The room was austere and cramped, thought Faith. Only a dresser, a rather large – at least compared to the room's proportions- bed and a tiny night table furnished the place. The walls were covered with faded flowery wallpaper and were not decorated at all, save for a cross hanging on the wall facing the bed. The severe impression was only enforced by the solid bars at the window and the two bolts on the door – both locked from the outside. The sight made Faith feel uncomfortable. The only warm and welcoming thing here was a tiny candle, burning on the night table. Right beside it, leaning against the wall by the window, she spotted Tara's figure, darkened in the last light of dusk. She got closer and noticed that the blonde had been crying for a long time as told her dirty cheeks, but in the quiet way Faith was now used to witness. She was younger, probably in her late teenage days. Faith looked her up and down and found her to be in quite good shape.

"Is that your bedroom?" she asked quietly, appalled that this place had seen Tara grow up.

The blonde simply nodded without turning to her.

"Well, my bedroom looked fun finally," the Slayer commented.

Tara did not react at the humorous attempt. Faith noticed then that she was squeezing something in her right hand. She tried to see what it was, but the shape was imprecise and mostly hidden in Tara's palm. Seeing how Tara was fiercely holding it, it was probably something precious to her. But Faith did not have time to investigate further. The sound of a key in the lock gave Tara such a start that she missed slipping on the wooden floor. Surprised by Tara's abrupt reaction, Faith jumped in surprise too. The blonde looked around, startled, and hurried to her bed. She blew the candle out and slipped underneath the blankets as quickly as possible, pulling clumsily the covers up to her chin. Keys turned into the keyholes for several seconds before the door finally open, revealing Tara's father figure in the doorway. Faith's discomfort only grew wider at the sickening feeling of panic she felt rising in Tara. The blonde's father marched up to the bed, leaving the door opened behind him. He wore a grey strict suit and a dark tie. He was pale and his hair was unusually tousled. He looked terribly tired.

"Tara," he said in a blank voice. "Get up"

Tara, who had not moved when he had entered, fearfully sat up and turned to him. She was badly shaking in anticipation of something she obviously knew was coming. Again, tears were threatening to fall at the corners of her eyes.

"Get dressed," ordered her father in the same tone. "Hurry."

Tara pushed the blankets aside and put her feet to the floor. Faith noticed she was still holding the thing she had in her hand before hurrying to bed.

"Wh-wh-what ha-hap-happened?" she asked in such a trembling voice that Faith was not sure she would make it.

"It's your mother." Mr Maclay answered quite abruptly. "The hospital just called. It's over."

For a moment, it was like everything had frozen in the room. Tara and her father were looking at each other, perfectly still. So still that Faith could not tell they were breathing. The moment was broken by the sound of something hitting the floor. Faith looked down and saw that Tara had let slip what she was holding out of her hands. It was a crystal, probably related to witchcraft from what Faith could tell. It did not break when it hit the floor, and slid under the bed. Neither Tara nor her father seemed to notice or mind.

"B-but th-this af-after-afternoon…" Tara begged helplessly, choking with restrained sobs. "Sh-she w-was okay."

She looked desperately at her father, somehow hoping he would deny his own words. But the sentence broke all over again.

"It's over."

Tara's eyes filled with tears at the words, but she did not even notice. She remained there, staring at her father without seeing him, until he turned around to leave.

"Get dressed. I'm fetching your brother and we're leaving."

He got out, the door being left opened, revealing a dim corridor. Tara did not move at first. Her gaze transfixed upon the opened door, she waited for a miracle to happen. She waited for her father to come back and tell her it was not true, that her mother was okay, that the hospital had made a mistake. She waited to awake in her bed, to realize it was just a nightmare. She waited for her mother to appear in the doorway with her sweet smile, asking her what was wrong.

When she realized that neither of these situations would occur, she wrapped her arms around her, turned her back to the door and went slowly to the dresser, silently breaking down.

