"And then we did the Tree of Life meditation and she said that I contaminated my channels and we did this clearing exercise and there was so much energy I couldn't believe it —" Willow babbled as her boyfriend watched and half-listened, absently strumming, the hint of a smile on his lips.
"And she said that I'm probably not going to find the spell in a book, so I'll have to do some divination and work it out myself. I'd never thought you could do that. I thought that all the spells were written down and you just did them. So I'm trying to decide if I should do a Tarot reading or something. She said that throwing the I Ching with real yarrow sticks works really well for her, but I'm thinking Tarot. What do you think?"
"I'm thinking it's still three and a half weeks until the next full moon, so I'm not really thinking about it."
Willow bounced up from the bed and kissed him.
"Maybe I'll just do a meditation. Onyx said I should try doing free-form stuff, just to see what happens."
Oz reached for her and kissed her more firmly.
"Be careful, okay?"
She smiled widely, excitement in her eyes.
"Oh, yeah. Plenty careful. that's me."
That evening
Willow finished arranging the last of the print-outs in a circle around her. The name of every deity she could pull up was printed in columns on the half-dozen sheets. She stood carefully to avoid jostling the papers and clutched the small moonstone in her hand. This felt right, this was just what her meditations had led her to.
She took a deep breath and raised her fist with the moonstone inside to the ceiling.
"Oh gods, hear my plea. Hear me. I ask in the name of my love, if one of you can lend me the aid I require, let yourself be known."
She closed her eyes and turned three times, then dropped the stone.
She quickly looked down, then dropped to her knees in front of the paper. The domed moonstone had landed neatly on one name, and that name was faintly visible within the stone. Willow's brow wrinkled as she examined it, then pulled the stone away to make sure.
"Aphrodite?"
The next morning
Onyx looked at the redhead with some affection and a lot of amusement.
"Well, you love this guy, right?"
Willow blushed again and glanced around the coffee shop to see if anyone had overheard.
"Well, yeah and anyway I said so when I was doing the divination."
"You're not going to fool a god with spell wording, believe me. So, are you going to invoke her? She's not the worst one to work with, you know. I mean, what if Cernunnos had come up?"
"I was kind of thinking that would be more likely, given the werewolf thing."
"Yeah, but a woodland god like that isn't going to be interested in helping a lycanthrope more in control. He'd be more likely to help the werewolf infect you so you could go romping in the woods in the moonlight. But Aphrodite, offer up some pearls and seawater and she might actually give you something that will work."
"Really? I mean, she wouldn't just laugh and make me fall in love with a mule or something?" Her hand tightened around her coffee cup.
"Well, she not so much known for being predictable. But it's a good shot. Better than casting musty old spells anyway. She'll probably want you to prove your love is true or something, that's more her thing. Just make the offering a good one. And when you get the seawater, make sure you avoid the sewer outfall."
Willow wrinkled her nose and looked at the witch in puzzlement.
"Long story. I'd better go and get back to the shop."
"Filling in again?"
"Yeah. Poor Serena. A customer of hers got killed and she's worried about it. She had just sold her some high-powered item and she has ethical problems, thinks she might have enabled her customer to get into trouble, fatal trouble. One of the problems of selling magic paraphernalia."
Willow finished off her coffee and rose.
"I wish her luck. There's way too much of that going around."