Waiting for the Sky to Fall [10/10]
Previous.
* * *
Saturday (cont.)
* * *
2.40pm
"Dude," says the unicorn appreciatively, and if Brendon drifts back a step to bump his hip against Jon's, he can see it, but otherwise it's just a fuzzy afterimage that makes him want to blink and rub his eyes. They'd arranged to meet up with it once they got backstage, and so far, had no trouble whatsoever getting in to Trickfest proper and then out to the backstage area, which actually faced onto even more scenic woods, with a glimmer of the lake off in the distance.
Bob had asked during their last minute planning back at the truck-stop if it could get in, and it'd just given an extremely equine snort before replying, "Can do, cupcake." Bob had glared, although mostly at Brendon and Jon who'd made the mistake of giggling out loud.
"I'll find you," the unicorn had assured them, although it seemed to mostly be eyeing Bob, still. "I've got a good read on you all, no worries." And that had proven to be the case, too; Brendon and Ryan had been looking around the mass of people buzzing purposefully around backstage, carrying instruments and gear, shifting electronics, and wondering out loud where to start looking. Jon and Bob had been speaking rapidly to Tom just beside one of the stages; they'd caught them right before they were due to go on, and were busily updating him on the latest when the unicorn had basically spoken right beside Brendon's ear, making him jump.
"Should we split up?" Ryan asks uncertainly, once they've got the four of them all together, again, and Brendon had mimed that the unicorn was present and accounted for, not that he really needed to when it was clearly audible, even if it wasn't always visible.
"That's really creepy," Bob says, eyeing the patch of air where he thinks the unicorn is with a glower.
"Not my fault," it says, "I was born this way," and seriously, they had to cop the unicorn with a snarkiness problem, didn't they? Brendon thinks he should stop being surprised by this kind of thing any time now. "Also, I don't think we should split up."
"We might be able to cover more ground," Bob starts, looking at Jon, and Brendon bristles. He wants to find Spencer as badly as anyone -- okay, maybe not quite as badly as Bob, or at least for different reasons -- but Jon is in no shape to be changing right now, and he doesn't think a semi-conscious and feverish werewolf will do anyone any favours. Maybe when they find Spencer, if they need some more supernatural backup, but not right now.
"And how do I let you know when I sense something useful?" the unicorn asks reasonably. "I can't exactly call you."
"Ah." Bob says, and toes the ground uncomfortably. "We have to do something, though," he bursts out, "because what if you don't sense anything- and I'm probably going to go nuts if we stand around much longer, to be honest."
"Let's walk around, figure out the lay of the land?" Jon suggests, and Brendon squeezes his hand, can see Ryan lean his weight into Jon for a moment as well.
"Good idea," Brendon says loyally, and they set off. Jon's still limping, and Brendon's pretty sure that if they ever have to write up this particular adventure for Bob's Watcher Diaries, he's going to be in the cast as "crutch for lame werewolf".
They've been taking pains to stay out of the way of the crew working backstage -- more out of a desire to avoid trouble and attention than anything else -- and stepping around the various trailers and tents set up for bands. Jon is doing what he can in human form to keep his attention on any trace of Spencer that might be lingering, but Bob doesn't want them to start poking around into places where people are just hanging out until they can't possibly avoid it. They're actually looping pretty close to the back of the stage itself again when the unicorn starts - twitching is the only word Brendon has for it. It's dancing on its hooves a little, almost squirming, and it snorts and looks towards the stage, leaning unmistakably in that direction, its coat shivering a little, a wave of motion from withers to hocks.
"What is it?" Brendon hisses, and Bob asks, none too quietly, "What?"
Bob is maybe a little cranky at having to depend on Brendon, Jon and Ryan to watch the unicorn.
"Uh, it's nothing, man," the unicorn says, but it looks longingly towards the stage all the same, "I'm pretty sure it's not your friend."
"Pretty sure?" Bob asks, turning to walk back towards them, his hands out as if he's trying to find the unicorn that way.
"There's something going on near the stage," Ryan says, frowning.
"And I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with you," the unicorn repeats, but it's actually sounding disappointed.
"Why?" Bob asks again, impatient.
"Because I don't think your slayer would be having sex under the stage right now," the unicorn says matter-of-factly.
"Someone's hooking up under the stage?" Brendon hisses, half-scandalized, half-envious. "During the show?"
"Well, yeah," the unicorn says, lingering over the consonants. "It's a turn-on, right, all those people, maybe getting caught..."
"You're totally getting off on that," Jon accuses, staring at the unicorn with wide eyes.
It snorts again and gives a 'what're-you-gonna-do' type of shrug, flicking its tail restlessly. "I'm meant to," it says. "Shit, there are so many people here who're thinking about getting some, or actually doing it, and most of the ones who aren't are focused on the stage; it's a beautiful cocktail of lust and abandon, so excuse the fuck out of me for picking up a contact high."
Brendon has a sudden and uncomfortable regression back to the point of worrying if they'd made the right choice getting the unicorn involved. Maybe this is how Bob has been feeling all along. Because now they're here, it seems like it's maybe a little... flaky.
"Hey, now," the unicorn says then, "have a little faith, dudes. We'll find them." It starts to move off in the opposite direction, giving up on whatever's going on near the stage, and with a group sigh, they follow.
* * *
3.15pm
Spencer and Cassadee are nowhere near as close as he'd like to being untied and out of there when Juliet comes back in, whistling cheerfully.
"Hope you haven't worn yourselves out doing anything silly like screaming," she says, picking up a bag, and starting to walk a circle -- with them as the focal point -- around them, pouring something white out of the bag as she does. Spencer's figuring salt. If it's a ritual circle, then that's going to be a safe assumption. And it also sort of suggests that whatever's going to go down is going to happen soon. Spencer hates working to a time frame. Which means keeping her distracted is suddenly a lot more important. He'd shared everything he could think of -- the thefts, the tie in to My Chem's tour, how he'd gotten involved in the first place (well. Sort of. He wasn't exactly going to go into the whole Bob thing, or, worse, the Bob-and-Brian thing, but the highlights, sure), and what little he'd worked out so far, like who their kidnapper actually is, with Cassadee while they were working on the knots; she's in the loop as much as he is now, and if they don't exactly have a definite plan to escape, it's sure not for want of talking.
"What are you doing?" he asks again, playing more ignorant than he is. "Come on, you might as well spill, it's not like we're going anywhere."
"That's right, you're not," she says with some satisfaction, closing off the salt circle, and starting to do something arcane with a couple of candles and some chalk. "You're not going anywhere at all. And since you don't have a hope of getting out of here now," Spencer wonders what hope they'd had tied up with chains in a basement, but figures that might not be the most politic of questions. Also, he doesn't want her getting reminded to come take a closer look at their bonds now. "I may as well tell you," she says, and Spencer gets the impression she wants to show off. Grandstanding. Great, that was just what his day needed.
"Why do you need both of us?" Cassadee asks, sounding petulant. "Can't you just use him?" She nudges Spencer's shin with her foot and looks disgruntled. Spencer sincerely hopes she's acting.
"You're bait," she says baldly, and Spencer winces. This was clearly piss-poor planning on someone's part.
"Bait for what?" Cassadee asks, of course she does.
Spencer has a pretty good idea what they're bait for, and he winces as their kidnapper confirms it. "There's a unicorn, and I need it, and you two are the bait."
Cass stares at her for a minute, then whips her head back around to stare at Spencer, and then back to Juliet. Spencer's a little afraid she's going to give herself whiplash or something. "Okay, what?" she asks, a sort of open question to the room. "Now you want me to believe there's a unicorn? Seriously, what the fuck."
