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Part Eight: 6:55 AM, March 20, 2008To Emily, the passageway seemed endless. First she would lead, then Xander or her Watcher always brought up the rear.
“Help,” Cale shouted from somewhere in front of them. Regan was screaming. The four broke into a run.
The scene changed to a dim underground chamber. Nailed to the wall were Regan and Cale, their faces cold and dead. Vampires appeared from all around them.
Someone appeared in front of them and grinned evilly. The four gasped in horror. And then the Master entered the room, and approaching her, reached across and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Emily Jane? Emily Jane?” Strange how the Master, a female vampire, sounded so much like her father …
Someone was hitting her on the shoulder. Instinctively she jumped out of bed and assumed a fighting position, then relaxed when she saw that it was Dad. Her father jumped back two feet and gasped.
“Jesus God, Emily Jane, when did you become so paranoid?” Emily started to make up an excuse. “Never mind,” Dad said. “You have a phone call. It’s Cale’s mother. He didn’t come home last night.”
“What?” Emily exclaimed, then practically knocked her father over sprinting for her phone. Dad walked out the door shaking his head, then paused. It’s nice that he’s concerned about Cale, she thought as she lifted the receiver.
“Ms. Benjamin? No, the last time I saw him was in the library last night. Our club, right. No, I didn’t go last night. I was working out.” Well, it was true, sort of — “I’m worried. Of course I’m worried. I’ll check something out and let you know. Bye.” Before Dad could say anything she quickly dialed Regan’s number. The pale blonde effectively lived alone; her mother, a pilot, traveled all over the country, and she hadn’t heard from her father in years and liked it that way.
“Pick up, Regan, pick up …” she told the phone. She noticed her father’s look of deep concern. Regan’s answering machine began playing and Emily improvised, “Sorry to wake you, Reeg. No one’s seen Cale since last night and I was — you neither? Well, then, catch you later,” as she hung up. She turned to Dad. “Regan hasn’t seen him either.”
“I gathered that,” he said as Emily shut the door and threw on some clothes. She also grabbed her bag of vampire repellent and sprinted down the stairs past her father. This next part she had to handle perfectly. If she let Dad get a word in edgewise, she’d be stuck listening to the virtues of patience during a nice long breakfast.
“Sorry, Dad, gotta find Cale, gonna try Ms. Rosenberg’s, loveyouseeyalaterbye!” She ran out the door at full Slayer speed and sprinted around the corner. Halfway down the block she paused to listen. No voices screaming after her. Good. Now she could panic. Cale Benjamin never spent the night away from home without a good excuse. And while she wouldn’t have been exactly surprised to find Regan away from home, added to Cale’s absence — well, it was Oliver Stone time.
She hurdled Ms. Rosenberg’s hedge — a neat trick, but she was the Slayer — and pounded on her front door. Her bleary-eyed Watcher opened the door and pulled her inside. The Harrises were asleep on the couch.
“You’re here early,” she said. “Never mind. We found —” She noticed the Slayer’s worried look. “What’s wrong, Emily?” Xander and Cordelia yawned and stretched.
“Cale didn’t come home last night. Neither did Regan,” Emily blurted.
“What’s up?” Xander said sleepily as Cordelia dashed upstairs. Seeing Emily’s puzzled expression, Xander grinned. “She doesn’t like anyone but me to see her when she’s not at her best.”
“I thought she looked gorgeous,” Emily said.
“So do I, but that’s just how she is.” He winked at Ms. Rosenberg conspiratorially. “Hey, Will, when she comes down, tell her you have something that’ll cure those bags under her eyes.” For just a moment a glint of mischief entered her Watcher’s eyes, but then she shook her head.
“Maybe later. Emily has a problem. Cale and Regan didn’t get home last night.”
“This is not good. When we helped —” he broke off. “Well, it usually meant trouble.” He got up, stretched again, and jogged up the stairs. “I’m going to tell Cordy. Tell Emily the rest of the prophecy thing.”
She quickly went over everything the three had come up with the previous night and added something else. “I mistranslated part of it earlier. It takes place “On the middle of the day when day and night are equals.” That isn’t the first day of spring. It’s today. Sunrise, sunset 6:47. The middle’s noon. That gives us …” She looked at her computer’s clock. “Four hours and fifty minutes.” Emily jumped to her feet and ran for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To find my friends!” Emily exclaimed.
“Like I said.” Emily opened her mouth once, twice, then came back over and sat down. Ms. Rosenberg went on, “You don’t have time to rip the town apart, Emily. Much as you want to. We’re going to have to do this some other way.” She paused. “You said yesterday you couldn’t sense a vampire within miles. Use your senses now. Is there a vampire anywhere near here?”
She closed her eyes and concentrated. “No. But my range is only 100 feet or so.”
“100 feet?” Her Watcher blinked. “Emily, that’s — wow. There are Slayers in the Watcher Diaries that worked their whole lives and didn’t do half as well. That makes things a lot easier.” She went to the bottom of the stairs. “You ready up there?” No answer. “I’ll be right back.” She walked up the stairs and came right back down. Her Watcher was blushing! “Um, they’ll be a few minutes … while we’re waiting, let’s go in the back and practice the crossbow again.”
“Why?” Emily asked impatiently.
“Because it’s as far away from the bathroom as we can get and still be on the property.”