“The first part of the spell I will cast,” Giles explained. “The three of you will be transported immediately. Wesley, you will be responsible for opening the portal to this dimension once you have retrieved the Altenalium.” He handed the ex-Watcher a sachet of herbs and resin. “Simply throw the contents of that in the air, making sure to cover all of you in it. The spell will do the rest.”

Wesley pocketed the small pouch. “I suppose you have no additional information regarding whatever it is we’re getting?”

“No,” Giles snapped. “We’ve been over this before.”

“Not to be snippy or anything, but how long is this going to take?” Buffy inquired. “I need to get home.”

“I see no reason why any of you should remain here while they are gone,” Giles replied. “I will be here, of course, because of the shop. The rest of you might as well get some rest.” Everyone save Xander, Spike and Wesley looked immensely relieved. They could finally sleep a little. Staying in the shop all night researching and working on spells had been hellish.

Spike busied himself collecting a few extra weapons, in case they ran into something nasty. Considering where they were going, it was a distinct possibility. He handed Xander a dagger, which the boy took with a glare. Wesley accepted three stakes with somewhat more aplomb.

“If you are finished raiding Buffy’s supplies, I am waiting,” Giles muttered to the three men.

“You know, for a guy who’s sending us to a very likely death, you’re not very grateful,” Xander spat at the older man. “I don’t hear any ‘I hope you make it back, Xander,’ or ‘we’ll be waiting for you right here, guys.’ I’m beginning to think you all don’t care.”

“We’ll be close by,” Buffy murmured. “But what good are we going to do standing around here?”

Xander just gritted his teeth. It was the principle of the thing—the three men were going somewhere dangerous and demonic, and their supposed friends and/or allies couldn’t get rid of them fast enough. “Love you too. Giles, can we go now? I’m thinking wherever we’re headed for is better than here.”

Buffy made to comment on that statement, but Giles cut her off by starting the spell. The non-participants backed up quickly, not wanting to be inadvertently taken along. Xander, Spike and Wesley gathered close together as Giles hit them with a handful of bitter powder. At first, nothing happened. Then a high, whistling noise swept through the shop and the three men disappeared into thin air.

•••

“Aack,” Xander squawked, spitting furiously. His mouth was full of what he hoped was dirt. The young man picked himself up off a hard, stone floor and looked around. Well, he tried to. The place was pitch dark. “Um, guys?”

“Over here,” Spike murmured. He was standing about three feet away, watching Wesley and Xander fumble around in the darkness. He knew he was the only one who could see enough to move around. “Stay put and I’ll come over there.”

“Right,” Wesley said. “You can see, can’t you, Spike?”

“Yeah,” Spike confirmed. He reached out a hand and tapped Wesley’s arm. The man reached out and clasped Spike’s duster. Once he was securely attached, the vampire moved toward Xander, Wesley in tow.

“That you?” Xander asked when Spike brushed his arm.

“Mmm,” Spike hummed. “We’re in a cave.”

“Great. Underground,” Xander commented. “So, oh fangless one, where do we go?”

Spike looked incredulously at Xander before remembering that the boy couldn’t see him. “Funny, I thought you were the one with the map.”

“Is there any indication of where we should go?” Wesley inquired shortly. He wanted to get this over with. True, he’d come willingly, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it.

Spike studied their location. “It’s more of a passageway, really. We can go…left or right, from where I’m standing. Can’t tell which is better, though.”

“Left,” Xander suggested.

“Why?” Wesley asked the boy.

“Why not? We don’t know where to go. As soon as we move, we’re gonna be lost. Hells, we’re lost now,” Xander replied. “So let’s just try our luck with left.”

When Wesley didn’t voice another objection, Spike began to move. Within a few feet he realized that they were going to have to change tactics, so he stopped. “This isn’t working,” He muttered. Wesley and Xander each had a death grip on his upper arms, making walking a challenge. Their positions also made him feel like some sort of prisoner. “Either you two hold my hands or the bottom of my duster. I can’t walk this way.”

“I’m not holding your hand,” Xander declared. The very thought was repulsive. The vampire was a near-rapist! “Hold on, I’ll get the duster.”

