Tornado Of SoulsPart Two
Willow was still frowning when she spotted Faith waiting for her under a tree outside the school. She saw the binder the brunette Slayer had taken from Buffy's room and Willow was scolding herself silly for even looking at Buffy's private book collection, let alone taking the binder.Faith laughed as the red-head moved closer. Willow was so easy to read, she thought. She knew that the binder was causing the student a moral crisis and decided not to tease Willow about it, even though it would be so easy, Faith thought to herself.
"Yeah, yeah," Willow muttered at Faith’s laughter. "I want to take the binder back without opening it."
"Okay," Faith shrugged and Willow looked surprised. "I already looked though."
Willow's eyes widened and she looked like she might drop the binder. Faith patted the grass under the tree and Willow sat down reluctantly with her bag lunch and nodded absently as Faith handed her a soda. She stared at the binder intently.
"Well?" she finally asked.
"Well what?" Faith teased, pretending not know what Willow was talking about.
"You know damned well what," Willow snapped.
"Wow, a curse word," Faith teased. "Must be driving you crazy."
Willow snarled and opened her soda, setting the binder aside.
"Any answers why Buffy's so withdrawn?" Willow asked.
"I'm not sure, there's a bunch of doodles and some of them have labels to them," Faith said calmly. "Also some notes on Celtic stuff she's been reading, like she's trying to learn certain time periods of Celtic history."
"I wonder why?"
"Me too," Faith admitted. "You look more Irish than she does."
"Jewish here," Willow muttered absently, not bothering to tell Faith she could very well have started out Irish or Scottish. Willow had no idea who her original parents were. The only thing she knew was the love and attention from Sheila and Ira Rosenberg from the first month of her life.
Well, love and attention until she was about 10, she corrected herself mentally. Then they seemed to lose interest in their "beloved" gift from the Lord. Willow hadn't seen a lot of them in the years between except at high holidays.
"Hey!" Faith protested and Willow blushed, realizing she had been lost in her own thoughts.
"I asked if Summers was a Celtic name," Faith repeated.
Willow frowned. "More like an English name though it could be Welsh, I think."
"Welsh? That's Celtic, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is. Part of the Q-Celtic languages," Willow said absently.
"Q-Celtic lingo?" Faith asked.
"There's two different types of active Celtic dialects, P-Celtic and Q-Celtic," Willow explained. "Irish and Scottish are P-Celtic, Welsh and Manx are Q-Celtic."
"How the hell do you know that?" Faith grinned. "Did you swallow the Internet one night in your sleep?"
Willow laughed, accepting the teasing.
"We did a research thing on our families in the 8th grade," Willow explained. "I helped Xander do the Harris research."
"So why is Buffy so interested in the Celts?" Faith pondered.
"I don't know," Willow frowned. "What kind of doodles?"
"I don't know, like that magic writing stuff my Watcher used to show me in books sometimes," Faith commented, reaching out to open the binder.
Willow glanced over the glyphs with obvious interests.
"Not runes, Ogham, or Theban," Willow muttered.
"Theban, Ogham?" Faith questioned.
"Writings witches sometimes use in their Books of Shadows," Willow explained.
"You really are exploring this stuff, aren't you?" Faith questioned without a teasing tone.
"Others include Passing the River, Angelic, Malachim, Pictish and witch glyphs," Willow continued. "These kinda look like some witch glyphs or gang symbols."
"Buffy didn't go and join a gang," Faith complained.
"No, I don't think so either," Willow grinned. "She won't even do cheerleading anymore."
"What's all this stuff, anyway?" Faith asked, pointing at some of the symbols. "Cold, alpha, friend, help?"
"I can understand Buffy having this one, vampire," Willow pointed.
"What's these words: Uktena, Wendingo, Ahroun, Fenris, and Umbra?"
"Fenris is with Odin and Norse mythology, I think," Willow looked at the notes Faith had made and was impressed. The brunette Slayer had taken some very detailed notes about the glyphs and Celtic research she had found in the binder. "Wendingo is a chaotic Earth spirit that possesses someone, turns them into a cannibal monster. I don't know the others."
