Thought for the Day – Long live the brown pants…oh and thanks for the reviews. I'm glad to know people are enjoying this and I'll try my best to keep it interesting and not let the story drift into the sea of unfulfilled plots.

Chapter 6

Giles, Cordelia and Oz made their way down the long corridor, hoping they would come out somewhere near the entrance of the house, which would lead them to the Games Room. Oz moved along opening doors as he went and quietly listening to Cordelia's endless questions and Giles' reassuring answers.

"What is it with him and Willow, why does he always have to go off and be the hero…"

"They have been friends for many years, I believe they just care deeply for each other as friends and nothing…"

"It was a rhetorical question Giles…I mean its not as if he would do that for me would he, he'd probably just make some witty comment to the thing attacking me about how it can keep me and…"

"Hey guys." Oz had stopped a few doors back and missed Giles' relieved look at the interruption.

At Cordelia and Giles' enquiring looks, Oz pointed at the door in front of him, "I hear the others."

Giles walked up to the door and put his ear to the door, turning to Oz, "I don't hear anything." At Oz's slightly annoyed look he nodded, "Werewolf, of course."

Giles opened the door before Cordelia could say more then "Huh?"

The humidity of the room hit them first and then they noticed the hushed tones coming from the other side of the pool, it was definitely the rest of their group, though they had yet to notice the entrance of the newcomers. They moved around slightly to get a better look at what was going on. The first thing Cordelia noticed was that Angel was straddling her boyfriend and Willow had her mouth on her boyfriend's, but before she could make the embarrassing mistake of accusing Willow of stealing her boyfriend and telling Angel just where he could go, she realised what they were doing.

Buffy was pulled out of her vigil of the proceedings in front of her by a gasp and an "Oh no" from behind her. She turned to see a worried Giles approaching them followed by Oz who was leading a distraught looking Cordelia.

Quickly standing up, Buffy approached the group, her tears finally spilling over as she rushed towards Giles and hugged him. Responding in turn Giles hugging her back and started rubbing her back in a comforting gesture.

"What happened?" Giles tone was hushed, not wanting to disturb Willow and Angel.

Reining in her emotions, Buffy quietly replied, "We came in here and noticed something in the pool, Angel realised it was Xander and pulled him out."

"How long has he been…" Deciding to avoid using the word dead for the sake of Buffy and Cordelia, Giles rethought the question, "How long has he been unresponsive?"

Buffy looked at Oz and Cordelia before replying, Oz was paying attention to her, but Cordelia was too engrossed in what Angel and Willow were doing. "We don't know, Willow and Angel have only been at it for a few minutes, but before that…we just don't know." She looked down for a few moments before looking back at Giles sadly, "It wouldn't be any longer then half an hour, but…that's long enough."

Giles pulled her back into a hug and watched in morbid fascination as Willow and Angel worked to revive the lifeless corpse of a friend.

They were all shaken from their reverie by the deep intake of air, then the wheezy water filled cough as Xander tried to breath again with his lungs full of water. Coughing the water out of his lungs seemed to drain all his energy, and Xander quickly fell into unconscious due to the lack of energy, but much to the relief of those around him, his heart was beating again, all be it slowly and he was breathing.

Willow said a silent prayer and fell back into the arms of her boyfriend who had quickly moved to sit behind her, knowing she would be glad for the gesture.

As Angel moved out of the way, Cordelia knelt next to Xander and started to brush the wet hair away from his forehead that had become plastered there and just glad to touch him and know he was alive, even if he was still cold to the touch.

Angel had started to remove the rest of the armour from Xander's arms and legs with help from Buffy. Buffy noticed Oz's quizzical look as Giles picked up a piece to examine it, "It was a full suit, he was at the bottom of the pool and Angel had to pull some parts off before we could lift him out."

Giles looked at the armour in disgust, trying to thrust the thought from his mind, of Xander being conscious when he was put in the pool and then unable to move because of the armour.

Standing up Buffy moved towards Giles and grabbed his arm, moving him away from Xander and the others, "Giles I want out and I want out now. I don't care about this stupid artefact, if the bad guys get it, we'll deal with it then, maybe the house will kill them before they have a chance, but I'm not letting this house harm anymore of my friends."

