Act 2
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Command Center – Morning
Grace crutched herself into the Council’s Command Center. Every computer station was manned by a watcher, slayer or witch, many chattering away into headsets. There were also more analog means of communication in the midst of being set up. A phone bank was in the middle of being installed in one corner. In another, several watchers scribbled handwritten notes, which they then handed to waiting junior slayers, who then left in a hurry for various destinations. The big screen at one end of the room showed a large map of the Slayer Memorial and its surroundings, with various dots and lines representing the Council’s defensive forces.
She made her way over to the main command desk, where Rowena sat with her head resting on one hand, her elbow propped on the desk, while she listened to Trina complain to her using wide hand gestures. The blonde watcher wore a highly put-upon expression on her face.
“…wasting my skills as some kind of lame gofer when I think that I’ve proven what I can do as a researcher, particularly in magical areas. That box to hold the Vampire King, that was me, remember? I bring a perspective that none of you boomers seem to have and sometimes–”
“Trina,” Rowena said suddenly and loudly, cutting the teenager off. “I don’t care. It’s the apocalypse. You think you can help with research for the Coven on the dimensional barrier spell, go help with the spell. If Jackson says different, tell him I said it’s fine. Okay?”
“Just because I stand up for myself doesn’t–” Trina began to argue, but then, at raised eyebrows from both Rowena and Grace, who was now standing next to the desk, she shut her mouth with an audible snap. “Oh. You were agreeing with me. Sorry, force of habit.”
She immediately turned and walked away, Rowena and Grace both watching, open mouthed, as her back receded into the crowd. “I don’t think that girl has ever said thank you for anything in her life,” Rowena commented, sounding almost impressed. “Although, I hoped now, totem-free, she’d be better.” She shook her head, took a deep breath and turned to the Chairwoman. “Hi.”
“How we doin’?” Grace asked.
Rowena went back into business mode. “All the defenses and forces are in place, the Coven says they’ll be ready within half an hour.” She sighed. “We’re gonna be ready if we’ve ever been ready for anything.”
“Half an hour?” Grace asked. “What happens if the portal opens right now?”
Rowena shrugged. “We have one shot at this, so they can’t start until she shows up, anyway. Jeff says that he thinks the Merlin readings can give us maybe fifteen minutes warning. But nobody’s ever tried anything like this before, so…”
“Yeah,” Grace agreed quietly. “The thing is, we need absolutely everything to go right if we’re going to have any shot at this. When was the last thing we did where absolutely everything went right?”
Rowena thought for a second, then said, “‘My anniversary, four years ago.” She noticed Grace staring at her, and explained. “Willow and I got a babysitter. The tour of Little Shop of Horrors was playing at Playhouse Square…”
“I meant for the Council,” Grace clarified.
“Oh,” Rowena said lamely.
For a long moment, the two women waited together by the desk silently, as the Command Center bustled around them. Then Grace said, without turning her head to look at her friend, “So, you and Willow had lots and lots of sex, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
“That’s nice, at least.”
“Hello?” Shannon’s voice came over the radio. “Command, come in. This is Matthewson.”
Rowena reached out and pressed a couple of buttons on her desk, putting Shannon on speaker. “This is Command. We’re reading you. Grace is here, too.”
“Good,” Shannon said. “Our front line defenses are in position. I’m getting confirmation on the reserve lines now. Where are we on the Coven?”
“Ken says they’ll be ready in thirty minutes,” Rowena told her. “The dimensional spell is all going through Dawn…I was checking in every hour, then Skye told me I needed to ‘let them cook’ and Al did this nod on the video, so I’m giving them space.”
“Happy birthday, by the way,” Grace put in.
“That’s right! You and Liz share a birthday!” Rowena exclaimed. “Do you know your birthday birthday?”
“No,” Shannon said tersely over the radio. “I don’t know what time it’ll be. My brothers say they don’t remember, and the certificate has a smudge that I never bothered to check because, you know, desk duty the last month. Why would I need to know, right? And yes, I’ve tried to contact my mother, but…” Static overtook her voice.
“Shannon?” Grace called, as Rowena tried messing with her instruments. “You still there?”
After several seconds of silence, Shannon’s voice came back on. “This is Shannon. I had to get another headset. Again. That’s the fourth one this morning. Where did we get these?”
