/// Chapter Two ///
Buffy shook her head slowly back and forth as she took in the scene before her. There wasn't too much to be seen. She'd only been to the museum a couple of times, and everything looked just as it had all those years ago. All dusty and dark, full of browns and blacks and grays, with lines of statues and artifacts and all kinds of old stuff that she didn't know about.
But what really interested her were the strange black scorch marks on the floor near the front end of the place. They stood out so starkly against the plain linoleum floor of the museum. So obviously out in the open. Whoever or whatever had struck the curator hadn't seemed to care about being seen.
"Something just doesn't seem right," she murmured.
"You mean besides the fact that we have no idea what happened here?," Xander asked. Buffy had pulled him away from the school construction on her way off campus and had him come with her and Dawn. "We know as much as the rest of the town does. That's not supposed to happen. We're the special ones."
"Don't worry, Xand," Buffy said with a little grin, "you're still special."
"So what's your problem?," Xander asked.
"Well, whoever did this either didn't care about being caught," Buffy explained, letting her words hang in the air like drying laundry. "Or, is extremely stupid, and didn't even think about being caught."
"Either way, we're dealing with someone pretty reckless," Xander said, picking up on Buffy's thoughts. "And reckless usually equals dangerous."
"Exactly," Buffy agreed, crossing her arms.
"Did you see this?," Dawn called over to the Slayer. Buffy directed her attention toward the lanky brunette, who stood beside a very large wooden crate, its lid tossed carelessly to the side. Bits of straw littered the ground around it, as if someone had very quickly taken something out of it and ran.
"Willow said that a dinosaur skull was stolen," Buffy remarked, eyeing the crate. It appeared to have come from East Asia. "Why would you steal a skull? I mean, what, is someone planning on resurrecting a dinosaur?"
"Kinda like Jurassic Park," Xander said appreciatively. "Only less cool."
"Is that even possible?," Buffy wondered aloud. "I mean, bringing something back to life that's been dead that long? Millions of years?"
"You were brought back," Dawn said out of nowhere. Buffy looked away, not sure what to say. She was surprised that Dawn had even brought up her - return. It was kind of an unspoken rule not to talk about it. It was just one of those things that was better not to think about.
"Well, I was hardly fossilized," Buffy countered, somewhat regaining her composure. "That skull was probably what? Sixty some odd million years old? I had only been gone for, well, a few months. I just mean, could something like that make a difference?"
"Not exactly up on resurrection spells," Xander said, looking at Buffy uncomfortably. "That's kind of Willow's sitch."
"And she's busy right now," Buffy surmised, thinking hard.
"Well, maybe -," Dawn began to say, but Buffy cut her off.
"What we need is a suspect," the Slayer said.
"Maybe we could talk to -," Dawn tried again, but this time Xander interrupted the younger Summers sister.
"Well who do we know that could incinerate a guy on a whim?," the dark-haired young man asked.
"Well I can think of one of Sunnydale's demons that might not have been afraid of doing something like that in broad daylight," Dawn said, finally breaking into the conversation, eyeing Xander with a quirked brow. "A certain demon in the wish-granting department?"
"You think Anya might have done this?," Xander asked, incredulous. "But that doesn't really fit. Why steal a dinosaur skull?"
"Maybe she wanted to sell it on e-bay," Dawn suggested cooly, obviously miffed at being left out of the conversation earlier. Buffy nodded a little, looking like she might agree with Dawn.
"Hey, wait a second," Xander said, as if he'd just caught up with where the conversation was headed. "Are you guys seriously thinking Anya might have something to do with this? 'Cause, gotta say, not exactly loving the sudden blame game."
"I think it's worth a visit," Buffy said with a little half-shrug. "Besides, Anya's got her vengeance gig back in full swing. Back to the demonic roots and all. Maybe she knows something."
"Great," Xander said huffily. "So now my ex-girlfriend is one of our informants that we pump for info? God, I miss Willy."
"Come on," Buffy said with a roll of the eyes.
///
The sudden sound of knocking at her front door caused Anya to look up from the magazine she was reading. She blinked, as if she'd just woken up, startled at the unexpected intrusion of noise. She sighed and put the magazine down, then hurried over to the door, unlocking it before turning the knob.
"Hallie, you could've just teleported in," she was saying as she opened the door, expecting to find her fellow vengeance demon friend on her doorstep. Instead, she saw Buffy, Xander and Dawn all standing there looking at her expectantly. She rolled her eyes and backed away. "Oh, it's just you guys. Look, if you need my help for some demon business or something, I'm kind of busy."
"We'll only be a minute," Buffy assured. She let herself in to the apartment, and was quickly trailed by Dawn and Xander who both looked slightly uncomfortable with being there in Anya's apartment.
"Well I've got a, a thing scheduled," Anya told them, heading back over to her couch. "So make it quick. Wouldn't want my – thing - to be kept waiting."
"Museum curator," Buffy said swiftly. "Missing. What do you know?"
"Who do I look like to you?," Anya asked, flabbergasted. "Spike, or something? You can't just come charging into my home, demanding answers like that. Just because I'm a demon now doesn't mean you're better than me or anything."
"But you have connections and stuff," Dawn said lamely. "All your demon friends and stuff. Haven't you heard anything?"
