Willow shuffled towards Tara and took her hand. Abbey smiled at her gently.
"Margaret is going to email everybody, anyone with any magical knowledge will meet us in the Mural Room, it will probably take an hour to gather enough people. Do you still want to go through with it?"
Willow nodded once, determined.
"What are we doing?" Anya asked.
"A cleansing spell for Willow," Tara said abruptly. She didn't want any of Anya's usual comments about things like that.
"They are really nice," Anya said enthusiastically.
Willow smiled properly and warmly for the first time since Buffy died. There was no way Anya would say that for her benefit.
Abbey ushered them out of the room, with a last nod to Marbury. She led them briskly to the Mural Room. Her agents followed the three Scoobies in the strange procession.
Abbey had chosen the Mural Room for both its relative isolation and its colour scheme. She quietly instructed the girls to push all the furniture as close to the walls as possible. It left them a reasonably clear space in the middle of the room. They sat in a loose circle, Willow leaning against Tara.
"You're a demon?" Abbey asked Anya politely. She remembered Anya's reaction to the demon comment.
"Was," Anya said. "Vengeance demon for the last 1000 years or so. It was fun. But then I lost my power centre, which was a total blow, I was stuck as human, and in High School. And then it turned out that the Mayor was going to eat the Graduating Class."
Anya rolled her eyes eloquently.
Margaret knocked sharply before opening the door and leading three other women into the room. Abbey rose gracefully to her feet and offered her hand to the woman she didn't recognise.
"Jeanette? I'm Abigail Bartlet."
"Ma'am," Jeanette said, nervously.
"Hi, Carol, Bonnie."
The other assistants smiled in greeting.
"We don't have time for full formal introductions, please, have a seat."
Margaret, Jeanette, Carol and Bonnie joined the circle. Abbey stayed by the door to welcome Cassie, Lauren, Yi, Julie and Maria as they arrived. With twelve members of the circle to surround Willow they would be well placed to complete the spell successfully. She ordered her agents not to let anyone else in.
"You'll need to tell them that the circle is full," she said.
They nodded.
Jeanette was too nervous to speak much in front of the First Lady. She described the process in a murmur as Margaret arranged the circle.
Abbey and Tara, as those closest and strongest, formed a circle with Willow. Margaret, Carol, Bonnie and Julie who knew Abbey best formed the next circle. Jeanette would control the outer circle of six, including Anya, the link back to Willow.
The aim was to channel Willow's power through the circles and so 'clean' it. The effects, and the residue of all the spells she had done would be removed. But, as an untrained and untested witch, no one knew the extent of Willow's power. They all could end up overloaded. It would be up to Tara and Abbey to make sure that didn't happen. And up to Anya to make sure they didn't burn Willow out giving her back her magic.
Quietly Jeanette began the chanting.
"Earth Goddess, mother of all,
"In supplication, hear our call,
"We hold one for you to cleanse,
"To your will we trust she bends."
Each member of the circle joined in with their own supplications. Yi, Maria and Anya chanted in their native languages. As the rhythms diverged the sounds of the individual words began to merge into gutturals, and then into power. The second circle began to chant the sacred sounds. Tara drew on Willow's magic, and Abbey passed it from Willow to the second circle.
Sam was too absorbed in his writing to notice Josh's presence in his doorway. He reacted instantly when Toby coughed.
"Hey, you're back. Did you find Donna?"
"Yeah, she's doing some thing Mrs Bartlet got her on to. Ah…" Josh said.
"Sam, my office," Toby demanded.
Sam stood up automatically. He gave C.J a puzzled glance as he passed her, following Toby. She merely gestured for him to follow his boss and fell behind Josh.
Toby's office could hold them all in close comfort. Toby and C.J took the couch leaving Josh on the desk, swinging his legs, and Sam on Toby's chair by the door. Sam looked at the three of them expectantly. He wasn't sure what had happened between C.J and Toby, but it was beginning to worry him. And they looked nervous.
"Something happened to Donna the week before last," Toby said.
