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Six months after running away, Zak comes home. Fellow runaway Heather is back as well, and she brings with her a whole lot of trouble - and a warning about the Children of Solace... (Air Date: 9 April, 2001)

Regulars:

• Candy
• Cynth
• Zak
• Brian

Other Characters:

• Meryll Stevens-Knight - Candy's mother
• Heather - formerly a depressed teenager
• Max Cunie - friend of the Slayers East
• Lolly Cunie - troublesome teenager
• Sophie - Lolly's sidekick teenager
• Alison Ridgeway - Candy's watcher
• Ashleigh Witherspoon - Watcher's Council liaison

Episode Synopsis:

Candy and Cynth are camping. They are attacked by a vampire, but turn the tables. Brian and Alison join the hunt at an old water tower, where the team stakes the vampire.

Zak and Heather are still missing. Cynth, Candy and Max chat about Andrew who has started senior high. Lolly turns up and stirs trouble but is chased away.

Training. Meryll asks Brian to stop crowding Candy, so he stays home. Alison introduces Ashleigh Witherspoon, an expert in dimensional instability, who expects the R'Thilliach damage will only get worse over time.

Zak arrives at the Ridgeway house and tells Candy and co that Heather is a vampire. Candy calls home - where Brian and Meryll are hosting Heather! Heather vamps out and says the children of Solace are moving in, then leaves.

Everyone meets. Zak warns that Lolly will be Heather's target. They race to Max and Lolly's place and find Max and Heather hanging out watching TV! Heather and Zak talk, and both realise they thought the other had abandoned them in New York. They both smile. But Candy appears. Heather isn't afraid: she's not alone any more. She tells Candy that she should get out of Exeter while she can.

The Children of Solace arrive. Three tough vampires, Cain, Lilith and Zion. Max and Lolly's parents come home and are attacked by the vamps. The Slayers fight them off, and Heather leaves too, but only after promising Max that she would kill Lolly.

The group meets at the Stevens-Knight house. Heather's fate is lamented, and Zak is welcomed back. But tensions remain as Zak asks Brian where his mother is buried. Brian cannot answer. The question hangs in the air.

Trivia and Notes:

• Pre-production notes for the episode (.pdf file, 116K)
• This episode was a crucial one. Zak's return, and the nasty fate of Heather, put a pall over the characters - it was clear that no punches were being pulled this time out. Needless to say, the players were all incredible, as usual.
• Ashleigh Witherspoon is, of course, a direct and explicit homage to John Constantine (the comics version, not the Keanu Reeves version, despite the American accent).
• In another break with tradition, the season's big bads were rolled out right in episode one. And they were pretty damn scary.
• "Zak is still missing... I don't know where. I guess if he wanted us to find him we'd know where he was. What are we supposed to do? He's gone..." - from Candy's diary