"Well," Willow said. "That was humiliating." She scuffed one sneaker along the concrete sidewalk. The sky was slightly overcast, matching the mood of the trio headed toward Sunnydale High.

"No." Xander looked over the top of Buffy's head at his lifelong friend. "That was embarrassing, not humiliating. Take it from one who knows."

"Whatever it was, it wasn't good."

"It made so much sense, right until it didn't." Willow grimaced, one corner of her mouth turning down. She hitched up her backpack. "I guess we did go off kinda half-cocked."

"Yeah," the Slayer said, "the old cartage before the horsie."

"Do you think anyone ever did that?" Xander waved his hands. "I mean, yeah, I can see somebody putting their eggs in one basket and then dropping it. Life lesson learned, but if you actually saw someone put a cart in front of a horse, would you think 'Hm, there's a useful idiom', or would you just quietly warn people to stay away from that guy?"

"Yeah," Willow said. "Like, 'have your cake and eat it, too'." You have to have your cake before you can eat it. Wouldn't 'you can't eat your cake and have it, too' make more sense?"

Xander snapped his fingers and nodded toward her. "Yes! Even better. Are you with us, Buff?"

"Making the world safe for colorful language might be just about my speed," Buffy said.

"Hey," Willow said, "we followed you. Nobody forced us. We all messed up."

A pained expression passed across Buffy's face. "Cordelia doesn't blame you for everything that's gone wrong in her life. Last night's little fiasco won't help that."

Xander shrugged. He wore a gray button-up with a pattern of vertical dots and dashes, like a Morse code message turned on its side. "Maybe that can't be fixed. You may just have to let that boat sail."

Buffy shook her head. "I can't. If she was still the old Cordelia, maybe, but... she's different, and I just, I just think she's part of us somehow."

"Oh, oh. Like Gollum." Willow stopped and waved her hand excitedly, oblivious to the students giving her the side-eye as they passed.

"Ex-squeeze me?" Xander said.

"In The Lord of the Rings, when Frodo wants to kill Gollum, but Gandalf says he shouldn't because Gollum may have something left to do." Buffy and Xander stopped and stared at her. "What? I read those books a lot in middle school. I'm very excited about the movie they're making… although not as excited as I was before I knew that things like orcs were actually real."

"Oh, Willow Rosenberg, you sweet, sweet nerd," Buffy said, patting her friend's cheek.

"C'mon, orcs aren't real," Xander said.

"What's the difference between an orc and a goblin?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," Willow said, "like, how they used to call tuberculosis 'consumption'. Same thing, different name." Buffy looked at her best friend and nodded a 'well-played' nod.

Xander scowled. "Damn supernatural, ruins all the fun stuff."

Buffy tossed her hair. "Translate that into Latin, it could be Sunnydale's motto. Speaking of Latin," she continued, "I'm gonna peel off and see if Giles decided to earn his paycheck today. See you guys at lunch?"

"Definitely." Willow waved as the Slayer took her leave and went into the building.

"So," Xander said as they resumed their walk toward the main foyer, "who's directing that Lord of the Rings movie?"

"The guy who did The Frighteners." Willow arched her eyebrows.

"Nice," Xander replied.


"No way." Stefan Warner leaned back in his chair, crossed ankles on his desk, and stared at Matti Hollis perched on the corner. "It was go time? They really squared off?"

"Most definitely."

He shook his head. "And your girl held her own against the Slayer?"

"What? No." Matti chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Buffy definitely pulled her punches. She'd destroy Cordelia if she went full speed… still, the girl represented. She didn't back down."

Warner tossed a dark-blue stress ball into the air and caught it. "Good for her… I guess. So, how–"

"Am I interrupting?" Both Knights turned to see Gerard Roland standing in the door.

"No." Matti stood up. "It's good to see you, but it's unexpected."

"I am sure that is true. May I come in?" The Knights nodded and he stepped into the room as Stefan Warner took his feet down from the desk.

"Is this a surprise visit?" the history teacher asked.

"Yes and no," Roland replied. "I'm sure you are aware of the state of the Watchers Council?"

Warner cocked his head to one side. "It's a topic of conversation."

"I'm sure it is. Rupert needed some scholarly assistance and, the Council no longer existing in any real form, I gathered what I could and here I am."