“I-I’m more concerned with you,” Rowena said. “Are you sure you should be in the field, given that we don’t know when you’ll–”
“The new report’s coming in, I’ll get back with you,” Shannon said, cutting her off. The radio went silent.
Rowena turned to Grace, and for a second said nothing. Then she said, “You could order her not to, you know.”
“Could I?” Grace asked. “Because going around giving people orders has worked out so well for me lately. Anyway, you know as well as I do that nowhere is going to be safe in this one. If Shannon thinks that the best place for her to be to protect her family is with a weapon in her hand, powers or no powers, I’m not gonna tell her otherwise.”
“What was that you said about everything needing to go right?” Rowena asked. “We can’t even get the headsets to work.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Library – Morning
“Everybody involved is over at the spell site,” Rowena said to Robin as the two of them walked side-by-side through the particularly bustling Council library. “It sure would be nice if I could tell them exactly what they needed to do in order to actually make the spell work. It really feels like we’re flying by the seat of our pants here.”
She stopped, and Robin stopped with her. Around them, all pretense of the library as an oasis of quiet study had gone by the wayside. Every computer had a watcher at it, tapping away at the keyboard or squinting at the screen, and every table was covered in books, some brand new, some ancient, many of which were open and in the process of being pored through by Council personnel.
“You ever think about where that expression comes from?” Rowena asked. “You don’t fly with the seat of your pants. Your pants don’t even have opposable thumbs.”
Robin blinked at her, then reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “Ro, respectfully…how ya doin’? Everything good?”
She looked up at him and gave a half-smile. “Yeah, sorry. All of this has just been…a lot? It’s been a lot. I don’t know how I’m going to manage everything when you leave.”
“Well, I’ll still be available. It’ll just be like I’m working remotely. Remember during COVID?”
“I remember that I hated it,” Rowena groused, but she retained the wan smile. She sighed. “Okay, back on track. Where are we on this idea that the spell to activate all the past-slayers needs some kind of ‘sacrifice’ to work? That seems not great to me.”
“We’re not sure,” he replied. “We’re working on a theory that the sacrifice is metaphorical rather than literal. Asher Bloom in D.C. says that he powers spells by sacrificing his prized possessions all the time. So everybody involved, witches, slayers, your kids, everybody, is gonna bring something to sacrifice that’s important to them.” He smiled. “Who needs Marie Kondo?”
“It’s not gonna work,” came a voice from nearby. Both watchers looked over to see Trina, sitting at the nearest computer, swivel her chair around to look at them. Rowena jumped slightly, as if a monster had just jumped out from the side of her TV screen.
“Miss Cunningham,” Robin said diplomatically, “I really appreciate your looking into this for us, but I think the watchers who have signed off on this plan have been doing this for a much longer–”
“The text Kennedy is using as the basis for a lot of this came from the Opus Obscuram, but we all know that’s a collection, a translation. I’ve looked at the digitization of the Opus and it looks to me like it’s copied from a spell in the Rites of Saint Rita, and that is–”
“Trina!” Rowena cut her off. “The evil army could literally appear any second. Tell us or don’t.”
“You guys were just talking about pants and stuff,” Trina complained under her breath. Rowena and Robin shared an exasperated look. “My point is, the closest to the original phrase that we now have as ‘sacrifice’ that I can find is ‘dam ha-naki‘ in the Assyrian, which roughly means…”
“Innocent blood,” Rowena said with a sigh. They were all quiet for a beat, then she said, “Well, we’re going to have to try it the other way because we’re not sacrificing anybody, innocent or not.”
“What if…what if we didn’t actually kill them?” Robin offered. Rowena gave him a dubious look. “You can lose quite a bit of blood and still recover. Wilton survived the Vampire King drinking what seemed like most of her blood a few months ago.”
“Or,” Trina put in, “what if it was, like, some other blood? Like…period blood?” Both of the older watchers stared at her for a few moments, and she flung out both arms in frustration. “What, you’re telling me all those slayers we’ve got guarding that place, none of them are on–”
“Regardless,” Rowena cut in edgily, “the point of the blood isn’t that it’s blood. Remember the spell to trap the Vampire King and the Elephant Bird egg? Spells are like stories, in a strange way. Whatever the…origin of the blood, it has to be a real sacrifice. If you give an amount of blood that you can just eat a cookie and replenish, that’s not a sacrifice, not according to the universe.”
