Chapter Five: Samhain

The days following the dance brought more bad news. Rodney Munson, a boy Willow tutored in Chemistry had gone missing. Giles found another mummy in the tomb with braces similar to Rodney while checking the museum for any signs the princess might have a way to return.

Willow had a point about her and Xander being used to saying goodbye. They managed to keep on with their normal lives commendably despite the deaths and Tara had to admire their resolve. It was still a sad way to live. Her own resolve to help prevent more people from meeting a fate like Rodney's was strengthened. No matter where her magic power might stem from, if it could help people she'd cultivate as much as she could.

The mummy drama had overshadowed Tara's coming out somewhat, which had gone much smoother than she had expected. Buffy had gotten over her initial shock and was friendlier than ever. Xander thought the whole thing was awesome and made a joke about Tara being his wingman to pick up chicks, which both Willow and Buffy thwacked him for. Tara had been most anxious about what Willow's reaction would be, and had assumed her student would at least cut down on her small displays of physical affection. She couldn't have been more wrong. The pats on the shoulder, the hugging, and holding hands while casting spells had only increased in frequency. Willow even braided Tara's hair while Buffy and Xander did the same to hers as they sat watching the Indian channel.

Buffy and Tara also found a new way for the witch to help with the slaying. On the nights Joyce was out but Giles insisted on the Slayer patrolling, Tara would step in to babysit Dawn until Buffy snuck back home. The younger Summers became fast friends with her and Tara entertained the girl with scary stories and folktales from the south.

Tara saw Angel in action for the first time the night of October tenth when Buffy and Cordelia were captured by a snake worshiping fraternity. Seeing his demon face was frightening in more ways than one, not the least of which was that it stirred Tara's fear of what her own demon face would look like when it emerged. She had never seen her mother's, but with all the care her father and brother took to control them that was no surprise. Scary or not, Angel was obviously devoted to Buffy and a powerful ally. She and Willow both smiled when the vampire agreed to meet the Slayer for coffee. Xander was less thrilled, still holding a torch for the feisty blonde and not being fond of any vampires, even souled ones.

October sixteenth arrived, and Tara did her best to face it like any other day. She was on her way to lunch when Willow ambushed her.

"Hey!"

"Hey." There was some extra excitement in those green eyes today. "Something up?"

"There's something I want to show you in the computer lab. Come on."

Willow took her hand and began leading her to the classroom.

"O-okay, but you know I'm not that good with computers." Tara said in bemusement.

"That's okay, you won't need to be." Willow said as she opened the classroom door. She pointed to one of the computer stations and Tara sat down obligingly. "Click on the blue icon that says 'Star Map.'"

She double clicked the picture of a blue sun labeled 'Star Map'. A photo of the night sky appeared on the screen with the same title in the center. It faded out to show a globe dotted with stars.

"You can spin the globe if you want." Willow said, watching Tara's reactions nervously. The hacker pointed at the two entry fields at the top of the screen. "Or you can enter a date or the name of a star or constellation."

Tara typed in a random date and watched the map turn. Willow pointed at the screen again.

"If you hover over something it'll tell you the name. Some of them have close up satellite photos if you click them."

Tara humored her and clicked the Horsehead nebula, opening a pop up window with an arrow that would take her back to the map.

"Willow, this is really cool, but um, I don't really get why we're looking at it right now…?"

"Um, it's just…" The smaller girl pulled out a small package with silver wrapping paper and a blue bow. "Maybe this will explain things?"

She handed over the gift that had taken many rewrappings before being presentable to Tara, who just held it until Willow urged her to open it. Inside was a CD in a jewel case labeled "For Tara".

"Happy birthday!"

Tara flipped the CD over, still confused.

"The Star Map is on this?"

Willow nodded vigorously.

"I-I saw that today was your birthday in the school records… not that I'm stalking you or anything, I just saw them when I was doing some Scooby research and I thought I should do something, and you said astrology is a big part of magic, and that Van Gogh's "Starry Night" is your favorite painting and I thought this would be kind of a cool way for you to, um, check what the sky will look like on a given night or where a planet you needed to be in alignment for a spell will be, or just to look at the pretty pictures. Gotta love the Hubble telescope right? And…"

"You can take a breath W-Willow." Tara said with a small laugh. "Where did you find this?"

