The next morning Giles looked up as the four teenagers stepped into the library.
"Well?" Buffy asked impatiently, as she sat down. "What's the bad news? What will I have to kill?"
"It is worse than I feared," Giles replied. "The four of you appeared in hundreds of visions last Monday. Most of them resembled Buffy's dream, but some of the visions had extra details. They were all accompanied by the direst of omens."
"How bad could they be?" Willow asked.
Giles leafed through the pile of pages. "Well, there is Drake's Drum. It sounds whenever England is in danger of imminent destruction. Mostly, it responds to major wars, but if the world is destroyed England will also perish. In 1936 it sounded just once, to warn us of Hitler; it sounded twice in 1937, the first time the master tried to open the hellmouth. Sometimes it has stayed silent for decades but now it is sounding steadily, one drum beat every two hours. There are over a hundred comparable incidents in these pages, and there may be many more the watchers do not know about."
"What extra details?" Cordelia asked, looking worried. "Did anyone see anything extra about me?"
"No," Giles replied. Cordelia looked strangely relieved. Xander had thought she'd want more omens, so she could tell herself how important she was.
"But the visions did make it clear that Xander and Willow must also make world-shaking decisions. These photocopies describe the omens specific to each of you," Giles said as he handed them out. "Most of the details are obscure, but it appears that Willow will have to choose between old dreams and new hope while Xander will be forced to choose between two women, each of whom would demand a different sacrifice."
Xander smiled, and looked at Buffy. That prophecy sounded enjoyable, and easy. He would just pick Buffy and all would be well. She was worth any price. Willow began looking through her pages.
"We haven't been able to decipher anything about Cordelia's choice," Giles added, frowning slightly, "but it is clear that if any of you make the wrong decision you will fall into evil and the world will be worse than damned."
Xander couldn't believe that. He knew he wasn't perfect and Cordelia being evil wouldn't surprise anyone but there was no way Willow would ever do anything immoral.
"Don't I get a choice?" Buffy asked, looking peeved.
"Ah, no," Giles replied. "Your role is what it was always destined to be. You are the slayer, scourge of evil. That hasn't changed."
Giles paused significantly. "Almost everything else has. Whatever happened last Monday rewrote destiny, reducing most of the prophecies of millennia to scrap paper. That's why our tarot cards turned to dust. The future has been changed."
"So what?" Cordelia said smiling. "What if this is a better future?"
"It won't be," Giles replied. "Buffy's dream, and the other new omens and prophecies, have shown us the broad shape of the new future; death and endless despair, evil on a scale that makes the Master look petty. The only hope of humanity is Buffy, and you three."
"Us?" Xander said, shocked. That was more responsibility than he wanted, though he had no doubt that he could manage. Willow and Cordelia looked equally shocked.
Giles nodded. "Before last Monday, only Buffy had a destiny. The rest of you weren't meant to get involved. You would all have lived normal lives, completely unaware of all this."
Cordelia's face twitched briefly, in a disbelieving smile. Why? Xander couldn't see how it fitted with Willow's theory. It might just mean the secret society's plan was more intricate than they thought, which was what Willow said everytime he asked questions, but Xander felt that explanation was too complicated.
"But the future changed," Giles continued, "and you three acquired a destiny."
Buffy smiled. "Welcome to the club."
"What changed things?" Willow asked. "Can't Buffy just kill whatever is responsible and put the future back the way it was meant to be, except with us still involved, because I couldn't just forget after I've seen vampires and demon wolves and invisible girls, not that I saw her. Where is Marcie anyway?"
"Shut in my office," Giles replied. "She doesn't need to hear this conversation."
Giles paused briefly. "We don't actually know what is responsible but the board recognises the style. There is something out there which patiently plots to unmake the world. Its schemes span centuries, with contingency plans stacked seven deep. In 1623 it brought the world to the edge of oblivion."
Xander frowned. There was something familiar about that date.
"But it didn't win," Willow interrupted. "'cause the world's still here. What happened that time?"
"It was a pyrrhic victory," Giles replied, "it took us years to heal the worst damage and, even today, the world has not fully recovered."
"Wasn't that when that hellmouth thing in London you said about yesterday happened?" Buffy asked. "Is that what's going to happen here?"
"No," Giles replied. "Opening a hellmouth under London was just one of the contingency plans for the failure of one of its contingency plans, not the main plan. Tricking the council into open magical warfare in the streets was only a contingency plan for the failure of the hellmouth opening plan."
Giles had lost Xander half way through that sentence, but Willow was smiling. She understood what Giles meant; she could explain it to Xander later, if it was important.
"If it's so big, why didn't you already know about it?" Cordelia asked sceptically.
Giles scowled. "I wasn't told until yesterday. The board didn't think I needed to know, and they wanted to ensure I couldn't be tortured into telling the wrong people. Apparently, the board has several such secrets, but they've never found it necessary to tell the actual watcher that the secrets even exist."
Giles sounded slightly bitter about that, understandably. How could the board know what Giles needed to know? They might be good guys, but they seemed completely useless at everything except writing books.
"So what happened last time?" Buffy asked. "What will we be fighting?"
"I don't know," Giles admitted, "but this battle will not be won by strength alone. These three will have to make the right choice." He seemed sure of that.
"But what happened? What is it?" Buffy persisted.
"It has no true name and no man has ever seen it, but the demons called it Omega, the Last, the great devourer and many other such titles. Some think it's connected with the First; it may even be the same entity," Giles replied.
"I don't care who its cousins are. What did it do that was so bad?" Buffy interrupted impatiently. She seemed as eager as Xander to get to the action. Cordelia was too composed to show any emotion but only Willow seemed to be enjoying Giles's lecture.
"It tricked the vampire, Thanatos, into joining the spears," Giles said. "But it won't be able to use the same tactic this time. The Master was a minor member of Thanatos's court, and the only one who escaped. We think he spent the next decade hiding in Russia. He certainly won't repeat Thanatos's mistake."
"Hiding? The big bad vampire ran away?" Xander said disbelievingly. "The Master wants to destroy the world too, right? Isn't this Omega guy on the Master's side?"
Giles smiled grimly. "Omega treated the vampires as mere pawns. The Master just wants to bring the demons back, destroy humanity, and rule the world; petty ambitions."
"Because the world is just a little chunk of rock," Cordelia interrupted sarcastically.
Giles nodded. "Omega operates on a larger scale. It came close to unmaking the cosmos; not just destroying it, but making it never have existed. Since the demons came from this reality, that would have unmade them too."
"So? Dead is dead, and I really don't care what happens to demons," Cordelia said calmly, but there was a faint tinge of worry in her voice. She seemed determined to dismiss what Giles was saying. Why? If her sources had told her this prophecy was false she would already have known about it but she had looked genuinely surprised when Giles had mentioned it.
"The Master can't harm your soul," Giles said. "Omega can destroy it."
Giles seemed to think that was impressive and, since he was an expert on the occult, it probably was, but Xander couldn't see why.
"So I just kill Omega and no more problem?" Buffy persisted.
Giles shook his head. "It's too late for that. Even if we knew what Omega was, and assuming it can be killed, the trap has already been triggered. Omega will have spent centuries creating this time bomb. Last Monday something started it ticking. It can only be defused if we make the right choices and, even then, we can be sure the price will be high."
