Chapter Eleven
The Library
Xander ran up to Sonya and gave her a lengthy kiss on the lips. Sonya enjoyed it, but she was hyper-aware of Giles' disapproving gaze on them. She pushed Xander away finally, hissing, "Save that for later, Harris."
"But I *missed* you," Xander whined in a tone that would have been annoying if Sonya hadn't found it flattering -- and if looking into Xander's chocolate-brown eyes didn't always make her want to melt.
"You had some news, Sonya?" Giles asked after clearing his throat to get their attention.
With a last, secret smile at Xander, Sonya pulled away from him and turned to face her guardian with a big grin on her lips. "Yes. Something amazing has happened."
"Tell us, babe!" Xander encouraged her, hopping up onto the reading table and sitting there with his legs swinging back and forth.
"You know, Xander," Sonya said with a slight frown, "I've been meaning to talk to you about this 'babe' thing..."
"Sonya!" Giles said, demanding her attention. "You were going to say...?"
"Oh, sorry!" Sonya replied, her frown turning back into a smile as she remembered her exciting news. "Well, this really isn't something that I can just tell you. I kind of have to show you..."
With that, she walked over to the weapons closet and pulled out a sharp, wicked-looking knife that glinted in the fluorescent, overhead lights. The she pointed to a bulletin board on the wall by the circulation desk.
"This knife, the student council nominations poster, one try," Sonya said, stepping as far back from the circulation desk as she could.
"Nonsense, Sonya," Giles protested. "Only the Slayer could aim so true..."
But while he was talking, Sonya let the knife fly. It twirled in the air with a spin she had given it... and it landed right in the 'o' of 'nominations' with a soft thunk.
Giles looked at her with incredulity written all over his face. "How..."
"Your powers!" Xander shouted, jumping off the table and running over to pick Sonya up and twirl her around the room. "They're back!"
"Yeah!" Sonya said through her laughter at Xander's antics. When he finally put her down (though he didn't go far, keeping an arm slung about her shoulders), she explained. "This vamp surprised me on my way back here, and that's when I discovered this... Isn't it great? Now we'll have two Slayers to kick vampire butt in Sunnydale. I mean, I know Buffy and I are on the outs right now, but I'm sure that in time..."
"Buffy will be dead!"
All three of them whirled to look at the newcomer. Angel strode into the library and, bypassing Sonya and Xander with only a look of disgust, he headed straight for Giles.
"Why didn't you return any of my calls?" Angel demanded angrily. "I left ten messages on your machine! If I hadn't had to save some stupid girls from some vampires down at makeout central I would have come to see you last night myself."
"Oh, I apologize, Angel," Giles said in an overly polite tone. "I've been a bit busy lately." He gestured toward Sonya in a vague way. "Doctors and everything. Haven't had time to check the machine. What did you want?"
Angel darted a quick glance toward Sonya and Xander. Sonya was staring at him, and Xander was playing with Sonya's hair. "Can we go somewhere in private, Giles?"
"What did you mean, Buffy will be dead?" Sonya demanded, shrugging out of Xander's loose grasp.
Angel glared at her. "Like you care!"
"I care!" Sonya protested.
"You have an interesting way of showing it," Angel replied.
"What is all this about?" Giles asked, drawing Angel's attention away from Sonya.
"I saw what Sonya did just now," Angel said bluntly. "It doesn't make sense. There have never been TWO Slayers! If Sonya has the powers then that means..."
"Buffy doesn't," Sonya finished with a pained expression.
"Probably better this way," Giles said, giving Sonya a small smile. "You're more experienced anyway."
Angel looked from Giles to Xander. "Something is really wrong here. Don't you guys see it?"
Giles and Xander looked at him blankly.
Sonya felt a twinge of worry -- well, more than a twinge. "What do you think is going on, Angel? Why would the powers suddenly switch?"
"I don't know." Angel walked toward her and looked at her seriously. "But there's something very demonic going on here."
The look of concern on her face turned to a flash of anger. "You're getting back on that 'the only way Xander could be in love with me is if he's possessed' thing?" she demanded. Every time that subject was broached, an irrational anger filled her from her toes to the roots of her hair. Xander did love her! He would never lie to her, and it wasn't demon possession! She couldn't believe that!
Xander looked up with a frown. "You want I should take care of him, babe?" he asked in a bad gangster voice.
"No!" Sonya snapped at him. Then she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door. "Let's get out of here, Xander!"
"All right!" Xander cried in enthusiasm. And a few seconds later the pair were gone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Oz drove Buffy and Amy back to the school in his van. They left a note for her mother, just in case, but they hoped they would beat her back to the house.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Amy asked.
Buffy nodded, looking a bit more herself, though still not completely well -- there was something pale and lackluster about her. When the van stopped she laid the quilt down on the seat and got out of the van. "Yeah, I'm ready."
She looked around the parking lot. "Good, Xander's jeep isn't here."