"Huh." Warner looked at Matti. "So, not a social visit?"

Roland shook his head. "Both of you will be in the library after school, yes?" The Knights nodded. "Good. It will be easier if we only need to go over the situation one time."

Matti and Stefan exchanged looks again. "You know that all the kids are going to be there?" she said.

"Yes, and I defer to Rupert regarding that decision. I wanted to see you for a few minutes before school on my own. I would appreciate it if you would allow… a few days before you share today's information with the Chevaliers. Is that too much to ask?"

For a third time, the Knights looked at each other, but this time it lasted longer, almost a stare. Finally, Stefan turned his gaze toward Roland. "Not a problem. Seventy-two hours be enough?"

"Certainly." Roland touched two fingers to his forehead. "I will see you after school. I know how precious a teacher's time is before class. Until then." He bowed slightly and disappeared through the doorway.


Buffy stuck her head inside the library door. "Giles?"

"Yes?" The Watcher appeared at the office door. He wore what she thought of as 'the full Giles': tweed jacket, oxford shirt, repp tie, moleskin vest and gabardine trousers, all in various shades of beige and brown, although the tie did have a blue stripe in it.

"Aren't you hot in that?" she asked, stepping inside the door.

"No, I'm quite.. quite comfortable," he said, touching his glasses.

She suppressed a smile. "Just thought I'd see if you'd bothered to come into work today."

Giles nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Very droll. I'm glad you stopped by. We need to meet after school."

"We, you and me?"

"Actually, you all should be here."

"Willow, Xander, Oz?"

"Yes."

Buffy's lips narrowed and her forehead furrowed. "Sounds serious."

"It probably is."

"Okay, then. See you after school." She swung open the door and looked back. "If you haven't had a heat stroke."

As the door clacked behind her, the Watcher said, "It's not that warm… and I can always take off the jacket."


Willow dumped her books on the table and sat down in front of a monitor. As the screen powered up, she noticed Indali looking at her wallet. Willow had a fleeting glimpse of an old black-and-white photograph.

"Who's that?" Willow asked.

"Huh? Oh." Indali picked at her wallet and drew out the photograph. "It's my dadi."

"Your dad?" Willow's face scrunched. Indali laughed.

"Not daddy. Dah-dee. It's Gujarati for grandmother."

"Oh. Well, she looks a lot like you."

Indali smiled. "I look like her, more like it."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Where is this?"

"Oh, that's from when she was just a girl in India. Probably the late '40's, early '50's."

"Do you ever get to see her?"

"She's dead."

"Oh." Willow hesitated, then handed back the photo. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It was a long time ago." Indali tapped the photo against her wallet, then slid it into the plastic window. "She had five brothers. She was the oldest, the only girl." She laughed. "Not easy."

"Did you ever get to meet her?"

Indali shrugged. "Once, when I was about eight. Her kids, my parents and my uncles and aunts, brought her to the States. My dada was a lot older than my dadi, and he'd just died."

"Dada?"

"Grandfather. Jeez, keep up, Willow." Indali looked wistful. "We all went to Palo Alto, my dad's oldest brother is a professor at the medical school. I remember seeing her for the first time… the only time. She was wearing the most beautiful black and gold sari, and she must have been, what, fifty-five, sixty, but I thought she was so beautiful."

"You're just bragging." Willow grinned.

"What? Quit it." Indali playfully slapped the redhead's arm. "But everybody kept saying how much I looked like her, and she gave me a bangle set with akik."

"Akik?"

It's a precious stone from Gujarat. It's supposed to bring prosperity, happiness, and long life."

"Three things we all want."

"Yeah. I remember, when she gave it to me, she held my hand and said 'Dimpy–'"

"Dimpy?" Willow snickered.

"Hey, I'm sharing family memories with you and you're laughing. Not cool." A small smile tugged at Indali's lips. "It's a nickname. It means 'stubborn'."

"Wow," Willow said, "so, your nana met you one time and picked up on that."

"I guess." Indali slipped back into her memory. "She put the bangle in my hand and before she let go, she said 'Dimpy, I can see that Lakshmi has touched you. Always follow your own path'."

Willow blinked. "I think I'm gonna cry. Do you still have the bangle?"

