Russ and Phoebe continued to watch events unfold around their daughter and prospective son-in-law. Russ knew Phoebe wasn’t going to change her mind, even though she was clearly nervous; she thought the “better” path to take was one where Rissa and Serenity got out on their own.

Rissa and Serenity were tied up, then moved to the kitchen floor. Russ had no idea why it was the kitchen until the artifact and ritual paraphernalia was moved as well. When the artifact was placed so that it straddled Serenity’s body and Rissa was shackled to both the artifact and Serenity, Russ understood. They were going to perform the ritual out on the two of them, but only one person would fit under the artifact.

Phoebe still insisted that Russ shouldn’t run to the rescue. She couldn’t tell him what she thought would happen; all she could say was that rescuing them would guarantee the person behind it escaped. Russ would have been willing to risk that.

Unfortunately, neither of them knew what the ritual did. Phoebe could tell it wasn’t fatal, but she hadn’t managed to figure out the right way to ask to find out what it did. The blackness covering Serenity after whatever he did was connected to the artifact; that much was obvious, and some of the futures seemed to show that blackness. Others didn’t, and Phoebe couldn’t tell why.

Phoebe pressed on the spray of possibilities, choosing one where Serenity and Rissa weren’t coated in darkness. She could only grab bits and pieces, but what she could tell was that whatever happened in the ritual, it would finish, then Serenity and Rissa would be loaded into a van along with Liam, the artifact, and the ritual materials and taken to a warehouse.

Phoebe thought it was the same warehouse as the one they’d passed while tracing the artifact, but she couldn’t be sure; there weren’t any clear markings, and there was a generic similarity between it and other warehouse loading docks.

She ran the possibilities through her hands and caught on one where the mastermind was at the docks when they arrived. She couldn’t see who it was, but that didn’t matter; it was their best chance to catch up with the mastermind. She pushed and wove and knew that the opportunity was there.

Opportunity was all she was willing to push for. She could guarantee what she actually saw, but anything outside the one scene - often one image, when she pushed for it deliberately - was not guaranteed. More importantly, pushing for a particular thing could change other things.

It sounded powerful, and in many ways it was. It was definitely not foolproof.

Phoebe didn’t push for a scene where they captured or killed the enemy. She could imagine far too many things that could go wrong if the future she fixed simply dealt with the enemy. Having the chance to identify the mastermind would have to do. Instead, she pushed for a reunion or escape scene and one flashed in front of her eyes.

Rissa, clinging to her father as she and Serenity helped him limp out of the building. Flames shone behind them as they walked to the car.

It was all she could manage, and it was enough.

No matter what they did, that scene would happen now, as would everything it implied. Like it or not, she and Russ would be stopped somehow if they tried to interfere before the warehouse, because the scene she’d staged said that was required.

Unless, of course, their presence was somehow needed to avoid the darkening effect she’d seen. Then they’d find themselves in there no matter what they wanted to do. She couldn’t tell for sure, but since she’d had the choice, there had to be some way to affect it.

This was the power and the curse of her line.

Rissa roused first. She would never be sure how long she spent in a drug-induced daze, half-aware. She remembered struggling when Serenity was pulled away from her, and feeling comfort from his nearness later, despite the horribly uncomfortable position she lay in.

She pulled at the bonds, but was unable to free herself. They’d tied her too well and she couldn’t wiggle enough to get the leverage she needed.

“Don’t worry, Clara. I know it’s uncomfortable, but it’ll be over soon, and you can tell me what it’s like from inside the ritual. This is a huge opportunity for both of us! You’ll be able to see more and you can tell me what you see! Once this is done, I’ll have Thomas do the ritual for me. You can help if you want.”

That had to be Liam. Why did he think they’d be willing to help him at all after he’d had them drugged and tied up while he did a ritual on them?

Did he think they wouldn’t be able to argue? But then why would he say he’d have Thomas perform it on him? Serenity wasn’t likely to want to help someone who’d knocked him out.

Either she was still not thinking clearly because of the drug, or his plan didn’t make any sense. Rissa couldn’t be sure which it was. She knew she still wasn’t entirely clear-minded, because even though she’d known Serenity was close, it was only at that moment she realized he was the heavy weight laying on her right arm.

He wasn’t moving, but she could feel his body move as he breathed. She tried to shake him, but it was difficult.

It had to be the drugs. She tried to reach him with her Healing affinity, but she didn’t have a Path Skill to cleanse the poison from his body, and she didn’t really know what she was doing. She didn’t dare push too hard. She tried, and she thought she’d gotten some of it, but she wasn’t sure how much it helped.

He didn’t wake up.

It felt like hours later when Serenity finally began to stir, but Rissa knew it couldn’t have been that long. The arm Serenity lay on started to tingle as he moved, waking up. Rissa tried to slip it out from under him but found that, like her other arm, it was anchored somewhere on the other side of her fiancee.