Oz and Amy shared a grateful look for that lucky turn of events, but didn't say anything. In tandem, they followed Buffy into the library where Angel and Giles were arguing.
"Giles," Buffy said, startling the man and the vampire into silence, "I need to talk to you... Now."
"Er.. yes," Giles stammered. "There have been some recent developments as of late that you should be made aware of..."
Buffy's eyes narrowed at his uncertain tone. "I don't know about your 'developments,' but there's something wrong with me. I don't feel like myself. You need to find out why." She crossed her arms over her chest and watched him squirm under her gaze.
"I believe," Giles began, "that the reason you are ill is that you are no longer the Slayer."
"What?" Buffy gasped.
"Now that Sonya can walk again, my theory is that the Slayer Essence is reverting back to its original host."
Buffy didn't know what to think. She just stood there, staring at her supposed mentor.
Angel walked quickly over to Buffy. "Don't listen to him, Buffy. There's something else going on here. Sonya's walking -- that came about way too fast. It's not natural. And Xander is NOT being himself. And Giles..." Angel shrugged, letting them finish the end of that obvious statement for themselves.
"What can we do about it?" Buffy asked, realizing that Giles would be of no more help to them. He had puttered into his office and was messing around with his papers.
"Sonya is the catalyst for all this," Angel said slowly. "Everything that is happening here is springing from her -- and I don't think she even realizes it."
Buffy nodded in comprehension. "That makes so much sense. I mean, what would Sonya want above all things?"
"She'd want to walk again," Amy contributed the obvious choice.
"And she wants to be the Slayer," Angel added.
"She's always wanted Xander," Buffy said in a tiny voice.
"But what about Giles?" Amy asked. "Why is he being affected?"
Oz spoke up. "She looks up to him like a father figure."
"What?" Buffy protested. "Why? I know he was her Watcher and all, but he's so stuffy..."
"We talked about that once," Oz said. "She was abandoned as a child. The Watcher's Council raised her in a group sort of way. Giles is the first parental-type entity she's had in her life."
"She must feel like I was taking him away from her, too," Buffy surmised unhappily. "It's all my fault!"
"No!" Amy protested.
Angel looked deeply into Buffy's eyes. "None of this is your fault. None at all. You didn't ask for any of this stuff. It just happened. Just like it's not your fault that she got *your* powers the first time."
"Who cares about that?" Amy cried angrily. "We need to stop pondering Sonya's motives and figure out what's happening here so we can stop it."
"How do we do that?" Oz asked.
Angel glanced back at Giles in his office and motioned for the group to walk out into the hallway. Once out of the librarian's hearing, Angel said, "First of all, we need to find Sonya. She's starting to figure out what's going on, but she's denying it."
"Who wouldn't?" Buffy whispered. "Her wishes are all coming true..."
Amy rolled her eyes at Buffy's comment. "Don't worry about her right now, Buffy. That will come later -- if ever. Right now we've got to figure out what exactly is causing this..."
"Demon possession?" Angel suggested his pet theory.
"Maybe," Amy agreed. "I know this spell that identifies new, mystical powers in a place -- if we can determine when all this started."
"Three days ago," Buffy answered. "Her doctor's appointment. After that was the first time Xander stood me up to be with her."
"Good!" Amy exclaimed. "Now maybe we can figure this out. I just need to get some supplies from my locker..."
Angel looked at Oz. "We should get out there and find Sonya. We can split up. Whoever finds her, tells her what's going on, or at least what we know. She could be getting in trouble out there..."
"Right," Oz replied, turning and heading for his van.
"Buffy's coming with me," Amy decided, seeing that Buffy was not really in the condition to decide herself. "We'll get the stuff in my locker and then go back to her house. Call us there with any news."
Angel nodded, and turned to follow Oz outside.
Amy guided Buffy down the darkened hallways of the high school toward her locker. They turned down the deserted hallway and Amy noticed that the lights in one classroom were still on.
"Someone's working late," Amy said, trying to get Buffy out of the depression that seemed to be coming on with a vengeance.
"I just can't believe all this!" Buffy wailed. "I mean, tell me Amy, was there anything I could have done differently? Did I make Sonya feel bad all the time, or...?"
"No!" Amy exclaimed. "I mean, I wasn't here then, but you can't think that way. None of this is your fault! You didn't do anything wrong. It's Sonya who let all her wants and jealousy and everything get in the way of living her own life." Amy grabbed her bag of magic supplies out of her locker and slammed the door a little harder than she had planned because of her surge of anger. "Now, we are going to go back to your house, do this oracle spell and find out what in the Hellmouth we're dealing with here!"
"Did someone say spell?"
The two girls jumped at the new voice and turned to see their computer teacher, Ms. Calendar, staring at them from the door of the lightened computer lab with a stern expression.