"Oh, in different books and the NASA website. I tried to make it user friendly. I'd have made the pictures higher resolution but I wasn't sure what your home setup is like…"

"Wait, y-you made this?" Willow nodded again. Tara looked back at the screen and back to her friend. "When did you…?"

"I worked on it in programming class." She said a bit mischievously. "But I'm way ahead of Miss Calendar's syllabus so it didn't make me miss class work or anything."

Tara shook her head, touched by the girl's thoughtfulness.

"Willow, you didn't need to do all this."

"I wanted to! It was fun." The redhead bit her lip anxiously. "You-you like it, right?"

"I love it. Really, no one's ever… Thank you." She dragged the globe to a familiar portion of the sky. "Now I'll always know where the Big Pineapple is."

"Um, I'm not sure I know that constellation."

Willow had an idle fear she'd missed entering in some data. The blonde smiled at her.

"It's a major one." She pointed at a line of stars on the screen. "See these? They form the base of the pineapple."

Willow looked intently at the dots before the shape appeared to her.

"Wow. That's big."

"Hence the name." Tara sensed Willow was still feeling a bit unsure if she'd missed something in her research. "The real ones never made sense to me so I made up my own."

"Oh. Cool." The programmer said in relief. "You could show me and I could add them into the database."

The older girl chuckled at the offer.

"That's okay, I know where they are. But I could show you, if you, um, wanted to go stargazing sometime."

She hoped she wasn't being too bold, but Willow just beamed at her.

"Absolutely."

…

The rest of October passed swiftly, and soon the school was covered in Halloween decorations and reminders about holiday safety.

"So do you and your mother celebrate on Halloween, or uh, Samhain?" Willow asked, having read some about the holiday's history on her Wiccan websites.

"Yes, but usually we celebrate on November first. We put out some food and light a candle for the spirits the night before though."

These were of course, private subtle things shared between mother and daughter, not something the whole Maclay family took part in.

"It's kind of the Wiccan New Year, right?"

"It is." Tara said closing her locker and leading them to where they were meeting with the others. "How much do you know about it?"

"Pretty much just that, that's it the New Year and a night spirits can walk between worlds and what not." Willow said slinging her backpack with the rainbow straps over her shoulders. "Spells are supposed to be more powerful too, aren't they?"

"Yes. It's one of the two big spirit nights in Wicca, along with Beltane in the spring. It's the night the world turns to winter and darkness. Have you heard of the cycle of the god and goddess?" Willow shook her head. "Well, in some traditions all the big days in Wicca, the equinoxes, solstices, and of course Samhain are seen as parts of a story about the life and death of the god and his relationship with the goddess. Together the important days are called the Wheel of the Year."

"What happens on Samhain in the story?"

"The god dies, symbolizing the weakening of the sun and shortening of the days. The goddess grieves for him and nature mourns with her. But she's carrying the god's child, and on Yule she gives birth to the new god and the cycle starts again."

They ran into Xander and Buffy a minute after Tara finished her story. Unfortunately the gang crossed paths with Principal Snyder not long after and were pressed into trick-or-treat chaperoning service.

"I can't believe this. We have to get dressed up and the whole deal?" Xander said perturbed.

"Snyder said costumes were mandatory." Willow confirmed.

Tara was quietly panicking. She hadn't dressed up for Halloween since elementary school, let alone gone out. Now she was supposed to look out for a group of kids she didn't even know? Buffy wasn't pleased either.

"Great. I was gonna stay in and veg. The one night a year things are supposed to be quiet for me."

"Halloween quiet?" Xander asked in surprise. "Well I figured it would be a big old vamp scare-a-palooza."

"Not according to Giles. He swears that tomorrow night is like dead for the undead. They stay in."

They all sat down around the table by the vending machine except for Xander.

"Those wacky vampires. That's why I love 'em. They just keep you guessin'." He went to get a soda while the girls chatted.

"So why is it quiet for the undead if the veil between the spirit world and ours is all thin?" Willow asked Tara.

"I-I'm not sure. Before I came here I'd never even seen a vampire. It's a big night for magic users though." The witch answered.

"Maybe they all just stay home to party with their friends." The Slayer said with a shrug. "I'll ask Giles later."

Buffy saw Xander about to get in a fight with Larry from the football team and got up to intervene. Xander was less than thrilled at the rescue.

"Xander I-" She tried to apologize.