Giles shrugged. "Anything could have started it, perhaps something as trivial as a drop of blood on an old family heirloom. It's too late to stop it now. All we can do is prepare to weather the coming storm."
"But last week you said if me and Willow don't kiss nothing will happen. We aren't going to kiss." Xander protested. He couldn't imagine why he'd want to kiss Willow anyway, but Buffy's dream had ensured he never would.
"Buffy's dream wasn't an if, it was a when," Giles said firmly. "You will certainly, um, k-kiss Willow, at least metaphorically. It might be referring to a conspiracy, or even a betrayal."
Xander winced when he heard that. He was already conspiring with Willow. Did that mean he had already placed the fate of the world in Cordelia's hands? Worried, Xander looked at Willow, but she just smiled dismissively. She must have thought of a better explanation.
"The details are unclear but this much is plain," Giles continued. "Buffy's dream showed the keystone of Omega's plot. If you weren't going to kiss Omega wouldn't have been able to change the future."
"What did it do last time? If we know that might help. You mentioned spears," Willow asked, changing the subject.
Giles smiled at Willow. "It arranged for Thanatos to obtain two magic spears, Gungnir and Laran's spear."
"We can get magic weapons?" Xander interrupted, imagining himself swinging a big fiery sword around.
"No." Giles replied flatly. "Even on the hellmouth, magical objects are extremely rare and not safe for human use. Those two spears belonged to gods. Laran was the Etruscan god of war and Gungnir belonged to the chief Norse God, Odin."
Xander decided not to ask any more questions. Giles kept answering them, at excessive length. Willow might enjoy that, but he didn't. Buffy was also looking bored, but Cordelia looked to be deep in thought.
"Both of those spears were objects of immense power," Giles said. "Thanatos thought their combined power would let him breach the dimensional barriers and bring the demons back He fastened them togethere, and rejoiced, but he had been tricked." Giles paused, checking his notes. "Both spears were foci of mystical power. Each of them amplified magic in its vicinity."
"Like the hellmouth?" Willow asked. Xander frowned at her. If she kept asking questions Giles would never finish speaking.
Giles nodded. "In a way. The hellmouth only amplifies malign probabilities; demons, black magic, curses, and so forth. The spears amplified everything martial, for good or ill, including each other. That meant-"
Willow gasped, interrupting Giles. "A positive feedback loop. Runaway growth? Or did it saturate?" Once again, Willow had deduced the answer before anyone else had understood the question.
At first Giles seemed slightly confused by Willow's wording but he quickly smiled. "Not the standard terminology, but yes it, um, ran away. At first everything was going the way Thanatos had planned. The dimensional barriers weakened, and thousands of demons slipped through. Many of the demons living today are here because Thanatos joined the spears. But it didn't stop there. As the power of the spears grew reality began to crumble, the world dissolving into chaos. Thanatos tried to stop it, but he couldn't separate the spears. We've only got second-hand reports of what happened next, but it seems that other things came to dance in the chaos; creatures of madness incarnate, vileness beyond all comprehension, and the demons fled that place, terrified. The chaos continued to expand, driven by the ever increasing power of the spears, trebling in size each week, until it seemed nothing could stop it."
"Something did," Willow said. She was leaning towards Giles, caught up in his story.
Giles nodded. "After several failed attempts we finally stopped it, but only by making the ultimate sacrifice. The twelve most senior watchers each gave up their lives to empower the slayer, giving her the strength to walk unharmed through the chaos and destroy the spears. She succeeded, but was herself destroyed in the process; not just killed, but unmade."
Willow started to ask another question but Giles glanced at Buffy, who was clearly bored, and sighed. "Willow, I think that's all you need to know for now. It would take hours to tell you the full story and classes will be starting soon."
Still looking thoughtful, Cordelia said, "Panic much, and all over a few dozen scary dreams. Could this Omega just be bluffing, to panic you? Buffy stops, um, can stop world threatening weirdness every month, right? That's her job. Omega might be just another easy fight for her; with a lot of help from us."
Cordelia sounded unsure of her own words but Xander thought they made sense. "There's a witch out there with a pack of giant wolves," he reminded Giles. "Let's worry about her now. Omega can wait his turn. When he shows up Buffy will kill him."
Giles sighed. "It won't be that easy, but at least you've been warned. Read the prophecies about yourselves and be alert."
Cordelia smiled, apparently relieved she wouldn't have to do anything.
"Got any more thrilling news? Anything I can actually do?" Buffy asked.
"No," Giles replied, reaching into his pocket, "but I do have one gift for all of you — keys, so you can come in here at any time. They should come in useful."
Willow immediately held her hand out, smiling with anticipated pleasure as Giles dropped a library key onto her palm. Xander shrugged and took his key. They weren't quite what he would have chosen, but he wouldn't object to special privileges for the slayer and her gang. After all, they were going to save the world.
That lunchtime Buffy stepped out of the library, looking very attractive in her cheerleader's uniform, but slightly annoyed.
"Giles didn't approve?" Willow said.
The three of them began walking down the corridor towards the gym.
"He totally lost his water," Buffy said. "We haven't seen anything dangerous since Thursday. I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old."
"But what about Omega?" Willow sounded unsure. She worried too much.
"When he shows, we'll deal," Buffy sounded dismissive. "We'll still have time to fight the forces of darkness. I just want to do something normal, something safe."
Xander nodded. "We're right behind you. Let's do things your way."
"I hope we have a choice," Willow said, sounding pessimistic. "Have you looked at those prophecies Giles gave us? They don't look good."
"They look like complete gibberish," Xander had glanced at them but he hadn't been impressed. "I hoped they'd say something I could bet on."
Willow smiled. "You don't know how to bet."
"I've seen prophecies before. They tell you exactly what's going to happen but you have to think like Giles to understand them. I never understood why they couldn't use plain English," Buffy said with feigned calm, then nervously added. "They don't say anything about me, do they?"
Xander smiled. The one prophecy he had looked at had mentioned Buffy, and it was good news.
"Yes," Xander replied. "These Buddhist monks saw my face in a vision, and it spoke to them. It said I was 'the defender of man.' "
Willow nodded. "That's what Alexander means."
"Oh," That was disappointing. Xander had been hoping it meant something special. "Anyway, it said I had a nice laugh, in fancy language, and that I would, um, 'rescue the slayer from beyond the portals of death, twice.', so that's good news. After that it got totally incoherent."
It had also gotten very gloomy, but Xander didn't want to risk depressing Buffy.
Buffy smiled. "That's the kind of prophecy I like, not all doom and gloom."
Willow didn't seem so impressed. "That sounds nice," she began tentatively, "but if you're going to bring Buffy back from the dead, won't she have to die first? And three times too, at least."
"Three?" Buffy looked puzzled, and slightly worried.
"Twice when Xander brings you back, once when you stay dead, and maybe a few other times too," Willow explained.
"Oh, great," Buffy said. "First I'm told I can't have a normal life. Now I find I won't even get a normal death. I don't want to spend years yo-yoing between earth and, um, wherever."
