"Come on Ro," Faith gently slapped the watcher's cheek. "Stay awake. Don't you die on me."

"Trying…not to," the watcher whispered, her voice soft and hoarse.

"I'm trying to decide whether that was very brave or very dumb," Faith said.

"Tell me later," Rowena said weakly. Her eyes began to roll back in her head.

"Oh, no," Faith gently slapped the watcher's cheek, leaving a bloody smear that further darkened the watcher's already-red cheek. "No way in hell I'm leaving you behind now; and I'd look really bad if you died on me while I was carrying you out."

"You go," Rowena told them. "Thirty minutes."

"Nah ah, you're coming too," Faith said firmly as she placed her arms under Rowena's body. She turned back to Vi. "Get Heli."

Xander paced nervously in front of Willow, who stood leaning against the wall next to the Rec Room door, her arms crossed across her chest.

"Just a little longer," Willow said softly.

"It's been five minutes," Xander said.

"Not long enough. Besides she won't kill her," Willow replied.

"Why, because you asked her not to?" Xander demanded.

"No, because if she does, I can have her staked before she makes it out of the room," Willow said. "She knows that."

"You're leaving her in a room with a good six quarts of slayer blood," Xander told her. "Do you remember what happened to her when she drank Dana?"

"We weren't expecting it then. We're ready for it now, if it happens." She looked at him quizzically for a moment. "How did you know how much blood the human body holds?"

"Discovery Channel," he replied dismissively.

"We still have her on a leash," Willow said, "just not in that room."

"Good god, are you listening to yourself?" Xander asked frantically.

"If feeding one slayer who has a major psycho-vibe going on to a vampire will save that group inside that house, I'm doing it."

"Look, Will, I know what's at stake here but you're under a lot of stress and…"

"Don't you dare patronize me, Alexander Harris, not now," Willow said sharply.

Xander paused and looked at Kennedy. "You're awful quiet over there," he said.

"What's to say?" Kennedy replied. "Some of my best friends are trapped in a demented funhouse thanks to Marly…If she dies so be it…She's had her chance to talk."

"Should we be moving her?" Vi asked as Faith started to lift the diminutive watcher in her arms.

"Well, she won't be movin' herself," Faith replied. "She's barely conscious," she added. "How about Heli?"

"She's okay," Vi replied. "But we shouldn't dally in here. God knows what this psycho has waiting for us now."

Faith nodded in agreement. "Then let's get moving. We don't have much time."

"Is she in there?" Robin asked.

Willow nodded.

"Good, I have a team of slayers ready to go the minute we have a location," Robin said.

"Kennedy?" Willow asked getting her attention. "Start getting ready. I want you and Mia on that team. There's no knowing what they're going to run into there a-and I want our strongest slayers leading the way," Willow told her. "You might need this for the vests," she told Kennedy as she handed her the key. "Don't lose it."

Kennedy simply nodded and put it into her pocket before she jogged away.

"Do we have a location yet?" Robin asked.

"I was just about to check," Willow told him.

"I'm gonna check on Andrew," Robin replied.

Marly's hands twisted in the ropes that held her to the chair on which she sat. Her head rolled, almost lazily up to face Willow as she stepped into the room, and she looked at her through tired eyes, one of which was swollen almost shut.

Willow's eyes widened, but only briefly before her face reclaimed its air of hardened determination, and she looked over at Skye.

"Is she talking?" she asked simply.

Skye shook her head. "Not yet. I only hit her once but she went out like a light. She's starting to come around now."

Willow looked down at the slayer for a moment, an expression of undiluted loathing painted on her face before she turned back to Skye.

"Keep asking but keep her conscious," she told the vampire before she turned to leave.

Andrew frowned at the small PDA in his hand, then looked up at the computer monitor again. His eyes widened for a moment, and he tapped a few more keys on the computer's keyboard.

"Guys, I think I've got it!" he yelled out.

He glanced around the room, realizing that he was alone. "Well, that was kinda anticlimactic, wasn't it?"

Willow whirled to face Andrew as he came racing down the hallway towards her, with Robin bringing up the rear.

"I've got it," he yelled excitedly.

