The Price of the Wish

by Robert2

Cordelia thinks before she wishes, but not deeply enough. She returns to the day Buffy first arrived, confident her foreknowledge will guarantee a perfect life, only to find events slowly spiralling downwards as new enemies stir the darkness.

8. Cordelia's Ghost: Visiting the dead

Cordelia followed Buffy into the funeral home.

"Um, where's Angel gone?" Willow asked as she stepped inside.

"Into the sewers." Cordelia replied.

"Why?" Xander asked, looking suspicious.

"In case the vampires try and sneak the anointed out that way."

Willow nodded. "Smart move."

It was, but that wasn't the made reason why Angel had gone of by himself. He was worried that if Buffy had another chance to watch him fighting she'd realise he was a vampire. Cordelia knew that wouldn't stop Buffy trusting him, but she hadn't been able to convince Angel of that. After a short whispered conversation on their way to the funeral home Angel had decided the most useful thing he could safely do was guard the sewers.

"You let him go down there? By himself?" Buffy said, "He'll get killed. Why didn't he tell us?"

"He didn't want to waste time arguing with us. I think Giles is this way."

Cordelia pointed left. "You first, Buffy."

As they hurried down the corridor Xander smiled. "What I want to know is why a funeral home would have sewer access."

"Everywhere in Sunnydale does, um, probably." Cordelia replied. "An easy way to dump inconvenient bodies. It's all part of that lovely hellmouth ambience."

Willow nodded. "She's right. All the building plans I've looked at have indoor sewer access."

They turned the corner.

"Damn it." Buffy swore, looking at the dead end.

"This is so cool."

Cordelia turned around and groaned. Owen had followed them from the Bronze. Well, she would just have to hope that he'd seen enough of Buffy not to be easily scared off.

"Um, Owen, you can't be here." Buffy said, her voice filled with mingled worry and annoyance.

"Oh, and I suppose you guys are allowed? What are we doing here? Are we going to see a dead body?"

"Possibly several." Buffy replied offhandedly. "Guys, watch him."

Buffy ran back down the corridor, past the main doors, then turned left at the far end.

"Is she mad?" Owen asked, clearly puzzled.

Willow looked thoughtful for a second, then spoke. "No. She just wants to make sure there are no guards so we don't get in trouble."

Owen smiled. "Good thinking."

"Wait." Cordelia cautioned, seeing the building main doors swing open.

"What are you doing here?" Harmony asked, closing the doors behind her. "It's worse than the library. And where's Angel?"

"That's why you followed me? Harmony, Angel is out of your league. Forget him."

Harmony scowled. "No. I have to know, what's happened to you? Ever since Buffy came you've been hanging out with these weird people, in weird places."

"Hey!" Owen shouted. "Buffy's not weird."

Cordelia frowned. This was typical of the way her luck was running. Somehow, despite her Hellmouth denial, Harmony had noticed the subtle flaws in Cordelia's facade of normality.

It would have been bad enough if Harmony had just started gossiping about what she'd noticed, but nothing Cordelia couldn't cope with. Instead, Harmony had stuck her head in the hellmouth's jaws.

Now, Harmony might be killed at any moment, just because Cordelia hadn't been careful enough.

Ignoring Owen, Harmony looked straight at Cordelia. "Cordelia, what have they done to you? Drugs? I only want to help you."

Cordelia laughed derisively. The only person Harmony had ever wanted to help was herself.

"Transparent much." Cordelia sneered. "You're just looking for ammunition. I've told you -"

Buffy ran back around the corner, then stopped and stared at Harmony.

"What's she doing here?"

"She followed Cordy." Xander said, then looked apologetically at Cordelia.

Buffy glared at Cordelia. "This isn't bring-a-friend night. Anyone else brought a surprise guest? Xander? Willow?"

"I didn't invite her." Cordelia protested.

"Is everything okay?" Willow nervously asked in a transparent attempt to change the subject.

"It is." Buffy replied curtly.

"And we'll be leaving?" Xander asked.

"We're not done looking around yet." Owen protested.

"No, he's right." Buffy said. "So let's find a nice, safe, fun room to look around in."

Harmony started to complain but Cordelia grabbed her arm. "You're staying with us."

Being trapped in a room with Harmony and Willow was not Cordelia's idea of fun but she didn't want Harmony wandering off by herself on a night this dangerous.

Ten yards down the corridor Buffy rattled an office door on the left hand wall.

"I tried that," Owen said, "but it's locked."

"No it's not." Buffy said, forcing the door open.

As they all filed into the room Owen said, "Well, I don't think we'll find much in here."

"That's the plan." Buffy replied, glancing around the room.

"That's your plan?" Harmony echoed, clearly confused.

Buffy looked at Owen and laughed nervously. "I have to go now, um, to the bathroom. I have to go to the bathroom. If you hear anything, like a security guard or something, just be really quiet."

Buffy paused, looking at Cordelia, Xander and Willow. "And barricade the door."

As soon as Buffy had gone Xander closed the door and pushed a chair in front of it.

Cordelia grabbed one end of the sofa and began pulling it toward the door.

"What are you guys doing?" Owen asked.

"Just in case." Willow said, picking up a second chair.

"In case what?" Harmony asked. "This is the weirdest date."

Xander grabbed the other end of the sofa. "You're not helping."

Together they put the sofa in front of the door then piled more furniture on top of it.

"Oh, my!" Owen exclaimed.

Cordelia turned to see what he'd found and groaned. She'd never liked the idea of corpses but knowing it might become a vampire made it even less attractive.

Owen stared through the viewing window, his gaze locked on the corpse.

"I've read a lot about death but ... I've never really seen a dead body before."

Harmony glanced at the corpse, then shuddered and hurriedly backed away. "I never want to see one again."

Owen shivered.

"Death," he said. Reflectively. "I've never been so close. It's chilling, being so close. You can almost feel death's cold aura, chilling the room."

"Um," Willow interrupted apologetically. "It's not in your mind. Look at the walls."

Cordelia glanced at the walls then stiffened, her attention caught. She was still warm from her recent exertions, but the walls were speckled with frost, and it was spreading fast.

"This isn't right." Cordelia told herself. She'd never actually seen a vampire rise but Xander had, though he hadn't said when. Unnatural cold was not supposed to be part of the process.

Like mildew the gleam of ice spread across the off-white walls, then mantled the barricade in an armour of ice, sealing them in the room.

"Did someone turn the heating off?" Harmony asked, shivering heavily.

Xander looked at her disbelievingly. "You really are good at denial."

Owen tapped the viewing window. "What is it? Some kind of security system? Odd design. But why hasn't this window frosted up?"

Willow glanced at Owen. "Must be same temperature on both sides.

"We have to get out of here." Xander said. "We need Buffy."

Cordelia nodded. They always needed Buffy.

"She said we should stay here. There are -" Willow paused and looked at Owen. "There might be bad people out there."

Xander looked at the corpse then Harmony. "It's no better in here."

He touched the barricade, then swiftly pulled his hand back and blew on his fingers. "That's cold! Must be way subzero. Anyone got some gloves?"

Owen tapped the viewing window again. "What's happening in there? The light's gone all weird."

The window shimmered, bulged towards Owen, then splintered, a spiderweb of cracks radiating from a point perhaps six inches below Owen's finger.

Willow glanced at Owen and her eyes widened in horror.

"Duck!" Willow screamed, plunging to the ground.

Cordelia immediately copied her. Willow was smart, too smart to be playing games at a time like this. If she wanted them to duck there had to be a very good reason.

Harmony stared incredulously at Cordelia. "What-".

The window exploded.

The glass whistled overhead, hitting the opposite wall in a deafening fusillade, and the light dimmed.

Then the screaming began.

Cordelia looked up.

Her face pale, Harmony brushed her fingers across her back, wincing at every touch, then looked at her hands and screamed.

Xander and Willow both looked fine. Like Cordelia, they'd ducked below the blast. Harmony hadn't been so sensible, but at least she'd been facing away from the window. She might have a few scars on her back but Harmony should be all right.

Then Cordelia looked at Owen. He'd staggered backwards but he was still facing the corpse and he was screaming, a high-pitched heart-wrenching wail that forced Cordelia to cover her ears.

"Owen," Willow said softly, and he turned towards them.

Harmony took one look at his face and fainted.

Owen's face glistened, a myriad glass shards catching the dim light.

Cordelia hurriedly looked away, horrified. She had seen many terrible things in her time but nothing like this. Owen was not some demonic monstrosity, his appearance a reflection of inner evil; he was human. He did not deserve to be ugly, nor had he been, but now he would be. Even the very best plastic surgery would leave him disfigured and completely blind.

It should not have happened, but it had and Cordelia knew it had to be her fault. Not directly, she hadn't planned this, but she knew it hadn't happened in the original history. The new history only existed because of her wish, which made her ultimately responsible for every change in it, good or bad, intentional or accidental.

Still, Cordelia couldn't see how any action of hers could be directly responsible for this tragedy. It had to be more than just bad luck. There had to be something else altering history, for the worse. Perhaps some demon had followed her back from the future, perhaps the board was right about Omega, but either way it would have to be stopped. Cordelia had made her wish so the world would become a better place. She was not going to tolerate anything perverting her intentions. She would just have to find the thing responsible and unleash Buffy on it.

Of course, she needed to deal with the current crisis first.

Owen staggered forward two steps, then fell to his knees.

