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PART 4.
An explanation. That's what they were waiting for.
It seemed like an age before Lorne finally continued, having paused when he had seen the frozen looks on everyone's faces. With all his experience at Caritas, he didn't think that he could ever feel stage fright. He was wrong.
"OK, so I was downstairs waiting for you guys to finish what you were doing so I could hitch a lift back when I came across your book. I took a quick look through it, I hope you don't mind."
"Yeah? And?" Cordelia probed, ready to burst with anticipation.
"Well, just out of interest, I read some of the parts I could understand, not that there are many of them. I thought maybe it might say something about possible side effects. It doesn't. But it does say something on the next page about what might happen if the spell is performed on human subjects…"
He stopped, waiting for them to catch on. Nope. Not a single spark of recognition. Maybe they just didn't want to comprehend what he was suggesting. He looked at Wesley, hoping that he of all people was beginning to catch his drift, but he wasn't paying the blindest bit of attention. He was too busy cradling his sore head.
Sigh. He rolled his eyes and went into more detail.
"The demon guy you did this for. You gave him something so that he wouldn't feel any pain, right? And it worked. As far as you know, he's fine. My guess is, if he hadn't have taken that in the first place, he would have ended up in the same state as poor Wesley here. Look, what I'm trying to say is, that spell you did? It worked all right. It worked on both of them."
Stunned. That was the only way that Lorne could describe his audience. At least he didn't have to nudge them with his elbow at the end and say 'hint hint'.
"Well you did ask."
"Wait a minute", Angel said eventually, beginning to work something out. "Are you trying to tell me that now Wesley is going to end up like Harris with some kind of magic thing going on? I don't think so. I mean, what about us? We were all there, and we're fine."
Lorne shrugged. "I don't know, I don't have all the answers. I've already broken a rule or two by saying some of this anyway. All I do know is that this book seems to describe exactly what happened out there, and that has to be more than a coincidence."
Angel couldn't quite believe this. Lorne handed him the book so that he could see for himself. Gunn just stared at the floor, Cordelia looked a bit confused and Wesley, well, he really didn't care.
"There's got to be more to this that we're just not seeing", Angel mused, resuming his pacing of the room.
"Oh", put in Cordelia, suddenly remembering something, "What about the flying vase? Does it say anything about that?"
Angel shook his head and carried on pacing, letting the book hang down by his side. "This just doesn't make any sense."
The room went quiet again, everyone lost in their own thoughts and waiting for inspiration. Everyone except Wesley, that is. He had sat completely still throughout the whole conversation, not saying a word to anyone. In fact, he had barely even been listening to a word that was said. He had been waiting for the ache to subside so that he could concentrate on sifting through the clouds in his mind. He wanted to contribute something, anything, which would be of use, but he couldn't even recall everything that had actually happened.
He remembered the flash of light, and something to do with… no, that wasn't real. OK, focus. He'd been afraid, very afraid. Terrified even. But what of? Maybe it was just the pain. Someone had tried to hurt him, a huge and looming dark shape attacking him and trying to put him back in the dark… Wait a minute. You're rambling now. Get a grip. Why was this so difficult? It just hurt to think so much. There's that annoying noise again. Where was it coming from and why wouldn't it stop?
"Wesley. Wesley!"
Oh, right. That's what it is.
"You know, he really does not look good. At all. Are you sure we can't do anything about this?" Gunn was getting worried now, and that just wasn't cool. He could see that Angel was desperately looking to Wesley for answers, but they couldn't get through to him. Again. It was like he couldn't hear them or something. He went over to where Angel was knelt to lend him a hand.
"Give me a try", he said, flapping his hand in Angel's direction. He did the same to Cordelia and Lorne when he felt them hovering around behind him and breathing down his neck. "Come on you guys, give the man some space."
They both took a step back and Cordelia tried to distract herself by picking at a piece of loose wallpaper. Angel refused to move any further away, insisting on being stubborn and possessive.
Gunn didn't have the energy to argue with him, so he just got on with what he was trying to do. Wesley had swung his legs over the side of the bed and was slumped over with his head down and hands clasped behind his neck. He was leaning on his knees and staring rigidly at the rug Gunn was crouching on, not even seeming to notice that he was there.
"Hey, Wes, what ya thinkin'?"
Nothing. He lowered his own head, trying to get a look at his eyes.
"Come on, boy, look at me will ya?"
Wesley blinked. He looked up at Gunn, a confused expression on his face. Gunn smiled back at him, hoping that maybe this time he would stay in the land of the living. Long enough to get some answers, anyway.
"There you go. Did you hear what Angel said before? We've read some more of the book and it says that you should have felt some kind of weird prickly sensation or something if the spell worked. Did you feel that, Wes? We need to know."
"Yes. No. I don't… I don't know. I can't remember. It just hurt." He closed his eyes and tried to fold up again, but Gunn physically stopped him.
"Stop it. Don't you start going all withdrawn on me. If you start that rocking backwards and forwards stuff like a crazy person, then I'm just gonna leave you here on your own. I'm not putting up with any of that." He tried to sound authoritative, thinking that it could shake him out of the daze he had sunk into. It seemed to work, and Wesley made the effort to sit up straighter.
"OK, that's better. Look, we need your help if we're going to find anything out about this. Tell us where to look."
