Chapter 2: Mr. Giles Secret

"That's it!" Her expression changed to nothing but shock and disbelief. "It's going to work!" Excited, she saved the files on a disk and pulled it out of the computer. The disk glowed a stunning yellow as she held it in her hand. Miss Calendar heard a noise and looked up from her desk frightened. She saw a vampire.

"Argh!"

She saw Angelus sitting at a desk not too far from her own, "Angel… how did you get in here?"

The moments began to blur together. Suddenly he was in front of her, ripping a thin stack of paper.

"Wait! That's your…"

"My cure?"

Angel squatted down toward the computer and put his hands over the flames between them. "Boy, isn't this my lucky day? The computer and the pages, looks like I get to kill two birds with one stone…"

He looked up at Miss Calendar, "The teacher makes three."

Hallways through hallways, they chased each other around the school and Angelus was not far behind. She let out one last scream, and he grabbed Jenny's neck laughing.

"Sorry Jenny, this is where you get off."

Jenny*

I opened my eyes.

I found myself laying on the hard table in the library, and staring up at the glass ceiling. It was still dark outside, but light was beginning to warm up the dark colored sky. I looked around and saw that Rupert had fallen asleep with his face resting in a book. His hand still holding onto mine.

I didn't want to wake him up but the adrenaline from my dream was still racing through me. My heart was pounding through my chest. I wiggled my hand from his and got onto my feet. I paced around the library and Rupert continued to snooze.

I tried to distract myself. I noticed the stack of books Rupert had piled next to him. I decided to thumb through the titles to see what his theories were about why I was back. He had books titles Poltergeists, Spirit Realms, and Contacting the Dead. It seemed he thought I was a ghost, and couldn't actually be alive again. This thought didn't help soothe my anxiety. My thoughts trailed back to my nightmare.

There was something about my dream that really bothered me. The bright yellow disk. It was such a small detail but it was etched into my memory. I was in such a panic that night and I could not remember what had happened to it. Angelus may have destroyed it with everything else. The computer with the program I was working on was destroyed. The pages were burned. The orb of thesulah was shattered. And I was murdered. He got rid of everything that would have brought back his soul. Except… the disk may have slipt pass him.

If Angelus didn't destroy the disk there is still a chance to get back his soul.

Nothing could have pulled me away from Rupert except for this. It was so important to finish to save Angel. To save everyone.

I ran to my class. It had to be there.

Adrenaline was still racing through me. I was anxious to know if it still existed. It was my only hope to continuing what I started that night.

But I stood frozen in front of my classroom door.

Could I walk inside the room that once held me captive?

I touched the door, feeling nothing. Unlocked, I twisted the knob and pushed it open. I was frightened. It was almost like an invisible force was pushing me away, telling me not to go inside. Flashes of memory flooded my mind, but I fought it. I stepped inside and the feeling began to vanish.

I need to do this.

I stepped inside and left the door wide open. I walked toward my desk. My nameplate had been removed and there were several other minor differences. I took a moment to process this; I was no longer the teacher. Since everyone knows I died, it would be a bit frightening, even to Snyder if I just walked in asking for my job back. This was no longer my desk.

This part of my life was really over. For good.

Immediately I noticed a manilla folder on the desk with the name Rosenburg printed on the tab. When I opened the folder I found a copy of all of my lesson plans that I had submitted to Snyder in the beginning of the school year. I wasn't sure why Snyder gave Willow all of my lesson plans…

Unless he had her teaching my class. It made sense. That explains why Willow found my rosequartz and gave it to Rupert. I always left it in my desk.

I looked up at the empty desks and realized that not only was this part of my life over, but that I had also been replaced. I began to feel unneeded.

But I had no time to mope. I opened the drawers searching… I searched through everything. I searched through everything twice, and even a third time, but it just wasn't there. I turned on the computer. If there was one other place it could be… it was probably loaded onto the computer, and Willow may not have realized what it was. Since Rupert didn't happen to mention that Angel got his soul back, I figure they haven't found it yet either. Rupert wouldn't forget to tell me that. It was the reason I was killed.