"Wendingo?" Faith repeated.
"Ran across it in some of the research on demons," Willow grinned.
"Cheerful stuff," Faith commented. "Speaking of demons stuff, how was furry duty last night?"
Willow smiled ruefully. "Trying," she complained. "Something had the wolf upset last night and I couldn't nap. Thought I'd curl up for awhile after school before tonight's shift."
"Want me to drop by after patrolling, I can watch for a bit while you nap on Giles' sofa," Faith offered.
"I could use it," Willow admitted with a cough.
"Okay, so Buffy is acting strange, drawing strange doodles or a secret writing you don't recognize and went and got a tatt," Faith commented.
"Yeah and I haven't found what that symbol is either, although I do know the knot work is Celtic," Willow added.
"Did she see Braveheart too many times?" Faith complained with a frown of frustration.
"I don't think so," Willow said slowly. "I'm going to look up those words on the internet tonight. Maybe scan the designs so I can look them up too."
"Well, do it tonight, I'll put the binder back before she gets back in the morning," Faith said.
"Let's get back into school," Willow suggested.
“Just what I always wanted to do,” Faith mumbled.
* * *
The second night seemed to go by much faster than the previous one once Faith arrived from her nightly patrol. Willow and Faith had compared notes until Willow was falling asleep in her chair. Faith had laughed gently and nudged her, encouraging the red-head to sleep for awhile in Giles' office.
Faith glanced over at the library cage when the werewolf growled but basically ignored the creature's displeasure at being locked up as she glanced over Willow's notes. The Slayer sighed and shook her head as she took the opportunity to actually catch up on some homework assignments and then took a second look at Willow's research into Buffy's notes.
"Uketena; A tourist site in North Carolina of the Cherokee nation?" Faith pondered. "Okay, a Cherokee word but doesn't tell me what the hell it is. Indians and Celts. Next, Ahroun: websites mentioning this talk about Gaia, the Earth Mother and the Tribes. What tribes? More Indians? Warriors, tribes, garou? What the heck?"
Faith hated being frustrated and she hated research even more than Buffy did.
"Umbra; okay, what do we have here?" Faith muttered as the werewolf paced restlessly in his cage. "Furniture by Umbra? Somehow I don't think Buffy is planning on become a cabinet maker. Freshmeat.com? Okay, the words sound like Indian except for Fenris, which is Norse for the great monster wolf in mythology."
Faith threw her pen across the room and slammed her feet onto the table, leaning back into her chair.
Somehow she felt like they weren't any closer to solving the mystery surrounding Buffy. There were now extra pieces to the puzzle but no solution yet and Faith hated puzzles.
Faith looked over towards the office, wondering if she was making the right choice in reaching out to Willow. The red-head had more power than she knew and Faith hated it when someone had more control over anything than she did, especially when it concerned her.
Faith knew that if she pushed too hard, Willow could shut down her friendship with Buffy and that was becoming very, very important to the brunette Slayer.
* * *
Willow yawned and smiled at the sight of Oz pulling on a t-shirt behind the blanketed book cage. He looked adorable when first waking up, she thought but then frowned. Once again Willow was confusing herself. She thought Oz was the cutest, the sweetest, coolest and gave her kinda warm fuzzies but definitely not red-hot fuzzies.
Faith had already left, when the moon first went down, to change clothes and return the binder to Buffy's shelves. The blonde Slayer wasn't due back until the next morning but Willow didn't want to take any chances of Buffy discovering their betrayal of her privacy. The would-be witch was having enough troubles living with herself without Buffy finding out, Willow was tempted to just tell her friend but was scared of losing Buffy’s friendship.
Oz smiled and waited patiently as Willow unlocked the cage. He turned and helped her unhook the blanket that afforded him some privacy after he would change from werewolf to human again. A naked human.
"You off to breakfast?" Willow asked as Oz wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her neck lightly.
"Yeah, you?"
"I'm going to clean up from my research stuff last night and then crash for a couple more hours on the sofa," Willow said wearily. "It's not the same without Buffy dropping in for cage duty. I'm tired."
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You're also a little warm."
