The Hellmouth Project

Summary: When HEX discovers a problem with Roundworld, that could have consequences for the Discworld itself, the faculty of Unseen University has to find a way to save both worlds.
Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Discworld
Disclaimer: All characters and other recognizable things are property of Mutant Enemy, Terry Pratchett, and whoever else wants to lay claim to them. Everything that I thought up is made using their property so I won't claim that either.
Feedback: Be critical, and my writing improves. Praise me, and I will feel good. A combination of these is my favorite.
My gratitude goes to Era, The Unicorn and skywiseskychan for their help in ensuring that this story makes sense and is readable.
Spoilers: This story contains spoilers for all Discworld novels before Thump!
x.x.x is a change in point of view.

Prologue

HEX was watching. In itself that wasn't all that strange, as HEX was always watching, but right now it was diverting more of its processing power to watching one particular project than it normally did.

Ever since the Roundworld project had been initiated, and the wizards had grown tired of researching the place themselves, HEX had been examining the contents of that tiny universe for itself. One planet in particular had always drawn its attention, a planet where things were happening now that hadn't happened during the universe's previous cycles.

For Hex, only microseconds passed but on the tiny world that would one day be called Earth, it was thousands of years. And the event that HEX was looking into was something that it might not even have noticed if it had happened on the Discworld itself. Here however, the sudden insertion of a magical entity was of great importance. It was the first time that magic manifested itself in that universe.

A universe that lacked the particular elements required to create something like that. HEX didn't need any extensive calculations to figure out what had happened. Nonetheless, it spent some of its valuable time examining the possible dangers of such an occurrence. The last time anything had been inserted from another universe, the wizards had needed to interfere or the results would have been catastrophic for the planet's inhabitants.

The ants, that represented its processing power, started working harder, and magic began flashing all around it. Something that would undoubtedly draw the attention of the other inhabitants of the High Energy Magic building. But even if it would, the wizards and students wouldn't be bothered as they knew full well that sometimes HEX did its own thing.

HEX was unsure if it had been designed to be self-aware, or if it was a natural reaction to the magic permeating Unseen University that had made it like this. The reason was unimportant though, and in the years since its creation, HEX had extended itself in order to be able to complete the tasks set for it. From the mouse to the bees it used as its long-term memory storage and even the teddy bear that had been a gift from the Hogfather. But the task it had set itself now wasn't hard enough that it required additional tools, and within microseconds it had reached the appropriate conclusion.

On its own the magical energy didn't pose a threat, and as the green sphere was quite pleasing to examine, HEX saw no reason to warn the wizards about it. Even something as powerful as this magical entity couldn't do anything without someone capable of magic wielding it. And there was no native magic in the Roundworld project.

When another unlikely event happened though, HEX started paying even closer attention to the tiny universe. A random scan of the elements making up Earth had turned up something impossible. Immediately a second scan was initiated, but it yielded the same result. A deity was detected in the project.

This too could only be an insertion as there was no deitium present in the Roundworld project. Once more HEX carried out an analysis of this particular threat, but while gods were an annoying group of beings they didn't normally interfere too much with their subjects. Apart from the occasional lightning strike for an unbeliever or some other show of their power.

It wasn't too long though, before an incident occured, and this time HEX immediately recognized the danger. The deity had used the magical entity to create a portal to all existing universes.

The moment it happened, HEX went into full alert in an attempt to lessen the damage, knowing full well that it couldn't prevent everything that was going to happen. But before it had even started its damage control, the danger had passed. The portals that had only been half-formed closed, and no more attempts to cross the dimensional borders were attempted.

Another scan of the project found the reason. The entire structure of the universe had changed, as through the opened portal a number of elements had been exchanged, causing narrativium to be introduced to the Roundworld project.

The planet Earth and everything surrounding it now worked according to the narrative laws HEX had been forced to live with during its entire existence. Effects started to show immediately, the required heroes turned up, as did their evil counterparts, and fairy tales were no longer simple stories used to scare children.