"Where are they?" she demanded.

"They're at E. 12th St. and Superior Ave. It's an apartment complex that they started building, then the company lost its major backers and it was never finished," the words tumbled out of Andrew's mouth in a rush. "It's been just sitting there for almost three years now."

"Perfect place to build a madhouse," Willow shook her head. "Who owns it now?"

"I don't know," Andrew replied.

"Find out." Willow then turned to Xander. "We've got to call Skye off." She turned to Robin. "Robin?"

Robin was already halfway down the hallway. "I've got Ken on the way," he yelled over his shoulder.

"She's alive," Skye announced as Willow stormed into the room. "I haven't touched her since…" She stopped as she saw the expression on the witch's face.

"Why didn't you tell us where they were?" Willow demanded.

"I told you," Marly said calmly. "They're safe."

"She doesn't know anything," Skye said softly. "If she did, she would've talked."

"She knows," Willow insisted. "But it doesn't matter because we found them."

"Are you sure?" Skye asked. "Look at her. She's doesn't look real confident about what you just said and personally. I think she's telling the truth."

"Skye, she's a nutcase," Willow replied.

"No…I've seen nutcases. She's afraid, but not of us. There's something else going on."

Marly blinked her good eye dramatically.

She quickly checked the slayer's pockets, and produced a white envelope. Marly's name had been printed on it in the same black childlike letters.

Willow's eyes widened as the envelope shook in her hands. She opened it up and Skye read it with her over her shoulder. Willow's body heaved almost as though she were about to throw up.

"Oh gods," the witch muttered.

Skye walked up and ripped Marly's shirt open, making the slayer suck in a deep breath and jump slightly in her chair.

"Oh goddess," Willow sighed.

A vest identical to the ones that the four women on the computer screen had been wearing hugged her chest. Only the timer didn't read two hours but counted down from 30 seconds.

Marly looked down to see the time ticking away.

"Oh goddess, Marly," Willow whimpered. "I'm so sorry."

"Go!" the slayer yelled. "Get out of here! Find help!"

Skye didn't need to be told twice. She bolted from the room, shouting, "Clear the hallway!" as she ran past Xander.

"Go!" Marly yelled again, which put Willow's feet in motion.

Willow was moving at break neck speed as she grabbed Xander and pulled him along. He had to race to keep up.

"Will, what–?" he asked as they ran.

"We need the bomb squad now!"

As she said the word 'now' the blast from inside the room was so powerful it blew both her and Xander off their feet, propelling them forward.

Hearing the explosion, Robin and Andrew turned to each other.

"What the hell was that?!" Robin asked.

"Fifteen minutes left," Faith said as she and Vi carried their human cargo around the corner of a set of stairs. "We don't have much time."

"We'll just have to hope that's enough," Vi replied. "I don't think we can move any faster than we are."

"Just keep going," Faith told her. "Stay alive."

"I don't think we're heading the right way. There's more steps and if we were –."

"Just keep walking," Faith said cutting her off.

Kennedy turned the key to the ignition and the van's engine roared to life. She looked confused at the gauges for a moment and then at Willow's key, which was now resting in her hand.

"What wrong?" Mia asked from the seat next to her.

"Nothing," Kennedy quickly dismissed her concerns before she drove away from the council building.

Andrew watched the four women on the computer screen in front of him.

"Anything new?" Willow said from behind him as she walked over with a slight limp, looking quite disheveled.

Andrew did a double take as he turned around to look at her but then shook his head.

"No, I just hope it was soon enough," Andrew replied. "It doesn't look like there are any more surprises for them, just time."

"You did everything you could," Willow said distantly, almost as if she weren't speaking to Andrew at all.

"How are you?" Andrew asked.

Willow didn't answer so Andrew turned to face the monitor instead.

"Okay, Andrew, we're here," Kennedy announced over the radio. "What floor?"

"I can't tell," Andrew's scratchy voice replied. "You're going to have to search the place but BE CAREFUL."

"Oh no," Vi said as the hallway dead-ended in a hard brick wall. "Did we miss something?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Faith replied as she placed Rowena on the ground. "Look."