The buzzing of the computer turning on made my heart skip a beat. I began watching my surroundings more than looking at the screen. I searched. Still nothing. The one thing I had to make everything up to Buffy was missing. I wasn't going to allow my own death to be for nothing.

"Hey it's you..."

At the sound of another voice, I began to panic and stood from my chair. I searched for the voice but it wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Who are you?" I asked shaking. I wasn't able to see anyone standing around me.

The shadow of a person could be seen near the door. The shadow got thicker, and I gasped when a student had formed in the doorway out of thin air. He walked closer to me and my breathing quickened. "My name is James."

He stopped and the light hit him well enough for me to see him better. He looked as if he could be a senior in highschool. He was wearing a letterman's jacket with the Sunnydale colors on it except it looked much older than the letterman jackets I was used to seeing around here.

The feeling came back. The one that wanted to bolt out of this classroom and never return. Only now it was intensified.

"Stay away." I began backing away from him.

"No!" He began shouting at me, "Not until you tell me how you got here."

I backed into the desk.

"I saw you on the staircase with him! But you were in the spirit realm just a moment before. How are you alive?" He grabbed my shoulders and his eyes filled with tears, "Please. Get me out of here!"

His voice sounded very familiar but I looked at him closely and did not recognize his face.

Suddenly it occurred to me that he mentioned spirit realms. Just like the title of one of the books I saw on Ruperts desk.

"Are you a ghost?"

"Please!" He began shaking me. I thought for a moment I was looking at his skeleton, but before I could react, he was normal again. I wasn't sure if I imagined it. James continued, "He opened the spirit realm and this is my only chance to get out!"

"I don't know!" I did not try fighting him. I was still too weak, "I don't know how I got here! It just happened..."

"Liar!"

When he shouted at me again I finally recognized where I had heard his voice. Last night, before I had fallen onto the staircase, I was in a white space and I heard him shouting "Don't do that DAMN IT! Don't talk to me like I'm some sort of..." I also remembered the gun shot. It was clear to me that he was a ghost, and Rupert was very close to figuring out that I was too.

He looked deep into my eyes and I could see his anger fall from him in an instant.

"You look so much like her..."

I didn't respond. He seemed to be calming down and I didn't want to provoke him. James let go of my shoulders and fell to his knees in front of me. He began sobbing.

As he cried I had a moment to gather my thoughts. The spiritual realm had been opened and James was a violent ghost. He admitted he had killed people. And from the little knowledge I had of ghosts, I knew that in haunted houses, the only way to expel a ghost was to either perform an exorcism or help resolve the problems keeping them here. This could explain why I was here. Maybe I was just stuck here because the realm had been opened and I had to find Angel's cure in order to move on. Suddenly finding Angel's cure meant that I would have to sacrifice myself again. I could stay a ghost forever and stay with Rupert or I could find the cure and remain dead forever.

How would I tell Rupert?

But as James had mentioned, this was only possible because someone had opened the spiritual realm to begin with. Someone was trying to hurt the students at this school and I wasn't going to let them get away with it.

"James," I tried speaking calmly, "this is very important… Are you aware of who may have created the opening into the spiritual realm?"

He stopped crying almost instantly. He looked up at me and a dark glimmer appeared in his wet eyes. His emotions were changing so fast, it was clear that he was unstable.

He smirked at me.

"Aren't you?"

A very dark helpless feeling began seeping inside of me when he said it. "What do you mean?"

With a large smile on his face, he vanished. His whisper echoed in the air around me, "Let me show you."

Giles*

I woke up the next morning worried that Buffy might make some shrewd comment about the fact that I was wearing the same clothes from the previous day. But honestly I didn't care. Nothing mattered. Nothing mattered now that Jenny was back.

I rolled my head over and opened my eyes. I was smiling, ready to see Jenny's face but instead my heart was broken. Jenny was not sleeping where I left her. Without thinking I jumped out of the chair in panic and searched my office.

"Jenny?"

She wasn't there.

"No! Dammit! No!"