The three of them walked the rest of the way to the gym in silence. Why couldn't that prophecy have been more cheerful?
When they stepped into the gym Xander smiled.
"People scoff at things like school spirit, but look at these girls giving their all like this," he remarked.
All the school's most attractive girls in skimpy costumes could boost anyone's spirit, it had certainly boosted his, and they didn't object to Xander watching. If it hadn't been for the wonderful school spirit he would have had to pay to see a sight like this.
"Ooh! Stretchy." Amber doing the splits was especially inspirational but also distracting. "Where was I?"
Willow smiled. "You were pretending that seeing scantily-clad girls in revealing postures was a spiritual experience."
"Who said I was pretending?" Xander tried to remember what he had meant to do next, something to Buffy, or for her.
"You-" Willow began.
"Oh, hey," Xander looked at Buffy. "Here's a good luck thing for tryouts." Xander fished the bracelet out of his pocket and passed it to her.
Buffy examined the bracelet. "And it says 'good luck' too." She smiled and put it on.
The bracelet hadn't been cheap, but Buffy's smile made it worthwhile. If he thought it would make her smile at him like that all the time he would gladly have bought her a hundred bracelets.
"Amy. Hi," Willow said, spotting her old friend.
Amy shivered slightly, then braced herself and walked towards Willow.
"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader," Willow told Amy, looking mildly surprised. "You've lost a lot of weight."
"OK, listen up," Joy said, starting the tryouts. "Let's begin with Amber Grove. If you're not auditioning, move off the floor."
Willow continued talking but Xander was only half-listening. Amber wasn't as graceful as Buffy, but she was still nice to look at.
"They have cheerleading coaches?" Buffy seemed shocked.
"Oh yeah," Amy replied. "It's safer too. Cordelia wouldn't have had her accident if a coach had been watching."
"What happened to her?" Xander asked. It would be interesting to know what people were saying. "And where is she anyway?"
"She had an accident training. She's been limping all day. She can't get in the squad, so she doesn't want to watch." Amy sounded unconcerned.
Xander blinked, surprised. Amber was still doing her routine, but now something looked wrong. He could see smoke but where was it coming from?
"That girl's on fire!" Willow exclaimed.
Amber dropped her pom-poms as her hands burst into flame, then started screaming.
Buffy froze briefly, clearly shocked, then jumped up onto the stand and pulled down a banner. She quickly ran over to Amber, knocked her to the ground, and wrapped the banner round Amber's hands, snuffing out the flames.
Xander breathed a sigh of relief.
The banner began to smoulder.
"What?" Amy sounded shocked.
The banner crumbled into ash as the flames raced up Amber's arms.
Buffy looked frantically round the room, searching for something else she could use.
Amber's hair began to burn. Xander shuddered and looked away. If only there were something he could do.
But there wasn't. Willow was white with terror, Amy kept repeating, "How?" in strangely excited tones, someone was vomiting noisily, and several people were screaming, but Xander could only stand there helpless while a few yards behind him a young girl died. He coughed as the vile stench of burning hair filled the room, underlain by a sickly sweet scent Xander didn't even want to think about. All he could do was stare at the wall and wait for the baleful light of the flames to die away.
"Nobody's ever got toasted before," Buffy said, pacing round the library.
"I imagine not," Giles replied dryly.
"So, this isn't a vampire problem."
"You said there must be a witch in town," Willow reminded them. "Could she have done it?"
"Possibly," Giles confirmed. "Or it could have been spontaneous human combustion. It is rare and scientifically unexplainable but there have been cases for hundreds of years. If it was spontaneous there's nothing we can do, but if it's a witch Buffy will have to catch her."
"Catch her? She murdered Amber." Xander said. Why not just kill the witch?
"Slayers don't kill humans, except in self-defence," Giles said. "The witch deserves a proper trial. If we can, we'll ship them to the Council in England, and they'll see justice done. Oh, and the witch might be a man."
"How?" Willow asked. "Can't she just magic her way out of captivity? And how will you get her through customs?"
"We'll keep them too drugged to do magic," Giles said. "This isn't the first time the watchers have arrested a witch, Willow. We know how to deal with the problems."
Cordelia sidled into the library. "I heard about the fire. Did Amber actually die? You know rumour."
Buffy nodded. "Nothing left, not even ashes."
Clearly shocked Cordelia looked quizzically at Giles. "Why couldn't Buffy put the fire out? Amber shouldn't have died."
"The magic the witch used must have been too strong for mundane countermeasures to overcome," Giles speculated. "Holy water should have worked though."
"Could something have, um, amplified the spell? Perhaps the witch only wanted to hurt Amber." Cordelia was looking worried.
"Well, there could have been a fortuitous astrological conjunction, or a random fluctuation in the hellmouth energies," Giles said thoughtfully.
Cordelia looked relieved, but Giles continued speaking. "More likely though, the witch actually wanted Amber to die."
Marcie spoke up, startling everyone. "Looking for excuses, Cordelia? I might have known you'd back up a witch. You've got so much in common."
Xander frowned as Cordelia winced. That was a bit much. Cordelia was no saint but she wasn't a murderer either.
"Well, it's no wonder you became invisible," Cordelia replied sharply. "With that attitude people must have been glad to forget you."
Marcie started to reply, but Giles interrupted. "Marcie, you've already spent all morning complaining about Cordelia. She didn't deliberately make you invisible. Could we concentrate on the witch? Really, you shouldn't even be listening to this."
"I'm not going to spend all day cooped up in your office," Marcie sounded annoyed. "Perhaps I can help. At least I care when people die, unlike some people I could name."
Giles started polishing his glasses, clearly frustrated.
Cordelia smiled sweetly. "We must make some allowance for Marcie. All that time utterly alone would drive most people mad. We're lucky she's still mostly sane."
"Remember the witch, people?" Buffy asked. "Burns people to death, has a pack of giant green dogs. Bickering won't stop her."
"Didn't you say Angel said something about her?" Cordelia asked.
Xander smiled. Cordelia must be about to ask a string of leading questions that would point straight at the witch, whose name she probably knew. Giles was bound to realise there was something odd when he heard her do that, which would be good. It would free him from his secrets.
"He said she was wearing her daughter's skin," Buffy said, "and can I just say eeuw."
"She's definitely a woman then," Xander said. That cut the suspects in half, if Angel was telling the truth.
"There are cults that wear the flayed skins of their victims," Giles said, thinking aloud, "but Angel was probably being metaphorical. Somehow this witch has made herself look like her daughter. It could be anything from a simple glamour to a full fledged soul transference. I'll have to research the possibilities, and ways of reversing the process."
"So, we're looking for someone who's changed a lot recently," Cordelia summarised.
That really narrowed the suspect list. Cordelia was making good progress.
"Like you," Marcie accused. Cordelia looked surprised, as though she hadn't expected that comparison.
It was a ridiculous idea though. Cordelia wasn't a nice person but "Why would the witch help us hunt her down? Why did the demon wolf attack Cordelia?"
"She's bluffing, so you won't think she's the witch," Marcie said, looking pleased with her idea.
"No," Giles said firmly. "Cordelia can't be the witch. Magic doesn't work that way."
