The Swap, Chapter 8
May. 22nd, 2014 06:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maryperk73703Anya meets Afreet, Buffy talks to Dawn and goes to school, and Tara knows something is up.
Chapter 8
“Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it?” Zoof tapped his chin.
"Yeah," Anya grunted. "Not a Chaos demon then. Hallie is in town. She didn't mention any of my other old friends being here, not even our very own patron saint for drunken idiots."
Zoof eyed Anya. "There's a patron saint for drunken idiots?"
"Of course. Ralphie-Boy is the life of the party."
"So, not a chaos demon or a vengeance demon." Zoof pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's left?"
"Oh, many things," Anya replied. "However, I think we're looking at a witch or djinni."
"How can we find out for sure?"
"By making a wish." Anya looked around. "Let's take this to your office."
After Zoof and Anya moved to his office, she made a wish. "I wish the person fulfilling the wishing in Sunnydale was in this room with us."
The room filled with smoke, and a figure appeared. "Drats. I hate when this happens."
"Who are you, and why are you in Sunnydale?" Anya demanded.
The figure bowed low with an exaggerated hand gesture. "I am Afreet, great and powerful djinni of the infamous Ali Baba. Sunnydale is one good turn at Albuquerque."
"Why all the wish granting?" Anya ordered.
Afreet smirked in an evil manner at the ex-demoness. "Because I can." In a flash of light the djinni disappeared.
"Crap," Anya mumbled. "Now what? He's not tied to anything." Her hand wandered to her chest where her own amulet used to hang.
"Maybe we can convince him to leave," Zoof huffed.
Anya shook her head. "Sunnydale is one big hotbed of chaos. It'll take something huge to make Afreet take back all those wishes."
"So, what do we do?" Zoof asked. He closed his eyes in thought. "We could get some of the peaceable demons together, and ask him to leave."
"We could wish him away, but we'd have to be extra careful about how we word it." Anya's eyes lit up. "I remember one time just a few decades ago, one of the women kept saying her ex was a son of a bitch. When she finally wished him out of her life, I turned him into a dog."
"Wow, yeah. Definitely careful then," Zoof agreed.
"If only we could tie Afreet to an object. Then, we could trap him," Anya muttered. "We need Giles."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
THE NEXT MORNING
Lance woke for a few moments when a pounding noise interrupted his sleep. When it stopped, he rolled back over until his mother peeked her head in the bedroom door.
"Lance, dear. Mr. Guzzetti is here to see you," Mrs. Brooks said in a soft-gentle voice. "He's really mad about something."
Lance covered his head with his pillow. "Tell him to go away, mom."
Mrs. Brooks stepped into the room, and she closed the door. "He brought that nice young man, Ace Black, with him. They said you're on some kinds of weird power trip."
"I'm the king." Lance sat up. "My rule is absolute. Off with their heads, I say. I wish I had some loyal minions that would do exactly as I wish."
"Done!" A disembodied voice blasted through the room. Two short, scabby creatures in robes appeared.
"Master," they said as one.
Mrs. Brooks eyed the minions. "This town just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I need to get out of Sunnydale. I wish I was someplace warmer."
In the blink of an eye, Mrs. Brooks disappeared. A few moments later she found herself on a tropical beach at a luau.
Lance shrugged his indifference to his mother's sudden absence. He turned to his newly acquired minions. "Go get rid of my unwanted guests, boys."
"Yes, master," they said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Buffy switched on the radio on her way to the fridge. She'd forgotten how hungry teenagers could be, and she was starving.
"This is Roberta and Thomasine in the morning with all your Sunnydale news, brought to you by Leon's Furniture Depot on Main Street. Be sure to tell him Roberta and Thomasine sent you. Hey, Thom, what is our top story this morning?" A chipper female voice echoed through the kitchen.
"I'm so glad you asked," Thom responded. "The Sunnydale Police Department and Santa Barbara County Animal Control reports that the city has been inundated with wild animals. So, folks, if you see a few stray deer, antelope, rabbits, sheep, or goats on your way to work, please call animal control." The newscaster rattled off a phone number.