"You're the perfect bait," the kidnapper continues as if Cassadee hadn't said anything. "It has to be a couple, and a couple who are virgins? There's no way it will be able to resist you."
Spencer has an almost overwhelming urge to bury his face in his hands. He knows knows knows the smart thing to do would be to play along, because it's probably best for the world at large if the unicorn bait isn't going to work at all, even if it ends up with bad things happening to him and Cass when their resident wannabe super-villain figures out her brilliant plan has a couple flaws.
Clearly Spencer is not a fan of the smart thing to do. "Yeah, that's not actually going to work. About three quarters of that is wrong."
"Four quarters of that is wrong," Cassadee pipes in.
Spencer raises his eyebrows at her. "What?"
"I'm just saying, none of the assumptions inherent in the plan are actually valid, right? Unless you were saying that you-"
"No," Spencer interrupts. "So you're saying that you-"
"Well, yeah," Cassadee says. "You didn't actually think-"
"Shut up!" their kidnapper cuts in. "Tell me what's going on, or you'll regret it."
"We're not a couple," Spencer says. "And I don't know why you thought that, but if that's actually an essential part of the plan, you're kind of boned."
"Plus we're not actually virgins," Cass adds. "And I don't know why either of you thought that."
"We're talking about this later," Spencer mutters.
"You aren't my dad," Cass replies, full-volume.
"No, but your friend said," the woman says. "I heard him say you were saving yourself for your wedding night, that's why-"
Spencer groans. "I'm going to kill Ryan," he says, though Ryan might kill himself first if Spencer ever busts out the hey, so you got me kidnapped, dude. "He was joking, he knows I'm fighting with - never mind, but it was just a joke."
Their kidnapper is pressing her lips together very tightly and her eyes are sort of bugging out. Spencer thinks this is what people mean when they say someone is having an apoplectic fit.
"Sorry," Cass says, and it's insane but she actually sounds sincere.
"Don't. Move," the woman says before turning and -- there is no other word for it -- stalking out.
"Wow, stereotypical villain much?" Cass says, staring after Juliet's retreating figure with a scornful look. Fuck, Spencer is so proud of her.
"I know, right?" Spencer says, and then adds, thoughtfully, "You know why I like vampires better? Because they don't monologue me," and it's so fucking stupid, but they both laugh themselves sick. Graveyard humour, Spencer figures. If only he wasn't so fucking familiar with it.
"So. That went well," Spencer sighs, as Cassadee turns serious again and asks "Seriously, unicorns too?" over top of him.
* * *
3.30pm
As nice as it is to actually have an idea of why they've been kidnapped in the first place, Spencer is sort of rethinking the benefits of the 'get the bad guys talking so they can give away their plans' strategy. If only because rather than working out ways to use their current location to their advantage, Spencer has been finding out just how hard it is to get Cassadee to let something lie. He'd said 'we'll talk about this later' because, well, he wanted to fucking know; if he was maybe going to have to beat some dude up at a later date he'd like to know who, seriously, Cassadee was like sixteen, what was she thinking?, and also because he figured it lent a nice touch of confidence to his assertion that they were going to get out of there. He really hadn't been planning for later to be, like, now. And he was definitely only asking her now out of sheer self-defense, because before he'd even opened his mouth, Cassadee had yanked hard at another part of the knot and then said, "So, who're you fighting with? You never told me you were with anyone."
"That's not important," Spencer argues, and twists to knock his knee into her thigh. "Focus, okay? And who the hell have you been sleeping with?"
"That's none of your business," Cassadee says smartly, and looks smug.
"Teenagers," Juliet says disgustedly from the doorway, and Spencer actually jumps. He hadn't seen her coming, hadn't been paying attention. If he wasn't tied up, he'd be kicking himself for making that mistake twice in one week. Luckily, she hasn't seemed to notice they're doing anything -- both of them had frozen and dropped their wrists low as they could the second she'd spoken. "Given that that's all you can talk about right now, I'm sure you won't mind knowing there's been a little change of plans. I can use you for something else instead. Course, this might hurt a little bit more, but, well, what can you do."
Spencer goes tense. The chain is only around his waist; if he tries really hard now, he might be able to break out of the ropes if he has to. If he can get his hands free, he has to be able to do something.
"It's not going to be until a little bit later, though," she says, walking over to drop a couple of granola bars into their laps, and Spencer and Cassadee shift a little more, making sure the knots are angled subtly down, less obviously loosened, "so you should keep your energy up. You're going to need it."
She stalks off again -- Spencer is getting really sick of her penchant for dramatic exits -- and leaves them with the granola bars. Neither of them touches them -- they both want to be awake and aware if things are about to happen, because there is a definite feeling of events picking up speed now. Spencer is newly conscious of the increasing noise from the festival; it has to be getting late. Actually, talking more is probably not a bad idea. Spencer doesn't exactly want to start focusing on how little time they have left. The others have to be on their way to find them by now, he has to believe that.
"My friends are going to get us out of this," he says to her, for lack of anything more comforting. "They're good guys, they've done this kind of thing before, I swear. Like, obviously we should get the fuck out of dodge if we can, but cavalry should be on the way. I hope. Uh. ...you're not sleeping with Elliot, are you?" he adds suspiciously, because he didn't think they had that kind of vibe, but you never know. Brendon and Ryan took like four years to get their shit together, and apparently he was the only one who ever noticed them, so what does he know? Other people might be totally more stealth when they're not friends you've known since you were five.
And then Cassadee forestalls round eleven of 'no, really, who have you been hooking up with?' by ignoring his question completely, cocking her head to one side and asking directly.
"So, which one's your boyfriend, then?"
Spencer is still sort of flailing and hoping in the back of his mind it's not that obvious to everyone else he's into boys, because he still has to get through highschool and he doesn't think he's allowed to actually beat up homophobic jocks, when she goes on to ask, with way too much relish, "Is it the one with the ass?"
Spencer just stares at her until it dawns on him she means Brendon, and he chokes out "Oh my god, no," and then, "Okay, seriously, can we just figure out how to get out of here now and gossip about boys later?"
* * *
4.13pm
It feels like they've been wandering around in the backstage area forever. Ryan feels like they must have looked everywhere already -- it's not that huge an area, realistically speaking -- if there was anyone hiding, they should have found them by now. Brian's checked in and said that no one's admitting to having seen Juliet for a couple of hours, but she'll have to turn up soon, and the second she does, he'll be in contact.
The guys from Empires have ditched their gear somewhere safe and are wandering the wooded area behind the festival grounds proper, doing a search of the area between there and the lake, just in case Savanti had taken Spencer further afield than they'd expected; they've got phones and promised to check in as well, but there's a lot of ground to cover, and Ryan's progressively less and less confident that they'll be able to find anything useful in time. Hopelessness is cramping into a ball in his throat, making his chest hurt, and he hates to admit it, but he's terrified they're not going to find Spencer. That he's going to be looking back on this as the worst day of his life, and he wants to scream or cry, but that's not going to do anyone any good, so why bother?
There's another huge cheer from the main festival stage, like another band has just come on, and Ryan jumps. He seriously misses the point where he'd been planning to come out here and see bands, almost as much as he does the way he'd been wanting to shake some sense into Spencer for getting so uptight over Bob's past and had instead just had fun hassling him for overreacting. It seems like that was a lot longer than a week ago.
