Chapter 31

"Good morning, Hyperion School."

"Umm, hallo, Lorne. Have you heard from my Mum this morning?"

Lorne's stomach dropped as soon as he heard Laurie's voice. He'd had a funny feeling since he woke, and was truly upset that this was how the bad thing he'd been expecting was manifesting. "Sorry, Peanut, I haven't heard anything. She's not at the house with you?"

Laurie sniffled. "No, she's not here. She was home when I went to bed last night. I went into my room and put my headphones on around 10:00, because she was nic-fitting and she hates to smoke when I'm around. I guess I was more tired than I thought, though, because I fell asleep with my music on. It wasn't until I got out of the shower this morning that I realized I didn't hear any moving around and I went looking for her. I even checked outside, in case she went to have a smoke with her coffee while I was in the shower. She's not anywhere in the house or out back, there's no coffee made, and I'm pretty sure her bed hasn't been slept in. The van's here, though, so I know she didn't go for donuts."

He took a deep breath. "Okay, Snickerdoodle, before we panic should we give it a few minutes and see if she comes back, in case you're wrong and she just she took a run or something?"

"Lorne, have you met my mother? If she'd gone for a run she would have woken me up and told me, or at least left a note. Even a donut run would have been wildly out of character, but plausible because if she heard me get in the shower she'd know there was enough time to be back before I got out. She's never wandered off and left me unattended, not even once."

Lorne sighed. "Fair enough, I certainly wouldn't have expected her to leave you alone. I could see her going to deal with an emergency and leaving you a note, but…"

"I checked all the places she normally leaves notes, twice, there's no note. She didn't take her phone with her, either, so I can't call and check on her."

"Okay, Lolo, take a deep breath. We'll find her, no worries. Can you drive the van?"

She sighed, "Lorne, I'm 17 and I live in Los Angeles, of course I can drive."

"Alright, good. Do you know how to get here, or do you need directions? I want you to get yourself right in the van and come over to the school. Bring your Mom's purse and her mobile phone, and maybe something you know she touched right before she left, in case someone can do a locator spell for her, sound good?"

Laurie took a deep breath. "Yes, I can get there, I know the way. I'll be there as soon as traffic allows. Call Mum's phone if you find out anything, will you?"

"Of course, Peanut. We'll be ready when you get here." Lorne whimpered as he set the phone back in its cradle. "Ugh, and it's too early for a sea-breeze." He shook himself all over, took another deep breath. When he felt a little more centered, he picked up the phone and dialed Chas upstairs. "Good morning, Charles, I have bad news. It's possible that Jezebel has disappeared. Do we have anyone left around here who can do magics? We should probably start with a locator spell if we can get one done."

After the third unsuccessful locator spell, Chas made them stop. Obviously it wasn't going to work, which unfortunately meant either she was dead or they were being blocked.

He ran his hands through his shoulder-length blonde hair, trying not to meet Laurie's eyes. "Okay, let's try going at this a different way. We should think of everyone she might have gone to see and everyone she may have contacted if she went somewhere voluntarily, and check in with them. Then if that doesn't pan out, let's start thinking about who might have wished her harm.

"Laurie, I hate to ask you this, but is there any chance, any at all, that your mom was involved in anything that would have made her enemies? Did she have any debts, illegal dealings, anything like that?"

Laurie shook her head. "She never runs up any debts. She went ballistic on my biological mother's parents when they didn't come to the funeral, and they hated her even before that, but I can't see them doing anything vengeful to her until next year when there will be absolutely no chance they could get stuck with me." Chas blinked, but before he could interrupt, Laurie continued speaking. "And the only illegal thing I know that she's ever done was take some drugs, but she went to rehab and it hasn't come up again."

"Pardon?" Marta looked suddenly worried about her children having been in the care of someone who took drugs.

Laurie made a dismissive gesture. "She was in college, I was little. She wasn't getting enough sleep and she took some pills or cocaine or something. I don't know all the details, but something happened that scared her, and she called Grandpa to come to London and stay with Dad and I for six weeks while she went to a treatment center. She hasn't had any problems since."