***

Though Faith had not attended high school for too long, she recognized the place with one glance. Lockers on the walls, tags on the lockers, teenagers hastening along the hallways. The crowd of students was the same here -wherever she was – as it was back in the day in Boston. Popular kids were walking in gaudy and noisy groups in the middle of the hallway, taking great care to be seen and heard while unpopular kids were doing exactly the opposite, hugging the walls as they wanted to disappear. Standing right in the center of the hallway with students going past her without seeing her, Faith did not have to look for Tara to find her. She spotted the blonde at the second she browsed the place. The witch looked exactly as the Slayer expected her. Head bent, her long blonde hair hiding her face, she walked carefully along the wall with her hands joined in front of her, not daring to look at anyone but casting regular discreet glances around, as if she expected to be attacked any minute. With her clothes way too large for her, her old boots and big backpack, she definitely wasn't the friends of the cheerleaders. Faith followed close behind her as she got away from the crowd and soon, Tara found herself alone. Well, nearly alone.

"Hey, Tara"

The blonde jumped fearfully at the voice and Faith was sure her heart skipped a beat. A few feet from the witch, a brown-haired girl was leaning against a wall and offering a friendly smile. The newcomer was slightly taller than Tara, athletic and tanned. Her beautiful features were subtly enhanced with light make-up. She was just moderately fashioned She certainly did not look as she could be one of Tara's friend. And if she was, Faith thought they would be the most ill-matched couple of friends ever.

"Hey Hope," Tara greeted her.

"I was waiting for you" resumed the girl as Tara approached; looking at her like it was a miracle that girl could talk to her.

"And wh-wh-wh... why?" The blonde uttered with difficulty and turned pink with embarrassment.

"Hey, calm down" tried to reassure the other girl upon hearing Tara stuttering so badly. "Everything's cool. May I have a word with you?"

"Of-of course" Tara breathed.

She remained still a foot or so away from the girl and waited for her to talk.

"Privately?" offered the girl with a charming smile.

Tara turned crimson and remained perfectly still, gazing at Hope silently, obviously at a loss for what to do or to answer.

"You okay?" asked the other.

Tara eventually nodded and Hope grabbed gently her hand to drag her behind her in a room at her left. Tara shivered slightly at the contact and Faith could not help smirking.

"First love Blondie?" she asked.

She followed the teenagers in the new room. They were in the locker room and Hope closed carefully the door behind them.

"So okay," Hope started, facing Tara and looking at her in the eye. "I'm going to try to be clear but what I have to say is not that easy. Okay?"

Tara looked vaguely worried at this but she nevertheless nodded.

"So, I think I can reasonably say that I've noticed that you noticed me." she quickly said and appeared a little embarrassed herself, though Faith was sure she probably had rehearsed her text a million times before. Only to find it even lamer now it was said than it appeared to be during her rehearsal. "You know, with the glances and the looking away when I look at you and... Well, mostly that's it. But I think it tells a lot. It surely tells a lot when I look at you."

Tara opened her mouth but made no sound, which encouraged the girl to go on.

"So, I'd like to ask one thing: if I'm completely wrong with that, and if you're absolutely not interested in me the way I think you are and the way I'm interested in you, then please, go away and let's forget about the last three minutes."

She fell silent and waited, looking expectantly at Tara. The blonde was still looking at her, jaw-agape, but she did not make a move. Encouraged by the blonde's lack of running away, Hope tilted her head and gave another of her charming smile.

"So, I take that as a 'yes you're interested in me'?"

She stepped forward to get closer to Tara until they almost touched and ended putting her hand on Tara's hip. Faith thought she nearly could hear Tara's heart pounding in her chest.

"Are you?"

Tara nodded slightly and leaned against the locker behind her, as she might faint at the sudden closeness. Hope pressed her hand against the locker, just above Tara's left shoulder and stepped event closer, so closer that their noses were almost touching. Tara's heart was about to jump outside of her chest.

