Chapter 9

Giles quickly assigned tasks to the whole gang. Tara and Anya would gather all the materials needed for the rite; Willow would study the rite itself; Xander would prepare the training room in the back of the Magic Box for the rite; and Buffy would ratchet up her patrols, hopefully getting any demons used to her being extra vigilant and laying low while the actual rite was being conducted.

Which, naturally, left Faith with absolutely nothing to do.

She offered to help Willow with the preparation. Willow told her that she needed to focus on understanding the rite first before she could even begin to brief Faith on her role in the whole thing.

She offered to help Buffy with her patrols; at least that way she'd burn off some tension. Giles informed her that she was too important to put at risk.

She offered to help Tara and Anya with preparing for the Rite; she quickly learned that the two had their own language that only occasionally crossed over with English, and didn't really have the time to translate things into English, then explain that there really wasn't anything Faith could do to help.

Finally she settled on working with Xander. Willow had at least worked out the basics of the physical conduct of the Rite. Xander and Faith cleared a large area of the floor for the inscriptions. Also, apparently Faith would have to have her head resting in Willow's lap for the casting, so Xander scrounged up a used Chesterfield sofa that would accommodate the two women in the required posture.

Faith was impressed with how much Xander had grown since she'd last left Sunnydale. He'd really found his niche in construction. The physical labor had helped him fill out nicely, he was quite competent and confident with tools, and had readily fixed up and adapted the sofa for its use. Too bad she'd promised Anya she'd keep her hands to herself.

The "test-fitting" had been hysterical for Faith. First Willow sat cross-legged at the back, then Faith lay down on her back and rested her head in Willow's lap. Willow placed her fingers on Faith's head and closed her eyes.

Tara was standing nearby, watching Willow getting redder and redder at the unexpected intimacy of the posture. Tara was trying to keep a straight face; she knew how important this was, and it wouldn't do to impair Willow's concentration.

She should have known better. Faith briefly caught her eye and gave her a mischievous wink. Then Faith looked up into Willow's eyes, blew her a kiss, and let out a soft, husky moan.

Willow turned beet red and Tara dissolved into hysterical laughter.

Xander, who had been ducked down behind the Chesterfield, popped up. "What happened? What'd I miss?"

Faith gave him a saucy grin. "Sorry, Xan-man. You snooze, you lose. Better luck next time."

Willow regained her composure. She fixed Tara with a glare, then doubled it with one for Faith. "Fine, get it out of your system now. You better not try anything even remotely funny when we're doing this for real."

Faith put on a crestfallen expression. "You don't love me any more?" Tara lost it again, this time actually falling to the floor.

Xander looked over the sofa to the hysterical Wiccan. "Wills, I think Faith just broke your girlfriend, and there ain't a carpenter in the world that can fix that."

Out on the floor of the shop, Anya was presenting Giles with the spreadsheet she and Tara had put together for the costs of the Rite. "So, we happen to have most of what we need already, but these are some of the most expensive things we carry. This is going to wipe out our revenues for at least the next five months."

Giles frowned. "If I was still in good standing with the Council, I could lean on them for some assistance, but I'm afraid that door is closed to us. And Wesley has nowhere near the status to put those kinds of demands on them."

Anya would not give up. "Well, how about that evil law firm? They've been surprisingly helpful so far, especially for a bunch of servants of the Lower Powers. Why don't we hit them up for some backing?"

"I'd considered that, but I am reluctant to give them too many details on what we're doing. The less they know, the less likely they are to put any information they gather about this situation to future nefarious use. I would be concerned that a detailed list of magical components could give them an idea about the Rite we're using, and I wouldn't put it past them to find some way to use the Rite for their own purposes."

Anya wasn't ready to give up. "So we give them bogus invoices. There's no one who knows the prices of mystical components better than I do. I'll come up with the total, then make a second invoice that includes some of the real things we'll be using and a bunch of others that'll hint to an entirely different spell, and I'll make sure that the bottom line is comparable – after, of course, I put in a healthy markup." She looked up at Giles. "What? It's perfectly reasonable. We're putting a lot of labor into this project, I'm going to have to call in a few favors, and I am NOT giving the 'friends and family' discount to demonic lawyers. I don't even like giving that to Willow and Tara."

"Are you actually suggesting we deliberately try to defraud a demonic law firm?"

Anya shrugged. "They're already bending over backwards to help us, to save their own skins, and while it's five months' revenue to us, to them it's practically a rounding error. They probably spend more on that just on business lunches in a week. Besides, the worst they can do is deny it."

Giles was stunned. Anya was severely lacking in social graces, but more than made up for it in rampant capitalist instincts. He made a note to try to involve her should he ever be in a position to negotiate with the Watcher's Council in the future. Then he thought about what percentage she would demand, and resolved to at least give it some consideration.