Strolling through Sunnydale park with Buffy we scan the perimeter and look into an area surrounded by bushes, it was our turn to patrol tonight, but after everything with Angel lately it was back to being a forced pairing.
Hearing a rustling sound coming from the bush directly in front of us, I stop instantly my gaze fixed on the shaking branches, silently motioning to my sister we both pull out stakes and get ready to fight when suddenly a voice calls out "Is it a vampire?".
Snapping my head to the left I sigh heavily when I see Mom walking towards us carrying a bag in one hand and a large thermos in the other "Mom, what are you doing here?" Buffy huffs as I just eye her wondering if all the women in our family were indeed crazy.
Mom holds up the bag and thermos "I brought you snacks. I thought it was about time for me to come out and watch. Y-you know, the slaying" nodding slowly with narrowed eyes I glanced at Buffy for verbal help.
"You know, the slaying is kind of an 'us' thing" My twin gently explains motioning between the two of us, since mom found out about the Slaying gig she's been pretty weird, she's always asking questions and wanting to know more.
"But it's such a big part of your lives, and I'd like to understand it. It's, um, you know, something we could all share." Pursing my lips, I tried not to hurt my mom's feelings, but at the same time she needs to know Slaying isn't a fun game "A-actually, it's pretty dull, you know, it's bam boom stick... poof".
Suddenly our attention is back on the rustling bush; Buffy nudges Mom to the side a bit as she gives me our signal, we both move in slowly when a vampire jumps out at her and runs straight for Buffy who ducks as the vampire lunges at her with his arms outstretched.
She gets back up and delivers a right hook to his face followed by a backhand punch on the backswing and a left punch to the face, making him take a step back, I wince hearing my mom's voice in my ear as I stand guard in front of her "Good, honey! Kill him!".
"Mom!" I hiss as I try to tune out the ringing in my ears as Buffy does an out-to-in crescent kick, which the vamp quickly ducks. She tries to punch him in the face again, but he grabs onto her shoulders and rolls onto his back, sending her rolling over him and onto her back.
"Ouch, that looked like it hurt" I snigger as Buffy lets out a pained grunt and tries to get her bearings "Ooh! Nicola quick get him" Mom calls out tapping me on the back excitedly before the vampire faces us and roars.
"Oh, my God! It's Mr. Sanderson from the bank!" I hear my mom whimper as he comes at me with a front snap kick, which I low block "Nice try newbie" I quip as he tries to punch me, but I duck it.
I do a half spinning in-to-out crescent kick followed swiftly by a leg sweep, knocking the vampire's legs out from under him before I stand back up ready to punch "lights out" I taunted, but he's had enough and scrambles to his feet before running away.
Mom points with the thermos looking worried, "he's getting away!" Buffy and I both sigh pointing to her a sternly "Stay!" we order in unison before running off after the vampire "you go that way, and we'll meet back at mom" Buffy dictates pointing in the opposite direction.
Nodding I kicked up my feet as we both ran in different directions after the missing vamp, but my path turns up nothing "damn" I mutter when I see no vampire in sight before making my way back to mom.
"Mom?" I call seeing her making her way over to the carousel "Want me to push you" I joke before seeing her stop in horror and drop soothing "Oh, God" she breathes as I jog forward stopping myself when I finally notice what has he so speechless "Oh..."
The body of a young boy lies dead on the carousel, and next to it on the sand lies the body of a young girl. Each of the children has one arm outstretched, and drawn in black on the palms of their hands is a triangle.
It has a wide U-shaped symbol in the middle, with its ends extending out from the triangle and bending in a sharp arc at the tips. Feeling my mom wrap her arms around me and bury her head in my neck, I blinked but couldn't avert my eyes "What the hell?..."
Several police cars and a coroner's van have arrived, and the detectives are looking over the scene, but no one has touched the bodies yet. The police photographer steps up to the carousel and aims at the young boy with his camera.
Looking over the shoulder of the police officer who was just interviewing me I noticed the faraway gaze my mom has as my sister rubs her shoulder "Can we go home now, I don't want my mom going into shock."
The officer glances at my mom before nodding at me "Yes, ma'am" thanking him I walked over to mom and Buffy as the police bustle with activity around them "They said we can go home now" I mumbled as Buffy nodded at me.
"They were little kids. Did you see them? They're so tiny" Mom said distraught as her eye glistened with tears "I saw" I replied sympathetically with a frown as mom shook her head "Who could do something like this? I just... "she looks down emotionally.
"I'm so sorry that you had to see this. But I promise everything is gonna be okay." Buffy promises, but mom just frowns in disbelief "How?" Buffy glances at me, and I nod with a clenched jaw "Because we're gonna find whatever did it."
"I guess. It's just you can't... you can't make it right" Buffy pulls mom firmly against her chest as she begins to sob "I know. I'm sorry. But we'll take care of everything. I promise. Just try and calm down".
Hearing my mother sob hit me hard especially when I saw her clutching at my sister like a baby "We'll find out who did this mom, before anyone else gets hurt" I whispered to her joining in on the hug as my mom places her other arm tightly around me "I promise."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Buffy snaps looks up at Giles standing at the top of the stairs to the book stacks "I-I-I only meant..." Giles stuttered looking taken aback "They were kids, Giles. Little kids! You don't know what it was like to see them there. Our mom can't even talk."
Giles takes a few steps down, "I'm sorry. I... I just want to help" Buffy calms a bit "I know," she says with a sigh as Giles comes down the rest of the way and comes over to the center table, Buffy follows and leans against the back of my chair.
"Do we know how? Uh... It wasn't a vampire?" He questions as he sits on the table "No. There were no marks" Giles lifts his mug for a sip of his tea but stops as Buffy continues tapping on my shoulder in quick succession "Wait. I-I mean, there, there was a mark, um, a-a symbol. Right, Nikki?".
I nod quickly remembering the symbol on the kids' hands as Buffy steps around the chair, grabs a pen from the table before passing them to me "Can you draw it?" biting back my sarcastic comment due to the gravity of the situation I move to draw.
Giles hurriedly sets down his mug and quickly reaches over to stop me before I can deface the parchments lying in front of me "Oh, uh, 12th century, Papal Encyclical. Write on this" He gently picks up the parchments and nudges a spiral notebook over to me.
"Oops, sorry G" I flip the notebook to a blank page and draws as Giles sets down the parchments and picks up his mug again "It was on their hands. The cops are keeping it quiet, but I got a good look at it," I mentioned as I push the drawing over for Giles to see.
