“Nestor's down,” Alison said. “Just cleaning up.”

“Who got hurt?” Kayla demanded. “And don't tell me no one did, I saw Zach's expression.”

“Suze mostly,” Zach said. “Erica a little. Both still in the game.”

“More reason to finish fast,” Alison said.

JC left the door open as she stepped back into the hall; when Kayla and the others caught up, they found she was already in a sitting room that was, other than some specific differences in styles of furniture, very much like the one they'd been hiding in.

Alison's arm barred Kayla from going inside, but she could watch JC from here. In front of a second door, the house fae began to gather up... something. Kayla rubbed her lower arms absently, feeling the fine hairs start to shiver in response to whatever JC was doing. It wasn't the mime it looked like, she was sure of that much: JC was manipulating... something.

With a final gesture, JC tore whatever-it-was free from its anchor across the door, and shook it off her hands like a mass of spiderwebs. Between the heels on her boots and whatever depth of physical change, her strides back towards the landing were shorter than Kayla subconsciously half expected, but she covered the distance quickly anyway.

Alison and Zach went the opposite direction, to face the door JC had just cleared. Zach was a little shorter, and Kayla doubted he massed more than two-thirds what Alison did, if that, but that didn't make him look any less dangerous.

Dragon and unicorn traded glances. Alison took an impressively deep breath, and nodded.

As Zach reached for the doorknob, JC caught Kayla's hand again, drawing her towards the third door off the landing.

Every human instinct wanted to stay, wanted to know what Zach and Alison were doing and what was behind the door that JC had... unlocked, maybe? Wanted to be there to back her friends up, even though that was insane and there was nothing she could possibly do when she didn't even know what they were facing.

She shoved the thoughts away in favour of trusting them and went with JC.

Another sitting room, but this one looked much more lived in. The furniture tended towards antique, but the sofa and chairs looked comfortably soft, if somewhat outdated, and a reading couch with a scrolled end looked downright luxurious. Tables and cabinets and the wooden parts of the seating were polished to a high gloss; rugs scattered on the gleaming hardwood floor, and paintings on the walls, added further colour and ornamentation.

JC closed the door quietly and urged her towards a corner. There was enough space for a single body to wriggle into the gap beside a tall set of shelves, laden with assorted objects that could be ornamental or magical or something else entirely; the oak-and-red-velvet sofa sheltered it from most of the rest of the room. JC gestured to her, and made a downward motion with one hand, tugging at the fabric peeking out of the pocket of Kayla's jeans with the other.

Kayla heaved a sigh—more hiding and waiting—but extricated the fabric and gave it to JC, then obediently made herself as small as she could in the corner.

To her deep annoyance, the view from that angle distracted her briefly—very long legs, perfectly smooth, disappearing a long way up under the short flared skirt, and above, that impossibly flat-bellied narrow waist highlighted by the white underbust corset. She didn't know JC well enough to know whether, even under much better circumstances, even simple genuine appreciation would be welcome; she wasn't at all sure JC personally would have an answer for that right now. Under any conditions, she flatly refused to act like a tranny chaser and reduce anyone to less than a person, just a one-dimensional object that fit within her own fetishes. And this was absolutely not the time and place for even thinking about any of this!

From somewhere beyond the door, Kayla head a dull thump, maybe a door slamming open, an irate male voice but she could catch only a few words, and a sharp cry that might have been pain. That chilly-static feeling prickled her skin, and escalated to a level comparable to Arctos or Riley opening the Portal, though it felt different somehow. What were they doing?

JC hastily shook out the colourless fabric and draped it over her, with an uneasy glance at the door they'd come in and one of the other doors. Kayla had no trouble seeing through it with little distortion, but if it fuzzed edges and colours, then combined with the charm against being noticed and being so out of the way, quite possibly someone not fae could walk right past her without seeing her.

JC, to all appearances perfectly calm, pulled the rag from the front of her corset and opened a glass cabinet; she picked up an object, a small figurine that looked vaguely Egyptian, to clean.

That was probably even more effective than hiding. Who was going to question their fae maid quietly dusting, no matter where she was?

The question was, what were they waiting for?

The answer wasn't long in coming.

The outer door banged open so violently it was a wonder it stayed on its hinges. A man backed through it, one who could have been any age, dressed all in dull shades of beige and tan and muted light browns. What was it with wizards and this monochrome thing? Xeno in black, Arctos in brown with minimal dull blue, this one in tan... and along with the drab clothes, none of them had anything physically distinctive about them at all. Was it a deliberate effort at not being noticed by mere mundane humans? Or too much exalted magical theory on their minds to leave any attention to spare for personal expression? She had no doubt at all that this was one of the wizards who had kidnapped her friends: fiery red light outlined both his hands, and the closer he came, the more pronounced that chilly-static feeling grew.

