Jeffery paused for a minute, then he selected Diet Coke. That seemed like a Harmony sort of drink. "I'm afraid they don't offer that beverage," he joked, handing her the cold can. Then he picked regular, sugar-packed Coke for himself.
Getting serious, he looked into her blue eyes and said, "I won't. Or... I'll try not to. I promise." Trying a smile, he added, "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily twice!"
Harmony inwardly sighed. He didn't get it. The 'hero' types hardly ever did. But, she didn't want to get into an arguement with him today. Today was the day to savour that he was back in her life.
"Just promise me to be careful." she said before deciding the change the mood a little. Even though she hadn't meant to, the conversation had so far been rather singular. Harmony thought it was best to expand on that.
"How's Amy been?"
Jeffery smiled a little, thinking of his sister. "She has her good days, and her bad days. We both do since Dad... you know. But it's getting better. And she has Doyle now. They've been dating for, what, four months now? When I volunteered to come with Aidan and Faith to Roswell, she decided to come with me, and he decided to come with her." He shrugged one shoulder. "We're working on the family thing."
He noticed a small, empty table in the corner and escorted Harmony over to it. Ever the gentleman, he pulled out her chair for her to sit down, and then straddled one himself.
"So, how are things here for you? Where are you staying? With your mom somewhere, I suppose? Or you dad...?"
Harmony suddenly remembered she hadn't let Jeffrey in on the details of her family life and why she was in Roswell. Not that they were all that interesting but she had told herself to tell him when they were alone.
"I'm with my mom." Harmony shrugged as she said it. "I should say that I share the same house as my mom. She found out my father was cheating on her and before I could breath, had decided we would be moving to Roswell."
Harmony took a breath, before continuing on the most painful part of the recent time. "My father didn't even fight for me, he let me go. I think that my mother promised him a quick divorce if he didn't contest my custody. So he didn't. And the ironic thing is that my mother hardly talks to me anyway."
She took a another sip of her drink, before continuing. "So, we stayed with some relatives when we first arrived, and then the settlement came through. I thought that we would be moving back, but my mother has decided she like it here." Harmony gestured around with her arms, emphasing the 'here' being Roswell.
"As you can imagine I had a lot to get over, including myself," she added with a little smile. "I started this new school year with a different attitude, and look what happened. I made potential friends with Liz, Isabel and maybe this other guy Michael. We may have an art thing."
"And the one thing I dreamt about since I moved here came through. I used to hate karma and fate, you know. I kind of like it these days"
Jeffery smiled at her compliment. At least he assumed she was talking about him as the thing karma had given her. Then something she had said struck home. "I knew the girl you were talking with was Isabel Evans, but you're friends... or sort of friends with Liz Parker and Michael Guerrin, too?" He couldn't help the excitement that colored his voice. Maybe Harmony was the key element they'd been looking for -- someone who could pierce the veil of secrecy of those in Roswell...
"Ummm, yeah. Liz and I ran into each other outside of Aidan's office this morning. I think she used me to get away from this other girl, but that's cool. We talked a bit and she invited me to lunch with her and her friends. And that is where I met them."
Harmony paused. Something that Jeffrey had just said struck her as odd. He knew Liz and Michael's last names. She hadn't mentioned them to him.
"Jeffrey, what is going on? How did you know the surnames of Liz and Michael?"
Jeffery hesitated for a minute. He didn't want to be the one to tell Harmony that she might be involved with the most suspicious group of kids in Sunnydale, but no one else seemed to be telling her, or warning her. Also, Jeffery didn't really think these kids were bad. He'd met some of them. Most of them had been very nice and friendly. Jeffery was still holding on to his "Max is a healer/magic user" theory. It seemed the most plausible. And maybe, just maybe, Harmony could be their inside source into finding out...
"Well, some strange stuff has happened in Roswell over the past year, Harmony. We've been investigating it to see if any of it has to do with the vapmire activities of late. We don't know a lot, but what we do know is that this guy, Max Evans, is right in the thick of it all. And his friends, Michael Guerrin, Liz Parker and Maria DeLuca, as well as his sister, may be involved, too."
He lowered his voice. "Personally, I don't think they are evil or involved with the vampires or anything." Quickly, he told her what he knew about Max, Liz and the gun shot healing. "I think maybe Max is a healer. That he has magical abilities like Amy and I do, but he just doesn't know that he's not the only one, so he's trying to hide them. But we have to get to the truth behind the weirdness in Roswell if we're going to stop this vampire influx..."
He looked into Harmony's eyes. "I hate to ask this, and you can say no, but if you are already friends with these people, you could help me prove that the weirdness surrounding them isn't bad." He paused, breathing in deeply, waiting to see what Harmony would say.
Harmony had wanted to interject a number of times during Jeffrey's speech to her. But every time she wanted to say something he had more to tell her. Her first instinct was to say 'sure, no problem. I'm your girl.'
But as Jeffrey had taken a good deal of time to tell her exactly what was going on, a flippant response was not want she wanted to give. It was in those seconds as she really took in what Jeffrey had said that she started to think about what exactly she was being asked to do. She had only, today made a couple of potential friends in Liz and Isabel. The others maybe as well, although at this stage they had merely been polite to her. But what right did she have to spy on them, even if only to prove that they are innocent.
On the other hand she couldn't deny that Jeffrey had a hold on her. Not that it was his fault or anything. She liked to think that he felt the same hold over him. But none the less, she would find it very difficult to say no to anything that he asked. If any of the others, even Aidan, had asked her, she may have turned them down straight on the spot.
"Okay, let me get this straight. Max, Liz, Isabel, Michael and Maria are your main leads in finding out about the vampires." She really tried not to sound like she was being flippant, but she didn't think it succeeded that well. "I'm not trying to be annoying here, but it's daylight outside."
Harmony looked down. She knew that comment really didn't prove anything. "If, as you say, you don't think that they are involved..." she stopped, knowing that what she was going to say sounded ridiculous.
She started to say something else, but stopped as soon as she realised exactly what comment was going to come out of her mouth. Harmony didn't want any of this. She wanted to enjoy a normal senior year of high school. Maybe, just maybe if the Scooby Gang got to the bottom of whatever is going on, quickly, then she could get that. Of course that would mean that Jeffrey would probably leave. No matter what excuses Harmony shot around in her head, it all came back to the same thing. Either her new friends could help, or they were the enemy. The fact that she stood there trying to come up with a plausible reason that would mean her new friends were okay and Jeffrey wouldn't think any less of her, made her come to the inexcusable conclusion.
"I don't know." She looked up at him, her eyes showing how much she felt torn by what she has deciding to do. "I'll see, what I can find out, but I can't promise you anything."
