Rafferty thought she finally had an idea what was going on.

She was seeing stuff.

Of course, she hoped she'd been hallucinating before. Blaspheme's tail, Turtle Cody, and the beckoning pudgy finger came to mind. But the double knee strike that just laid her out, that clinched it.

Rafferty was sure there was only one person that could manage that, and that was her overachieving hallmate.

So something on those darts, or in that weird dirt that had been thrown in her face, was making things appear all wrong. Like Sheridan's new look. And Rafferty was pretty sure it was affecting the others too, which is why Lena and Blaspheme hadn't recognized her.

She just needed to make Sheridan understand that too.

Rafferty looked up at the advancing figure.

"Sheridan, we—" she started.

The first kick hit her sternum, choking off the sentence. Rafferty managed to grab Sheridan's leg during the second strike, and twisted until she threw Sheridan off balance. Sheridan landed hard on the asphalt.

Ok, talking's probably not going to work. Lena certainly wasn't understanding me.

Hand signals!

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Sheridan had been trying to introduce a series of hand signals into the J Hall repertoire for months. The Hunters would be able to coordinate an attack even if they had to work quietly, she reasoned. It hadn't been going over very well, because nobody wants to spend six hours practicing hand signals when they don't seem necessary. "Gods don't speak English, Fawkes," was Blaspheme's refrain.

Rafferty pushed herself up, determined to beat Sheridan to her feet. She thought she remembered Sheridan's signal for "give me your attention," the first signal they'd worked on. Rafferty started repeating the signal, hoping Sheridan would see it before she attacked again. She thought it looked like she was pretending to pull off her own thumb, and drop it on the ground.

Sheridan was on her feet, and took an aggressive step forward, but stopped when she noticed Rafferty's hands. She titled her head. Rafferty thought she looked confused.

I must not be doing it quite right.

Sheridan started to return signals of her own, cautiously at first, and then with more fervor.

Yeah, I'm not getting any of that. We really should have goofed off less.

Sheridan turned, and started to walk away. After a few steps, she turned and look over her shoulder, and gave Rafferty an irritated nod indicating she should follow.

Ok, ok, I'm coming.

She followed Sheridan back to the wall she'd been standing against, and they both sat down. The girls sat there for a long time, the sky starting to brighten in the distance. They didn't say anything. They wouldn't understand each other anyway.

But at least they weren't trying to kill each other.

Finally, Sheridan looked over at Rafferty.

"How do I look?" she asked.

The mask was gone, and Sheridan's hair and clothes were back to normal. The big staring eyes of the mask, however, were still on Sheridan's face. Rafferty shivered, and hoped Sheridan didn't notice.

"You look fine," Rafferty lied.

"What about me?" she then asked.

"You still have fur on your cheeks. And your teeth are on the outside of your lips. It's off putting," Sheridan said.

Gee, thanks.

"They broke my bow," Sheridan said. "I had to ditch it in a rideable cloud."

"I can't find my sword, either," said Rafferty.

Sheridan sighed.

"So we've got six friends to save, who may be in danger," said Sheridan.

"And who may be dangerous," said Rafferty.

"Because they'll think we're monsters," said Sheridan.

"While being chased by witches," said Rafferty.

"All with our bare hands," said Sheridan.

There was a brief pause.

"Fantastic," they said together.

Rafferty tried to make another of one of the hand signals. It was supposed to be the sign for agreement, the one the girls called "All right. Let's do it."

Sheridan scrunched up her face.

"Why do you want me to cut down a tree and hide behind it?" she asked.

See, Sheridan, these signals are dumb.