" Mom, what are you doing here?" " I brought you a snack." "I thought it was about time for me to come out and watch." "You know, the slaying." "The slaying is kind of an alone thing." "But it's such a big part of your life and I'd like to understand it." "It's something we could share." "Actually, it's pretty dull." "It's bam boom stick poof." "Good, honey." "Kill him!" "Buffy, he's over here." "Oh, my God." "It's Mr Sanderson from the bank." " He's getting away." " Stay." "Oh, God." "They said we can go home now." "They were little kids." "Did you see them?" "They were so tiny." "I saw." "Who could do something like this?" "I just..." "I'm so sorry that you had to see this, but I promise everything's gonna be OK." " How?" " Because I'm gonna find whatever did it." "I guess." "It's just you can't..." "You can't make it right." "I know." "I'm sorry." "But I'll take care of everything, I promise." "Just try and calm down." "Don't tell me to calm down." " I only meant..." " They were kids, Giles." "Little kids." "You don't know what it was like to see them there." "My mom can't even talk." "I'm sorry." "I just want to help." "I know." "Do we know how...?" " It wasn't the vampire?" " No, there were no marks." "Wait..." "I mean, there was a mark." "A symbol." "12th-century papal encyclical." "Try this." "It was on their hands." "The cops are keeping it quiet but I got a good look at it." "There." "Find me the thing that uses this symbol and point me at it." "What?" " Giles, speak." " Sorry." "I just wonder if we're looking for a thing." "The use of a symbol on a victim like this suggests a ritual murder." "An occult sacrifice by a group." "A group of human beings?" "Someone with a soul did this?" "I'm afraid so." "OK." "And while you're looking for the meaning of that symbol thingy, could you find a loophole in that "slayers don't kill people" rule?" "Buffy." "This is a dreadful crime, I know, and you have every right to be upset." "But I wonder if you're not letting yourself get a shade more personal because of your mother's involvement?" "It's completely personal." "Giles, find me the people that did this." "Please." " Hey." " Hey." "So, burrito." "This is a burrito." "Damn straight." "Hi, Oz." "Xander, hi." " Hey, Amy." " Hi, guys." "Hey, Amy." "I like your new hair." " I haven't seen you all day." "Where you been?" " Not with me." "No, sir." "Ask anyone." "No." "So, Buffy's birthday's next week." "Yeah." "Good." "I've been pondering gift options." " Come on." "We just got a topic here." " Hi, Buffy." "Buffy, what's up?" " You guys didn't hear?" " Hear what?" " A murder." "Somebody killed two little kids." " Oh, no." "They were seven or eight years old." "My mom found the bodies during patrol last night." " Oh, my God." " Kids?" " Why was your mom there?" " More bad." "She picked last night for a surprise bonding visit." "Your mom would actually take the time to do that with you?" "That really wasn't the point of the story, was it?" "No, the point is she's completely wigging." "Who's wigging?" "Everyone." "You know, cos of what happened." "It's so awful." "I had bad dreams about it all night." " Hi, Mrs Summers." " Hi, everybody." " Hi." " Hi, Mrs Summers." "Have you talked to Mr Giles yet about who could have done this?" "Yeah." "He..." "He thinks it might be something ritual, occult." "But he's still looking." "In the meantime, we're gonna add to my patrol and keep an eye out." "Occult?" "Like witches?" "Sorry." "Phlegm." "Too much dairy." "I know you kids think that stuff's cool." "Buffy told me you dabble." "Right." "Absolutely." "That's me." "I'm a dabbler." "But anybody who could do this isn't cool." "Anybody who could do this has to be a monster." "You know what?" "Would you guys excuse us for a little bit?" "Nice to see you." "What a burn." "Buff's mom was starting to accept the whole slayer thing." "Now she's gonna be double-freaked." "Makes me grateful that my mom's not interested in my extracurricular activities." "Or my curricular activities." "Are your friends gonna help with the investigation?" "Mom, I really think..." "Maybe this isn't the best place to talk about this." "Are you embarrassed to be hanging out with your mother?" "I didn't hug you." "No, it's just..." "This hall is about school, and you're about home." "Mix them, my world dissolves." "It's just, I keep thinking about who could have done such a thing." "I have to help." " Giles can use help in the library." " I called everybody I know." "I told them about the dead children." "They're all just as upset as I am." " You called everybody you know?" " And they called all their friends." "And guess what?" "We're setting up a vigil for tonight, for City Hall." "The Mayor is even gonna be there." "Now we are gonna get some action." "That's great." "But you know what?" "A lot of times when we're working on stuff like this, we like to keep the number of people that know about it kind of small." "Right." "Well, I'm sure there won't be all that many people." "This is great." "Maybe we could