Harmony felt the atmosphere had suddenly gotten cold. Not that it was emanating from Jeffrey. Just that the pleasant catching up conversation had gone. She didn't like it, and wished, not for the first time in the last 5 minutes, that Jeffrey had nothing to do with the Scoobies.
Jeffery could see in her eyes how hard this was for her. He reached out and covered her hand with his own. "If it makes you feel better about the whole thing, you don't have to actively spy too much. Just keep your eyes open for any weirdness, and then tell me about it." He sighed. "Maybe that's just splitting hairs... Rest easy, though, that we don't think they are vampires themselves. Hence the daylight issue. But they are at the center of all the weirdness going on here, or they are if you believe the tabloids and rumors. And, you have to admit from living in Sunnydale, when something looks strange, there's usually a reason why."
With a sigh, he said, "But I'm sorry I had to ask you this, Harmony. I really am." He had half a mind to take it all back, but how else could they find out the truth? He had his doubts that the others, strangers, would be able to cozy information out of the Roswell High crowd. If only there was another way...
"Okay," she replied, squeezing Jeffrey's hand tightly before letting go of it. "But I'll do it my way, and you have to trust me with how I am doing it."
Harmony really wanted to get onto something friendly before the lunch hour ended. She was pleasantly surprised at how long the lunch hour had seemed to run. Usually when you are enjoying yourself, time flies by.
"So have you heard about the festival tonight. I sort of want to go, but umm...do you want to go with me?"
"That would be good..." Jeffery's voice lowered as he remembered something. "Actually, I said I'd go to the thing and help the gang scope things out. But we could go scope together. Or you could accompany me while I scope..."
***************
Xander noticed a few teachers starting to pay close attention to what was going on and winced. This was not good.
"Look, idiot. Do you really want to start something here? Because, I don't know about you, but after school detention is not really something I have time for." Xander gestured at the teachers, bringing them to the jock's attention. "Get my point?"
Xander didn't think that the guy would listen to reason, but one could hope, right?
Surprisingly, the jock backed off. But not before having one last shot at Xander's expense. "I'll be looking for you after school, dude. I'm gonna wipe that smirk right off your ugly face!"
Xander rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, man."
Once the annoying bully was gone and the teachers had all breathed a sigh of relief and moved on, Xander turned to Cordelia and smirked. "First day at a new school and I already got 'called out' by some stupid jock." Xander arched an eyebrow. "And the day's not even half over!"
"And I thought it would be an unsuccessful day" Cordelia remarked sarcastically, reaching over to straighten Xander's shirt. Once he passed her "hasn't been beaten up" inspection she looked at him and said "So what do you think everyone else is up to?"
***************
Two seconds ago, he had been about to kiss Maria for the first time in months and now Michael found himself and said girl sprawled un-gracefully on the floor in the middle of the school hallway. He stood up slowly and placed a hand to the bruise starting to form on his cheek from where Mr. O'Shea's elbow had accidently plowed into his face.
"Ow, that's gonna hurt in the morning," he muttered grumpily, still frustrated that he hadn't gotten that kiss.
"Tell me about it." Maria gingerly touched a sore side and decided that as soon as she got her hands on Mr. O'Shea, she really was going to strangle him. Interrupting romantic moments was not the way to get on her good side, especially when said moments had involved Michael and almost kissing. She was going to beat the counselor with his briefcase.
Speaking of briefcase...
"Do you have the...the thing?" she asked.
Michael reached into his pocket, his fingers finding the freaky necklace encased in its little black box. He was relieved that he hadn't dropped it when he fell down.
"Yeah, I've got it."
Looking down at Maria, he reached out a hand to help her to her feet.
"You okay?" he asked quietly, his eyes surreptitiously scanning the hallway to make sure there were no other derranged guidance counselors around ready to knock them off their feet.
"Yup. Just bruised and battered. I'll live." Maria glared after Mr. O'Shea. "We'd better get out of here. I don't really want to be around if our guidance pal decides to do another sprint." [Or if he notices the jewelry's gone,] she added.
Michael nodded. "Yeah, good plan."
He looked around them, quickly noting that they were once again alone in the hallway. Then he looked back at Maria, who was still flushed from before. Whether "before" meant when Adian suprised them and knocked them over or when they had almost kissed, Michael wasn't sure, but he hoped it was the latter.
Never one to let an opprotunity pass while passively watching - he'd leave that to the Maxinator - Michael did what he did best. He took action.
Without another word, Michael tilted Maria's face up to meet his with a finger underneath her chin and then he kissed her... something he'd been wanting to do for quite a while now. Three months, to be exact.
She tasted of mint (which was probably from her toothpaste) and strawberries (which was definitely from her fruity lip gloss) and, most importantly, underneath it all, she tasted just like Maria's should taste. A mix of a thousand and one different things that Michael couldn't really identify, but he knew that nothing in the world - including chocolate cake drenched in tobasco sauce - could ever compare to the taste of her. His pixie girl. His Hurricane DeLuca.
Yep. He was turning into a sap. He was still Michael... but he was becoming totally Max-ified. Just like Mad Max, Michael was so Beyond Thunderdome. He was running on Maxium Overdrive.
And he was making some **really** terrible "Max" puns.
He'd have to share some of them with Maria later. She'd get a kick out of them. And Isbael would find this extremely amusing as well, Michael was sure of it.
And then, as if she was conjured up by his mere thoughts, Michael heard her voice...
Isabel was there.
In the hallway.
With them.
Which probably meant that they should stop kissing now.
[Damn it!]
**************
Aidan sat there in a daze for a few minutes, not quite believing his own eyes. He looked through his briefcase, and even his desk, several more times, but it was to no avail. The Amulet of Nerilka had vanished from a locked briefcase, in a locked desk drawer from a locked office. Either they were dealing with lock-picks, or magic. Aidan tended to lean toward the latter explanation. And there just happened to be one person extremely qualified to give him ideas on the subject right outside.
Taking care not to go down the hallway he'd run through like a maniac before, Aidan made it back outside without running down any more students, and without seeing Maria and Michael again. He looked around for Faith, but he didn't see her. Knowing Faith, she had either split, or she just did not want to be seen, something a Slayer could do much more easily than normal humans.
Aidan hurried over to the tree under which he'd left Willow. When he got to the red head's side, he said bluntly, "The amulet's gone. Someone has stolen it right out of my office."
***************
After leaving Jessica in the cafeteria, Isabel had no idea where she was going to. Heading back out to the bleachers was out. She wanted to have a one on one talk with Liz later on, but now was not the time. She really wanted her friendship with Liz. She was the only one she felt comfortable talking to about everything. The guys were guys and Maria. Well, as loyal and sweet as she was, Isabel just could never see her as the Agony Aunt.
