At school, Willow, Amy and I walked into the cafeteria to find Oz and Xander sitting at a table together.

"Hi, Oz," I told him.

"Hey," Oz said. 

"Xander, hi," Willow told him.

"Hey, Amy," Oz told her. 

Willow, Amy and I sat down next to them.

Amy was smiling widely, pleased to show off her new short, darker hairstyle. "Hi, guys."

"Hey, Amy," Xander told her. "I like your new hair." 

Oz looked at me. "I haven't seen you all day? Where you been?" 

"Preparing Buffy's birthday gift with Willow and Amy for next week," I answered.

Xander clapped. "Oh. Yeah. Good. I've also been pondering gift options." 

Willow saw Buffy approaching. "Shh." 

"Oh, come on, we just got a topic here," Xander complained.

"Hi, Buffy," I told her.

"Buffy," Xander repeated, standing. "What's up?" 

Xander offered her his chair.

Buffy sat down.

Xander grabbed a chair from a nearby table. 

"You guys didn't hear?" Buffy asked.

Xander sat down. "Hear what?" 

"A murder," Buffy answered. "Somebody killed two little kids."

Willow looked at her in shock. "Oh, no." 

"They were, like, seven or eight years old," Buffy told us. "My mom found the bodies during patrol last night."

"Oh, my God," Amy said.

"Kids?" Oz asked.

"Why was your mom there?" Xander asked.

"More bad," Buffy told us. "She picked last night, of all nights, for a surprise bonding visit." 

"Good, your mom would actually take the time to do that with you?" I asked. Buffy gave me a look. "That really wasn't the point of the story, was it?" 

"No," Buffy answered. "The point is, she's completely wigging." 

Joyce approached our table from behind Buffy. "Who's wigging?" 

Buffy turned her head to see Joyce, standing, thinking quickly. "Um... everyone. You know, 'cause of what happened.:" 

"Oh, it's so awful," Joyce told us. "I--I had bad dreams about it all night."

"Hi, Mrs. Summers," Willow told her. 

"Oh, hi, everybody," Joyce told us absently.

"Hi," I told her. 

"Hi, Mrs. Summers," Amy told her.

"Buffy, have you talked to Mr. Giles yet about who could have done this?" Joyce asked. 

"Yeah," Buffy answered. "He, uh... He thinks it might be something ritual. A cult. Uh, he's still looking. In the meantime, we're gonna add to my patrol, and you know, keep an eye out." 

"A cult," Joyce repeated, jumping to conclusions. "Like witches." 

Willow coughed.

Amy looked away.

"Sorry," Willow told us. "Phlegm. Too much dairy." 

"Oh, I know you kids think that stuff's cool," Joyce told her. "Buffy told me you dabble." 

"Right," Willow said nervously. "Absolutely. That's me. I'm a dabbler." 

"But anybody who could do this isn't cool," Joyce told us. "Anybody who could do this has to be a monster. It's..." 

"You know what?" Buffy asked. "Uh, would you guys excuse us for a little bit?" 

"Uh, nice to see you," Joyce told us.

Buffy and Joyce walked out of the cafeteria. 

"What a burn," Xander told us. "Buffy's mom was just starting to accept the whole Slayer thing, and now she's gonna be double-freaked."

"Makes me grateful that my mom's not interested in my extra-curricular activities, which is close to Buffy's," I told them.

Oz smiled. 