"Find us the thing that uses this symbol and point us at it." Buffy orders as I crack my knuckles ready to avenge the small children "Hmm" Giles mumbles thoughtfully "Hmm. What? Giles, speak" Buffy says blinking at our Watcher.
Giles is torn from his reverie by my sister's voice, "What? Oh, sorry. Um, no, it..." he picks up the notebook "I just wonder if we're looking for a thing. The use of a symbol o-o-on a victim like this suggests a, a ritual murder and a cult sacrifice by a group".
I shake my head in disbelief "A group of... human beings? Someone with a soul did this?" I question in disgust wondering how someone could kill an innocent child "Yes, I'm afraid so" Giles goes over to the bookshelves behind the table and starts his research.
"Okay. Then while you're looking for the meaning of that symbol thingy, could you also find a loophole in that 'Slayers don't kill people' rule?" I huff feeling my telekinesis vibrating between my hands as Giles looks back at her from his crouched position.
"Girls, this is a dreadful crime, I know, and you both have every right to be upset, but... I-I wonder if you're not letting yourself get a shade, uh... more personal because of your mother's involvement" Giles questions knowingly as he looks between the two of us.
Buffy stands and faces him "Oh, it's completely personal. Giles, find me the people that did this. Please" I motion in agreement as I stand by Buffy's side "Someone is going to pay for this," I tell him rubbing my hands feeling my power flowing through them.
Willow perks up seeing Buffy and I walking over to the table in the cafeteria "Hey, Buffy, Nikki" Xander jumps up hearing our names "What's up?" he asks pulling two chairs out for us "You guys didn't hear?" My twin started as we both sat down solemnly.
"Hear what?" Xander questions leaning closer to us as we gave him weak looks "A murder. Somebody killed two little kids" Willow gasps in shock "Oh, no" I frown drumming my fingers against the table "They were, like, seven or eight years old. Our Mom found the bodies during patrol last night".
"Oh, my God" Amy, who I only just realized was sitting with us mumbled sadly "Kids?" Oz asked as the two of us nod, "Why was your mom there?" Xander frowned at us as Buffy grimaced "More bad. She picked last night, of all nights, for a surprise bonding visit".
"God, your mom would actually take the time to do that with you?" I narrow my eyes at Willow questioningly as she gives a nervous laugh "That really wasn't the point of the story, was it?".
"No. The point is, she's completely wigging" I tell them before jumping when I hear a familiar voice behind me, "Who's wigging?" Buffy and I snap our heads around, to see our Mom standing there.
"Um... everyone. You know, 'cause of what happened" Buffy answers thinking fast "Oh, it's so awful. I-I had bad dreams about it all night," Mom frowns as we all go silent.
"Hi, Mrs. Summers" Willow greets after a few moments of uncomfortable silence "Oh, hi, everybody" Mom greets absently "Hi" Xander quietly says before Amy meekly joins in "Hi, Mrs. Summers."
"Girls, have you talked to Mr. Giles yet about who could have done this?" Our mom questions as I look at Buffy open mouth not knowing what to say "Yeah. He, uh... He thinks it might be something ritual. A cult. Uh, he's still looking. In the meantime, we're gonna add to mine and Nikki's patrols and, and, y' know, keep an eye out".
"A cult" my Mom whispers to herself before jumping to a conclusion "Like witches" Willow coughs as Amy looks away "Sorry. Phlegm. Too much dairy," Willow lies as she clears her throat.
"Oh, I-I-I know you kids think that stuff's cool" Mom stutters before pointing to Willow, "Buffy told me you dabble" Willow glances at her nervously "Right. Absolutely. That's me. I'm a dabbler".
"But anybody who could do this isn't cool. Anybody who could do this has to be a monster. It's..." quickly interrupting my Mom, I tugged on her sleeve "You know what? Uh, would you guys excuse us for a little bit?" the gang all nods as I motion for Buffy to follow "Uh, n-nice to see you."
Buffy and I lead Mom out of the cafeteria "Are your friends gonna help with the investigation, too?" looking around quickly to see if anyone was listening in I sighed "Mom, I really think... Maybe this isn't the best place to talk about this".
Mom frowned as she stopped in front of me "Are you embarrassed to be hanging out with your mother? I didn't hug you," Blinking, I gave her a tight smile, "and I thank you for that."
My sister glares at me before gently lowering her tone, "It's just... This hall is about school, and you're about home. Mix them; our world dissolves" Mom's eyes dropped as they glistened again "It's just, I keep thinking about who could have done such a thing. I have to help".
Buffy perks up quickly "Well, Giles can always use help in the library" Mom just shook her head with a proud look "I called everybody I know in town. I told them about the dead children. They're all just as upset as I am".
"You did what?!" I almost squeaked as I questioned my mother biting my fist "You called everybody that you know?" Buffy repeated sounding confused as Mom nodded "And they called all their friends. And guess what? We're setting up a vigil, for tonight, for City Hall. The Mayor is even gonna be there. Now we are gonna get some action".
I watched my sister form a fake smile knowing she was less than thrilled "Uh-huh. That's great. Uh... But you know what? A lot of times when we're working on stuff like this, we like to keep the number of people that know about it kind of...small".
"tiny" I added sounding pained thinking of how terrible this would go with a bunch of pepped up mom's hunting for the same thing we were. My Mom considers our words before shrugging, "Oh. Right. Well, I-I'm sure there won't be all that many people".
A large crowd has gathered in the main conference room of the town hall; many of them are holding up signs with pictures of the two children and the words 'Never Again!'.
Pushing through the crowd, I turned to Buffy and just motioned around before dropping my hands "Mom's giving me anxiety Buff, I think I'm having palpitations" I mutter placing my hands on my knees and breathing dramatically as Buffy and Willow look around at the crowd.
"This is great. Maybe we could all go patrolling together later" Buffy says sarcastically as I glance up from my hunched position "Don't even joke about that, two crazy people on our team is enough" I huff meaning Faith and me.
Willow gestures at mom "At least your mom's making an effort. My mom's probably..." she stops short as she notices her mom "standing right in front of me right this second" Mrs. Rosenberg sees us and comes up to us with a smile "Mom?".
"Willow, I-I didn't know you were going to be here" Sheila glances at my sister "Oh, hi, Bunny" I snort before she turns to me with a polite nod "Micky" My sister and I both glance at each other before giving the older woman awkward smiles "Hi".
