Chapter Thirty-six

A Cavern

"YOU LEFT ME ALONE! AND YOU KILLED ME! HOW DARE YOU?! HOW COULD YOU?! YOU LEFT ME ALONE! I HATE YOU!!!" Tears poured down the young Vampiress' face as she screeched the accusations.

Spike was taken aback. He had expected an attack both with actions that the other Vampire thought he'd be helpless to fight back against and words that he'd expected to cut sharper than any blade or fang, but never had he expected the accusations to come wielding such raw, apparently true emotion or the torrent of tears that now poured down the Vampiress' pale, thin, and anguished face. For a moment, he was swept back. "Brittany . . . "

"YOU LEFT ME ALONE!" she repeated, as though that were the greatest sin he had ever committed, greater, even, than killing her. "YOU LEFT ME ALONE! I HATE YOU!!" She howled as she flung herself against him, her small fists pounding furiously at his stomach.

She wasn't attacking him, Spike realized. She wasn't . . .

"WILLIAM!" The urgency in Kyna's yell snapped Spike back to reality, and he jumped backwards away from the small Vampiress. His black eyes widened at the claws that were now striking empty air . . . empty air where his stomach had just been! "Crap! You little bitch!" he snarled.

The Vampiress smiled at him, and Spike understood the icy smile perfectly well. This thing was not his sister. She was a monster with his sister's sweet, angelic face sent here to do him in.

"What did you expect?" the Vampiress hissed at him, her betraying smile vanishing as soon and unexpectedly as it had appeared. "For me to still love you after you killed me, brother?" She snapped the words sarcastically at him and then immediately launched herself at him in a series of jabs and kicks that Spike eluded every one of expertly.

A Shore

With a wild yell thundering from his lungs, Wolverine finally gutted the shark. He threw it away from him, and its corpse fell amongst other predators who then began to eat the shark. He then continued on to where Didymus had finally reached the shell. "HOLY SHIT!" Wolverine yelled. He called back to the others, "THERE IS A CAT IN HERE! A SOLID, WHITE CAT!"

Will looked at Jack as Elizabeth pondered aloud, "A solid white cat? Aren't they supposed to be good luck or something like that?" Yet she could not shake the unsettling feeling that there was something that Wolverine wasn't telling them.

Will, too, felt that there was something that Wolverine wasn't telling them or perhaps did not yet know, but he remained gazing at his beloved's face until Elizabeth, who stood on his other side, yelled again and grasped his wrist. He looked quickly back at her, saw the horror that blanched her face, and turned his attention back to the ocean. Didymus was now pushing the coconut shell toward the safety of the shore, and Wolverine was keeping watch over him but was unaware, as he sliced through yet another shark, that a predator had rose up behind him.

As Jack yelled at his father to watch out, Will looked up, up, UP at the thing that towered behind Wolverine. It was green and slimy-looking, and there seemed to be no end to it. Its snakelike body waved back and forth behind Wolverine, and as it opened its mouth in a roar that made all their hearts stand still for just a brief second, it revealed a mouth even more enormous and filled with fangs that appeared to be as big and sharp as swords. Shaking Elizabeth off of his arm, Will reached for his hatchet. He grabbed it and threw it. The weapon hurtled through the air with the speed of the wind and sliced off the creature's head. Its blood spewed over the ocean and those in it. Its head splashed down in front of it, and its body fell backwards . . .

Wolverine never realized what was behind him. He just saw the hatchet coming and ducked. That boy was crazy with a hatchet! he thought to himself and hoped that he had not been the intended target. Then something came splattering down upon him, and he almost shrieked in fright. He slashed wildly at the thing but soon discovered that it was a head. At the same time that he was struggling desperately to get the thing off of him, something collided with the water and whooshed both him and Didymus onto the land.

Somewhere

"Run?" James asked as he turned around to see what had bothered Smee. He had been glancing back at Smee from time to time to make sure that Smee was coming. How he wished he could throw his arms around Smee and kiss him! How he wished that he could kiss his beloved and make him understand that he wanted only him! Would his nightmare never end? But no, when he heard Smee's frightened scream, he knew the nightmare would not end. At least, not yet.

He turned and spied the thing that was racing behind them. The chomps were growing even louder as it approached, and James jumped forward to stand between Smee and the cake, his hook raised. "Who dares to send this thing to Smee?! Who dares?!" he asked once again, looking upward.