In the center of the wall, in the same childlike writing they had seen before, someone had printed the words way out.

"No, dammit." Vi set Heli on the ground and threw her weight against the unyielding wall. "I am not dying here." The wall refused to yield to her assault. "Help me!" She yelled at Faith.

Faith put Rowena down and the two women together attacked the wall, trying to force their way out.

"Kennedy," Andrew called over the radio as he watched the screen. "Be quiet. You might be able to hear Faith and Vi pounding on a wall or you might see a wall that looks out of place."

Vi again threw her shoulder against the wall in unison with Faith. The two women grunted with the effort while the wall remained standing, oblivious to their efforts.

"Upstairs!" Kennedy yelled. "I think I heard something."

Faith abruptly ceased her assault on the wall.

"What are you doing?" Vi demanded. "We only have a few minutes left."

"What's that smell?" Faith asked. Her breathing came in long, tired gasps. Her shoulders rolled forward as if a large weight had been placed on them.

Vi sniffed the air, suspiciously. "It's gas," she said. "We need to get out of here now." She attacked the wall again, but her assaults became steadily weaker. She looked over at Faith who was already sagging to the ground. "No," Vi insisted, throwing herself against the wall again with renewed vigor. "No," she threw herself against the wall, "no," she attacked the wall again, "no." Finally, defeated, she slid to the ground her body wracked by a series of uncontrolled sobs before she rolled onto her side, her body limp.

"I think we've got something," Kennedy announced. A large brick wall obstructed their passage. She looked at the wall in front of her, then glanced over at Mia. "On three," she told her.

The wall collapsed inwards, and the two slayers stumbled into the dimly-lit hall.

"We're in," Kennedy announced.

"You can't be," Andrew insisted. "I can't see you on camera." He quickly looked around the room at each of the computer screens. "You're not there," he confirmed. "You're in the wrong place."

"We can't be," Kennedy insisted. "I can see Faith's bloody footprints. They stop here."

"How can that be?" Andrew asked. "She's still there. I can see her on my monitor, I can't see you, so…" His eyes widened, and a look of dread spread across his face. "Oh no," he said quietly.

"What?" Kennedy asked. "What is it?"

No answer came over the radio for a moment.

"Andrew, talk to me!"

Andrew frantically scrambled around the room, shining a flashlight behind each of the computers.

"Andrew, what is it?" Willow asked frantically.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh goddess no," Andrew whispered to himself as he crawled on all fours behind each desk.

"Andrew, what the hell is going on there?" Kennedy demanded.

"We're checking, Ken," Willow told her. "Andrew!"

Andrew abruptly stood up in the far end of the room, holding a small white device in his hand.

"It's an iPod," Willow said.

Andrew yanked one of the leads from the bottom of it. Abruptly, the computer monitor in front of Willow changed. The four women who had been lying prone on it vanished, and were immediately replaced by an image of Kennedy standing in the center of the hallway, Mia standing right next to her.

"What happened?" Willow looked at the image, confused.

"Kennedy, get back to base immediately," Andrew yelled into the radio. "It was all a recording. Nothing we were watching here was happening live."

"None of it was real?" Willow asked.

"It could've happened hours ago," Andrew said. He took a shaking breath. "And the bombs…"

Andrew reared back to throw the iPod but stopped himself. Instead he dropped it to the floor and pushed the desk next to him over in frustration. Computer and keyboard both toppled to the ground next to the fallen desk.

"I…I don't know where they are," he admitted and ran his fingers through his hair, nearly pulling it out in the process.

"The spell says they're in this room," Jeff said. He glanced around the sparse room. "Nope."

"Kennedy," Andrew called over the radio as he watched the screen. "Be quiet. You might be able to hear Faith and Vi pounding on a wall or you might see a wall that looks out of place."

"How far are you willing to go…" Willow muttered.

"What?" Andrew asked.

Willow didn't answer. She darted from the room instead.

Willow rushed into the coven room with Xander, Robin and Andrew following behind her. She stood in its center, spinning around quickly as she looked at each of the four walls.

She turned to face one wall, and concentrated on one spot. Suddenly it exploded outwards revealing a set of wooden struts, and the drywall of the next room a few inches beyond it.

