Elissa kicked out at the vampire but her kick collided with his already crumbling skeleton, with empty water and last of all with the side of the pool because the vampire had exploded into dust.  She flew into the bushes as if she were a supernatural creature herself.

It is one o'Clock in the morning and one by one the stars go out, soon enough the streetlights follow as fog arises from the ground and thickens around you.  Those who are awake feel a sudden cold, not a September cold but a December cold.  For those who remember, it's a December 1963 cold, an 1816 cold, a cold that sinks down through the bones and kisses the marrow.

None here are sleeping.  Elissa is freezing in wet clothes, while the Marine and the Watcher and her Slayer shiver hard as the ground frosts around them.

Ann hadn't meant to send the vampire into the water, but she was pleased with herself nonetheless. She let Miss Casey tend to her wound, acting the innocent, injured civilian for the guard. It might be worthwhile having him wonder whether he'd let a child get hurt on his watch too.

"It hurts a lot, miss. I hope this doesn't mean I have to miss any school. I'm sorry I stumbled, but it's so dark here."

Elissa shooting out of the water caused her to turn, wondering if the vampire was back for another round. Seeing her friend briefly instead, she simply did her best impression of being surprised.

"Did you see that? Are there foxes around this area?"

And then she shivered as the cold hit. She wasn't dressed for cold weather, so there was no need for acting this time.

"I think we should be getting ourselves somewhere warmer, miss."

I'm going to die... That single thought dominated everything. The unnatural freezing cold was going to kill her. She had minutes at the most... It didn't matter where it had come from, it didn't matter that she might get arrested... she was soaking wet and there was now ice on the ground.

There was no way Elissa could survive this on her own. There was no enemy to fight, no one to persuade, just the biting cold....

She had to strip. Had to get the clothes off. Had to light a fire... She could maybe do that in time... maybe.... But she had nothing to replace the clothes with so she would still die. Even if she met up with the others... it would be too late... She would die in front of them.

Remember the basics. Stay alive. Keep your team alive. Do what you have to do to make that happen. Mission priorites last. To keep alive she needed warmth and clothes. And if that meant she would get arrested... well you had to be alive to get arrested

Still she could do something to maybe help. Ripping off her balaclava as she run, Elissa jumped over the wall. The balaclava was stuffed in the sack, the socks ripped off her feet, the tracksuit removed... leaving her in her jogging outfit and still soaked. Stuffing the rucksack behind a bush she tried as hard as she could to race to the entrance, the run turning into a stumble as the cold begin its evil work. There was a man with a radio at the entrance. Maybe with warmth. Maybe she would live...

"Help..." she called out as she approached the entrance of the graveyard, the weakness in her voice not faked... she wasn't even sure she'd make it.. "Please Help".

“Sorry for all the fuss, good luck with the foxes.”

Getting Ann out of here (and finding Elissa) was Alice’s goal and she hoped the gate guard would let them.  He did just ask them to leave.

Assuming nothing else occurred, Alice picked up her things from the gate and led Ann to a place where Elissa had originally met them at.  When Alice saw that the girl was soaked and shivering, she gave up her Parker.

“Let’s get you both inside the first place we can find.  Once we get warm then we can talk about that scuffle.”

Ooc:  any lighted buildings or homes in the area?  What about telephone booths?

Elissa's lips were blue, her body was shaking violently. It was hard for her to speak through the cold. "Need... clothes... off" she pulled her T shirt off, showing a plain sports bra under it, shaking even more, and used it to try and brush the water off, but her hands were too cold and she dropped it. Shuddering she pulled the parker around her and squatted on the ground holding her hands under her armpits rather than putting them through the arms of the parker. "Can... can you get my stuff... Ann" she asked "The bush. Just round... the corner." More shuddering "Need ... fire.. "

Evidently, Elissa's powers didn't extend to shrugging off cold weather. She looked terrible, and Ann wasn't sure how long she could last. While Miss Casey put the coat on her, Ann pulled Elissa's shorts down and off. Then she rubbed her hands up and down Elissa's legs, but was worried at how cold they felt.

Elissa asked Ann to get her things, but it seemed that Ann could do better than that. "Miss Casey, can you get her things?" she asked as she put Elissa over her shoulder. Then she took off at a run, looking for the nearest warm-looking building. As she ran, she blamed herself for knocking Elissa into the water, even if it hasn't been so cold at the time.

