Disclaimer: I only own Bothis, and he's no fun.
"Hello, Giles." The apparition said sadly. Giles wanted to speak, knew he should say something, but enquiring after her health seemed redundant. Finally he settled on the most honest thing he could say.
"I've missed you, Jenny." The apparition shifted, and glided closer to the stunned librarian and the students who surrounded him. Jenny smiled as Buffy took a protective step forward. It was good to know nothing had changed.
She reached out with a luminescent hand and touched it to Giles' cheek. "I've missed you too, Giles, every day." She said.
Giles covered her hand on his cheek with his own, and fought back tears that threatened to break through at any time. Finally his famous British stoicism won through, and taking a deep breath he schooled his features into firm resolve. "Why are you here, Jenny?" he asked, "What do you know about what's happening to this girl?"
Jenny allowed her pale hand to linger on Giles cheek for another moment, and then turned away to face Sarah. "I know a great deal, actually." She said cryptically, "And not nearly enough." She began to circle Sarah, looking the frightened girl up and down.
Buffy sighed. What was it about spirits? Were they all sent to a special school to learn how to be cryptic? "That's great, Miss Calandar." She said. "Mind sharing what you know with us so we can do something about it?"
Jenny turned to Buffy, but instead of answering the girl's question she posed one of her own. "How have you been, Buffy?"
Buffy faltered. "Uh…fine?"
Jenny nodded. She didn't want to be cruel, but she thought perhaps Buffy needed to be reminded of a few things. "And Angel? How is he?"
Buffy paled, and looked as though she might throw up. Her face was picture of pain and guilt, and Jenny felt a stab of regret at being the cause of it. "He's dead." Buffy said softly. "I killed him."
Jenny only nodded, and turned back to face Sarah. Xander had watched the exchange with growing outrage, and the pain on his best friend's face sent him over the edge. "Look, Miss Calandar" he began, "We're all real sorry that Buffy's boyfriend killed you, but can we get back to the current problem?" He gestured around the room. The shadows had gotten closer, but the menacing figure had so far remained a safe distance away. "In case you haven't noticed, we have a library full of creepy shadows and a scared young girl whose life was completely normal up until a few weeks ago. Now what do you know about it and how do we help her?"
Jenny gave Xander a dazzling smile. She had loved all of these kids. Their passion and courage in the face of untold dangers had been a constant inspiration to her. It pained her not to be a part of their lives anymore. But Xander was right, there were more important things to think about now.
"I don't think Miss Williams is as new to supernatural events as you all believe." She said, and Sarah's eyes widened.
"What do you mean?" she asked, knowing there was only one thing she could be talking about.
Instead of answering the question directly, Jenny gestured around the room. "These things you see around you are shadow elementals. They are made of wild magic and are drawn to it. Gypsy magic is wild magic, and so we often use shadow elementals for our purposes. These shadows are drawn to you, Sarah, because you possess a very exotic brand of wild magic, a form so exotic that I believe it's not from this world."
Sarah looked around confused. "Magic? I don't have any magic."
Jenny smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure you don't realize it, and I seriously doubt you'd know what to do with it if you did. But rest assured, its there. You're practically drenched in it. I can feel flowing out of you and pulsating around you. It's so strong I can almost taste it. And so can they." Jenny pointed once again to the shadows around them.
"They won't hurt her, will they?" Willow asked, her voice trembling.
"No," Jenny said, "In fact, the magic around her is so strong I'm sure they see her as a kind of Queen. They would protect her from harm if they could."
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived. Jenny pointed to the dark figure that had almost been forgotten. "He, on the other hand, would kill you if he had the chance."
"Who…who is he?" Sarah asked, not wanting to look at the creature. Every time she acknowledged him in any way, she felt a pulse of hatred from him so strong it threatened to knock her off her feet.
"His name is Bothis, and he was a man, once." Jenny answered. A very powerful Gypsy sorcerer. He became too powerful, and was corrupted by it. His evil was renowned among my people. He often took young women to his bed to satisfy his lust, and then killed them for pleasure, tossing their bodies to the animals. Some though, he kept alive, and tortured them in unspeakable ways. It was decided that he must be punished. It cost the lives of a half dozen gypsy elders, but eventually he was killed, and his magic bound. He was cursed to spend eternity as a spirit. Unfortunately, in death his soul festered, and he is now more demon than man, and has gained new power. It was one of many mistakes my ancestors made." With this Jenny glanced at Buffy, driving her unspoken apology home.
Giles looked from the frightened young girl to the menacing spirit and put a protective arm on Sarah's shoulder. He had never met this young woman before, but he felt an unwavering duty to protect her. "What does he want with Miss Williams?" he asked.
"He, too, senses the wild magic that Sarah possesses. He craves it for his own. He believes she carries enough of it that if he can steal it from her, he can reincarnate himself. Only now, he would be more powerful than ever, part man, part demon, and wielding magic of such force that he could perhaps rule the world."
"How can he steal it?" Sarah asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.
Jenny shook her head sadly. "He would have to take you to place that is sacred to my people, tie you naked in the moonlight, and spill your blood."