As she came round the corner she came across Michael and Maria in the middle of the hallway. She hadn't talked to them since Michael had let her know just how much he felt let down by Max and Isabel's desertion over the summer.
"Hey," she said simply as an opening. She didn't know if she would be welcomed or not.
Michael quickly took a step back from Maria, wiping his mouth on his shirt sleeve to remove any lingering traces of her lip gloss that Isabel might notice. He wondered if she'd seen them in a lip lock or if they'd broken apart in time. Michael didn't really care if Izzy knew that he and Maria were back together. He was actually in favor of being up front about the whole thing with their friends A.S.A.P. But Maria hadn't said anything about telling people about them just yet, so he was trying to be good and wait for her to be ready. Which was so *not* a Michael thing to do. Waiting. Ugh. But he was making a concentrated effort, so that had to count for something, right?
Still, his hand inevitably found its way back to Maria's and he gave her hand a quick squeeze. His fingers intertwined with hers, keeping her smaller hand safely tucked away in his larger one. He was already forumlating plans to get them alone later and wondering if the eraser room was free. But he made himself calm down. He needed to be nice to Izzy. Even though Michael didn't want to pursue that whole destiny thing with her as his chosen mate, she was still family in a sense. And he did want things to be OK between them again. This whole angsty silence thing was brutal.
"Hi, Is," he replied with his usual trademarked smirk. "What's up?"
Isabel paused wondering how to say this without sounding too paranoid. "Umm look, this may not be the best place to talk about this, but there is something strange going on with all of these new people."
"What do you mean?" Michael asked, getting down to business immediately. "Has something happened that I don't know about?"
Michael thought about the weird necklace in his pocket and the files he'd seen on Mr. O'Shea's desk and frowned. It looked like more than one of these new people wasn't what they seemed, if Isabel was right. Michael hated to think that their enemies had already found them. He'd been almost able to forget how it felt to be scared and looking over your shoulder every second of every day. But now that feeling of constant paranoia was returning, with a vengance. And he was really starting to resent that. If you'd asked him about it a few months ago, he would've said that the paranoia kept him on his toes, kept him stronger. But now he saw it for what it was. A weakness. Something that kept him awake at night with worry, that made him exhausted the next day. Something that kept him away from the only people he could trust. And Michael was finally starting to understand that, whether he had originally wanted it or not, the humans in his life were important. He needed them. He owed them.
[And you are really starting to get too "thinky" for your own good here, Mikey my boy.]
"Tell us what happened," he said, bringing his attention back on the conversation at hand.
"Nothing major. It just all seems a little to convenient." Isabel answered Michael, gathering her thoughts before running down the play by play. She liked Harmony and found it hard to believe that she could cause any danger to her and her friends. But Naseado's words in the cave told them to beware the consequences to their actions. Who was to say that Harmony and her friends weren't 'that' danger.
"Okay, so you met Harmony right? and you knew she knew the new Guidance Officer. Well I was having a chat with her, after I left you and this guy Jeffrey, who not only lives next door to Max and I, also knows Harmony. They acted like they were long lost soul mates or something. There was this other girl there, Jessica and she knew Harmony as well. "
"Funny thing is, I really don't think that Jeffrey and Harmony knew that each of them were in Roswell. And Harmony and Jessica have some big problem between them." Isabel stifled a chuckle at the rather cool greeting they had given each other.
"I'm not saying that they are after us, but that much co-incidence is just ridiculous."
"Wait... Jessica? She wasn't tall, blonde and perky by any chance, was she?" Michael waited to hear what Isabel had to say, though he already knew the answer. And he felt his stomach start to do flip flops as he realized that things were seriously *not right* in the State of Denmark... to semi-quote the Bard.
"Well, yeah. Add boring to the list," Isabel started remebering the fun conversation about Jello, "and you describe you to a tee."
Isabel thought for a minute about what Michael said. Which also meant she avoided reacting to the scene she confronted when she came upon Michael and Maria. She would confront those emotions later. The fact that Michael knew who Jessica was, begged the question, just how. "When did you run into her?"
"She was a friend of another newbie, the Crashdown's new short order cook. Xander Harris. He was hired to replace Jose." Michaal paused and thought for a minute. "Actually, Jessica wasn't the only one of Harris's 'friends' to show up. There were two other girls from out of town that claimed to know him. So that makes... what? Seven newcomers in just a few weeks that all just happen to know each other? Something tells me that's not just a coincidence."
Michael froze, a sudden realization coming to him. "Wait, there was another newbie... her name was Willow. She hitched a ride with me this morning." Michael remembered that he hadn't even asked to "borrow" the jeep, so he hurried on with his speach before Isabel could pick up on the fact that he shouldn't have been able to give her a ride since he didn't have a car. "...And her story was that she was the guidance counselor's girlfriend from back home, but she was our age! And she seemed really surprised at first when he announced that to everyone in the room, like she wasn't expecting it. It really felt faked. Like it was, maybe, a cover story or something..."
Isabel nodded as Michael was speaking. More and more facts were pointing towards this Sunnydale group, at least she assumed they were all from there, being in Roswell together. One thing stood out however.
"Hang on. Harmony was here last year. Its not like she made any attempt to contact us or anything. In fact the gossip was she was loner. Why was she here and no-one else. Lets face it, the others haven't exactly been hiding, if we know about them." Maybe she was clutching at straws, but she didn't want to think bad of someone who she had enjoyed talking to.
"Maybe it was her plan from the begining. Come early as a scout and watch us while keeping a low profile. Get all the goods on us and then bringing reinforcements." Michael shrugged. "Whatever it is, it's looking more and more suspicious by the minute."
******************
For some reason as Jeffrey mentioned 'scope' three times, Harmony got a song in her head.
[A Scoping we will go, A scoping we will go, Hi Ho didley do, A scoping we will go]
She had to laugh at it. No doubt causing Jeffrey to question her sanity at that point. "I'm sorry, its just...Scope!!"
She suddenly rembered that it was actually a serious subject. She looked up at Jeffrey, trying to not over do the puppy dog eyes. "I promise I won't laugh at it again."
"Not a problem," Jeffery assured her. Then he added, "So, should we meet there. Or... I could pick you up." His face brightened as he exclaimed, "You haven't seen the Camaro yet, have you?"
"No I haven't seen your mean machine yet." Harmony replied, knowing that most teenage boys take pride in their cars. "What time were you wanting to go. I was going to go to the Crashdown Cafe and meet up with Liz after school, but I can re-arrange?" Harmony asked, without even thinking about any of the bigger issues surrounding Liz.
