Chapter 18
"Okay, so everyone knows the plan, right?" Buffy asked, gazing at the group huddled in their train seats around her over the top of her coffee cup. They all nodded, some of them blearier than others. Penny looked like she'd doze right off given half the chance.
Five days ago she'd been prepared to go rescue Giles with just Willow and Andrew. Now she looked at the team she'd assembled and felt grateful for all of them. Amber would stick to Willow's side, acting as her magical battery (Willow had discovered she could do this with Slayers in LA, but she risked draining them unconscious, and they couldn't afford to have Buffy knocked out) and her protection in case someone tried to attack her physically. Penny was going to help Chet in a similar capacity, but with the addition of her own magical skills. Andrew, Goldie, and Daniel were there as lookouts, message carriers, and people with mobile phones who could coordinate the other Watchers. None of them had much skill with magic; Andrew's demon summoning wouldn't be useful as far as they could see. Buffy didn't either, but she did…Hopefully…Have a connection with Giles she'd be able to leverage in breaking him out of whatever spell or binding he was under.
Buffy subsided into silence, taking a sip of her coffee and letting everyone else do what they needed. As predicted, Penny dozed off almost immediately, leaning on Chet's shoulder.
The older man patted her knee and sipped at his own paper cup of tea. "I wish she'd had more time to recover from the jet lag." He spoke to Buffy in a low voice.
Buffy shrugged, "We've waited as long as I felt comfortable waiting. Will and Tommy seem pretty well recovered."
Chet clicked his tongue, looking disappointed in her. "Earth witches are more connected to the planet's cycles. Moving them around in an unnatural way affects them more than the average person. Also, it seems she's missing her Slayer, which is disrupting her sleep cycle and preventing her from recovering more quickly."
"Huh." Buffy blinked at the sleeping older woman, then turned to Willow. "Why didn't Pen and Tom just bring Elise with them, again?"
Willow swallowed the sip of coffee she'd just taken. "Elise had some kind of vision. She wouldn't say exactly what would happen, but it wasn't going to be safe for her in England or LA, so she elected to go to the Coven School in Rio until the wedding." Willow turned to Chet. "Incidentally, when we have the Council more organized, I'd like to talk to you about teaching some of the Coven students. I've really enjoyed our talks about magical ethics, I think they could learn a lot from you."
He clicked his tongue again. "We need to be focused, Willow. We will speak about those things at another time." He turned to Buffy. "You also, Sineya. You should be thinking of this as a battle, and prepare accordingly."
She grimaced, "Hard to think about fighting my Watcher."
"Not fighting your Watcher, fighting FOR your Watcher," Chet declared, "Fighting whoever is trying to control your Watcher and the Council. Mr. Giles is definitely under at least one spell, probably more than one. They may very well fight physically as well as magically to keep things as they are. You should prepare."
Buffy didn't really know how to prepare for a mostly magical fight, but didn't want to argue about it. She sat back and sipped at her coffee, trying to clear her mind and push away any negative thoughts. Her mind flitted briefly to Dawn's text last night reporting on her last final, and then to Tommy loading Spike into a limo this morning to spend the day reviewing the British portion of the estate with the local solicitors, before landing back on Chet's use of her title. "I think I'd like people to stop referring to me as Sineya." Buffy declared quietly. "It's not really a title, it's a name. The name of the first Slayer. It feels, I don't know…Dehumanizing, I guess, to use it as a title. I'm not crazy about it."
"Technically it's not a name, actually." Daniel leaned toward her from further down the row of seats. "We refer to the first Slayer as Sineya because our records say that the Slayers are descended from the daughters of Sineya. But the name of the first Slayer has been lost to history. Sineya is a more modern translation of an ancient demon word, which most likely referred to the tribe as a whole."
"But, when I meet her in my visions, she refers to herself as Sineya." Buffy countered, frowning as she thought back over their interactions. "Or, actually, maybe she doesn't. Maybe I asked if that's who she was and she just answered. I guess it's possible I told her that we called her that." And wasn't that a creepy thought.
"Whatever you've encountered in your visions is not really the first Slayer anyway. It's a spirit-guide bound to your bloodline and mission, constructed from the essence of the first Slayer." Chet interjected. "It's incredibly ancient, as she was, a human-demon hybrid from pre-Nubian Gezira. It doesn't have language the way you do, because very few Slayers have been allowed or taught to interact with it directly. It's likely drawing knowledge of modern language from you over time, learning to communicate with you in ways you can understand."