"You girls know that magic isn't something to be taken lightly." Ms. Calendar walked toward the girls with a firm step. "And oracle spells can be extremely dangerous if you don't have the right number of members in your coven..."
"You're a witch?" Amy asked, excitement showing her in eyes. She hadn't met another witch since Europe.
"Sometimes," Ms. Calendar replied non-committally. "Now, why don't you two explain to me just what it is that's so important you have to risk an oracle spell..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The wind whipped through Sonya's hair as she sat in the passenger seat of Xander's jeep. Xander was chattering about something or other, but for once Sonya wasn't paying attention to anything he said. Instead she was fuming. Fuming about Angel and his stupid theories, and everything else that was going wrong today. She looked up when she felt the jeep slow to a stop beneath her feet. They were parked in front of Xander's house.
"What are we doing here?" she asked, as they got out of the car.
"I just thought we could use some alone time without everyone else horning in," Xander said, taking her hand and leading her up to the front door.
They walked inside, and Sonya noted that no one was home.
"It's bingo night," Xander said off-handedly. "Mom's out trying to win the big one, and Dad's probably at the Pub getting drunk."
"Oh," Sonya said, wrinkling her brow as she thought about his bad relationship with his parents. She'd always suspected something more went on than what he said, but he'd never told her about it. She gave his hand a comforting squeeze, and he returned the gesture as he led her up the stairs to his room.
"Enter at your own risk," he said with an impish smile. Then he threw open the door with a flourish.
Sonya stepped inside, expecting a terrible mess, but instead she found a semi-neat, relatively nice teenaged boy's room. There were a couple of posters of scantily-clad actresses on the wall, but that was to be expected. She noted with interest that his bed was made. Even she didn't make her bed every day.
"It's not that bad," she said, turning around, and Xander was there suddenly kissing her.
"Whoa," she muttered against his mouth in surprise, but soon she gave in to the thrill of his lips on hers and his hands on the small of her back. The kissing grew heated and intense very quickly, and after a few moments Xander pushed her back onto the bed.
Sonya felt a twinge of apprehension at that, but pushed it away. He was her Xander. He wouldn't hurt her, and he would know and respect the limits. They kissed some more, and then she felt his fingers undo the button on her jeans and caress her tummy. She moaned, deep in her throat -- enjoying it, but the thought flashed through her mind that she should probably stop this now, before it went too far. Then he began to pull at the waistband of her jeans, and she realized that he was about to take them all the way off. She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him up and off of her a little bit.
"Xander," she said in a firm-but-gentle tone, "we'd better cool down a bit."
"Why?" he asked, leaning in and nibbling her ear ardently. "We're two consenting almost-adults. We're in love. Why do we have to cool off?"
Sonya loved the feel of his mouth on her neck, but she knew that this was way too soon. She loved Xander, but just two days ago he'd still been with Buffy. She tried to tell him this, and he sat up and looked down at her with an expression that could almost be called anger.
"What does Buffy have to do with any of this?" he demanded. "I blew her off for you, so the least you could do is..."
"What?" Sonya retorted, getting angry herself. "Show you my gratitude?"
"Well, yeah..." With that Xander leaned in for another kiss, but Sonya turned away.
"Get off of me!" she said, pushing him up.
He refused to budge. "No!" He tried to lean back in again, one hand sneaking back to the waistband of her jeans.
"Stop!" Sonya cried, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. This was *not* her Xander. Angel had been right all along -- something horrible was happening! "Stop it now, Xander, or I'll..."
"You'll what?" he asked with a cruel tilt to his sneer. "Kill me?" Then he grabbed her and kissed her lips with a bruising force. As he came closer, Sonya saw the blue-violet glint deep in his brown eyes. His mouth now felt like poison on her skin.
"No! Stop!" she yelled again, this time actually starting to cry. But Xander wouldn't move of his own free will, so she had to do it for him.
Sonya reached up and placed her hands on his chest. Then she shoved with all her might. But, unused to having her powers again, she overestimated, and Xander went flying across the room, a stunned expression on his face until the moment his head hit the wall, leaving a small dent and a stain of blood. His eyes fluttered shut, and he slid to the floor. The bookshelf next to where he'd hit toppled over on top of him.
She stared at the aftermath, her eyes wide with shock. She could barely see Xander under the pile of books, and what she could see of him did not look good. She ran over to him.
"Xander," she called, "can you hear me?"
He moaned, and then fell silent. His face was too white.
Frantically, Sonya pulled the shelving off of him. She couldn't see his chest moving!
"Please don't be dead, Xander," she begged, running for the telephone. With trembling fingers, Sonya punched in 911. When the ringing stopped she gasped, "Please, someone, I need help... an ambulance..."
But on the other end of the phone was a computerized voice saying, "...we care about your call, but our lines are all busy now. Please don't hang up and we will get to your emergency as soon as we possibly can..."
