The bus careened around a tight bend, flashing past Port Ballintoy's muddy signpost on the most northern coast road of Ireland.

Air brakes hissed, labouring to slow the vehicle's rapid descent down the main thoroughfare that made up the small village. Loud grating and grinding sounded, scraping along the nearside wall. Sidney cringed. Susan struggled with the wheel, attempting to take the long body around a particularly tricky bend.

"Oops," Susan giggled nervously, "I guess the 'no long vehicle' sign was there for a reason."

The rear wheels bumped over the wall rubble, which caused the dried mud to drop out from the cracks around the doors of the luggage compartment. Moans of complaint from within turned to screams of agony. Late morning sunlight streamed in, catching Emily first across her forearm, then her face when she flung her arm away from the light. With no escape from searing pain, her shrieks increased in pitch.

Dainton lay in a slightly better spot. His torso and legs smoked where several beams sliced through the darkness like a laser His clothing diluted the intensity, but afforded no real protection. He swallowed pain-induced bile and shuffled his body down in an effort to block the light from Emily's face. Stiffening in anticipation of more of the burning torture, he positioned himself. His thick leather boots glinted in the refracted light, bringing about a relieved moan from the woman beside him.

Emily called out to Sidney's mind the moment she could think again, Please stop the light. Stop the light!

In less than a minute, the bus pulled into the car park to one side of the small harbour in Port Ballintoy. The occupants of the bus beat a hasty departure to line up along the side of it, blocking the luggage compartment from view and the light.

"As great an idea as this is, we can't stand here all day waiting for the sun to set," grumbled the impatient man who Sidney had deduced was a troll purely by his grumpy and impatient nature.

Sidney sighed in exasperation. "Just stay where you are until we find something to thick enough to cover the gaps," she instructed.

"Put more mud in then," he mocked, like it was a no-brainer.

She raised a single eyebrow as she made eye contact with him, looked at the ground in front of her then all around. Shingle, small shells, bitumen and rock were the only visible substrate. He had the grace to look sheepish when several sniggers sounded among the group.

A short time later, the only middle-aged woman from their group jumped from the deck of a small boat waving cheerfully at the man who stood watching her departure with more than a little fleeting interest. She handed over her prize with a wide grin. Silver Gaffer Tape Sidney knew it as, but the witch, Harmony, informed her that the sailor had called it Marvel Tape and it would stick to anything.

Once the doors were secure, Susan moved the bus to a better position, taking numerous attempts to turn it so the vampires hold would be out of direct sunlight.

"Right, now we've finally sorted that dilemma," Sidney addressed the group. "Our first order of business is to find the witch, Lana. We'll split up into three groups of eight: the first will remain here and guard the bus and its cargo; the other two will ask at houses on either side of the village. It's not very big so it shouldn't take long. What do you say we meet back here in an hour?"

"Any chance we can get some lunch? I haven't eaten since dinner last night," grumpy troll asked.

Sidney shrugged. "Susan?"

"I have a few coins that will buy a few meals but not enough for everyone. Does anyone have anything of value that we could barter for food?"

"Like jewellery?" Harmony asked, producing her jingling, bangle-bound wrist.

"Yeah, that sort of thing will do. Also wrist clocks, rings and neck chains." She pointed at grumpy troll's wrist "That one should fetch enough to feed us all."

He hid his arm behind his back. "It's 24 carat gold and worth more than a few dinners," he huffed.

"'Tis gold plated and we'll be lucky to get the meals," countered Harmony, holding out her hand. "Hand it over Lewis." When he refused, she called for the metal and it appeared in her hand.

He puffed his breath out with a growl, "Fine, but I want extra food seeing as it's my watch."

They split into four groups of six: two groups asking at the local households for Lana, one group stayed to protect the bus and the last sent in search of food.

The food group found an empty café, and when they asked for twenty-four of the day's specials in exchange for the fancy looking watch, the owner eagerly agreed. He was grateful that the fare he'd toiled over would not go to the waste bin after all.

The door knockers tramped back down the hill after knocking on every door in the small village.

"There were only two homes that failed to answer the door," Lewis supplied when asked how their task went. "According to the neighbours, one of them is a vamp and was chased off a couple of days ago when 'Ivan the Terrible' passed through. The other's a fisherman and most likely on the boat that's moored in the harbour."

Harmony jumped to her feet, "I'll go ask," she volunteered.

She sauntered up to the rail alongside the small boat, tapping on the wooden door that sat slightly ajar "Hello? Eric? Are you in there?"

"All right love, did the tape do the trick?" Eric asked, poking his head up from the engine bay.

"Perfectly, it's exactly what we needed." She grinned and fluttered her eyelashes. "Not a pick of light is getting through and they're both okay now. Thank you."

"Good, good...is there something else I can help you with?"

"Well actually there is. We're looking for someone by the name of Lana. Do you happen to know her?"

"I know of a Draoi by that name, but you don't want to be messing with that one. She's bad news, into the dark stuff." He confirmed.

"Oh. I don't know anything about that. Apparently, she's the only one that can help us. So do you know where she lives?"

"Aye, she's out on the island." He pointed beyond the harbour mouth, "If you really must see her, I can take about ten of you across in about an hour. I have a couple of things I need to do first and the tide should be with us then."

"Really? An hour would be great. Thank you."

Harmony jogged back to the bus. "Good news folks!" she said excitedly. "I've found the witch and got us a ride to her island."

"Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be," Sidney confessed.

"The bad news is Eric can only take ten of us though,"

"That's should be okay, it's not like she'll be able to form the wormhole and send us home immediately anyway."

"True. The worrying part is, he's reckons she's into dark magic."

Lewis interrupted, "What does that mean anyway? Dark magic."

"It means she's not against spilling blood for sacrifice," Harmony answered. "And I don't mean just animal blood either."

"If you think she's dangerous then I'll stay here." Lewis volunteered without haste.

"Coward," someone muttered.

Within the hour, it was agreed that Lewis would be responsible for the safety of the bus occupants while Sidney, Sonia, Harmony and six other witches would make the journey to the island.

The trip was pleasant for the most part, in that the water was slightly choppy, but the little boat coped with the swell and no one lost her lunch. However, things got a little bumpy for the last hundred metres or so.

"Hold tight people!" Eric advised. "We'll be through the rip tide in a moment."

Sidney managed to catch hold of Sonia's arm just as the bow dipped, stopping her from tumbling over the rail when she lost her footing. The engine struggled to make progress against the ebb of the waves, puttering then spluttering as the propeller dipped in and out of the water in the heavier swell. Just as suddenly, the resistance stopped and the little boat shot forward, narrowly missing the old pier as Eric battled to steer and power down the engine.

A hooded figure stood at the end of the pier, her cloak flapping, arms and face raised to the sky while she chanted. She stopped abruptly and motioned for the rope to tie off the boat.

"Welcome to my home." She finally addressed them. "Follow me, we have much to discuss." She turned to lead the group up the narrow roughly carved path.

A light gust of wind caught her hood, flinging it back to expose her face. Sidney stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of the familiar features. Both Harmony and Sonia walked into her knocking them all off their feet and into the freezing cold water of the Atlantic Ocean.