Chapter 21

She'd walked a few blocks toward Wesley's apartment when she realized something.

Angel knew she had books. She'd head to Wes'.

Willow looked around her in site of a pay phone. She had to warn them. The closest thing to her was a twenty four hour clothing store. She casually walked to the clothing store and seemed to be browsing. An younger man walked up to her.

"Um," She noticed him look over her attire. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I ah..." She looked at him sheepishly. "I feel silly really. You see, I'm at college. And I was at this party. Some girlfriends hustled me into a van and stripped me of my clothes, minus this trench, and bet me I couldn't get clothing without money or cards." She smiled at him once again for emphases.

"They stranded you with books?" He didn't seem to be buying it.

"It's a really long story."

"Right..." She really needed to hook him.

"So what they don't know is I have my credit card number memorized. So if I could buy something, you could run the credit card through by the number." The man smiled at her. Bring in the line.

"Well we do have a lovely sale on spring dresses."

"I'm really only looking for something small. Maybe some jeans and a blouse? Oh, and something to put my hair into." He smiled at her, not really meaning it.

"Of course." She started to walk around and found slim light blue jeans, then a light brown top right away. "The brown will go with your necklace." She turned to the salesman. He smiled a little and she did a little back.

"That's. I'm going to go change. Do you mind if I use your phone?" He gave her a weird look. "To call a friend to pick me up. Stranded." She watched him uneasily nod and move on.

Grabbing the clothing, Willow began to change, keeping the tags to the side so to use when ringing up. She heard footsteps and peeked over the door. The clerk had a cordless phone.

"Dial nine to go out."

"Thanks." She watched as he walked away. Dialing 9 first, she called Wesley's number. He groggily answered.

"Wes, get the hell out of your place."

"Who is this?"

"It's Willow. Look, I don't have time to explain. Just meet me at Cordy's. I'll be there as quickly as I can." She hung up and moved to adjust her clothes once more. Her eyes caught her reflection and moved to look at the amulet. She must have been mesmerized by the swirl of colors because she didn't hear the young man knock on the door the first time.

"Ma'am?"

"I'm sorry?" The haze around her lifted.

"I said is everything okay?"

"Ah, yeah. Yeah, everything is fine." She tucked the amulet under her shirt and grabbed her things before exiting the changing room. She handed him the phone and followed him to the checkout counter. She casually recited the numbers for her card and waited for it to process. As she was waiting, she noticed a bottle of tester perfume on the counter. "Which one of these is the most popular?"

The man looked up from the machine. "Uhh, I'd say the Pase' Mariqu." He looked back down.

"Which is that?"

"The blue bottle." She picked it up and examined it. She drifted her gaze to the door. She then turned back to the bottle and aimed it at herself. She then spiritized herself three times, coating herself in the scent. Her attention was then drawn to the machine's noise as it printed up the recite. The man handed it to her and she began to sign. "Where is your friend?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your friend you called? Aren't they picking you up?"

"Oh. Yeah. I'm supposed to meet them outside." She watched as he placed her things into a plasic shopping bag. Willow picked up the bag and headed out the door. "Thanks again for all the help."

"No problem!" But she was already out the door.

Willow began her walk to Cordy's when she noticed the dark figure turn the corner. Quickly, she ducked behind a shrub and watched. She noticed him smell the air then endter the store she'd just left.

Nagging started in her brain. There was a good chance that Angelus was going to kill that poor shop clerk because he wouldn't have any answers for him. But if she went back, she was as good as dead.

Then a thought struck her.

He'd need to keep the guy alive to get any info on where she was. He sent would end in the shop. That was the whole reason she'd sprayed herself with that stuff. And he'd never find her by tracking the perfume. The man said himself it's the most popular seller. Even at 4 am, it was going to be impossible to track a scent that popular.

The man would be fine, she thought as she walked around the corner and started toward Cordy's. Angel wouldn't hurt him. He'd con or scare him into talking.

The only problem is, she thought, he isn't Angel anymore.

When she reached Cordy's, Willow was exhausted. She had no money to take a cab and so had to walk the whole way there.

When she knocked on the door, Wesley was the one that answered it. Once he saw Willow, he grabbed her to help her in.

"Willow, what happened?" She sat down and started to massage her feet.

"It's almost too long to explain."

"The Cliff Notes then." Cordy sat next to her and Wes across from them.

