Kate

"Reynie and S.Q. are in the van," said Sticky as they hurried out. "The guy knocked them out with a paperweight."

Kate stopped abruptly, causing the others to trip. Constance tumbled over, but Cleo grabbed her hand and she didn't take too much of a fall. "Reynie's unconscious?" she asked quickly.

Sticky nodded. "And S.Q."

"We've got to get this door unlocked," she said urgently, striding over to the back of the vehicle and reaching for a scrap of wire, which she inserted easily into the lock and, with practiced hands, coerced the mechanism into springing open. She was grateful for the ten seconds that this task took her, as it provided an excuse to hide her face. Why was her heart pounding? She shook her head. These thoughts and feelings were impossible to control, and seemed to crop up at the most inconvenient of times. Regardless, this was not the right moment to contemplate them, and so, Constance stumbling along behind, Kate threw open the doors.

Reynie looked up groggily as they stampeded into the rear of the automobile.

"Reynie!" cried Kate, rushing to his side. Cleo raised an eyebrow subtly at Sticky, to which he, still hurt and confused, did not deign to respond.

"Kate – Sticky – what are you doing here?" asked Reynie, struggling to sit up. Kate reached for his hand and, with uncharacteristic gentleness, tugged him into an upright position. Then she knelt by his side, concern knotting her forehead.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked for the hundredth time.

Reynie gave a weak smile, lightly punching her in the shoulder. "I'm fine," he insisted. She said nothing, but gripped his hand – which she had not relinquished – tighter.

"We have to get out of here," Cleo said firmly, seeing that Kate was preoccupied and deciding that this was the time to redeem herself. "I have no idea when Mackenzie's going to hear about this – or McCracken – but this'll be the first place they'll search." She glanced at Sticky, who gave an imperceptible nod of assent, and at Kate, who seemed much more focused on Reynie's well-being than anything else, but jumped when Cleo tapped her.

"Right," she said, reluctantly letting go of Reynie and striding over to stand beside the other three.

"S.Q., are you alright?" asked Sticky, trying to rouse the young man, who, slumped over, looked like a comically oversized bundle of sticks. Except comedy did not exist in the situation – the world, for all they knew – that these children had entered. No, Cleo was right: the priority was to leave as quickly as they could, and somehow complete the impossible task of finding Mr. Benedict.

S.Q. wasn't moving. Constance banged on his arm with her fist, infuriated. "Move!" she shouted. "For god's sake, we have to get out of here!"

"Constance," said Kate, coming behind her. "Stop it."

"Do you think he's still unconscious?" murmured Cleo to Sticky.

"Well, he's obviously not awake," he snapped back, regretting his tone the moment the words left his mouth. It occurred to him barely a second later that this query, spoken directly to him, was some sort of modest peace treaty. They were all in this together, after all. Wishing to amend the situation, he opened his mouth to say something, but Cleo, affronted, took a few steps away from him and turned her head away, a veil of her beautiful, thick hair placing a boundary between them.

"Is he okay?" asked Reynie anxiously, stumbling to his feet. Kate looked at him sharply, ready to help, but he remained standing, if a little unsteady.

"What if…?" asked Cleo softly.

Kate's face twisted into a combination of rage and despair. "If they did this to him, I – we – will hunt them down."

"They didn't," said Reynie in a hushed voice. "Oh, they couldn't. I was fine, I was knocked out as hard as he was."

Constance resumed beating on S.Q.'s arm, mercilessly yelling at him to get up.

Cleo reached out and touched the girl's shoulder. "He's…"

Constance turned and glared at her. "Is anyone else going to help me or what?"

"She doesn't understand," said Cleo in an undertone.

"Understand what?" snarled Constance. "All I know is that S.Q.'s lazing around, slacking on his job – which is to protect us – and it's not fair." She crossed her arms. "This is just great. He gets to sleep, while I'm just as tired as him and –"

The older children exchanged looks. Did Constance, who was clearly wise beyond her years, fail to grasp the seriousness of this development? For whatever reason, S.Q. wasn't getting up. He ought to have; as Reynie pointed out, he was fine, but S.Q. just… wasn't.

All of a sudden, a loud noise erupted from somewhere within the van. It sounded like an engine revving up, and then stopping – and then starting up again.

Kate thrust a hand inside her bucket and spun around, ready to face another ten man on a motorcycle, when Constance said in frustration,

"Oh, great. And now he's snoring!" She set herself on the ground, scowling.

"What?" asked Reynie quickly.

"Stupid S.Q.!"

They all turned and looked towards the young man and, lo and behold, he was snoring.

A wave of relief swept over the group. Here they'd been thinking – well, the most horrible things had been crossing their minds – and S.Q. was truly… sleeping?

He snored again, then made some sort of chugging sound and let out a wide yawn. He pushed himself up against the side of the van with his arms, then brought his hands up to his face and practically rubbed his eyes straight out of his head. Yawning once more, he stood up, good as new.

"Hello," he said pleasantly.

A/N: So, obviously this was a short one, but since I haven't updated in awhile I wanted to leave you all with something.

The next chapter will be a direct continuation, from Reynie's point of view, since one of my reviewers requested that I put in some more Kaynie moments now. Don't worry – I will, and I hope you liked the little bit I put in here. Some of you may have issues with her temperament shifting in the way that it does here, but I personally believe that at some point or other she will have at least a moment where she isn't the overgrown, boisterous twelve-year-old she once was. And it will definitely shift back to the Kate we know and love.

Oh, and there's going to be some more storyline with Cleo and Sticky, but of course this can't be a good story without having a good amount of conflict!

On that topic, I have a question: do you want to see these two develop as well? Although this is primarily a Kaynie story, or at least started out as one, I'm kind of enjoying this couple as well and am curious if you'd like to start officially shipping them together. I guess their couple name would be… Clicky. Ha!

Definitely review, let me know what you think, but please try to keep it constructive, not petty, as detailed as you wish, and to the lovely anonymous reviewer who left a comment saying, I believe, "FUCK YOU BITCH THIS IS FUCKING HORRIBLE," or something along those lines – bye! :)