"Escape Arts" -- Darkpoint Academy

"We just came to Darkpoint academy to snoop around, to figure out what mysteries it was hiding. A two-day trip, max. Who would have thought that we'd get stuck here? (Well, okay, maybe anyone who really thought about it.) But still! I've only been here one night, and already I want to go back to the Hellmouth!"

"They, they... they can't do this, can they?" Xander blabbered nervously. "I mean, it doesn't matter what we signed, or what 'campus regulations' they have, right? Keeping us here without any choice to drop out or quit the school, well, that's kidnapping, isn't it??"

"I'm not sure, Xander," Willow said with a sigh and a flip of her no-longer-so-short red hair. "We came here freely, and agreed to abide by the student conduct guidelines when we approved the enrollment forms. Plus, even if it is against the law, what do we do about it?? I mean, by the same token, we can't call a lawyer, or even the police."

"Well, we gotta do something!" Cordelia exclaimed. She had been lounging on her bed in one of her 'make me feel better' outfits - a pretty blue dress. "There's got to be a way past these 'guidelines' somehow. A route to sneak out, or some way of getting to a working phone. Because I am NOT just going to sit here like a..."

"Could you guys knock it off??" a fourth voice interjected. It happened to belong to Cordelia's roommate, Kristen Winfield. The three ex-Slayerettes had decided to meet in Cordelia's room rather than Willow's, (a single,) because, even giving Kristen her space, it was slightly more roomy and they weren't discussing anything that seemed completely out of character or that would give their secrets away. However...

"I mean, I'm sorry, but please!!" Kristen continued relentlessly. "I mean, I can understand that these privacy regulations come as something of a shock, but why are you acting like it's the most important thing in the world to get away from here?? Can you guys even remember why you wanted to come to Darkpoint in the first place? Or are you too busy chasing after 'escape' just because you feel that it's been denied you?"

Willow, Xander, and Cordy shared a look. They couldn't admit the truth of why they had really gone to Darkpoint - not to enroll, but to investigate its mysteries. They had had some luck already, due to an encounter with a student sorcerer who had tried to victimize Cordelia for a magical ritual, and behaved with calm certainty that the Darkpoint faculty would protect him and those students like him, and not act in the best interests of any students without magical abilities.

Cordelia weighed the risks for just a moment, and decided that she had to tell her roommate at least some of the truth. "It's not just that, Kristen. This school is... well, something stinks to hell about it. There's an ugly secret behind Darkpoint, and they don't want to risk any of us telling the outside world about it. I mean, why else all the 'privacy' regulations??"

"That's crazy," Kristen snapped. "You've seen too many X-files or something. These rules are in place for *our* benefit - to help us get the best education that we can. That's why I came here!" And with that, Kristen stormed through the door and slammed it shut.

"'There is a way out of every box - a solution to every puzzle. It's just a matter of finding it. Hmm... how can anyone know for sure if that's true or not??"

Winter had not truly begun in the state of New Hampshire, since no snow had yet fallen. But the cold wind of late fall was harsh enough, especially given Darkpoint Academy's coastal location, with the prevailing winds coming off of the bleak Northern Atlantic.

And none of the young students gathered in the freshman courtyard felt the cold more keenly than Willow, Xander, and Cordelia, who had each lived practically all of their lives in Southern California. From the rectangular, boxed-in garden, they could see neither the mainland, the rocky outcropping upon which their new school stood, nor the ocean, but knew that all three were out there, just beyond their field of vision.

"What are we doing here?" Cordelia complained in a whisper, hugging her budget-priced yet stylish jacket closer to her body. "My frostbite must have frostbite."

"You don't have any frostbite, Cordy," Xander grumped back. "It's chilly, but it's not that cold."

"We're surveying the premises," Willow reminded them. "If we're gonna find a way out of here, we need to know how the college is laid out and what might be an escape route. For example, that." She waved discretely towards one of the black brick walls, where a faint outline could be seen climbing upwards. Edging slightly closer, Xander realized that it was a ladder leading up the wall.

