Things Unseen

By Gidgetgirl

Chapter Eight

Anni, her small body trembling as the tears rolled down her cheek, climbed into the bathtub, fully clothed, curled her body into a small ball, and, absorbing the coolness of the tub, fell asleep.

She slept fitfully, the past haunting her dreams.

“Mummy,” four year old Anni said to her mother, “I finished this scroll translation.”

“Mother,” the British woman corrected. She picked up the child’s translation and looked it over as Anni looked on eagerly.

“The third line is wrong,” the woman said, her voice sharp and her eyes bored.

“I’ll get it right next time, Mu- Mother,” the little Anni promised.

“Perhaps you’re just not quite suited,” her mother replied not unkindly, but the words cut into the little girl. Not suited for magical academics meant not suited for this family, not suited for anything.

Maybe, little Anni thought, I’m not.

Then little Anni disappeared, and twelve year old Anni saw the baby, the air around him dark blood red with the disturbance in the magical seams of the world. Dark magic had been awakened. Anni shuddered.

“Who are you?” she asked him, the words coming out of her mouth slowly, painfully.

Then Hopie was standing there. “I think they wanted to see if he was like you.”

Like me? Anni thought. The words echoed in her head.

“Who would want to be like you?” a phantom voice asked. “I should have known about you.”

Then Anni saw Buffy and Faith, and behind the two of them stood the little Shanshu and to Hopie’s right, there stood another girl: little and blonde and full of energy.

To each a half.

Anni awoke with a start, confused to find herself in the bathtub. She stood up, and pushing her hair, soaked with her tears, out of her face, she spoke out loud to herself. “To each a half?” she questioned out loud. “Half of what? And what does Hopie mean they think he’s like me?” Anni mumbled to herself, her heart still aching, as she tried to make her way back to her room. Angry voices from downstairs made her freeze in her path.

“So you’re pregnant with my son and you don’t even do the common courtesy of letting me know?” the voice was loud and quivered with anger, and it only served to remind Anni that Wes was angry with her, that he didn’t want her. That she didn’t suit.

Lilah’s voice sent a chill down Anni’s spine. “I was going to,” the woman absolutely drawled, “only… no, on second thought, I wasn’t going to tell you because, let’s face it, it was fun well it lasted, but you can have your little Miss-Good-Witch and I’ll find someone else to screw.”

Anni muttered an unflattering term that would have made Wes blush to hear. She wanted to smack Lilah.

“So now that the Council has my son, you want my help? You think I’ll just help you get him back so you can give him to some demon overlord?” Wes had the urge to slam Lilah into the wall.

Lilah put her face right next to his, nuzzling it a bit. “Yes,” she whispered. “That’s what I think.” She drew a finger softly down the side of his face. Wes grabbed her hand and held it tight.

“I should have known about you,” he said, causing Anni to gasp from her position on the steps eavesdropping.

He thinks I’m like Lilah, she thought.

“This is all your fault,” Lilah hissed, throwing a punch at Wes. “You think they wanted him because he was my baby? The Council could care less about my son. They want your son, and I’ll give you two guesses as to why.”

“Anni,” Wes realized. “They want him because of Anni, because of what she is.”

“That thing you call your little sister is a Potential, though a particularly pathetic one at that, and my guess is that whatever the Council is doing to my son has something to do with that little freak of nature bitch.” Lilah heard Anni moving on the steps and a small, self-satisfied smile appeared on her lips.

Anni fled to her room, waking Dawn in the process. She grabbed some clothes and started stuffing them into a bag.

“What are you doing?” Dawn asked groggily.

“Leaving,” Anni said, feeling as if she had been shot. It was her fault. All of it was her fault.

I should have known about you.

Dawn sat up in bed. “You can’t do that,” she said. “It’s three in the morning.” Anni grabbed her backpack and flung it over her shoulders.

“Anni,” Dawn said, “you can’t leave.”

“I have to,” Anni said softly. She waved her hand in front of Dawn’s face. “A-despieratat,” she whispered, knowing the simple spell would force Dawn to sleep.

Anni sighed, and grabbed some of the herbs and magical ingredients she had stock piled from Willow’s collection. If she wanted to cast a big spell without Willow knowing about it, she’d have to take precautions.