Willow hesitated briefly, then stepped forward and knelt down beside Owen.

"Don't worry," Willow said. "We'll get you to hospital. Um, we need to get out of here."

Cordelia sighed. Willow's heart was in the right place, but it wouldn't stay there if she didn't learn better priorities.

"The weird stuff isn't over, Willow." Cordelia patiently explained. "There has to be more to this than exploding glass. Getting killed won't help Owen. Staying alive comes first, always."

"But-" Willow began.

"Cordy's right, about the weird stuff. Look at the shadows." Xander said, staring towards the corpse.

The shadows were moving, dark stains sliding through the icy walls.

Cordelia hastily looked around, then groaned. While she'd been concentrating on Willow and Owen the light had faded, leaving the room as dimly lit as the bronze.

There were shadows everywhere now, racing through the floor, darkening the air.

"Something wicked this way comes." Willow quoted, peering warily into the shadows.

Cordelia nodded. There was a feeling in the air, a vague sense of some approaching menace, just like when the hellmouth had opened.

Behind the corpse the shadows pooled, shadow piling upon shadow to swallow all light. The walls, the ceiling, the very floor melted at their touch, as insubstantial as a dream, leaving the corpse at the near edge of an abyss of endless night. A wind blew out of the abyss, carrying the stench of decay, and shapes moved within it, darker than the darkness.

Shocked, Cordelia stepped backwards. That didn't look like Sunnydale out there. Either the world outside had gone downhill really fast or she was looking outside the world through a gateway into some demon dimension but, whatever the explanation, this should not have been happening. There was no way Xander wouldn't have told her about something this dramatic, much as she wished she could believe otherwise

Behind her Cordelia could hear Owen whimpering while Willow mumbled comforting words, but she ignored them. Instead she stared into the darkness, wondering what would happen next. So far she hadn't seen anything really dangerous, not like the night the hellmouth opened, but at any moment an army of demons might swarm into the room and kill her. She could only hope that the ghost would protect her, that it would be strong enough to kill them all, but if she didn't watch she wouldn't know if it won.

In the darkness of the abyss something vast moved, and the lesser shapes parted before it. Carved from solid night, so dark as to make the jet black abyss seem like the palest grey, its shape defied the eye. It was like those trick pictures, both face and vase, but much less attractive. It was an ancient monolith, stained with the blood of a thousand sacrifices; a gigantic skeleton, burning with ebon flame; a great three-headed beast, venom dripping from its jaws; all that and a dozen things more, each horrifying enough to fuel a month of nightmares.

Cordelia stumbled backwards, her knees trembling. She had seen much since she met Buffy, faced terrors that would drive Harmony mad within seconds, but she had never seen anything like that. She had seen a man made of maggots, seen Xander kissing Willow, seen the hellmouth open; but all those remembered scares were as nothing next to the horror in front of her. This was no ordinary demon; this was something new, something worse.

The aura of its power filled the room, whispering in her ear, prying at her soul, plaguing Cordelia with formless terrors.

Unable to look away, Cordelia sank to her knees, overcome by despair. The darkness had come to claim her, and all hope was lost.

Cordelia frowned, trying to focus on just one of the demon's faces, vainly hoping that would reduce her fear. It was a dead tree in a corpse-strewn field; its roots snaking through the rotting flesh to drink deep from the blood soaked soil, its ebon branches clawing at the sky in an endless struggle to pull down the very heavens. The wind swept through its branches, whispering in Cordelia's ear, and a single rotting apple fell from the tree, landing on the corpse's forehead.

The corpse jerked once then lay still as the apple's foul juices soaked into its skin.

The tree leaned forward, bending before the wind, until a single twig touched the dim light on Cordelia's side of the corpse.

The earth trembled.

The tree burst into flame, dazzlingly bright scarlet flame. Squinting against the light, Cordelia caught one last glimpse of the tree, a fast fading shadow scuttling away, then normal light returned to the room as the unnatural cold vanished.

"What was all that about?" Xander asked, his voice shaky.

Cordelia shrugged. If something important had just happened they'd find out soon enough. Right now, they just needed to find Buffy. She turned and looked at the door, then smiled.

It had only been a small tremor, but it had shaken the ice off the walls and toppled the barricade.

"Let's just get out of here." Cordelia said, pulling a chair away from the door.

"About time." Harmony said as she stood up. "This has been a really dull evening."

Exasperated, Cordelia turned to look at Harmony, "Are you really that blind, or just stupid?"

Behind Harmony the corpse rippled.

Her posture radiating contempt, Harmony looked Cordelia straight in the eye. "I am not scared of shadows."

Ignoring Harmony, Cordelia looked at Willow, who was once more bent over Owen. "Get him moving. The vampire's waking up."

"What!" Xander shouted. "How?"

Cordelia sighed, then turned around, wondering what was bothering Xander. He didn't sound scared, so it couldn't be anything much.

He'd opened the office door, and was staring into the corridor, a corridor that seemed to have been completely rebuilt in the last few minutes.

"That explains Buffy." Cordelia said. "She must be lost."

Five minutes ago there had been a blank wall opposite the door, and corridors leading to the left and right, but that wasn't what Cordelia saw now. Instead a single corridor lead away from the office, curving gently to the left.

Harmony smiled. "What's up. Can't you find the way out without your friend?"

"Can you?" Cordelia challenged, and Harmony fell silent.

Willow helped Owen upright, murmuring reassurances.

Behind them, the corpse sat up and stared at Cordelia, its flesh still rippling.

"That's no vampire." Cordelia quietly said, unable to look away from the bizarre spectacle.

Even as she watched its eyes moved, not the eyeballs, but the very sockets, slowly drifting together until they merged, the two eyeballs melting into each other, forming a single giant eye.

"Some kind of demon?" Willow speculated.

Cordelia nodded. Eyghon had done something similar to his hosts, making Ms Calendar look really ugly. This had to be another demon, which had somehow managed to possess the corpse.

"Who cares?" Xander asked. "We've got to run."

"Where?" Harmony snapped.

"Don't run." the demon said, standing up. "You have summoned me, Ytwomj, back from beyond the gates of death. Stay now, and receive your reward."

Harmony turned and glared at the demon. "No one asked you. Go back to sleep."

Ytwomj hesitated, looking uncertainly around the room. "Did you summon me? Where are the three hands of glory, the choir of chanting demons, the skulls of my enemies? Why have you brought me no sacrifices?"

Cordelia shoved Harmony towards the door. "Run."

Harmony glared at Cordelia, then slowly sauntered down the corridor, her seeming nonchalance belied only by the nervous way she rhythmically clenched her fists.

Ytwomj sat down, looking thoughtful. "This isn't right."

Cordelia hesitated. The ghost might protect her from this demon, if it was strong enough, but Giles had warned her she shouldn't rely on it. The only sensible thing to do was to run away, but Cordelia knew the value of her image. Being the first of Buffy's gang to run would look bad. It wouldn't feel too good either, abandoning people to the demon's mercy, especially if they died.

Xander looked nervously at the demon, then at Willow helping Owen, then back at the demon.

"The ceremony was not performed," Ytwomj continued, "yet I have returned. Well, no matter, that just means you are mine to devour. Run, foolish children, I would savour the pleasures of the chase. Run well and I might even permit you the honour of entering my service, if my appetite has been sufficiently sated by the hearts of your friends."

Cordelia smiled, relieved. It was just like a demon to waste time gloating, but Cordelia didn't mind. It just gave her more time to make sure everyone escaped.

"Who said that?" Owen asked, looking around blindly.

"A security guard." Xander replied, then looked at Willow. "Can he run?"

Cordelia frowned. In Owen's current state, blind and pain-wracked, he'd have difficulty outrunning a snail. They couldn't just leave him behind but he'd never be able to keep up.

"Can we carry him?" Cordelia asked, looking around the room for something they could use as a stretcher.

Ytwomj looked at Owen then giggled. "Chasing him will be no sport but torture is always fun. You may watch, if you like, watch and learn your own fate. The extra fear will make your hearts taste even nicer."

Ytwomj smiled, showing a mouth full of fangs.

"If you can't stand the sight of a little torture you can always run and abandon your friend to my pleasures. His dying screams should spur you to greater speed, but no mortal can outrun my hunger."

"We could fight." Xander said, his voice trembling.

"Fight?" Ytwomj laughed. "You think you could fight me?"

The demon lunged forwards, grabbed Xander by the wrist, then stepped backwards, flicked its arm upwards and let go.

Xander screamed as he bounced off the ceiling, then the demon caught him and hurled him into the sofa.

Willow yelped and ran to Xander's side.

"Fight me?" Ytwomj repeated scornfully. "You are not worthy of that honour."

Smiling, Ytwomj stepped forward, put his clawed hand on Owen's shoulder, and pushed him down.

"Are you coming?" Harmony shouted.

Cordelia quickly glanced behind her. Harmony was standing half way down the corridor, impatiently tapping her feet.

As Cordelia looked back into the room Xander shrugged off Willow and stood up, barely wincing at all.

The demon knelt down, bending over Owen's prone body, ripped Owen's shirt open, then with its longest claw drew a line of blood down Owen's chest, from neck to navel.

Owen screamed.

Shuddering, Cordelia hastily looked away.

Ytwomj looked up. "Will you watch or will you run?"

That wasn't a decision Cordelia wanted to make. She wanted to run, but she didn't want to abandon Owen, or watch him be tortured, so what should she do? It wasn't a decision anyone should have to make, but someone had to make it.

