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"Speak English!"

Willow had burst into the library at 10:30 that night interrupting a slayer council about what to do now that Spike and Dru were gone. She was pale and gasping for breath as she tried to tell her gathered friends - something. It wasn't exactly clear as she chattered in sentence fragments broken by gasps for air. Cordelia's outburst brought a sudden end to Willow's incoherent babble, much to Buffy's relief. There were some advantages of having Cordelia around - she could always be counted on to say the things that everyone else wanted to say but were too polite. Like the dumb kid in her math class who always asked the questions about problems no one else got, but were afraid to ask about.

"I think she said something about demons..." Xander mumbled through a mouthful of something chocolate.

"I heard 'Amy'," Buffy volunteered.

"I'd swear she said something about Geometry, but that would make less sense than normal," suggested Oz, "or not, considering what 'normal' normally is."

"Let's all just quiet down and give Miss Rosenburg a chance to collect her wits and catch her breath," said Giles in that condescending British tone that said the fun was over - at least until they figured out whether there really was trouble. "Well, Willow, can you tell us what this commotion is about?"

"Yes, wits collected here! Oh... wait! Let me start at the beginning or else it might sound strange..." Willow began.

"I have a feeling this is going to be a long explanation.

"Hush, Cordelia! Continue, Willow," said Giles.

"All of Willow's explanations are long," quipped Xander. A scathing gaze from Giles cut any further comments short.

"You know how we've been watching Amy's house on account of her being a witch and all and remember when she turned Buffy into that mouse..."

"I remember that - sorry, did I say that out loud?" said Oz , glancing around absently, "Because I had to look for her..."

"So Giles thought we should watch her to make sure she wasn't, you know, casting any more evil spells and stuff," continued Willow, "So that's what I was doing except usually Amy isn't doing anything but reading or watching TV or listening to music - especially that New Age music where they sing in Gaelic - not summoning Demons - and it's usually pretty boring."

"Demons! I knew I heard demons! And I know demons when I hear them - of course they're usually inside my head telling me to eat more HoHos."

"Will you please be quiet, Xander," Giles murmured.

"How come Xander gets a 'please'?" demanded Cordelia.

"Just continue, Willow, before I go mad."

"Where was I?"

"Summoning demons, pretty boring..." suggested Oz.

"Oh, yeah. Except the summoning demons wasn't the pretty boring part; the not-summoning demons all those other times was the pretty boring part. So she had a pentagram drawn on her floor and bowls and black candles and pens filled with kittens and birds - only not for long - cause she cut their throats and poured their blood into the bowls - that was pretty gross. I think the kittens knew what was happening after the first one since they were mewling so pathetically."

"I never really liked cats. Their hair gets everywhere and what good are they? They don't do anything and guys don't like them."

"But these weren't grown-up cats, Cordelia, they were baby kittens, so cute and helpless. I feel kind of guilty for not stopping her. Why does magic always involve icky things, Giles?"

"Let's save the metaphysical speculations for another day, shall we, Miss Rosenburg?"

"Oh, sorry. So Amy starts chanting. I don't think it was Latin because it didn't sound very Latiny. And the candles burned brighter but the room kept getting darker. And something just appeared in the middle of the pentagram - just like that! No smoke coalescing into solid form, no fading slowing out of the ether just one minute an empty pentagram, and the next a demon. It had horns all around its head, like a crown, only part of its head and made out of demon stuff instead of gold or silver. Really long claws and slimy green skin - you know, typical demon type, two arms, two legs, basically human shape. Oh! And lots of teeth, like a shark with all those extra sets. I wanted to run away and tell you about it right then but - you know those dreams where you're in the middle of the street and a steam roller is headed straight for you but you can't run out of the way, you can just stand there and let it run over you - it was like that, only without the steamroller. Except it doesn't run over you because you wake up at the last minute."

"Powerful demons have a charismatic aura which, if the folklore is correct, can captivate onlookers," Giles mumbled absently, speaking mainly to himself, "the victims are caught, and watch impassively while the creature, a demon in our case, commits acts of great iniquity. Afterwards, the observers are often befuddled and cannot explain their inaction."

"They say if you get run over by a steamroller in a dream then you die in real life," Xander remarked, brightly.

"So here's where it gets weird," Willow announced, "Amy summoned the demon and says 'Demon I abjure thee by thrice-damned Hecate to do my bidding and I bind thee to my will. This sacrifice of blood shall be our bond and seal the contract' or something like that - except it rhymed when she said it. And the demon just stepped out of the pentagram, in the way that demons aren't supposed to, and drank the bowls of blood. Amy started to chant something but the demon struck her in the throat with one of his razor sharp claws - right in her larynx - and she just gurgled and couldn't talk any more but otherwise seemed OK, I mean, not OK-OK, but not dead which is sort of OK. Then he said "How many degrees are their in the angle of a pentacle, my little witchling?" which is 36 degrees because the arc of the circle intercepted by the angle is 72 degrees, being a fifth of a circle and since the angle is an inscribed angle it's half the measure of the arc - but I don't think Amy knew that because she didn't say anything, except sort of a whimper but that might have been because her neck was bleeding or because her little brother suddenly opened the door. Actually, I guess he was her nephew since Amy lives with her sister and doesn't have any siblings. The demon grabbed him before he knew what was happening - at least I hope it was before he knew what was happening - and slit open his stomach so that all his intestines and organs spilled out over the floor. Like a Ziploc bag full of spaghetti and meatballs being zipped up only in reverse and full of little boy intestines instead of..."

