Author's Note: This is for MonkeeMidgie *wonderful author of Long Way Home* who is perhaps the only other person who knows more about the Monkees than I do, lol. Other than the Monkees and those involved with the project themselves. I got stuck on where I wanted to go with this story and she and I shot ideas around for about an hour before I felt happy with where its going to go. Thanks Midgie!

Chapter 55: Bribery

The next morning the boys woke up early to sort out their situation. Micky didn't sleep all that soundly, but he guessed none of the others had either. While Piper had assured them that more than likely the woman who had told them about the gig at the theater was just psychic and wasn't after them, Micky still had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing. He wanted to still keep an eye on her but Mike was insistent on them staying low and keeping out of everyone's way. They had paid the hotel manager for at least one night but only had a little money leftover, however, so Micky realized they might have to perform at the theater again. They had enough for one more night, but not a whole lot leftover for food.

"What should we do about money for food?" Davy asked holding his stomach. Micky could swear he heard it grumble a little. "I mean, if we just have enough money left for another night and we don't know how long we'll be here, don't we need more money for food?"

"I really don't want to risk going on that stage again," Mike said. "I think we got lucky last night."

"They loved you, Mike," Peter said.

"I don't know any other songs that we could play and I doubt they'll be happy with me playing the same song," Mike said.

"Well, why don't we go around and try to find some odd jobs," Davy suggested. "I'm sure they always need help in the mines, right? We have more time to look today than we did yesterday anyway, which should help."

"Probably," Mike said. "But I don't know if I want us even leaving this hotel room."

"Why?" Micky asked though he thought he already knew the answer.

"I know you said that you thought that the woman was trustworthy, but I still have a bad feeling about it," Mike said looking at Piper.

"I understand," Piper answered nodding. "It's always good to trust your own instincts. But we can't just stay here. We need to eat and we need to get more money to do that."

"What do you guys think?" Mike asked looking at the others.

"I think we should split into pairs at least and try to get a little money," Peter said.

"Agreed," Davy said. "I'm starving. We should start with food."

"Mike why don't you and I go get some food and bring it back," Micky suggested. "On the way we can ask the manager if he knows anyone who needs a little work done."

"Alright," Mike agreed getting up off the bed. "You guys stay here. We'll be back later." Davy, Peter and Piper nodded before Micky and Mike made their way downstairs. They walked up to the managers desk and waited for him. The manager walked out of the office a moment later and toward the desk.

"How can I help you?" the manager asked with a smile.

"I know we talked to you yesterday, but we wanted to ask again," Mike started. "Do you know anyone who needs a little work done? Maybe in the mines? We need some good work to keep us going until we hit the road again."

"I don't really know, but you can go down to the assayer's office and ask him," the manager answered.

"Thanks," Mike answered. "We'll head over there after we get some food." The two walked away from the counter and headed across the street to the nearest saloon to order some breakfast. While they waited, Micky leaned against the bar facing the door and the rest of the saloon while Mike leaned toward the bar itself. He looked almost as if he could fall asleep right on the bartop.

"You alright, Mike?" Micky asked.

"Yeah," Mike mumbled half heartedly. "Just exhausted."

"I can imagine so after everything we've been through," Micky answered. "I'm sure this will all be over soon and we can get some much needed sleep back at the pad."

"I hope so," Mike muttered. "I don't know how much more of this I can take." Micky nodded and went back to casually scanning the saloon. There really wasn't anyone in the saloon this early in the morning, but there were a few tables with people. They mostly looked as though they were just passing through and getting ready to leave again. Micky spotted movement outside of the swinging saloon doors and instinctively looked out. Over the top of the doors, he barely made out the face of the woman they'd run into the day before. What he saw after that made his blood run cold.

He pushed himself off the bar and walked slowly to the doors to check and make sure he really had seen what he thought he'd seen. Mike called after him, but Micky just ignored him and walked outside. When he stepped onto the wooden planks that acted as a sidewalk around the building, he turned in the direction he'd seen the woman walking in. Sure enough, there was a man walking just a few inches behind her; she was leading him somewhere. Micky watched for a second in shock and fear as the pair rounded a corner.

"Micky, what are you doing?" Mike asked walking up to him with a bag of food in his hand.

"I saw that woman," Micky answered.

"So?" Mike asked. "I thought we decided to steer clear of her."

"Yeah, well she wasn't alone," Micky said finally able to tell his feet to start off after them. "He was with her."

"He who?" Mike asked following.

"Who do you think?" Micky snapped back a little more gruffly than he'd meant. Mike didn't respond but instead picked up the pace so he was now striding next to Micky. With his longer legs, it was easy for Mike to catch up to the corner and peek around it. Micky and Mike saw the Devil walking with the woman toward a very old beat up looking building. She walked inside and he quickly followed her, but not before looking around him. Mike and Micky ducked back out of sight in time so the Devil didn't see them. Once they were sure the Devil was inside the building, they quickly made their way to it, unsure of what the two were up to.

When they reached the building, they peered in carefully through the windows. It took a few minutes, but they finally found the woman and the Devil. They sat below the window carefully trying to listen to the conversation between the two inside. The window was closed, but the voices still drifted out enough for the boys to pick up on what they were saying, though they had to strain to hear.

"Can you do it or not, Sophie?" the Devil asked.

"Perhaps," the woman, whose name was apparently Sophie, answered. "It's a very complicated spell, but I don't do anything for free, darling."

"Well, I can reward you handsomely if you do this," the Devil answered.