Cordelia looked hopefully at Xander. He could make the decision, and live with the consequences. It might trouble his conscience but that was no more than he deserved, not after the way he had betrayed her.

Xander hesitated.

Owen screamed again, louder.

Xander winced, looked uncertainly at Willow and Cordelia, then sighed and nudged Willow towards the door.

"I don't want you to watch." Xander said quietly, his voice trembling. "Run."

Willow grabbed Xander's arm. "Not without you."

The demon sniggered, then plunged its claw into Owen's ear.

"Run." Ytwomj suggested, then chuckled.

They ran, fleeing the sound of Owen's screams.

****

"Stop." Harmony said, three minutes later, then leaned against the wall, looking exhausted. "I think we've lost that demon."

Cordelia nodded. She didn't know what had happened to the building, but it had warped the corridors into a maze. Ytwomj would never be able to find them now, unless he could track by scent.

Xander skidded to a halt. "I think we've lost ourselves. Willow, you know about puzzles, mazes and stuff, how do we get out of here?"

"Um, right turns only, and we need something to mark the walls. Cordelia, have you got some lipstick?"

"Leave a trail?" Harmony said scornfully. "The demon will follow it. Um, I mean whichever of your loser friends is in that costume will."

Willow looked thoughtfully at Harmony. "Not a trail. We mark the corridors we've already tried, but there might not be an exit."

Cordelia passed Willow her lipstick. "Willow knows her stuff. Got your breath back, Harmony?"

When Harmony nodded Cordelia started walking, eager to find the exit before anything else went wrong.

****

At the next junction Cordelia waited while Willow marked the corridor they'd just come out of, then started walking down the right hand corridor.

"Is this your idea of fun now?" Harmony said, walking alongside Cordelia. "Willow might be useful, she can do your homework, but why Xander?"

Cordelia sighed. "We're stuck in a maze with a killer demon. Is this really the right time?"

Harmony smiled. "What? Not leaping to defend your new loser friends? Not surprising. What could you say?"

There were dozens of things Cordelia could say, but not in front of Harmony, not without alienating her permanently. Defending Xander or Willow would damage her social status, but not defending them would make it harder for Cordelia to work with them, harder for her to help them keep the world safe. Keeping everyone happy would be difficult, even for someone with Cordelia's superlative social skills.

Harmony looked at Cordelia, then laughed. "Nothing to say? That's not like you. You really have changed. Going in the library, hanging with losers; it's like you're a different person."

"A better person than you." Cordelia snapped, hoping she could divert Harmony onto a less sensitive subject. "I don't try to insult my friends in public."

Harmony glanced dismissively at Xander and Willow. "They don't count. The only people here who count are me and you, and I'm not sure about you."

"Why did you wait for us then?" Xander asked casually. "You don't have to stay with us."

Harmony scowled at Xander. "If you think I'm going to wander off by myself when there's a demon around you must be even stupider than you look."

Xander smiled. "Demon?"

Harmony hesitated, looking uncertain, then smiled. "It must have been Buffy in that costume. That's why she made that lame excuse to get away from us. She's probably doing kinky stuff with Owen right now. I'm just surprised you didn't stay and watch."

Too furious to speak, Cordelia glared at Harmony. It would have been bad enough if Harmony had actually believed what she just said but that explanation was far too creative to be the result of unconscious denial. Harmony must have realised something supernatural was happening and consciously decided to adopt the ignore-it-and-maybe-it'll-go-away strategy, a decision Cordelia could understand. Harmony must be feeling terribly confused and frightened.

Cordelia might even have been able to sympathise with her if Harmony hadn't chosen such a despicable way to deny the truth. Harmony had to know Owen was being tortured to death, she'd heard his screams, and yet she had still smeared his memory in a vain attempt at denial then gone on to insult Cordelia herself. Cordelia hadn't seen such arrogant contempt for human feelings since her aunt last visited.

Harmony did not flinch beneath Cordelia's glare but just smiled coldly and asked, "What's up? Worried about your secrets getting out?"

Trembling with barely suppressed rage, Xander glared at Harmony. "We should have left her back there. She'd enjoy watching."

"Xander!" Willow protested. "Even Harmony is human, I think."

Cordelia smiled, amused by Willow's little jibe.

"Who said you could speak?" Harmony snapped.

Willow looked nervously at the walls, avoiding Harmony's gaze.

****

Twenty minutes and seven corridors later Harmony still appeared to be going for the gold medal in bitchiness.

Naturally, Cordelia had no trouble defending herself against Harmony's absurd slurs, and Xander was doing almost as well, but Willow seemed close to snapping. She'd spent the last five minutes mumbling under her breath and looking suspiciously at the walls.

Cordelia had to do something before Willow broke down. She might not like Willow, but she had earned the right not to. Harmony didn't even know who Willow was. She had no grievance, no right to hurt Willow's feelings. Nobody did, nobody except Cordelia. Besides, being nice to Willow would look good.

Cordelia gently tapped Willow on the shoulder and in her most reassuring tones quietly said "Don't let Harmony get to you. She's just nervous."

"Harmony?" Willow said, looking quizzically at Cordelia. Either she'd managed to completely forget about Harmony, which would be worrying, or she was an even better actress than Cordelia herself.

Willow smiled. "I'd forgotten about her. Have you noticed the tiles?"

Cordelia quickly looked at the wall, trying to see what might be worrying Willow. The tiles were all large blood-red octagons with a skull in the centre, definitely not part of the funeral home's normal decor, but they didn't look disturbing enough to distract Willow from Harmony.

Cordelia shrugged. "They redecorated when they twisted the corridors up. So?"

"The tiles are all octagonal, but that's impossible. You just can't fit three octagons around a single vertex."

Cordelia didn't see the problem, but if Willow said it was impossible she had to be right. "But what does it mean?"

Willow frowned. "Um, well, I'm not sure, but I don't like it. The tiles are shrinking too."

"When you work out what's going on, tell us." Cordelia said, hoping that the distraction would keep Willow from being upset by Harmony.

"Great." Harmony said. "More corridors. Just what I wanted. Your sense of direction is almost as bad as your taste in clothes."

Cordelia looked up. Xander and Harmony had halted a dozen yards in front of her, at yet another T-junction.

Xander smiled. "Not very observant, are you? Look at the floor."

There was a large red arrow drawn on the floor, pointing from right to left. Cordelia walked slowly forwards, examining the arrow.

Harmony scowled. "Is Buffy stupid or what? Does she want that demon thing to find her?"

Xander looked sharply at Harmony. "The thing that that you think is Buffy in a costume? Tell me, when you speak does it make sense to you?"

"Um, well, that is..." Harmony looked away from Xander, stammering unconvincing explanations.

Willow glanced at the arrow, then frowned. "We don't know it's Buffy. It could be the demon, trying to lure us into a trap."

"Good thinking." Cordelia said, then knelt down to examine the arrow. "Looks like lipstick, and it's not sticky. Don't think it's blood."

Cordelia had seen enough blood spilt in her last year to write her name on every locker, she knew what it looked like, much as she wished otherwise.

Cordelia stood up and, ignoring Willow's poorly concealed suspicious expression, said "Ytwomj would have drawn the arrow in Owen's blood. Buffy did this. I say we follow the arrow."

"Buffy!" Willow shouted, ten minutes later.

Cordelia smiled as she turned the corner. Now that they'd finally found Giles and Buffy her problems would be over for the night. Between them Willow and Giles should be able to think of a faster way out of the building than trying every corridor, and if that demon did find them Buffy would soon kill it.

Buffy had been bent over Giles, but now she straightened up and smiled. "Guys! You found us. Great."

Harmony stopped talking in mid-sentence and looked nervously at Buffy.

Buffy hesitated, looking at the approaching group. "Guys, where's Owen?"

Willow looked uncertainly at Xander. "He's- ,he, um, he was- "

As Willow continued struggling for words, Xander looked glumly at Buffy. "You should sit down."

"It's a long story." Cordelia interrupted, not wanting to explain that disaster.

This wasn't the right time or place. Buffy should find out about Owen later, when she was curled up in a comfortable chair with a tub of ice cream in her lap and her mother standing by with a boxful of tissues, not now, not leaning against the cold walls of a barren corridor while a demon stalked the building.

Besides, if they told Buffy now she might not fight so well. She'd still try to do her best, of course, but no one could do their best when their heart was weeping. No, the only sensible thing to do was to wait until everyone was safely home, then let Giles tell Buffy. If that made it easier for Cordelia to avoid thinking about Owen's death, well, that was a pleasant bonus.

Trying to think of something else to say, Cordelia looked at Giles. He was sitting on the floor, his face pale, his mouth set in a grimace of pain.

"What's up with him?" Cordelia asked, pointing at Giles. It looked like he'd been knocked out again. Perhaps Buffy had already killed the demon.

"Some weird magic trap." Buffy answered. "Never seen anything like it. We were walking along when he suddenly collapsed, just a bit that way. I didn't see anything but it felt like I was being strangled. I realised it had to be a trap so I dragged him back here and he came to. He's been groggy ever since. Where's Owen?"

Willow knelt down besides Giles. "What happened? What should we do? Shouldn't we, um, take your tie off?"

"No." Giles said weakly. "I'm fine."

Giles put one hand on Willow shoulder and pushed himself to his feet, then leaned against the wall, clearly exhausted by the effort.