"Jesus it's cold" Elissa said still shivering. But the Parker was doing it's thing. She had hardly any wet things on now, shivering was a thing your body did to get warm, and with the warmth of Ann's body... admittedly in a new way for Elissa... she was starting to feel better. Her unnatural physiology able to cope much better now that she wasn't dripping wet in the coldest weather she'd ever felt

"What the fuck happened. Dude on a flying horse wearing armor. Weird bars stopping him get into Cambridge stopping him no matter where he went. A vampire. A for real no messing exploding into dust vampire. And now this" she was still shaking violently, but it wasn't as bad. She no longer felt she was going to die.

"Alice is your Watcher right" she could now get words out without her teeth hurting, and maybe she could stand, but she couldn't run... not like this... "Thanks Ann you're a life saver... God it's cold... will Alice know why it's so cold?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:52, Sat 08 Jan 2022.

Ann wasn't sure about the man on the horse. She'd not seen him herself, but Elissa had mentioned him before she'd got cold enough for hypothermia. She'd be sure to ask Miss Casey when she caught up.

Speaking of which, there was no way that Miss Casey could keep up with them if she ran home. So instead, Ann made for a nearby college. It was fairly dark, with most of the windows darkened, but the wicket gate was ajar with light spilling out. Ann headed in, then made her way into the nearby lodge, surprising the porter as she put a wet and half-naked woman on the ground.

"Do you have any hot drinks?" she said. "Or blankets or towels? She fell in a pond and it's freezing tonight."

She made sure to stand in sight of the road, so that Miss Casey could find them.

Sculley nodded toward the hot drinks machine and slid three fifty pence pieces over the counter.  He's not a young man, but neither is he old, or perhaps he is from the point of view of teenagers.  He has all his own hair although it is white, he has wrinkles around his eyes but few others.  His complexion is florid and he wears a white shirt and a brightly coloured waistcoat with a matching tie.

"I recommend the oxtail if she's that cold."  He says, "But it's really not that cold is it?  Anyway, help yourselves, I'll call the nurse and get her to bring some blankets."

A moment later, he picks up the phone and dials a single number.  "Miss Gladstone", he says, "Sculley here.  I've got three young ladies in the lodge and one of them looks like she's suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.... "oh.  Right."... Ta."

He puts down the phone and says, "Hold off on the drinks until she's a bit warmer.  The best thing is for the two of you to hug her between you and use your body temperature, apparently,"

Alice remained behind to collect Elissa’s things and caught up with the girls later on.

Eventful… traumatic even, but hopefully the girls pull through.  I’ll go easy on them but some lessons for later need to be arranged.

Meeting Sculley, Alice took the advice and was grateful to not be bombarded with questions.  She’d already been thinking of a story, just in case.  Most of it would be the truth… minus certain bits.  Alice wrapped Elissa in her arms and shared what warmth she still had.

“Thank you, sir… would it be possible to borrow a blanket?  As soon as the girls are warm I’ll call a cab.”

Alice, please see the post above yours, toward the end of the first spoken line

Ann sat on the opposite side to Miss Casey and put her arm around Elissa too. She was careful to keep her bloody sleeve out of sight and hopefully avoid any questions about it. She was worried about how cold her friend felt, though she thought she was beginning to feel warmer.

She had questions about the man on the horse Elissa had seen, and she also thought that Miss Casey should know about Elissa's powers. But not in front of Sculley. There was nothing to do for now but wait for Elissa to recover.

After a little while, she thanked Sculley for his help and got some oxtail soup which she held to Elissa's lips. "Try to drink a little of this."

At last, Miss Gladstone arrives and wraps a blanket around Elissa, saying, "Well done ladies, you've done very well indeed.  This youngster seems to be recovering quite nicely, but you should probably sit here for a half an hour with the blanket on her before I call you a cab.  Would you mind telling me what you were doing running around dressed in Summer clothes at this time of night?  It can get cold out on the fens and sometimes it blows into Cambridge."

This would have been plain awkward if she wasn't so cold. Elissa hadn't suggested it earlier because she thought they would take her to the marine, and he would have a fire. And then... well .. she'd been too cold to do anything other than shiver. Not that she minded a pretty girl, or a handsome boy putting their arm around her and holding her close... it would just usually be for more 'making out' reasons. Rather than trying to avoid Hypothermia. And she didn't want to give Ann any funny signals.

