Things UnseenBy Gidgetgirl
Chapter Five
When Lindsey opened the front door to the hotel lobby, he wasn’t sure what he expected to see. With the way things were going, for all he knew whatever magical whatsit had kidnapped the baby was after Hopie too, and considering the intensity of magic needed to pull a child away from his mother’s womb…Suffice to say, Lindsey half expected an apocalypse. What he did not expect to see was Hopie standing by herself in the middle of the lobby, surrounded by weapons, chatting happily to thin air.
“And this,” the little girl said, holding up a sword that was twice her size, “is a broad sword. It’s fun to swing it.” Hopie demonstrated by swinging it expertly back and forth.
The sight of the tiny girl swinging such a big sword still struck Lindsey as funny. Hopie set down the sword and picked up a glaive.
“And this,” she said loftily to the air, “is a glaive. I like glaives.”
Hopie paused as if listening and then finally nodded.
“You’re right,” she said, “glaives aren’t as much fun as crossbows cause they don’t make cool sounds.” Hopie picked up the crossbow and fired it expertly into the wall.
“Swshhhhh,” Hopie said joyfully, imitating the sound of the crossbow as it fired.
Lindsey cleared his throat, knowing quite well that the little girl was doing something she shouldn’t be.
Hopie looked at him, and an extremely innocent expression crept into her eyes. “Hiya, Uncle Lindsey,” she said solemly.
Lindsey squatted down next to the little girl. “You know you’re not supposed to play with anything except Crossbow and Claude by yourself,” he reminded her.
She gave him a very serious look. “I’m not alone,” she said, gesturing to the air. “Mr. D is playing with me.” Hopie got one of her rare stubborn expressions on her face, daring Lindsey to argue with her. He kept his mouth firmly closed, pulling the little girl into a hug and trying to control the anger exploding inside that someone had frightened her so badly that she had had to develop an imaginary protector.
Hopie wriggled a little, giggling. “Would you like to play weapons with us?” she asked Lindsey finally. “You can be the glaive.”
It was too generous of an offer to turn up.
Nicolaa thought her offer was more than generous. “I’ll stay here and cover for you,” she said, offering a final time. Someone has to take care of Chance, she thought, knowing the smallest girl couldn’t take care of herself. She voiced her concern. “If all three of us are gone, Travers will likely take it out on whoever is here,” she whispered to Kendall. The darker haired girl finally agreed. The last thing she wanted was to put Chance in danger by protecting Maddy.
Maddy sighed impatiently. “None of you has to come,” she said. “I can do the investigating all on my own.” She stuck her chin out a bit stubbornly. “It’s not as if anything bad could happen.”
“Can it, pipsqueak,” Kendall instructed. “Why should you get to have all of the fun?” Kendall’s palms were sweating a bit, thinking of the so-called “fun” in store for them, but there was no way she was letting Maddy travel the establishment alone at night. Besides, even if he didn’t find out, it would give Kendall pleasure to know that it would irk Travers that she was doing this.
He would never break her.
Maddy smiled wickedly. “Do you think he has a bastard child?” she asked happily. The two older girls both stared at Maddy.
Kendall rolled her eyes. Maddy was developing a serious love for shocking them with her language.
“I doubt it,” Nicolaa said. “Besides, what would that help?”
“Oh, it probably wouldn’t,” Maddy said seriously, “but wouldn’t it be scandalous?” Kendall rolled her eyes again. She didn’t know if anything she and Maddy could find would help release them from Travers’ fist.
“Absolutely scandalous,” Nic agreed in a rare, joking moment. The two older girls shared a quick glance. Maddy still seemed like a kid. It was refreshing.
Nic and Kendall had long since grown up, and Joss was, if anything, an eager to please teen. Chance was still little, but her exuberance was somewhat abated by her fear. Maddy was pure enthusiasm, pure energy.
“Maybe,” Maddy said in an afterthought, “he’s gay.”
Willow’s mouth dropped open, as she blatantly stared at the band playing on the stage. Oz.
Oz stared expressionless back at the girl. Willow, he felt a shock of start at the recognition. She looked different, older somehow, more world weary. Willow grabbed Wes’s arm with her right hand and she felt a calmness settle over her in the form of a comforting hand on her left shoulder. She turned her head slightly and noticed that no one was standing to that side.
Wes finally broke his eyes from the boy who was coming dangerously close to leering at his little sister. Well, maybe it wasn’t leering exactly, but it was definitely bordering on leaning, and that was bad enough. He turned his attention to the stage. Oh dear, he thought.
Understatement much? Willow asked him mentally. Then she too noticed Anni. A soft smile settled over her face.
Anni has a Jordy, she thought, forgetting to tune Wes out.
Jordy must die, Wes thought, equally uninhibited.
Willow rolled her eyes.