"Wow, that is strange," Bob said. "That would explain the goat I saw in my neighbor's front yard. I thought they'd bought themselves a new lawn mower."
"Yes, it is very strange, even for good old Sunnydale. I'll tell you what is even stranger, animal control officials report that all the animals caught so far are male."
Buffy shook her head. "Only in Sunnydale, I swear." She opened the fridge, and she winkled her nose at the contents. "No breakfast today."
Dawn stepped into the kitchen with a disgruntled look on her face. She turned off the radio while she glared at Buffy.
"I was listening to that," Buffy said. She closed the fridge and moved on to search the cabinets for food.
"Where's the money?" Dawn crossed her arms over her chest. "The bank account only has two dollars in it."
"That's all we have," Buffy replied. She opened a cabinet door.
"No, you're hiding it someplace," Dawn declared. "You took it out and hid it someplace just so I couldn't get a cell phone."
"You really think that, don't you?" Buffy stared at Dawn. Finally, she shook her head. "There's no money, Dawn. It doesn't grow on trees or magically appear. I distinctly remember making a wish for a million dollars a few months ago. Now, as the older adult sister, you need to get a job. Have fun."
"A job?" Dawn gasped. "I'm too young to work."
"Not anymore," Buffy said. There was a knock on the front door. "There's Carlos. He's walking me to school. Bye, bye, sis. The help wanted ads are in the classified section of the newspaper." She gave Dawn a wave before she flounced out of room.
After Buffy left with Carlos, Dawn started a systematic search for the money she was sure was hidden someplace in the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Tara opened the front door of the Summers' house. She immediately thought that they'd been robbed. The foyer mirror lay on the floor, upside down and with the paper on the back ripped off. The table drawer was open with the contents rifled through.
"Where is that money?"
Buffy stumbled out of the living room with her hair disheveled and her clothes rumpled. "Oh hey, Tara," she said when she saw who was standing in the foyer. "So, do you know where the money's hidden?"
Tara shook her head. The aura around Buffy was more different than her usual aura. It was a strange combination of both Dawn and Buffy. "Uh, there isn't any money, Buffy. You know that. It's why you're planning on getting a job," Tara said with a careful tone of voice. She needed to be careful until she knew what was going on.
"Mom's insurance?"
"We've been over this before," Tara replied. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"There's only two dollars in the bank account."
"You need to get a job, Buffy." Tara looked around the foyer. She caught a glimpse of the destruction in the dining room. "All this needs to be cleaned up before that lady from child services shows up. You don't want to lose custody of your sister, do you?"
"Fine." Dawn turned around with a huff, and she stomped off towards the kitchen.
"That so wasn't Buffy," Tara muttered while she picked up the mirror. "What is going on around here?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
At lunch, Buffy and Spike joined Kit at one of the tables in the cafeteria. They were soon joined by Billie, Shea, and Cain.
"So, I talked to Mrs. Butler," Kit said once everyone sat down. She grimaced at her limp French fries. "She's really excited about Pascel's offer."
"That's good news," Billie replied while she stole a fry from Cain's plate. "We should totally hit the dollar store after school."
"Yeah," Shea agreed. "Then, on Monday, we can talk to Tia about the food. We so totally have this jam in the bag. We're like the Three Musketeers. Only there's six of us."
"Awesome plan, guys," Spike said, trying to sound teen-ager like.
Cain leaned forward, and he said with a laugh, "You'll never believe what RJ did in class today?"
"What? Pick on someone?" Buffy grumbled. She'd taken an instant dislike to the teenager. "That's nothing new. He was bugging Carlos yesterday."
"No, he turned in his homework and asked for extra credit." Cain leaned back. "Mrs. Butler was so surprised she almost sent him to see the nurse."
"There have been some awfully weird things going on today," Kit said with a shake of her head. "Mom came home from work last night and said that The Pizza Parlor had a big sign out front saying the name was changed to King Lance's Pizza Kingdom."
"Doesn't RJ's brother Lance work there?" Billie asked. "He graduated a few years ago, remember?"