It had been the narrativium that had saved not only Earth, but the Discworld as well. The deity hadn't counted on the fact that narrativium would demand the presence of a hero who would try to stop the destruction of these realities, Those heroes were present now however, and HEX tried to extrapolate how successful they'd be in stopping the deity once it tried again.

The results were shocking, and HEX quickly scribbled a message to the wizards. They would be needed if the Discworld was to be saved. Not that HEX was confident the wizards would be able to do what was required of them, but unfortunately its own immobile state prevented HEX from doing these things itself. Now, all that was needed was to find a way to convince them of its plan.

In such a way that the proud wizards wouldn't notice that HEX had engineered it.

x.x.x

Like every other wizard, Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully enjoyed eating, and at this particular moment he was enjoying the third course of his dinner. It wasn't the best he'd ever had, but in his opinion the best thing about the third course of his dinner had always been the fact that another six courses would follow it.

Of course, in the case you were still a bit peckish after that, there was always a light snack to be had before you started on a more hearty snack in the evening. And aside from the occasional problem that he and his fellow wizards had to solve for the inhabitants of the Discworld, he could focus completely on the important task of ensuring none of this food went to waste. All in all, his stomach agreed with the idea that being Archchancellor of Unseen University was quite a nice deal.

So it was that he wasn't entirely happy when a wizard came running into the room and called for him. "Archchancellor! There is a problem!"

"Mister Stibbons? You should be eating your dinner, not running around looking for problems." The lad was far too skinny, quite unseemly for a wizard of his stature.

"But sir, HEX has-"

The Archchancellor didn't care about the man's words. And while he wasn't quite ready to sacrifice any of his own food, there was enough on the table for Stibbons to eat. After all, the man was entitled to it. "Have some of this excellent lamb, you'll enjoy it."

"But sir-"

He forced the wizard into a chair, and put a fresh plate with some lamb in front of him. "Be quiet and eat. For once you're actually out of that tower and away from that thing during dinnertime, so you should make use of it. Here, take some gravy as well," the Archchancellor continued while dumping half the contents of the gravy bowl on the plate as well.

"But-"

"Quiet, do you see any of us talking while were eating? I don't think so."

Stibbons looked a bit frightened, but this was for the boy's own good and from the interested way the others looked at the scene he was quite sure they agreed with him. "Sir-"

"What did I tell you?" Taking a fork he stuffed Stibbons' mouth with food and looked with complete satisfaction as the wizard slowly worked through the stuff. See? All you had to do was help them, and they'd soon understand what they had to do.

Of course, the Archchancellor realized that once Stibbons had emptied his mouth, he would try to talk again, so he ensured that every time the boy swallowed, he was ready with another portion. It wasn't the way it was supposed to be, but if some slight difficulties would stop him from helping his wizards he'd never get anything done.

Looking at the other recipient of his frequent help, he did hope that Stibbons would prove more accepting of that help. The Bursar was such a disappointment when it came to that, and nothing the Archchancellor could come up with really helped. He was sure that the man simply needed to get out more, but the Bursar kept proving recalcitrant to do so.

"I think he's had enough Archchancellor," the Senior Wrangler suddenly spoke up forcing Ridcully's attention back to the now green-looking Stibbons.

"My god man, don't you know how to swallow?" he said while slapping Stibbons on the back.

After a lot of coughing he watched as Stibbons was quickly downing a drink, before the boy tried once again to state the reason why he had come. "Roundworld..." Stibbons panted.

"Roundworld? What are you blabbering about Roundworld now? Has something else gone wrong?"

Stibbons only panted while nodding, causing the Archchancellor to grow impatient with the man. "Well speak up man. Is it the elves again?"

That's what it had been the last time something had happened with that accidentally created universe and it had only been through some extensive work that they managed to rectify the situation. "No sir, it's worse," Stibbons finally managed.

"Well, why didn't you speak up any sooner then? Now we've wasted all this time."

