Adrift

Chapter Three: Hallucinor

While the girls slept in the bedroom, the guys were spread rather awkwardly around the living room. Luckily there was a pullout couch which Gunn and Wesley slept soundly on. Lorne demanded that he take the long green lounge chair with a very comfortable looking black velvet cushion. Angel and Connor were supposed to be sleeping on the normal couch but as the night went on the couch remained empty.

Angel paced around the kitchen aimlessly, his mind keeping him too busy to sleep. He turned his head when he heard shuffling behind him outside the girls' room. He recognised the steps immediately.

Connor walked past Angel and sat down by a window with his legs crossed to his chest.

"So it wasn't just me who wanted to avoid sleeping next to you" Connor said sadly.

"That's not it. I'm tired of telling everyone. I'm a vampire, we stay up into the night. It's actually our daytime." Angel said defiantly.

When Connor said nothing, Angel continued cautiously.

"I know you're still dealing with getting your memories about Jasmine back. I can't even imagine how you feel. But you can always talk to me."

"I wish I could talk to Cordy. But she doesn't even remember what happened like I do" Connor said slowly.

"I think she remembers more than she's letting on. I think we should hope it never comes back to her completely".

"She feels worse when she looks at me. I just remind her of the worst time of her life now."

Angel walked towards Connor and spoke softly "It's not like that, she cares about you. We all do."

Connor brushed Angel off and walked towards the couch to sleep.

Angel stayed up the rest of the night worrying about whether he'd said the right thing.
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The next few days were spent in the hut researching about the pattern Angel had discovered on the wall. With the help of Lorne's spell, so far they had managed to stay hidden.

Cordy threw her book down onto her lap "I just can't read anymore. I've read too much. Tell me you have something Wes."

The whole group minus Connor who never agreed to research looked up from their books at Wesley.

"I may have something" Wesley said "There's something in here about alternate dimensions."

"Have you guys been to one of those recently?" Faith said curiously.

"No" Wesley frowned "But we've exhausted most of my books that cover this dimension."

"It's worth a shot" Angel decided "So what can we do?"

"There's a spell here called Hallucinor which means to wander in the mind or to dream. It says it can reveal dimensions. The only catch is to take part in the spell the individual has to have been to another dimension and only the dimension they visited will be revealed to them."

"So that's all of us- we all went to Pylea." Gunn interjects.

"Faith didn't" Lorne corrected.

"Apart from Faith. And Connor- but he's been to Quortoth." Gunn conceded.

"I've never been to another dimension" Faith says.

"That's fine. Faith and I will stay here, someone has to anyway to keep an eye on all of you" Wesley said.

"Gosh, this thing could be from Pylea!" Fred exclaimed.

'It's possible. Wes, can you put together a risk assesment?" Angel concluded.

"Absolutely. I'll need a few hours."

"Okay, let's get to work."