Hopping up on the table, Xander scooted around to get comfortable, pulling the stone and the necklace out from his pockets to keep them from digging into his legs and frowned at the strange items he held.

“That was Principle Snyder, and he’s the authority in the school,” Willow announced in a slightly hushed voice as if expecting Snyder to pop back up. “He doesn’t like any of the students and does his best to make us all miserable.”

As he held the strange stone, Xander grew more aware of the funny tingling that seemed to originate from the flickering stone, like the pins and needles feeling when circulation is restored. He should have been alarmed as the tingling slowly spread through his body, but instead, it felt comforting as if something that had been wrong for so long was finally being fixed.

“Xander? Hey Xander?” Startled, the brunette teen jerked out of his daze to find Willow standing there with a worried look in her green eyes. “Everything okay?”

He smiled his goofy smile that always put her at ease and sent a few adults checking their belongings for pranks. “Yeah, just got lost in my thoughts,” he confessed, curling his fingers around the stone and turning to Ed. “Can you put these back together?”

The blond teen walked over and somehow managed to get the stone and the necklace back together before holding it out to Xander who took it with a smile and a “thanks” before slipping it over his head, dropping the pendant under his shirt.

“We’re heading back to Giles’ place to figure out how we got here and how the hell were gonna get home again,” remarked Ed as he braided his hair again, pulling a band to tie it off before quickly braiding his brother’s long hair even as he frowned at Al’s head. “Does anyone have some shoes Al can borrow?”

Willow dug into her back, her long red hair falling about her face as she pulled out a pair of tennis shoes and bounced over to Al, holding them out. “Here you go.”

Sliding off the table, Xander gathered up his books and shoved them into his backpack, removing the wooden stake that had gotten wedged into the bottom. He slipped the stake into the waistband of his jeans and shouldered his pack before looking around at the rest of the group. Buffy was standing there, looking bored as she flipped a stake in her hand, waiting for everyone else with her large purse over one shoulder. Willow and Giles were stacking the old dusty books on a cart to be replaced on the bookshelves tomorrow. Roy was once more in his military-looking uniform while Ed tied off the braid he was working on, letting it thump solidly against Al’s back as the younger blond tied the shoes before standing up.

“Can we go yet?” drawled Buffy, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder before walking out with everyone scrambling to catch up before she left them to fend for themselves against the monsters that crawled out of the dark. Outside, they fell into their usual arrangement with Giles and Willow right behind Buffy and Xander bringing up the rear. Roy, Ed, and Al were in front of Xander, and Roy kept tossing suspicious looks at all of the Sunnydale natives.

“Is this town normally dangerous to warrant wooden stakes and knives?” Roy asked when they were about halfway to Giles’ home.

“Only after sunset,” replied Xander in an absent tone as he tried to keep one eye out for vampires and the ohter on the sidewalk but that tingling feeling was back, spreading through his body again in a comforting way, like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold winter day.

Ed turned slightly to glare at Xander. “Why are you all ready for an attack?” he demanded, taking an unconscious step towards Al. “What’s wrong with this place to inspire such actions?”

Suddenly, a hungry growl split the night as about half a dozen vampires in full game-faces emerged from the darkness, glaring at the group with hungry golden eyes.

“Them,” Xander stated, grabbing his wooden stake as the vampires spread out to surround the small group.