"You forget that you did this to Smee! Any one looking upon him," James continued to address the unseen Council, "would think he attained his size from indulging in food yet you know differently! You caused him to look like this! You took his handsome, lithe body and turned him into an old, fat man who's not strong enough to protect himself! Not that he needs to when I'm here, and yet you dare to send this astrocious cake after him!"

He took a swipe with his hook at the cake. "I'll show you what I think of you, Council!" To his amazement, his hook was caught quite steadfast, and he tried to pull it out. It didn't do any good! "You will not have my Smee!" James yelled and struck at it with his other hand. His hand bounced off like a rubber ball. "LET GO OF ME!" he yelled.

Frederic and Connor had both stopped and were looking back. What in the Hell was their Dad fighting?! It looked, for all the world, to be a birthday cake with excessive amounts of frosting that were dripping everywhere! What kind of monster had the Council sent after them this time? Frederic got behind the cake and made a grab backward. The cake was not squishy and did not crush, as Frederic thought it might, whether it felt extremely firm and slimy. "What are you?" Frederic asked, not expecting the cake to answer as surely it did not have a voice.

Meanwhile, Connor had been trying to get his father's hook loose but was not having much luck. He had the ooey, gooey mess all over him, and still the cake held firm. He took his sword out and began to try to slice the cake that was around the hook.

The cake opened its mouth for just one second, and then it clamped down harder upon James' hook and also upon Connor's sword and part of each of their arms. Holding tightly to them, it lowered its top, and candles shot off of it. They struck both James and Connor with a battering ram of candles. Candles also leapt off of the back end of the top layer to attack Frederic. Seeing that both James and Connor were caught now and the damage that both the bodies and flames of the candles was being inflicted upon them, Smee yelled. He had seen the attempted attacks and had witnessed that none of them seemed to do any good. His pudgy hands went to James, who he began trying to rip away from the cake, even as he started biting madly. He spit out each bite of cake.

James watched in amazement as Smee bit the cake and then spit it out. Could he bite the cake, too? Would that help? Those damn candles had hurt a lot, and he had yelled as each one had hit him. He looked at what had once been his beautiful suit of Pirate clothes, and there were small, smoldering holes all over it where the candles had hit him. He shook his head; he'd have to steal another one as soon as possible. As it was, it was the only change of clothes he had. "Smee, be careful! Don't swallow any of that! It is very deadly and probably contains much poison!" He leaned forward and bit at the cake only to find that it hurt his teeth, and he couldn't bite a hole in it.

Frederic, who was not caught by the cake, did not want to stick a sword in there and lose it. Some one had to be able to defend the family, and what better time for an attack? He kept walking around his family, letting them deal with the thing in the midst of them, even as his keen eyes kept watch. He figured that this was merely a distraction and that the worse was yet to come, and knowing the Council, it would probably happen at any minute. He was the only one who could protect the family, and protect them, he would, even if it cost him his life.

Will & Jack's Bedroom

"Phillip? Can you close the portal now?" Angel asked. He feared there would soon be too many animals in the room for there to be any room for animals. "You can always send them back later," he told Crys.

"I'm afraid that that is not quite possible at this time." No sooner had the words left Phillip's invisible mouth than a large, white rabbit hopped through. It looked around at the others, then started thumping its foot onto the floor as it scratched a flea.

Prue stared in disbelief at the huge white rabbit. "You sure are pretty," she said but did not make an effort to touch him for fear he would bite her.

The rabbit stopped scratching as one of the humans spoke to him and an owl swept into the room. Cordelia ducked as the large-winged bird flew over her head before finding a roosting spot on the dresser. The rabbit hopped over to the woman who had spoken to it and stared up at her, his nose twitching as he sniffed at her.

Prue reached out a hand and let the rabbit sniff her. She could not believe all the animals that were coming in, and then she remembered the group of animals they'd left behind. Did every one of them have the intention of coming?

Crystal was almost in too much shock to speak. She glanced at Prue while keeping a hand gently but firmly pinning the tabby cat down, so that the cat would not attempt to eat Raphael, who he was looking and licking his lips. "He wants you to pet him."

"You come for me, kitty kat," Raphael declared, twirling his twig around, "you gonna get it. Ki-yi!" The twig stopped just short of the cat's nose.

