"Open." Cai raised his right hand to the giant bronzed doors to the Seal's chamber. A second's hesitation, and then the sound of massive hinges squeaking open. Dust spewed into the air, choking the four other's standing in the passageway.
"Open?" Buffy asked incredulously. "Do you have any idea of how much pounding I put on that door just to get it to open a crack? And you just _speak_ and it opens?"
Cai shrugged with callous disinterest. " Didn't your momma teach ya any manners? If ya'd just ask the doors to open nicely, they woulda. Ain't my fault yer clueless." He sauntered through the door, looking up at the doors corners. "You broke 'em!" He turned to Buffy with a sour expression. "Can't ya look after anything nice?"
Buffy glowered at him, biting back a snarl, and marched straight into the room. She stopped dead, eyes shooting wide. In the dead center of the room the Seal glowed brightly, the flames a strong vibrant blue, arcing high from floor to ceiling. But, it was empty. Willow no longer hung suspended within the circle it formed.
"Willows gone!" Xander's voice reflected his shock. Strangely, they had expected to return here and find everything precisely as they left it. Looking around the room he struck upon another realization. "And so is Ms. Calendar, but our bags are still here!"
Angel hovered outside the doors, the Seal's power was much greater now that it was no longer under attack by Carmilla. The sensation of itching he had experienced before was magnified many times fold now. Catching Buffy's enquiring gaze, he nodded shortly, thrusting his chin out towards the Seal.
Buffy turned back to the Seal, moving to the bag lying a few meters from it. Ms. Calendar had been sitting about here when they had left. Buffy bent down to gather up the bag, her fingers lightly brushing the stones, and coming up wet and sticky. Raising her hand to her nose, she sniffed. *Blood?*
"Get a flashlight over here!" She commanded sharply, eyeing the dark ground. It was hard to see, given the darkness of the stone, but there was a trail of blood. Following it to it's source, Buffy repressed the urge to scream. Deep with the fires of the Seal a great deal of blood lay splattered and drying on the arcane symbols that formed the Seal's base.
"That's blood!" Xander's voice sounded dull, like any further surprises and shocks couldn't be felt anymore.
Turning to face her friend, Buffy grabbed him by both shoulders. "That doesn't mean it's Willows! It could be Carmilla's..." She gave a quick shake. "We have to believe that Willow is okay. She wouldn't just let herself die! She'd fight!"
Xander didn't look to convinced, his eyes fastened exclusively on the bloody mess of Willow's prison. "She promised she wouldn't leave..." The words were little more than a whisper.
Buffy looked frantically around for support. She could see the shock growing in Xander's eyes. This was not the ideal time for him to realize the full extent of Willow's importance in his life.
"Oh my, " Giles spoke suddenly. The Watcher pointed down to the ground, his flashlight shining on a small spot. Shaky disjointed letters formed out a phrase. The markings were blotted and sloppy, as if hastily made.
Dragging Xander with her, Buffy looked down at the writing. "See Xander, Willow's fine. If she weren't, Ms. Calendar wouldn't have moved her."
Cai ran a finger over the writing, "Yeah, but the kid's running more than a few pints short. The only pen ink your Ms. Calendar had was blood."
Xander started suddenly, "Blood? That's...."
Buffy herself was turning green. Strangely, it was with absolute clarity she imagined Ms. Calendar, dipping a finger into a puddle of blood and writing on the cold stone. Looking down, she read the message once more and shuddered. "Let's get going." She suggested quietly, pushing Xander to the door.
Giles watched them for a moment, glancing down one last time at the message the flashlight scoring across it before turning to follow the Slayer and her friend. The words written on the stone ground in Willow's blood now engraved in his mind. *Willow and I are at library. Meet us there. ASAP*
* * *
Willow hadn't intended to leave the Seal's Chambers before the others returned, but watching Ms. Calendar fight off hysteria at the very sight of her blood soaked clothes had been incentive.
The girl's locker room should have been locked by this time in the evening. Somehow, the janitor's had missed the access through the gym. Stripping down, Willow had left the clothing on a bench just outside the lockers. Peering around the concrete wall that divided the showers from the lockers, to ask for the soap and a rag to use for a washcloth, she noticed that the clothes had vanished, and that a gym t-shirt and team track pants were laid out. "They weren't that bad, were they?" She wondered bemused.
