"I'll just grab something quick. Willow's coming over and then we're going to Cord–" Buffy caught herself short "-Ms. Hollis's house."

"Oh, have you mended fences with Cordelia?" Joyce asked.

"Something like that," the Slayer said as she took an apple from a cut-glass bowl. "We're trying to, uh, get her help with something."

"Something prom-related?" Joyce asked.

"Definitely." Buffy took a bite of the apple. "Nobody knows more about prom than Cordelia," she mumbled, her mouth full.

"Is it Slayer-related?" Joyce asked.

The Slayer swallowed and sighed. ""Y'know, I kinda miss the days when I had to think on my feet to come up with excuses."

Joyce nodded shortly, her lips pressed tightly together. "Well, be careful." The doorbell rang. Joyce left the kitchen, but the Slayer could overhear what happened. "Oh, hello, Willow… Yes, she's in the kitchen…" Joyce's voice rose. "Honey, Willow's here."

Buffy stuffed another apple into her jacket. "Thanks, Mom. Wouldn't want it to be a surprise." She crossed into the living room. "What's wrong?" Willow stood just inside the door, her face pensive, her posture stiff. Her hands were shoved deep in the pockets of her green zip-up hoodie.

Willow said nothing, but her eyes shot sideways toward Joyce. The Slayer's mother noticed the movement and raised her hands. "Okay, not for my ears. Fine. I'll be in the other room." She went into the dining room, shaking her head.

"Okay," Buffy said. "Now, what's up?"

Willow glanced over the Slayer's shoulder. "When I got home, I checked my email. I had one from Indali. She says she's found out something that can help us."

Buffy frowned. "Wait… what?"

Willow nodded. "Remember when she came in this morning? While we were talking?" The Slayer nodded. "Well," Willow continued, "she overheard us talking about ghosts, so I told her it was for a research project you were doing. We may have ended up talking about ghosts for a while."

"Nice catch. So, what's the deal?"

Willow licked her lips and leaned forward. "She wants to meet us at the school."

"Okay, that's weird, but…" Buffy's voice trailed away. "Will, why does your face look like that?"

"Well, I thought, why not just put what she found in the email? Or send me a link to the site? That bugged me, so I opened my search again and… I…" The redhead took a deep breath and sighed. "There is a ghost that has a real dirt phobia."

"Okay, that's good."

Willow bit her lip and looked miserable. "It's called a bhoot… and it's from India."

"Oh." Buffy's eyes widened. "Oh." Willow nodded. Buffy chewed her lip. "You think that means something?"

Willow's mouth puckered. "She had some really specific ideas about ghosts as energy, and she said that if you accept that they could be real, the rest of it's just physics."

The Slayer leaned in. "And you're thinking…?"

Willow grimaced. "I'm wondering if she's figured out how to conjure a ghost with math."

Buffy closed her eyes. "Two of my two worst nightmares combined." She opened her eyes and looked at her friend. "So, do you think she could do it?"

"If anybody could, it's Indali." Willow's nose wrinkled. "The Hellmouth is really bringing out the worst in the student body this year, isn't it?"

"But… why? She's not like Cheryl. She's got a solid family, they all want her to do good. She's practically you."

Willow made a face. "I've been thinking about that, too."

"Then spill," Buffy said.

Willow sighed. "A few days ago, she told me about her dadi–"

"Her daddy?"

"No, no." Willow waved a hand. "Dadi means grandmother. Anyway, Indali only met her nana once, and she gave her a bangle."

"Who gave who?"

Willow shook her head. "Sorry. Nana gave Indali a bangle."

Buffy sighed. "I'm still not–"

"She never saw her grandmother again. Her grandmother died. What's a ghost?" Willow's face was pained. "And a ghost is a dead person, right? I think that's where it intersects… the math by itself might not be enough, but if she's thinking of a specific person–"

"Someone close to her," Buffy said. "Intent, like what Giles said about… Wow."

"And the bangle," Willow said. "It's a focus, and a link between her and her nana."

Buffy looked at her friend. "What are we gonna do?"


"Thanks, Mom." The Slayer slammed the door of the Jeep.

"You're sure you don't want me to wait," Joyce said.

Buffy shook her head. "No, go back home. When we're done here, we'll just walk to Ms. Hollis's."

Joyce raised a finger. "You do realize that her house is in the opposite direction? You'll literally walk past our house."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, but after we're done here, I think we'll be in the mood for a nice walk."

Joyce waved her hand. "All right. I give up." She put the Jeep in gear and pulled away.

"What now?" Willow asked.

"We've got ten minutes," Buffy said. They headed for the back door into the cafeteria.

"I really hope we look stupid when this is all over," Willow said.


"My hands are sweaty," Willow whispered.

"We probably shouldn't talk," Buffy whispered back.

"Right," Willow responded.

They stood in the darkened computer lab, their silhouettes visible by the light that filtered in through the blinds on the windows. The clock over the door ticked loudly. The lab existed outside of time and space until a darker shadow moved through the door. It motioned and the lights flickered. Buffy blinked, trying to regain her vision, but Willow, who had closed her eyes, immediately identified the new occupant as she walked into the lab.