Sam looked quickly at Josh. Josh nodded at him to listen to Toby.
"It's nothing life threatening," he assured.
C.J coughed deliberately. Toby gave her dark look.
"Like we haven't been out, Toby. Every other night?"
"Like we didn't just resurrect the real Slayer," Toby countered.
"Where have you been, C.J? Sam asked.
"Cemeteries," C.J said. "Also, I've been trawling through D.C police reports for all sorts of unexplained deaths. I have a pin board now."
"Pins of what?" Sam asked.
"Where the unexplained deaths are. There were three when Donna was Called two weeks ago. Well, actually one after that. There have been two since then"
"What happened with Donna?"
"She was Called as the Vampire Slayer," Josh said.
He frowned. Sam laughed. Toby took C.J's hand.
"We're serious," Toby said.
His expression, and the way he was sitting with C.J just made Sam laugh more.
"But I don't know what that means," Sam said.
"It means she has been given extra strength, quick reflexes, and fast healing so that she can kill vampires," said C.J.
Josh nodded, taking it in for the fourth time. Sam narrowed his eyes at C.J. He noticed the strange lilt in C.J's voice.
"It happened to me when I was fifteen," C.J said.
"How?"
"No one know," C.J said. "When one Slayer dies the next one is Called."
"Hang on," Sam said. He had the uncomfortable, if familiar feeling of drowning in words. "When one Slayer dies, the next on gets the strength?"
"Yes," Toby said.
"But there are three Slayers?"
"Four."
"Okay, I missed that one."
Toby took over the Slayer lecture. He was sure that if Josh and C.J had kept out of it Sam wouldn't have been so confused. He explained as straightforwardly as possible. C.J had been Called at fifteenth. She'd been drowned six months later, soon after she had turned sixteen. The next Slayer had been Called, despite the fact that C.J had been revived. Four years ago the active Slayer had drowned, been revived, and the next Slayer had been Called. But, unlike C.J, Buffy had continued fighting. The second Slayer was killed and Faith was Called. Buffy had died for a second time. Then her Slayer powers had been transferred to Donna so Buffy could be resurrected. The process should have drained Donna of the Slayer powers, but she and C.J had both given half.
Sam nodded his understanding. He nodded again. He gave up and just stared at Toby.
Toby rolled his eyes.
"One girl in all the world, the Chosen One, is given the strength to fight the demons and vampires, prevent the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer," C.J recited.
"Slayer," Sam repeated.
"Yes."
"Vampires and Demons?"
"Yes."
"And you and Donna are super strong now?"
"Yes."
"I'll try not to piss you off."
Abbey blinked as she felt the magic link to Tara peter out. Anya had her eyes closed and looked mildly put out. But Willow looked magnificent. Her hair had taken on a golden sheen and her eyes were bright and clear. Abbey fed the last of the magic into Julie and watched as it made its way around the circle to Margaret and out to Jeanette. Anya shivered as she passed the last of the magic back to Willow.
Willow fell forward, breathing heavily. It was a moment before she could speak.
"Thank you," she murmured.
Abbey smiled. "You needed it, Willow," she said, hoping the young woman knew how close she had come to dependency.
"That, too," Willow said. "But just, the world seems so much nicer now. Not all joyful, I know, but that's just the people part. But the natural part, it's … perfect. And way too big for anyone to take on."
Abbey chuckled. Tara beamed. The others looked slightly uncomfortable.
"Thank you, everyone," Abbey addressed them. "It means a lot to us that you come and help. I don't know if some of you have contact with the local covens, but we can probably arrange to meet once a month. I'll have Julie send out messages. You should probably go back to work now, before people start to ask too many questions. If they do ask, you can send them to me."
The assistants all rose and left with murmured 'thank you ma'ams'. They broke up into their own groups as they walk away, discussing the spell. Anya moved closer the group, but she didn't say anything. They sat quietly for a moment before Anya gave up silence for action.
"We've got a demon to catch, don't we?"
"We'd better talk to the others."