"Stop, remember," Willow said in a slightly irritated voice. "No more apologizing, it's not your fault and I don't mind watching over the wolf. I just need a couple more hours. I think I've got a cold."
"Okay, I'm going to grab something to eat and take a shower in the gym," Oz said easily, grabbing his knapsack from outside the cage. "I'll buy you chicken soup at lunch."
Willow was shoving her notebook and laptop into her backpack when the library door opened. The student looked up with a frown. No one should be on campus that early except over-enthusiastic teachers, sleeping werewolves and their keepers, she thought. Giles wasn't even due in for another two hours.
Willow knew that werewolves would either be curled up asleep in human form or going for coffee and breakfast and vampires would be somewhere dark for the day. That didn't mean there wasn't danger in Sunnydale during the day, however. Some demons could come out in the daytime and then there was the old fashioned human danger.
The red-haired witch went behind the check-out counter and rested her hand on the tranquilizer gun under the counter, fighting back a cough.
Willow frowned at the three men that entered the library. All were wearing tweed, glasses and looked very much like the librarian. They also kept their hands in sight as they spotted Willow.
"Miss Rosenberg?" the first one in the door questioned. He looked older than the other two but Willow couldn't really figure an age for him. Probably somewhere around 40 to 50 with an average build, thinning gray hair with non-descript brown eyes. He somewhat reminded her of Rex Harrison from My Fair Lady.
"Yes?" she answered slowly, not taking her hand off the weapon and hoping her voice wasn't squeaking as bad as she thought it was.
The other two looked younger, maybe mid 20s or early 30s and they all looked uncomfortable.
"I'm Colin Aimsley, these are Timothy Ryan and Damian Krammer, we're Watchers," the older one said calmly. "May we have a moment of your time?"
"Giles isn't supposed to arrive for another couple of hours," Willow informed them. "I was…I forgot some…I forgot my books last night, I mean yesterday."
Colin smiled patiently and nodded slightly at Timothy.
The young man looked at Willow with a neutral expression that she found very disconcerting.
"You were here last night watching over your werewolf boyfriend," he said firmly. "The Slayer Faith dropped in and took over for part of the night and left this morning at sunrise. Daniel Oswald left just a few minutes ago."
"Okay," she said softly, not taking her hand off the weapon.
"We know quite a bit about your 'Scooby Gang,' Miss Rosenberg," Colin smiled gently. "Ever since that disaster of Angeleus, we've taken a closer interest in your small group and how beneficial it's been in aiding the Slayer."
"I thought the Watcher Council didn't like us being involved," Willow said with a frown.
"Yes, that has been the opinion in the past," Damian Krammer agreed and Aimsley pointed to chairs and tables and Willow nodded, following the men. "Given that all of your group was invaluable in destroying Angeleus and you are the reason the Slayer returned to her duties, we've revaluated that stance."
"Okay, so why are you looking for me and not Giles?" Willow asked, wishing she had a few more hours of sleep before dealing with the strangers.
"Well, we have an urgent situation and we think that Mr. Giles may not be the right person to handle this," Aimsley said slowly.
"That doesn't make sense," Willow muttered. "Giles is the Watcher, Buffy and Faith are the Slayers, I'm just the research type and you guys are a lot better at it than I am."
"You are the spirit of the group, the untouched purity that we need," Ryan said almost reverently and something about it made Willow begin blushing.
"Don't tell me you need a…a…vir…or something!" she protested.
Aimsley smiled. "No, that isn't why we need you, although that does show us your devotion to the moral strength we need."
"How do you know Oz and I haven't….haven't like…" Willow snapped. She had taken enough teasing from Cordelia and Faith about her sex life, or lack of it, she didn't need strangers pointing it out.
"Because, even though you're beginning a dangerous flirtation with magic," Aimsley said calmly. "We know that you're devoted to your religion and morals. We need that strength and we don't think Mr. Giles can pull it off."
Willow frowned. "Why and what?" she demanded.
"We need you to kill a werewolf," Aimsley said simply.
* * *
Faith noticed the library doors slightly ajar and felt her Slayer senses kicking in. She knew Willow was planning on sleeping for a little longer after Oz woke up and the doors should be locked.
