Author's Note: Sorry it took another week to get this up, but my mom is visiting, so it's taking a little longer to get these typed up(this and the other fic I'm working on). Hope it's worth the wait.

Chapter 29: Going Home

By the time Saturday rolled around, the boys were getting excited for the concert. The town had started to show interest and excitement about it a few days prior and had started coming out of their houses at night to watch the boys wander around town as though they were celebrities or something. On Saturday morning, hundreds of people from neighboring towns began showing up in town to prepare for the show that night. The boys made their way up to the stage by late afternoon to set up and get in one last practice while the girls watched from the front row of seats.

Allison and Michelle were taking turns playing nurse-maid to Peter and Davy, even though Davy insisted he didn't need help anymore. His leg had mostly healed, but they decided it would be best to keep it wrapped when he went outside to keep it from getting infected just in case and left it unwrapped when they were in the hotel room so it could air out. Peter's stomach had done a good job of healing, but he still had the stitches in his stomach so they had decided he wasn't going to play bass for the concert; it was best if he just sat and played the keyboard. Piper had continued trying to freeze things periodically, but hadn't had any success. The mayor had come by to listen to their rehearsal and had seemed very pleased by their performance. He'd informed them the other mayors were either on their way or already in town to see them and take part in the donation drive. The mayor would act as emcee for the evening, enticing people to donate what they could. He had also informed them that the state authorities had found the bodies of the train robbers and they had conducted an investigation that determined they had been lured there and killed by an unknown group of people, most likely a rival gang. The Monkees and the girls all agreed, not wanting to say what the truth was for fear of being taken for fools. They had faith no one would be able to find any evidence to charge anyone with the murders anyway; as it turned out, the bodies of the Gentlemen and the jacket creatures disappeared on their own.

When they had finished rehearsing, the manager of the ski resort brought them a tray of food to eat for dinner before the show which was a couple of hours away yet. So they all sat around backstage talking; Michelle and Allison were telling the Monkees once again how good they thought they were and Piper had started trying to freeze things again. She threw a piece of paper up in the air and waved her hands at it, but for at least an hour nothing happened. Finally, her face lit up and she let out an exclamation of excitement which caused Mike and the others to turn and see the ball of paper floating in midair, frozen in time.

"I did it!" she exclaimed.

"Wow," Micky said and started poking at it. The second he touched it, the paper unfroze and fell to the ground.

"How long should it last?" Davy asked.

"No idea," she answered. "I suppose it depends on how strong I am."

"Try again," Mike said picking up the paper and tossing it into the air again. "Micky, don't touch it."

"Sorry," Micky said laughing. Piper waved her hands at it and nothing happened. She groaned a little and took a deep breath.

"Throw it at me again," she said. Mike grabbed the ball of paper and tossed it at her. This time it froze again and stayed there for about 10 seconds before unfreezing and finishing its trajectory.

"Well, I guess that answers that," Michelle said.

"For now," Piper answered. "If I keep working at it, it should get better and I should be able to freeze more than a piece of paper."

"So why were you able to freeze that thing in the mines?" Allison asked.

"When a major event takes place, a lot of energy pools in the area," Piper said. "Especially if there is a massive loss of life. Each person has a specific amount of energy within them, and when they die, that energy is normally released with their soul and they move on. The energy is usually absorbed back to the earth or absorbed into someone else or it gets trapped. That's what happened in the mines, all the energy from the explosion and loss of life is stuck there. I inadvertently tapped into it making my powers stronger. I've no doubt that's why the Devil lured us there, but he wanted to use the energy surge to his advantage."

"Lucky for us, we could also use it to our advantage," Micky said.

"Keep practicing that power," Mike added. "I have a feeling we're going to need it again soon." Piper nodded her agreement. A few hours later, they were ready to perform. Mike peeked out into the audience and saw it was packed. Mayor Devlin walked out on stage to introduce them and talk about the fundraiser they were trying to do.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he said into the microphone. "I know I don't have to tell you all how important the mines are to our economy. And I'm sure most of you know about the tragic events in Hanson so many years ago. What we are trying to do here is raise enough money to restore the mines and the town there. Not just so we can repatriate those bodies and give those honorable men a proper burial, but restoring the town will give our economy a much needed boost. In order to do that, we need to raise a lot of money to help them out. We'll be taking donations all night and through the week and in the meantime, I'd like to introduce to you the men who suggested we do this in the first place. Ladies and Gentlemen, a band from California; the Monkees!" The audience applauded and the Monkees walked on stage with big smiles on their faces. They played music for hours into the night and periodically the mayor would come on stage and talk more about raising money and how much they'd already risen.