Willow's eyebrows furrowed. "And my curricular activities." 

~~~

At City Hall, a large crowd had gathered in the main conference room.

Many of them were holding up signs with pictures of the two children and the words "Never Again!"

Buffy, Willow and I walked in, looking around at the crowd. 

"This is great," Buffy told us. "Maybe we could all go patrolling together later." 

I gestured toward Joyce. "At least your mom's making an effort. My mom's probably..." I noticed my Mom standing in the crowd. "Right in front of me right this second." Mom saw us, approached us. "Mom?" 

"Zoey, I didn't know you were going to be here," Mom told me. "Oh, hi, Buffy, Willow." 

"Hi," Buffy told her.

"Hi, Ms. Francis," Willow told her. 

"Mom, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, well, I read about it in the paper, and what with your dad out of town..." Mom trailed off. She looked at Willow, surprised. "Willow, you cut off your hair. Huh. That's a new look." 

"Yeah, it's just a sudden whim I had... in August," Willow told her.

Mom smiled. "I like it." 

Joyce and Ms. Rosenburg, Willow's mom named Sheila, walked closer. 

Willow looked at her mom in shock. "Mom?" 

"Hi, Willow," Sheila told her.

Mom held her hands to take both Joyce and Sheila's in her own. "Hello, Joyce, Sheila." 

"Layla, I'm glad you could come," Sheila told her. 

Giles approached us. "There you are. I almost didn't find you in this crush." He noticed Joyce, nervous. "Oh, uh, Mrs., uh... uh, Joyce. Quite a turnout you have here." 

"Oh, well, it's--it's not just me, but thank you," Joyce told him. "Well, it's, uh, it's been a while." 

"Right," Giles said nervously. "Not since, um... Not since... Not for a while."

"There's a rumor going around, Mr. Giles," Mom told him. 

Giles was suddenly worried. "R--rumor, about us?" Joyce gave him a look of dismay. Giles got the hint. "About what?" 

"About witches," Mom answered. Willow, Buffy and I exchanged a look. "People calling themselves witches are responsible for this brutal crime."

"Indeed?" Giles asked. "How strange." 

Willow laughed nervouls, trying to play it off. "Yes. Strange. Witches." 

"Well, actually, not that strange," Sheila told us. "I recently co-authored a paper about the rise of mysticism among adolescents, and I was shocked at the statistical..." She was interrupted by some electronic feedback when the Mayor tested the microphone, stepping up to the lectern. "Oh. Oh, are we starting?" 

Mayor Wilkins cleared his throat. "Hello, everybody." 

"He'll do something about this," Joyce told us. "You'll see." 

Everyone settled down to listen to what the Mayor had to say.

"Um..." Mayor Wilkins trailed off. "I wanna thank you all for coming in the aftermath of such a tragic crime. Seeing you all here proves what a caring community Sunnydale is. Now, sure, we've had our share of misfortunes, but we're a good town with good people, and I know that none of us will rest easy until this horrible murder is solved. With that in mind..." He picked up one of the signs. "I make these words my pledge to you." He held it up for everyone to see. "'Never again!' Now, I ask you to give your attention to the woman who brought us all here tonight, Joyce Summers." 

Mayor Wilkins stepped away.

Joyce walked to the front of the room,stepping up to the lectern. "Thank you." She considered her words for a moment. "Mr. Mayor, you're dead wrong." People began to murmur. "This is not a good town. How many of us have lost someone who just disappeared? Or--or got skinned? Or suffered neck rupture? And how many of us have been too afraid to speak out? I--I was supposed to lead us in a moment of silence, but... silence is this town's disease. For too long we--we've been plagued by unnatural evils. This isn't our town anymore. It belongs to the monters, and--and the witches, and the Slayers, and to the ones that help them." Buffy looked at her mother in shock, exchanging a look with me and Willow worriedly. Giles looked at her in disbelief. "I say it's time for the grownups to take Sunnydale back I say we start my finding the people who did this and making them pay."

The people in the crowd began to applaud.

"Hear, hear!" a man called. 

Sheila and Mom clapped, looking around at the other people.

A man nodded in agreement.

Giles, Willow, Buffy and I were in too much shock to do anything but look around at the parents. 

~~~

The next day at school, I saw a bully named Roy push a goth named Michael's locker shut. 

"Watch it," Michael told him. 

Roy smiled smugly. "Oh, sorry. Did I make you smudge your eyeliner?" Michael rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "You gonna put a spell on me?" 

Amy came up to Michael's defense. "Hey, what is your problem?" 

Roy grabbed Michael by the shirt and pushed him up against the lockers. "Everyone knows he's into that voodoo witchcraft." Other students watched. "I heard about those kids. People like him..." Roy pushed Michael again. "Gotta learn a lesson." 

"And what about people like me?" Amy asked.