"What way?" Willow looked puzzled, but also interested.
"I've been reviewing the books on witchcraft since the numian demon wolf appeared," Giles began, gathering his thoughts. "No witch has ever been able to kill people at a great distance without using an elaborate ritual. The witch must either have been looking at Amber when the fire started or have been casting the spell at that moment, but in the second case she would have needed to be in her sacred space, with the full set of ritual implements, which isn't something that could be concealed in the school. Cordelia was in school, but not in the gym, so she couldn't be responsible."
"Huh," Marcie spat. "You can say what you like but Cordelia must be guilty of something."
Xander frowned again. Cordelia was an easy person to hate, even if she had improved recently, but Marcie seemed almost too obsessive about it. He hoped he had never sounded like that.
"Who isn't?" Cordelia said with a dismissive shrug. "But I didn't kill Amber. The witch did. You can't blame me for everything that goes wrong in Sunnydale. I am not a walking hellmouth." Cordelia started to say something else, then bit the words off.
"Why would the witch attack both Amber and Cordelia?" Xander asked, deciding to change the subject. Marcie's attitude was getting annoying. "What do they have in common?"
"Only cheerleading," Cordelia said, then frowned. "Could that be the witch's motive?"
Since it was Cordelia asking the question, Xander knew the answer must be yes.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Giles warned. "This witch is clearly highly skilled. She probably read some of the omens. That could be why she attacked you. She could have seen something that made you look like a threat to her."
"That makes sense," Cordelia admitted reluctantly. It seemed her leading questions technique wasn't working very well on Giles, probably because he was too smart to be led. It was going to be harder than Xander had first thought for him to make Giles suspect Cordelia.
Giles looked at Buffy. "Have you seen any sign of the demon wolves on your patrols?"
Buffy shook her head. "Willow, did you find anything in that database of yours?"
"Nothing witchy," Willow replied. "Some interesting patterns but nothing that looked like human magic."
"So we've got nothing, a big fat nothing," Xander summarised.
"Not quite," Giles said, "but we need more evidence."
"So we just wait for someone else to die?" Xander wanted action.
Giles shook his head. "You should all talk to your classmates and see who has recently changed their behaviour."
That still sounded like nothing. Xander wanted to do something heroic, something that would impress Buffy. He sat back and smiled as he imagined how grateful she would be.
That night, the Bronze was half empty. Many of Amber's friends had stayed home and the band was third rate, but Xander didn't care. It was another chance to see Buffy, and that was all that mattered. Xander looked towards the door, hoping to see Buffy, and saw Willow hurry in.
"Could you be a wolf?" Willow asked nervously, before she had even sat down.
A strange question to ask, which probably meant the hellmouth was involved. That wasn't what Xander wanted to spend his evening talking about. All he wanted to do was chat with Buffy, find out what she liked, maybe dance with her.
Xander threw back his head and quietly howled. Smiling, he asked, "That wolfy enough for you?", deliberately missing the point.
Willow smiled back. "No, it's these prophecies. One of them talks about a wolf in my future, and I'm hoping it'll be you."
"Why?" Xander replied, puzzled. "I like being human, and I want to stay that way."
"The alternatives are worse," Willow paused, then began reciting the prophecy from memory. "Two wolves await her choice; two wolves show her fate. One wolf chases the sun; one wolf flees the moonlight. The jaws that bite, the claws that rend, for her they wait. Which will it be? Brother? Lover? Pray she chooses right."
Xander frowned. That was so cryptic it could mean almost anything, or nothing at all. Still, Willow was a genius. She would be able to understand it.
"You're going to have a pet wolf?" Xander hazarded, fishing for an explanation. If Willow told him what she was worried about he'd be able to stop it happening.
"No. It's saying I'm going to have a wolf for a brother," Willow said, then blushed. "Or a boyfriend, and I really hope that's metaphorical, or the wolf is or both. I won't get the wolf till after I've made my big choice, but which wolf I pick will tell you what I've chosen. It's just that both wolves sound bad. The wolf who flees moonlight is obviously a werewolf."
"Obviously," Xander echoed. Werewolves and moonlight went together. Xander briefly wondered why they would want to avoid the moonlight then stopped. Willow would already have worked that out so he didn't need to waste time thinking about it.
"And I don't want anything to do with werewolves," Willow said. "They're bad."
Xander nodded, unable to imagine his Willow consorting with a creature of the night. "So you'll pick the other wolf. Where's the problem?"
Willow frowned. "The other wolf could be Fenris. He chases the sun but he's a really big monster. He'd make a werewolf look good, but …"
"When a werewolf looks like your best choice you know you've got problems," Xander said, finishing Willow's sentence. Now he understood why Willow looked worried. If he had found out he was going to fall in love with a werewolf he'd have been nervous too.
Willow nodded. "Then I thought of you. It's a stretch but you could be a wolf, metaphorically that is, and Buffy the sun you chase."
That interpretation made perfect sense to Xander but Willow sounded uncertain. It looked like she didn't quite believe her own explanation, probably because there was something wrong with it he wasn't smart enough to spot. Why would she suggest something she didn't believe? Xander looked at Willow, waiting anxiously for a reply, and realised she must be desperate for any explanation that didn't leave a werewolf as her best choice.
"You can call me brother anytime," Xander said, telling Willow what she needed to hear.
Willow looked slightly disappointed but reassured. Xander decided to switch to a more cheerful topic before she could bring up more gloomy prophecies. "Did you see? Buffy was wearing my bracelet. It's pretty much like we're going out."
Willow smiled wanly. "Except without the hugging or the kissing or her knowing about it."
Put that way, it didn't sound too good. Xander sighed. "So I'm just a figure of fun. I should just ask her out, right?"
Willow nodded. "You won't know until you ask."
Willow was right, of course. She almost always was. That was half the reason he liked her. It saved him having to think. "That's why you're so cool," he replied, trying to show his appreciation for Willow's advice. "You're like a guy. You're my guy friend that knows about girl stuff."
"Oh, great." Willow sounded annoyed, though Xander had no idea why. "I'm a guy."
Xander struggled to think of something that would cheer Willow up. Before the harvest he had someone else who helped him do that, but Cordelia had silenced his friend, forever changing the rhythm of his conversations with Willow. Without that person to share the load Xander was finding it difficult to think of something to say. He stared at his drink, hoping for inspiration.
"Cheer up. The music isn't that bad," Buffy said.
Xander looked up and smiled. Now she was here he could be happy. Just sitting next to her was a joy in itself.
"Here," Xander said, patting the seat. "Sit down. I'll get you a drink."
Xander hurried off to the bar, looking forwards to a perfect evening.
Willow frowned. "They're still doing tryouts? After what happened yesterday?"
It was Tuesday lunchtime, and the threesome were eating lunch in the school cafeteria.
Buffy nodded. "They're saying it's what Amber would have wanted, and no one else remembers how bad it was. They're forgetting but I can't. I do want to be a cheerleader but, after seeing her die …" Buffy fell silent.
"They can't cancel tryouts," Xander said, determined to see Buffy in that uniform again. "Schools need cheerleeders, especially this one."
"So you don't just want to watch Buffy doing gymnastics in a short skirt," Marcie said sarcastically, startling everyone at the table.
