Part 3

The next morning Willow went to the attic to check her computer and see if she had any messages from work. While she waited for the messages to download, she glanced through the journal that was sitting beside her computer. It seems that the woman that wrote this was the wife of a respected scholar of some sort. He seemed to spend most of his time researching and writing something. The journal was written during the time of the Ripper murders and there seemed to be an outcry from the public to catch the killer. She wrote that her husband was very concerned with the mob mentality of the people. They would pounce on anyone that was remotely a suspect.

Looking up from the journal her eyes were drawn to the dress in the corner. She took the dress off the hanger and held it up to herself. As she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she tried to imagine what she would look like in that time period.

She saw out of the corner of her eye that her messages had all been downloaded. She put the dress back on the hanger and got to work, time for play later.

~~~~~

While Willow was working on her computer, Ethan was gathering the magickal supplies he would need for the spell he would perform today. Luckily the supplies were simple enough to come by. It was the correct mixture of those herbs that was the tricky part.

He was walking around a corner with his arms full of bags when he almost ran into the Slayer, literally. He quickly averted his face and mumbled sorry and kept on walking.

Buffy's eyes followed the man that had almost knocked her over. "Rude much!" She turned to Dawn, "Can you believe that guy? He barely slowed down."

Ethan couldn't get over how lucky he had been. That had been way too close for comfort. He knew he was on the right track because the fates were definitely looking out for him, if Buffy had recognized him his plan to use Willow to find Jack the Ripper would have fallen through. He quickly turned another corner to get out of her line of sight. He returned to the house that he and his father were renting and began to set up for the ritual.

~~~~~~~

Willow finally completed programming the first level of the game she was working on. All this time spent in a Victorian house, the things she had bought in the antique store and watching From Hell last night had given her an idea for a computer game for catching Jack the Ripper. But instead of him being some run of the mill maniacal serial killer she gave him a Hellmouth twist and made him a vampire that you had to destroy. She had emailed her boss with the suggestion that morning and he had called her right away and told her he thought it was great. She had been working on it all morning and she was going to take a break.

As she stretched her muscles in her arms and back she heard the doorbell ring.  Opening the door she noticed that the mailman had left her a box. It was the dummy for her dress and she quickly took it upstairs to put it together.

~~~~~~

Ethan had experimented a few times with the different herb amounts for the mixture. The spell that he found hadn't been real clear. It had the amounts that were familiar to the person that wrote it. Instead of ΒΌ crushed ginger root it had 3 tumblers full of rowan bark. How big was tumbler full? But he had finally gotten it correct or at least he hadn't blown up another of his father's cauldrons.

He carefully placed the candles in a circle and brought in the herbs and bowl. After everything was set up he went in search of that one special ingredient. He grabbed the journal out of the trunk lid and put it in his pocket. He would need to know where Jack would be when he got to London. Searching around in his room he found what he was looking for. Next we went in search of his father.

"Were you able to find me the right clothes?"

"As a matter of fact, this morning the last piece came into the store and I brought it back with me when I came home for lunch." Ethan's father said. He went to the bag beside the couch and pulled out a bowler hat.

Ethan smiled, "Perfect."  He took the hat from his father and went to get dressed in the other clothes he had found. Wouldn't do to arrive in London in Jeans and T-shirt.

Ethan emerged from his bedroom looking like a fine Victorian gentleman. Complete with hat and walking stick. "So how do I look?"

"Like you belong in another time and place. Are you sure the spell will work?"

"Well, I tried a little experiment with a watch. I sent it and then retrieved it. There is no way of telling if it went to another time but it did go somewhere. Besides for a chance to meet Jack the Ripper in person I would gladly be a guinea pig."

"Well, that's fine for you but what about the witch?"

"What about her? Are you becoming soft? When was the last time you cared about a pawn in a plan?"

"I don't, but she's powerful. I could feel the power just radiating off of her. I just wouldn't want to see what would happen to you if you pissed her off."

"You worry too much."

"And you don't worry enough."

Ethan just rolled his eyes at his father and went back to the room where he had set up everything for the ritual. He pulled out the scrap of material from the hem of the dress that he had cut earlier and placed it in the bowl with the herbs. He turned to his father, "Well, hopefully if this works correctly you'll see me again in a few minutes. If I can accurately pick when to return I'll pick a few minutes from now."

~~~~~~~~~

Willow finally put the dress dummy together and it was sitting in the corner. Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she decided to try on the dress.

Luckily she was thin enough that the dress fit her without a corset. Not that she would ever wear one but it was nice to know she could wear this dress and not just look at it.  There must have been about a hundred buttons on it and she buttoned up as much as she could. No wonder people had maids dress them, she thought.

As she looked at her reflection she felt something stir in the air. Willow closed her eyes and concentrated on the energy that she was feeling. Someone was using some powerful magick. She felt the energy coming toward her and before she could prepare for the attack she was assaulted by an energy wave.

She prayed to her goddess for protection and tried to break loose. She was able to give herself a little bit of freedom and she felt herself falling.  Bracing herself for the fall she tucked and rolled when she hit grass. Thank goodness she hadn't landed on a hard surface.

Willow stood and looked around. The first thing she noticed was the horse and carriages and the type of dress people were wearing. Oh my god, I've somehow been sent back in time, she thought.