By the end of the night, they had raised nearly half the amount of money needed to fix up Hanson. The mayor told them at the end of the night that they would continue doing other fundraisers throughout the week to raise the rest of the money and he had every confidence that they would reach their goal. Because of that, he and the other mayors had already started contracting workers to start repairing the town and the mines. They had picked a spot outside of Hanson to turn into a memorial cemetery for the men who died in the mine and they were choosing contractors for that as well. He also told them that several of the local churches volunteered to do some of the work free of charge to help give the men a proper burial, which would considerably cut down on the cost of doing the work. He also told them that whenever they were ready, he had arranged for them to get a ride to the train station so they could go home.

Before they left for home, they decided to take one more trip to Hanson. They had contacted the rental shop earlier in the week, and they had already sent someone to tow the vehicle away. Since Mike had paid a little extra for insurance when they'd picked up the vehicle, they didn't have to pay much to fix the damage on the car. When they got to Hanson before they left, they told the miners that they were able to get the neighboring towns to work together to fix their town and give them a proper burial. They also made sure to thank the miners for their help once again. They were pleased to see that Peter and Davy were healing so well and pleased to hear that the group would be going home the next day. The Monkees and the girls were also happy that they were able to help the miners, but they wished they could stay a little longer to make sure that the miners were able to move on. But the miners insisted they would be ok no matter what happened and that the group should go home.

So the next morning, the Monkees made their way to the mayor's office where he had told them to meet so he could make the final arrangements for their ride to the train station in Portland. Mike had the tickets ready in his pocket. When they arrived, the mayor made a phone call and told the boys that they would have another rental car ready for them within half an hour. The trip home was very uneventful. There were no train robberies; no annoying, rude, and boisterous passengers; no missing children; and most favorably, no rats. It was a quiet trip and the boys took advantage of that to just relax. They played games and chatted with the girls, who assured them they enjoyed the trip, despite the dangerous first few days. They were not about to break up with them for something that wasn't their fault; and they wanted to do whatever they could to help them out in the future.

When they made it back to Malibu a day and a half later, the boys picked up their car from the station and took Michelle home first. Mike walked her to her door leaving the rest of them in the car to watch as she gave him a rather long kiss good-bye on the front porch. Mike walked back to the car with his cheeks rather red and a goofy smile on his face. Then they drove to LA to drop off Allison. Despite the fact that she had joined in with the others to tease Mike about his good-night kiss, she gave Peter one as well. When they finally got back to Malibu, they dropped Piper off, where it was now Micky's turn to get a long good-night kiss. Once all four boys had gotten the teasing out of their systems, they piled into their own beds and fell asleep.


Down in the Underworld, the Devil and Arcesso were trying to come up with another plan to make the Monkees suffer. The Devil had spent the whole week fuming over yet another failure. He had killed two demons who dared to laugh at him in his presence, and ever since, no other demons had dared laughed at him. At least in his presence. He had heard rumors that a few other demons were laughing behind his back and he vowed to destroy them if he came across them. Arcesso had tried to calm him down, but that was only making him more and more angry.

"I doubt you can come up with a good plan when you are this angry," Arcesso said. "Perhaps that's why you have failed so much in your recent efforts."

"If you aren't going to help then leave," the Devil snapped.

"I am trying to help you," Arcesso answered smugly. "I'm telling you that perhaps you should take a step back and wait a little longer. I'd suggest you give up, but I doubt you're going to want to do that, so instead, calm yourself down. Do a little reconnaissance and come up with a plan after that. That way, it will also give them time to lower their guard. You'll have a better chance of succeeding that way."

"The witch is the reason for my failure," the Devil sneered. "If it weren't for her little premonition, I would have succeeded."

"So are you going to try to kill her?" Arcesso said. "That won't be easy. I'm not sure you realize just how powerful she is. She has been given a new power."

"Yes, and now would be the best time to kill her before she learns how to use it," the Devil answered.

"But her guard will be up," Arcesso answered. "It will be hard to kill her. You'll have to send a very powerful demon to do it. I don't think very many could do it at all."

"Then I'll have to do it myself," the Devil answered. "Make sure it gets done right."