Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Disney/Haim Saban

After the barbecue, they headed to the nearest cinema complex. Ris was, of course, bounding out in front, with David, Jay and Eva behind her and Jeanie trailing with Trev. Then, with a suddenness that nearly stopped Eva's heart, Ris screamed.

They all rushed forward, then stumbled to a stop. There, holding Ris by her arms, were two of the most hideous things Eva had ever set her eyes on. They had human bodies, sure – two arms and two legs, all attached to a slim torso, and a neck and a head. But that was were the similarities ended. Their heads were huge, at least double the size of s normal human head, and their features looked stretched, so their mouths were long slashes across their faces and their eyes were little more than slits. Their noses were non-existent. The hands gripping Ris looked webbed, with long claws on the end of their fingers, digging into her skin. And they were orange. All over.

"Urgh!" Eva couldn't help the exclamation that spurt from her mouth.

"Urgh is right," Ris said through gritted teeth. Her face, usually so bright and cheerful, had taken on a dark cast and she looked, well, dangerous. Downright dangerous.

"Let her go," Jay punctuated his order by taking a strange stance; legs apart, his arms crossing his chest, four fingers spread out.

Looking at him, she realized the others had spread out into the line on either side, looking grim, determined, and pissed off. Jeanie and David were in similar positions; side on, one hand back and fisted, the other stretched out, with two fingers pointing upwards. Trev had his legs spread as well, not as much as Jay, and one hand supported another that was stretched out and pointed almost accusingly at the two things that held Ris.

Ris grinned that sudden, bright smile of hers. "No need for that," she said – moments before suddenly swinging her arms forward and taking a step back. Eva watched in dazed amazement as the things crashed to the ground, letting go of her as they did. She slipped into a position that seemed as natural to her as her easy smile; her legs braced apart so she was almost doing a split, one leg bent, one arm bent back and the other crossing her chest, both hands fisted. "See?" She added. "Told you."

"Behind you!" Jay yelled before launching himself forward to take down one who'd been sneaking up behind her.

And, suddenly, they were being converged at on all sides. Eva bit back a scream as one took a swipe at her face with its long, frighteningly sharp claws. As if in answer, a foot shot out, hitting the head. The thing burst into a thousand brilliant sparks as David grabbed her, pushed her away. "Go find cover," he ordered her before turning back to the fight. "Go for the heads!" He yelled to his honorary cousins. "They're weak there!"

Eva ducked behind a parked car, and watched in fascinated horror as her new friends launched themselves at the attacking things with one-minded fury. David ducked one's swipe, and kicked another in the chest. Jeanie flipped back, then over, taking two out with her swinging feet. Trev dodged one's kick to his chest, grabbed another's arm and flipped it over his shoulder. Jay punched one in the chest, then, with a backwards kick, took another out. Ris swung round as one tried to scratch her, caught it by its arm and sent it flying into another.

And as they did all this, Eva hid behind the car and watched. Until one tried to sneak up on David while he grappled with another.

With a cry in a voice she hardly recognized as her own, Eva leapt out from behind the car, tackling the thing in a football tackle she'd seen on T.V. David whirled round, stared at her with eyes half wild. "You okay?" She panted, standing.

"Yeah."

"Look out!" Eyes wide, she struck out without thinking, her fist connecting with the thing's head before it had even registered she'd moved. It exploded.

"Thanks," he said grimly and went back to the battle.

And, just like that, Eva found herself fighting with them, in the midst of the battle, swinging her arms, punching and kicking, and, once, even biting. She wasn't going to do that again any time soon, she thought as she tried to spit out the bitter taste in her mouth. She caught a glimpse of Jeanie, her eyes fired up with the passion of battle. And she could feel that wildness rising up in her. With another warrior's cry she didn't know she had, she struck the side of a thing's head. And watched it explode into starbursts, revealing Trev on the other side, panting. "That was the last one," he managed between gulps of air. "They're gone. All of them."