"Indali," she said, then cocked her head to one side. "What are you wearing?"

"You like it?" Indali looked down at her black-and-gold ensemble. "It's a modified sari. It looks like the one I remember dadi wearing. I saved the money from that awful job at Happy Burger and got it made. I was going to wear it to prom."

Willow looked puzzled. "I thought you aren't going to prom."

"I'm not. I was planning to… until my dad entered the picture."

"Your dad?"

Indali's chin quivered. "Indesh Patel's daughter is not going to prom."

"Why not?"

"Because prom is shallow, and demeaning, and no girl who wants to be taken seriously should be seen at such a thing. Those are all quotes, by the way." Indali rubbed a hand across her cheek. "There's also the sex stuff, which he thinks is pretty much mandatory at anything school-related."

Willow bit her lip. "I'm so sorry."

"Really? Are you missing prom?'

"No," Willow said in a small voice.

"My brothers will get to go." Indali looked over Willow's head and back in time. "My dadi was brilliant. She tutored all of her brothers, did you know that? No, how could you know that… she tutored them all, straight through their exams, and they all went to college and got degrees, in law and medicine and engineering… and my grandmother, who was smarter than all of them, who could've been anything, married a man her brother, my uncle, met at school and had seven children."

"Maybe that's what she wanted?" Willow said.

"No!" There was a little something extra in Indali's voice, a sharpness that scraped across Willow's nerve endings. "My mother… you've met my mother."

"Once," Willow admitted.

"She was at the top of her class. She ran rings around my father, but now he's a software engineer, and she does some contract work while he praises her for her dhokla." Her eyes squeezed tight shut. "My brothers can do whatever they want, but me… I work at Happy Burger, and I come home and study, and then, when all I wanted to do was go to prom…" Her eyes popped open and Willow shuddered at the unholy fervor behind her friend's pupils "...my dad said prom was frivolous, and a waste of time, that it wasn't for me… and that was it, I wasn't going. Why? Why is what I want a waste of time, but if my brothers want anything… Did you know my uncle in Japan sent them a GameBoy Light?"

"N-No," Willow stuttered.

"You can't get a GameBoy Light here, but my brothers have one. Why? Because they're sons. Don't you ever get tired of it? Of the complete and utter freedom enjoyed by men? I'm sick of it. It's not going to change, so I'm going to change it, and if I have to, I'll burn it all down."

"Indali," Buffy said, "I know what you mean. I see the same things, but… why did you hurt Jennifer and Michelle?"

"They benefit from it," Indali snarled. "Pretty blonde girls with empty heads who walk through life getting everything they want just because they appeal to men… they harm the rest of us, they perpetuate the idea that a woman's value is in her appeal to men!"

"Indali," Willow said, "what are you doing?"

Indali turned and Willow shivered. Indali's eyes were wide, and something wiggled inside them, something not right. "I'm fixing it," she said. "I'm fixing it for my mother, and my dadi, and for all the girls."

"I'm gonna ask something that sounds crazy… Are you using magic?" Willow flinched as she posed the question.

Indali spread her arms wide; the sari's wrap trailed on the floor behind her. "Magic? It's not magic, it's math. I told you that. It's just an equation." She held out her arm; the jewel in the center of the bangle glimmered. "And once the equation's solved, well…" A mist coalesced around the bangle, separated from her arm, then congealed into the blinking, translucent form of a young woman with long, dark hair. "I brought back my dadi." Buffy and Willow stared in horror at the writhing ghost. Its face flickered back and forth from rage to sorrow. Indali flicked her hand, and the ghost rushed toward Buffy and Willow at a ferocious speed. Willow flinched as the ghost was brought up short. Indali frowned.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I may not be smart enough to write an equation that produces a ghost, but I did remember that there's a bunch of potting soil in the janitor's closet, and WIllow said bhoots are afraid of dirt." A solid ring of black loam encircled the Slayer; an identical ring surrounded Willow's feet.

"Clever," Indali said, "but you've trapped yourself." She grinned and it was unnerving.

The Slayer shook her head. "Why did you put the dirt inside the janitor's closet and the bathroom? The ghost is scared of it? Were you trying to make it angry?"

"No," Willow said, her voice small and steady, "it was to keep it inside." She raised her volume. "Indali, when you brought back your dadi, what happened?"

"What do you mean?" The girl's eyes danced and shimmered again.

"Are you sure that your dadi was the only one who came over? Something's wrong, Indali, something's wrong with you, and–"

"Shut up!" Indali screamed. She shoved her hand forward again. The bhoot lurched forward, but could not breach the berm of soil. It writhed and snapped, its mouths–

"Mouths?" Buffy breathed. The specter continued its silent scream, but as the Slayer watched, it shifted and slithered, fearsome, then panicked.

"Willow, I–"

"You should put a leash on whatever that is." The three girls turned in unison as Matti Hollis stepped inside the door. The Knight of the Cross extended a hand toward Indali. "Honey, let me–"

"Watch out!" Buffy shouted as Indali flicked her hand again. The bhoot flashed across the room. Matti jumped back, a movement at once explosive and graceful, as her hand went into her jacket. She flicked her wrist as she landed and the collapsible baton extended to its full length. The ghost enveloped her, but pulled back as it came into contact with the weapon.

