Fic: Souls, Slayers... and a Scythe???
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
========================
Chapter 5b:
Roger was shocked. He'd known Xander for almost three weeks now. But this is the first time that Xander had reacted violently to anything. 'He grabbed that poor man and physically lifted him up against the wall.' Roger thought to himself.
Unsure what to do next, Roger was visibly relieved when Faith moved past him, and placed one of her hands on Xander's shoulder. "Xan..." he heard her say.
Xander continued to hold the man against the wall. "Stay out of it." Xander replied coldly.
"Xan..." she continued.
Roger found himself staring directly at Faith's hand as it rested lightly on Xander's shoulder. He'd heard from Amy and Xander, the sort of strength that a Slayer was capable of. He was disgusted with himself and the fact that he was intrigued as to whether Faith would have to use it to stop Xander. 'He's your friend.' he reasoned. 'And the only person who was willing to employ you.' "Xander..?" he found himself saying.
Amy was quick to join in. "Xander, what exactly did this man do to you?"
The question shocked Roger. He'd been too busy thinking about Xander's reaction, and how Faith might have to deal with him, to even consider the person who'd caused it.
"Yeah Xan," Faith added, trying to calm proceedings down, "what did he do?"
Roger watched curious as Xander started to turn slightly, seemingly being dragged by his shoulder by Faith's hand. 'But there's no tension in Faith's arm!' Roger realised. 'She can't be moving him. He must be moving cause he doesn't want to hurt her.'
Xander let the man go and turned around to face Faith. "I'm okay." he said simply.
She refused to break eye contact now she'd established it. "Xan... you know me, right? I'm all up for a spot of fighting... but only if it's necessary." She said, emphasising the final word.
"It's just..."
Roger noted both Amy and Faith were surroundig Xander with stares demanding he continue. Roger decided to move across to check on the 'psychic'.
The man for the most part didn't seem overly concerned with the events. He was straightening his clothing and returning several items to their place on his desk, where they'd been knocked from in the initial struggle.
He turned to face Roger, and gesturing to the other three said, "They managed to calm him down far quicker than I thought they would. Very impressive."
"Don't try to peddle your crap off on me." Roger replied quickly. "What exactly did you do to my friend?" He asked angrily.
The man smiled back. "I told him his future. What else?"
Roger looked confused and turned around just as the others were coming back over to them. He turned round again to notice that the clothes the man was wearing were different. The man was smiling at him again, disappointed in the fact that he'd let that register in his eyes, his only comment was "Bloody magicians."
"Okay," Amy started. "Xander's calmed down. Mr Dabuen..."
"Call me Sam, please."
"Sam..." Amy continued. "Firstly I apologise for my friend. Apparently the shock of seeing your good self was too much for him. I hope that doesn't dissuade you from helping us. Shote said you would be abl..."
Faith interrupted, "You know where a demon is. One we wanna see."
"Ahhh... your quest... I understand it's progressing adequately?" Samson replied smoothly.
Roger could feel himself wanting to grab the magician himself, even though he'd only just met him. 'Bloody smug psychics.'
"You know about our quest?" Amy asked shocked.
"Your friend Xander mentioned some of it the last time we met."
Xander looked like he was fuming again. "I was here six fucking weeks ago."
"And I put you on your correct path."
"You gave me the typical destiny bullshit!"
"You are mistaken." Samson replied, smiling. "Has it not started to come true?"
"You had a possible answer to my quest six weeks ago. You knew where the demon was."
"Xander," Roger explained. "We don't know for certain that this is the demon we're looking for."
"Oh, it'll be the correct demon alright. Typical fucking Harris luck..." he muttered under his breath.
"At the time I can honestly say I was not aware of which demon you were referring to."
Roger found this dubious. 'Typical pyschic bullshit... didn't know then, doesn't know now. Keep guessing and playing the odds as more and more information becomes apparent to them. Worse than people who cheat at cards.'
"And you can feel free to believe what you like." Samson said, indicating Roger.
'No way you can read my mind.' Roger thought, he was about to respond when Amy, who'd been standing next to him, beat him to it.
"I don't think for one second, you actually did what you want us to believe you did... but just in case, can you stop it, it's an invasion of privacy."
Roger stared at the smirk on Samson's face. 'See... he can't do anything, he probably saw something in both our faces which gave away our thoughts... masters of body language, that's all they are.'
"Believe what you like. Xander's the only one here who's been given a reading... let him judge how accurate I am."
