The race across town was a nightmare all on its own. Everywhere there were people, mostly adults, a few teenagers, moving like zombies. He tried to question a couple of them and got the same responses.
"We need to open the door."
"It's the only way to get to the city."
"We belong to them, we always have."
"Those who hear them will live, those who don't won't survive."
Whatever the Hell any of that was supposed to mean. What was whispering in people dreams? In their ears?
Xander burst into the former Sunset Club and found his people in various states of emotional shock.
"Tor, report!" He snapped, he needed to get them focused on finding answers. With a visual effort, Tor pulled himself together and stepped away from Heidi, who also made an effort to get herself together.
"We've all had nightmares. I was standing on some kind of walkway. I saw Principal Flutie, he accused me of eating him because I wanted to, not because I was possessed. And then some kind of tentacle reached out and stabbed right through his back and yanked him away, screaming the whole time. It pulled him towards this huge thing out in the distance and then someone said, 'we belong to them' and I turned and saw Kyle walking across the walkway towards where Principal Flutie was taken. I couldn't get a hold of him and it was like he couldn't hear me."
"Where did Kyle move to?"
"Los Angeles."
"Than it's affecting people as far away as Los Angeles right now. Who knows how far it will ultimately spread. Whatever it is. Theories? Stories, myths, anything that could explain this?"
"People keep talking about the city." Heidi said. "That they need to open the door so they can get to the city."
"Let's break this down." Giles said. "The thing in the distance in the dream may be the city people are talking about. Opening the door, may mean opening the Hellmouth and letting whatever is in there, out."
"Except they're not heading for the High School." Cordelia said. "They're heading toward the center of town. Whatever this door is, it must be in the center of town."
"I've never heard of two Hellmouths in such close proximity to each other."
"But it is possible to open other portals to other Hell dimensions. Acathla is one example of that." Xander pointed out. "Maybe the Mayor's failsafe involves another artifact that could do that, open a portal to another Hell dimension."
Giles headed for his books. "Willow, Oz, let's see what we can find about artifacts that can open portals. Possibly something related to a city." The two followed him.
"We need to calm down." Xander decided. "It's quite possible we're going to end up fighting something and soon, we need to meditate and calm ourselves down. Jenny, you and Amy look at this from a Magic point of view. What is needed to open a portal? If you can figure that out, maybe we can trace it, we also need to figure out how to close it, if it is opened."
"Come on, Amy, at the very least, it's something to keep us occupied. That nightmare was terrifying."
"I saw my mother." The flat tone of voice didn't match the wide eyed pain and horror in Amy's eyes. Jenny pulled her into her arms and murmured soothingly, before leading her over to the room with the Magic supplies and books.
"Cordy, call Gunn and see if this is affecting his people yet. Tell him we're working on it and that if he finds anything out, to call us immediately."
"He has contacts we don't." Cordelia reminded him. "He may be able to find something out himself."
"Good thinking. Alright, everyone begin the meditative exercise that works best for you. We need to be calm and focused. This may be the test Whistler warned us about or maybe it's the Mayor's failsafe or something else entirely and chances are, it's the biggest thing we've ever had to deal with."
Several people lowered themselves shakily down to the floor and began working to calm down, others moved into moving meditative forms, like Tai Chi. Whatever worked for each of them, that was the important thing. Xander himself sat down and began his own meditation. This was all they could do right now, until they had another direction to investigate. Cordelia finished her call and sat down beside him.
"Gunn says he's going to a place called Caritas, it's a karaoke bar, it's also a sanctuary, run by an empathic demon. It's Warded to prevent any violence, demon or human. Apparently the owner gets visions and might be able to give us some information."
"Sounds like a nice place for a date night. As long as you don't sing." A glare and a dope slap was his reward for that joke.
About an hour later, Jenny and Amy came out of the Magic supply room. "We're both sensing a build up of Magic." Jenny told him. "It's subtle right now, but it's building. Something's happening out there."
"It feels dark and nasty." Amy rubbed her arms. "It's making my skin crawl."
"Mine too." Jenny agreed.
Cordelia's phone rang and she pulled it out. "It's Gunn, maybe he's got something." She answered the call and listened. "Thanks, Gunn. Try to help people, keep them from coming here, if possible. It'll take hours for them to walk to Sunnydale anyway and no one seems to be thinking about cars right now."
"He have anything?" Xander asked.
"Lorne, the owner of Caritas said one thing before he started trying to get black out drunk. Thirdspace."