"What…do you…think…they…wanted…with Ris?" Jay staggered into his cousin, and then stepped back and straightened his back. But he still panted.

"I have no idea," Jeanie replied, letting out a long, slow breath and holding her side.

"Were you hurt?" Ris asked, stepping forward and placing delicate fingertips on the hand she held to her side.

Jeanie grimaced. "Not too badly. One of them just scratched me."

"Let us see," gently, David pulled away her hand, and Eva hissed in a breath at the sigh. Three long gashes that looked excruciatingly deep. "We gotta get back. Uncle Cam can take of this."

"How're we going to explain it?" Eva asked as Jay and David grabbed one of Jeanie's arms each and supported her.

"We'll tell the truth," Trev replied. "Whether they believe us or not is up to them."

"Sit down," Tori told Hunter, her blue eyes watching him as he paced Dustin and Marah's living room.

"Can't." Frustrated, his brows drawn together, he glared at them. "What the hell were the things that attacked them?"

"They don't sound like anything we've faced before," Shane replied. He was sitting on the floor, his arms wrapped around Jasmine.

"I don't believe they fought them," Marah buried her cheek in Dustin's shoulder.

"They're our kids," a hint of a smile played around Blake's lips even as his arm tightened around Tori's shoulder.

"Hunter," in one of those simple fluid movements that had him falling in love with her in the first place, Carla stood, took him by the shoulders and forced him to sit down. "Calm down. You won't help anyone this way."

He sat, but his fingers tapped incessantly on his thigh until Cam reentered the room. They leapt up; all eyes on him. He took off his glasses, suddenly feeling very old as Leanne took his arm and led him to a sofa. He sank into its soft depths gratefully. "Well?" Hunter demanded; patience had never been one of his strong points.

"The scratches are deep, and they'll probably hurt for a while. But, all in all, she's fine. She just needs to rest and no more training for a moment. It would only aggravate her wound."

"Dad?" They turned their heads; saw Trev, Jay, David, Ris and Eva in the doorway.

"She's fine, Trevor. She just needs some rest."

"You believe us, don't you," looking worried, Ris crossed the room, sank into her dad's arms when he opened them for her.

"Of course we do," he replied. "We're just looking for answers, that's all."

"Speaking of answers," Eva shifted from foot to foot as all attention on the room shifted to her. But she squared her shoulder, and lifted her chin. "I think it's time I got some."

Immediately, the mood of the room changed from quiet relief and subtle worry to all out tension. "What d'you mean?" David asked, looking cagey.

So she looked him right in the eye as she asked; "who the hell are you?"

"Exactly who we said we are," Cam replied in an even voice.

She didn't bother to shift her eyes from David's. "No you're not. There's something you're keeping from me. Something you're not telling me. And I've got a right to know."

"What right?" Jay growled and took a step forward.

Her head whipped to face him. "What right?" She repeated. "Hello, call me crazy, but I was in that fight as well. I was attacked by those things as well. And I saw. I saw the way you fight."

David shrugged, trying to pass it off as nonchalant but only coming across as nervous. "So we take martial arts classes, so what?"

She looked at him, look at all of them. "Liar."

"Please," Tori held up a hand when the whole room tensed. "Don't call us liars. And don't be so quick to judge us." For some reason, she looked at Shane. "Shouldn't we?"

"We can't," he growled, looking and sounding very much like his son. "You know the vow, Tori."

"I have a right to know," Eva repeated it.

"We can't, Eva." Suddenly, David looked so very tired. "I'm sorry."

She trembled, and shook, then suddenly straightened and her eyes flashed. "Fine. Fine!" And she was gone, racing out into the night.

David swore, a curse that made his mum wince and, even in the circumstances, automatically turn and glare at her husband. "David," she said when he made to go after her. "Let her go. You know we can't tell her. And Jeanie needs us right now."

"All of us," Kapri, his favorite aunt, added. She stepped forward and took his shoulders. "Come on."

And, quietly, Calum closed the door and joined his mum, dad, and sister on the old couch.