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A/N: ~text~ mental communication

//text// language other than English

And here they were. Cleveland, Ohio. The new Hellmouth. She could feel it, sliding over her skin, a sensation not unlike the presence of a vampire. It was like smoke in the air, or a sour taste in her mouth. And it was, very likely, home.

Gwen left her room and headed off to meet her father. It was time to find out more about the Slayers.

"So where are we going now?"

"I'm feeling drawn that way," she began, nodding to the East, "but I don't want to go that way just yet. I want to start out at some specialised shops."

He raised an eyebrow. "You want to go shopping?"

"Not shopping, recon. Let's start..." she considered as she looked around, "there." Across the road was a small shop named 'The Magic Box'. It was a long shot – surely there were plenty of shops with that name, or something like that, but she remembered the original Magic Box from some of her dreams, and went with the nostalgic feelings the almost-memories brought.

She made her way across the street, and entered the shop, her father closely following. He frowned at the scents and sights of the shop, and moved over to where the mystical-ish objects had been placed. Gwen looked to the sales counter and noticed the girl standing there.

"Hi, my name's Dawn. Welcome to the Magic Box," the other girl greeted. "Is there anything in particular you were after?"

"No. Just looking around," Gwen murmured as she drifted over to the books.

"Okay. Let me know if you want any help."

Gwen nodded absently. From where she stood, she could keep an eye on both the back of the shop and the centre part where Dawn was sitting at the counter. With her father in the front of the shop, she was more inclined to keep only an ear out, trusting him to look after that area.

Soon after they had entered the shop, the door jangled again, and Faith carried a bag to Dawn. "Hey, Little D. Big sis asked me to bring some lunch down, since you ran out without it this morning."

"Oh great. I was getting a bit peckish," she grinned.

Faith frowned, and quickly looked around the fairly empty shop. As well as she knew the younger woman, she knew something was off. She turned back to Dawn and raised an eye. ~What's up?~ she thought at Dawn.

~The girl at the books. There's something strange about her, but I can't think what. Can you go check her out? What do you pick up on your Slay-dar?~

Faith looked at the stranger, and wrinkled her nose. ~She pings, but really faint. I can't make out what she might be.~

~Can you check her out? I've already called Willow down, but I'd like you to take a closer look.~

~No probs,~ the slayer decided as she wandered over.

"Hey there," Faith began, voice set to 'sultry'. "Name's Faith. What's a hottie like you doing in here?"

The strange brunette gave Faith a long look before replying. "Gloria. And sorry – don't swing that way," she apologised gently.

The slayer shrugged. "Worth a shot. So what are you looking at?" She tilted her head and squinted. "Squiggle writing?"

Gwen chuckled. "Greek. I'm doing some self-directed study. Ancient languages. Anyway, I was told that, for some reason, Cleveland has some interesting texts in the older languages. Mythologies, grimoires, that sort of thing. Not so much into the grimoires, but there are some decent texts here." The door jangled again, and Gwen glanced over reflexively. A petite red-haired woman and tall dark-haired man entered. "Damn," she murmured. "Gay and/or taken, right?"

"Neither. And not really looking, either. Long story."

"Pity." She turned back to Faith. "You don't really look the type," she prompted.

"Type?"

"This kind of place."

"Nah. I work with Dawnie's sister, and just brought in some lunch. Saw you and decided to stay."

Gwen/Gloria nodded, and turned back to the books. Faith looked over to the counter where Willow and Xander were finishing up their conversation with Dawn. When she saw them turn to come over to where she was standing, she shifted to allow them space near this newcomer.

"Hey, Faith," Willow said, smiling. "Do you want to introduce us to your new friend?"

Gwen urgently stomped down on a sudden surge of nerves. She could get out of here, so long as she kept her cool. She smiled absently at the newcomers, only raising her eyebrows slightly at Xander's gasp.

"Guinevere?" he asked as he reached forward.

She frowned slightly. "Gloria. Ortiz," she added after a moment.

Faith and Willow looked at their friend, concerned, but he stepped back and shook his head. "Sorry," he offered with a slight smile. "You just look unbelievably like someone I just met. But she's French. You're ..."

