Wesley was so caught up in his delighted half dreams of a blossoming relationship between himself and Ororo that it was several hours before a chance event brought his mind crashing back to the situation that had enabled them to actually meet. He'd been making certain all the weapons were properly stored when he found the trio of blades that Kurt had borrowed. Weapons used to fight the Del'Perla demon. The soul stealer… that had five soul pearls in a copper bowl. Not two, one for Logan and one for Ororo, but five.
Five souls, three of which were still in the bowl. Three souls that had been taken from their owners. Three souls that should be returned, assuming their owners were still alive.
He spent several minutes calling himself all sorts of names, starting with 'love-struck fool' and continuing from there. No matter how pretty Ororo was, no matter how delightful the idea of a relationship was, he should not let hopes and dreams make him forget every responsibility that had been drilled into him. It was his responsibility as a Watcher – even if the Council had fired him – to try to protect people from demons. That meant that he shouldn't just traipse along enraptured by the most stunning blue eyes and pale hair that he'd ever seen, oblivious to the question of the other souls.
The best place to start would be to make certain how many possible places a person struck 'inexplicably' comatose might be taken. The next step would be to take the soul pearls through those areas, in hopes that if their rightful – well, what was the proper word? Rightful owner? Proper vessel? Housing of flesh? Err… in hopes that body and soul could be reunited, yes, that was it. And if not at the hospital, then what?
Wesley sat down, concluding that he had no idea what to do if the bodies weren't in the hospital. Perhaps he'd best just hope they would all be there. That was when he realized something else – he'd left the bowl of souls in the medical facility under the mansion. With a small groan, he let his forehead fall onto his hand, closing his eyes. It was a good thing nobody from the council knew what a mess he'd been making of this.
On the other hand, it was a very good thing that he had some familiarity with computers, which some Watchers lacked. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that some Watchers scoffed at the idea of using a computer. While there were some things that a computer might not be able to help with, there were far more things that they could be used for. Perhaps they couldn't translate an inscription from Etruscan, but they could easily provide a city map. Easily verify that there was only one other place that a victim of the Del'Perla might have been taken.
Of course, he might still want to have someone go with him to find the hospital… Possibly Evan could help him with that? Musing over the possibilities, Wesley returned to the front of the store. Evan was there, fidgeting a bit as Kitty chattered cheerfully beside him. The coincidence was almost unsettling. "Evan, Kitty. Good afternoon."
Evan looked up, grinning as he lifted a small bag with three round lumps. "You forgot these."
"Ahhh…." Wesley smiled, certain that the remaining soul pearls must be in the small bag. That was one problem dealt with. "Thank you."
Evan glanced at the floor, shuffling a little. "umm… this is sort of… well, we wanted to sort of ask a favor. Kitty's got her learner's permit, but she needs an adult in the car. Do you think… Could you maybe help her get some practice?"
"You… want me to let Kitty drive somewhere so she can get the practice?" Something about this sounded entirely suspicious to him. "Well, I was thinking that I should take the remaining… well, to the hospital. In hopes of returning them."
Kitty made this high pitched noise, almost a squeal, and gave him a quick hug. "Oh, that's no problem. I know where that is, I could take you there in like, five minutes!"
Something felt entirely too easy about the whole thing, although Wesley didn't think that either Evan or Kitty meant him any particular ill will. Deciding that he simply wasn't used to coincidence working in his favor, he shook his head and tried to suppress his worries. "Let me just tell Ben and Sarah that they might need to close up the shop today, and then we can go."
end part 14.
Kitty was looking far too cheerful as they made their way to the parking area. Wesley held out the keys, a small part of him wanting to take them back, to insist that he should drive. "The silver car."
He walked over, sitting in the passenger side, fastening the seatbelt as he tried to convince himself that he was just over reacting. "So, to the hospital."
"Right." She just slipped into the drivers seat, passing through the door as if it were no more than a mirage. Kitty fumbled a bit as she adjusted the seat closer, and grinned triumphantly as she started the car. "And now to the hospital!"
