Takes One to Know One

Chapter Four: Come Sail Away

Reese braced herself, with mild regret. "Stupefy! Stupefy!" The arguing stopped, and two large, indeterminate persons fell against the doorway and slid to the floor. Teenaged heads peered at her from behind them.

"Who're you?" asked one brunette, hands on hips.

"What's that piece of wood? Are they asleep?"

"Good riddance, the mean bastards," added a blonde.

"One at a time, mates! I'm Reese, and I'm... here like you, only not." She wasn't sure whether everyone would agree with the blonde, and petrifying, hm, all five was more than she could handle if they became angry. At least there were five. Her captive had been right, if not Feld--they looked gorgeous and wholly unfamiliar. "Since I'm new, could you tell me your names?"

"Lirabelle Felicity Sanders," the blonde announced, kicking experimentally at the stupefied body nearest her. Reese lifted an un-Suelike eyebrow at her before remembering her role.

"I'm Alexandra Le Conte."

"Brandi Park, but friends call me Tinuviel." The brunette who had spoken first simpered.

"Kia Mills." The fourth girl spun around neatly as she entered the room. "Call me Latisha and die." She looked puzzled. "Why did I--"

"Adrian Martin," said the last person on her list. So the name did belong to a boy. Why not. He continued, "Look, can we get on with lunch? I'm sure you can sort out everything later, assuming there's a decent reason we should even listen to you, er, Reese, isn't it?"

"Okay," she replied brightly. "What's for lunch?" She let them lead her to the kitchen, where Miss Le Conte beat the others to washing Reese's discarded plate. Except for Adrian's scrutiny--and the direction of his gaze suggested that more than suspicion underpinned it--the kids accepted her as one of them, apparently.

Once everyone sat at the table, three plates of bread and cheese and some opaque orange fluid appeared. Reese watched the kids pass the food around without bickering. What was wrong with them? Combining Brandi's forgotten query about her wand with the sleeping captive's remark about blockage suggested something unpleasant; the man had mentioned obliviating his charges, but the lack of sustained curiosity resembled a weak, belated Imperius. Hungry teenagers rarely behaved with such grace. And she had to untangle the situation before she sent them off; their behaviour had roused her curiosity and (she supposed) concern, despite her growing annoyance with Feld's assumptions. Maybe he thought all teachers (except him) harboured secret depths as trained psychologists, too.

"Where were you before today?" Brandi cut across her thoughts.

"At school, of course. How long have you lot been here?"

They traded glances. "A few days? Alexandra's been here longest, then Tinuviel," Lirabelle replied. "Adrian and I showed up together."

"Don't remind me."

Reese asked gently, "So where were you before?"

"This morning, at work. Oh, you mean before that," said Kia. "We just go back and forth, here and work. Someone comes with a portkey. Hey, are you going to let them lie there all day?" She nudged the nearer man. "We'll have to head back soon."

"What if you could..." Reese wondered whether the question would backfire. "Wouldn't you like the afternoon off?"

"They'll get mad," Tinuviel warned, and at the same time Alexandra said, "That'd rock."

"They who?"

Adrian answered to fill the sudden silence, though he wouldn't meet Reese's eyes. "Not sure, actually. We see them every day, but they don't stick in my head."

"That's really strange," said Reese helpfully.

"Well, until you asked it didn't occur to me." He paused and gestured, abruptly frustrated. "Maybe I'm not the swiftest person ever, but I can't remember who told me I'm not; I just know it's true, which seems wrong, somehow. And," he said roughly, "you guys are practically spilling out of your clothes, but it's like I'm not in the same room or something."

"Maybe you're gay," Tinuviel snapped.

Reese cut in. "Er, do you remember anything besides work? Or before it? That is--what makes you think you'll be late if you don't return soon?"

Alexandra said, "That's totally weird. We'll so be roasted, except, like, we can't have been doing this forever, and I can't believe we would have been. I mean, we're like so pretty," Tinuviel nodded assent, "and aside from Adrian's thing we're all positively brilliant, aren't we?"

"Are we?" Kia said thoughtfully. "We're all kind of the same as each other. And they have us carrying tea and biscuits all day like we couldn't do anything else. How'd we get hired, then?"

Reese breathed a small relieved sigh. "Do you remember being interviewed? Or," she remembered and waved the muggle keys she'd taken from the captive, "has anyone seen these before?"

The five examined them, but no recognition struck.

"Hey, how come you get to ask all the questions?" Tinuviel demanded. Reese smiled at her wearily as she added, "You're just like us, stuck here to pour tea and, and smile a lot. But maybe not like that. That's kind of hideous."

"I'm here to send you home, actually," Reese said, watching them carefully. No one reacted. "You're right. You're not supposed to be trotting about with madelines and a hot cuppa. That job is also," she paused, realizing she sounded about fifty, "demanding and difficult--more so than you may think now. But each of you has special skills befitting other tasks, and someone has caused you to forget what they are."

"Like what? Did you know us before?"

"No, Adrian. I'm a pawn of sorts too; fetching you--though important--doesn't draw on my special skills." Maybe it did, actually, given the detector doorway's reaction.... Abruptly weary of the game and its tonal ambiguities, she stood and indicated the doorway towards the dormitory room. "Shall we?"

The others rose to follow her, and she issued crisp directions, teenaged pretence wholly discarded, as she levitated the three immobilized captives into a stack. "Tie that sheet round them, would you please, Alexandra? Adrian, if you could grab hold of that arm? Yes, just so. I've two portkeys to take us back, so you girls have this one--and Adrian--" Steadying the captives' near legs, she nodded to Kia. The girls vanished, and after a moment she, Adrian, and cargo followed.

They regained their balance in Salem's Great Hall. The tall east windows revealed only predawn darkness, which settled silently upon the group. Reese--no, Marisa, nearly--sighed. Good thing Chris and Rachel hadn't opted for anything creative when setting the portkeys. Salem wasn't hers any longer, and the kids probably had no remembrance of where they were, but.... "We're home," she said.