Wesley waited until Xander thrust the corner of Spike’s duster into his hands. He’d have rather held the vampire’s hands, for multiple reasons. First of all, if Spike’s hands were occupied, they couldn’t grab and hit. The ex-Watcher didn’t trust a fragile piece of technology to stop Spike from hurting him. Besides that, Wesley was sure that the duster he was holding was the filthiest garment he’d seen in months. It was…sort of stiff and a bit crusty.

Once the two men had relinquished his arms, Spike continued. “Anything new?” Xander asked a few feet later.

“No, just walls,” Spike said softly. “We’re walking downhill, though.”

“Not very steeply,” Wesley commented. A long, plaintive wail broke the eerie silence of the cavern. “What was that?” He exclaimed nervously.

“Dunno,” Spike said. The sound repeated, again and again. Then it stopped and the cave was dead silent.

“That’s freaky,” Xander added. “Can we move faster?”

Spike picked up the pace, leading the two men deeper into the cave system. “There’s another passage ahead,” He warned a few minutes later. “Left, right, or straight ahead?” He stood at the crossroads while the others made up their minds. While he waited, he tested the air, sniffing quietly. “I’d say not right. It smells rank.”

“Rank?” Xander asked. “How?”

“Like bodies. Dead ones,” Spike answered. “The other two are fine.”

“I’m all for no dead people,” Xander confided. “Wes?”

“I would keep going straight,” Wesley suggested. “And I too would prefer to avoid corpses.”

•••

“Are we there yet?” Xander whined.

“No,” Spike murmured. He was impressed; they’d been at this maddening game for hours, but that was the first time Xander had regressed to childish complaints about the time spent on their task.

“Have we been here before?” Wesley asked the vampire. “Are we going in circles?”

Spike shook his head, and then spoke. “No. We haven’t backtracked once.” “Left or right?” He asked when the tunnel they were in opened into another passage.

“Right,” Xander said. “Why not? The last five were lefts, and that doesn’t even make sense.”

“We’re winding down deeper,” Spike said as they turned. “We probably started out directly above where we are now.” Another series of shrieks and wails echoed through the caves. All three men shivered, but said nothing. The noises had been occurring on and off ever since they first arrived and after so many hours, they were somewhat inured to it.

“This is a weird dimension. I mean, other than those bodies you smelled, we haven’t seen signs of life. Any signs,” Xander commented.

“Would you live here?” Wesley asked.

“Point,” Xander replied. “Do you think they’re worried about us?”

“Who? The others?” Wesley asked. “I wouldn’t know.”

“We’ve been gone for hours,” Xander reminded them. “I’d think…”

“We’ve been here for hours,” Wesley amended. “However time does not always flow the same from dimension to dimension. For those in Sunnydale, we may have been gone for days. Or minutes.”

“They wouldn’t miss us anyway,” Spike muttered.

“Days?” Xander squeaked. “Or more? Months, maybe?”

“With some dimensions, a few days in our world equates with decades in theirs,” Wesley confirmed. “That aspect of interdimensional travel is what makes it so dangerous.”

“So they weren’t all worried that we’d just get killed over here—they didn’t want to get stuck here for a few hours and end up missing a bunch of time in Sunnydale,” Xander spat. “But they didn’t seem to worry about us.”

“Of course, the time difference, if there is one, could be in the other direction,” Wesley said. “And we could be here for days and return to Sunnydale only a few minutes after we left.”

“Shh,” Spike hissed.

“Something ahead?” Xander asked tensely.

“Yeah. Can’t tell where it goes, though.” Spike led the men through the end of the passageway, into a huge cavern. “It’s a cave. Proper one—big and tall. I can’t see across it.”

“Perhaps we should walk the perimeter,” Wesley suggested. “We wouldn’t miss any other passages.”

“Right,” Spike said, starting around the cave counterclockwise. “We’re gonna have to go slow; there are rocks everywhere.”

As if to emphasize that point, Xander tripped over a long, rough boulder that seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Damn!” He shouted, his voice reverberating through the cave. “Spike?”

Spike stopped and bent down to help the boy up. Once Xander was on his feet, he shied away from the vampire and took his place behind him, right next to Wesley. Spike sighed and continued on. He tried to follow the wall of the cave, but soon found himself leading the others towards the middle because of all the rocky debris littering the cavern floor. It piled up so high he couldn’t see the end of it, making towering buttresses along the edge of the cave.