"He's full of shit Aims, don't worry about it. I don't care about his readings... if it's money he wants we'll pay him well for taking us to the demon."
"I can't take money from you. Friends of Shote and all that. I'll be glad to take you to the demon." He paused to look at Xander, "So... none of the readings coming true then? Your quest hasn't expanded beyond your wildest imaginings. You haven't met someone who never existed. And I suppose the dark haired beauty I foretold hasn't turned up to play a major part in you..."
"Shut. Up." Xander said coldly.
"Ahhh..." Samson nodded understandingly. "It's complicated." He said, indicating Faith.
Roger watched this. 'Xander's gonna want to hit him again if this keeps up.' Turning to look into Faith's eyes. 'And this time she won't be there to hold him back... doesn't like people making silent suggestions about her, I see.'
Roger turned to watch Xander regaining control of his emotions, "Look." Xander said. "Can you tell us about the demon or not?"
"Certainly."
=====
There was no doubt about it, Faith was bored stupid. 'An hour...' she figured. 'An hour we've been here... and we still know jack.'
She watched where Amy and Samson were still in a heated debate about the demon. 'How the fuck is he so sure it's the right one when he's never actually seen it? I'm with Brit on this one, psychics are fucking annoying!'
Deciding that the argument was still far from over, she went back to what she'd been doing for the last ten minutes. Throwing tarot cards into a mug on the tabletop seven feet from her. 'Started doing it to shock Brit with my uncanny aim, seems he needs a bit of a reminder of what a Slayer can do. But even he's bored now. Samson ruined it anyway,' she thought bitterly, remembering how for the first seven cards he'd correctly identified what she was going to throw regardless of where she pulled it out of the pack.
'I'm so bored I'm considering taking him up on his offer of a free reading. Can't believe Xander won't tell me what Samson told him... Samson had practically told everyone that I'd been mentioned in it. Wonder if it was good or bad news..? Probably bad,' she figured. Life had gone in her favour for a few weeks now. 'Beat the big bad. Helped close a hellmouth. Didn't die. Had a boyfriend for a brief time. Haven't been recaptured and had to face the death penalty.' Faith thought about that fully. 'The fact that I'm amazed I'm still alive can't be a good sign.'
'Finally!' she thought, noticing that the discussion had come to an end.
"It's approximately two miles away." Xander said as he returned to sit on the table.
"So what are we waiting for?" Roger asked, his thoughts apparently mirroring Faith's own.
"Dusk." Amy replied.
"What the fuck for?" Faith caught herself. She tried reasoning with Xander. "Going to see a demon, Cyke. May not be a vamp but sunlight normally gives us a bit of an advantage."
"It's nocturnal."
"Then it gives us a lot of an advantage!"
"The cave it lives in," Amy explained. "The cave cannot be entered when sunlight shines in it."
"That is the stupidest thing I've eve..."
"The cave doesn't really exist in daylight, Faith." Xander said, quickly cutting her off. "From our understanding, it's kind of a shadow that somehow becomes a cave."
Roger was the first to ask, "So in the day time?"
"It's basically a rock face." Amy stated. "It has some of the same features as the cave but doesn't. If you see what we mean."
"No." both Faith and Roger said simultaneously.
"We don't fully understand it either." Xander conceded.
"But there's only one way to find out."
"We wait." Roger guessed.
"So what do we do in the meantime?" Faith asked.
"We won't get home tonight, regardless of what we find out from the demon. So I'm guessing booking a few rooms might be a good start."
"Great... could do with a few hours kip. Are we taking Sammie tonight?" Faith reluctantly asked.
"Might be best... you willing?" Xander decided.
"Sure. Consider me there."
"Know any good hotels in the area?" Roger asked.
=====
A few hours later
Amy was listening to Xander ranting about the psychic. This had been going on for over five minutes.
"The no-good lying dirty piece of shit. He said he'd be here. He said he'd be here!"
"Coward." Roger chipped in from beside her, inside the jeep.
Amy looked up, at the roof, knowing Faith was laying on top of the jeep. "Too fucking hot." she heard from somewhere above. All she could see of Faith, was one leg lying over the edge of the roof, occasionally tapping her boot on the window.
"Then get in the shade." Amy advised.
"Suns practically packed up for the day. Anyway there's no draft in the car. Got a nice breeze across my forehead here."
Amy realised her and Faith were in some ways still so different even when they're coming from the same place. Sighing she shrugged off her thoughts and turned to look outside. Xander was yanking at the locked door to Samson's place for the fifth time.
