Nusac

Chapter 17

Faith’s POV

“Faith would you please calm down.” I believe that is the third time Nam has said that to me since I got back about half an hour ago. I have been pacing and still am.

I stand still by the window and take a couple of deep breaths and then sit down at the table where Namine has placed a beaker of water.

“What happened over there?” She asks taking a seat across from me.

“I just got a little angry is all, this guy was all up in my face… I don’t know I think he might be pulling some strings or something to keep me out of the way.”

“Well they just want you to do what you’ve already been doing right?”

I take a gulp of water and nod. “Yeah they do, people can come to me and I help them I get to kill all the evils and stuff… its just… I don’t know Nam there was something way weird about that Abbas guy and that place too.”

Again Namine looks away when I mention Abbas and again I let it slide without asking. “Doing what they ask isn’t going to interfere with anything, in fact they might be able to lend some assistance. I don’t see the problem.”

“Nam you know me, I cant just shut off from this… something was weird… I just cant place what it was.”

She takes a breath and looks around the room as if the answer will spring out from one of the walls or something. “Well lets start with the building then…”

“It was obviously a ritualistic place or something… there were these symbols and this sound outside, it was like a buzzing sound and the air around the place was like electric… sort of statically charged or something like just before a thunder storm.”

I look back towards Namine after I finish explaining and she seems troubled by this information. “You could feel it? You could feel the power in the stones?”

“You mean when I touched them… yeah it was… freaky.”

Namine smiles at this piece of information and reaches out for one of her books on the shelf, she places it open in front of me.

I look blankly at the book, ooh pictures are good… okay so there are some stones in a circle. This time Namine gets the blank look.

“The stones…” she begins to explain sitting next to me. “… are what the round building were made of, they were once out in the forest. Legend tells of powerful witches going to the stones to receive and recharge their powers they are said to have been full of good natural power, the gods blessed them millennia ago.” She turns a page in the book and points to another picture, this time of hooded figures around the stones with what I assume are slaves moving and cutting the stones. “The story goes that a few centuries ago the stones were moved and made into the round building where they lost most of their power and now they provide protection for all who are within the circle. Only those with power can sense the stones beginnings, the charge of power you felt…” And then she stops speaking.

“Care to finish that sentence?” I ask.

“The power you felt means that you yourself have power, magical abilities…”

“Well yeah… I am a slayer.” I reply looking confused.

Namine takes the book and puts it back on the shelf. “Being a slayer might have something to do with it.” I hate it when she starts to talk to herself like I’m not even in the room. “Could be where you can draw the magical energy. Or even where you could store it.” Her fingers are still absentmindedly stroking the spine of the book she just returned to the shelf.

“Meaning what exactly?” I don’t like cutting in when she gets like this, experience tells me that she can get cranky when I do but this is something about me. I deserve to know or at least to understand.

She pulls herself out of her own little world and turns to me. “The stones that make that building have a deep seated magic running through them. Most people can’t hear or feel its power unless they call to you.”

Now I’m confused. “They’re just rocks Nam. How can they call to me?” Last time I checked inanimate objects didn’t have voices.

“Not the rocks themselves but what’s inside them. One magic calling to another.”

“So what you’re trying to say is that I have magical ability. Not just the super strength thing but like moving stuff with my mind kind of thing or making fire balls in my hands or something.” I look down at my hands and wonder if that sort of thing would hurt.

“Along those sorts of lines yes.” She sits down at the table opposite me. “If we could figure out what kind of gifts you carry we could…” She does carry on I’m just not listening.

I’m scared. I’d never tell her that but what’s going to happen if I tell you? I already have ‘super powers’ and I managed to kill a guy who was just standing in my way. I didn’t know he was human but I still killed him.

That’s just my reckless nature and a stake. You add some seriously dangerous magic into that mix and we could be talking serial killer here. I’m already technically a serial killer. Even if I could be responsible with this we could be talking big destruction.

I look up across the table she’s still talking about it. She’s really exited about it. Can’t she see what I can do with this? She just has way too much faith that I’m not going to go off the deep end again. Hey done it once here, don’t want to do it again but nothing is impossible.

I need to get her off this subject. I should be able to do this. I mean I spent quite a bit of time with Buffy Summers the queen of changing subject. Especially if you wanted to ask her something about Angel. Just need to remember what she did all the time to change the subject. If memory serves she pushed one of my buttons. Started to talk about something that she knew I didn’t want to talk about.

“Who’s Abbas?” Well that worked, she froze mid sentence.

She stands for a second like a statue not moving, not even looking like she’s breathing. “I know what you are doing Faith and I am not letting this slide.”

Ooh cutting down my change of subject with another… well, well, well she learns fast.

“Now we need to get you all charged up…” She says to herself.

“What you gonna do, plug me into the wall?”

I get a confused look in return for my smart-ass remark. “Why would I put you in the wall?”

“Never mind…”