Stuck In Overdrive (2/7)

CHAPTER 2

Visitations In Real-Time.

Willow walked into her room and closed the door behind her quietly. She removed her jacket and dropped it over the back of the her chair and stretched her arms out, yawning. Still stretching, she glanced at the clock. 12.43 PMread the glaring digital display.

Willow closed her eyes.

She opened them sharply. Her pupils contracted from the daylight streaming in through the window.

6:45 AM.

"What the f.."

--------------------------------

Jenny Calendar walked out of the library sleepily. Recently she’d had trouble just resting at all, and she was exhausted. The developing circles under her eyes attested to that, and the slight shuffle in her usually confident stride betrayed her façade of power. She turned her head to the side as a student went storming past her.

"Hey! Ca-" Her sentence ended with an off sound as a girl dressed in black with shining red hair collided with her. The both fell to the floor, along with numerous books, pens, and stakes. Dazed slightly, Miss Calendar propped herself up on her elbows and blew hair out of her eyes.

"Willow!" She said, half-concerned, half-irate. "Are you okay?"

"Miss Calendar, oh, I-I’m s..sorry." Willow apologised, blinking afew times. Jenny could almost see the cartoon birds flying around her head.

"It’s okay sweetie, here, let me help." She said, getting up and helping the younger girl to pick up her things…her weapons? Jenny held up the wooden, pointy stick and handed it over. Slayer, her mind screamed. Jenny ignored it.

"It’s okay, I can manage." Willow said, then realised she was a little to brusque. "Sorry, I’m…just not used to…I’ve gotta go, class." She said, quickly retreating. Jenny sighed, Willow seemed to be such a nice girl when she first met her, so vibrant, so full of life. Now she seemed like a closed box. The gypsy looked at the retreating girl and reached out with her Magick, taughtto her by her mother. She reached Willow and began to probe inwards. Such a measure was an invasion of privacy, Jenny knew, and she’d no doubt have very bad karma for a while to come, but she needed to know what was going on with the girl. She’d noticed light bruising on her face and arms, almost undetectable but to her. She probed with her mind and for a second, she caught a glimpse of what was inside Willow. A gaping chasm had been torn, no, torn was the wrong word. Ripped out was the right adjective to use. Something had been lost to her, irretrievably. She was about to go deeper when she was suddenly thrown out.She clutched the side of her face, the skin stinging as if she’d been slapped. Willow stopped, as if thinking about turning around, but walked straight on. Jenny stared after her until she rounded the corner, then turned back and re-entered the library. She and Mr. Giles were going to have a small chat.

The doors swung open and Jenny darted in.

"Rupert?" She called out.

"Jenny?" Came a muffled reply from underneath the counter. It was followed a second later by a crash, and the rattling of objects on the surface. "Bloody hell!" Giles resurfaced, rubbing the back of his head. Jenny winced, that was gonna swell. "How can I help you?"

"Is Willow the Slayer?" Jenny asked, folding her arms and adopting an aggressive stance. May as well open up with the big guns. She saw Rupert’s eyes grow wide for just a short millisecond, then he regained his composure.

"I…I don’t know what you’re talking about." He said, busying himself with stacking some already-stacked books.

"Come on Rupert, you’re a terrible liar." Jenny said, pressing forward. She wasn’t going to let him off the hook this time.

"How do you know about the Slayer?" He asked, his voice suddenly heavy with…with what, anger? No, that wouldn’t be Rupert. Regret perhaps?

"My people have known about the Slayer for centuries, Rupert." Jenny replied, brushing the question off.

"Your people?"

"I’m…a member of the Romani Clan." Jenny said. Somehow this had come back to her.

"Gypsies…" Rupert said, at a loss for words.

"Yes. Look Rupert, there’ll be time for tears and recriminations later, right now the issue at hand is Willow." Giles exhaled and replaced his glasses onthe bridge of his nose, having given them a good rubbing.

"Before you say it, Willow should be, and is willing to do this. It is her duty, her calling. She has accepted that, and I don’t expect you to."

"I understand that duties of the Slayer, although I may not agree with them, that’s not why I’m here now. What I want to know is what happened to her. Just now, I felt…emptiness from her. Like she’d lost...I don't know...a part of herself irretrievably." Jenny neglected to tell Giles about the magick, maybe keeping it as an ace up her sleeve might be wise.

"I’m not sure if Willow would appr…" Giles began, but was cut off.

"I’m sure she wouldn’t, that doesn’t matter. Dammit Rupert that girl needs help. Will you help me help her or get in my way?" Caught like a deer in the headlights, Giles shifted uncomfortably, but finally wilted with a sigh anda vigorous rubbing of his glass lenses.

"Come to my office, we have a lot to talk about."

