Joey entered the video store expecting to see Dawson. Instead, Pacey was there.

"Please tell me you have The Crucible" she asked in a desperate tone.

"Afraid not. Is this because you failed to read the book and you need to write a review for it by tomorrow?"

"How did you know?" Joey asked, crankily.

"Dawson told me, but he has persuaded the teacher to instead make a documentary about Witch Island. He asked me and Jen to help and he asked me to ask you" Pacey said glibly.

"Why isn't he asking me himself?" Joey was somewhat upset.

"You tell me. Why can't you two be in the same room together without it being super awkward?" It was a legitimate question, that was met with a moment of silence.

"Alright" Joey said reluctantly "When and where?"

"I guess we're about to find out" Pacey said, as much in answer to his own question as Joey's.

Dawson was waving his camcorder in everyone's faces, the way he always did when he had one. Pacey was standing next to him and tapped him on the shoulder because he had seen Jen and Joey approaching. Jen had just finished delivering to Joey a diatribe about how misogynistic witch hunts were. They were, after all, heading to Witch Island. A place where young women accused of witchcraft were exiled.

Upon meeting one anothers' gaze, Dawson and Joey both looked down.

"Get a room you two" Pacey said jokingly, and Jen shot him an angry glance.

"Let's go" Jen said, trying to diffuse the situation.

They shot some interviews with each other and a few others about Witch Island.

"I wouldn't have lasted very long in the 16th century. I probably would have been burned at the steak pretty quickly" Jen said.

"It was the best make out place. Like, the best. I think it was the first place your mom and I did it..."

Mitch said, but Dawson yelled cut! Because it was getting too much for him.

"Those girls were dabbling in the black arts" Grams began, visibly making Jen uncomfortable

"They invited their fates"

"Personally, I believe in witchcraft. I think it would be pretty stupid not to" Pacey said, which caused Joey and Jen to roll their eyes.

"The whole thing is a cover story. The CIA did experiments there starting in the fifties and the witch stuff was a total cover" a random student said.

Joey was very uncomfortable having the camera on her. She eventually asked Dawson to turn it off.

The tour guide and boat operator was a woman named Karen. She met them at the dock.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Dawson said, pointing the camera at her

"Makin' a movie huh? Ever since the Blair Witch Project came out, every kid with a camcorder has been doing what you're doing. I'll tell you what I told them. Wait till we get there"

Dawson hit pause and lowered the camera.

As they arrived, Karen told them something very important.

"We have to leave before the sun goes down. You don't want to be here at night"

They all knew she was serious

"Is there a bathroom on this island?" Pacey asked

"Yeah, its in the gift shop", and she pointed the way. Pacey set off and Jen followed him.

Dawson switched his camcorder back on and Karen started her spiel about the island

"In the year 1692, 13 young women, well, teenage girls really, were banished to a small island off the New England coast, because they were suspected of practising witch craft. One night, a year later, a fire raged out of control, killing them all."

They had moved to the cemetery and Joey was counting the graves

"There's only twelve" Joey noticed

"What?" Dawson asked

"Thirteen girls, only twelve graves" Joey pointed out

"Smart girl. Most people don't notice. The thirteen girl's name was Mary Waldeck" Karen said

"What happened to her?" Joey asked

"No one knows. Her body was never found"

Joey was starting to look very upset

Pacey exited the bathroom to notice Jen was going through a book.

"Anything interesting?" He asked

"Its a book of spells. Here's an interesting one. Find out the name of your true love. Wanna try?"

"Sure" Pacey said, grinning from ear to ear.

Luckily, all the necessary ingredients were right there in the gift shop.

They mixed a brew and then had to drop a powder into it.

"The first letter of your true love's name will then appear" Jen read from the book.

"You wanna go first?" She asked.

"Why not" Pacey said, still thinking this was amusing.

He dropped the powder in and a letter seemed to appear.

It was a J.

"Huh?" They both said in unison and looked at each other.

Then Jen tried. Another J.

"Well, that's weird. Is my true love myself?"

"Are you my true love?" Pacey asked. They were both confused.

Karen then approached the duo.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Just a little dabbling in the black arts" Jen said light heartedly

"Well, be careful. That stuff's powerful, and it can have unforeseen effects"

Dawson and Joey walked in.

"Don't go into the woods..." Karen told the four of them.

"...but if you do, we have a map" She said handing it to them.

"Damn kids" she muttered under her breath, softly enough so none of them could hear.

Pacey and Jen then wandered off into the woods and Joey and Dawson walked back to the dock as the sun began to go down.

"Time to go" Karen said as she started the boat. Dawson and Joey were on the dock, but were reluctant to get in the boat.

"In or out?" she demanded.

"We're not leaving without our friends" Dawson said assertively, before turning to Joey and saying "right?"

"Right" she confirmed.

"Your funeral" Karen said, as she steered the boat away from the island.

Back at school, Andie approached Jack.

"I miss you Jack. I miss having my big brother around" she said.

"You'll manage" he said "I'm proud of how well you've recovered"

"What if I'm not as recovered as you think?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean something happened in the facility, something I haven't really dealt with"

"What?" Jack was starting to worry

"Okay, before I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone, especially Pacey. You don't..."

"Of course" he said reassuringly "You can tell me anything"

"I kinda slept with someone. Another patient"

"You mean like you shared a bed?" He asked awkwardly.

"No, I don't"

"Oh….

Oooh!"

"I mean it, you can't tell Pacey, or anyone!" she insisted

"Does anyone else know?"