The whole table looked over at RJ who was busy eating his lunch with one hand and reading a biology text with the other. He was ignoring his buddies for a change.
"Like I said, weird things going on," Kit muttered.
A few minutes later, the lunch bell rang, and the six teenagers went their separate ways until they met up again after school. They piled into Cain's car, and they went to the dollar store for decorations.
Spike trailed around behind Buffy while she went up and down the aisles examining the merchandise. "You want to go do something when we're done here?" he asked.
Buffy looked over at Carlos. She pushed away any guilt she felt for leading a teenage boy on. She planned on enjoying being a teenager again. "Sure, what do you have in mind?"
Spike had no clue what teenagers did on 'dates'. Nobody ever dated on the T.V. shows he watched.
"Come over to my house. We can play video games," Cain said when he slipped by Spike and Buffy.
"Uh, okay?" Spike wasn't too sure about that idea. He wanted to spend time alone with Buffy. "Only if Dawn wants to," he said after a few moments.
Buffy wrinkled her nose. "I'm not really into video games. I'd rather get a sandwich and go to the park. It's been a while since I could just sit and be."
"Be what?" Kit asked. She held a package of black and orange LED lights in her hands.
"Me, I guess," Buffy replied. "This last summer was really hard, and I guess you could say that it's even harder now." She sighed. "You were right though. A lot of weird things happen in Sunnydale."
"Dawn, do you want to go to the park and just talk?" Cain asked.
"Yeah, I think I do," Buffy replied.
"A picnic and a talk in the park. Sounds perfect." Kit stepped up to Buffy, and she gave the other girl a hug. Then, she stepped back to wave the package of lights in the air. "Now, do you guys like these lights?"
Buffy and Cain both nodded.
"Good. They 're on sale, three for a dollar. I'm thinking ten dollars worth should be enough." Kit looked around. "We need a cart. Carlos, can you get us one?"
"Sure, pidge." Spike sauntered off towards the front of the store where the carts were stored. So, he missed the speculative look on Buffy's face.
"Guys. Guys. Do we want to do centerpieces for the tables?" Billie bounced up to the group. "I just saw the cutest idea for a centerpiece, and it's really cheap too."
"Lights, centerpieces, and napkins." Kit had a thoughtful look on her face. "Is it enough? We're not in Mrs. Butler's class this time. Should we do more?"
Buffy shook her head. "No, we should ask Mrs. Butler about storage for decorations though. If we bought a little before each poetry jam we could have a whole bunch of stuff after a while."
"Or ask Tia," Shea suggested. "Especially if we could get permission to hold all the reads at Pascel's."
"That might work, but let's get through this one first," Buffy suggested. "I haven't even started my poem yet."
Kit slipped her arm through Buffy's. "We can start working on it at the picnic. After our talk, of course."
Spike pushed a cart back towards Buffy and the teenagers. "Bloody Hell," he grumbled. "I'm a soddin' lap dog. She says jump and I jump. Don't even ask how high." He sighed. "Guess there are worse things to be. At least, I'm not like Forehead and Cardboard. I won't get goin' when the goin' gets tough."
"What are you muttering about?" Cain asked, his voice laced with concern.
"Nothing important." Spike winced. He'd almost been caught.
"If you say so." Cain tipped his head towards the girls. "While they're buying the decorations, we should head over to Pascel's for picnic munchies."
"Alright." Spike handed the cart off to Buffy. "You want anything special, luv?"
Buffy eyed Carlos for a moment. The term of endearment falling from his lips reminded her of Spike. A sudden shaft of guilt pierced through her. Spike had been there for her since she'd been back, and she wondered if he was confused by Dawn's actions in Buffy's body.
"Dawn? Are you okay?" Kit asked.
Buffy jolted out of her thoughts. "Yeah. I'll be fine after our talk. Maybe. If you're all still around, and don't think I'm crazy."
"There's nothing you can tell me that will ever make me think you're crazy." Spike stepped closer to Buffy, and he took her hand. "I know crazy, and you're not."