I ran up stairs and searched the through the stacks but she wasn't there. I couldn't hold it in anymore. Crying was one thing, but going crazy was another.

I sat on the corner of the table where I had left her, holding onto the folded jacket she had used for her pillow,.

Did I dream this?

Was she here?

I think she was.

Then again, I've dreamt about her like this several times before.

No.

I knew she was here!

She had to have been.

I refuse to believe that I had made it all up.

She had to have been the reason for this paranormal activity in the school. There was no other explanation for why I saw her. There was more questions than answers and things just didn't quite add up. But I wasn't going to waste any time. She obviously needed me.

However...

What if this was just a dream?

I took a deep breath.

Jenny died two months ago.

You are only going to make things worse.

It's not the first time you have dreamt about Jenny, and probably not the last.

I grabbed my folded jacket off the table and put it back on. I had noticed that my left side was a bit heavy so I uncovered the item from the pocket. It was the rosequartz. The rosequartz was no longer glowing the light shade of pink that it had been glowing all night. But when I was holding it in my hand, I just knew…

Jenny was here.

Jenny*

"Let me show you..."

In a flash, I was suddenly standing in the Magic Box. However, the Magic Box looked strange because everything was a different shade of grey. Including the people. A woman with long hair walked right past me and straight to the register. She seemed aggravated.

"James where are we?" I whispered, hoping the woman wouldn't hear me.

"She can't see you," he said. I could feel him standing behind me. "We are in the past. I'm going to show you what you want to know. Shh... listen."

The woman at the register looked up, looking directly at me. "Mr. Giles, I've told you, I'm not selling you anymore magic supplies."

Just then I could feel him walking right through me. Rupert walked through my ghost and moved to the register.

He looked furiously at the woman, "Sanarah you are being ridiculous."

"I'm really not." She demanded, "This is your fifth time attempting to contact or resurrect Miss Calendar, and I told you not to do it the first four attempts. This is where I am drawing the line. You don't understand the consequences this dark magic will have. You are brewing something huge, the entire magic community can feel it, even you."

"That's because I'm getting close." He insisted.

She ignored him, "You're not close Mr. Giles. Not to mention your last attempt was such a disaster that half of Sunnydale High School is now out with the flu, including your slayer! THE SLAYER," she emphasized, "Does she even know what you've been doing?"

"I admit, that was a mistake." Rupert put a pile of things on the counter in front of Sanarah, "but look. I'm trying to fix it! The flu was caused by magical means which means I can get rid of it with magic."

Sanarah looked hard at Rupert, trying to study him. She took a deep breath and finally looked through his items.

"Yes," she replied, "Most of this is needed to clear up what you did. But some of this isn't."

She took a few items off the pile and put it behind her. She looked at Rupert and gestured to the new pile in front of them, "I'll sell you this."

Rupert looked defeated, "Please. Let me just try one more time."

"No." She said simply. "I wouldn't even consider it right now until I'm sure that you have taken care of the flu problem."

"But you will reconsider...?" he pushed.

"Maybe." She breathed, "Maybe not. I don't know. Now get out of here, I'll just add this to your tab."

Rupert walked out of the Magic Box with his stuff looking disappointed. James and I followed him to the high school. As soon as he reached his desk, he unloaded his magic supplies, but before he could have time to set anything up. The phone rang. It was Willow.

"Giles, Buffy is in the hospital! She was in a fight with Angel. She's fainted." She panicked, "You better get here."

"On my way." Without a second thought Rupert put his jacket back on and raced to his car.

What I saw next were just flashes.

Mrs. Summer's looked nervously at the doctor. All of the kids and Rupert were standing around them.

Mrs. Summers spoke up, "Is Buffy okay?" "We were able to stabilize and..." Mrs. Summers interrupted impatiently, "Is she okay?" The doctor looked at her reassuringly, "She's going to be fine." After another flash all I could see was Mrs. Summers and Rupert.

"I hope I'm not out of line, but... I-I wanted to say how sorry I am about, uh, that teacher, Ms. Calendar. Buffy said you were close." Rupert nodded nervously at Mrs. Summers. "Oh, uh... Thank you."