Rather incongruously, he bore several sets of three or four parallel bleeding wounds, and a bruise was darkening the side of his face where blood trickled from the corner of one eye. Kayla had more experience with aggression than she really wanted to think about, and to her, it looked painful but not life-threatening. That his breathing looked rapid and shallow might have been exertion and adrenaline, or might not.

“Isabel!” he bellowed. “Call them off!”

Zach stalked in right behind him, and the claw-like nails of both hands looked dark and wet; Alison was only a stride behind him, and Kayla could see something dark on the knuckles of one hand.

The wizard half-turned and gestured; the staticky feeling spiked sharply, and one of the other doors slammed open.

The medium who had met them at the Portal emerged, brows drawn together in a fierce scowl and lips pressed tightly together. “I'm busy! What the hell are you doing?”

“I could ask the same! What the fuck are you up to, you stupid bitch? Trying to save your own sorry ass? You think killing Nestor and I is going to make Arctos and the Cunninghams let you off the hook?”

"Where do you get off, talking to me like that? You're the junior member of this partnership, little boy, I suggest you watch your mouth."

"Partnership? With a medium? You seriously think you're the equal of any wizard? I told Nestor he was making a mistake giving you that cuff, that you'd get ideas, but he'll go along with anything as long as he doesn't have to worry about day-to-day trivia."

Zach and Alison spread to either side, Zach's tail flicking back and forth and fingers hooked into claws, Alison stomping the floor with a hoof a couple of times and her hands balled into fists—it figured that Alison, of all women, would know how to throw an effective punch. Yet neither moved in, giving wizard and medium the space to quarrel.

Idiot wizard. Too worked up to realize that if those two had been seriously trying to kill him, they probably could've made him eat his own liver before he even figured out he was being attacked.

You guys are brilliant. Maybe we can't get through her protections, but it's certainly likely the wizards can. And you just set up a reason to.

JC, with carefully unhurried motions, closed the cabinet and moved to straighten the cushions on the sofa—putting herself directly between Kayla and the argument. No one paid any attention to her.

“I had nothing to do with any attack!” Isabel spat.

“No? Then what's the dragon doing out of the cage and the unicorn out of its stable? Who opened the locked door to my workroom? What are the pair of them doing in the house at all? They sure as fuck didn't have means, motive, or opportunity alone—but as your tools, they do! Now call them off before I rip you into your component molecules!”

“I didn't sic them on you, but it's seriously tempting to let them finish the job before I stop them! I'll bind them, but you need to calm the fuck down so we can figure out what's going on!”

Kayla heard Alison grunt, heard Zach hiss, but couldn't see what the cause was. Something involving the glassy wrist and ankle cuffs, would be the most logical. After all, Isabel having the master cuff meant she had power over them via the ones they were wearing.

“Took you long enough,” Phrixos snarled.

“They're no longer a threat. Now what...” It trailed into a breathless grunt, as that static-cold flared briefly. “You dishonest bastard!”

“Like I'm going to give you the chance to try again?” Every word was punctuated by another pulse of power, and Kayla saw fiery red light strobing the entire room. Isabel cried out wordlessly.

Kayla was certain she was going to have only a very narrow window of opportunity to get that cuff. If Phrixos got it, they were all in a world of trouble. Slowly, she eased her way out of the corner, staying as low as she could as she crept towards the sofa. Even a few feet to cross might make the difference. Suzi's magic cloak tangled around her; after a heartbeat's hesitation, she tugged it off, but kept it balled up in one hand. After all, they were rather seriously distracted with each other, and she still had Xeno's charm on.

JC shifted her position to keep herself between Kayla and the fight, though everyone was still ignoring the house fae's presence.

Isabel was on her knees, her breath coming in shallow pants; Kayla saw her shake her head hard, maybe an effort to clear it. Icy-blue light sparkled around her, though it was fading perceptibly.

Phrixos stood over her, that scarlet light beginning to collect around and in his hands again.

Let him hit her again and risk him killing her and getting the cuff?

Move now, risk doing so too soon, before Isabel's magical defences were too burned out to stop Kayla?

What way would she have the best chance of getting the cuff?

Behind Phrixos, she got a glimpse of Zach. Both wrists were held together behind him, and transparent tendrils had coiled upwards from the cuffs around his lower arms—pulling his arms together so tightly his elbows nearly touched. Glassy strands from the ankle cuffs was doing the same up both legs, and the part around lower legs melded with the part around upper legs, forcing them into extreme flexion, and more linked wrists and ankles, dragging him into a backward arch under the tension.

She couldn't see Alison clearly, but the unicorn was on the floor—her legs worked differently, she couldn't kneel, which might be why she was down on her side. Neither seemed to be actively fighting it—awareness of futility?—but both were breathing hard and she could see shudders running through both that were probably discomfort if not outright pain.