She spun around, facing the opposite wall, where a table and the privacy divider sat. With a wave of her hand they both flew away. Willow's eyes narrowed as she looked at one part of the wall that seemed to have a small, barely noticeable gap. She snapped her hand back and the cover gave way, flying across the room as she moved closer.

In a small crawlspace that had been carved into the wall, four women lay, unconscious. The timers on their chests read zero.

Willow dropped to her knees. Her head dropped into her hands, and she began to sob. She could only watch as Xander and Robin reached out to pull the first body from the wall.

Andrew was already on the phone. "We need medics in the coven room now!" he ordered.

Willow gently stroked Rowena's singed blond hair away from the burns on her face. Xander stood quietly behind Willow.

"I don't care what anybody says, fire bad," Rowena said sleepily as she struggled to open her eyes.

"She's got a fair amount of morphine in her system to keep the pain under control," the doctor explained. "I want to keep her under observation for the next 72 hours, but I think she's going to be fine."

"The doctor says that the burns are extensive, but superficial," Willow said, trying to look hopeful. "In a way, whoever put you in there saved you from the worst of it. The vest you were wearing protected you. Your hands are bad, but they'll heal. You might need some skin grafts for your arms a-and your hair will grow back. But I can give you a little help," she added with a hopeful grin. "I'm pretty nifty at growing skin a-and Buffy can even help us since she's got a knack for it. She should be home any minute actually."

Rowena gave a brief smile. "Always looking out for me."

"Always," Willow replied.

"Who would do something like this?" Rowena asked. Silent tears streaked their way down Rowena's cheeks as she looked down at her bandaged arms.

"We don't know. I have a cleaner team going over every inch of that funhouse you were in. If there's anything there, we'll find it," Willow reassured her. "And Andrew was pretty smart. Instead of killing the iPod he realized saving it for prints and files might be better. I gotta admit, his head was screwed on better than mine."

Rowena was quiet for a moment. "The things I did, the things I had to do…" The tears were flowing more freely now. "I would have left Heli behind, knowing full-well that we might not make it back for her. Faith practically had to carry me out of there; and for the first time in my life, I was actually seriously asking what made me worth saving. What made my life so special that I got a pass on this one?"

"You are special Rowena. You knew someone had to go through the fire and you made the choice to protect them. Me, on the other hand…" Willow paused briefly. "Marly's last half hour on earth was spent being tortured by a vampire because I gave the order."

Rowena took a moment to process that. "So Marly's…" She let the question fade off, unfinished.

"She's dead…" Willow looked sharply away from Rowena for a moment, then back down to meet her eyes.

"How…?"

"She was wearing a vest like yours but unlike yours…it wasn't a fake," Willow answered.

"It went off?" Rowena asked.

Willow teared up and simply nodded. "If I hadn't been so distracted I might have seen through it. And Xander…Let's just say you would have been proud of him today if you saw him. I just wish I'd taken the time to listen closer to what he was saying."

"Whoever did this knew exactly what buttons to push," Rowena said with disgust. "They knew who to grab to sow the most chaos, and they knew every move we would make to find the people we were looking for," Rowena shook her head sadly. "We're dealing with a whole new animal here Will. Someone who's sadistic, evil, ingenious, and who's been watching us for months; maybe years. And we don't even know who he is."

"Hey," Willow said gently, "we beat this one, okay? Someone set up that funhouse to kill you guys, and you guys won."

"We won," Rowena said softly.

"You don't sound convinced," Willow said suspiciously.

"Because I'm not. Marly's dead and we still don't know who was behind this," Rowena said.

"Call me selfish but I've got you," she said as she took Ro's bandaged hand. The tips of Rowena's exposed fingers gently clasped the engagement bracelet that hung from Willow's wrist. "You, Faith, Vi, Heli…I thought for sure…"

Rowena tried to moisten her lips with her tongue. "We need to figure this out," she said softly.

"And we will, Sweetie. But get some sleep right now. Whoever this was, they won't be doing this again soon. We'll find 'em," Willow said. She turned to Xander, offering a slight smile. "I'm sure Vi needs to be debriefed. Can you handle that, Xander?"

