Dear Logan,

I know its only been two days since I left Stoneybrook, but it seems so much longer! Two whole weeks without seeing you? It's almost as bad as the agony I experienced on all those other BSC trips I went on without you! How will we survive?

Anyway, London is totally distant. Guess what? I have a new job! But it has to do with you-know-what, so I'll have to tell you about it when I get back.

Hugs and Kisses!

Mary Anne

I knew I wasn't supposed to tell Logan about the Slayers and Watcher's Academy, but I just couldn't bring myself to lie to him. Besides, that writing camp story was pretty flimsy. The only reason my parents bought it is that Dawn and I got Sharon's permission before trying to convince my Dad, and Sharon'll believe anything.

Anyway, I think it's super dibble that Logan and I have such a tight bond. We can share anything! It was hard being away from him (I almost cried on the plane when they served lasagna – his favorite), but the new job I got was so exciting it almost, I'm ashamed to say, drove Logan from my mind. Before I tell you about it, though, I'll have to back up a little to our first morning at the Academy.

We were so tired by the time we reached London that we all slept straight through the night and woke up quite a bit later than normal (even for summer vacation). All of us except Dawn, that is. By the time I had dragged myself out of bed, gotten dressed, and stumbled into the kitchen to search for breakfast, she was already gone, probably because she had been the only one of us to sleep on the plane.

It actually turned out to be a good thing that Dawn had left, because Mr. Angel was standing at the sink making eggs and toast. Dawn has been really anti-egg lately. She says we're destroying baby chickens. I told her I didn't think it works that way, but she is the environmentalist, so I suppose she knows better than me.

While Mr. Angel cooked, Kristy and Jessi were working out in the living room. They're both athletes (Kristy does softball and Jessi, of course, is a dancer), so it didn't surprise me that they wanted to keep in shape while we were in London, but I hadn't realized that dancers and softball players did martial arts routines at warm-ups. Well, I supposed Kristy just likes the violence, but I felt like Jessi must be up to something. I had to admit, though, that I'm not very well informed about sports. I always just work in the concession stand at Stoneybrook Middle School sporting events.

Stacey and Claudia were still in the bathroom getting ready, which is pretty normal for them. They're both gorgeous and super-fashionable, but they're definitely what Logan calls "high-maintenance." I don't want to be snooty, but there's a reason I'm the one with the steady boyfriend; boys just don't like girls who are too much trouble.

Mr. Angel didn't need any help with breakfast, so I went into the living room and watched Kristy and Jessi for a few minutes. They were using Mr. Angel's pillows as punching bags. Fortunately for them, he couldn't see them from where they were standing – he seemed pretty attached to that couch. Last night he gave us a long lecture about keeping peanut butter away from it. It didn't really matter, though, because they kept missing the target. Not that I'd ever laugh at them, but it was pretty funny. Finally, Kristy got frustrated and pulled her favorite throwing pencil from behind her ear. She aimed at the pillow and I rushed forward to stop her (I'm really careful about respecting other people's homes).

As it turned out, I didn't need to do anything. At that moment, Claudia and Stacey emerged from the bathroom, and as we caught sight of them, we all froze.

Ever since I got my makeover, I consider myself to be pretty fashionable. But Stacey and Claudia are in a whole different league. I don't think I'll be as trendy as they are when I'm in college.

Today, Stacey was wearing a leather catsuit really similar to the one Illyria had worn to that meeting at Mal's house. She had made it extra sophisticated by cutting several large pieces of fabric out of it! For instance, there was a big hole right around the chest. I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous of how well she fills out bikinis and catsuits. Even if I am the one with the boyfriend.

To complete her outfit, she was wearing knee-high stiletto boots. I knew I wouldn't have been able to walk in them without tripping, but Stacey looked distant.

