Wednesday, April 25th, 2001 ~ The Magic Box ~ Sunnydale, California

Sam tried to keep his mind on the book he had chosen but it was simply too gruesome. He rose from his chair and began to peruse the contents of nearby shelves, pretending to be deep in thought. If he wasn't prepared to learn anything from Giles' preferred reading material Sam thought he might be able to glean more useful information from his surroundings. A couple of his new young acquaintances glanced up momentarily but returned to their books almost at once, so Sam wandered toward more distant shelves and displays while staying within earshot of any conversation which might spring up among his companions.

After fifteen or twenty minutes his state of alarm had steadily grown as he collected more clues about his situation.

The shelves were packed with charms, statues, idols and other miscellaneous bric-a-brac with ominous descriptions such as 'Star of Revenge' and 'Curse Talisman'. There were jars, boxes and bottles containing the body parts of a wide range of animals; monkey brains, amphibian eyes, lizard tongues and many, many others. Even the most innocuous books he could find were filled with magic spells, descriptions of mystical creatures, denizens of strange and frightening dimensions or planes of existence or people who had wielded or been destroyed by magic.

If these revelations weren't enough to encourage him to beat a hasty retreat, the topics bandied about the table had the potential to push him over the edge.

Willow, whose cheerful, bubbly personality suggested a girl who might only recently have given up playing with Barbies, dredged up spell after spell over which she conferred with the seemingly wholesome Tara. They debated the prospective effectiveness of dismemberment, disemboweling and immolation spells, among a disturbing array of others, for their ability to kill or incapacitate the largest number of minions in the shortest amount of time.

The bright, confident Buffy chimed in to say that carnage was her specialty and they should concentrate on something else to insure maximum team efficacy.

Xander expounded endlessly on his hope that the missing Anya would remember to bring a good supply of jelly doughnuts with her, in addition to the promised dinner, when she returned.

It was a gut-wrenching experience.

The sound of the Imaging Room door opening and the sight of Al stepping into view prompted Sam to send a silent thank you skyward. He moved purposefully toward the door to the shop's restroom, trusting Al to follow.

Instead of walking behind his friend, Al used his hand-link to instantaneously appear in the small room. The moment he popped in, Sam let out a strangled gasp.

"Don't ever, ever do that again, Al. At least on this Leap," Sam admonished him.

"Little jumpy are we, pal?" Al observed. "What could that pack of post-pubescent cuties have done to get you in such a state?"

"Let me enlighten you," the normally even-tempered man replied in a grim tone.

Sam filled Al in on all that he had seen and heard while Al had been gone. Al divided his attention between Sam's report and the data that kept popping up on his hand-link screen, courtesy of Ziggy. When he had finished his recitation, Sam awaited Al's reaction with growing impatience. "Well?" Sam finally demanded. "Still think I'm overreacting?"

Al glanced up from the hand-link and pulled his cigar out of his mouth. "I agree it's a little strange."

"A 'little strange'!" Sam objected. "It's... it's... well, I don't know what it is, exactly, but it's more than a 'little strange'. I think this guy Giles might have lured these kids into some kind of twisted, over-the-top Dungeons & Dragons sort of role-playing thing. Maybe I'm here to break whatever hold he has over them."

"I dunno, Sam," Al replied, shaking his head. "He seems like a good guy to me. Not a sign of being a depraved whacko that I can see."

"Did you get some information out of him this time?" Sam asked.

"Not much and nothing intentional, but lookee here what Ziggy came up with," Al responded, turning the hand-link toward his friend.

While Sam examined the small device, Al told him how Giles' slip during his confrontation with Dr. Beeks had set Ziggy on the trail of The Initiative.

"It seems this isn't the first time our Mr. Giles has fallen afoul of a secret government project. These Initiative guys, according to their mission statement, were trying to find ways to either neutralize HSTs or use them for military purposes."

Sam glanced up at Al. "What's an HST?"

Al grinned. "You know how we military folk love our acronyms. HST stands for Hostile Sub-Terrestrial."

Sam's expression made it obvious that explanation hadn't quite answered his question.

