Xander woke up. His head throbbed and his jaw ached. He opened his eyes and saw Angel spreading a rug over a circle of branded symbols. He dropped his eyelids back down. Angel and weird magic looking symbols were so not of the good. He held his breath and tried to think. He needed to get to safety, so he pretended to be waking up for the first time. Maybe he could talk his way out of this mess.

"Oh, my aching head." Xander mumbled.

"Willow, Harris is waking up." Angel called out. "Hey, you okay, boy?"

Xander pushed up to a sitting position and watched as Willow came running into the room. She smiled at him and he felt relieved.

"Oh, Xander, I'm so glad you're okay. Angel found us dumped in his front yard. I came to pretty quickly, but you've been out of it for a while."

"I've tried calling the library, but no one is answering." Angel looked worriedly at Willow. "We need to get over there."

"Let's go see what's going on." Willow nodded and helped Xander up. He looked at her closely. She looked like his Willow, but something was wrong. It was like she'd been on a caffeine binge.

Xander watched Willow and Angel closely as they walked to the high school. Angel seemed more removed and broody than usual. The guy was such a downer, evil undead and depressing to be around. Still, it was within the normal realm of creepy.

Willow was the one acting really funny. She was skipping and laughing as they headed down the sidewalk. Even caffeine couldn't make her this crazy stupid.

"If the others haven't answered the phone, there could be trouble. Shouldn't we be worried, Will?" Xander asked her.

"I guess I'm just giddy from surviving that attack. I'll try to keep it down." She stopped bouncing around and tried to look serious.

Xander rolled his eyes. So, Willow was acting weird and dead boy was walking them to find their possibly dead or dismembered friends, she was still his Willow. He slung his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I'm just worried about everybody." Xander rubbed his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure they're fine. Right, Angel?" Willow smiled at their companion.

"I'll feel better once we get there, but I'm sure its nothing Buffy can't handle." He looked away from the two of them, scanning the darkness.

"Yeah, Xander, Buffy can handle it. She's strong and Faith should be around. So, there's a surfeit of goodness just bubbling away on top of the hell mouth." Willow pulled away from him and bounced ahead. "Hurry up. I want to see everybody."

Angel glared at her for a moment. She relaxed again and walked sedately with them. Xander watched both of them and felt like the biggest idiot. They weren't acting all that strange. This was in his head. He was always accusing Angel of things, and it pissed Buffy off. He felt better when the high school came into view, and that was sickening. He was happy and it was school related. He shook his head.

"Angel, you should go in first, make sure everything is alright." Willow smiled and grabbed Xander's hand. "We will be safe here."

"No, I don't think splitting up is a good idea. I can see my Mom's car in the parking lot. Whatever got us, well, it got us near here. My mom's car is right there. I think we should stay together." Xander squeezed her hand.

Angel looked at the two of them and frowned. "The whelp has a point, unusual as that is."

"Fine we'll stick together." Willow cast Angel a look. Xander felt sorry for the vamp for a second.

"Okay, getting hit on the head sucks. I've got a lump, a headache, and I feel for the undead. Tell me there's a cure." Xander babbled as they walked into the darkened building.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Xander." Willow patted his hand and moved ahead of him.

The three of them burst into the library to find Buffy, breathless collapsed by the cage with a howling werewolf scratching at the gate. Faith was guarding the office with Joyce and Giles safely tucked inside.

"Wow, did you guys miss the fun." Buffy said as she pushed up wearily to her feet. "We all passed out for some weird reason and when we came around Oz was shifted and standing over me growling. I managed to get him back in the cage, but I'm worried about him."

"I think it must have been Ethan. This has all the ear marks of his brand of stupidity." Giles ground out as Faith stepped aside to let the adults out of the office.

Joyce collapsed into a chair, shaking. "I have such a headache. I don't know how you cope with all this stress."

"You adjust. This was really a nonevent, Mom. No first aid required." Buffy smiled at her mother and moved over to the counter to sit next to Faith. The two slayers grinned at each other for a moment.

"If this is Ethan, it won't be an isolated incident." Giles slammed his hand down on the table.

"It isn't." Xander said. "Apparently, someone dumped Willow and me in Angel's yard. Is it me or I?"

"Why the hell would Rayne dump them at the mansion?" Buffy tilted her head. "That doesn't seem to fit."

Giles nodded. "True. We may have a new player in town."

"We need to figure this out." Faith started pacing. "We can't just drop and take naps because some sorcerer grooves on making our lives a living hell. We'd be sitting ducks as is."

"This feels like a test run or a warning." Buffy said. "Other than that weirdness with Willow and Xander being dumped at the mansion and Oz being free. There wasn't much threat here."

"I can make charms to keep this from happening again." Willow said. "I mean if this new baddie wants to keep knocking us out, he won't be able to do it."

"That sounds good." Buffy nodded her head considering her responsibilities. She felt so sad, and it didn't make sense. They'd stopped the migration thingy and Willow had gotten them back from wherever with no trouble at all. "Could this have been some sort of side effect from Willow's spell with the rifts?"

"No, Xander and Willow were dumped at my place and he has a lump on his head." Angel said flatly.

"I wish I could remember what happened while we were dimensionally challenged." Buffy sighed. She looked at everyone and felt the sadness pulling at her. It was like drowning. She wanted to slide down to the ground and howl with Oz. She rubbed her hand along her arm and it felt cold to her touch. She felt tears gather for no reason at all. She loved them all and she couldn't keep them safe. Xander and Willow had been taken and she'd been under the influence of some spell. She'd been shifted out of this dimension for a bit. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, terrified by the possibility of failing to keep them safe.

"It will be okay, Buffy." Faith said and bumped their shoulders together. Buffy smiled at her and nodded. She wasn't the only Chosen One anymore. Faith was strong. She looked at Joyce and felt relief wash through her.

"Hey, Mom, can I talk to you in the office for a minute?" Joyce nodded.

"I feel so violated." Joyce said as she walked back to the office. "I went to sleep for no reason. These things happen to you all the time."

Buffy nodded and hugged her as they walked into the small office. "It's just the way things are in my world. I worry all the time about keeping you safe. Someday, I'm not coming home. I've died once. I need to find a way to protect all of you after I'm gone."

"Buffy, stop talking like that. You can still have a normal life." Joyce said.

"No, Mom. I won't. Slayers don't retire. We don't get old. I'm going to fight with everything I've got for as long as I can." Buffy grabbed her mother's hands. "Mom, you know Faith is living in a cheap motel. The council won't pay her and her watcher didn't leave her with much. I think we should give her the spare room."

"You want her to live with us?" Joyce looked at Buffy oddly trying to figure out the swift change of direction their conversation had taken. "I thought you felt strange about the other slayers."

"I used to feel really weird about it. They kind of reminded me about dying, made me think about it, but Faith needs a place to call home and I need you to be safe. I want us to ask her to move in with us."

Joyce looked at Buffy. She was agitated and rubbing her arm in an odd pattern. This horrible life was weighing on her daughter. She looked out the window at Faith. She was such a brash young woman. She needed love and stability, a home.

"Fine. Let's do it now."

Buffy hugged her mom and sighed with relief. She needed to protect her loved ones. There were rifts and sorcerers and all manner of supernatural crap coming at her. When she slipped up and couldn't make it home at least her mom would have Faith to protect her. She looked at Giles and the others and felt the panic leap within her anew. Safety was a long ways off. She shuddered as cold dread swept through her.