"Get in my face and you'll find out," Roy told her. I stepped up behind Amy, smiling a forced smile at Roy. Roy noticed, suddenly thinking better of going any further, letting go of Michael, straightening his shirt a bit. "No problem here." He nodded to the group of boys behind him. "We're walking." 

I stepped toward them, making them turn around and walk away. I turned to face Michael and Amy. "You guys okay?" 

"Yeah, we're fine," Michael answered, walking away.

"Thanks, Zoey," Amy told me, following Michael. 

I looked down the hall to make sure the gang was still headed away.

Giles and Buffy walked aroung the corner. 

I started to walk toward them.

Cordelia stepped in my way. "You'll be one busy little trainee, baby-sitting them."

"I doubt they'll have any more trouble," I told her.

"I doubt your doubt," Cordelia told me. "Everyone knows that witches killed those kids, and Amy is a witch. And Michael is whatever a boy of witch is, plus being the poster child for 'Yuck'." 

"Cordy--" I started. 

"If you're gonna hang with them, expect badness," Cordelia told me. "'Cause that's what you get when you hang with freaks and losers. Believe me, I know." She started to walk away, turning back to face me, smiling. "That was a pointed comment about me hanging with you guys."

Cordelia turned around, walking away.

"Yeah, I got that one," I told her. "Besides, witches didn't do it." 

I turned to face Giles and Buffy. 

"Actually, I think they may have," Giles told me. "My research keeps brining me back to European Wiccan covens." 

"You found the meaning of the symbol?" I asked.

Giles exhaled. "I'm pretty sure, yes. There's a--a piece of information I need that's in a book that Willow borrowed. Can you find it?" 

I nodded. 

Giles walked toward the library.

"Where is Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Student lounge, last time I checked," I answered, nodding for her to follow me. "Come on." 

We walked into the student lounge to see that Xander was there sitting on the couch instead of Willow.

"Buffy, Zoey, hi," Xander told us.

"Hey," I told him. "Is Willow around?" 

"How can I convince you people that it's over?" Xander asked in exasperation. "You assume because I'm here, she's here, that I somehow mysterious know where she is." 

I pointed at the books on the table in front of him. "Those her books?" 

"Yeah," Xander answered. "She's in the bathroom." Buffy started to walk toward the books, but stopped when Xander continued. "But the fact that I know that doesn't chance that I have a genuine complaint here. Look, I'm getting sick of the judgment, the innuendoes. Is a man not innocent until proven guilty?"

"You are guilty," Buffy told him. "You got illicit smoochies, gonna have to pay the price." 

"But I'm talking about the future guilt," Xander told us. "Look, everyone expects me to mess up again. Like Cordelia. I see how she is around me. You know, that steely gaze... that pointed silence." 

"'Cause she's usually such an amazing giver of forgiven," I told him sarcastically.

Buffy started to go through Willow's books.

"No, but it's different now," Xander told us. "It's more a verbal nonverbal. She doesn't even insult me like she used to before all of this happened. Sure, she throws some in from time to time, but nothing like it used to be." 

"So you want her to insult you like there's no tomorrow?" I asked.

"Hey, at least then, I wouldn't be stuck with this silent guilt," Xander told us. 

Buffy found the book in question, picking it up. Underneath it was a spiral notebook. On the exposed page, is the triangle symbol. Buffy picked it up, staring.

Willow walked over to her. "Hey, Buff. What you looking for? You wanna borrow something?" 

Buffy held up the notebook. "What is this?" 

Willow took the notebook, closing it. "A doodle. I do doodle. You, too. You do doodle, too."

"This is a witch symbol," Buffy told her. 

"Okay, yeah, it is," Willow answered.

"Willow..." Buffy trailed off.

"What?" Willow asked defensively. 

"That symbol was on the murdered children," Buffy told us. 

Buffy and Xander were shocked that Willow had the symbol.

Willow and I were surprised that the symbol was used on the kids. 

We heard the sound of many lockers suddenly being slammed closed, and a police officer's voice. "Please step back. Stay away from the lockers. This is police business." 

Buffy, Willow, Xander and I exchanged alarmed looks, walking out into the hall to see what was going on.

A police officer was going from locker to locker opening them with a master key. 