all go patrolling together later." "At least your mom's making an effort." "My mom's probably... standing right in front of me right this second." " Mom." " Willow." "I didn't know you would be here." " Hi, Bunny." " Hi." "Mom, what are you doing here?" "I read about it in the paper and, what with your dad out of town..." "Willow, you cut off your hair." "That's a new look." "Yeah, it's just a sudden whim I had in August." "I like it." " Hello, Joyce." " Sheila, I'm glad you could come." "There you are." "I almost didn't find you in this crush." "Mrs..." "Joyce." " Quite a turnout you have here." " Well, it's not just me, but thank you." " Well, it's been a while." " Right." "Not since..." "Not since..." "Not for a while." "There's a rumour going around, Mr Giles." "Rumour?" "About us?" "About what?" "About witches." "People calling themselves witches are responsible for this brutal crime." "Indeed?" "How strange." "Yes." "Strange." "Witches." "Well, actually not that strange." "I recently co-authored a paper about the rise of mysticism among adolescents." "I was shocked at the statistical..." "Are we starting?" " Hello, everybody." " He'll do something about this." "You'll see." "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." "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, I make these words my pledge to you." ""Never again!" "."" "I ask you to give your attention to the woman who brought us all here" " Joyce Summers." "Thank you." "Mr Mayor, you're dead wrong." "This is not a good town." "How many of us have lost someone who just disappeared?" "Or got skinned?" "Or suffered neck rupture?" "And how many of us have been too afraid to speak out?" "I was supposed to lead us in a moment of silence, but silence is this town's disease." "For too long, we've been plagued by unnatural evils." "This isn't our town any more." "It belongs to the monsters and the witches and the slayers." "I say it's time for the grown-ups to take Sunnydale back." "I say we start by finding the people who did this and making them pay." " Watch it." " Sorry." "Did I make you smudge your eyeliner?" "Gonna put a spell on me?" "Hey, what is your problem?" "Everyone knows he's into that voodoo-witch crap." "I heard about those kids." "People like him gotta learn a lesson." "And what about people like me?" "Get in my face and you'll find out." "No problem here." "We're walking." " You guys OK?" " Yeah." "We're fine." "Thanks, Buffy." " You'll be a busy slayer, baby-sitting them." " I doubt they'll have any more trouble." "I doubt your doubt." "Everyone knows that witches killed those kids, and Amy is a witch." "Michael is whatever the boy of witch is, plus being the poster child for yuck." "If you're gonna hang with them, expect badness." "That's what you get when you hang with freaks and losers." "Believe me, I know." "That was a pointed comment about me hanging with you guys." "Yeah, I got that one." "Besides, witches didn't do it." "Actually, I think they may have." "My research keeps taking me to European Wiccan covens." "You found the meaning of the symbol?" "I'm pretty sure." "There's some information I need that's in a book that Willow borrowed." "Can you find her?" " Buffy, hi." " Hey." "Is Willow around?" "How can I convince you that it's over?" "You assume because I'm here, she's here." "That I mysteriously know where she is." " Those her books?" " Yeah." "She's in the bathroom." "But the fact that I know that doesn't change that I have a complaint." "Look." "I'm getting sick of the judgement." "The innuendoes..." "Is a man not innocent until proven guilty?" "You are guilty." "You got illicit smoochies." "You have to pay the price." "I'm talking about the future guilt." "Everyone expects me to mess up again." "Like Oz." "I see how he is around me." "You know, that steely gaze, that pointed silence." " Cos he's usually such a chatterbox." " No, it's different now." "It's more a verbal nonverbal." "He speaks volumes with his eyes." "Hey, Buff." "What you looking for?" "You wanna borrow something?" " What is this?" " A doodle." "I do doodle." "You, too." "You do doodle, too." " This is a witch symbol." " OK." "Yeah." "It is." " Willow." " What?" "That symbol was on the murdered children." "Kids, step back." "Stay away from the lockers." "This is police business." "You wanna give me those, please?" "The books?" "Hey!" "It's not mine." "Oh, man, it's Nazi Germany and I've got Playboys in my locker." "This is a glorious day for principals everywhere." "No pathetic whining about students' rights, just a long row of lockers and a man with a key." " They just took three kids away." " What are they looking for?" " Witch stuff." " What?" "They got my spells." "I have to report to Snyder's office." "Oh, my God." "OK, Amy." "You'll have to come with me." "I have stuff in my locker." "Henbane, hellebore, mandrake root." "Excuse me." "Playboys, Can we turn the sympathy this way?" " Hey!" "Get your grubby, custodial hands off." " Stay back." "That hair spray cost $45, and it's