Walking Shadows
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
As she watched the last of the magical whirlwind snatch Willow and Buffy-Bot away Tara made a desperate grab for the orb, scrambling down to the cupboard it had rolled under. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she spotted it intact.
What now? Dammit! Have to think!
She got to her feet, clutching the precious orb in both hands. Suddenly a thought came to her and she stared at the crystal in horror, white panic taking over.
Everyone who has touched this thing has been sucked into some hell dimension!
Quickly she emptied a bunch of trinkets off a padded cushion on a nearby display case, placing the orb carefully on top. She The orb sat benignly, glowing brightly from within, mocking her.
"Are you inside there Willow?" She whispered. "Are you stuck there, watching me?" Just that thought made her want to reach out and touch the smooth surface, is if somehow by mere thought she could pull her beloved out from within it. She resisted, painfully tearing her eyes away.
What a mess, she thought bitterly. If only I'd never sent that demon guy to the Magic Box. If only I'd gotten here sooner. If only they'd believed me when I said he was dangerous.
Tara began to pace backwards and forwards between the table and the counter, the movement helping her to think. All the events of the day came rushing back with crushing clarity. If only she knew what had happened just before she arrived at the Magic Box. What had that weird guy done to suck all the others away somewhere?
Helplessly, she looked at the piles of books lying around that she and Willow had been studying for most of the day. They seemed to mock her too, their pages containing reams of random knowledge about all the doings of the underworld, and nothing that could help her.
Water water everywhere…
There's a missing link here somewhere… what's it going to take to find it?
On top of the pile of magic books a large, black volume stared up at her. Golgaran's Diaries. She read the brass inscription and shivered. Some warlock who'd existed in the twelfth century. She'd heard all about him. Ritual sacrifices, necromancy, temporal distortion. Black magick.
Not in a million years would she ever have considered casting something from that book. It was one of those things you read if someone did something nasty to you and you needed to know what it was. It's light reading for Willow. She would know what to do. She'd just pick up a spell book and cast something, anything, if it looked like it would do any good.
Tara walked over and hefted the volume, feeling the weight of it in her arms, fingering the cover nervously.
She does things to help! What do I do? Prepare lectures in my head about what magick is or isn't supposed to be. How is that going to help Willow and the others now?
That book wasn't even the worst one. There were others, piles and piles of them, strewn all over the floors and hidden in the various shelves and cupboards of the Magic Box. Darkest magicks, summoning chronicles, other diaries of warlocks and witches who existed hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago. She'd barely even glanced at them over the years when she needed to for research, but she knew Willow had read them all. Probably cover to cover, absorbing their knowledge and power into her being. All in search of a way to bring Buffy back.
And for herself, to augment her own power. She admitted, cringing. It was something she had never permitted herself to think about before, not with such certainty anyway. She needs to be powerful to do the kind of magick she's talking about. She needs to read these spells, to perform the rituals, become stronger.
Tara shook her head in frustration. Who cares about any of that? I need to do something, to bring Willow home. We can worry about that other stuff later!
She opened the volume slowly, flinching as the spine crackled loudly from age and lack of use. Eyes creased in concentration, she sat down roughly on the floor cradling the spell book on crossed knees. So many what ifs, she thought. Well there has to be something in here that can take me back there, to change time, to undo what's happened. It was my fault. I need to put it right.
Her heart felt sick as she read the lists of spells in the book. Every one of the incantations had the potential to seriously harm her, or someone else, or even the world in general. She wondered if Willow ever looked at that stuff, the big warnings in the red lettering, or if she just had this supreme confidence that everything was just going to work out fine.
Right then, it didn't really matter.
She began reading. As she absorbed the text the Magic Box telephone began ringing loudly in the background, disrupting her fragile concentration. She tried to ignore it, focussing on the words on the page. Ambulo. Repero. Conor. Umbras alo…
The phone rang on, insistently, boring into her brain. Oh for crap's sake, just go away, we're closed!
It rang on. And on. And on.
Ambulo. Repero. Conor. Umbras alo. Temporem muto. Dicto meo parat… Hell!
She flung a weary hand upwards. Up on the desk the receiver was knocked roughly from its cradle. The ringing finally stopped. Nodding her head in satisfaction she went back to her book. The words were just beginning to make sense. Now that she'd looked at it more closely, it didn't seem so difficult after all.
••••
"There's no answer. I thought she picked up but then there was nothing." Willow slammed the phone back down. "We need to get to the Magic Box. She's probably going crazy with worry."
"Let me go." Buffy-Bot chirped happily. "I can run faster than either of you."
Willow shook her head. "You're injured. We can't have you running around the streets with an exposed wire hanging out of your arm. Some vampire might see it." She fussed with Buffy-Bot's sweater, trying to cover the damaged arm as best she could. The fabric had torn away leaving a gaping hole.