"Are you?" Hope breathed once more.

"Y-yes, of cou-course I am," Tara finally managed to answer in a low voice.

She held a trembling hand toward Hope's hip as well while her soon-to-be lover bent her head even more to kiss her. Their lips brushed slightly, tenderly, and Tara finally found the nerve to rest her hand onto Hope's hip. At that precise moment, the door banged opened. The girls jumped violently apart and jerked their heads to the door, hearts pounding widly. Four boys had barged in the room. At the head of the group, stood Donnie Maclay. He looked furious and when she recognized him, Tara's expression turned from fear to utter terror. Hope for her part, looked slightly worried at the looks on the boys' faces.

"Go away Hope" Donnie spat, staring right at his sister without blinking.

"What are you doing?" she asked, glancing from the brother to the sister hesitantly.

"I said, go away Hope" he repeated harshly. "If I need to repeat myself a third time, we possibly could tell everyone the name of the girl who let my sister kiss her. Understood?"

She looked again between Tara and Donnie and nodded. She headed for the door but once at the doorway, she turned back to him:

"What are you going to do?"

"It's none of your business" Donnie replied angrily. "Now go a..."

But he did not need to finish. Hope had opened the door and left. One of Donnie's friends closed the door behind her and Tara found herself alone with the four boys. She was still leaning against the locker, but the moment before was long forgotten. With her back pressed as tight as possible against the locker, Tara looked like she wanted to penetrate in there to hide from the boys' inquiring eyes.

"So, Tara, what were you doing just when we came in?" Donnie asked coldly, looking directly at her, apparently not giving a damn about Tara's obvious fear.

"I...I...I" the witch stuttered horribly, looking frantically around for an escape. "No-nothing. We-we were tal-talking"

"Talking, uh?" he repeated.

He came in front of her, followed close by his friends.

"Talking?" he said again. "With your lips on hers?"

"What do you think guys?" he asked, turning to the other boys. "Is that possible to talk like that? Do you talk to Sarah when she's got her tongue in your mouth, Charlie?" he added for a boy in particular.

They all laughed and shook their head.

"You're a liar, Tara" resumed Donnie, turning to her again. "You were kissing her. You were acting like a dyke."

"It-it was no-thing Do-Donnie" Tara whispered, trying to control her panic. "I didn't do an-anything b-bad"

"Oh, it was nothing..." he repeated in a sickly sweet voice. "Just a little kiss... But before what? Lips first, then tongues, then what? You play with her pussy? She plays with yours? Five minutes later, I'd find you with your tongue stuck in her pussy! You're disgusting me!"

Tara wanted to protest but as she opened her mouth, Donnie slapped her face so resoundingly that her head banged against the locker behind her.

"I wonder what Dad will think about that" he went on in the same tone.

The mention of her father was like another slap in the face for Tara.

"No, please!" she shrieked, her eyes filling with tears. "Don't tell Dad! Please!"

Donnie smiled, obviously very pleased with the result he had just reached.

"Oh, that's becoming interesting," he commented. "What would you do for me not to tell him you're a fucking dyke?"

Tara opened her mouth but he interrupted her:

"Anything?"

Tara fell silent and looked at him with an unreadable expression on her face. She shivered at the tone he just used. What was worse between her father learning about her kissing her girl and owing Donnie a favor? Really, she did not know.

"Anything Tara?" he asked again. "Think about it, sister. Think about what Dad will do when he knows."

Tara closed her eyes briefly, trying not to think about what could happen. Life had not been very funny these last years for her, but it now could really turn to hell if he heard about this.

"Please Donnie," she repeated in a begging tone.

As he only smirked, she finally breathed:

"Anything"

"Really?" he said, stepping even closer, until he was entirely pressed against her, his nose against hers, his eyes staring directly into hers.

"Anything" she whispered again, so low he hardly heard.

