The dream he had had the night before, complete with vamp Willow and werewolf Veruca, had repeated itself in the nap that he had taken that afternoon. The difference was that the black cloud part felt a lot stronger, and it was all clearer. Oz had decided this was a problem for Giles.
It hadn't been long since his last trip to Sunnydale. Some parts of him said it had nonetheless been too long, while the rest of him screamed, for more reasons than one, that it hadn't been long enough. The events of his last visit still haunted him.
Oz was almost clear of his alma mater when he thought he heard voices coming from the interior, or what was left of it. Despite his misgivings, he felt drawn to check it out.
He followed the remains of the outside wall, tracking the rising sound with his supersensitive ears. It led him into the skeleton hallways to the section just ouside the former library. A large section of the wall was still intact, but there was a hole just large enough for him to look through.
Inside Oz saw two females. One had her back to him. The other was Tara. His ears perked up at hearing the first female's voice, and he recognized it as belonging to Anya.
Tara looked really frustrated. "You can't," she said. "You should go. It's almost time and I have to finish the preparations."
Oz surveyed the floor around Tara's feet and saw several books, some bags of herbs and symbols drawn on the ground, directly above the Hellmouth. Tara picked up one of the books and started to read while sprinkling something from her hand. He couldn't understand the words, as they weren't in English.
"The realm of the dead is not something to mess with," said Anya. She was trying to remain calm.
Tara stopped and looked up at her. "I have no choice. My mom is the only one who can tell me how to stop it from happening, and this is my only chance to bring her back."
"Stop what?"
"The demon," replied Tara, continuing her setup. "If I can't do something by my twenty-first birthday, it will take over completely." She paused and then added softly, "You saw what it did to Willow."
"I did," said Anya. "That's why I know you can't be messing with magic this powerful."
"Tonight's the night," the witch said. "Once every seven years the moon is full and the planets are positioned exactly right, making the Hellmouth at its strongest. I can't reach as deeply into the realm as I need to without it."
"But that's exactly what I mean!" Anya's efforts to keep the conversation light, so as not to provoke the other unnecessarily, were not working. "You're very volatile right now. Your demon half can't ne trusted with it."
Tara ignored her and picked up a different book. She started chanting again, only this time louder and with more emphasis. After several minutes, all the while speaking over Anya's protests, she seemed to reach the end because she kept repeating the same sentence: Ouvrez les Mortes!
Oz looked down at his watch. Midnight. He wasn't sure what he should do. He could barely believe what he was hearing.
Before he could think anymore, his worst nightmare came true, literally. In the air in front of Tara, a large black pool formed, shimmering in the magic. The portal to the realm of the dead.
Having accomplished that task, Oz saw Tara bend to pick up the last of her books. Her back was to him now, but he saw her hesitate.
"Tara- no!" screamed Anya. "You've got to get control!"
The sorceress jerked back up, facing Oz, a mask of pain and struggle on her face.
"I can't!" Tara screamed back. "It won't- I-" Before she could finish speaking, her face morphed into one of the most hideous looking monsters Oz had ever seen, and he had seen a lot, himself included.
The loss of Tara's concentration, not to mention her human visage, seemed to be having a grave effect on the portal. Before the two young women could do anything else, they were being drawn toward it. Oz started to run out and help them, but the pull of the hole was enormous. He only got one step toward them before he had to struggle to get himself back behind the relative safety of his wall. After a few more seconds he could barely see them in the dark mass.
And in a flash of light that seemed to manifest itself in beams shooting
in every direction, the portal closed.