Chapter 17

The next day

Getting a car was simple. They just stole it from a vampire they dusted.

The Watcher hit team took Buffy, Joyce, Willow and Cordelia away to a safe place.

Left behind were Janna and Giles, they would take a secondary route out, with the help of the gypsy clan.

Giles had a pure Ripper smile on him, as he considered the magic and trickery they could use.

Xander and Charlie found their own car and drove away.

"To New York and away," Charlie screamed, as he pushed full speed and the car was moving like a drunk on the Highway.

Giles shook his head. "He has only one arm, that doesn't feel safe to me."

Janna just nodded in agreement.

+++

Later that day on the Highway

Charlie had managed to master driving somewhat. He made Xander hold the steering wheel every time he shifted gears. "So discover anything?" he asked.

Xander frowned. "Except that we drove by Vegas and we only have been driving for an hour or two and the scenery outside seem to be shifting a bit too often for normal driving? No, except those things I discovered nothing, why? "

Charlie grinned, smart kid. "Those were the things. How do you think I did it?" He asked.

Xander was trying to figure it out. "Not using wand magic that's for sure. I have no clue."

The crazy wand wizard laughed. "I took a short cut."

Xander glare was almost as deadly as that of a basilisk. "It's a straight road, how could you take a short cut?"

Charlie slowed down the car and stopped. "Magic flows through the earth in what we call Ley lines. A wand wizard magical core connects us and stores energy inside of us. From that source you draw the energy directly inside of you, wild and untamed. Wiccan uses spirits, gods and demons as means to get the magic, but the power that is given to them, still comes from the Ley lines."

Xander nodded. "Yeah what does this have to do with how you broke the law of distance?"

Charlie smiled. "Everything, when a wizard apparates or teleports, as you kids say, we access those Ley lines. He or she is pulled in and out with a plop and then they appear in a different location."

Xander nodded. "So the car did the same?"

Charlie nodded. "Similar, but different, instead of being pulled inside we skate on the Ley line, but it has limits for sure. One you cannot cross water collections like oceans, lakes and rivers. Nowadays most rivers have a bridge over them, so they are land-locked and you can cross them, as long as it has a bridge.

Two you can only use this trick on a non-living moving vehicle that moves with ground contact, no flying vehicles and last it makes you move around about twenty times faster, up to a hundred times faster, which depends more on your skill then raw power. You also seem to move faster if you use it for long distance driving. It's a trick I have seen Wiccan and wand wizards use here in the USA. In most of Europe it's an unknown method of moving."

"Can't you use it on an airplane?" Xander asked.

Charlie shook his head. "No, Owls and other magical birds seem to use something like that or teleportation. No human has yet been able to move faster using Ley lines, unless they had ground contact. It works on sea contact too, if you are inside a ship, but then solid land would be in your path." He frowned a bit and then continued. "I have seen some people that have been able to use this trick while running. The name of what I am doing is Sliding, as we slide along the Ley lines."

Xander nodded. "What about crashing into a mountain?"

Charlie replied, "That's more difficult than you think. Let's change, your turn to drive and learn."

He frowned for a moment. "Oh I think I have to take a pain potion. I think it's the pain that make me irritated," he stated. His madness sometimes let him forget about pesky things like maddening pain or perhaps it was because he was so inbreed, that he did not feel pain the right way.

Xander rolled his eyes, wondering the same thing. How the hell could Charlie run along more than a day with his hand cut and burned off and not feel it?

As soon as Charlie swallowed a pain potion and a potion against infection, as well as a quick healing spell from Xander to keep the wound closed, he felt much better.

Xander sat behind the wheels. "Right, how do I do it?"

Charlie explained, "Try to sense the Ley-line as you drive. Then just slide inside of it and will the car to move along side it. Use the force. Feel the power. You know all those nifty clichés that poisoned your generation. Do it."

Xander glared at him.

+++

Four days later

New York

Learning Sliding was fun and it took them almost two days.

After that, they took turns in driving and two days later they had crossed the American continent and were driving into New York. Charlie was right, as always. Driving long distances seems to make you move even faster, it was also disturbing as it looked like somebody was fast forwarding reality around you. It felt like you were still moving at normal speed. It was the world that moved around you faster and faster.

Now they were entering New London, the magical enclave near New York. Named after the English wand-Wizard, that created the small town. A small town only compared to New York.

It was a big place and Xander was overjoyed at seeing real witches flying brooms in cheerleader uniforms. "That's just neat." He said with a grin.

Charlie rolled his eyes, but did secretly enjoy the sight of lightly dressed witches flying above them cheering. "The New London cheers. They are part of the New Land Terrors support crew. New London owns a Quodpot team and apparently a game is going to be played soon. You find that the surest way to get in trouble is talking about Quodpot and Quidditch. Both games and their fans are in a sever argument what game is the superior one and there has been times where fans from one game hexed the fans or the player of the other games. New London is a Quodpot town," Charlie stated and seeing the confused look on Xander's face he explained. "Image lots of idiots flying around with an exploding ball. They throw the ball or the Quod between players trying to get it inside the correct pot, which is like a goal, and then you have a Quodpot. All while the other team is trying to steal the Quod or stop the other team from making a goal in the pot, all that while flying on brooms."