"Oh, yeah." Indali leaned back in her chair. "Safe at home, locked up in a teak box my dad gave me." She smiled. "I take it out and wear it sometimes."

"Aren't you afraid something will happen to it?"

Indali laughed. "Willow, it was two hundred years old when it was given to dadi. It's not fragile, besides, she didn't give it to me to hide it. It's supposed to remind me of her, so I wear it."

Willow nodded. "I get it. That's nice."


"Hey, Buffy."

The Slayer turned at the sound of her name and saw Trey's lanky form approaching. She stopped and held her books in her crossed arms. "What's up?"

He halted a long stride away from her. "Hey, I kinda wanted to talk to you, I mean, if you've got the time."

"Sure," she said. "It's a whole three minutes before I have to be in World Cultures, so I'm yours for a hundred-and-eighty seconds. No pressure."

He grinned his lopsided grin, black hair falling around his face. "Uh, okay, I feel like I'm under the gun, I mean, that's not a lot of time."

She smiled, amused at how easy it was to fluster him. "And you're using it so wisely."

"Yeah, okay, uh, I wanted to talk to you about prom."

Buffy felt a slight tightness in the pit of her stomach. "What about prom?"

"Well, Dingoes is playing a set, and I'm kinda wrapped up with that, and I just wanted to make sure that you had someone to go with, I mean, it's not like I assume you're waiting for me to ask, because we already decided we're not a thing, but I wanted to be sure that you didn't want me to ask, I mean, I wouldn't want to leave you hanging."

The Slayer held up a hand. "Whoa there, hurricane. It's okay, I wasn't waiting for you to ask me. I'm good, you just focus on playing a great set."

He nodded. "Thanks… I just… I mean, you're really cool."

She grinned. "You're cool, too."

"Thanks. Well, hey, gotta get to class."

"Yes, we do." She wrinkled her nose as she watched him amble away down the hall.


"That seems kind of rude," Willow said.

"Not really," Buffy said. "It was actually kind of sweet. He was so tall and sincere."

Oz looked at the sandwich he'd pulled from a paper bag. "Trey's more comfortable with music than words."

"Well, he was really nice."

Willow tilted her head. "And you're not upset that he was basically telling you he wasn't asking you to prom?"

Buffy bit into a carrot stick. "It's not the world's biggest ego boost, but we already decided that we're not a thing and, anyway, after school he's–" She stopped abruptly as Oz looked down at the table and Willow coughed. "I'm so sorry."

"Look at that," Xander said. "On cue, the universe provides a distraction." Harmony Kendall, the presumptive queen of the SHS prom swept into the cafeteria, trailed by two solidly-built men in dark polo shirts and khakis.

"What is that?" Xander demanded.

Willow glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, that? The buzz is that Harmony's dad's hired security for her."

Xander looked as puzzled as a dog confronted by a doorknob. "Because?"

Willow made a weird face and wrinkled her nose. "Because of the attacks… and because she threw a fit about it… or that's the locker room talk."

"You were in the locker room?" Buffy's skepticism was front and center.

"It's a figure of speech," Willow replied.

"Yeah, well if anyone needs guards, I'd say it's Fallon," Xander said. "Harmony's more likely to be the attacker than the attackee." Buffy and Willow looked at each other, eyes wide. "No," Xander said, "don't, don't even… did we learn nothing?"

Even as he protested, all four heads turned to follow Harmony as she swept toward her usual group, then veered away at the last minute.

"Oh, no," Buffy said, "I don't like where this is going, not at all."


Cordelia looked up from her lunch as a shadow crossed the table. Harmony stood in front of her, hands on hips, a lazy, hateful look on her face.

"Oh, Cordelia," the blonde simpered. "It's so sad… no one even cares enough to threaten you, whereas I…" Her voice trailed away and she shrugged her shoulders, a small, mean smile on her lips.

"Yes, Harmony, it has come to this," Cordelia nodded at the two bodyguards, "your dad's had to hire people to hang out with you."

Harmony flushed a deep shade of crimson. A sharp bark of laughter erupted behind her and she spun around, her face a mask of fury. She glared for a heartbeat, then whipped her basilisk's eye back to Cordelia.

"When they put that crown on my head, you know what I'll be thinking?"

Cordelia looked as innocent as possible. "How can I know when you don't?"

