Road Trip

Chapter 12


A new day dawned and Willow was already a blur of movement as she

got ready for the trip to Myerton. She was double-checking her

luggage, making sure that she hadn't forgotten anything. She was

hyped. She loved road trips. Of course, she could be hyped up due

to amount of coffee she had already consumed in an effort to wake up

for the early departure time.


She had just finished checking her bag for the fifth time when she

heard her aunt's voice call out to her. "Willow your friends

are here."


She quickly zipped up her suitcase and grabbed her back pack. She

raced down the stairs. She came to a complete stop right in front

of her aunt. Her aunt smiled at the bundle of energy that was

Willow. Willow set her bags down and leaned over to give her aunt a

kiss on the cheek.


"I'll see you later, Auntie." Willow said as she bent

back down to pick up her bags.


Auntie just shook her head. "Remember to call me as soon as you

get to your destination. You know that I worry. Do you have your

cell phone? Do you need more money? Do you have the credit card in

case of emergencies?"


Willow gave an exasperated sigh. "I will, I know, yes I have, No

I don't, and yes I have that too." She then graced her aunt

with a very caffeinated Willowy grin.


She turned to the door. She saw Richard leaning on the door frame

nonchalantly. It should be criminal to look that good so early in

the morning. Her hormones alerted her to the fact that `yes,

they were indeed awake too.' He was smiling at the scene of

familial devotion. `Nothing like getting treated like a kid in

front of a hottie,' she mentally groaned.


He reached down and took the suitcase from her. She smiled at him

in return. It was a nice thought. Not like she needed help with

the luggage with her being all with the preternatural strength.

Guess chivalry isn't entirely dead.


Willow gave her final farewells and impatiently listened to any last

minute admonishments from her aunt. She finally managed to break

free from her loving aunt and escape to the waiting SUV.


Richard put her suitcase in the trunk. She wanted to keep her back

pack handy. In case, she needed to entertain herself on the long

drive. Jamil sat behind the wheel and Shang Da sat beside him in

the front seat. She guessed the Ulfric doesn't go anywhere

without his bodyguards. This was fine by her, more people to

torture.


Willow hopped onto the back seat and leaned between the two front

seats. She gave another dazzling smile to Jamil and Shang Da.

"Hi, I'm Willow. I don't think I've really gotten to

know your names."


They were rather good looking to Willow's eyes. The both looked

like they had just stepped off of a GQ photo shoot. The driver had

long corn rows that probably reached his waist. The guy sitting

next to him had his hair gelled to spikes.


Jamil and Shang Da simultaneously raised their eyebrows at her. She

just gave them a cheeky grin in response. No gloomy gusses were

going to get her down. At this point, the only thing that could

probably bring down a caffeinated Willow was a surface to air

missile.


Richard climbed into the back and sat down next to Willow. "The

driver is Jamil and the guy sitting next to him is Shang Da."


"It is a pleasure to meet you both," Willow responded. She

would not be deterred. The silent treatment will not work with

her. She would get them to crack an expression if it killed her or

them. Whichever came first.


Silence fell heavily on the occupants of the SUV. They had been on

the road for an hour and no one was talking. Willow was surprised

she had managed to go without speaking for so long. This was

torture. They weren't even listening to the car radio. She had

to do something.


She finally spoke up, "Are we going to play the silent game until

we reach Tennessee?" She then had an idea. "We could play a

car game to pass the time."


Jamil and Shang Da shared a look and then Jamil shared a look with

Richard via the rearview mirror. They all had identical expressions

of we're sharing space with a crazy woman.


Richard broke the stalemate. "Well, we could talk about things

like how come you could channel the munin but told no one until you

had your mini-break down at the lupanar?"


Willow pondered this for a moment. She really wanted to play a game

but she could go along with Mr. Good-looking but entirely too

serious for his own good. "I'll spill all my details if we

play a car game." She had to restrain herself from bouncing in

place.


Richard rolled his eyes but agreed to her conditions. She certainly

was a breath of fresh air. She seemed to be just chock-full of

life. It at the very least will be an interesting couple of weeks.


She took a deep breath before beginning. "Here is the much

abbreviated version of the life of one Willow Rosenberg. That would

be me. I was born and raised on the Boca del Inferno also known as

Sunnydale, California."


Shang Da turned around and interrupted her tale. "You're

from Sunnydale? My old pack in San Francisco avoids that town. It

is really weird."


Willow continued, "Yup, a place of mystical convergence. It

gives off major bad vibes. Through my various and a sundry

adventures in high school, I got involved in witchcraft. I fell in

love and lost that special someone to a gun-toting nerd sociopath.

I went crazy from grief and did some very naughty bad things to the

perpetrator and even to my friends. I got some magical help to deal

with my out of control grief and my powers. I came back and my

friends didn't want me anymore. I moved to St. Louis to live

with my aunt and to make a fresh start. I met Michael and things

got out of hand. He went all wolfy on me and that reminded me of

past bad memory regarding werewolves. So, I went all magical on

him. I managed to keep him from killing me but I wasn't able to

stop him from infecting me. And this brings you up to date." She

inhaled a deep breath after her babble fest.


Richard sat very still and pondered what she said. He finally

spoke, "So, you're a witch in addition to being Lukoi. That

is why you could channel the munin. What previous past have you had

with werewolves?"


It was Willow's turn to become very still. She was caught up in

memories of Oz. She still missed him at times. "My first

boyfriend was a werewolf. He cheated on me with this slutty

werewolf singer that he knew when we were freshmen in college. She

tried to kill me and he killed her instead. He then got all caught

up with his beast and tried to eat me. Our relationship kinda went

south after that."


She shook off her past memories and gave another grin. "Now,

let's play a car game." A simultaneous groan was heard as

her answer. Her grin widened. "It will be fun. Trust me. Have

you guys ever played the six degree movie game?"


Jamil spoke up from the front of the car, "What's that?"


Willow got a gleam in her eye, "I'm so glad you asked. Did

you know that Kevin Bacon can be linked to any actor through at

least six degrees? Well, the way I play this game, you have to link

two actors, not necessarily Kevin Bacon, to each other by no more

than six movies."


Richard smiled at Willow. She was a wonder. Life kept throwing

stuff at her and she didn't completely lose her sparkle or become

dead inside. She was very intriguing. He got lost in his thoughts

about his loss of innocence that he missed part of the game they

were playing.


Willow was busily scolding Jamil about giving up too soon on his

answer. "It's easy to link Jack Nicholson to James Spader.

I can do it in one degree. They were both in the movie

"Wolf."


Shang Da turned to look at her. "Wolf? What was that movie

about?"


Willow got an evil grin on her face. She gave a one word reply

of "werewolves." She got another groan from the front of the

car.


Jamil shook his head. "You watch movies about werewolves?"


Willow nodded her head. "Why not? I used to watch vampire

movies with Spike and he's a vampire. He thought they were

funny. They always gave him a laugh."


Richard just shook his head again. This was going to be a long road

trip but at least it wasn't going to be boring.