Luke caught Katie's arm, looked out the window and hurried outside through the back door. Heart hammering, Katie didn't say a word as she followed him. Who was coming? The White Guard? The culprit? Thankfully for them, there were so many creaking sounds that there was very little chance that whoever was coming would hear them. Then, slowly, they crept round the building and peered round the corner.

"There!" Luke whispered.

Sure enough, Katie saw a figure wearing a red cloak standing in front of the door.

"Come on... turn around, show us your face..." Luke whispered, his whole body tense.

Katie barely dared to breathe. But the figure vanished inside without looking around.

"Damn it," Luke said.

They waited a moment, but the figure didn't reappear.

"I'm going in," Luke said, and he meant to head back to the door the figure had gone through.

"No!" Katie hissed, yanking him back. "What are you, crazy? Or suicidal? They can evade the Council and drain people of their magic, Luke! Do you really want to go in there with just the two of us?! Not to mention that if we try, and things get ugly, they'll know who we are!"

"So, what?"

"So, Selene!" Katie retorted. "So Hazel, Gideon, Raven! Our parents! Show the killer our faces and it'll be like putting a big shiny target on all of our backs!"

"So you're saying we should let Victor and Georgia's killer go free?"

"For now," Katie corrected. "We need to think this through. They were already powerful to begin with if they were able to use a draining spell alone, and with their victims' magic, they'll be even more so, now!"

Luke glared where the figure had stood without answering.

"I know how you must feel, Luke. I lost a friend too. But we can't rush in head first. Not this time."

Luke stared at her a moment. Then his body relaxed.

"Did you get a look at them?" he asked Katie.

"No more than you, I'm afraid." she said. "Come on, let's get out of here..."

"Wait," Luke said. "We can't use the transport spell here, Red Cloak might sense it."

Katie nodded.

"Agreed. We'd better put some distance between us, that way even if they sense us, by the time they find where it's coming from, we'll be long gone."

Luke nodded. So, careful not to make a sound, they walked out of the park, grateful for the high windows of the storage unit. Once they were by the gate, they broke into a run and hurried out into the trees surrounding the park. They hid for several long minutes, but there was no sound of anyone following them. They stood still, hearing nothing but the faint breeze that replaced the howling winds from earlier. The sky was still cloudy, but there was no indication of rain or snow. Panting slightly, they exchanged relieved glances.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked, touching Katie's cheek.

Katie nodded and bent over to get Luke to remove his hand without actually forcing it away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But let's get out of here."

"My thoughts exactly."

He held out his hands and Katie took them. They spoke the incantation again and after a few moment, they had gone from Lancashire.

For the next few weeks, Katie and Luke had very little contact. In fact, aside from a few stolen glances in the hallways, they didn't exchange a word. They were still shaken by their "encounter", and Katie didn't feel ready to talk about it yet. Luke seemed to feel the same way. All in all, he was rather good about keeping his distance, for a change. And this was both helpful and not at all. Helpful in as much as Katie could think a little more clearly without his smouldering eyes and dizzying scent, his smile, or the sound of his laugh. But it also made her longing for him stronger and more difficult to deal with. She had to force herself to focus on whatever else she was doing. She only just managed to keep appearances up for her family, but of course Lucy wasn't fooled.

"Okay, this has to end. Spit it out," she said on the first day of the Christmas holidays.

Katie looked up from her tea at Lucy.

"What? Spit out what?"

"What's bothering you!" Lucy exclaimed. "You've been miserable for almost a month."

They had gone to the Angel Central to do some Christmas shopping, and had stopped for a drink to fight off the cold that had settled during the last few days.

"I know, I'm sorry... this situation's miserable..."

Lucy warmed her hands on her cup, eyeing Katie thoughtfully.

"Did you get in a fight with Luke? Or... do you regret what happened between you guys?"

"Sh!" Katie hissed, glancing around. "We don't know who might hear us!"

"It could mean any Luke in the world, honey," Lucy pointed out. "So what's wrong?"

"No, I don't regret it, and no, we didn't exactly get into a fight..."

"But something happened," Lucy deduced.

Katie nodded. She told her briefly what they had seen at the abandoned amusement park. She did her best to be thorough, but didn't feel like going into details. Lucy seemed to get the gist, though.

"Brr... seriously creepy," Lucy said.

"That's putting it mildly," Katie nodded.

Lucy, who had never gotten the hang of that expression, blinked at her.

"It's an understatement," Katie clarified.

"Oh, yeah, right."

She took a sip of her drink.

"So you have no idea who this Red Cloak character is?" she asked.

"None," Katie said, shaking her head. "But it took all I had to stop Luke from chasing after them."

Lucy considered.

"And you guys haven't spoken since?"

"... Not really. I mean, I can't count the times I tried to pick up my phone and just call him, but... I don't know why, I can't..."

"I think I know," Lucy said.

"Please, enlighten me," Katie said, raising an eyebrow.

"A part of you is mad at him."

Katie blinked.

"What? Why?"

"He was ready to get you both killed! That's not a small thing," Lucy said. "You held him back, but what if you hadn't? With your tendency to look at every possible angle for everything, you probably imagined a dozen different scenarios, and I'm guessing none of them end very well."

Katie gaped at Lucy, who took a sip of her latte.

"You really think that's what's the matter?"

"For you," Lucy amended. "I don't know Luke enough to be able to tell why he hasn't called or tried to talk to you."

Katie considered that.

"Maybe he feels bad at endangering our lives like that," she suggested.

"Possibly," Lucy conceded.

Katie sighed at her tea.

"I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid like go after the Red Cloak by himself..."