After The Storm
Chapter 14
By Vixen
Willow entered the Hyperion carrying a stack of old tomes and leather bound manuscript, Wesley's whole collection of old books that had been hidden away awaiting the moment when they aid the remaining champions in their work. She could barely see over the top of the stack, and her arms were tired from carrying them all the way from the public storage warehouse. At least they had all been there, and after a long talk with the manager Willow had convinced him to have access to what had been stored with their company.
As she walked down the stairs to the main level of the lobby, the book on the top of the pile started wobbling. She steadied herself, balancing the books more carefully so that they wouldn't fall, but it was too late. After the first one came tumbling down, the others slipped from their carefully ordered column, spilling all over the floor. Willow mumbled a mild curse, bending over to pick them up.
Pleasant surprise seized her when Faith came up behind her, helping to pick up the various volumes that were scattered around the floor. It was still weird to be on the same side. Even if Faith had been working for the right side for a few years now, the things the slayer had done in Sunnydale when she worked with the Mayor were never far from Willow's mind. Still, the witch managed a small, "Thank you."
"You should have woke me when you went down to get these," Faith said as she lifted her pile of books and hefted it onto the front desk. Willow put a few more books besides Faith's pile, checking to see if any of them had gotten damaged in the fall. It was probably a good thing Wesley hadn't been around to witness that not-so-wonderful display of dexterity and the result it had on his collection.
"It's okay. You were still sleeping and I didn't want to wake you. After all a tired slayer is a cranky slayer," Willow had lived with Buffy in Sunnydale long enough to realize that slayers were usually not morning people. Still worried from last night's slight argument she asked, "Have you seen Connor? He was still gone when I got up this morning."
Faith was perusing one of the books, looking at an etching of a demon with six claws. It looked particularly nasty, but she would have loved to take it on. Hearing Willow's question, she barely looked up when she answered, "Kid keeps weird hours, don't worry. Or if you do worry, don't tell him. He'll just tell you he's fine and go further into brooding," She sounded like she spoke from experience. Then on a brighter note, she commented, "I heard him come in this morning. He's probably still sleeping."
Willow let the issue slid for the time being, watching as the slayer brought the book she was looking at over to the couch. Making herself comfortable, Faith checked through the pages with mild interest. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"I'm not sure yet. It depends on what research Wesley already did." The witch frowned as she found the page Wesley had wrote down in his email in the Arcana Grimorium. "I knew it wasn't going to be that easy," She muttered. Then, bringing the book over towards the sitting area, Willow told Faith, "This has all the information we need to stop the vortex. Unfortunately, it says nothing about the portal. Most likely, they didn't know anything about that until after it happened or he would have given me a little more to go on here."
"That's one hurdle though," Faith shrugged, a little less concerned than the witch. "Just have to find something about opening portals. Shouldn't be too hard." The two of them looked over at the stack of books, the twenty- something huge volumes, and all the pep went out of Faith's talk. They were going to be researching until they couldn't read straight anymore. With a resigned sigh, Faith turned a page in her book, "Let's get to work."
A couple of hours later Willow was sitting surrounded by three different piles of books. Sorting through them, she had set up her own system of organization. Those books wouldn't be much help, those that dealt with various demons and some of the old watcher's journals Wesley still kept around. Those that might help, which were mainly about prophecies and one on the Senior Partners. And those that they should defiantly read first, mainly thin manuscripts that contained all the information on wormholes and alternate universes. There still wasn't much to go on, but at least this was a start, Willow mused.
There was one other book sorted in with the others. A photo album that held no apparent value until she opened its pages. When she did look inside, Willow grinned to herself and showed it to Faith who had been getting bored from all the inactive reading, "Look at this."
Faith folded down the page in the Oxnard's Compendium she was reading, putting it aside. Reaching down to where Willow was sitting on the floor, Faith took photo album from her, "Aww.. what a cute little baby he was," she mocked, "Only, what, three and a half years ago. They grow up so fast."
Faith held the book so that Willow could see as they both perused Connor's baby album. It was burnt on the edges and only covered up to the first month. Cordelia's neat handwriting sprawled across each of the Polaroid photos, little notes to remember the moment by: 'Connor's first smile', 'Look at the proud papa', 'Stranger things have happened, right?'.
Lost in the cuteness, neither of them realized Connor was standing behind them until he asked, "What are you looking at?"