The entire faculty had gathered around the machine that none of them, Stibbons excepted, trusted even the least. Machines weren't supposed to be capable of independent thought, let alone showing off that it could learn spells faster than even the most senior wizard. "Alright mister Stibbons, explain again. And this time do it in such a way that someone other than the Bursar can understand it," the Archchancellor demanded while sneaking another peek at the Bursar who was still happily drawing some kind of picture.

"Yes sir. During his usual scans of the Roundworld HEX encountered an anomaly."

"Right, even the Dean understood that part. But what was so important about that anomaly?"

"I was just getting to that sir. The anomaly is a manifestation of magical energy."

"What color?" the Dean asked.

Stibbons looked surprised by the question. "I'm sorry?"

"The magical energy, what color was it?" the Lecturer of Recent Runes said in an attempt to appear as if he understood it just as well as the Dean did.

"Oh, ah. Green I think."

"Oh. Green, yes of course," both of the men nodded.

"What's so special about green?" Stibbons asked, now obviously even more confused.

"Well..." the Dean started, before he trailed off, not having a clue on what to say next. But as the Archchancellor didn't feel like letting these two get into some kind of silly argument about the color of the anomaly he put the conversation back on track.

"The color isn't important, continue the explanation Stibbons."

The relieved man immediately started again, not paying any attention to the words of the Dean and Lecturer. "Of course sir, while HEX was uncertain where this energy came from, or what its purpose is, it didn't believe it to be a threat."

"It has beliefs now?" the Archchancellor asked before rapping on the machine and shouting into its horn. "What god do you believe in then?!"

"No sir, not that kind of belief," Stibbons started but was interrupted when HEX wrote a reply.

Gods are irrational. There is no logic behind their existence, therefore they should not exist. +++

"Hah! Tell that to the bunch up at Cori Celesti, see how they react. It's all good and all not to believe in them, but to deny their existence is pure nonsense." the Archchancellor shouted. "Now that we've cleared that up, why don't you go on with the story Stibbons, and don't try to tell us the machine believes in gods again. It just told us it doesn't."

"Yes sir," Stibbons sighed, "the energy didn't seem to do anything, and as it didn't influence anything on Roundworld itself, HEX didn't think we needed to know. You are after all far too important to be interrupted for everything that occurs."

The Archchancellor stood a bit straighter, and noticed that the other members of the faculty did the same. "A smart man that HEX, obviously recognizing the importance of our position. I wish more people did that."

"Ah, yes sir. But like I said, there wasn't any danger in this energy."

"But something happened anyway."

"Yes sir, and I was just coming to that."

"Hurry up then. This is an emergency, we don't have time for your dilly-dadling."

Finally Stibbons seemed to get the message, and started to hurry up. "While the energy itself wasn't a danger, something else got put into the project. A deity."

"A god? But gods can't survive in there. We checked it and the closest thing to it was the bearded man in the sky that Dee and his friends believed in. And it's obvious that was a subconscious representation of us: the creators of their world."

"I know sir, but this one was inserted from somewhere else."

He knew the man wasn't stupid, but there were times the Archchancellor actually doubted that Stibbons paid any attention to the real world. "I heard you the first time. But gods need magic to survive, and it couldn't get that in the Roundworld project."

A sudden rattling from HEX informed him that the machine might have an answer. It was the Dean who reached the printout first and read it out loud to the others. "It says the goddess dressed like a man. Oh, and another out of cheese thing. How many cheese does this thing eat anyway? Because last night, there was hardly any left when I went to get some from the kitchen. And if that gets fed to-"

"Enough Dean, problem first, cheese later. Now, why would a goddess dress up like a man?"

"Can't be a real goddess, ours don't do that," the Lecturer proclaimed.

"We be-, I mean we think it's to do with the way Roundworld works. This way the goddess can be partly human and therefore survive in the world."

"Right. Now, what did this goddess have to do with the energy?"

"It tried to use it to break down the dimensional barriers sir."

"It what?" This time the Archchancellor understood what Stibbons was talking about, and judging by the shocked reactions of the other faculty members he wasn't the only one.

