"I don't understand why we're doing this again," Ram groaned, even as he trailed after April towards the school. "It wasn't even my idea this time, and we have Torchwood now! It's not our job. They get paid for it, they're the experts, and they told us to stay away."

She beamed up at him, human eyes bright in her human face and a human laugh coming from her human mouth. Ram tugged her close and kissed her until she was clinging to him, but it didn't deter her. She just tugged on his hand once she'd got her breath back and set off towards the school again, with the rest of them in her wake. "I just want to see for myself," she insisted. "I can have my life back."

"Yeah, and we suggested going to Pizza Hut and bowling," Tanya pointed out. "Not skulking around school again. Please can we do Pizza Hut soon?"

"What's…" Charlie sighed and shook his head. "Never mind. April, what are you expecting to find?"

"Nothing." She grinned back at him. "That's half the fun." The keys jingled in her hand like bells. "Admit it. It's fun having access to the school when we shouldn't be here."

Matteusz huffed, reaching for Charlie's hand. "I do not think I understand this word fun. It does not mean what I thought it meant."

As soon as they caught each others' eyes, they started giggling and couldn't stop. April pressed her fist against her mouth to smother it, peering around the wall at the distant light of the Torchwood office. "They're in there," she whispered, a little too loud. "Quick, to the…"

"Batmobile?"

She punched Tanya on the shoulder. "Staff entrance," she hissed. "Other side."

They kept to the shadows as well as they could, and peered around anxiously as April fumbled with the keys Mr Armitage had left her with, when he was distracted by their disaster of a prom. The door opened into the staff room, and they crept through it using the light from their phones. Charlie stuck close to Matteusz, clinging to his hand, but Ram, April and Tanya spread out through the room, poking at piles of books and papers left at the end of the day.

"Hey," Ram said. "I totally flunked my Chemistry test today. Reckon Mr Bride will have left it here so I can mark it for him?"

"How do you flunk that test?" Tanya asked, flashing her phone light over the dining room supervisory rota on the wall. "It was like, the easiest thing ever."

He scoffed and came over to join her. "Been a bit distracted lately."

"Me too," she pointed out. "You're not the only one who lost a parent."

"I'm the only one who didn't," April murmured. "Just got one back that I didn't want." She sighed. "Not fair, is it?"

They let an awkward silence fall as they continued to explore the staff room, but the flash of a car headlight across the window dragged them out of it. "We should get out of here," Tanya said. "We shouldn't be here."

"You're right." April reached out and grabbed her hand. "Let's go to the library."

"That's not what I meant!" Tanya groaned, but ran after her anyway.

They raced each other up the stairs to the library, and stood gasping in the doorway, laughing and falling against each other. Charlie watched them, fingers tangled in the hem of his jumper until Matteusz took his hand and pulled him back into the circle to lean against him. Tanya had her hands clamped over her mouth and was staring around them. "This is just like being in Harry Potter. Only the books aren't going to try to kill us. Actually, they're pretty boring."

"You've got no sense of adventure." April checked her phone and took a step away from them. "What if we try and catch whatever's taking phones? We could all put our phones down, and watch and see if it comes for them?"

Matteusz and Charlie met each other's eyes and sighed. "April, I don't think…"

"Just half an hour," she promised, eyes shining in the light from her phone. "I promise. And then we can go home."

"Alright." Ram sighed and pulled her in for a kiss. "All in here, yeah?"

She nodded and tucked her hair back behind her ear again, face lighting up even further as she realised she could do that. "Back here at half past. And then home. Maybe via ice cream?"

They separated with whispered reassurances, but Matteusz held onto Charlie's hand as they made their way towards junior fiction. "We could sit together. It will be okay."

"I'm fine," Charlie reassured him. "Just… not used to April being the wild one. She's just got her freedom back. Let's give her this night."

Matteusz leaned down and kissed him gently. "I love you. Soon we will be in bed, just the two of us."

He grinned, touching his fingers to his lips. "I can't wait."

Time dragged on in the darkness, oppressive silence descending on them like a blanket. April sighed and picked up her phone again. "I've not seen anything," she sent. "It's just quiet. Charlie, shall we call it a day?"

She got no response for a while, and then, just as she was starting to get nervous, the 'someone is typing' message popped up.

Matteusz: Charlie?

Her heart leapt into her throat. "Guys, meet me by the desk now."

They all agreed. All apart from Charlie.

She dragged herself to her feet and raced off down the stacks, breath catching in familiar lungs again. Someone else was close, and she slowed up at the junction, just enough to avoid colliding with Ram. He didn't say anything, just reached for her hand and tugged. They skidded into the entrance to the library, where Tanya was already standing with her phone pressed to her ear, and Matteusz clattered in to join them soon after.

"He's not answering," Tanya said, stabbing at her phone with jerky movements. "It's just going straight to voicemail."

"Oh... Shit." April closed her eyes and sighed. "Come on, Charlie, where are you?"

Matteusz was pacing backwards and forwards between the chairs, running his hands through his hair and muttering in Polish. From the looks Ram kept giving him, it wasn't polite Polish. She and Tanya glanced at each other and she reached out to catch Matteusz's arm. "Look, his phone has probably disappeared."

He stared at her like he was having to switch from Polish back into English, and then nodded. "Yes, you are right. He probably put his phone down and... It vanished."

"Where was he?"

They all looked at each other and shrugged. "Oh crap." She looked around for a clue that wasn't there. "Well, we were in science..."

"I went to languages," Matteusz said. "He... Came with me as far as junior fiction."

"So he's in here, somewhere." Ram nodded. "Alright, let's split up..."

"Don't be stupid, Ram," Tanya snapped. "Charlie is missing. And fine, maybe his phone has just gone, but maybe it hasn't. He'd be able to hear us! Have you never watched a horror movie?"

"Tanya," April hissed as Matteusz went very pale. "A little tact wouldn't hurt."

"We don't have time for tact!"

"There's always time for tact." She turned to Matteusz and squeezed his arm. "We'll find him. He's probably fallen asleep. He's still having nightmares, yeah? He's just fallen asleep somewhere in the library. You and Tanya take the left side, we'll take the right. We'll find him in no time. It's going to be fine."

An hour later, when Mr Jones found them racing down one of the science corridors, they started to accept that it really wasn't fine at all.