Wesley nodded silently, trying not to flinch at the intense ache it produced. He motioned for a pen and some paper and hastily scribbled down some titles in a barely legible scrawl. Gunn took the list and read it through, giving it to Angel when he had finished. He recognised some of the titles from the research they had already done before performing this spell, and he realised that Wesley probably already knew more about this than he would say. He looked scared.
"Alright, we're going to go downstairs and take a look into this. You just, I dunno, try and get some sleep or something, OK?"
Not getting a response, Gunn stood up and sighed. He looked at the others and they came a bit closer, waiting to hear what they should do next. Cordelia looked weary and drawn, dark circles developing around her eyes. She was near to dropping any second.
Angel had noticed it too. He put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her.
"We're going to figure this out, don't worry. You don't have to come down if you don't want to."
She gave him a weak smile. "It's not that I don't want to, it's just, I feel kinda tired. I don't think I can take any more reading today, my eyes will fall out. I'll just stay here and make sure no more spooky stuff happens."
* * *
So, here they were, again. If Gunn never saw another dusty old book again, it would be too soon. He didn't know how Wesley could stand it. Why would anyone want to do this for fun? Oh well, there was no use in complaining. It had to be done.
Lorne had offered to stay and help out and they had gladly accepted. An extra and fresh pair of eyes couldn't hurt. Besides, Gunn kind of liked having the big green demon around, it was amusing to watch him really getting on Angel's nerves with his little anecdotes.
Right now, they were looking up 'gifts' in some of the research material that Wesley had suggested. Meanwhile, Angel was on the phone, trying to get hold of their client.
Angel slammed down the handset. "Lying little creep!"
"What's the matter now?" asked Lorne, edging round a little closer to Gunn when Angel came storming out of the office.
"He made up everything. The company, his phone numbers, probably even his name. I've rung around half the demon businesses in LA and none of them have ever heard of him. He doesn't exist."
"I bet you're kinda wishing you had checked that before now, huh?"
Both Angel and Gunn whirled round to glare at Lorne, and he immediately stuck his hands in the air in apology.
"I guess we were a little blinded by the whole money thing", Gunn admitted. It was too late to regret that now. It least it proved that there was more to this than just accidental chance. This demon guy, he had something to do with it. If they could just find him, maybe they would get some answers.
* * *
Having tried hard to make conversation and keep Wesley alert, Cordelia had given up when her own eyelids had started to droop, and let him zone out on the bed.
She'd fallen asleep not long after, resting her head on the covers and enjoying the chance to forget all her troubles. It hadn't taken long for something to wake her up, however, and now she was blinking away the blur and flicking the hair out of her face. Wesley had moved and disturbed her by accident, and was now looking down on her with concern.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, you look like you need the rest."
Cordelia didn't know what to say at first, there were just so many things wrong with that sentence. She gave him an amused frown and started to laugh.
"Wesley, what are you talking about? I'm here to look after you." There were so many things she wanted to ask, like 'how come you're being so normal all of a sudden', but she didn't get the chance to make a sound. That familiar feeling of dread swept over her and took away her breath.
"Cordelia?"
It hit her. Flashing images and swirls of colours, overwhelming in their intensity. She reeled backwards and prepared herself for a fall… that didn't come. That was weird, it didn't feel like anyone had caught her either, she was just… floating. There was no time for her to worry about that now; the vision stabbing across her eyes was demanding her attention. She felt the pain and terror of the victims and shrieked with them, pummelling her hands into the sides of her head.
When it finally stopped, she felt herself sway with dizziness, but this time someone was there to help her. The agonising migraine took hold and she let herself be led to a very welcoming chair. She opened her eyes and squinted up to see Wesley fussing around, trying to find the painkillers that he knew were around there somewhere. She accepted the glass of water he handed her and waited a second for the worst to subside. She drew a deep breath and collected her wits.
"Wesley, sit down, I'm alright. You're making my head spin."
He crouched down in front of her, a haunted look in his eyes. It was unsettling. He'd never looked that worked up over a vision before. What was the matter, was she sprouting horns or something? Forgetting about the vision for a moment, she felt the need to check that Wesley was as back-to-normal as he had seemed at first. After all, you don't just hop out of bed with a grin and a skip after an episode like that, do you?
"How are you feeling… do you remember what happened?"
"I don't know how to explain it, I just woke up and… I feel fine. Everything's gone. I just hope I didn't…" He stopped and looked as though he regretted saying that.
"What?" Cordelia asked, feeling slightly anxious now.
He wouldn't say anything. They held each other's gaze for a while, the room filling with tension. Cordelia was going to say something, but she was interrupted when Angel walked into the room, his nose in a book.
"I think I've found something that might –" He looked up and cut off his sentence when he saw that the situation had changed quite dramatically since his last visit to the room.
"Wesley, you're –"
"Cordelia had a vision", Wesley blurted out, as if to avert the attention. Cordelia narrowed her eyes slightly in suspicion, knowing full well that something was going on here.
"Really?" Angel asked, dropping his book and rushing to her side. "Why didn't you tell me? Is it serious?"
She nodded to him slowly, not wanting to have to tell him the bad news. As urgent as this was, she didn't want to have to reveal the truth to either of them. It was going to cut, deep.
She steeled herself for the moment.
"It's not good…" It never is, but this time it was worse than bad. It was cruel.
"It's the demon. He's got his powers now… and he's hurting people."
To be continued…