Spike stared down at the robot, unable to hide his disgust. "Well, we're not going to get there any faster if we hang around blabbering all night. Let's go." He stalked away up the road, jacket billowing behind him. Willow followed, dragging a pouting Buffy-Bot behind her. "And while we're walking you can fill me in on whatever mess it is you've gotten yourselves into this time." He called out.
Willow pulled a face. "It wasn't me. It was Anya! If she wasn't so caught up in making money all the time she wouldn't have insisted on showing the demon guy the orb and then all hell wouldn't have broken loose."
Spike half-turned, looking irritably over his shoulder. "From the beginning! What demon guy?"
Willow sighed. "Well, he came into the Magic Box this morning looking for this special orb…"
••••
"Hello?" Dawn stepped through the door of the Magic Box, picking her way along in the darkness. Some remnants of flickering candlelight shown through from up ahead, past the first rows of shelves. "Hello? Is anyone here?"
"In here Dawnie." Tara half-whispered.
Dawn walked over to the far wall and flicked on the light. "Tara? What's wrong?"
Tara sat cross legged against the counter, her head resting back, eyes closed. "Nothing, just thinking."
"What are you thinking about? And where is everyone?" Dawn looked down at Tara, concerned.
Tara laughed softly, the humour not reaching her eyes. "I can't answer either of those questions in under ten minutes."
"Try me." Dawn insisted.
"Well…" Tara began, hauling herself to her feet and dumping the ancient volume she was holding unceremoniously on the floor. "I was thinking how useless I feel, sitting here not having the guts to try a spell that could save everyone's lives. Of course, if anything goes wrong it could also rip apart the shreds of space and time and destroy all the good parts of my brain. But that's just a minor point."
Dawn stared up at her, panicked. "What do you mean, save everyone's lives? Where did everybody go?"
Tara pushed Dawn aside gently. She glanced over at the orb, her tired eyes throbbing. "Dawnie, I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain. I have to figure out something less perilous I can do to try and help."
"Tara what's going on?" She demanded, pulling Tara around to face her. "What's going on! Please, tell me!"
"Tara!" An urgent cry echoed around the store as three figures rushed through the open doorway of the Magic Box.
Tara looked up, her face alight with joy. "Willow? Oh my God, Willow!" She rushed across the floor and threw herself into Willow's waiting arms, clinging on for dear life. "I thought you were with Giles, stuck in some weird demon dimension, and I couldn't do anything to save you. I was going to try this spell but then I couldn't and oh my God Willow!" She clung tighter, releasing her pent up panic as large sobs.
Willow choked back her own sobs of relief. "See sweetie, I'm not the only one who babbles."
"I'm so glad you're all right. I thought…"
"Ssssh, it's OK. Everything is OK." Willow whispered. She leaned back and kissed Tara on the lips, cheeks, forehead before pulling her close again. "I'm here now, baby."
Spike weaved his way past the two women as they embraced, throwing a casual arm around Dawn's shoulders. "How's it going, nibblet?"
She looked up at him, his smiling face a strange contrast to the angst of the moment. "Will somebody please tell me what's going on?"
"Seems Watcher boy, Captain Stupid and his pet demon have gotten themselves into a bit of a pickle. We have to help them out." Spike summarised, yawning dramatically.
Dawn's eyes went wide with shock. "And what's all that about?" She pointed to the sobbing Tara in Willow's arms. Willow still held her close, reassuring her gently, smoothing back tangled strands of hair.
"Oh that?" Spike drawled. "False alarm."
Dawn looked at him blankly, not even pretending to understand. "Right."
Spike let go of Dawn and wandered over to the counter. He spotted the orb resting on the table and stopped suddenly, eyes captured. "Hey Red? Don't you think we ought to do something about this orb now then?"
Willow looked up. Letting go of Tara was not an option. Tara clung to her tightly, resisting any small efforts Willow made to loosen the iron grip.
"Do you recognise it?" She called out.
"Not in the slightest. Looks like every other bloody orb I've ever seen. Except…"
Tara's ears pricked up. She wiped a hand messily across her tear streaked face, taking deep gulps of air to try and collect herself. "Spike, can you see it?"
"If you're talking about what's inside of this thing… yeah, I can see it." He mumbled, taking a step back from the table. His sensitive ears almost hummed as he looked into the depths of the crystal. "There's something alive in there."
The Buffy-Bot walked over and stared curiously, head cocked slightly to one side. "Like an insect?"
"N-no." Tara finally loosened both arms from around Willow, stepping back reluctantly. Willow grabbed her hand for reassurance. "I think it's a s-soul." She murmured, still swallowing back the last of her tears.
"A soul? In there?" Dawn whispered. "Where? I don't see anything."
Willow led Tara over to the table and sat her down on the only chair not covered in books, placing a protective arm lightly around her shoulders, unwilling to lose contact even for a moment. "We think we've got it figured out." She looked down at Tara. "When the Buffy-Bot said Spike's name, we got flung over to his crypt. Can't say I liked the landing too much." She moved her shoulder painfully. "She got taken to the one she called out for, and she just took me along for the ride."
