She spun me away from the sight and pressed my face to her
     shoulder, "Don't look. It's probably not as bad as it..." She put her
     arms around me, and hugged me tightly. It seemed like eternity
     before she released me. She stared into my eyes, a somber
     expression on her face. "Stay right here. If anything comes, yell for
     me. I'm going to check it out." She disappeared into the library,
     closing the door behind her.

     "Buffy? Is that you?" I heard Giles' voice call from somewhere
     within the library. I perked up. If Giles was okay then surely
     Xander was, too! I pushed open the door and entered, trying to
     block the sight of the blood from my consciousness. To my
     dismay, there was still no sign of Xander or Giles anywhere. I
     began frantically digging through the broken shelves. What if they
     had been buried? This was all my fault! If I'd been there--

     "Giles?" Buffy called.

     "In my office! The door is blocked!" A whole shelf of books had
     been tipped against the door, trapping Giles inside. Buffy pulled it
     away as if it were a mere trifle and released Giles from his prison.
     "Is Mr. Harris all right?"

     "What happened?" Buffy queried without answering his question.

     "I'm not sure. One moment I was going into my office to get
     retrieve another volume. The next thing I knew the door slammed
     shut and I couldn't get out. I heard could hear quite a ruckus, but I
     don't know...what exactly happened. It sounded like quite a battle
     going on out here..." He looked around, surveying the damage.
     "Dear, God," he muttered as he absorbed the sight of the damage
     to his library...and of the blood. It took a few moments for him to
     regain his composure enough to speak. "Is there any sign of...of
     Xander?"

     Buffy regarded me for a moment, then without answering Giles,
     she moved back toward the abandoned books. She picked up the
     top one, ignoring the blood that dripped from it. It was still open to
     the pages about Dalton and Lissette. "I think that they took him
     with them." She looked at me with a pained expression. "They
     may be trying to..."

     "Bait me," I finished for her. The thought had already entered my
     mind. They had seen Xander and I together, and had probably
     followed us to the school, waiting for a chance to get to me. When
     Buffy had followed me, they probably had gone after Xander,
     planning to use him as a way to lure me to them. What had I
     done? I'd been trying to spare him, but instead I had left him to
     bear the brunt of the attack.

     "Will, you couldn't have known," as if she could read my mind,
     Buffy tried to soothe my feeling of guilt. "Don't worry. We'll find
     him. If they are holding him as bait, I'm sure they'll let their
     whereabouts be known pretty soon."

     "If...what if they're not holding him?"

     "Don't even think like that. I'm sure they're just trying to get the
     upper hand."

     "Well it's working. If they call, I'll go wherever they want. They can
     have me..."

     "There's no guarantee that they would let him go once they got
     you. We can't give in to them. We'll figure out where they are and
     we'll get him back. I swear, Willow. Everything will be okay. We've
     been in worse scrapes than this before."

     But it's never been my fault, I wanted to scream at her. Instead I
     did my best to fake a brave smile. She gave me a quick hug, then
     turned to Giles.

     "Any idea how we find them?"

     "Perhaps your friend, Angel, could help? He seems to have a way
     of finding out information."

     Buffy smiled slightly at the mention of Angel. She nodded. "I'll see
     if I can find him. Meanwhile, maybe you can take Willow home and
     stay with her until I can get there?"

     "All right, then," Giles started. They were overlooking one major
     problem.

     "My house is the first place they would look," I interjected. "I won't
     put my family in the line of fire." Like I did to Xander.

     "Take her to your place, then," Buffy altered their plans. "I'll get
     there as soon as I can find Angel." She turned to me. "Okay?"

     No, it's not okay. I can't just sit still while Xander's out there
     somewhere suffering because of me. That's what I thought, but I
     knew that Buffy would only get upset and frustrated with me. She
     would never let me go with her. I was going to have to do this on
     my own, but first I was going to have to give them the slip. The
     easiest way to do that would be to go along with their plan. I
     forced myself to nod.

     Buffy went to the cabinet and pulled out her crossbow and a few
     stakes. "Be careful," she urged us as she prepared to go out into
     the night. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

     "If you don't find him in an hour's time, I want you to check in with
     me," Giles informed her. "We'll go through some of the volumes I
     keep at home. Perhaps we'll find some sort of clue."

     "Sounds like a plan," Buffy nodded. "In the meantime, if you find
     anything, beep me."

     "Beep you?"

     Buffy rolled her eyes and pulled out her pager. "Welcome to the
     20th, Giles. You still have my number, don't you?"

     "Oh, yes. Beep you..." Giles turned to me. "Are you ready to go,
     Ms. Rosenberg?"

     I nodded. I was only half paying attention to their plan. It didn't
     matter. I was forming a plan of my own. Given, it probably wasn't
     the most brilliant plan that I'd ever come up with, but I didn't care.
     The only thing I cared about was rescuing my best friend.

     Giles and I followed Buffy out to the parking lot, and watched after
     her as she ran into the night, seeking the love of her life so that
     she could save the love of mine. I let Giles lead me to his car, but
     when he moved around to get in his side, I made my move. Before
     he could even register what was going on, I dashed in the
     direction opposite of where Buffy had gone.

