Session One

There was a small security team on campus, but none of them seemed all that eager to help catch Donovan. After all, the only crime he had actually committed was using magic in the library, which was hardly a capital offense (and if it was, Molly and company were guilty of the far greater crime of talking in the library). So Molly, Meg and Kathryn were on their own chasing after him. As they left, Meg mentioned that Giles probably needed healing upstairs, but ran by before she could confirm that the librarian had actually heard it.

The campus mall wasn't that crowded, so Meg fired water spells at him as they pursued on foot. But she realized that Donovan was flying at quite an impressive speed, meaning that he not only dodged them, but also distanced himself from her as she slowed down to cast her spells. Molly had tired from sprinting and took flight while Kathryn just tried to catch up to him and bop him on the head. She was by far the fastest of the three, but couldn't gain any ground.

He led them into the Forest of Unspeakable Peril. Kathryn rushed in, but lost sight of him immediately. Suddenly, she was alone in there. The place was darker under the canopy, quieter and far more ominous. She had never really felt it before, but the FUP could actually be quite scary when alone without the prospect of getting laid. Especially when someone was liable to attack.

She held her staff up, ready to block anything that came her way. Rustling branches from every direction made her bounce back around, unsure where the attack would come from. Donovan was here somewhere. She could feel it.

“Kathryn!” shouted Morgan. Kathryn jumped at the sound.

“Jeez, it's just us,” added Meg. “You shouldn't get so far ahead.”

Molly followed, breathless. “When did I get out of shape?”

“Meg ran track in high school! Nobody can keep up with her!” Mindy exclaimed, ignoring how Kathryn just had.

Still, Kathryn snickered, and would have said something to further belittle Molly, but she was the only one who saw the energy ball flying in towards Mindy. Diving in with her staff, she only barely swatted it down.

Molly returned fire and her blast connected with something. Due to the thick brush, she couldn't tell what until she heard the demon respond, “You fool! How dare you strike one of your own!

“That wasn't Donovan,” Kathryn said. It was that nasty high-pitched voice that left her both scared and confused. “Was it?”

“He's been possessed,” said Molly, trigger at the ready.

“I thought he already was possessed.”

“Well, either he was possessed again or he lost control of the demon inside him.”

“I know that feeling,” Meg muttered. “So what's the plan?”

Molly shrugged. “Beat the hell out of him. What else?”

“How do we do that?”

To Molly's surprise, that was a difficult question to answer. They knew which direction Donovan fired from, and Molly's attack certainly hit him, but they couldn't see him. Charging in blindly was dangerous, yet he wasn't coming to them... another surprise.

“For starters, we need to find him,” she said. “Draw him out of there.”

“On it!” Morgan shouted, throwing his fist into the ground. A jolt rippled through the earth, cutting up a path in front of them and splitting the obstructing brush.

Nothing was in front of them.

“I didn't hear him move,” said Meg. “Any volunteers to check?”

Kathryn shrugged and clutched her staff. “I'll go. I've got a stick.”

She held it out in front of her, hoping it would automatically block anything headed her way. She wasn't confident in her own ability to defend what she couldn't see. Yet nothing suggested that Donovan was around. Behind the brush, there was a nice friendly clearing that would have provided the perfect outpost, but nobody was camped there.

Still, she figured she'd better be thorough and approached it.

“Wait, no!” shouted Mindy as Kathryn placed her foot down. “It's a-”

The circle exploded and Kathryn went down in a heap.

“Where the hell did he learn a mine circle?” Molly muttered. Meg rushed up to check on Kathryn, letting Maple start a healing potion.

Kathryn clutched her head. “Oh... well, he was here.”

While they worked, Molly looked around. Donovan was setting traps, using cover and being patient. Something was definitely wrong with all this. Of all things, attacking Mindy and Kathryn was the only thing remotely normal about him.

Still, it wasn't like Molly couldn't play this too. She cast a spell to momentarily part a small bit of brush, and panned around, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. She did... on the opposite side of the clearing. Strengthening her spell, she split a little more brush and got a better view: he was preparing a spell.

“Meg!” Molly shouted to his target, just as he fired.

“I'm Maple,” she said, looking at Molly. Instead, she saw the ball of dark matter strike her in the face.

“Donovan!” Molly charged into the woods after him, casting a flight spell to guide her through the thick grass.

He disappeared from his spot, but Molly heard his trampling in front of her. Whatever was going on, she couldn't lose him. She needed answers. After all, he had just been cleared of any wrongdoing. So what was all this about?