"A black eye heals, Buffy, but cowardice has an unlimited shelf life. Oh, thanks. Thanks a lot for your help." He said sarcastically and grabbed his backpack to leave.

Buffy sat down with the Diet Dr. Pepper her tussle with Larry had won her and pushed it over to Willow.

"Ohhh. I think I just violated the guy code, big time."

"Poor Xander. Boys are so fragile." Willow said taking a sip of the soda. "Speaking of, how was your date last night?"

Angel had finally been going to have that cup of coffee with Buffy at the Bronze and Willow was eager for a report.

"Misfire. I was late due to unscheduled slayage. Showed up looking trashed."

"Was he mad?" Willow asked.

"Actually, he was pretty unmad. Which probably had something to do with the fact that Cordelia was drooling in his cappuccino." Buffy said with a grumble.

Tara wasn't surprised that Cordelia was interested in Angel. She had been pretty clingy to him after being rescued from the reptile worshippers.

"Oh Buffy. Angel would never fall for her act." Willow assured her.

"You mean that "showing up wearing a stunning outfit, embracing personal hygiene" act?" Buffy quipped sadly.

"I'm sure he didn't mind… he r-really seems to care about you." Tara said softly.

"Exactly." Willow agreed. "Cordelia's totally not his type."

"Are you sure?" Buffy said. "I mean, I don't know what his type is. I've known him less than a year and if you haven't noticed, he's not exactly one to overshare."

"True." Willow admitted. Angel was pretty taciturn. "It's too bad we can't sneak a look at the Watcher Diaries and read up on Angel. I'm sure it's full of fun facts to know and tell."

"Yeah… it's too bad." There was a naughty undertone to the Slayer's words. "That stuff is private."

"Also, Giles keeps them in his office. In his personal files." Willow said innocently.

"Most importantly, it would be wrong." Buffy said, already hatching a plan.

"You're not r-really going to…?" Tara asked.

It was no sneakier than things she had done herself, but the thought of going behind Giles' back spooked her.

"It would just be a quick peek." Buffy said in their defense. "And we'd put it right back. He's expecting me soon. You guys in?"

"I am." Willow said. "Tara?"

"I have some chores I have to do. But good luck with the um, peeking."

She got up from her seat.

"Hey, why don't we meet up later at that Halloween place that opened up recently, Ethan's?" Willow said excitedly. "We can all get costumes together."

"Sure. I can be there at five?" Tara offered.

"Sounds like a plan." Buffy agreed. "Dawn's already had her costume for weeks. She's going with her friend Janice so I don't have to worry about watching her too, thank God."

…

Tara searched through the prepackaged costumes and assorted components trying to find something that wasn't too far from normal clothing. The hospital scrubs were cute, but had short sleeves so were no good. Eventually she found a beige trench coat with a private investigator badge sewn to it and decided that was as mundane an outfit as she would find at Ethan's. She held up the coat for Xander, who was twirling a plastic gun he'd picked out.

"What do you think?" Tara asked holding the costume front of her. "I-is it too much?"

"Pretty swanky." He said eying it. "Add a fedora and you'll have all kind of classy dames asking you to help them out of a bind."

Tara's face flushed with embarrassment. Xander's playful attitude was still taking some getting used to.

"I don't think so. A fedora w-would push the costume over into "notice me" territory, and I'm trying to avoid that."

"Well uh, I'm not going to judge, but being the only girl not trying to be noticed on Halloween might make you more noticeable." Xander shrugged. "Or not. You could see if they have any chameleon costumes, you can just blend in with your surroundings."

They went to find Willow and Buffy. The Slayer tried to apologize for stopping Larry, but Xander was hesitant forgive her at first. He was about to accept her apology when Buffy got distracted by an 18th century ball gown. Ethan gave her a good deal when he saw how enamored she was with it and they all made their purchases. Willow explained to Tara that Buffy was trying to be more like the girls Angel knew back in his day. The gang agreed to meet at the Summers home on Halloween before going to pick up their trick-or-treaters.

…

Willow squirmed uncomfortably as she looked in the mirror at the "costume" Buffy had put together for her. She tried to put on the ghastly ghost sheet but Buffy pulled it away from her.

"Wow. You're a dish. I mean, really." Her best friend assured her.

"But…" Willow tried to cover her chest with her arms. "This just isn't me."