"Just need a few moments more. Willow, look at the junction."

Cordelia looked. A dozen yards ahead eight corridors met, each at right angles to the next. She couldn't see anything strange, just perfectly normal empty corridors, but she swiftly began to feel dizzy. There was definitely something weird there, but Cordelia had no idea what.

"Seven-hundred and twenty degrees!" Willow exclaimed. "That's the worst I've seen."

"Spatial distortion." Giles said, his voice almost back to normal. "A common side effect of summoning spells, but not on this scale."

Xander frowned. "Can we have that in English?"

Willow smiled. "There are eight corridors here, and all the corners are right angles. That's impossible."

"Nonsense." Harmony sneered. "It's happened. How can it be impossible?"

"Space has gone non-Euclidean." Giles said. "It's been warped."

Willow nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Does it matter?" Cordelia asked. She knew it must, or Giles wouldn't have mentioned it, but sometimes he needed prompting to get to the point.

Buffy nodded. "I don't care about math. Just tell me where Owen is."

"It matters." Giles replied "There are too many angles round each point because extra space has been squeezed into this building, space from which ever unholy realm whatever was summoned came from, an effect that is rarely noticeable and never this strong."

"Yetwonge came from the hell of endless corridors?" Xander said, looking even more confused than normal by Giles's explanation.

"No." Giles said, then hesitated, looking surprised. "Yetwonge? You saw -"

"Ytwomj." Cordelia said, correcting Xander's mispronunciation. If they didn't get the name right Giles might start giving them completely useless information about a different demon. "Or it might have been that shadow thing that did it. That was ..."

Cordelia hesitated, struggling for words strong enough to describe that monstrosity. "Worse, the worst."

Willow nodded, her face paling as she remembered. "It was ... other, vile, dread incarnate."

Xander looked at the floor, his voice trembling. "It felt worse than when Amy's mom did her stuff to me, much worse."

Harmony smiled. "It was just shadows, nothing important. Let's stop wasting time and get out of here."

"We could be trapped in here for days." Giles said. "Time isn't a problem."

"Days!" Harmony exclaimed. "Impossible! This building isn't that big."

"That's our first problem. The summoning squeezed extra space into this building, space which then formed a distorted mirror of the original architecture, but that extra space has made this building bigger on the inside than the outside, much bigger. The exit could be three days walk away, or three weeks."

"Three weeks? And I only brought one Twinky bar." Xander joked, but he still looked troubled.

"That's not the only problem. Fortunately, most of the spatial distortion seems to be concentrated in the walls, or we'd be ripped to shreds, but in the areas where it's strongest, like this junction, it must be leaking into the air. That's what I think knocked me out."

"How?" Willow asked, obviously fascinated. Cordelia couldn't see why. Half of what Giles had just said was unintelligible but one thing was clear. As long as they avoided the warped areas they'd be safe and that was all that mattered right now. Willow should wait to satisfy her curiosity until later, when the emergency was over.

"Imagine what it would be like if your body was bigger on the inside than the outside." Giles said. "You'd look normal to other people but your heart might be two yards from your brain, which would kill you. I think that's what happened to Buffy and me. Fortunately I passed out before the spatial distortion reached lethal levels, and Buffy is more resilient, but had I fallen forwards I would have died."

Harmony looked anxiously at Buffy, then relaxed and yawned ostentatiously. "Get to the point, librarian."

Giles's left eyebrow twitched. "This building is now a maze in a minefield. Running through these corridors will only get us killed. We need to sit and think about our predicament. Would you rather talk for a few hours, or walk for three weeks knowing that at any moment you might be pureed by an unexpected spatial distortion?"

"We'll talk," Buffy said firmly, "about Owen. Where is he?"

Cordelia looked at Xander, trying to think of a way to make him give Buffy the bad news.

Xander looked nervously at Willow, then sighed. "In the room where you left us. There was this demon."

"What happened!" Buffy demanded.

Harmony smiled. "Your friends left Owen alone with some psycho in a rubber mask. They didn't even try to rescue him."

"That demon threw Xander around like a toy," Willow said defensively, "and you were the first to leave."

"A demon?" Buffy gasped. "There was a demon?"

Harmony briefly looked uncertain, then rallied.

"I am a respectable girl," Harmony said, her posture radiating injured dignity. "I don't know how to fight but you're in Buffy's gang. In the last few weeks you've trashed the Bronze, blown up the science lab, and burned down a teacher's house."

Cordelia stiffened. The fire in the giant bug's lair had been a complete accident, and how did Harmony know they'd been involved anyway?

Harmony looked directly at Buffy. "I thought they knew how to fight. Didn't you bother teaching them?"

"Only Buffy can fight demons." Giles said, looking curiously at Harmony. "What can you tell me about Ytwomj?"

"He was fast and strong, with just one eye." Xander said, sticking to a purely physical description.

"At first, he thought we'd summoned him. He said he'd come back from the dead." Willow paused, looking thoughtful. "It must have been that shadow demon. There was already a human corpse in the other room, but the demon dropped a brick on it and the corpse turned into Ytwomj."

Willow stopped and looked tenderly at Buffy. "Ytwomj, um, he ... You might want to sit down."

"Why did you leave Owen behind?" Buffy asked, "Is he hurt?"

He was, but telling Buffy that would only upset her. Instead Cordelia looked at Willow.

"A brick? I saw an apple."

Willow nodded, then. "The tree. I saw that too, briefly, but -"

"Is it still here?" Giles interrupted, sounding tense.

"No. The water scared the black fire away." Xander said, then frowned. "Is it me, or has this been a really weird night?"

Giles smiled, looking relieved. "Even by Sunnydale standards, it's been an unusual night, but I think the worst is over."

"Giles!" Xander scolded. "What did you say that for. It's the ultimate jinx. Now something worse is going to happen."

Harmony scowled back. "I'm stuck in an endless maze with a demon and you freaks. This night can't get any worse."

"Xander is not a freak." Cordelia protested. He was the most normal person in the corridor. Harmony had no right to attack him, or anyone else.

"He's Buffy's friend. He's got to be a freak, just like you are."

Her patience exhausted, Cordelia spun on her heals and smiled at Harmony. The girl had done nothing all night but get in the way and bitch at everyone. Cordelia had been willing to make allowances for Harmony's nerves, but enough was enough. Nobody had ever talked to Cordelia like that, not even her aunt, and she wouldn't tolerate it now.

"A demon, you say. So you don't still think Ytwomj was Buffy in a mask?"

Buffy looked sharply at Harmony. "You thought I was a demon?"

"Why not? You left the room and Ytwomj entered. It's a perfectly natural conclusion."

Cordelia smiled broadly, and moved in for the kill. "Even after you saw what Ytwomj was doing to Owen?"

"Owen?" Buffy echoed. "What happened to him? He's dead, isn't he? Why won't anyone tell me?"

Cordelia winced. She'd been so angry with Harmony she had forgotten Buffy was still listening. Now it wouldn't be possible to put off telling Buffy any longer, so Cordelia would just have to think of a gentle way of breaking the news.

Cordelia turned to face Buffy and quietly said. "I hope so."

Buffy looked shocked but Cordelia pressed on. If she told the story right, Buffy wouldn't get sad, she'd get angry. Cordelia need to be careful Buffy didn't blame her though.

"Owen was being tortured. If Owen is still alive he'll be wishing he was dead."

Buffy gasped.

Willow instantly stepped over to Buffy and hugged her. "I didn't know how to tell you."

Buffy nodded uncomprehendingly, then glared furiously at Harmony. "You thought I could -"

Smiling, Harmony looked at Buffy. "Why not? Everyone knows you're weird."

Willow's eyes widened. "That wasn't a yes. If you really believed that Buffy could do such things you wouldn't say so to her face. You made it up, didn't you?"

Harmony leaned against the wall and started looking at her nails. "What if I did?"

"Then you have forfeited all claims on our sympathy." Giles stated flatly.

Buffy punched the wall. "Cordy, tell your friend that if she doesn't shut up I'll -"

"You'll what?" Harmony asked. "You aren't allowed to hurt people."

Giles smiled menacingly. "Buffy isn't."

Xander looked uneasily at Giles then nodded. "You need us. We don't need you. If you want our help, act like it. If you want to bitch and moan, go and find the demon. Five minutes in your company and he'll kill himself."

"I don't care what you think." Harmony said. "You owe me, all of you. Ever since I, um, since Buffy arrived bad things have been happening to me."

"What things?" Cordelia asked. Nothing unusual had happened to Harmony before now. Nothing unusual should ever have happened to her, making this more proof that something else was meddling with history.

Harmony looked disbelievingly at Cordelia.

"You made me touch a corpse." Harmony began heatedly. "You got me int-"

Harmony stopped midword, looking panicked. "I mean, you made me touch a, um, horse. You got me in trouble, so much trouble. I could have died, but death means nothing to you. You don't care if you die. There'll always be another puppet. You don't care about my suffering, about my pain. Three weeks I've suffered, while you wear my shoes. Buffy should have killed you, but Giles won't talk so you walk. Xander gets the red carpet, but you lock me out. Three weeks, until I found the exit. Three weeks of hell, and then this. It was, it was ..."

Still mumbling bizarre grievances, Harmony stared at the floor, seemingly on the verge of tears.

