Crystal isn't above playing favourites, and her pets - including Willow, Michael and Anya - are loyal to her in the extreme. This wouldn't bother Buffy... but for the facts that she has found fresh burn marks on two of the students' necks. Giles immediately recognises the symbol as the mark of an extremely powerful witch whoses existence predates the Salem Witch Trails.
The primal witch will continue to wreak havoc until she successfully gathers a coven of thirteen people who have magickal ability. Once the group is created, she will perform a moonlit ritual to endow herself with infinite power, at which point all the members of her clan - indeed, all human beings - will be subject to her will. Buffy's going to need her Wicca girl, Willow, to save the world this time - but can Willow be persuaded by reason before it's too late?