Xander nodded. "You get some rest too, Will."

Willow looked over to where Kennedy was talking to Faith and Robin.

"Kennedy?" The slayer looked over. "Could you check on Heli before you turn in? I haven't seen her since the doctor discharged her," Willow told her. "Just make sure she's alright."

Kennedy nodded and disappeared through the door, waving goodbye to Faith who was lying in bed as Robin sat next to her.

"And you," Willow added to Rowena, "I don't want you to do anything other than get better. Worry about this psychopath some other time. Now, you're safe."

"Safe…" Rowena said softly as she drifted off.

Vi rushed into Xander's arms, holding him tightly.

Xander winced. "Ouch. Um, slayer strength," he said timidly.

"Xander, shut up and hold me, you sissy," Vi's voice was muffled by his broad chest.

Xander's arms wrapped around her as the pair stood motionless in the center of the room.

Kennedy rapped gently on Heli's door. "Heli?" she called quietly.

Willow gently stroked Rowena's hair, watching the heart monitor beside her bed as it rhythmically beeped in synch with her heartbeat.

"Heli, are you in there?" Kennedy called out a little louder.

She knocked again. "Heli?"

Getting no answer she tried to turn the doorknob.

"Um, not to put a damper on this, but we really should move out of the living room eventually," Xander said softly.

"Just a little longer," Vi's muffled voice replied.

Xander smiled. "You're needy, but I love you anyway."

"Heli? If you're in there, open up," Kennedy knocked again on the door.

She waited a moment, knocking on the hard wooden door some more.

"Heli, I'm coming in." She backed away from the door a step and kicked at it, just next to the doorknob.

With a loud splintering of wood, the door flew opened. Kennedy rushed into the slayer's living room, drawing to a halt as she looked into the room. An expression of shock appeared on her face.

"The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally," Heli supplied, her blonde hair whipping behind her. She didn't look at all uncomfortable. Her two superiors gave her rather baleful looks. "Sun Tzu," Heli clarified.

"So…games have rules, right?" Heli asked. "There has to be a way to win this."

"Yeah. There's a way out of here," Faith said. "But I guarantee that whoever the sicko is who set this up, he's watching us right now."

Heli looked at her, her eyebrows arched.

"You'll do fine, I know it," Marly assured her. "Roommates know things about each other."

"You don't know everything about me," Heli said quietly, then shook her head and smiled a little.

Willow shook her head. "Everything we've done, she's been one step ahead of us. I'll give her this, she's done her job well."

Marly assured her, leaning forward. "We're all panicking here, okay? We just gotta do our jobs, right? And if there's one thing you're good at…"

"It's doing my job," Heli finished. "You remembered."

"This didn't just come out of nowhere," Willow said. "Has anyone been threatened or felt like they were being watched or something?"

"Let me go!" Marly was shouting, trying to break her arm away from Zoe's grip. "She deserves it! Let me go!"

"Jahka I-KIRJAIN olen valmis, te jälkisäädös olla edellä!" Heli shouted back at Marly. "Te kuulla we? Edellä, te naida letukka!"

"Try what?" Jeff countered. "Will, whoever's doing this has a strong understanding of some of the subtleties of the locator spell." He indicated himself. "Don't get me wrong, I'm good, but whoever's doing this is either a very powerful magician, or has some very specialized understanding of the locator spell. Since I doubt anyone would have that intimate a knowledge of locator spells, I think it's fair to say that we're dealing with a major player here."

"I have a fix on where they probably are," Jeff said. "And so far, they aren't moving. At least, the mummy's arm isn't, and we have to assume they're in the same place."

"You have to teach me that sometime," said Heli.

"We can talk later."

"A few weeks ago a jar of shredded snakeskin disappeared from the coven storage room. I figured it was probably just misplaced, until this morning when I did an inventory." Willow looked down at her paper. "We're also missing three packets of crystalis powder and four lilac-scented candles."

"What are those things used for?" Buffy asked as she made a note on a blank sheet of paper in front of her. "Anything dangerous?"