"No, don't do that," Jeffery said. "I bet the Crash Festival doesn't really get going until late anyway. And, besides, I've got a late class and a meeting before hand. How about I pick you up at your house around sevenish?"
"Sounds great." Harmony replied, before taking a step towards him and wrapping her arms around his body.
"It's so good to see you again," she said before unwrapping her arms.
"I'll second that," Jeffery said with a smile. And it was the truth. As astonished as he would have been, say, a year ago to be this glad to see Harmony, his friend, he was.
It was with reluctance that Jeffery added, "But I guess I'd better go find Jessica. Aidan sent us on a mission, and we've got to do it before school lets out." He quickly scribbled his cell phone number on a napkin and handed it to Harmony. "Call me any time, and I'll see you tonight about seven. Oh, hey, I need your address..."
*****************
"I'm not sure if that would be a good thing or not," he answered contemplatively. They did need to get to the bottom of this, but he would far rather not have another altercation and lose control again.
They scoped out as much of the outdoor dining areas as they could and then preceeded into the school building itself, Tess still strangely unfindable. Coming through the hall doors he came up short, just stopping himself from running into Michael and Maria who had their backs to himself and Liz while talking to his sister.
"Hey!" Max said announcing himself. "Hi, Iz." He looked with concern at his sister. "We couldn't find Tess. What's up with you all?"
"Just working on some conspiracy theories, Maxwell," Michael replied. "Trust no one and all of that jazz."
Max raised an eyebrow. "Who's conspiring now?" he asked concerned looking from Liz to the hallway contingent. They really needed to clear the air between them, he realized. They had been talking villians, spies, government agents and enemy aliens, but with all the tension under running everything they'd never get anything done. But how to make it all better?
Liz made sure to keep away from Isabel, at least as much as she could, considering that the five of them were standing in a big clump in the hallway.
"Isn't something always wrong?" Liz asked softly and rhetorically. She sighed and waited for Michael and the others to fill them in.
"Not always." Maria gave Michael's hand a quick squeeze, then plowed on before she could sound any sappier. "We've been tallying up new people." She held up her free hand and ticked off names. "Jeffrey, Mr. O'Shea, Mr. O'Shea's 'girlfriend', Xander from the Crashdown, some girl named Jessica..." She ran out of fingers, but kept going anyway. "And Harmony. Except for her, they all came here around the same time."
She looked over at Isabel, suddenly feeling extremely charitable toward the other girl. She couldn't have missed the kiss, but thankfully she had gone with the tactful side of the Force and left that sticky issue alone for now. "Michael found something," she added quietly, "but we should probably find somewhere less open before we show you."
Isabel gave Maria a small smile. She was very relieved that Maria seemed to be holding no lasting animosity towards her over Alex. But before she could respond, her brother seemed to be wanting them to move.
Max's eyes widened at the lengthy tally of newcomers. Roswell wasn't all that exciting. It was the middle of nowhere in a sparsely populated desert state. It wasn't on I-20, the main route from California to Texas and points east, nor was it anywhere near nostalgic Route 66. People weren't exactly flocking to live here. Except that all these people kept showing up.
He took stock of where they were and contemplated the closest place they could be undisturbed. The band room door beaconed, and remembering a day a lifetime and a soul's breath ago, led them inside.
****************
Amy found an out of the way table to unobtrusively observe the goings on in the cafeteria. Most obvious and, to her, distrubing was the fight brewing between a random no-neck and the newly arrived Xander and Cordelia. A lunchroom brawl was not a great way to be subtle. Amy wracked her brain for a spell to quietly difuse the situation. It was all about emotion and she had found a great druidic spell while in Ireland to alter emotional states in others. She quickly recalled the words and muttered them under her breath, hoping no one noticed her talking to herself.
The jock was fairly clueless and driven mainly by emotion rather than his intellect. She was only able to tone down his irrational hatred for Xander rather than remove it. It was enough to get him to back down at any rate.
Amy thought to go talk to Xander and Cordelia when she noticed her brother in the corner talking to Harmony. She was shocked to see the blonde here, but very glad, if only for Jeffery's sake. He had been worried about her.
She walked up to the table and dropped a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Aren't you a little old for high school?" she inquired teasingly.
"Hey, Aim," Jeffery said, turning from Harmony to give his sister a hug. "Gosh it's been... well..." He checked his watch. "Minutes and minutes since I saw you last." He couldn't stop himself from smiling when he told her, "Look who I found. She's been in Roswell all this time. Isn't it amazing?"
"It is!" Amy agreed. "Hi, Harmony! How are things?" Amy briefly shot her brother a look and noticed the almost dopey grin on his face. She wondered briefly if he'd been suffering slings and arrows of a different sort than Hamlet had been referring to. Something more along the lines of Cupid's darts. There would be time enough to quiz him on that later. For the moment she smiled pleasantly at Harmony and listened attentively for her response.
"Hey, Amy, things are great," Harmony answered her with a smile. "Who'd ave thought Roswell, New Mexico" Harmony continued empahising her shock that this place had produced such a wonderful surprise.
She reached into her bag and pulled out a pen and piece of paper, quickly scribbling her address and phone number on it. "Here it is," she said as she handed it to Jeffrey.
Jeffery took the paper and slid it into the bill holder in his wallet. He wouldn't be able to lose it that way.
"Thanks," he told her. Then he glanced around the cafeteria. To both girls, he said, "Not that I mind hanging out with the two loveliest girls at West Roswell High, but does anyone know where Jessica went? We're supposed to be on this mission for Aidan, but I kind of lost track of her..."
'He had to mention her, didn't he?' Harmony thought.
It was bad enough that even in a new town, she couldn't escape the one person that brought out the inner bitca, even if Harmony was trying her hardest not to let that side of her show. To Harmony it was just one more reason to look upon Jessica Anderson as someone who takes delight in intruding into her life. She actually couldn't remember what caused the animosity between them. It was years ago. But the disdain she felt whenever she heard the name, or saw Jessica Anderson was tangible. It wasn't something that was going to go away without a lot of effort. Problem was, Harmony couldn't see past her feelings to consider and chance of a thawing in relations.
The fact that she was working with Jeffrey, just added fuel to that fire. She didn't miss the fact that Jeffrey had noticed the feud between the two of them earlier. He didn't like it. And like most things, she found it difficult to do anything that Jeffrey didn't like.
"I haven't seen her since we came inside," Harmony responded, inwardly smiling at Jessica's absence.
Jeffery knew that Harmony didn't like Jessica. Anyone who spent three seconds with the two of them knew that. He wished that wasn't the case, but he tried not to be judgemental about it. After all, it hadn't been that long ago that he had been in the 'popular' set at school and taken great delight in tormenting the less fortunate. Just one reason Jeffery was glad that no one from his boarding school days lived in Roswell, New Mexico. He wouldn't want people to know more about the jerk he used to be than they already did from the story about his ex-girlfriend and the head master's totaled car, and in memories from his junior high days.