Anni hadn’t yet noticed the unfortunate circumstances looming over her small, slightly rebel, almost teenage shoulders. She took another sip of soda, smiling at Jordy. He tentatively reached across the table and took her hands in his. She felt her heart beat quicken.
“If you’d like to keep those hands, I suggest you bloody well keep them to yourself,” Spike said, interrupting the moment. “Sorry to interrupt you two little love birds, but…”
Anni cut him off. “Oh dear,” she said, spotting Wes.
Spike nodded. “Bloody right, oh dear,” he said. “Brother over there was under the distinct impression that you were at home asleep.”
Jordy looked at the peroxide tinted vampire, all awkwardness leaving his demeanor. “I’m Jordy,” he said, his voice not quivering in the least. “Who are you?” he shot Spike a very pointed look.
“This is Spike,” Anni said, “and Buffy,” she continued, acknowledging the slayer who had approached their table.
“Trellis?” Buffy asked, well aware of the myriad of possibilities that escape route offered.
Anni grinned sheepishly. “Maybe,” she mumbled in response.
“Wow, you actually have a trellis?” Jordy asked. “I’ve never seen one before.”
“You could see mine,” Anni offered, blushing when she realized how that sounded.
“Hey guys,” Anni said to Buffy and Spike, shooting them a poignantly hopeful look, “any chance you could run interference?” Buffy and Spike both looked at her incredulously.
“Well, one had to try,” Anni said, her British accent becoming more crisp than usual.
Wes was torn as Oz walked off the stage and towards Willow. On the one hand, he should be there with her when she confronted him. On the other hand, that, that boy was looking at his little sister as if she was very desirable. Didn’t the little hormone bomb realize that she was just a little kid? Hardly out of the nursery was Anni.
Willow snorted upon intercepting this train of thought, releasing the tension from her body. “Hi,” she said shyly to Oz, feeling like the timid high schooler she had been when they had first met.
“Hey,” Oz said. “Been up to much?”
“I tried to destroy the world,” Willow said conversationally.
Oz looked around, confirming the world was still there. Wes’s arm wrapped protectively around Willow.
“Didn’t work,” he observed. Willow shrugged.
After a rough moment, the red head enveloped her in a hug. He ignored the pull of longing he felt in his stomach. He wasn’t blind, and he could see that the man who looked mysteriously Wesleyesque was with Willow.
“Hey Will,” Oz said after a moment. “Why is watcher boy glaring at my cousin?”
Wes broke his glowering stare to look at Oz.
“Your cousin?” he asked.
“Oh dear,” Willow said, picking up the slightest trace of Wesley’s British accent. “Is this the cousin who, you know…” Willow trailed off and made some claw and fang motions near her face.
Oz nodded his head slightly.
“What would you say if I told you I was a very evil vampire who would tear you limb from limb if you hurt the tidbit there?” Spike asked, ignoring the protests from Anni.
Jordy squeezed Anni’s hand, letting her know that he could handle himself. “I’d say that I was a werewolf,” he replied, “and that I tend to get very testy when people try to disembowel me.”
“Understandable,” Buffy commented.
“And,” Jordy continued, getting a little bit more awkward, “I would never hurt Anni. She’s cool.”
Anni blushed. That was high praise from a thirteen year old male.
“As cool as she is,” Wes said, his voice in firm control as he approached the table. “She’s most definitely grounded. So sorry. Come back when she’s thirty.”
Anni shot Wes a disgruntled look. Wes glared at her. Willow shot her a disappointed look.
“All trellis, no magic,” Anni said quickly.
Willow nodded, trying not to smile at the situation. It all seemed so normal: a thirteen year old boy and a twelve year old girl, out on a date. Except of course that Anni wasn’t your typical teen, Jordy was a werewolf, and Wesley had to be the most overprotective older brother of all time.
All of a sudden, Anni and Buffy both gasped and fell unconscious to the floor.
Faith watched Lindsey playing with Hopie with a little smile on her face. She set her hand on her flat stomach and wondered what it would feel like if she were ever to have children, Lindsey’s children.
“Want to play tea party?” Hopie asked Lindsey, feeling bad that he had missed all of the fun earlier.
Again, fate saved Lindsey, as Hopie screamed and Faith fell to the ground, unconscious.
Just beginning to sneak out, Maddy and Kendall fell to the ground.
Nicolaa gasped as she collapsed, keeping her eyes open long enough to see Chance and Joss do the same.
Travers smiled. “Excellent,” he said. “We found it.” Now that they had identified the gene, there was just the pesky matter of finding the magical resources to activate the gene at will, imitating a Calling. There was only one person in the world with that kind of ancient magic.
Hopie stomped her foot and glared at her invisible friend. “You said this wouldn’t happen!” she said. The most powerful magical force in the world was tied up in the body of a four year old child.
“I won’t help you,” Hopie said firmly.
Travers frowned, not knowing particularly why. He would find a way to get the Shanshu child. He had to.