"Hear that, guys?" he snickered, stepping back away from her to turn to his friends. "She's so ashamed of what she did that she said: anything. A-NY-THING"

He came back to her, pressing her body again and bent to her ear:

"Thanks for the offer, you little slut, but no thanks" he whispered, but loud enough for his friends to hear. "I'd rather tell Dad. I want to see what he comes up with to punish you of something this grave. And know what? Afterwards, I will be able to do anything I want with you, because after something like that, Dad will never believe a word of what you'll say. Never again, he'll side with you for anything. You'll be alone with no one to call to your rescue"

The last part had been strangely delivered in a half-threatening half-sweet tone and Tara could not help dissolving into tears at such evident threats. She knew her brother was right: hell's gates were opening right in front of her.

As reading her mind, he suddenly put his hand to her head, grabbing and squeezing the bottom of her face between his strong fingers.

"I think we'll start with the punishing right now" he uttered dangerously. "I'll show you what it costs to act like a dyke."

He squeezed her chin a little more, then gestured to his friends to come closer. Surrounded this closely by the four boys, all looking at her menacingly, Tara felt as she was about to throw up or to faint.

"What's going on here?" suddenly exclaimed a new voice, when as the same time the door banged opened once more.

Every boy stepped back immediately away from Tara and turned to the door. The figure of Professor Milly, one of the gym teachers, was standing in the doorway. He browsed the room suspiciously and finally spotted Tara behind the four boys, her back still pressed against the locker. He did not appear to notice her frantic expression.

"What are you doing in the boys' locker room Maclay?" he asked, eyeing her from head to toes.

Tara turned to the opened door and read the sign telling Professor Milly was telling the truth. In her haste to follow Hope before, she had not paid attention where the girl was dragging her.

"That's the point, Professor," said Donnie when Tara kept silent, unable to pronounce a word. "Tara kind of behaves like a boy these days. We were trying to explain her how a girl is supposed to behave."

Professor Milly glanced between the two of them several times before grimacing slightly.

"Go away from here Maclay" he finally said.

Donnie took a step forward but he was cut short:

"Not you," said Professor Milly. "Your sister."

Tara suddenly remembered her legs could walk and she hastily left the room without a glance for any of the other protagonists. As she got away, she heard Professor Milly reprimanding Donnie:

"If anything like that happens again, I'm calling your father Donnie, understood? I don't want anything like that in my gym. God, what were you thinking? Your own sister!"

Tara quickened her pace along the hallway. She needed some fresh air. For a second, she thought about Hope. The beautiful Hope had nearly kissed her. Nearly. But it did not matter that Hope would never kiss her again. Tonight, Donnie would tell her father with no doubt. Tomorrow, he might tell the whole school she liked girls. She had escaped the punishment he had promised her for the time being; but it would not last, she knew this with utter certainty. The worst was still to come.

***

The large living-room was shadowy, half-lit by the fire dancing in the fireplace and by the last rays of the sun disappearing in the darkening, cloudy sky. Out every window of the room, snowy fields could be seen stretching in the distance in the sunset.

By the fireplace, right under a window, a man was sitting in a rocking chair, reading a book, his spectacles slightly down on his straight nose. Two girls in their late teenage days were fussing around him. Both were very blonde. The thinnest of the two had her hair wrapped into a strict bun. She was sitting on a bench beside the man and was knitting a sweater. The other one was voluptuous and taller, but looked strangely out of place with her slouched shoulders, her long hair falling in front of her face, and her furtive and regular glances around her, as if she feared someone or something might attack her any minute. She was ironing clothes, the table and the full linen basket placed a few feet away of the other two. Despite the apparent awkwardness of her gestures, she was ironing and folding each cloth very carefully as it was a very precious item owned by some person of very noble birth.