And then the unicorn stops dead, its head coming up to look off towards the part of the grounds where the band trailers are parked and tents set up -- they'd gone through most of them already, Bob had snapped about an hour ago and had them start to cover all those bases as well, ruthlessly using the people he knew on various crews to get them in or to at least let them snoop around some. They hadn't found anything. Brian's lurking with them now as well -- as he puts it, he doesn't have anything better to do right now, and at least no one's going to question his all-access pass.
"What?" Ryan asks, with a sigh. If the unicorn's found someone having kinky public sex again, Ryan seriously doesn't want to know about it.
"Someone," it says with relish, "is doing some serious magic back that way. I think we're in business," and it leads the way at a trot.
* * *
4.13pm
"Show time, kids," Juliet says, walking back into the pavilion. No one else has been anywhere near it; Spencer's seen a couple of people walk past, but he figures she's made some kind of preparation of the site to keep people out, magical or not. Maybe that's what she'd been doing last night.
Of course, Spencer's been preparing, too. They'd been damn close to free; one last stubborn knot and his right hand will be free, and as soon as that happens...
"Sorry," he whispers to Cassadee as Juliet steps carefully over the salt circle and turns to do something. He can feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising, which means it's probably magic; whatever she needs to do to close up the circle properly and trap them there for whatever she wants to do with them.
Seems like time's up. Lucky Spencer is actually kind of a super hero.
He takes a deep breath and pulls hard, twisting his wrist. Cassadee bites her lip but doesn't cry out; Juliet doesn't seem to have noticed, her back still to them. And now Spencer has a hand free. He and Cassadee work in frantic silence, pulling at the knots left on their other side, and just as they get those free as well, she turns, still speaking.
"No-!" she yells, stepping towards them.
Cassadee rolls to the side, out of the way, making damn sure to mess up the line of salt on the floor as she does so. Spencer gets his feet under him and manages to stand; his back's still to the column, and he hasn't exactly managed to work at the knots or chain binding him there, but he has his hands and legs free at least; she's not going to get near him to do much of anything, and certainly not with that necklace again. He feels a presence at his back, and it's Cassadee, yanking at the rope. That slithers free before Juliet's done more than advance just out of kicking range, cursing in a wild fury.
"Spence, I can't-" Cass says frantically, tugging at the chain, and Spencer remembers, right, even if she could do anything, it's a fucking magical lock.
"Get out of here," he hisses, not taking his eyes off Juliet. "Run out and get help; Brian'll get my guys, remember."
"You know it's mostly me you want," he says more loudly, trying to keep Juliet's attention on him. "I'm the slayer, she's just a girl."
Juliet hisses and steps closer again. That sword is in her hands again, and Spencer is really not liking where this is going.
"Hey!" Cassadee yells, and Spencer just barely stops himself from sagging back and closing his eyes in despair. Of course she's not going to just blithely go ahead and follow his instructions. "See how you like this," and she throws something at Juliet; it's big and dark red, and her aim is dead on, it shatters against her wrist and she drops the sword reflexively.
"Cassadee," he yells again, "seriously, go, before she can-" and Juliet's backed off a bit, rubbing her wrist with her other hand, before holding both hands about a foot apart and starting to chant. Something really ugly starts to swirl between her hands, a dark mass studded with dull spots of light, and Cassadee ducks behind a box as Juliet spins to hurl it at her. The box crumples as if it's been hit with a car or something heavy, and Cass drops and crawls towards the door, taking cover behind as many other pieces of gear as she can while Juliet starts chanting again.
Spencer strains forward, he can almost- he doesn't think Cassadee's going to avoid the next shot, and if it can do that to a metal box, he hates to think what it'd do to fragile human skin and bone.
Juliet's brows draw together in concentration, and she sidesteps a little to get a better line on Cassadee. And comes just close enough to Spencer. He breathes out as much as he can and throws himself forward, scrapes a vital half an inch further forward, the chain biting into his hips, and manages to kick out. It's a glancing blow, and it only barely connects with Juliet's side, but it's enough to shove her sideways before she spins to face him, spitting fury, and mad enough to forget to keep her distance, because she storms towards him and he gets in one really good punch -- to her ribcage, because he does practice what he preaches, thank you very much -- and then she doubles over, falls to her knees coughing, and looses the threatening mass orbiting her hands at him at point-blank range.
Spencer feels it slam into him, like he's been kicked by something huge and really, really angry, and he has time to think "Ow" for all of a split-second before his head makes contact with the pillar behind him with a crack that echoes in his ears and maybe right down to his toes and if he had time, he'd think "Oh shit", but he's too busy losing consciousness.
* * *
4.27pm
"Do you remember seeing that tent before?" Jon asks, gesturing with a jerk of his chin to a tent that Bob definitely doesn't remember being there earlier, and sure as hell hasn't searched yet.
"No," Bob says, feeling his heart rate kick up another notch into high gear, following Jon (limping as fast as he can) and Ryan and Brendon, who are following the unicorn that Bob really, really wishes he could see. Brian's a couple of steps behind him, not catching up fast enough for Bob's liking.
"Do we want to figure out-" Ryan starts to say, and then there's a loud bang from inside, and Bob pushes past him, trusting that if they can see the place now it's probably safe to walk in, and anyone inside has to be distracted by whatever's just happened. "Or we could just go in guns metaphorically blazing," he mutters, and follows.
Bob takes the scene inside in at a glance, guts turning to ice. A canvas-walled pavillion, filled with boxes, magical stuff strewn around the place, and in the middle, Spencer, slumped against a support column in the middle of a ritual circle, skin pale and his eyes closed. The sound tech Bob remembers from Thursday night is on her hands and knees in front of him, trying to get up, and Bob feels a sudden and unexpected rush of approval as the streaky-haired girl from the library -- Cassidy, Cassie, something like that, he remembers -- throws herself on top of Savanti and pulls her away from Spencer. He feels a little guilty, actually; none of them had stopped to realize she might be in just as much danger, too, but it sure looks like she's not working with Savanti, at least.
Savanti manages to throw her off, and makes a grab for a bottle out of one of the boxes near the edge of the circle. Bob figures this can't be good news, and then Jon's shoving past him, loping on four feet to skid to a stop just in front of Savanti and snatch the bottle out of her hands. He jerks slightly, and tosses his head so the bottle goes flying, smashing into the canvas wall and leaving an obvious scorch mark. Jon manages to untangle his feet and work his way under hers at the same time, tripping her before backing up fast, panting. Brendon runs to Cass-whatever, who'd rolled straight into one of the other boxes of magical gear, and both of them yelp and throw themselves behind it when Savanti manages to throw something at them from her position on the floor.
It's more than time for Bob to get into this, and he slides closer to her, managing a nice clean sweeping kick to her side which makes her freeze up for a moment, and follows it up by letting himself fall forward, using his weight to pin her in place and yelling tersely over his shoulder for someone to bring something to tie her hands with. "On it," Brian calls, and vanishes into a pile of boxes, tossing equipment aside until he comes up with his hands full of electrical cords. They're not ideal, but they'll do.
"You need to cover her mouth," Cassadee says urgently, from the side of the tent, ignoring Brendon's concerned questions and batting away the hand he has on her forearm, prodding at a slow-bleeding shallow cut, "She keeps doing magic stuff," and Bob's casting about for something to gag her with when he feels a presence at his elbow, and hears the unicorn say "Allow me."
Juliet gets halfway through a phrase that Bob recognises as a particularly nasty curse -- she at least also needs her hands free to throw any more of those kinetic energy bomblets, so that's one thing he doesn't have to worry about -- when the unicorn does something, intoning a couple of words that are very definitely not English and that he's never heard before and there's a chiming peal of noise. Juliet shrieks and a thin line of blood appears on her cheek.