At another locker, another officer took some books from a student. "Hand them over, please. The books."

Yet another officer took a string of garlic cloves from a locker, setting it on a cart with a bunch of other things they had confiscated. 

Snyder stood in the hall, gloating as the police continued their search.

Several officers kept the students at bay.

A detective led a boy away.

Amy had joined us as we watched all the activity.

"Aw, man, it's Nazi Germany, and I've got Playboys in my locker," Xander told us.

"This is a glorious day for principals everywhere," Snyder told us smugly. "No pathetic whining about students' rights. Just a long row of lockers and a man with a key." 

An officer found a voodoo doll in a locker.

Oz stood next to us. "They just took three kids away." 

"What are they looking for?" I asked.

"Witch stuff," Amy answered. 

"What?" Willow asked worriedly.

"They got my spells," Amy told us. "I'm supposed to report to Snyder's office."

"Oh, my God," Willow said. 

An officer looked through a girl's purse.

Another officer stepped up to Amy. "Okay, Amy. You'll have to come with me." 

"Stay away from the locker," another officer said.

"I have stuff in my locker," Willow told us, sick with worry. "Henbane, hellebore, mandrake root." 

"Excuse me," Xander told us. "Playboys. Can we turn the sympathy this way?" 

One of the officers had reached Cordelia's locker, pulling out a can of hairspray. 

"Hey!" Cordelia told him. "Get your grubby custodial hands off that." 

Cordelia tried to approach them.

Another officer held Cordelia back. "Miss, you have to stay back. Miss, stay back." 

"That hairspray costs $45, and it's imported!" Cordelia told them.

Willow began to freak out. "Oh, God, my locker's next. Guys, I didn't do anything wrong." An officer pulled some plastic bags from Willow's locker. "The--the symbol is harmless. Buffy, I used it to make a protection spell for you, for your birthday. With Michael and Amy."

"It was my idea," I told her. "Only, not it's broken, because ou know about it, so Happy Birthday, and please, you have to believe us." 

Snyder walked toward us with the bags in hand. "Miss Rosenburg. My office." 

Snyder held up the bags of henbane and mandrake root.

Willow looked at him in worry and fear. 

I discreetly walked in front of Willow, taking Giles' book from her arms without anyone noticing.

Buffy followed me.

Willow started down the halls in front of Snyder. 

~~~

Buffy and I wet to the library to see that there were officers all over the place in here, too, confiscating books, walking toward Giles as he watched helplessly.

"Giles," Buffy said.

"They're confiscating my books," Giles told us. 

"Giles, we need those books," I told him.

"Believe me, I tried to tell that to the nice man with the big gun," Giles told us.

We moved to the side to talk.

Giles watched the activity around us, seething with anger. 

"No," I told him. "There's something about the symbol that we're missing. Willow was using it in a protection spell. It's harmless. Not a big bad. So, then, why would it turn up in a ritual sacrifice?" 

"I don't know," Giles told us. "Ordinarily, I would say, 'Let's widen our research'." 

"Using what?" I asked. "A--a dictionary and 'My Friend Flicka'?" 

I set the book on the counter.

Giles stepped closer. "This is intolerable. Snyder's interfered before, but I--I won't take this from that twisted little homunculus." 

"Homu what?" I asked. 

"Midget," Giles answered.

I smiled. "Well, why didn't you just say that?" 

Snyder walked into the library holding a cup of coffee, smirking. "I love the smell of desperate librarian in the morning." 

Giles approached him angrily. "You get out! And take your marauders with you." 

"Oh, my," Snyder said, unaffected. "so fierce." He walked past Giles. "I suppose I should hear you out. Just how is, um..." He took a book from an officer, reading the title. "'Blood Rites and Sacrifices' appropriate material for a public school library? Chess club branching out?" 

Snyder took a drink of his coffee.

"This is not over," Giles told him. 

"Oh, I should say it's just beginning," Snyder told us. "Fight it if you want. Just remember, lift a finger against me, and you'll have to answer to MOO." 

"'Answer to MOO'?" I repeated. "Did that sentence just make some sense that I'm not in on?" 

"'Mothers Opposed to the Occult'," Snyder explained. "A powerful new group." 

Snyder took a sip of his coffee. 

"And who came up with that lame name?" Buffy asked.

Snyder walked toward the door. "That would be the founder. I believe you call her 'Mom'." 

Buffy looked at him in disbelief. 

