Title: Principal Wood And The Manifest Spirits Of Sunnydale High

Author: mispel

E-mail: mispel@email.com

Rating: PG

Summary: How the 'zombies' came to haunt the school and Spike and Wood's involvement in their appearance. Ch5: Spike has another visitor. Xander has an encounter. Wood still can't resist the haunting allure of the basement. Dawn has her own worries about school.

Spoilers: season 7

Disclaimer: I own none of it. Joss, ME and Fox own all

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome.

A/N: Scenes that are not in the fic happened as they did on the show. The timeline is a tiny bit different.

Principal Wood And The Manifest Spirits Of Sunnydale High

Chapter 5

Spike waited, crouching. After being alone for a while, he straightened a little so that he was sitting in the middle of the room.

A middle aged man walked out of the wall. His head leaned at an odd angle and his glasses were broken.

"We just bought a new house. We weren't even unpacked all the way. Do you know how much a funeral costs? I had kids to put through college. I was saving up," the man ranted not even looking at Spike.

"You should thank me," Spike said as what the man said sounded more dreadful than any death.

Spike had no idea who the man was. Idly, he wondered if he would be solid like the last one.

"Are you mocking my life, you piece of undead trash?" The man sounded angry as he walked over to stand over Spike.

"Look who's talking," Spike said as a dry chuckle escaped his throat.

The man ground Spike's hand into the floor with his heel. Spike knew the rules were changing. But he couldn't keep up. He hadn't learned the old rules yet.

"I just wanted to meet some of my kids' teachers, see their new school. You had no right! Insulting me and you broke my neck! Real funny. I was a man. What are you?"

Spike liked these new rules better. He was about to stand up, to see if a thing that could hurt him could be hurt back.

But the man was gone.

Xander had woken up out of fitful sleep in the early morning not feeling well rested at all. As he turned on the lamp, its light mixed weakly with the gray light of early dawn. He rolled up the plans he had stolen and dressed quickly.

When Xander arrived at the school, it looked gloomy and deserted. Only one car was in the parking lot. Having decided to see the basement for himself, Xander was circling around the school toward a side door that would take him inside. He was getting ready to go in when he heard a click and then another one. He turned and a man was standing right behind him.

"That's where I used to go in," the man said as Xander saw that he had an old cigarette lighter in his hand.

The guy was kind of young to be balding. The flesh on his face was like unbaked dough, like your finger could go right in. He was pale, and his eyes looked strange. Xander wandered if he was on something. He even hoped. Because substance abuse would be reassuring.

"Gil, right? Long time no see," Xander said.

The guy's timing set off the Sunnydale brand alarm system in Xander's head. They were still out in the open, kept out of view by fresh landscaping, but Xander felt closed in. The early morning's crispness was gone. The air felt too thick to breathe.

"I couldn't find my way out," Gil said, looking at Xander and not blinking once.

"I hear it's a real maze down there. They should put up a sign or something. 'abandon hope all ye who enter here'," as Xander joked hearing his own voice sounding shaky and hollow.

Gil just kept staring. Xander started to feel queasy looking at him. There was a ringing in his ears. Maybe it was the alarm. Maybe it was because he skipped breakfast.

"You knew this place was a death trap. You didn't warned them," Gil said and his voice remained as bland as his face.

Xander shifted under the unblinking stare. As Xander slid his eyes away, he saw that the lighter was pitted and rusty. Gil must have noticed where he was looking.

"I found the lighter in a cabinet someone dumped. It's my lucky charm."

When Gil flicked the lighter again, Xander saw that the skin on his fingers was peeling. He started to back away from Gil while trying to look like he wasn't.

"So, what have you been up to?" Xander asked, trying to sound conversational and not panicked.

Then he heard a car pull into the parking lot and turned to look. When he looked back, the guy was gone.

Xander took a few deep breaths. Remembering that he promised to take Dawn to school, that he had a meeting he had to get ready for, oh and that he didn't have any superpowers or weapons bigger than a stake, Xander decided to go home.

Principal Wood had lost his flashlight again. He didn't know which way he was going and his shoulder felt like it was dislocated. Silently promising not to raise any more evil spirits if he ever made it out of there, he stumbled over something hard and hurt his toes. Even though he couldn't see anything, he had no choice but to continue the way he was going. He started the chant again, speaking quickly, knowing that they wouldn't let him finish. Wood brushed his hand against the walls so he wouldn't bump into them or miss a turn. He nearly fell when his hand reached through air. He stopped for a moment. Then followed the turn and continued chanting.

Nearing the end of the incantation, again he reached for the talisman and Ms. Calander appeared. She grabbed his neck silencing him. A steady "shhhhh" came from her blue lips. Her fingers squeezed until Wood's vision started to turn black. With both his hands he barely dislodged her grip. Shoving her clear of him, he stumbled away.

His throat wouldn't work. He tried to say the rest of the spell and only strangled whispers came out. He swallowed painfully and knew he would have to start from the beginning.

Dawn was sitting in class. A blonde teacher was writing on the board in very small, illegible handwriting. Dawn had her hand raised high.

"Miss, Miss, Miss," she kept saying, trying to get her attention.

All she could see was the back of the teacher's head as she continued to write, not hearing her.

"Miss, I have to go to the bathroom," Dawn blurted out then looked around sheepishly.

But no one so much as snickered.

Dawn ran out of the classroom. When she couldn't find the bathroom, Dawn started to panic thinking that maybe they forgot to build any. She tried to stop people in the hall to ask them where the bathrooms were, but everyone ignored her. They rudely brushed past her and bumped into her like she wasn't even there.

Just then, she ended up in the bathroom somehow. As she looked in the mirror, she saw that her hair wasn't smooth so she tried to fix it. Not having a comb, she just used her hands. But that only made it worse. She gave up and went out into the hall again. She tried to get the attention of a passing girl.

"Do you have a comb?"

Everyone stopped and turned.

All eyes were on her. Dawn became painfully aware of her excessively dorky clothes, her big feet, and her big nose, her lank, uncombed hair. Dawn tried to run away but they surrounded her. They pulled her hair. They crowded around her till she couldn't breathe.

"We want to be your friends!" They screamed and Dawn woke up.

She saw that it was almost time to get up. She flopped back down on the bad and groaned. Then jumped up again when the alarm clock went off.

Walking quickly, feeling all the various hurts from his probably broken toes to his gouged and bruised neck, Wood started to form a theory. Though the spirits could hurt him, the talisman was keeping them from killing him outright. It wasn't a theory he wanted to test. So when he saw a little bit of light, Wood ran toward it and fell over the stairs. He looked up and saw that the light was coming under the door. He tried to open it but he couldn't. As he pushed with all his strength, the door gave way suddenly and he fell through into the school hallway.

The reddish light of sunrise filtered trough the windows, shining off the new, clean floors. Wood felt safe there. Then he felt a foot connect with his back. He didn't look to see who it was. He just ran finally getting the talisman out of his pocket. As he chanted hoarsely and got ready to break it, all four ghouls appeared ahead of him and more behind them. Wood backed away as their hands reached for his face but he didn't stop chanting.

Wood was in a bathroom. His bruises made it hard, but he resolved to finally get rid of them and held the talisman in both hands. Just as he finished the chant, the door swung open and several of them rushed him. The talisman flew out of his grasp unbroken and Wood fell through a hole in the floor and landed hard on the floor of the basement. He was alone. When he looked up, he saw that the hole above his head had closed and he passed out.

To be continued