The phone rang.

Will was dragged sharply away from the comfort of his mother’s front room, the cold of the bunker harsh against the memory of the nice warm fire. He shivered and blinked at the bright lights, nursing his aching knuckles and ignoring the knowing glances the others exchanged.

The phone rang again. Will stared at it, confused despite himself. It never rang.

The hunters had all paused in the middle of their various actions, Alex kicking the wall, Dan carefully preparing cups of steaming coffee and Will - well - staring at nothing, again. He caught himself doing a lot of that lately, much to the box’s amusement. They listened to the grating bells ringing out into the echoing kitchen. Will watched the white-orange trail spiral into the ceiling. He could not remember the last time the phone had even been used. If it was plugged in, even. But Dan flicked a few switches and an old reel-to-reel tape deck in the corner shuddered into groaning, squeaking life.

Five rings. Dan nodded to Alex.

Alex picked up the handset. She automatically held it to the injured side of her head and then winced, swapping over. 'Yeah?' she said crossly, watching Dan with one eyebrow raised.

'No con piracy here,' she said. 'Hold please.' She handed the handset over to Dan. 'No idea,’ she said. ‘Got the stupid code right though.'

Dan took over, raising his eyebrows and shrugging. He listened, and grinned. 'Jake? Long time!'

Will shared a look with Alex. The name did not ring any bells. That did not worry him. Dan and Nari had been in the game a long time before they had come along. The code was indeed stupid, though. Davey said that if the phone ever rang, and they knew the code, and managed to get through it without laughing, whoever it was could be trusted. But Davey was dead. Will did not think any of them knew who to trust now. Still, if Dan knew him, things may not be all bad.

You reckon? the box said sharply. He had to admit that luck had not been going their way lately. The children were safe for now, but it had been a close thing.

'Still here,' Dan was saying. He motioned for Alex to get him something to write with. 'Listening. Yes.'

Alex handed him a pen and he scribbled on a piece of paper. "Very old contact. May be working for Seekers. Check outside." Alex nodded and headed out without a word. With Nari gone, security naturally fell to her. The bunker was well hidden, but that did not mean the Seekers would not find it.

'Secure line?' Dan was saying. He frowned and shook his head. 'Dangerous,' he said. 'Why? Sure? Hunters on radar now. Could be a trap.'

It was probably the most words Will had heard him put together in all the years he had known him. Dan was not one for words, when meaningful looks and uncomfortable silences would do.

'What trap?' he hissed.

Dan put his hand over the mouthpiece and glowered at him.

'Who is it? What trap?' Will hissed again.

'Friend,' Dan said firmly. 'Warning.'

'Warning us what?

He has friends now? sneered the box. Since when?

Dan shook his head. 'No. Friend of friend. Warning.'

'What's going on?' Alex said, coming back into the room. 'Who is it?'

'Says it's a "friend", with a warning or something.'

Dan nodded.

Not bloody likely, the box intoned. How many friends you have? Four?

'A warning like what? "I just saw you and your mates on the news kicking the shit out of some ninja zombies"? "What's this about a ghost village and who the fuck are the Hunters?" '

Will sighed. She was right, of course. It had been a hell of a mess. A public mess. They would be hard pushed to get the kids back to their parents when this was over, without everybody hearing about it. The whole village would be in uproar, and the press would be offering serious money for their stories by now. But there was nothing anyone could do about that. If they were already on the public radar, maybe they should see what this "old friend" had to say.

'Alright,' he said at last. 'What does he want?'

'Meeting.'

'You're joking, right?' Alex spat. 'You know if it's not the Dragon calling to invite us to tea after all these years, it'll be that stupid black-coated bastard who keeps sending these imbeciles after us. They'll be all over us the second we show our faces.'

Will had to agree with that. They had no real grasp of the scope of the operation against them. All they had was Davey's teaching, training and protection. He taught them to survive this long, in no small part by avoiding meetings with strange long-lost friends who called out of the blue.

But you have to start somewhere, right? the box said. It had a point. Recent events had shown the Man in Black to be more resourceful than they had hoped. Will wondered how much Davey had known when they settled into the village. It had seemed to harbour an unusually high number of gifted children, for a place that was supposed to be under the radar.

'What do you think?' he asked Alex, who was standing beside him, glaring at Dan, fists clenched. It was obvious what she thought. She was wearing the same look as the last time they had moved. Nari still had the scars. Will hoped they would not have to go through all that again.

'What else can we do?’ she growled. ‘You have a plan yet?'

'Not exactly. Get back to his house, that's all, see what's there.'

'Let's have us a nice outing then, before we enter that firepit.'

Will nodded to Dan. 'Okay,' he said, 'We’ll meet him. But in the city, in the open.'

Dan nodded. Spoke into the phone. 'Kay,' he said.'Public, neutral.'

Once again, I must admit to an alarming increase of paranoia in the room, the box said.

You have a bad feeling? Will thought.

You all do, said the box.

The phone clicked. Hummed.

Dan looked up, smiling. 'Outing!' he said.