Part 7

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . and one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

The bell rang, signaling the end of the class session. William closed the book in his hand and straightened from where he was leaning against the front of his desk. "You can read this last chapter through on your own tonight. Tomorrow I want a two page paper on the significance of the green light, how it applied to Gatsby, and what it means to you."

The students noisily gathered up their notebooks and made their way to the door. Buffy scooted out of the way to let most of them pass. A few, all female, remained clustered around the desk.

"Mr. Browning!" Missy was talking over the other girls. "I still don't understand why he wasted so much time mooning over the woman who didn't even care enough to go to his funeral. She wasn't even worthy of him."

"Miss Matthews, you have to remember that he was in fact a criminal. His charm and connections didn't change that. Daisy stood to lose everything if she chose to be with him."

He was interrupted to field a few more questions before he put a stop to it by glancing up at Buffy and clearing his throat. "If you young ladies will excuse me, I seem to have a visitor. Come in Miss Summers, please."

The girls left reluctantly, with the exception of Dawn. "Hey Buffy. What's up?"

"Just here for a little conference with your teacher." Buffy kept her tone light.

"I haven't cut a class in two weeks!"

"I know." Buffy patted Dawn's arm. "There's no problem, just something I wanted to ask him about."

Dawn studied her sister suspiciously. "I've got to go anyway. Math." Dawn made a face and left the room, but turned to study the two adults before walking down the hall.

Buffy made sure Dawn was gone before turning to William. "Good classes today?"

"What's the problem?" He began clearing his desk.

"Who said there's a problem?"

"Oh right, you're here because you really care that my classes go well."

She gave him a little smile. "Well, I have to admit it's pretty interesting seeing you work... in a surreal kind of way. You sound kind of like Giles."

He nodded then turned to erase the board.

"So how come you know how to teach?"

"Because I'm a teacher."

"Again with the half answers!" Exasperation was entering her voice. "Come on. I know you're pretending to be a teacher, but how do you know what to do?"

He dropped the eraser onto its tray and turned to face her. "I wasn't always a monster, you know. Before I was turned I did have a life."

"Oh." She bit her lip. "So when you were human...?"

"I was a teacher at a boy's school in London. I specialized in literature and composition."

"You were a writer?"

"Of sorts." He walked away to straighten some desks. "Now, you going to tell me why you're here?"

Buffy sighed and crossed her arms. "Just trying to make with the small talk here." He turned and arched a brow at her. "Fine. Giles was wondering if you were going to stop by the shop tonight. Since I had a few hours before my shift I volunteered to come over here and ask. Good enough?"

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure. He was muttering about portents and strange disappearances, like that never happens in Sunnydale."

William nodded seriously and looked away from her.

"What is it?" She was mystified by his dark mood.

"It's just... these kids." He gestured to the empty desks. "I've had three disappear since the beginning of school."

"That's nothing different on the Hellmouth. When I was in tenth grade..."

"It is different!" He cut her off angrily. "These are my students. These are kids with lives and futures. Everybody in this bloody town pretends like it's nothing when one day they're gone." He sat heavily in his chair. "I was responsible for some of the missing kids when you were in school. They were food to me. Nothing more, and sometimes less." He looked up at her, hoping to make her understand. "Sometimes I killed them just because they were in the way."

"I know." She said softly.

He looked down at his hands. "I reveled in it." He shook his head. "There was one yesterday." He pointed to a desk in the second row. "She sat over there. Sweet kid. Wrote an essay about how she wanted to be a stewardess because she thought flying all the time for free would be fun. Her parents came in today to clear out her locker." He looked up at Buffy and tilted his head. "How many parents do you suppose I sent to this school to clean out a locker?"

She had no answer for him. The silence hung between them for a long time.

Finally he picked up his case. "Well then," he sighed. "This is getting us nowhere. Let's say we go off to the Magic Box, then see if we can't bugger up the next apocalypse."

Buffy nodded her agreement, and they walked out the door.

Part 8

"Anya, please do stop hovering!" Giles was elbow deep in reference books at the study table. Anya had been poking around for the last half-hour, sometimes flipping through a book and other times rubbing at some imaginary dust. Currently she was perched behind the Watcher, reading over his shoulder.

"Am I bothering you?"

Giles removed his glasses and leaned back in his chair. He rubbed his face with both hands. "This is very difficult." He sighed. "I'm looking for obscure references relating to calendar dates and astronomical alignments." He closed his book with another sigh. "And I'm not finding anything."

"Well you know." Anya moved to sit beside him. "It's hardly unusual for us to have demons and strange disturbances around here. The last time we had to save the world it was just Willow having a bad skin day."

"Anya. Haven't you heard anything through the, er, demon pipeline?"

She shook her head. "No, but they're unhappy with me. I'm under my quota." She laced her fingers together and sat them on the table. "Actually, I've only granted one wish all summer, and that one didn't go well."