"This guy is seriously pissing me off." He said, as he kicked the door.
"You want in?" came a voice from above the jeep. "Cos I can get you in if you want in."
"You can pick locks?" Roger asked, "Did you learn that inside?"
"It's a fucking wooden door... I'm a Slayer. No contest." Faith responded. "And will you leave it with trying to check out my criminal background."
"Nahh Faith... it's okay. If I wanted in, I'd break it down myself."
"Just say the word."
"It's okay. We'll pass on letting your fingerprints be found at the scene of any crime."
"Har fucking har."
"Let's go..." Xander said climbing into the back of the jeep.
Faith climbed down off the roof and got in the other side.
"I thought you called shotgun?" asked Amy. "I can get out if you want me to?"
"No worries. I got shotgun this far didn't I? I was the one to get out so I lost my seat. Fair's fair." Faith smiled at her, "But I get it on way back..."
The drive was over fairly quickly. As they approached the coast they saw another car parked on the beach.
Amy was staring at the car as Roger drove alongside the cliff face.
"Aim..." Xander said from the back. "We're looking for a cave that isn't a cave, remember. So maybe it would be easier if you faced the rock?"
"There's someone next to the car. And they're waving at us."
They all turned to look. Roger asked, "What do we do?"
"Drive towards them." Faith answered decisively.
Roger did as he was instructed. As they approached, Amy was able to recognise Samson. 'Slayers have better eyesight.' she remembered.
Samson was leaning on the car and waving madly. "What took you guys?"
"We were looking for you." Roger responded through the open window.
"We arranged to meet here."
Amy managed to cut Xander off before he replied. "It's okay now, everyone's here."
"So where the non-cave then?" Faith asked.
"Over here." Samson climbed into his car and drove over to the cliff face. Roger followed them in the car.
They parked up and everyone climbed out. "There." Samson pointed at part of the wall.
"It looks like a rock to me." Xander said snidely.
Amy thought the same and walked over to the rock face. 'Some strange markings. A lot of cracks in a circular pattern,' she traced their edges with her fingers. "Nothing here."
She looked up to find Faith and Xander doing the same with different sections of rock. "Is this some joke?" She heard Faith ask.
"Wait a few moments." Samson replied.
"Whoa..." Roger called from his position next to Samson.
Amy quickly turned around to recheck the wall. Putting her hands out hesistantly she touched the wall again. 'Still there.' she thought.
Across from her Xander was banging his hand on the rock. "No difference."
Roger lifted one arm to point, "You're standing at the entrance."
Amy glanced across at Faith and Xander, eye contact quickly reassured each other that they weren't going mental.
"No, we're not." Faith responded.
"It's right there." Roger said as he walked towards the space between Faith and Amy. Amy tapped on the wall with her fingers. Faith did the same. Roger walked roght between them and suddenly disappeared into the wall.
'How?' Amy thought.
"What the fuck?" Faith shouted.
Xander came quickly across. "Where'd he go?"
Amy turned to face Samson who was grinning inanely. "They can't hear you." She heard him shout, "Come back out of the wall."
Roger mysteriously appeared next to Xander.
"What the fuck?" Xander shouted as Roger walked out of the wall. "How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Roger asked waving his hand around, it was passing through the wall.
Xander reached out to touch the wall where Roger's hand kept passing through. Xander then reached out to touch Roger. Both seemed real.
"This is fucked up." was his conclusion.
"Okay funny-guy," Faith said, striding over to Samson. "What the fuck did you do to Rog while we weren't looking?"
"Turn around."
Faith did so. Amy then heard her say, "What the fuck? Where did that come from?"
Xander and Amy quickly walked over to her, "What?"
She physically turned them around, Amy thought the wall looked kind of blurry from where she was standing now. The circular patterns in it seemed to move as her head did. "What the hell?"
"Okay... maybe it just that I'm missing an eye but that's just weird."
"It's like a magic eye painting." Amy stated. "You've got to concentrate to see the real picture." But now she had it she was unable to let it go.
"It's so people can't accidently walk in." Samson explained. "Here you have the entrance to the demon you seek."
The others looked at one another and started to walk towards the cave.
He called after them, "Remember. Do not think about a wish as you enter the cave, even thinking about making a wish takes you to face the challenges. Least that's what I was told."
The four others entered the cave.
=====
End chapter 5b:
========================
Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: Set two weeks after the events in Explaining Africa 3
Authors Notes: I have no clue about Africa. Which is probably always a good place to start writing a story. So if details I've used for place names, and tribal names and whatever are wrong then just (correctly) assume I have no idea what I'm doing.