"What did you do?" she cries, twisting futilely under Bob, trying to kick, and Brian and Ryan both drop flat to help restrain her.
She spits out a full incantation before Bob can get his hand back over her mouth, and he flinches back, but nothing happens. She stares too, silent for a moment, processing what has -- or, rather, hasn't -- happened, and it's like all the fight goes out of her. Bob doesn't back off too recklessly, but makes sure she's tied up securely before turning his attention to anything else.
"By the way," Brian says, standing and dusting himself off, looking down at her with absolute disgust. "You are so fucking fired."
"What the fuck is going on?" Spencer croaks from the centre of the room, and Bob feels a tension he hadn't even realised was there just snap. Spencer's moving slowly, his balance shaky, but he pulls a thick chain away from his waist and throws it away from himself as far as he can, revulsion on his face. "How come the lock's undone?" He looks over at Cass, sees Brendon helping her up, and then his head jerks around to see Bob and the rest of the guys. He looks immensely relieved, and, okay, Bob can't exactly blame him; he's pretty happy to see Spencer, too. Spencer's gaze lingers on Bob for just a few seconds longer, hungry and open, and then drops back to the floor again, noting with obvious satisfaction Savanti, tied up and seething.
"Oh, we got her?" Spencer asks rhetorically, and tries to get up. Ryan's at his side in a second -- kid can move fast when he wants to -- and catches his arm when Spencer wobbles alarmingly, helps him to sit on a box outside of the circle, and well away from Savanti. "Good work, guys," Spencer says weakly. "Can we go home now?"
Bob wants to run over to Spencer, elbow everyone else out of the way, but Ryan got to him first and Bob's willing to admit that best friends have some precedence. He forces himself to take a deep breath before heading that way, but Brian gets in his way -- deliberately, clearly -- before he can take more than a step. "We're out a sound tech," Brian starts.
Bob frowns, pretty sure he knows where this is going. "Tough luck for you," he says.
"They meant it, you know," Brian says, almost casually, and Bob sort of wants to punch him for sounding casual now. "You have a job touring with us any time you want or need it."
"I have a job here. I have a life here."
Brian snorts. "Not much of one. Teaching high school band? We both know that's not you. You don't belong here."
"I'm a Watcher, this is what I do, there's nowhere I could belong-" Bob cuts off his hissing when he bothers to look in Brian's eyes and realises he's being fucked with. "I hate you," he says, not bothering to keep his voice down any longer.
"Go check on your guy," Brian says, the closest thing to an apology Bob's ever going to get.
Spencer's still struggling a bit to sit up when Bob gets to him, Ryan propping him up. Bob shoots Ryan a look that he correctly interprets, letting Bob take his place beside Spencer. He goes over to Brendon and Jon, but not before giving Bob a look of his own. There's a chance Bob has underestimated Ryan; apparently he can actually be intimidating if his best friend is at risk.
"So I guess MCR are out a sound tech," Spencer says.
Bob blinks from the deja vu. "Guess so," he says. "How's your head?"
"Fine," Spencer says, which is almost certainly a lie. Bob knows all about slayers' special healing abilities, but they aren't immune to pain. "You should go with them."
Bob is raising his free hand to Spencer's hair, but drops it at that. "What?"
"They meant it when they said they wanted you back," Spencer says quietly. "You should go with them, they're important to you."
"More important than saving the world?"
"The Council can send me another Watcher." Bob's pretty sure Spencer is actively avoiding eye contact. "We'll be fine here. And you want to."
"Do you want me to go with them?" Spencer's sitting under his own power, Bob's hand no longer really needed for support, so Bob starts stroking it lightly up and down Spencer's back.
Spencer finally tilts his head to look at Bob. "I'm not going to ask you to stay."
"That's not what I asked," Bob says. He takes a deep breath, stalling for time, because he doesn't know how to say this. "Do you want me to go? Because I just told Brian I was staying."
"I don't want to stop you from doing anything. If that's what you want, you should go."
"Don't tell me what I should do," Bob says, trying not to sound annoyed. He just got Spencer back. "I'm not something you have to save, or fix, or whatever. I made the choice to stop, and yeah, sometimes I regret it, but... maybe I would have gone back eventually, but then I met you."
Spencer blinks owlishly. "Because you're the active Watcher."
"No." Bob rubs at Spencer's back a little harder, because he's clearly not getting the point. "Quit trying to give me an out, I don't want it."
"This isn't all better and solved if you kiss me right now, is it?" Spencer asks, and Bob shakes his head.
"I think we have to keep working on it."
"Do you want to try anyway?" Spencer's voice is obviously shaky now, adrenaline starting to ebb.
Bob blinks. "Working on it?"
"No! Well, yes, that too, but I meant the kissing."
"Any time," Bob says, leaning in to brush his lips over Spencer's, and the kiss is needy enough that it takes both Ryan and Brendon clearing their throats before they part, to see Brian standing a little apologetically behind them and saying, "Uh, the cops are- you guys should maybe get out of here now."
"We'll see you next time," Ryan says cheerfully, clearly well past any residual shyness around Brian as he walks past, his arm around Jon, who's human again, and trying to walk and button his jeans at the same time.
"Hopefully it will be less exciting," Bob growls, but smiles and claps Brian on the shoulder as he stands. "You can take care of the rest of this mess, right?"
"For sure," Brian says, "the cops are on the way, furnished with a report about some stolen property and someone acting suspiciously. And, oops, what's this?" He pulls a bag out of his pocket, walks over to the dagger lying on the ground in the middle of the circle and pours the contents over it.
"Is that blood?" Brendon asks, staring wide-eyed. "Where did you get blood?"
Brian shrugs. "My guys are prepared," he says, and makes a shooing motion. "Seriously, you guys need to get gone."
"Going, going," Bob says, and adds, ruefully, "Always good to see you, man."
"Any time," Brian echoes, and then looks at Spencer, who's still sitting on the ground. "You need a hand with your slayer there, Bryar?"
* * *
4.47pm
"Nah, I got him," Bob says, and leans down as if he's about to pick Spencer up bodily. Spencer's eyes go wide and he scrambles backwards, almost falling off the drum case. Hah. The drum case. The same one he'd been freaking jammed inside this morning. His life is just fucking nuts.
Bob sighs. "Jeez, Spencer, just let me carry you. You're exhausted."
Spencer glares steadily at him. He has his dignity, damnit. "Pick me up and I'll end you."
"Such an idiot," Cassadee's voice drifts from in front of him, where she's leaning on Brendon and looking back, rolling her eyes. "Also, where's my hug and make-out after being rescued from a fate worse than death, huh?" She looks speculatively at Brendon who squeaks, and tries to hide behind Ryan and Jon.
Cassadee sighs again.
"Spencer, let your boyfriend piggyback you out of here before we all wind up in jail, will you? Because frankly, you can explain that to my mother if it happens, and I can promise you that will be far worse than this. I swear I will forget entirely what he looks like and never tell another living soul that it happened, okay? Right, Mr Bryar?"
She is way, way, way too perky for someone who just got kidnapped and drugged, let alone into a fight with a crazed magician.
Bob flinches at her words, and then swoops down to get his arms under Spencer's shoulders and knees before he can move again, lifting him easily. Spencer sighs and then turns his face into Bob's shoulder, letting himself relax for the first time in days. "Thanks," he mutters, for Bob's ears only, and Bob just tightens his arms around him, and says, "We'll be at the car in a minute, okay? And then we'll go home."
Right then, that's all the declaration Spencer needs.
* * *
[end]
Bonus Features!:
Mixtape by crowgirl13!
