When Fred mentioned that Spike was lukewarm, Wesley pursed his lips together in thought and started flipping through the book he had called up again. Rupert was right - ghosts were cold and made the the places around them cold. And they were stuck on earth because they had lost their connection to their soul, sometimes because of the trauma of their death, sometimes because of how they had acted before they had died, which prevented them from moving on.
But Spike hadn't lost his. So why would he be in ghostly form if he had been killed by what had happened in Sunnydale? Had Wolfram and Hart done something to trap him with the amulet?
Then Martin asked about how Spike had died and suggested a protection spell. Wesley looked up at the amulet at this, something clicking in his mind. They had been looking at the amulet as a magical vessel or holder, not a protection charm.
But before he could follow that train of thought, Angel and Spike came hurrying into the office. Sighing, Wesley looked over at his wife.
"Yes, I'm here to help," Rupert told Spike.
"Aw, I didn't know you cared."
"I don't. I just wouldn't inflict you on anyone, corporeal or not."
"Oh, you wound me."
"I wish," Rupert muttered under his breath before glancing over at Wesley.
"Angel, we'll work faster if you and Spike stay out of our hair," Wesley said. "We need to figure out this amulet, and once we do that, we can go from there."
Angel looked over at Spike. "Can I help."
"No. Just...please. We're doing everything we can."
With a slight huff, Angel nodded and turned to leave the room. Spike looked like he was going to stay, but when Rupert looked up at him, he rolled his eyes and followed after Angel, going through the wall though, instead of the door.
"Right. Where were we?" Rupert asked.
"I was saying that I think the amulet actually cast some sort of protection spell on Spike to make him transparent. He didn't actually die. It would explain why he has his soul still and is lukewarm - because he's not an actual ghost," Martin said.
"I was just thinking," Wesley said. "What if the amulet isn't a vessel at all, but a charm? We thought Spike came out of the amulet, but what if he didn't? What if it created some sort of portal instead? Say it pulled him into some other dimension to hold him until Angel got the amulet and opened it back up to release him back into ours again."