"Only Joey"

"Why Joey?" He was slightly annoyed that she heard about it before he did.

"Because, she visited me, and you didn't. Not as much" She didn't mean it negatively, it was just a statement of fact.

"I'm sorry. I really should have come to visit you more" He said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it. Now, do we have a deal?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye" He said, both seriously and lightheartedly. She smiled at that.

Pacey and Jen got lost in the woods and found a small abandoned hut in the woods. Since it was getting dark and they figured they were there for the night, they figured they'd hold up there for the night and hopefully get picked up in the morning.

As they lay down on the earthen floor, they were overcome with an urge they didn't see coming.

The next moment they were making out and getting ready to do a lot more.

The moment after that, Dawson and Joey came bursting in through the door and Pacey and Jen quickly separated.

"Don't you feel any sympathy for those women?" Joey asked in a tone that was both sad and accusatory.

"Of course, but as a filmmaker I have to remain objective" Dawson replied calmly

"Ahem" Pacey said

"Oh thank god you guys are okay" Dawson said, putting the camcorder down and hugging the two of them.

"Now that were all back together, what's the plan?" Joey asked.

"Well, since our lovely hostess has abandoned us for the evening, I suggest we try and get some shut-eye and hope she returns in the morning" Pacey suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea" Dawson said.

But before that happened, the two boys walked off to one side leaving the two girls.

"I see you two are getting along again" Pacey remarked.

"Well, I wouldn't be so sure" Dawson replied "She's taking this island's tragic back story a bit personally"

The two groups were far enough away so they couldn't clearly hear one another's voices.

"Are you okay?" Jen asked Joey.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" Joey replied.

"Because you seem pretty rattled by this whole thing"

"Of course I'm rattled. Why wouldn't I be. Thirteen innocent young women sentenced to exile and dying in a fire, except one who's totally unaccounted for and whose spirit is probably still haunting this island"

"Why don't you sit down and tell me what's really going on?" Jen suggested.

"What do you mean?" Joey honestly didn't know.

"Well, its just that you've said more words to Dawson on this trip than you have in the entire past few months" Jen observed.

"Meaning?" Joey demanded.

"Nothing" Jen conceded and Joey decided to drop it.

During the night, the four were sleeping on the floor. It was earthen so it was soft enough, if a little grimy. Pacey and Jen awoke during the night and were again overcome with the urge to rip each others clothes off.

"This is probably one of the side effects were warned about" Jen suggested

"So?" Pacey said.

"You have someone waiting for you back on the mainland. We both do."

"You and Will have had, what, one date. What's up with that by the way? Are you two like a couple now?"

"I guess so."

More making out.

"The J, it wasn't me" Jen said

"What are you talking about?" Pacey asked

"Its her" she said pointing to Joey who was fast asleep on the floor, and Pacey looked like he'd just shown up to class and realised he was naked.

"Dammit Lindley, why did you have to say that? Now you can't unsay it" He said slightly annoyed, but more worried that she had just opened Pandora's box.

"What were you going to do, take that one to your grave?"

"Yeah, that was the plan"

"Well, its a bad plan. It was going to come out sooner or later"

"Yeah, well I'd really appreciate if..."

Jen gestured zipping her lips shut when the windows started to shake.

Then the furniture started rocking, on its own.

Then voices started to fill the room. At first, they were whispers, but they got louder and louder.

At that point, then Dawson and Joey woke up.

Then a fiery explosion appeared to engulf the ceiling.

Luckily, Dawson's instincts kicked in and he captured much of this on film.

The four of them then ran out the door, fearing for their lives. They discovered to their surprise that the sun was rising (it appeared from the inside of the hut, which had many windows, that it was still completely dark). They raced down to the dock to find Karen waiting for them.

"I told you kids stay here after dark" she scoffed at them.

"I honestly have no idea what happened or what we experienced, but there it is, captured on video, for all time" Dawson said to the class.

"Who's that on the dock" A student asked, without raising their hand.

Dawson paused the tape.

"It looks like a teenage girl" they added.

Dawson was shocked. He didn't notice this earlier.

"What do you think Jo?" Dawson asked Joey, now back in his bedroom, reviewing the tape.

"I think we were set up. She just happened to have maps of the woods and warned us not to go there, hint, hint. I think she was subtly manipulating us the whole time. And that woman on the dock was totally her accomplice. Now you tell me Dawson, that explosion, the house and the furniture rocking, what would be involved in setting that up if it was a movie"

"You're such a cynic. What happened to empathising with the plight of the girls in the cemetery?"

" I'm complex, I can do both" Joey replied

Dawson smiled.

"And what about us?" Joey asked

"What about us?" he wondered aloud

"Are we friends again?"

"I hope so."

"But its not like before."

"It doesn't have to be, we can move on with our lives. Our relationship can evolve. Things will get back on track."

They both smiled at that.

Jen entered the video store to see Pacey with his legs up on the counter. He instantly stood up upon seeing her.

"At ease soldier" she said, trying to calm him down.

"I guess we never did finish our conversation" Pacey conceded.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me." Jen assured him.

"Well it better be. This information has the potential to destroy everyone and everything I care about" Pacey said dramatically.

"Well they won't hear it from me. But sooner or later it will rear its ugly head. And I don't think you're going to like what happens when it does"

"Hence the need for secrecy" Pacey said politely but firmly.

"No one will ever hear it from me. Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye" Jen said.

Pacey smiled at that.

Between this chapter and the next one is a side story called Daria's Weekend in the Country and Mystik Spiral play Capefest '99.

I strongly recommend reading it, before continuing.