"You're really starting to get the hang of it," Wesley complimented as Rowan drove them slowly along the perimeter road.
"Well, I've been lucky to have a very patient teacher," Rowan winked back.
"Next sign coming up. Pay attention," Wesley reminded the Lehaïr.
"Yield," Rowan commented and slowed down as they got close to the inverted red and white triangle.
"Good. Meaning?"
"Merging drivers must prepare to stop if necessary to let a driver on another approach proceed. A driver who stops or slows down to let another vehicle through has yielded the right of way to that vehicle."
"Very good. How does it differ from a stop sign?"
"A stop sign requires each driver to stop completely before proceeding, whether or not other traffic is present."
"Excellent!"
The day before, Wesley had either printed or drawn a selection of United States road symbol signs, nailed them to pieces of wood and erected them at regular intervals along the back stretch of the perimeter road. They were two sided, so that coming from the other direction would also show a sign without either of them having to step out of the car to turn them around.
"If you plan to pass another vehicle, you should...?"
"Not assume the other driver will make space for you to return to your lane."
"If you have a green light, but traffic is blocking the intersection, you should...?"
"Stay out of the intersection until traffic clears."
After a few more passes, Rowan drove them slowly the rest of the way to the parking area in front of the Castle and managed to get the car stopped without incidents.
"Well done," Wesley nodded as they unbuckled themselves and got out of the car. "Maybe in a few more days we can take the car to B818 when it's slow traffic."
"Yes, let's," Rowan agreed. "Did you have time to print any of the sample knowledge tests?"
"Yes, I got them from DMV's web site. They are on your bed. The questions I asked you today were from Class C Test #1."
"Same time tomorrow?"
"It's a date."
The demon-infested forest was eerily quiet in Sophie's ears as she and her three companions navigated through it as quietly as possible. Their task was to penetrate the forest, retrieve the prize and, hopefully, disable the demon in the process. They were only less than half-a-mile south of the castle, but they might as well have been in the heart of Dartmoor. At 01:45 a.m. it was practically pitch-black.
"What was that?" Benny asked in a shrill voice, making them all stop.
"It was nothing," Eddie whispered. "Your ears are playing tricks on you."
"Shut up, both of you," Craig hissed in irritation. "For all we know, the demon's not even here. All of them could be having a hearty laugh at our expense right now in the Castle while we're jumping at shadows like scared children."
"You don't believe that any more than I do," Sophie snorted.
"No, I don't. And it's good to know that you don't either."
"Let's just try to find the flag and get the fuck out of here."
After five more minutes of exploring, Eddie raised his hand. "I need to take a leak."
"Do it here," Craig told him and took a sip from his water bottle.
"The fuck I will!" Eddie burst out. "I'll be over there."
"I'm going with you."
"The fuck you are. I can't go if you're watching," Eddie snapped and stepped out of the circle of light their flashlights provided.
After two minutes of waiting those left behind started fidgeting.
"What's taking him so long?" Sophie asked in a squeaky voice. "Even I am quicker than this."
"Hey, mate!" Benny called out. "Did you stop for a wank or what?"
There was no answer.
"I'm going to check on him," Benny told Sophie and Craig, and hoisted his crossbow.
"No!" Craig stopped him. "We'll have to stay together."
He might have been able to keep order if a hair-raising scream from a short distance away had not almost made them drop whatever they were holding in their hands.
"No!" he yelled as Benny really did drop his crossbow and escaped in a random direction. When he turned around, he saw Sophie charge in the direction the sound had come from with her weapon ready to fire.
"Bloody fools, both of them," Craig muttered after a minute of quiet seething.
"Left you alone, did they?" an amused voice addressed him from somewhere behind him.
Turning around in a whirl, Craig pointed his flashlight in the direction of the voice and, sure enough, the demon was leaning his shoulder against a tree maybe ten yards away. The beam of light made his eyes glow briefly as it passed them.
"Got you now, demon," Craig gloated as he levelled his crossbow to rest on the arm holding the flashlight, all the while pointing the cone of light at the demon. "You made a mistake when you revealed your presence."
"Think so?" the demon raised an eyebrow. "Do you really believe I would have done it if there was even an infinitesimal chance you could harm me?"
"Maybe, if it was only me," Craig smirked as Sophie appeared behind the demon with her crossbow pointed at his back.
"Ms Lambart, I presume," the demon nodded, still looking perfectly at ease. "Enjoying the view from behind?"