"Quiet," Buffy mouthed. "They'll hear you."
"They won't," Marcie said. "It's like the invisibility. People ignore me, thanks to Cordelia."
Cordelia looked up when she heard her name, then frowned slightly.
"But we hear you," Willow mouthed silently.
"You didn't expect not to. Giles explained it to me, with diagrams. He wants you all in the library, now."
"Why?" Xander asked quietly. "Can't it wait till I've finished lunch?"
"Giles thinks he might have a cure," Marcie said sceptically. "He's tried this spell before, but now he thinks it might work if he gets more people. You've been volunteered."
Buffy and Willow scrambled to their feet, smiling broadly. Xander sighed and stood up. It was a good thing, but surely Marcie could have waited five more minutes.
"We're going to be doing magic?" Willow said excitedly. "The four of us?"
"Five," Marcie said, then sighed. "Giles says Cordelia will be useful, a first for her."
Cordelia had clearly been listening. She stood up, said something to her clique, and limped off, giving Xander and his friends a meaningful glance as she passed them.
"I'm sure it'll work this time, Marcie," Buffy said as the group began walking towards the library. "I told you Giles could help."
"This won't actually cure Marcie," Giles cautioned, "but it should help. It will let us all see her, and make it easier for me to cure her."
"But we're actually going to do magic?" Willow asked again. "Real magic? This will be fun."
"Don't even think that," Giles immediately snapped. "Magic must never be fun. Casting spells for pure enjoyment is highly dangerous."
Cordelia nodded agreement with Giles's warning. Her sources must have told her the same thing.
"Anyway," Giles continued, "You won't be actively doing anything. I just need to get the numbers right. Five people in the circle will amplify the spell, which should make it powerful enough."
Buffy glanced at the clock. "Let's get started. We don't want to keep Marcie waiting."
Giles nodded. "Have you all got a coin on you?"
Everyone nodded. "Why?" Willow looked curious.
"Part of the spell," Giles replied. "Buffy, you can push these tables against the door. Being interrupted mid-spell could be risky."
Xander looked round the room nervously. He was about to see real magic. He could hardly believe it, even after all the things he'd seen in the previous week. They'd all been nasty but this was different. This was going to be good magic.
Giles was in his office, getting extra supplies, Buffy and Cordelia were sitting on the table, their bare legs swinging eyecatchingly, and Willow was stood beside him, at the top of the stairs.
"You know what that is?" Willow asked rhetorically, looking at the chalk diagram Giles had drawn on the floor.
To Xander it looked like a pentagon inside a five pointed star which was inside a circle. There was writing around the edge of the circle, but ge couldn't even recognise the alphabet, let alone read it.
Willow answered her own question. "He's drawn a pentagram inside a circle, with a Hebrew inscription on the outside. I can't read it, but I recognise the letters. I've heard about this stuff, but I never thought I'd see it."
Giles stepped out of his office, carrying five foot-long candles, a matchbox and a cardboard packet.
"Marcie, are you in the centre of the pentagram?" Giles asked.
"Yes."
"Good," Giles said. "Everyone else, come and get a candle."
"Are you going to light these?" Cordelia asked as she walked over. "I don't want hot wax on my hands."
"It'll get rid of the hairs," Xander said as picked up a candle. They were doing this to help Marcie; Cordelia shouldn't be worried about a little discomfort.
Giles nodded. "It's quite safe. The wax will set before it reaches your hands."
"Is the spell safe? You won't accidentally summon a swarm of giant wasps, or open the hellmouth, will you? Have you done this spell before?" Cordelia seemed concerned.
Giles frowned. "I had to modify the spell a little. Marcie being invisible makes it harder to do magic on her, so I had to make some minor adjustments to strengthen the spell, but it should work."
He pulled a sewing needle out of the packet and tossed it to Marcie.
"Everyone stand in a different point of the pentagram; not at the tip, inside the triangle. It doesn't matter which one, but don't step on the chalk," Giles said, quickly stepping into the pentagram..
Xander waited for Buffy to get into position, then jumped into the point between her and Willow. Cordelia carefully stepped over the chalk, and stood between Giles and Buffy.
"Hold your coins in your right hand," Giles said, "and Marcie will put a drop of her blood on each of them."
"Blood?" Marcie said. "Do I have to?"
"I need to create a mystic connection between you and us five. Your blood, freely given, is the best way to do that. We could use your hair, but then the spell might not be strong enough."
"OK," Marcie conceded, "but why don't they have give blood?"
"Wrong symbolism," Giles said. "The coins will act as a token sacrifice, and create a second link between us and you. Either link on its own might not be enough, but a twofold link should be a strong enough bridge to let the magic work."
Xander heard movement, then Marcie said, "Done." He looked at his coin, but the blood was invisible.
"OK, carefully put the coin down behind you, blood side up, just inside the tip of the pentagram."
When everyone had stood back up, Giles lit his candle, then passed it to Cordelia. "Everyone, light your candle from mine, then pass it on, clockwise, and hold your candle in your right hand."
Once all the candles were lit Giles smiled. "Now I can begin the spell. I'll repeat an Aramaic chant three times. Whatever happens, stay perfectly still. Don't cross the lines until I give permission. Don't say anything either. Just imagine the spell working."
Giles began to chant.
At first, it was all Xander could do to keep from laughing. Everyone looking so ridiculous, just standing there with their right arms stuck out, as if they were about to start some weird dance.
Then the magic started.
Xander's skin prickled. The chalk lines began to glow and, as Giles completed the chant, the coins floated in to the air. He could see them opposite him, glimmering faintly in the afternoon light, hovering just above everyone else's heads.
As Giles began the chant for a second time, his voice full of authority, Xander's skin began to tingle pleasantly. The flame of his candle brightened, then two beams of white light shot out, linking up with the candles Buffy and Willow held.
Xander blinked, dazzled by the lights, then looked again. The five candles had formed a solid ring of light. Inside the ring, the air within the central pentagon began to glow. Against that glow he could just make out a dim silhouette which had to be Marcie.
For the third time, Giles chanted, in a thunderous voice that shook the room.
Now Xander could feel the magic in the air. Sparks were crackling across his skin, across everyone's skin, and then their eyes had begun to glow. Pulses of light spiralled inwards from the ring formed by the candles they held, and with every pulse the figure of Marcie grew clearer. As Giles's voice rose to a deafening crescendo the five coins swooped in, circled Marcie's head once clockwise, then hit her forehead and vanished.
Marcie snapped into full view, looking just as real as anything in that room. There was a final blinding flash of light, then everything went still.
The chalk lines had vanished, along with the candles and the coins, but Marcie had appeared; a girl in ragged clothes, almost as plain looking as Willow, who Xander still couldn't remember ever seeing before. Buffy and Willow rushed to hug her, while Cordelia watched, a faint smile on her face.
"Tidy spell," Xander remarked, struggling not to seem too impressed. Buffy was used to this kind of thing, so it would look better to her if he didn't seem overawed by a little magic, however impressed he actually was. It was the kind of thing Xander had thought only happened in dreams, but if he had been dreaming Marcie would have had fewer clothes.
