Chapter 2

"Buffy? Are you here?" Giles skimmed the library, looking for any sign of his Slayer. A-ha! There was her backpack, and her history book was next to it. He could tell it was Buffy's at a glance because of the hideous purple and pink paisley cover she had adorned it with. He would never understand the Americans' taste. Or lack thereof.

Willow rushed into the library after Giles, looking frantic. "Buffy? Buffy?" She looked around wildly, then noticed Giles standing just ahead of her. "Giles? Have you seen Buffy? I need her right now."

"Why, Willow? What's the matter?" Giles asked, concerned.

 Willow began to slow down and catch her breath, realizing how she'd sounded. Here she was, acting like the world was ending, which it wasn't. At least, not today.

 "She has my biology notes," Willow explained rather sheepishly. "We have this huge test on Monday and I need them for this weekend and—"  She cut off, looking at Giles's skeptical face. "It doesn't seem so important, now."

 "I daresay," Giles said dryly. "Buffy's supposed to be here with me, training. I hope she's all right."

 "Giles," Willow said, just a tad disbelievingly, "Buffy is seventeen. She probably forgot. Either that or she blew you off for a shoe sale."

"There are none around here," Cordelia told her, announcing her entrance to the library with the click of high heeled shoes. "I'd be there if there were. And I'm obviously not. There, I mean."

 "Thank you, Cordelia," Giles said sarcastically, "but Buffy was here. I just ran into Snyder, and he told me to control my students better, or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention, but he did say that Buffy was here."

 "She'd better not be hiding," Cordelia said. "I don't need any pranks." She clicked on over towards Giles's office.

 "Ya know, Cordy, no one really forced you here," Willow said. "Feel free to leave at any t—" she stopped short at the entrance to Giles's office.

 "What's your deal?" Cordelia demanded, turning to face Willow with a look of exasperation.

 "Don't you feel it?" Willow inquired.

 "Now that you mention it," Cordelia said, moving toward the slightly open window. "It is a little drafty. But don't worry. Giles was probably airing out his books or something."

 "Not that, Cordy. The magic."

 "Okay, you'd better be speaking in the literal sense, 'cause otherwise, that's just kind of corny. I know you love reading and all, but 'magic' isn't how I'd describe a library office."

 "I'm speaking literally," Willow assured her, distracted. She closed her eyes and put her hand out in front of her, trying to sense the spell whose remnants lingered in the air.

"Willow?" Giles asked gently. "What is it?"

 Willow ignored him, following the tingly feeling in her fingers across the room, where it nearly overwhelmed her. She picked up the book and skimmed over the open page, reading to herself.

Giles came over and stood behind her, reading over her shoulder.

 Cordelia, of course, was unimpressed. "Is this a meeting of the Sunnydale Book Club? Should I leave?" she asked.

"Go ahead," Giles murmured absent-mindedly. "Have a nice day."

 "Giles, you just told me to have a nice day."

 "I'm well aware of that fact, Cordelia."

 Cordy frowned. "Something is most definitely wrong. I'm staying." She paused and thought for a second. "I wonder how we'll fare without the guys helping out. Or at least, Oz and Angel helping and Xander doughnut running."

 Willow turned, speaking for the first time since her discovery of the book. "Why wouldn't Angel be helping?"

 "I believe he has an issue we normal folk call 'sunlight'," Cordelia pointed out. "With Oz in LA on that gig and Xander home sick, we're seriously short-handed. Just tell me what to do."

 Willow stared at Cordelia in amazement. She couldn't believe that Cordelia had just volunteered her Friday afternoon, probably her evening, and maybe even a good part of her Saturday to help research.

"Thanks, Cordy," Willow said warmly, smiling at the other girl. "Could you go boot up the computer? We may need it."

"Sure," Cordelia said brightly. "It's like an all girl slumber party. Plus Giles," she amended quickly, seeing Giles's face. "Ta-ta!"

 Giles regarded Cordelia with a funny look on his face. "She's awfully chipper today."

 Willow grinned. "It's amazing what a lack of anything better to do can do to her."

 "'She' is just in the next room!" Cordelia reminded them. "And what does this have to do with Buffy's no-showiness?"

 "I think she might have jumped time," Giles said thoughtfully, reading the passage near the swirl of color adorning the page. "The Italian refers to folding time and losing events, or something to that effect. I'd best consult my…other…books."

 "Ones that idon't/i send you back to the future?" Cordelia asked snidely from the other room.

 Giles and Willow ignored her. "May I see it?" Willow asked Giles, holding her hands out for the book. Giles placed it gingerly in her hands, fearing that he'd set off the time warp thing again. Willow's finger's brushed against the picture.

 "Ouch!" she cried, dropping the book and jumping backwards. After a quick examination of her fingers, she stuck them in her mouth and began to suck on them.

 "What's the matter?" Giles asked, worried.

 "The book," Willow said. "The book burned me!"

 Giles carefully picked up the book and opened up to the page, hovering his fingers over the picture, then quickly tapping it. The book felt warm to him, unnaturally warm for a book, let alone one that had been sitting in his drafty office all day. "Cordelia," he called, "come here."

 Cordelia swept dramatically into the room. "Yes?" she asked. "You aren't gonna burn ime/i, are you?"

 "I don't know," Giles said, grabbing Cordy's finger and placing it on the book quickly.

"What was the point of that?" she asked.

"You didn't feel it?"

"No, for the last time, I do not feel magic in the air, and have not since I went to Disneyland when I was seven."

Giles looked at Willow and Cordelia seriously.

 "We have some research to do."