"Well, Angelus is free."

"Okay, not that short. A little more story please."

"Marc. He took Angel's soul and Angelus killed him. I only an hour and a half ago figured it out."

"You didn't figure it out when he tried to kill you?!"

"Actually..."

"That's not the point, Cordy," Wesley interjected. "Did he hurt you at all?"

"That's the strange thing." She shifted uncomfortably. "I remember him biting me but it's blurry, like a recent dream." She felt over her neck. "Not to mention there's no mark of the telling of it." Wesley leaned forward to examine her neck. There wasn't a scar nor a blemish. What did catch his attention though, was the chain around her neck.

"What's this?" He followed the chain to the amulet, pulling it from her shirt.

"Oh, it's an amulet. The Oracles gave it to me after Angel and I met with them."

"Met with then about what?" She bit her lip. She really didn't want to explain this.

"Well, Angel and I kind of kissed. And when we did, I had a premonition of something I shouldn't have ever been able to see. So Angel and I went to see the Oracles who gave me the amulet and said of it's aid in my protect–"She stopped, getting it now. "The amulet. It's protecting me."

"I'm sorry?" Wes asked, confused.

"The amulet. It's made of ambrosia. I'm unable to be harmed as long as I have the necklace on."

"Ambrosia? Like what the Greeks used to ingest to become Gods?" Cordy asked, confused.

"Exactly." Wesley moved to look it over and found it to be too heavy to move. "Fascinating." Willow snickered a little. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh it's nothing. It's just been a long time since a guy's mumbled 'fascinating' at my bust." She giggled again. "The first, actually." Wesley gave a tiny grin before dropping it and sitting up.

"So as long as you wear it, you're protected by its power. So if you were to take it off?"

"I'd assume it would stop protecting."

"Yes, but can it be removed by others?"

"I don't know. Maybe." Cordy reached down and it didn't move. Wesley grabbed at the same time. Neither seemed to budge it. "You guys." She grabbed it and pulled it over her head as if it was nothing. "There isn't time for games." She handed it to Wesley. He looked at Cordelia.

"Remarkable," passed over his lips.

"What?" Willow seemed confused.

"You're the only one that can remove the amulet as long as it's on you." Willow thought about that.

"Angelus couldn't hurt me. As long as I had the amulet on, he couldn't. That's why he didn't."

"Which means he's going to want to." Willow and Cordelia both looked at Wesley. He had a point. "He's going to be looking extra hard at finding a way to do it." The room filled with an uncomfortable silence. Willow was the one to break it.

"Well then, we'll just have to figure out a way to stop him. I think we're all agreed that stakes are out of the question." Willow broke out the books from the bag and placed them on the table. She then pulled out the stone. Wesley instantly picked it up.

"What's this?"

"I don't know really. I found it on the floor at Angel's. I thought it might give a clue as to how Marc took Angel's soul." Wesley continued to examine it at Willow and Cordelia began flipping through the pages of each of their books. After a few minutes, he sighed. They both looked up at him.

"It has tiny flows with another stone inside. It's a fathom." Cordelia still looked at him odd. He huffed in his British way ad preceded to explain. "Fathoms are known to carry great power. Stones in their natural element are very powerful. They have energy just the same as any living being. Fathoms have double that energy because they have twice the polarities. They're using more than one energy source."

"Like an AC Adapter and a battery? The battery works, but can draw even more energy through the AC adapter."

"Precisely."

"So you think Marc used the fathom to take away Angel's soul?"

"I think Marc's been using the fathom to pull away energy from witches. He most have sensed the magic gypsies used on Angel and mistook it for actual witch magic. When he drew the magical energy into the crystal–"

"He drew Angel's soul in, instead." Willow finished.

"Yes."

"So what do we do? Smash it to pieces?" Cordelia asked.

"I don't think so. I think if it's smashed then the energy is released. But as long as it's whole–"

"The energy is stuck inside the stone," Willow finished once again.

"Yes." Wesley took one of the books from Cordelia and began to flip through it.

"So is there any way to transfer the energy from the stone into Angelus?" Cordelia asked, looked over the book as Wesley turned the pages.

"You guys?" Willow stopped in her own search and stared down at the page. The two others looked up at her. "I think I just got an idea."

(AN: There should be only one more chapter left. If you couldn't tell. :-D Hope to get it down within the week.