No one talked for a long time, Mr Maclay and cousin Beth looking oblivious to the other, and deeply engrossed in what they were doing. Tara was neither. Even though she was taking great care to the clothes she was ironing, her mind was elsewhere. Her constant and discreet glances to her father seemed to indicate that the blonde waited for the right moment to interrupt his reading. He wasn't a man to be disturbed if he did not wish to, and Tara knew this all too well, having learned her lesson the hard way during all her childhood. But she also knew her father well enough to recognize the signs telling her he was nearly done with his reading for the moment. Tara inhaled deeply but quietly, as if to give her some courage, and she glanced at her cousin to see if the girl was showing any sign of moving or leaving. Tara would have rather talked to her father alone, but she wasn't sure she would have the chance to catch him this peaceful without Donnie around for quite some time. Then she decided to do with Beth – they had never been really close, but Tara had always found her okay – and she played her monologue in her head one last time before addressing her father hesitantly:

"S..Sir," she started and her voice faltered miserably as expected.

He looked up almost immediately, showing Tara that he wasn't really engrossed in the book any more as she had rightly supposed. As his dark and severe eyes fell upon her, Tara felt like giving up for the tiniest second. She forced herself to think about her mother and about Donnie to strengthen her resolve.

"Sir, I'd li-like to t-tell you so-something," she managed to get out in the calmer voice she could.

He frowned slightly and Tara could feel her heart pounding in her chest like thunder.

"What is it Tara?" He asked, his voice slightly impatient, as if he expected her to have a hard time saying whatever she wanted to say.

"M-miss El-Elmond says I could go to co-col-college."

His frown grew stronger.

"And?" he asked coldly.

"I...I'd like to g-go."

He put his book away and Tara slightly jumped at the sharp sound. She returned to her ironing task, not daring to look at her father. She knew he was not happy with her right now. Of course, she had foreseen this, but she had wanted to give it a try. Since the moment Miss Elmond had called her after a lesson to ask her if she planned to go to university, Tara had not spent an hour without thinking about how she would tell her father.

"Listen to me, girl," Mr Maclay said severely. "You will go where I tell you to go."

Tara opened her mouth, even if she was not sure to say something. Anyway, she did not have the chance to talk as her father interrupted:

"What are you thinking? Haven't you listened to any word I've said for the last eighteen years Tara? Do you really think I can let you wander alone among hundreds of innocent students? Is that how I've brought you up? To be so selfish?"

He paused and eyed her from head to toes with disgust.

"But then again, what can I expect? I guess that's the demon part talking."

"Y-you s-said i-it w-wou-wouldn't sh-show up be-before I'm tur-turning tw-twenty," Tara stuttered horribly, only half-looking at her father. As he did not react immediately at this, she went on: "So I th-thought I cou-could go until then."

She looked down as soon as she had finished her sentence and resumed ironing, with now trembling hands. Mr Maclay stared at her pointedly for several minutes. Even if Tara was not looking at him at all, she could feel his intense scrutiny upon her. She felt like her father was trying to find out what she really had in mind, to unveil any possible lie or hidden plan.

"You want to go to college until you turn twenty, is that what you're telling me, Tara?" he finally asked.

"Yes, it is," she answered in a trembling but nevertheless stutter-free voice, briefly looking up.

"Look at me," he ordered as she looked down again.

She complied to her father's order very hesitantly and could not resist the need to wrap her arms around her as if to protect herself from his inquiring stare. As if only by looking at her, he could read her mind, she tried not to think about her plan to go to university to never return again as his eyes met hers.

"You want to go to college for two years, do you?" he asked again.

She slowly nodded her head and he stared at her again in silence for a few seconds. To Tara's surprise, her father then turned to Beth who had stopped knitting and was looking quietly at the scene.

"What do you think about that, Beth?" He asked. "Should I let her go to college?"

The girl looked startled for a brief moment. She had not expected to be asked any advice on that matter.

"I am certain you will take the right decision sir," she answered carefully. "You know what is best for the family."

