Tara and Giles were waiting when Willow and Xander came out of Grey's room.
"Everything is alright, I trust?"
"Yeah, Giles," Willow said. "Mission accomplished." She looked at Tara and suddenly the coppery taste of the blood was on her tongue. She grabbed the blonde witch in a tight hug.
"What was that for?"
"I'll explain later. Bad nightmare." Tara nodded.
"And … Miss O'Brien?" Giles asked with a delicately-raised British eyebrow.
"She's taking a little break right now," Xander said. "I think she had some bad shellfish or something." Willow punched him on the arm. "Hey!"
"She's back in the not evil club," Willow affirmed, shooting Xander an annoyed glance. "Or at least close to it. She's gonna have Angel-esque guilt, I think, and, uh…"
"It made me lose my breakfast," Jess said as she emerged, pale and drawn, into the hallway. "Though I'm not sure what Angel-esque is. Let's say I'm not feeling too hot just yet. The evil part of this shite is done with, but until we do the Spring Rain, I still can't heal Grey. Is everything ready?"
Giles and Tara both nodded, amazed at the change in the girl's bearing and demeanor. Before, she had been fierce and haughty. She seems almost … broken, Giles thought with a pang of pity, despite her resolve.
"Let's get it done, then."
The preparations were indeed complete. Tara, Ginny, Hermione, and McGonagall each held a lit candle at one of the five points of a star drawn in sand on the library floor. Willow would occupy the north point, while Jess sat in the center. As they moved to sit down, Jess grabbed Willow's arm. Her hands were shaking.
"Red … Willow, I just wanted to thank you. Just in case," she gestured to the sanded star, "something goes wrong. I appreciate what you did for me."
"You're welcome," Willow replied simply. "I did it …"
"For Grey, I know. But …"
"I was going to say because I could," Willow finished. "From what Grey's told me, you would have done the same."
"I'd like to think so. Believe me, I would." They shared a smile before taking their respective places.
Willow looked the assembled group over one by one. Hermione and Ginny could barely control their excitement at being included in something so important. Willow had opted for them rather than Snape and Flitwick; after the joint effort with Grey's lightsaber, she knew the two girls trusted her implicitly to keep them safe. Familiarity would be important if something went wrong.
Along with McGonagall, whose pinched face didn't betray her strong apprehension, they had candles in one hand and wands in the other. Tara had the Eye of the Golem around her neck and a candle in her hands. She seemed calm in the face of the impending risk.
"Everybody ready? Questions on the game plan?" Five heads shook. "Hermione, you're sure about this? When we tried it before …"
"Yes," she said confidently. "It should work fine, as long as the rhythmic resonance is identical from the three of us," she gestured to herself, McGonagall, and Ginny, "then the energy should flow from our wands with no difficulty. I believe that's the problem Tara and Professor Dumbledore encountered earlier; if Professor McGonagall sets the pace and tone, we should be able to match it fairly simply, as will Tara." McGonagall nodded; they had already worked this out. "I wish we had time to practice," Hermione said with a shrug, "but we must do it now. The longer Grey remains injured, the more difficult it will be for you to revive him, Miss O'Brien."
"Call me Jess, hon," the auror said, "Miss O'Brien's my spinster sister."
Hermione nodded. The complete reversal of attitude was more than a little disconcerting.
"Alright," Willow said, "that's the what, then. Tara, you'll channel their power into that thing, and when it comes out the other side, I'll make with the hocus pocus," she added, trying to lighten the mood.
"Don't fry me, Willow," Jess said pointedly. "I've heard of this spell going badly wrong because the energy wasn't regulated properly in the last stage."
"I'll be careful," Willow promised. She was more worried about not keeping her own power in check than she was about that part. The slightest bit of her tainted magic would wreck the spell. "Ready?"
They nodded.
"'Kay." She took a deep breath and quieted her mind. They couldn't screw this up if Grey were to live. "Let's do this."
McGonagall spoke an incantation, then started the chant. The power built up fast. Almost before Willow was ready, her hair stood on end and tiny bolts of electricity jumped from candle to candle.
"This is potentially very dangerous, Rupert." Giles nodded. Wesley wasn't opposed, he knew, just concerned. "I must say, though, that your training program for Willow worked remarkably. She was very, very close to a troublesome edge earlier."
"I agree. The training and the artifact she wears did the job nicely. The absence of either of those … I shudder to think."