Rating: 15 by English standards (mainly for language)
========================
Chapter 5b:
Roger was shocked. He'd known Xander for almost three weeks now. But this is the first time that Xander had reacted violently to anything. 'He grabbed that poor man and physically lifted him up against the wall.' Roger thought to himself.
Unsure what to do next, Roger was visibly relieved when Faith moved past him, and placed one of her hands on Xander's shoulder. "Xan..." he heard her say.
Xander continued to hold the man against the wall. "Stay out of it." Xander replied coldly.
"Xan..." she continued.
Roger found himself staring directly at Faith's hand as it rested lightly on Xander's shoulder. He'd heard from Amy and Xander, the sort of strength that a Slayer was capable of. He was disgusted with himself and the fact that he was intrigued as to whether Faith would have to use it to stop Xander. 'He's your friend.' he reasoned. 'And the only person who was willing to employ you.' "Xander..?" he found himself saying.
Amy was quick to join in. "Xander, what exactly did this man do to you?"
The question shocked Roger. He'd been too busy thinking about Xander's reaction, and how Faith might have to deal with him, to even consider the person who'd caused it.
"Yeah Xan," Faith added, trying to calm proceedings down, "what did he do?"
Roger watched curious as Xander started to turn slightly, seemingly being dragged by his shoulder by Faith's hand. 'But there's no tension in Faith's arm!' Roger realised. 'She can't be moving him. He must be moving cause he doesn't want to hurt her.'
Xander let the man go and turned around to face Faith. "I'm okay." he said simply.
She refused to break eye contact now she'd established it. "Xan... you know me, right? I'm all up for a spot of fighting... but only if it's necessary." She said, emphasising the final word.
"It's just..."
Roger noted both Amy and Faith were surroundig Xander with stares demanding he continue. Roger decided to move across to check on the 'psychic'.
The man for the most part didn't seem overly concerned with the events. He was straightening his clothing and returning several items to their place on his desk, where they'd been knocked from in the initial struggle.
He turned to face Roger, and gesturing to the other three said, "They managed to calm him down far quicker than I thought they would. Very impressive."
"Don't try to peddle your crap off on me." Roger replied quickly. "What exactly did you do to my friend?" He asked angrily.
The man smiled back. "I told him his future. What else?"
Roger looked confused and turned around just as the others were coming back over to them. He turned round again to notice that the clothes the man was wearing were different. The man was smiling at him again, disappointed in the fact that he'd let that register in his eyes, his only comment was "Bloody magicians."
"Okay," Amy started. "Xander's calmed down. Mr Dabuen..."
"Call me Sam, please."
"Sam..." Amy continued. "Firstly I apologise for my friend. Apparently the shock of seeing your good self was too much for him. I hope that doesn't dissuade you from helping us. Shote said you would be abl..."
Faith interrupted, "You know where a demon is. One we wanna see."
"Ahhh... your quest... I understand it's progressing adequately?" Samson replied smoothly.
Roger could feel himself wanting to grab the magician himself, even though he'd only just met him. 'Bloody smug psychics.'
"You know about our quest?" Amy asked shocked.
"Your friend Xander mentioned some of it the last time we met."
Xander looked like he was fuming again. "I was here six fucking weeks ago."
"And I put you on your correct path."
"You gave me the typical destiny bullshit!"
"You are mistaken." Samson replied, smiling. "Has it not started to come true?"
"You had a possible answer to my quest six weeks ago. You knew where the demon was."
"Xander," Roger explained. "We don't know for certain that this is the demon we're looking for."
"Oh, it'll be the correct demon alright. Typical fucking Harris luck..." he muttered under his breath.
"At the time I can honestly say I was not aware of which demon you were referring to."
Roger found this dubious. 'Typical pyschic bullshit... didn't know then, doesn't know now. Keep guessing and playing the odds as more and more information becomes apparent to them. Worse than people who cheat at cards.'
"And you can feel free to believe what you like." Samson said, indicating Roger.
'No way you can read my mind.' Roger thought, he was about to respond when Amy, who'd been standing next to him, beat him to it.
"I don't think for one second, you actually did what you want us to believe you did... but just in case, can you stop it, it's an invasion of privacy."
Roger stared at the smirk on Samson's face. 'See... he can't do anything, he probably saw something in both our faces which gave away our thoughts... masters of body language, that's all they are.'