"You don't suppose that there would really be another ladder down from the roof along the outside wall, do you?" Xander whispered back to Willow.

"I don't know. But it seems like a decent lead." Gesturing for her friends, (well, her friend and Cordelia,) to follow, she led the way over towards the ladder - not right to it, but close enough to get a better look.

There was a sign next to the climbing apparatus - in bright white lettering on a dark blue plaque. "For official use only. Do not touch if not authorized to do so."

"Quick, we'd better move on," Cordelia hissed. Willow and Xander hurried past the ladder, only turning back after a few seconds. Mister Aron, the tall disciplinarian who had been supervising the students in the quad, was heading over towards them.

"Good afternoon, Mister Aron," Willow said with a bright smile and a perky tone. "How are things??"

"Fairly well, Miss Rosenberg," Aron said with a grave nod. "You seem to have wandered a little further than most of your classmates." Indeed, most of the students who had chosen to take advantage of the fresh air, (kept fresh by a strictly applied, and much-hated in some quarters, edict against smoking anywhere on college grounds,) were staying within bolting distance of the doors, as if afraid that the cold might overtake them at any moment.

"Just admiring the garden, sir," Xander said with a flattering smile. "And the rest of the courtyard. That sign caught our eye - the one about the ladder being off-limits." Cordelia elbowed him in the side, where Aron couldn't see, and he nudged her back.

"Ah, yes," Aron said, nodding. "The sign is almost more visible than the ladder itself is, from a distance, is it not?" As if satisfied that the crisis was over, he turned and headed back towards the crowd.

"What??" Xander replied. "He can't get us in trouble just for looking at a sign. And I was hoping that he might accidentally let slip something - anything - about where the ladder went to." He sighed. "No such luck, I'm afraid."

"Well, we're not going to find out anything more here," Willow decided with a restless sigh. "Let's get back inside - I'm cold."

Once again, Mister Aron announced a casual supper, which relieved Cordelia. That big dining room was just way too creepy, for one thing.

And, as it turned out, supper was all hand food that could be carried away from the lounge - savory pastries with a thick rich fillings, some meaty, some veggie, some cheesy, and small bottles of sparkling juices. So the students were encouraged to take their food anywhere that they liked, gather in small groups and get to know each other better. Somewhat regretfully, Cordelia agreed to go with Xander into Willow's room for some more planning.

"You know, I'm always having to miss the icebreakers because of you guys," she complained, sitting somewhat awkwardly down on the dresser. "You had better get me out of Darkpoint, because I am not about to stay for months not knowing anybody but the two of you, and what is this??" She shoved a little cage a bit further away from herself, and looked at it critically. "A rat??"

"Uh, yeah," Willow told her, sitting on the bed with a slight trace of a 'how slow are you, Cordelia' expression on her face. "That's Amy - you remember her, don't you? Teen witch, turned into a rat, been taking care of her while I until I could get her back into a human girl..."

"Are you sure that that rat is really Amy??" Xander brought up from the desk chair. "I mean, maybe you've been spending months on end just trying to reverse a spell on a real genuine City hall rat."

"No," Willow shook her head. "I know that this is Amy - I can feel the Wiccan bond, even now. There's just, been something, blocking the reversal spell." She shrugged. "Who knows."

"Uh, yeah," Xander said, shaking his head. "New subject. Getting out of here." He took a munch of his beef bap. "What have we learned?"

"Not much," Cordelia sighed. "The way we came in is through the front gate, but there's always people watching there and a few big bouncer-looking guys looking about. No other doors out of the main college complex that we've been able to find."

"Yeah," Willow sighed. "The ladders and stairways up to the roof are all restricted. The ground-level perimeter is all occupied with faculty offices, and the front facing windows are all assigned to sponsored students. There are two security offices that overlook the road in."

"So, basically, they've got this place locked up tighter than Alcatraz," Xander groaned. "Any ideas??"