Claudia's outfit was just as dibble, but in a completely different style. In honor of Mal's new job, she had put together a chilly vampire slayer outfit! She had on lime green leggings, on which she had painted hundreds of little garlic bulbs. Her earrings were little stakes made out of real slivers of wood. She was only wearing a plain black t-shirt, but that just made her necklace stand out even more. It was her necklace that really crowned the outfit, and like all of her best creations, she had made it herself.

It was made of two pieces of cardboard glued together in the shape of a crucifix. She had spraypainted them to look like real wood, and then attached a paper macheJesus to it. The best part, though, was that she had made Our Lord and Savior really sparkle by covering him with sequins! She even had tiny red sequins to be the stigmata. Needless to say, the effect was stunning.

Mr. Angel came into the living room. "Girls, are you all here? Breakfast is . . . .ARGH." He caught sight of Claudia's necklace and almost dropped the pan of eggs he was carrying.

"Your made breakfast?" Stacey asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes. "That's so sweeeeet!" Wow, she sounded just like she did when Kristy's brother Sam was in the room. How weird.

"You know I'm diabetic, right?" she asked, winking at him.

Mr. Angel was still staring at Claudia's necklace. As I said, it was a very striking piece of jewelry.

He turned and looked at Stacey, almost dropped the eggs again and then looked away. Stacey has that effect on men sometimes; I suspect it has something to do with how sophisticated she is. "Umm, no, Spike didn't mention that. But eggs and toast should be fine, right?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed. "I knew you'd understand."

Mr. Angel shook his head a bit and we followed him back to the kitchen and sat down at the table he had set. The eggs were actually quite good and they made me a bit homesick. I mean, my dad doesn't have time to make breakfast before work and Sharon would never make eggs, but I bet Logan's mother does. They're from Kentucky, you know, and he has the sweetest Southern accent.

I felt my eyes fill up with tears (I cry very easily).

"Thank you for making us breakfast, Mr. Angel," I said to distract myself.

"No problem," he said. "I used to enjoy doing this. But it's just Angel. No 'mister'."

"Oh, but my father would kill me if he heard me calling an adult by their first name," I said. I always feel like he's watching me, even when he's not there.

None of us had eaten anything since the plane flight yesterday afternoon, so we were pretty hungry. I noticed Mr. Angel didn't eat much, though, which I thought was kind of weird.

When we finished, I helped him clear the table, while Kristy and Jessi went back to their warm-ups and Stacey and Claudia went to the bathroom to touch up their make-up and sequins, respectively. Just as I was drying the last plate, there was a knock on the door.

Mr. Angel answered, and I heard him say "Hi, Dawn." Oh my God, I had forgotten about Dawn! Where had she gotten to? She wouldn't have left the complex by herself; she's terrified of cities. I turned around, ready to ask her where she had been, but the girl standing there was definitely not Dawn. At least, she wasn't my Dawn. She was about 17 or 18 and very pretty, with shiny, long hair. I wondered if she was another Slayer.

"Dawn works in our research division," Mr. Angel explained, seeing me looking at her. "She's familiar with the whole complex, so she's going to take you over to the daycare center this morning."

The girl nodded. "But I understand you already have a Dawn, so you can call me "Umad." She giggled.

That reminded me. "Mr. Angel, where is our Dawn? I haven't seen her all morning."

He sighed. "She, umm, went for a walk. Do you think she would have left the complex?" I shook my head. "Don't worry then; we have anti-demon spells on the grounds; only known, friendly demons can get in. I'm sure she's fine."

Well, she had grown up near Los Angeles. I'm sure she knew how to handle herself in all kinds of environments. She had certainly handled herself well the time she and Claudia got stranded on that desert island.

We managed to round-up the other girls and get everyone ready to leave. Jessi said she was going to go check up on Mal first, and Stacey announced that she was going to stay in the apartment to . . . she glanced at the bookshelves on the wall. . . .read. That surprised me; Mr. Angel didn't seem like the type who would have had a lot of issues of Seventeen lying around.

Mr. Angel winced. "Dawn, when you're done with the girls, I'll meet you in the library to discuss that very important case we're working on, okay?"