Art by unluckykitty
[[ Big Bang Master Post]]
* * *
Saturday (cont.)
* * *
2.40pm
"Dude," says the unicorn appreciatively, and if Brendon drifts back a step to bump his hip against Jon's, he can see it, but otherwise it's just a fuzzy afterimage that makes him want to blink and rub his eyes. They'd arranged to meet up with it once they got backstage, and so far, had no trouble whatsoever getting in to Trickfest proper and then out to the backstage area, which actually faced onto even more scenic woods, with a glimmer of the lake off in the distance.
Bob had asked during their last minute planning back at the truck-stop if it could get in, and it'd just given an extremely equine snort before replying, "Can do, cupcake." Bob had glared, although mostly at Brendon and Jon who'd made the mistake of giggling out loud.
"I'll find you," the unicorn had assured them, although it seemed to mostly be eyeing Bob, still. "I've got a good read on you all, no worries." And that had proven to be the case, too; Brendon and Ryan had been looking around the mass of people buzzing purposefully around backstage, carrying instruments and gear, shifting electronics, and wondering out loud where to start looking. Jon and Bob had been speaking rapidly to Tom just beside one of the stages; they'd caught them right before they were due to go on, and were busily updating him on the latest when the unicorn had basically spoken right beside Brendon's ear, making him jump.
"Should we split up?" Ryan asks uncertainly, once they've got the four of them all together, again, and Brendon had mimed that the unicorn was present and accounted for, not that he really needed to when it was clearly audible, even if it wasn't always visible.
"That's really creepy," Bob says, eyeing the patch of air where he thinks the unicorn is with a glower.
"Not my fault," it says, "I was born this way," and seriously, they had to cop the unicorn with a snarkiness problem, didn't they? Brendon thinks he should stop being surprised by this kind of thing any time now. "Also, I don't think we should split up."
"We might be able to cover more ground," Bob starts, looking at Jon, and Brendon bristles. He wants to find Spencer as badly as anyone -- okay, maybe not quite as badly as Bob, or at least for different reasons -- but Jon is in no shape to be changing right now, and he doesn't think a semi-conscious and feverish werewolf will do anyone any favours. Maybe when they find Spencer, if they need some more supernatural backup, but not right now.
"And how do I let you know when I sense something useful?" the unicorn asks reasonably. "I can't exactly call you."
"Ah." Bob says, and toes the ground uncomfortably. "We have to do something, though," he bursts out, "because what if you don't sense anything- and I'm probably going to go nuts if we stand around much longer, to be honest."
"Let's walk around, figure out the lay of the land?" Jon suggests, and Brendon squeezes his hand, can see Ryan lean his weight into Jon for a moment as well.
"Good idea," Brendon says loyally, and they set off. Jon's still limping, and Brendon's pretty sure that if they ever have to write up this particular adventure for Bob's Watcher Diaries, he's going to be in the cast as "crutch for lame werewolf".
They've been taking pains to stay out of the way of the crew working backstage -- more out of a desire to avoid trouble and attention than anything else -- and stepping around the various trailers and tents set up for bands. Jon is doing what he can in human form to keep his attention on any trace of Spencer that might be lingering, but Bob doesn't want them to start poking around into places where people are just hanging out until they can't possibly avoid it. They're actually looping pretty close to the back of the stage itself again when the unicorn starts - twitching is the only word Brendon has for it. It's dancing on its hooves a little, almost squirming, and it snorts and looks towards the stage, leaning unmistakably in that direction, its coat shivering a little, a wave of motion from withers to hocks.
"What is it?" Brendon hisses, and Bob asks, none too quietly, "What?"
Bob is maybe a little cranky at having to depend on Brendon, Jon and Ryan to watch the unicorn.
"Uh, it's nothing, man," the unicorn says, but it looks longingly towards the stage all the same, "I'm pretty sure it's not your friend."
"Pretty sure?" Bob asks, turning to walk back towards them, his hands out as if he's trying to find the unicorn that way.
"There's something going on near the stage," Ryan says, frowning.
"And I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with you," the unicorn repeats, but it's actually sounding disappointed.
"Why?" Bob asks again, impatient.
"Because I don't think your slayer would be having sex under the stage right now," the unicorn says matter-of-factly.
"Someone's hooking up under the stage?" Brendon hisses, half-scandalized, half-envious. "During the show?"
"Well, yeah," the unicorn says, lingering over the consonants. "It's a turn-on, right, all those people, maybe getting caught..."
"You're totally getting off on that," Jon accuses, staring at the unicorn with wide eyes.
It snorts again and gives a 'what're-you-gonna-do' type of shrug, flicking its tail restlessly. "I'm meant to," it says. "Shit, there are so many people here who're thinking about getting some, or actually doing it, and most of the ones who aren't are focused on the stage; it's a beautiful cocktail of lust and abandon, so excuse the fuck out of me for picking up a contact high."
Brendon has a sudden and uncomfortable regression back to the point of worrying if they'd made the right choice getting the unicorn involved. Maybe this is how Bob has been feeling all along. Because now they're here, it seems like it's maybe a little... flaky.
"Hey, now," the unicorn says then, "have a little faith, dudes. We'll find them." It starts to move off in the opposite direction, giving up on whatever's going on near the stage, and with a group sigh, they follow.
* * *
3.15pm
Spencer and Cassadee are nowhere near as close as he'd like to being untied and out of there when Juliet comes back in, whistling cheerfully.
"Hope you haven't worn yourselves out doing anything silly like screaming," she says, picking up a bag, and starting to walk a circle -- with them as the focal point -- around them, pouring something white out of the bag as she does. Spencer's figuring salt. If it's a ritual circle, then that's going to be a safe assumption. And it also sort of suggests that whatever's going to go down is going to happen soon. Spencer hates working to a time frame. Which means keeping her distracted is suddenly a lot more important. He'd shared everything he could think of -- the thefts, the tie in to My Chem's tour, how he'd gotten involved in the first place (well. Sort of. He wasn't exactly going to go into the whole Bob thing, or, worse, the Bob-and-Brian thing, but the highlights, sure), and what little he'd worked out so far, like who their kidnapper actually is, with Cassadee while they were working on the knots; she's in the loop as much as he is now, and if they don't exactly have a definite plan to escape, it's sure not for want of talking.
"What are you doing?" he asks again, playing more ignorant than he is. "Come on, you might as well spill, it's not like we're going anywhere."
"That's right, you're not," she says with some satisfaction, closing off the salt circle, and starting to do something arcane with a couple of candles and some chalk. "You're not going anywhere at all. And since you don't have a hope of getting out of here now," Spencer wonders what hope they'd had tied up with chains in a basement, but figures that might not be the most politic of questions. Also, he doesn't want her getting reminded to come take a closer look at their bonds now. "I may as well tell you," she says, and Spencer gets the impression she wants to show off. Grandstanding. Great, that was just what his day needed.
"Why do you need both of us?" Cassadee asks, sounding petulant. "Can't you just use him?" She nudges Spencer's shin with her foot and looks disgruntled. Spencer sincerely hopes she's acting.
"You're bait," she says baldly, and Spencer winces. This was clearly piss-poor planning on someone's part.
"Bait for what?" Cassadee asks, of course she does.
Spencer has a pretty good idea what they're bait for, and he winces as their kidnapper confirms it. "There's a unicorn, and I need it, and you two are the bait."
Cass stares at her for a minute, then whips her head back around to stare at Spencer, and then back to Juliet. Spencer's a little afraid she's going to give herself whiplash or something. "Okay, what?" she asks, a sort of open question to the room. "Now you want me to believe there's a unicorn? Seriously, what the fuck."
