It was well and truly night when they marched into the library, fully armed and all together. Willow, stopped them on the way to the library to pass around something she'd cooked up before the meeting that night.
"Okay, so we can turn the ghost over when he's a nice golden brown?" Xander asked incredulously, holding up the small sack strung on a piece of twine that Willow had handed him.
"Scapula, not spatula!" said Willow indignantly. "You wear it around your neck for protection!"
"You expect me to wear that?" demanded Cordelia. "It smells like grandpa-breath!"
However, Oz noted that she took her's anyway and slipped it on under her top when the attention turned back to Willow.
"Sorry, I didn't have a lot of time. I had to use sulfur. Stinky, but effective."
"I'll take effective," said Oz, slipping his around his neck. Buffy and Xander followed suit.
"Okay," said Buffy, clapping her hands. She cast a glance over her shoulders to the nearby library doors. "…let's do this."
"No problem!" said Cordelia, with forced brightness. "This'll be a piece of cake. Right?"
Almost in response, there came a loud bang, quickly followed by a crash that was too nearby for comfort. As one, they whirled around to see that the doors they'd just entered through had slammed tightly shut. Other bangs echoed throughout the halls, other slams of doors as they were shut and held tightly by their ghostly opponent.
Willow swallowed. For better or for worse, they were trapped. For better or for worse, this fight would end tonight.
She took Oz's hand and squeezed it tightly, as Buffy led the way into the familiar safety of the library.
The Slayer caught her breath as she entered the brightly lit room, and could sense that her friends had just had similar reactions. Because there was Giles, sitting at the table with a book open before him. Buffy had to swallow, had to force back the memories of him sitting there as a human being, sitting there and reading…
Giles looked up as they entered. "Ah. So…you've arrived."
"We've arrived," said Buffy, folding her arms. Willow stepped up to stand beside her.
"I…I hear you've got a spell for us," she said, clearly trying to keep her voice from trembling too much.
In reply, the vampire held up a piece of paper covered with spidery handwriting. Willow and Buffy exchanged a look…then, Buffy strode over to the former Watcher.
He actually shrank back a little as she approached, and she saw him cover his mouth, suddenly looking a little sick. But when Buffy held out her hand, the translation was passed over without comment.
"You okay?" asked Buffy, before she could stop herself.
"It's your smell," said Giles, his voice slightly muffled. "You smell…god." He actually gagged a little.
"It's sulfur," Willow piped up helpfully. "Ah…I guess scapula's and vampires don't mix. Creatures of deepest darkness, and all. Buffy, you might wanna back up or he's not gonna be in shape to do much of anything…"
Buffy backed up, handed the translation to Willow, and moved far enough that she sat on the stairs. Willow actually took off her scapula, passed it to Oz, walked over to Giles, and took a seat across from him. Again, Willow had to swallow back the memories. This entire scene was just, too familiar.
But she forced the memories away, and made herself all business.
"What do we need?"
"I've gotten all of the ingredients together, actually. A bit of it was troublesome to transport, but it's done. It was clever of you to add sulfur, by the way. Well done."
"Thanks," said Willow, still all-business. "So, how's this work?"
"Rather simple, actually. It involves the formation of a Mangus tripod, and the performance of the actual spell must be done at the stroke of midnight. You'll find all the procedures written there.
Willow looked up at him. "Something tells me that you won't be helping out with the actual hocus-pocus. Seeing as you can't even get near my stinky scapulas."
Giles nodded. "Quite right…although, honestly, I hadn't expected you to think of scapulas. Willow, what have you been reading? Anyway, I had actually planned a little job of my own while you lot are occupied."
"And the suspicious meter starts ringing," Buffy drawled.
"It involves the ghost, I assure you," said Giles calmly, without so much as looking at her. He turned his gaze on Willow again. "I suppose, judging by the looks you're all giving me, that you still haven't figured out what has happened here?"
"Fill me in," said Xander flatly. "I've read the book, I've seen the movie, and I'm still mighty fuzzy about what's going on."
Giles paused at Xander's words. Willow rather suspected that, if he could still breathe, the former Watcher would be taking a very deep, steadying breath.
"The ghost," he finally said. "It's Jenny."
"What?" Buffy asked, sounding gob-smacked.
"You think she's the ghost?" Xander asked incredulously.
"Well, don't you see?" Giles demanded. "She…she died here, under tragic circumstances, and…and now she's trapped."
"But what about the gun?" Willow pointed out. She could sense Giles getting agitated, but could not stop herself from interjecting. "I mean, Angel didn't shoot Miss Calendar."
"The gun is insignificant," Giles persisted. "It's the violence of the thing that matters."
"I don't know," said Oz quietly. "These fights. They seem…specific."
"Oz is right," Willow added. "It's a pattern that doesn't fit with how Miss Calendar died."
She could see that their arguments swayed him, if only a little. She could see him slump in defeat. And, despite what he was and what he'd done…Willow felt a pang of pity for him right then and there.
The vampire got to his feet. "Yes, well…" he said, quietly. "I…I appreciate your thoughts on the matter." He started to move towards his office, and did not look at one of them. "I…in fact, I…well…I encourage you to ah…always challenge authority. It…well, it is what you've always done best. You…you should never be afraid of something as…as menial as authority. Not when…when there are things so much worse, after all. Like me."
He turned to look back at them. "Except, of course, in this instance…where I am clearly right and you are clearly wrong!"
Then, he was gone into an office that was no longer his…but the Scoobies let him go. They knew there would be no getting another word out of him. Despite all that they'd been told…by Giles himself, sometimes…about how vampires were fundamentally emotionless beings, the hurt he was feeling was painfully clear. So, Willow finished researching the spell, passed out the materials, and together the Scoobies left the library to get to work.