"You ain't getting to me that easy, Lehaïr," Sophie shook her head. "I know your tricks by now."
"You do? I'm impressed. So, you haven't been fantasizing what it would have been like if it'd been you instead of Mr Fiennes when we had our little one-on-one?"
'How did he...?' Sophie gaped briefly, but that was enough. A flash of movement and then Sophie pulled the trigger of her crossbow by instinct. The blunt bolt hit Craig square in the chest, activating the sensor under his coat. She saw her friend get paralysed by their training equipment and then fall over like a tree.
"Sophieee...," a mocking voice sing-songed from somewhere close in the dark forest. "You're mine now."
"Never!" Sophie hissed through her teeth.
"Eddie was easy. I could have shaken it for him. Benny? I guess he's still running. Poor, poor Jewish boy, however rich his family may be. Way out of his league, I'm afraid."
"Shut up."
"Now you, Sophie...," the voice purred and Sophie whirled around. The words had come from a totally different direction than the previous ones.
"Shut up!"
"Why? Do you have something to hide? Oh, Angelus would have loved this." Again, Sophie whirled around.
"Shut! Up!"
"I can smell your arousal. This is exciting, isn't it? Only you and me. No one would ever have to know. You have dreamed about it, haven't you?"
'Yes!' "NO! You're disgusting! I hate you!"
"Good, that's the real sentiment I want from you."
Breathing heavily, Sophie turned from side to side, keeping her crossbow pointed ahead of her. She was close to tears and her heart was trying to escape her chest. Then, before she could even blink, a swift hand reached past her shoulder like a striking cobra and deftly picked up the bolt from her crossbow. She pulled the trigger by instinct, but only an empty twang resulted from it.
Making a final 180, she came face-to-face with the Lehaïr who was standing right behind her.
"Boo!"
Sophie fainted.
"You all think what I did was unnecessarily cruel, don't you?" Rowan asked the gathered students the next morning in the castle's small auditorium. Besides the four students of the exercise and a contingent of their classmates, several members of the faculty were present, including the headmistress whom he had met only briefly. Wesley and Shinzo were watching the proceedings from the uppermost row.
All four students were shuffling in their front row seats in clear discomfort. Each of them was waiting for the other three to speak first.
"Mr Courtenay," Rowan addressed the young man. "You left the safety of your group for assumed privacy. So, instead of your dignity you lost your life. I suggest you practice taking a leak in the presence of others.
"Mr Rothschild. You panicked and ran blindly away. While running away from a hopeless situation can be the correct thing to do, leaving those who depend on you isn't. As an aside, Buffy has come up with an informal ruleset for Slaying. The first rule says, 'Don't die'. In that you succeeded.
"Mr Fiennes. You made the classic Talking Villain mistake and entered into a bantering contest with your prey, seeking satisfaction from having him under your mercy." The young trainee looked like a thundercloud.
"Ms Lambart. You heard me mention Angelus. I assume you have read about all the atrocities he has committed in the Watcher literature. The extreme psychological torture of his victims he's so notorious for? You really cannot afford to let someone under your skin that easily."
Sophie could only nod in acknowledgement. She was still somewhat shaken from her experience the night before.
"If you all think all that's far-fetched and doesn't apply to you, remember that just as well as kill the Slayer without the blink of an eye, someone like Angelus could just as easily decide to destroy her life instead by slowly torturing and killing those close to her in some very imaginative ways. And, if you think the solution to this is to isolate the Slayer from any normal social contacts, you will basically be doing Angelus's job for him."
"But how...?" someone brave from the audience started.
"Watch and learn." With that Rowan nodded to the audience and left the auditorium. A group of Second-year students were going on patrol with an instructor later that day. He had been asked to set a few traps – painful if triggered but nothing really harmful – along the route they would be taking. A clearly shaken teacher took the stage after him. "Yes, right. Now, to go through your own accounts of the patrol last night..."
"Was that really necessary?" Wesley's quiet voice which carried a hint of disapproval made Rowan stop in his tracks.
"Imagine this, Wes," Rowan stated, not turning around to face the Keeper. "Ten people sitting in a circle, their stomachs having been slashed open from sternum to genitals. Most of their gastrointestinal tract has been pulled out, cut in two and connected randomly to the receiving end of one of the others. If that's something they are not ready to face, they are not going to make it. They will not only lose themselves but their charges as well, potentially risking the fate of the world on the side."
"Have you...?" Wesley asked, looking slightly green in the face.
"Yes, and those who did it were on our side."