"It's steel," Willow said. "No ghost likes iron." She looked at Indali. "That's a cross-cultural thing."

"Game's up, Indali," Buffy said. "Nowhere to run."

"That's where you're so wrong. By the way, what do you bring to this party?" Indali shook her head. "No matter. You're trapped inside your fortress of dirt. You–" She turned to Matti and jerked in surprise. "You're the PE teacher."

Matti kept the baton in front of her, the ghost circling warily. "Yes, I am, and your chances of passing are going sharply down."

"She'll keep you here. I have some other arrangements to make, then I'll come back and finish this." A shudder ripped through her frame; her neck twisted sharply.

"What else do you have to do?" Willow asked.

"At first, I thought that just eliminating the queen candidates was enough, but they'll never cancel prom. This can't be fixed with one ghost, even one as righteous as my dadi. It's wormed its way too deep into this place, so the only thing to do… the only thing to do is make prom too terrible to ever have again."

"Indali, do you hear yourself?" Willow shouted. "You're planning to go full Carrie."

"It doesn't matter," Indali said, "It will be–" There was a heavy thump and she pitched forward on her face. Cordelia stood framed in the doorway, the hallway's heavy cylindrical trash can in her hands. She looked up from Indali's motionless form and locked eyes with Buffy and Willow.

"What the hell?" she said. The ghost spun toward her, and the trash can fell from her nerveless hands, but it hung in midair, twitching and spasming. For a heartbeat, everyone was frozen, then Matti lashed out with her baton, the bhoot issued another silent scream of agony, and Willow dove forward, out of her protective circle.

"Willow!" Buffy screamed. The redhead scrambled forward, grabbing at Indali; the ghost spun toward her, but Matti lashed out at it again. Willow tugged at the unconscious girl's arm and tumbled backward. She rolled over and came to her knees; the room froze again, but this time Willow held the bangle in her hands.

"Willow!" Buffy screamed again. The teenage witch looked over her shoulder at her best friend.

"Trust me, Buffy," she said. She turned back to the ghost and held up the bangle. The phantasm drifted closer. Matti shifted her weight; Willow held out a warning hand. "Don't move," she said. "You either, Cordelia." The brunette nodded.

Willow licked her lips and got slowly to her feet. She shuffled back toward the teacher's desk. The ghost followed. As she passed Buffy, Willow muttered, "Stay in the circle. Don't distract it." The redhead reached the desk. Holding the bangle in one hand, she looked over the laminate wood surface and found a letter opener. She swallowed and placed the point of the tool at the edge of the dark-red stone in the bangle's center. Willow took a slow, deep breath, then pushed. The stone popped out and skittered across the tiled floor. The bhoot flashed bilious green. Everyone flinched for a second. "Uh-oh," Buffy said. The ghost was still there. Matti shifted her weight and raised her baton.

"Don't," Willow said. "Look at her."

The spirit wasn't flickering. It was the steady, pale, translucent figure of a young woman with long black hair who looked a great deal like–

"Indali," Buffy breathed.

"It's her dadi," Willow whispered. "Her nana."

"What do we do now?" Buffy asked.

Willow's voice was sad. "We fix this." Holding the bangle, she crossed the room. The bhoot turned so that its face was always toward her, but did not move otherwise. The akik stone had fetched up against a bookcase on the far side of the room. Willow bent down to pick it up.

"Don't take your eyes off it," Matti warned.

"It's okay," Willow said. "She won't hurt us." She picked up the stone and turned to face the bhoot. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I'm sorry for what's been done to you, and for doing this. I know you loved her, and this was special, but it's the only way. You see?"

As Buffy, Cordelia, and Matti watched, the spirit's head shivered. The diaphanous eyes closed and opened. Willow nodded, placed the stone on the floor, then extended her hand toward Matti. "Could I borrow that? Could you make it…?" She made a downward motion. Matti pushed the baton against her thigh and collapsed it, then handed it to the girl. Willow swallowed and looked up at the ghost.

"I'm sorry," she said, and brought the steel tube down on the akik. It shattered and the bhoot flared a bright, dazzling white. As the spots faded and their vision returned, the room was empty.

"What. The. Hell?" Cordelia demanded.

"Not now," Matti said. "What's that she said about one ghost not fixing this?"

"I don't know," Buffy said.

The Chevalier straddled Indali as the unconscious girl began to moan. She touched the back of the girl's head, then felt the throat for a pulse. "I think she's all right." She spoke over her shoulder. "She's gonna have a hell of a goose egg, though." Matti reached into her jacket pocket and brought out a handful of zip ties. "Hate to do this, but there's no other way." She bent down and swiftly secured Indali's wrists and ankles, then straightened up. "Is that thing gone?" she asked Willow.

"Yeah," Willow said. "It's gone."

Matti nodded. "Then come with me."

"Where are we going?" Buffy said as she stepped over the ring of dirt.

"The gym," Matti said, her long legs already carrying her out of the room.