"Magic?" Cordelia suggested. "You're the witchmistress, aren't you Willow? Couldn't you just... zap yourself back to Sunnydale, or something?"

"If I could, don't you think I would have tried?" Willow shot back. "I've been working on my magic, but teleporting people is an hideously difficult discipline, and I've never even really tried it." She took in a deep breath, and Xander was startled to see her eyes brightly shining with barely-suppressed tears.

"Hey!" Without even really thinking about it, Xander was out of the chair and on Willow's bed sitting next to her, a comforting arm around her shoulders. "It's gonna be okay, Will. We're gonna find a way out of here, and before you know it, we're going to be back in Sunnydale with Buffy and Giles. You're gonna be back cruising through university before the week is out, and I'm gonna be arguing with Anya..."

"...And maybe Doyle and I will finally get a chance to go out on a date..." Cordelia added somewhat wistfully.

That shook Willow to full attention. "Doyle? That Doyle guy that Oz met in L.A.? You like him? Oz said that you guys were arguing the whole time." A pause. "Is that just how you flirt with people, Cordelia?? Eww, no, cause... eww eww, you insult me most of all!!"

Cordelia didn't dignify the second part of that with any reply. "Yeah, I kinda do like him. He's a dork, but he's a sweet dork." She turned to face Xander with just a touch of anger. "It's your fault, Xander Harris. You're the one who got me started on the dork parade."

"I feel sorry for this Doyle guy," Xander deadpanned. Right then a knocking could be heard on Willow's door.

A dark-haired boy came through the door and closed it behind him. He seemed familiar - was this Jonathon? No, he wasn't, though he was a little on the short side. "Hi," the newcomer whispered breathlessly. "You guys are friends of Buffy's, aren't you?"

"They are," Cordelia corrected. "I just had to hang around her because I used to date this jerk..."

"Why did you come to us?" Willow asked gently, interrupting Cordy's tirade. "You're from Sunnydale High, aren't you??"

"Yes," he said, a flicker of fear in his eyes. "Buffy saved my life once, and I was hoping that you could help us. This place is dangerous - there are a group of us who all believe that. We've got to get out of Darkpoint Academy... but they won't just let us leave. So..."

"Maybe," the guy sighed. "Maybe... a rescue mission? After all, we can't all get out, not while they're watching. But if one person could get out, or a few - they could bring help. Bring Buffy, even."

"I'm Willow," Willow said with hurried politeness, (as if she thought she should have done the introductions earlier,) "and this is Xander and Cordelia. You are..."

"So," Cordelia piped up. "Martin, where are the rest of your little escape gang??"

"Thank you so much for coming," a strawberry blond girl with a scared look in her eyes said, shaking Willow's hand. "I was so excited about this place when I first came, but... there were things that the Darkpoint brochure didn't mention. Those 'sponsored' students - they act like they own the place, and they can do... weird stuff. Stuff I wouldn't even have believed was possible. And the faculty don't seem to be any more than jailers, keeping us in here."

"I know," Willow said softly. "We've been trying to get out too. We just came here to, well, we were kinduv undercover, investigating this place. But now we're trapped too."

"Two," Martin put in. "But they both seem so risky. Number one is the simpler way, and the one that stands the least chance. There's a stairwell window on the front face of the complex that we might be able to get some people out of - they can climb down ropes and leg it while other people distract the security guards."

"I might have a way to even the odds on it, though," Willow put in. "What's the other one??"

"Tomorrow morning, a truck is going to be going out on a supply run," a brown-haired girl volunteered. "A volunteer or volunteers might try to stow away on it, get out while the truck's away from the academy."

"Okay, well, we'll bear those plans in mind," Willow put in. "I have an idea of my own that I'd like to try. Weird stuff - magic, well, I can do a little bit of it too. And I've thought of a way I might be able to send a message to a friend without being caught at it."

"More like an uncensored letter," she said, putting an envelope down on the carpeted table between them. In elegant script the front read BUFFY. "I'll need your help though - join hands and let's all think very positive thoughts."