Ms. Calendar had given her a strained look. "Yes, they were. If Xander and Buffy had seen them, they'd have a nervous breakdown." The teacher had set a towel down. "The towel's from my gym bag, you can return it later."
Willow had nodded once, and disappeared back into the showers. Hearing the door to the locker room shut, she turned the water on full spray and scrubbed. She leaned forward, into the stream, soaking her hair. Taking some soap, she washed it, rinsed, and washed it again. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, rinsing the water out of it as she twisted it around. Looking down at the drain, she grimaced to see the reddish stain of blood in the water.
Dropping her hands away from her hair, she stretched catlike, enjoying the soothing feel of the warm water. It was soothing on a tired body. She scooped up the bar of soap Ms. Calendar and obtained, and gave herself a final lather down.
The Seal had yanked her back, right after the others were healed. Willow didn't know why, it just had. A few moments of intense bliss, and she found herself awakening within the rings of fire. It had been so easy to walk out of those fires, it was kind of like standing within this stream of water, soft, gentle and caressing. The softest, warmest kiss on her soul, a benediction. Willow wasn't almost sorry to let go.
It had taken her a few minutes to calm Ms. Calendar down. Leaving the message had been Willow's idea, and watching the contortions on Ms. Calendar's face as she wrote it had been highly entertaining. In hindsight, Willow realized she should have written it herself, but for some reason, Ms. Calendar seemed to think that she might break.
Turning off the water when it finally began to drain clear, Willow quickly toweled off and dressed. The others should be back by now, and she really wanted to let them see that she was alright after her little adventure in la-la land.
* * *
The yelling could be heard all the way down the hall. It was very fortunate that the custodial staff had left the premises by 9pm on Friday nights.
Pushing the massive library doors open, Willow walked in completely unobserved. The melee going on required the squabbling participants full attention. Pausing to watch for a moment, Willow allowed a smile to spread across her face.
It was so good to see them all alive and breathing, or at least, in Angel's case, present with souls intact. Buffy was in middle of a tirade at Ms. Calendar and Giles, her one free arm swinging all over the place.
The other hand was full of Xander's collar, griping it from the back to keep him from running off. It was very flattering to realize that they were so concerned over her well being, but the Slayer was in danger of pounding her Watcher with those wild swings. And Xander was in danger of foaming at the mouth.
Xander was yelling at Buffy, trying to force her to let go of his shirts collar. The Slayer was paying him no heed whatsoever. So, the poor teenager simply thrashed about, snarling about disloyalty and such nonsense.
Ms. Calendar was taking this all very well, her voice calm and reasoning. It was too bad she had forgotten so much of her own adolescence...and how a teen didn't want to be reasoned with, a teenager simply wanted immediate justification and satisfaction.
Wandering closer, her amusement clear on her face, Willow observed Angel, and the Guardian. Those two worthies were studiously avoiding the entire debate. Instead, Angel appeared to be trying to introduce Cai to the wonders of the technological age, and computers. They thumped enthusiastically on the keyboard, Cai's eyes wide and fixed on the screen in wonder.
"Never seen a computer before?" Willow guessed as she stood beside them. Angel shot out of the chair like someone had rammed a stake into him.
"WILLOW!" He shouted. The gambit worked. Buffy and Xander stopped cold, turning slowly in unison, jaws both dropped.
Willow found herself being smothered by two fierce hugs. Buffy squeezed so tight, Willow imagined she could hear her ribs crack. Xander pulled her clear off the ground, and didn't seem inclined to let her go. *This is nice,* she mused, enjoying the closeness and scent of him.
Opening her eyes lazily, she caught Buffy's knowing grin, and winked. Strangely, that small action released all the tension out of Buffy. Pulling away reluctantly, she shared a warm smile with Ms. Calendar and Giles. "So, anything good happening?"
Giles patted the girl's shoulder, "I can't speak for the future, but I can right now. It's very nice to see that you've come from ordeal unscathed."
Her lopsided smile was again bestowed around the room. "Okay, okay, you're all happy to see me. The feeling is very much mutual. What happened after you guys left the Seal?" She feigned ignorance, something deep within advising that she keep all the details of her sojourn within the Seal to herself.
"Oh, it's not much of a story, "Xander pontificated. He was keeping quite close to his pal, afraid that if he let her out of his sight, she'd vanish. "You played with the fire, we went and pounced on the bad lady, we won..you're out..we're back, we can all go party now!"
