Crystal isn't above playing favorites, and her pets -- including Willow, Michael, and Anya -- are loyal to her in the extreme. This wouldn't bother Buffy...but for the fact that she has found a fresh burn mark on two of the students' necks. Giles immediately recognizes the symbol as the mark of a powerful witch whose existence predates the Salem Witch Trials.

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 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?