"And that guy you all had the displeasure of meeting up with this morning, chances are he was looking for someone." Spike said, still eyeing the orb with uncertainty. "The others just got taken along."
"Kinda like inter-dimensional hitch hikers." Willow finished with a wry smile.
Tara looked up at Spike's face, worried by the haunted look in his eyes. "But the person who uses the orb needs to call someone on the other side?"
"Not just anyone." Spike replied, finally glancing up from the orb. "She came to me for a reason." He pointed at Willow, scowling at the Buffy-Bot. "And you were supposed to fix that."
"And I will. But if it hadn't been for her we might never have figured this out." She flashed the Buffy-Bot a reassuring smile.
The robot grinned back innocently. "I like to help."
"I don't get it." Tara shook her head.
"Neither do I." Dawn echoed, shouldering her way into the conversation. "Then again, since nobody is telling me anything, that's hardly surprising."
"You need to call for someone you love." Willow explained, leaning over to pick up the orb from its cushion. "Then the orb will take you right there. No matter where they are, whether its down the street or in another plane of existence."
Tara recoiled instinctively as she watched Willow holding the crystal. "So the souls call to each other?"
"Souls?" Spike stared into the orb again, almost hypnotised by it. "No. I don't think that's what's in there."
"What else could it be?" Willow wondered. She stared closer, frowning curiously.
"Little inanimate things like this don't usually have a soul. At least not that I've heard of." He concentrated on the speck of light within the ball. "I think this is... a heart."
Tara went wide-eyed. "A heart? Or the essence of love?"
"Like the call of true love?" Dawn added wistfully. "That sounds romantic."
"Let's not get too Sleepless in Seattle just yet, but yeah." Spike replied.
Willow's frown deepened. "What makes you think that?"
Spike shrugged "Just a hunch. I mean, Angelus aside, things tend to need life to have a soul of some kind." He hesitated, looking away from Willow's searching gaze. "But you don't need a soul to feel love." He pointed at the Buffy-Bot. "Hell, look at her, you obviously don't even need to be real."
Willow put the orb back on its cushion. "And so you don't see that spark inside the orb unless you hold it and feel real love towards someone."
"Something like that." He looked away again.
"And it has to be romantic love." Tara put in quickly. "Friendship or family or anything like that won't cut it. That would explain why Dawn can't see anything."
"Passion." Spike said simply. He turned to Tara. "That's what you need to use it." He moved to the opposite side of the room from the Buffy-Bot, refusing to look at it. She stared at him, face drooping.
Tara's eyes lit up. "So we've been looking at this from the wrong angle?"
"Exactly." Willow replied. "We need to find the person he called for. Not the orb, or the demon guy himself."
Tara sighed. "But whoever it was, they could be anywhere."
"I'd say they're probably in Hawaii, sunning it up." Dawn joked, earning a stern glare from Willow. She retreated over to sit near the Buffy-Bot.
"I'd say he called for another demon." Spike said firmly. "No one with the hots for some human bothers to go to all that trouble. There are lots of easier ways to get a date."
Tara looked at Willow. "Can you remember the name that guy called out to work the orb?"
Willow screwed up her nose, reaching back into the depths of her memory. "A-something. Dammit!" She thought hard. "Akasa? Akana? Acathla? No…wait…Akasha!"
"Yay for the eidetic memory." Tara smiled proudly.
"Akasha?" Spike repeated. "Do you have the Theosophus Arcana?"
"We do! It's here somewhere. I saw it this afternoon." Tara jumped up, heading upstairs to the bookshelves.
"You know her? Who is she?" Willow asked.
"Second-level demon. Generally a bit shy, but sexy as all hell. Doesn't usually come down here much unless she's called. Looks great in black lace." Spike grinned. Tara returned quickly with the book and handed it to him. He opened it, flipping quickly through the pages. "Here we go. Lives in her own pseudo-dimension, some kind of huge castle."
"So how do we get there?" Willow asked.
Spike pointed at a passage in the book and handed it to Willow. "Pretty easy. There's an incantation to take you right to her."
"I still don't get it. If it's so easy to travel to where she is, why did that demon guy go to all that trouble to find the orb?" Tara asked, confused.
Willow scanned to the end of the spell. "I think I know why. This isn't as easy as it looks. Only a high-powered witch or pretty hefty demon types could perform this spell." She looked up. "We all just assumed he was a demon. Maybe he was just a regular guy? Human."
Tara blinked. "So, he's a human in love with a demon?"
"Wouldn't be the first time." Spike replied softly.
"So, I need to do this spell to get myself there." Willow stated. "It'll take some time, its pretty tricky, and I'm a bit drained.... And then I need to get all of us back out."
Tara smiled softly. She picked up the orb and handed it to Willow, folding her lover's hands gently around it. "No problem. Take this with you. When you need to come home, just call to me."
[Latin translation: I walk. I crawl. I struggle. I feed the dark. I change time. It obeys my orders.]