Finally, she reached another clearing and Donovan was standing there, smirking back at her. He also had a spell at the ready and fired it straight at her. With her flight spell up, she had no way to defend.

Suddenly, she was flat on the ground. No explosion, no circles, no barriers. He merely dispelled her flight. Molly looked up at him. He didn't seem to be going anywhere.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked.

That horrible, demonic voice replied, “Why should I answer that? I answer to nobody! If you really wish to challenge me, then prepare to meet your end, silly girl.”

“Try me,” Molly said, sneering. She may have been on the ground, but she could still move her fingers.

Just not as fast as Donovan could move his hands. Realizing this, Molly chose a shield and braced herself.

He teleported away. Right when he appeared to finally attack head on, he vanished. Molly picked herself up and looked around, not taking down the shield.

“Lousy bugger.” Molly almost dropped the shield to attack the voice directly behind her, but stopped when she saw Smittle. He lowered his shotgun. “Told him to keep better control of that blasted demon.”

Molly sighed, for once happy to see some faculty presence. “We need to go back and find Kathryn and Maple.”

“Right. Saw them. He flattened 'em good. Come on.” Smittle turned around and marched through the brush. Molly had no choice but to follow.

She kept looking around the woods, but Donovan was gone.

 

Session Two

Renee, Troy and Yuki were playing Yahtzee in the dorm. They had no idea anything was going on. It was just a light weekday afternoon for them.

“I don't know about you guys, but my session was pretty calm and easy. It was nice,” Yuki said.

Troy shrugged and smiled at Renee. “I got no complaints.”

With a chuckle, Renee said, “Is Kathryn feeling any better?”

“No idea. She'll probably be fine again when we get back to school Monday.”

Yuki shook her head. “I don't know. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Usually I can figure it out pretty quickly, but she wasn't talking this time.”

“I'm not too worried,” Troy insisted.

The light rapping on the door was casual enough that they almost dismissed it as someone else's- more peaceful dorm room ambiance to coincide with Troy's dice rolling.

Once the knocking continued, Renee turned to the door. It seemed so far away. “Bryce!” she called.

Nothing came. She turned to Troy and Yuki and shrugged. “Worth a try.”

“Get the door,” Troy said.

Renee hopped out of her chair, mumbling, “I so need minions.” Even that sounded pleasant.

It wasn't until she saw Marlowe on the other end that things became dour. Except for his grin. “Is Molly back?”

“No,” Renee replied, frowning. “I don't know when she'll-”

“I'll just wait, then.” He walked in, brushing past Renee and joining Troy and Yuki at the table.

Troy kept on playing. “She's doing guardian stuff, so she might be a while. Can we leave a note for her?”

Marlowe shrugged. “I suppose.” Troy nodded, flipped over his scoresheet and looked up. “Tell her that we're holding this unit responsible for finding and capturing Donovan before his demon takes full control and possesses him to do something serious.”

“What?!” Yuki exclaimed.

“The demon's taking over?!” Renee cried.

“...finding and capturing Donovan before...” Troy mumbled, trying to transcribe properly amidst the interjections.

Marlowe shrugged and smiled. “Yes, apparently he went a little crazy at the library. Molly and Kathryn were trying to chase him down. They should be getting back from the clinic soon.” He waved his hand over the dice, causing them all to show a five.

“Yahtzee,” he added with a chuckle.

“Are they all right?” Renee asked.

“Oh, sure, Smittle got to them in the FUP and scared off Donovan before he could do anything else, but fact remains that he's still on the loose.”

Molly burst through the front door and marched past them, stopping only when she saw Marlowe. “Already?” she muttered.

“News travels fast,” Marlowe said.

“Where's Kathryn?” Yuki asked Molly.

“Kathryn was caught in the middle of a violent explosion.” Molly shuddered. “I'm not insane enough to wake her up after that. Thankfully that Kiki girl is attending the clinic right now. She seemed insane enough.”

“Here.” Troy handed Marlowe the message. “You read it.”

Marlowe took it and played along: “The MST is holding this unit responsible for finding and capturing Donovan before his demon takes full control and possesses him to do something serious.” He set it down and smiled at Troy. “Wow, word for word. Nice job!”

Molly clutched her head. “You're not going to help us find him?”

“For now I consider the matter an internal affair within your unit.”

“It wouldn't have to do with the fact that you don't want anyone higher up finding out you let Donovan keep that demon?”