Buffy stared up into Carlos' face. As she searched his eyes, she had a sudden epiphany. "Thank you. Spike."
Chapter 8
“Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it?” Zoof tapped his chin.
"Yeah," Anya grunted. "Not a Chaos demon then. Hallie is in town. She didn't mention any of my other old friends being here, not even our very own patron saint for drunken idiots."
Zoof eyed Anya. "There's a patron saint for drunken idiots?"
"Of course. Ralphie-Boy is the life of the party."
"So, not a chaos demon or a vengeance demon." Zoof pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's left?"
"Oh, many things," Anya replied. "However, I think we're looking at a witch or djinni."
"How can we find out for sure?"
"By making a wish." Anya looked around. "Let's take this to your office."
After Zoof and Anya moved to his office, she made a wish. "I wish the person fulfilling the wishing in Sunnydale was in this room with us."
The room filled with smoke, and a figure appeared. "Drats. I hate when this happens."
"Who are you, and why are you in Sunnydale?" Anya demanded.
The figure bowed low with an exaggerated hand gesture. "I am Afreet, great and powerful djinni of the infamous Ali Baba. Sunnydale is one good turn at Albuquerque."
"Why all the wish granting?" Anya ordered.
Afreet smirked in an evil manner at the ex-demoness. "Because I can." In a flash of light the djinni disappeared.
"Crap," Anya mumbled. "Now what? He's not tied to anything." Her hand wandered to her chest where her own amulet used to hang.
"Maybe we can convince him to leave," Zoof huffed.
Anya shook her head. "Sunnydale is one big hotbed of chaos. It'll take something huge to make Afreet take back all those wishes."
"So, what do we do?" Zoof asked. He closed his eyes in thought. "We could get some of the peaceable demons together, and ask him to leave."
"We could wish him away, but we'd have to be extra careful about how we word it." Anya's eyes lit up. "I remember one time just a few decades ago, one of the women kept saying her ex was a son of a bitch. When she finally wished him out of her life, I turned him into a dog."
"Wow, yeah. Definitely careful then," Zoof agreed.
"If only we could tie Afreet to an object. Then, we could trap him," Anya muttered. "We need Giles."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
THE NEXT MORNING
Lance woke for a few moments when a pounding noise interrupted his sleep. When it stopped, he rolled back over until his mother peeked her head in the bedroom door.
"Lance, dear. Mr. Guzzetti is here to see you," Mrs. Brooks said in a soft-gentle voice. "He's really mad about something."
Lance covered his head with his pillow. "Tell him to go away, mom."
Mrs. Brooks stepped into the room, and she closed the door. "He brought that nice young man, Ace Black, with him. They said you're on some kinds of weird power trip."
"I'm the king." Lance sat up. "My rule is absolute. Off with their heads, I say. I wish I had some loyal minions that would do exactly as I wish."
"Done!" A disembodied voice blasted through the room. Two short, scabby creatures in robes appeared.
"Master," they said as one.
Mrs. Brooks eyed the minions. "This town just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I need to get out of Sunnydale. I wish I was someplace warmer."
In the blink of an eye, Mrs. Brooks disappeared. A few moments later she found herself on a tropical beach at a luau.
Lance shrugged his indifference to his mother's sudden absence. He turned to his newly acquired minions. "Go get rid of my unwanted guests, boys."
"Yes, master," they said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Buffy switched on the radio on her way to the fridge. She'd forgotten how hungry teenagers could be, and she was starving.
"This is Roberta and Thomasine in the morning with all your Sunnydale news, brought to you by Leon's Furniture Depot on Main Street. Be sure to tell him Roberta and Thomasine sent you. Hey, Thom, what is our top story this morning?" A chipper female voice echoed through the kitchen.
"I'm so glad you asked," Thom responded. "The Sunnydale Police Department and Santa Barbara County Animal Control reports that the city has been inundated with wild animals. So, folks, if you see a few stray deer, antelope, rabbits, sheep, or goats on your way to work, please call animal control." The newscaster rattled off a phone number.