Sensing that he'd had enough, Crystal let the cat go, and Willow ran to the bed and jumped back up onto its safety. She looked at the mirror. "As soon as you can, stop them!"

Feeling a paw on her knee, Crystal looked down at the fox. "We are weary of the Pole and especially of its forest," the fox told her. "We are weary of the evils, the darkness, and the dangers that he has filled it with. Please let them come and let us all stay. However you keep the heat from harming your three, you can do the same for us." She pleaded at her with tears in her eyes, and Crystal felt her heart breaking again.

Crys reached out a hand and stroked the fox's head. "We had babies once," the fox sobbed. "A lovely litter of kits, they were. All healthy and happy. It was the happiest time in my life, but then some of his creatures came when we were away and ate them. Not all of the North Pole is good any more. Too many have turned to his side."

Crystal felt sick, and her hand froze where it had been stroking the fox's soft fur. She failed to notice the other animals that were entering through Phillip as she stared into the fox's eyes. Frostbite had even reached the animals now? There truly was no hope left for her homeland. Why had Jack not told her of this?

"He did not tell you," the fox answered her unspoken question, "for he knew you would insist upon trying to fight him again. He did all he could to keep you away."

An Obulette

Jareth knew that if he did not get a hold of himself and control his emotions, that both he and Teak were goners. He dried his eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, he opened his mouth and began to sing a song that he had sang once before, and it had brought to him a most wonderful woman. If she came now in response to a song that he had written for her, she could save him once again.

"I've been looking, I've been looking
I've been looking, I've been looking
I've been looking for a woman
To save my life
Not to beg or to borrow"

As his master sang, Teak sat up and looked at Jareth. Had his Master totally flipped? It would serve to pass the time for now if Jareth decided to sing, but it still wouldn't get them out of the damned obulette! He couldn't help but to listen to the magical words. The King was calling for his Queen! Would she answer?

The Island

Janeesa gasped as the moonlight shone clearly upon the creature's head, revealing the blood that glistened on its fleshless face. Once it had gone, she crawled out upon the sand far enough that the water could not reach her. It took several minutes for the night breezes to blow her dry, and as she dried, her tail split and became two legs. She walked as quickly as she could to where she could see the humans laying on the ground. She feared she would find them dead, but as she approached them, she noticed that the latest arrival was checking the other two out. "Who are you?" she called, hoping that they would answer.

The being's head snapped up, and dark eyes looked fearfully at the other stranger. The being scampered backwards away from the fallen humans, turned, and ran in the direction it had come from.

Janeesa moved closer to where the golden male lay. He was breathing. She thanked the Goddess for that. He was bleeding, and she didn't know what to do to help him. There had to be others here.

The smell from the other human repulsed her, and she did not go closer to him. She feared he was dead.

The moonlight shining down upon the golden God revealed the male in his full glory, and Janeesa basked in his beauty before backing up and looking around to see if there was anybody else coming. She saw no one, but the earth shook and continued to shake until she fell next to Golden God. She lay there, eyes wild with fright, fearing that the terrible creature was returning to finish them all off.

Great was her surprise when a huge creature came out of the darkness, covered in rags. It was a Giant! Was he friendly, or had he come to finish them off?

Somewhere

"AH. GOOD EYE. THERE YOU ARE!" The booming words made no sense to Worm. He listened and looked around for his King.

Worm's grave mistake was in ignoring the enormous creature whose voice rumbled like thunder. By the time he sensed a sudden movement, he no longer had time to slide back underneath the tree whose protection he had so foolishly left. Five large things that felt like fingers wrapped tightly around Worm and shoved him deep into a dark hole.

Worm tried to crawl out of the hole, but one of the beefy fingers shoved him back in. "BAD EYE! NOT GO!" The finger continued to poke, prod, and push at him both painfully and, Worm thought, extremely rudely. Worm cried out in pain, but the monster ignored him. "BAD EYE! STILL NOT SEE. NEED NEW EYE." The beast lumbered off, crashing through trees and continuing to push and prod at his misbehaving "eye".

A Shore

Wolverine got shakily onto his feet and looked back but could see nothing. "Ya almost got me that time!" he called to Will. "What was that thing any how?"

Will sat up from where the water had thrown Jack, Elizabeth, and himself back. He looked at the ungrateful, short man and reminded himself that the gruff Pirate was his love's adopted father. "I don't know what it was," he admitted, "but whatever it was, it wanted to make you its dinner!"

