Conjuring Tomorrow

Heather Martin

Chapter 3

The conversation with Willow was short and sweet. Dawn hung up the phone and turned toward Buffy. “Willow’s on her way,” she declared.

Just then, a steamy mist arose in the room. Buffy jumped back, going into a battle stance. The vapor cleared and Willow assembled in its place.

“Hey, guys!”

Dawn gaped. “When you said you’d be here in a jiffy . . .”

Buffy let herself relax. “Nice party trick, Wills.” She smiled and gave the witch a hug. Dawn got in on the action as well.

“Sorry about the Anya impersonation,” Willow said. There was an awkward silence. “I just . . . It sounded important and . . .” She frowned. “I had to get away from Kennedy ASAP. I sort of bailed.”

“Oh,” Buffy said. She could understand why someone would need distance from the brat. She decided to be polite and kept her dislike to herself. “Are you guys having problems? I’ve been such a bad friend lately. I don’t know what you’ve been dealing with.”

Willow shook her head. “No, I’m the bad friend! I haven’t called in ages.”

“But I didn’t give you a reason to call,” Buffy insisted.

Rolling her eyes, Dawn said, “I’ll settle this. You’ve both been bad friends. Let’s move on, shall we?”

They all smiled.

“Missed you bunches of bunch,” Willow said.

They shared another group hug. Buffy closed her eyes, a sense of home washing over her, but then she realized there was someone missing. She pulled back.

“Have you heard from Xander?” Buffy asked.

Willow’s face darkened. “No. Just the one letter.”

“He’s still playing Tarzan then? What is it with men running off to the jungle when things get rough?” Buffy muttered.

Last word they’d received, Xander was doing some soul searching in Africa of all places. Soul searching? Interesting choice of words, Buffy thought, as her mind traveled to another person who’d done the same thing there- quite literally.

“Riley,” Willow said with understanding.

Buffy was about to falsely nod when Dawn said, “I think she was referring to Spike.”

There was another awkward silence, similar to the one after mentioning Anya’s name. Buffy looked down at her clasped hands. For a moment she forgot the news she’d received. Her heart squeezed in her chest, but then the vise loosened and she lifted her eyes. He was alive. There was no need for this mourning session the three of them were performing.

“Spike’s alive,” Buffy declared.

“Wh- Buffy . . . I don’t . . .” Willow stammered.

“He’s been alive for months apparently,” Dawn said with hurt.

“Working for Wolfram and Hart,” Buffy included dryly.

Willow snatched Buffy’s arm. “Buffy, oh my God! You’ve got to go to him!”

“Huh?” Buffy blinked.

“We can handle things here with Andrew. I can beam you to where he is.”

Why was Willow acting so eager for her to reunite with Spike? She’d tried to show little more than lost comrade mourning for the vampire. Had she failed?

“I know you love him, Buffy,” Willow confirmed.

Buffy froze. For some reason the thought of her friends knowing about her feelings frightened the hell out of her. The first inclination she had was to deny it, but she’d promised herself that was done with.

“How did you know?” she finally questioned.

“I’m not a doofus,” Willow said with a laugh. “I caught on back with your date with Principle Wood. ‘Why does everybody think I’m still in love with Spike?’ ring any bells?”

“Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.” She found it hard to breath. She made it to the couch and sat down.

“Are you okay?” Dawn asked, worried.

“I’m not sure,” Buffy choked.

“I’m okay with it. It’s Xander you got to worry about, not me,” Willow assured. “Not that I’m going to become a member of the Spike fanclub today.” She gave her resolve face. “He hid from you. Big meanie vamp.”

“Moron,” Dawn added.

Buffy leaned heavily into the cushions. She needed support. “Yeah.”

“But despite that, needing to go, now.” Willow did some gestures with her hands. Buffy assumed they were supposed to represent her heading off to Las Angeles.

Buffy sat up. She shook her head. “No.”

“What?” Dawn and Willow chimed.

“No,” Buffy repeated. “I’ll deal with Spike later. He’s waited a year to tell me he’s been back; he can sure wait a few more days for me to clear my head over it.”

“Not such a bad idea,” Dawn said. “You making him all dusty again would defeat the purpose of knowing he’s back.”

After a moment, Buffy decided it was time to get to business. Need to get my mind off this betrayal, she thought.

Buffy pointed to her sister. “So, little miss key here, made a portal that sucked Andrew up.”

Willow widened her eyes. “I’m really impressed. I don’t have portals down yet.”

“Um, neither do I,” Dawn said. “It was an oops. Please help.”

“I’ll try. Do you have any idea where you sent him. Any idea at all?”

“I was really mad. I’m thinking some place with lots of mayhem and chaos.”

Buffy crossed her arms. “I better grab my weapons then.”

Willow sighed. She moved the coffee table and sat down in the center of the room, Indian-style. She placed her palms up on her knees. “We’re going to have to do this the hard way. Which is going to take awhile, I’m afraid. Better make some coffee.”

“What do you have to do?” Dawn asked, her voice wavering. She looked genuinely sorry about the Andrew thing for the first time.

“I have to go through each dimension one-by-one.”

“What!?” squeaked Dawn.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, Dawnie,” Willow said. “I don’t have to check the human inhabitable ones.” Willow paused and bit her lip. “Or do I?”

Dawn began to pace in a panic. “What have I done?” she cried.

“Calm down,” Buffy demanded.

“Calm down? Calm down! I’ve killed him!” Dawn shrieked. At the sight of Dawn’s tear-streaked face, Buffy rushed to her side. She stilled her, crushing her body to hers.

“You don’t know this,” Buffy said.

Dawn’s lips wobbled. “But I could have. I didn’t mean to. Honest. I was just mad. He lied to us.”

“I know, honey.”

Dawn clung to Buffy. “I wish I knew where I sent him.” She squeezed her eyes shut.

The air crackled. A green glow sparked before Willow. The witch scooted back with a yelp.

“Well, if wishes were horses,” Buffy said, turning Dawn around.

Dawn opened her eyes and gasped.

The vortex spun like a whirlpool suspended in thin-air. Willow stood up and gave it great consideration.

“It’s kind of pretty,” Willow said.

Which was true. Once in awhile Buffy thought she caught a fleck of gold in the mass.

“Wish me luck,” Buffy said.

“I don’t think so!” Dawn said. “If anyone is going, it’s me.”

“Your job is to create these things, not jump through.”

“And that worked out so well before.”

“Um, guys . . .” Willow said.

Both girls switched attention to the portal. It had begun to loose intensity.

“How do you know it’s the same one Andrew is in?” Dawn challenged.

“Going to find out.”

“I change my mind. Let’s leave him there.”

Buffy searched Dawn’s gaze. “You know I can’t do that.”

“What if- What if I can’t get you out?”

Buffy touched Dawn’s cheek. “I believe in you.”

And with that, Buffy stood face to face with the portal. It wasn’t as large now and had lost velocity. There wasn’t much time. Buffy held her breath and leapt through. Here goes nothing, she thought.

________


“Would you like another cookie?”

“Mmm, yes please!”

Buffy tumbled onto something that felt very much like linoleum. “Oomph.”

“Oh, no, it’s the mean Buffy!”

Buffy lifted her head, trying to control the wooziness. She let her eyes focus . . . on Andrew . . . and herself?