Sarah cringed backward, instinctively looking to Giles for comfort. It was Xander who spoke next. "Does this Bother guy know all this? Cause he's standing right over there, and I'd hate to think we were giving him all the answers."
Jenny looked directly at the spirit in question. "He knows all of this and much more, I assure you."
Sarah stubbornly shook her head. "Why is all this happening now that I moved here. If I possessed this great magic like you say, shouldn't this guy have been after me before?"
Six voices chimed in unison, as if a single word could pass for an entire explanation. "Hellmouth."
"Oh." Sarah said, more confused than ever, but asked no more questions.
Buffy had had enough talking. It was time to act. "Okay, so this is easy. You say he's turned into a demon? I'm a demon slayer. Just tell me how to kill him and it all over."
Jenny turned to Buffy and shook her head. "I said he was part demon. He's mostly spirit, and there is no weapon or strength you possess that can destroy him."
Buffy sat back down, crestfallen. "So how do we get rid of tall dark and creepy, then?"
"I don't know," Jenny said, and gestured toward the drawing that Giles was still holding. "But I think he does."
"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, looking at the familiar face of the Goblin King.
Jenny stared at the image, fascinated. "He must be someone very powerful. You have an image of him in your room, and it has thus far kept Bothis out. You've been drawing pictures of him for weeks and not even realizing it. Bothis is obviously afraid of him. The shadows appear to be drawn to him. If just his image commands this much power, the man himself must be incredible." Sarah smiled, thinking Incredible doesn't even do him justice.
"So do you know who he is?" Giles asked.
"I believe he may be the Gypsy King." Jenny answered. "I always thought he was a myth, but it's the only explanation I can come up with."
"The Gypsy King?" Sarah asked, her voice laced with incredulity that no one noticed.
Jenny began pacing the floor. "You've heard the legends of Gypsy's stealing children? Well according to our folklore, the legends started with him. But he didn't steal children, he took children that had been wished away. He was immortal, the first Gypsy. He was also ruler of the wild magic that we thrive on. He wielded great power and was said to have the ability to make any dream come true. His charm was said to be irresistible. But as I said, I thought he was a myth. Then Sarah came along, and now I'm not so sure."
"He's not a myth." Sarah said quietly, and everyone turned to look at her.
"How do you know that?" Giles asked gently.
"Because I've met him." She answered, and then smirked, "And he's not so charming all the time."
-
Giles made tea, and everyone sat around the table to hear Sarah's story. She told them everything, leaving out not the slightest detail, hoping that somewhere in her story they could find something that would help her. All the while, Bothis paced on the periphery, looking for an opening.
"So let me get this straight." Xander said. "You wished your brother away, some glittery guy in tights shows up, sings you a few songs, and sends you on your merry way?"
Sarah glared at him. "I wouldn't have put it quite that way, but yes. I suppose that's what happened.
Giles looked at Xander disapprovingly and then spoke. "So it's highly likely that you picked up the wild magic you now possess while in the…Underground did you call it?"
Sarah took a sip of her tea and thought for a second. "I guess that makes more sense than anything else." She said finally. However, her mind kept going back to a line in the book. What no one knew was that the King of the Goblins was in love with the girl, and had given her certain powers.
"So it appears all we need to do is summon this Goblin King and ask him to remove the magic from you." Giles said, looking at Sarah expectantly.
"That may be easier said than done." Sarah answered. "As far as I know the only way to summon him is to wish someone away to him." She looked around the room mischievously. "Any volunteers?"
"I'd like to nominate Cordelia." Xander said and Buffy and Willow both nodded their heads in agreement.
Cordelia began to protest but Giles put his hand up to silence her. "No one is getting wished away." He said. "There has to be another way, and we'll just have to find it."
-
They spent the next couple of hours pouring through Giles' books on mythology and demonology, searching for some reference to the Goblin King. To Sarah's surprise, they found more than one, explaining why both Willow and Giles had seemed to recognize him. However, none of them mentioned a way to summon him other than through the standard wish.
Suddenly, Sarah remembered a vague paragraph in the original Labyrinth book. She wasn't sure, but she thought it might be the answer they were looking for. She searched through the cardex, hoping against hope that the library held a copy of the book. To her surprise and delight, it did. Without a word, she ran to the shelf that held the book, and on finding it she shouted with triumph.
"I think we'll find what we need here." She called, holding the book up. No one had noticed when she left the table, and they all looked at her with surprise now. Their surprise quickly turned to horror. In her excitement, Sarah had forgotten to bring her picture of Jareth with her, and had ventured too far out of its circle of protection.
"Sarah!" Willow screamed, and Buffy leapt to her feet, running toward the startled girl. But it was too late; the shadow creature had his arms around her, and with a wicked laugh, they disappeared. All that was left was the book that Sarah had found and dropped in her terror. Cursing, Buffy bent down and picked up the battered red book and clutched it tightly, her unearthly strength causing the binding to bend to her rage.
A/N: Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews. Sorry, Nightwoman, but I'm afraid this is all of Angel we'll be seeing in this story. I hope you can enjoy it anyway. For those of you who are anxiously awaiting Jareth's appearance, he'll show up in the next chapter.
Hope you all are enjoying the story, please review!