~~~

Giles, Xander, Oz and I were in the library.

Giles was at the table, trying to do some online research, losing his connection. "Session interrupted? Who said you could interrupt, you stupid, useless fad? No, I said fad. And I'll say it again." 

Giles started to type again.

"At that point, I will become frightened," I told them. 

"Take heart," Oz told him. "We found your books." 

Giles looked at us hopefully. 

"You can put the heart back," Xander told him. "We can't get them. They're locked up in City Hall. 'Frisky Watcher's chat room'. Why, Giles?" Xander patted Giles on the shoulder. Buffy walked in. "Oh. Buffy, Oz, Zoey and I found out--" 

"What do we know about these kids?" Buffy asked. 

"What?" Giles asked.

"Facts," Buffy told us. "Details." 

"Well, they were, uh, found in the park," I answered.

"No, where did they go to school?" Buffy asked. "Who were their parents? What are their names?" Giles took off his glasses. None of us had the answers for any of her questions. "We know everything about their deaths, but we don't even know their names." 

"Well, sure we do," Xander told us. "Um, it's on the tip of my tongue." 

"That never came up," I realized. "Ever." 

"And if no one knows who they are, where did these pictures come from?" Buffy asked. 

Giles put his glasses on, looking at the screen. "I just assumed someone had the details. I never really... Well, that is strange." 

"We need to get some information," I told them. 

Giles stood. "Yeah, well, sombody else do it. This thing's locked me out." 

"Well, if you wouldn't yell at it," Xander told him.

Giles gave Xander a look. 

Oz took Giles' place. "I can look around, but Willow would really know the sites we need."

"That's great," I said sarcastically. "She can't even come to the phone. The wrath of MOO." 

Oz started to type. "Well, we don't need a phone." 

~~~

"All right, we're linked," Oz told us. "If anybody's ID'd the kids, she'll pull it up and feed it here." 

~~~

Oz did his part on his end and brought up the pages as Willow found them. 

"Oh," Giles said, reading. "'Two children found dead. Mysterious mark...' No. No. These children were found near Omaha in 1949." 

"Yeah, they ain't ours," Xander told us. "Keep going." 

Before Oz could move on, the accompanying image loaded from the Internet. 

"Wait," I told them. "Those are..."

"The same kids," Buffy finished. 

"Fifty years ago," Giles told us.

Oz loaded up the next page. "'1899. Utah. Two children. Rural community torn apart by suspicion.'" 

"A hundred years ago?" Giles asked in confusion. "How is this possible?" 

"There's no mention of who they were," Oz told us.

"They've never been seen alive, just dead," I told them. "A lot." 

The next page loaded.

This one was dated 1649 and had a hand drawing of the two children.

An Instant Message window popped up with a note from Willow. 

"Ah," Oz said. "There were more articles. Every fifty years. All the same." 

"From as far back as 1649," Giles agreed, interested. "Can I see that?" Oz stood. Giles took his place, typing, reading the German, translating it. "Written by a cleric from a village near the Black Forest. He... found the bodies himself. Two children. Greta Strauss, age six." He typed some more. "Hans Strauss, eight." 