Elizabeth, meanwhile, had gotten to her feet and rushed away from the others. She had seen where Wolverine and Didymus had landed, and she had also spotted the coconut shell where it had somehow managed to stop at the edge of the water. Pulling at the shell, she realized that it was caught by a rock and turned to look inside it with the thought of simply carrying the cat away. The small, white cat sat inside the shell. It was propped up on its front legs and had its eyes tightly closed.

"Aw." The poor feline appeared to be no bigger than her hand, and he was oh so cute! Elizabeth reached in and gently stroked his head. "It's okay, little fellow." The cat opened one blue eye, and Liz thought that it was, if it at all possible, even cuter. "You're safe now." She let it smell her for just a second before attempting to pick it up. As she started to lift it from the shell, she caught sight of its rear end. She was so surprised at what she saw that she dropped it with a yell, backed up, tripped over a rock, and landed flat on her bottom.

"What the Hell?!" Jack asked as he crawled over to the shell and peered anxiously down at the little kitten that Elizabeth had dropped. "Why, Will, it's got a tail!" he said in surprise. "It's not a real cat, after all!" His voice sounded in awe of the small creature. What is it?

Wolverine looked at Will. "Thanks, boy, fer savin' me. Should've brought the head ta ya for a souvenir." He, too, peered anxiously down into the coconut shell. What had they just found? Whatever it was, it sure was cute when it looked at ya with those blue eyes! he thought.

Will had jumped to his feet when Elizabeth had screamed, but still somehow managed to be slower on booted foot than Jack was as he crawled. His forehead creased, and a look of bewilderment settled over his features as Jack commented first on the cat having a tail and then on it not being a real cat after all. "Jack, what are you talking about, love?" Will asked as he quickened his step toward them. "Of course it has a tail -- " His words froze in his mouth as he came around the shell and looked down at the kitten. He swallowed hard, and his eyes almost bugged out of his head.

Somewhere

Even as Smee chomped away, the cake lowered its head again. James' and Connor's yells of warning served to make him look up just before the cake could fire. Smee jumped behind them, raised his beefy arms over their heads, and lowered his own head. He did not think to warn Frederic as he believed the cake to again be after James and Connor, but it was Frederic who the cake fired its cherries at as though they were missiles.

Cherries pelted Frederic and made him yell in pain. What else did that damn cake have that it could let go of?! It had done given his family candles and cherries, and every one of them had hurt! He knew there was something else in there, but he wasn't sticking his sword in. He knew that cake wanted him to stick his sword in. Then he'd be caught too! "It's enchanted," he told the others, "and we don't have a spell to do it in with."

Could he kick it? What would happen if he actually connected with the cake? Would his foot stick fast? He looked around and spotted part of a tree limb that had fallen. He walked over, picked it up, and it seemed to be rather sturdy. Bringing it back, he hit the cake at the bottom. His limb stuck fast to the cake. "Thought so. Any other suggestions?" he asked the others hopefully.

"Not yet," James told the others, "but I fear that our test is in how to get rid of this thing. Wish I could feet it to the crocs, but not with Connor and I attached!"

All eyes turned to rest on Smee. Smee had always had a good head on his shoulders. His was the voice of wisdom. Did he have something to save them with now?

Smee was glaring angrily up at the cake. Weaponry wouldn't work; regardless of what they attempted to use, it'd merely stick. A good rain might help, but none of them had the power to draw upon a storm. The only thing Smee could think of was that he was somehow going to have to eat the whole damn thing. He glanced down at his body for a second. Dear Gods, if he could manage to hold the entire cake, he'd be bigger and fatter than the ugliest Giant they'd battled back on the island! But it didn't matter how big he was, Smee thought as James' earlier words to the Council's drifted through his mind and burned his ears again to the point of turning them red. James still wouldn't love him. He didn't love him, and who could blame him? After all, he was fat, old, ugly, stupid, mostly helpless . . .

Smee shook himself. He couldn't afford to give in to his thoughts now. He had to save James for even if he didn't love him, he still loved him with all his being, and of course, he had to save their beloved son and keep the cake from getting their other son, as well. "Frederic," his words came out as a bark though he did not intend them to, "stay back. Find cover. Watch the cake but do not attack. If you see it about to attack, warn us. I'll do what I can."

