Subject: [SpikesSalvation] Phoenix Dreams- Chapter 21 Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 13:25:25 -0800 (PST) From: Jerusha Hancock Reply-To: SpikesSalvation@yahoogroups.com To: SpikesSalvation@yahoogroups.com Part 3: Filling in the Blanks "One look at love/ and you may see/ it weaves a web over mystery,/ all ravelled threads/ can rend apart/ for hope has a place in the lover's heart./ Whispering world,/ A sigh of sighs,/ The ebb and flow of the ocean tides,/ One breath, one word/ may end or may start/ a hope in the place of the lover's heart./ Look to love/ you may dream/ and if it should leave/ then give it wings./ But if such a love is meant to be;/ Hope is home, and the heart is free./ Under the heavens/ we journey far,/ on roads of life/ we're the wanderers,/ So let love rise,/ So let love depart,/ Let hope have a place in the lover's heart." ~Enya, "Hope Has a Place" Chapter 21 Titus William Smith was more frightened than he had ever been in his young life. A reluctant whimper escaped his throat as he thought about the men who had grabbed him from the school. He had known they weren't from Wolfram & Hart; his gut had told him that, even though he thought maybe he'd recognized one of them. His dad had always told him to listen to his instincts and he hadn't, so it was his own fault he was in this mess. That thought gave him enough strength to stifle the tears that were still threatening. Buffy had told him that his dad was a hero, and Uncle Angel was a hero too. And Buffy and Emmie were heroes because they were Slayers, and so were Uncle Wes and Uncle Gunn and Aunt Fred. So he had a duty to be a hero just like his dad. Buffy had told him that a very bad woman had tortured his dad for information, but he'd kept quiet because he knew if he didn't Buffy and her sister would get hurt. He'd be brave like his dad. "Bloody hell." Ty whispered his father's favorite curse. Dad would kill him if he ever heard him say it. So he said it again, and then he repeated every bad word that came to mind, including a few that he'd overheard Uncle Angel use when he wasn't supposed to be listening. Feeling much better, he closed his eyes and concentrated hard on the ropes encircling his wrists. Uncle Wes had taught him the spell, but you had to be calm and focused to use it. "Eximete." He wasn't strong enough to actually have the ropes dissolve, but they loosened up enough so that he could twist out of them. He grinned proudly and held out his hand, concentrating again. "Luminous." A tiny light danced in the middle of his palm, and he could now see the room they'd tossed him into. It looked like a janitor's closet, but it could be anywhere in the city. They'd put a bag over his head once they'd gotten him into the car, so he had no clue where he might be. Frowning, he looked at the door, holding out a hand to unlock the door just as Uncle Wes had taught him. Then he paused. If he went out the door, and there was someone there, he'd just be leaping from the frying pan into the fire, as Aunt Fred would say. Dad always told him that you didn't need brawn, just brains to survive in the world. The guy with the brains would beat brawn every time. "Of course," Uncle Angel would always reply. "It doesn't hurt if you have both, William." And then they would usually get into one of their fights that weren't really fights at all. He whispered the word for the unlocking spell, hearing the faint click and then turned to look at the ventilation shaft above him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dime, which he figured he could use to unscrew the fasteners. Ty smiled. He was out of there. "But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed." 2 Cor 4:7-9 ---------------------------------