"This is wonderful," Marcie exclaimed, looking at her hands. "I'm cured. I can see myself again. You can see me. Thank you all." Marcie looked at Cordelia and grimaced. "Even you."
"Ahem," Giles coughed politely. "This isn't a full cure. We can all see Marcie, because we cast the spell, but we will be the only people who can. To everyone else she is still invisible."
Giles looked directly at Marcie. "Finding a full cure will be hard. Being able to see you myself will make the magic easier but, even so, it will probably take weeks to find an effective cure for your condition. At least now, you can behave normally with us five. This should make your life more bearable."
Marcie looked disappointed at first, but then she smiled mischievously and looked at Cordelia. "This could be fun."
"Despite the terrible thing that happened yesterday we still have to pick new cheerleaders," Joy said. "If you make the team you'll find your names posted in the quad after school. We will continue from where we were interrupted yesterday."
Xander stopped listening to Joy when Buffy sat down next to him and Willow. After they'd cast that spell, which had been a truly incredible experience, Buffy had rushed off to get ready for the tryouts, despite Giles's objections.
"Going to show us some real gymnastics? Quadruple back somersaults?" Xander asked, covertly admiring the way the cheerleading uniform enhanced Buffy's incredible figure.
Buffy scowled. "That would be cheating. I'm doing this because it's normal, and I always enjoyed it back at Hemery. I'm not going to ruin the one normal thing in my life by being freaky."
"One?" Willow sounded slightly hurt.
"Apart from my friends. You guys are good and normal," Buffy said hastily. "Amy's looking good."
Xander glanced at the gym floor, where Amy was doing her audition. It looked perfect to him, but Joy was frowning.
"And she only started practising a few weeks ago," Willow said.
"You sure?" Buffy asked.
Willow's reply was interrupted by Marcie's shrill laughter. Xander looked down the bench and sighed. Marcie was still harassing Cordelia. She deserved some harassment, of course, but Marcie was going way over the top. She had started by pulling faces at Cordelia, which was only what Xander would have done, but when Cordelia hadn't reacted she had sat on her knee and yanked Harmony's hair, making it look as though Cordelia were responsible. That was definitely excessive. Verbal sparring could be fun, but physical violence was wrong. If it had been anyone else Xander would have gone and stopped Marcie but the thought of defending Cordelia was just too weird. It wasn't as though her life were in danger.
Buffy winced. "What does Marcie have against Cordelia? She's trying to be helpful."
"Ignoring her till she vanished?" Xander suggested. "You haven't seen Cordelia at her worst, but Marcie is going too far."
Buffy sighed and stood up. "Marcie should be more grateful." She walked down to the opposite end of the bench, where Cordelia was sat with her popular friends.
Xander looked at Willow, then the two friends followed Buffy.
"Who invited the losers down here?" Harmony said, an ugly look on her face.
Xander smiled, not deigning to reply. Harmony tried her best but she just wasn't in Cordelia's league. Swapping insults with Cordelia was an enjoyable challenge, but it was too easy to score off Harmony, not worth the effort.
Buffy casually sat down next to Cordelia, smoothly nudging Marcie away.
"But Cordy's so nice," Buffy said, glaring at Marcie. "We've got so much to be thankful to her for. We came to be sympathetic, since she's still hurting."
"Thanks to you," Willow said, giving Marcie a stern look, before turning to face Harmony, "people's obsession with cheerleading. What's the point?"
"I get the point," Marcie said, looking unhappy. "I was only trying to have a little fun but these people make me so angry." Marcie paused then grudgingly added, "I suppose Cordelia might not be quite as bad as I thought, but she still deserves decades of torment."
"Buffy Summers," Joy called, as Amy walked back to the benches.
Buffy stood up, looked warningly at Marcie, then walked out into the middle of the floor, ready to begin her routine.
Willow waved at Amy and shouted, "Over here."
Amy just shuddered, then went to the far end of the benches, ignoring Willow.
"What's got into her?" Willow muttered.
"And since when has Amy wanted to be a cheerleader?" Cordelia added, in what she clearly meant to be a thoughtful tone.
Xander looked at Willow and smiled. Cordelia was dropping hints again. He had no idea what she was getting at but Willow clearly did.
"She's the wrong shape," Harmony spat. "Our cheerleaders should all be beautiful, like Cordelia."
"You think Cordelia's attractive?" Xander said suggestively.
"No!" Harmony exclaimed without thinking. There were dozens of better replies she could have made, but when it came to words she had all the dexterity of a drunken elephant. Her tongue might be sharp, but not her wits. The way she went on to dig herself deeper in trouble proved that. "Cordelia is not attract-, um, she is but-, well..."
Pale with anger, Harmony abruptly changed tack. "I'm sure Amy can be persuaded to drop out, for the good of the school."
Harmony stalked off towards Amy, mumbling unintelligibly.
Xander looked at Cordelia. "Are you feeeling better?" It couldn't be much fun for her, being forced to sit on the sidelines and watch.
"Amy's mom was a big time cheerleader, way back when," Marcie said thoughtfully. "And this is a change in Amy's personality, like Giles said. Could she be a suspect?"
Xander smiled. That was a bit of a stretch but it fitted with the hints Cordelia had dropped. They could tell Giles that idea later, and see if he bought it. At that moment though, all he wanted to do was watch Buffy's routine. Xander sat down, ignoring the Cordettes, and stared at Buffy, admiring her grace.
Buffy was so beautiful, and friendly too. That was good but Xander wanted more. Buffy had his heart; it was only fair that she give him hers in exchange. She didn't seem interested, but Xander knew he could easily change that. All he had to do was impress her. Saving her life would be best, guaranteeing kisses, but that wasn't something he could do immediately. There had to be something brave he could do to win her heart, but he hadn't thought of it yet.
Marcie shouted, interrupting Xander's reverie. "Xander! Come here."
Xander looked up. Marcie was standing at the far end of the bench, next to Amy. Willow had gone up there too, as had Cordelia and her friends. They were all arguing but, even from his distance, Xander could see something was odd about the body language.
Xander sighed, stood up and walked over to join Willow. He'd rather just sit and watch Buffy but he needed to know what was going on.
"Amy's no worse than Buffy," Cordelia said as Xander approached, smiling at Willow. She briefly smiled back at him then returned to studying the three arguing girls. Xander had suspected there was something odd going on but Willow being interested proved it.
"The psycho weirdo? Hardly a glowing recommendation," Harmony replied.
"Buffy doesn't even train properly," Amy said. "I'm much better than her. I'm as good as my mom ever was."
"Doesn't mean much," Harmony said. "Her old routines are so passé, and Cordelia is so much better than she ever was."
Cordelia winced slightly as Amy's fists clenched.
"Cordelia has many talents," Amy said reluctantly, glancing sideways nervously. "Not like you. A blind frog would be more use than you."
Xander listened as the three girls bickered, too intent on each other to notice him. The scene looked almost normal, but it was subtly off-key. Harmony was just being her normal catty self but the other two girls were definitely acting oddly.