Willow breaths in shocked "Mom, what are you doing here?" Sheila gives Willow a look and shakes her head "Oh, well, I read about it in the paper, and what with your dad out of town..." she cuts herself off looking surprised "Willow, you cut off your hair! Huh. That's a new look."
Willow tucks her hair behind her ear anxiously "Yeah, it's just a sudden whim I had... in August" seeing my friends sad smile made me mad, sure my mom was overbearing at times but I would rather that then absent like Willow's mom.
Sheila smiles widely "I like it" I frown at the older Rosenberg woman, "and I'm sure you would have liked it back in august too... if you cared" I grin as mom comes over to join us cutting off any reply the woman had for me.
Sheila reaches out to shake hands as I felt Willow affectionately boop her forehead on my shoulder in thanks "Hello, Joyce" Sheila greets my mom who smiles back happily "Sheila, I'm glad you could come.
"There you are. I almost didn't find you in this crush" Giles calls as he walks up to us putting his hands in his pockets before noticing my mom "Oh, uh, Mrs., uh... uh, Joyce. Quite a turnout you have here" he stutters nervously before giving me a look when I let out an amused snort.
Mom glances around with a polite nod, "Oh, well, it's, it's not just me, but thank you. Well, it's, uh, it's been a while" Giles moves around looking uneasy "Right. Not since, um... Not since... Not for a while", he gives me a small glare before I had a chance to say anything.
"There's a rumor going around, Mr. Giles" Sheila interrupts as Giles seems suddenly worried "R-rumor, about us?" Mom shoots him a look of dismay, and Giles gets the hint, "A-a-about what?"
"About witches" the older redhead answered as Willow, Buffy and I exchange a look "People calling themselves witches are responsible for this brutal crime" Giles stops at the woman's words before glancing away "Indeed? How strange."
Willow laughs nervously trying to play it off "Yes! Strange! Witches" Willow's mom soon goes into lecture mode "Well, actually, not that strange. I recently co-authored a paper about the rise of mysticism among adolescents, and I was shocked at the statistical..."
She is interrupted by some electronic feedback when the Mayor tests the microphone as he steps up to the podium "Oh. Oh, a-are we starting?" Sheila whispers as The Mayor clears his throat and sniffles.
Mom makes her way around behind everyone over to stand behind Buffy and I "He'll do something about this. You'll see" she whispers leaning between the two of us as everyone settles down to listen to what the Mayor has to say.
"Um... I wanna thank you all for coming in the aftermath of such a tragic crime. Seeing you all here proves what a caring community Sunnydale is. Now, sure, we've had our share of misfortunes, but we're a good town with good people, and I know that none of us will rest easy until this horrible murder is solved. With that in mind...".
The Mayor picks up one of the signs "I make these words my pledge to you" He holds it up for everyone to see "'Never again!' Now I ask you to give your attention to the woman who brought us all here tonight, Joyce Summers".
The Mayor steps away as Mom walks to the front of the room and steps up to the podium "Thank you" She considers her words for a moment before beginning "Mr. Mayor, you're dead wrong" people begin to murmur in the room.
"This is not a good town. How many of us have, have lost someone who, who just disappeared? Or, or got skinned? Or suffered neck rupture? And how many of us have been too afraid to speak out? I-I was supposed to lead us in a moment of silence, but... silence is this town's disease. For too long we-we've been plagued by unnatural evils. This isn't our town anymore. It belongs to the monsters and, and the witches and the Slayers".
Buffy and I look at our mother in open-mouthed shock, "Son of a..." I muttered sharing a worried glance with my twin "What the hell!" Giles can't believe what he's hearing either as he puts his hand on my shoulder.
"I say it's time for the grownups to take Sunnydale back. I say we start by finding the people who did this and making them pay" Mom calls out as the people in the crowd begin to applaud.
"Hear, hear!" Sheila claps her hands and looks around at the other people, a man nods his head in silent agreement, but my sister is in too much in shock to say anything but stare at our mother.
"I'm telling you B if they all wanna go out there an play 'superheroes' let them" I fume thinking about my mom's speech from the night before "we put our necks out for them, and this is how they repay us by lumping us in the same category as monsters" I lash out hitting one of the lockers.
"calm down, i-im sure mom didn't mean it like that" my sister stutter only adding fuel to my fire "Oh I'm sure..." cutting myself off I frown at the scene happening over my sister's shoulder.
"Everyone knows he's into that voodoo witchcraft" Roy Dukeshire, one of the popular jocks calls out as other students stare "I heard about those kids. People like him..." he slams Michael Czajak hard into the lockers "gotta learn a lesson."
Finding an obvious outlet for my anger, I quickly walk closer to the altercation as Amy calls out, "And what about people like me?" Roy faces her with a glare and calls out threateningly, "Get in my face, and you'll find out."
Stepping up behind Amy, I give him a smile when he notices my presence, and suddenly he thinks better of going any further, obviously sensing that my grin was anything but angelic. He lets Michael go and straightens his shirt a bit, "No problem here," he nods to the other boy, "We're walking."
Nodding at him and narrowing my eyes I move forward threateningly "then get to stepping" Buffy moves in close behind me before we both turn back to Michael and Amy "You guys okay?" my sister questions gently.
Michael gives me a small smile, "Yeah. We're fine", he says quietly as he walks off as Amy stays behind "Thanks, Nikki." I reciprocated her smile and watched as she followed Michael before looking back down the hall to make sure the gang is still headed away.
Feeling Buffy nudge me I see Giles comes around the corner, and we start toward him but are headed off by Cordelia "You'll be busy little Slayers, baby-sitting them" she taunts as I raise my eyebrow at her.
"I doubt they'll have any more trouble" Buffy answers with a sigh already done with the brunette girl "I doubt your doubt. Everyone knows that witches killed those kids, and Amy is a witch. And Michael is whatever the boy of witch is, plus being the poster child for yuck" Cordelia retorts as Buffy tries to cut her off "Corde..."
"If you're gonna hang with them, expect badness. 'Cause that's what you get when you hang with freaks and losers. Believe me; I know" Cordy interrupts and goes in for the kill before she starts down the hall, but stops and turns back to Buffy with a smile "That was a pointed comment about me hanging with you guys."
"Hey!" I call loudly to her retreating form "Not you!" she calls back without turning "I know, but I'm still going to be mildly offended just because I can" She just waves me off as I turn to my sister whose expression was hardened "witches didn't do it Nikki."
