CHAPTER 5

The next morning Willow sat eagerly on the edge of her seat waiting for class to begin while Buffy slumped in the chair beside her. However, today most of the class' posture resembled Willow's rather than Buffy's, which was highly unusual. Buffy thunked the end of her pencil against an unmarked page of her notebook and tried to ignore the way Willow was practically dancing with excitement in her seat and the high pitched chatter around them.

Thunk. Thunk.

"—but it was really just the old guy trying to make a few bucks…"

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

"—Snow Ghost? Please! That was a cover for jewel thieves…."

Thunk-Thunk. Thunk-Thunk.

"—cave filled with cats that suck your soul…"

Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk. Snap!

Oh crap! Buffy thought, staring at the jagged end of her pencil.

"Pst, Will, do you have a pencil I could borrow?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." Willow bent over and unzipped the pouch in her backpack that held her pens, pencils, and multicolored highlighters. A sudden hush fell over the class and Willow promptly forgot about the pencil. Grinding her teeth Buffy leaned back in her seat.

"—Please welcome our guest lecturers on the sociology of the criminal mind, the members Mystery Inc. professional ghost busters."

The auditorium burst into applause as Velma shook hands with the Dean and took the podium, flanked by Shaggy and Scooby.

"Hey, I ain't afraid of no ghost!" a jock in the back shouted. Laughter rippled through the auditorium as those denizens of sunnydale still oblivious to its hellmouthy nature giggled.

"Really?" was all Velma was able to say before the lights flickered and went out. Several people screamed as Buffy's Slayer senses kicked into high gear. "We are all afraid," Velma continued in the darkness. The lights came back on revealing Fred and Daphne near the switches. "It's human nature to fear things we can not see or understand. In most cases these are legitimate fears; while there may not be actual vampires, demons, or other fantastical bogymen, historically humans have not always been the top predator. Even today, while one would never expect to be attacked by a malevolent spirit or mundane wolf, I'm sure everyone here knows someone who as been mugged simply walking to their car at night. The criminals we track down have learned the advantage of exploiting these intrinsic fears that reside in the subconscious of every human…"

As Velma continued to speak Buffy sank lower in her chair. Black demon, red eyes… Lubber Demons? Pointy eared raccoon masked pain in my ass…es?... Religious. Certainly they've got that devoted crap down. Grey is fairly close to black….

Twenty-three kids and they want a fertility ritual?

"…and the criminal mind perceives this as…"

Can Hellhounds come in black?

An hour later Buffy blinked glassy eyes and tried to wake herself back up as she and Willow headed out of the lecture hall and towards food. They where accompanied by an excited flow of babble that Buffy made no effort to understand knowing her friend wouldn't take offense.

"Wait," Buffy said, tuning back in. "What about Dawn?"

"She's lucky; Mysteries Inc. are visiting Sunnydale High this afternoon, before the meeting. All that stuff they talked about, I mean, wow! And-"

Mysteries Inc. is visiting the hellmouth? Buffy thought, loosing track of Willow's monolog again. The though made her uncomfortable. "They're visiting the Hellmouth? Do they know about the hellmouth?"

The look in Willow's eyes told Buffy the answer.

"Okay," Willow said. "So Mysteries Inc., professional ghostbusters, and, um, demon fighters, with a reputation for poking around known haunted locations, are going to visit a school, build over a hellmouth… That's not too bad? Is it? I mean, it could be worse?"

Crap. The though could have belonged to either Willow or Buffy.