     "Willow!" Giles called after me. "Willow, stop!" I ignored his calls
     and ran as fast as I could away from him, determined to lose him.
     "Buffy?"

     I kept running long after I could no longer hear Giles. When I
     finally stopped, I found myself at the park. "Dalton!" I yelled at the
     top of my lungs. "Come get me, Dalton!" I spun around, looking for
     any movement. Other than the couple of homeless men that I had
     inadvertently awakened, there was nothing. "Dalton! It's me you
     want! Let him go, and I'll go with you!" I yelled until I could yell no
     more. My throat was sore and swollen from the constant strain,
     and still I did not get the response I was looking for. I did, however
     attract the one person...or whatever...who could possibly help me
     find Dalton.

     "Willow?" a voice called from behind me. I whirled to face Angel as
     he approached. "Willow, are you all right?"

     I wasn't even aware of the tears that streamed down my cheeks
     until Angel wiped them away. "Willow, what's happened. Is it
     Buffy?"

     Buffy?! Is that all you can think about? My fear made me
     somewhat irrational. I forced myself to calm down. "Buffy's fine," I
     croaked. "She's out looking for you."

     "Willow, what is wrong? Let me help you." He stared down at me,
     concern glimmering in his dark eyes. "I'll take you home, then I'll
     go find Buffy, okay?"

     "No," I answered firmly. "I won't go home. Not until I know that
     Xander is safe."

     Angel gazed at me questioningly. "Does Dalton have Xander?"

     "Yes. Do you know Dalton?"

     Angel shook his head. "No, but I heard you calling his name. Who
     is he?"

     I quickly explained what I knew to Angel, giving him sketchy details
     at best. I could tell that I was being fairly incoherent. Somehow,
     though, he managed to get the gist of my story. I was only slightly
     aware that as I talked he began to lead me back toward the
     school.

     "Willow, if you promise me that when I get you home you will stay
     put, I will go see what I can find out. I have some...acquaintances
     who might know Dalton's whereabouts. Promise?"

     Since my original plan hadn't worked out I might as well go with
     his. "I promise, that I'll stay put until morning," I replied, "but after
     that...I've got to do something."

     "Fair enough. Now let's get you home."

     "No, take me to Giles. I was supposed to be at his place, but I...I
     just couldn't sit there and do nothing."

     Angel escorted me to the Watcher's house. After making sure that
     Giles was there and that I was going to stay put, he headed off to
     check with his...sources. He promised that he would let us know
     as soon as he found anything out.

     I spent the hours before sunrise anxiously awaiting word from
     Angel. Just when I thought there was no chance that he would
     possibly be back before dawn, he appeared. He wore a grim
     expression.

     "What did you find out?" Giles asked as the vampire sank into a
     chair.

     "Dalton arrived about three days ago. Apparently he sensed that
     his bride resided here. He and his entourage have set up camp
     near the old quarry...No one knows anything about what
     happened tonight, though. I'm sorry I couldn't find anything more
     for you, Willow."

     "No, you've done quite enough," Giles assured him. "We know
     where he is. Now all we need is for Buffy to get here so we can
     make plans...It's only a few minutes before dawn. Are you going to
     be able to get home?"

     "I'll be fine. I'll see if I can find anything more for you. Tell Buffy I'll
     meet her at the quarry at sundown."

     It will all be over by then, I thought. "Thank you for everything."

     "Of course. I only wish I could have more for you." He rose to his
     feet and after nodding his farewell, he headed into the last of the
     night.

     "Perhaps you should get some rest, Willow," Giles suggested. "It
     could be a long night ahead of us."

     "Okay," I agreed. I didn't intend to sleep for a single moment, but I
     knew that saying so would only lead to an argument. I guess I
     agreed too quickly, though, because Giles eyed me suspiciously.
     "Do you have a blanket I could use?"

     "Why don't you take the bed? I'll sleep on the sofa," Giles
     responded, relaxing his guard slightly.

     Just as I had hoped. I nodded, faked a yawn, and ducked into his
     room. If this was going to work, I would have to assure that he
     wouldn't walk in on me. It also wouldn't hurt if I could blend into the
     background. I had tried capturing their attention. Perhaps now it
     was time to try sneaking in to rescue him. Perhaps I should wear
     something dark so that I could fade into the shadows..."Can I use
     one of your shirts to sleep in?" I called to Giles.

     "Of course, of course you may, Ms. Rosenberg. There are several
     in the bottom drawer."

     "Thank you. Good night, Giles. Please wake me in a few hours,
     okay?" I didn't want to arouse his suspicion--I didn't think he would
     believe that I would willingly sleep all day while my best friend was
     out there. I also figured that a few hours would give me enough
     time to make a rescue attempt, but if I failed they would realize I
     was gone within a few hours and would come after me.

     "Good night, Willow."

     I shut the bedroom door and began rummaging for any dark
     clothing I could find. After a little searching I found a black
     sweater. I pulled it on over my blouse. It hung down almost to my
     knees. It would have to do, besides it would help cover my light
     colored jeans. I knew that wearing a pair of his pants would never
     work--they would be much too large to contend with.

     Once I was fairly sure that Giles wasn't going to come in to check
     on me, I slowly pushed his window open, careful to remain silent.
     Then, throwing caution aside, I slipped outside and headed
     toward the old quarry alone.