"Less imagery please, Miss Rosenburg," sighed Giles, "Is Amy dead as well?"

"Right - no...maybe... I don't know. So Amy starts to do something with her fingers but the demon grabs her hand that then starts smoking and burning right where the demon is touching her, which smells like... Oh! Less imagery! Smells bad. And he reaches into the remains of - um -- you know - and pulls out some ligaments - or maybe tendons - but something sinewy and ties up her hands. So I'm thinking, 'this is a good sign' at least he's not killing her' - or its - not killing her, I've just been assuming he's a he..."

"You didn't check?" asked Xander.

"Ah...umm...no. I didn't..." Willow stammered as she blushed, then hurried on. "Then he skinned the boy. I saw some hunters do that to a deer on the hunting channel - except they used knives instead of their claws - of course the hunters didn't have claws. I tried to skin my fetal pig in advanced biology one year but my teacher made me stop and told my mom. I had to see the school psychologist that year. He put together a framework of bones - oh, not Mr. Lischner, the demon - and stretched the skin on the frame then did some of that chanting stuff and there was the burning flesh smell again and the skin had turned black and leathery. Then he sliced open Amy's wrist and began dipping his claw into the pool of blood as it spilled on the floor and used it to write on the skin. Suddenly, I was able to move again and I ran straight here except I had to stop one time because I was getting black spots floating in front of my eyes from the lack of oxygen and the lactic acid was building up in my muscles."

It took a minute before everyone realized that Willow had finished talking. Buffy was the first to act, grabbing a crossbow and a sword from the weapons rack. "So, Giles, anything special I need to slay the Amy-Demon or will old-fashioned slice and dice work?"

"I'll need to consult my books. Willow, since you saw the Demon, you stay with me and help out, see if you recognize the picture. Cordelia and Xander, go with Buffy to Amy's house; she'll need transportation..."

"So I'm Buffy's chauffeur?"

"Do you get to wear one of those cool hats and uniforms - 'cause I love a woman in uniform' oof!" Xander remarked absently, the latter remark in synch with a blow from Cordelia's elbow to his midsection.

"...and we'll be able to ring you on your portable telephone..."

"Cell-phone, Giles. Speak American!" said Cordelia.

"...if we discover something of significance."

"Like how I kill it?"

"Um, yes... quite."

"Should I stay here with you guys or go with them?" asked Oz. "I didn't get an assignment yet. Why do I feel like the last guy chosen at a pick-up basketball game?"

"So, Xander, how long has Buffy been in there?"

"Ten minutues, Cordy. Why? Do you think she might need our help"

"I'm getting bored. How long do you think she'll be? How long can it take to see if Amy's dead and a kill the Demon?"

"Maybe we could find a way to make the wait more interesting ..." Xander said as he leered suggestively.

"Don't bother," said Buffy, as she poked her head through the passenger window. "I'm back. Amy's fine and the demon's gone."

"Do you have to sneak up on us like that!" exclaimed Cordelia.

"Let's head back to the book morgue," Buffy continued,ignoring the black looks from her friends. She climbed into the back, with a roll of something under her arm.

"Buffy, that better not be what I think it is because you did not just put a roll of human flesh in my car!"

"Relax, Cordy."

"I'm serious, Buffy!"

The next day, half an hour before the first class, Buffy and Xander met Amy in the hall. Amy was wearing a turtleneck sweater, covering the wounds on her neck and wrists.

"Hi Buffy. Listen, thanks for releasing me," rasped Amy in a hoarse, barely audible whisper.

"Hey, nice voice Amy," remarked Xander, "maybe you could do that to Cordelia, you know, work some magic, maybe summon a few demons..."

"Giles wants to see you, Amy," interrupted Buffy, "He and Willow translated the note your pet monster left for you. It was written in Ancient Greek."

"What's it say?"

"Ask Giles; he's translator man."

"I guess I don't have to tell you how foolish you have been. The forces of darkness should not be taking lightly," intoned Giles in his best you-have-sinned voice.

"What did it say," whispered Amy, "have I lost my soul? Have I been bound in some way to serve him?"

"Actually," Willow replied, "It's a lecture on how to construct a perfect pentagram with only a compass and a straight edge. It's pretty neat - you don't even need a protractor. Oh, and some notes on the golden mean..."

"You see, Amy," Giles continued in his lecturing tone, "in order for a pentagram to work properly, the sides and angles must be in the proper proportions. Having an irregular figure is no protection at all, any more than a broken symbol - especially as the demons become more powerful. You might be able get away with a two or three degree deviation for a minor imp, but your demon... well, let's just hope this doesn't happen again."

"By the way," chimed in Willow, "we couldn't find the demon in our archives. What was its name?"

"Pythagorax."