We both turn to Giles, who eyes us "Actually, I think they may have. My research keeps bringing me back to European Wiccan covens", he whispers to us as Buffy perks up "You found the meaning of the symbol?"
Our Watchers exhales sounding frustrated "I'm pretty sure, yes. There's a, a piece of information I need that's in a book that Willow borrowed. Can you find it?" we agree as he goes down the hall toward the library.
Seeing Xander sitting on one of the couches we head over to him "I'll ask Xander" Buffy explains as I stop for water "Okay I'll be over in a sec" pressing the button and leaning forward to sip the water I stop seeing a figure step up to me.
Turning my head, I sigh slowly seeing Roy smiling down at me "Dukeshire" I say as I straighten up making the corner of his mouth lift playfully "aw come on, I know we got into it a minute ago, but you know I wouldn't have hurt him."
Leaning against the fountain, I crossed my arms, "Is that right?" I questioned knowing that wasn't at all true "yeah you don't need to fight with me" he flirted as I let out a short laugh "listen, Roy, you may have cute dimples and all, but innocence really isn't your best look."
Pushing away from the fountain I held back a laugh as he called after me, "but you think I have a best look right?" seeing my sister's frown I move closer to them quickly "what's up?" glancing down at the note book in Buffy's hands I gasp seeing the symbol.
"What is this?" my sister questions motioning to the book as Willow takes and closes it "A doodle. I do doodle. You, too. You do doodle, too" she explains nervously as she holds the book to her chest "This is a witch symbol" Buffy objects as Willow deflates "Okay, yeah, it is."
"Red!" I chastise her as she quickly gets defensive "What?" glancing around I lower my voice so only she can hear me "That symbol was on the murdered children" Before we can get any further into it, we are distracted by the sounds of many lockers suddenly being slammed shut.
Frowning a the two I hear a voice call out "Please step back. Stay away from the lockers. This is police business" Buffy, Willow, Xander and I exchange alarmed looks as we all head into the hall to see what's going on.
A police officer is going from locker to locker, opening them with a master key. At another locker, another officer takes some books from a student, "Hand them over, please. The books."
Yet another officer takes a string of garlic cloves from a locker and sets it on a cart with a bunch of other things they've confiscated. Principal Snyder stands in the hall, gloating as the police continue their search.
Several officers keep the students at bay as a detective leads a boy away. Amy joins us as we watch all the activity "Aw, man, it's Nazi Germany, and I've got Playboys in my locker!" Xander calls out distraught making me rolls my eyes.
"This is a glorious day for principals everywhere. No pathetic whining about students' rights. Just a long row of lockers and a man with a key" Snyder gloats as all students stand around not able to do anything about it.
An officer finds a voodoo doll in a locker "They just took three kids away" Oz whispers to us as Buffy turns to him, "What are they looking for?" Amy leans in closer to us "Witch stuff."
Willow suddenly looks very worried "What?" Amy turns to us her face hard "They got my spells. I'm supposed to report to Snyder's office," I shake my head once Willow begins to panic, "Oh, my God."
An officer looks through a girl's purse as another officer steps up to Amy, "Okay, Amy. You'll have to come with me" Amy gives us a small smile before being led away "I have stuff in my locker. Henbane, hellebore, mandrake root" Willow whimpers to us looking sick.
"Excuse me. Playboys" Xander interrupts pointing to himself "Can we turn the sympathy this way?" huffing at the idiot boy I scowl at him "no one cares about your stupid porn Xander" his ears turn a shade of pink as other students eye him carefully.
One of the officers has reached Cordelia's locker and pulls out a can of hairspray, "Hey! Get your grubby custodial hands off that" She hisses out as one of the officers pushes her back "Hey" I called out stomping my way over "get your hands off her."
Feeling the officer grab at me as I step closer to him I give him a frightening glare "Don't touch me"I threaten as he tries to motion for me to get back "Miss, you have to stay back. Miss, stay back".
Cordelia lurches forward again "That hair spray costs $45, and it's imported!" quickly grabbing onto my friend I bring her closer to my side as the officer gives me a look before he walks off "It's okay Cordy, it'll be fine."
My stomach soon drops as I see an officer pulls some plastic bags from Willow's locker "shit" I mutter rubbing a hand on my head as Snyder walks over to the group with the bags in hand "Ms. Rosenberg. My office."
Willow's eyes meet mine questioningly before I give her one firm nod before she steps forward, Buffy subtly takes the notebook out of her hands and moves over to my side showing me the book "I gotta go" I whisper to Cordy who silently nods at my words.
Stomping away to the library I knew a fight was coming on before Buffy holds onto my arm "Don't lose your cool, the last thing we need is for you to get out of control and them find out about..." she motions to my hands and I frown in agreement.
Going into the library I gasp seeing a police officer kicks open the cage door and strides out into the room with a stack of books in his hands. He carries them over to the table and drops them unceremoniously into a box as another officer comes down from the stacks with another armful of books.
We head straight for Giles, who watches helplessly "Giles" The older man glances at us helplessly "They're confiscating my books" Buffy gazes at Giles desperately "Giles, we need those books."
The Watcher eyes us frustrated "Believe me; I tried to tell that to the nice man with the big gun" the three of us move to the side to talk as Giles watches the activity around him, seething with anger.
"There's something about the symbol that we're missing. Willow said she used it in a protection spell. It's harmless. Not a big bad. So then why would it turn up in a ritual sacrifice?" Buffy tells Giles as I look on in surprise.
"I don't know. Ordinarily, I would say let's widen our research" He says sarcastically as the room around us is in disarray "Using what? A-a dictionary and 'My Friend Flicka'?" Buffy quips as she sets the book on the counter.
Giles steps back into the room angrily "This is intolerable. Snyder's interfered before, but I, I won't take this from that twisted little homunculus" Principal Snyder walks into the library holding a cup of coffee smirking "I love the smell of desperate librarian in the morning."
Giles approaches him angrily "You get out! And take your marauders with you" Snyder stays unaffected "Oh, my. So fierce", he taunts as he walks past.
"I suppose I should hear you out. Just how is, um..." Snyder takes a book from an officer, reads the title "'Blood Rites and Sacrifices' appropriate material for a public school library? Chess club branching out?".
The Principal sips his coffee like he'd won and for now he had "This is not over" Giles seethes as Snyder smirk "Oh, I should say it's just beginning. Fight it if you want. Just remember, lift a finger against me, and you'll have to answer to MOO".
