He felt the blood on the side of his face. The pain came slowly, and then was like a drum, beating on his nerves, heart and wound throbbing. He wasn't very strong and he certainly wasn't brave. But he was evil. And he was human. There was a cut above his eye, a really big bruise on his chest, and he knew at least one rib had to be cracked. It was dark where they had stuck him. He was pretty sure he was under the stairs, but not quite. There were voices almost directly beside him. He knew it was pretty stupid what he had tried to do, but this went off the scale. His head was pounding, and he was definitely sure the knife and protection spell ingredients were gone. Not that he knew how to cast a spell, anyhow.
"Okay, so the thing is kinda off the charts. Not meaning to go all Scully, but - it's a knife. I don't know if there's a cool little name you have for this, but I know I have one. Knife. Perhaps dagger. She went poof. You don't go poof if you get touched by a knife. I mean, this was like The Craft, mix in a little Exorcist and maybe a dash of Poltergeist,
" Buffy was explaining to Angel, who was inspecting the dagger. He gently raised a critical eyebrow at the pop culture references.
"Okay, you're almost as bad as Giles,
" Buffy said.
"Hello, you were… maybe not living… but around when those movies came out, and except for The Craft, they were pretty much older than classic ‘Trek.
" She gave a ‘so, Duh!' look.
"Okay, okay. So, from your careful analysis, Highlander, what do you know about Carrie's favorite Mom-slaying toy?
" Buffy asked.
"It's ritualistic. This isn't meant to harm anyone,
" he said, like he wasn't even there. This thing had him mystified.
"Okay, so, besides the newest Witch of the West Trucking Co. transportation tool, what's the ritual part about it?
" Buffy asked.
"I think it's used like a pen. Dipped in the blood of something and then written on whoever it needs to. The ruby on top has a mechanism much like a fountain pen,
" he said, looking up. He slightly shrugged.
"It doesn't help much to unravel the mystery.
"
"So you have absolutely no idea? Well, what about the plans for the ritual Will printed out?
" Buffy asked.
"I think it was implied, it just never actually said anything about the knife,
" Angel said.
"Okay, I know you're not stupid. Don't do a Keanu on me,
" Buffy said.
"If I look over them again, the answer isn't going to magically appear, Buffy,
" Angel said, getting a little irritated.
"Look, this isn't easy on either of us, but if we don't get this figured out, we're as useful as guppies,
" Buffy said.
"Okay. Fine,
" Angel said.
* * *
Willow was trying, but she had a mental block on her powers. She figured that Catherine wasn't going to let her do any magic on her own, but this couldn't be the work of her. She had to concentrate. Oz was looking over at Willow, seeing she was across from him. She looked nervous, and frustrated. Everyone here was. But they always won the battles and the wars, and everyone had trust in that. Their trust was wearing quite thin, however, as they saw that the sun was close to beginning its descent to the horizon's imaginary line. At least the fire's warmth would offer some comfort as the air became colder.
* * *
"I may have found a spell that we could use to locate the area,
" Angel was saying.
"Great. What's the down side?
" Buffy asked. On the Hellmouth, with every new and good discovery there tended to be one fly in the celebratory ointment.
"Well, it's in a foreign language. The problem is it's the one foreign language I do not know. You wouldn't by any chance have picked up some German, did you?
" Angel asked.
"All the languages you know – some of them even demonic – and you don't know German?
" Buffy asked.
"Do you?
" he asked.
"Okay, no,
" she said. He showed her the text. It read: Finden Sie uns den Ort. Finden Sie uns die Zeit. Finden Sie uns den Weg. Lesen Sie uns der Durchgang. Zeichnen Sie den Entwurf. Jetzt. Gehen Sie.
"They have, like, translation sites on the net,
" Buffy offered.
"Even I can do that. It's like hit search and then a whole bunch of other stuff.
"
"Well, go ahead,
" Angel said.
* * *
Amy was slamming against her cage in a violent rage. There is a circle of blue, sparkling dust surrounding her. She shifted, her body almost looking liquefied for a second, and then it all stopped, and Amy continued to ram against the cage.
* * *
Willow sighed. Her attempt failed again. If it didn't work this time, she would just give up. The first steps were easy, but the last step, the more crucial one would require more skill, unfortunately.
* * *
"I've got it! Wow, it looks like exactly what we need. All we have to do is figure out how to pronounce it,
" Buffy said.
"Oh, I translated the part underneath the spell, as well. Apparently it was a good thing we decided to do this translation. It says you have to say the same thing again in Spanish, English and French.
"
"What does it mean?
" Angel asked impatiently.
"Find us the place. Find us the time. Find us the way. Read us the passage. Draw the design. Now. Go,
" Buffy said.
"Perfect. Okay. Can you get a translation for the Spanish and French versions?
" he asked.
"I surely can. Okay, the Spanish version… I got it. ‘Encuéntrenos el lugar. Encuéntrenos el tiempo. Encuéntrenos la manera. Léanos el pasaje. Dibuje el diseño. Ahora. Vaya,
" she said, with a really bad accent.
"And, finally, French. ‘Nous trouver l'endroit. Nous trouver le temps. Nous trouver la façon. Nous lire le passage. Dessiner la conception. Maintenant. Aller.'.