"Buffy…" Giles started in an admonishing tone but was instantly interrupted.

"No, I don't want to hear it, I want out. NOW." Buffy rebuked forcefully, all her fear, worry and anger present in the one statement.

"Buffy, this situation is highly unusual, wards or not, there is no way that the house could possibly have done what it appears to have done. There is more at work here then magical wards and I think it indicates more then ever the need to find what we came here for."

"Giles…" Her initial rebuttal stopped as she tried to consider an alternative, "Is there a way to try and find this thing without having to actually look for it?"

"There may be…I did not want to try it, only as a last resort, but…" Turning around to Willow who was still with Oz, Xander and Cordelia, Giles called her over, "Willow, do you care to try a locator spell?"

Standing up and moving to where the two were stood, she remarked frankly, "I don't have anything on me to do the spell…" She held out her empty hands to prove her point, even her lantern had been left in the stairway.

Opening the satchel he had been carrying Giles pulled out a map, a piece of paper and a few small jars of unmarked powder, "These should assist."

Willow took the things realising as she read the paper that it had the required spell written on it, she nodded before sitting down again setting the map in front of her and opening one of the jars. As she started the chant, Oz, Cordelia and Angel moved closer waiting to see the results.

After finishing the chant Willow poured one of the jars' contents onto the map, and looked on waiting for the map to reveal the source of any concentrated magic, such as a magical artefact. All were unpleasantly surprised when the powder seemed to liquefy and bubble as it came into contact with the paper, hissing and popping, acting like acid as it burnt through the map, disintegrating it before starting on the floor beneath. Willow gave a small yelp of surprise, quickly standing up and moving away.

"Oh gross. What is that smell?" Cordelia whined moving away and back to Xander still laid near the pool.

"Hydrogen sulphide." Giles replied with a frown.

"What the hell was that?" Buffy queried her nose scrunched in disgust.

"That…was another ward, the reason I was not eager to try that avenue, though it is far more adverse then I believed." Giles answered, his tone weary yet intrigued.

Deciding enough was enough; Buffy turned on Giles determined in her stand, "Giles, nobody is ever going to find this thing, how about we just leave."

"I agree, that was way to wardy for my liking." Willow remarked still looking at the scorch mark on the floor with disgust. "Remind me to just memorise a guiding light spell next time we're going anywhere near a haunted house."

"As long as we do not separate and stick to groups the house will find it hard to do too much, it would draw too much energy." Giles answered, frustrated with the whole situation.

"That didn't work for Will and Xander, Giles." Buffy retorted.

"Well actually it separated Xander and I…kind of." Willow mentioned softly, but noticing Buffy's glare quickly added, "But it did it really easily."

"What happened exactly?" Giles queried, curiosity finally getting the better of him, causing Buffy to groan in annoyance.

Looking to Buffy apologetically, Willow explained, "Uh it made this big black shadow thing and it chased us down a corridor for a bit before Xander pushed me into a room and he stayed in the corridor. It waited till I was alone and in this staircase thing and then something or I guess someone started to talk to me and asked me of I wanted more power and I said no and it went all poltergeisty…it was really horrible and evil, let's not forget evil."

"Talk you say…there is no way that could be accomplished with simple wards, that would have required a significantly powerful spell caster and McKinley was no where near that powerful, I don't think any human could be…Buffy…" With his focus on Buffy and Willow, Giles missed Cordelia's interest perk at the mention of the name.

Realising her watcher was not going to rest in this case and would stubbornly argue till they all had a headache she finally acquiesced, "Yeah, yeah, it's imperative and necessary and well you should have thought of that before we left the house cause I warned you all etc., etc., etc. Got you Giles, fine, but I'm doing this under protest and I really think you guys should try and get out and leave it to me."

"I agree…" Giles replied, about to suggest all but he, Buffy and Angel should leave but was interrupted by a now resolute Willow.

"I don't! Fine it's scary and I really want to leave but it will be quicker if we have two groups and we were stupid enough to come here in the first place so if Buffy stays we do…at least until we find the thing." Willow exclaimed, Oz smiling proudly at her from his position next to her.