"Thanks Ann" the soup was really helping. As was the warmth. And the blanket

Elissa rarely got on well with authority figures and Miss Gladstone was already getting on her wick, but given how much she'd needed the help, Elissa kept polite. "I was just out running, right. Those were running clothes, not summer clothes. But I'll be more careful in future" She wasn't quite sure how she could be more careful, given she'd been fighting a frigging vampire when she got dumped in the water, but hey the Bossy woman wouldn't know that

What surprised Elissa the most was that none of the people here: not Sculley, not Miss Gladstone... none of them were commenting on the extreme cold. Why not? Something to think about...

She wanted to talk to Ann and Alice. A lot. But there were people around. This so wasn't the place to have the chat. She'd just wait until they got somewhere safer

It was perhaps an hour later in Alice's rooms. Elissa looked to have recovered although she was still under a blanket and not wearing many clothes. The recovery a testimony to her unnatural physiology.

She'd been biting her tongue all the time: in the college, in the Taxi and waiting until they'd had a chance to sit down. "Any chance I can borrow a T Shirt" she'd asked on the way in

"I guess we need to talk, right? A flying man stopped from entering Cambridge by f-ing magical gates. Vampires are real, no kidding. And fucking hard bastards at that. And explode. And Jesus, Supernatural cold that comes out of nowhere"

"But more. What do we do now?"

"If we're going to do stuff together... you've got to talk to us Alice. Tell us who you work for. And what kind of shit are they into? Ann trusts you, and I... I trust you a bit. Especially after the vamp. But Jesus it doesn't all add up. And I hate things that don't add up"

"I can work some stuff out. It's obvious you or yours can do magic. Like how come you know about Ann: did you make her or find her? If you made her it was magic. If you found her.. well it's a big fucking world and Ann didn't take out an add in the Daily Mail. I mean if there are a million Anns, you didn't need magic to find her, but if there were a million Anns everyone would know"

"What I don't know... is ... are you the good guys or the bad guys. Not you: Ann trusts you, and you seem nice enough. But the gang you work for. Do you know? You probably think you are the good guys... but who told you and are you sure you can trust them? Why? Are they open and honest with you? There's some serious shit flying around here and as Dad said 'Ass-u-me makes an ass out of you and me'"

"We can play 'I'll tell you a bit, you tell me a bit'. Or we could skip the crap and just put cards on the table. I've already told Ann everything important about me"

OOC I asked the GM and he suggested Alice's rooms. If this is awkward Alice let me know and I will edit.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:28, Sun 09 Jan 2022.

Alice's ROOMS, Elissa.  I think she lives onsite at Emma. I'm sure Alice will correct me if I'm wrong.

OOC:  Alice is fine bringing the girls home.  If she can live onsite at Emma that would be ideal... because its safer for her and her Watcher gear.

Alice chit chatted during the cab ride, but it was unimportant stuff and not a word was said about the cemetery adventure.  Only when the trio was safely home and settled did Alice 'get down to business'.  An Emmanuel College sports T-shirt was passed to Elissa upon the request for clothing.  Some warm tea/coffee and dipping biscuits were laid out for all of them to enjoy.  If the girls needed other things, Alice did the best she could to provide them (like some proper dressing for Ann's arm).  Elissa it seemed had a lot to say, so Alice just decided to let the girl talk and talk... until she could get a word in.

"Actually, I know precious little about you, Elissa.  Ann preferred to keep your secret, like a good friend would... and I had hoped that you might confide in me too.  In the spirit of co-operation, I will share first.  Our organization are indeed the 'good guys', trying to safe guard the world from monsters... with a specialty in vampire hunting.  Do we always get it right?  No.  Its the best solution available in an imperfect world.  We are not a cabal of wizards or geneticists who 'make' people.  Just flesh and blood people, guided by a prophecy... that one girl per generation inherits the power to be a champion.  Our role is to find, train, and assist this Chosen One... and that girl is Ann.  Long may she reign."

Alice periodically dipped and ate biscuits as she talked.  She found it a soothing gesture and hoped that Elissa might also appreciate the informality of it all.  Ann also deserved a bit of re-assurance.

"I believe its your turn, Elissa.  Perhaps you could tell me where you received your 'abilities' from... and the hardships you have since faced."

Elissa was actually surprised at Alice's approach. She'd expected secrecy and mistrust and doubt. And actually ... well ... only a little info had been give, but she liked the way it was given, and it showed in her body language.