Cordelia frowned. Harmony might have had a bad night, but that was no excuse for a nervous breakdown, or her earlier intolerable behaviour. Cordelia had had bad nights herself, but no one had ever seen her break down, not in public. Harmony didn't have Cordelia's inner strength, but she should still have been able to cope better than this, assuming it had only been one bad night.

Perhaps it hadn't. Harmony had hardly mentioned tonight's fiasco; she kept going on about three weeks, the same amount of time as Buffy had been in Sunnydale, and Harmony's complaints had absolutely no basis in reality, as far as Cordelia knew. She would have like to believe Harmony was simply deluded, but this was Sunnydale. It was just as likely something weird had been happening to Harmony for weeks without Cordelia noticing a thing.

Ignoring everyone else, Cordelia looked straight at Harmony. Whatever had happened to her, she had clearly suffered, and Harmony was supposed to be her friend. Seeing her like this was making Cordelia feel uncomfortable; she had to do something.

Wearing her most understanding smile, Cordelia advanced on Harmony, her arms outstretched to deliver a reassuring hug. She could punish Harmony's insolence later; right now the girl needed sympathy.

Harmony looked up, then stiffened. "Stay away from me. You've had your fun. Now it's my turn."

Harmony smiled, her posture oozing rabid fury. "You are going to pay. You will pay and pay again, in blood and pain, until justice has been done. You will-"

Harmony paused, then laughed unconvincingly. "Only joking. Where's your sense of humour?"

Xander glared at her. "Where's the joke?"

Harmony sighed. "This place is getting on my nerves. I may have been a little touchy, but it doesn't mean anything. Tomorrow we can both forget it ever happened. Tonight, I think it's best if we just ignore each other, or someone might get hurt."

Willow nodded.

Harmony walked five yards down the corridor, away from the junction, then sat down with her back to Cordelia.

Buffy glared after her. "I'm not going to forget, not after what she said."

Cordelia nodded. It would be interesting talking to Harmony tomorrow; to compare her polite smile with tonight's frenzied ranting.

Giles rubbed his forehead. "Could we concentrate on what's urgent. Cordelia, can you tell me anything else about Ytwomj?"

****

Five minutes later Giles was still asking questions, trying to work out what was going on.

"You're sure he said three?"

Willow nodded. "Is that bad?"

Giles nodded, his face ashen.

"The hand of glory is an instrument of darkest magic. Its greatest power is to open any lock, physical or metaphysical. If the Master had one it would give him the power to escape his mystical prison, or to enter any house he chose, uninvited. If it should have taken three such to summon Ytwomj he must either be extremely powerful, or have been long dead."

"So, who's Glory?" Xander asked, smiling. "How many hands does she have?"

Giles shook his head. "No, the hand of glory is so named because it is made from a murderer's corpse-"

Buffy looked impatiently at Giles.

"In a highly complex procedure you don't need to know how to perform." Giles continued smoothly. "The significant point is that, since it did the summoning without the hands, this shadow creature you saw must be of godlike power."

Cordelia shivered, remembering the sight of the shadow tree. It hadn't looked like any god she'd ever heard of but she couldn't argue with Giles.

"So what?" Buffy asked, "They said it ran away."

"It might come back. We must keep watch for unnatural shadows. If it returns, we will run."

Cordelia frowned. She was sure what Giles was saying was important, but it wasn't exactly urgent.

"That shadow thing's gone. Ytwomj is -"

"Here." Ytwomj said, stepping around the corner, his hands behind his back.

Harmony quickly stood up and retreated behind Buffy.

Giles tilted his head slightly and looked thoughtfully at the demon. "A suspiciously timely entrance."

After a moment's thought Cordelia realised what Giles meant. The demon must have been lurking just out of sight, waiting until it could make a dramatic entry. It was like she'd told Giles. Ytwomj was arrogant, and not just by human standards either.

"Ytwomj." Buffy snapped, her voice radiating cold fury. "Ready to die?"

"Buffy, remember what Cordelia said." Giles said, seemingly unruffled by the demon's presence. "You can use that against him."

Ytwomj smiled. "So this is Buffy? I do believe I have something of yours."

Cordelia could guess what. She quickly looked at Xander, not wanting that to be her last memory of Owen.

"He cursed you with his dying breath."

Buffy gasped.

"Would you care for an eyeball?" Ytwomj asked.

Speechless with rage, Buffy launched herself at Ytwomj, running towards him at eye-blurring speed.

Ytwomj chuckled, then Cordelia heard something break.

Willow paled in sudden horror, her knees trembling.

"That's...." Giles gasped, his shock tinged by fear.

"Don't look." Xander said, his face grimly pale, as he gently turned Willow's face away from Buffy.

Despite her fears, Cordelia could not resist looking. She didn't want to see what had so shocked Willow, but she had to know.

Buffy was just thirty feet away, flat on her back, a handful of shattered bones on her breast. In front of her a trail of blood and gore stretched for perhaps twenty feet, petering out less than ten feet from the corner where Ytwomj still stood.

Realising what must have happened, Cordelia groaned. Ytwomj must have thrown Owen's head at Buffy so hard that it hadn't just knocked her off her feet, it had actually splattered, making him stronger than any vampire Cordelia had ever seen. Buffy should still be able to win the fight, she was a slayer, but it wouldn't be easy.

Buffy sprang to her feet, instinctively moved to wipe the mess from her front, then recoiled in disgust. While Ytwomj watched, clearly amused, Buffy gently peeled the blood-soaked fragments of skull from her top and placed them on the floor, then glared at Ytwomj, quivering with doubled fury.

"You're so going to pay for that." Buffy stated flatly. "You'll wish you'd-"

In mid sentence Buffy leapt towards Ytwomj, presumably hoping to take him by surprise.

Ytwomj sidestepped her kick, grabbing her ankle as it passed by his hip, then yanked hard, pulling Buffy off her feet, leaving her dangling from his outstretched arm, upside-down, her hair brushing the floor. Buffy immediately punched Ytwomj in the groin, making Xander wince, but Ytwomj just started giggling

"You must be a slayer," the demon said, stating the obvious, "almost a worthy opponent."

Buffy grabbed Ytwomj's right knee in both hands then began to twist, dislocating it. Ytwomj smiled, dropped Buffy, then stumbled back around the corner, rubbing his knee. Buffy bounced to her feet and went after him.

Cordelia looked at Giles. "Can she win?"

"Cordy!" Xander protested. "She always wins. She's the slayer, remember, with super strength and everything."

"She can still die." Giles replied. "Ytwomj seems much stronger than her, though maybe less skilled."

Buffy retreated back into view, trading blows with Ytwomj.

Giles watched the fight, frowning intently. "Maybe more skilled. It looks like he's toying with her. He has proven himself strong enough to shatter all Buffy's ribs with just one blow, but he's only giving her gentle taps, barely enough to bruise her."

"Great." Harmony said. "We're trapped between an invincible demon and a, um, a weird angle thing. Cordelia, you got me into this. How will you get us out?"

Cordelia faked a smile. She would pay back Harmony for her slurs later; right now all that mattered was staying alive.

"Harmony, dear, I didn't know you thought so highly of me but I haven't been fighting demons long. Giles is the one you need to ask."

"Well, librarian," Harmony said, her tone imperious. "You know magic. Do something. Make him a frog."

Giles sighed. "I know about magic but I don't have that kind of power."

"But the demon doesn't know that." Willow said. "Can't you bluff him?"

Cordelia smiled, pleased to see Willow had recovered from her shock.

"Bluffing hardly ever works. Most demons are too stupid to be scared off by threats, however convincing."

Cordelia nodded. Darla had believed her bluff but attacked anyway.

"Got a better idea?" Harmony said sharply.

"He doesn't know how he was summoned here." Willow reminded Giles. "You could claim the credit."

Giles hesitated, then nodded. "We don't have time to think of anything better."

Giles straightened his tie, then began calmly walking towards Ytwomj.

"Enough." Giles said curtly. "The slayer is mine, and so are you."

Ytwomj turned his head to look at Giles, fending Buffy off with just one hand.

"I summoned you by force of will alone. You are mine. Obey me in all things or face the wrath of Abrasax."

"No!" Ytwomj screamed. "Not that!"

In one smooth move Ytwomj snatched up Buffy and hurled her fifty feet down the corridor, knocking Giles over, then turned and ran.

Willow smiled. "Giles, that was wonderful. I won't dare keep my library books overdue now, not that I ever do."

Buffy untangled herself from Giles and sprang to her feet. "Where'd the demon go? I'll-"

Buffy paused abruptly, staring at something behind Cordelia. "I don't think it was Giles that frightened him."

Cordelia turned to look, then groaned.

A wall of shimmering light was oozing down two of the opposite corridors.

"What is it?" Willow quietly asked, backing away from the advancing light. "Good or bad? It scared Ytwomj but does that mean it's good or just that its more powerful than him?"

Giles stared blankly at the light then sighed. "Willow, I haven't the foggiest."

Xander looked at Cordelia. "Now, that really was frightening."

****

"Are you sure this is safe?" Harmony said, scowling at Giles. "Couldn't you think of a better plan?"

"You've already asked that." Buffy said sharply, glaring at Harmony. "Shut up and let Giles think."

Cordelia pulled Harmony away before she could provoke Buffy further. "You can see how slow it is. We'll have plenty of time if we need to run."

Personally, Cordelia would rather have run, but she wasn't going to let anyone see her agreeing with Harmony, not after the things she'd said. Still, she was sure Giles knew what he was doing and what he'd said about getting stuck in a dead end made sense. If he thought they needed a better idea what the weird light was he had to be right, didn't he?