Kitty's foot must have stomped on the gas, judging from the way the tires squealed on the way out of the parking area. Her driving was… well, reckless might be putting it kindly. Speeding, lack of turn signals, accelerating to squeak through yellow lights… Wesley was now entirely certain why he'd been chosen as the adult victim. He wouldn't have known better. She also seemed quite determined to cheerfully ignore his half yelped cries of 'turn signals!', 'don't hit the pedestrians!', and 'slow down for the turns!'.
Wesley was certain that it was a minor miracle they reached the hospital without having crashed or hit anybody. Slowly, he pried his fingers from the grip on the door, and turned to look at Kitty. "You do not drive like a chase scene from a movie. You do not drive like… some sort of video race. Return the keys."
With a sigh, Kitty handed them over. "Nobody else has put it that way."
"But nobody else seems to be willing to be the adult in the car as you drive, are they?" Wesley shot back, gripping the keys firmly in a numb hand. The other hand patted the soul pearls in one pocket of his jacket. "Now, it's time to go slipping into the rooms of unconscious people on life support."
With a shiver, Kitty one more slipped out of the car, ignoring both the seat belt and the door. "Eeee. Not what I'd call a fun way to spend the afternoon."
"It isn't for fun. But if we can find the other victims of that demon, it is our responsibility to return the souls to them if possible. It's not a question of fun, but of responsibility and basic decency." Wesley tried to explain it, hoping that he didn't sound hopelessly arrogant and pompous.
"Responsibility, huh? I suppose that makes sense." Kitty sighed as they walked into the hospital.
Reaching out to catch her elbow, Wesley just offered a polite nod to the volunteer at the desk and kept them moving right past, trying to act as if he was not only supposed to be here, but perfectly calm. Softly, he offered a bit of explanation to the girl. "We don't want to try to explain this. We can simply find the proper areas. Most likely Intensive Care."
They had no trouble finding the area. Wesley carefully put the soul pearls into his hand, and began ducking into the rooms, peeking at them to see if anything would happen, uncertain quite how close he would need to be for the soul to return. It was actually quite depressing.
In the third room, there was encouragement. A slender figure in a bed, a girl that couldn't have been much older than Kitty, with soft pale curls and a scattering of freckles. Colorful flowers surrounded her, making it clear that someone cared about this girl. AS Wesley moved towards her, one of the orbs suddenly felt warmer, and then it seemed to dissolve, with pearly wisps flowing from his hand to the girl on the bed, flowing into her mouth. She made a slight coughing noise, and her heart rate sped up.
Wesley smiled, turning to leave the room. "I think the nurses should be able to handle things from here."
"That was pretty neat. Watching the little… well, it was neat." Kitty looked excited. "Who's next? I mean… oh, right. We don't know."
"No, we don't know. Perhaps if we keep checking all the rooms here, we might be able to find the others. Although… there is the chance that they may… they might have died." Wesley almost didn't want to voice the chance, but it was there.
"Yikes. Do they, like, teach you how to yank the joy out of things at Watcher School, or whatever it's called?" Kitty gave an exaggerated shudder as they continued down the hall.
"I went to Oxford. But the whole… yanking of joy came more from my father's influence, actually…" Wesley shook his head as they stepped into the next room, with a figure wrapped in bandages and another with several tubes and a cast on one leg. The souls remained hard spheres in his hand. "Neither of these people."
The second pearl flared warm and practically raced out of his hand to slide into the painfully thin looking body of an old man. His body arced, and his eyes opened, a sort of wheezing noise emerging as the pale streaks poured into his body. There was the oddest feeling of urgency to the wisps, as if… well, the man did look very old.
"He looks old… like older than dirt." Kitty's whisper was not entirely respectful, but a very accurate summary of the old man's appearance.
One of the machines started beeping with a shrill, unpleasant noise. Footsteps started towards the room, rapidly moving. On the bed, the old man continued to make wheezing gasps, as if he was trying to get air and failing.
Kitty grabbed Wesley's arm, and yanked him backwards, dragging him through the wall and into an empty lounge. A small refrigerator lurked in a corner, and a table had several napkins and a couple take out bags. "That was pretty close."
In the other room, the shrill beeping took on a sudden monotonous tone, and Wesley winced. "Very close indeed."
"umm…. Can we, like, try to find victim number three tomorrow? This place is sort of starting to freak me out." Kitty's question was soft, and sounded almost embarrassed.