“Oh, he’s waking up? I didn’t expect it this quickly. It’s a little early but I guess I’d better get started.” Liam’s voice came from somewhere behind Rissa, followed by the hiss of a match being struck.

Liam’s statement made Rissa redouble her efforts to cleanse the sleeping drug from Serenity’s body. If he was stirring early, that could only be a good thing. She wasn’t sure how much time she had left, but it was going to be difficult.

Once he moved in front of her, Rissa could see that Liam was lighting a new match for each candle, then tossing the burned-out match away from the ritual. She couldn’t think of any way to take advantage of it yet, but she’d keep it in mind.

She tried to reach out to the possibilities to find one that was better, but they seemed oddly fragile. She knew she couldn’t force a preferred outcome that way; it simply wouldn’t work. Rissa tried to instead use her Sight the way she’d always wanted to - to see possibilities - but whenever she pushed more than a minute or two into the future, she was left with shards she couldn’t interpret.

She gave Serenity’s sleeping form a fond smile. She’d have to practice more when he was around. It would take an entirely new set of skills, but she looked forward to being able to see possibility instead of locking in a future. It was entirely possible she wouldn’t have been able to find a way out anyway; generally, you could only see possibility sprays if there was something you could affect, and fixing one as the future would drive you to take the right actions to make it come true.

That was why she’d tried to do what she could first, before reaching for the possibilities. It was just as well she had; this way, she’d put more time into ridding Serenity of the drug.

Liam started chanting, and even though she knew he hadn’t turned off the lights, the room started to get darker. Rissa snuggled closer to Serenity; he couldn’t do anything to help her, but his presence made her feel better.

Rissa saw a blob of darkness squeeze out from under Serenity’s clothing and wiggle its way onto her arm. It felt warm and smooth. It reminded her of touching Serenity’s scales, except that it was more flexible. It was quickly out of sight as it followed her arm down to where her wrists were bound. She felt it cover one hand, then the other hand. She wasn’t sure what it was, but so far it didn’t seem hostile.

Rissa’s attention was grabbed by Liam’s chanting. It had an odd rhythm, almost like an atonal song, but there was a feel to it that was just wrong. It felt like the symbols on the artifact, something she simply didn’t want to be near.

She shook Serenity as best she could once again. This time, she got a mumbled response, but he still wasn’t conscious.

The longer the chanting continued, the worse it felt. It had progressed from a mild headache to needles all over her body by the time Liam stopped chanting. Rissa felt a moment of relief; nothing was going to happen after all!

Naturally, that was when she was inundated by a painful darkness that felt like someone was shouting at her, far too loudly. She could still feel where her arms wrapped around Serenity and her hands were covered by the dark thing; they were the only places that didn’t hurt, so she concentrated on them.

The noise seemed to become louder and louder, whether she concentrated on it or not. It hurt.

As she reached out for anything that could help, she realized Serenity had left the link between them open again. It hadn’t mattered before, when the room was lit, but in the darkness she wanted to see.

Suddenly, everything lit up in a deep purple glow. She could see many different things moving around her; they were oddly shaped and seemed about as substantial as smoke. Her eyes no longer hurt; it was like she was seeing them the way they were meant to be seen, instead of through a distorting lens.

There was a moment where the noise she heard seemed to rise in volume before it disappeared into the calmness of the link.

As the noise disappeared and the misty shapes appeared, they seemed to give her a little room; not much, only about half an inch, but they were no longer touching her and the pain receded quickly.

YOU//THEY//HE

What?

Rissa hadn’t heard that with her ears. She wasn’t sure how she’d heard it, until she heard something else. It had an odd feeling to it, almost like it was interested.

YOU//CALLED

YOU//CAME

YOU//WELCOME//YOU

It was coming over her link to Serenity. She shook him again, hoping he would wake up and be able to do something.

SPEAK//GIFT//YOU

“Serenity! Wake up! Please. I don’t know how long this stuff lasts. Liam trapped us and did that ritual and I can’t get loose. Can you cut me free?” Rissa couldn’t hear her own voice, but she pushed her fear towards him. He wasn’t an empath, so making him feel emotions was difficult; it was unlikely she could overcome the sleeping agent unless it was nearly gone, but it was the last thing she could think of to try.

The link had protected her; maybe it could do more than that. She pushed her desperation along it.

Serenity seemed to feel it, finally. She got a sense of resolve and anger, followed by a concept similar to what she’d felt across the link before.

//protect//

It was far quieter than the ones she’d heard before, and this time it sounded almost like Serenity. She pushed her hope and love along the link, but knew her fear went as well.

//protect//safe//

YOUNG//GIFT//GROW//YOU

//yes//

Everything was covered in a wash of dark purple light. When it cleared, Rissa still had her arms around Serenity, but he was facing her instead of away, and neither of them was bound. He lifted her to her feet, but didn’t say anything.

His eyes weren’t the usual vertically-slit eyes with a black sclera and white pupil she’d started to get used to. Instead, they glowed evenly with the same dark purple light that had just disappeared.