Carolee’s room had been altered again. The leather chair had now transformed into a comfy sofa with many plump pillows. One pillow rested beneath her head, and another was clenched to her chest as she slept. She twitched in her sleep as she dreamed.

She was in the Whispering Pines Shopping Mall once again, walking through the brightly lit shops. She turned to smile at the man walking by her side, but froze when she noticed it wasn’t Giles as she expected, but Jeff. He was talking non-stop, and she nodded in the appropriate places, not really hearing a word that he said. All she could think was, “Why am I here? Why is he here? I don’t want this. Not anymore.”

Eventually they reached a Y shaped hallway in the Shopping Mall in her dream. Without hesitating, Jeff went towards the left. All this time, Carolee had followed him blindly into shops, out of shops, turning right and turning left following his lead. It never mattered what she wanted or where she wanted to go. She followed him, and his choice was all that was ever considered. “Not this time.” Carolee said. She stopped walking as Jeff made his way left. He went about five more steps, still talking, before he even noticed that she wasn’t beside him anymore. He looked back at her and frowned, tilted his head and nodded at her to hurry up, impatient that she had made him wait. But Carolee held her ground. “No. I’m not following you anymore. I don’t want to go that way, I want to go this way.” She pointed to the right. “You never listen to me. What I want never matters. Well, I’m not going to follow you anymore. I’m going to do what I want to do now.” He looked at her aghast, but Carolee just squared her shoulders and walked away.

A knock at the door immediately brought Carolee awake and out of the dream. She rubbed her eyes for a moment, unsure of where she was. Then it all came crashing back, and she fought back the tears again. A loud thumping at the door made her heart almost stop. What was out there? What did it want? It couldn’t be Allison again. She wouldn’t need to knock. Carolee stood and walked over to the window to peek out. This time the view provided was an icy blanket of snow. Mountains upon mountains of snow. Carolee shivered, and hugged her arms to her chest. The knocking persisted.

* * *

Dawn handed the man a ten dollar bill from her wallet. Of course, the money had previously been in the wallet of Giles, but he had graciously handed her some money that afternoon before leaving her with Allison and Spike. She felt like she was getting paid for baby sitting duty, which actually made her smile because for once, she wasn’t the one they felt needed the watching. At least, that’s what she thought.

In exchange for the money, the man handed her a bag with three cups of wonderful smelling soup called Cippino. It had a mixture of seafood ranging from crab, to salmon, and whitefish. It had smelled heavenly, and Dawn’s stomach had been growling. So she bought a cup for herself, and then figured Allison and Spike would be hungry too. She had debated on whether or not she should buy soup for Spike. He normally ate blood. But she didn’t want him to feel left out. She liked Spike, and she hoped the soup would bring another smile to his face. He had been quite concerned about Allison and the effect of the spell they had used to find Carolee earlier. Dawn had been gone for a couple of hours now, window shopping and browsing the quaint tourist trap stores that lined the beach front. The smell of The Chowder Shack had brought her hunger to the forefront. She hoped that Spike and Allison had recovered, because she was heading back to the motel, soup in hand.

When Dawn wound her way back to the motel’s parking lot, she was happy to see that the rest of the gang had arrived. The suburban was parked out in front of their rooms. She hoped they had eaten, because she didn’t have enough of the soup to go around!

She opened the door to her room and saw that it was filled to the brim with everyone. They were all gathered around Willow and Giles. Dawn could see that Willow had the recovered book in her hands. They were all filthy from their journey, wet and covered in sand. Giles seemed cranky, and so did her sister. Obviously the search had not been an easy one. Buffy gave her a small smile as she entered the room. Dawn smiled back, and made her way over to the desk where Allison and Spike stood. “Soup?” She asked Allison, handing her the cup. Allison gave a tentative smile, but shook her head. She didn’t feel up to eating.

“Oh, Soup! I’ll take it, Dawnie.” Xander snatched it out of her hand before she could protest. “Who’s the other one for?” Xander asked her, slurping down his stolen lunch. Dawn glared at him. “It’s for Spike.” Spike gave her a glowing smile, smirked at Xander, and took the offered soup. “Thanks, niblet.” Dawn glowed with pride as Spike took off the lid, and drank down the soup in one gulp, wiping his mouth with his red shirt sleeve.

“Are you three paying attention over there?” Giles growled at them.

“Sorry, G. Man.” Xander looked sheepishly at the Watcher. “What was it that you were saying? Something about Carolee being stuck?”

Willow took up the conversation where Giles had left off. “It says in here, from what Allison and Spike described from their spell, that Carolee isn’t really in another dimension. Instead, she’s stuck in between. It’s kind of like she is falling and falling down a well, and never seems to reach the bottom.”

“But this could be a good thing, right Will?” Buffy asked. “Wouldn’t that mean she’s not where those demons were? We just have to find a way to stop her from falling, as you say, and pull her back?”

