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TWO

Dwight Hall, Yale
New Haven, Connecticut
Friday, October 6, 2006
8:19 AM

Taylor Rosen was beginning to get fed up with the casual way in which Amy was purposefully ignoring their responsibilities. At first, the hiding away and keeping her distance had been tolerable, leaving Taylor to research online and pick up a few books to read in the quiet of their abandoned suite, but now that something big had come up, something credible that gave her the feeling that they owed it to themselves to check it out, Taylor was becoming irritated with her friend, hoping against hope that Amy would turn herself around on the subject and make the right choice.

In all honesty, Taylor was beginning to get concerned about the fact that the other girl was choosing to refrain from helping people, causing her to wonder if maybe Amy cared more about herself than of those who needed some kind of supernatural aid. After the attack in the dorm room, and after Taylor had returned to campus to settle back into university life following her brief hospital stay, she had become more and more sure, however illogical, that the reason the demon had gone straight for them was to open their eyes and to pull back the curtain as to what was really out there. For some reason, Taylor also had a feeling the creature had intentionally gone after Amy because the thing had expected her to know more than she obviously did, almost as though Bailey had though Amy's summer away had been less about sitting around poolside—which Taylor didn't believe in the slightest, no matter how many times Amy protested otherwise—and more about learning a few things from her father, since he clearly knew a great deal about what was festering down the rabbit hole.

But even after getting filled in on what had happened while she was unconscious, and about the information Amy pulled up on her cell phone while roaming the halls, Taylor could tell that Amy still hadn't come around to the idea that they were meant to do this now, that they had been pushed to the other side because a demon had caused them the cross the line. Instead, her friend had chosen to remain the college girl she had always been, blatantly ignoring the fact that there were things out there that went bump in the night and rather choosing to head to class and attend drama practice like everyone else on campus. Frankly, the thought made Taylor's blood boil. What could Amy be thinking? Was she really that selfish to put herself first instead of others who needed help?

Honestly, though, Taylor doubted that Amy was as self-centered as that. The girl, who had stayed in Taylor's suite and had offered to do her homework for her while Taylor was dealing with Celia's death, was nothing short of kind-hearted, causing her to wonder what had happened between John and Amy Winchester prior to the night he had swooped in and saved the day. So far, Taylor only knew a few things from the Internet conversations she had had with her friend during their school vacation, that Amy had met and talked with her biological father, but not much else had come to light between then and now. However, Taylor couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone down, something that was big enough to cause Amy to want to stay away from any and everything that reminded her of the man, no matter what it was.

Still, after a month of keeping her distance from learning anything about the seedy underworld that lived among the human population, Amy had yet to come around and shake off whatever resentment she had for her father, instead heading off to the gym with her other friend or hiding out in the library until it closed. Knowing that she had done the same with Bailey—hell, both of them had done the same with Bailey—Taylor could tell that Amy wasn't likely to make a one-eighty on the topic of demons, witches, and vampires any time soon, no matter which method Taylor used to try to convince her, newspaper article or otherwise.

However, Taylor wasn't finished with her endeavor yet. While Amy could be set in her ways, Taylor knew her friend as well, if not better, than she knew herself, and knew exactly which buttons to push in order to get the girl to choose her side. With Amy, appealing to the part of her that made her feel as though she was doing the right thing was always what caused her to change her mind, as well as the promise that no one would be hurt in the process. The girl, who valued school and safety rather than danger and intrigue, only needed to be nudged toward the thought that she would be saving people in need in order to get involved. Unfortunately, there seemed to be something stronger pulling Amy away from heading down the abnormal path Taylor was taking, almost as though a newfound stubbornness had kicked in somewhere inside of her that hadn't been present before.

During the few years that Taylor had known her friend, Amy had always been the quiet, studious one who preferred to stay indoors rather than head out to a party. Though that hadn't changed as of late, there was something else that was beginning to shift in the girl, almost like the tectonic plates inside of her were moving. Lately, she hadn't been sleeping, was rarely seen down at breakfast, and could hardly be found in her room. On top of that, the stitches that were being used to mend gashes as deep as the Grand Canyon had taken three weeks to heal instead of the five-or-more that Doctor Guest had estimated. While Taylor knew it could be considered paranoid to keep such a close eye on her roommate, something was different with her friend, whether the other girl knew it, or would admit it, or not.

Pacing for the majority of the night, and hoping that she would be confronted in the early hours of the morning by Amy telling her she wanted to help, Taylor watched the flickering light underneath the door of her friend's bedroom, the same light that told her the girl wasn't getting any sleep yet again. Though it was possible that she had zoned out with the television on, Taylor had a feeling Amy rarely did that, instead staying up watching infomercials to keep from letting her mind wander too far. As she walked the length of the living area multiple times, Taylor continued to watch the soft blue glow from inside the crack, wondering if it was ever going to extinguish.