"I'll have to find her soon," he said quietly, "if we're going to get Aidan's mission done before my class." He grinned at Amy. "I know you wouldn't approve of me cutting class on the first day..."
"Jeffrey!" Jessica elbowed her way past a couple of jocks and a janitor. "There you are. I hate being so short." She gave Amy a quick smile and Harmony a slightly more reluctant one. She had no idea why Harmony hated her - or, for that matter, why she felt vaguely ill in Harmony's presence - but she was sure that it was all the other girl's fault.
"I managed to get Isabel off my back. I pulled the dumb blond." She didn't sound too happy with herself, but if it turned out Isabel was completely innocent, she would make it up to her later. "I was actually talking about watching my weight. Ugh." She gave the others - even Harmony - a mock-scolding frown. "The things I pull for you people! You better have a break-and-enter plan, Jeffrey. I don't do ditzy for no reason."
"Well, speak of the devil," Jeffery said with a chuckle. "We were just wondering where you had gone. And, yes, I've got a plan. I guess that means it's time for us to get out of high schoole-ville."
"Good. I'm having flashbacks." Jessica's ever-present smile faltered slightly. She knew enough about the popular crowd to know that Isabel was probably part of it and that entire encounter had brought back unpleasant memories. She hadn't been part of that mad scramble for position and power because, well, it seemed to come naturally to her, but that didn't make the fact that she had been remotely connected to it any easier to think about.
Jeffery knocked his sister a kiss on the cheek, and thought about doing the same to Harmony, but somehow that felt a little odd, so he didn't. Instead, he just smiled at her, and said, "I'll catch you later." To Amy, he added, "And I'll see you at home."
"Yeah, see ya," Harmony responded with less than full enthusiasm.
Then he turned and headed toward the nearest door that would let them out of the school, and held it open so Jessica could walk through.
Harmony felt a deep whole envelope her as she watched Jeffrey walk out with Jessica. She knew that she didn't have a choice. She still had the rest of the day's classes to attend and Jeffrey had his little Scooby Gang activities,not to mention University to worry about. It was just that she had felt the full gamut of emotions in the last 10 minutes, and now she felt empty.
She probably would have wandered off in a daze to the next class, if it wasn't for part of her brain reminding her that Amy was still there. Shaking her head slightly, to clear her thoughts she turned back to face Jeffrey's sister.
"So. Bit of a surprise, hey? What class do you have next?"
"Oh! uh.." Amy trailed off as she dug her schedule out of her backpack. "Music Appreciation. What joy! And you?"
"Nothing that sounds that interesting. Biology." Harmony smirked a little. "Sometimes I wish that I hadn't decided to apply myself this year."
Looking at the class that she was in, Harmony realised that she had a little walk to her new class, and with lunch about to end, she thought it best to get underway.
"I should get going. I'll see you late okay?"
Harmony placed her schedule back into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, before walking out of the cafeteria.
Due to a number of factors, the main one being her attention being soley focussed on Jeffrey and the other one, the direction she was facing, Harmony didn't see Xander Harris or Cordelia Chase in the cafeteria. Which was probably a good thing. She may hatge the ground Jessica Anderson walks on, but it had a slighty impersonal edge to it. With Xander, and more importantly Cordelia, it had a personal edge, a personal history. And those personal histories were not all that friendly.
After a few minutes, Harmony reached the classroom and waited for the next period to start. All the time, waiting for the afternoon classes to fly by. She had plans to meet Liz at the Crashdown after school and then Jeffrey for the festival tonight.
She smiled to herself. All in all, it had been a very good day so far.
*************
When Willow didn't say anything -- he had expected shock or anger or *something* -- Aidan turned to look for Faith. This had to have something to do with whatever she had sensed... Didn't it?
But the Slayer had vanished just as silently as she had appeared. Aidan swore under his breath. How had he let this happen? He'd done everything right, or so he'd thought. Apparently three locks weren't enough. But if three locks weren't enough, then how many were needed? Four? Fifteen? A Million?
Looking point blank at Willow, Aidan said, "Right before I found out the amulet was gone -- despite being locked in my office, in my locked briefcase inside my locked desk drawer -- Faith told me something f****d up, her words, had gone inside the school. I don't know what she meant by that, and now she's gone. I don't suppose you have any nifty spells saved up that could help us find the amulet, or the evil or some combination of the above...?"
Willow was in shock, so much so that she couldn't even form words. The amulet of Nerilka was gone? How could this be?
Finally gaining control of herself again - she found her center, harnessed her "chi" or whatever the PC term was these days - Willow spoke up in a sad voice. "I don't even know where to begin, Aidan. I'd planned on putting a magical homing beacon of sorts on the amulet tonight, which would have helped us emensely in our current predicament, but I can't do much about missed opprotunities now. And there really isn't any other spell that would accomplish what we need... at least not that I know of. I guess we'll just have to do this investigation the old fashioned way. Formulate a list of suspects, see who had motive, opprotunity, etc. Use deductive reasoning, just like Holmes."
"Gee," Aidan said sarcastically, "do I get to wear a wire?" Instantly regretting his tone, he apologized to Willow. "I'm sorry. I'm just really freaked out about this. But I guess you're right. What other choice to we have." He reached down and started unwrapping one of Willow's sandwiches. He wasn't very hungry any more, but he needed something to do with his hands, and, intellectually, he knew his body needed fuel.
"So," he said, "you've done this sort of thing before, huh? Any ideas on where to start?"
**************
Somehow the fact that the whole gang new about the strangers, brought the reality of it crashing home to Isabel. Until then she had been trying to tell herself that it wasn't as bad as it could be. But the look on Max's face, and Maria's words that Michael has found something as well made it all so real.
She wondered if they would ever be safe. They used to be. Back just over a year ago. No-one was searching for them. They were anonymous. But Max fell in love with Liz years ago and Isabel knew her brother. There was no way he would have let her die. Deep down, no matter how much Isabel still longed for how they were safe before Max's heroics, she did not want Liz to die.
As they entered the band room, it became obvious again just how much Isabel was on the outside. Michael and Maria seemed to have patched up their differences, while it was obvious from the looks Max and Liz through each other that there was no lessening of the feelings between them, even if on the surface it seemed different. And that left Isabel by herself. And the one possible 'new' friend she had made today, may want her dead.
'Great, just absolutely, fricken great,' she thought to herself, as she waited for Max to decide what he wanted to do. After all he was 'The leader'.