"What case?" He stared at her. "Oh, that case. Sure. See you in a bit."

Kristy, Claudia and I followed Umad out the door, and she led us down the hallway. The complex sure was complicated. I managed to just barely keep track of where we were going, but I had to use all my BSC-trained memory skills to do so (in all my time as club secretary, I've never made a mistake!).

As we moved from the residential quarters into what Umad called the "officy" part of the complex, the hallways became very crowded. We passed all sorts of people carrying everything from crystal balls to crossbows and wearing everything you could imagine. I could tell that Claduia was getting dibbly inspired by the fashion possibilities, and she was getting quite a lot of admiring stares herself.

I was more interested in the fact that a lot of the people we were passing weren't technically human at all. I should tell you that I'm a bit of a guide book freak. Normally when my friends and I go on vacation (which happens a lot), I read everything about our destination. I even knew more about New York than Stacey, and she grew up there! It's a lot of work, doing all that research, but I love it, and I think my friends really appreciate the background knowledge.

On this trip, though, I knew we probably wouldn't be spending much time in London itself. So I read everything I could find on demons, slayers and the Watcher's Council (Mr. Wells was helpful enough to point me towards some fascinating sources). It had all been distant, but the demons were the most interesting part.

That's why, when we passed a Thorcrossic demon on our left, I was so excited I couldn't help myself. "Claudia," I said excitedly, "do you know how rare those are? They're only native to Madagascar. They're generally friendly, but when they get angry they can shoot fire from their eyes!"

Claudia gave me a confused look, and the Throcrossic demon gave me an annoyed one. Oops, maybe that hadn't been such a good idea.

Umad said something to the demon in a different language (I had heard demons had their own languages – it was so exciting to actually hear it!), and it gave me another glare and moved on. Whew.

She gave me an impressed look. "You know your stuff," she observed.

"Well, I've done some reading up," I said shyly. Unlike some of the other BSC members, I always feel uncomfortable talking about my accomplishments.

"I can tell," she responded. "Listen, you wouldn't believe the shortage of good researchers we have around here. Most of the Slayers think every problem can be solved with nothing more than a pointed stick."

At the words "pointed stick" Kristy, who had been distracted by the various kinds of weaponry parading past us, perked up. I swear, I'll never stop being surprised (and a little frightened) by that girl's capacity for violence.

Anyway, Umad continued. "We could use someone with your skills in the library, if you don't mind missing out on the day care center," she said. "I don't know if there's anything specific we're working on at the moment, but there's always more to do than time to do it."

I know that, being a babysitter and all, I should have wanted to go to the daycare center, but, truth to tell, I had been feeling a little jealous of Mal (I think we all had), and I jumped at the chance to distinguish myself.

"Of c-c-course! W-where do I go?" I stammered (sometimes my shyness really gets in the way).

She pointed me towards the library, telling me she'd be back once she had taken Claudia and Kristy to the daycare center. I walked towards it and paused in front of the door. I was used to babysitting, sure, but this was a real job. What if I disgraced myself?

I thought about all the adventures my friends and I had shared over the past four years. You know what? If I could handle that, I could handle anything. I pushed open the door.

Inside was Mr. Giles (actually, he had just been introduced as "Giles" – why doesn't anyone around here have two names?), and a younger man with brown hair and an eye patch. I had never seen anyone with an eye patch before. I hoped he wasn't a pirate; they really scared me.

Mr. Giles glared at me. "Didn't you come in with the new slayer yesterday? What are you doing here?"

He was really scary when he glared. "I'm M-mary Anne. Umad, I m-mean, D-d-dawn said I should come to h-help with the r-research," I stammered.

"Aww, don't let him scare you," eye patch-guy reassured me. "I'm Xander. Welcome to the gang." He handed me a book. "We've had some thefts – mmmFashnik demons."

I knew all about those. You pronounced it like "mmm. . .cookies!". I smiled at Xander . "I'll get right on it!"

He smiled back. "Mary Anne? Welcome to the Scooby Gang."