Willow rolled over and buried her head in the pillow, trying to get back to sleep. She hadn't been sleeping well, mainly because of the dreams she had been having. Dreams about her friends and loved ones, both living and deceased. Especially the deceased. She had seen her love die. Killed by that idiot Warren. Out of hatred, anger and grief she had gone after him and used her powers to skin him alive. She knew she shouldn't have been thinking like this, but in her eyes he got off lightly. She would've caused him so much more pain if she had sat down and thought about the different things she could do to him.
"No" she whispered to herself. She had to get past it all. Accept what had happened and move on. It was easier said than done. For the first week of her time in the Dales, she had sleep a grand total of 4 hours and 17 minutes. Now, towards the end of her second week, it was getting better. Not by much, but still better.
She reached out for the curtain and pulled it back, hoping to see a ray of light but instead found herself staring out at a pitch black sky. "Luminarium" she said, holding her hand out. Nothing happened. "Luminarium" she repeated, a little louder. Still nothing happened. After thinking for a few seconds, she put her lack of 'magic activity' down to tiredness and grogginess and laid her head back on her pillow. She closed her eyes and fell asleep again, drifting back into memories of her closest friends and the experiences they had shared.
In the morning she awoke to find the house empty and a note on the fridge in the kitchen. It read:
"Willow, have gone to a meeting.
Will be back for lunch.
See you then.
Giles x"
She read the note again and put it down on the work top. This was the third meeting this week and so far he hadn't gone into any more detail about what was going on, other than "You know, the normal watcher-type-stuff". She made herself a bowl of cereal and sat down in front of the TV. She switched it on and put it on the news channel. Nothing interesting. And defiantly no magic activity. At that thought, she remembered what had happened earlier. She got up and walked back into the kitchen. Putting her bowl down, she tried to think of something magical to do. She took a candle out of a drawer and placed it on the work top. She concentrated on the tip of the wick.
"Accendo". Nothing. "Accendo". Nothing. She knew something was wrong. She was wide awake and ready for he day, but her magic hadn't been switched to on. She was worried. After her 'world-destroying' powers, not having any was a big worry. No! she told herself. I haven't lost them. They just aren't working properly right now. But why not?
She went back to front room and slumped down in front of the TV again. She would just have to wait for Giles to get back and see what he thought of the situation.