"I-I'm beginning to think that our Mr. Scipio is untainted," Giles sighed. "Is there no paranormal activity at all to report?"

"Well, he was very persuasive at the bake sale," Willow answered. "Everyone he talked to bought a pie - even the people who only stopped by to make fun of us. And the SSG is up to 9 members - that's pretty weird. Mr. Scipio isn't taking in any new members, either - he said nine is the perfect number, which is odd, because numbers like 6 and 28 are really the perfect numbers, mathematically speaking, but Mr. Scipio said nine was perfect for his purposes. Plus the story problems are getting a little gory - don't you think they're gorier than normal, Oz?"

"Story problems traditionally have fewer severed body parts in them," Oz confirmed.

"And instead of using x, y, z, n, a, b, c - the normal variables - we're using a lot of Greek letters - you know, phi, psi, alpha, beta? - especially phi. I realize it doesn't matter what you call the variables... but it's still a little strange," Willow added.

"And there was that incident with the club pictures..." Oz paused as the attention focused on him.

"Mr. Scipio didn't want to be photographed with the rest of us but when the cameraman accidentally caught him in one of the pictures, he wigged out," Willow explained enthusiastically.

"Big time," Oz finished.

"So Giles," Xander asked, "are there any camera shy demons in your books?"

"Cameras had yet to be invented when most of the literature was written," Giles began, quickly switching to his lecturing voice. "But, if Mr. Scipio is a demon, it is possible that the photographs may provide us with some evidence. Perhaps he, like vampires, cannot be photographed. Another possibility is that he is not a true shapeshifter, but merely alters our perceptions, causing us to see him as he wishes to appear..."

"Like the bug-lady that kidnapped Xander?" Willow asked.

"Can we not talk about the bug-lady?" Xander responded.

"Precisely, Willow, like the...'bug-lady'. If this is, indeed, the case, then a photograph might reveal him in his true form, whatever it might be," Giles finished.

"So, we break into the office tonight and steal the film, take it to a one-hour, all-night film place and see what Scipio really is," Xander said.

"Or we could take a picture of him tomorrow," suggested Oz.

"Hey! My dad has a good camera," Cordelia said. "Xander, you could use it, pretend you're taking pictures of me, and get Mr. Scipio by 'accident.' "

"Should we look for Buffy?" Oz asked.

"10:30 on a Tuesday night," Giles muttered to himself as stumbled out of bed, wrapped his dressing gown around him, and headed to answer the front door. "Who on earth could be calling at this unseasonable hour?"

"Hi Giles!" said Xander. He and Cordelia stood in his doorway; Cordelia looked shaken and even Xander looked a bit troubled.

"We need to talk," Cordelia stated as she pushed into Giles' apartment, Xander following in her wake. "Nice place, Giles. Did you decorate it yourself? 15th century librarian?" she continued, as she regained her composure.

"I-is there a reason for this visit?"

"Let's just say we now have proof that this Scipio guy is evil," Xander snapped.

"You had the photographs developed!" Giles said excitedly.

"Not exactly..." Xander began.

"Demons stole the camera!" Cordelia interrupted. "My dad is going to kill me!"

"Well, one demon; and it was kinda small."

"Start at the beginning," Giles said resignedly and slumped down into a chair.

"We got the picture of Scipio as he was leaving his classroom for lunch - no problema," Xander explained. "But we still had 23 pictures left on the roll of film and we didn't want to waste it. So, after dinner we headed out to the edge of town to get some pictures of...uh... Cordelia. We got sidetracked and it got late. Then we headed back, after using up the roll..."

"Something hit the windshield - totally cracked it. I thought it was an owl or something," Cordelia added. "I pulled over to see what it was and Xander and I got out..."

"And this... thing flew out of the sky and grabbed the camera from around my neck. I put up my arms to try to fend it off, but it scratched me up real bad," he showed Giles the gashes in his arms. "It flew off with the camera."

"What did it look like?" Giles asked, his interest now piqued.

"It was dark so I couldn't really tell. And it was flapping its leathery wings in my face - that was kinda distracting. It was about the size of an ocelot; or maybe a bandicoot - actually, I don't know what a bandicoot is, I just like to say it. Bandicoot. Just sort of rolls off the tongue"

"This still isn't proof that Mr. Scipio is behind it. We need those photographs. You two stay here, I'll see if I can locate Buffy." Giles went to his bedroom and dressed quickly. He returned to find Xander and Cordelia curled up together on his couch. "I'll be back shortly; don't touch anything. There's hot water in the kettle if you want to make some tea." With some trepidation, he left them alone.

*****************************************************************

Giles and Buffy walked into Giles' house at midnight. Cordelia was sleeping on the couch and Xander was sitting on the floor in front of Giles' coffee table with a variety of cheeses and crackers assembled on a platter.

"She almost looks harmless when she's asleep," Buffy noted, "like a sleeping wolverine."

Giles stared at the mess in shock, unable to speak.

"You have no idea how hard it is to find something edible in an Englishman's refrigerator," Xander said to Buffy. "Try this." He scooped some cheese onto a whole-grain cracker.

