Kristy's Slayerfest 2005 went off like a dream. All the parents came, and she and Illyria choreographed a whole program for them to watch. Claudia even made papier mache demons for the kids to slay, and guess what? She filled them with candy! When the demons broke open, the sweets rained down over the whole room!

Afterwards, Kristy organized a carnival with classic carnival games like "Bobbing for Severed Heads" and "Hurtle the Stake into the Vampire." The only thing that didn't work out was the "Blood Sugaring" (it's like maple sugaring, but with red food coloring) – the kettles ended up boiling over into a big, sticky mess. But even that had a silver lining. Claudia loved it!

The Super Slayers Club helped with the whole thing, and it was great seeing everyone get along. Claudia and Chan Juan bonded over blood colored maple sugar, Michelle and Mary Anne were too nervous to talk to each other, but once they did they got along great, and Kerry was thrilled to help Kristy and Illyria with the choreography. And guess what? Jessi and Jasmina had tons in common – they were both black!

The only person who didn't seem to be having any fun was Dawn. After Drusilla was killed she went back to her normal self (Willow and Jessi said she had been mesmerized), but I could tell she felt totally bad about almost killing me, even though I told her a zillion times not to worry about it. She was so depressed she barely even mentioned how bad maple sugar would be for everyone's teeth!

On the day of the Slayerfest, Kristy ordered me to run back to the daycare center for extra Nerf crossbows, and I took off down the corridor at a jog (she had been awfully quick with the pencil lately).

The door was open and I heard voices inside. I moved close enough to hear, and then froze. It was Dawn:

"I didn't mean to hurt the artifacts of ancient and noble cultures!" she said, with a sob in her voice, "But when Drusilla explained it, it all seemed okay!"

She must be talking about the museum thefts. Angel's voice answered her. "Drusilla is good at that. It's not your fault. Actually, I feel pretty bad about letting you storm out of my apartment by yourself, that morning."

Dawn sniffed. "Well, you probably should have mentioned you were a vampire."

I hid behind the door as they both emerged. When I got back to the carnival with the crossbows, Dawn was trying to convince Claudia to switch the chocolate demons for carob ones.

Everything was back to normal.

That night, after all the celebrations had finished I had a dream. It was nighttime and I was at Stoneybrook Elementary School. At first, everything was peaceful. But then I heard a rumbling in the ground. The asphalt began to crack all around me, and I felt something rising from the ground.

That's all I remembered, but when I woke up the next morning, I knew that it had been a prophetic Slayer dream. A dark power was rising in Stoneybrook.

That's why, when the BSC went home, I went with them. Everyone was super-busy preparing to leave. Kristy stayed up late into the night learning all of Illyria's secrets, and she was already planning to create a Stoneybrook Junior Slayer Squad. (I had to admit, I wasn't crazy about the idea of Claire and Vanessa with loaded weapons).

Claudia had worked out with Clem a way to continue her Demon Designs business from back home, although Giles had made her promise to background check all her customers. She agreed immediately; she was feeling pretty bad about making an evil necklace.

At the Slayerfest, Stacey had met a young warlock-in-training who she clicked with immediately. Before she left, he kissed her on the cheek and promised to write! Isn't that romantic? But she was already planning to come back to visit Angel. She thought they might be much more suitable together in three years when she was 16.

Mary Anne and Jessi were working the hardest, packing up every duplicate magic and demon book they could get their hands on, plus tons of magical supplies. They were even talking about holding a Stoneybrook Slayers and Watchers Academy Day Camp next summer!

As for me, I took a chest of weapons with me, but I knew that my most important weapons were my friends.

Together, we could handle anything.