Disclaimer: OK, so I lied. But since I don't want to get sued, I'm disclaiming the song lyrics in this chapter. The song "My Immortal" is owned by Evanescence. (To the band's lawyers) There! You happy now?

A/N: Since I was unable to find lyrics for ANY of Annie's songs, this chapter picks up as she's going offstage and Angel is preparing to go on. If anyone can tell me a good place to find the lyrics for Annie's songs, please email me at and mention something about the lyrics in the subject line.

Chapter Three-Caving In

(THAT NIGHT)

The audience applauded as Annie walked offstage. The MC walked back onstage clapping and said, "Wasn't she great?" Annie joined the others and they watched the stage, knowing that Angel was next. They saw some people with instruments walking out to the stage and setting up while the curtain was still down. Some of them were talking, and they were so close that Annie, Fi, and the others could hear what they were saying.

"Where's Angel?" one of the girls said. "She said she'd be here on time for a change."

"Claire, don't worry, she'll be here," the guy standing next to her said. "I talked to Lynn and she said that Angel's almost ready."

"Is she still at the apartment?" Claire asked. "Cody, tell me Angel isn't still at her apartment!"

"She might be; seeing as how she decided against playing her guitar, she'd have some more time to get ready," Cody said thoughtfully. "Lynn didn't tell me where she was when Angel told her this."

"Well go get her then!" Claire said, slightly exasperated. "This is something she WANTED to do, not something she was pressured into!"

"I forget the address," Cody said, blushing slightly at his forgetfulness. "Can you possibly remind me of it?"

"Could you possibly be any more stupid?" Claire said, trying to sound angry, but grinning at her older brother nonetheless. Fi and Annie listened more intently than they had before, and Carey took a pen out of his pocket, preparing to write the address on his hand.

"I bet I could if I tried," Cody said with a devilish grin. "Now just give me the address."

"Fine!" Claire said, sighing. "It's 177 South Hampton Street, Apartment 17. You think you can remember that?" When her brother nodded, she said "OK, now go get her!" Carey grinned at Fi and Annie as he capped the pen and mouthed, "We got it," before running over to Molly to give her the new information.

As he ran to Molly, he bumped into someone. He turned to apologize, and then noticed who he had bumped into. It was Angel. She quickly muttered an apology, then ran to join her friends on the stage. Carey made his way over to his mom and dad, and gave them the address. They took their seats in the audience again. Now all they had to do was wait.

"For our last performance, we have another young girl from Colorado; Angel Barrett, performing Evanescence's song 'My Immortal,' with back-up music provided by The Ravens." The audience politely applauded as Angel walked out onto the stage. She stepped up to the mic and adjusted it to her heighth. She turned to the band and nodded. They began playing the opening notes of the song, and Angel began to sing in a quiet, haunting voice.

Angel: I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

Chorus:
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me

You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along

Angel turned to look at her friends as Cody started his guitar solo, then turned to look out on the audience. She scanned the crowd, hoping they had left, but she knew they hadn't. She saw them in the audience, watching her intently, especially the dark-haired boy sitting next to Fi. The solo finished, and she continued singing, finishing the song.

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me

The piano played the last notes of the song, and Angel turned her head slightly, so the audience wouldn't see that she had started to silently cry; and then there was silence. Slowly the audience began to clap, and like Annie before her, Angel received a standing ovation. She stayed onstage long enough to take a bow and introduce the band, and then she ran backstage. When she was safely ensconsed in her dressing room, knowing that they would be coming soon, she snapped her fingers and disappeared. Seconds later, Fi and Annie-followed by the boys-burst into her dressing room and found it empty.

Angel arrived back in her apartment within seconds. As soon as she did, she ran to her room and locked the door. She didn't want them to be here. She didn't want them to keep trying to find her. She didn't want to be anywhere near them, because she didn't want their pity. She went into her bathroom and started a bath for herself. "Maybe it will help me calm down," she thought.
"Damn!" Clu swore. "We were so close!"

"Don't worry Clu, we'll get her," Carey said.

"And how do you propose we do that?" his brother asked, showing some uncharacteristic intelligence.

Carey smiled and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to his brother. "Go pay her a little visit." Clu read the writing on the paper and grinned. He was starting to like this plan.