Willow nodded, excited. “Yes, I think so.”

Giles frowned, taking the book from Willow’s grasp and studying it further. Then he glanced up and turned his green eyes on Allison and Spike. Allison looked nervously at her feet. She didn’t like to be scrutinized like that. But Spike took on the Watcher with a glare, and said defiantly. “What are you looking at?”

“Oh, Sorry.” Giles looked contrite. “I was just thinking about that spell you two performed.”

“Hey! I helped.” Dawn crossed her arms in front of her chest and pouted.

“Of course you did.” Giles included her in his look.

“What’s the sitch, Watcher-mine?” Buffy asked.

Giles took off his glasses with one hand, yet still held the book in his other hand. This prevented him from cleaning the lenses as was his nervous habit. Willow smiled at him and took the book. Giles looked embarrassed, but began to clean his glasses nevertheless. “I wonder if we should perform the spell again. We could contact Carolee and explain that she’s in a purgatory of sorts. We need to convince her to fight. According to this book, she can reverse her flight and she should be able to re-emerge into our dimension. We might have to help pull her back, but she needs to take the most active role.” He returned his glasses to their rightful perch upon his nose and looked questioningly at Allison. “Do you think you can contact her again, and convince her to come out of the room she created for herself inside her mind? She has to get back into her body, her essence has to return to it’s rightful place, in order for her to fight and return. As of now, she’s in a holding pattern, and could remain lost forever.” Giles paled at that thought, but his glance never wavered from Allison’s.

“I want to. I really do.” Allison began. “But I feel so weak. I just don’t think I’m strong enough.”

Willow put her arms around her. “Spell casting can be quite draining. Don’t feel bad about it.”

“Quite right.” Giles agreed.

“Could you do it?” Allison asked him. “I know she’d listen to you. Probably above all others. She…she cares about you, Giles. If anyone could reach her, it would be you.”

Giles looked at the troubled, sad young lady, and nodded. “If you are sure?”

Allison nodded. “I’m sure.”

Spike and Allison explained thoroughly, once again, the spell they had used earlier that day. Giles wanted to be crystal clear in what he was to do. He must not fail.

Giles asked Willow, Buffy, and Allison to join him in the adjoining motel room to perform the spell. The others weren’t needed, and he didn’t want any distractions. A few of them protested, especially Xander and Dawn. Lorne decided to find the nearest bar and order as many Seabreezes that he could consume without turning even greener. Xander and Dawn went out to rent some movies" STYLE="text-decoration: none; border-bottom: medium solid green;" HREF="http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977|1||||movies|AA1VDw">movies, and get more to eat. Xander always seemed to be hungry, Dawn thought.

In the next room, Buffy, Willow, Spike, and Allison all joined hands. Giles had removed his glasses, and now sat cross legged in the center of their circle. Before starting, they had pushed the bed to the side of the room and were all now sitting in the center of the floor. Willow had lit some candles around the room, and the curtains were tightly closed.

Allison had a thought, and pulled her hands away from the others before the spell incantations started. “Wait. The idea is to convince Carolee to fight back herself, and get her to leave where she is and return to us. If we succeed, and she comes back, where is she going to end up? Out in the ocean where she disappeared in the first place?”

Willow shook her head. “No, Allison. According to the book, the portal should open somewhere close to here. We just have to focus our energies at the right time.”

Buffy smiled at Allison. “It’s going to be alright, Allison. Willow and Giles are the best. Carolee will be back with us very soon. Don’t worry, okay?”

There was no way that Allison could just stop worrying, but she trusted that this group of people would indeed do everything they could to get her friend back. She nodded, and grasped their hands again. The chanting started.

Giles lost himself in the words, and it didn’t take long for him to feel himself fading, finding the darkness, to feel his spirit hurtling through that darkness towards a light that pulled him. It was almost painful, when his essence was separated from the core of his body. Soon it passed, however, and he found himself falling forward to land on a hard, cold surface. Immediately he covered his ears to try and shut out the noise that now engulfed him.

His Watcher training had prepared him for scenarios such as this. He focused on the task at hand, and soon it was not necessary for him to cover his ears. He mentally shut out the noise, and groped with his arms and hands until he felt a body lying close to him.

“Carolee?” Her forehead was cold and clammy to his touch, and she would not awaken. He looked up and around for the door that Allison had described. Then he remembered that the door existed within Carolee’s mind, and not physically in this location. “Stupid git!” He cursed himself. He pulled Carolee close, rocking her in his lap as he concentrated on finding her essence, and not just her body. It didn’t take him long to find the door.

The dark wooden door towered above him. He couldn’t even see the top of it. It was obvious that the door was more than a foot thick, and not just mere inches. A brass knocker was set in the center of the monstrosity, and it took the strength of both of his arms to lift the knocker, and bring it crashing down onto the door.

more to come...