With a scream of frustration, Sonya dropped the phone. She glanced back at the non-moving Xander. Should she move him? But you weren't supposed to move people with head injuries. Or was that neck injuries? But he might have that, too! She came to a decision, grabbed his keys from on top of the dresser and ran down to his car. She'd have to get help and bring it back here!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once in the jeep, Sonya didn't know where to go. She hadn't driven in so long that she was very rusty, but somehow she managed to keep the jeep in the proper gear and on the right side of the road.
She knew she couldn't go back to the library, because Giles had been acting weird, too. She couldn't trust him either. But there was one person that maybe she could trust... if he would talk to her.
Swerving around a corner, Sonya found herself in front of Buffy's house, but all the lights were off and only one car was parked in front -- and it wasn't Oz's van. He wasn't there.
"OK," Sonya told herself, "you've got to think! The hospital! Yes, then they can send an ambulance."
She made a screeching U-turn in the middle of the street and started in the other direction. On her way to the medical district, she found herself on a familiar road.
(Dr. Keller's office is down here) she realized. When she drove past the office, she expected it to be closed, but there was a car in the parking lot and the lights were on.
Sonya swung the jeep into the parking lot, stopped it wherever it wanted to stop, and ran for the door. It was open, and she ran inside, her sneakers squeaking on the tile floor. She saw a nurse's hat through the window of the front desk, but she didn't stop to talk to Jane. Instead she ran back, yelling, "Dr. Keller! Dr. Keller! I need help!"
"Sonya?" She heard his voice from the lighted office at the end of the hall. "Come on back."
Her footsteps pounded down the hallway in rhythm with her rapidly beating heart. Sonya careened into his office and looked up to see a stranger sitting behind Dr. Keller's desk. A tall, pale, dark haired stranger wearing black robes.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "And what have you done with Dr. Keller?"
The stranger smiled, and an icy feeling began to grow in her heart. She knew that smile.
"I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow afternoon, Sonya dear," the stranger said in Dr. Keller's voice. "If I'd known you were stopping by I would have dressed for you... I can put my other face on for you, if it would make you more comfortable."
"No, thank you!" Sonya felt almost detached from this whole situation, as if it were playing out in slow-motion all around her. "I'd rather see the real you, if you don't mind."
"Certainly," the man said with that same smile. On this version of him, it looked cold and cruel. Or maybe it always had, and she'd just never realized it.
"Who are you, and what have you done to me?" Sonya demanded angrily. "Tell me or I'll..."
"Or you'll what," the man asked. "Kill me like you did that boy?"
Sonya paled and stepped back. "How do you know that?"
"I've been watching you for a long time, Sonya," the man said. "But I knew you wouldn't let me help you if I came to you as myself. That's why I created the Dr. Keller persona." He paused and then said casually, "You can still call me Dr. Keller if you'd like -- or you can call me by my given name... Nathan."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Oz drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his van as he waited for the light to turn green. It was the only show of frustration he allowed himself. Oz knew that other people thought he was emotionless. That wasn't true. He was chock full of emotions, strong emotions. But he knew that if he let them out there would be no way to get them back. He'd done that once, and always regretted it.
The light turned green, and he accelerated quickly. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the distant past. Now was the time to find Sonya -- before something horrible happened to her, or to anyone else.
He'd checked the house she shared with Giles, the place in the woods where kids went to make out and several other places around town. Angel was covering the graveyards. There was only one other place Oz could think of to try. Xander's house.
When the van pulled up the curb, Oz felt a twinge of hope. There were lights on. The hope dampened a little when he saw the front door standing wide open.
Oz jumped out of the van and ran into the house. He couldn't hear anything, so he started up the stairs. One door was open. From the poster he could see from his position at the head of the stairs, Oz judged it to be Xander's room. He hurried up to the door, and paused when he saw Xander buried under a pile of books, looking nearly dead.
The phone was off the hook and he could hear a tinny voice saying, "911, what is your emergency? Are you there?"
He picked up the phone and said quickly, "Send an ambulance. I'm not sure what happened but someone is unconscious."
"Is the person breathing, sir?" the operator asked.
"Hold on, I'll check."
Oz set the phone down, and walked over to Xander. He pushed some books away, and touched the other boy's neck. There was a pulse -- very weak but there. Oz sighed in relief and also noticed the slight rise and fall of Xander's chest.
He went back to the phone. "He's alive, just unconscious."
"What is your location?" the operator asked.
Oz gave her the address to Xander's house quickly.
"I'm dispatching an ambulance right now," the operator said.
Oz nodded absently, forgetting that she couldn't see him over the phone. "They'd better hurry. He looks pretty bad and his pulse is very weak."
"The ambulance will be there soon, sir. One has been dispatched from Sunnydale Memorial Hospital."
Oz hung up the phone, and heard the sound of sirens in the distance. He looked at Xander. "Hang on, man," Oz said quietly. "They'll be here soon."