"So they have names," Xander told us. "That's new." 

~~~

Giles was standing now, pacing.

Oz kept looking for more information on the computer. 

"Uh, wait," Giles told us. "Wait a minute. Uh... uh, there is a fringe theory held by a few folklorists that some regional stories have actual, um, very literal antecedents." 

"And in some language that's English?" I asked.

"Fairy tales are real?" Oz asked.

"Hans and Greta?" Buffy asked. She scoffed in realization. "Hansel and Gretel?" 

"Wait," Xander told us. "Hansel and Gretel? Breadcrumbs, ovens, gingerbread house?" 

"Of course," Giles told us. "Well, it makes sense now."

"Yeah, it's all falling into place," I told them, sitting on the table. "Of course, that place is nowhere near this place." 

"Some demons thrive by fostering hatred and, uh, persecution amongst the mortal animals," Giles told us. "Not by--not by destroying men, but by watching men destroy each other. Now, they feed us our darkest fear and turn peaceful communities into vigilantes." 

"Hansel and Gretel run home to tell everyone about the mean old witch," Buffy told us.

"And then she and probably dozens of others are persecuted by a righteous mob," Giles finished. "It's happened all throughout history. It happened in Salem, not surprisingly." 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Xander told us. "I'm still spinning on this whole 'Fairy tales are real' thing." 

Giles began to pace again. 

"So what do we do?" Oz asked.

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go trade my cow in for some beans," Xander told us. Giles looked at him in confusion. "No one else is seeing the funny here." 

Buffy walked toward the counter. "Zoey, we need to talk to our moms. They're both at a meeting for MOO over at my house." 

"I'm sorry," I told her, sliding off of the table. "What? My mom is in MOO?" 

"Yeah," Buffy answered. "Giles, we need your help for convincing them of the truth. Maybe they can defuse the whole thing." 

I grabbed my coat, pulling it on. 

Michael came running into the library with a slight limp. He was beaten and bruised. He had a black eye, his face bloody.

"What happened?" I asked.

Xander and Oz walked closer. 

Michael tried to catch his breath. "I was attacked."

"Officially not funny," Xander told us. 

"By who?" I asked.

"My dad," Michael answered. "His friends. They're taking people out of their homes. They're talking about a trial down at City Hall. They got Amy." 

"Michael, stay here and hide," Buffy told him. "Giles, Zoey, we'll go find our moms." 

I looked at them in realization. "Willow." 

"We'll go check on her," Oz told me. "Just get your moms to listen." 

I nodded.

Oz and Xander ran out of the library.

Giles grabbed his coat.

Michael called after Oz and Xander. "Tell Willow to get out of her house!" 

Giles looked at Michael. "Stay in my office." 

Michael went to hide in Giles' office.

Buffy, Giles and I left. 

~~~

We got to Buffy's house to see that Mom and Joyce were really in the middle of a MOO meeting. 

Mom looked at us in surprise. "Buffy. Zoey. Mr. Giles. Did something happen?" 

"Mom, we need to talk to you and Ms. Summers," I told them. "Now." 

Joyce put down her notebook. "Well, of course." Mom stood, walking toward us. Joyce looked at the others. "Um, go on without us." 

Mom and Joyce stood next to us.

"No, we need to talk alone," Buffy told them.

We walked into the dining room.

"Is this about fighting against the forces of darkness?" Mom asked.

Buffy and I looked at her in shock, looking at Joyce, realizing that she had been the only one who could have told her. 

"You told my mom that I help your daughter so she doesn't get killed?" I asked.

"Well, she is your mother, Zoey," Joyce told me. "Her daughter is putting herself and others in danger constantly. That is something that she needed to know."

"Oh, my God," I said, turning away from them, a hand going to my head. 

Buffy shook her head, looking toward me, away from our moms. "Look, we don't have the time to discuss this right now. There's more to this than--" 

I heard Buffy starting to mumble for help. 

I turned to face them to see that Joyce was holding a cloth of chloroform over Buffy's mouth and nose. 

Before I had time to react, Mom put a cloth of chloroform over my mouth and nose. 

We could hear Giles being jumped by the men of the group out in the living room. 

Buffy and I collapsed to the floor. 

"You were right," Mom said." She looked behind her. "It was easy." 

The two children were standing on the stairs.

The boy was holding a bottle of chloroform in his hand. 

"I told you," Gretel told them.

"It gets even easier," Hansel told them. 

Buffy and I looked toward each other weakly, breathing heavily, trying to stay awake. 

"But I'm still scared of the bad girls," Gretel told them.

My vision began to blur. 

"You have to stop them," Hansel told them. "You have to make them go away. Forever." 

