A.N Ok, so maybe getting it finished before my exams started never really happened. I've been so ridiculously busy with them and other things that I don't even know how I found time to sleep! I am SORRY for leaving you on a cliff hanger for so long, but there's only 3 exams left now and I'll try have this chapter up by the end of today.

Theories and Plans

"Oh my God Ellie!" Was all she gasped as an explanation…

"Jen!" I shouted at her over the heavy rain. "Calm Down! I can't understand a word you're saying to me!"

And it was true. Jen had been screaming at me for at least a full minute without once stopping to take a breath. Tears, or was it just the rain, streamed down her face and she clutched at my arm one handed whilst gesticulating wildly to the sky with the other. I hadn't got a clue what was going on with her but something told me it was very, very wrong. And of course, Marco had to be behind it. How many other crisis's could there be in one day?

"Ellie," she tried, slower this time but she still had to scream to keep her voice above the rain. "Ellie, its Nancy."

"What?" This time it was my turn to start shouting hysterically. "What's wrong with her? Where is she? What did they do to her? Is she ok…"

"Ellie, she's…" Her voice, which had easily cut above my tirade cut off. I knew it was bad.

"She's, well, she fell. She was trying to climb out of your bedroom window. I don't know, Ellie, she looked drugged. I tried to help her but then I heard voices inside. Ellie, Marco's back, isn't he? That's what's going on here, isn't it? That's why I'm here."

I nodded, unable to speak. What had I got my best friend into? If she was hurt I would kill Marco single-handedly. Who cared about the forces of darkness? They would be nothing compared to my wrath if he'd seriously damaged my best friend. I needed to think, to sort things out and help her, Will and Jen. Even Lance. I was supposed to be the one to save Will, I brought him his sword last time but this, this was undiscovered ground. The light had never beaten out the Darkness before and clearly, they fought back with a vengeance. The rain pounding down on my head wasn't really helping. Jen and I were soaked through already and I knew that inside, Marco would be getting impatient. I turned pleadingly to Jen,

"What are we going to do?" I whispered, my voice not even audible above the pounding rain but somehow Jen heard, or understood, me.

"Nancy is round the side of the house, I was going to call her an ambulance until I heard Marco's voice. I know he'll panic if he hears sirens or sees the lights." She was right, we couldn't involve anyone else but we had to help Nancy.

"Jen, if, if you go to Nancy now, help her somehow I'll distract them somehow. Or at least I'll try. Just go to her, please."

She nodded. "Just one thing though, Ellie," She whispered tentatively and yet I could still hear her. "Lance is in there, isn't he. He's, I mean, it's his fault, isn't it?"

"He's made some bad decisions I think Jen but the one thing I have realised is, well," I paused, unsure if I should go on. If she wanted to hear it. "Well, he cares for you, a lot. I think he tried to distance you to protect you from Marco and now Marco's turned against him. I don't understand him at all, Jen or what he's doing but I know he cares."

She nodded again. This time I knew that it was tears running down her cheeks. "What are you going to do?" She asked, trying to compose herself.

"Call after you, pretend you've bolted. You heard Marco and when I gave you confirmation you ran, afraid."

"Good idea," she smiled at me. "Let's just hope he falls for it."

"Go, Jen. Good luck."

"You too." And with that, she slipped quietly around the side of the house wordlessly helping my best friend. That was one of the great things about Jen. She was perfect on the outside but an amazing person on the inside too, not at all concerned with herself above all others. She could be shallow, talk about who's dating who but that wasn't all there was too her.

"JEN!" I yelled, pounding over dramatically in the opposite direction. "JEN COME BACK!" I didn't turn back but I was sure I saw the living room curtain twitch. "It's not like that, I told you! Lance came over to sort things out with Will and me and you. He loves You!" That one definitely had to hit home. And it did. Within seconds I heard Lance's heavy footfalls as he burst through the front door and began chasing me.

"JEN!" He screamed, his voice full of sorrow and worry. I had to hand it to him; he really did love her even if he had sabotaged my relationship, my boyfriend and my best friend all to get a bit of power.

"Lance, it's no use." I sobbed after he'd reached me, pulling on his arm to stop him from running and not finding her anywhere in sight. "She hates me, I can't believe what you did!" He at least had the decency to look uncomfortable but on my part, this was all just for show. I needed to distract Marco from what was really going on but maybe Lance would help now. Now he thought he'd lost his girlfriend - Guinevere to his Lancelot - because of Marco, he would help.