Buffy frowns incredulous "Answer to MOO? Did that sentence just make some sense that I'm not in on?" Snyder sighs and turns to us as we lean against the counter "'Mothers Opposed to the Occult.' A powerful new group", he sips his coffee again.
"And who came up with that lame name?" My twin snorts amused as Snyder begins to head out, "That would be the founder. I believe you call her 'Mom'" watching the sniveling man walk out I turned to my sister in shock "Our mother is mooing? Since when?" Buffy blinks at me for a moment before opening and closing her mouth a few times "do you hear yourself sometimes?".
Willow opens the door to her house and goes in. In the living room, she finds her mother looking over a bunch of her things taken from her bedroom. Her mother notices her come in "Oh, sit down, honey" Willow goes to the couch quietly "Principal Snyder talk to you?" she questions as she takes off her backpack and sits.
"Yes. He's quite concerned" Sheila answers distracted as she looks at an old picture "Mom, I know what this looks like, and I can totally..." Sheila interrupts her daughter, "Oh, you don't have to explain, honey. This isn't exactly a surprise", she turns over the picture.
Willow fidgets, confused, "Why not?" Sheila simply shrugs "Oh, well, identification with mythical icons is perfectly typical of your age group. It's a, a classic adolescent response to the pressures of incipient adulthood" She set the picture down casually.
"Oh. Is that what it is?" Willow asks playing with the sleeve of her sweater as her mom picks up a bag of herbs "Of course, I wish you could've identified with something a little less icky, but developmentally speaking..."
Willow having enough speaks up "Mom, I'm not an age group. I'm me. Willow group" Sheila glances up at Willow and coos "Oh, honey..." She puts down the bag and gets up to go over to her daughter "I understand" she sits next to Willow with a smile.
"No, you don't" Willow objects as she turns to face her "Mom, this may be hard for you to accept, but I can do stuff. Nothing bad or dangerous, but I can do spells," she explains with a proud smile, but her mother's face doesn't change.
"You think you can, and that's what concerns me. The delusions" Sheila points to the table before Willow calls her out again "Mom, how would you know what I can do? I mean, the last time we had a conversation over three minutes, it was about the patriarchal bias of the Mr. Rogers Show".
Sheila straightens herself "Well," she makes finger quotes "with King Friday lording it over all the lesser puppets..." she gets interrupted by a frustrated Willow "Mom, you're not paying attention."
"And this is your way of trying to get it. Now, I have consulted with some of my colleagues, and they agree that this is a cry for discipline. You're grounded" Willow looks at her mom wide-eyed and surprised "Grounded? This is the first time ever I've done something you don't like, and I'm grounded? I'm supposed to mess up. I'm a teenager, remember?".
"You're upset, I hear you..." Sheila begins before Willow stands up tall "No, Ma, hear this! I'm a rebel! I'm having a rebellion!" the older redhead smiles up at her daughter, "Willow, honey, you don't need to act out like this to prove your specialness."
"Mom, I'm not acting out. I'm a witch! I-I can make pencils float. And I can summon the four elements. Okay, two, but four soon" her mother doesn't react to her words so she ups the ante "A-and I'm dating a musician."
Sheila is viably disgusted now, "Oh, Willow!" She gets up and goes back to the table of Willow's things as Willow follows her "I worship Beelzebub. I do his biddings. Do you see any goats around? No, because I sacrificed them", she calls out sarcastic knowing it would get to her mother.
"Willow, please!" Sheila calls out tiredly, but Willow won't stop "All bow before Satan!" Sheila leaves the room "I'm not listening to this" Willow follows her still heavy on the sarcasm "Prince of Night, I summon you. Come fill me with your black, naughty evil".
"That's enough! Is that clear? Now, you will go to your room and stay there until I say otherwise. And we're gonna make some changes" Mrs. Rosenberg hisses out as she shakes her head.
"I don't want you hanging out with those friends of yours. It's clear where this little obsession came from. You will not speak to those Summers twins again!" Willow instantly quietens when she realizes her mother means business.
Standing in the living room with my arms crossed my mom is at the dining room table surrounded by posters of the two dead children, she has a MOO button pinned to her blouse.
Her laptop is open, and a phone and fax sit nearby, the place is set up like a command center and behind her is a whiteboard full of statistics "I don't want you seeing that Willow anymore. I've spoken with her mother. I had no idea her forays into the occult had gone so far" mom tells us sternly leaning forward on the table.
"You're the one who ordered the raid on the school today" my sister accused in disbelief as mom brushes her outrage off "Honey, they opened a few lockers" I scoffed at my mom's blasé attitude "Lockers. First syllable, 'lock.' They're supposed to be private. And they took all of Giles' books away".
"He'll get most of them back. MOO just wants to weed out the offensive material everything else will be returned to Mr. Giles soon" Mom explained as Buffy, and I sighed audibly "If we're gonna solve this, we need those books now."
"Girls, those books have no place in a public school library. Especially now. Any student can waltz in there and get all sorts of ideas" Our mom says serious as she gets up and steps over to us, "Do you understand how that terrifies me?".
Leaning against the door frame, I bite my cheek as "Mom, I hate that these people scared you so much. And I-I know that you're just trying to help, but you have to let us handle this. It's what we do" Buffy assures motioning to the two of us.
"But is it really? I mean, you both patrol, you slay... Evil pops up; you undo it. A-a-and that's great! But is Sunnydale getting any better? Are they running out of vampires?" blinking at my mom I lifted an eyebrow "I don't think that you run out of..."
My sister gives me a short look before turning back around, "It's not your fault. You don't have a plan. You just react to things. I-i-it's bound to be kind of fruitless" choking on air I was taken aback "I told you so" I muttered to Buffy who looked equally as pissed "Okay, maybe I don't have a plan. Lord knows I don't have lapel buttons..."
"Girls" Mom sighed exasperated "...and maybe next time that the world is getting sucked into Hell, we won't be able to stop it because the Anti-Hell-Sucking Book isn't on the approved reading list!" Buffy called sarcastically as I bit my thumb.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put down..." Mom began glancing between the two of us as I moved from the door frame, "but you still did" My sister shook her head, upset "It doesn't matter. I have to go. I have to go on one of my pointless patrols and react to some vampires. If that's alright with MOO".
She turns around and heads for the door as mom, and I just watch her go before Buffy steps back into the room "And nice acronym, Mom," turning to me my mom opened her mouth but I put my hand up stopping her "I'm going to see Giles before I put my own head through a wall".
