Energy (A Buffy fanfic)

Chapter 2: Manifestation

I round the corner on my way to see Giles, to talk to him about the spiders, and whether Theo's reappearance was coincidence or something else. Willow and Xander fall into step behind me, and start babbling. Well, Willow starts babbling, about the spiders. Xander seems rather calm. "Have you talked to Giles about the spiders yet?" she asks me anxiously, knowing full well I couldn't have. "Willow, You've really got a bee in your bonnet about these spiders, haven't you? You could've asked Giles yourself while Buffy was busy helping taking them away." replies Xander, the voice of reason. Talk about role reversal.

"I don't like spiders, okay? Their furry bodies, and their sticky webs, and what do they need all those legs for anyway? I'll tell you: for crawling across your face in the middle of the night. Ewww! How do they not ruffle you?" Willow humps into rant mode. She must really have a thing about spiders. "I'm sorry, but spiders... Nah. Nazi's crawling across my face, now that would scare me." jokes Xander, trying to take her out of herself. Maybe I'm reading too much of what's going on between those two.

We go to see our resident expert on all things weird, to see if he had any theories, when we find that someone had been to fill him in, and it hadn't been Willow or Xander. Sitting there, as cool as a cucumber (I never quite understood that phrase. Why not an ice cube? But I digress.), is Theo, talking to Giles as if he'd never left. He looks up and smiles brilliantly at us, the same grin that normally draws an answering smile from me not matter how I feel, but now just leaves me cold. Giles seems alright with it, though so everything should be alright. Unless Theo's brainwashed him. Oh god, why do I think these things?

"What are you doing back here?" I ask him bluntly. I don't trust him, even though Giles has given me all that spiel about him being on the side of the Light and a valuable ally against the Dark and all that jazz. After all, he's not human... I struggle to push memories of Angel and our kiss from my mind. He's not human either. He's not to be trusted. Neither of them are.

"Well, it's my job, isn't it? Help save all the humans from the things that go bump in the night..." he answers with an indulgent smile that sets my blood boiling. What is it about him that enrages me so? He's even stopped identifying himself as human, not a good sign. I decide to leave him be, just as he left us for the past few weeks. "Giles. You found anything about spiders popping out of books?" I ask, just a shade more harshly than was warranted, but then, maybe he was brainwashed. Giles gawped at me for a moment, surprised by the sudden change in topic, before saying "No, I haven't. I've got no ideas, that is. I haven't looked yet." he says, slightly flustered.

"Right." I say, being decisive. "I think we'd better pay a visit to Wendel. Giles, keep up to good work." I say, just a hint of scorn creeping into the last statement. Well, maybe more than just a hint. "You coming, guys?" I gesture to Willow and Xander, careful not to make Theo think he's invited along as well. Xander nods and turns for the door, but Willow wavers, unsure, her gaze flicking from Theo to Xander and back again. Neither of them make any movement to encourage her, but that doesn't mean that I can't. "Willow! Coming?" I say sharply. She jumps, before coming over to join Xander and I and head for the door. Theo gives me a look, not angry, just - empty. It sent shivers down my spine. Nevertheless, I force myself to smile at him in victory. He half rises from his seat, his face still empty of expression, but that air of meance is stronger about him than ever. Giles waves for him to sit down again, which he does, although his fists are clenched. I vaguely wonder why I dislike him so.

Throwing all thoughts of it from my mind, I head out with Willow and Xander, ready to help solve this new mystery. I hope it is a msytery and not just something mundane - I need something to distract me from the irrational worry that my dad might not show up later. And from my nightmares.

We head outside, expecting Wendel to be there, seeing as how it's break time. Sure enough, we find find him sitting by himself near a park bench - evidently no one wants to sit near Spider Boy. "Hey, Wendel! How're you doing" I ask, considerably more cheerfully than I felt. He looks up from the sndwich he'd been eating, swallows and says "Huh?" Not quite the profound answer I'd been looking for. Xander pats him on the back, and says "nice talking to ya, man." before turning to leave, but I grab him and pull him back. Wendel mutters "I don't know what to say to that." he obviously wants to be left alone - I doubt we'll be finding out anything from him. "There's nothing to say! I mean, 200-odd insects crawling all over you - who wouldn't freak out?"

"They're arachnids." says Wendel angrily. "They're from the middle east?" asks Xander, stupidly. Wendel snarls "Spiders are arachnids. They have 8 legs. Insects only have 6. Why does everyone always make that mistake?" Well, at least he seems to have emerged from his stupor. Taken aback by his vehemence, I slowly say "Don't know.". Then, just on an impulse, on the off chance that it actually leads somewhere, I ask "Has anything like this happened to you before?" To my great surprise, he nods, and opens his mouth to say something when a familiar voice from behind him says "Hope you've prepared for the history test, Buffy!" I look up to see Cordelia with a self-satisfied smirk on her face, as she knows full well that I haven't. I didn't even know we had a test, which I suppose is hardly surprising, given that I've almost never been to class. I tell the others to carry on without me - well, I tell Xander. Willow's busy staring off into the distance, at a point I'd bet leads straight to the library. Now, I could leave her be, and she'd probably wander right back to him, or I could keep her on target, and hopefully solve the mystery. no surprise, I decide on the latter.

I take her slightly aside, and whisper to her "You know that we have to solve this before anyone gets hurt, don't you? I need you on this one, Will." I brought out the big guns - I rarely use her pet name. She looks at me, blinking. Then nods slightly and goes to stand beside Xander. I heave a sigh of relief - I feel better now that it's not only Xander on the case. Now all I have to do is go fail that test.  

 Willow

I sit down opposite Wendel, struggling to focus on this case. It must be important, Buffy wouldn't have    asked me to focus on it if it wasn't. Anyway, it's no good moping over spilt milk.

"When has it happened to you before?" I ask, showing that I had been listening. Xander gives me a grateful smile, which I ignore, becuase Wendel might be about to reveal something vital. "Lots of times." He murmurs, eyes downcast. He's certainly afraid of something... "Wow, you must hate spiders more than I do!" I say, trying to gently lead him to talk more about it. Then he looks up, his eyes full of passion. "I don't hate them. I love 'em. They hate me." Finally, without further ado, he launches into his story. "I had the best collection in the state. Browns, tarantulas, everything. Then, one summer, my parents shipped me off to camp. All my brother had to do was maintain their habitats, but instead he left on the heat-lamp for a week. when I came back, they were all dead. That's when the nightmares started."

Woo, creepy story! I struggle to supress the feeling that those little, hairy legs are crawling over me, and ask, as gently as I can (it is a personal question, after all), "Nightmares." he nods slightly, then swallows audibly. For a moment, I'm not sure he's going to answer - Xander even begins to turn away. Then, suddenly, words begin pouring out in a flood, as though he can't keep them in, or as though he has to speak quickly or he won't be able to at all. "It's always the same. The teacher calls on me for something, I open my textbook, and there they are, crawling all over me. It's terrible, but can you blame them, after what I did?" Xander, for the first time, begins to take an interest "But that just how it happened today." Barely had he time to finish before Wendel says "I know. I thought I'd dropped off again, but then everyone started screaming too." 

Well, Buffy, I hope you're happy. Because it looks like we've solved our case, and it's not good. Our nightmares are becoming real.