"I told you this was a dumb idea," Xander said quietly.
"No, what could be dumb about harassing your ex in the middle of their very busy day?," Anya asked loudly. "We all know Buffy is pretty good at it. You've been learning from the best, I see, Xander."
"Look, there's no need to get personal," Buffy said through gritted teeth. "Either you have some information or you don't."
"Well I don't," Anya said snippily. "So go. Now."
"Anya, someone is probably dead," Buffy said forcefully. "If you think I'm just going to walk away from this, then you better start wishing for a new set of brains. Because I'm not going to give up. Now tell me whatever you know."
"Come on, ease up, Buffy," Xander said, moving over to the Slayer. "She doesn't know anything. Let's just go."
Buffy crossed her arms, looking very much like she wasn't about to move.
"There's some guy in town," Anya finally said, her words like ice. "He's new. I don't know anything about him, but a lot of the underlings are talking about him. Apparently, he's very powerful. I don't know what he's doing here."
"You think he might be our culprit?," Buffy asked, narrowing her eyes.
"I don't know anything," Anya insisted, getting angry again. "I told you what you wanted to hear, all right? So leave now."
"Where can I find this guy?," Buffy asked.
"I heard something about a new magick shop opening up recently," Anya said, and suddenly she looked out into space, a look of almost - longing crossing over her features. "Almost makes me wish the Magic Box was still open. It would've been fun to have some competition. Like Monopoly, only real."
"All right, we have our info," Xander said stiffly. "Let's go."
"Yes," Anya said, snapping out of her sudden daydream. "I agree with Xander." She rolled her eyes and barked out a weak laugh. "Been awhile since I said that." She went back to her couch and plopped down on it, looking exhausted.
"Well, thanks," Buffy said quietly, looking down at her feet. "For the tip."
"Yeah," Anya said, sounding almost bitter.
"We could - call you," Buffy said, holding out a hand in supplication. "I mean, if we find anything. Maybe you could, I dunno, help or something."
"Sure," Anya said, picking up her magazine again. "Whatever."
Buffy looked over at Dawn and Xander, then motioned towards the door with her head. The three of them quietly began to exit the apartment. As the door shut behind them, Anya looked up at the empty space where her ex-friends had just been standing. Troubled, she went back to her magazine, but somehow couldn't find the will to even turn the page.
///
Buffy sighed, feeling defeated as she, Dawn and Xander walked away from Anya's apartment building. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her light wool jacket and shook some of her hair away from her eyes.
"So, what do we know?," Buffy asked.
"Besides not much?," Xander replied, quirking an eyebrow. "Not much."
"Well what about that magick shop lead?," Dawn pointed out, reminding the others of their one and only clue.
"We can check it out, but it's not a for sure deal," Buffy said with shrug. She sighed once more. "We're pretty much still stuck in square one."
"Such a familiar place," Xander said with a wry grin. The brunette's eyes widened. "Well, what about magick? We could do a spell."
"Like a locating spell?," Buffy asked dubiously.
"Yeah, maybe Willow can cook up something for us," Xander went on, sounding like he felt this was a sure-fire plan. "Maybe she can find a way to locate the skull. Or maybe the person who stole it."
"Like maybe some kind of finger-print locating spell?," Dawn asked excitedly, eyes widening. Then she deflated. "Okay, I guess the police probably already did something like that."
"Yeah…," Buffy agreed distantly, eyes focusing on nothing in particular. She looked very much as if her mind were elsewhere.
"I'm sensing maybe you don't like my plan," Xander said apprehensively.
"No, it's not that," Buffy said, her mouth working, but no sound escaping her lips. She didn't seem to be able to figure out quite what to say. "It's just.."
"What's up?," Xander asked, narrowing his soft brown eyes. "You've got your 'something's up' face on."
"It's just - Willow," Buffy said at length. She ran a hand through her hair distractedly, and pursed her lips, thinking. "She seems okay on the surface, yeah. But there's definitely a lot of stuff going on deep down that none of us can really comprehend or, or even really grasp. Not really, anyway. I'm just not sure she's ready to get all Scooby Gang right now."
"She lost Tara," Xander said softly. "It's been really tough for all of us. But Willow really loved her. They were so happy together. And when she was taken away like that.. She's just trying to deal, the only way she knows how."
"I'm just worried she might start falling back on old habits," Buffy said meaningfully, looking Xander deeply in the eye. He nodded almost imperceptibly, understanding. "She's still really powerful. She cast that invisiblity spell or whatever on herself without even realizing it. Who knows what she could be capable of. What she could do without even thinking."
"But Willow's not evil anymore," Dawn said, shrugging. "I mean, she isn't all veiny or anything, at least. She wouldn't do anything to hurt anybody, even if she didn't mean to - right?"
"That's what I'm hoping," Buffy said. She sighed a little, feeling defeated. "There isn't really anything more we can do around here. We might as well get out of here, maybe do some research."
"Ooh, books," Xander said with faux glee. "I love books."
"First, we need to check on Willow," Buffy said, ignoring Xander's sarcasm. "I just don't feel too comfortable leaving her alone too long these days. She needs people around her. She needs her friends right now."