Marlowe waved off the accusation. “Not at all! Chancellor Whalen knows about it. But if we devote too much personnel into hunting him down, other people tend to get wind of it. It gets into the papers, parents find out we've got a student with a demon and then the owls start to come in.”

“Nice reference,” Renee said.

“Thank you,” he replied, turning back to Molly. “So I'd be much obliged if you'd take care of this one yourself. You know him the best anyway, so unless the demon took full control of his body you guys are best prepared to deal with this.”

“Can you team us with Meg and make it our field assignment?” Molly asked.

“Nope! And like I said, the less property damage, the better.”

“Why should we?” Troy asked suddenly. “I mean he went and did something stupid. Why can't you guys take care of it? We're not his babysitter.”

“Molly is!” Marlowe said cheerfully, raising a finger. “And having a member lose control and turning on us doesn't earn the unit very high marks. You're going to be looking for field jobs in the future and the MST likes to keep units intact. This is a promising group and I'm sure they'd rather stick you with a job that isn't godawful.”

“Will you at least get rid of the demon once we catch him?” Molly asked.

Marlowe shrugged. “I suppose. It was a noble effort, but there seems to be a downside to letting our students retain evil powers.”

“Then we'll find him right away. I'll let you know if we need help.”

“Excellent! I'll leave you to finish your game.”

The moment Marlowe shut the door behind him, Renee said, “You're really just giving in like that? If Donovan's possessed again...”

Molly sighed and sat down. “Yes, I know it's dangerous, but I'm not about to wait for Marlowe to suck it up and ask for reinforcements.”

“What's the rush?” Troy said. “If Donovan does something really bad, they'll have to act.”

“It's not Donovan, though. It's his demon. And the longer we wait, the more control the demon will get. We might lose him completely.”

Troy remained indifferent. “So?”

Molly stared forward. “Say what you will about Donovan, but he is not weak. The MST can work all they want with him, but it takes great strength to keep control of that demon for as long as he did.”

“But he still lost it.”

“Yes. Which tells me that something's wrong with him. And we need to get him back and fix it before it's too late.”

 

Session Three

While the rest of the unit starting the hunt for Donovan, Molly grabbed Kathryn and Giles from the clinic and returned to the library.

“Why are we back here?” Kathryn asked. “I'd be better off hunting the bastard down.”

Giles answered, “If he's truly being possessed, it would help to know what he was trying to look up here. Maybe it'll help us figure out what he's planning. It might even tie in with the Yovoni and could help out Vincent.” This time he pronounced the name correctly. Molly preferred it wrong.

Molly shrugged. “That and I left my work here.”

She collected it, slung her bag over her shoulder and led them to the stacks.

“Either of you remember where he flew?”

“Absolutely,” Giles said, pointing to the second floor.

Kathryn groaned. “You mean we have to fly up there again? I thought we weren't supposed to use magic in here.”

“Here.” Giles cast a spell emitting a beam of light from his fingertip to the site of the crime. “It's still magic, but they won't mind as much.”

“Great, so where are the stairs?”

“They're...” Molly paused. She wasn't entirely sure. She had only used the online catalog before. “Somewhere around here.”

The problem was that there were still shelves on the main floor. And they were cramped and anything but user-friendly. Whatever cataloging system the librarians used was archaic, so nobody really browsed the stacks. Thus, there was no incentive to making it navigable. Still, there had to be stairs somewhere. After minutes of hunting, Molly and Kathryn found a door marked 'employees only.' along the back wall.

“Well, either it's stairs or the break room,” Kathryn said.

“Or it'll set off every alarm in the building,” Molly replied. Shrugging, she pushed it open.

They found a marvel inside: it was the library's inner storeroom, mechanized through magic. Books flew overhead in every direction, somehow not colliding with each other due to some profound routing system. It wasn't automated: a half-dozen overworked magi were maneuvering everything. They saw Molly and Kathryn and probably recognized them as trespassers, but were too busy perpetuating the system to tell them to stop.

The staircase was on the far end of the room, past the floating wall of books.

“Great. How do we get through?” Molly asked.

“They're books. They knock down pretty easily,” Kathryn replied, holding up her staff.

“I doubt they'd appreciate that.” Molly drew a wide circle on her magic marker and kneeled inside it. “I'll send this back for you.”

Molly fired off her spell and the circle flew her under the books. Molly ducked as best she could, but some of the lowest books still scraped her scalp. She rubbed the top of her head for a bit before sending the circle back.