"Demons, Sam," Al informed him. "They were catching and experimenting on demons."

Sam and Al regarded each other closely for a few moments - Sam in continued confusion and Al in all seriousness. Finally, Sam blinked.

"Come on, Al," he reproved his friend. "Stop fooling around. This is serious. Those kids could be in real danger."

"I'm right there with you, Sam," Al agreed. "But I think it's even more serious than either one of us realizes at the moment. Look at this."

Al punched a button on the hand-link and turned the display toward Sam again. A short loop of video played over and over on the small screen. "This was attached to a report that described the end of the project. It seems the HSTs got loose and killed and maimed to their heart's content. According to the report, the human casualties might have been 100% if it hadn't been for some 'civilian insurgents'."

Sam gasped in recognition as he watched the video repeat. "That's Giles. And Xander. They're helping soldiers into an elevator shaft."

Al nodded and pointed the bitten end of his cigar at the screen. "And there's the blonde and the little redhead, right there."

"Buffy and Willow," Sam intoned softly in wonder. "When does this happen, Al? Is it soon? Has Ziggy figured out how I can stop it?"

Al shoved the hand-link into his pocket and heaved a deep sigh. "That happened almost a year ago, your time. That's not what you're here to fix."

Sam goggled at him. "It's not? But then... then what am I supposed to keep from happening?"

Al's expression was grim. "Something worse?" he suggested.

As the two men considered what 'something worse' might entail, the distant jangling of the shop's bell sounded in the silence.

"Hey, Giles," came Buffy's shout, muffled as it was by the intervening distance and the closed restroom door. "Did you fall in? Food's here. You'd better get out here before Xander eats it all."

Sam turned, washed and dried his hands then reached past Al's image to open the door. Al followed and came up beside Sam as they rounded the bookcase that stood between the room they had exited and the area where he had left the young people. His companions were dishing generous portions of Chinese food onto paper plates and Sam noted the addition of a woman of about the same age as the others and a young teen with long, straight brown hair.

"Yowza!" Al pronounced, with a tinge of envy. "I like the male-female ratio this guy maintains around him."

"Nothing to fear, G-man," Xander assured Sam. "My darling Anya has provided copious amounts of food of the Asian persuasion and Dawn says the doughnuts are all jellies."

Sam gave Xander a nod and ignored Al as he approached the table. The new woman, Anya presumably, looked up.

"Who are you and what are you doing in here?" she asked in a sharp tone. "We value your patronage but the store is closed right now."

Sam stopped short and stared at the woman, unsure whether she didn't know Giles or could somehow sense he was not the person who should have been standing there.

The rest of the audience swung their eyes first toward Sam then back to Anya.

"Ahn," Xander said in a patient voice that also carried a hint of subtle warning. "Remember the talk we had about playing funny little tricks on the boss? Sometimes not a very good idea."

"That's not my boss. Giles is my boss and that isn't Giles. Neither is he," Anya insisted, pointing at Al.

"Uh oh, Sam," Al groaned. "I think she can see me."

"Of course I can see you. You're standing right there in front of me. So he's Sam. Who are you? And for that matter, who is Sam?" Anya added.

"Um, Anya," Sam said in as calm a manner as he could muster. "May I speak to you in private for a moment?" He turned sideways and indicated a door toward the back of the shop which he assumed led to a storage area of some kind. "It's really very important," he added when she hesitated.

"All right," she conceded. "But keep in mind that I can both defend myself and scream very loudly. If you're up to something my Xander will come and rescue me and you'll be very, very sorry."

"I... I promise I have only the best intentions," Sam assured her as he followed her to the doorway. Behind him, he heard the others resume their conversation.

"What was that all about?" Buffy asked.

"Some sort of retail-related misunderstanding, maybe," Xander guessed. "All I know is she'd better not be playing Sam the door-to-door encyclopedia salesman with Giles or there's gonna be hell to pay."

A chorus of 'ewww's and 'TMI, Xander!'s were cut off when Sam shut the door to the next room behind him and turned to face the latest complication to his situation.

End Part 4