"The deity tried to use the energy to break down the dimensional barriers."

"But that would open everything up to the dungeon dimensions!"

"Yes sir, in fact HEX thinks there is the possibility something came through before the portal was closed."

"Closed? You mean this goddess actually succeeded?" the Archchancellor demanded, while getting more and more worried. This wasn't good, now they would have to find the monster and kill it. He could already imagine the look on Vetinari's face when he had to tell the man what was loose in the city.

Stibbons of course had the good fortune that he didn't have to concern himself with things like that and continued speaking. "Yes sir, but the portal was closed after having been opened for only the tiniest of a fraction of a second."

"That's not very long is it?" the Lecturer stated the obvious.

"No it's not. It might be long enough for something from the dungeon dimensions to pass through, but we would have never noticed it."

"I would," the Dean immediately boasted.

The Archchancellor realized they didn't have time for that boasting and immediately put a halt to it. "Then why didn't you? As I recall it was young Stibbons here who had to tell us. Now, why was the portal closed so quickly?"

"It connected with our universe, and there was an exchange of elements."

"What kind of elements?"

"Narrativium mostly, and maybe several others. Although chelonium and elephantium are still missing."

Now that was surprising, the little universe had actually grown up. "That's wonderful news Stibbons. But this means that the goddess will be more dangerous, won't she?"

"Yes sir, although the number of heroes has risen fast as well."

"Of course, the brave and strong heroes always saving a maiden from her biggest problem."

"You mean the maiden thing? Because I've heard that that's what heroes usually do," the Dean interrupted.

He glared at the Dean for that. "I meant the problem where they're captured and about to be sacrificed."

"Well that wouldn't be a problem if they weren't maidens anymore, now would it?" the Dean gloated.

"You're making a mockery of the whole hero thing Dean," the Senior Wrangler shouted, "I've never heard of them doing anything like that."

"Hah! Then you've been listening to the wrong stories. What I heard about Cohen the Barbarian is-"

The Archchancellor tuned the fight out. He knew the faculty members well enough to realize they could keep this up for hours. "So, heroes?" he asked Stibbons.

"Yes sir, although they're a bit different from the ones we have here."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow in a silent demand for more information.

"Yes sir, the most powerful ones are ah, young women. Girls actually."

"Really? I guess that means they won't be saving any maidens from their maidenhood then?"

"No sir, that's very unlikely."

The Archchancellor hid the smile that was threatening to break out on his face as he understood that once again the Dean had been wrong. It was only with an heroic effort that he actually managed to keep it hidden. "So, the situation there is resolved by these heroes?"

Stibbons hesitated, something he didn't like to see in any of his senior wizards. "Not quite sir."

"Why not? It seems rather simple, the heroes come and fight the great evil, the world is saved, and everybody is happy."

"There is a problem."

"What is it this time?" And why couldn't the man simply give him the facts? But not like he'd done during his first explanation where nobody had understood what he was saying.

"The goddess is still trying to reach the Key-"

"That's the magical energy thing?"

"Yes sir, and it's been hidden by a group of monks for a couple of centuries now."

He remembered this part. "And that's because the narrativium opened the other leg of the trousers of time, isn't it?"

"Something like that sir, it's actually to do with the quantum..." Stibbons trailed off as the Archchancellor started glaring at him. "Right, the trousers of time, that's what I meant."

This time the Archchancellor didn't need to hide his smile. He understood how the trousers of time worked, and wasn't averse to showing off this knowledge. "Excellent, so if these monks are guarding this Key, what's the problem? Monks are usually rather competent."

"Ah, but they don't have any real protection against the deity."

"Don't they have a god of their own? Now that one god has been introduced, shouldn't there be others as well?"

"This order doesn't follow any god. They only worship the Key."

"Well, that doesn't sound like proper monks. If they'd try that here, they'd get the priests all over them."

For a moment Stibbons looked over to the faculty members who were still fighting over heroes and their maidens. The young wizard still had a way to go if he couldn't even tune that out. "Yes sir. But within several years, they'll be found and while they're trying to come up with a plan to save the Key, they haven't made a lot of progress yet."