Xander blinked "The ball or the Quod explodes? How big an explosion?" He sounded interested.

Charlie shook his head and replied, "Not enough to wound somebody or throw them of the broom. Mostly it is a lot of sounds and a bit of pain. It's a game of hot potato, hold it to long and boom." He shook his head again. "You can find a book on the games later Xander."

Xander nodded. "So what now?" He had to find out more about Quodpot, after al no game with explosions could be wrong.

Charlie sighed. "I was thinking we eat some food, get you a wand and then you go out hunting you know what, while I go talk with the bank, it is going to take weeks for me to prove who I am and make sure I don't end up in jail," he said.

Xander nodded. "Right, eating first sounds great."

The two found themselves inside a restaurant and the symbol of a burning torch captured Xander's attention. "What is that?" he asked Charlie.

Charlie signed and started to explain. "A sign, the restaurant owner is part of the Retro group 'The Torches'. The American wizarding world, unlike England and Europe, welcomes Muggle born, but there are two groups. The Retro who dislike new technologies and the Advancers, their symbol is an electric lamp. The Advancer would like to modernize the wizarding world."

Xander nodded "So this is a retro restaurant then?" He asked, still a bit confused.

Charlie nodded. "You see, for years the wand wizarding world believed that magic disrupts technology and for sure every where they had high powers of magical energies electronics seemed to fail. It was discovered by an American that it was not the magic that disrupted electronics, but the protective wards around a wizards home. The stronger the wards the more disrupting the effects were."

Xander was confused. "What wards is that?" He asked. Wards could be like walls that protected you or guard dogs that warned you. A ward that also disrupted electronics as a side effect was poorly designed.

Charlie replied, "Protection against lightning. It disrupts lightning during storms. It also made it safer to fly during storms, it creates an EMP like disturbance, that can short circuit lightning before it hits the area protected by the ward. It feeds on ambient magic in the area, the stronger the magic the stronger the ward. The more wizard are inside, the stronger the magic will become. That ward disrupts electronics like a standard EMP does. Nowadays the Advancers have created a new ward, which separates electronics and lightning storms, which make the use of modern technology safe."

"And the retro don't like that," Xander guessed.

Charlie nodded. "Indeed. Of course you can ward electronics to make it work in a heavy warded area of use military equipment that's protected against EMP, but still the Retro don't like modern Muggle equipment."

Xander sighed. "That's weird."

Charlie agreed and continued, "American wand-wizards accept almost anybody, as long as they can do magic. You don't even have to be human. Non magicals do suffer some hatred. They love to copy technology Muggles create, but they just don't like non-magical people. At least the racist among them do so. As in the English wizarding world the American is almost just as isolated and fear what they could not understand or be part of."

After the dinner the two walked to the wand shop.

A creepy looking real old witch welcomed them. Bended by age she looked more like a gnome then a human. "Welcome to the White Forest Wand shop, maker of wands since 1575. I am Adela Whiteforest. What can I help you with?" She sounded friendly, even if she had a strange creepy look in her eyes, a look that seemed to analyze your soul.

Charlie looked at the woman for a moment and the replied with a smile, "I would like to buy a wand for this fine young man. His first wand actually, he mastered some minor wand less magic and was only recently discovered by myself."

Xander nodded, "Yeah, what type of wand do you think I should get?"

The witch stared at him and she seemed to analyze him. "You have luck my friend. I am one of three known and respected experts in wand lore and wand making, who are known over the whole world. Of course there are plenty more wand makers, but not at our level of mastery. My young English college Ollivander prides himself of knowing each and every wand he has ever sold and who he sold it to. Ollivander is perhaps the best all around maker of wands. Gregovitch is a master at custom making a wand and fitting it to its user, but his wands do seem to be somewhat narrow in their uses. An expert on curses would get a wand which increases his ability in that one area, while his abilities in the other areas became less powerful."

She huddled around to a box. "I on the other hand I know the moment I see a person what wand they are going to chose. No that was wrong. It's the Wand that chooses the user, not the other way around. It's the choice of the wand who is going to use it," she said, as she put the box in front of Xander.

He nervously picked up the lid and then asked. "What are your wands known for?"

The witch grinned. "As the months and years go by, your wand will work better and better for you, it adapts and grows with your use. In the end they are even better than Mr. Ollivander's wands are. Of course it comes at a cost. They tend to take more power for them to work the correct way the first year or so and that makes it more difficult to learn in the beginning." She finished with a small smile.

Xander nodded, while slowly picking up his wand. A small rain of sparks came from the top. "Sweet," he stated. "It feels perfect."

The witch nodded. "Yes it will do, wouldn't it? Yet I can see another wand, or is it a staff? waiting for you. Don't let it wait too long boy, it's old and powerful." She glared at him. "You bring change in your footsteps boy. Try to walk careful or the small people around you will get trampled on."

Xander swallowed nervously, the old hag sure spooked him. "Thank you," he said, as Charlie paid for him.

He could not wait to get out of there. The old hag was scary, yet he had a feeling she was not evil or wanted to hurt him, but still she was spooky.

"So where to now? I'm to the bank and you?" Charlie asked.

Xander shrugged. "Looking around. Orange country seems like a nice place to visit. First I think I'm going to buy myself an Owl, their ability to carry mail seems to good not to be used."