“You can just buy more prized possessions on Amazon, assuming they’re not cursed,” Trina pointed out. “How is that any more of a sacrifice?”
“Miss Cunningham, again,” Robin told her evenly. “Thank you for the hard work. We will be providing this information to the appropriate parties and acting accordingly.”
Trina opened her mouth to reply, then seemed to have a thought and shut it again. “Yeah, okay. I’ll try and verify this.” She turned back to her computer.
Rowena and Robin walked on, leaving the young watcher behind. “So, what if she’s right?” Robin asked quietly.
Rowena ran a hand over her face. “Then what do you want us to do, Robin? I know it’s our lives and our kids’ lives and…everyone’s lives on the line. But do you want them to live in a world that survived because of a blood sacrifice? One that we don’t know will even work, or even be enough?”
“I’m with you,” he agreed. “I’m not saying we should do it. I’m saying, I don’t think we should be the ones to make that decision by ourselves. It’s not just us and our kids we’re talking about. It’s everybody.”
She looked at him for a long beat, then nodded.
“Hey!” They both looked in the direction they had just come to see Trina leaning back in her chair and waving at them, having called to them over the din. “What if we went to, I dunno, a hospice, and got like an old person who was gonna die soon anyway? I’m just saying!”
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council Mobile Command Center – Late Afternoon
Jackson peered at a tablet from a seat in the large tent serving as the Council’s on-site headquarters near the Slayer Memorial. A series of bar-graph lines on the screen moved slightly, but generally remained same in relation to each other. Around him, watchers, slayers, witches and other support personnel bustled around, often raising their voices into a cacophony. A sign hung nearby reading “Absolutely no outside cell phones.” But Jackson’s eyes remained fixed on his screen.
Then the lines bounced. First quickly, once. Then again. And again.
The watcher grabbed for a radio from his belt and brought it to his mouth. “This is Morgana One, I’m getting a clear Merlin spike, can you confirm?”
Cut To:
Ext.
Slayer Memorial Grounds – Same Time
A young female watcher with dark hair sat on the ground behind a concrete fortification with a similar tablet. The hulking statue of the Slayer Memorial stood in the background. Her brow wrinkled as she looked at the readings.
“Morgana One, this is Arthur Two. I think I’m getting the same,” she said. “I think. But these readings are crazy. There’s no way any portal could be…” She looked over her shoulder nervously. “I mean…right?”
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council Mobile Command Center – Same Time
“What was that?” Jackson asked, a finger to his ear. “I couldn’t hear you.” He tapped his earbud a few more times, then took it out and looked at it. “Shit.”
Cut To:
Int.
Slayer Memorial – Council Staging Area – Same Time
Gwen, one arm in a sling, began to grin as she walked over to a man loading up crates near a truck’s large rolling back door. He was dressed in a black Council uniform.
“So what’s a nice guy like you doing in an apocalypse like this, huh?” she asked playfully.
When he turned, Charles Gunn smiled brightly and said, “Gwen!” He opened his arms, but then put them down and asked, “Is it okay to…?”
“Bring it in, Mr. Gunn,” she told him and extended her good arm. After the short embrace, she asked, “Look at you. When did you join the Council, Charles?”
“Nah, it’s temporary,” he told her, pointing out his jacket. “Just so they know I’m with the good guys, you know?”
“How’ve you been?” she asked.
“Good,” he answered. He gestured to the sling. “Maybe better than you.”
“I got this from the Head Bitch herself,” Gwen explained. “I’m especially on her bad side now.”
“That’s how you know you’re doing something right,” Gunn told her. “Hey, I heard you went and got married and had a little one.”
She smiled. “You heard right.”
“If it’s not too personal, your son, is he with the zap zap?” Gunn asked as he made a motion with his fingers as if throwing an invisible lightning bolt.
“No, thankfully,” she replied. “But he’s pretty powerful with the magicks, like his dad.”
“Already?”
Gwen nodded. “Aunt Willow has been FaceTiming with him about the dos and don’ts from time to time. To say I owe Willow Rosenberg my life, for more than one reason, is an understatement. So when she calls, I answer.”
“I hear that,” a voice said from behind them. “Saved me at least twice.”
Gwen turned around to see Angel approaching, but then he stopped on the edge of the shadow of a nearby tent, avoiding the sunlight. She moved toward him and she again held out her one good arm to receive him.