Willow jumped up, clutching the photo album to her chest before relaxing visibly, "Oh, Connor, hi. You woke up, I see. Good, you can help us look through the rest of these books. We found some information on the—"
Connor watched curiously as Willow tucked the photo album closer to her chest, trying to hide it behind her crossed arms. His eyebrows raised in amusement as the girl stumbled over her ineffective excuse. Then, seeing an opening in her guarded stance, he darted his hand forth, pulling the book back with a suddenness that was inhuman. He flicked open the book, hearing Faith let out something that was between a chuckle and a smirking snicker.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry into your life or anything," Willow felt the urge to explain, even though there really wasn't anything to apologize for. They hadn't gotten off on such a great start the night before. She had wanted things to go better today, but doubted they were going to. "That was with the rest of the books they hid away for safe keeping. We were just.. you know.. looking."
He sat on the couch, looking numbly at the photos. Everyone looked so happy in them, so unaware that things were going to change drastically.
Faith's voice shook him from his reverie as she took on an unnatural cutesy accent that she only used to tease him. "The 'Connor's first bath' ones were soooo cute."
He just rolled his eyes at her good-naturedly, closing the book. Casually, he placed the photo album on a coffee table, not wanting to look at it anymore. Then looking at the other books that covered their workspace Connor asked, "Have you guys found out anything yet?"
"Other than the fact that watcher's led very boring lives and leave out all the fun parts," Faith pointed to Wesley's old watcher's journal, which had been a part of the collection. "Not so much."
"We did find a way to stop the vortex," Willow clarified, "But the portal still remains a mysterious mystery." She shifted some of the books around, figuring out which one to start reading first. "But there has to be something in all these."
"Can I help," Connor asked, his own brand of apology for his behavior the night before.
Willow smiled, partly because they weren't so awkward around each other anymore and partly because with extra help they each had less work to do. Handing over a dusty book that was bound in what she really hoped wasn't human skin, Willow replied, "Start with this one."
The hours came and went as the research party dragged on. Willow didn't seem as bored as the other two. She had always enjoyed reading back, even since her geeky pre-teen years. Plus, as an added bonus, the magicks in the books giving her ideas for spells to try on her own when she had some free time. She jotted a few notes down on a pad of paper about waxberry root and silently reprimanded herself to get back to thinking about the real task. Turning a page, her eyes skimmed through the text until she saw something that caught her eye. Thinking it over, she knew it would work.
"Oh, I think I found something," She said excitedly, jumping up. The pad of paper was carelessly dropped to the floor as she showed the book to Faith and Connor. The witch looked sheepish at her overjoy moment, but the other two seemed happy enough to break away from the boring reading for a moment.
Willow continued, "It's all in here. A simple, well, not simple actually, but it'll be simple for me, once we have all the right ingredients and figure out the right spot to do it in.. but.." She caught herself in her rambling tangent and smiled broadly, "With a little reworking, I can change this ritual around so that it will allow us to open a portal. We just have to perform it in the exact same place the other one opened."
"That's easy," Connor offered, "I know where that is. It's only a block away from here."
"And then we need.." Willow's voice fell away as she read the next passage. A small frown creased her lips, as she pondered over the success rate of her plan. "We need an Orb of Toa. That's not going to be able to get. There's a guy in town that deals with black market stuff like this, but he'll most likely charge an arm and a leg. Literally."
"Don't worry, Red," Faith said as she dropped the book she had been reading, happy to be getting down to more physical work again. "Me and the kid can take care of him. We'll get the orb of.. whatever and make sure no one gets hurt in the bargain. Well, unless it's the dealer."
"We can go tonight," Connor agreed.
Willow was silent for a moment, doing a simple meditational locator spell she had learned in Bolivia. After the news had been passed along to the witches in South America that she had been the one to channel the goddess and help close the Hellmouth, they had been lining up to talk with her. She'd learned so much from everyone there, especially this one location meditation. Willow's eyes glowed white briefly. Then as her focus came back to the room once more, she jotted down an address, "You can find the dealer here. Ask for Dahok. He has the orb we need. He'll try to tell you he doesn't, but don't take his word for it."
"So, is that it?" Faith asked as she looked over the address, "Are we done?"
"There's one other small issue," Willow answered, "We have to stop the vortex before we open the portal, or else the dark magicks in the air will mix. But once that energy dissipates, the baddies will stop feeding off its power and will close up shop and go back home."
"Works for me," Faith nodded. "Shut the vortex down, open the portal, party. It's a plan. Before we go out tonight, I say we order some Chinese. In honor of our victory over the literary word and finding the info we needed."
"Even though we really didn't help much," Connor added with a grin. That was okay though, there were other areas where the two of them would shine, mainly kicking the ass of this Dahok guy.
.......................................
More to come. Promise!