Michael followed everyone into the band room, briefly wondering if anyone aside from Isabel had even noticed that he and Maria were holding hands and had been for a while. But seeing as he was the bearer of the bad news, Michael decided that was a question better left for another time.
"So... should I start with the good news, the bad news or the freakish news?"
"Just tell us what happened, Michael." Max suggested with a touch of impatience.
"No need to be snippy, Maximus," Michael replied, starting to feel a little annoyed. Here was the guy who had pretty much ignored him all summer and now he was going to just start bossing him around, playing the role of the leader without even a "Hi, Michael. How have you been? Haven't seen you lately" to break the ice? How rude. "I was just trying to lighten the mood."
Isabel raised an eyebrow at her brothers words. She could understand Max wanting to know what was going on, but Isabel also knew that Michael was trying to lighten the situation, before telling them all we may have a whole squad in town after us. Given that she already knew that part, Isabel was tempted to ask for the 'good news', although she hoped that wouldn't be Michael proclaiming him and Maria are back together. That was just too 'good' for her at the moment.
"The sudden influx of new people to Roswell. Surprise, surprise, they all know each other." Isabel stated with a great deal of sarcasm, emphasing how they shouldn't really be surprised.
Liz had followed them all dutifully back into the band room, but she was having trouble concentrating on the meeting. Loads of new strangers, yes, she got that, but somehow she just couldn't focus on it all right now. She looked around the band room, remembering the day, so long ago, that she'd cornered Max in here and demanded he tell her the truth about the silver handprint on her stomach. Had it been whole year already? Yes, it had. She ran her finger over the big drum in the corner, remembering with a smile how Kyle had been playing it for no good reason (he wasn't in the bad) when they'd walked into the room. Then she pushed Kyle out of her mind. She'd been so mean to him back then. She hated to think how she'd used him, even if it was for a good cause.
Then something somebody had said struck a chord in her brain. "Hold on," Liz spoke up suddenly. "Xander didn't just get to town. He's been working at the Crashdown for what, three weeks? A month?" She paused, and then added, "Well, that's not an eternity, but it's not like he just got here yesterday. Right, Michael?"
"And Harmony got here last year," Isabel thought she would mention that again, trying to be fair to a potential friend.
Michael shrugged. "Look, I'm just saying that the fact that we've gotten over half a dozen new people in town in the past two weeks or so, and they all come from the same town and are best friends... it's just a tad bizarre."
She looked over at him and then zeroed in on something she had missed before. He and Maria were holding hands! Right in the middle of their meeting! As if they had never broken up! Her mouth fell open a little bit. What happened to all the "stonewall" stuff and the many, many protestations Michael had given her over the summer? What about the anger Maria had to have felt? And how had it changed in the short amount of time between the start of school and lunch?
Liz managed to close her mouth and turn back to the meeting. She didn't say anything now because it wasn't the time, but she mentally vowed to grill Guerrin later... and if he didn't come clean, she would make him scrub the fat out of the grill vats at the Crashdown!
"Moving on to the really bad news... the new guidance counselor, Mr. O'Shea, had two files on his desk." Michael met Max's eyes directly when he made the next comment. "Yours and mine, Maxy boy."
Isabel felt her breath catch in her throat. If Michael had said that his file was on the desk, than she could have easily explained it away. Michael didn't have the best record at School and a Guidance Officer who actually wanted to help, could have easily looked upon Michael as a project. But Max was a totally different matter. The fact that both of their files were out, brought back unpleasant memories of almost 12 months ago. When Miss Topolsky, as the agent of a secret FBI force, was investigating them. But hadn't that problem been fixed.
"Isn't Naseado looking after the FBI. Can we contact him?" She asked hoping that there may be an easy solution.
"Now, wait," Liz said, feeling always forced into the voice of reason, even though part of her would just like to irrationally freak out with everyone else. "Michael, didn't you get your schedule changed today? Of course, he had your file on his desk. If there's something wierd here, it's got to be someone new, if anything at all. I mean, doesn't seem weird and unlikely that the FBI would send an undercover person into the same cover their previous agent blew? Even if Nacedo wasn't there to stop such a thing." Her gaze turned to Leader Max. "That is what Nacedo is doing in Washington, right? I remember watching those Senate hearings on C-SPAN. He looked like his Pierce cover was still in tact..."
"That doesn't explain why Max's file was out there too," Maria pointed out, feeling a sudden flash of irritation that her friend wasn't taking this as seriously as she should. "And that doesn't explain the other thing we found." She gave Michael an impatient look, figuring that he ought to be the one to explain it. She hadn't been the one knocked out by a piece of jewelry.
"Well," Liz said quietly, no malice intended as she stuck to her role of designated voice of reason, "I just think we ought to examine all the angels before we freak out. I mean, we are prone to suspect the worst in every situation, when that might not always be the case. I fully admit that it may be the case, but we shouldn't jump to a conclusion without all the information."
Glancing at Michael, Liz added, "But if you found some conclusive proof, then please tell us. I know that I, for one, would rather know for sure what to think rather than all this abiguity and confusion."
"I wouldn't call it conclusive proof, but it is definitely more than it appears to be."
Without further ado, Michael pulled the little, black box outof his jacket pocket. He handed it to Max reluctantly, still remembering the sting of his psuedo-borther's words earlier. "Careful, when I touched it before, some weird stuff happened. Not a vision, but something else..."
****************
"I hate playing the dumb blond," Jessica muttered as soon as they were outside of the school. "I don't think Isabel's suspicious of me now, but..." She settled for a disgusted nose-wrinkle. "Promise me you'll shoot me or zap me or something if I ever start talking like that. Do you want me to drive?"
That comment snapped Jeffery out of his Harmony-centric thoughts and brought him back to the present, which was walking around the outskirts of the school yard, back to his Camaro to go breaking and entering with Jessica.
In response to her quesetion, Jeffery widened his eyes in mock horror. "Let someone else drive my baby! Never!"
Jessica quirked an eyebrow. "Your 'baby'?" she echoed. "After that getaway this morning, you are not allowed to talk about how anyone else handles your 'baby'."
He chuckled a little. "I'm just kidding, Jess. Can I call you Jess? Anyway, I'll let you drive the Camaro sometime if you want."
"Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed to veg or something. And yes, you can call me Jess - /if/ I can call you Jeff." Jessica grinned up at him. "No Jessie, though. I don't do Jessie."
He twirled the keys around his index finger as they walked. He breathed an inner sigh of relief when he saw the red gleam of the Camaro in the distance. He hadn't thought Roswell had enough people to worry about towing a stray car, but you can never be 100% sure about those things.