Wesley glanced at her, and slowly nodded. "We might as well. I confess that hospitals… they aren't my favorite places either."
End part 15.
Five souls, three of which were still in the bowl. Three souls that had been taken from their owners. Three souls that should be returned, assuming their owners were still alive.
He spent several minutes calling himself all sorts of names, starting with 'love-struck fool' and continuing from there. No matter how pretty Ororo was, no matter how delightful the idea of a relationship was, he should not let hopes and dreams make him forget every responsibility that had been drilled into him. It was his responsibility as a Watcher – even if the Council had fired him – to try to protect people from demons. That meant that he shouldn't just traipse along enraptured by the most stunning blue eyes and pale hair that he'd ever seen, oblivious to the question of the other souls.
The best place to start would be to make certain how many possible places a person struck 'inexplicably' comatose might be taken. The next step would be to take the soul pearls through those areas, in hopes that if their rightful – well, what was the proper word? Rightful owner? Proper vessel? Housing of flesh? Err… in hopes that body and soul could be reunited, yes, that was it. And if not at the hospital, then what?
Wesley sat down, concluding that he had no idea what to do if the bodies weren't in the hospital. Perhaps he'd best just hope they would all be there. That was when he realized something else – he'd left the bowl of souls in the medical facility under the mansion. With a small groan, he let his forehead fall onto his hand, closing his eyes. It was a good thing nobody from the council knew what a mess he'd been making of this.
On the other hand, it was a very good thing that he had some familiarity with computers, which some Watchers lacked. Actually, it might be more accurate to say that some Watchers scoffed at the idea of using a computer. While there were some things that a computer might not be able to help with, there were far more things that they could be used for. Perhaps they couldn't translate an inscription from Etruscan, but they could easily provide a city map. Easily verify that there was only one other place that a victim of the Del'Perla might have been taken.
Of course, he might still want to have someone go with him to find the hospital… Possibly Evan could help him with that? Musing over the possibilities, Wesley returned to the front of the store. Evan was there, fidgeting a bit as Kitty chattered cheerfully beside him. The coincidence was almost unsettling. "Evan, Kitty. Good afternoon."
Evan looked up, grinning as he lifted a small bag with three round lumps. "You forgot these."
"Ahhh…." Wesley smiled, certain that the remaining soul pearls must be in the small bag. That was one problem dealt with. "Thank you."
Evan glanced at the floor, shuffling a little. "umm… this is sort of… well, we wanted to sort of ask a favor. Kitty's got her learner's permit, but she needs an adult in the car. Do you think… Could you maybe help her get some practice?"
"You… want me to let Kitty drive somewhere so she can get the practice?" Something about this sounded entirely suspicious to him. "Well, I was thinking that I should take the remaining… well, to the hospital. In hopes of returning them."
Kitty made this high pitched noise, almost a squeal, and gave him a quick hug. "Oh, that's no problem. I know where that is, I could take you there in like, five minutes!"
Something felt entirely too easy about the whole thing, although Wesley didn't think that either Evan or Kitty meant him any particular ill will. Deciding that he simply wasn't used to coincidence working in his favor, he shook his head and tried to suppress his worries. "Let me just tell Ben and Sarah that they might need to close up the shop today, and then we can go."
end part 14.
Kitty was looking far too cheerful as they made their way to the parking area. Wesley held out the keys, a small part of him wanting to take them back, to insist that he should drive. "The silver car."
He walked over, sitting in the passenger side, fastening the seatbelt as he tried to convince himself that he was just over reacting. "So, to the hospital."
"Right." She just slipped into the drivers seat, passing through the door as if it were no more than a mirage. Kitty fumbled a bit as she adjusted the seat closer, and grinned triumphantly as she started the car. "And now to the hospital!"
Kitty's foot must have stomped on the gas, judging from the way the tires squealed on the way out of the parking area. Her driving was… well, reckless might be putting it kindly. Speeding, lack of turn signals, accelerating to squeak through yellow lights… Wesley was now entirely certain why he'd been chosen as the adult victim. He wouldn't have known better. She also seemed quite determined to cheerfully ignore his half yelped cries of 'turn signals!', 'don't hit the pedestrians!', and 'slow down for the turns!'.