Buffy took a sniff and handed it back to Xander. "No thanks. If it smells that bad, it can't taste all that great."

"Plan B," Xander explained, "you know, steal the math club pictures."

"Already tried," Buffy responded, dropping onto the couch next to Cordelia and helping herself to some of the more normal looking crackers. "Scipio got there first. All the film was stolen. These might taste better if we nuked them."

"Mr. I-still-live-in-the-13th-century doesn't have a microwave" Xander responded. He handed the cracker Buffy had refused to the still groggy Cordelia; she accepted it and began to eat it.

"What did I just put in my mouth?" She was now full awake.

"I think it was goat cheese. You hungry, Giles?" Xander offered.

*****************************************************************

Oz glanced around him. The desks in Mr. Scipio's room were stacked along one of the walls, the room darkened, illuminated solely by braziers of brightly burning aromatic herbs. Surrounding him, the members of the math club were crouched on the floor, in a roughly circular pattern, writing equations on the floor with magic markers - markers identical to the one he held. Mr. Scipio was in the center, his back to Oz, chanting. "That's odd," he said to himself. The last thing he remembered was arriving at the unusually late, 7:00, meeting; a glance at his watch revealed that more than an hour had passed. He turned to his immediate left, where Buffy sat motionless, magic marker in hand. "Hey, Buffy," he whispered.

Buffy turned to Oz, tears sliding down her face, "I can't figure out this problem, Oz," she said timorously.

Mr. Scipio looked around at the sound of her voice. He got up and headed for Oz and Buffy. Oz could see a faint red glow coming from Mr. Scipio's eyes. He shook Buffy lightly, saying, "Buffy, are you all right?" As Mr Scipio approached, Oz turned to him. "Uh...hey, Mr. Scipio."

"Is there a problem, Oz?" Mr. Scipio asked in a baritone growl that sent a chill down Oz's spine, his multiple rows of serrated teeth gleaming in the dim light.

"Uh... no problem. I was just helping Buffy with an equation," he responded.

Mr. Scipio reached a hand - now looking more like a claw - toward Oz, but his action was abruptly interrupted when a kick from Buffy knocked him to the floor. All illusion of being a human now dissipated as the Demon Pythagorax rose unsteadily to its feet. A series of horns projected from its forehead, its gray-green skin glistened wetly with a thin coating of slime. Its suit and tie looked oddly incongruous on the monstrous creature that towered over Buffy. Oz scanned the room for Willow; he saw her diametrically opposite him, frantically writing out her equations on the floor. As Buffy and the demon approached each other, he ran around them to Willow. Buffy hit Pythagorax again; this time he braced for the impact and was barely affected. She dodged a slash with his razor sharp claws, but he caught her with a backhand, sending her crashing into the desks at the edge of the room. As she disengaged herself from the desks, the demon closed the distance. Pythagorax grabbed one of the fallen desks and flung it at Buffy. She avoided it easily and the desk shattered behind her against the wall.

Willow was completely oblivious to Oz's attempt to reach her; she did not respond either to words or touches and violently resisted his attempts to stop her calculations. Oz glanced up to see how the battle was progressing. Buffy had picked up a jagged piece of metal in her capable hands this fragment of a broken desk became a deadly weapon. The demon reeled backwards, a dark green ichor oozing from several different wounds. Then itreached out, catching Buffy's left arm in his massive hand; fire flared up from the point of contact and the smell of burning flesh quickly overpowered the smoldering herbs. Buffy brought her weapon down upon the demon's arm, neatly severing its hand at the wrist, freeing herself. Pythagorax howled in pain and reeled back. It began chanting, and stretched out its remaining claw - blue flame projected from its outstretched fingertips. Buffy dived away, out of the fire's path. Jessica Faylen was caught in the path and engulfed in flames. Oz watched in horror; as the fire consumed her she never halted her writing. Oz grabbed Willow and carried her bodily to the door. He dragged her outside and set her down in the hallway, making one more attempt to communicate with her. She continued to ignore him and as soon as he released her, she went back to frantically writing equations - this time on the wall. Oz turned to head back to the room, but discovered that he was locked out even though the door had opened easily from the inside. He peered into the window and saw that the battle was in full swing - Pythagorax had Buffy trapped behind the teacher's desk and pushed it toward her in attempt to pin her against the wall. Buffy flipped over the desk and landed behind the demon. Oz turned to Willow, "You gonna be Okay, Willow?" There was no response. "I'll be right back." He headed for the library.

Oz returned to the math room with Giles - both armed to the teeth. While Oz checked on Willow, Giles looked into the room. "There seems to be a lull in the fighting," he said.

"Don't you have a pass key or something?" Oz asked.

"I'm the librarian, not the janitor," he responded. "I don't see either of them."