"I'll be thinking how everything you thought was yours is mine, and I'll look at you, and I'll laugh." Harmony sneered at the other girl. "If you even show your face." She wheeled around and stomped rather inelegantly to her usual table, trailed by her hired muscle.


"What's up?" Kasabian lowered his broad frame into a chair at the conference table.

Suarez spun a sheet of paper across the table. "I think we've got a location for Snow White. Got some initiative from a patrol car. They saw a female matching our description, but since it could just be coincidence, they put it on the back burner and kept their eyes open. Same female has been spotted three more times in the vicinity, and she appears to be, and I'm quoting the report here, 'engaged in routine tasks, perhaps indicating that she lives in the area'."

"Nice." Kasabian picked up the report..

"Oh, they did even better. You'll notice that they provided the addresses or locations of each sighting. Put 'em on a map and you'll find yourself in the very specific vicinity of the Sunset Motel."

"Called the Sunset because they don't see anything after dark." Kasabian dropped the report. "We gonna roll out and get her?"

"Not yet." Suarez looked at his pushpin-filled map. "She's violent, and probably has at least some skills. I have a feeling that if we want to take Snow White cleanly, we're going to need more than two people. I'm going to work on setting it up."

Kasabian pushed up out of his chair. "Sounds good. Let me know when you're ready to go."

"You know it."


"So, anyway, Ken is Mark's twin brother from the first movie."

"Wait a minute! How is that possible?" Willow waved her hand as the Slayerettes walked toward the library.

"He's been in America, see, and he runs a restaurant, which is targeted by the Mafia, which means that both the triad and the mob want him dead." Xander traced a mid-air flow chart with his fingers.

"So... there's a time gap between A Better Tomorrow and A Better Tomorrow 2," Oz drawled.

"I can't believe they made A Better Tomorrow 2," Willow said.

Xander chopped the air. "Oh, they made A Better Tomorrow 3. Anyway-"

"And there's a fourth one just called Mo' Better, Mo' Tomorrow," Buffy deadpanned.

"You joke, Buff–"

"I do," she said.

"You joke," Xander continued, "but all three–" He hit the library door with the flat of his hand, swinging it open "-all three–"

The Scooby Gang came to a screeching halt. Giles sat at one end of the study table; Matti Hollis and Stefan Warner sat to his right. All three adults stared at the students.

"Uh, sorry," Buffy stammered, "I thought, uh, I thought I needed… um, a book, a book… about–"

"It's quite all right, Buffy," Giles said. "Ms. Hollis and Mr. Warner are part of this meeting."

"But, you…" Willow pointed at the history teacher.

"Why is he–" Xander began.

"Ah, everyone is here. Can we begin?" The gobsmacked Slayerettes turned their heads to see Gerard Roland coming out of the office bearing a tray with four cups. The four students gaped, dumbstruck, as he place the tray on the table and distributed the beverages.

Xander broke the silence. "So, okay, let me see if I got this… You–" pointed at Stefan "-know about her–" pointed at Matti "-and she knows about him, and Giles knows about all of it?"

"Close," Warner said. "I'm actually one of her."

Oz blinked. "Whoa. Mind. Blown."

Xander turned toward Roland. "And you know about them?"

"Oh, let me answer this one, too." Warner leaned forward to look around Matti. "Yes. He asked us to watch out for Giles."

Willow's frown was deep and profound. "Why would Giles need…?"

The librarian sighed. "Perhaps you should all take a seat and we can bring everyone up to speed." The students exchanged puzzled glances, then occupied the empty seats around the table. Giles cleared his throat.

"You're probably all wondering why I've called you here," Xander said.

Giles favored him with an annoyed look, then began. "Yes, some months ago, Gerard learned that I was in some danger from a rogue faction of the Watchers Council. He already knew Mr. Warner, and was aware that he was a Knight of the Cross, and that he was going to be sent to Sunnydale."

"Well, then, why are you guys here?" Willow looked back and forth between the Knights.

Matti replied. "The Chevaliers believed that something big of a supernatural nature was going to take place in Sunnydale."

"Hope you don't pay those guys too much," Xander scoffed. "'Evil happens in Sunnydale' is the laziest bet ever."

"Anyway," Warner said, "Roland asked us if we'd keep an eye on his friend, since we were already going to be here."