"Wow, that is strange," Bob said. "That would explain the goat I saw in my neighbor's front yard. I thought they'd bought themselves a new lawn mower."
"Yes, it is very strange, even for good old Sunnydale. I'll tell you what is even stranger, animal control officials report that all the animals caught so far are male."
Buffy shook her head. "Only in Sunnydale, I swear." She opened the fridge, and she winkled her nose at the contents. "No breakfast today."
Dawn stepped into the kitchen with a disgruntled look on her face. She turned off the radio while she glared at Buffy.
"I was listening to that," Buffy said. She closed the fridge and moved on to search the cabinets for food.
"Where's the money?" Dawn crossed her arms over her chest. "The bank account only has two dollars in it."
"That's all we have," Buffy replied. She opened a cabinet door.
"No, you're hiding it someplace," Dawn declared. "You took it out and hid it someplace just so I couldn't get a cell phone."
"You really think that, don't you?" Buffy stared at Dawn. Finally, she shook her head. "There's no money, Dawn. It doesn't grow on trees or magically appear. I distinctly remember making a wish for a million dollars a few months ago. Now, as the older adult sister, you need to get a job. Have fun."
"A job?" Dawn gasped. "I'm too young to work."
"Not anymore," Buffy said. There was a knock on the front door. "There's Carlos. He's walking me to school. Bye, bye, sis. The help wanted ads are in the classified section of the newspaper." She gave Dawn a wave before she flounced out of room.
After Buffy left with Carlos, Dawn started a systematic search for the money she was sure was hidden someplace in the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Tara opened the front door of the Summers' house. She immediately thought that they'd been robbed. The foyer mirror lay on the floor, upside down and with the paper on the back ripped off. The table drawer was open with the contents rifled through.
"Where is that money?"
Buffy stumbled out of the living room with her hair disheveled and her clothes rumpled. "Oh hey, Tara," she said when she saw who was standing in the foyer. "So, do you know where the money's hidden?"
Tara shook her head. The aura around Buffy was more different than her usual aura. It was a strange combination of both Dawn and Buffy. "Uh, there isn't any money, Buffy. You know that. It's why you're planning on getting a job," Tara said with a careful tone of voice. She needed to be careful until she knew what was going on.
"Mom's insurance?"
"We've been over this before," Tara replied. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"There's only two dollars in the bank account."
"You need to get a job, Buffy." Tara looked around the foyer. She caught a glimpse of the destruction in the dining room. "All this needs to be cleaned up before that lady from child services shows up. You don't want to lose custody of your sister, do you?"
"Fine." Dawn turned around with a huff, and she stomped off towards the kitchen.
"That so wasn't Buffy," Tara muttered while she picked up the mirror. "What is going on around here?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
At lunch, Buffy and Spike joined Kit at one of the tables in the cafeteria. They were soon joined by Billie, Shea, and Cain.
"So, I talked to Mrs. Butler," Kit said once everyone sat down. She grimaced at her limp French fries. "She's really excited about Pascel's offer."
"That's good news," Billie replied while she stole a fry from Cain's plate. "We should totally hit the dollar store after school."
"Yeah," Shea agreed. "Then, on Monday, we can talk to Tia about the food. We so totally have this jam in the bag. We're like the Three Musketeers. Only there's six of us."
"Awesome plan, guys," Spike said, trying to sound teen-ager like.
Cain leaned forward, and he said with a laugh, "You'll never believe what RJ did in class today?"
"What? Pick on someone?" Buffy grumbled. She'd taken an instant dislike to the teenager. "That's nothing new. He was bugging Carlos yesterday."
"No, he turned in his homework and asked for extra credit." Cain leaned back. "Mrs. Butler was so surprised she almost sent him to see the nurse."
"There have been some awfully weird things going on today," Kit said with a shake of her head. "Mom came home from work last night and said that The Pizza Parlor had a big sign out front saying the name was changed to King Lance's Pizza Kingdom."
"Doesn't RJ's brother Lance work there?" Billie asked. "He graduated a few years ago, remember?"
The whole table looked over at RJ who was busy eating his lunch with one hand and reading a biology text with the other. He was ignoring his buddies for a change.