The group did, at least, they all thought positive thoughts as far as Willow could tell. "Now concentrate..." she whispered. "We're going to send the letter to Sunnydale... focus all of your energy to help it get there." After a pause, she began to whisper the incantation: "Adaravit Comeo Carvain Dotehlio - Buffy Summers, Sunnydale."

A flash of blue light, and a noise like a soft, (thought not THAT soft,) thunderclap startled them all out of their state of deep concentration. "Did it work?" Cordelia asked as the light was clearing.

"Uh... no, no it didn't," Xadner reported, gesturing to the table. The envelope was still there, ripped neatly into quarters.

"Oh, boy," Willow whispered. There had to be some kind of teleportation barrier over the Academy...

No-one felt ready for it, but the next morning plans were underway for Operation Stowaway, mostly because no-one could bear the thought of losing their opportunity until Darkpoint did their next supply run, (and they might not find out when that one was leaving, and so on, and so on.)

Xander would go, because of his meager field operations experience, and Willow, in case any of her witchcraft could come in handy. The rest of the 'team,' including Cordelia, would help by covering for their absence any way that they could, distracting guards and faculty members, etcetera.

There was no difficulty in sneaking into the small parking garage next to the kitchen that was apparently used as a loading bay. Willow and Xander ran ahead to hide themselves in the truck, while Cordelia and Martin stayed behind to stand watch and serve as diversion.

Cordelia was the closest to the garage, and suddenly she heard some discussion from up near Martin's post. "You have orientation sessions right now, don't you, Martin? Head along, this is a restricted area." It was a familiar voice - oh, right, it sounded like Jenny Calendar. Which meant that the speaker just might be Keira Toscani, a member of the Darkpoint faculty who looked exactly like Jenny, somehow.

The sound of Keira's footsteps came closer to the corridor intersection from which she would catch sight of Cordelia. "I swear, if I see one more freshman somewhere that they're not supposed to be, I'm gonna get a case of conspiracy theories."

Oh, no! The diversion ploy had turned back on them, it seemed. If Keira saw Cordelia here, it just might make her suspicious enough to poke around and find Willow and Xander in the van. That would ruin everything - it might even get them dead or in some other horrible fate, considering how nasty the Darkpoint staff seemed to be.

Cordelia turned about and ducked through the door into the garage, the only place she could escape to in time. But where now? Keira's footsteps were still approaching, and the garage wasn't exactly replete with hiding spots. To be quite frank, Cordy could think of only one.

"What the heck?" Xander muttered, as Cordelia dived into the back of the van, scrambling for cover.

"Change of plans," she panted. "Only way to not blow the deal. Believe me, I didn't want to steal your show."

"Okay," Willow sighed. "Come on, back behind these boxes, just in case they take a look before pulling out."

From their hiding place behind the stacked crates, none of them could tell if anyone inspected the van's cargo area, but in due course the doors were slammed shut and clicked locked. Next the engine started and the vehicle started to move.

"I wonder how long it's going to be before we get where we're going," Cordelia said after a little driving time.

"Well, it was an hour to Darkpoint from the airport," Willow pointed out. "Probably closer to the local wholesale food depot or whatever. Maybe half an hour?"

"Hmm," Xander muttered. "So, any idea what we do until then?" A pause. "Anyone up for a little truth or dare?"

"Eww, as if!" Cordelia groaned. "Like I'd trust myself to your sick little mind, Harris."

"And here, all this time, I thought you were finally almost cool, Willow Rosenberg," Cordelia cracked.

Xander sighed out loud. That was just uncalled for. "Well, why don't you tell us more about this Doyle guy, Cordy?" That was really just about the only way to keep Cordelia Chase happy anyways - to keep her talking, normally about something that involved herself.

It was more like forty-five minutes than half an hour before the van finally rumbled to a stop and its motor died. "Come on," Cordelia said, all talked out about Doyle just in time. As she jumped up and crept towards the doors, footsteps headed around the car, unlocked the back doors, and then stepped away a little bit.