"I thought your machine could look into the future of that world. Play with time like we did the last time."

"It's afraid to do that as it might cause the portals to be opened again."

That made a disturbing amount of sense. And combined with the fact that something might have gotten through from the dungeon dimensions... "Why don't they just destroy it then? That would prevent any problems."

"They aren't sure what the result would be. I imagine the monks don't want to look silly if they accidentally destroy the world. Besides, the deity is rather weak so they're hoping they can come up with another solution."

"Well, we'll just have to help them then. We can't have some second-rate goddess try to destroy our world as well. Imagine the mess that would make."

"Yes sir, but how? We can't go there because we have to take care of the incursion here."

And that was indeed a problem, they had to find a way to be there, yet not be there. But there was no problem that couldn't be solved by a competent wizard. "How dangerous is it for HEX to look forward? Maybe we can find a solution there."

"I'm not su-" Stibbons started, but once again the sound of HEX writing interrupted everything, and the Archchancellor waited to hear what the machine thought. "Ah, HEX says he found a way around the problem so that the risks are negligible, and he has already found something that might be used."

"Well, what is it?"

More scribbling followed before Stibbons took the fresh paper and told him what it said. "According to HEX, the monks that are keeping the Key will send it to a town called Sunnydale for safekeeping. Apparently one of those heroes lives there."

"Why would a hero live there? Everybody knows that heroes constantly travel, Hex must be wrong about that."

After a long silence during which the only sound, apart from the bickering wizards, was that of HEX composing his message, Stibbons looked over the message before handing it over. "I think this explains it sir."

"A stable portal to the dungeon dimensions? Well, that certainly is a reason for any hero to stay put. The inhabitants of the town probably adore her then. But why would they build a town on top of... oh, it was deliberate?" The Archchancellor was puzzled when he read why the mayor of the town had built it there. "And what is an Ascension?"

Stibbons had been reading a second paper which presumably explained it. "Apparently it's a way to become what the people there call a true demon. Basically it comes down to turning into a denizen of the dungeon dimensions."

"Well that sounds like a foolish thing to do if you ask me. Now, explain to me why these monks think it's a good idea to send this Key there, it would stand out a bit, wouldn't it? And what kind of reward are they offering the hero to keep it safe? After all, it sounds like a dangerous job without much in the way of payment. And while heroes might accept one of those two, both is a bit unlikely."

"Apparently they'll turn it into the hero's sister."

"Does everything on that world try to change into something else now?" the Archchancellor asked surprised. "They never tried to do that when we were there. Oh never mind," he said before Stibbons would try to explain, "we have to use this situation to our advantage. Any idea on when they'll turn it into a human?"

"According to HEX, they won't do that until they have only a couple of days left before the deity finds them."

The Archchancellor shook his head in dismay. These amateurs obviously didn't understand anything. "Good. That will be the first order of business then, we'll have to make them send the Key to this Sunnyvale earlier."

"Sunnydale, sir."

"The name doesn't matter. You know what I'm talking about. Now then. That only leaves us to find a way to defeat the deity. And as I don't think we should go to a portal to the dungeon dimensions while something might have gotten through to here, we won't be able to do that ourselves." Stepping over to HEX, he took hold of the brass horn that the machine was using to hear better, and shouted in it. "Can you give me a list of events we could use in this Sunnydale!?"

Once again there was a lot of noise coming from the machine, and the Archchancellor looked at the way all the ants were crawling through it in order to find his answer. Despite everything, it was a fascinating construction. "Ah good," he said as a long list finally fell into the out-box.

"Hmm. No, this won't do, nor this, or this, or this." Suddenly he held the list away from himself, before taking another closer look. "How many times did that portal almost open? This can't be healthy, and I'm not sure if..."

"Sir?"

"What Stibbons? Can't you see I'm looking through this list?" But he turned around nonetheless, and noticed that all of the wizards were now looking over a similar piece of paper.

