Thought for the Day – Are there justice demons for poor performing sports teams? Cause if there is, I wish the Zimbabwe cricket team would win at least one game against the Australian cricket team this summer.
Chapter 5
Cordelia looked over Giles' shoulder into the room whose door Giles had just opened, snorting in a lady like way at what she saw. "Well congratulations Giles I believe you found the Games room after all."
Giles just sighed and closed the door; he had no idea what things like that were doing in the closet of a Watcher's Council property. Turning around to the two teenagers, he put his hand out indicating to Oz he needed the map back.
"Wards?" Oz asked casually.
"Wards." Giles replied solemnly. "Though this spell seems to be far stronger then I thought possible, normally this spell is to merely disorientate; this seems far more malicious."
"So what you're saying is this is far beyond your expectations and you've been taken by surprise…again." Cordelia announced offhandedly, while looking over his shoulder at the map not noticing the dark look that crossed the Watcher's face at her comment.
She then stepped back and slipped her heeled shoes off in annoyance, "Is this going to take much longer? These shoes are doing nothing for my feet…Last time I buy on sale." The last bit said in a mumble.
Instead of commenting Giles looked at his watch, they were already five minutes late for their meeting and they were getting nowhere fast. "I think we best try the blind approach and hope the situation takes mercy on us."
"Huh?" Cordelia queried from her position behind him.
"Look through every door." Oz explained moving to the first door and repeating the process from earlier.
"Oh…" Then when the realisation of more walking hit her, Cordelia groaned, "Oohhh…I hate your lives."
Smirking, Giles remarked smugly, "Perhaps you should have worn practical shoes." He then headed off down the corridor, fully aware of the scowl directed at his back.
Looking into the room that was obviously a bathroom, Buffy growled in frustration and slammed the door shut, "Okay, not the Games room…and what the hell is a Games room so I know if I have found it or not." She looked over questionably to Angel and Willow who were both looking over the map.
Willow looked up from the map she was regarding with a thoughtful frown, "It's a room where you play games…" She ignored Buffy's resulting glare, and continued quickly, "It will probably have a billiard table in it." Looking back down at the map to escape Buffy's continued death glare, but also figure out where they were, let alone where they were going.
"If we are even on the right floor and that is the bathroom, then the Games room may be five doors down on the left." Angel remarked, nodding his head in the direction he had stated, "However it is possible that the house is moving the rooms, at which point the map is completely useless as Giles said it might be."
"Fine." Buffy answered in frustration and looked up at the ceiling of the corridor, and sweetly asked, "Oh Mr evil house, pray tell where is the Games room you seem so eager to hide?"
In response the fifth door on the left swung open with a slight squeak, announcing its presence. Buffy quirked an eyebrow or at least attempted to, "Me thinks the house is playing with us."
"I have to agree." Angel remarked heading in the direction of the door.
Willow walked over to Buffy's position, "I don't like this, I really don't, that was way to obvious and cliché, most definitely cliché."
"Yeah…" Buffy turned to her friend and sympathetically added, "…But what else are we going to do."
Willow merely nodded and followed her friend to the door.
They entered the room cautiously, the cool humidity assaulting them instantly. The dance of reflected light across the walls of the room indicated they had found the poolroom. "Okay, well again this is not the Games room. Evil house tricked us…and yet I'm surprised." Buffy was distracted from her reverie by a glint in the bottom of the pool having gained her attention.
Angel had already started moving to the side of the pool as Buffy had started talking, there was definitely something at the bottom of the pool. Something felt wrong with the situation, so he explained as he took a closer look at the pool. "The house is obviously rearranging itself to disorientate us. Giles mentioned it may be a possible ward, but it takes a lot of energy though so it can't do it forever, we'll find the Games room eventually…what do you make of that?"
"It looks like a suit of armour." Willow replied from beside him, her voice edgy, waiting for the punch line to this new 'joke'.
"Interesting place to keep it." Buffy remarked from her position next to Willow.
"That's what I…oh damn." Angel threw off his jacket and kicked off his shoes and jumped into the pool, heading for the armour.
Buffy looked at Willow's questioning look and shrugged, "It could be a vampire thing." They both looked back down at the vampire who now sat at the bottom of the pool pulling apart the suit of armour hurriedly.
"Well I have no idea…"The gasp from her friend next to her made Buffy stop and then the appearance of a shirt under the bits of armour Angel was pulling off made it all too apparent. "Oh God." She moved closer to the edge of the pool, kneeling next to it, waiting for her boyfriend to bring her friend to the edge so she could pull him out.
Willow quickly knelt down beside her, tears starting to fill her eyes, "What's he doing? He's got to hurry and bring Xander out of the water."
Buffy placed a hand on one of Willow's shaking ones, "He's got to get some of the weight off Will, we would never be able to pull him out in a full set of armour."
Within seconds Angel started to swim towards the edge of the pool pulling Xander's body behind him. Upon reaching the edge, he lifted Xander out of the icy cold water enabling Buffy and Willow to try and pull him out, even with half the armour removed, it was still a struggle with only Buffy's slayer strength and Angel's vampire strength making it possible.
Buffy quickly checked to see if he had a pulse, she didn't expect it but felt it was best to make sure. "Willow my CPR is a bit rusty, you up to it." She turned to look at her best female friend who had gone rather pale and now had tears spilling down her cheeks unchecked. "Will?"
"Yeah, I'll do the breathing if one of you will do the compressions, I'll show you where." She quickly moved to Xander's side, checking to make sure his airway was clear before tilting his head back.
Buffy looked at Angel nervously, tears starting in her own eyes, "Do you want me to do it?" Angel asked softly, the only reply was a nod from Buffy.
Buffy moved backwards, allowing Angel to move up next to Willow, "You put your hands here like this and press down, not to hard or else you'll break his ribcage…" Angel looked at Buffy, the reason for her apprehension apparent to him now, she was afraid of hurting him further. "…It's five compressions for every breath, I'll count them out so you know how fast to go."
Ignoring the ice cold skin off her friend and the very large possibility that he could very well be beyond help, Willow gave her life long friend the first breath and then started to count, "One…two…three…four…five"
TBC…