"Whoa." Buffy held up a hand. "You were here to protect Giles? Did he need it?"

The Knights looked at each other, then nodded. "Couple of times," Matti said.

Oz's brow furrowed. "Thanksgiving?"

"What? Oh, the werewolves?" Warner nodded. "That was us."

"Yes, they are here at Gerard's request." Giles tried to get the narrative back on track. "There was a threat from the Watchers Council, but it was not just to me. Gerard learned that certain… unscrupulous members had manipulated the selection process… Lindsay Maeda was not meant to be Faith's Watcher." A thunderstruck hush settled over the table. Giles waited, but no comments came, so he resumed. "We will deal with the ramifications of that decision later. The–"

"The hell!" Buffy leaned forward in her chair. "Later, no way."

Giles looked at her, his jaw set. "I understand why you, of all people, are upset about that, but we must prioritize. Lindsay is… gone, and so is Faith. Most of the people who committed that heresy are dead." The silence was replaced by a discordant babble as everyone began to speak at once.

"Please!" Giles smacked his hand on the table. The hubbub quieted as the librarian adjusted his glasses and held up a hand. "We must move forward. Now, as I said, the Council, as we knew it, no longer exists. We are, in a very real sense, alone as we move forward. Gerard has contacted several of the remaining… Watchers…" He took a deep breath. "If they, we, can be called that any longer… at any rate, he has personally asked them for any information regarding the Seal of Solomon. I'll ask him to share what he has learned."

The Canadian Watcher stood. "It has taken me some time to gather what I am about to share with you, but in some ways, we are better off for what has happened. Much of this knowledge is actually from personal libraries, not our official archives, which, sadly, no longer exist. This is actually to our advantage, since these personal interests are more… specialized and varied than our library. You know how it is, someone has a particular niche interest and, when a volume is deemed not worthy of the official canon, well, it sometimes ends up in a private collection."

"Did it take as long to gather as it did to deliver that speech?" Buffy dropped her head onto her folded arms.

Roland nodded. "Point taken. Let me share the fruits of this search." He took a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket, opened it, and smoothed it on the table. "Now, the Seal of Solomon is a quasi-object. That means it exists in both this world and the spirit world."

"We knew that." Willow shrugged at his blank look. "We did."

"How?"

Willow suddenly felt less talkative. "We know a guy."

"Very well. Let me move ahead to a more recent discovery… There appears to be some sort of ritual that must be performed to allow anyone to use the Seal safely. Apparently, Solomon knew that he could not keep anything this powerful a complete secret, so he bound it to this spell, performed, then separated the ritual into parts and scattered it around his kingdom."

"Is that good or bad?" Buffy asked.

"It could be either. Without the ritual, the Seal is worse than useless. It is a positive danger to whomever possesses it. That means that the Mayor cannot use the Seal until he can find the ritual and perform it."

"How hard is it to find?" Willow asked.

"It would be hard enough if it was still hidden within the boundaries of what was Solomon's kingdom, but the Jews were exiled in Babylon and Persia. Who knows where it now?"

"So, this may all be a wild goose chase for the Mayor? I say 'Yay'." Xander raised a mocking fist.

"No," Giles said. "It won't have been destroyed, and if someone like Trick is searching for it, it will be found."

"So, what's our play?" Matti asked. "This is a needle in a dozen haystacks."

"Well, assuming it exists, there is one detail that helps us." Roland held up his paper.

"Let's assume that. I'd rather be prepared and find out there was no ritual than take a chance there isn't one." Stefan drummed one hand lightly on the table.

Roland continued. "A ritual of this power would require a large amount of psychic energy behind it."

"Yeah," Willow said. "Magic's kinda like physics. You can't really get more output than input."

"Very true. Regardless of when the Mayor obtains the ceremony, he would have to perform it close to some event or observance that will generate the sufficient level of–" Roland shrugged "-mental agitation."

"Oh my God," Buffy whispered, looking at her friends. "Prom."

The room was so quiet that the click of the opening door echoed like a cannon shot. Everyone whirled at the sound.

"Cordelia?" Willow and Matti said simultaneously.

"What are you doing here?" Cordelia asked the gym teacher. "And why did Buffy just say 'prom' in that uber spooky way?"