By the time she left, an hour later, a plan was already formulating in her brain. Don’t worry Willow, she thought, it’ll all be over soon.

---------------------

‘Hello?’

‘Hey, It’s Janna.’

‘Janna…is there a problem.’

‘Not really…there could be. I need your help.’

‘Anything you need, daughter’

‘Come to my apartment, bring Alexis and Dmitri.’

‘We’ll be there this evening. I’ll see you then.’

‘Goodbye Father’

Jenny hung up the telephone and turned to Giles.

"They’re on their way." Giles nodded, his brow knit in concentration.

"This is for the best." She said, placing a hand on his arm. She nodded.

"I know. It just doesn’t feel…right…" He said, sighingin defeat, again.

"She’s needed. It has to be done." She replied, trying to soothe him. He just nodded again.

"I’ll be at yours when school finishes." The younger adult was about to say something, but thought against it. Instead she picked up her jacket and left the library again. She was already late for her CS lesson.

-------------------------

Willow walked back into the library, for the third time that day. Giles was sitting at the table in the centre in…a business suit?

"Hey Giles…" Willow said approvingly. "Nice threads."

"Yes, um, thank you." Giles said, getting up and pulling out a seat for Willow. And they say chivalry’s dead. "My threads are…quite adequate."

"What’s the big occasion?" She asked. The older man returned to his seat.

"I’m…meeting a friend’s family later." Giles stuttered, seemingly annoyed with the question. Willow smiled and cocked one eyebrow, twirling a lock ofher hair around one black fingernail.

"This friend wouldn’t happen to be a dark haired Computer Studies teacher would it?" She asked with a sly hint to her voice. Giles’ blush gave her the answer she knew was coming.

"Yes…um, anyway, Willow, the reason I called you here is in this box." He brought the object to his lap and shifted his chair forward so they were opposite each other. Willow gasped when she saw the box. It was ornate, to say the least. The front panel was decorated with a swirling pattern, hand carved into the wood. In the centre was an emblem, with an incredibly detailed and meticulously carved letter ‘W’ with the letter ‘S’ looped around it. The lid of the chest was just as heavily decorated, with a wood carving of the sun rising over two figures, one obviously a girl, another a man at her side. The girlwas carrying a sword. Giles passed the box over to Willow. "Open it." He said, with a faint smile on his lips. Her callused finger slipped the latch on the lock open whilst her hand pushed upwards. The lid rested half open on the table whilst Willow took in the contents. Red silk lined the inside of the box, concealing soft padding underneath. In the centre of the box, surrounding by the silk, was a shrouded object. Willow picked it up gently and set the box up on the table. Gingerly, she unwrapped the linen shroud that covered the object. She gasped again as it came into view and the afternoon sun caught it. The handle was made out of gold, silver, and platinum. It had the same swirling pattern as on the box. The hilt of the dagger was also decorated on both sides with the emblem that was on the box. Lifting the weapon out of the shroud and placing the linen on the table, Willow grasped the handle properly and admired the blade. It was long, at least seven inches. One side was sharpened almost to perfection. Willow absent mindedly ran her thumb along the blade edge, testing the workmanship. She hissed and withdrew her hand as the blade bit into her skin. She was too busy looking at her injured thumb to notice that the blood on the metal was absorbed into the blade. Just as the last drop disappeared, she turned her gaze back to the knife.

"Giles…it…it’s beautiful…" Willow said in awe, at a loss for words.

"It was my father’s." Giles said, also looking at the dagger, but not in the same way that Willow was. It was as if he was looking at a memory. "He gaveit to his Slayer. When she…well, you know, he passed it on to me. He said that when I thought it was time, I should give it to mine. Of course, being the age Iwas I wanted nothing to do with the council. I wanted to be a fighter pilot you see." Giles smiled at his childhood dream, then came back to reality. I’d like for you and Xander to come to my apartment tomorrow, if you could. I think it’s time you…it’s time you received some acknowledgement. For what you’ve done, for what you’ve sacrificed for humanity." Willow placed the dagger back on the shroud, wrapped it up again, and placed it back in the box reverently.

"Giles," She said, her voice breaking. "I don’t know what to say… This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me…" She stood up and hugged her Watcher. Her mentor. More than that, her Father. "Thank you."

"The pleasure is mine, Willow. The pleasure is mine."

------------------------------

School ended. The welcome bells rang for the last time of the week, signifying the end of another school week for some, the end of the day for others. For some, it was a marker that another minute had gone by.

For other’s still, it was almost a knell.

--------------------------------

Jenny opened the door to her apartment and embraced the aging man who stood there, flanked by two young, burly twenty-somethings.

"Father." She said respectfully.

"Janna." He replied.

"Thank you for coming, we’re almost ready."