"You're the perfect bait," the kidnapper continues as if Cassadee hadn't said anything. "It has to be a couple, and a couple who are virgins? There's no way it will be able to resist you."
Spencer has an almost overwhelming urge to bury his face in his hands. He knows knows knows the smart thing to do would be to play along, because it's probably best for the world at large if the unicorn bait isn't going to work at all, even if it ends up with bad things happening to him and Cass when their resident wannabe super-villain figures out her brilliant plan has a couple flaws.
Clearly Spencer is not a fan of the smart thing to do. "Yeah, that's not actually going to work. About three quarters of that is wrong."
"Four quarters of that is wrong," Cassadee pipes in.
Spencer raises his eyebrows at her. "What?"
"I'm just saying, none of the assumptions inherent in the plan are actually valid, right? Unless you were saying that you-"
"No," Spencer interrupts. "So you're saying that you-"
"Well, yeah," Cassadee says. "You didn't actually think-"
"Shut up!" their kidnapper cuts in. "Tell me what's going on, or you'll regret it."
"We're not a couple," Spencer says. "And I don't know why you thought that, but if that's actually an essential part of the plan, you're kind of boned."
"Plus we're not actually virgins," Cass adds. "And I don't know why either of you thought that."
"We're talking about this later," Spencer mutters.
"You aren't my dad," Cass replies, full-volume.
"No, but your friend said," the woman says. "I heard him say you were saving yourself for your wedding night, that's why-"
Spencer groans. "I'm going to kill Ryan," he says, though Ryan might kill himself first if Spencer ever busts out the hey, so you got me kidnapped, dude. "He was joking, he knows I'm fighting with - never mind, but it was just a joke."
Their kidnapper is pressing her lips together very tightly and her eyes are sort of bugging out. Spencer thinks this is what people mean when they say someone is having an apoplectic fit.
"Sorry," Cass says, and it's insane but she actually sounds sincere.
"Don't. Move," the woman says before turning and -- there is no other word for it -- stalking out.
"Wow, stereotypical villain much?" Cass says, staring after Juliet's retreating figure with a scornful look. Fuck, Spencer is so proud of her.
"I know, right?" Spencer says, and then adds, thoughtfully, "You know why I like vampires better? Because they don't monologue me," and it's so fucking stupid, but they both laugh themselves sick. Graveyard humour, Spencer figures. If only he wasn't so fucking familiar with it.
"So. That went well," Spencer sighs, as Cassadee turns serious again and asks "Seriously, unicorns too?" over top of him.
* * *
3.30pm
As nice as it is to actually have an idea of why they've been kidnapped in the first place, Spencer is sort of rethinking the benefits of the 'get the bad guys talking so they can give away their plans' strategy. If only because rather than working out ways to use their current location to their advantage, Spencer has been finding out just how hard it is to get Cassadee to let something lie. He'd said 'we'll talk about this later' because, well, he wanted to fucking know; if he was maybe going to have to beat some dude up at a later date he'd like to know who, seriously, Cassadee was like sixteen, what was she thinking?, and also because he figured it lent a nice touch of confidence to his assertion that they were going to get out of there. He really hadn't been planning for later to be, like, now. And he was definitely only asking her now out of sheer self-defense, because before he'd even opened his mouth, Cassadee had yanked hard at another part of the knot and then said, "So, who're you fighting with? You never told me you were with anyone."
"That's not important," Spencer argues, and twists to knock his knee into her thigh. "Focus, okay? And who the hell have you been sleeping with?"
"That's none of your business," Cassadee says smartly, and looks smug.
"Teenagers," Juliet says disgustedly from the doorway, and Spencer actually jumps. He hadn't seen her coming, hadn't been paying attention. If he wasn't tied up, he'd be kicking himself for making that mistake twice in one week. Luckily, she hasn't seemed to notice they're doing anything -- both of them had frozen and dropped their wrists low as they could the second she'd spoken. "Given that that's all you can talk about right now, I'm sure you won't mind knowing there's been a little change of plans. I can use you for something else instead. Course, this might hurt a little bit more, but, well, what can you do."
Spencer goes tense. The chain is only around his waist; if he tries really hard now, he might be able to break out of the ropes if he has to. If he can get his hands free, he has to be able to do something.
"It's not going to be until a little bit later, though," she says, walking over to drop a couple of granola bars into their laps, and Spencer and Cassadee shift a little more, making sure the knots are angled subtly down, less obviously loosened, "so you should keep your energy up. You're going to need it."
She stalks off again -- Spencer is getting really sick of her penchant for dramatic exits -- and leaves them with the granola bars. Neither of them touches them -- they both want to be awake and aware if things are about to happen, because there is a definite feeling of events picking up speed now. Spencer is newly conscious of the increasing noise from the festival; it has to be getting late. Actually, talking more is probably not a bad idea. Spencer doesn't exactly want to start focusing on how little time they have left. The others have to be on their way to find them by now, he has to believe that.
"My friends are going to get us out of this," he says to her, for lack of anything more comforting. "They're good guys, they've done this kind of thing before, I swear. Like, obviously we should get the fuck out of dodge if we can, but cavalry should be on the way. I hope. Uh. ...you're not sleeping with Elliot, are you?" he adds suspiciously, because he didn't think they had that kind of vibe, but you never know. Brendon and Ryan took like four years to get their shit together, and apparently he was the only one who ever noticed them, so what does he know? Other people might be totally more stealth when they're not friends you've known since you were five.
And then Cassadee forestalls round eleven of 'no, really, who have you been hooking up with?' by ignoring his question completely, cocking her head to one side and asking directly.
"So, which one's your boyfriend, then?"
Spencer is still sort of flailing and hoping in the back of his mind it's not that obvious to everyone else he's into boys, because he still has to get through highschool and he doesn't think he's allowed to actually beat up homophobic jocks, when she goes on to ask, with way too much relish, "Is it the one with the ass?"
Spencer just stares at her until it dawns on him she means Brendon, and he chokes out "Oh my god, no," and then, "Okay, seriously, can we just figure out how to get out of here now and gossip about boys later?"
* * *
4.13pm
It feels like they've been wandering around in the backstage area forever. Ryan feels like they must have looked everywhere already -- it's not that huge an area, realistically speaking -- if there was anyone hiding, they should have found them by now. Brian's checked in and said that no one's admitting to having seen Juliet for a couple of hours, but she'll have to turn up soon, and the second she does, he'll be in contact.
The guys from Empires have ditched their gear somewhere safe and are wandering the wooded area behind the festival grounds proper, doing a search of the area between there and the lake, just in case Savanti had taken Spencer further afield than they'd expected; they've got phones and promised to check in as well, but there's a lot of ground to cover, and Ryan's progressively less and less confident that they'll be able to find anything useful in time. Hopelessness is cramping into a ball in his throat, making his chest hurt, and he hates to admit it, but he's terrified they're not going to find Spencer. That he's going to be looking back on this as the worst day of his life, and he wants to scream or cry, but that's not going to do anyone any good, so why bother?
There's another huge cheer from the main festival stage, like another band has just come on, and Ryan jumps. He seriously misses the point where he'd been planning to come out here and see bands, almost as much as he does the way he'd been wanting to shake some sense into Spencer for getting so uptight over Bob's past and had instead just had fun hassling him for overreacting. It seems like that was a lot longer than a week ago.
And then the unicorn stops dead, its head coming up to look off towards the part of the grounds where the band trailers are parked and tents set up -- they'd gone through most of them already, Bob had snapped about an hour ago and had them start to cover all those bases as well, ruthlessly using the people he knew on various crews to get them in or to at least let them snoop around some. They hadn't found anything. Brian's lurking with them now as well -- as he puts it, he doesn't have anything better to do right now, and at least no one's going to question his all-access pass.