Fucking psychopath. If he kills you, you deserve it.

Phrixos raised his hands, the fiery light pulsing.

Isabel raised her hands, too, one in a defensive motion, the other to one of her silver earrings.

The splash of cold-static took Kayla's breath away briefly as Phrixos hit Isabel again; hot red light flashed, shimmering immediately around her. In places the cold light melted away like snow on warm metal, but in other places, the red light flickered and faltered.

And then the blue light collapsed entirely, the red light slamming inwards in pursuit, closing around the medium.

She let out a rather pathetic whimper and sagged bonelessly where she was.

Was that it? It had to be, right? She didn't dare wait any longer, with Isabel unconscious or dead Phrixos was free to grab that cuff for himself. All things considered, that would be a logical thing for him to do. And a complete catastrophe.

Kayla bolted across the floor, skidded to a stop beside Isabel, and threw Suzi's magic cloak around both of them for whatever help that might be in distracting him or interfering with his aim. Hastily, she snatched for Isabel's arm, and slid her hand down to find the heavy cuff. How did the thing open, anyway?

“What...?” Phrixos sounded completely taken aback. “Who are you? What the hell... back off! Go clean something!”

JC stepped between them, facing Phrixos, feet spread, hands open but low at her sides. Phrixos, raising a hand that shimmered with bloody light, hesitated, and let his hand drop halfway. He had, Kayla thought, no idea what was going on, and wasn't sure what to do.

“Don't think orders are gonna work,” Kayla muttered. Oddly, though her whole body felt chilled, her dexterity was just fine. She found a button, but that wasn't enough... wait, there was another one on the other side. She could understand not wanting any chance of losing it, but right now, she'd have hacked Isabel's hand off to get it more quickly if she'd had the option. Maybe she could buy a few extra seconds talking? "I know this one's a sorry excuse for a human being, but y'know, killing people really isn't good for your karma. For your own sake, you might want to reconsider."

Phrixos barked a laugh. "Is that why you're interfering? What are you, another medium? I wasn't aware she had any friends. Or are you another Cunningham? You think she's worth saving? Do you have any idea what she's capable of?"

"Oh, come on, she's a woman. Don't you read the radical feminist literature? Women aren't bloodthirsty, that's only men. Usually impotent or insecure ones." Kayla was pretty sure she left bruises and tore skin off, since it was all a single piece and the gap wasn't all that wide, so she had to drag it over Isabel's hand. "But, honestly, between us? Some of the most ruthless people I've ever met have identified as female, they just tend to use methods other than physical violence. Men really do seem to be better at that one most of the time." She slid her own left hand into the cuff, pressed the edges together, and it snapped shut readily. It fit surprisingly well; in fact, for a heartbeat she thought she felt it writhe slightly, adjusting itself to fit against her skin comfortably. It obviously didn't need verbal commands, so she threw everything she had into a fervent desire for her friends to be free.

“Thanks, Kay,” Zach said, flowing back to his feet all in one motion. Alison took only a couple of heartbeats longer. They stepped into place on either side of JC, with no indication that the extreme bondage had left any damage. Apparently fae were flexible, resilient, or both. Or possibly adrenaline levels were high enough to allow them to disregard it, which was a more worrying thought. “Stay safe.”

“Oh, I plan to,” Kayla said. Isabel was still breathing, but she really didn't care at this point whether the medium lived or died; she was far more interested in keeping herself out of the line of fire.

“You hurt our families,” Zach spat.

“No one else,” Alison said flatly, hands balling into fists. “Ever.”

Phrixos' eyes widened as he finally began to put pieces together. “Oh good god...” He raised both hands, red light gathering.

He made a throwing gesture, one hand towards each.

The red light that hit Alison flared briefly gold and simply vanished, with what Kayla felt as a sudden blast of icy air.

The red light that hit Zach poured off his scales like water, leaving them unmarked. He shook himself, and the rest of it sprayed. None of it reached Kayla, but several drops struck JC, who simply wiped them off that smooth impossible skin and shook the residue off her hand.

Phrixos used the brief moment of distraction to bolt for the door.

In a shimmer of violet and gold, Zach went after him; even Alison and JC couldn't match that speed. Unwilling to be left behind, Kayla followed, rubbing at her arms. Phrixos was using magic again—a lot of it.

By looking over the railing, she saw how Phrixos was so far ahead: he wasn't actually using the stairs. He seemed to be slowing his own fall enough to land on his feet, and he was just reaching the hall now. Zach launched himself from the landing over the railing into the hall, came down neatly on all fours, and instantly went after Phrixos again.

Kayla would not have wanted to be Phrixos when Zach got ahold of him this time.