Careful to keep his hands away from the cake, Smee then lowered his mouth to the area where the beastly thing held to his love's hook and arm and began to bite. Each bite was so hard and sweet that it made his teeth ache, and the slimy frosting wriggled as though it were made of worms instead of sugar, milk, eggs, and coconut. Smee spit out each bite he took, and as he bit angrily into the cake who was trying to bounce forward but being held back by James' and Connor's stubborn positions, he spit each bite out to the side. No matter how dumb James thought he was, he wasn't foolish. He'd known better than to swallow any of the cake before James had ever warned him, and it wasn't just due to poison. It might not even be poisonous, but it was guaranteed to do something to him that would not be good.

A Cavern

It had taken every single ounce of Kyna's vast self-control to keep from attacking the Vampiress whose real attack on her beloved she had known all the time would come and would be nowhere near as meager as tiny fists pounding in faux helpless frustration. She had managed to refrain herself until she sensed the Vampiress ready to attack and had then yelled at William. Had he delayed for even a split second, she would have attacked for him, but thankfully, he had responded immediately.

Still, Kyna would not be relieved until this particular battle of their latest war was finished with Spike the uncontested victor. Now she called another warning to him. "She is nowhere near as young as she appears!"

Spike only grunted in answer. He was already beginning to suspect the creature's age! His wife's statement only confirmed his suspicions. He would have known soon regardless, however, as it was proving to be all he could do to keep up with the Vampiress. Some of her punches were even beginning to slip past his guard and make contact, but he had yet to lay a single finger on her. It was past time to fight dirty, Spike decided, -- even if the creature did look so much like his little sister who he had loved so much.

No sooner was his decision made than Spike dropped to the ground, sending her throws sailing over his head, and kicked his legs out and into hers. The Vampiress fell to the ground with a screeched curse, and Spike sprang, stake firmly in hand. He only paused when he was poised with the deadly piece of wood aimed for her heart and saw her eyes. They were the same bright, robin's egg blue as his sister's. She wore the same innocent, doe-like expression he'd always found so endearing in his sister's eyes. She looked so much like his sister . . .

Will & Jack's Bedroom

"What's she saying?" Cordelia questioned. She could not see Crystal's face but saw the emotions in Eddie's long face and knew that Crys would not have stopped petting the fox for just any reason.

Eddie repeated everything that the fox said, intently gazing at Angel, and when he had finished, Angel looked at Crys once more. "Let them come. There's plenty of room here for them. They're all welcome." He had to fight to keep the tears from getting in his own eyes. How wicked that thing had become! He was glad they had destroyed it!

"Are you sure -- ?" Crystal asked worriedly even as she heard the sounds of soft crying and realized that she was not the only one with tears on her face and in her eyes. She looked up at her brother and saw the emotions in his eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder and knew instinctively that it was Lorne. Elvira laid her head upon Crystal's shoulder and whined gently.

"But what if they would not? I do not know if I can do it all myself."

"You are not alone any more," Cordelia told her. "We are here. We will help."

"How do you keep your three safe from the heat?" Delvira queried from where she was now sitting up on the bed.

"An annual spell."

"I will help you," Delvira told her. "Let them come. If Jack does not want them here when he returns, though I doubt it if my readings on him are as accurate as they usually are, we will find a better and safer place for them together."

All the while, animals had been jumping, leaping, hopping, and flying into the room. Each was being careful to behave itself as they crowded around the two-leggers for none wanted to be returned to their ever-darkening forest. Crystal nodded at last. "When we are certain he is gone and the evil has left the forest, you can return then, but for now, you may stay." She was thankful the others had understood for, after hearing the story of the fox she now held close, she never could have turned them away.

Prue reached out and picked up the bunny she had already been petting. She held it close and stroked it. She kissed it on top of its furry, little head. There was no way she was going to let this small one return!

Somewhere

Trely groaned and grunted as she pulled herself up out of the sinking mudhole. She still had no further clue as to what the stuff was, but it seemed as determined to pull her down into its muck as she was to get free of it. She was finally stepping out, her tiny, green hands clinging to the legs of the chair, when she felt something slide around her shoulders. She frowned. She carried countless things on her aching back, but none of them should be moving of their own accord. Trely hurried to get out of the hole.