"What?" Ryan asks, with a sigh. If the unicorn's found someone having kinky public sex again, Ryan seriously doesn't want to know about it.
"Someone," it says with relish, "is doing some serious magic back that way. I think we're in business," and it leads the way at a trot.
* * *
4.13pm
"Show time, kids," Juliet says, walking back into the pavilion. No one else has been anywhere near it; Spencer's seen a couple of people walk past, but he figures she's made some kind of preparation of the site to keep people out, magical or not. Maybe that's what she'd been doing last night.
Of course, Spencer's been preparing, too. They'd been damn close to free; one last stubborn knot and his right hand will be free, and as soon as that happens...
"Sorry," he whispers to Cassadee as Juliet steps carefully over the salt circle and turns to do something. He can feel the hairs on the back of his neck rising, which means it's probably magic; whatever she needs to do to close up the circle properly and trap them there for whatever she wants to do with them.
Seems like time's up. Lucky Spencer is actually kind of a super hero.
He takes a deep breath and pulls hard, twisting his wrist. Cassadee bites her lip but doesn't cry out; Juliet doesn't seem to have noticed, her back still to them. And now Spencer has a hand free. He and Cassadee work in frantic silence, pulling at the knots left on their other side, and just as they get those free as well, she turns, still speaking.
"No-!" she yells, stepping towards them.
Cassadee rolls to the side, out of the way, making damn sure to mess up the line of salt on the floor as she does so. Spencer gets his feet under him and manages to stand; his back's still to the column, and he hasn't exactly managed to work at the knots or chain binding him there, but he has his hands and legs free at least; she's not going to get near him to do much of anything, and certainly not with that necklace again. He feels a presence at his back, and it's Cassadee, yanking at the rope. That slithers free before Juliet's done more than advance just out of kicking range, cursing in a wild fury.
"Spence, I can't-" Cass says frantically, tugging at the chain, and Spencer remembers, right, even if she could do anything, it's a fucking magical lock.
"Get out of here," he hisses, not taking his eyes off Juliet. "Run out and get help; Brian'll get my guys, remember."
"You know it's mostly me you want," he says more loudly, trying to keep Juliet's attention on him. "I'm the slayer, she's just a girl."
Juliet hisses and steps closer again. That sword is in her hands again, and Spencer is really not liking where this is going.
"Hey!" Cassadee yells, and Spencer just barely stops himself from sagging back and closing his eyes in despair. Of course she's not going to just blithely go ahead and follow his instructions. "See how you like this," and she throws something at Juliet; it's big and dark red, and her aim is dead on, it shatters against her wrist and she drops the sword reflexively.
"Cassadee," he yells again, "seriously, go, before she can-" and Juliet's backed off a bit, rubbing her wrist with her other hand, before holding both hands about a foot apart and starting to chant. Something really ugly starts to swirl between her hands, a dark mass studded with dull spots of light, and Cassadee ducks behind a box as Juliet spins to hurl it at her. The box crumples as if it's been hit with a car or something heavy, and Cass drops and crawls towards the door, taking cover behind as many other pieces of gear as she can while Juliet starts chanting again.
Spencer strains forward, he can almost- he doesn't think Cassadee's going to avoid the next shot, and if it can do that to a metal box, he hates to think what it'd do to fragile human skin and bone.
Juliet's brows draw together in concentration, and she sidesteps a little to get a better line on Cassadee. And comes just close enough to Spencer. He breathes out as much as he can and throws himself forward, scrapes a vital half an inch further forward, the chain biting into his hips, and manages to kick out. It's a glancing blow, and it only barely connects with Juliet's side, but it's enough to shove her sideways before she spins to face him, spitting fury, and mad enough to forget to keep her distance, because she storms towards him and he gets in one really good punch -- to her ribcage, because he does practice what he preaches, thank you very much -- and then she doubles over, falls to her knees coughing, and looses the threatening mass orbiting her hands at him at point-blank range.
Spencer feels it slam into him, like he's been kicked by something huge and really, really angry, and he has time to think "Ow" for all of a split-second before his head makes contact with the pillar behind him with a crack that echoes in his ears and maybe right down to his toes and if he had time, he'd think "Oh shit", but he's too busy losing consciousness.
* * *
4.27pm
"Do you remember seeing that tent before?" Jon asks, gesturing with a jerk of his chin to a tent that Bob definitely doesn't remember being there earlier, and sure as hell hasn't searched yet.
"No," Bob says, feeling his heart rate kick up another notch into high gear, following Jon (limping as fast as he can) and Ryan and Brendon, who are following the unicorn that Bob really, really wishes he could see. Brian's a couple of steps behind him, not catching up fast enough for Bob's liking.
"Do we want to figure out-" Ryan starts to say, and then there's a loud bang from inside, and Bob pushes past him, trusting that if they can see the place now it's probably safe to walk in, and anyone inside has to be distracted by whatever's just happened. "Or we could just go in guns metaphorically blazing," he mutters, and follows.
Bob takes the scene inside in at a glance, guts turning to ice. A canvas-walled pavillion, filled with boxes, magical stuff strewn around the place, and in the middle, Spencer, slumped against a support column in the middle of a ritual circle, skin pale and his eyes closed. The sound tech Bob remembers from Thursday night is on her hands and knees in front of him, trying to get up, and Bob feels a sudden and unexpected rush of approval as the streaky-haired girl from the library -- Cassidy, Cassie, something like that, he remembers -- throws herself on top of Savanti and pulls her away from Spencer. He feels a little guilty, actually; none of them had stopped to realize she might be in just as much danger, too, but it sure looks like she's not working with Savanti, at least.
Savanti manages to throw her off, and makes a grab for a bottle out of one of the boxes near the edge of the circle. Bob figures this can't be good news, and then Jon's shoving past him, loping on four feet to skid to a stop just in front of Savanti and snatch the bottle out of her hands. He jerks slightly, and tosses his head so the bottle goes flying, smashing into the canvas wall and leaving an obvious scorch mark. Jon manages to untangle his feet and work his way under hers at the same time, tripping her before backing up fast, panting. Brendon runs to Cass-whatever, who'd rolled straight into one of the other boxes of magical gear, and both of them yelp and throw themselves behind it when Savanti manages to throw something at them from her position on the floor.
It's more than time for Bob to get into this, and he slides closer to her, managing a nice clean sweeping kick to her side which makes her freeze up for a moment, and follows it up by letting himself fall forward, using his weight to pin her in place and yelling tersely over his shoulder for someone to bring something to tie her hands with. "On it," Brian calls, and vanishes into a pile of boxes, tossing equipment aside until he comes up with his hands full of electrical cords. They're not ideal, but they'll do.
"You need to cover her mouth," Cassadee says urgently, from the side of the tent, ignoring Brendon's concerned questions and batting away the hand he has on her forearm, prodding at a slow-bleeding shallow cut, "She keeps doing magic stuff," and Bob's casting about for something to gag her with when he feels a presence at his elbow, and hears the unicorn say "Allow me."
Juliet gets halfway through a phrase that Bob recognises as a particularly nasty curse -- she at least also needs her hands free to throw any more of those kinetic energy bomblets, so that's one thing he doesn't have to worry about -- when the unicorn does something, intoning a couple of words that are very definitely not English and that he's never heard before and there's a chiming peal of noise. Juliet shrieks and a thin line of blood appears on her cheek.