"I'm from Miami, but my family is from Cuba. So, the accent," she shrugged.

Taking advantage of the slight lull in conversation, Willow stuck out her hand and smiled. "I'm Willow."

Seeing no way around it, Gwen/Gloria shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"So," Willow went on, "you're into Wicca?"

"No. As I was saying to Faith, I am studying ancient languages. Just by myself at the moment. I have to consider if I even want to go to College for further study, and, if so, which College to apply to. Maybe you have some recommendations?"

Michael Dillon wandered out of the trinket-y section of the store to see where his daughter had gotten to. He frowned slightly when he saw her trapped in the books section by three strangers, all standing a little too close.

"Gloria," he called out, tapping his watch. As he looked on, she made her excuses, and walked up to him.

"//Lunch time already, Papa?//"

"//No, but we have things to do,//" he explained as he escorted her from the store.

Dawn quickly skirted the counter and made her way to her friends. "Well?"

Xander shook his head, obviously upset. "I could have sworn that was Guinevere. Everything except the accent was right. Oh, and the way she just looked right though me," he added with a bitter laugh.

"The girl from Paris," Faith confirmed.

Xander nodded.

"So what did you get, Willow," Dawn asked.

"I don't know. It's almost like she wasn't even there. I mean, I touched her and everything, but any time I tried to read her, she just … I don't know, slipped away, wasn't there ..."

"What could that be?" Xander wanted to know.

"Don't know. Faith, what did you get."

Faith shook her head. "Like I told D here, she pinged on my slay-dar, but really faintly. Even right up close I couldn't get much. Could she be, I don't know, cloaked?"

"I suppose, but it would take a lot to cloak someone like that. And why?"

"To hide a slayer," Xander suggested.

"Shit!" Faith muttered. "She was in Paris at the right time, wasn't she. And we lost the slayer about the same time she flew out."

"Ah... What's this about a slayer?" Dawn asked.

The others had the grace to look embarrassed and a little ashamed. "We were tracking a possible slayer," Willow explained. "Except she wasn't showing up on any scans we did. The only way we knew about her was because Faith had a slayer dream about her, and then we tracked her activities."

"What we do know is that she's smart and effective," Xander went on. "Well trained, but we don't know who trained her, nor where she comes from. She just turned up in Italy a few weeks ago, and moved straight on to Paris for a couple of weeks."

"Italy and Paris. Well, at least the girl has style," Dawn mused. When the others looked at her, she just shrugged.

"Cloaked and trained," Faith considered. "Do you think someone could have grabbed her when she was first activated, and, I don't know, done something?"

"Shit! Some government thing? Can you imagine them getting their hands on a baby slayer? They could make her into some kind of uber assassin," Xander fretted.

"And you're thinking Guinevere could be Gloria?" Dawn suggested. "You know, just change the accent, new IDs and stuff."

"We wouldn't even notice her if she walked in the front door. She didn't set off the store's wards, did she?" Willow asked.

"No. Normal human as far as the front door was concerned. It's just that something felt off to me."

"We need to find her," Faith decided. "You can't trace Gloria, can you, Willow?" When the redhead shook her head, Faith went on, "What about the guy that was with her? What if he handled something up the front. Could you find him from that?"

"It's possible. Dawnie, we have cameras set up for that section of the store, don't we?"

"Sure do," the younger woman replied, grinning. Not wanting to be disturbed, she quickly flicked the 'closed' sign over and locked the door, before returning to the office to check the tapes. Within minutes, she was able to identify which items the man had held the longest, and Willow set up a tracking spell. Assuring Willow and Dawn that they had their cells on, Faith and Xander left the store.

"You want to fill me in?" Michael asked his daughter.

"I may have slightly kind of had a bit of trouble."

"As in?

"I spoke to the guy in Paris. I swear he was the only person I had any real contact with on the whole trip. Last night of the whole thing, sitting in a club, everyone else avoiding me, and he comes straight up and wants to talk. I know I could have cut it off, but..."

"Did you know who he was in Paris?"

Gwen took a breath. "I've seen him in dreams. So, yeah, I knew him. But I think I managed to get past him this time. It seemed like he believed me."

