stuff to himself and looking around to see if anyone noticed and slipped in, followed by Elle, who was being carried by the twins. I don't think she was conscious though; her head was slumped over so we couldn't see her face and she was dragging her feat so I think I can positively say she wasn't."

"What?!" Tancred cried, outrage showing on his flushed face. "Why didn't you-"

"Go after her? Hold on; this just gets better." Emma said bitterly.

"Right well, we couldn't exactly show ourselves, Tanc, seeing as that would give away the fact that we knew something that was going on and we'd just cause an scene and a whole mess of trouble that we couldn't deal with." Olivia added.

"Speaking of which, how did you manage not to be seen?" Lauren asked curiously.

"The wonders of a big dress and a crowd are absolutely endless," Charlie shuddered.

"Wait, seriously guys. What happened?" Lysander interrupted.

Gabriel began to speak again. "Well, after they dragged Elle in, Dagbert came by with his girlfriend. She was yelling something at him, we couldn't quite make it out, and then he started saying something, and then she slapped him and left all in tears and whatnot. It was pretty satisfying. But anyways. After that, he went in rubbing his face and stuff."

"So you couldn't go in why?" Tancred scowled.

"Well, even if we didn't care about giving ourselves away, we still couldn't go after her. Right after the drowner went through the passage, the door slammed shut and well, that's it." Gabe shrugged.

Face expressionless, Tancred leaned back into his chair. "You're joking."

Charlie cleared his throat uncomfortably, sighing. He expected this to happen once they told the storm-bringer. "No, Tanc, we aren't."

"You have to be. That's ridiculously predictable of them and yet none of us thought of it." The blond barked harshly, crossing his arms. "I mean, who throws a party for no reason right? I knew something was up."

"Tanc, look, don't blame yourself. It's not like we could have expected it." Luren whispered, trying to sooth the oncoming storm, even though she knew it was pointless.

"I couldn't? It was entirely predictable though!" With a flourish, Tancred rose from his seat, bringing the storm with him. Small pelts of rain and steadily growing wind swirled around him, wetting the whole group. No one looked too phased though. "Seriously, it's the Bloor's we're dealing with here! A dumb plan like this is completely their style, and I must be really stupid not to think something would happen."

"But-"

"Why exactly do they need Elle so much anyways?" His rampage went on. "They could have jumped any of us, yet they keep picking her. I might sound like a jealous twat right now, but I bet it has to do with that little Dagbert creep. Where is he? Never mind. I'm going to find her. Where is this door?"

"Tancred, shut up and sit down." Lysander ordered, the authority in his voice shocking everyone. He seemed more mature at the moment than ever before, his face stony and expressionless. Drums of his ancestors pounded strongly, steadily in the background, betraying his mood and filling the air with an ominous vibration. He was still sitting calmly, feet up and arms lazily crossed behind his head as a pillow, but it looked much more threatening now, if such a relaxed pose could look that way.

Stunned, Tancred stopped walking but didn't walk back. He turned around, stubbornly thrusting out his jaw. "And why should I? Elle is out there, somewhere, and they are doing who knows what to her. I have to get her back."

"Yes, we do." Lysander snarled, emphasizing the we. "But do you honestly think that barging into the door is a smart idea?"

"I don't care if it's smart-"

Tanc, you should listen to him. You know that it's not. George whispered.

"You don't even know if you could get in!" If thunder had a voice, Lysander definitely sounded like it at the moment, but he manages to keep his voice under control. A silent flame flickered in his eye. "How do you know it's not password protected, or even worse, voice or finger print locked? If it is, you have no chance of doing anything but making a big fussy scene over nothing, and that won't get you anywhere."

Didn't think of that right? George interrupted again.

"But-"

"Look," Lauren said softly, but her voice was strung with emotion. "Running into this is not a rational decision. It's just a little bit stupid. I know that you want to go save Elle, and believe me I do too, but I also know I'm pretty much powerless and have no idea about half of what anyone is talking about and I am almost sure that going in unprepared is going to result in not only something horrible happening to you but to all of us, including Elle herself." She cleared her throat, knowing that one hit home. "I think that the best choice right now would be to head over to Mr. Newburt's house and explain what's going on so that we can formulate a plan. Do you get it?" She directed her attention to Tancred, who looked pained with a struggle of will.

You know she's right, so listen! George almost shouted.

But Elle, she's…

I know. George reassured him. Believe me, I know. But nothing will come of going in there blindly. Just follow what they're saying. Right now they're the most rational.

"But I just want to get her back." He answered quietly, not only to the group but for his restless conscience as well. He looked away.

Olivia smiled back, but she had a thin film of tears. "I think we all do, but Lauren's plan might work better. Don't you think?"

"I…guess."

"Good." Charlie announced, sensing the awkward aura. "So we get to her dad's right? How?"

"No, actually, now we have bigger problems." Emma said shakily. "Now we see if we can get away without running into any of them."

"What do you mean?" Gabriel asked.

"I mean, look at every exit there is."

"Oh dear." Olivia nodded. "You're right. This just might be a problem."


I know. You want to flame me.

And I can honestly say go ahead. No, actually, I want to say something else. Please flame me. It'll make me feel better, that way I know you're not secretly seething at me and harboring a grudge. I mean, I don't mind doing anything for maybe a month at most, but honestly it's been maybe half a friggen year (or possibly less, I don't know)! That's ridiculous, and even I have to admit that. I was devastated when I lost internet, and when I got it back it was just before winter break, and I was swamped with homework, and then during winter break I was up in some mountains and there's nothing there… UGH. Yes. Just excuses, and they shouldn't be accepted. But I am seriously sorry.

And I am so mean, I left the chapter with a little Cliffie. Isn't that cruel?

{On the bright side, I know the ending. I've written the last chapter already, now I just have to fill the gap from here to then…}

GAH.

~tubs.

WORD COUNT: 5730