"All those in favour?" Oz queried before Buffy could dispute the option.

Those stood around raised their hands, some reluctantly, then they turned to Cordelia who was still sat next to Xander, her hand unraised, "What?"

Quickly realising there was no way out of this Cordelia sighed, "Ugh fine, but I'm doing this under protest also." Looking down at her unconscious boyfriend she added, "What about Xander?"

"I'll carry him." Angel suggested, not expecting the strange looks from the rest of the group and the sceptical one from Cordelia. "Vampire, strong and all." He explained unnerved by the looks.

"Right, good, so I'll go with Angel and the rest…" Buffy started only to be interrupted by Cordelia.

"I'm going with you two, where Xander goes I go."

"Cordelia…" Buffy replied, looking to Giles for help.

Seeing his slayer's look, Giles figured he had better step in, "Cordelia I think it best if you come with us."

"What? Why?" Cordelia queried angrily, looking between the both of them.

"Just for now, you will be safer with Giles, Willow and Oz." Buffy explained realising her argument was really non-existent, only that she and Angel would work better with Cordelia not there, something she could not just tell the proud cheerleader.

Cordelia looked sceptically at the three in question, "I don't see how, besides this is about Xander, not me."

"Yeah but he'll be out of it for a while, by the time we meet up he should be awake and it'll just be easier if it's just us. I promise we will take good care of Xander…right Angel." Buffy looked to the vampire imploringly.

Angel looked at Buffy quizzically, trying to figure what the tone was for, but quickly realised she wanted him to appease Cordelia and probably Willow also, so he looked at the group and stated, "I promise to protect him till we meet up again."

Looking around Cordelia could see she was not going to win this argument and crossed her arms in frustration, "Fine, but I'm not happy about it."

Buffy walked over to Cordelia and surprised her by giving her a soft hug, whispering in her ear, "Thankyou, I promise we'll bring him back to you." Seeing Cordelia nod in understanding she turned to the other three, "We'll see you in what, three hours Giles."

"Uh yes, that should be sufficient time to have a reasonable search, if we have not found it at that time I believe we will have to try another avenue."

Buffy moved over to Willow to give her a reassuring hug and then walked over to the door behind the group waiting for Angel, who had picked up Xander and was heading back towards the group, "Right so we'll be heading off, Games room three hours."

"Yes and Buffy, Angel…do be careful."

Angel simply nodded as he passed the group on his way to the door but Buffy called out as she walked through the door, "When am I ever not careful Giles?"

"I would not dignify that question with an answer." Cordelia mumbled after Buffy had left the room and was pleasantly surprised when Willow giggled at the comment.

"Quite." Giles commented before continuing, "Now unless any of you have any questions I think we best be on our way." He bent down to pick up the gear he had put down earlier, not expecting any questions, when Cordelia proved his assumption wrong.

"Um actually." Noticing Willow's surprised look, Cordelia asked an exasperated, "What?" Before turning back to Giles, "When you mentioned McKinley earlier, you didn't by chance mean Michael McKinley."

"Uh yes and as scared as I am of the answer. How pray tell do you know of him?"

"When I was looking around earlier, while Willow was off doing her stupid impression." Her back to Willow, Cordelia did not notice Willow roll her eyes at the comment, "there was this plaque in the foyer with his name on it, kind of like a grave marker, so I was just wondering if he died here."

"Not that I know of, it was never noted by the Council. Did it have any dates?" Giles answered definitely intrigued by the question.

"1911 to 1944." Cordelia replied promptly.

"That was the year they put the artefact and wards in." Oz noted, also curious at the turn of events.

"Ooh poltergeist." Willow commented excitedly, but her excitement was quickly tempered by the strange looks from Giles and Cordelia.

"It would certainly explain some things." Oz added, his expression thoughtful.

"Indeed, it would certainly give rise to some interesting possibilities. I think we had better make our way to the library first, I would like to check the manor diary the Council kept, it may assist with answering some questions."

"If we can ever find it." Cordelia grumbled sullenly, not liking their odds in the matter.

TBC…