"Like I said, weird things going on," Kit muttered.
A few minutes later, the lunch bell rang, and the six teenagers went their separate ways until they met up again after school. They piled into Cain's car, and they went to the dollar store for decorations.
Spike trailed around behind Buffy while she went up and down the aisles examining the merchandise. "You want to go do something when we're done here?" he asked.
Buffy looked over at Carlos. She pushed away any guilt she felt for leading a teenage boy on. She planned on enjoying being a teenager again. "Sure, what do you have in mind?"
Spike had no clue what teenagers did on 'dates'. Nobody ever dated on the T.V. shows he watched.
"Come over to my house. We can play video games," Cain said when he slipped by Spike and Buffy.
"Uh, okay?" Spike wasn't too sure about that idea. He wanted to spend time alone with Buffy. "Only if Dawn wants to," he said after a few moments.
Buffy wrinkled her nose. "I'm not really into video games. I'd rather get a sandwich and go to the park. It's been a while since I could just sit and be."
"Be what?" Kit asked. She held a package of black and orange LED lights in her hands.
"Me, I guess," Buffy replied. "This last summer was really hard, and I guess you could say that it's even harder now." She sighed. "You were right though. A lot of weird things happen in Sunnydale."
"Dawn, do you want to go to the park and just talk?" Cain asked.
"Yeah, I think I do," Buffy replied.
"A picnic and a talk in the park. Sounds perfect." Kit stepped up to Buffy, and she gave the other girl a hug. Then, she stepped back to wave the package of lights in the air. "Now, do you guys like these lights?"
Buffy and Cain both nodded.
"Good. They 're on sale, three for a dollar. I'm thinking ten dollars worth should be enough." Kit looked around. "We need a cart. Carlos, can you get us one?"
"Sure, pidge." Spike sauntered off towards the front of the store where the carts were stored. So, he missed the speculative look on Buffy's face.
"Guys. Guys. Do we want to do centerpieces for the tables?" Billie bounced up to the group. "I just saw the cutest idea for a centerpiece, and it's really cheap too."
"Lights, centerpieces, and napkins." Kit had a thoughtful look on her face. "Is it enough? We're not in Mrs. Butler's class this time. Should we do more?"
Buffy shook her head. "No, we should ask Mrs. Butler about storage for decorations though. If we bought a little before each poetry jam we could have a whole bunch of stuff after a while."
"Or ask Tia," Shea suggested. "Especially if we could get permission to hold all the reads at Pascel's."
"That might work, but let's get through this one first," Buffy suggested. "I haven't even started my poem yet."
Kit slipped her arm through Buffy's. "We can start working on it at the picnic. After our talk, of course."
Spike pushed a cart back towards Buffy and the teenagers. "Bloody Hell," he grumbled. "I'm a soddin' lap dog. She says jump and I jump. Don't even ask how high." He sighed. "Guess there are worse things to be. At least, I'm not like Forehead and Cardboard. I won't get goin' when the goin' gets tough."
"What are you muttering about?" Cain asked, his voice laced with concern.
"Nothing important." Spike winced. He'd almost been caught.
"If you say so." Cain tipped his head towards the girls. "While they're buying the decorations, we should head over to Pascel's for picnic munchies."
"Alright." Spike handed the cart off to Buffy. "You want anything special, luv?"
Buffy eyed Carlos for a moment. The term of endearment falling from his lips reminded her of Spike. A sudden shaft of guilt pierced through her. Spike had been there for her since she'd been back, and she wondered if he was confused by Dawn's actions in Buffy's body.
"Dawn? Are you okay?" Kit asked.
Buffy jolted out of her thoughts. "Yeah. I'll be fine after our talk. Maybe. If you're all still around, and don't think I'm crazy."
"There's nothing you can tell me that will ever make me think you're crazy." Spike stepped closer to Buffy, and he took her hand. "I know crazy, and you're not."
Buffy stared up into Carlos' face. As she searched his eyes, she had a sudden epiphany. "Thank you. Spike."
