I am really sorry it took so long to get this thing out, but school is the only place I can do this, because I don't have a pc, and so I am doomed to go to the library at lunch until the fateful day that my father decides to get me Windows Microsoft Office.

At any rate, I am glad to finally post this chapter. I hope that many more are on their way, and to be honest, I've already gotten several of them typed up. Just hold on, please!

Thanks to my sole reviewer, 0zma914!

You people better contribute!

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for! The next chapter!

Restoration

Chapter Two

Willow sat on her bed at Buffy's house, reading a book on the history
of witchcraft and it's various uses in daily life. Sure, she'd read the
book about a million times, but today was a supremely boring day, and
there were no books that were not at her mercy. Especially since Willow
was really into the whole depression thing, considering Tara and her
had broken up barely a month previously.

The phone rang, shrill and sudden. Willow picked it up quickly.

"Hello, Summers' residence."

"Willow! How is my little plant these days?" Willow stayed silent, not
sure who was on the line. "Oh, come on, cuz, don't tell me you forgot
what I sounded like already."

Willow half-grinned. "Hello, Cassandra. I'm surprised you called."

Cassandra was Willow's baby cousin, on her mother's side. She'd been
born when Will was maybe seven or eight, so she was about fourteen, a
year younger than Dawn.

"Of course you are, sweetie. Your voice is screamin' it. That and
you're way not happy. So tell me, Will, what are you so bummed about?"
Cassandra, as usual, was nosy as heck. It made Willow feel better that
some things never changed, her baby cousin included. But her baby
cousin tended to follow in the footsteps of her older role model. So,
when Willow had started on the witchcraft stuff, she'd shared all her
findings on the subject with her little Cassie-bear. Cassandra soon
followed in learning to manipulate pencils outside the limits of
gravity. That was when Cassandra had found out that she had some
different supernatural abilities, telepathy and premonitions being the
prime culprits. Cassandra's premonitions, however, were few, far
between, and mainly pointless and unavoidable. She'd only had three
since her powers became unlocked. One was when she'd seen the neighbors
down the street get a new puppy. Another was a vision of fear, black
hair, and strawberries. The last was a vision of the past, of the first
time she and Willow had met. The visions were okay, and they were
uncontrollable. It was the mind reading that Willow got worried about.

"Cassie-bear, remember what we talked about?"

Cassandra gave a very obvious rolly-eyes sigh. "Not to use my telepathy
without permission." They'd made that rule about two years prior, when
Cassandra had been just randomly reading any person's mind who'd come
into contact with her. She'd been trying to just go on an outing in the
business district of Sunnydale on a visit. The information had been
overwhelming. She'd found everything from dentists appointments to
wondering how much one could beat another up until they died. All that
stuff clogged Cassandra's head, making her forget about most everything
else. She ended up wandering the streets muttering about prenups,
choices for preschool, and an A minus grade on a book report. Willow
had to use a tracking spell to find her. Cassandra had only been let
outside the house again once she proved that she would no longer read
anyone's mind without their permission. "But Will, I wasn't even
reading your mind. If I were, I'd know what it is, how long ago it
happened, and the first ten sentences on your last school report."

Willow chuckled. "You have a point."

"Of course I have a point, Willow. I have to be near someone to be able
to use my telepathy. I am very clearly not in a physical vicinity of
you at the moment."

'Well, that's Cassandra for you,' Willow thought. 'She always seems to
manage to make herself sound as though she was always right.'

"But," Cassandra added, "I will be as of tomorrow afternoon."

Willow's brow furrowed with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm coming into town and staying over. Remember, family, big
dinner party, adults only?"

Willow slapped her forehead. "How could I forget about that! I swear I
wrote it down. I think it got put on the fridge."

The voice on the other end of the line giggled. "The paper-bearing
cooling receptacle of doom," It remarked. "Don't worry, I called
yesterday to confirm, and Dawn picked up. We talked, and we figured
it so that I'd stay in her room."

"So then you got an OK from Buffy? It is her house, you know."

"Yes, mom," Cassandra replied, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
"Well, at any rate, I'll be coming over tomorrow at three or so. If you
know you're not going to be there, have Buffy or Dawn stay home. I
don't want to have to conjure a key.'

Surprised was the very adept witch at her cousin's abilities. "You've
already figured out how to conjure? I mean, last time I checked, you'd
barely gotten into turning ice into fire. That's a big jump in just a
year."

Cassandra, following form, shrugged and dropped the phone, then had to
grope frantically to get it back to her ear. "I was hoping for more,
but the largest thing I've been able to bring up is a foot stool. Not
an ottoman, just a footstool. It was miniscule too. Good news, however.
I've just tried my first protection spell. You know, with a force field and everything.

It worked really well. All of the guys at school who normally torture me on a daily

basis actually laid off for a week. I witnessed them giving me actual compliments!

I swear I nearly had an out-of-body experience!"

"I don't think I've ever heard of a force field that does that," Willow
frowned.

"Well," Cassandra explained, "It wasn't so much a 'force' field, it was
more of a mellowing field. Everybody who came near me was calmed. I really

have no idea how it managed to do that, though.

Willow nodded. "I see. I know some people who would call that basic
work, but that's pretty advanced for someone your age. How long did it
last again?"

"Um," Cassandra started, sounding rather guilty, "It's been a week
since I did it. I think I may have accidentally upped the dosage
without knowing it, because I saw the force field for the first, maybe,
hour? But after that, it disappeared, and I haven't seen it since."

"That really is strange," commented Willow.

"And another thing," she went on, "I have some people in most of my
classes, and one of them recently broke his arm, maybe a month ago. But
on Tuesday, he went to the doctor for a checkup, and they took the cast
off. He came back to school and played in the basketball game.Ó

"Maybe he was just a speedy healer," Willow offered.

"See, that's just it. He wasn't. Last week the doctor said he'd have to
keep it on longer than six weeks. Apparently, he didn't have enough
calcium in his system to do the job fast enough." Cassandra sighed.
"And it's not just that. For the past week, absolutely no one in my classes

has gotten sick.Not one person at all since I did the spell. And it's cold and flu season."

"Okay," admitted the more experienced Wiccan, "Maybe there is something
there. But, you may just have worded the spell wrong. I've done that a
few times."

"It's... oh, never mind. I'll see you tomorrow. Three 'o clock, if
you're here. Otherwise, I'll hang with Dawn 'till you get back."

"See you then, Cassie-bear."

"See you then, Willow Tree."

Willow hung up the phone. She looked around the room, seeing all the
books she'd read that day, and picked them up, one by one, putting them
away. She just didn't feel like reading anymore, and once the bed was
cleared, she lay down and cried.

Hikari: Hello Chicago! I don't live there, but I hear it's really windy!

Kayo: That's from the politicians, sweetie.

Hikari: Who knew? Well, readers, please readn and review! I'd really like to see some people posting reviews. If no one does, I may be forced to go into therapy from the lonliness...

Kayo: Just review, people.