Walking away as my mom called out for me to stop, I turned and shook my head in disappointment "This wasn't the way to do this. Happy moo'ing mom" I scoff leaving the house and walking out into the dark slamming the door behind me.
"Wow, you look pissed" Faith called out shocking me as she leaned on the gate with her arms crossed "My mom's turned into a cow" I muttered with a frown as Faith watched me in confusion "Don't worry about it."
Stepping closer to the older girl I smiled as she swung an arm over my shoulder and letting it lay around my neck as we walked side by side "This about those kids?" the brunette questioned as I nodded "the grown-ups are going crazy over it and named themselves after an animal that produces dairy".
Faith just laughed at my words as we both continue on our walk still tucked into each others sides "have you seen anything on your patrols?" I asked her, but she shook her head and pursed her purple-colored lips, "Nah, I haven't seen anything other than vamps."
"It's so weird, people die all the time in Sunnydale, but this feels different" I admit biting my lip as Faith stops us and her eyes lower to my mouth before giving me a sigh "we'll figure this out Puddin'" I smile at the familiar nickname before pulling away from Faith.
"Right I'm going to see if Giles has any other news," I tell the older girl who nods and puts her hands in her pockets "wanna meet up later after my patrol?" giving her a grin I agree before we parted ways.
Walking to school I was watching out for any unusual activity all the way there but like Faith had said there was nothing, unusually there wasn't anyone out at all, it's like a ghost town.
Knowing the adults, they had probably locked all their children away but a vigilante of pissed off adults isn't going to solve this crime it would only make it worse in the long run.
Pushing open the doors to the library the corners of my mouth turned up seeing a disheveled Giles muttering to himself as he sat in front of a computer eating from a bag of chips "stupid thing!" he called out tapping the monitor.
"Didn't your mother teach you 'if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all" I taunted swiftly taking the chips from him as I dropped down into the chair next to his "I'm trying to get into a Watcher forum" he explained mumbling to himself one again.
"Session interrupted?" He groaned frustrated, "Who said you could interrupt, you stupid, useless fad! No, I said fad. And I'll say it again" He swore as he began to furiously type "At that point, I will become frightened" Xander jokes as he and Oz walk into the library.
"Take heart. We found your books" Oz says as Giles looks at them hopefully as the two boys go to stand behind him "You can put the heart back. We can't get them. They're locked up in City Hall" Xander explains as he glances over Giles' shoulder.
I notice his eyes light up "'Frisky Watcher's chat room.' Why Giles," he teases as he slaps the librarian's shoulder "Xander" I warn with a smile as my Watchers face begins to turn a shade of red in frustration.
Buffy comes stomping into the library like she was on a mission "Oh! Buffy, Oz and I found out..." Xander begins, but Buffy ignores him "What do we know about these kids?" she questions causally as we all look confused "What?"
"Facts. Details" my sister orders as we all stop to think "Well, they were, uh, found in the park" Xander answers but Buffy shakes her head "No. Where did they go to school? Who were their parents? What are their names?"
Giles takes off his glasses, none of us have answers for any of her questions "We know everything about their deaths, but we don't even know their names" Buffy finally explains as Xander give a short laugh "Well, sure we do. Um, it's on the tip of my tongue".
"That never came up. Ever." Oz says in realization as I frowned "If my kids had been murdered I'd be causing a riot wanting to know who killed them, we've heard nothing from their families" I muttered as my sister nodded in agreement.
"How did you even figure this out?" I questioned my twin whose eyes quickly dropped to the ground meekly "Angel" she admitted quietly as I felt my heart stumble for a second before I nod "Ahh well, when one kills a lot of people he would know the protocol."
Buffy doesn't answer me again as she turns to Giles, "If no one knows who they are, where did these pictures come from?" The Watcher puts his glasses back on and stares at the computer screen "I just assumed someone had the details. I never really... Well, that is strange."
"We need to get some information," I say as Giles gets up "Yeah, well, somebody else do it. This thing's locked me out" I snigger at the older man as Xander gives him a smirk "Well if you wouldn't yell at it" he soon shuts up at the look he gets from Giles.
Oz quickly takes Giles' place and begins to mess around on the computer "I can look 'round, but Willow would really know the sites we need" my sister huffs as she moves by his side "That's great. She can't even come to the phone. The wrath of MOO." Oz just gives Buffy a grin "Well, we don't need a phone."
"Alright, we're linked. If anybody's ID'd the kids, she'll pull it up and feed it here" Oz explains as we all watch the screen in front of him "Oh. 'Two Children Found Dead. Mysterious Mark...' No. No. These children were found near Omaha in 1949" Giles says waving off the article.
"Yeah, they ain't ours. Keep going" Xander agrees but before Oz can move on the accompanying image loads "Wait," Buffy says as we all lean in as the picture slowly reveals itself "Those are the same kids."
"Fifty years ago" Giles breathes as Oz loads up the next page "'1899. Utah... Two Children... Rural Community Torn Apart by Suspicion.'" I notice Giles frown in confusion "A hundred years ago? How is this possible?"
"There's no mention of who they were" Oz points out as I scan the article "They've never been seen alive, just dead. A lot." The next page loads; this one is dated 1649 and has a hand drawing of the two children.
An Instant Message window pops up with a note from Willow "Ah. There were more articles. Every fifty years. All the same," the redhead relays to us as we all listen intrigued "From as far back as 1649. Can I see that?" Oz surrenders his place to Giles who types a bit, then reads the German and translates.
"Written by a cleric from a village near the Black Forest. He... found the bodies himself. Two children... Greta Strauss, age six," Giles quickly types more, "Hans Strauss, eight." Buffy and I glance at each other as Xander calls out, "So they have names. That's new."
Giles begins to pace while Oz keeps looking for more information on the web "Uh, wait, wait a minute. Uh... Uh, there is a fringe theory held by a few folklorists that some regional stories have actual, um, very literal antecedents."
"And in some language that's English?" My sister questions as Oz looks up in complete understanding, "Fairy tales are real?" Buffy huffs, and I can almost see the cogs turning in her head "Hans and Gre..." she stops quickly and her eyes meet mine again "Hansel and Gretel?".
"Wait. Hansel and Gretel? Breadcrumbs, ovens, gingerbread house?" Xander stops us shocked "Of course! Well, it makes sense now" Giles clicks as my sister nods "Yeah, it's all falling into place. Of course, that place is nowhere near this place."
Giles sits on the table "Some demons thrive by fostering hatred and, and, uh, persecution amongst the mortal animals. Not by, not by destroying men, but by watching men destroy each other. Now, they feed us our darkest fear and turn peaceful communities into vigilantes."