Giles, Buffy and Angel all rolled their eyes, but it was Cai that spoke. "Riight. That shit stunk, boy. You were out cold, after all of ya tried to beat the living custard outta me...failing miserably, of course."
Willow suppressed a knowing smile, and turned to Cai with her best poker face. "I don't believe we've been introduced..."
Cai grinned evilly, "Nope. We ain't. I know who you are, though girl. There's just two things, ya should know. Your timing sucks, and you're a little slow on the uptake. I spent a great deal of time tryin' ta get yer attention with those nightmares, and you didn't bite that fishy. Ya gotta start paying attention."
Her eyebrows nearly hit her widow's peak. "You sent those nightmares?" An unfamiliar edge of temper sounded in her voice.
"Yeah..I did. Ya got a problem wit' dat?"
"Yes, I do!" Willow responded hotly. Guardian or not, those nightmares had not been pleasant. He had no business tormenting anyone with such images.
"Atta girl! Ya got brass...you MIGHT work out. Them," he indicated the others with a shrug. "Not likely, but there's hope fer you."
*Oh, goody.* The thought was so sarcastic, it could have been Xander's, Willow realized. *I've been hanging around Xander way too long, now I'm starting to think like him...that's bad.*
Buffy smoothly placed her body between Willow and Cai, after recovering from the sound of Willow in a temper, or approaching one. "Willow, Willow, chill. This is Cai, he's the Seal's Guardian."
Willow blinked once, startled by both Cai's coarseness, and Buffy's sudden defense of him. "Oh. I guess this belongs to you, then." She reached out to Cai, the amulet resting in the palm of her hand.
"Where did you get that?" Buffy and Angel gasped at the same time.
Willow glanced quickly between them, "I don't know..I just had it?" It was offered up lamely, but they seemed to accept it. She dumped the amulet in Cai's hand.
Cai frowned at the amulet, with a flick of his wrist, it was out of sight. "Guardian," He snorted, pining Buffy with a scowl. "Girl, you ARE blond! Don't ya listen? I'm RETIRED! I busted my ass for 700 years as Guardian, I'm finito! I've collected ma pension cheque, and I'm gonna buy myself a nice little shack and rot nicely. I'll give myself a few decades to check out the changes of the last seventy years, and then, I'm gonna croak. It'll be great!"
"Oh dear," Giles muttered, anticipating the Slayer's temper. Strangely, it never struck. There simply wasn't time. Cai spun on heel faster than Buffy could respond and tossed his staff to Xander, who caught in defensively.
"You'll need that, boy!" Cai chortled, and then scampered for the door. "See ya!" And was gone.
"Not in this lifetime," Buffy muttered under her breath. Ms. Calendar, Angel and Giles seemed amused. She scowled at the door, before turning that scowl on the three of them. "What's so amusing?"
Angel grinned, "Nothing. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm just relieved that this is all over." The vampire pulled away from the table he'd been leaning against. "And if everyone will excuse me, I'd better get going. There's maybe an hour or two before sunrise."
Buffy whipped around to look at the clock. "Oh shit! Mom's going to have my head!"
Xander groaned theatrically, "Your mom? My mom's going to replay the Spanish Inquisition with me." The teen sighed a deep anguished breath. "I hope you'll all attend my funeral..."
Willow punched him in his arm. "You're Mom won't kill you. By now, she won't even recognize you, she hasn't seen you for so long."
The trio wandered to the doors, following the vampire. Willow casually dropped her hands into the track pants pockets. She froze feeling her left hand close around something cold, metallic and round. Discretely, she pulled the amulet back out of her pocket. *How...?*
"Willow?" Buffy startled Willow back to reality, the girl quickly stuffed the amulet back into the pocket, unseen by the others.
"Yeah?" A small frown dotted on her face, she watched Xander spinning the wooden stave around narrowly hitting a cringing Angel.
"How come you aren't worried about your folks?" Buffy asked. "I mean, you aren't even wearing the clothes you started out in."
"Oh, I can't speak for everyone else, but my Mom trusts me implicitly." Willow said loftily. " Besides, I left my window open. I'm just going to climb into my room through my window."
Xander smiled evilly. "Jump over your fence, Willow. It's faster that way."
************************The End ************************
So concludes this story...but, be warned..it ain't over yet! The Sequel will be forthcoming!
Comments and thoughts are sought, please, spare a moment and let me know what you've thought of this work! Strengths, weaknesses and just plain praise are graciously accepted!
Cheers!
--Anya
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