Setting out the candles carefully and burning a purple fig leaf, she recited the words she knew would temporarily blind Willow from magical perception. She had several hours. It would be enough.

Like a pro, Anni scaled down the trellis. “I won’t be along again,” she promised herself out loud, her face still red from the tears she’d shed. “I won’t.”

And with that, the non-slayer headed toward Jordy’s house.

When Oz woke up the next morning at eleven, Jordy was gone, and there was a note on his bed.

“Anni needed help,” Oz read out loud. Jordy, like his cousin, was a man of few words. Oz sighed and threw on some clothes, ready to make his way to the Summers’ house.

Dawn and Willow were both still asleep, and Wes was in conference with Angel, Buffy, and Lilah, trying to decide on a course of action.

They saw Hopie walk by, carrying a flamethrower in each hand. Moments later, the little Shanshu walked by again, carrying poster board and some markers.

“I could have a talk with Mr. Travers,” Buffy offered, very much so wishing that talk could involve her foot and his butt.

Lilah snorted, looking down her nose at the slayer.

Hopie walked by a third time, carrying a big pitcher.

“Hopie,” Angel called, “what are you doing?”

“Playing capitalistic gain with Aunt Anya,” Hopie called back.

Lilah made another derisive snort. Hopie turned around and smiled sweetly and the older woman. “Maybe you and I can play fun-with-weapons later,” Hopie offered, batting her eye lashes at Lilah before exiting the house.

When they hadn’t heard any noise for an extended period of time, Kendall poked her head out from under the desk, making sure to place herself between Maddy and any incoming danger.

“Is it safe?” a little muffled voice asked from under the desk.

Kendall breathed out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, brat,” she said. “It’s safe.”

Maddy crawled out from underneath the desk. “Bloody hell,” she said, relishing the phrase, “that was close.”

Kendall didn’t say anything for a moment. “Maddy,” she said finally, “this is dangerous. If Travers had found us…” she trailed off.

“I won’t let him beat you,” Maddy promised, sounding younger than her twelve years in her innocence.

“You couldn’t stop him,” Kendall said simply. Without a pause, she led Maddy back toward their wing.

When they got there, Chance was sitting cross-legged on the floor, telling the others a story. The older girls were engrossed.

“The little girl had dark hair, and she felt like Buffy and Faith and something else. The other girl, she was about my age, maybe a little older, and she was floating in the air, surrounding by a light yellow light. She was powerful, I think, and like us, but not. Like maybe she’s what Buffy could have been only she wasn’t.” Chance took a deep breath, the first she had taken since she had begun talking.

“Why did I have a different dream than you guys?” she asked finally.

Nic looked at the girl carefully, her gray eyes wide. “I don’t know,” she said softly. “But we need to find out, and we need to keep this confidential.”

All of the girls understood what that meant. Travers was not to be told.

Joss stared down at her hands, wondering why Chance was special. Maddy was important and therefore above impeachment, and it was clear that Nicolaa and Kendall were the two Travers thought most likely to be called. That just left Joscelyn and Colette. Joss looked at Colette, who was sitting, her face pale, on the floor. Neither girl said a word.

Not too far away, Jordy was sitting in an alley, holding an unconscious Anni in his lap. She had been unconscious for hours. Immediately after she’d managed to transport the two of them across the ocean, she’d fallen to the ground, too drained of energy to move.

Jordy, still a bit uncertain with girls at thirteen, brushed her hair gently out of her face. “Come on,” he said. “Wake up, Anni.”

Anni didn’t respond, deep in the midst of another cryptic dream.

A man in a white lab coat was lecturing younger scientists. “Genetics,” he said in his patented listen-to-me-I’m-important voice, “is the key to understanding enhanced abilities.” The other scientists nodded.

Anni saw the baby, and the air quivered with his fear.

The man and woman she had seen in the slayer dream suddenly stood beside her. The woman, her long medium brown hair tucked gently behind her shoulders, said in a calming voice, “We’re with you. We’re friends.”

Neat friends, Anni thought, remembering Hopie’s words.

The man turned to her, a slight lilt in his voice, “To each a half,” he said. “Genetics is the Key.”