The Library
Xander ran up to Sonya and gave her a lengthy kiss on the lips. Sonya enjoyed it, but she was hyper-aware of Giles' disapproving gaze on them. She pushed Xander away finally, hissing, "Save that for later, Harris."
"But I *missed* you," Xander whined in a tone that would have been annoying if Sonya hadn't found it flattering -- and if looking into Xander's chocolate-brown eyes didn't always make her want to melt.
"You had some news, Sonya?" Giles asked after clearing his throat to get their attention.
With a last, secret smile at Xander, Sonya pulled away from him and turned to face her guardian with a big grin on her lips. "Yes. Something amazing has happened."
"Tell us, babe!" Xander encouraged her, hopping up onto the reading table and sitting there with his legs swinging back and forth.
"You know, Xander," Sonya said with a slight frown, "I've been meaning to talk to you about this 'babe' thing..."
"Sonya!" Giles said, demanding her attention. "You were going to say...?"
"Oh, sorry!" Sonya replied, her frown turning back into a smile as she remembered her exciting news. "Well, this really isn't something that I can just tell you. I kind of have to show you..."
With that, she walked over to the weapons closet and pulled out a sharp, wicked-looking knife that glinted in the fluorescent, overhead lights. The she pointed to a bulletin board on the wall by the circulation desk.
"This knife, the student council nominations poster, one try," Sonya said, stepping as far back from the circulation desk as she could.
"Nonsense, Sonya," Giles protested. "Only the Slayer could aim so true..."
But while he was talking, Sonya let the knife fly. It twirled in the air with a spin she had given it... and it landed right in the 'o' of 'nominations' with a soft thunk.
Giles looked at her with incredulity written all over his face. "How..."
"Your powers!" Xander shouted, jumping off the table and running over to pick Sonya up and twirl her around the room. "They're back!"
"Yeah!" Sonya said through her laughter at Xander's antics. When he finally put her down (though he didn't go far, keeping an arm slung about her shoulders), she explained. "This vamp surprised me on my way back here, and that's when I discovered this... Isn't it great? Now we'll have two Slayers to kick vampire butt in Sunnydale. I mean, I know Buffy and I are on the outs right now, but I'm sure that in time..."
"Buffy will be dead!"
All three of them whirled to look at the newcomer. Angel strode into the library and, bypassing Sonya and Xander with only a look of disgust, he headed straight for Giles.
"Why didn't you return any of my calls?" Angel demanded angrily. "I left ten messages on your machine! If I hadn't had to save some stupid girls from some vampires down at makeout central I would have come to see you last night myself."
"Oh, I apologize, Angel," Giles said in an overly polite tone. "I've been a bit busy lately." He gestured toward Sonya in a vague way. "Doctors and everything. Haven't had time to check the machine. What did you want?"
Angel darted a quick glance toward Sonya and Xander. Sonya was staring at him, and Xander was playing with Sonya's hair. "Can we go somewhere in private, Giles?"
"What did you mean, Buffy will be dead?" Sonya demanded, shrugging out of Xander's loose grasp.
Angel glared at her. "Like you care!"
"I care!" Sonya protested.
"You have an interesting way of showing it," Angel replied.
"What is all this about?" Giles asked, drawing Angel's attention away from Sonya.
"I saw what Sonya did just now," Angel said bluntly. "It doesn't make sense. There have never been TWO Slayers! If Sonya has the powers then that means..."
"Buffy doesn't," Sonya finished with a pained expression.
"Probably better this way," Giles said, giving Sonya a small smile. "You're more experienced anyway."
Angel looked from Giles to Xander. "Something is really wrong here. Don't you guys see it?"
Giles and Xander looked at him blankly.
Sonya felt a twinge of worry -- well, more than a twinge. "What do you think is going on, Angel? Why would the powers suddenly switch?"
"I don't know." Angel walked toward her and looked at her seriously. "But there's something very demonic going on here."
The look of concern on her face turned to a flash of anger. "You're getting back on that 'the only way Xander could be in love with me is if he's possessed' thing?" she demanded. Every time that subject was broached, an irrational anger filled her from her toes to the roots of her hair. Xander did love her! He would never lie to her, and it wasn't demon possession! She couldn't believe that!
Xander looked up with a frown. "You want I should take care of him, babe?" he asked in a bad gangster voice.
"No!" Sonya snapped at him. Then she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door. "Let's get out of here, Xander!"
"All right!" Xander cried in enthusiasm. And a few seconds later the pair were gone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Oz drove Buffy and Amy back to the school in his van. They left a note for her mother, just in case, but they hoped they would beat her back to the house.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Amy asked.
Buffy nodded, looking a bit more herself, though still not completely well -- there was something pale and lackluster about her. When the van stopped she laid the quilt down on the seat and got out of the van. "Yeah, I'm ready."
She looked around the parking lot. "Good, Xander's jeep isn't here."
