Tabitha wasn't sure how to feel right about now. She had been standing outside her family's second mansion, the one James was staying at, for about half an hour now. Surely, James would have heard the doorbell by now. She pressed the doorbell again, but this time, it didn't ring.

"Maybe you broke it," Charlie, a good-looking red hair boy that Tabitha had met and befriended on the bus, suggested.

Tabitha stood back, and put her hand down.

"Maybe."

Her hopes had long since deflated.

"He could just be out, you know," Charlie pointed out. "We should…. go to dinner and come back later."

Tabitha wasn't very hungry, but she figured that dinner would be a good distraction.

"Okay." She smiled, despite how she was feeling. Charlie really did know how to cheer someone up.

Minutes later, they were driving to the small town that Tabitha's house overlooked. Charlie had just gotten his driver's license, and had rented a small pick-up truck. In the small town, Tabitha had told Charlie, there was this amazing little diner that James and Tabitha always went to when they visited the beach.

"Stop!" Tabitha yelled suddenly, causing Charlie's heart to jump, and his foot to slam on the brakes. Just before the little town's welcome sign, stood a girl. Tabitha squinted, making sure it was a girl. It definitely was. She had long, flowing blonde hair that fell almost to her elbows. She turned to stare at them. Tabitha thought the girl was very pretty, but she looked exhausted.

"Charlie! Pull over." Tabitha said, finding a need to help this girl.

"No! That's Elizabeth." Charlie inwardly shuddered, but it was more forced than normal, when he looked at Elizabeth. He had met her around the same time he had met Jared. Jared had asked both of them to join his coven, and they had met, in the waiting room. She had been very nice and easy to talk to, but once she had joined Jared's coven, she had completely changed. Elizabeth changed into the type of girl that wore thick and heavy make-up, and she had turned cruel. Now, she wore no make-up, and he was surprised to see that she didn't even need it. Gone too, were her big, thick, knee high boots and leather jacket. She still had on a black mini skirt that barely covered her thin legs, but she wore a dark pink v-neck with it, instead. On top of her head was a black beret, tilted at a stylish angle. Charlie didn't know whether to laugh or be confused. This was the old Elizabeth, who had been obsessed with fashion, not killing and torturing.

"Charlie! Pull over!"

Charlie did, and he maneuvered the truck so that the passenger side faced her. Tabitha opened the door, then crawled in the back over the center console. Elizabeth glided in and filled Tabitha's seat seconds later. Charlie looked at Elizabeth a moment. There was no 'Hey! Long time no see. How have you been?' sort of thing, but Elizabeth gave him a weak smile. Charlie could only imagine what Elizabeth had been through, and, for now, a smile was good enough for him. Charlie made a very sharp u-turn and headed back to Tabitha's house, abandoning, at the moment, all thoughts of eating.

"There's a key under the fake plant." Tabitha said, suddenly remembering, and feeling stupid. Why hadn't she thought of that before? Charlie nodded, more to himself than anyone else, and Elizabeth stared straight ahead, watching the mansion that loomed in the distance get larger and larger. Elizabeth was too exhausted to really think, but she knew the best people had found her. She hadn't spoken to Charlie in years, but here he was, picking her up when she needed help like a good friend. Elizabeth felt touched. The truck hit the bottom of the hill, and started to climb, towards the mansion. Soon, it stopped, reaching the top. Elizabeth opened the door, and got out, feeling like a zombie, and not believing she could ever be this tired without dying. Tabitha took the lead, but Charlie stayed close to Elizabeth, making sure she wasn't going to pass out or anything all of the sudden. Elizabeth was surprised to see that the girl— Tabitha— hadn't been lying about where her house key had been hidden.

Tabitha walked up on the porch, and pulled on the leafy branches of a gigantic potted fern that sat right next to door. The plant looked entirely real, but the soil was plastic, and had come up with the fern. Tabitha reached down and retrieved the key, sticking it in the door's keyhole. Tabitha threw back the door and stepped in. The cold that greeted Elizabeth was so unlike the hot, muggy California air that Elizabeth almost sank into a sleep right there in the foyer.

"There's a room upstairs, Elizabeth. Just take a left once you get to the top." Tabitha said.

Elizabeth smiled wearily, and muttered a quiet "Thank you." before heading to the stairs. Tabitha knew she would be upstairs for a while, and she exchanged glances with Charlie. He was smiling, and his stomach growled unexpectantly.

"Do you still want to go to dinner?"

Tabitha grinned back, and followed Charlie outside to the truck.

"I think it would be wrong to stay at Alex's house." Taylor said, as she and James were walking around Orange County. This was the first night that they didn't have Alex, and now, they didn't have a mentor or a home. James nodded, not all the way out of his thoughts yet. Seeing Alex being eaten up by black flames had changed something inside James. He was devastated, of course, but he was also horrified, and confused. Alex had been an Immortal, which meant he wasn't supposed to die… ever. What if that had been him, instead of Alex, or Taylor?

"Yeah, that would be… weird," James agreed. "I have a house, though. I don't think it's very far from here either."

Taylor turned and gaped at him.

"You have two houses?"

James nodded again, and Taylor hugged him hard and quickly, jumping with joy.

"Where is it?"

James smiled, and started going north.

Someone was waving a hand in front of Sonny's face.

"What?" he exclaimed.

Nick grinned, satisfied that he had gotten Sonny to talk. His silence was beginning to scare all of them. Sonny was usually the most talkative, after Nick, but he hadn't said a word since they had been moved down here, to the cellar.

"It's all right guys!" Nick yelled. "Sonny's still alive!"

Mason, who was sitting in the corner, looked at Nick, but did not smile. Derek got up and dusted himself off before grinning.