Giles walked towards the light, showing no signs of nerves.

Cordelia took another look at the advancing light, then inched backwards. If she did have to run, which she was sure she wouldn't, the further she started from that weird light the better.

Two feet from the light, Giles stopped and looked thoughtfully at it, then pulled something out of his pocket. Cordelia couldn't see what it was, not with Giles's body in the way, but he seemed to be swinging it around and chanting.

Xander looked at Willow, who was staring anxiously at Giles, then smiled at Cordelia. "Bet you're wishing we'd stayed in the Bronze."

Cordelia smiled back, glad for the distraction. "And had to spend the night with Harmony?"

Willow smiled as Buffy looked at Harmony then said "Tough choice."

Giles turned around, clutching his anti-ghost amulet, and Cordelia suppressed a sigh of relief. Giles seemed concerned, but not actually frightened, so the light couldn't be anything too dangerous.

"Have you all got your amulets?" Giles asked, walking back towards them.

Everyone nodded, except Harmony.

"That tacky thing you gave Cordelia?" Harmony asked. "Why would I want one?"

"To keep soul and body together." Giles said.

He looked briefly thoughtful, then bent down and pulled some holy water out of his weapons bag.

"This should work for long enough. When you start hearing voices try to ignore them." Giles said, dipping his finger into the water. "Hold still."

Using the holy water, Giles quickly drew a six-pointed star on Harmony's forehead.

Willow looked at Giles. "What is it? Another ghost? That'd make sense because-"

"Not one ghost." Giles said, cutting Willow off mid-babble. "A myriad. This is a soulstorm."

"A what?" Xander asked, pulling his amulet out of his pocket.

"One of the hazards of necromancy." Giles explained. "Sometimes, when the spells go badly wrong, thousands of human souls can be pulled back into this world. Fortunately, soulstorms are both rare and short-lived."

"But why did Ytwomj run away? He can't be scared of ghosts?" Willow asked, looking nervously at the soulstorm.

"If the souls are in suitable bodies when the storm ends, they can stay in this world. Ytwomj's body is definitely suitable. The ghosts will attempt to possess him, and everything else within range."

"But we've got protection, right?" Willow said, fingering her amulet. "But-"

Cordelia nodded, then swiftly interrupted. She still had plans to take revenge on Xander, when the time was right, but they wouldn't work if she let herself be sidelined so she had to seize every opportunity to make herself look good, though not suspiciously good.

"There are other bodies in the building." Cordelia said.

Buffy nodded. "And Owen."

"Owen's safe." Giles said quickly. "He was decapitated, which prevents possession. You won't have to kill his corpse."

"But the rest of them will be rising." Cordelia concluded. "We'll be safer inside the soulstorm."

Outside the soulstorm there were walking corpses, the order of Aurelius, and Ytwomj. Inside the soulstorm, everything they met would be running away. It might not be safe, but by hellmouth standards it was safe enough. Besides, they didn't have any choice. The soulstorm was only a foot behind Giles now, and getting closer.

"Actually, since all the souls were human-"

Cordelia blinked, briefly dazzled, as Giles's amulet burst into brilliant golden light.

Willow just watched, clearly fascinated, as the soulstorm oozed around Giles, but Xander and Harmony both took a quick step backwards.

Cordelia looked carefully at Giles. The soulstorm hadn't actually touched him, it had just flowed around the edges of his amulet's light, and he still looked calm, so it had to be safe.

Cordelia shrugged then, holding her amulet high, stepped into the soulstorm, barely trembling at all.

The moment before she crossed the soulstorm's edge her amulet began to glow with a steady golden light, forcing the ghosts aside., leaving her inside a ten-foot wide bubble of golden light.

Giles looked at her. "You may have been more right than I thought. Look at the ghosts."

There were thousands of them, hovering just outside the golden light, staring hungrily at Cordelia, but not one of them looked human.

"What about them?" Cordelia asked, wondering why Giles couldn't cut straight to the point.

Two more amulets burst into light as the soulstorm washed over Xander and Willow.

"Wow!" Willow gasped, watching the ghosts swirl around her. "It's beautiful, all those colours, like a swarm of butterflies."

Buffy stepped into the soulstorm, pulling Harmony behind her.

Harmony winced as the golden light of Buffy's amulet hit her skin, then scowled. "You think this is safe?"

"Safe from demons." Cordelia said. "Ytwomj won't come in here."

"The amulets should protect us from the ghosts," Giles added, "and you have some protection too."

Cordelia nodded. The star Giles had drawn on Harmony's forehead was glowing, a dim blue light barely visible in the golden aura of the amulets, but enough to show it was working.

"We're just going to sit here and wait for the bad guys to go away?" Xander asked impatiently.

"No," Giles said firmly, "but charging blindly round the corridors won't get us anywhere."

"What about magic?" Willow asked. "Can't you just zap us out?"

Cordelia smiled, knowing what Giles's reply would be. Willow had been fascinated by the thought of magic long before she started doing it though Cordelia couldn't see why. In her experience, magic always caused more problems than it solved.

"I don't have that kind of power and, even if I did, we're inside a spatial anomaly. Teleport from here and you would be smeared across several continents."

Giles looked at Willow, who was looking understandably depressed, and softened his tone. "That is the right approach though. The most important thing is to get out of here. After that we can do something about Ytwomj and the soulstorm but we can't walk out of here, so we have to think outside the box."

Xander look puzzled. "You mean go through the ceiling?"

Cordelia smiled, pleased to see Xander could still joke. At least, she hoped he was only joking.

Willow looked briefly amused, then thoughtful. "We haven't seen the roof, and gravity isn't weird. Could that work?"

Looking surprised Giles nodded. "The spatial distortion does seem to be vertically stratified and there is ample precedent for it to be confined to the interior of the affected building. None of those cases were ..."

Cordelia stopped listening. Giles was talking for himself now, just thinking aloud, but the details didn't matter. Xander's idea might actually work. Explanations could wait.

Buffy looked at Willow and rhetorically asked, "Do you understand that?"

Willow hesitated, then nodded. "We haven't seen any bits of sewer or roof caught up in this weird angle stuff so they might be unaffected. Gravity hasn't done anything weird so that means the roof is probably still above us not underneath."

"And how are we going to get through the ceiling?" Harmony asked, her tone scathing. "I didn't bring a pickaxe with me. I thought I was going to have a normal night."

Xander smiled. "Buffy can just punch a hole in the ceiling."

"I'm not that strong!" Buffy protested.

Giles smiled "You'll need at least half an hour."

"I can help."

"Let me."

"No, let me."

More ghosts joined the chorus, all of them promising to help, offering to do anything. It was a tempting sight, an army of ghosts begging her for orders, but Cordelia didn't believe them for a moment. Things were never that easy.

One ghost, brighter than the rest, forced its way to the front of the crowd and looked directly at Cordelia.

"Please, do me just one favour and I shall serve you for all eternity."

"No!" Giles cried. "He wants your body."

"I know." Cordelia said, "I can remember yesterday."

Giles had already told them all about that loophole, at great length. If Cordelia gave a ghost permission to possess her the amulet would be powerless to stop it, and ghosts had a very flexible interpretation of permission. Knowing she was completely safe in the aura of the amulet Cordelia looked at the ghost, a three-horned monstrosity with needle sharp teeth.

"I wouldn't date you if you were alive. Go away."

The ghost roared then sank its claws into its neighbours, who started to struggle.

Giles watched, clearly fascinated. The three-horned ghost was getting brighter, but its victims were fading away.

"I've read accounts of this, " Giles said, "but I-"

Giles hesitated. "Cordelia, you shouldn't have teased the ghost."

"Why not? We've got the amulets."

"They don't provide complete protection."

Its original victims reduced to sparks, the three-horned ghost reached out again and began sucking the light from something that appeared to be half-cat and half-octopus. The other ghosts backed away, leaving a ring of empty air around the three-horned ghost.

"I know." Cordelia reminded Giles. "But I didn't invite it in."

"Not that." Giles said, rummaging in his weapons bag. "The amulets are strong, but they have limits. A strong enough ghost could brush them aside like tissue paper."

Xander looked nervously around. ""And you didn't mention this because?"

"There shouldn't be ghosts that strong, not even in a soulstorm. It's against the oldest rules."

"So," Harmony demanded, "what's the problem?"

Giles pulled a knife out of his bag. "Demon ghosts break the very same rules."

Cordelia looked at the ghost and swallowed nervously. That was most definitely a demon ghost.

"On the positive side," Giles continued, "that does mean we don't have to obey the rules either. It's safe to attack these ghosts with the amulets."

Cordelia grimaced. So it was only safe to hurt ghosts that were too strong to be hurt. That was just typical.

Its third donor extinguished, the ghost pointed at Cordelia. "Living or dead, you shall be mine."

Cordelia looked at Giles. "Do something."

"I am." Giles said sharply. "Anyone got a mirror?"

Cordelia quickly tossed him her makeup mirror.

The ghost hesitated, then stepped inside the amulets' glow.

From each of the amulets a beam of golden light lanced out, striking the ghost.

Under the impact of that pure light the ghost began to fade but it still struggled on, slowly moving towards Cordelia.

Giles cut his right ring finger with the knife

Buffy quickly wrapped her fist around her amulet, then punched the ghost.

The ghost screamed as the amulet passed through it, then turned to face Buffy.