“Been good?” Angel asked her as they embraced.
“Can’t complain,” she replied as she pulled back. She motioned to the organized chaos around them. “Be honest. How’d you get pulled into all this?”
Angel grinned for the briefest of moments. “A couple of ex-slayers thought I should be here. And it’s hard for me to say no to slayers.”
“Some more than others, I’d bet,” Gwen teased.
Angel grinned guiltily in response.
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council – HQ Command Center – Same Time
Grace and Rowena stood around a phone speaker, vintage circa 2004, listening to Jackson.
“I don’t have a second opinion,” he was saying, “because the radios keep fritzing out, and these readings are off the scale. All the rest of our equipment is breaking, why should this be any different. But…”
“But if this is it and we don’t start ramping up now, we’ll have lost our advantage,” Grace said grimly.
“But if this isn’t it and we pull the trigger, we’ll waste all our magic bullets too soon,” Rowena pointed out. “So much for everything going right.”
Robin called over from his spot by another landline phone, “If we’re going now, we need to start spreading the word. It’s going to take a few minutes. Runners are ready, though. Drones are in the air and functional.”
Grace glanced at Rowena, then said, “Shannon would probably want us to consult her before we call it.”
“She’s not answering, either,” a young watcher called from nearby.
“What the hell is going on?” the Chairwoman growled. “Why is all our crap suddenly breaking when we need to save the world? We paid a lot of money for this stuff. I should know, I’m the one that paid it!” She slammed a crutch against the side of the nearest table in frustration, making several of the junior watchers jump.
“Who did you pay it to?” Rowena asked thoughtfully.
Grace turned to her. “I’m sorry, what?”
“One thing at a time,” Rowena said, raising a hand. “Are we giving the go order?”
Grace sighed, looking around at the suddenly quiet Command Center. She took a deep breath, then loudly said, “Yes, we are a go. We’re on, everyone.” Then, under her breath, she continued, “God help us.”
Cut To:
Int.
Vacant Office Building – Evening
Emma marched into the building like a field general, her sword and head held high. To her left and her right, three paces behind her, were two slayers. Right next to her was Buffy who simply watched her slayer in action. Behind them were two more slayers and behind them were two more. The marching went on until there were forty women in the lobby, lining up ten in each row.
Behind them came Kennedy in the lead, with Jake, Sophie and Faith following behind her.
“Here’s the plan,” Emma told them. “You can use the elevators to get into position right now. But going forward you’ve gotta take the stairs. Electricity is great… until you’re trapped in the elevator car should we lose power. So, after setup, take the stairs. The stairs are located at the corner over there,” Emma said and pointed. “Once you get to your floor make sure you secure the stairwells. This building has ten floors. We don’t want to put our spellcasters on ground-level but not too high either. After speaking with Willow, she recommended the fifth floor, which is what we’re going to do.”
Emma then turned and pointed to the first row of slayers and then pointed to the elevators. “Alyssa,” she said, talking to one girl. “You will be the lead on the fourth floor. You will hold this position until they are done with the spell. You’ll guard their exit from the building.”
Alyssa nodded and then motioned her team to follow her to the elevator.
Emma then turned to face the next row slayers. “Brooklyn, same as them. But you will be taking care of this first floor.”
She too nodded and was on her way. Buffy stayed silent with an appreciative grin as she watched Emma command the slayers.
“Lily,” Emma said to the slayer in the next row. “You will be on the tenth floor. Your job is to stop anything that’s coming from above them. Your first task is going to be to secure all of the doorways so nothing gets down from above. Leave two slayers to guard the roof access. Likewise, you are to hold your position until the spell is cast.”
“On it,” Lily said and gave a brief nod before she motioned her slayers to the second set of elevators.
“Becky and Charlotte,” Emma told them and then also signed at the same time. “I want you two with me on the fifth floor. You are the last defensive line to anyone or anything that might harm our spellcasterss. You are to guard them with your last breath. Do you understand?”
“You got it,” Becky replied confidently. Charlotte nodded her agreement as well. she waved to the kids with a smile. They both grinned and waved back.
Emma then turned to Kennedy. “Let’s get you witches set up.”
She then motioned her team to take the supplies Kennedy and Faith were holding. Other slayers took up weapons as they began to make their way to the elevator.
“Feeling scared?” Emma asked the two youngest members there.