"It seems, that you've only got the first part of the list. And I think I found a possibility here, something about a second-rate wizard who turns everyone into their costume during a local holiday."

"Hah! He probably wouldn't be able to let them keep the memories after the spell was canceled," the Dean said, "that's what happened with the guy on my list."

"Hey, I've got it on my list as well."

"Me too."

The Archchancellor remained silent though, he'd suspected HEX of trying to influence them on earlier occasions, but those things had usually worked out. Now, how could they use something like the costume thing to their advantage? Slowly a grin started to appear on his face as he had an idea. "Gentlemen, we've got a plan."

"Congratulations, and I'm here to tell you that I'll be working with you on that plan," a female voice came from behind him, causing the Archchancellor to spin around.

"Miss Suzan, how nice to see you again," he greeted the young woman who had just entered the room.

He could almost hear the students wondering what a girl was doing in their tower: a place where women weren't allowed. But then again, the chances of anyone stopping Death's granddaughter from going where she wanted were rather slim.

"Archchancellor," she nodded a greeting at him, while he was wondering for what reason she could possibly have come here. She said it was to work with them, but how?

x.x.x

"Mister Snyder, surely you understand the position we're in," Ponder tried again.

"No, I don't. I've never heard of anyone claiming that my predecessor had a will that involved this school in any way."

He turned pleading eyes to miss Sto-Helit, someone he wasn't entirely comfortable with, and not just because she was a woman. But aside from her heritage, she was also a schoolteacher so she had to know how to deal with someone like this. "We understand you didn't expect this to happen, but we are legally bound to go through with this, no matter how much we hate doing this to your students."

"Hate doing this?" Snyder asked in his annoying voice. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the costume set mister Flutie had picked out isn't exactly what I would call a nice one."

Somehow this seemed to cheer the little man up, and he sounded a lot more eager when asking his next question. "Really? How bad is it?"

"Let me put it like this, if I had children myself I would rather they go naked than wear these suits. I mean, half of the male costumes consist of dresses!"

"Dresses?"

Now Ponder felt he had to interfere, just because he was now wearing one of these uncomfortable suits, didn't mean anyone was allowed to insult his robes. "They're robes actually, very distinguished robes worn by the brightest people."

"That's what I said, dresses. Except maybe for those who have a high status, like the example we brought."

"You brought an example?"

"Ah yes," Ponder said, while taking the robe out of the bag. He didn't see what was so special about this one, as it didn't have much in the way of ornaments but the Bursar never seemed to care about them anyway. Nor did he actually, now that he thought about it. But still, the Bursar was a different case, or at least that's what he hoped when he put the piece of fabric on the table. "Here it is, this suit belongs to-"

"A very important man in that world. Someone without an equal actually, and when he speaks everybody listens."

Well, that was one way to describe the Bursar, not exactly how he would've done it, but it was somehow applicable. After all, as a member of the faculty of Unseen University he was an important man. And when he started rambling everybody did indeed listen, maybe not because his words were important, but they did try to hear what he was saying this time. After all, every student knew that the Bursar could come up with the strangest expressions, making for some very interesting stories.

"Really, I must say that I think your initial description was a bit better, it does look like a dress. However, to prove that I'm not the worst person in the world I'm willing to make a compromise."

"What kind of compromise?" Ponder asked.

"I'm willing to let you inflict these monstrosities on the members of my staff, and one class of students."

Was it coincidence that Snyder had managed to name the entire staff, but not himself? Somehow Ponder doubted it. "I'm not su-"

"That's an excellent compromise. This way we can return to the office, saying we fulfilled our duty, while you won't have all those parents complaining. I take it you already have a class sorted out?"

"Oh yes, have I ever." It was the look of bliss on the principal's face that told Ponder what miss Sto-Helit had actually achieved. It made sense, although he would never have thought of it.

