"You'll shake it off eventually," Xander said apologetically. Dean was hunched over, gagging and fighting the urge to vomit. Sam wasn't faring much better. They were in a large room with vaulted stone ceilings. All of them stood on a large silver disc on the floor that was covered with magical sigils and glowing gems. It matched the platform in the attic of Xander's house; the same platform he and the Winchesters had been standing on just moments before.

"A warning would have been nice," Dean rasped bitterly. Xander hid a small smile. It was gratifying to not be the one lacking in magical experience for once.

The apology he was about to make was cut off abruptly as the door at the end of the cavernous room burst open.

"Xander!" Willow called happily. Xander smiled back at her brightly and rushed over to give her a hug.

"Wills!" he answered, grabbing her in a big brotherly hug. They stood that way for few minutes, basking in the rightness that was the two of them together. Eventually the Winchesters sauntered over to where two were embraced. Dean coughed, loudly.

Slowly, reluctantly, the two friends broke apart to face the brothers.

"Hey, Xander, want to introduce us to your friend?" Dean asked with a charming smile. Xander and Sam rolled their eyes.

"Guys, this is Willow, my bestest friend in the whole wide world and the most powerful witch to ever live." Xander said proudly. Dean's smile faltered and lost some of its charm. "Willow, this is Sam and Dean Winchester." She nodded to each of them.

"Xander told me about you guys already. Welcome to our dimension," she said with an outstretched hand. Dean looked at it as though it might bite him. Sam, ever the polite one, quickly stepped forward to shake the offered appendage.

"Thanks, it's great to be here," he said quickly. He withdrew his hand but noticed that Dean was still eyeing her distrustfully. "You'll have to excuse Dean. In our world, witches are evil most of the time." Willow frowned, disliking the implied prejudice but deciding to leave it alone.

"Fair enough," she said with an assessing glance at Dean. Then she turned her attention back to Xander, who had unconsciously moved between her and the brothers. "Giles is waiting for us in the library. He wants to share with us what he's learned." With that, she turned around and started to leave the room.

BEEEP! BEEEP!

All of a sudden, a deafening alarm started blaring. The four of them crouched down instinctively and the brothers reached for their weapons.

"Intruder alert. Detention room number two," a calm, mechanical voice spoke between the peals of alarm bells.

Willow levitated and started flying down the hallway at breakneck speed. Xander didn't even think, just started running after her. The brothers looked at each other for a moment before following suit. After about five minutes of running they rounded a corner to see a squadron of uniformed slayers and private security with weapons drawn, all aimed at a particular door. Giles was standing behind them shouting orders.

When Willow drew close she landed and walked briskly towards Giles.

"What's the situation?" She demanded brusquely. Giles didn't mince words.

"We don't know. The door and the windows remain intact but someone materialized in the room. They have thus far not managed to materialize a way out," he summarized.

"What's going on?" Xander asked, jogging up to them. Willow glanced at him.

"Someone was after Andrew. They were pretending to be Violet and we caught them trying to sneak into his hospital room," she explained. Xander frowned.

"Do you think it was the Shadow creature?" Xander asked. Dean and Sam shared a quick look. Sam wondered if he should share what information he had about the shadow creature with the group. He privately decided against it, not yet ready to share his nocturnal epiphanies.

Willow was already shaking her head.

"No, no way. We tested her when she was unconscious. No powers, totally human. Whatever she is, she's not that shadow creature. But she did claim to be from another dimension."

"Whoa whoa, wait," Dean interjected. "Another dimension? You mean OUR dimension?" he asked. Willow looked from Dean to Giles and back to Dean again before deciding to answer. She shrugged.

"No way to know. She didn't mention you guys at all, or that shadow creature. So we have no idea where she's from or why she's really here. We were in the middle of interrogating her when you guys showed up and we decided to take a little break." Willow smiled wryly. "Apparently, that was a mistake."

"What does she look like?" Sam asked warily. He wondered if this could possibly be the girl the shadow creature spoke of; the one who could free Dean from his curse.

"Like Violet," Willow started, and then checked herself, "cute, short red hair, big eyes, attractive in a nerdy sort of way," she added. Sam sighed inwardly, with relief or disappointment he wasn't sure. One thing he knew, there was no way this girl was the one the shadow creature had referred to.

"What's her name?" Dean asked, shouting to be heard above the alarm bell that had yet to cease. Giles continued to yell directions at the troops assembled. They all seemed to be waiting for the occupants in the room to make a move to escape. Willow scrunched up her face as she tried to remember what the girl's name was.

"You know," she said at length, "of all the questions we asked I don't think we got around to names. The only name she gave us was the person who helped get her here."

"And who was that?" Xander asked, eyeing the door to the room warily. Willow chuckled a little.

"She said it was an angel. Named Castiel."

Dean felt that name like a punch to the gut. Then he felt a punch to the face as a force exploded out from within the room, flattening everyone in the hallway against the floor. The door splintered outward. As soon as he was able to stagger to his feet and look into the room he saw that the wall opposite the door had been blow outwards and the room was now an empty mess of rubble.

In the brief moment it took him to assess the situation, Willow flew into the air and out the gaping hole in the wall. Everyone except Giles ran to the edge of the ruined room and looked out at the grounds. A contingent of guardian slayers were running to the force field surrounding the compound that was shimmering in and out of existence as two figures on the ground sought desperately to flee the area.