Something Green - Part 14



Willow Rosenburg stepped out of her lecture not a quarter-way through. It was the first time she'd

ever left early from lecture, but she couldn't get the feeling that Dawn and Buffy were in danger out

of her head. She'd called Spike and Giles a few minutes ago and knew the boys were on their way,

but Willow felt that she should be there too.



Getting back would be a problem though, the way Riley and - was Forest his name? - had taken her

seemed to involve lots of complex voice codes, and Willow didn't think she was strong or powerful

enough yet to crack those. Giles and Spike had said they'd come through the sewers though, so

maybe she could head that way ---



Willow turned at a corner and started walking towards the basement. Her path took her across the

student lounge and she hurried through it - then suddenly stopped and, without quite knowing why,

turned around.



There, in a oversized arm-chair by the corner was that girl from the Wicca group. She had a book in

her hand, but clearly wasn't reading it, as her head was up and her gaze followed something

inward. Willow stared at her for a minute. Could she help? Willow wondered. She had seemed to

sense the same odd presence Willow had earlier that morning. Maybe she really wasn't like the

other girls in the group. Maybe together they could help Buffy and Dawn...




Willow was still staring at her several seconds later with a small rumbling seemed to shake the

campus. A couple of students cheered, thinking it was merely an earthquake, but Willow threw her

hands against her ears to try and stop the ringing of power that echoed in her mind. A cry of fear

then ripped through her head and she recognized it to be from Dawn, followed closely by Buffy's

cold determination. The danger they were in rang through her, and Willow fell to her knees.




Tara felt the surge of power - she had been reading up on her next lecture when a strange buzzing

had seemed to come from a long distance away. She listened as it grew stronger, then suddenly

erupted into a force of power. Out from the corner of her eye she saw the red-haired girl from their

Wicca group go down. So she COULD feel it! Tara caught some glimpse of hope in her heart, she

really hadn't been the only one to feel something that morning when the scream had echoed in her

mind and she'd fled from the group. For so long she'd been alone in a world of spirits and charms,

could there really be someone else sensitive to this?



The girl was on her knees, her hands cradling her head and Tara stood up, unmindful of her book

as it fell to the floor. She rushed over to the red-head and felt the echoes of friends around her. She

quickly voiced a small incantation, and the voices were temporarily blocked. As she did so, Tara felt

the strong, deep power in this woman, and she was delighted.



Willow blinked as Buffy and Dawn's terror faded. She raised her head to see the pretty blonde

girl from the Wicca group kneeling in front of her. Her voice cracking, Willow asked her, "Did you

feel it? Do you know what they're against?"



The girl nodded her head slowly and reached over to take Willow hand. Giving her fingers a squeeze

the normally shy Tara pulled Willow up from the floor and told her solemnly, "We can help them."



Willow stared at her for a moment before pointing over to where Riley and Forest had led her up

from the Initiative before. Where there had been a closed, hidden door, a blinking red light was

flashing and the security system seemed down.



"Come on," Willow said, "Through there."