I saw Buffy pass out merely seconds before I did. 

~~~

I woke up in the middle of Civil Hall, tied to a stake. 

Amy, Buffy and Willow were also tied to stakes next to me. 

We were surrounded by a pile of books that had been taken from the library. 

"Zoey!" Buffy told me, struggling.

I looked around in confusion.

Mom was standing a few feet in front of me. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Mom, you don't want this," I told her imploringly. 

"Since when does it matter what I want?" Mom asked. "I wanted to know the truth. Instead, I got a mountain of lies." 

Sheila and Joyce joined Mom, both carrying lit torches. 

Sheila handed the second that she was holding to Mom. "Torch."

Mom took the torch.

"Thank you," Joyce told them. "Both of you. This has been so trying. You've both been such champs." 

"Oh, you, too, Joyce," Sheila told her.

"We should stay close," Mom told them. "Have lunch."

"Oh, I'd like that," Sheila agreed. "How nice." 

Joyce,  Sheila and Mom leaned over to set fire to the books.

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Amy told them. 

"Mom, don't!" Buffy told her.

"Mom, please!" Willow begged. 

Joyce, Sheila and Mom touched the torches to the books, making them light ablaze. 

Others all around us started to do the same. 

"All right," Amy said. "You wanna fry a witch? I'll give you a witch. Goddess Hecate, work thy will." 

"Uh-oh," I said. 

Amy's eyes were black. The energy of her spell began to swirl around her. "Before thee, let the unclean thing crawl!" 

Amy shivered as the spell's power increased around her, building even greater in strength. Finally, shince she hadn't directed the spell at anyone else, it worked on her. She was engulfed by a sudden burst of flame.

People in the crowd watched, screaming.

Amy's clothes were empty, and they and the ropes fell to the books below.

Everyone watched in amazement. 

Buffy, Willow and I looked over to see what happened to her.

A rat came crawling out of Amy's clothes, scampering down the pile of books, scurrying across the floor.

The frightened adults jumped out of its way.

Buffy, Willow and I watched Amy the rat go. 

"She couldn't do us first?" Buffy asked. 

"You've seen what we can do!" Willow told them desperately. "Another step, and you will all feel my power!" 

"What are you gonna do, float a pencil at them?" I asked quietly.

"It's a really big power!" Willow told them. 

The people looked at us in shock and horror.

"Yes!" Buffy told them. "You will all be turned into vermin. And some of you will be, fish. Yeah, you in the back will be fish." 

"Maybe we should go," a man in the back said.

The children suddenly appeared. 

"But you promised," Hansel told them. 

Gretel looked at Buffy, Willow and me. "You have to kill the bad girls." 

~~~

The fires were getting even bigger, but still hadn't reached us. 

Hansel and Gretel stood at the front of the crowd as they watched the flames grow and advance.

"They hurt us," Gretel told them. 

"Burn them," Hansel told them.

"Mom, dead people are talking to you," I told her desperately. "Do the math!" 

"I'm sorry, Zoey," Mom told me. 

"Mom, look at me," I told her. "You love me. You're not gonna be able to live with yourself if you do this." 

"You earned this," Mom told me. "You toyed with unnatural forces. What kind of a mother would I be if I didn't punish you?" 

"So you pick now as a good as any time to give a damn about what I do?" I asked, struggling. "Why do you think that you never even suspected that I was keeping something from you more than once? Because you don't notice. You never take enough time to notice!" 

"It will be over soon," Mom told me. "I promise." 

~~~

The flames were getting very close to Willow.

"I can't take it!" Willow told us. "It's too hot!" 

"I'm sorry, guys," Buffy told us. "If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened. It wouldn't be..." 

Giles and Cordelia walked in.

Giles looked at Cordelia, pointing to a fire house in the corner.

Cordelia walked toward it, elbowing the glass to make it shatter, holding up a hand to protect her face from the glass. 

The noise got the crowd's attention. 

"Stop them!" Joyce told them. 

Cordelia pulled out the hose, turning it on, spraying the advancing crowd.

Giles started to recite an incantation, muffled by the sound of the water spraying.

"You like that?" Cordelia aksed. "Huh? How about some more?" 

Not very much of the water had gotten to the flames surrounding us.

"I'm on fire!" Willow told us. 

"Cordelia, put out the fire!" I told her. 

"Oh, right," Cordelia said, turning the stream of water onto the flames, quickly dousing them. 