Something soft touched the little Goblin's wrinkled cheek just as she moved to place the chair between her and the mudhole she was finally free of. She reached up a hand to see what was touching her, and the thing suddenly wrapped around her mouth. At the same time, the chair jumped up and struck her. Trely fell to the ground, her hands gripping the cloth as she tried desperately to tear it off of her mouth. The cloth clung to her of its own accord and muffled her screams. Trely's eyes went wide as the chair rose above her and then slammed down into her tiny body . . .

Somewhere

"EUUW! YUCK!" Ace yelled even as he swiped angrily at the snot. "SPOT!"

Spot looked at him with a sad look. "Spot sorry."

"Bath now," Ace told him and climbed back up into Spot's ear before realizing that Kat was no longer in there. "Kat?" Had she gone further into Spot's ear to examine what made a dinosaur tick? "SPOT, DON'T MOVE!" Ace yelled. "KAT'S MISSING!"

"Your funny monkey?" Spot asked.

"Yes."

Spot stood still, his big head swinging wide and his eyes desperately seeking any sign of Kat. Spot roared, but nothing moved. "Funny monkey gone," he told Ace.

Ace had to get the filth off of himself. "Bath first," he told Spot. "Then we go look for monkey."

Spot went to the nearby river, and Ace did a swan dive into the water even as Spot spotted a fish. He roared with joy as he leaped forward to catch the massive shark. He tore the shark from limb to limb. As bloody rain fell upon Ace, he looked skyward. "Damn dinosaur!" he muttered and managed to get far enough away that he could get himself completely clean.

He didn't figure, for one minute, that Spot was ever going to eat a banana or anything else that wasn't meat with ripe and juicy blood. At least, Ace thought, if he had to eat something made of meat, it had been a shark and the shark would eat no more animals. He paused for a moment and said a quick prayer to his Goddess for the shark's soul. He wanted to scold Spot but knew it would do no good. After all, Spot was a meat-eater despite the fact that Ace would give anything to be able to change him into a plant-eater. "SPOT!" he yelled and was rewarded with one big eyeball gazing downward at him. "DON'T EAT ANYTHING ELSE! WE'VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR MEAT EATING HABITS!"

"Meat good," Spot told him, "but Spot not eat until Ace tell him to." He lowered his head down for Ace to get back in the ear.

"We must go and look for Kat now," Ace told him. From his perch high up, Ace, too, watched for Kat, but there was no sign of his beloved. "Damn the Council!" he said aloud. "That old, bald geezer's probably got her again!"

An Obulette

"A woman with a feeling
Of loosing once or twice
Who knows how it could be
Be tomorrow"

Jareth got up and began to pace the confines of the small room, his voice increasing in volume as he sang the words of the song he had once written that conjured Delvira out of nothingness. He still did not know how she had managed to find him, but he was glad that she had. Teak had caught the tune and was beginning to hum it, trying to help Jareth get the message out, but he was afraid that they were sealed inside the obulette and that nothing would get out.

"I've been waiting for you
And you've been coming to me
For such a long time now
For such a long time now"

Delvira, baby, where are you? Jareth wondered. Don't you hear me singing my heart out to you? Please answer me! Get me out of Hell, please! Jareth was not surprised when he heard a small sound behind him and turned around, expecting to see his beloved wife.

Will & Jack's Bedroom

Astonishment and fear warred within Trent as he watched all the animals coming into the room through the bewitched mirror and listened to the conversation floating around the room. Each emotion warred to overthrow the other, but the silent, inner battle was forgotten immediately when Carlos' shoulder brushed his. "She's gone," the Mexican whispered.

Trent turned his head in the direction of his best friend's voice and found himself looking directly into the dark depths of the other man's eyes. It took him a moment to recall what Carlos had just said, and then another to remember why it was so important. "Did you see which way she went?" he asked, turning his gaze back to the room at large.

"No." Carlos shook his head. "But we'd better find her fast."

Trent nodded even as he shoved away memories of both things he didn't want to think about and things he knew he shouldn't. "There's no telling what she might do right now. You take the East; I'll take the West." The partners nodded their agreement and split. Neither thought to ask for help, not even from Rogue, who stood nearby.

A Cavern

But she was not his sister, Spike reminded himself, and as the Vampiress reached for him with clawing talons and he sensed Kyna move uncomfortably and knew the same doubts that had ran through his mind when she'd fought Sheng's lookalike were now running through hers, Spike shoved the stake home. His sister's screams, both new and from before, echoed in Spike's ears as the Vampiress turned to dust.