"Sure" she said, and took a few moments to think through how to explain. She'd only done this once before, with Ann, and that had been different.

"Right... I guess... I don't know when it started. But when I was 16 I still didn't have boobs. Or a period. The doctors were fucking useless... what do you expect. Then around my birthday I started having these night terrors. And the doctors... well they weren't a lot of good" she nodded to Ann, as she'd spoken about this with her "One of them said 'keep a dream diary' and I did. For about two...three weeks I kept dreaming of these terrifyingly beautiful shining figures. And I put on about 6 inches of height and grew boobs... All really fast. The doctors were still fucking useless... said the 'puberty growth surge' should have taken six months and it took less than one."

Ellisa's voice was far away now, like she was reliving it. "I hurt ... hurt all the time... Everywhere. Growing pains the quacks said. Jesus it was horrible. But what they didn't know was I got fast and strong "

"I was so alone..." her voice faded even more "It... I ... I mean who could I tell, right? Couldn't tell my teachers. I didn't know what the fuck was happening to me. Couldn't tell Dad's friends. God knows I couldn't tell mum. Like I told Ann I did research. I read comics. I talked to librarians. I couldn't tell them why I was asking.... " she looked at Ann "That's why... That's why I took the risk of talking to you. Because I didn't want you to go through it too. I didn't know about her" a nod at Alice "and her gang... or I'd have stayed quiet"

"It changed everything. I nearly killed a guy. He was dissing me, called me a dyke, so I kicked him in the nadds. Only... I didn't know... Didn't know how strong I was... He survived right... Only 'cos I was pulling it anyway... But Jesus it was scary. And it's hard to train. I get in the ring with the Muay Thai World Champions... and like I told Ann... they are like children and I'm the grown up. I used to go behind the Appollo, you know...right? Saturday night. It's where you go for a blarney and there's nothing like a little punch up to finish a saturday night out. But... but now I can't go because I'd kill someone"

Elissa shrugged "But no vampires. No monsters. No super scientists. I thought I was alone until Ann wasn't sleeping, told me about her dreams and then she got strong. Mind you... Ann had her boobs a week ago, so it's not the same"

"Even money I am a super soldier project. Fuck knows why I'm not in a lab being vivisected... that's what I worry about every night. And if not... maybe your group's prophecy is full of shit and there's more than one Ann. Or there's more than one prophecy Who knows"

She gathered herself together

"What I do know Alice. What I do know is that I don't trust your group. They send teenage girls out to kill vampires and do fuck all to help them. I'll trust you. You went in with Alice. Respect" she raised her drink and toasted Alice "But you need to take a good look at your gang. My Dad would rip them a new pair if he saw how they were running their outfit. We ain't behind enemy lines: it's the UK for chrissake. Security's a joke. Where was our medical support? Where was our strategic reserve? Where was our reconnaisance? Where was our overwatch... We didn't even have a fucking bicycle and a blanket"

"So what's your outfit's plan? To keep sending Ann in again and again without effective support until she dies, and then you wait until the next generation and find a new chosen one? Does that sound like the good guys to you Alice? Because it sure as fuck doesn't sound like the good guys to me"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:20, Sun 09 Jan 2022.

Ann had listened quietly to the others, her legs tucked under her on the sofa while drinking her tea and eating biscuits. But she judged it was time for her to speak.

"I don't think my breasts matter." She turned a deep red. "I mean, me having breasts before I got strong." Her face turned even redder. "What I mean is, it sounds as though you went through something different. I was a normal girl a month or two ago. With breasts, because that's normal at seventeen. Until I was chosen."

She took a deep breath. "The choosing is something mystic. From what I understand, nobody knows how the next Slayer is chosen, but it's often a girl near a source of evil, somebody in the right place to fight it. Which makes me wonder what is going on in Cambridge."

She got a far-away look in her eyes as she continued.

"And the 'in every generation' thing is wishful thinking. There's always exactly one Slayer. It's a bit like having a king or queen. When one dies, the next one becomes monarch immediately. It's the same with Slayers. Except sitting on a throne is a lot safer than fighting vampires. A Slayer is doing well if she makes it a year. I haven't asked about the last Slayer, and I don't want to know, but her last breath was at the same moment that I drew my last breath as a normal human. And one day, I'll fall just like her, and then another girl will get the call. Of course, I could ignore my destiny. But if I'd done that, the guard at the cemetery would be dead now. Or worse."