~~~

Cordelia got the last of the flames extinguished, turning the water off.

Hansel and Gretel slowly approached us.

Buffy, Willow and I breathed heavily in relief.

The children kept closing in on Giles.

Giles raised the bottle of potion high, reciting an incantation. "Ihr goetter, ruft euch an. Verbergt euch nicht hinter falschen gesichtem." 

Giles threw the bottle to the floor, making it shatter in front of the children.

The potion began to steam around them.

Hansel and Gretel looked at each other, wrapping their arms around each other. A moment later, they morphed into a single demon standing over seven feet. Its ears were pointed. They had huge fangs jutting from its lower jaw. its skin was red and mottled and its hair was long and tangled. 

"Okay, I think I liked the two little ones more than the one big one," Cordelia told us. 

Joyce and Mom looked up at the demon in horror.

The other people in the room, including Sheila, all ran out of the room, screaming.

The demon turned to face Buffy, Willow and me. 

Joyce and Mom were brought out of their trance, looking up at us tied up and helpless against the demon. 

"Oh, my God!" Mom said. 

"Protect us!" the demon told them. "Kill the bad girls!" 

"You know what?" I asked. "Not as convincing in that outfit." 

The demon roared, running closer. 

Buffy, Willow and I struggled against the bonds, trying to get free, unable to.

Buffy broke the stake that she was restrained to, top heavy, making Buffy lean forward so the tip was pointing at the demon, impaling him through the neck, killing it. 

Joyce and Mom looked on in disgust.

Buffy couldn't straighten herself back up with the weight of the demon's body at the other end of the stake, and so she couldn't see the result. "Did I get it? Did I get it?" 

Suddenly, the ceiling gave way from above us.

Oz and Xander came crashing down, landing on the books to crash break their fall. They looked up weakly at Buffy, Willow, me and the dead demon. 

Oz nodded once. "We're here to save you." 

~~~

The next night, Buffy and I were with Willow at her house, in her room, having a number of bowls and jars of powders and potions laid out. Several candles were burning. 

Willow idly crushed some herbs in a bowl. 

"Your mom doesn't mind us doing this in the house?" Buffy asked.

"She doesn't know," Willow told us. 

"Business as usual?" Buffy asked.

"Hmm, sort of," Willow answered. "She's doing that selective memory thing your mom used to be so good at." 

"She forgot everything?" Buffy asked.

"Yep," Willow answered ruefully. She looked at me. "What about your mom?" 

I looked at Buffy. "Well, I think that since the little Hansel and Gretel kids talked mostly to my mom and yours, I think it left a bigger imprint."

"So your mom remembers everything?" Buffy asked.

"No," I answered. "She just remembers that you killed a demon in front of her with us tied to stakes and ready to be burned alive." I looked at Willow. "And the only reason that your mom bolted when she saw what was happening was because she didn't see us." Willow nodded in acknowledgment. "But my mom saw everything and demanded an explanation." 

"And, of course, since you couldn't exactly come up with a believable lie to why a demon tried to kill you..." Willow trailed off.

"I told her the truth," I finished. "She knows. I just don't think she believes." 

"It'll take time," Buffy told me. "God knows it took time with my mom." 

"I just wish that she wouldn't have to be involved," I told them, sighing. "Oh, well. It's too late now." 

Willow took a pince of the herbs she was crushing, sprinkling it onto a ceremonial iron plate set out between us. 

Buffy looked down at our preparations, sighing. "Okay, should we try this again?" 

"Let's do it," Willow told us. "I think we got the mix of herbs right this time." 

"Okay," Buffy said. "Ready?" 

Buffy lit a match, setting it to the mixture of herbs and roots on the plate. It began to burn, emitting purple smoke. 

I waved around a sash of sage. 

"Diana, Hecate, I hereby license thee to depart," Willow chanted. "Goddess of creatures, great and small, I conjure thee to withdraw." 

Willow, Buffy and I both looked over at Amy the Rat. 

Amy stood on her hind legs expectantly. 

Nothing happened. 

Amy got back down on all fours, seemingly disappointed.

I looked at Willow and Buffy. "Maybe we should get her one of those wheel thingies."