Chapter 14
By Vixen
Willow entered the Hyperion carrying a stack of old tomes and leather bound manuscript, Wesley's whole collection of old books that had been hidden away awaiting the moment when they aid the remaining champions in their work. She could barely see over the top of the stack, and her arms were tired from carrying them all the way from the public storage warehouse. At least they had all been there, and after a long talk with the manager Willow had convinced him to have access to what had been stored with their company.
As she walked down the stairs to the main level of the lobby, the book on the top of the pile started wobbling. She steadied herself, balancing the books more carefully so that they wouldn't fall, but it was too late. After the first one came tumbling down, the others slipped from their carefully ordered column, spilling all over the floor. Willow mumbled a mild curse, bending over to pick them up.
Pleasant surprise seized her when Faith came up behind her, helping to pick up the various volumes that were scattered around the floor. It was still weird to be on the same side. Even if Faith had been working for the right side for a few years now, the things the slayer had done in Sunnydale when she worked with the Mayor were never far from Willow's mind. Still, the witch managed a small, "Thank you."
"You should have woke me when you went down to get these," Faith said as she lifted her pile of books and hefted it onto the front desk. Willow put a few more books besides Faith's pile, checking to see if any of them had gotten damaged in the fall. It was probably a good thing Wesley hadn't been around to witness that not-so-wonderful display of dexterity and the result it had on his collection.
"It's okay. You were still sleeping and I didn't want to wake you. After all a tired slayer is a cranky slayer," Willow had lived with Buffy in Sunnydale long enough to realize that slayers were usually not morning people. Still worried from last night's slight argument she asked, "Have you seen Connor? He was still gone when I got up this morning."
Faith was perusing one of the books, looking at an etching of a demon with six claws. It looked particularly nasty, but she would have loved to take it on. Hearing Willow's question, she barely looked up when she answered, "Kid keeps weird hours, don't worry. Or if you do worry, don't tell him. He'll just tell you he's fine and go further into brooding," She sounded like she spoke from experience. Then on a brighter note, she commented, "I heard him come in this morning. He's probably still sleeping."
Willow let the issue slid for the time being, watching as the slayer brought the book she was looking at over to the couch. Making herself comfortable, Faith checked through the pages with mild interest. "What exactly are we looking for?"
"I'm not sure yet. It depends on what research Wesley already did." The witch frowned as she found the page Wesley had wrote down in his email in the Arcana Grimorium. "I knew it wasn't going to be that easy," She muttered. Then, bringing the book over towards the sitting area, Willow told Faith, "This has all the information we need to stop the vortex. Unfortunately, it says nothing about the portal. Most likely, they didn't know anything about that until after it happened or he would have given me a little more to go on here."
"That's one hurdle though," Faith shrugged, a little less concerned than the witch. "Just have to find something about opening portals. Shouldn't be too hard." The two of them looked over at the stack of books, the twenty- something huge volumes, and all the pep went out of Faith's talk. They were going to be researching until they couldn't read straight anymore. With a resigned sigh, Faith turned a page in her book, "Let's get to work."
A couple of hours later Willow was sitting surrounded by three different piles of books. Sorting through them, she had set up her own system of organization. Those books wouldn't be much help, those that dealt with various demons and some of the old watcher's journals Wesley still kept around. Those that might help, which were mainly about prophecies and one on the Senior Partners. And those that they should defiantly read first, mainly thin manuscripts that contained all the information on wormholes and alternate universes. There still wasn't much to go on, but at least this was a start, Willow mused.
There was one other book sorted in with the others. A photo album that held no apparent value until she opened its pages. When she did look inside, Willow grinned to herself and showed it to Faith who had been getting bored from all the inactive reading, "Look at this."
Faith folded down the page in the Oxnard's Compendium she was reading, putting it aside. Reaching down to where Willow was sitting on the floor, Faith took photo album from her, "Aww.. what a cute little baby he was," she mocked, "Only, what, three and a half years ago. They grow up so fast."
Faith held the book so that Willow could see as they both perused Connor's baby album. It was burnt on the edges and only covered up to the first month. Cordelia's neat handwriting sprawled across each of the Polaroid photos, little notes to remember the moment by: 'Connor's first smile', 'Look at the proud papa', 'Stranger things have happened, right?'.
Lost in the cuteness, neither of them realized Connor was standing behind them until he asked, "What are you looking at?"