As dawn came, with Amy still not getting up to talk, Taylor turned her thoughts inward, instead focusing on what she had learned in between the time of her hospital visit to now. It hadn't been much, mainly information through an Internet contact who provided her with links and resources that proved invaluable, but with classes and studying taking up most of her time, she had barely found the opportunity to fit in all the reading her e-mail friend required. While she knew it was hypocritical to get mad at Amy for choosing to study rather than to learn anything about the supernatural, Taylor was at least devoting some time to the cause as opposed to the other girl's wholehearted neglect to do so. However, what Taylor had discovered in between her English notes and Sociology take-home quizzes was something priceless and something she couldn't contain, sometimes sharing aloud, which could be what had sent her friend packing to the library in the first place.

According to books and websites, and even a guy who called himself nothing but A in his messages, creatures didn't attack without an agenda, nor did they believe in random chaos. With demons, they always had a plan; with witches, they were always searching for something that would benefit themselves; and with ghosts, they were always attempting to get revenge on whoever had wronged them in life. As she read about these things, and an infinite number more, she had learned one way or another how to kill them or how to put them to rest—though there was always more than one way to skin a cat. Spirits could be sprayed with salt, demons could be exorcised in a number of rituals, and witches were just humans with an extra set of abilities that could be stopped as such. Unfortunately, the more Taylor read on one creature, the less she knew about others, meaning that she knew a fair bit about the normal horror-story monsters, but not much of anything when it came to the broader spectrum of what walked on earth—such as whatever had taken Susan Walter's kid.

By the time the sun was fully up, Taylor was back in her room trying to reach out to A to see what he knew about water spirits or what this thing in Willow could be. Sending him a short e-mail, she waited for a response while she clicked around on the web, logging into her favorite websites to see what could be up. However, this was the first time Taylor was going to have to narrow the suspect list down on her own, meaning that message boards full of opinions and domains filled with scans of old folklore books weren't going to be of much help. Thinking back on the time last month where the demon, Bailey, had wrongfully pointed the girls toward spirits and the research she had done then, Taylor tried her previous method of simply using Google to get results. Typing in a few key words, Taylor waited for the page to load, only getting more copies of the article she had given Amy and a slight mention of something similar happening once in Ashland, Wisconsin. Ultimately, though, as she tried to dig up information on what had happened a few states over, she had gotten nothing but a sentence:

Mark Willis is distraught to announce his son Peter has been taken from his room shortly after a bath Thursday night, leaving a puddle of water and only a footprint behind.

Deciding to look with more vigor the higher the sun rose in the sky, Taylor continued her search, occasionally checking her computer's inbox for new messages that might have been placed in the spam folder by accident. Clicking around on the new Macbook she had bought a couple of weeks ago, Taylor saved pages that might, but probably wouldn't, be useful and attempted to scan the snippets of text under links for what could lead her in the right direction. Thankfully, when seven in the morning came, and Amy's alarm could be heard loudly from the other room, the sound of bare footsteps on the wood flooring padded from behind her, causing Taylor to turn around.

"Hey," Amy whispered, her hair still wavy from the shower the night before and her sage green gaze rimmed with red from lack of sleep. "What are you doing?"

"Just looking into that article I gave you," Taylor answered, spinning her chair back toward her computer to keep from rolling her eyes. Based on the way her friend had frowned, Taylor could only guess that Amy had gotten nowhere in her decision. Giving the conversation a little push, Taylor bit her lip for a moment. "You going to class today?"

Pausing, Amy sighed from the doorway. "No. I don't think so. I'm, uh, I'm going with you… if you want."

Furrowing her brow and suppressing a grin, Taylor pivoted around to face the other girl, trying to look curious about the choice. It was clear that Amy was neither happy nor sad about what she had decided, instead staring straight at the computer screen with tired eyes. If she had to guess, Taylor would have to say that her roommate hadn't slept well in a week, though signs of it were only now beginning to show.

"What made you change your mind?" Taylor asked, shifting Amy's attention.

"A lot of things, I guess," Amy shrugged. "But something in my gut told me to go, so I am."

Smiling now, Taylor shut down her computer and got to her feet, suddenly elated with the fact that she was no longer alone in investigating the case, and wasn't about to head north to Willow by herself—not that doing things solo particularly bothered her. Racing for the archway, Taylor wrapped her friend in a tight hug, her cheek ramming into Amy's shoulder from the height difference. Letting her go, and massaging where her face was undoubtedly now bruised, Taylor headed for the front entrance of their suite, grabbing her coat off of a hook and pulling open the door.

"Listen, you take a shower and do whatever you do to get ready, okay? I'll bring us up some breakfast," Taylor grinned, turning back to glance at the other girl. "And if you need sleep, you can sleep in the car. I have to go rent one, anyway, so take your time."

Nodding slowly, Amy finally cracked a smile as Taylor disappeared, shutting the door behind her as she headed down the crowded hallway full of people heading to class. Around her, the busy corridor buzzed with drowsy conversation as girls met with one another for class or made plans for the upcoming weekend, but neither of those things bothered Taylor as she slid in and out of clusters of people. For some reason, the fact that she had turned Amy around on the topic of helping her caused Taylor to want to jump for joy, though she had no idea why. Oddly, the fact that her friend was coming brought comfort to her more than anything else, almost as if she felt like nothing bad could happen to her now that Amy was on her side. Whether or not that had stemmed from the fact that the girl and her father had saved her from a demon back in September or something else, Taylor didn't know. All she knew as that she had Amy Winchester on her side, and that honestly eased her mind.