" Buffy looked up.
"I'll print them out if you like.
" She hit the print button.
"What is bugging you?
" she asked.
"What?
" he asked, like she was drawing him out of a trance.
"Nothing. Nothing. I just don't think that she would've made it this easy for us to find them . There has to be something we haven't thought of. Something else,
" Angel trailed off into space.
"The spell will probably tell us what it is. Have a little faith. Only, not in the sense of Faith the evil people slayer, as in… you know,
" Buffy said, exasperated.
* * *
The swirling blue dust reappeared. At the point where the last dust had disappeared, it staggered, but did stay. Amy began to shift and change. She got bigger, and less rat-like. The cage melted away. A minute later, a dazed Amy finally emerged.
* * *
Willow breathed deeply. She was sure she had done it this time. Oz raised an eyebrow in her direction. She caught it. She tried to mouth the words to him, but she was afraid Catherine would see him. She shrugged. Help me. Oh God. I knew they couldn't do anything right without me. We're all going to die, Wesley thought.
* * *
Dazed as she was, as the spell had restored her human body, it had also told her what she was supposed to do. She quickly put on something hanging in Buffy's closet – some little red mini-skirt and matching top that, knowing Buffy, she'd probably worn once and then cast aside. She grabbed some heel pumps and decided that if she was going to kick some maternal evil butt, she might, as Buffy had once believed, do it stylishly. She realized that she didn't have much time, so she quickly headed out the door. She could jack a car, but that would probably end up taking more time than walking.
* * *
Buffy toyed with her hair, bit on her nails. It didn't help her German, or Spanish, or French, for that matter. She stared at the words, looked them over a couple times, silently cursing all her language teachers for not making those classes fun to participate in. It wasn't her fault at the time she'd had better things to do. It was theirs, really. Maybe if she'd paid attention to the countless hours Willow had spent tutoring her. She began to tap her fingers in a drumming way on Giles' oak table. It wasn't that she or Angel couldn't say them, it was just that if she screwed up – at all – she figured it wouldn't be pretty.
"Okay, so just to make sure: If I, like, mispronounce a word, or something, it's not going to, like, start raining frogs. Or, maybe, turn the town into frogs. Right?
" Buffy asked.
"I don't think so. But you really need to be careful. Magic isn't just a…
" Angel was cut off by Buffy.
"A game or a toy. I know, I know. Spare me the lecture. I had to spend two and a half years with Giles' as my watcher,
" Buffy said.
"Buffy, I'm just trying to…
"
"Help. I know. Trust me I know. But… what's wrong? You look all… shivery,
" Buffy said.
"What? No. No, I'll be… okay, maybe I won't,
" he said, sitting down.
"You vampire. You not get flu. It's as simple as that. Okay, remember the gnats that night those two lovers used our bodies as Love Line? Okay, the gnats didn't touch you. You know why? You have no blood. No blood, the illness can't get in the bloodstream. Wow, I did learn something in Science. I owe Xander ten bucks,
" Buffy said. She sifted her fingers through her hair idly. She didn't know why she had turned sixteen again, but it was kind of fun for now.
"Great, Buffy. Right now, I'm a little more focused on this recent development,
" Angel said.
"So maybe something around here's like your kryptonite. Okay, not to be mean, but I'm glad Xander and Oz aren't here. That one word starts a conversation that goes on for hours. Trust me,
" Buffy said. Her eyes snapped back to Angel. He looked at her. He felt the feeling come back in his gut, he clutched his stomach, and Buffy ran a couple steps over to him. She helped him sit down.
"What's wrong?
" Buffy asked, concerned.
"I have no idea. I think… it's gone again.
" Buffy noticed the position they were holding each other in. They got closer and he kissed her. She didn't pull away until a second later. She gave him a look.
"You wanna search our lovely hostage?
" She motioned towards the area under the stairs. She walked over and opened the door. Fear flashed in Riley's eyes. She was powerful and pissed at him. Not a combination that would turn out well.
"Having fun?
" Buffy asked, pulling the chair out.
* * *
She felt time slip through her fingers as the hours drew nearer to the ritual. She wanted desperately to stop it, wishing there was something she could do. She didn't even know if her spell went successfully. She looked around, wondering if everyone was as upset or frustrated as she was. They obviously were. If we could translate our spirits onto the ghost roads and wait until our spirits could untie the ropes, we'd win the battle. But we can't. Unless Willow were to think of something. I officially give up all hope, Oz thought bitterly. He had forgotten about the wolf. It helped when you weren't focused on it. Maybe I could wolf out only enough to break the ropes, and… no. That wouldn't work. I'd never be able to still keep it in. Help me. Oh God. I'm gunna die! Think of all the things I haven't accomplished. Great. I'm going to die a twenty year old who couldn't keep a steady girlfriend, works at fast-food stores and never went to college. Oh yeah. They'll be plenty of great memories for the funeral, Xander thought. Dear Lord – it's almost four thirty, Giles thought, looking down at his watch. Hurry. Giles… Willow… Oz… Xander… Wesley… Cordelia, the voice came again, only stronger.
"Who are you?
"