"Which doesn't make you happy."

Damn. Her father was just too observant. "I liked him. In the dreams he always seemed like, I don't know, a knight in shining armour. It was odd to have dreams about him, considering all the other dreams were about girls. He really stood out. Actually," she added, frowning, "I've had dreams about all of the people in that shop. Dawn, the girl at the counter, was in the dream where the little blonde did the swan dive off a gantry, and the brunette has had a few dreams of her own. Ah, shit!" she swore. "I think the redhead is a witch."

"A witch," her father repeated calmly.

"Dad, I've dreamt about vampires, demons, and werewolves. There's not going to be witches?"

"So how do you know she's a witch?"

"It's that, or she's a Sith lord. She was doing the Force lightning thing on the guy, Xander. He was telling her that he loved her, um, something about a yellow crayon, and he earned the right to be there when she ended the world."

"Ended the world," he repeated, a calm, fact-finding, not freaking out tone. It was one thing to find out your daughter had been mysteriously empowered to fight vampires, and wasn't that a fun thought, but now there were world-ending witches?

"From what I can figure, she's reformed. What with the world not ending, and all. And they seemed friendly."

"It wasn't a prophetic dream?"

"No. It very definitely felt … past tense."

"Fine. So how do we work this?"

"Kind of hoping you had an idea there, Secret Agent Dad."

"There they are," Xander murmured. "How are we going to do this?"

"We try to talk to them first."

"And if the shit hits the fan?

"You take the guy, I'll take the girl."

"You sure about that?"

"Come on, Xan. We're pretty sure she's a slayer, and we're thinking she has some kind of Commando training. You seriously want to take that on?"

"And if he's her trainer/handler?"

"You train with slayers and fight vampires. He may have training, but so do you, and I don't think he's trained to fight the things you are."

"Fair enough."

Gwen hissed suddenly. "We have company."

"How do you know?"

"The other girl like me. The brunette at the shop. I felt something when she was near, and it's getting stronger again."

"She's not likely to be alone. Okay, we stay out in public view. Make it hard for them. If all else fails, you get clear. Make the rendezvous."

"Make sure you do, too."

Xander and Faith caught up with the father and daughter, and Xander slipped past before turning around to face them. Hands out, he started speaking quickly. "We just want to talk. Do you think we can do that in some kind of civilised manner?"

Faith watched as the man and woman split apart, and turned ensure that neither of them showed her their back. The man focused more on Xander, while the woman calmly stared at Faith. They were both relaxed, with their hands loose at their sides. She smiled slightly. Both were ready for a fight, but not starting anything just yet.

"Talking's possible," Michael allowed. "Somewhere public."

"There's a park just around the corner," Xander suggested. "That public enough for you?"

Michael nodded, and the four made their carefully relaxed way to the park. Once there, they found an open but quiet spot. "So you wanted to talk," he suggested, allowing his gaze to wander.

Xander turned to Gwen. "You're Guinevere. You're the slayer we were chasing in Brescia and Paris, aren't you?"

Gwen fell still. "Yes. And no. That's not my real name. Neither is Gloria."

Faith watched has the other slayer's handler tensed. "Your accent changed again," she challenged.

"This is my natural accent," she offered.

"Can't pick it."

"It's … odd." Faith could hear the smile in the other woman's voice. "I haven't found anyone who can pick it. That's just the way it is."

"So why can't we track you? You're a slayer. All slayers have a … presence, but your's is masked. Why is that?" Faith wanted to know.

"Like you? I felt you approaching. It's different to vampires, different to this place. Is that what you mean?"

"That would be it. But you? You're barely there. Even a day old slayer sparks up way more than you."

"Absolutely no idea. As far as I am aware, I have had no involvement in magic or anything like that. My family is utterly mundane."

"Who trained you?" Xander asked.

Gwen gave a slight smile. "Like I said in Paris, family business."

"Your family is into covert operations?"

"As it happens."

"When were you activated?"

"May, 2003."

Faith and Xander exchanged looks. "One of the first. So, what, you've been training ever since?"

"There was lots to learn," Gwen answered, shrugging.

"So what's your real name?"

"Gwen."