While waiting for a signal, she heard a commotion on the floor. Were the librarians more apt to use force than she expected? Molly was tempted to abandon the circle and ready something defensive. Neither were necessary as Kathryn swatted the last book down.

“Sorry. I don't trust those things,” she said.

Apparently, the books took offense as one flew into the back of her head. Then another. The whole lot of them, including several Kathryn had batted down, rose and seemed to be targeting her.

“Wow... never piss off librarians,” Kathryn mumbled. She and Molly bolted for the stairs, dodging books the whole way.

Just before the thousand-page folio reached them, they reached the second floor and slammed the door. They heard the collision from it and several other books that sounded like they fit Molly's strict definition of a tome. The second floor stacks were deceivingly deep. From the main floor of library, it looked like a small terrace, but the wall was farther back than Molly had realized.

“I hope Giles is still pointing,” Molly said as they hiked back to the balcony.

Thankfully, Giles was patiently casting his light beam on the same spot. He saw them and waved back.

They followed the beam to the spot where Donovan had landed before. “Remember where he was looking?” Molly asked.

“Yeah. Up here.” Kathryn led her the rest of the way and pointed at the shelf on the left.

Molly had a few ideas, mostly involving old logs of Mynoni secrets. She wasn't expecting this. “Hageshoni military history?” She looked around. The whole aisle, possibly more, was dedicated to it. As resident warmongers, they had a lot of military history.

“Why would Donovan be looking at this?” Kathryn asked.

“I have no idea. These aren't even forbidden. Nobody would bat an eye if he had searched for this material through normal means.”

“So what does that mean?”

“Maybe he was trying to lead us on,” said Giles, suddenly standing next to them. Molly jumped.

Shaking it off, Molly asked. “How did you get up here?”

“I flew.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“Yeah. A librarian asked why I was using that beam spell and I explained the basics to her. Turns out Marlowe told them we might be showing up to investigate. She said I could go ahead and fly up here.”

Somehow, Molly and Kathryn's head injuries seemed to sting even more.

“Maybe he wanted to make us think he was looking for something improper so he could lead us into a trap,” Giles said.

“Either way, we're done here.” Molly declared.

Kathryn continued to clutch her head. “What? But we just got up here.”

Giles nodded. “Even if Donovan was looking for something, we didn't give him a chance to find it.”

“And there's so much material here that there's no way we could find something suspicious,” Molly added.

“Perhaps we should stick around in case he tries to come back.”

“Good idea. Thanks for volunteering.” Molly grabbed Kathryn's shirt sleeve and prepared to fire off a spell.

“Where are you going?”

“To get some aspirin.” With that, Molly and Kathryn vanished. Giles shrugged, picked most interesting book he could find off the shelves, and sat by the balcony to keep watch.

 

Session Four

Troy wasn't entirely sure how he was saddled with the task of searching the Forest of Unspeakable Peril for Donovan, but at least he was doing it with Renee.

And Smittle. “Now don't you two get any naughty ideas while you're in here.” Troy wasn't so pleased with having a psychotic game warden crashing the party.

When he grumbled, Renee put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Did you really think Molly would let us in here ourselves?”

“Precisely,” said Smittle. Renee blushed; she hadn't meant for him to hear that. “Seems that demon has some punch behind him. No guardian worth her salt would throw you two against him on your own.”

“For the record, we've faced Donovan as a demon before,” Troy stated.

“Uh, Troy, he kicked our butts,” Renee said.

“Oh yeah.”

Smittle forged ahead through the narrow path. “Plus he has the defensive advantage in here. So keep your ears open.”

It was hard to keep their ears open for Donovan when other, lesser creatures were eager to defend their territory. Smittle made quick work of them with his shotgun.

After blasting away hodag number four, Renee said, “You know, if we're trying to sneak up on Donovan, maybe shooting every monster you come across isn't a great idea.”

“Don't matter. If he's still in here, he knows we are too.”

“He doesn't have to know where,” Troy said.

“Better he come to us than spend all day wandering.”

Troy folded his arms. “I'm fine spending all day wandering.”

“That ain't no fun. Now shut up.” Smittle aimed his shotgun carefully. Troy and Renee hushed up and let him. Usually he didn't aim, so this must have been important. Something hunting them, destined to swoop in while they weren't suspecting anything.

He fired a shot, looked at his target for a moment and swore to himself.

“Did you miss it?” Troy asked.