"Hansel and Gretel run home to tell everyone about the mean old witch" Buffy surmises as I pursed my lips "This must be the Brothers Grimm version" Giles nods as he continues "and then she and probably dozens of others are persecuted by a righteous mob. It's happened all throughout history. It happened in Salem, not surprisingly."
Xander holds his hands up blinking rapidly "Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm still spinning on this whole fairy tales are real thing" Giles stands and begins to pace again "So what do we do?" Oz inquired as Xander laughs "I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go trade my cow in for some beans."
He gets a confused look from Giles "No one else is seeing the funny here" rolling my eyes I cross my arms "Not when people are doing the bidding of two demonic children from a fairytale, Xan" I mutter as everyone else ignores his comment.
Buffy goes to the counter, "Giles, we need to talk to Mom. If she knows the truth, she can defuse the whole thing," she grabs her coat as I walk up beside her just as Michael comes running into the library with a slight limp.
Crashing into me, I notice he's been beaten and bruised, he has a black eye, and his face is bloody "What happened?" I demanded as he held on to me tightly breathing heavily. Xander and Oz come over to us, "I was attacked!" Michael exclaimed trying to control his breathing.
"Officially not funny" Xander finally claims as my sister steps forward enraged "By whom?" Michael pulls away from me and hugs himself, "My dad. His friends. They're taking people out of their homes; they're talking about a trial down at City Hall. They got Amy".
"Michael, stay here and hide. Giles, Nikki we'll go find mom," Buffy dictates as the three of us get ready to leave before Oz gets Xander's attention "Willow!" The two of them run out of the library as Giles grabs his coat.
Michael calls after the two boys "Tell Willow to get out of her house!" patting Michael on the shoulder I pass him ready to leave "Stay in my office" Giles orders the gothic boy as he and Buffy follow me out.
Getting into the back of Giles' car I huff "I've got a bad feeling" Buffy gives me a comforting smile, but I could see the worry on her face too "Don't worry we'll find mom and get this all sorted out."
Raising my eyebrows at her, I grimaced "oh and what are we going to say 'mom don't MOO, but it's actually all the work of demons' that'll go down really well B. Nice job" I call sarcastically, it's my nervous defense mode.
"i-i'll think of something" Buffy winced as we stopped outside the house; Giles and Buffy move to get out of the car but stop when they see me still sitting in the back "I'll do outside recon and man the car" I grin as Buffy glares at me "Chicken. We'll be right back".
Watching my twin and Giles run into our house I wait patiently for them to come back out, but after a few moments of nothing I decide to go in after them, my bad feeling has left or diminished at all, and I realized it was my instincts screaming at me.
Opening the front door, I quickly noticed both Giles and Buffy lay prone on the floor as the two 'dead' children standing at the stairs with a bottle of chloroform "You have to stop them. You have to make them go away. Forever".
"Mom!" I shout in anger, realizing she was the one who took down Buffy "get her!" one of the adults scream running at me "damn it!" I hiss throwing up and arm sending him through the air, "I really don't want to hurt you."
Watching them all start to run at me warily I used my powers to throw them back "Nikki?!" my mom calls out to me questioningly as she looks shocked "mom, please don't make me do this" I beg pushing her back gently with my telekinesis before being struck in the back of the head.
Cordelia kneels over an unconscious Giles and gives him a sharp slap to the face, "Wake up!" She slaps him two more times, and he begins to come out of it. She is about to hit him again when he suddenly reaches up and blocks her swing "Cordelia?"
The dark-haired girl sighs with relief "Took you long enough to wake up. My hand hurts," she pouts, peering at her reddening palm "Pity" Giles tuts as he rubs his temples "Oh... Why are you here?"
"Things are way out of control, Giles. First, the thing at school, and then my mom confiscates all of my black clothes and scented candles" Cordelia begins as Giles sits up with a groan.
"I came over here to tell Buffy to stop this craziness and found you all unconscious... again. How many times have you been knocked out, anyway?" Giles finds his glasses as Cordelia talks on "I swear, one of these times, you're gonna wake up in a coma."
Giles puts his glasses on frowning at the young girl "Wake up in a... Oh, never mind" he struggles to his feet "We need to save everyone from Hansel and Gretel" He shakily heads for the front door as Cordelia follows him out "Now, let's be clear. The brain damage happened before I hit you."
Breathing in deeply, I groaned as I felt my head pulsate "oh crap," I struggling against the bonds I had around me "Nikki!" I turn my head to see I was tied to a post in between my sister and Amy.
"Good morning, sleepyheads, Sorry we had to get so rough sweetheart" My mom smiled at me as I just narrowed my eyes at her "Mom, you don't want this" My sister implored as I searched around us to see what was going on and for an escape route.
"Since when does it matter what I want? I wanted normal, happy daughters. Instead, I got not one Slayer but two. One of which can throw people through the air with a flick of the wrist," she added as everyone looked in my direction "hmm?" I questioned glancing over my shoulder as if searching for someone.
"You used your power in front of her" My sister called to me with bite in her tone "they came at me B, it was self-defense" I exclaimed as Sheila joins mom bearing a torch "Torch" Sheila says as mom take the flaming wood.
"Thanks. This has been so trying. You've been such a champ" I scoffed at my mom's words before Sheila nods solemnly "Oh, you, too, Joyce" My mom gives the redhead woman a smile "We should stay close, have lunch."
Sheila grins nodding happily "Oh, I'd like that. How nice" I let out a loud groan as I glared at the two women conversing in front of me "Oh when I get down from here someone's getting a spanking" mom bends down to set fire to the books.
"Oh, you can't be serious!" Amy calls out as my sister once again begs our mom, "Mom, don't!" Mom touches the torch to the books, and they begin to burn. Others with torches set the books ablaze all around them "Alright. You wanna fry a witch? I'll give you a witch! Goddess Hecate, work thy will!" Amy hisses as she glares.
"Uh-oh" Buffy squeaks as Amy's eyes turn pitch black, and the energy of her spell begins to swirl around he "Before thee let the unclean thing crawl!" She shivers as the spell's power increases around her, building ever greater strength.
Finally, the spell works as a sudden burst of flame engulfs her. People in the crowd scream as they watch, an instant later Amy's clothes are empty, and they and the ropes drop to the books below.
Everyone stares in amazement as I look over to see what happened to her before a rat comes crawling out of Amy's clothes. It scampers down the pile of books and scurries across the floor. The frightened adults jump out of its way "She couldn't do us first?".