Holding Cordelia's mirror in his left hand, Giles began writing on his forehead, in his own blood.

"Osiris can not save you," the ghost said. "He has no power here."

That was obviously a lie. The amulets weren't working very well, but they still had enough power to make the ghost scream.

Giles drew a second letter on his forehead, in an alphabet Cordelia didn't recognise., then started chanting in a strange language.

Cordelia hesitated then decided to attack the ghost. It wasn't as though she had anything to lose, and it would look good.

The ghost plunged one hand into Buffy's head, then groped inside her chest with the other.

Buffy whimpered once, then clenched her jaw and pushed her amulet into the ghost's head.

Giles drew a third letter on his forehead.

Cordelia gripped her amulet tightly and pushed it into the ghost. Beside her, Willow and Xander did the same.

The ghost screamed, then twisted its hand in Buffy's head.

Buffy shuddered as her face began to bleed, blood oozing from every pore.

Cordelia looked impatiently at Giles. "Hurry up. Buffy hasn't got long.

As Giles drew the fourth letter, all four began to glow.

The ghost smiled; its light strengthening as it sucked Buffy dry. "You're too late."

"Stop!" Giles shouted, pointing at the ghost.

The ghost looked at Giles.

"Go now!" Giles commanded, "Or face the final judge."

The ghost pulled away from Buffy and reared up. "I fear nothing."

Breathing heavily, Buffy wiped the blood from her face.

Giles smiled. "Yod. Het. Vov. Het."

The instant Giles spoke the fourth word his head vanished in a ball of white fire.

Cordelia blinked, surprised.

A stream of white flames ran down Giles's outstretched arm.

Cordelia stepped sideways, out of the line of fire, dragging Xander with her.

Buffy grabbed Willow, who was watching Giles with wide-eyed fascination, and hustled her to the far wall.

A torrent of white flame blasted out of Giles's hand, racing down the corridor.

The three-horned ghost didn't even have time to struggle before it was ripped apart by the white fire. One moment it loomed tall, swollen with stolen power, the next there were only a few scattered wisps of light, swiftly consumed in the flames.

The other ghosts turned to flee, but the torrent swept on, overwhelming them all.

Harmony smiled. "Someone point him at the ceiling."

Cordelia did not move. Harmony's suggestion might work, but she didn't want to get too close to those flames.

The ghosts behind Giles retreated, showing a surprising amount of common sense for demons.

Buffy gingerly reached out and nudged Giles's left elbow, the one that wasn't on fire.

The flames vanished.

Giles groaned once, then collapsed.

He still looked all right, his skin completely unscarred, but his face was haggard.

"Why did you stop?" Harmony demanded, shaking his shoulder.

"Harmony!" Buffy snapped, pulling her away.

Willow knelt down by Giles, reached out to touch him, then hesitated. "Shouldn't we loosen his tie?"

"I'm fine." Giles said, opening his eyes, but his voice was weak.

"What happened?" Willow asked. "You looked wonderful."

Giles adjusted his glasses. "I saw myself."

"Cryptic much?" Harmony said scornfully. "If you must waste time with explanations, talk sense."

Giles looked nervously at the floor. "I saw myself as I really am, shorn of all self delusion. I saw all my many failures, all my past sins. If you knew how much blood was on my hands..."

Cordelia shuddered, imagining how it would feel if she saw herself that clearly. She'd never hurt anyone, unless they'd deserved it, but she knew she wasn't perfect. There had been mistakes in her past, minor errors of judgement best forgotten. Having them dragged up by some spell would not be pleasant.

Giles fell briefly silent, then looked straight at Harmony. "Pray you never see yourself so clearly."

"It wouldn't bother me." Harmony replied, but she didn't sound convincing.

Xander smiled. "How bad can it be? You're a librarian. So you misplaced a few books, it's no biggie. We don't mind."

Cordelia knew better. Giles had been a real hellraiser once, literally. He certainly had a lot to regret, but he'd more than made up for it since.

Buffy and Willow nodded, then started trying to reassure Giles, but Cordelia knew they didn't stand a chance, not when they didn't know what the problem really was. She would have to reassure him herself, letting him know she wasn't bothered by his Ripper days without letting him know she knew about them.

"We don't care what you did when you were young." Cordelia said. "Not even if you turrned all your teachers into rats or seduced girls with black magic. It doesn't matter who you were. All that matters is who you are now."

Seeing that Giles still looked doubtful, Cordelia decided to divert his attention with a quick question.

"Why the trip down memory lane anyway? Wasn't the spell supposed to hurt the ghosts, not you?"

Giles sighed. "I invoked one of the Powers That Be, by name, but I am not worthy to channel, um, the triune Power. That is why I suffered for my hubris."

"Um," Willow said, looking at something behind Cordelia. "Do you think you could do it again?"

Cordelia turned and looked behind her.

The ghosts were creeping back.

Giles went pale. "Maybe, once or twice, but no more."

"Then get us out of this soulstorm. We should have stayed outside it." Harmony said.

"With all the topological distortions in this building it's likely that the soul storm had already surrounded us before we saw it. The ceiling is our best option."

"It's built to resist earthquakes." Buffy protested.

"It's not built to resist spatial distortion." Giles replied. "It should have been weakened."

He pulled a small axe out of his weapons bag, then stood up and passed it to Buffy. "Stand on Harmony's shoulders and you should be able to break through within an hour."

"But what about the ghosts?" Willow asked.

"The amulets will deter most of them, and it should be a while before any of them gather the strength and courage to risk facing me."

****

Cordelia suppressed a cough as the dust billowed down around her.

"Keep still." Buffy snapped.

"Well, excuse me." Harmony said flatly. "I'm not a freak. I can't breathe dust."

Cordelia frowned. Buffy had a foot on her shoulder too, but was she complaining? No, she knew better. Any disturbance and Buffy might loose her balance. Cordelia really didn't want that, not with Buffy carrying a sharp axe.

Giles sighed. "It won't be much longer. We just need to make the hole a little bigger."

Cordelia relaxed slightly. She'd been beginning to wonder if she'd ever get out of the building.

"We haven't got much longer." Harmony protested.

Xander looked at Willow, who was staring nervously at the ghosts, then forced a smile. "Don't worry. We've got Giles."

Willow did not look convinced, and with good reason. Giles had already cast his special anti-ghost spell twice; he might not survive a third attempt, not when the second casting had left him catatonic for ten minutes.

"Great," Harmony said. "Now I feel a lot better. If Giles is so great, why are we still here?"

Cordelia smiled, spotting an opening.

"Without Giles, we wouldn't still be here," she said. "We'd be dead."

A chunk of wood fell from the ceiling, followed by a shower of plaster.

Buffy jumped down, then turned and looked at Willow. "Think you can fit through there?"

Harmony looked up and smiled. "I can. I don't know about you guys."

"How are we getting up?" Willow asked.

"Buffy should go first." Giles said. "She can jump up, then pull the rest of us after her."

"One other question." Harmony said, smiling. "How are we getting off the roof?"

****

Two minutes later Buffy reached down through the hole, grabbed Cordelia and pulled her onto the roof.

Cordelia rubbed her shoulder, looked around, then smiled. It seemed most of the ghosts were too stupid to go through the ceiling, which wasn't surprising for ex-demons. There were only a few dozen visible, oozing out of the roof then hurrying away.

The roof was dimly lit by the moonlight, but Cordelia could just make out Harmony and Willow.

Ignoring Harmony, Cordelia walked over to where Willow was standing, looking out over the town.

"How will we get down?" Cordelia asked, smiling gently.

She might not like Willow but she needed her friendship, for now.

Willow glanced at Cordelia, clearly worried. "We've got bigger problems. Look down there."

Cordelia looked down at the town, trying to see what was bothering Willow, and frowned.

"Mass arson?" Cordelia said. "Great. Another demon to look for."

She could see at least twelve fires, just looking straight ahead, and with her recent luck there would be more fires on the other sides of the building. This was yet another thing that shouldn't have happened, more proof that something would need to be done. It might not be a big thing, not compared with the soulstorm, but it was a change she hadn't authorised and that made it completely unacceptable.

"I meant look straight down." Willow said. "I think those are zombies."

"Zombies?" Xander said, coming up behind Cordelia. "Where?"

Cordelia carefully knelt down at the edge of the roof and looked straight down.

The walls of the building were glowing, probably because of the soulstorm inside, and by that light Cordelia could see human shapes walking towards the building, and demons running away from it. She couldn't be completely certain, but the human shapes certainly looked a lot like the zombies Cordelia had seen before, and there was a faint scent of decay drifting up from them.

"Buffy can kill them all." Xander said.

"Not if she wants any sleep." Cordelia noted.

"Hey!" Buffy shouted. "Someone, come and hold my legs while I get Giles."

Xander smiled, and hurried to obey.

Below Cordelia a zombie touched the building wall, then jerked as if electrocuted. Its eyes flashed a sickly green, then it stepped away from the wall. Its body shimmered slightly, then changed, growing horns and tentacles. The new demon turned and hurried away from the building.

"That's our problem." Willow said. "Something must be calling zombies here for the demon ghosts to possess."

Cordelia shuddered, wondering how many demons had escaped already. "We have to tell Giles."

She turned around and walked back towards Buffy, followed by Willow.

Xander was holding Buffy by the ankles while she dangled inside the hole.

