“Willow? Tara? Has there been any word from Kennedy?” Giles called into the house as he closed the front door firmly behind himself.

It had begun raining and the watcher was soaked to the skin, rubbing at his hair with a towel from the laundry basket that was sitting on the bottom step, he peered around the dining room and into the kitchen.

From behind him, Willow appeared. “Sorry Giles, I was upstairs.” she apologised quickly, “What did you say?”

“Have you heard from Kennedy or the others?” he repeated as he slipped from his saturated coat and hung it temporarily on the back of one of the dining room chairs.

“Sorry, nothing.” the redhead told him sadly.

“What about Tara, would she have maybe heard something while you were upstairs?” he asked hopefully.

“If she has then we’ll find out when she gets back here!” Willow told him a little more sharply than she had intended. “She went out just before one o’clock and hasn’t been back.”

Giles frowned and wiped the rain from his glasses. “Did she say where?” he asked, reaching out to offer the woman before him some sort of support.

Shaking her head sadly, Willows gaze fell to the floor.

—– Elsewhere in Sunnydale —–

“Why the hell would she go to the high school?” Xander asked as he turned the car in its direction.

“I don’t know but it’s the only place we haven’t even tried looking for her. I mean, it’s warm, clean and they have food. I don’t think she had any money or anything on her when she left so she’d have to get food from somewhere and we already looked in all the hostels.”

Shrugging nonchalantly, Xander glanced over at the slayer and knew that she was probably right. Without another word, they made their way to the high school; the only sound was that of the tyres over the asphalt.

—– In another elsewhere, but still in Sunnydale —–

Kennedy struggled and kicked out, desperate to get away from the bringer who was making the most of the sudden darkness. The brief second in which she had frozen had been enough for the bringer to grab her and lift her clearly off her feet.