Willow jumped up, clutching the photo album to her chest before relaxing visibly, "Oh, Connor, hi. You woke up, I see. Good, you can help us look through the rest of these books. We found some information on the—"
Connor watched curiously as Willow tucked the photo album closer to her chest, trying to hide it behind her crossed arms. His eyebrows raised in amusement as the girl stumbled over her ineffective excuse. Then, seeing an opening in her guarded stance, he darted his hand forth, pulling the book back with a suddenness that was inhuman. He flicked open the book, hearing Faith let out something that was between a chuckle and a smirking snicker.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry into your life or anything," Willow felt the urge to explain, even though there really wasn't anything to apologize for. They hadn't gotten off on such a great start the night before. She had wanted things to go better today, but doubted they were going to. "That was with the rest of the books they hid away for safe keeping. We were just.. you know.. looking."
He sat on the couch, looking numbly at the photos. Everyone looked so happy in them, so unaware that things were going to change drastically.
Faith's voice shook him from his reverie as she took on an unnatural cutesy accent that she only used to tease him. "The 'Connor's first bath' ones were soooo cute."
He just rolled his eyes at her good-naturedly, closing the book. Casually, he placed the photo album on a coffee table, not wanting to look at it anymore. Then looking at the other books that covered their workspace Connor asked, "Have you guys found out anything yet?"
"Other than the fact that watcher's led very boring lives and leave out all the fun parts," Faith pointed to Wesley's old watcher's journal, which had been a part of the collection. "Not so much."
"We did find a way to stop the vortex," Willow clarified, "But the portal still remains a mysterious mystery." She shifted some of the books around, figuring out which one to start reading first. "But there has to be something in all these."
"Can I help," Connor asked, his own brand of apology for his behavior the night before.
Willow smiled, partly because they weren't so awkward around each other anymore and partly because with extra help they each had less work to do. Handing over a dusty book that was bound in what she really hoped wasn't human skin, Willow replied, "Start with this one."
The hours came and went as the research party dragged on. Willow didn't seem as bored as the other two. She had always enjoyed reading back, even since her geeky pre-teen years. Plus, as an added bonus, the magicks in the books giving her ideas for spells to try on her own when she had some free time. She jotted a few notes down on a pad of paper about waxberry root and silently reprimanded herself to get back to thinking about the real task. Turning a page, her eyes skimmed through the text until she saw something that caught her eye. Thinking it over, she knew it would work.
"Oh, I think I found something," She said excitedly, jumping up. The pad of paper was carelessly dropped to the floor as she showed the book to Faith and Connor. The witch looked sheepish at her overjoy moment, but the other two seemed happy enough to break away from the boring reading for a moment.
Willow continued, "It's all in here. A simple, well, not simple actually, but it'll be simple for me, once we have all the right ingredients and figure out the right spot to do it in.. but.." She caught herself in her rambling tangent and smiled broadly, "With a little reworking, I can change this ritual around so that it will allow us to open a portal. We just have to perform it in the exact same place the other one opened."
"That's easy," Connor offered, "I know where that is. It's only a block away from here."
"And then we need.." Willow's voice fell away as she read the next passage. A small frown creased her lips, as she pondered over the success rate of her plan. "We need an Orb of Toa. That's not going to be able to get. There's a guy in town that deals with black market stuff like this, but he'll most likely charge an arm and a leg. Literally."
"Don't worry, Red," Faith said as she dropped the book she had been reading, happy to be getting down to more physical work again. "Me and the kid can take care of him. We'll get the orb of.. whatever and make sure no one gets hurt in the bargain. Well, unless it's the dealer."
"We can go tonight," Connor agreed.
Willow was silent for a moment, doing a simple meditational locator spell she had learned in Bolivia. After the news had been passed along to the witches in South America that she had been the one to channel the goddess and help close the Hellmouth, they had been lining up to talk with her. She'd learned so much from everyone there, especially this one location meditation. Willow's eyes glowed white briefly. Then as her focus came back to the room once more, she jotted down an address, "You can find the dealer here. Ask for Dahok. He has the orb we need. He'll try to tell you he doesn't, but don't take his word for it."
"So, is that it?" Faith asked as she looked over the address, "Are we done?"
"There's one other small issue," Willow answered, "We have to stop the vortex before we open the portal, or else the dark magicks in the air will mix. But once that energy dissipates, the baddies will stop feeding off its power and will close up shop and go back home."
"Works for me," Faith nodded. "Shut the vortex down, open the portal, party. It's a plan. Before we go out tonight, I say we order some Chinese. In honor of our victory over the literary word and finding the info we needed."
"Even though we really didn't help much," Connor added with a grin. That was okay though, there were other areas where the two of them would shine, mainly kicking the ass of this Dahok guy.
.......................................
More to come. Promise!