Either someone was in the library with Willow or the red-head had gotten careless and left the door open. Faith didn't think Willow was careless, not when it came to the library.
She pulled out her trusty stake, not sensing a vampire or demon but not wanting to take any chances either. Faith frowned when she heard voices among Willow's and stopped to listen.
* * *
"Kill a werewolf?" Willow knew her voice was definitely squeaking now. "No, Oz is a good werewolf. Well, not a good werewolf but we keep him locked up, he's never hurt anybody."
"No, not Daniel Oswald," Aimsley said slowly. "This will be even more difficult for you."
"What?" Willow whispered.
Ryan laid his briefcase on the table and opened it. Willow frowned at the folder he passed across the table to her. Every instinct in the world was screaming to shove it back at him and run. Something wasn't right, this was bad stuff coming her way, she yelled at herself.
"Apparently during the period when Angeleus was running amok, he came into the library and released Daniel Oswald," Aimsley said as Willow started to open the file.
"No, Oz never escaped!" Willow protested, her hand hesitating. "Someone was always with him!"
"The one with him was bitten," Krammer continued. "It's natural for a victim to hide the bite from friends and family. Angeleus returned Oz to his cage and the victim never said a word to anyone."
"Not Xander, he helps watch Oz," Willow muttered, her mind whirling too fast to think. The young student was almost dizzy and she shook her head. "No, none of us."
"Someone was gone for months and even now is gone on a full moon," Aimsley pointed out.
"No," Willow whispered. "No, you're wrong! Buffy's a Slayer, not a werewolf!"
"I'm sorry, Willow," Aimsley said softly, opening the folder.
Willow blinked rapidly as she looked at the top picture of Buffy leaving her house with a backpack over her shoulder and a determined look on her face. The next picture was Buffy at a graveyard, during the day. Willow looked up.
"We suspected something was wrong and have been following her since her return from wherever she was," Ryan explained. "It's much like watching an intelligence operative who went missing for a period of time."
"When?" Willow demanded.
"Sunday, late afternoon," Krammer answered as Willow turned the photos to see Buffy turning a key in the lock of a crypt and the next one entering.
"The next set was taken last night after we entered the crypt during the day and installed hidden micro cameras," Ryan explained.
Willow wasn't even aware that she was whimpering as she turned the photos, watching Buffy approach a cell inside a lower crypt. A cell complete with bars, a door and a combination push button lock that a werewolf couldn't work.
There were so many pictures Willow could almost see the action without any breaks.
Buffy sat the backpack down outside the cell and pulled a milk crate over from the wall, took several items out of the backpack and sat them out. A thermos, a paperbag of something, a couple of books, and a notebook.
Buffy looked at her watch and sat down to apparently wait for something, picking up one of the books and resumed reading it from about half way through.
A bit later the Slayer looked concerned and set her book aside, glancing at her watch. Buffy moved to the cell door and opened it easily and looked at it for a moment before moving inside. Willow slammed the folder shut when the pictures showed Buffy pulling her t-shirt over her head and reaching for the buttons on her jeans.
"No, this isn't real," she muttered.
Aimsley gently removed Willow's hand and opened the folder again.
Willow wanted to run but felt frozen into place.
The photos showed Buffy kneeling naked on the stone floor as a wave of pain hit her. Willow saw the Slayer grabbing at the boar's tusk around her neck as Buffy's head was thrown back in a scream. The red-haired student shoved the pictures away from her, recognizing the lengthening ears, blonde hair becoming fur, and bones breaking and reforming into something other than human.
Willow tried to bite back a sob as she stumbled from her chair and dashed for the door.
Faith pressed up against the wall just outside as Willow slammed out the doors and bounded off a set of lockers, sobbing. The brunette Slayer listened at the door.
"Do we go after her?" Ryan asked the other two.
"No, right now she's curled up on a bathroom floor, either crying her eyes out or throwing up," Aimsley said calmly.
"She won't do it," Krammer said in a flat voice.
"Yes she will," Aimsley countered. "She is the strongest one of the group. Willow Rosenberg will become a Hunter, gentlemen, and her first kill will be a Slayer werewolf and then her boyfriend."
