Kathy's Revenge

Chapter 44
Jens POV

“What are you back down for?” I ask Willow as she walks into the living room where Andrew and me are curled up on the sofa watching T.V. After his valiant attempt to save Faith he got hurt. He only twisted his arm a bit but he gets cuddles and lots of sympathy anyway.

She walks over to the empty chair by the T.V and slumps down in it.

“The door’s locked.” She says pulling her feet up onto the chair.

“She probably just wants some time, I mean if that had happened to me I would.” I say sitting up.

“Yeah, she’s all Faith like, doesn’t like talking and stuff does she?” Andrew adds.

“Yeah I guess. I’m just worried about her is all.” Willow says.

“Just give her some time.” I say with a stretch.

“I suppose I could stay in Dawns room tonight then speak to her in the morning.” Willow says getting out of the chair.

She heads up the stairs and I don’t see her again until morning at breakfast.

I walk down the stairs still half asleep. I go into the kitchen and the smell of Andrew’s bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes and hash browns wakes me up slightly. What really does wake me up is Andrew handing me a cup of steaming hot coffee, giving me a kiss on the cheek. How the hell did I find him? He is like my perfect man. Gives me food and everything.

“Faith not down yet?” I ask Andrew as he flips a pancake.

“Nope.” He says deep in concentration.

I turn to see Willow coming down the stairs in some pyjamas, which I guess, are Buffys since they are pink and have paw prints over them.

“Where’s Faith?” She asks pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Not down yet.” I say before taking a big bite of pancake.

“I should go check on her… take her some food or something… she didn’t eat last night… she is probably wasting away by now.” Willow says standing up.

I wave her down before I swallow. “I’ll do it, you have some food.” She sits back down. I take a plate of food off the table and start to ascend the stairs.

I bang on the door to her room. “Yo Faith! I got some yummy food for ya!” I shout through the door.

Nothing. I change my voice so I am talking in a kind of singsong voice. “Andrew made it, it smells so good.” I take an audible sniff. “Mmm smells good!”

Again nothing. I knock louder on the door in case she is still sleeping. “FAITH! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!”

I finally get impatient. I take a deep breath and knock again. “Ohh fuck it!” I breathe out to myself. I kick the door right on the lock and it swings open banging on the wall.

I step into the room giving what I suspect is a quizzical look to the empty space inside.

I turn and leave the room heading back to the kitchen.

“She didn’t want my food?” Andrew asks with a layer of offence in his voice.

“She’s gone… the door was locked and the window open.” I say putting the plate down on the worktop.

We sit in silence for a while before Willow stands up. “I gotta go find her.” She says heading into the living room.

“You cant just go out there scouring the streets for her, she could be anywhere by now.” I say jogging after her.

“That’s what locator spells are for.” She says rummaging through a trunk under the window.

I watch as she pulls out loads of different vials, powders and jars full of weird looking stuff.

“I need a map.” She says looking up at me from the floor.

“What kind of map? The city or the state or the country?” I ask.

“All you can find, I’ll try the city first but she might have got further away by now.” She says pulling out something that looks suspiciously like a cauldron.

“Okay I’ll go look for some…” Okay so where the hell am I gonna find maps? I rummage around the house in various areas before Andrew suggests that I look in Oz’s car… well duh! How blonde am I being today?

I head back into the living room with the three maps in my left hand. Willow points to the floor so I kneel and lay out the city map on the carpet.

I zone out as Willow does the spell, it’s so boring… kicking ass is so much more fun than all the magic crap.

Willow blows the power she has made over the map and immediately shit loads of little lights hover over various parts of the map.

“What’s that?” I ask pointing to a large cluster.

“I am so stupid!” She says sitting back on her knees. “I did it for slayers, I mean loads of slayers now! That big bit is where we are now, all the slayers in here make it all bright and stuff.”

“Cool.” I say looking over the cluster “So which one’s me?”

The map starts smoking and before I know what’s happening Willow is stamping out small flames that are emitting from the map where we are.

After the flames have died she holds up the map in front of her face and looks through the small hole in the centre where this house happens to be. “I don’t suppose that you found another map of the city in there did you?”

I shake my head no. How unhelpful am I?

She rubs her forehead with her thumb and forefinger and seems to be deciding on a plan of action. “Right okay.” I have no idea what’s going on here so don’t ask. She places the ruined map back down on the floor and runs up the stairs.

She’s back in moments holding a brush in her hand and a pestle and mortar in the other. She takes the powder she was using earlier and places it into the mortar and begins to crush it then stopping for a few moments taking the brush and rips some of the hairs out of it then crushes them into the powder. “Don’t worry about a map as she’s not here that little bit wont matter.

I give her a look.

“The hair makes the locator specific to Faith.” Ooh I get it now.

And she does the same spell all over again. I’m very pleased to say that only one small light appears on the map within one of the many cemeteries. Well I could have told you she’d be in one of those. Hello slayer. Where else is she going to go?

Willow then takes a large red pen and draws a small circle around the small light before it goes out. She then attempts to fold the map unsuccessfully; I take it from her and fold it while she gets our coats from the closet.

“Hurry up, she might move then we wont be able to find her.” She says opening the front door.

I grab Oz’s car keys from the table in the hallway and jog off after Willow. Willow drives as I navigate through the stupid one-way streets and back ally’s.

“Left here then go right on 5th.” I say pointing to the turnings as we go. We drive for a while longer, trying to negotiate tight corners and back streets only big enough for one car at a time. “Stop here, she should be around by that crypt.”

Willow stops the car and we both get out slamming the doors, this place is a dump, I mean trash everywhere, mausoleums and gravestones looking like they’re falling apart and the whole area smells like a urinal.

We scour the area shouting out Faiths name, we hear nothing but keep looking anyway.

“Jen!” Willow shouts from over by one of the dirty crypt.

I run over and see Faith lying on the floor covered in cuts and bruises with a lot of blood on her, I don’t know if it is hers or someone else’s. Willow is prodding her gently.

“Faith, honey… it’s me, Willow… wake up, what happened to you? Are you okay? Who did this?”

I give her a few minutes to try and wake her up before deciding to take matters into my own hands.

“Go open the car up.” I say to Willow as I fling Faith over my shoulder. I walk back to the car still surprised at how strong I am, still not used to the slayer strength, its like having a stuffed animal over my shoulder not a person.

I place her on the back seat and we make our way back to the house. Xander and Oz come outside as we pull up in the driveway. I take Faith out of the car and make my way into the house, I lie her down on the couch trying to put her in a position that will be comfortable for her. Not that she can feel it right now.

Willow is fussing over her again, not that I would expect any less, if it was Andrew I would be doing the same thing.

People stream into the living room, all staring at her, obviously trying to figure out what happened.

As if on cue my cute little Andrew comes in and says what we all are thinking.

“What in the name of Sauron happened to her?”

Ok maybe not in those exact words.