Oz and Amy shared a grateful look for that lucky turn of events, but didn't say anything. In tandem, they followed Buffy into the library where Angel and Giles were arguing.
"Giles," Buffy said, startling the man and the vampire into silence, "I need to talk to you... Now."
"Er.. yes," Giles stammered. "There have been some recent developments as of late that you should be made aware of..."
Buffy's eyes narrowed at his uncertain tone. "I don't know about your 'developments,' but there's something wrong with me. I don't feel like myself. You need to find out why." She crossed her arms over her chest and watched him squirm under her gaze.
"I believe," Giles began, "that the reason you are ill is that you are no longer the Slayer."
"What?" Buffy gasped.
"Now that Sonya can walk again, my theory is that the Slayer Essence is reverting back to its original host."
Buffy didn't know what to think. She just stood there, staring at her supposed mentor.
Angel walked quickly over to Buffy. "Don't listen to him, Buffy. There's something else going on here. Sonya's walking -- that came about way too fast. It's not natural. And Xander is NOT being himself. And Giles..." Angel shrugged, letting them finish the end of that obvious statement for themselves.
"What can we do about it?" Buffy asked, realizing that Giles would be of no more help to them. He had puttered into his office and was messing around with his papers.
"Sonya is the catalyst for all this," Angel said slowly. "Everything that is happening here is springing from her -- and I don't think she even realizes it."
Buffy nodded in comprehension. "That makes so much sense. I mean, what would Sonya want above all things?"
"She'd want to walk again," Amy contributed the obvious choice.
"And she wants to be the Slayer," Angel added.
"She's always wanted Xander," Buffy said in a tiny voice.
"But what about Giles?" Amy asked. "Why is he being affected?"
Oz spoke up. "She looks up to him like a father figure."
"What?" Buffy protested. "Why? I know he was her Watcher and all, but he's so stuffy..."
"We talked about that once," Oz said. "She was abandoned as a child. The Watcher's Council raised her in a group sort of way. Giles is the first parental-type entity she's had in her life."
"She must feel like I was taking him away from her, too," Buffy surmised unhappily. "It's all my fault!"
"No!" Amy protested.
Angel looked deeply into Buffy's eyes. "None of this is your fault. None at all. You didn't ask for any of this stuff. It just happened. Just like it's not your fault that she got *your* powers the first time."
"Who cares about that?" Amy cried angrily. "We need to stop pondering Sonya's motives and figure out what's happening here so we can stop it."
"How do we do that?" Oz asked.
Angel glanced back at Giles in his office and motioned for the group to walk out into the hallway. Once out of the librarian's hearing, Angel said, "First of all, we need to find Sonya. She's starting to figure out what's going on, but she's denying it."
"Who wouldn't?" Buffy whispered. "Her wishes are all coming true..."
Amy rolled her eyes at Buffy's comment. "Don't worry about her right now, Buffy. That will come later -- if ever. Right now we've got to figure out what exactly is causing this..."
"Demon possession?" Angel suggested his pet theory.
"Maybe," Amy agreed. "I know this spell that identifies new, mystical powers in a place -- if we can determine when all this started."
"Three days ago," Buffy answered. "Her doctor's appointment. After that was the first time Xander stood me up to be with her."
"Good!" Amy exclaimed. "Now maybe we can figure this out. I just need to get some supplies from my locker..."
Angel looked at Oz. "We should get out there and find Sonya. We can split up. Whoever finds her, tells her what's going on, or at least what we know. She could be getting in trouble out there..."
"Right," Oz replied, turning and heading for his van.
"Buffy's coming with me," Amy decided, seeing that Buffy was not really in the condition to decide herself. "We'll get the stuff in my locker and then go back to her house. Call us there with any news."
Angel nodded, and turned to follow Oz outside.
Amy guided Buffy down the darkened hallways of the high school toward her locker. They turned down the deserted hallway and Amy noticed that the lights in one classroom were still on.
"Someone's working late," Amy said, trying to get Buffy out of the depression that seemed to be coming on with a vengeance.
"I just can't believe all this!" Buffy wailed. "I mean, tell me Amy, was there anything I could have done differently? Did I make Sonya feel bad all the time, or...?"
"No!" Amy exclaimed. "I mean, I wasn't here then, but you can't think that way. None of this is your fault! You didn't do anything wrong. It's Sonya who let all her wants and jealousy and everything get in the way of living her own life." Amy grabbed her bag of magic supplies out of her locker and slammed the door a little harder than she had planned because of her surge of anger. "Now, we are going to go back to your house, do this oracle spell and find out what in the Hellmouth we're dealing with here!"
"Did someone say spell?"
The two girls jumped at the new voice and turned to see their computer teacher, Ms. Calendar, staring at them from the door of the lightened computer lab with a stern expression.