Angel was putting her hair up into a messy bun and humming along with her stereo-which was playing the song "The Show Must Go On" by Queen-when there was a knock on her door. She smoothed down her T-shirt and brushed off her dorm pants, then went to the door and opened it. When she saw who was outside, she tried to shut the door, but was unable to. She looked down and saw Annie's foot blocking the door.

"Hear us out," Annie said. Angel opened the door a bit further and looked out.

"Who all do you have with you?" she asked.

"Just us kids," Fi said. "We need to talk to you."

Angel paused for a moment and stuck her head out of the doorway to see who else was there. She saw the blonde guy she had bumped into earlier that evening, a younger guy standing next to him who was obviously his brother, and the dark-haired boy she had seen earlier that night, who on closer observation appeared to be related to Fi. Angel sighed, then pushed the door open all the way and said "All right. Come in."

The first thing the group noticed was the music. The stereo on the far end of the room was playing a Queen CD, the song "A Kind of Magic" floating through the air. Angel said, "Well, this is about it." She gestured around the living room and towards her room. "Not very much, but I like it." She motioned for them to sit on the couch and then went in the kitchen. "You guys thirsty or anything?" Various drink orders were shouted by Clu, who was immediately punched in the arm by Jack and told to shut up.

Angel came out of the kitchen a few minutes later with a 3-liter bottle of Mountain Dew in one hand, a 3-liter bottle of Pepsi in the other hand, and some plastic cups floating out in front of her. She sat down on one of the beanbag chairs beside Fi, who was sitting on the floor with Annie and Carey.

Clu stared at the soda bottles. "What are you gonna do with those?"

Angel grinned slyly and said, "I'm gonna make sewer water." She laughed as Clu gagged. "What do you mean, sewer water?" he asked, now a pale shade of green.

"This is what I mean," Angel said. She opened the Mountain Dew and poured some of it into one of the glasses. She capped the Mountain Dew, then opened the Pepsi and poured some of it into the same glass as the Mountain Dew. She capped the Pepsi, swirled the contents of the cup around for a second, then showed it to Clu.

"That's what I meant," she said. "Did your science teacher ever bring out a beaker of liquid that looked like this and tell you it was sewer water? Well, me and my friends-the band that was doing back-up tonight-decided to call a combination of our two favorite drinks Sewer Water, in honor of one of the coolest pranks ever." Angel took a drink from the glass and grinned. "The fact that it tastes awesome doesn't hurt either..."

The others laughed, and soon they were all drinking it. After a few glasses, Fi decided it was time to ask Angel the question that had been weighing on all their minds:

"Why'd you run?"

Angel sighed and looked in her cup at her drink. "I didn't know what else to do. I was scared."

"Of what?" Annie asked.

"Being alone, being pitied, what would happen if someone found out about what I can do," Angel said. "That's why I ran that day. I figured that you guys probably saw me disappear, so I needed to get out of Hope Springs fast."

"Well, you don't have to worry about us being all weirded out about you having powers," Fi said with a grin. "Annie and I are paranormal activity magnets."

"Also weirdo magnets," Jack said with a devilish grin, trying-and failing-to avoid getting punched in the arm by Clu.

"So what we really want to know," Carey said, shooting death glares at his brother and Jack. "Is will you come back to Hope Springs with us? When Fi and Annie were looking for you, they found some paperwork that said that my parents would be your legal guardians if anything happened to your mom and dad, so you wouldn't be alone, and you'd get to go on tour occasionally."

Angel paused for a moment, then said "Do I have to put up with you on a regular basis?" Fi and Annie sniggered. Carey grinned and said, "Unfortunately, yes."

"I can deal with that," Angel said with a grin. "When do we leave?"

A/N: Shout-Out Time!

B Oots: Well, you just read what happens next. So now the question is: what's gonna happen when they get back to Colorado? Hope you stick around to see! Thanks for reviewing.

writerchick16: To answer your question, Angel only snaps herself places when she needs to make a quick escape. That's why she snapped herself to her house and the bus stop, but not to Santa Cruz. She also uses it to get from room to room in her house (when she's feeling lazy), and to scare people on Halloween and April Fool's Day. She can do some other stuff too, but it doesn't come into play yet.