imported." "My locker's next." "Buffy, I didn't do anything wrong." "The symbol is harmless." "I used it to make a protection spell for you, for your birthday, with Michael and Amy." "Only now it's broken because you know about it, so happy birthday." "And, please, you have to believe me." "Ms Rosenberg." "My office." "Giles." " They're confiscating my books." " We need those books." "I tried to tell that to the nice man with the gun." "There's something about the symbol." "Willow said she used it in a protection spell." "It's harmless, not a big bad." "So why would it turn up in a ritual sacrifice?" "I don't know." "Ordinarily, I'd say widen our research." "Using what?" "A dictionary and My Friend Flicka?" "This is intolerable." "Snyder has interfered before, but I won't take it from that twisted homunculus." "I love the smell of a desperate librarian in the morning." "You get out, and take your marauders with you." "Oh, my." "So fierce." "I suppose I should hear you out." "Just how is..." "Blood, Rites and Sacrifices appropriate material for a public-school library?" "Chess club branching out?" " This is not over." " I should say it's just beginning." "Fight it if you want." "But lift a finger against me, and you'll have to answer to MOO." "Answer to MOO?" "Did that sentence just make some sense that I'm not in on?" "Mothers Opposed to the Occult." "A powerful new group." "And who came up with that lame name?" "That would be the founder." "I believe you call her "Mom"." "Sit down, honey." " Principal Snyder talked to you?" " Yes." "He's quite concerned." " Mom, I know what this looks like..." " You don't have to explain, honey." "This isn't exactly a surprise." "Why not?" "Identification with mythical icons is perfectly typical of your age group." "It's a classic adolescent response to the pressures of incipient adulthood." "Is that what it is?" "Of course, I wish you could have identified with something less icky, but developmentally speaking..." "Mom, I'm not an age group." "I'm me." "Willow group." "Oh, honey." " I understand." " No, you don't." "Mom, this may be hard for you to accept, but I can do stuff." "Nothing bad or dangerous, but I can do spells." "You think you can, and that's what concerns me." "The delusions..." "Mom, how would you know what I can do?" "The last time we had a conversation over three minutes, it was about the patriarchal bias of the Mister Rogers' show." "King Friday was lording it over the lesser puppets..." " You're not paying attention." " And this is your way of trying to get it." "Now, I have consulted with my colleagues and they agree that this is a cry for discipline." " You're grounded." " Grounded?" "This is the first time ever I've done something you don't like and I'm grounded?" "I'm supposed to mess up." "I'm a teenager, remember?" " You're upset." "I hear you." " No, Ma." "Hear this." "I'm a rebel." "I'm having a rebellion." "Willow, honey." "You don't need to act out like this to prove your specialness." "Mom, I'm not acting out." "I'm a witch." "I can make pencils float, and I can summon the four elements." "OK, two, but four soon." "And I'm dating a musician." "Oh, Willow." "I worship Beelzebub." "I do his biddings." "Do you see any goats around?" " No, because I sacrificed them." " Willow." " All bow before Satan." " I'm not listening to this." "Prince of Night, I summon you." "Come fill me with your black, naughty evil." "That's enough." "Is that clear?" "Now, you will go to your room and stay there until I say otherwise." "We're gonna make some changes." "I don't want you hanging out with those friends." "It's clear where this little obsession came from." "You will not speak to Bunny Summers again." "I don't want you seeing that Willow any more." "I've spoken with her mother." "I had no idea her forays into the occult had gone so far." " You ordered the raid on the school today." " Honey, they opened a few lockers." "Lockers." "First syllable "lock"." "They should be private, and they took all Giles' books away." "He'll get most of them back." "MOO just wants to weed out the offensive material." " Everything else will be returned soon." " To solve this, we need those books now." "Sweetie, those books have no place in a public-school library." "Especially now." "Any student can waltz in there and get all sorts of ideas." "Do you understand how that terrifies me?" "Mom, I hate that these people scared you so much." "And I know you're trying to help." "But you have to let me handle this." "It's what I do." "But is it really?" "You patrol, you slay." "Evil pops up, you undo it, and that's great." "But is Sunnydale getting any better?" "Are they running out of vampires?" " I don't think that you "run out"..." " It's not your fault." "You don't have a plan." "You just react to things." "It's bound to be fruitless." "OK, maybe I don't have a plan." " Lord knows, I don't have lapel buttons." " Buffy..." "Maybe next time the world gets sucked into hell, I won't be able to stop it because the anti-hell-sucking book isn't