"How so?"

"Well, every time a girl starts in about how mad she is because her boyfriend did something awful, I kind of." Anya paused and looked around, embarrassed. "I kind of start talking about myself. and Xander. then the whole wedding disaster comes up." She broke off and looked up at Giles. "Finally, this girl wished that I would just shut up."

Giles tried to choke back his laughter. "I can't honestly say I haven't had the same desire from time to time!" At her hurt look, he stifled his chuckles. "So tell me, did you curse yourself?"

"I had to!" Giles burst out laughing this time. Anya continued, "Then I teleported to D'Hoffryn, because he's the only one who could undo the curse. Normally," she clarified "I could undo my own, but since it was on me it got a bit. sticky."

"How did you.?"

"Actually I couldn't tell him since, you know, I couldn't talk. I tried pointing at my mouth and stamping my feet. I even tried drawing it, but he didn't understand."

"But."

"It turns out that he knew what had happened all along. We're monitored you know, like e-mail at work. He was just messing with me."

After Giles finished laughing, he replaced his glasses and leaned toward her. "Anya, in all seriousness, have you considered giving up your. calling?"

A sad look crossed her face. "I can't." She shook her head slowly. "Only D'Hoffryn can break the contract once I've accepted his offer."

"Have you asked him to let you out?" She looked at him and silently nodded her head. "I see."

The bell on the door rang, announcing the arrival of Buffy and William. Anya rose uncomfortably and retreated to the sanctuary of her counter. Giles glanced at her quizzically before turning his attention to the others. He stood. "William, I'm glad you could make it."

Since the vampire's return the two men had developed a very friendly relationship. They often played chess and engaged in philosophical conversations that Buffy had difficulty following. Who knew that Spike was smart? He had certainly done his best to conceal it with his bluster and bravado and big bad persona. His new soul seemed to counteract his need to misrepresent himself. The changes in him were fascinating, and Buffy kept discovering new aspects of his personality. Giles and William were in deep discussion already. Buffy was shaken from her musings when she heard Giles mention patrolling.

"Who's patrolling?"

"I've asked William here to check out the area by the river tonight. It seems that quite a few of the, um, the bodies have surfaced there. It's certainly suspicious."

"Well I can patrol!"

William fixed her with a gaze. "Didn't you say you had a shift tonight?"

She waved off the thought. "I'll just call in."

"Buffy," Giles interjected. "I really don't think you need to change your plans."

"Nonsense. If there is patrolling to do, I'm your girl. Besides, we only come across a possible apocalypse, what, maybe once or twice a year. I'm in." She strode over to the phone and punched in the number for the Doublemeat Palace.

William turned to Giles. "Tell me again about some of these portents. I'm only aware of the increased demon activity."

"Just recently there have been a few reports of." Giles removed his glasses and lowered his voice. "A dragon, of some sort."

"WHAT?" Buffy yelled.

"Or perhaps a Pterodactyl." He turned in her direction.

"You can't fire me! All I did was call in sick."

Giles blushed and replaced his glasses. "I see Buffy was addressing a separate issue."

"A dragon you say?" William furrowed his brow. "I can't say I've ever encountered one. Have you checked with Anya?"

"Not yet. We talked today, but got a little. sidetracked."

Buffy slammed down the phone.

"Hey!" Anya objected.

Buffy ignored her and strode unhappily over to Giles. "They fired me!"

"So I gathered"

"They said I called in sick too much."

"Two to three times per week could be construed as excessive."

"How do they know that I'm not really sick? I mean, do you think they routinely fire sick people? There should be a law about that!"

"Buffy." William interrupted her tirade. "You aren't sick."

"They don't know that." She turned to Giles. "So, tell me what you've got."

"As I was saying, there have been a few reports of a large flying creature, possibly a dragon."

"There are no such things as dragons." Anya called from the counter. She stepped from behind it and joined the group. "Dragons were made up in fairy tales. Now, there are a number of demons that have similarities. There's the Ghora."

"Bloody hell." William grimaced.

"You've had experience with a Ghora?" Giles inquired.

"Nasty things. Three heads. Lots of sharp teeth. Had one take a nip out of my side."

"When was this?" Buffy wanted to know.

William shook off the question. "Nothing to be concerned about. Was just helping a friend."

"It wouldn't be a Ghora." Anya continued. "They don't fly. Besides I think the last one died out about four-hundred years ago."

"Well the one that took a taste of me was doing a nice impression of being alive."

Buffy turned to William. "I say we go out and search around. Standing around talking about what it might be isn't going to get us far." She looked at Giles. "Keep checking the books and I'll let you know if we find anything. Oh, and will you call Dawn and let her know what's going on. She has some homework to do that should keep her busy."

"Fine." Giles nodded, already seating himself.

With that, Buffy and William picked up their weapons and left the shop.