“Nah, I got it all right,” the warden said. “It's a roc.”

“As in the bird or the... rock?” Renee said. God help them if it was the latter.

“Yep. They usually prefer high altitudes. Buggers aren't supposed to be around here. They eat all the basilisks; messes up the food chain.”

Troy shrugged. “So you shot it. What's the problem?”

“That was just the baby. 'Scuse me for a moment.”

The mother burst through the canopy- a giant, angry bird of prey with her sights set on the three humans. Troy and Renee dove for cover and cowered. The roc dove after them first, but Troy doused it with water to deter her. She shook the water out of her feathers, giving Smittle enough time to fire into the air. Spooked, the roc flew away.

Smittle jumped on her leg as she flew off, yelling, “Gotta find her nest and torch it. Back in a few!”

Troy and Renee crawled from under their hiding place and watched him fly off.

“He left us,” Troy said.

“I was hoping he'd stock a dragon in here one of these days, but if he can't even stand a roc or two, forget it,” Renee mumbled in dismay. “So what do we do now?”

“I don't think Donovan's in here,” Troy declared, sitting on a stump. “I mean, when was the last time he ever used a strategy?”

“He snuck up on us the first time he was possessed.”

“Yeah, but he still attacked us then. We've been out here for an hour and nothing.”

“Maybe he didn't want to attack us with Mr. Smittle around.”

Troy shook his head. “If he was close enough to know that we were with Smittle, Smittle would have heard him. Besides, there's no reason for him to be in here.”

“Well, he could be randomly plugging monsters again, but I guess we would have heard that.”

Troy nodded. “It doesn't feel right. Donovan is not in here.”

He paused for a moment. Despite his words, he was ready for Donovan to charge out of the bushes and strike. Donovan could never resist such irony. It's half the reason Troy made such a declarative statement.

“So should we wait for Smittle or just get out of here?” Renee asked, looking around. The sun was starting to set and the light was starting to reflect in different directions and colors.

“I guess we-” A noise in the bushes startled Renee. She shrieked and threw her arms around Troy. Out popped a squirrel. An ordinary gray squirrel. Good thing Smittle wasn't there or he probably would have shot that as well.

It did get Renee into Troy's arms. He smiled. “Well... while we're in here...”

Renee chuckled and cooed, “That's one idea. Hope he's busy for a while.”

She lunged up and kissed him. He kept it going, keeping his arms wrapped around her and caressing her back. They fell to the ground, not that it stopped them at all.

They didn't roll around for very long, however. Just as Troy started to contemplate the first stages of clothing removal, the trees rattled once again. Troy and Renee separated and sat up in time to see Smittle fly in, landing on his feet and clutching a huge egg. His forehead was bleeding heavily.

“All right, that's taken care of,” he said. “Anyone want an omelette?”

 

Session Five

Molly and Kathryn returned to the dorm first. Molly sat at the table, trying to figure out what Donovan could have been up to. It was a puzzle as much as it was a hunt, as this overt effort at stealth wasn't like either Donovan or a possessing demon. She would have to continue contemplating this.

Kathryn took a nap on the couch.

Normally when demons took control of somebody, they committed all sorts of acts of terror. Property was destroyed, people were hurt and lives were disrupted, even ended. It was the best way to unleash direct havoc on the masses as the puppet human usually ended up taking the rap. Most demons that successfully gain control of an MST student wouldn't hesitate to lay waste to the academy. Molly doubted Donovan would have objected to this much.

So what was with all the sneaking around? Donovan had attacked Giles and Meg, so he was clearly hostile. But he wasn't doing anything else but wandering the woods and trying to look up information that was neither sensitive nor a secret. All this in the most suspicious way possible. He usually did that sort of thing anyway. What was the demon trying to accomplish?

Once Troy and Renee returned, Molly asked, “Find anything?”

“We found out that Smittle knows how to fry a roc egg without a pan,” Troy replied.

“Tasty too!” Renee added.

“No Donovan though. Didn't find anything else that looked suspicious or demonic either.”

Molly shook her head and turned away. If he was anywhere else on campus, Marlowe would have dropped her a hint. Odds were that Donovan was no longer at Central Academy. Whatever he was up to, that was really bad.

Renee sat across from Molly and patted her hand. “Maybe Donovan's not really possessed. He might just be in one of his stupid moods.”

“No... there was something about him. He looked different. He sounded different. And why would he attack Giles and Meg?”