on the reading list." "I'm sorry." "I didn't mean to put down..." "Yeah, well, you did." "It doesn't matter." "I have to go." "I have to go on one of my pointless patrols and "react" to some vampires, if that's all right with MOO." "And nice acronym, Mom." "I'm just trying to make things better." " You are." " There's bad people out there." " And we can't sleep." " Not until you hurt them." "The way they hurt us." " Hey." " Hey." " How are you?" " I'm all right." "I think I'm better than you right now." "I heard about this." "People are talking." "People are even talking to me." "It's strange." "People die in Sunnydale all the time." "I've never seen anything like this." "They were children." "Innocent." "It makes a difference." "And Mr Sanderson from the bank had it coming?" "My mom said some things to me about being the Slayer." "That it's fruitless." "No fruit for Buffy." " She's wrong." " Is she?" "Is Sunnydale any better than when I first came here?" "OK, so I battle evil." "But I don't really win." "The bad keeps coming back and getting stronger." "Like that kid in the story, the boy that stuck his finger in the duck." "Dyke." "It's another word for "dam"." "OK." "That story makes a lot more sense now." "Buffy, you know I'm still figuring things out." "There's a lot I don't understand." "I do know it's important to keep fighting, and I learned that from you." " But we never..." " We never win." " Not completely." " We never will." "That's not why we fight." "We do it cos there's things worth fighting for." "Those kids." "Their parents." "Their parents." " I know it's not much." " No." "No, it's a lot." ""Session interrupted"?" "." "Who said you could interrupt, you stupid, useless fad?" "I said "fad", and I'll say it again." "At that point, I will become frightened." " Take heart." "We found your books." " Put the heart back." "We can't get 'em." "They're locked up in City Hall." ""Frisky Watcher's chat room." Giles!" " Buffy, Oz and I found out..." " What do we know about these kids?" " What?" " Facts." "Details." " Well, they were found in the park." " No." "Where did they go to school?" "Who were their parents?" "What are their names?" "We know everything about their deaths, but not even their names." "Sure we do." "It's on the tip of my tongue." "It never came up." "Ever." "And if no one knows who they are, where did these pictures come from?" "I just assumed someone had the details." "I never really..." "That is strange." " We need to get some information." " Can somebody else do it?" "It locked me out." " Well, if you wouldn't yell at it." " I can look, but Willow'd know the sites." " Great." "She can't even come to the phone." " We don't need a phone." "All right, we're linked." "If anybody's ID'd the kids, she'll pull it up and feed it here." ""Two children found dead." "Mysterious mark..."" "No." "These children were found near Omaha in 1949." "Yeah, they ain't ours." "Keep going." "Wait." " Those are..." " The same kids." "50 years ago." "1899." "Utah." "Two children." ""Rural community torn apart by suspicion."" " A hundred years." "How is this possible?" " There's no mention of who they were." "They've never been seen alive, just dead." "A lot." "Look." "There were more articles." "Every 50 years." "All the same." "From as far back as 1649." "Can I see that?" "Written by a cleric from a village near the Black Forest." "He found the bodies himself." "Two children." "Greta Strauss, age six." "Hans Strauss, eight." "So they have names." "That's new." "Willow." "I thought I made myself clear." "You're not minding me." " Mom." " I see that you're challenging me." "But I will not have you communicating with your cybercoven or what have you." "Coven?" "What happened to me being delusional and acting out?" "That was before I talked in depth with Ms Summers and her associates." "It seems I've been rather closed-minded." "So you believe me?" "I believe you, dear." "Now all I can do is let you go with love." "Let me go?" "What does that mean?" "Mom?" "Now, wait a minute." "There is a fringe theory held by a few folklorist that some regional stories have actual, very literal, antecedents." " And in some language that's English?" " Fairytales are real." "Hans and Gre..." "Hansel and Gretel?" "Wait." "Hansel and Gretel?" " Breadcrumbs, ovens, gingerbread house?" " Of course." "It makes sense now." "Yeah, it's all falling into place." "Of course, that place is nowhere near this place." "Some demons thrive by fostering hatred and persecution amongst the mortal animals." "Not by destroying men, but by watching them destroy each other." "They feed us our darkest fear and turn peaceful communities into vigilantes." "Hansel and Gretel tell everyone about the mean old witch." "Then she, and maybe dozens of others, are persecuted by a righteous mob." "It's happened throughout history." "It happened in Salem, not surprisingly." "I'm still spinning on this whole "fairytales are real" thing." " So what do we do?" " I don't know, but I'm gonna go trade my cow in for