"She's too soft," Krammer protested as Faith frowned.
"That's why you're merely a Hunter and I'm a recruiter," Aimsley said and Faith could hear the smirk in his voice. "I've done the research and the studies. Willow Rosenberg is the one that kept the group slaying every night while Summers was gone. Her sense of duty is probably just as strong as the Slayer's."
"You know her psych profile reveals she leans towards perversion," Krammer countered.
"Willow might discover she's gay or bisexual, so what?" Ryan demanded. "It's not like I care who anyone sleeps with if they're good Hunters."
"We were given the divine task of ridding the world of monsters and evil from the pit of Hell itself!" Krammer snapped. "Having perverts and sinners as Hunters goes against that very Divine mandate!"
"Krammer!" Aimsley snapped. "The girl hasn't even had sex with her boyfriend! We can't condemn her for what she MIGHT do in the future!"
"I don't see why we don't take Summers out ourselves," Krammer complained. "We're Hunters."
"We're also Watchers," Ryan countered. "It gives us an excellent opportunity to follow behind the Slayer once one is killed and turn the Hunters loose on whatever the Slayer has left."
"Besides, one of the prophets had a vision about the girl," Aimsley announced and Faith frowned. "She could be useful to us as a Hunter."
"Why? She's intelligent, yes, but useful?" Krammer demanded.
"Willow Rosenberg has a talent for magic that hasn't been seen in centuries among the Hunters," Aimsley said smugly. "Why don't Mages become Hunters?"
"Because the bastards are only in it for themselves," Krammer grumbled. "They have no morals."
"Exactly, imagine taking a Mage before they discover their talent and training them as Hunters," Aimsley said. "A Mage with the ethics and morals of a Hunter."
"Excellent!" Ryan agreed with that vision and Faith growled.
"Why not just use the other Slayer as well?" Krammer asked. "I don't like sending an untrained girl who isn't even 18 into a den with a werewolf!"
"Especially a Slayer turned werewolf?" Aimsley added.
"Yes!" Krammer snapped.
"Faith's psych tests show she's almost as amoral as a vampire," Aimsley explained and Faith felt her face blushing with rage. "She's also proven herself totally self-centered and a coward. When her Watcher was killed, she ran and kept running until she got here and dragged Summers and the others into her fight with the vampire. First sign of major trouble and she'd leave a partner behind. Faith could never aspire to martyrdom."
Faith felt her breathing quicken and her head roaring. She debated whether to rush in and crack every single skull open in the library or to run away.
The brunette Slayer knew they were right. She had fled; she had been a coward.
"What do we do about Rosenberg?" Ryan was asking when Faith listened again.
"Right now she's exhausted and in an emotional crisis," Aimsley said slowly. "My predictions are that she'll turn inside herself for awhile, probably several days before reaching back out to us. If she sees evidence that we're correct, then we've got her."
"What if she asks Summers?" Krammer asked.
"What could Summers say?" Aimsley countered. "Willow won't. She'll avoid Summers for a few days, then watch her carefully. It may take a full month but Willow will be ours and she'll become one of our finest Hunters."
"If the other Slayer or others get in the way?" Ryan asked.
"Then we take care of them," Aimsley said harshly. "The secondary plan still holds. Elimination of the threat from the Slayer werewolf and disbanding of the Sunnydale group."
Faith glanced up at noise in the hallway and ducked behind the end of some lockers as Willow came back into sight, heading for the library, 'resolve face' firmly in place.
* * *
Willow slammed the door open and glared at the three Watchers. Aimsley didn't seem surprised to see her.
"No, no way!" she protested. "Even…even if…even if she's a werewolf, she's taking care of it!"
Ryan reached into his briefcase and pulled out another folder.
"I'm afraid there's more," Aimsley said, pointing to the rest of the pictures in the first folder.
Willow glared. "Just tell me and stop playing mind games!"
"Alright," Aimsley said calmly. "The werewolf Ms. Summers becomes has found a way out of the crypt, one of those damned connecting tunnels to the sewers demons love about Sunnydale."