"Hey, that's great!"

Sonny turned his back on his friends, trying to concentrate on the situation at hand. How long has it been, anyway? And exactly, what had happened to James? Sonny and the others had watched James, from a very strange glass room at the top of this house, go off with some mysterious blond guy. Had he been kidnapped? Another though entered Sonny's mind, but this one was highly doubtful.

"Did he abandon us?"

Derek, the closest to Sonny, turned his head, confused.

"Who, mate?" His English accent slipped through so suddenly, Derek turned a little red, but, thankfully, in this dark cellar, no one could see anything. Derek knew that the others had heard him many times before, and obviously, they didn't really care either way, but it bothered Derek sometimes. He had been working really hard since he had come to America to cover up his English accent. So far, it hadn't worked, even though he had been here since he was seven. It set him apart from the other guys, even James, who was French.

Sonny just shook his head, tired of bottling up his feelings.

"James!" he yelled. "Dude, look around, he abandoned us!"

Nick stepped forward, unfazed by Sonny's outburst. He had practically grown-up with Sonny, and knew that this was a very rare thing. Sonny almost never lost his cool.

"Don't say that, Sonny, you know he would nev—."

"Then, where is he?" Sonny countered.

"I think this place is making us crazy." Mason voiced shyly.

"Probably," Derek agreed.

Nick looked between all three of them. This was very hopeless without James.

"Then, why don't we escape?"

Everyone turned to stare at Nick.

"Escape?" Mason repeated softly. The idea sounded dangerous to him. Jared, or the others, were bound to hurt one of them… or worse. But, Sonny was smiling, finally coming out of his moody state that he had been in for some time.

"That's a great idea!"

Nick held his head up higher, his self-confidence buoyed by Sonny's praise.

"Okay…okay." Mason said, racking his brain. "We need a plan, then."

"A plan? Who needs a plan?" Derek asked, finally joining this discussion. Nick and Sonny nodded together. Mason stared at them in disbelief.

"We're going to try and escape without a plan?"

Sonny nodded, happiness flooding through him.

"Why not? Most of the unplanned things in life go pretty well."

Mason shook his head. Those were fools' words. By now though, Mason knew that Sonny, Nick and Derek had made up their minds, and there was no changing that. Still, at least he could voice his opinion. Mason readjusted his glasses before continuing.

"But we aren't talking about something we can try again tomorrow."

"Sure we can," Derek said. Sonny and Nick agreed with him by nodding their heads.

"Okay," Mason sighed. "But what if they kill one of us?"

Sonny shrugged. "Then we die, I guess."

Derek laughed, and Nick looked Mason seriously in the eye.

"Are you in?"

Mason noticed how Nick didn't give him an 'or out?' option, but against his better judgment, he nodded.

"Good."

It was almost midnight when Justin scrambled in and shook Lee awake.

"Lee!" Justin cried frantically, letting go of Lee so he could sit up.

"What's goin' on?" Lee's words sounded very thick and garbled.

Justin looked scared. "The prisoners…. they're trying to escape, and… and everyone's fighting them."

Lee's sluggish brain, still cobwebbed with sleep, barely comprehended what Justin was saying. Still, Lee got up and followed Justin, who was running through the hallway. Minutes later, Justin swung open a door, and they were in the main room that always morphed. Currently, in was set up as a big, empty room that reminded Lee of a dance studio.

Justin was right about the fighting part. Everyone was actually fighting, without magic. Lee looked at all his coven members, who all were punching and kicking, and being punched and kicked. Lee would of found this very comical if violence hadn't been involved. All his coven members were wearing their pajamas, and they still looked sleepy.

"This fight must have started a while ago. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Lee turned to Justin, but he faced empty air. Justin had gone off, and was currently fighting a tall, sandy-haired boy. From this distance, Lee could have sworn they were brothers. They both had the same sand colored hair, except Justin's was a shade or two darker, and they both were very tan, and fairly tall. Suddenly, the sandy-haired boy punched Justin right in the face, and he fell. Lee ran over to him, ignoring the looks he was getting from the other coven members.

"Justin!" Lee called, as he reached his best friend. He dropped to his knees quickly. "Take your hand off your face."

Justin carefully did what Lee said, and he almost fainted when he saw his hand. It was covered in blood. Justin gingerly touched his nose and yelped in pain. It was definitely broken, and was spewing blood. Justin hated the sight of blood, so he closed his eyes tightly.

"Justin! It's just a broken nose! Please don't pass out!" Lee cried.

"I… I don't like blo—." Justin started, but was cut off, because the door to the main room banged open. Jared stood there, also in his pajamas, with an annoyed look that always seemed to be on his face.

"This is… ridiculous!" Jared shouted. All the fighting stopped immediately, and everyone turned toward Jared. He waved his hand, very gracefully, and an invisible wall sprang between the prisoners and the coven. The wall began to press in, bringing the boys closer together, but not affecting the coven members at all as it passed through them. Soon, all of the prisoners were together, shoulder to shoulder, although they were violently kicking and hitting the wall. Jared moved his wrist, and the wall moved backwards, the boys going with it, but not without a fight. They continued to punch and kick, but eventually, they wore themselves out. The wall moved backwards again and the cellar door banged open as they reached it. The wall forcefully pushed them back, until they were all standing at the opening of the door, looking tired, but still willing to fight.

"Lee!" Jared said, still raising his hands so he could keep control of the wall as the boys tried to attack it again. "Go lock that door."

Lee reluctantly left Justin's side, and scurried over to the door, trying to ignore the boys' glares. He gently closed the door right in their face.

"Well… that worked." A sarcastic voice said from behind the door.

"I told you we needed a plan!" A slightly whiny voice answered.

"Shut up, Mason!"