She poked her finger through the knife slash in her sleeve. "Blood and a knife slash. I'm going to be so grounded when my dad sees this that I'll be drawing my old-age pension by the time I'm allowed out again at night. You might have to send the vampires to my house to fight, Miss Casey. But one advantage of being the Slayer is that there isn't much need for medical attention." She ripped off the dressing from her arm. There was no sign of the wound or a scab or scar, just dried blood. "Slayers heal fast. Real fast."

She put down her tea. "You wanted to see if it was real. Vampires and demons and whatever you saw flying on a horse that we didn't. I'd like to hear Miss Casey's ideas on that one. But now you know. Things that go bump in the night exist, and you can ignore them or fight them. It seems to me that however you got your powers, we don't both need to do this. Perhaps just one of us can continue the slaying. Perhaps the other one can build a normal life. And I thought Miss Casey was the bravest one there. She didn't have the super strength or speed to fight, but she was with us. I trust her."

Alice sat through the entire rambling story with all the patience she could muster.  And she was careful not to express any disproval or disappointment.  Elissa needed to get this off her chest (especially the boob fixation)… or so she thought.

“Boobs aside, you seem a mystery… but I could do a little research.  You could have an inhuman ancestor and not all are horrible monsters.  Is there a history of religious miracles in the family line?  Science is another alternative but not my field of expertise.  If you still have the dream diary, it might help.”

Alice took a break to replace the drinks.

“In defense of our group, I believe the idea to hunt a vampire on such short notice wasn’t my idea.  And we aren’t a group who can flex authority like the military or MI5.  There is no backup, save the allies we can befriend.  Think of us as concerned occultists, trying to stay out of the limelight.  The prophecy is set and if we could have more Slayers, we would.  Instead we train other girls in the hope that they become the Slayer… but more often than not, the choice is random.  I admit that some ‘traditional’ viewpoints support the Slayer operating alone.  My opinion is that there is safety and success in numbers.  Ideally, the next hunt… whenever that is, should utilise research and preparedness.  Vampires have banes, as do other monsters.”

When Ann piped up and said her piece, a look of happy approval formed on Alice’s face.  This deserved some chocolate.  She fetched a packet of wrapped eclairs and put them on the table.

“Well said, Ann.  Nobody is forcing you to do anything Elissa, but regrettably the monsters are still out there.  In time I hope we can clear out the predators and force the rest into exile or coexistence.  And I’d prefer it on the back of a team.”

Elissa was doing a lot of listening. There was a lot of information coming in. Most of it disturbing. None of it nice. Except when Ann blushed. That was nice. She nodded in agreement, it did sound different what had happened

"Your traditionalists can go fuck themselves" she snorted at one point "They know that if the slayer dies another one pops up. So why bother trying to keep her alive. Bastards. And if there are enough of you to have factions Alice. Then there are enough of you to do a proper job. So tell them to get their fat asses down here and help. They like getting girls to do their work don't they? That way they can feel smug at home, and not take any risks. Not like you Alice... you stood up to be counted. Like Ann said"

Alice's idea on the source of her power was interesting. "Sure. Loads of Religous Miracles. We've got family records going back to 1066, and a few bits before that. Mum's the expert. You can look the stories up in the House of Lord's library or maybe closer ... Cambridge University probably has a decent libary" Elissa said thoughtfully "I remember being told about Gerard St Claireaux... the name was different then. He was trapped in Jerusalem during the first crusade and there was a solar eclipse and an earthquake, and he was freed. Then ... I'm not good at this history crap but Mum is... there as a thing during the 'hundred years war' when one of my great-great... great grandmothers retired to a nunnery and grew stigmata then claimed that the pope was the anti-christ. Tons of similar wild and wacky stories." she shrugged "Maybe that's it. But it all sounded like people on LSD to me... or the medieval equivalent"

She listened a little more then "Alright so it's like this. Ann, girl, you have a new hobby. Monster hunting. It's a dangerous hobby. So you need to do it safely. It's your job to stay alive girl, and not let the traditionalists dance on your corpse as they get the next fresh and shiny slayer. Do you want to be alive in ten years, or do you want your dad to bury you... in a closed coffin funeral... 'cos you went heroic"

"The main keep alive shit is 'never ever do a dangerous hobby alone'. Like fucking never. Which is what you are saying Alice... If you have to stay at home because you're on your own, Ann. Well life sucks sometimes. So the marine dies. But if you die girl... then a hundred marines die, 'cos you aren't them to stop them the next day and the next day. If you die the job doesn't get done. And your dad gets to go to your funeral"