Sophie and Jake both gave a small nod.
Emma grinned. “Me too,” she told them.
“For real?” Sophie asked.
“For real,” Emma told her. “But we’re powerful, aren’t we? It’s okay to be scared. But we’re not gonna let that fear control us today, okay? We’re all going to do everything we can to get the job done, right?”
The kids both smiled. “Right,” Jake said firmly.
“Okay,” she told them with an optimistic attitude, “You go make Aunt Ken and Aunt Faith slayers again…even if it’s just for a little while.” She then put her thumb in the air and held it out for them. “Okay, thumbs up everyone,” she told them. Ken and Faith smiled at Emma and how she was trying to make the kids feel more secure. Doing as they were told, the four of them put their thumbs up, too, in the circle they had formed.
“Magic is fire on three!” Emma told them. “One, two, three.”
Everyone called out, “Magic is fire!” and tossed their hands up in solidarity.
“Okay, you guys head up,” Emma told them. As Faith and the kids began to walk, Emma gently grabbed Kennedy by the arm. In a soft voice, not to be overheard, she pointed to her ear piece, “As soon as you’re activated, tell us. We’ll start to clear a path, okay?”
Kennedy gave the hand that still held her arm a slight squeeze. “Thank you.”
Emma nodded and motioned toward Buffy who was pointing as she chatted softly with Becky about the ground floor.
“Go make my watcher over there a slayer.”
“Speaking of? What’s her role?”
Emma grinned. “She’s on standby with some of the other retirees, looking for one more shot at glory.”
“Watch out when you use the word ‘glory’ around her,” Kennedy teased. “She can be a little sensitive, given her hell goddess history.”
Emma made a locking motion over her lips before she smiled. Kennedy patted her gently on the arm and then made her way to catch up to her team, as Emma walked over to where her slayers were setting up.
Cut To:
Int.
Abandoned Warehouse – Afternoon
Maddie pounded on a punching bag, eyes hard. Her punches seemed to only grow in strength as she did.
“You’ve been holding out on us,” called a voice. Maddie spun to see SlayBae walking toward her. “Why am I paying for a gym membership when I could be training here?”
“How did you find me, is a better question,” Maddie said with a sigh. “Or do I want to know?”
SlayBae walked over to where Maddie’s bookbag sat against the floor nearby. She leaned down and stuck a hand into the open outer pocket, then pulled out a small, round AirTag. She held it up for Maddie to see.
“Are you kidding me?” Maddie asked. “That’s not stalkery at all.”
“None of us should be alone right now,” SlayBae told her as she walked toward her. “The forces of hell are about to invade, and I’m not talking about Zach Snyder fanboys. This is the real deal. Heck, they could’ve invaded already.”
Maddie sighed and leaned back on the wall. She ran a hand over her face. “You here to ask me if we’re gonna go join this battle?”
“It had crossed my mind,” SlayBae confirmed, leaning on the wall next to the younger girl. She looked over at her then said, “I’m scared, Mads.”
Maddie stared at her in surprise. “I’ve never seen you scared of anything. You’re like my cool older sister.”
“That may literally be the nicest thing anyone’s said to me,” SlayBae said after a second, “but…I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
“Oh, that’s what we’re callin’ it now, hashtag-no-kink-shaming?”
SlayBae gave a sly scowl. “Look, I’ve been in fights before, sure, but…not a battle, not like this.”
“And I…” Maddie put in, “I’m not a joiner. I’m not a cop. Not even a soldier. I don’t take orders. And the Council…” She shook her head. “As far as I can tell, they’re all that stuff.”
There was a long moment where the two of them stayed up against the wall, looking straight ahead.
“So, where does that leave us?” SlayBae asked.
“Fuck if I know,” Maddie said.
Fade In:
Australia – Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park – Early Morning
The red, brown and orange of the landscape and rock towers loomed like a protector over the Australian coven. They were led by a caucasian male in his mid twenties, with an outback hat placed to his left. He locked hands with five men and six women, all seated in a circle.
He muttered in latin, “Terra dea nos defendat.” Immediately, his coven repeated the words.
Fade To:
Africa – Kabushiya, Sudan – Pyramids of Meroë West – Night
King Arkamani’s granite and sandstone pyramid looked like a dark void when set against the thousands of stars in the late-night sky. A middle-aged man, wearing his brimless, short, round kufi cap sat in a circle with five men and six women, dressed in similar African attire at the base of the pyramids. In front of them was a growing fire.
