-/-/-/-/- 24 hours from Now, approx. 9:00 AM

Der Waffle Haus was closed for the first time in years. Rube took a seat on a cleared space of ground in front of the doors and waited for his reapers to arrive. Daisy, Roxy and George had all come and gone; now, all he had to wait for was Mason.

Mason thought he looked as bad as him. Mason felt exhausted; it wasn't surprising considering he'd been awake for twenty-six hours straight.

Rube got to his feet when he saw Mason. With a tired sigh, he pulled out his notebook and tore out a thick bundle of post-it notes. Mason whistled as he leafed through the thick stack. "I've already reaped some of these," he told Rube.

His boss nodded and sighed. "Before you ask, I have no clue what's going on." He waved helplessly around at the destruction. "I'm as clueless as everyone else."

Mason nodded. "I'm sure it won't last," he said.

He was trying to be reassuring, and instead he got suspicion. "Mason?" Rube questioned.

Mason hesitated. "Rube?"

Rube was glaring now. "Do you have anything to do with this?"

Oh, crap, Mason thought, staring at his boss' face. "No." He shook his head quickly. "Nothing at all."

This only served to piss him off more. "Bullshit."

Shit! "Um, Rube, er, I really should get to my assignments."

He turned to walk away, but Rube lay a hand on his shoulder and turned him back to face him. Rube was livid. His entire face was red. Mason gulped.

"What did you do?" Rube demanded, accentuating each word.

"Nothing!" the younger reaper repeated. He wondered if he could get away with another Obliviation Charm, assuming he could even reach his wand… He raised his hands in surrender. "I swear to you, I have nothing to do with this." Technically, it was true; he hadn't been the one to cast the ritual, Ethan had.

Rube studied him for a moment, then let go of his shoulder. He pointed a finger in Mason's face. "If I find out you do have something to do with this, I will personally ram all these concrete bits down your throat." He waved vaguely at the bits of concrete scattered about the ground.

With that, Rube turned and stalked away, assumedly off to collect his own souls. Mason watched him go and took a deep, shuttering breath. "Right, then."

-/-/-/-/- 2 1/2 days or 58 hours from Now, approx. 7:00 PM

Mason didn't make it to Barnub's Hotel that night or the next morning. The entirety of his time was spent collecting souls and sending them off to the hereafter, and Rube had a few more to give him the next morning. Thankfully, this stack was much thinner, as it would seem that the chaos had stopped spreading and the living were learning to be more cautious. Each post-it in this second stack were all early appointments, which meant he was done with them by noon.

By that time, he was so exhausted that he couldn't even walk straight. Mason collapsed in a tree-filled grove blessedly free of inanimate objects and promptly fell asleep, where he proceeded to sleep for five and a half wonderful hours.

He awoke when his stomach complained loudly, demanding to be fed. Feeling very cheerful now that he'd had some rest, Mason got to his feet and began the dangerous journey to Barnub's.

Once there, he was amazed to find that most of the hotel was back to its original condition. He quickly discerned the reason why; it would seem that wizard magic worked against and not with Wiccan magic. The Second Rite of the chaos ritual had caused some havoc in the hotel at first, but wand-laden hotel employees had quickly rectified that, casting spells upon spells to repair everything. They, too, were nearly exhausted, but most of the people around town were equally deprived of sleep, so that was nothing unusual.

Mason grabbed a bite to eat at the downstairs restaurant before heading up to the fifth floor. Jexter, he discovered, had gotten a full night's sleep and looked a lot better than he had when Mason had last seen him.

"You look like death warmed over," Jexter commented, taking in Mason's appearance. He frowned. "Er, I mean-"

Mason smiled and pushed past him into the room. He plopped down on the bed his cousin wasn't using and buried his head in the pillows. "Did you get to the owlry?" he asked, voice muffled.

"Yeah, yesterday," Jexter replied. "I haven't gotten a reply yet, though I expect one to arrive in the next few hours."

"Great. Wake me up when it gets here."

-/-/-/-/- 2 1/2 days or 60 hours from Now, approx. 9:00 PM

Someone was shaking Mason awake. He rolled over, expecting to see his cousin, only to jump, startled by the sight of the red-haired woman leaning over him.

She grinned, highly amused. "Hi!" she greeted him cheerfully.

"Hi," Mason replied in a strangled tone of voice. He squeezed his eyes shut, but when he opened them again and the woman hadn't vanished, he grinned. The wake-up call may have been unexpected, but it certainly wasn't unwelcome; he had no idea who she was, but she was beautiful.

She smirked. "I'm gay," she informed him bluntly.

"Huh?" Mason asked. When his brain caught up with his hearing, his grin vanished. "You sure?"

Her eyes twinkled as she bit her lip. "I think my girlfriend would be pretty upset if I wasn't."

"Oh." Mason deflated considerably, plopping back against the mattress.

"Mace, this is Willow Rosenburg from the Watcher's Council," said Jexter, smirking. "Willow, this is my cousin, Mason Rayne."

Mason sat up again. "Watcher's Council? How'd you get here so fast? Are you a witch?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, only not the kind you're thinking about. I'm a Wiccan witch."

"She came to perform the balance ritual." Jexter motioned at the floor. "I wasn't good enough or powerful enough to do it myself."

Willow gave him a stern look. "Giles wants to have a talk with you, when you get back."

Jexter grimaced and nodded.

It was then that Mason noticed the various spell ingredients arranged about the room. There was a protective circle, drawn on the carpet with white chalk between the beds and the table, broken after Willow had stepped out of it. Candles were also spread out about the room. Tucked under Willow's arm were two volumes, which Mason assumed were The Most Gruesome of Dark Magicks and The Most Magnificent of Light Magicks. "You performed the spell while I was asleep?" Mason asked, bewildered.

Jexter smirked. again "You were pretty out of it. We tried to wake you."

The reaper swung his legs onto the carpet and rubbed his eyes. "Well, I feel super now, at least." He grinned.

Jexter got to his feet, looking grim. "Good to hear, 'cause we still have something to do."

Mason's brow furrowed. "What?"

Willow walked over to the table and dropped the two volumes on it. "Ethan. I know where he is."

Mason's eyes widened. "Is he still in town?"

She nodded. "Ethan always stays to watch. It's kind of his MO."

"Met him before, have you?"

Willow winced. "Unfortunately." She turned to Jexter. "No offence, Mr. Rayne."

Jexter grimaced, then shot her a sad smile. "It's okay, Willow, and for the twentieth time, call me Jexter."

Mason smiled before getting up, stretching, then walked over to his cousin. "You up to this, Jex?"

Jexter shrugged. He pulled out his wand and proceeded to magically clean up the chalk.

Willow and Mason exchanged glances. "You don't have to come," Willow suggested.

"No, I'll come," he said, sighing. He gave them a humorless smile. "It's the only time we ever get to spend together."