"Lance," I whispered now keeping my voice as low as possible. "At least Jen is safe, what's going on? You've got to help me, you've got to understand."

"I know, I KNOW!" He growled and I backed away, confused and a little scared. "But she hates ME more. How do you think I feel?"

And then I understood. Whatever had motivated Lance to join forces with Marco he'd thought Jen safe. Heck, I wouldn't put it past Marco to have manipulated him purely with the fact that Jen would be safe. But now he'd double crossed him and more than anything Lance wanted to protect Jen and get revenge. If there was one thing this whole situation could teach me it was that Lance's protective side towards Will was nothing – even on the football field as his guard – nothing compared to Jen.

"Ok Ellie I know you're not likely to trust me very much right now and that Will, well, Will might never trust me ever again but I'm going to get us out of this, ok." He began in an urgent undertone. "Marco wasn't too happy about being put in jail. Especially by Morton. He contacted me, wanted revenge and, well, everything he said made sense. He really made me feel second best, like Will was taking advantage of me…" He paused, embarrassed and hung his head. "…And I guess I'd always felt that way a little, even if I never voiced it the way Marco did. If there's one thing about him to note it's that he's bloody persuasive! Anyway, my one condition was keeping Jen out of it so I broke it off. Marco knew the only way to get to Will, to weaken Will was through you so I turned on the charm, started throwing all these feelings around. I was surprised it worked so well so fast even if it was obvious you still loved Will, I could manipulate your feelings." He paused again and blushed. This was a side of Lance I'd never even knew existed let alone one I thought he'd show me. I was speechless, almost frozen but I knew we had to make it back to the house sooner or later. Luckily I'd run just far enough away before Lance caught up to me that we could take our time. Once again, I thanked whatever Gods were out there for my runner's lugs and my speed.

"Well," Lance continued, having worked up the courage to explain himself, "I kind of liked the power, the control, the feeling it gave me knowing what I had done and what I was doing. I guess maybe Marco knew all along that's what would happen. I fit perfectly into his stupid little plan. Except it wasn't, it was a bigger, cleverer plan than I ever knew. Than he ever intended me to know, I expect, until now. Until I was thrown headfirst and ashamed into the thick of it, having alienated my best friend and my girlfriend. No, Marco never makes stupid little plans that may or may not work. He's a fucking criminal mastermind!"

"Lance," I cut in. "Quiet down! And please, you can get bogged down in the finer points later. Don't think I'm letting you get away with this, there's no way you have to explain this sooner or later. Just for now, lets go with later, ok? We really, REALLY need to sort this whole thing out. Jen is fine, she's still at the house she never ran. She's helping Nancy. Whatever you did to her, whatever you gave her she tried to get away. She tried to climb out of the fucking window, Lance. That is one thing I will NEVER forgive you for. But for now, let's just think. We need a plan. Bigger and cleverer than Marco. He is not a criminal mastermind he's a teenage boy. There has got to be a flaw, something we can exploit, something we can do-"

And then it hit him, exploded out of him with the full force of sudden realisation turned quickly to shock, anger, worry and horror in the space of a nanosecond.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN JEN'S AT THE HOUSE?" He bellowed, suddenly completely unaware of what was going on and the situation at hand.

"She is, is she?" A cold, silky voice questioned from the darkness.

"Interesting. Very convincing performance you put on Ellie but I wasn't so sure. I followed lover boy out here, I knew I couldn't trust him but this about Jen, I wasn't expecting. Pray, tell me where she is exactly?"

I glared at him. There was nothing, nothing he couldn't do, it seemed. Then, only seconds after, I froze as his cold, hard voice continued.

"What do you mean the Lady of Shallot fell, trying to climb out of a 'fucking' window? I thought I'd told her to jump." For the first time, a malicious grin spread across his face and, overwhelmed, I felt the ground coming up to meet me, blackness engulfing me.

A.N This Chapter is a little bit shorter but I the story needed a break from all the action and you guys needed to see that Lance was good. Like Ellie, I'm not excusing his behaviour but that will all be explained later I promise. Again, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. The story is really near an end now so I'll TRY to get some more done in a shorter space of time that usual. Review and tell me what you think, the reviews are what's keeping me going! Lets see if we can hit the 80 review mark with this chapter 