xp_logs | You thought the frog thing was bad?

There was no knock. The door simply swung open and banged off the wall with a noise like a gunshot. The only thing that stopped it slamming shut again was Pete's hand.

"Sefton - with me, now." Pete didn't wait for a response, or a reaction, he simply turned on his heel and walked away.

Amanda started at the noise, and the tone of voice - she'd thought she'd seen Pete angry before now, but this was something different. There was nothing, no emotion in his expression, and nothing but a cold certainty of obedience in his voice. And while she might have rebelled against it at other times, self-preservation instinct said that this would be a very bad idea right now. So she got up and followed.

Pete lead the way to his office, not turning round at any point. Amanda shut the door behind them, and turned round just in time to catch the piece of paper that Pete threw at her. A plane ticket. To London.

The blood drained from her face. "You're sendin' me back?"

"What else did you expect? A slap on the wrist and a talk about the responsible use of mind-controlling potions?" Now emotion showed in Pete's voice, and it was contempt. "There's a word for making someone have sex when they normally wouldn't. Rape."

"'Rape'? That's a bit harsh, ain't it? It was only a joke that fucked up…" Even as she said the words, Amanda knew how lame they sounded. There was no way she was going to be able to talk her way out of this. But she couldn't just go, not now, not when she was finally getting a chance to sort herself out.

Not when she'd found a practically limitless source of mystic power that could let her be a better witch than Rack ever had been... She pushed that last thought away. This was more important than mere power.

"Is there anythin' I can do? T' make you change yer mind?" she asked.

"A bit harsh? You think I'm being a bit fucking harsh? Thanks to your little joke there are kids here who've humiliated themselves in ways they're going to spend months dealing with. Who're going to second guess their honest emotions for far too fucking long. I warned you to be careful around de la Rocha precisely because I didn't want to see that happening to you, and then you and Ramsey go and do exactly the same thing to half the kids in the place? No, sunshine, I'm not even getting close to harsh."

It would have been easier if he'd shouted. If he'd waved a cigarette around and paced up and down. But he just sat there behind the desk, looking straight at her, talking quietly.

"But I can't..."

"Oh yes, you fucking can. Next month once Romany's worked out what to do with you, then you and me, we're going home. Until then, you're going to sit down with Samson as often as he and Charlie think you need to, and if you're very fucking lucky at the end of it, and you can convince Romany and me that you're not a waste of skin, then you might get to come back here and try all over again at things."

"Samson? The shrink? But..." Amanda's protest died as she met Pete's eyes. They were cold and hard, the eyes of a man who had finally had enough. There was to be no negotiating, no protesting, no wheedling or convincing. There was only the ultimatum presented, and the plane ticket in her hands.

'How did everything get so fucked up so fast?' she thought, blinking rapidly to hold back the tears she refused to shed for anyone, not even Pete, especially not this Pete, who she could easily imagine thinking nothing more of dumping her on the first handy street corner. Not trusting her voice, she nodded mutely her agreement.

"Good. You got onto a good thing, coming here, and you've blown it badly, and it's going to be horrible for you. You're in for a bloody hard time of it, Sefton, but you've earned every sodding bit of it. You're going to have to earn everyone's trust all over again, and it's going to be harder this time. The only bit of good news I've got for you is that Romany and I both think you've got it in you to do it."

At the last of that his voice softened just slightly, but his expression remained stony.

"Don't let us down."

She looked down to hide her wince. 'I think I already have,' she thought, but didn't dare say it. "You’ll let me know? When the first appointment with the shr... with Samson is?" she asked.

"It’ll be sorted. Now get out of here, before I change my mind and let Logan have you instead."

"Logan? Why...?" Realisation crashed onto her like a plunge onto sharp rocks below. "Christ. Marie."

"And the rest. No doubt you'll be hearing from them, Sefton." It might have been a glimmer of sympathy in Pete's eyes, but then again it might have been a trick of the light. "You’ll want to think about what you say to them. Not everyone’s as forgiving as me."

Marie. The one who'd helped her learn to fly. And who else? It was different this time, the people involved had faces, names, personalities. She liked some of them, for fuck's sake. Caught up in the wider ramifications of what had happened, Amanda merely nodded again, stumbling blindly from Pete’s office, closing the door behind her automatically, tickets still clutched in her now-shaking hand.

Pete stared at the closed door for a second, then reached for a cigarette.