“Terra dea sacrificium nostrum suscipe,” the head priest said as he tossed his item into the fire.
Each member of the team repeated the words and tossed the items they held into the fire as well.
Fade To:
Japan – Lake Kawaguchiko – Daybreak
Sunlight was rapidly peeking over the ridge of Mount Fuji. The head priestess, a woman with long, dark hair in her mid to late twenties, took the hand of the men at her right and her left. The group alternated between six men and six women.
“Terra dea nobis victoriam ostende,” the woman said softly but confidently. Immediately, her coven said the same.
Fade To:
Germany – Baden-Württemberg – Black Forest – Night
Among the tall spruce and fir trees a light fog seemed to roll around the coven headed by the middle-aged blonde woman. They all stood, hands locked, six men and six women.
“Dea terra salvet omnes creaturas tuas,” she said. Instantly, the coven repeated her prayer.
Fade To:
United States – Los Angeles, California – Afternoon
Andrew was winded as he made his way into the coven room of the Los Angeles branch of the Watchers Council. When he crossed the threshold, he found five women and five men, not moving, not even speaking. They simply seemed to be awaiting his command.
“Has it started?” he asked, trying to catch his breath.
One of the members shook their head, and Andrew released a sigh as he made his way in further to the room.
“The One-Oh-One’s murder today. Tracey’s on her way,” he told them. “Let’s get set-up.”
Fade To:
Devon – England – St Michael’s Mount – Late Evening
Althenea stood at the top of a castle, looking out over the water that surrounded them. She closed her eyes as the night breeze blew through her hair.
Fade To:
Cleveland – City Street – Evening
Rowena held onto the lapels of Willow’s jacket. She kissed her soundly and the witch returned the affectionate gesture in kind.
“You’re Willow Fucking Rosenberg,” her wife said as she pulled away and rested her forehead on hers. “Show her what that means.”
“Happy wife, happy life,” Willow replied with a slight grin.
Rowena grinned briefly and kissed her again. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Willow said sincerely. Then she cocked her head slightly.
“In position,” she heard Althenea call telepathically. “Others are underway.”
Cut To:
Devon – England – Same Time
Althenea’s lip trembled slightly, and she said, “We will win the day, but if I’m wrong, or I don’t survive, one of my greatest honors is calling you sister. Send Ro and the family my love.”
Cut To:
Cleveland – City Street – Evening
Willow grinned and told Rowena, “Al sends her love to you and the kids.”
“Is she…?”
“Tapped in?” Willow asked. Rowena just nodded, and Willow reciprocated with a nod of her own. She looked out toward the street. “Get yourself somewhere safe…It’s showtime,” she said softly, before her hands slipped from Rowena and she began to make her way down the street.
The city was eerily quiet. Just as in times past prior to battle, wildlife seemed to have fled the city already. Not even a bird tweeted. Coupled with the lack of human presence, the only sound was a light breeze that could be heard blowing between the buildings, creating a moaning sound. The nearby highway was silent, and the surface streets were the same.
At the center of one of the streets, surrounded by high rises, was Willow. She sat crossed legged, her wrists reclined against her knees, her back upright, not hunched in the slightest. Each of her thumbs rested against her index and middle fingers.
Her eyes were closed. Her features showed no emotion – no fear, no contentment, no nothing. She just continued to sit alone in the vacant street with her eyes closed. Even the sound of a swirling portal nearby didn’t break her concentration.
Several yards up the street, a green portal opened, and Zorgy stepped out, alone. Just as quickly as it had opened, it closed again. She began to grin as she watched Willow sitting in the street, completely alone. As if sensing a trap, she began to examine the Council vehicles that were parked around them. She cocked her head curiously when she didn’t see or hear any movement nearby.
She grinned briefly, but it didn’t last long. It quickly contorted into a look of anger and vengeance as she threw both her hands in Willow’s direction. Two beams of light shot from each hand and raced toward the witch.
As the beams shot toward her, Willow retained her composed state, her face unchanged. The beams got closer and closer. Willow still didn’t move a muscle. Milliseconds from impact, she opened her eyes. When she did, the beams hit her at full force, sending light sailing in several directions and breaking nearby windows in the process.
End of Act Two