"Talk about stupid, Cordy," Willow groaned. "What if he had opened the van up, with you standing right there? We'd have been caught for sure."

"Well, he didn't," Cordelia pointed out. "Come on, let's go!!" She brought her hand to the inside door latch-handle.

"Wait!!" Xander said, putting his hand on Cordelia's to stop her. "Listen. They're right out there!" Sure enough, the voices of the drivers could be heard even through the thick metal of the van's structure - they had to be no more than ten feet from the doors. "Let's at least take a look at them before we make our break."

"Okay," Cordelia sighed, looking into the window. "Okay, they're pretty big guys, serious looks on their faces... and one of them has a gun. I'm not going anywhere!!" she suddenly decided.

"What?" Willow coughed out in disbelief, surprised, (even though she knew she shouldn't have been,) by Cordelia's sudden change of mind. "A gun? Really??" She looked in the window herself, and felt a rush of fear herself. "Ack!"

"No, but I'm willing to take Cordelia's word for it considering that they're coming this way!!" Within seconds the three teenagers had dived into their hiding places again.

The doors opened, and snippets of conversation could be heard as they started unloading the empty crates from the van. It was coming clear that all of the crates would most likely receive the same treatment, and that once they did, there would be no more hiding places. Unless...

"Come on!" Willow whispered hoarsely, pointing to a hidden panel on the floor beneath her. When lifted up, it revealed a small hidden compartment.

The space didn't seem nearly big enough for all three of them, but desperation is the mother of ingenuity. Cordelia managed to pull the panel back into place, (not tight enough to latch and trap them there, but far enough closed that no-one would notice it unless they knew exactly what to look for.)

"Umm... okay," Xander whispered. "This position is every guy's fantasy... but it also turns out to be yet another example of the fact that guys are foolish." Xander was sandwiched right between Willow and Cordelia, and uncomfortable was not the word to describe the look on his face. "Switch with me, Cordy?"

"Oh, yeah, like it's cool for me to get squished up against Willow?" The pause from Xander must have been telling. "Eww! Eww!! Fat chance, Harris."

"Quiet down, you two," Willow hissed. "First of all, remember that we're hiding here - that means no loudness and no switching places. Secondly, I'm trying to hear what's going on up there!"

But listen as they might, all they could hear was the bumping sound of things being moved, which never let up for long enough for any of the three Slayerettes to feel comfortable about getting out of the compartment. Until, that was, a particularly loud couple of thumps were followed by the sound of the engine starting.

"Is anyone out there?" Cordy whispered as she cracked the door open. Nothing but brand new crates could be seen, and one by one they climbed back out.

"Great," Xander complained. "They're heading back to Darkpoint and we're still here in the van."

"We don't know that," Willow interjected. "Maybe they have a second stop, more things to fetch."

"Where would they put them?" Cordelia asked. She had a point. The cargo area looked about as full as it could be. It was a lucky thing that they'd be able to get to the doors if they needed to.

"Well, I'm not leaving it up to chance this time," Willow decided suddenly. "I'm gonna make us an opportunity."

"Witchcraft. Conjure a little fire into their radiator or something, just enough to give them engine trouble. While they're worried about that, knock the lock and leg it."

"Ask me in five minutes." Willow concentrated, looking towards the front of the vehicle? "Hey, does either of you by chance know what a radiator looks like??"

"Go, go," Willow whispered hoarsely, as the truck's back doors swung open, unlocked by magic. Once Xander and Cordelia were out, she closed the doors again, (too bad she couldn't lock them again,) and headed off into the forest. One quick look back showed that both of the Darkpoint guys were bent over the engine and had never noticed them go.

"Okay, I'm sensing a flaw in the great plan," Cordelia muttered once Willow had caught up to her. "How do we know where to find somewhere in the middle of nowhere??"