"And that's the point." Buffy stood behind Willow to force the redhead to look in the mirror. "Look, Halloween is the night that not you is you, but not you. You know?" The doorbell rang. "Oh! That's the gang. Are you ready?"

"Yeah… Okay." Willow said hesitantly.

"Cool. I can't wait for the boys to go nonverbal when they see you."

The Slayer went down the stairs to answer the door. Tara came in wearing her trench coat, hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Hey." She looked over Buffy's red ball gown. "Wow, that does look really great on you. I'm sure Angel w-will…"

Tara was struck speechless as Willow descended the steps. Buffy had dressed her in a leather skirt, a matching choker and boots, and the bare expanse of her legs was covered in fishnet stockings. Her red hair was pulled back, her face framed by strategically loose strands. The piece d' resistance was the crimson top which left next to nothing to the imagination, exposing the girl's toned stomach and highlighting her petite cleavage.

For the first time Willow recognized what she was seeing in Tara's eyes. It may have just been the power of the racy clothes she had been forced into, but it was obvious her mentor was finding her appearance hot. She was the tiniest bit embarrassed, but more than that she felt… flattered. She paused on the stairs, waiting for Tara to say something.

Buffy noticed Tara's tongue tied state and looked between the two witches.

Right, not just the boys who are going to go non-verbal, the Slayer thought in amusement.

"So Xander should be here soon…"

Xander! Crap! Willow thought in a panic.

She rushed back into Buffy's room, and once she was out of sight Tara came back to her senses.

"I s-saw him… Xander!"

The boy in question had just arrived. Tara moved aside to let him in.

"Private Harris, reporting for duty. Tara, you're looking sharp." He pulled a fedora off the tip of his gun where it had been hanging. "Brought this for you in case you changed your mind."

Tara shook her head and took it, placing it on an end table. Xander turned to take in Buffy's 18th century attire.

"Buffy. Lady of Buffdom, Duchess of Buffonia, I am in awe. I completely renounce spandex."

"Thank you kind sir." Buffy said with a curtsey, and Xander bowed to her in return. "But wait till you see…"

They heard footsteps and looked up to see Willow coming down in the ghost outfit.

"Hi." Her voice was muffled by the fabric.

"Casper." Buffy said, disappointed.

"Hey, Will! That's… a fine 'Boo!' you got there." Xander said awkwardly as Willow came down the rest of the stairs.

The ghost girl let out a small sigh as they left for the high school. Tara gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. Even wearing that outfit for a second was way more audacious than she could ever dream of being. She just hoped she'd be able to keep the image of racy Willow out of her head well enough to keep an eye on the children in her care tonight.

…

Around six o'clock the scheduled trick-or-treating was winding down. Tara hadn't had to corral the kids much; they knew the routine and were eager to get to as many houses as they could. They were crossing the street to make a final stop before she dropped them off at the school when a strong wind picked up. The children began to scatter, and before she could call out to them Tara's mind went blank. When she came back, she realized to her amazement that she was no longer alone. Someone else was driving.

…

The detective looked around the street, taking in the details of the chaos unfolding before her. It was Halloween night judging by the decorations. There were children screaming and running for cover, and in several yards she could see what should be other costumed candy seekers but looked nightmarishly real. She saw a tiny demon smash in a window, a skeleton climbing over a fence, and a pair of little vampires chasing down a child in a super hero cape who suddenly moved too fast for them to catch.

The woman tried to remember how she'd arrived in this inexplicable situation. Had she been on a case, investigating the cause of this bizarreness? There was nothing, not even her own name. Maybe she'd been drugged, and this was all a hallucination.

"Tara!" A girl of high school age in a leopard print unitard and cat ears ran up to her. "Oh God, you need to do something, make with your black arts or whatever. There's this big hairy sasquatch thing after me and all the kids have gone crazy…"

"Slow down Michelle Pfeiffer. Who's Tara and what do you mean black arts?"

The girl was near hysterics, and clearly wouldn't be much good for questioning.

"What?" The girl said in surprise. "You're Tara, except you seem to have gotten an extra scoop of self confidence in your corn flakes this morning."

The detective considered. The cat girl could be telling the truth since she recognized her, and it wasn't as if she remembered her name. The girl sighed in exasperation.

"Look we don't have time, that Chewbacca thing is going to eat us if we don't… Ahhh!"