Cordelia was trying to calm the other two girls down, attempting to be diplomatic, though she clearly lacked practice. It might just be part of her new improved personality, but that wouldn't account for the nervous way Cordelia was looking at Amy, or the way Cordelia was twitching every time Harmony insulted Amy. It had to be because Cordelia thought Amy was the witch. Even Cordelia wouldn't want to insult someone who could turn her into a human torch.
Amy was acting the most oddly. Many people were nervous around Cordelia but they didn't normally pale at the sight of her. Amy had though, and her voice was shaky. Amy was definitely scared of Cordelia, but why? If she was the witch she could kill Cordelia with a single spell. Even if she wasn't the witch Amy must know something, there was no other explanation for her behaviour, but if she was the witch … Xander wasn't sure he wanted to know what could scare a witch.
Joy blew her whistle. "OK, Buffy, we've seen enough." Joy glanced at the clock. "We're going to have to skip the rest of the individual auditions, and move straight on to group performance."
Amy smiled and hurried away, clearly glad for the excuse to escape Cordelia.
Xander sat down. Now that little drama was over he could get back to his favourite activity, watching Buffy.
Willow sat down next to him. "So what did you think?"
Xander repressed a sigh and began talking.
After school had finished, Xander watched Willow go into her home, then began walking to his house. It had been a good day. He had done magic, got a C- on his homework and spent an enjoyable half hour watching Buffy audition. True, Amy's strange behaviour had spoilt things slightly, but even that had had a good side. When they had told Giles about Amy he had agreed she was a plausible suspect, and come up with a simple test that would confirm if she was guilty. They wouldn't have a chance to use it until after lunch on Wednesday, but once they had the proof they could swing into action. Giles had been researching body switching spells so he'd just put Amy back in the right body, then Buffy would take care of Amy's mom and that problem would be over.
It was a good plan, but it did have one small flaw. There was nothing for Xander to do. He wanted a chance to impress Buffy with his heroism, but it looked like all he would be doing would be watching her. That was fun, but it wasn't enough. Xander knew he couldn't fight the witch directly, he didn't have Buffy's strength or Giles's magical expertise, but there had to be something he could do, some way he could help stop the witch.
Willow had found something to do. She was investigating Amy's mom online, checking her history for signs of magic, so that Giles would have a better idea what the witch was capable of. Cordelia had her own sources of information, which she would use to make herself look good. Xander didn't mind about Willow, she had always been better than him, but there was no way he would tolerate Cordelia looking better than him at something important.
He didn't have her information sources though. He wasn't a mouthpiece for a secret society. No one ever told him anything. The only way he could find out anything useful about Amy's mom would be by spying on her.
Xander suddenly stopped walking, stunned by his brilliant idea. With a little luck Amy would spend the night ranting non-stop about her plans and powers the way all the comics said was the standard procedure for evil masterminds. Even if Amy's mom hadn't read the manual he should be able to see something useful.
Five minutes later Xander was crouched behind a rose bush in Amy's back garden, looking up at the house.
"Are her neighbours blind?" Xander muttered. Green fog was billowing out of the attic windows, completely hiding the roof. That proved Amy was the witch, or rather that her mother was. Xander looked round the garden, trying to work out how he could get closer to the house without being spotted. He didn't want to do anything dangerous but hiding behind a rose bush wouldn't impress Buffy.
Behind Xander something growled.
Xander turned round slowly, dreading what he might see. One of the demon wolves was standing there, just inches away. It kicked Xander, knocking him flat on his back, then bit his foot. Xander screamed as the teeth pierced his ankle, but the demon ignored him, and began dragging him towards the house. Perhaps this hadn't been such a brilliant idea after all.
"Good boy!" Amy said, "Put him on the sofa."
The demon followed Amy's instruction, dropping Xander head first on the sofa. He quickly sat upright and looked around, wincing as his ankle throbbed with pain. Amy was sat opposite him still wearing her cheerleader's uniform, with just a coffee table between them, her mother was stood behind her holding a first aid kit, and there were two demon wolves behind him.
"Amy," the person who looked like her said, "bandage him up. I don't want blood on my clean carpets."
Amy's mom knelt on the floor and began to bandage Xander's ankle. At least, that was what it looked like, but Xander remembered what Angel had told them.
"Amy?" Xander asked tentatively. Her mother's head nodded slightly. Angel, and Cordelia, had been right. Amy was trapped in her mother's body, bandaging his ankle, while her mother, the witch, sat opposite him.
"Why did you have the first aid kit out?" Xander asked. He didn't really want to know, but the longer he kept the witch talking, the more chance there was that someone would rescue him.
She smiled. "I knew you were coming."
"How?" Xander asked, genuinely curious. If it had been prophesied, or she had used some spell to lure him, his predicament wouldn't be his fault.
She tapped the coffee table. "The cards told me."
Xander looked again at the table. There was a deck of cards there and a single face up card next to it.
"Playing patience?" Xander asked, trying to look relaxed despite the pain.
The witch smiled. "Do you recognise the card?"
Xander leaned over the table, examining the card. It had a hand-drawn picture on it; a man walking along a cliff edge while a dog snapped at his heels. "Let me guess. These are magic cards."
"They are Tarot cards." She pointed at the face up card. "And that is the Fool."
Xander frowned, not liking the implication. "So the cards said a fool was coming, and you thought of me?"
The witch laughed scornfully. "The Fool embodies all the wisdom and folly of life, but draws no distinction between the two. He is a primal archetype, father to the trickster, cousin of chaos. He is the laughter of the cosmos made manifest. He dances on the cliff edge, and the universe follows in his wake. He breaks all the rules. Even the iron chains of prophecy shatter at his touch. He could save us all, if he cared."
She paused, in what Xander considered an unnecessarily dramatic fashion.
Amy pulled the bandage tight, making Xander gasp in pain.
"But you are not the Fool," the witch continued. "Just a joker in the pack, one of millions, mere comic relief."
She smiled, as if at some secret joke, and looked at Xander, clearly waiting for a response.
"Nice speech. Eight out of ten for style, but only two for content," Xander joked, trying to sound unimpressed by the witch's mind games. At least she seemed willing to talk, which would give Buffy plenty of time to rescue him.
Amy finished bandaging Xander's ankle and looked at her mother. "What should I do now?"
"Where are your manners?" the witch asked. "We have a guest in the house. Make him welcome. Serve him coffee and cakes, on my second-best china, then go straight to your room and do my homework."
As Amy scurried into the kitchen Xander stared at the witch amazed. That was the kind of thing normal people said, people like Willow's mom. It didn't sound right coming from someone who burned people alive.
The witch smiled. "I do so hate bad manners. Besides, they were right. It's such fun to watch you sitting there, knowing I could kill you at a whim. It's a lovely sensation, this feeling of power, almost as much fun as cheerleading. I'd recommend you try it, but you'll be dead before you get a chance."
"They?" Xander asked. He didn't care how much the witch enjoyed herself. As long as she kept talking he had a chance.
"My new allies," she said, "the lords of the mist. They told me how to get these cute dogs. Such good value, I just couldn't resist the bargain. Normally they cost an arm and a leg each but I got half a dozen for just one hand."
"You won them at poker?"
"No," the witch said, smiling. "I threw my left hand in to the sea and they came to me, running across the waves to greet their new mummy."