Wesley was about to suggest they try going in the other direction when the floor suddenly changed in nature. One minute they were walking on a relatively flat surface. Then the rock face shifted down abruptly. Spike and the others lost their footing and started falling down, sliding along the floor. The vampire tried to reach the others, but they rolled away. All three men came to a jarring stop just a few seconds later.

“That really, really hurt,” Xander moaned, lying on the ground. “What the hell happened?”

“Cave floor’s not level,” Spike replied. “I couldn’t see how much it dropped. Sorry.”

“So long as we can continue, it doesn’t matter,” Wesley stated. He sat up and tried to get his head to stop ringing. “Spike, can you find us again?” He felt totally alone, like he was floating in a sea of ink. The darkness pressed in on him, making him feel claustrophobic.

“Should be able to,” Spike replied. He stood up and looked around, knowing he hadn’t landed that far from the others. A high-pitched, keening wail shattered the darkness and he flinched. Still, he kept looking. “Where the bloody hell did you go? I can’t see you!”

“Great,” Xander muttered. He stood up but didn’t actually move anywhere. “This is going so well. I was worried about evil demons. Why? I mean, we’re gonna die of hunger long before anyone tries to kill us.”

“Are you now?”

“Aahhhhh!” Xander screamed. A cold, smooth voice had just appeared next to him. “What the—“

“Do you wish to die?” It asked curiously.

Xander swiveled his head frantically, trying to locate the body that should accompany the voice. “Spike? Wesley? What the hell are you two doing here? Stop playing!”

“Not playing,” Spike said timidly. “I heard it too.”

“As did I,” Wesley confirmed. “Who are you?”

The voice laughed. At least they knew who had been tormenting them for so long. The broken sound ripped through their heads, almost sending them to their knees. “You do not know?” It asked.

“Thraid Alel?” Wesley guessed.

“Few arrive here without knowing,” Thraid Alel confirmed. “And none leave in ignorance.”

“So someone’s gotten out of here?” Xander asked hopefully.

“No,” The mysterious demon replied.

“Oh,” He whimpered. “Um…so, we’re here—“

“You seek the Altenalium,” Thraid Alel finished for him.

“How’d you know?” Xander asked.

“Not much else here,” Spike murmured. “Is there?”

“Nothing else,” The demon confirmed. “Why do you seek it?”

“The Vraiyl have come to our world,” Wesley replied.

“They are not of your world,” Thraid Alel denied. “The Vraiyl have never preferred human dimensions.”

“Be that as it may, there’s a bunch of’em tearing up jack,” Xander retorted. “And according to G-man, the only thing that will stop them is this Altenalium thing.”

“So you would wield the Altenalium against the Vraiyl,” Thraid Alel murmured. “And you wish for me to give you the Altenalium, so that may have it.”

“That just about sums it up, yeah,” Xander said impatiently.

Thraid Alel laughed. The men quivered. “If you wish to be possessed of the Altenalium, my impatient human, then you must submit to its tests, all of you.”

“Tests?” Spike whispered. He’d just gotten done with a lifetime’s worth of tests.

“Indeed, tests,” The demon repeated. “If you are deemed worthy, the Altenalium is yours.”

Wesley frowned. “And if we are deemed unworthy?”

Laughter echoed throughout the cavern. “Your vampire knows.”

Spike’s head jerked around. “I do?”

“You do,” Thraid Alel stated. Spike’s eyes widened. The bodies…

“We don’t leave,” He muttered. “Same as if we tried to go now, without taking this test. We either walk out with the Altenalium, or we die.”

“That doesn’t sound fair,” Xander complained.

“It is as fair as you are,” Thraid Alel countered.

“I’m not seeing much choice here,” Xander said. “So I’m guessing we have to take the test. Right, guys?”

“I believe you are correct,” Wesley replied. “Regardless of the rules, the Altenalium is what we came here for.”

“Fine,” Spike mumbled. “Test.”

Once again Thraid Alel laughed, although the sound quickly escalated into a tortured wail. The three men couldn’t stand against it, falling to their knees with their hands pressed ineffectually over their ears. Tears welled out of their eyes as the sound went on and on, tearing at them. None of them noticed that at some point they had joined in the screaming, their own voices mingling with the demon’s in a chorus of anguish and terror.