"And what happens if I do this and you leave me high and dry?" Sophie asked.

"You want your money up front?" the Devil asked. "Fine. I'll have to get the money. I don't exactly walk around with money in my pocket. I don't normally need it. The more important question is, can you do it?"

"I can try," Sophie answered. "Time travel is very tricky. I've never done it before and I don't know if I can even get all the ingredients."

"Let me worry about that," the Devil answered. "Just find the spell."

"And your friends?"

"Friends?"

"The others who came with you."

"They are not my friends. I don't care much what happens to them."

"You're really going to leave them here? They'll be stuck here."

"Once I get my powers back, I can come back for them."

"You won't be able to send them back to their own time even with your powers."

"Sure I will. If they sign a contract with me, I can do whatever I want with them. But that is none of your concern, now is it?"

"Of course not. I could really care less. I was just curious."

"Get the spell ready. Tell me what you need for it and I'll make sure you have it and your reward." Mike and Micky exchanged worried glances with each other and dashed off down the road before the Devil left the building and spotted them. They didn't say a word to each other until they reached the lobby of the hotel.

"This is bad," Micky breathed heavily.

"If he goes back to his own time without us, we'll be stuck here forever," Mike agreed.

"Not forever," Micky corrected. "Just until he decides to come back and screw with us to get us to sign his contract. Or until he kills us."

"Either way, we can't let her do that spell," Mike said.

"How do we stop her?" Micky asked.

"We need a plan," Mike said. "Let's go upstairs and tell the others." Micky nodded and the two raced upstairs. Micky must have thrown the door open a little too hard because Peter, Piper and Davy all jumped.

"What in the world is going on?" Piper asked jumping up from the bed.

"I thought you were just getting food?" Davy asked eyeing the bag Mike was still holding.

"We were," Mike answered tossing the bag at Davy. "But Micky spotted the woman from yesterday walking with the Devil so we followed them."

"Why?" Peter asked. "Don't you think that's just a little dangerous?"

"We were careful," Micky said. "We overheard them talking. She is a witch and he asked her to do a spell for him."

"What spell?" Piper asked getting worried.

"He wants her to send him back to our time," Mike answered. "She said she wasn't sure if she could do it."

"And she won't do it for free," Micky added. "He said he's going to gather up enough money to pay her and get the supplies she needs."

"How is he going to get the money for that?" Piper asked.

"No idea," Mike said. "But something tells me it won't be through legitimate means."

"He can't change history," Piper said. "It could mess everything up."

"We are well aware of that," Micky said. "So how do we stop him?"

"We need to figure out what he's planning," Piper said. "Did you see where he went?"

"No," Mike admitted. "We got out of there before he saw us."

"Why is this a bad thing?" Peter asked. "We could get sent home!"

"Peter, he's going to go alone," Micky said shaking his head slightly. "Once he gets his powers back, he's going to come back and try and get us to sign contracts in order to go home."

"Oh," Peter said looking fallen. "That's bad."

"We have to stop her from doing the spell," Piper said.

"Or at least convince her to send us all home," Davy muttered.

"No," Piper said firmly. "If there was a spell to send us home, don't you think I would have done it? There are spells for time travel, but they are intended for a purpose. Someone can send themselves back in time to fix something, but it will only work if they are meant to. There are spells to send someone forward in time, but only as a lesson or to gain other knowledge. There are rules for time travel and most spells won't work; they only work if "they" allow it."

"They?" Mike asked.

"The powers that be, so to speak," Piper answered. "Fate and destiny. "They" make the rules and enforce them. They don't dictate our lives, but they make things happen that push us towards a certain path. We still have free will and still make our own decisions, but there is truth to the saying that "everything happens for a reason"."

"So should we even worry?" Davy asked. "If "they" won't let it happen, we have nothing to worry about. Her spell won't work. If you can't send us home, she can't send him home."

"I can send us home, but it requires dark magic to do it," Piper answered solemnly. "I know you guys want to go home, but it's something I won't go anywhere near. I'm sorry."

"No one is asking you to," Micky said walking over and wrapping his arms around her.

"What does this dark magic spell require?" Mike asked. "Maybe we can just stop her from getting the ingredients."

"I'm not entirely sure without seeing the spell for myself," Piper answered. "But it usually requires blood sacrifice."

"Blood sacrifice?" Peter echoed.

"Let me guess: it's gotta be human blood, right?" Davy quipped irritably.

"It's not right to sacrifice animals any more than humans," Peter said sadly as though he were picturing it.

"No, it's not, Peter," Mike said. "Which is why we're going to stop her."

"How?" Davy asked. "We don't know what either of them are doing."

"We need to find out," Mike said. "Maybe we can just convince her not to do it."

"I doubt that," Davy muttered. "She sounds evil."

"I don't think so," Micky said. "I think she just doesn't care either way. She helped us; that's not evil. And she wasn't going to do this spell without incentive. She even said it; she doesn't do anything for free. With enough money, she'll do anything. She is a woman of the night, after all."

"I doubt we can out-pay the Devil," Peter said.

"No, but maybe we can appeal to her sense of humanity," Micky said looking between Mike and Peter. "Davy, Piper and I will try and track down the Devil and make sure he doesn't mess up history."

"Why do we have to go talk to the woman?" Peter asked blushing slightly. "Can't I go with you?"

"Because if anyone can convince her not to do this, it's the two of you," Micky answered. "She won't bite, Peter. Just make sure you knock before you go into her house."