"Believe what you like. Xander's the only one here who's been given a reading... let him judge how accurate I am."
"He's full of shit Aims, don't worry about it. I don't care about his readings... if it's money he wants we'll pay him well for taking us to the demon."
"I can't take money from you. Friends of Shote and all that. I'll be glad to take you to the demon." He paused to look at Xander, "So... none of the readings coming true then? Your quest hasn't expanded beyond your wildest imaginings. You haven't met someone who never existed. And I suppose the dark haired beauty I foretold hasn't turned up to play a major part in you..."
"Shut. Up." Xander said coldly.
"Ahhh..." Samson nodded understandingly. "It's complicated." He said, indicating Faith.
Roger watched this. 'Xander's gonna want to hit him again if this keeps up.' Turning to look into Faith's eyes. 'And this time she won't be there to hold him back... doesn't like people making silent suggestions about her, I see.'
Roger turned to watch Xander regaining control of his emotions, "Look." Xander said. "Can you tell us about the demon or not?"
"Certainly."
=====
There was no doubt about it, Faith was bored stupid. 'An hour...' she figured. 'An hour we've been here... and we still know jack.'
She watched where Amy and Samson were still in a heated debate about the demon. 'How the fuck is he so sure it's the right one when he's never actually seen it? I'm with Brit on this one, psychics are fucking annoying!'
Deciding that the argument was still far from over, she went back to what she'd been doing for the last ten minutes. Throwing tarot cards into a mug on the tabletop seven feet from her. 'Started doing it to shock Brit with my uncanny aim, seems he needs a bit of a reminder of what a Slayer can do. But even he's bored now. Samson ruined it anyway,' she thought bitterly, remembering how for the first seven cards he'd correctly identified what she was going to throw regardless of where she pulled it out of the pack.
'I'm so bored I'm considering taking him up on his offer of a free reading. Can't believe Xander won't tell me what Samson told him... Samson had practically told everyone that I'd been mentioned in it. Wonder if it was good or bad news..? Probably bad,' she figured. Life had gone in her favour for a few weeks now. 'Beat the big bad. Helped close a hellmouth. Didn't die. Had a boyfriend for a brief time. Haven't been recaptured and had to face the death penalty.' Faith thought about that fully. 'The fact that I'm amazed I'm still alive can't be a good sign.'
'Finally!' she thought, noticing that the discussion had come to an end.
"It's approximately two miles away." Xander said as he returned to sit on the table.
"So what are we waiting for?" Roger asked, his thoughts apparently mirroring Faith's own.
"Dusk." Amy replied.
"What the fuck for?" Faith caught herself. She tried reasoning with Xander. "Going to see a demon, Cyke. May not be a vamp but sunlight normally gives us a bit of an advantage."
"It's nocturnal."
"Then it gives us a lot of an advantage!"
"The cave it lives in," Amy explained. "The cave cannot be entered when sunlight shines in it."
"That is the stupidest thing I've eve..."
"The cave doesn't really exist in daylight, Faith." Xander said, quickly cutting her off. "From our understanding, it's kind of a shadow that somehow becomes a cave."
Roger was the first to ask, "So in the day time?"
"It's basically a rock face." Amy stated. "It has some of the same features as the cave but doesn't. If you see what we mean."
"No." both Faith and Roger said simultaneously.
"We don't fully understand it either." Xander conceded.
"But there's only one way to find out."
"We wait." Roger guessed.
"So what do we do in the meantime?" Faith asked.
"We won't get home tonight, regardless of what we find out from the demon. So I'm guessing booking a few rooms might be a good start."
"Great... could do with a few hours kip. Are we taking Sammie tonight?" Faith reluctantly asked.
"Might be best... you willing?" Xander decided.
"Sure. Consider me there."
"Know any good hotels in the area?" Roger asked.
=====
A few hours later
Amy was listening to Xander ranting about the psychic. This had been going on for over five minutes.
"The no-good lying dirty piece of shit. He said he'd be here. He said he'd be here!"
"Coward." Roger chipped in from beside her, inside the jeep.
Amy looked up, at the roof, knowing Faith was laying on top of the jeep. "Too fucking hot." she heard from somewhere above. All she could see of Faith, was one leg lying over the edge of the roof, occasionally tapping her boot on the window.
"Then get in the shade." Amy advised.
"Suns practically packed up for the day. Anyway there's no draft in the car. Got a nice breeze across my forehead here."