"I might be in. We'll see. But if I am, we ain't doing no hero shit. We're staying alive because that's the only way to get the job done. Dead heroes save no one. If you're right about the 'source of evil here', girl. Then we have to be alive to deal with it"

OOC I tried to address all the points... but there were a lot. So if I missed an important one, just raise it again in the conversation and we'll talk about it

"The Watchers, as we are called do mean well... but any collection of people will hold different viewpoints, especially when we try to spread around the world and draw on different generations of scholars.  While hunting is a part of our charter, so is training and knowledge gathering.  It is impractical for every Watcher to be out in the field.  As Ann's designated trainer, I'm more valuable in a support role... and there are combat situations where I cannot keep up.  I do what I can."

Alice's demeanor turned a bit academic.

"Shining figures in your dream do point towards a religious source, Elissa.  Perhaps this is their way to protect or save your family?  Some past favor, either owed or being collected now.  If your dream diaries had runes, symbols, or objects... that might narrow things down.  Perhaps you still recall those things without the diary?"

While Alice did not want to scare Ann or suggest disobedience, she did highlight some shared points of interest from Elissa's words.

"It seems Elissa and I can agree that hunting should be done with smarts and that its better to pick your battles.  As the Slayer, you have a degree of influence Ann... and in time you can use it.  I'm on your side, but I do have obligations and concerns of my own.  If you will both indulge me, I'd like to talk about the tonight's hunt..."

For this, Alice helped herself to a chocolate Eclair.

OCC: same as Elissa's ooc note :)

When Alice talked about the religous imagery "Sure. Could be. You know... I'm not sure I'm bothered where they came from. I'm bothered about how I live with them. And is there another f-ing prophecy that's going to send another bunch of misogynistic traditionalists down on me. I don't need to dig, because if noone has hassled me for two years, the last thing I want is to get on their radar"

Elissa looked unimpressed for the excuses as to why the 'Watchers' sent teenage girls out to fight their battles without any sensible support structure. Especially after the discussion about the 'traditionalists'. But given Alice wanted to change the topic

"OK sure. The 'hunt'.. I guess the first biggy for me, like, was when I saw this shadow. Kind of ... you know ... out of the corner of your eyes. Kind of ... if you looked at it you couldn't see it, but if you looked away... shit it's hard to describe. Any way in the shadow... or maybe it wasn't in the shadow, but was the shadow, right?... there was... a fuck off  Black Knight. The full Monty Python deal. Black armor on a horse. His shield though... even in the dark I could see colour. The shield was grass green. And on it was ... like a sword. A picture of a sword. A two handed sword, 'cos it the two hands were painted on the shield coming out of the bottom of it. One came from the left, one from the right. The sword pointed upwards, and on the top was like this golden dragon's head. So that was crazy wierd"

"He was riding down that road into Cambridge when fuck me if he wasn't stopped by a set of iron gates. And there aren't any gates there, right. But there were for him. And you know... we ... later there weren't any gates right? But then... when he was there... there were gates. So he fucking rode off into the sky, around Cambridge. Looking for a way in. And whereever he went there were more iron gates"

"So colour me shocked"

"The rest... well you know the rest. You were there"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:18, Mon 10 Jan 2022.

Ann helped herself to an eclair. "Being the Chosen One and almost certainly dying young isn't something I wanted, but if it comes with eclairs then I think that's a fair bargain."

After a sip of her drink, she said, "I agree that having a group to help out would help. But where could I find them? I can hardly put an ad in the paper. Even though Elissa and I knew each other, neither realised there was anything unusual about the other. I'm not likely to bump into someone who can help at school."

"Can the Watchers find out about the man on the horse and what that means? And is there a way to work out just why Elissa is the way she is without tipping them off that she exists? It seems that we're up against the unknown here, and that means we can't just walk into its lair and put a stake in its heart. Maybe you could lend Miss Casey your dream diary, Elissa?"

Between bites of her eclair, Ann had been playing with the tear in her sleeve. "Do you have a sewing kit, Miss Casey? I think I can repair it fairly well. Then I can take this to a laundrette once they open in the morning and wash the bloodstains out. I'll tell my parents I'm staying with a friend."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:22, Mon 10 Jan 2022.