Anni murmured in her sleep, and Jordy, his face flushed as the idea came to him, bent down awkwardly and quickly placed his lips on hers. She woke up immediately, and the two of them flew apart, each feeling awkward and embarrassed.

“I though it might wake you up,” Jordy muttered.

“It did,” Anni replied shyly. She looked around.

“How long have I been out?” she asked.

“A long time,” he replied, ducking his head, still a bit shy.

Anni stood up. “Come on,” she said, pulling him behind her. “It’s time for us to go undercover.”

When Oz got to the Summers’ house, he was greeted by the sight of Anya and Hopie, each with bright smiles on their faces, sitting behind a sign that read Lemonade Stand. Currently, they had two customers: an older man and a teenage girl.

“How cute!” the girl exclaimed, looking directly at Hopie as she did. “How much is the lemonade, sweetheart?”

After conferring briefly in a whisper with Anya, Hopie turned back to the girl. “Fifty cents,” she replied. The girl bought some lemonade, and Hopie and Anya both stared reverently at the money.

Hopie jingled it in her hand. “It makes a neat noise,” she noticed.

“Such is the glory of capitalism,” Anya replied seriously.

The old man, panting from power walking, eyed the lemonade greedily. He thrust two quarters at Hopie.

Anya raised her eyebrows, and Hopie obediently looked back up at the man. “It’s two dollars,” she said sweetly.

“What?!” the man replied. “That girl just paid fifty cents.”

“She wasn’t as thirsty as you are,” Hopie replied seriously.

“That’s extortion,” the man said angrily, digging two dollars out of his wallet. Anya gladly took his money,

“That’s capitalism!” Anya and Hopie chorused at once.

The man gave them a disgruntled look. “Thank you for your business,” Hopie recited proudly.

“ Please come back and exchange your money for our goods in capitalistic trade again promptly,” Anya said.

Oz walked up.

“Lemonade?” Hopie asked.

Oz eyed the flame throwers, sitting on the ground next to Hopie.

“What are those?” he asked.

“That’s Bob and Claude,” Hopie replied. “We’re friends.” Anya leaned down and whispered something in Hopie’s ear. “Sometimes I just call them Incentive,” Hopie repeated dutifully.

Oz raised his eyebrows slightly. “Incentive for what?” he asked.

Hopie picked up one of the flame throwers. “Would you like some lemonade?” she asked again, very sweetly.

“Something about this just seems wrong,” Oz commented, digging some money out of his pocket..

“What could be wrong with the willing and eager exchange of money for goods?” Anya asked.

The little capitalist disciple nodded her head, her pig tails swishing back and forth as she did.

“It’s all about supply and demand,” Hopie informed him loftily.

Anya nodded proudly. “We demand the money. You supply it.”

Oz walked into the house, leaving Anya and Hopie playing with the money.

Willow came rushing down the stairs. “Wes,” she called, “we have a problem. A big, big problem.”

Wes forced his eyes to meet Willow’s, even as Lilah snorted again.

“Anni’s gone,” Willow said. “I just felt her use an incredible amount of magic, more than I think she even has available. I can try a locator spell, but she has to be literally an ocean away for her to have used that kind of magic, and she’s not alone.”

Oz nodded to Willow. “Jordy’s with her,” he said, ever a man of few words.

“Dammit,” Wes said, hitting his hand on the table as Willow performed a locator spell.

“Poor Wes,” Lilah commented sarcastically. “Sissy ran away from her bubba.” Lilah spat on the ground. “You people make me sick.”

“England,” Willow said after a moment. “She’s in England, near the Council.”

Everyone in the room groaned.

“This is not a good thing,” Buffy said, quite aware of the power held by the Council, especially in that part of the world.

“Uh, guys,” Oz said.

“Bloody hell,” Wes muttered, feeling a ball of guilt settle in his stomach next to the fury he felt towards Anni for pulling this stunt.

“Guys,” Oz said again.

“This just can’t get any worse,” Wes commented, running his hand gruffly through his hair.

“Guys,” Oz said again, finally getting their attention. “Tomorrow’s the full moon.” His words hung in the air.

Anni and Jordy stood outside of Council headquarters. “Well,” Anni said, “here goes nothing.”

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