Amy realised her and Faith were in some ways still so different even when they're coming from the same place. Sighing she shrugged off her thoughts and turned to look outside. Xander was yanking at the locked door to Samson's place for the fifth time.
"This guy is seriously pissing me off." He said, as he kicked the door.
"You want in?" came a voice from above the jeep. "Cos I can get you in if you want in."
"You can pick locks?" Roger asked, "Did you learn that inside?"
"It's a fucking wooden door... I'm a Slayer. No contest." Faith responded. "And will you leave it with trying to check out my criminal background."
"Nahh Faith... it's okay. If I wanted in, I'd break it down myself."
"Just say the word."
"It's okay. We'll pass on letting your fingerprints be found at the scene of any crime."
"Har fucking har."
"Let's go..." Xander said climbing into the back of the jeep.
Faith climbed down off the roof and got in the other side.
"I thought you called shotgun?" asked Amy. "I can get out if you want me to?"
"No worries. I got shotgun this far didn't I? I was the one to get out so I lost my seat. Fair's fair." Faith smiled at her, "But I get it on way back..."
The drive was over fairly quickly. As they approached the coast they saw another car parked on the beach.
Amy was staring at the car as Roger drove alongside the cliff face.
"Aim..." Xander said from the back. "We're looking for a cave that isn't a cave, remember. So maybe it would be easier if you faced the rock?"
"There's someone next to the car. And they're waving at us."
They all turned to look. Roger asked, "What do we do?"
"Drive towards them." Faith answered decisively.
Roger did as he was instructed. As they approached, Amy was able to recognise Samson. 'Slayers have better eyesight.' she remembered.
Samson was leaning on the car and waving madly. "What took you guys?"
"We were looking for you." Roger responded through the open window.
"We arranged to meet here."
Amy managed to cut Xander off before he replied. "It's okay now, everyone's here."
"So where the non-cave then?" Faith asked.
"Over here." Samson climbed into his car and drove over to the cliff face. Roger followed them in the car.
They parked up and everyone climbed out. "There." Samson pointed at part of the wall.
"It looks like a rock to me." Xander said snidely.
Amy thought the same and walked over to the rock face. 'Some strange markings. A lot of cracks in a circular pattern,' she traced their edges with her fingers. "Nothing here."
She looked up to find Faith and Xander doing the same with different sections of rock. "Is this some joke?" She heard Faith ask.
"Wait a few moments." Samson replied.
"Whoa..." Roger called from his position next to Samson.
Amy quickly turned around to recheck the wall. Putting her hands out hesistantly she touched the wall again. 'Still there.' she thought.
Across from her Xander was banging his hand on the rock. "No difference."
Roger lifted one arm to point, "You're standing at the entrance."
Amy glanced across at Faith and Xander, eye contact quickly reassured each other that they weren't going mental.
"No, we're not." Faith responded.
"It's right there." Roger said as he walked towards the space between Faith and Amy. Amy tapped on the wall with her fingers. Faith did the same. Roger walked roght between them and suddenly disappeared into the wall.
'How?' Amy thought.
"What the fuck?" Faith shouted.
Xander came quickly across. "Where'd he go?"
Amy turned to face Samson who was grinning inanely. "They can't hear you." She heard him shout, "Come back out of the wall."
Roger mysteriously appeared next to Xander.
"What the fuck?" Xander shouted as Roger walked out of the wall. "How did you do that?"
"Do what?" Roger asked waving his hand around, it was passing through the wall.
Xander reached out to touch the wall where Roger's hand kept passing through. Xander then reached out to touch Roger. Both seemed real.
"This is fucked up." was his conclusion.
"Okay funny-guy," Faith said, striding over to Samson. "What the fuck did you do to Rog while we weren't looking?"
"Turn around."
Faith did so. Amy then heard her say, "What the fuck? Where did that come from?"
Xander and Amy quickly walked over to her, "What?"
She physically turned them around, Amy thought the wall looked kind of blurry from where she was standing now. The circular patterns in it seemed to move as her head did. "What the hell?"
"Okay... maybe it just that I'm missing an eye but that's just weird."
"It's like a magic eye painting." Amy stated. "You've got to concentrate to see the real picture." But now she had it she was unable to let it go.
"It's so people can't accidently walk in." Samson explained. "Here you have the entrance to the demon you seek."
The others looked at one another and started to walk towards the cave.
He called after them, "Remember. Do not think about a wish as you enter the cave, even thinking about making a wish takes you to face the challenges. Least that's what I was told."
The four others entered the cave.
=====
End chapter 5b:
========================