Chapter 3

Buffy stood at the mouth of the crater staring down in to it, Andrew, who had volunteered to go with her, was crouched down next to her in his new trench coat.

His apparel had changed since they left Sunnydale, he no longer sported Star Trek t-shirts, now his t-shirts were plain, black, white, or army green colored. And he wore black jeans or army green pants.

And Buffy had to admit, Andrew was more mature than he had been in the past and it seemed that Dawn had began taking a liking to him.

"What are we supposed to find here?" Andrew asked, standing up.

Buffy shrugged, "hopefully nothing, I guess that's the point. Make sure that there is nothing here that can raise any questions."

"Like there isn't enough with a giant crater in the middle of California."

Buffy turned around and walked back to the truck that they had rented from a local car rental shop. Angel's crew were supposed to be coming tomorrow, Buffy hadn't wanted to make things complicated by going to L.A. so she and Andrew had arrived in a helicopter, courtesy of the watcher's council, which was run by none other than her own ex-watcher and Willow.

"Hey Buffy, come here. I think I might have just gotten us a head start on that excavation,"

Buffy ran back to the crater and stood next to Andrew, "What is it?"

"Look way down there, I think something is reflecting the sun. I saw a tiny little flash a moment ago."

"That just mightbe the metal from some car or a piece of glass."

"But we should check it out though, just incase."

"We can do it tomorrow when Angel's crew comes."

"Since when have you ever waited?"

"Fine, give me a hand. I'll go down there and check it out, you stay up here incase I need any help."

Buffy climbed down into the crater and made her way to the object that Andrew had pointed out.

Getting there was a bit of trouble, for one the land was unstable in certain areas and she constantly felt as though she were trekking through the desert.

Bending down, Buffy sifted through the dirt to try dig out the object. So far it just looked like a shiny piece of jewelry, it was green and looked valuable but it was difficult to see it properly.

After a few minutes of digging Buffy stood up, shocked and surprised at what she had discovered.

The object lying in the dirt was none other than the Amulet that she had given to Spike to wear for the final battle.

But how did it get all the way up here? We were fighting under ground.

And then the thought occurred to her, Spike must have survived the collapse and dug his way to the surface only to be turned to dust by the scorching rays of the sun.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she wondered for a moment if that could have actually happened.

But she quickly wiped them away when she heard Andrew calling to her, "Buffy, what did you find?"

"You were right!" She shouted back as she walked back to the spot where she had climbed down. "Help me up."

It was only until they were safely in the confines of her hotel room did she show Andrew the Amulet.

"Oh wow, that's what you gave to Spike."

"But how did it get there?"

"that is weird, and you said that Spike's hand's were on fire when you last saw him, so I doubt that he dug his way to the surface."

"Still doesn't explain the Amulet getting to the surface, I mean I know its supposed to be magical and all that but why would it just appear there."

"Maybe it's a defense mechanism, like in the movie JUMAJI, if the game was like buried beneath something it would start making this drum beating sound till some one found it and moved the stuff off."

"I hate to say this but that actually would make sense in this case, the amulet isn't supposed to be buried so it moves it's self to a different location."

"That might explain why we know so little about it, right?"

Buffy nodded, "We should get some rest, big day ahead of us tomorrow, I'm going to keep the Amulet with me until I can send it to Giles to have it analyzed."

Andrew glanced at the amulet one last time, "That thing sure is weird."

"thanks for your help to day Andrew"

"That's what I'm here for right." And he went to his room.

After Andrew was gone Buffy examined the Amulet some more. The last place it had been was with Spike.

Some how it made her feel closer to him, holding it in her hand.

Buffy slipped the Amulet around her neck and laid down, if Giles didn't find anything interesting about it, Buffy planned on keeping it and wearing so that she would never forget Spike.

But unfortunately as she was quickly falling asleep, she didn't see when the Amulet flickered. Like a light bulb that doesn't want to come on.

The amulet flickered a bit then it flashed brightly, illuminating the room, and then just like that, it was dark again.