"You girls know that magic isn't something to be taken lightly." Ms. Calendar walked toward the girls with a firm step. "And oracle spells can be extremely dangerous if you don't have the right number of members in your coven..."
"You're a witch?" Amy asked, excitement showing her in eyes. She hadn't met another witch since Europe.
"Sometimes," Ms. Calendar replied non-committally. "Now, why don't you two explain to me just what it is that's so important you have to risk an oracle spell..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The wind whipped through Sonya's hair as she sat in the passenger seat of Xander's jeep. Xander was chattering about something or other, but for once Sonya wasn't paying attention to anything he said. Instead she was fuming. Fuming about Angel and his stupid theories, and everything else that was going wrong today. She looked up when she felt the jeep slow to a stop beneath her feet. They were parked in front of Xander's house.
"What are we doing here?" she asked, as they got out of the car.
"I just thought we could use some alone time without everyone else horning in," Xander said, taking her hand and leading her up to the front door.
They walked inside, and Sonya noted that no one was home.
"It's bingo night," Xander said off-handedly. "Mom's out trying to win the big one, and Dad's probably at the Pub getting drunk."
"Oh," Sonya said, wrinkling her brow as she thought about his bad relationship with his parents. She'd always suspected something more went on than what he said, but he'd never told her about it. She gave his hand a comforting squeeze, and he returned the gesture as he led her up the stairs to his room.
"Enter at your own risk," he said with an impish smile. Then he threw open the door with a flourish.
Sonya stepped inside, expecting a terrible mess, but instead she found a semi-neat, relatively nice teenaged boy's room. There were a couple of posters of scantily-clad actresses on the wall, but that was to be expected. She noted with interest that his bed was made. Even she didn't make her bed every day.
"It's not that bad," she said, turning around, and Xander was there suddenly kissing her.
"Whoa," she muttered against his mouth in surprise, but soon she gave in to the thrill of his lips on hers and his hands on the small of her back. The kissing grew heated and intense very quickly, and after a few moments Xander pushed her back onto the bed.
Sonya felt a twinge of apprehension at that, but pushed it away. He was her Xander. He wouldn't hurt her, and he would know and respect the limits. They kissed some more, and then she felt his fingers undo the button on her jeans and caress her tummy. She moaned, deep in her throat -- enjoying it, but the thought flashed through her mind that she should probably stop this now, before it went too far. Then he began to pull at the waistband of her jeans, and she realized that he was about to take them all the way off. She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him up and off of her a little bit.
"Xander," she said in a firm-but-gentle tone, "we'd better cool down a bit."
"Why?" he asked, leaning in and nibbling her ear ardently. "We're two consenting almost-adults. We're in love. Why do we have to cool off?"
Sonya loved the feel of his mouth on her neck, but she knew that this was way too soon. She loved Xander, but just two days ago he'd still been with Buffy. She tried to tell him this, and he sat up and looked down at her with an expression that could almost be called anger.
"What does Buffy have to do with any of this?" he demanded. "I blew her off for you, so the least you could do is..."
"What?" Sonya retorted, getting angry herself. "Show you my gratitude?"
"Well, yeah..." With that Xander leaned in for another kiss, but Sonya turned away.
"Get off of me!" she said, pushing him up.
He refused to budge. "No!" He tried to lean back in again, one hand sneaking back to the waistband of her jeans.
"Stop!" Sonya cried, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. This was *not* her Xander. Angel had been right all along -- something horrible was happening! "Stop it now, Xander, or I'll..."
"You'll what?" he asked with a cruel tilt to his sneer. "Kill me?" Then he grabbed her and kissed her lips with a bruising force. As he came closer, Sonya saw the blue-violet glint deep in his brown eyes. His mouth now felt like poison on her skin.
"No! Stop!" she yelled again, this time actually starting to cry. But Xander wouldn't move of his own free will, so she had to do it for him.
Sonya reached up and placed her hands on his chest. Then she shoved with all her might. But, unused to having her powers again, she overestimated, and Xander went flying across the room, a stunned expression on his face until the moment his head hit the wall, leaving a small dent and a stain of blood. His eyes fluttered shut, and he slid to the floor. The bookshelf next to where he'd hit toppled over on top of him.
She stared at the aftermath, her eyes wide with shock. She could barely see Xander under the pile of books, and what she could see of him did not look good. She ran over to him.
"Xander," she called, "can you hear me?"
He moaned, and then fell silent. His face was too white.
Frantically, Sonya pulled the shelving off of him. She couldn't see his chest moving!
"Please don't be dead, Xander," she begged, running for the telephone. With trembling fingers, Sonya punched in 911. When the ringing stopped she gasped, "Please, someone, I need help... an ambulance..."
But on the other end of the phone was a computerized voice saying, "...we care about your call, but our lines are all busy now. Please don't hang up and we will get to your emergency as soon as we possibly can..."