"You've seen what we can do! Another step, and you will all feel my power!" Willow calls out desperately trying to sound confident "What are you gonna do, float a pencil at 'em?" My sister hisses at the redhead.
"It's a really big power!" Willow once again booms as the adults stare at us in shock and horror "Yes! You will all be turned into vermin. And some of you will be fish! Yeah, you in the back will be fish!" Buffy backs Willow up as I nod, "then you'll be devoured like sushi!" I added as the crowd back away in fear.
"Maybe we should go" A man in the back cowers before the children suddenly appear "But you promised" Hansel starts "You have to kill the bad girls" Gretel finishes as the adults look reinvigorated once again "B. If I ever decide to have children remind me of this day" I mutter to my sister.
The fires are getting bigger but still, haven't reached the girls. Hansel and Gretel stand at the front of the crowd as they watch the flames grow and advance "They hurt us," the girl says as he brother finishes "Burn them."
"Mom, dead people are talking to you. Do the math!" Buffy cries out desperately, but mom just shakes her head "I'm sorry, Buffy." my twin lets out a small sob "Mom, look at me! You love us. You're not gonna be able to live with yourself if you do this!".
"You two earned this. You toyed with unnatural forces. What kind of a mother would I be if I didn't punish you?" I scrunched up my nose as I eyed my mother "A cool one?" getting a glare in response I quieten as I notice the flames are getting very close to Willow "I can't take it! It's too hot!"
Trying to concentrate on the flames, I focused on pushing them back, "Good job, Nikki!" Buffy cheered until she noticed my distressed look and squealed when the flame licked at her feet "I'm trying B, I'm not used to stopping fire."
Buffy sighed, probably knowing I wouldn't be able to keep the flames away for long "I'm sorry, guys. If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened. It wouldn't be..." hearing my sister stop I gaze up to see Giles comes in through the doors with Cordy.
Giles points Cordelia to a fire hose in the corner, and she goes to it smashing the glass with her elbow, holding up her hand to protect her face from the glass. The noise gets the crowd's attention, "Badass Cordy" I cheer as my mom gasps "Stop them!".
Cordelia pulls out the hose and turns it on, spraying the advancing crowd as Giles starts reciting an incantation in very bad, unintelligible German, muffled by the sound of the water spraying.
"You like that? Huh? How 'bout some more!" Cordelia taunts to the people, but in spite of all the spraying, not very much water has gotten on the flames, and they have gotten dangerously close to Willow "Buffy, I'm on fire!".
"Cordelia put out the fire!?" Buffy shouts to Cordelia who nods "Oh, right" she turns the stream of water on the flames soaking the three of us in the process.
Cordelia gets the last of the flames extinguished and turns off the water before Hansel, and Gretel slowly walks up to them "Sorry Will" I pant as my clothes stick to me "I tried to keep the flames away" Willow gives me a shaky smile as she too pants heavily.
The children keep closing in on Giles who raises the bottle with his potion high and recites an incantation. He throws the bottle to the floor, smashing it in front of the children. The potion begins to steam around them.
Hansel and Gretel look at each other and embrace, a moment later the two children morph into a single demon standing over seven feet tall. Its ears are pointed, and huge fangs jut from its lower jaw. Its skin is red and mottled, and its hair is long and tangled "Okay, I think I liked the two little ones more than the one big one" Cordy quips to Giles.
Sheila and mom stare up at the demon in horror as the other people in the room all run out screaming. The demon turns to face us, and I grimace "Wow, you are ugly" I comment as Buffy fights against her bonds.
Out of her trance now, mom looks over at us as we're tied up and helpless against the demon "Oh, my God!" she whimpers sadly as her eyes bore into mine and I see tears leak out.
"Protect us! Kill the bad girls!" The demon commands to the people running around in terror "You know what? Not as convincing in that outfit" The demon roars and comes at us as Buffy struggles with her bonds, trying to get free.
The ropes don't give but the stake breaks and forces Buffy to bend over so the tip is pointing at the demon, who can't stop his advance and impales himself through the neck I see Sheila and mom watch on in disgust.
Buffy can't straighten herself back up with the weight of the demon's body at the other end of the stake, and so can't see the result of her unwitting maneuver "Did I get it? Did I get it?" She calls out panicking "Oh you got it all right, and you gave it a tracheotomy" I joked looking at the skewered demon.
Suddenly the ceiling gives way above them, and Oz and Xander come crashing down, the books breaking their fall as they look up at us and the dead demon "We're here to save you" Oz weakly explains as I lean my head on the wooden pole with a smirk "Our heroes."
Back in Willow's house on another night she and Buffy have several bowls and jars of powders and potions laid out. Several candles are burning as Willow idly crushes some herbs in a bowl.
"Your mom doesn't mind us doing this in the house?" The Slayer questions as Willow gives a small smile "She doesn't know" the blonde nods "Business as usual?" Willow shrugs as she adds things to a bowl "Hmm, sort of. She's doing that selective memory thing your mom used to be so good at".
"She forgot everything?" Buffy grinning, knowing that was the one things about their mom she and her sister never understood "No. She remembered the part where I said I was dating a musician" Willow said ruefully as she takes a pinch of the herbs she's crushed and sprinkles it onto a ceremonial iron plate set out between the girls.
"Oz has to come for dinner next week. So, that's sort of like taking an interest" Buffy smirks at her best friend knowing Willow would soon be getting the 'talk' soon enough "so did your mom talk to Nikki about her power" the redhead questioned as Buffy played with a piece of sage.
The blonde nodded, "Yep, they had a whole discussion about it. Nikki showed her the book Giles gave her and freaked our mom out when she accidentally smashed the kitchen window" Buffy grinned remembering the look on her mom's face.
Buffy glances down at their preparations and sighs "Okay, should we try this again?" Willow nods eagerly "Let's do it. I think we got the mix of herbs right this time" both girls ready themselves "Okay. Ready?"
Buffy lights a match and sets it to the mixture of herbs and roots on the plate while Willow recites her spell. It begins to burn, emitting purple smoke "Diana, Hecate, I hereby license thee to depart. Goddess of creatures great and small, I conjure thee to withdraw."
Willow and Buffy both look over at Amy the rat who gets up on her hind legs expectantly, but nothing happens, though, and she gets back down on all fours, seemingly disappointed as Buffy looks over at Willow "Maybe we should get her one of those wheel thingies."