Buffy considered that idea. In their first encounter the first Slayer had needed someone to serve as her voice. In her most recent vision the other woman had been wearing more modern clothing and speaking in complete sentences. She'd even thrown some of Buffy's previous words back at her. "You'd think I'd learn about making assumptions and inferences based on my view of the world."
"Only if you're learning that that's exactly the way you should approach things." Daniel chuckled. "You need to trust your instincts one hundred percent."
"In battle, sure." Buffy conceded the point. "But there's so much of the world I haven't experienced, so much I don't have a frame of reference for. I don't even know what you were talking about, Nubian and Geshira and whatever."
"Gezira, it's a state in Sudan." Daniel replied.
"This is one of the things that we want the New Council to change, yes? The Head Slayer's education? The type of assistance and training we give? We start with you." Chet reached forward, careful not to wake the dozing Penny, and patted Buffy's knee gently. "I admire your drive to be better. We will offer you all the help we can with this mission."
Buffy offered him a somewhat wobbly smile and sipped at her coffee, overcome with emotion and unable to think of how to respond. Willow shifted in the seat next to her, leaning her head on Buffy's shoulder, and Buffy leaned her cheek against Willow's scalp, inhaling her scent. She'd noticed a couple of days ago that Willow's essential smell had changed since Sunnydale; from the herbal-resiny undertones she'd given off in college which made Buffy uneasy, her scent had evolved into something fruity and briny, with a beachy, saltwater-y layer to it. Buffy found Willow's new scent incredibly soothing, and had realized several times that she'd been unconsciously leaning into Willow for physical comfort, the way she had in high school when they were both more innocent. This was another level of the support she was getting in this group effort; she was reclaiming a deeper relationship with her best friend, as well as developing new working relationships with her people. She hoped it was an omen that things would go well with Giles, but she'd never been that lucky.
For the remaining 30 minutes of their train ride the group kept the conversation light but focused. They reviewed the plan and who was supposed to head where from the train station. They finished their various teas and coffees, and tried not to disturb the commuters around them too much. Buffy was tempted to try to explain to the lady across the aisle who was giving Andrew weird looks that they were part of a theatre group, but that seemed even more conspicuous at 7:15 on a Wednesday morning heading away from London. She finally just made Andrew switch seats with her, since he was unable to maintain a low volume no matter how much they shushed him.
By the time their train pulled into the Bath Spa station it was 7:45, and the train had become moderately full with commuters and tourists. They were hoping there was enough of a crush to allow them to blend in, while it was still early enough for them to get in position before Council HQ was operational for the day. Theoretically it would be easier for them to catch everyone unaware before the tea kicked in. With a few quick goodbyes and well wishes they split up, and Willow, Buffy, and Amber headed to Giles' house.
Rupert Giles was not expecting his morning routine that Wednesday to be interrupted by his Slayer. Although, considering that Willow was on his schedule for later that morning and Buffy had told him weeks ago she planned to come to Bath, perhaps he should have. He'd definitely not been expecting Amber Freeman to be there with Buffy. He hadn't even been aware the two women were acquainted.
Giles sent his cook to make the girls coffee, and listened to Buffy warble about all the chocolate she hadn't discovered when she'd lived with him briefly after Sunnydale, which evidently she'd been sampling this trip. He was considering sending a message to his assistant to cancel his first meeting of the day when horrible pain shot through his skull. He grabbed his head, moaning as a sensation like stabbing knives went through his temples, sinuses, and the back of his neck. It wasn't until he removed his glasses and put them down on the table that the pain dulled, and he met Buffy's eyes.
"Feeling alright, Giles?" Buffy asked hesitantly.
"Err, I seem to have something of a headache." Giles winced and rubbed his temples again.
Buffy reached for the glasses, but before she could touch them Amber stopped her. "You're not supposed to be risking yourself." The older Slayer muttered, reaching for the spectacles herself. She winced as she touched them, dropping them to the table with a clatter.
Giles grimaced. "I say, do be careful with those. They're new."
"Hmmm." Amber had disentangled a tea towel from around the basket of muffins on the table, and was reaching for the glasses again. "I'd say we don't need these laying about, do we?" Before Giles could respond, she'd wrapped his specs in the towel and twisted.
The pain in his head decreased immediately, and Giles took a deep breath. "What in the bloody hell is going on here?"
"Well, it's like this." Buffy took a deep breath. "I'm worried about you. You haven't been acting like yourself, like you haven't been consistent or responsive, and you haven't been leading the Council in the direction we'd agreed on taking it. So, I asked Chet to come and see you the other day, to give a second opinion. He said there were a lot of wards on the Bath HQ, and he couldn't figure out why most of them were necessary. It seemed like some of them might be containment spells, rather than protection spells. So, Willow and I figured we'd just come and talk to you here without any magical influence."