Lorne patted Marta's shoulder, reading her concern at this new wrinkle in the situation. "I don't know what the rules are for asking questions about Jezebel's personal problems, or sharing that information, but I'd want to call her parents anyway and let them know what's going on, so I'll ask for details." He met Marta and David's eyes. "And I'll add full staff drug testing with results going to the Council to our list of protocols to consider adopting before school starts."

Lorne turned to Laurie. "Alright, Peanut, why don't we go call your grandparents."

Barb was getting a really bad vibe from Vonda Pratt. They'd met briefly when Apple was injured and the Pratts were in LA taking care of her, but at that point Barb had still been finding her footing and learning about Slayers, so she hadn't paid much attention to the younger girl's parents. Now that she was here staying overnight in their home, she couldn't help but pay attention. And Vonda made her itchy.

Barb really liked Apple. There was about an 8 year age difference between them, but the younger girl had a quick mind and was always willing to help the less experienced fighters during training. Apple was also the only student so far who had asked if she was capable of teaching calculus, which then somehow led to them discussing relativity over root-beer floats. Barb didn't want to hurt Apple's feelings by asking if she felt something weird, because how do you ask someone if their mom's evil? Or, maybe it wasn't 'evil' evil, maybe she just didn't like the woman. She wasn't really sure how to tell, except that she'd never been this angry and uncomfortable around someone she barely knew.

"Hey, how's it going?" Apple knocked and slid into the open doorway. "I'm so sorry about my mother." She murmured in a low voice, closing the door behind her. "I think she's actually gotten worse in the last year. I felt twitchy around her last summer, but now…" She shook her head. "If Jezebel hadn't made me come here, I woulda skipped this summer."

"If you didn't want to come here, why did you agree? Why did she want you to, for that matter?"

Apple sighed and dropped onto the foot of Barb's bed. "I think since Mary Alice had a lousy relationship with her parents, Jezzie wanted Laurie and I to be close to ours. Or, at least okay with them. Dad and I are good for the most part, but mom and I just don't mesh; she's real forceful, and I'm anxious. It's led to some not pretty moments, especially when I was younger. So, the compromise was Jezebel taking me to New York, and then LA, during the school year, then I come spend most of summer vacay here. Once I turn 18, Jezzie says I don't have to come summers anymore if I don't want to." Apple sighed again. "I was hoping Slayer stuff would get me out of this summer, but she said no."

"I'm sorry, sweetie." Barb tried to smile encouragingly, but something nagged at her. "You said she wasn't as bad last summer?"

"Yeah." Apple rolled her eyes. "She just got powers, I just got powers, it was like everything she wanted. Wasn't 'til Jezzie called and said she'd heard from other Watchers that it was everyone that mom got bitchy again."

"But, you knew it was Laurie and Jezzie also, before you came back here, right?" Barb was still trying to sort this out, trying to pinpoint which factor felt most out of place.

"I tried to tell her, but she said I must be wrong, or that I didn't want the responsibility of being the Slayer so I was tryin'a pawn it off. Even if that was so, how would she have gotten called, I ask you? Had to be something weird." Apple sounded harried, as though just thinking about the argument were upsetting.

"You said you getting called was everything your mom wanted? What do you mean by that?"

"No, getting called herself was everything she wanted." Apple huffed. "She was a Council-trained Potential Slayer when she was young, also. She was devastated when she aged out, but she had no interest in becoming a Watcher. She only ever wanted to fight. That's why she went into Karate competitions, and later opened the dojo." She lay on her side, propping her head up on her hand. "She was really proud when I was sent a Watcher, but she and Jezzie butted heads a lot. Mom wanted me to do more fighting drills, spend more time in the gym. Jezzie wanted me to be well-rounded, so I had the most possible options if I wasn't called."

Barb shook her head. "I can't even imagine. My mom is, like, the least violent person I've ever met."

"Must be nice." Apple murmured.

Barb let that hang in the air for a moment, not knowing how to respond, and still turning over the information in her mind. Before she came to any conclusions, there was a knock on the door. "Come in?" she called, unsure why anyone would be looking for her.

Vonda threw the door open. "Oh, good, she is in here. Come on, Aps, get your heavy duty boots, it's time for patrol!"

"Patrol?" Apple blinked at her mother in confusion. "Why? Who put you on patrol duty?"