Jessica waited for Jeffrey to unlock the Camero, then hopped into the passenger seat. "I am so confused," she admitted after a moment. "I don't get what's going on here. We've got Tess, who's probably a demon of some kind. We've got Max Evans, who can heal with magic or something. We've got Michael Guerin and Liz Parker, who both knew Tess somehow. And we've got vampires who think something here is worth worshipping." She blew out a long sigh. "All we need now is little green men and we'll have as much fun as we had in Sunnydale."
Jeffery hopped in the car as well, and started the motor. He planned to take a lesurely route to Tess Harding's house so as not to draw attention to their mission.
"Oh, don't forget those vampires who said the super vamps actually *are* aliens." Jeffery always had to laugh when he thought about that.
Jessica snorted. "I forgot about that. Just what we need, huh? Cult vampires." She giggled at the thought of vampires doing anything remotely culty, since they didn't seem the type.
"Sorry." He tried to get control of his chuckles. "That just always gets to me. I mean, wouldn't an alien have some place better to go than a po-dunk town in the middle of New Mexico? If I were an alien, I'd be heading for the White House, or Buckingham Palace... or at the very least, the Bahamas!"
"They crashed, remember?" Jessica held her hand out flat and had it do a vaguely out-of-control dive into the dashboard, complete with sound effects. "Then you get the little confused aliens - " or, in this case, her fingers - "walking around trying to find Bermuda in the middle of New Mexico." The little finger-alien did a sort of exasperated jump on the dashboard.
Jeffery shook his head and chuckled at the absurdity of her finger pantomime as he continued driving toward the wealthier Roswell subdivision where Tess Harding's home was located.
Jessica frowned suddenly as a thought occured to her. "That doesn't explain why we've got demons and sorcerors here, though. I mean, except for the green tourist stuff, this place is pretty lame. Why would cult vampires be here in the first place? There can't be enough tourists here to keep them all full."
Jeffery nodded. "I see your point, but Sunnydale isn't exactly a booming metropolis either. Who's to say why they would come here? They all have to be somewhere, I guess, unless we kill 'em."
"Well, that's kinda the big problem, isn't it? I mean, Sunnydale wasn't exactly big-city central, but it did have that Hellhole or Hellpit or whatever you want to call it." Jessica waved her hand at the large houses on either side of the street. "Why would a psycho blond demon hide out in the middle of nowhere when she could have Beverly Hills or something?"
She glared at the houses. "Speaking of Beverly Hills, how loaded /is/ this girl?"
Jeffery pointed to a white-ish house as they slowly cruised by. "That's the place. I guess she's not wanting for much, that's for sure!" Jeffery kept driving. "We've got to find a good place to park where it won't be too obvious what we're doing."
"Don't want to attract any attention from our friendly neighborhood sheriff?" Jessica grinned and started looking for somewhere to park. "I'd say park in that driveway there, but it's got a boat in it. Who would need a boat in New Mexico?"
Suddenly, he smiled and pointed to a neighborhood tennis court surrounded by trees. Ivy covered the court's back wall. This was one of those fancy neighborhoods that had little public areas interspersed between houses. The tennis court was empty right now, which meant the parking spaces around it were fair game. "There. No one will know where we went if we park there." He slid the Camaro into a space easily and shut off the motor. "Well, this is it.."
"I always wanted a criminal record," Jessica muttered as she climbed out of the car. "But I'm not smashing any locks. I'll let you handle the breaking part." She patted her purse, mostly to remind herself that she really did have mace in there. Demon Tess might be, but Jessica was betting pepper spray would hurt like hell no matter what species one was.
Jeffery exited the Camaro, and, for once, wished it wasn't quite so red, that it didn't stand out quite so much. This really wasn't the vehicle for subtlety. And if word got around that a red Camaro was seen at the scene of a violent incident at a diner *and* near the scene of a break in, well... that didn't bear thinking about because there wasn't anything he could do about it now, except for make sure no one caught them inside the Harding house.
He started walking toward the house with the street number that matched the slip of paper Aidan had given him.
"Let's go around back. Maybe we can find a relatively sheltered window I can open," Jeffery said as they walked up the driveway. He spotted the gate and headed over to it. It was a simple chain-link fence, so the gate was no real barrier. Jeffery opened it, and held it for Jessica to walk through.
"Doesn't look all that weird." Jessica glanced over her shoulder and tried to walk non-chalantly. She managed a sort of confident saunter. "Kind of upper-classy in a psycho-bitch-demon sort of way." She walked up to the back door and, just in case, tried to knob. No such luck. The thing was locked. A quick test of the basement window proved equally fruitless.
"Okay, magic-boy," she said, sitting back on her heels and wiping basement-window dust off of her hands. "Your turn."
***************
"That's not alien," Liz announced positively as she gazed at the necklace. "Look at that amulet... It's more mystical... Those symbols aren't like the one on that necklace Isabel found at Atherton's. They're more like something found in old Earth societies." She glanced at Maria. "Remember that time you dragged me to see your mom's psychic? She had junk like this all over her shop, trying to sell it for protection or love spells. They don't work!"
Realizing that everyone was staring at her, Liz blushed. "Not that I... um... ever bought one. I just looked at them!"
Michael rolled his eyes at Liz, but didn't comment on the love spell remark.
Michael looked back at the necklace, still in inside the box that Max was now holding. "I don't know what it is, but I do know that when I touched it, I saw things. It's hard to describe it... it was... intense. Out of control. I didn't like it."
Michael was suddenly reminded of the night when he broken up with Maria at the old soap factory. He'd used almost the exact same words then. He told her that he didn't want to get 'intense' because he had to be alone.
Michael felt a surge of guilt every time he remembered the way her face had crumpled and tears had begun to pool at the corner of her eyes upon hearing his harsh words that night. He never told her, but he'd lain awake at night sometimes, when Hank was banging around the trailer and throwing plates at the walls, and he'd remembered that night with more than a little regret. In fact, he regretted a lot of the things he'd done over the years. But no one really realized that because he hid it well from the prying eyes of Roswell and the world. He had plenty of practice at hiding his emotions. Living with Hank for a decade, he hadn't had much of a choice in the matter. You never allowed that bastard to see you cry. It was too dangerous. And on the nights that he hadn't been able to hide his emotions well enough, he'd paid for it. And he usually ended up running to Max's house and the safety of the sleeping bag that awaited him there before the night was through.
Memories like those were what made Michael so proudly possessive of his apartment. It was his. A place where he was always safe. A place where people like Hank couldn't touch him.