"No, not happening," Willow muttered.
"We anticipate the others will be rushing in here very soon once they see the morning news and learn that three homeless people were killed last night," Krammer said. "It was rather brutal and no doubt to anyone who knows Sunnydale that it was a werewolf."
"They'll be inquiring whether Daniel Oswald escaped last night," Ryan added. "All of us here know he didn't."
"It could have been another werewolf! We ran into one the other night and it wasn't even a full moon!" Willow protested.
"We have pictures," Krammer said flatly. "IT was followed. That's another reason we need your help, this werewolf is extremely smart and returned to the cell before changing back. Ms. Summers may not even be aware she escaped and killed."
"Werewolves are very instinctive creatures," Aimsley continued. "Even when in human form. It's amazing that you've done so well with the werewolf Oswald. Even if we explained all of this and showed Mr. Giles the evidence, we think he'd let something slip or even try to protect Ms. Summers. She'd sense his reluctance and the werewolf would force a confrontation."
"Why me? Why not Faith, she's the Slayer!" Willow cried, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. "Why make me your Judas?"
"Interesting choice of words for a Jew," Krammer smirked.
Willow blushed with anger. "Hey, well read here! Answer the question! Why not Faith?"
"She's not strong enough mentally or emotionally," Aimsley said calmly.
"But you think I am?" Willow squeaked. "Buffy's my best friend! My…she was my only friend except Xander!"
"Then be a friend," Aimsley said gently. "There's no way anyone could control a Slayer werewolf and three people are already dead. We don't know how many she killed when she ran away. What do you think she'll feel like when she discovers she's a killer? A monster that she usually hunts."
Willow spun on her heels and ran out of the library again. Faith heard and saw the school coming to life and moved down the hallway, wanting some privacy for her own thoughts.
* * *
Willow had no idea how long she ran or even where she was going until she dropped, leaning against a tree out of breath. The student looked around and realized she was across the street from one of the graveyards.
She wondered why she had come here and squeaked when she spotted a familiar figure working their way through the headstones. Willow ducked behind the tree and watched as Buffy trotted across the grass, backpack over her shoulders.
Joyce Summers pulled up next to the cemetery gates and leaned over to unlock the passenger door.
"Mom, you're late!" Buffy yelled as she raced around the front of the car. "I won't have time for breakfast if I'm going to hang out at the gallery with you today!"
"Sorry, I got hung up on a business call," Joyce answered. "I brought donuts though and milk."
"Thanks, Mom," Willow heard Buffy say as she closed the door and the car started off towards the school.
Willow allowed herself to slide down the tree in shock, finally able to cough aloud.
"Oh God, please, please don't do this," she whimpered, wrapping her arms around herself as sobs racked her body. "Not Buffy, please not Buffy."
Willow ignored the few people passing by on the sidewalk and wasn't surprised when they ignored her. It was common in Sunnydale. Any sign of distress was usually overlooked.
"Okay, Mrs. Summers knew Buffy was leaving for three days and cleared it with Snyder," Willow muttered, pulling out her notebook and taking notes. "She reminded Buffy about leaving but picked her up at the graveyard. That means Mrs. Summers knew where Buffy's been for the last three nights and helped set it up. Buffy's Mom knows Buffy's a werewolf."
Willow wanted to curl up in a tight ball and make the world go away.
"I wonder if Buffy's looking for a cure among the Celts or Indians?" Willow pondered, wondering about the strange symbols in Buffy's notebook. "Okay, Buffy knows she's a werewolf and is fighting it."
That didn't help with the problem of at least three dead people.
Willow didn't know what to do or where to go. She always turned to Buffy during times like this.
* * *
Faith slammed the baseball bat she had swiped from the sports equipment room against a bleacher support. The brunette Slayer had climbed under the bleachers and began swinging the bat as she raged in anger.
Not only was Buffy a raging werewolf but the Watchers still didn't consider Faith good enough! They went to Willow! Not her, not the one trained to fight werewolves and vampires! Not the Slayer trained to ignore feelings, pain and friendship when it came to the supernatural! Faith screamed and whacked the bat against the wooden structure.