“Oh yeah. He actually likes them. Why didn't he attack you and Kathryn?”

That was another point. Kathryn stepped into his trap. Donovan said a lot to Molly, but never attempted to strike her. But with Smittle standing behind her, she couldn't tell if he was trying to avoid hitting his unit or if it was just coincidence.

“I don't know. Even if he had some control, he was never all that loyal to begin with.”

Renee considered that and said, “But that demon was pretty nasty when he was in full control. If nothing's stopping him, why isn't he terrorizing the place?”

Someone knocked on the door, preventing Molly from speculating. Yuki opened it. She had been working on an experiment in the kitchen and paid no attention to the conversation. She hadn't blown the dorm up either, so nobody paid attention to her.

Giles thanked Yuki and announced to the group, “Hey, I just had the craziest thing happen.”

“Did you find him?” Renee asked eagerly.

“No, but I was camping up at the library watching for him. I got kind of bored, so I picked one of the books off the shelves to browse. It was interesting, it went into the motives for all of the wars the Hageshoni get into. Anyway, I'm reading this for a couple hours and suddenly it pops right out of my hands and floats down into the lobby. Their retrieval system is just amazing!”

By the time he finished, everybody had been ignoring him. When he stopped, Molly said, “But no Donovan?”

“Oh, no, didn't see him. If he's not on campus, maybe he's in a demon realm.”

“I considered that, but his demon isn't technically aligned with a faction. Kendrick gave it to him, so he might try to side with the Hokoni. Trouble is I don't see them accepting an outsider like Donovan without anyone to speak for him.”

“What does that leave him?” Troy asked.

Giles sat down across from Molly and said, “Well, it depends. Let's assume he's not on campus. If the demon has full control, he'd be destroying Indianapolis right about now. Anyone watching the news?”

Molly waved a finger and turned on the television. The top story on the local news was a flower garden opening downtown. Definitely not the destruction of Indianapolis.

Renee liked the pretty flowers. “Ooh... I kinda want to see that.”

Turning off the TV, Molly said, “Then let's assume Donovan has some control still. What then?”

Pondering the question for a moment, Giles answered, “As I understand it, people trying to regain control over a demon tend to naturally go to places of personal strength. Sort of like finding a sanctuary. Does Donovan go to church or anything?”

He didn't seem to take offense to the three blank stares he got from Molly, Troy and Renee, although he accepted them as the answer. Behind them, Yuki was laughing.

“Even something like his bedroom could work if he spent a lot of time alone in there. A place where he does hobbies may count to.”

“Well, he's not in his room,” Molly said, gesturing to the open door behind her.

Renee nodded. “And the only place I can think of like that would be his dark room back home.”

Frowning, Giles furrowed his eyebrows. “I doubt that would work. He couldn't get from here to Ohio that quickly.”

Out of nowhere, Yuki was standing behind them. “Should we check, just in case?”

Molly and Renee were startled. Troy was just annoyed: “We're not driving all the way home just in case Donovan felt sentimental and decided to break the laws of physics.”

“We don't have to go home.” Yuki smiled brightly. “Renee, can I borrow your laptop?”

Renee was confused, but retrieved it anyway. It took a few moments before it warmed up and linked up with the academy's spotty wi-fi connection.

“I'll check the school's security cameras to see if he's there!”

Molly grimaced. “The cameras are closed-circuit. They aren't connected to the internet. You can't access them outside the school.”

“Yours couldn't.” Yuki grinned, almost maniacally. “So I made a few upgrades.”

Indeed, there on the screen, Yuki could see all of the school's security cameras. Being spring break, most of them were devoid of activity.

Clicking her tongue, Molly said, “Shame we don't have one in the dark room itself.”

“Sure we do! Figured it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on Donovan,” Yuki clicked one camera and it loaded up. “I always wondered why you never hooked one up.”

“Because I didn't want to know,” Molly replied. “And it's usually dark in there, so you can't see anything.” When the image pulled up, Molly was right: it was pitch black.

“That's what night-vision is for!” Yuki pressed a key and parts of the screen glowed green, revealing the outline of the dark room.

And Donovan inside it, sulking.

“How the hell?” Troy asked.

“Who cares? We're leaving,” Molly said. “Immediately.”

“What about all your stuff?” Giles asked.

“Thanks for volunteering to pack for us.” Molly nudged Kathryn awake. “We need to get to him soon. If he went all the way back home, he must be trying to get control over that demon again. Let's make sure he does.”