"Willow…"
"She couldn't even get in the house. She said the spells were so thick she wouldn't have been able to sense anything inside, and she might have triggered something coming in. So she sent us in with some amulets to break the spells with the strongest influences." Buffy glanced at Amber, and Giles realized the other woman had her hands in her lap, possibly conjuring something or texting. Buffy blinked and looked back at him. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Well, my head is no longer throbbing, although that didn't start until you arrived." Giles frowned, thinking carefully. Now that he took a moment to consider it, he realized Amber had been part of the team Buffy worked with in Los Angeles to assist Spike with his recovery, and wondered how he could have forgotten such a thing. The more he thought on it, he realized that had been happening a lot. Thoughts just flitting out of his head, even important thoughts on work he'd just researched. "Willow said there's a lot of magicks on the house, did she? I have a couple of aunts who are practitioners, but nothing that would threaten Willow should be present here."
"I'm guessing there shouldn't have been a mind control spell on your glasses, either, but there you go." Amber interjected. "Willow says she's almost done with the perimeter spells, and she wants us to check the other rooms."
Buffy stood, a determined look on her face. "Okay, come on Giles. Where do you normally go in the mornings?"
Giles blinked at her. "I beg your pardon? Go?"
"Your morning routine." Buffy explained. "Walk us through it. Anything you touch, anyplace you spend time. Bedroom, bathroom, office, whatever. Those are probably the best places to start looking for anything else that could be influencing you."
"Influencing me?" Giles looked at the twisted tea towel in front of Amber, then back at Buffy. "And you really believe this is necessary?"
Buffy nodded at him grimly. "I know we've had our differences, Giles, but I'd never allow anyone to hurt or use you. If we disagree then we can discuss it like adults; but if we disagree and I find out you're surrounded by a web of magic, and I'm not the only person that thinks you're acting weird, then I'm gonna make damn sure you're actually disagreeing with me and not someone's pawn."
Part of Giles felt that Buffy must surely be overreacting, but he didn't doubt her sincerity and decided it was better to concede to her wishes. "Fine, let's start in my bedroom then, I suppose."
The amulets were only good at a certain distance, and didn't necessarily tell them what the spells did, except that one was for memory spells and one was for controlling spells. There were other things that could cause problems, but Willow figured those were the two largest categories of spells that might cause Giles to act wonky against his will. So, when they walked into Giles' bedroom, it wasn't surprising that the amulets and Giles himself gave no reaction.
Buffy and Amber started on opposite sides of the bed, moving books and papers onto the center of the mattress where both amulets were in range. Only one paper Amber found activated the memory spell amulet Buffy was wearing. They tore the paper in half, and Giles winced as the memory of what was on the paper returned. When they'd finished with what was on top of the nightstands, Buffy found an eye pillow in the top drawer that also had a memory spell on it. They set it aside for Willow to look at before they did anything to damage it, and Buffy went to wash her hands in the bathroom, in case something might've rubbed off on her. She returned with a jar of bath salts that was also bespelled.
They hit the motherload in the bottom drawer on Amber's side, which was filled with papers and reports, most of which had memory spells on them. "I was so on the wrong side of the bed." Buffy murmured. She tried to read what was on the papers, but forgot the words as soon as she read anything. The amulet might be helping to detect and break the memory spells on Giles, but it wasn't protecting her against being affected by them. Out of curiosity, she reached for the paper they'd ripped in half before, and she was able to read it. "Okay, let's not break these yet, because then we'll have to figure out how to keep the ripped papers together to read them." Buffy turned to Giles, only to find him seated in an armchair in front of the fireplace, rubbing his temples. "You okay, Giles?"
Giles grunted. The twinges of pain he felt as the spells were detected now far outweighed the relief of having them broken, as the practicality of learning why or how a certain item was bespelled kept them from breaking the spell immediately. "I believe I'd like to lay down." He finally managed to say.
Buffy and Amber looked at the large pile of bespelled papers and personal items. "Okay, let's find a box or bag to put these in, I guess?" Amber was set on following Willow's instruction not to separate from one another, but they really should get this stuff out of the way for Mr. Giles to lay down. He seemed to be in a lot of pain.
Buffy looked at her Watcher, then at the pile. "Too long." Buffy picked up some items they hadn't detected magic on and put them on the floor, then grabbed the comforter edges. "Let's just bundle this up and move it into another bedroom. We can grab Giles another blanket there." She glanced at the pile of random items. "One that hopefully has no magic on it."