This is a tiny nothing town but they might have cheap ones at the convenience store. However, I haven't been here in a hundred and fifty years so it might take me a little nosing around to find it, bear with me.

She gives him a thumbs up.

Cam locates an electronics store before he locates a convenience store. This computer I'm using for speech to text and controlling with my brain is state of the art in 2159, so I think you should probably make the transaction, if necessary signing at me to demonstrate adult approval.

Zana can do this thing. Cell phones are only mildly dangerous objects and twelve-year-olds are totally allowed to buy them with adult approval.

She loads the numbers in as contacts, and then - "D'you wanna be resummoned so you can, like, talk on phones?"

You know, I would, but it's - it's weird that I hadn't heard about this place before if summoning my kind of demon works normally here, you know? So, circle in the backseat is there if it ever makes sense to try, but I'm not a hundred percent sure it would, in fact, work.

"Yeah." She looks thoughtful. "There are definitely some dimensional pairs that you can only travel between under really special conditions, or during certain times. I wonder if yours is like that and we only got lucky. So - you want me to call your other self for now?"

I'll start by texting her. I got Charlie to call her about me, they might even still be on the phone.

She nods and hands him the phone.

And Cam texts Bella, and there's a delay.

Zana waits.

" - so how does magic determine what a harmless object is?"

Are you trying to be retroactively paranoid? That is not the most significant opportunity for mayhem I've had. In this case the binding has some stuff I am categorically not to do, and some stuff I'm not to do outside of a task; it doesn't actually have a definition of small or harmless per se.

"I think I gave up paranoid about when you fixed the dying kid. I can do paranoid, but it's really tiring. Or maybe I can't do it when I've been doing it for a year and now it feels less urgent than it did. Or something. I'm just trying to figure out how this magic interprets language."

I'll give you an introductory summoning textbook if you promise not to summon anyone but me before passing a licensing test.

"I promise. And thanks. The Latin one was confusing."

There's a section in here about how you should only write circles in your native language! He hands her a book.

"I didn't think it'd work if I translated it," she says, before opening the book and settling in to read it.

They sit in the electronics store parking lot until Bella texts him back.

Bella and her sister are actually on their way to Sunnydale, he remarks. But from the east so we can't catch up to them. We can meet them there.

"Huh. All right. Let's do it."

Definite no on the little spaceship?

"...does the spaceship have cloaking? And space for the car?"

I could make one big enough for the car. And cloaked against radar and stuff, though it won't be literally invisible.

"I guess if we fly up high enough it won't be that likely to call down the attention of the X Files team. Well, anyone who isn't the X Files team, anyway."

Right, off into the woods we go for discreet takeoff. I can even make us cloud cover if you like! And he drives them out of the parking lot into the copious nearby forest.

Eee spaceship! Hopefully she's only being moderately irresponsible!

They are in no way shot down by the Air Force and the trip to Sunnydale takes less than an hour.