Michael didn't have many things that were entirely his and no one else's. But he had that apartment. He had his sketch book filled with pictures of geodesic domes and Maria's face. He had that wacky "high voltage" sign made from neon lights that he'd found beside a dumpster and managed to fix on his own, without any help from Maxwell or Izzy. Sure, it spazzed out occasionally and did the blinky thing, but it worked. And it was his. And he had his motor bike, which he'd also found abandoned somewhere and started working on. If he could use his powers as well as the prefect twins, he could already have it up and running by now, but he had accepted that he was not as good at stuff like that as they were. So he was fixing the bike the old fashioned way, which suited him just fine, actually.
But, aside from those few things, he didn't have anything. Just the clothes on his back. And his psuedo-family.
Which was why he was so protective over them as well. Even Alex, who he hardly ever talked to, was under the protection of Michael Guerin, though he wasn't sure if the other boy even realized that. His five, they were all he had, and he took it upon himself to keep them safe. Which brought Michael's thoughts back around full circle. Protecting his family.
"Look, I don't know exactly what's going on with that guidance counselor and his wacky necklace, I just think we need to keep an eye on him. I want to know *for sure* whether or not he's a threat to us. And if he is, I'll deal with it. End of story."
Liz's mind started turning when Michael described what he had happened when he held the necklace. Suddenly, she had the overwhelming desire to hold it, to examine it closer, under a magnifying glass if she had one.
"Michael," she started, "can I see that thing..." Her voice trailed off when his latter comment registered. Her eyes narrowed and she asked, "Take care of him *how*?" She, the one who'd been here with him all summer, knew more than anyone else who "taking care of" Pierce had affected him. She was not going to let something like that happen again... if Michael gave her a choice in the matter.
"You know what I mean, Parker," Michael replied, a bit frostly. "If he really is a threat to us, I'll kill him before I let him hurt any of you."
Michael shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, not able to look Liz in the eyes. She, more than anyone, knew how killing Pierce had torn him up inside, leaving him wracked with guilt and self doubt. But she should also know that he'd rather die than let anything bad happen to his family. They were all he had. So if giving up another small piece of his soul was required to keep them safe, he'd gladly make that sacrifice with no thought for himself. After all - unlike the picture perfect Izzy, the brainiac Liz, the good Max, the witty Alex and the fiesty Maria - Michael wasn't going to amount to much in this life. At least not as long as he stayed here on Earth. He knew that and accepted it. His role in life was the screw up. So if anyone had to live with the pain of taking another life, it might as well be him. He didn't matter.
But he also knew that Liz, being the kind of person that she was, couldn't just let something like this go.
Softly, he said, "Just leave it be, Liz. It'll be fine."
***************
Willow reached into her backpack and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. "We make a list of our possible suspects."
Willow thought about it for a minute, and then smiled up at Aidan, pencil poised over her paper, ready to write. "OK, so first question: Faith said that something... um... strange..." Willow blushed, remembering the harsh words that Faith had *actually* used. "...went into the school building, right? So did you see anything out of the ordinary in your mad dash to your office? Anyone that shouldn't be there? Any weird or suspicious people? Anything that seemed out of place?"
Aidan thought back to the event. He'd been in such a hurry that it was almost a blur in his mind.
"No... no one was hanging about my office door suspiciously, or anything so handy. The halls were mostly empty, in fact, except for..."
He paused. This was one thing he wouldn't forget for a while. "I bumped into Maria DeLuca and Michael Guerrin in the next hallway over." Aidan blushed a little at the memory. "They seemed to be having an... er... romantic interlude, though, not breaking and entering. Though, I suppose our suspect list is short enough that there's room for two maybes. And they are on our master suspect list because of their connections to Max Evans and his miracle, Liz Parker."
Willow nodded and wrote the two names down on her paper. "Okay, Michael Guerin and Maria DeLuca. Got it. Anybody else?" Willow suddenly had a thought. "What about that Harding girl that was in your office earlier today? She seemed to kinda have it out for you... good cause for motive, I'd say. Something that Mike and his girl seem to lack as of this moment... just a thought."
Aidan rolled his eyes at the "Mike" reference. He just couldn't see Michael Guerrin as a "Mike." Mikes were jovial, booming people, not suspicious, weird-haired teenagers.
Focusing on Willow again, Aidan said, "Yes, definitely put her... if it really is a 'her'... on the list, too. I haven't seen her in a while. Who knows where she's gotten, too."
He racked his brain for a moment, trying to think of other people to put on the list. "The only other people I talked to today were the office staff, the principal, you guys at the meeting, and Harmony. No one else particularly suspicious." He thought a little more, and then added, "Well, Xander and Jeffery said that Zeke was in town. She's always a suspect of everything. Though picking locks and then locking them back... that's not her style. Zeke is more of a trashing it kind of girl."
Aidan's eyes widened. "Come to think of it, we weren't outside for very long. It would take someone really speedy to pick all those locks. Or someone with keys. Or... someone with magic. And, since I have no idea who can pick locks in this town, we'd have to add the janitor to the list..." Aidan smiled wryly. "And our suspected warlock, Max."
"Okie dokie," Willow replied, jotting the new names down along side the old ones. "Anybody else?"
***************
Jeffery reached out and placed his hand on the pane of glass in the basement window. He whispered a few words and the glass seemed to ripple. Slowly, Jeffery was able to push his hand through and into the house. His fingers felt frozen as they pushed through the glass, but once they emerged on the other side, they quickly re-thawed. He reached in and flipped the lock to the unlocked position. Then he started pulling his arm back out.
Just as his hand was coming through Jeffery thought he heard something. A loud rustling in a tree. His concentration broke and so did his hold on the spell. The window started to solidify around his hand. Jeffery jerked, pulling his hand out in time, but not without consequences. A thin cut rimmed the back of his hand from wrist to the tip of his longest finger. It wasn't deep, but it hurt like heck and bled a little. He spun around and examined the back yard, but no one else was there but Jessica. Maybe it had been a bird, or a neighborhood dog. If it was anything else, it wasn't visible.
Jessica muttered something not entirely G-rated and began to hunt for a hankerchief or a really big band-aid. She didn't understand how magic worked - probably because she was about as magically adept as the average rock - but she guessed that Jeffrey's spell wasn't supposed to injure him in the process.
Jeffery held back a swear word, and quickly pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to wrap around his hand.
"See," he said weakly, "nothing much to it..." With his good hand, he pulled open the window. No alarms went off, which surprised him a little, but maybe the Hardings felt secure since Tess was, in Aidan's opinion, a demon. "After you," he said. "I can help lower you down if you hang on to my arm..."
"I can get it. And let me go first, okay? You're wounded." Jessica knelt down and scooted feet-first down into the basement. She had do drop a couple of feet, but she managed it with another curse and a small "Oomph". The basement didn't look all that incriminating, unfortunately. It looked more like a basement.
"Looks clear," she called up to Jeffrey."
*************