"Certainly I know. But it is not what I am asking from you, Beth. What is your advice?"

She wavered again and glanced quickly between Tara and her father. As Mr Maclay looked at her with insistence, she finally reluctantly replied:

"Well, I guess that two years are not so much…"

Tara looked up more abruptly than she had intended: Beth backing her up was a surprise.

"I mean, I can take care of the house and of Donnie and you while she's away," cousin Beth went on in a sweet voice, and Tara refrained herself from frowning with disgust. "And maybe…"

She hesitated and glanced at Tara almost shyly before resuming before Mr Maclay pressed her to finish:

"Maybe being away for a time will do her some good. I mean, being away from this magic things her mother left her…"

Tara looked down again and clenched her teeth tightly at the contempt in Beth's voice at the mention of her mother and the magic. But she kept quiet. Any reason that could lead her father to let her leave for college was good to take; even she hated said-reasons. Anyway, her father's voice interrupted her train of thoughts.

"This is exactly what I was thinking about." He nodded at Beth who broadly smiled in response.

He turned then to Tara and was about to say something when Cousin Beth added with disdain:

"Plus, it's not like Tara has any chance of finding someone who wants her. She'll come back running after a few months being all alone there."

She smirked, obviously proud of herself, and took back her knitting tools without paying any attention to Tara anymore. The blonde witch knew she should not feel hurt by this remark, whose aim was nothing else but upsetting her, but she could not help it. Suddenly she realized how fool she was: what would she do all alone in a town so far from home, with no one to care about her? Her family might have its very special way to care about her, but they did care. Except for her family ties, alone she always had been up until this point; alone she would be in college: there was no denying this. She was about to announce her father she gave up on this idea but he spoke up before her:

"We'll see that when the time comes," he said severely. "As you'd be turning twenty during the second year, we could consider you leaving for one year. Being away from the magical influence you're experiencing here may even be preferable before you finally turn into a demon. The moment approaches, and we must be prepared."

Tara was so surprised to hear her father saying he was ready to let her leave home that she forgot instantly her brief moment of weakness from the minute before and did not even register everything else he had mentioned about her demon part. For the first time in the afternoon, she truly looked at him, jaw agape. Which he noticed immediately:

"Don't stay still like this, girl," he reprimanded her. "You still have ironing to complete and it shall be soon time to cook the dinner."

He got up from his chair and walked to the back-door leading to the backyard.

"Hurry up, Tara. You don't want me to have to wait."

She frantically nodded her head and resumed ironing. Her heart banging like thunder in her chest, her ears buzzing with excitation, she did not even hear neither the door closing behind her father nor Beth mumbling things about her.

***

Darkness. Utter darkness all around.

Faith squinted at her surroundings and waited to get acquainted with obscurity to be able to perceive where she was. It did not happen in spite of her wait and efforts: the darkness remained as thick and total as it had been since moment one. The Slayer could not see the slightest thing; she could as well be blind. Faith could only rely on her other senses.

Pricking up her ears, she listened carefully and soon made out a faint yet insistent scratching noise.

Screech, screech, she heard. She tried to determine where the sound came from, but after minutes listening in, she had to admit she could not tell. It was as if the scratching was caused by some mysterious things at any point of the room.

Faith could only suppose she was in a room of some sort because if she looked up, all she could make out was more blackness and nothing that looked like a sky. She thought that even a dark sky would be less dark than this, if it made any sense.

There was definitely something unnatural about this place.

The Slayer stretched her arms cautiously to check if she could touch a wall or something else around her. But her hands did not contact anything concrete. She squinted again at her surroundings but met no more success than previously at seeing something.

"Great," she muttered.

She took a step forward with her arms stretched in front of her to prevent her from bumping into anything. A sinister squeak rang out, as she crushed something under her shoe. She stopped dead in her tracks and immediately took another step in another direction but only to obtain the same result.

"Great," she repeated.