"What did you do?" she cries, twisting futilely under Bob, trying to kick, and Brian and Ryan both drop flat to help restrain her.
She spits out a full incantation before Bob can get his hand back over her mouth, and he flinches back, but nothing happens. She stares too, silent for a moment, processing what has -- or, rather, hasn't -- happened, and it's like all the fight goes out of her. Bob doesn't back off too recklessly, but makes sure she's tied up securely before turning his attention to anything else.
"By the way," Brian says, standing and dusting himself off, looking down at her with absolute disgust. "You are so fucking fired."
"What the fuck is going on?" Spencer croaks from the centre of the room, and Bob feels a tension he hadn't even realised was there just snap. Spencer's moving slowly, his balance shaky, but he pulls a thick chain away from his waist and throws it away from himself as far as he can, revulsion on his face. "How come the lock's undone?" He looks over at Cass, sees Brendon helping her up, and then his head jerks around to see Bob and the rest of the guys. He looks immensely relieved, and, okay, Bob can't exactly blame him; he's pretty happy to see Spencer, too. Spencer's gaze lingers on Bob for just a few seconds longer, hungry and open, and then drops back to the floor again, noting with obvious satisfaction Savanti, tied up and seething.
"Oh, we got her?" Spencer asks rhetorically, and tries to get up. Ryan's at his side in a second -- kid can move fast when he wants to -- and catches his arm when Spencer wobbles alarmingly, helps him to sit on a box outside of the circle, and well away from Savanti. "Good work, guys," Spencer says weakly. "Can we go home now?"
Bob wants to run over to Spencer, elbow everyone else out of the way, but Ryan got to him first and Bob's willing to admit that best friends have some precedence. He forces himself to take a deep breath before heading that way, but Brian gets in his way -- deliberately, clearly -- before he can take more than a step. "We're out a sound tech," Brian starts.
Bob frowns, pretty sure he knows where this is going. "Tough luck for you," he says.
"They meant it, you know," Brian says, almost casually, and Bob sort of wants to punch him for sounding casual now. "You have a job touring with us any time you want or need it."
"I have a job here. I have a life here."
Brian snorts. "Not much of one. Teaching high school band? We both know that's not you. You don't belong here."
"I'm a Watcher, this is what I do, there's nowhere I could belong-" Bob cuts off his hissing when he bothers to look in Brian's eyes and realises he's being fucked with. "I hate you," he says, not bothering to keep his voice down any longer.
"Go check on your guy," Brian says, the closest thing to an apology Bob's ever going to get.
Spencer's still struggling a bit to sit up when Bob gets to him, Ryan propping him up. Bob shoots Ryan a look that he correctly interprets, letting Bob take his place beside Spencer. He goes over to Brendon and Jon, but not before giving Bob a look of his own. There's a chance Bob has underestimated Ryan; apparently he can actually be intimidating if his best friend is at risk.
"So I guess MCR are out a sound tech," Spencer says.
Bob blinks from the deja vu. "Guess so," he says. "How's your head?"
"Fine," Spencer says, which is almost certainly a lie. Bob knows all about slayers' special healing abilities, but they aren't immune to pain. "You should go with them."
Bob is raising his free hand to Spencer's hair, but drops it at that. "What?"
"They meant it when they said they wanted you back," Spencer says quietly. "You should go with them, they're important to you."
"More important than saving the world?"
"The Council can send me another Watcher." Bob's pretty sure Spencer is actively avoiding eye contact. "We'll be fine here. And you want to."
"Do you want me to go with them?" Spencer's sitting under his own power, Bob's hand no longer really needed for support, so Bob starts stroking it lightly up and down Spencer's back.
Spencer finally tilts his head to look at Bob. "I'm not going to ask you to stay."
"That's not what I asked," Bob says. He takes a deep breath, stalling for time, because he doesn't know how to say this. "Do you want me to go? Because I just told Brian I was staying."
"I don't want to stop you from doing anything. If that's what you want, you should go."
"Don't tell me what I should do," Bob says, trying not to sound annoyed. He just got Spencer back. "I'm not something you have to save, or fix, or whatever. I made the choice to stop, and yeah, sometimes I regret it, but... maybe I would have gone back eventually, but then I met you."
Spencer blinks owlishly. "Because you're the active Watcher."
"No." Bob rubs at Spencer's back a little harder, because he's clearly not getting the point. "Quit trying to give me an out, I don't want it."
"This isn't all better and solved if you kiss me right now, is it?" Spencer asks, and Bob shakes his head.
"I think we have to keep working on it."
"Do you want to try anyway?" Spencer's voice is obviously shaky now, adrenaline starting to ebb.
Bob blinks. "Working on it?"
"No! Well, yes, that too, but I meant the kissing."
"Any time," Bob says, leaning in to brush his lips over Spencer's, and the kiss is needy enough that it takes both Ryan and Brendon clearing their throats before they part, to see Brian standing a little apologetically behind them and saying, "Uh, the cops are- you guys should maybe get out of here now."
"We'll see you next time," Ryan says cheerfully, clearly well past any residual shyness around Brian as he walks past, his arm around Jon, who's human again, and trying to walk and button his jeans at the same time.
"Hopefully it will be less exciting," Bob growls, but smiles and claps Brian on the shoulder as he stands. "You can take care of the rest of this mess, right?"
"For sure," Brian says, "the cops are on the way, furnished with a report about some stolen property and someone acting suspiciously. And, oops, what's this?" He pulls a bag out of his pocket, walks over to the dagger lying on the ground in the middle of the circle and pours the contents over it.
"Is that blood?" Brendon asks, staring wide-eyed. "Where did you get blood?"
Brian shrugs. "My guys are prepared," he says, and makes a shooing motion. "Seriously, you guys need to get gone."
"Going, going," Bob says, and adds, ruefully, "Always good to see you, man."
"Any time," Brian echoes, and then looks at Spencer, who's still sitting on the ground. "You need a hand with your slayer there, Bryar?"
* * *
4.47pm
"Nah, I got him," Bob says, and leans down as if he's about to pick Spencer up bodily. Spencer's eyes go wide and he scrambles backwards, almost falling off the drum case. Hah. The drum case. The same one he'd been freaking jammed inside this morning. His life is just fucking nuts.
Bob sighs. "Jeez, Spencer, just let me carry you. You're exhausted."
Spencer glares steadily at him. He has his dignity, damnit. "Pick me up and I'll end you."
"Such an idiot," Cassadee's voice drifts from in front of him, where she's leaning on Brendon and looking back, rolling her eyes. "Also, where's my hug and make-out after being rescued from a fate worse than death, huh?" She looks speculatively at Brendon who squeaks, and tries to hide behind Ryan and Jon.
Cassadee sighs again.
"Spencer, let your boyfriend piggyback you out of here before we all wind up in jail, will you? Because frankly, you can explain that to my mother if it happens, and I can promise you that will be far worse than this. I swear I will forget entirely what he looks like and never tell another living soul that it happened, okay? Right, Mr Bryar?"
She is way, way, way too perky for someone who just got kidnapped and drugged, let alone into a fight with a crazed magician.
Bob flinches at her words, and then swoops down to get his arms under Spencer's shoulders and knees before he can move again, lifting him easily. Spencer sighs and then turns his face into Bob's shoulder, letting himself relax for the first time in days. "Thanks," he mutters, for Bob's ears only, and Bob just tightens his arms around him, and says, "We'll be at the car in a minute, okay? And then we'll go home."
Right then, that's all the declaration Spencer needs.
* * *
[end]
Bonus Features!:
Mixtape by crowgirl13!
Art by unluckykitty
[[ Big Bang Master Post]]