~~~
“Shit!”

Oz landed, where he wasn’t sure, but he did know that he landed with a thump.
He seemed to be in a dark...dungeon? It was damp, dark and had that wet musty smell he
always imagined dungeons would have.

He tried to hone in on Buffy’s smell but couldn’t. If his wolf senses hadn’t deserted him,
then Buffy wasn’t anywhere near-by. Seeing how they both were sucked into the same
whirlpool thing, he didn’t see how it was possible she wasn’t there. The room seemed very
small. Too small, cage-like but worse. No window, no bars...no Buffy?

“Concentrate.” Taking a deep breath, Oz concentrated on his inner ‘Buffy’s senses.
When she had discovered he hadn’t left town after Willow had chosen Tara, and he discovered
she patrolled alone after the split from Riley; they made it a point to meet up. All the time
together had developed his awareness of the girl.

Also, since his return from Tibet, he felt the pull to her stronger than he could almost withstand.

The only peace and comfort he could get was to be near her as often as possible.

“Buffy, where is Buffy?” As panic surged again, he retreated further into himself to achieve inner
peace. “I am my center. I control the wolf. I control all that is me. I-“ His speech to himself was cut
off when he tripped over something on the floor. Something, or someone.

Trying to hold onto his inner peace, he dropped to his knees and felt along the cold concrete for
the thing that had tripped him. When he came across a soft, cooling body, he swallowed the panic
that had risen to his throat in the form of bile and checked out his discovery.

He ran his hands over the small form and knew, deep inside, that he had found the slayer. She
was covered in some form of sticky goo. Very sticky, slimy goo. Which, at least, explained why he
couldn’t smell her. Now if he could figure out where they were, why they were here and what
was wrong with Buffy, all would be good again.