With that she took off down the street. The P.I. saw the 'sasquatch' and decided to abandon contemplation of these mysterious events in favor of running after the cat. Further down the street they came to a man in army fatigues holding a machine gun.

"Xander! Help me!" The cat girl yelled.

"Come inside." The soldier said and led them into a nearby house.

"Tara! And Cordelia!" A red-haired girl in a crazily sexy outfit exclaimed as they came inside.

Willow had been praying Tara was safe and was hoping that somehow she'd retained her memories and could come up with some spell to reverse the transformations, or at least find the cause. She was lucky she'd managed to get Lady Buffy and Private Harris to follow her to the Summers' house in the first place.

The detective took the girl's words as confirmation that she was indeed named Tara.

"So you know me too. You know anything about how this all went down? I'm thinking we've been drugged."

"Yeah Willow, what's going on?" Cordelia chimed in.

"Okay," Willow began, addressing Tara first, "Your name is…"

"Tara." She cut her off. "And I'm a woman, probably a high school student, who's lost her memory. You and the kitty girl both know me, though I think I'm not as close with her."

Willow gaped.

"Well obviously, you both agree my name is Tara, and you're both panicking and have no reason to lie to me. You seem about high school age, and since we're on a first name basis I'm guessing I go to school with the two of you."

"Yes!" Willow said excitedly. This Tara would be much quicker on the uptake than the helpless Buffy. "And you're not just a high school student either. You're a witch, in fact we're both witches…"

Buffy shrieked a little at the word 'witches', looking in terror between Willow and Tara.

"But you just started training me so…" She waved her hand, cutting off her own babble. "That's not important. We're not on drugs, this is something magical."

"Magic?" That was a bit much to swallow. "You expect me to believe in magic? Where's your evidence?"

"What else do you think caused all this?" Willow said desperately. "Those demons that are running all amucky out there? They're not hallucinations."

"No kidding!" Cordelia said showing off a large rip in her spotted unitard. "I was attacked by Jo-Jo the Dog-faced Boy. Look at my costume! Do you really think that Party Town's going to give me my deposit back? Not on the likely."

Xander took off his jacket.

"Here," he said as he put the jacket over Cordelia's shoulders.

"Thanks," she said, taking a second to admire Xander's arms.

"I can show you magic is real, take my…" Willow tried to take Tara's hand but it passed through. "Hand, except you can't, because I'm a ghost now, damn it."

Tara shook her head.

"If you are a hallucination you're a much nicer one than that furry beast outside."

Willow blushed when she saw dark blue eyes look at her with smoldering heat. She snapped herself out of the grip of Tara's lusty gaze and tried to come up with a plan. Giles, Giles wasn't in costume. He could still help.

"Okay." Willow said looking away from Tara's eyes. "You guys stay here while I get some help. If something tries to get in, just fight it off."

"It's not our place to fight. Surely some men will protect us?" Buffy said frightfully.

"What's that riff?" Cordy asked.

Tara scoffed.

"Lady, you should know better than to count on men for anything. You want something done right, you need a woman's touch."

"It's like amnesia, okay?" Willow answered Cordelia's question. "They don't know who they are. Just… sit tight."

She looked at Tara for a lingering moment before leaving the house through a wall. She hoped her friends would stay safe until she and Giles sorted it out.

"Who died and made her the boss?" Cordelia said, miffed.

"Woman like that can boss me around any time." Tara said picking up a fedora from the end table Xander was adding to his barricade of the front door. Cordy quirked an eyebrow, not sure what to make of that. "Anyone have a cigarette?"

…

Giles threw his reference cards up in the air in surprise when Willow walked in through the library wall. After attempting to research the cause of the transformations and memory loss, their conversation led them to deduce the difference between Cordelia and the others; where they had purchased their costumes. Giles and Willow went to Ethan's and looked around the empty shop for some sign of the owner. It didn't take long for Willow to find it.

"Giles?" She said looking through the open door to the back room.

They went into the room to inspect a large two faced statue.

"Janus. A Roman mythical god." Giles explained.

"What does this mean?" Willow asked, having only heard the name.

"Primarily the division of self. Male and female, light and dark."

"Chunky and creamy." An amused voice called to them. "Oh, no. Sorry. That's peanut butter." Ethan approached them, wearing deep red robes.