"That road has to come from somewhere, Cor," Xander pointed out. "We cut back about half a mile in the direction that they were coming from through the forest, then go back to the highway where the van guys are unlikely to find us. Walk until we get somewhere promising, or if we can't walk that far, hitch a ride I guess."

"Hmm..." Cordelia weighed that idea. "Why can't we just hitchhike to begin with?" Xander groaned. "What?? It's not that bad an idea."

"Not what I'm caring about right now," Xander muttered through gritted teeth. "Something bit me - a little snake or something. Hurts like hell."

"No, we don't have the time." Willow ignored Xander's opinion, pressed him firmly back against a tree and rolled up his pantleg. "Come on, Will, I'm sure that it's nothing. There aren't any poisonous snakes in New Hampshire, are there?"

"This one was," Willow muttered, looking at the small but nasty-looking bite marks on Xander's calf. "Though I don't think it was native to New England. Come to think of it, it might not even be native to the earth."

"Demonspawn," Willow corrected her. "A hellsnake or something. May have escaped from the sorcerers at Darkpoint."

"That it's a demon, no. That it was poisonous, yes, trust me. The signs are clear."

Willow sighed. "I don't know. But damnit, we can't take any chances with Xander's life. Trying to find our way from this wilderness to a hospital, and then waiting until they figure out a course of treatment... that may be time that he doesn't have."

"What's the alternative, Will?" Xander groaned, hoping to hell that the alternative wasn't what he thought it was.

"I've got magical antidotes and healing herbs in my Wicca Kit. In my room." A big sigh. "Back at Darkpoint. If we can get back there quickly, there shouldn't be any problems."

"There's no other way?" Cordelia said, a frightened look on her face. Willow shook her head, red hair flying. "Okay, then. I hope that the van's still there so we can break back into prison."

It was, and there was no problem with sneaking back into the cargo hold or sneaking out once they were back at the school. As much as everybody wanted to get back up to Willow's room to make sure that Xander would be okay, a snatch of dialog from the garage caught their attention while they were hiding in the corridor outside - the driver, and Mister Aron...

Driver: "Car trouble. The weirdest thing... the radiator overheated, but there was no mechanical failure in any of its systems."

Driver: "It might have been. But who, and from where? We checked the van once Ryan had finished going over the engine, before it had cooled down enough to drive. There was nobody there. And I don't like the thought that someone was targeting on us well enough to overheat the thing from a distance."

Aron: (thoughtfully.) "It bears investigation. In the meantime, I'll draw up a security protocol for similar untoward incidents - that might help us catch the individuals responsible if there is a repeat occurrence."

The bleak mood was shared many times over when Willow, Xander, and Cordelia met again with Martin and his friends, late that night, and told their story. It made defeat that much harder to take that victory had been so close to their grasp, only to be denied by such a mischance. (Though Willow was starting to wonder how many hellsnakes there might be in those woods after all.) Some of the people even seemed inclined to question in their own minds whether it had really been necessary to return, rather than attempting to find medical assistance outside the college. No one was suggesting that the Stowaway plan be attempted again, though.

"So, as I see it, we've got two choices," Xander said, rubbing his leg where he had been bitten. Thanks to Willow's potions and their sacrificed escape, it was almost as good as new now. "Give up and wait here until our friends and family start to get suspicious about Darkpoint, or try the bold frontal jailbreak."

"We try," Cordelia muttered. "I tasted free air today, and I'm not going to be satisfied until I'm back in Los Angeles with Doyle." A chorus of agreement met her declaration. "What do we need to do??"

"I know a cloaking spell that would be useful," Willow said. "It makes the subjects invisible at any distances greater than about forty feet."

"That'll be perfect!" Xander enthused. "Then all we need is the rope to get down from the window. How many people can you do the spell on?"

"Probably three," Willow decided. "Uh... should it be the three of us again? We've already failed you guys." She looked into Martin's face. "Would you rather that some of your own were in the escape party?"

Martin shared a few sidelong glances with his co-confederates. "No, we still believe in the three of you. If anyone can pull this off, you can."

