Giles tries to call for help, but discovers that the phones have been cut. He then remembers about the exit in the stacks. I don't know why the vamps aren't using it. Maybe they're in such a frenzy from chanting that they forgot about it. Giles instructs Xander to go get Angel. Xander is reluctant to leave without news of his friends, but Giles points out that no one will survive unless they get some help. Xander sets off.

In Buffy's classroom, the adults are trying to make sense of what's going on. Joyce asks if there was something wrong with their assailants' faces. Yeah, most of them were fugly. Snyder thinks it's a gang on PCP. Heh. He starts for the window, saying they have to escape. Buffy warns him off that idea. He tries to tell her he's in charge, but she quickly sets him straight, saying that only she knows how to stop them. Joyce grabs her and tells her the attackers are dangerous and she can't go out there. Buffy says she knows, and that she's going -- she nods upward -- "up there." Well, yeah, but not until "The Gift." Oh, she was talking about the ceiling. She gets on a stool, slides open a panel, tells her mom not to worry, and hoists herself up.

Spike singsongs, calling for the Slayer. "I find one of your friends first, I'm gonna suck 'em dry!" Then, more softly: "And use their bones to bash your head in." Hee. Inside the utility closet, Cordy, holding a broom for probably the first time in her life, starts to murmur panickedly. Willow claps a hand over Cordy's mouth, probably fulfilling a lifelong fantasy. Spike is about to kick the door in when Mad-Eye Henchvamp calls him and instructs him to listen. He does, and singsongs, "Someone's in the ceiling." Someone who should tell him the musical episode isn't for another four years.

In the library, Giles has armed himself. Miss Calendar says that there are at least three vamps in the hall, but Giles says that he's responsible for Buffy, and that he has to go help her. Miss Calendar starts to protest further, but then simply tells him to be careful. He starts to instruct her to replace the barricade once he's out, but Buffy drops out of the ceiling at that moment. She and Giles exchange a quick, meaningful look, then give each other status reports as Buffy collects her bag of supplies. She says she's going to take out the vamps in the hall (wasn't that a Canadian TV series?) and then Giles can get himself and the people in the classroom (which is directly across the hall) out. Giles expresses the wish to assist her. Buffy: "Giles, my mother's in that room. If I don't make it out of here I know you'll make sure she does." Giles, choked up: "Bloody right, I will." Aww. And what a change in tone from that "I don't want to die" speech in "Prophecy Girl" -- Buffy's in total field-commander mode here, not wasting a second on anything idle. Giles asks what her plan is. She points out that the vamps have had to split up to contain them all, so she's going to pick them off one by one. John McClane never looked this good. Buffy hoists herself up again. Giles: "Watch your back."