"Not really. The snakeskin and crystalis are used mainly for locator spells, but separately I can think of twenty or thirty spells," Willow answered.

"Willow since it's your department I'll let you handle it how you like, but I also think it might be a good idea to lecture all the coven members on taking council supplies without permission." Buffy turned to Rowena. "Ro, have Robin speak with the junior watchers as well? And Kennedy…"

"You really think a slayer would have taken something from the coven?" Kennedy asked defensively, cutting Buffy off.

"Probably not," Buffy responded diplomatically, "but just in case."

"Oh my God," Kennedy whispered, her eyes widening.

She ran to her right, picking up the telephone on a small table near the door.

Vi jerked away from Xander as the phone rang. She stalked across the room, picking it up and holding the receiver to her ear.

"Hello?" She said. She frowned, "Hello?" She asked again.

She looked out the window, a small smile forming on her lips as she watched the yellow leaves, not yet fallen, on the tree outside her window waving at the wind coming in from Lake Erie. The sun had only just passed the meridian, shining brightly down on the yard behind the council.

"Sounds like it was a wrong number," Vi commented, still looking out the window.

"Willow?" Kennedy spoke into the phone, her voice soft. "We've got a problem. Get up to Heli's room now!"

The display of the cellular phone read, "Calling Vi."

Heli pressed the "end" button, closing the connection. She then dropped it in the dumpster next to her.

She looked at the front of the Watcher's Council building for a moment, the tiniest of smiles tugging at the corners of her lips before she turned around and walked away, disappearing around the corner.

With a loud "ouch," Vi dropped the receiver of the phone and jerked away from it, looking down at the palm of her hand. A tiny droplet of blood welled from a small cut in the center of her hand.

"What is it?" Xander asked, his arm snaking around her midsection as he nuzzled the nape of her neck.

"Nothing," Vi said dismissively as she picked the receiver up from the carpet and deposited it on the cradle. "Must be a sharp edge or something." She turned around in his embrace, clasping her arms around his neck, she offered a small one-sided smile. "So," she said, "how are you going to show me how glad I am to be alive?"

Xander pulled her closer, his own smile mirroring hers. "I think I can come up with…"

He was cut off as Vi's knees suddenly buckled under her.

"Vi?" Xander tried to catch the slayer as she collapsed, but her dead weight dragged him to the floor with her. "Vi, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Vi's only response was a wracking, wet cough. Her body rolled into a ball as she held her hand over her mouth. Her body jerked spastically as she coughed again.

"Vi?" Xander shook her gently.

Vi looked up to meet his eyes. Black, oily liquid poured from her mouth, staining the front of her pale blouse, and as she looked up at him, he could see dark red blood replacing the whites of her eyes. She was only able to look at him for a moment before she toppled backwards, her breathing coming in short, abridged gasps.

Xander looked at her in a panic. "Oh god," he blurted, "oh god, oh god."

Vi's eyes widened as she looked up at him. Dark pink tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. Blood was now pouring liberally from her nose, staining the pale carpeting under her, darkening her already-red hair. As she tried desperately to force her lungs to expand, a gurgling sound escaped from the depths of her being, as if she were drowning.

"Vi, you stay with me, you hear me?" Xander said frantically.

For the briefest of moments, her eyes appeared to focus on his face. She reached for him, leaving a dark streak on his left cheek; then, just as suddenly, her gaze drifted up to fix upon a single tile in the ceiling, and what little tension was in her body slackened.

"Vi?" He shook the slayer gently. "Vi, baby, wake up." He gently slapped her cheek, leaving a smear of dark blood on her pale skin. He looked down at his blood soaked hands. "Oh God," he whispered. "Vi, please wake up. I can't lose you. Not again."

He shook her again. "Vi?" He called again, more weakly this time. "Wake up. Please come back." Xander turned to face the door. "Somebody help me!"

Vi's eyes stared sightlessly up at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" Willow said breathlessly from the doorway. She walked inside to see where Kennedy was silently pointing.

Kennedy's gaze panned up the opposite wall of the room, where the Finnish Slayer had carved two words in large, childlike block letters.

End of Hide 'N Seek
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