"Your hand?" Xander echoed, shuddering. "But you've still got two." The witch must be talking metaphorically, but the thought of someone cutting their own hand off made him feel uneasy.
The witch chuckled and waved her left hand. "Watch."
As Xander watched, the witch's left hand shimmered and faded away, revealing a jagged stump. Xander gulped and looked away. She really had cut her own hand off, but why? What could have driven her to such extremes?
"I use a simple glamour to make people see the hand, and telekinesis to pick up stuff with it. It's a trivial illusion for a witch of my skills," the witch said, clearly pleased with herself.
"But why? Why did you do it?" Xander asked, bending down to rub his ankle.
"One is the first, and smallest, number," she replied. "Now the last evil comes. Last Monday it touched the world, and the very gods screamed in terror, the cowards. Soon the hellmouth will be ripped open. Then I'll need these lovely dogs to keep the supernatural vermin from my door."
"You've been having bad dreams too," Xander guessed, remembering what Giles had said about the omens.
The witch shuddered. "If you had seen what I saw …" She fell silent, her face pale with remembered terror, then nerved herself to speak. In a quiet voice she added. "It made hell look like a picnic. A weaker mind would have gone nuts, but not me. I don't keep having flashbacks. I'm not scared of the dark. I am still perfectly sane, aren't I?"
Xander thought about telling the truth, then decided to lie. "Yes."
Amy walked back into the room and put two cups and a plate piled high with cake on the coffee table. Xander snatched up a piece of chocolate cake and began eating.
"This is good stuff," he mumbled, forcing the rest of the cake into his mouth. The witch might be completely insane, but at least she knew how to feed him.
"Manners, boy!" she snapped. Xander hurriedly wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then she smiled. "And you are supposed to be the world's only hope? I wouldn't trust you or any of your pathetic friends to rescue a kitten from a tree. The powers that be are idiots clutching at straws. I have a better plan."
"You do?" Xander said, surprised. Giles had seemed to think there was no alternative.
"Yes," she said. "The last is as unstoppable as the tides, but I am a witch. I know how to nudge the cosmic forces my way. I can ride the tiger, and remake the world as I see fit. My allies will lend me the strength I need, for they too fear the last. All I will have to do is kill Cordelia, then sacrifice twenty-seven people every full moon, until the end of time."
The witch shrugged. "It's a pity so many people will have to die. Killing them will be hard but it will be worth it to save the world, right? If I only sacrifice unpopular people nobody will mind. They'll build statues of me in every town."
Xander choked on his cake. That wasn't an acceptable alternative. Saving the world wasn't worth killing anyone.
"Why kill Cordelia? She's nothing special." Giles had said that Xander and Willow were just as special as Cordelia, so why was she being singled out for special treatment?
The witch scowled. "Cordelia is the mother of abomination."
"Who is the father?" Xander asked, smiling.
"You are, and Willow is its midwife."
Xander picked up a third slice of cake. "I really hope you aren't being literal." There was no way he wanted to get close enough to Cordelia for that. It would be as bad as kissing Willow.
Admittedly, Cordelia was much more attractive, but only in a physical sense. She'd need to improve a lot before he could enjoy spending time with her.
"Wait and see." The witch smiled, and sipped her coffee.
Xander smiled. She was too obviously trying to make him nervous. She had to be lying.
"But why didn't you just burn Cordelia?" he asked casually, trying to act as if this was a perfectly normal conversation.
The witch frowned. "The cards say she has seen much of the occult, as much as Buffy."
Since when? Willow thought she had little more than a week's experience. Cordelia herself only claimed to have a month's experience. She might have been told a lot but how much could she have actually seen in so little time?
"She could have any number of arcane defences," the witch explained. "Direct attack would be a foolish strategy. That's why I sent my little dog. I watched through its eyes, and studied your actions."
"Learn anything useful?" Xander asked, hoping she'd say no.
She smiled. "I saw Buffy in action."
"And lost your dog. You're no match for her," Xander said, smiling confidently.
The witch shrugged. "I dug up the skull, and he came back to life. Since then I've been investigating all four of you, trying to find out what makes you special. It's been a frustrating week, but now my problems are over. You will tell me everything I need to know."
"No," Xander said firmly. "I won't say a word."
The witch giggled. "Silly boy. You won't have a choice." She lunged across the table, grabbed Xander by the neck, and yanked him onto the floor. Xander started to struggle, but the demon wolves growled.
"Stay still. This won't hurt."
Xander lay on the floor, wondering what the witch was planning. He didn't dare turn his head, but he could hear her rummaging in a tin.
The witch knelt at his side, a small knife in her hand, and rolled Xander onto his back then ripped his T-shirt off, then smiled appreciatively.
"This might be even more fun than I expected," she said, licking her lips.
The witch forced Xander's legs flat on the floor, then knelt astride him. "Look at me," she commanded.
Xander looked up. The witch leered, then began carving a line in her own forehead with the knife. Strange behaviour, but better her than him. The witch didn't grimace, didn't show any sign of pain. Without ever removing the knife from her forehead she drew a perfect pentagram there, in her own blood.
"Your turn," the witch muttered, then dropped her knife. She carefully traced the lines of the pentagram on her forehead with her fingers, covering them in blood, then bent over, leaning closer, until her hair was tickling Xander's cheeks.
With her ring finger the witch drew a line of blood on Xander's bare chest, from just under his left shoulder to directly under his heart.
Looking directly into his eyes, she chanted, "You are the leaf. I am the tree."
She had to be trying some magic spell, but it wouldn't work. Xander would never do anything that might hurt his friends, not even for a girl as pretty as the witch.
The witch drew a second line on Xander's chest, from the end of the first upwards and to his right, making a v shape. "You are the pebble. I am the mountain."
The pentagram on Amy's forehead began to glow bright red. Xander had never realised how beautiful she was before, almost as beautiful as Buffy. He could sense her magic in the air, making his skin tingle. She was so powerful, but she was evil. Xander would never obey her.
Amy reached up to her forehead and put more blood on her fingers, then drew a third line on Xander's chest, slanting leftwards and crossing the first line. Xander wasn't sure, but it seemed like she was drawing a pentagram round his heart. "You are the raindrop. I am the ocean."
Xander looked up at Amy. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, so beautiful she made even Buffy seem as plain as Willow. Amy was so much better than Xander, so much wiser. She might not be very good, but Xander wished he was on her side. Xander would do almost anything for her, except hurt people, especially not his friends.
Amy tenderly drew a fourth line on Xander's bare skin. "You are nothing. I am your god."
Amy was right. He was worthless, an idiot Willow and Buffy had taken pity on. Amy was perfection, everything he could ever want to be. She was wiser than any man could ever be, a living goddess. Nothing she wanted could ever be wrong, nothing at all. He would do anything she asked, anything at all, but there was nothing this sublime creature could want from him.
Amy drew a final line, completing the pentagram. "Surrender your soul to me."
"Gladly. How may I serve you?" Xander replied, meaning every word.
"First, you will answer all my questions," Xander's goddess announced, running her fingers through Xander's hair.
Xander smiled, filled with joy at his goddess's touch, but in the deepest recesses of his heart his soul screamed in agony.