Vonda sneered. "No one 'put me on duty', but I've been given the strength by the Powers, why wouldn't I use it? I'm supposed to be keeping people safe."

"Actually, that might not be true." Barb interjected. "In some areas the Council has the demons policing themselves right now, to prevent extinction events or diplomatic incidents." She might not know tons about Slayers, but she hadn't been an army brat for nothing. One thing she knew all about was chains of command. "The head of west coast operations told us not to slay on this trip unless a Slayer stationed in the region asked for our help."

"Oh, well, then I'm asking for your help." Vonda shook her head. "This is some shit, who cares if demons go extinct, anyway?"

"Dependin' on the species, there could be a lotta ecological impact, actually." Apple had perked up, and Barb smiled. As an educator she loved to see that kind of enthusiasm in a student. She'd have a great future ahead of her as a Watcher, or a teacher of some other kind.

Evidently, Vonda was not as thrilled by Apple's enthusiasm. She stepped forward and backhanded her daughter, causing the teen to crash back to the mattress. "Well, aren't you miss smartie-pants." She turned back toward the door. "Put your boots on and come with me. If yer so damn concerned about the demons, you best make sure I'm gettin' the right ones." She left the room without a backward glance.

Barb rushed over to Apple immediately to see if she was okay, easing her up off the mattress. The girl's lip was bleeding, so Barb dashed into the en-suite to get a cold cloth for her.

When she returned, Apple was standing and heading towards the door. "Thanks for this." She took the cloth and blotted at her mouth. "I don't know how long we'll be gone, hopefully not more than an hour or two…"

"If you think I'm letting you go anywhere alone with that woman, you're nuts." Barb dug around in her luggage for the heavy-duty clothes and boots she'd packed in case they got into something serious. "Go get your boots, I'll be right behind you. And keep that cloth on your lip, you don't want it to swell."

Apple opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to protest for a moment, then put the cloth over her lip and turned away.

By the time they'd been patrolling for 20 minutes, Barb was desperately trying to think of some excuse to bring Apple with them when they left in the morning. She was actually kind of horrified that Vonda taught kids Karate; she wouldn't have trusted the woman to care for a snake. She risked texting Gunn, floating the idea of a fake Slayer emergency they could keep Apple for, but with the minimal amount she could send, they weren't getting anywhere.

Ironically, Vonda's mobile phone rang with the solution to her problem. "Hello? Oh, yes, she's here." Vonda sighed and tossed Barb the phone. "Try to be quiet, in case there's anything dangerous out here."

"Hello?" Barb couldn't imagine who was calling. Maybe Jezebel?

"Hey there, Barbie-girl." Lorne's voice wasn't as cheerful as she'd have expected. "Sorry I didn't call you directly, but I somehow don't have your mobile number. Gunn's picking you up at 7:00 in the morning, and the three of you are heading straight back to LA. We have an emergency here, Jezebel's missing. We need all hands on deck."

Relief rushed in. There was the solution. "Of course, Apple and I will be ready at seven."

"Oh, no, Apple doesn't need to cancel her vacation." Lorne sounded like he thought Apple wouldn't want to come back.

"Can I text you at this number? So you'll have my contact for the future?" She ignored him, knowing exactly what text she would send.

"Umm, no, sweet cheeks. Have you got a pen or something? I'll give you the number."

Barb got her cell out of her pocket and entered Lorne's contact, then made sure to hang up the call so Vonda couldn't ask him any questions, before texting. "Vonda's bad. We should call Council. Apple loves J, she'll want to help. Talk tomorrow."

She shoved her phone back into its spot and schooled her face the way she used to when entering a new base school. "Sorry to break up the party, but we've been recalled. Apple won't be able to stay this summer. We'd better go pack, our ride comes at 7:00 am."

Vonda's eyes narrowed. "If you have some kind of Slayer emergency in LA, maybe I should join you."

"Oh, but if you're on duty here, you can't leave your post. What would your section head say?" Barb kept her face as innocent as possible. "Apple's not just a fighter, she's a very talented researcher. Our section is small, so her skills are valuable. I'm sorry, we just can't spare her." She grabbed the teen's arm and turned back toward the car. "We should hurry and get back, or we won't get much sleep tonight."