Faith frowned when the bat shattered, cutting her palm open. The Slayer threw the mangled bat aside and watched the blood as it pooled in her palm.
This not only explained why Buffy had been so withdrawn but it also meant a lot of future heartbreak for the two women Faith cared about. The brunette Slayer already knew she wanted to be close to Buffy, it was an extremely rare thing for two Slayers to be able to work together. No one could know what she had been through except Buffy. Faith also was beginning to like Willow and wanted to deepen that potential friendship.
Faith had no idea how Willow was going to cope with the early morning revelations. Not only did Willow have a boyfriend that she worried about but now her best friend was also a werewolf and a killer.
Faith growled as she walked towards the main building of the school, her hand dripping blood.
To make everything worse, the goddamn Watchers wanted Willow to kill her best friend. To try and kill a Slayer turned werewolf.
That was more than any 17 year old should live through, Faith decided. That was even worse than seeing your Watcher, your only friend and mentor ripped apart by a vampire.
Faith ignored the curious glances from several students as she entered the library, holding part of her jacket wrapped around her bleeding hand.
Just as she had expected, Giles was talking with the three strangers in his office.
"Uh, Giles?" Faith called out, catching the librarian's attention. He looked irritated at the interruption until she half held up her hand, indicating she was injured.
"Excuse me, gentlemen," she heard him say as he opened the door and went behind the counter, grabbing the first aid kit. "What happened?" he demanded as she unwrapped her jacket from around the wound.
"I was training and the bat I was using shattered," Faith said calmly.
"Good God, Faith!" Giles exclaimed as he looked at the hand closely. Faith growled as the three Watchers walked out of Giles' office. "There's splinters all through your palm! I'm afraid that a simple bandage won't do this time."
"I figured, kinda hurts," Faith admitted, trying to keep her tough-girl appearance intact in front of the Watchers she already hated.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to take her to the hospital, gentlemen," Giles announced, placing a gauze pad in the Slayer's palm and wrapping it with more gauze.
"With her Slayer healing abilities, is that necessary?"
"Excuse?" Faith snapped. "Who are they? Rude much?"
"Oh, sorry, Faith," Giles said absently as he picked up the telephone. "These are Watchers sent over from England to meet you and Buffy. They're here to do some regular tests: physical strength, reaction time, things like that."
"Goody," Faith muttered. "You know me, I'm Faith."
"Yes, I'm Aimsley, that's Ryan and Krammer," the older one said.
"Yes, Principal Snyder please," Giles muttered into the phone. "He's out? Well, please inform him that a student came into the library with an injury. I'm bringing her over to the nurse now but I do believe that she's going to require medical attention. Yes, thank you."
Giles turned to his brunette Slayer. "Is Mrs. Summers at home or the gallery today, do you think?"
"I don't know, why? Why don't you drive me?" Faith asked.
"We have to keep up appearances, Faith," Giles said. "Rules of High school, I take you to the nurse and the nurse calls Joyce to come and drive you to the hospital or calls the paramedics. That keeps Principal Snyder off our backs and everything by the rules."
"I hate rules," Faith muttered as she held her hand.
"We know," Krammer muttered and the Slayer narrowed her eyes.
"Tell me, Tweed guy, do those tests include Buffy's and my incredible hearing?" she growled and was pleased when the Watcher blushed.
"I'll be back shortly, gentlemen," Giles said quickly, sensing the tension between his rebel slayer and the Watchers. "Come along, Faith."
Once outside in the hall Giles turned to Faith with a frown.
"What was that all about?" he demanded. "You were treating them like demons or vampires."
"Sometimes bad guys aren't always supernatural, Giles baby," Faith growled. "I got a bad vibe from them. Slayer senses going crazy."
Giles continued to frown. "Well, the tests are unscheduled and I had no word they were coming."
"Do some checking on them, please," Faith asked softly and Giles blinked in surprise. Faith didn't ask for anything, she merely took.
"Yes, of course," Giles nodded. "Is there something going on I should know about? Like why you were swinging a baseball around at 8:30 in the morning hard enough to break it into splinters?"
"Later, Giles," Faith muttered as they approached the nurse's office.