some beans." " No one else is seeing the funny here?" " We need to talk to Mom." "If she knows the truth, she can defuse the whole thing." " What happened?" " I was attacked." " Officially not funny." " By whom?" "My dad." "His friends." "They're taking people out of their homes." " There's a trial at City Hall." "They got Amy." " Michael, stay here." "We'll go find my mom." " Willow." " Tell her to get out of her house." "Stay in my office." "Mom." "We really have to talk." " Time to go." "And get your coat." "It's chilly out." " Go?" "Go where?" "I said get your coat, witch!" "Did you speak with the families on Sycamore Street?" "Buffy." "Mr Giles." "Did something happen?" " Mom, we need to talk to you." "Now." " Well, of course, honey." "Go on without me." "No, we need to talk alone." "There's more to this than..." "You were right." "It was easy." " I told you." " It gets even easier." "But I'm still scared of the bad girls." "You have to stop them." "You have to make them go away." "For ever." "Willow!" " Hold still." "Be a good girl." " No!" "Why are you doing this to me?" "Mom!" "There's no cure but the fire." "Buffy!" "Wake up!" "This is crazy, Mom." "Buffy!" "Wake up!" " Cordelia?" " Took you long enough to wake up." "My hand hurts." "Pity." " Why are you here?" " Things are way out of control, Giles." "First the thing at school, then my mom confiscates all of my black clothes and scented candles." "I came to tell Buffy to stop this craziness, and found you all unconscious again." "How many times have you been knocked out, anyway?" "I swear, one of these times, you're gonna wake up in a coma." "Wake up in..." "Never mind." "We need to save Buffy from Hansel and Gretel." "Now, let's be clear." "The brain damage happened before I hit you." "What's with the grim?" "We're here to join you guys." "No, really." "Why should you guys have all the fun?" "We wanna be part of the hate." "Just so we're clear, you guys know you're nuts, right?" " Buffy!" " Good morning, sleepyhead." " Mom, you don't want this." " Since when does it matter what I want?" "I wanted a normal, happy daughter." "Instead, I got a slayer." " Torch." " Thanks." "This has been so trying." "You've been such a champ." " You, too, Joyce." " We should stay close." "Have lunch." "I'd like that." "How nice." " You can't be serious." " Mom, don't!" "All right." "You wanna fry a witch?" "I'll give you a witch!" "Goddess Hecate, work thy will." "Before thee, let the unclean thing crawl." " She couldn't do us first?" " You've seen what we can do." "Another step and you will all feel my power." "What are you gonna do?" "Float a pencil at 'em?" "It's a really big power." "Yes." "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." " But you promised." "You have to kill the bad girls." "I can't believe you had this stuff in your apartment." "It smells foul." "Shred the wolfsbane - that's the leafy stuff." "And then you can crush the satyrion root." "Lüften Sie den something..." " Schumer?" "Schuluter?" " What are you muttering about?" "It's an incantation." "It's in German, and without my books..." " What does it mean?" " It's about lifting a veil." "It should make the demons appear in their true form, which, with any luck, will negate their influence." "And drop a toadstone into the mixture." "This?" " It doesn't look like a toad." " No reason it should." "It's from inside the toad." "I hate you." "We gotta get inside." "Oh, God!" "Help!" " Will?" " Sounds like she's right above us?" " They hurt us." " Burn them." "Mom, dead people are talking to you." "Do the math." " I'm sorry, Buffy." " Mom, look at me." "You love me." "You're not gonna be able to live with yourself if you do this." "You earned this." "You toyed with unnatural forces." "What kind of a mother would I be if I didn't punish you?" "You got hair with that." "God, you really were the little youthful offender, weren't you?" "You must just look back on that and cringe." "Buffy, I can't take it." "It's too hot." "Sorry, Will." "If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened." "It wouldn't be..." "Stop them!" "Buffy!" "I'm on fire!" " Cordelia, put out the fire!" " Right." "OK, I think I liked the two little ones more than the one big one." "Oh, my God!" "Protect us!" "Kill the bad girls!" "You know what?" "Not as convincing in that outfit." "Did I get it?" "Did I get it?" "We're here to save you." " Your mom doesn't mind us doing this here?" " She doesn't know." " Business as usual?" " Sort of." "She's doing that selective-memory thing your mom was so good at." " She forgot everything?" " No." "She remembered the part where I said I was dating a musician." "Oz has to come for dinner next week." "So that's sort of like taking an interest." " OK, shall we try this again?" " Let's do it." "I think we got the mix of herbs right this time." "OK." "Ready?" "Diana." "Hecate." "I hereby license thee to depart." "Goddess of creatures great and small, I conjure thee to withdraw." "Maybe we should get her one of those wheel thingies."