They stood outside the library, listening to the background chanting of the spell and drinking mugs of tea Winky had brought for them.
"Yes, I noticed her necklace glowing before. What does it do?" Giles explained briefly. "Interesting. Very interesting."
They stood silently for a few minutes, feeling the power build around them.
"Thank you again for all of your help, as well. I must admit," Giles said cautiously, "you seem a bit different than the man I remember."
"It's been a lengthy few years," Wesley said, absently reaching up and brushing the scar across his throat with his fingertips.
"Yes, I've … heard some of the story. I was a bit surprised to see you here with Angel's people, at any rate."
"They are still friends, Rupert. Just," he paused, sadness in his eyes, "not quite as close as they once were. Besides, Angel called me directly when Cordelia had her vision. He wanted to inform me that I would have to pick up some of the slack."
"Yes, I had heard you were operating semi-independently."
"Well, yes. But when the situation was explained …" He trailed off, looking down the darkened corridor at some distant spot. "I feet quite badly about my tenure in Sunnydale, and particularly about the episode with Willow. What else could I do?"
"I understand," Giles said, placing a sympathetic hand on Wesley's shoulder. "You did the right thing this time. I, for one, think that is what's important."
For the first time since he strode into the Sunnydale High library years before, Wesley felt the tension between them ease. He turned and looked at Giles with a new respect.
"Thank you for that."
Hermione had been dead on about the Eye of the Golem. Three silver ribbons linked the three wands to it; Tara's hands glowed the same color, and her eyes were milky white. The chanting continued unhindered as a silver ball, no more than six inches across, formed over Jess' head.
Willow mentally reached out and caressed it, not altering or moving it but simply exploring it. She had never felt magic power coalescing like this, in physical form, and doubt suddenly flared in her mind. What if it got loose? What if she couldn't control it without tainting it? What if …
"Don't," came Jess' faintly accented voice. She watched the panic cross Willow's face, the depth of it evident even with the redhead's eyes closed. "You'll be fine if you just relax. When Tara stops the power, you say the words an' all will be right in the world."
Willow nodded, her face pinched in concentration. In her mind's eye, she could see what Jess saw in the air – the silver mass was growing fast.
So far, so good.
They continued apace for five more minutes before McGonagall felt that the power had built up enough. The floating silver ball was now a silver disc eight feet across at its widest point. She stopped chanting; Ginny and Hermione quickly followed her lead, and all three connections to the Eye were broken.
Tara continued to chant, and, fed by her power, the growth continued unabated. Willow struggled to keep it contained as it expanded, using the same willpower tricks she used to float pencils to keep the energy stable.
"Tara," McGonagall said tentatively. "Tara, we have enough power now. You can stop."
She kept chanting.
"Too … much," Willow squeaked out through clenched teeth. Sweat dripped over her closed eyes and tickled her cheeks.
"Tara?" Hermione said, her voice more than a little afraid. "Tara, we have enough."
"Stop … her," Willow forced out. "Can't … cast 'til she … stops feeding it."
The thrumming of the energy grew noticeably louder. The room began to vibrate audibly. A lamp on one of the research tables tinkled as a glass pane shattered.
"Professor, how?" Ginny asked McGonagall.
The door rattled in its frame. A tiny burst of silver shot from the energy cloud, turning a chair to dust.
Willow's face had turned bright red; her whole body shook with the effort.
"Release the clasp on the necklace!" Jess shouted from the center. She was powerless to help. "Yank that thing off her!"
"ALOHAMORA!" Hermione cast; the spell popped the chain free, but the Eye remained in place.
"ACCIO NECKLACE!"
The Eye flew from Tara's chest, landing in Ginny's outstretched hand and burning her skin fiercely. She tossed it into the corner, then fell over clutching her hand in pain.
With her eyes closed, all Willow could make out were the spells and then the sound of a fierce crash. She could feel the energy stop flowing the moment the necklace left Tara's grasp, and wasted no time before incanting:
Once lost in night,
Now found in light,
Here breathed the dark,
Through us we mark,
With cleansing fire,
That dark retire.
As Willow spoke the last of the atrocious verse, the silver cloud reacted. Like lightning, a finger of energy struck Jess painfully on the forehead. Then another, and a third in rapid succession. Above her, the energy twisted into a funnel; more small strikes hammered her body, feeling like pinpricks to her but looking to the others like the vengeance of an angry Zeus.
Then the room exploded with a flash of white light, and no one could see what happened.