Wesley was certain that it was a minor miracle they reached the hospital without having crashed or hit anybody. Slowly, he pried his fingers from the grip on the door, and turned to look at Kitty. "You do not drive like a chase scene from a movie. You do not drive like… some sort of video race. Return the keys."
With a sigh, Kitty handed them over. "Nobody else has put it that way."
"But nobody else seems to be willing to be the adult in the car as you drive, are they?" Wesley shot back, gripping the keys firmly in a numb hand. The other hand patted the soul pearls in one pocket of his jacket. "Now, it's time to go slipping into the rooms of unconscious people on life support."
With a shiver, Kitty one more slipped out of the car, ignoring both the seat belt and the door. "Eeee. Not what I'd call a fun way to spend the afternoon."
"It isn't for fun. But if we can find the other victims of that demon, it is our responsibility to return the souls to them if possible. It's not a question of fun, but of responsibility and basic decency." Wesley tried to explain it, hoping that he didn't sound hopelessly arrogant and pompous.
"Responsibility, huh? I suppose that makes sense." Kitty sighed as they walked into the hospital.
Reaching out to catch her elbow, Wesley just offered a polite nod to the volunteer at the desk and kept them moving right past, trying to act as if he was not only supposed to be here, but perfectly calm. Softly, he offered a bit of explanation to the girl. "We don't want to try to explain this. We can simply find the proper areas. Most likely Intensive Care."
They had no trouble finding the area. Wesley carefully put the soul pearls into his hand, and began ducking into the rooms, peeking at them to see if anything would happen, uncertain quite how close he would need to be for the soul to return. It was actually quite depressing.
In the third room, there was encouragement. A slender figure in a bed, a girl that couldn't have been much older than Kitty, with soft pale curls and a scattering of freckles. Colorful flowers surrounded her, making it clear that someone cared about this girl. AS Wesley moved towards her, one of the orbs suddenly felt warmer, and then it seemed to dissolve, with pearly wisps flowing from his hand to the girl on the bed, flowing into her mouth. She made a slight coughing noise, and her heart rate sped up.
Wesley smiled, turning to leave the room. "I think the nurses should be able to handle things from here."
"That was pretty neat. Watching the little… well, it was neat." Kitty looked excited. "Who's next? I mean… oh, right. We don't know."
"No, we don't know. Perhaps if we keep checking all the rooms here, we might be able to find the others. Although… there is the chance that they may… they might have died." Wesley almost didn't want to voice the chance, but it was there.
"Yikes. Do they, like, teach you how to yank the joy out of things at Watcher School, or whatever it's called?" Kitty gave an exaggerated shudder as they continued down the hall.
"I went to Oxford. But the whole… yanking of joy came more from my father's influence, actually…" Wesley shook his head as they stepped into the next room, with a figure wrapped in bandages and another with several tubes and a cast on one leg. The souls remained hard spheres in his hand. "Neither of these people."
The second pearl flared warm and practically raced out of his hand to slide into the painfully thin looking body of an old man. His body arced, and his eyes opened, a sort of wheezing noise emerging as the pale streaks poured into his body. There was the oddest feeling of urgency to the wisps, as if… well, the man did look very old.
"He looks old… like older than dirt." Kitty's whisper was not entirely respectful, but a very accurate summary of the old man's appearance.
One of the machines started beeping with a shrill, unpleasant noise. Footsteps started towards the room, rapidly moving. On the bed, the old man continued to make wheezing gasps, as if he was trying to get air and failing.
Kitty grabbed Wesley's arm, and yanked him backwards, dragging him through the wall and into an empty lounge. A small refrigerator lurked in a corner, and a table had several napkins and a couple take out bags. "That was pretty close."
In the other room, the shrill beeping took on a sudden monotonous tone, and Wesley winced. "Very close indeed."
"umm…. Can we, like, try to find victim number three tomorrow? This place is sort of starting to freak me out." Kitty's question was soft, and sounded almost embarrassed.
Wesley glanced at her, and slowly nodded. "We might as well. I confess that hospitals… they aren't my favorite places either."
End part 15.