Mrs. Summers continued, "Buffy's been so down since it happened. I mean, she never gets sick."

Rupert looked down guilty knowing that he was responsible for this. At that moment he decided to go to the library as soon as he could to finish the spell to get rid of the flu, "Well, I'm sure she'll be, uh... she'll be fine."

I forgotten that James was standing behind me. He made his presence known when he grabbed my shoulders and we flashed back to the library.

This time Rupert was crying. All of his magic supplies looked to be set up, but he was hesitating to do the spell. He sat in a chair beside the library table and cried into his palms. "I'm sorry Jenny," he said, "But I can't hurt Buffy to bring you back. This is all my fault."

I watched him helplessly knowing that there was nothing I could do. I was only watching a memory.

He looked up, tears in his eyes, and threw rosemary above him. I thought it would have fallen back down onto his face but it froze in the air above him. He lifted his palms in the air and threw a golden dust onto the rosemary. The Rosemary began spinning rapidly. He put his hands back down, rubbing them together to get rid of the remaining sand. He then began breaking what looked like twigs, and placing them in a small round bowl in front of him. He used the candle next to him to light the twigs on fire. He let the fire spread for a bit in his bowl of twigs, and then poured it out with a bottle of holy water. The mist from the bowl rose to the rapidly spinning rosemary.

"Cleanse the air of my magics." He whispered.

James walked up to Rupert and pointed to his face, "Watch what happens next."

I watched Rupert's face and saw a small tear fall from his cheek into the bowl of twigs. At that exact moment it sounded like there was a large rip coming from above us. I looked up and in this memory of grey, a fist size purple gaping hole appeared on the ceiling of the library. Whispers and screams started coming from it. I looked at Rupert to see what he would do, but he did nothing.

The rosemary shined a bright white light, and fell. Rupert caught it back into his hands, and began cleaning his mess.

It was as if…

"He can't see it." James knew what I was thinking, "But tears and pain are very powerful. His mistake was performing a cleansing spell when he himself wasn't in harmony. The spell worked. He undid all of his bad magic, but his pain ripped a hole into the spirit realm. He had already been doing so many spells to open it, to find you, that the separation between the two had become very thin."

"Rupert tried to bring me back?" I walked up to him as he was cleaning. He just walked right through me and I could feel his broken heart. "He opened the spirit realm."

Rupert walked out of the library and the door slammed shut behind him. All that was left was James and I in the dark library with the large purple hole looking into the spirit realm.

"It's not big enough yet for anything to get through," James admitted, "But with no one taking care of it, in about a month this hole grew and I was presented with my opportunity to try and escape the spirit realm. The Sadie Hawkins dance was coming up. The same day that I died. I was allowed through. Every once in awhile something else will wander out of it. That's why I'm here." He pointed to the hole, "Because of that. Because of him. Because of you."

"We need to close it." I gasped, suddenly understanding the purpose of all of this.

"NO!" James demanded. He grabbed my hand and in one last flash we were out of the memories.

Suddenly we were standing inside the choir room of the Sunnydale High School. Students were roaming around in the hallways outside of the choir room. Everything was full of color again, unlike the grey memories.

I ducked beneath a desk so the students walking by wouldn't see me.

James bent beside me and forced me to look at him, "Everything will get sucked back in the moment it's closed. I'm not going back. This is my chance."

"How are you planning to free yourself from the spiritual realm?"

"With help from the slayer," James looked at me for a moment before putting his head down, "Out of everyone here, she is the only one who can understand me. I can feel her pain. It's like mine. She can understand. If I can show her my story, she will help me."

I was instantly angered the moment he said this. "You can't just use Buffy like she is some kind of tool!"

"I'm getting out of here." He argued, "and I'll do whatever it takes!"

"Then let me do it. Let me be the one to help you." I pleaded, "I will do whatever it takes to help you move on. I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

James looked down. Deep down he knew he didn't want to hurt anyone else either. "Fine."

"So..." I started, "What's your story?"