"We can just jump off the roof." Willow said, answering Cordelia's earlier question

Cordelia looked sceptically at Willow. "Won't it hurt?"

"Buffy can catch us. The roofs only about thirty feet high, which means we'd normally hit the ground at around thirty miles an hour but Buffy can roll with the impact, so thirty feet at one gee will be countered by, say, ten gees over three or so feet. We shouldn't break any bones."

"That's reassuring." Cordelia said, watching Giles climb up Buffy. "We didn't do that."

Willow smiled. "We had someone to give us a leg up."

Giles clambered onto the roof then turned around to help pull Buffy out of the hole.

Buffy brushed herself down then smiled. "Now we've just got to get off the roof."

"Um, no." Willow said, looking apologetic, then began to explain the zombie problem.

As Giles listened he began to look worried.

Xander looked suspiciously at the roof under his feet. "Why don't they all come through the ceiling?"

"Magical effects, such as the soulstorm, have a strong tendency to conform to the boundaries created by human structures." Giles explained. "The reasons why are rather complex but it means that, since the ghosts have to stay inside the soulstorm to stay in our world, most of them will be trapped inside the building unless they can get themselves embodied. Only the strongest will be able to ride the fringes of the storm out where we are. However, even the strongest shouldn't be able to summon zombies for themselves to possess. It could be because they were demons but I'm afraid that it may be the result of the same act of necromancy as raised Ytwomj and created the soulstorm, an act most likely performed by the shadow entity you saw. The most worrying, though, is that the spell appears to have been cast from outside our reality."

Giles paused to adjust his glasses. "I really need to consult my books, and the board's."

"I only asked one question." Xander said, smiling. "You heard, just one question."

Buffy smiled. "Just tell us what we need to do. Can you stop the soulstorm?"

"No." Giles said. "Not without more research. Normally they stop at sunrise, by themselves, but this one may be different."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Buffy persisted. "This town doesn't need more demons."

Giles hesitated. "The lesser seal of the board should work. It invokes the same Power as I did to channel the holy fire. No evil short of a god should be able to pass that seal."

"Okay." Xander said slowly. "This would be the power that you said could drive you mad if you used it again?"

"This is more like a cross." Giles said. "I don't channel the Power directly. It's the same seal as I used to protect the library earlier."

"Those were stones." Buffy objected.

"Stones with this seal already on them. Drawing the seal is not entirely safe. Eventually the Power will require me to pay, but as long as I draw the seal with appropriate reverence for good purpose the price will be manageable. If I didn't, if we just scrawled it over our doorways, the price would be our souls, but I'm confident drawing it now will be acceptable."

"You didn't say they were that dangerous when I was holding them." Buffy complained.

"Those weren't, not to us. It is the board member who created them who will pay the price for their use, and for any abuse."

"Just get on with it." Cordelia said. If she let Giles keep explaining they might still be on this roof next week.

"I just need to find the centre of the roof." Giles said, pulling the holy water out of his bag.

Giles looked around, trying to find the right spot, then sprinkled the holy water in a six foot circle.

Cordelia carefully memorised the diagram as Giles drew it; two crossed keys inside a six pointed star, with a circle just touching the points of the star, and a letter in each quadrant of the cross, the four letters spelling the same word as Giles had earlier written on his forehead. She didn't want to have to use it, not if it was as dangerous as Giles said, but if it worked like a cross, without needing magical talent, it might be useful to remember as a last resort.

As soon as Giles completed the last line, the diagram began to glow a brilliant white.

"They didn't do that this afternoon." Buffy said quietly.

A stream of white flames flowed out of each point of the star, across the roof, and down the walls.

"There was no great evil inside the library." Giles replied, "and its boundaries are less clearly defined."

Circles of white flame rippled out from the seal, like waves on a pond.

"We should get off the roof." Giles went on, "and quickly."

Harmony stood up and smiled. "How?"

****

Three minutes later Cordelia closed her eyes then jumped, off the roof.

It wasn't something she'd ever expected to do, but she had no choice. She'd already seen Buffy catch Xander, so she knew she should be safe but-

Then the jolt of impact drove all thought out of Cordelia's head.

After the initial confusion, while Buffy struggled to get a good grip, there were a dizzying roll and two knee-grazing brushes with the ground before Cordelia finally came to a dead stop.

"OK?" Buffy asked, helping Cordelia to her feet.

Cordelia nodded, then wobbled over to join Xander.

He looked at her and smiled. "That was fun."

Cordelia smiled back. "If only you'd told me earlier, I'd have thrown you off the school roof years ago."

Xander laughed. "If Buffy had been here then I would have jumped."

He looked up at the roof, then frowned nervously. "Is that Willow?"

Cordelia looked up. It was Willow, getting ready to jump.

"Now." Buffy shouted, and Willow leapt.

Buffy jumped up, only five feet but every inch counted. She grabbed Willow in mid-air, knocking her sideways, then rolled with her across the grass, absorbing the impact.

As Buffy got into position for Harmony, Willow stumbled over to join them.

"Spectacular spell," she said, looking at the building.

Cordelia nodded. The building was wrapped in a net of white fire, and there was a copy of the board's seal in the centre of the wall Cordelia was facing.

"It certainly frightened the demons away." Cordelia said. Few demons would be arrogant enough to stay and fight in the face of magic that powerful.

"It didn't stop the zombies." Xander said, looking nervously at an approaching zombie.

"Giles thinks they'll stop soon." Willow said. "He thinks they were all summoned when Ytwomj woke up. They've just taken their time getting here."

"Great." Cordelia said, then stepped aside to let the zombie pass.

"Don't they bother you?" Willow asked, peering at Cordelia.

Of course they did, but she wasn't going to admit it, not in public.

"They're harmless."

The moment the zombie touched the wall it disintegrated, swiftly crumbling away into dust.

"They're stupid." Harmony said. "Nothing sensible would come here."

Xander smiled, but before he could he could make the obvious reply Harmony overrode him.

"That's why I was never here. I went straight home from the Bronze. Remember that."

Harmony walked slowly away, alone.

A few minutes later Cordelia was walking home with the Scoobies.

"Tonight's events will require intensive research." Giles said. "Be there by half eight and I'll get you out of all your morning classes."

"Are you kidding?" Xander asked. "It's-"

As Xander looked at his watch his eyes widened in sudden shock. "Three AM! I'll still be asleep."

"Three!" Buffy muttered. "I'll be grounded for weeks."

"Only if she's still awake." Cordelia replied.

"It might not be." Willow said. "Space was distorted in there. Could time have been?"

Giles hesitated. "Space and time are closely linked, but I think not. The moon is still in the same phase, and patch of sky, which would be too much of a coincidence had there been significant temporal distortion."

Buffy looked blankly at Giles then smiled. "Look! A fire. Shouldn't we investigate?"

Fifty yards ahead the building on the left was burning.

Giles nodded. "What was it?"

"St Cuthbert's." Xander said. "My cousin had his first wedding there."

They stopped at the police cordon, and Giles went off to speak to one of the firemen.

Cordelia couldn't see the entire fire clearly, some of the fire engines were blocking her view, but she could see enough to know it wasn't just arson.

The very ground under the church had melted, leaving a cross shaped pit of lava, red-hot except in its centre, where the altar would have been. There the lava was white-hot and bubbling. No natural fire could burn that hot.

"Must have been magic." Willow said. "The rocks melted but the surrounding building aren't even singed."

Giles walked back to the group, his face grim. "It's not just this church. All the churches in Sunnydale are burning."

Giles looked at Willow. "And both synagogues. All the consecrated buildings were hit, whatever their religion."

"Why?" Willow asked.

Giles shrugged. "There was a tremor just after eleven, then the fires started, all at once."

"There was a tremor when that shadow creature appeared." Willow said, shivering.

"And there was only one tremor tonight." Giles replied. "Most likely, the shadow creature was responsible. Most likely, it was responsible for everything that happened tonight."

"So I've got to kill it?" Buffy said.

Giles blanched. "You've seen what it did to the holy sites, throwing down the gauntlet to every god worshipped there, and that was done in passing. Its power would have been focused on the room where it manifested. You wouldn't stand a chance. Fortunately, it left. We just have to clean up the mess."

"It didn't hurt us." Xander protested.

Cordelia nodded. It had frightened them, and seemed to have done black magic, but it hadn't hurt them directly.

Giles looked at Xander. "It could have. You may have been too unimportant for it to bother with."

There was another obvious possibility, but that wasn't something Cordelia wanted to think about. She quickly looked at Buffy and changed the subject.

"You walking us home again?"

Buffy nodded. "Which way?"

Willow looked hesitantly at Buffy. "Will you be all right alone, after, um, what happened to Owen. I can sleep over. My mum won't notice."

Cordelia nudged Xander before he could speak.

"Don't even think about it." she said quietly.

Xander looked hurt. "Of course not. I'm not you. I do have some tact."

Buffy smiled at Willow. "My mum would notice. I'll be OK."

Cordelia didn't believe her. Buffy had seemed fine while she was protecting them from danger, but now they were safe Buffy was beginning to look wobbly. When she got home Buffy would probably curl up on her bed and cry herself to sleep, just as Cordelia had done when Kevin had been killed.

There wasn't anything Cordelia could do about it though, nothing she could say that would ease Buffy's pain, so she changed the subject.

"Cloudy tonight." Cordelia said, looking up at the sky.

Slowly the scoobies began to walk home together, chatting lightly about inconsequentials, while around them the churches burned.