She tested the ground with the tip of her foot and grimaced in disgust as she felt something soft, viscid in some places and crumbly and squeaking in others. After several failed attempts to walk on concrete hard ground in different directions, Faith resigned herself to move forward carefully on whatever was under her feet. A dreadful squeak accompanied each step she took and the Slayer could not help feeling more and more uneasy. Again, she tried to see something and felt at a loss about what to do or to witness in such darkness. She still heard the distant scratching noise, ringing out like a disturbing litany. Suddenly, an idea hit her and she felt silly not having thought about it before. She rummaged in her pockets feverishly, searching for her lighter. But despite the fact that Faith was utterly certain to never part with it, it was nowhere to be found.

"Okay, now I'm in hell," she said out loud after searching her pockets for the fourth time.

The words died in her throat as she told them and the thought crossing her mind made her shiver from head to toe. What if this was…?

"If that's where she went after dying, I'm really not in a hurry to know what's in store for me…" Faith dejectedly commented.

An icy breeze then rose and the Slayer felt at once completely frozen to the point of chattering her teeth. She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself but it did not help to shut the cold away. Somehow, it felt like she was freezing inside. As it was not enough already, a terrible screaming rang out and echoed during what felt hours to Faith. She stopped dead in her tracks again and felt inexpressible panic rising in her chest.

"Tara," she called tentatively. "Where are you? What's this pl…"

She interrupted herself as she suddenly felt something touching her right leg. Something was crawling up her leg. She tried to sweep it away from her tibia and noticed with horror that her trousers were gone, that all her clothes were gone, that she was utterly naked.

"What the hell is that?" she screamed in frustration in a trembling voice.

She felt other things crawling up both her legs, crawling in her back and on her shoulders. Probably different sorts of insects she thought as she brushed them off her body vigorously, but they seemed to come back as many and as soon as they were gone. She wanted to run, perhaps thinking that she would escape her little attackers this way. Her naked feet almost slipped on the irregular ground and somewhere in her mind, it occurred to her that what was cracking under her steps might be the insects crawling on her skin now. She grimaced in disgust and looked desperately around, searching for a way out. There was necessarily a way out.

"Tara!" she called and she hated the anguish in her voice. "Tara!"

And at once, here she was, appearing suddenly right in front of her, the only visible thing in the room. Faith stopped her blind run and stared at the blonde, breathing heavily, the sight in front of her enough to make her forget what she was running from.

Tara was crouching on the ground, completely naked too, her long blonde hair hanging dirtily on her shoulders. Her teeth were chattering and just as Faith had been minutes before, she was covered with insects of various shapes and sizes that made Faith wrinkle her nose in disgust. The blonde brushed them with one of her hand – her other arm being tightly wrapped around her chest – but they kept coming back, crawling along her thighs, her back and even her face. She was whispering something Faith could quite hear clearly.

"Tara," she said gently.

But the blonde obviously had not registered her presence, and did not acknowledge it in any way. Faith bent over to be able to hear what she was muttering to herself. Her blue eyes were dull, gazing blankly at something in the distance.

"Bad, bad, I'm bad."

"No, you're not," Faith tried, already knowing Tara would not even notice she had said something. "Tara, what's this place?"

The blonde did not answer and went on rocking without looking at the Slayer. A long high-pitched scream echoed then again in the room and both girls jumped. Tara looked frantically around her, a light of utter terror shining now in her eyes.

"No!" she screamed to no one in particular. "I'm bad!"

She yelled plaintively and started to cry softly, her body shaken with tremors and heart-breaking sobs.

"I'm bad, I'm bad," she carried on repeating, lowering her voice each time she pronounced it.

Faith bit her lower lip and felt the most urgent need she had ever felt in her life: the absolute need to be gone from there. She closed her eyes as she felt tears of despair appearing at the corners of her eyes. When she opened them, it took her a few seconds to realize that the scratching was finally gone and to get acquainted to light returned.