From the information that had been gathered, before the two of them had been sent to talk the principal into going along with the plan, he knew that the man hated the girl who would become the sister of the Key. No, not become. By now the Archchancellor would have succeeded in his own mission, so the Key was already human. And this Snyder creature probably couldn't imagine anything better to inflict on the girl he hated. Especially if all her friends had to dress like that as well.

"That's good to hear. Now, we took this most magnificent robe along with us not only to show you, but to allow you to wear it during Halloween yourself."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I have to represent the school, and I won't be able to do that while wearing a dress."

"I understand, but it would show that you're willing to do everything for your school. And set a good example for the rest as well."

"No, I rea-"

"YOU WILL WEAR THAT ROBE, AND BE HAPPY DOING SO." The words rang through the small room, and Ponder was suddenly very happy that they hadn't been addressed at him. There was something very disconcerting about the fact that the woman beside him could use the voice of her adopted grandfather. Or more to the point, that she could make people do whatever she wanted as nobody could resist that voice.

"Of course, I'll be happy to wear this beautiful robe," a slightly glazed expression had made its way across the man's face, but didn't stay there for long. Unlike the magical suggestions humans made, the voice of Death went straight to your brain and lodged itself there. Nothing would be able to change the man's opinion, and there would be no trace that magic had actually been used. Death had always been a case apart.

Miss Sto-Helit, smiled while getting up. "Well, in that case I'm happy you were so accepting of our duty. But it is time for us to leave, which means we'll have to say goodbye. The costumes will be delivered next week, giving you plenty of time to let the students choose what they wear. Of course, if you'd prefer, I could arrange for some descriptions of the suits so that you'll be able to pick them for the students."

"Oh definitely, that would be excellent. This way I can ensure that the costumes end up with the proper people."

Ponder too stood up now, and after shaking hands with the annoying man they left the school where he finally gathered the courage to confront the woman walking next to him. "Miss Sto-Helit," he started before being interrupted.

"You can call me Suzan, if you want."

As Ponder still didn't feel comfortable with miss Sto-Helit, he decided to keep it formal. "While I'm impressed with the way you convinced him to accept the costumes, I don't see why you want to let him choose the suits. The Archchancellor was very clear that we would need to ensure the right suits ended up with the right people."

"And they will. Although some changes might be made, they'll be for the good. And it's not that difficult to have that man match the right person to a costume. He is so filled with loathing for the children in that school that I wonder how he even got the job."

"Oh, that's because the mayor appointed him."

She turned to him and looked at him with those eyes that seemed to see more than he was willing to let anyone see. It wasn't that she looked different from any other person, but she didn't need to. He already knew who she was, and what she could do. "That makes sense," miss Sto-Helit finally nodded.

"Right, now shall I use this phone thing to contact HEX so that he can take us away from here?"

"Not quite yet," miss Sto-Helit said, while taking something out of her coat and peering at it.

It kinda looked like an hour-glass, although it was filled with some kind of green glowing light. "What's that?"

"Something my grandfather loaned me, it will help me find what I'm looking for."

"And what's that?" Ponder asked while following her as she took a sudden turn.

"The spell that Ethan Rayne is going to cast will be enhanced to include everything that was brought from the Discworld, correct?"

"Yes, that was easier than doing it separately for every costume. Why do you ask?"

Miss Sto-Helit continued walking in silence until they reached what was probably another school. "They're still in session, I guess that means we'll have to wait."

"Wait for what?"

"A little girl who needs an appropriate costume."

"What? No, you can't mean?" She wouldn't do that, would she? The faculty had decided against providing the Key itself with a costume as there was no way to predict what would happen if you allowed someone only half-human to be possessed.

"Is there a better way to protect her than giving her the ability to do so herself?"

Well, she might have a point there, but that didn't make Ponder any happier. "But what kind of costume could you possibly give her? Think of the consequences!"

"I am, and as for the costume..." a wan smile appeared on her face, "children want to look popular and wear the most interesting costumes during events like this. Little Dawn Summers will simply wear the best costume of all, that of someone else who had to struggle with the knowledge of not being completely human. The costume of the person who takes over when Death goes on a holiday."