"Okay, let's get this show on the road, then!" Cordy exclaimed. "Well, if we're gonna get this done, late at night is probably the best time, right?"

"Now, I'm gonna need everybody's energy again, to do the cloaking spell, okay?" Willow said. The group was gathered in the front stairwell, the window ready to be opened and a long string of sturdy clothing tied together ready to be let out as soon as she, Xander, and Cordelia were ready.

This spell was quite different from the teleportation ritual, involving lots of muttering that nobody else could make out a word of, gesturing, and waving. When Willow stopped with the antics, Cordelia muttered, "Is that it?" After looking at her own hands for a moment she observed "I'm not invisible."

"So, get forty feet away from me," Cordy shot back. "I want to see this thing in action. Plus, the further you get away from me, in general, the better."

"Stop it," Willow sighed, feeling somewhat like a mother with two bickering little children. "You wouldn't be able to see the effects of the cloaking spell anyway, Cordelia, since you're under the cloak too. And we cannot get that far away from each other under any means. Probably not even thirty feet. Otherwise, the cloak will break and EVERYONE will be able to see us. Got it?"

The window was opened and Xander climbed through first, (being the one who had the least fear of heights, it was decided that he should lead the way.) Willow gulped as she was boosted through and saw the ground down there... twenty-five feet down, more or less. "Aaah!"

"Don't look down," Xander called reassuringly from a few feet further down. "Just keep a hold on the rope and get your feet on the wall." A pause. "That's good," and Willow realized that she had followed Xander's instructions without even really being consciously aware of her actions.

Soon Cordelia was coming out, and though she gasped and turned pale, she managed to handle the experience a little better than Willow had. The three Slayerettes made their way down the wall, hand over hand, footstep by footstep, without incident. Then the line was taken back up and the window closed, since either could give away their escape attempt. There was no way to go back now - or at least, not that way.

Quickly, carefully, the three headed down the lonely highway that led down the peninsular isthmus from the Darkpoint Academy complex towards the mainland. After a few minutes, Cordelia muttered, "You know, it looks like we're going to make it."

About thirty seconds later, the breeze brought a noise to them - a garage door opening back at the Academy. "C'mon," Willow urged them. "Out of the way of the road. We have to get forty feet away from that car." They hurried off at right angles to the asphalt strip, not stopping until they got to the shoreline, sixty feet at least away from the road.

Just in time. WHOOSH, the car swept past. Willow breathed a sigh of relief and started picking her way across the shoreline, (it was probably safer to travel here in case there were more cars, even though it was slower. They might not have advance warning the next time.)

"Uh-oh," Xander said, that doom and gloom element in his voice. "Are either of you guys seeing what I'm seeing?"

"What?" Cordelia asked. But quickly, it was plain to all of them what Xander was seeing. The car hadn't driven as far as the mainland, quite. It was parked by the side of the road at the end of the isthmus, and its four passengers, (or driver and three passengers, or whatever,) had spread out to form a loose cordon, walking slowly and surely up the point. There would be no way to pass them without getting within forty feet of at least one - not without diving into the frigid waters of the Atlantic, at least, and that would be its own death sentence.

"Oh, no," Willow muttered. "They must have been able to pick up on the cloaking spell, and either guessed that whoever was using it was making an escape attempt or been able to track us into this general area."

"I didn't know it was," Willow defended herself. "Well, maybe I kinda did. But this is the theoretical limit of magical countermeasures against the cloaking spell, and I didn't really expect that it would happen. I'm sorry."

"So... we can't get past them?" Cordy asked, with her 'just trying to get things straight' expression on her face.

"Not without appearing to at least one," Willow said sorrowfully. "And I bet they have some surprises in store for the would-be 'escapees.'"

"Then we go back - again," Xander said with a sigh. "They won't be expecting that, and there's gotta be some way to sneak back into the b... boh, god." He had turned back to the Darkpoint complex as he spoke and there was another security cordon heading up from that direction. There was now no way to escape their net.