"Willow get out of here now." The Watcher said in a low tone, staring the man down.

"But…" Willow protested.

"Now!" His voice was firmer than she'd ever heard it. She left, knowing she wouldn't be much good to him in ghost form.

…

Willow found the rest of the gang in an alley, Buffy cowering in the back being reassured by Cordelia. Angel had joined them at some point, and there was a pirate who looked somewhat familiar slumped against the alley wall.

"Guys!" She called to get their attention.

On her way to them she had seen Spike leading a small cadre of transformed monsters, and they'd be on her friends in a moment.

"Willow!" Angel responded.

"Guys, you gotta get inside." Willow said desperately.

"We need a triage." Xander said eying the oncoming creatures.

"This way. Find an open warehouse." Angel instructed them. "Ladies, we're on the move."

Xander rushed forth followed by Tara and Cordelia. Angel carried Buffy, who was too frazzled to get to her own feet. He led them to a door and they filed inside. The vampire set Buffy down next to Cordelia.

"Just stay here." He said gently.

Xander and Tara began to barricade the door with shipping pallets while Buffy clung to Cordy. It wasn't enough and Spike's squad broke through. Xander shouted for a retreat and they made a break for the far side of the warehouse. Willow could only watch in dismay as her friends were captured by the demons and Spike took his time approaching the powerless Slayer.

"Look at you. You're shaking. Terrified. Alone. Lost little lamb." He slapped her face. "I love it."

"Buffy!" Angel called out as he struggled to get free.

Buffy cried and cowered as Spike took her by the throat. He gently put a hand on her head as he lowered her onto a pallet. Xander and Tara shared a look of resolve and broke out of the demons' grips. They began beating the monsters as Spike leaned down to drink Buffy.

"Now that guy you can shoot." Willow said emphatically to Xander.

He aimed his gun but when he had Spike in his sights it was plastic again.

"What the…"

"I'm scared. I want my mommy."

Tara heard the child's voice and it snapped her out of her disorientation. She kneeled down to comfort the child while they all adjusted to being back in control of their bodies.

Spike looked at the mass of black hair in his hand. It was a wig. Buffy sprang to her feet.

"Hi honey. I'm home." The Slayer said with a bounce and began whaling on Spike.

He took a swing at her with a bar, but she grabbed it and smacked him in the gut with it.

"You know what? It's good to be me."

She smacked him again and he fell back on the pallet then slumped to the floor.

Spike got to his feet with a growl and ran off. Tara tried to calm the children while the others talked. Angel and Buffy went off together to Cordelia's disappointment.

"Hello? It felt like I was talking. My lips were moving, and…"

"Give it up Cordy." Xander said sadly. "You're never gonna get between those two. Believe me, I know."

The cheerleader looked at the restored trick-or-treaters.

"Well, I guess you better get them back to their parents."

Tara ran over to Xander and Cordelia.

"W-where's Willow?"

Xander looked around.

"I don't know."

"I-I'm going to find her." The witch said before looking back at the kids guiltily. "Can you…?"

"Affirmative." Xander said with a salute of his toy gun.

…

Tara felt like she had searched every street in the neighborhood by the time she caught sight of Willow. She was strutting down the street without a care. A zebra striped van had come to a complete stop and stayed there for a good few minutes while Tara rushed over. She remembered she was still wearing the fedora, but decided to keep it on.

"Willow!"

"We really need to stop being so surprised the other one lived." The redhead said with a grin.

Tara couldn't help but laugh as they fell into step beside each other.

"I-I'll stop being surprised when I stop worrying." She forced her eyes not to stray below Willow's face. "Um, are you cold? Y-you can have my coat."

"I'm good." The younger girl said confidently.

It had been a strange night. Tara had watched as her body was piloted by the detective, wishing she could say something or try a spell to help. It had been so bizarre to see Xander deadly serious and Buffy cowardly. But it had been special to see Willow take charge when she was the only woman standing, even more impressive than seeing her in the knock out get up.

For two months Tara had been trying to define what she felt for Willow. She knew she was the first friend she had made in years, and the truest one she had ever had. She was a brilliant student and was destined to be an amazingly powerful witch. She made her feel safe even when they were in mortal peril. Tara had been calling her feelings a crush, an idle attraction. Now she knew the truth.

She was completely, head over heels in love.