I slowly came to, my head feeling as if it weighed a thousand pounds.

Talk about a splitting headache.

Oh, God . . .

I heard a machine beeping. Felt my broken arm in a cast. Felt a bandage on my head.

I felt a hand holding mine, squeezing it weakly, my voice a whisper. "Oz?" I tried to speak louder. "Oz?"

"I'm here," Oz told me.

I heard Willow stand. "Uh, she's just waking up."

Oz took my hand. "Hey, baby."

"Hi," I said weakly.

"I'm gonna go get a doctor," Willow told us, leaving.

"How you feelin'?" Oz asked.

"My head... feels big," I answered. "Is it big?"

"No," Oz answered. "It's head size."

Oz leaned over and gently kissed me on the forehead. He leaned back to look at me and stroked my hair with his other hand.

I opened my eyes. "Uh... is everybody else okay?"

~~

Oz brought me a bowl of Jell-O.

I was sitting up and on the phone with Buffy, taking the bowl from Oz with a smile, setting it down on my lap and beginning to play with the spoon.

Oz pulled up a chair and sits down.

"I'm okay, Buffy, really," I told her. "I mean, I don't feel good, but... I'm awake, and I know my name and who's President and how many fingers, so they don't think my brain got mushed at all."

"Thank God. So sorry I can't be there."

"I know. I'm sorry I don't get to help you fight all the vampires."

"Don't be. It just . . . That's why they attacked you. To keep you out of the way. Like you said, we're a team. Together, we're unstoppable."

"I guess. Any luck finding Giles?"

"Yep. I got a lucky break."

"What?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

~~

Xander was talking to Buffy now. "On Crawford Street. Sure. That makes sense. What's the drill? You'll need backup. And unfortunately, your Wonder Twin is lying in a hospital bed." I threw an apple at Xander's head. "Ow! Oh, nothing. It's just, even while hurt, Zoey's still the Assassin of Zonia. Do you, um... do you think Giles is still alive?"

~~

I was sitting up in my bed with Oz in the chair next to me.

Xander was sitting in a chair.

Willow was sitting on a table across the room from me.

Cordelia was pacing. "So Buffy's going for the big showdown, huh? Wish we could help. You know, without dying."

"I don't see how," Xander told her.

"I wanna try again," Willow told us.

"Try what?" Oz asked.

"The curse," Willow answered. "We never got to finish it. Maybe we can restore Angel's soul."

"I don't like it," Xander told her. "You're talking about messing with powerful magic."

"I can do this," Willow told us.

"I think you should do it," I told her.

"Look, it's not a good idea," Xander told us.

"There's no use arguing with me," I told him. "Do you see my resolve face? You've seen it before. You know what it means."

"This can help Buffy," Willow told us. "If we turn Angel back soon enough, we can stop him from ever awakening Acathla."

Oz stood. "Okay, I pretty much missed out on some stuff, didn't I? Because this is all making a kind of sense that's... not."

I looked at Oz. "Go with Will and Cordy to the library and get their things. They'll fill you in."

"Sure," Oz told me, kissing my hand. "I'll drive."

Oz walked out of the room with Cordelia and Willow close behind.

Xander stood up.

"Xander, go to Buffy," I told him. "Tell her what we're doing. Maybe she can stall."

"But I--" Xander started.

I pointed at myself. "Resolve face."

Xander gave in. "You guys be careful."

"We will," I told him.

Xander turned around, walking out of the room.

~~

Cordelia, Willow and Oz were back with the Orb and the candles, and they had everything set up on the tray table over the table: the Orb surrounded by the candles within a sacred circle. Cordelia stood on one side and waved burning herbs and incense over the Orb.

Oz stood on the other side with an open Latin book.

Willow sat on the table holding the printout of the Rumanian curse.

"Are we ready?" I asked.

"Stinky herbs are a go," Cordelia told us.

"Did I mention I didn't take Latin?" Oz asked.

"Y-you don't have to understand it," Willow told him. "You just have to say it. I hope."

"Right," Oz said.

"And then there's the blood of a person that he's fed on before," I told them. "Yippee."

I held a knife in one hand, looking at the tray in front of me.

~~

Willow casted her stones and gave Oz his cue.

Cordelia kept waving the burning herbs and incense.

"Quod perditum est, invenietur," Oz chanted.

"Not dead... nor not of the living," Willow told us. "Spirits of the interregnum, I call."

~~

Willow continued her chant. "Gods, take the blood to bind him." I took the knife, slicing across my palm, wincing in pain. "Cast his heart from the evil realm."

I turned my hand over, letting the blood fall onto the wooden tray in front of me.

~~

Willow got weaker as she chanted and breathed heavily. "Return. I call on..."

Oz, Cordelia and I were worried.

"Willow?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" Cordelia asked.

Without warning, Willow's head tilted back and she looked up with her eyes wide open. Her head snapped back down and her eyes stared into the Orb. She began to chant steadily in Rumanian as though possessed. "Te implor, Doamne, nu ignora aceasta rugaminte."

"Is this a good thing?" Oz asked.

"Nici mort, nici al fiintei..." Willow went on.

"Hey, speak English!" Cordelia told her.

"Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el," Willow went on.

My blood on the wooden tray in front of me ignited into fire, making me jump.

~~

The tray lurched hard, the flames spreading.

Oz went to move it.

"No, don't!" I told him. "We don't know what'll it do."

Willow went on with the spell. "Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!"

~~

"Acum!"

The Orb glowed brightly for a brief moment and went dark.

The flames on the tray disappeared without a trace, as if it had never happened.

Willow suddenly relaxed, looking around blankly.

~~

They took me to school, but I was in a wheelchair.

Xander and Giles walked up to Oz pushing me in a wheelchair with Cordelia and Willow at our side.

Giles' walk was a bit unsteady. "Zoey, are you sure you should be out of bed?"

"Look who's talking," I replied.

Giles smiled. "Yes."

"Any word?" Cordelia asked.

"You guys haven't seen her either?" Xander asked.

"No," Willow answered.

"But we know the world didn't end, 'cause..." Oz trailed off, looking around. "Check it out."

Giles took off his glasses and squinted. "Well, we, uh... we went back to the mansion. I-it was empty, um... and Acathla was, was... dormant."

"I think the spell worked," Willow told us. "I felt something go through me."

"Plus the Orb did that cool glow thing," I added.

"Well, maybe it wasn't in time," Xander told us. "Maybe she had to kill him before the cure could work."

"Well, then, she'd wanna be alone, I guess," Oz told us.

"Or maybe Angel was saved, and they want to be alone together," Willow told us.

"Perhaps," Giles said.

"Well, she's gotta show up sooner or later," Cordelia told us. "We still have school."

"Yeah," I agreed, looking around. "She'll be here in a while."

We went inside.

We had no idea where Buffy was, or when we would see her again.