"Not quite," Willow countered. "Is that who I think it is?" she asked, pointing to one of the figures in the Darkpoint cordon. It wasn't a faculty member, in fact it was...

"Our old friend Robert!" Xander nodded, seeing Willow's plan. "Are you sure that this'll work, Willow?"

"Only one way to tell." Quickly she dashed over to Robert Catalin, Xander and Cordelia following. Once they were all together, Willow very deliberately stepped within the forty-foot perimeter about Robert, saying as she did so, "to betray us would be to hurt us."

"Yeah, that's kinda the id..." Robert trailed off as he realized who the fugitives were. "Oh, shit!"

"Not really," Xander muttered. "You swore an oath not to seek harm to us, an oath that can never be broken. So you have to just keep on walking as if you didn't see anybody, right?"

"I guess," Robert agreed, starting to continue forward on his slow patrol walk. "Boy, you guys have got chutzpah, I'll say that for you. I'm actually kinda glad that I don't have to turn you in, but I'm also glad that I'm on the Darkpoint side of the net. It'd be a shame for you three to get away."

"Cordelia, enchanting as ever." Robert flashed the lovely brunette a charming smile as he stepped forward again. "Well, if you're hoping to get back in before they realize that you've slipped the net, you'd better go now." He gestured minutely towards the main entrance to the Academy, which was still wide open, presumably after Robert and the others had come through to begin the security sweep.

Panting with exhaustion and fear, they hurried towards the gateway, checking carefully to make sure that there was no one around where they'd have to get closer than forty feet, but it seemed deserted. The gang hurried quickly through and once they were in the Academy proper, in a deserted stairwell that was designated on-limits for unsponsored freshmen, Willow let the cloaking spell drop, since they didn't want to be appearing out of nowhere as they approached people in the hallways.

"Now what?" Xander muttered as they hurried up to their residence division. "Split up, back to our own rooms? They're probably going to do a spot check any minute now."

"In a minute," Willow muttered. "There's something more important to do first, though. We've all got the trace of the cloaking magic on us, still. I've got a rub in my room that will take it off. If you guys are in my room after lights out, that's not too suspicious - there'll probably be a couple dozen other students breaking curfew regulations. But if they can scan you and tell that you've had stealth magic cast on you tonight, you're dead."

"Got it," Cordelia said, rushing over to Willow's small subdivision. "This stuff, it doesn't smell too stinky, does it?"

Willow sighed long-sufferingly. Once she was at the room she unlocked it quickly and let her friends in. "It hardly smells at all, Cordy. Here." Taking the bottle from her supplies, she poured some into her left palm, and then started using the fingers of her right hand to dab it all over herself. "Get it in as many places as you can," she recommended. "Open skin, hair, clothing, it doesn't really matter for this." Cordelia started copying Willow's actions and handed the bottle to Xander.

A few minutes later, well rubbed down, Cordelia and Xander snuck off to their own rooms, just in time, as it turned out, for the spot check.

None of them had gotten over the feeling of nervousness by the time high breakfast, (what Cordelia called the highly formal-feeling morning meals in the huge dining hall,) rolled around the next day.

'Escape Fever' was gone to stay, though, it seemed. After all, as Xander reasoned, they had made three attempts, including Willow's original spell to teleport the note to Buffy, and each of them had failed or been ruined out by countermeasures from the Darkpoint faculty. Three strikes, and they were in - to stay, it seemed. They had been very lucky to escape being caught so far, and should they try again, they probably would get found out by the faculty, which was something they did *not* want to happen.

"Excuse me, please," a woman said, getting up to the microphoned podium. "My name is Keira Toscani, and I have a few announcements to make. First of all, it has come to the attention of the faculty that certain students are engaging in 'pranks' like attempting to sneak out of the complex without authorization. This will not be tolerated, and the offenders are not going to be treated leniently at such time as they are found out."

"Secondly, I'd just like to remind you all that classes will be beginning, for the new students, or resuming for the rest of you, on Monday morning. Have a nice weekend!"