With a scream of frustration, Sonya dropped the phone. She glanced back at the non-moving Xander. Should she move him? But you weren't supposed to move people with head injuries. Or was that neck injuries? But he might have that, too! She came to a decision, grabbed his keys from on top of the dresser and ran down to his car. She'd have to get help and bring it back here!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Once in the jeep, Sonya didn't know where to go. She hadn't driven in so long that she was very rusty, but somehow she managed to keep the jeep in the proper gear and on the right side of the road.
She knew she couldn't go back to the library, because Giles had been acting weird, too. She couldn't trust him either. But there was one person that maybe she could trust... if he would talk to her.
Swerving around a corner, Sonya found herself in front of Buffy's house, but all the lights were off and only one car was parked in front -- and it wasn't Oz's van. He wasn't there.
"OK," Sonya told herself, "you've got to think! The hospital! Yes, then they can send an ambulance."
She made a screeching U-turn in the middle of the street and started in the other direction. On her way to the medical district, she found herself on a familiar road.
(Dr. Keller's office is down here) she realized. When she drove past the office, she expected it to be closed, but there was a car in the parking lot and the lights were on.
Sonya swung the jeep into the parking lot, stopped it wherever it wanted to stop, and ran for the door. It was open, and she ran inside, her sneakers squeaking on the tile floor. She saw a nurse's hat through the window of the front desk, but she didn't stop to talk to Jane. Instead she ran back, yelling, "Dr. Keller! Dr. Keller! I need help!"
"Sonya?" She heard his voice from the lighted office at the end of the hall. "Come on back."
Her footsteps pounded down the hallway in rhythm with her rapidly beating heart. Sonya careened into his office and looked up to see a stranger sitting behind Dr. Keller's desk. A tall, pale, dark haired stranger wearing black robes.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "And what have you done with Dr. Keller?"
The stranger smiled, and an icy feeling began to grow in her heart. She knew that smile.
"I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow afternoon, Sonya dear," the stranger said in Dr. Keller's voice. "If I'd known you were stopping by I would have dressed for you... I can put my other face on for you, if it would make you more comfortable."
"No, thank you!" Sonya felt almost detached from this whole situation, as if it were playing out in slow-motion all around her. "I'd rather see the real you, if you don't mind."
"Certainly," the man said with that same smile. On this version of him, it looked cold and cruel. Or maybe it always had, and she'd just never realized it.
"Who are you, and what have you done to me?" Sonya demanded angrily. "Tell me or I'll..."
"Or you'll what," the man asked. "Kill me like you did that boy?"
Sonya paled and stepped back. "How do you know that?"
"I've been watching you for a long time, Sonya," the man said. "But I knew you wouldn't let me help you if I came to you as myself. That's why I created the Dr. Keller persona." He paused and then said casually, "You can still call me Dr. Keller if you'd like -- or you can call me by my given name... Nathan."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Oz drummed his fingers on the steering wheel of his van as he waited for the light to turn green. It was the only show of frustration he allowed himself. Oz knew that other people thought he was emotionless. That wasn't true. He was chock full of emotions, strong emotions. But he knew that if he let them out there would be no way to get them back. He'd done that once, and always regretted it.
The light turned green, and he accelerated quickly. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the distant past. Now was the time to find Sonya -- before something horrible happened to her, or to anyone else.
He'd checked the house she shared with Giles, the place in the woods where kids went to make out and several other places around town. Angel was covering the graveyards. There was only one other place Oz could think of to try. Xander's house.
When the van pulled up the curb, Oz felt a twinge of hope. There were lights on. The hope dampened a little when he saw the front door standing wide open.
Oz jumped out of the van and ran into the house. He couldn't hear anything, so he started up the stairs. One door was open. From the poster he could see from his position at the head of the stairs, Oz judged it to be Xander's room. He hurried up to the door, and paused when he saw Xander buried under a pile of books, looking nearly dead.
The phone was off the hook and he could hear a tinny voice saying, "911, what is your emergency? Are you there?"
He picked up the phone and said quickly, "Send an ambulance. I'm not sure what happened but someone is unconscious."
"Is the person breathing, sir?" the operator asked.
"Hold on, I'll check."
Oz set the phone down, and walked over to Xander. He pushed some books away, and touched the other boy's neck. There was a pulse -- very weak but there. Oz sighed in relief and also noticed the slight rise and fall of Xander's chest.
He went back to the phone. "He's alive, just unconscious."
"What is your location?" the operator asked.
Oz gave her the address to Xander's house quickly.
"I'm dispatching an ambulance right now," the operator said.
Oz nodded absently, forgetting that she couldn't see him over the phone. "They'd better hurry. He looks pretty bad and his pulse is very weak."
"The ambulance will be there soon, sir. One has been dispatched from Sunnydale Memorial Hospital."
Oz hung up the phone, and heard the sound of sirens in the distance. He looked at Xander. "Hang on, man," Oz said quietly. "They'll be here soon."