Somewhere

James watched as Smee bit angrily at the cake and spit it away. Maybe that was part of the Council's plan? He yelled back up. "I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, COUNCIL! IF IT'S YOUR PLAN FOR SMEE TO EAT THIS THING AND BE TEN TIMES THIS SIZE, I'M STILL GOING TO LOVE HIM! NO MATTER HOW YOU MAKE SMEE LOOK, I WILL ALWAYS LOVE HIM, AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME STOP!"

The constant touching of Smee on his body was giving a reaction on James that he'd rather the boys didn't see. No matter what the world thought of his beloved, James could still see him, in his mind's eye, the way he once was. He wished that he could bite the cake, as well, but he was afraid he would break his teeth if he tried again. He had been lucky the first time; it had only hurt his mouth. Only his beloved seemed to have what it took. James prayed that he did not eat any of it as there was no telling what the Council had enchanted the cake to do.

Frederic did not hide, but he stayed in the open. Heck, the candles could come back at any second, he thought, or the Council could send an even bigger foe! He watched in awe as Smee bit the cake and managed to spit it out. He prayed that he didn't swallow any of it. He heard his father, James, and did not add his own railings against the Council. If he could ever get them to where he could pay them back for what they had done to his family, he vowed that he would.

Connor had never felt so helpless in his life, and it had been done by a mere cake! He was glad he had not been bombarded by the cherries; he figured they felt like being hit by rocks. Yet Frederic seemed to have recovered and was now still on guard, protecting his family. If only he could get his arm free, Connor thought, and he struggled against the cake, but each struggle only seemed to embed him further in. The cake seemed to be a giant sponge that was sucking them ever steadily inward. Connor knew that, if he relaxed for even one second, the cake would swallow him even more, but he did not struggle violently any more. He just kept a steady pull back from it and against it.

James' words had brought tears to Smee's eyes, but it wasn't because he believed he loved him. Instead, it was because it hurt Smee greatly to think that James was determined to carry on his masquerade and continue to pretend to love him always just because he felt so sorry for him. He didn't want James to feel sorry for him. He bit harder into the cake and silenced the sob in his throat with the bite before he spit it out. He wanted James to love him, to really love him for him, not because of his looks, be they good or repulsive, but because of the man inside his body. But that would never happen, Smee knew. James wanted a woman. He didn't want a fat, ugly, sniffling loser. His teeth snatched at the cake, and he spit it out hastily. He began biting quicker and quicker even as pain filled his mouth and tears rolled down his puffy cheeks.

Why was Smee crying again? James wondered but did not ask him. He would not say one word to distract him from biting that cake for he feared that, if he did, Smee would swallow some of it and Gods only knew what that would cause. With his free hand, James reached out and gently touched Smee, trying to give him encouragement.

The awful thing must be hurting his baby's mouth, and he couldn't do anything to help! He had never felt so helpless in his life except for when he had been dangling above the crocodile pit and when he had been meat about to be devoured by other crocs. Damn the Council! Who did they think they were, any way?! If he found out whose brilliant idea this cake was, he was going to do some carving when the trials were over! He'd find out; he'd ask. Somebody would be stupid enough to slip up, and when they did, they were going to be James'! When he was through with them, they would not be a pretty sight any more, and all their magic would not help them. He'd find a way, he vowed. If they hurt Smee to the point that he can't go on, they'll regret it!

James wondered if this test was meant for him and Smee both, but he didn't think so as he was unable to do anything against the cake. No, he thought, it was meant for Smee alone. He was the only one who could do anything that would affect the cake, but he feared that Smee would never be able to hold up to get them free. If they could only get free of the cake, they could find a way to throw it over the cliffs to the crocodiles!

Smee turned his head and spit out yet another bite of cake. This time, a tooth went with it. He grimaced at the pain, and something caught his gaze. He turned his head toward it and cursed quietly enough that he hoped Connor and Frederic wouldn't hear him. There was some kind of creatures slowly lugging their rotting bodies up the side of the cliff toward Frederic. "FREDERIC, WATCH OUT!" Smee turned back to the cake and took a huge bite right above James' arm. Unfortunately, as he took each bite, more of the cake filled the hole that he'd just created.

To Be Continued . . .