Oz joined him at the narrow window. Some of the members of the math club were moving; stumbling around as if in a daze. He motioned James Mawly to come to he door. James moved to the door and slowly turned the knob. As the door began to open, Oz and Giles forced their way in. Giles pulled James out of the room and Oz grabbed a desk and wedged it into the doorway. Then,together they went through, shaking the students out of their confusion and sending them home. Apparently, there had been no more casualties and a shattered window indicated the probable egress of Buffy and the demon. They discovered the missing camera and film in the drawers of Mr. Scipio's desk.Willow was the last of the group to snap out of the math trance; she surveyed the aftermath of the battle with shock - the smoking braziers and broken desks were less disturbing than the equations covering the floor which she vaguely recalled helping to produce.

"Hi guys!" Buffy bounded through the broken window in a gratuitous display of her gymnastic ability. "I knocked the demon through the window to keep him from torching any more students," she said. "As president of the math club, I felt it was my duty to try to keep any more members from dying. Demon slain." She was bleeding in a dozen different places and had a serious burn where the demon had grabbed her arm. "Want to explain to us what happened here, Giles?"

"I'll need to..." he began.

" 'Consult my books,' " Buffy finished for him.

Willow, Xander, Oz and Buffy were in the library. School had just ended. Buffy sported a bandaged wrist, but the bruises and lacerations had healed quickly, thanks to he preternatural constitution. "Anyway," she was saying to her friends, "There is a good side to this. Principal Snyder hasn't been able to find any teachers willing to take over the math club. All the others members have already quit so I'm convening our final meeting right now and am abdicating the position of president. I'm sure the club will be fine under your capable leadership," she said to Oz.

"You can't quit yet!" Willow responded. "We still have $17.28 in our treasury."

"Oh. Well I vote we spend it on pizza," Buffy said.

"I second that motion," Oz added.

"Motioned carried," Buffy responded, "next order of business - where's Giles? And - not that I'm complaining -Cordelia?"

"Cordy got grounded by her dad for damaging his camera," Xander answered, "and speaking of pizza, is it too late for me to join the math club?"

"You're in," Buffy told him.

"Just don't tell Cordelia."

"Shouldn't we be voting or something?" Willow asked Buffy. "I think you're violating Robert's Rules of Order..."

"Order the pizza, Will, or I'll have you executed for treason."

"I don't think the president has that power..." Willow began, but a dark look from Buffy cut her off. "I'll go order the pizza, Madame President."

Giles walked into the library. "I just finished developing the photographs that Xander and Cordelia took - as well as the photo that Pythagorax took with the math club." He dropped the pictures on the table. Both pictures revealed Mr. Scipio in his true form.

"Demons shouldn't wear ties," Buffy remarked.

"Photography is surprisingly easy," Giles continued, as he placed a book labeled "Photography Made Easy" back on its shelf. He returned and gave a handful of negatives to Xander. "I believe these are yours - I don't recall having ever seen quite so much of our Miss Chase."

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Xander as he pocketed the film.

"So Giles, got an explanation for last night's major weirdness?" Buffy demanded.

"Well, I-I think that I have most of the pieces," he began uncertainly. "Looking at the 'equations' that that you and the other students were working on, it would seem that the Pythagoreans encoded their spells into word problems. Perhaps by solving the problems step by step, you were, in effect, casting the spell. It may be that you were trained by him to solve these particular types of problems so that he could use you to effect the incantations. He probably needed nine people to perform all the parts, much as witches' covens require three for the more powerful spells. It's actually quite ingenious; in ancient times, only a cult member could have solved the problems and invoked the magic. Furthermore, to the untrained eye, the-the 'spells' look quite innocent."

" 'I think', 'in effect', 'it would seem'... you're pretty sure about this, aren't you Giles?" Buffy commented.

"If you have an alternative explanation, I'd be happy to here it," Giles replied tersely.

"Pizza ordered," Willow said, bouncing back into the room and giving Buffy a mock salute.

"Before I forget, a large box arrived marked 'Sunnydale Society of Geometricians,' Giles said as he motioned toward a large box on the table. "I don't suppose you know anything about that?"

"Oooh! The T-shirts!" squealed Willow. She ran to the box and began to open it. "I wonder how they got here so fast! Probably Mr. Scipio - umm... Pythagorax - was able to work out a deal. He was very persuasive," she glanced knowingly at Buffy and Oz. "Here's mine! Leonardo da Vinci - my quote was 'Let no man who has not studied mathematics read this' - it's from the beginning of his notebooks." She showed her friends. "And here's yours, Oz!" She tossed the T-shirt to her boyfriend. Oz held it up; the back read 'Sunnydale Society of Geometricians - mess with us and we'll kick your asymptotes' - the front had a picture of Maria Agnesi with the quote 'I could solve that problem in my sleep.'

"It's what she would have said," Oz said impassively. "Did you order one, Buffy?"

"I didn't have a favorite mathematician so Mr. Scipio said he'd choose one for me."

"It must be this one - you asked for black, right?" asked Willow. Buffy nodded and Willow flipped the T-shirt around to reveal a picture of Pythagoras and his famous theorem.

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At home that night, Buffy put on the T-shirt on a whim. She looked at herself in the mirror. "Well, Pythagorax," she addressed the image of the Greek mathematician in the mirror, "I'm almost sorry I had to kill you - at least before the semester ended. You helped me get an 'A' on my last math test."

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