He is distracted with some figures and simply answers the call without looking for the caller ID. "Stephen Grayward, may I help you?"

There's silence on the other end of the line for a moment, and then, "You... You said we could call if we needed help, right?" 

He may recognize the voice as one of the twins, though people do sound different over the phone. They also sound different when they're terrified and most of the way to panicking.

That's an alarming tone of voice. He is stuck a moment trying to figure out the name. "Yes. Something happened?"

He draws in a deep breath, trying to keep calm enough to explain. 

"It's Alex, he- he left for work this morning, took the car, but he didn't come back after work- I waited a bit but when he wasn't back by the time we usually go to bed I flew down to his work to look for him." Pause, deep breath, "The car was there. There was a note in it." His grip on it tightens, the paper crinkling audibly over the phone. "He left me a note. So I'd know who took him. He's supposed to be dead." 

"Okay, James. We will help. And who is supposed to be dead?"

"The reason I have gifts." He swallows, "Davin."

"He likes... hurting people," he explains haltingly. "Breaking people. I let him in close and he-" he chained him and hurt him and made him scream until something broke and Jamie shoved him through a wall with his health gift and Alex found him outside and killed him.

"He's supposed to be dead," he repeats, whispering, his voice tight. "Alex said he was dead." 

"Okay, we will help. Where are you right now? Did the captor actually identify himself as Davin? What's his last name?"

"Lowell. It's not- he didn't, sign his name, or anything, but it's the next best thing," the paper has a spider in a web on it, the exact same one which was tattooed on the inside of Jamie's thigh, like an artist's signature, he'd said, when he was inking it. He talked a lot, when he had Jamie in that house, about his philosophy and his plans and- and of course Jamie remembers every word, even, especially, when he'd rather forget. 

"I don't- I'm on a roof somewhere. He's gotta know where we live, right? He was watching us-" he sobs, his breathing picking up again, "I can't go back, I can't- why, why did he take Alex? He can't have Alex, he wanted me, why-?" 

He is moving towards the nearest house inhabitant, which turns out to be Sawney. "Emergency with the Starrs. Get everyone in the ritual room."

"I don't know, James. But we will deal with it and rescue your brother. Is your phone charged? Or will have at least 30 minutes of battery?"

"Okay, okay," he tries to level out his breathing while he checks, fumbling a bit. "Yeah," he says, setting the phone against his knees and leaning forward to talk into it. "80%." 

James can hear Stephen deflecting questions from the people on the other side of the line. There is a brief moment where the phone was apparently put down before being picked up again. "Alright, that should be enough to give you some way to ward against detection. Then you can wait for us to get to you to help the both of you. Do you understand?"

"I understand," He curls up tighter, hanging onto the voices on the other end of the phone as an anchor. 

If he pays attention, he can hear two voices that are just like Stephen's. People are apparently planning and figuring out who to mobilize. Stephen asks some clarifying questions to further identify Davin and sort of resources he might have.

Jamie provides a description, "We were never... I never saw anyone other than him, when he... But he's charming, and good at reading people. He came from old money, and probably has people working for him. And... whatever place he took him to, it won't be obviously linked to him."  

"We can still use that to find where your brother is. Get to him and use Ezra."

More background noise. "Or some other way. We have a ritual for invisibility and a color changing ritual that you can do with little set up. You can use to get a room some place and wait for us."

He nods, and then remembers they can't see him, "-okay. Tell me what to do?" 

Stephen guides James through the process. The color changing is faster and will last longer, it isn't a perfect disguise, but combined with the invisibility should help get Davin off James' trail if he is out looking for him. They actually plan to send James to a good hotel if they can manage get reservations in one.

Once they've told him where to go, he lifts off in that direction, landing and walking the rest of the way once he's close. After picking up the keycard he goes looking for a stairwell, already feeling like the walls are closing in on him. He definitely can't handle an elevator right now. Even the stairwell is a bit tight.

Inside the room, he beelines straight for the balcony, curling up on one of the chairs out there. 

He keeps them on the line for as long as he can, but he didn't bring the phone cord. Eventually, the battery runs low enough that he has to end the call. 

"How long will it take you to get here?" He asks before he hangs up.

Consulting. "Between two and four hours at least. The ground route you took was more convenient, but not necessarily faster."

"Okay. Okay, see you then." He ends the call, sets the phone on the table next to him, and settles in to watch the night sky while he waits, doing his best to keep his mind blank. After some time, his eyelids begin to get heavy, and his exhaustion sends him into a fitful sleep despite the chilly night air.

The phone in his bedroom rings.

He starts awake at the noise, coming to full consciousness with his heart pounding. He checks his phone, realizes the sound isn't coming from it, and then stands to go stare at the landline from the balcony door with some trepidation. No one else but the Graywards know where he is, right? It's probably them, it should be safe... 

He picks up on the fourth ring, "...Hello?"

"Aaron here, and also Franklyn and Adam. Do you want us to go up? Alternatively, Franklyn can go up by himself if you'd rather."

He lets out a sigh of relief, "No, you... you can all come up. Just-" he shifts uncomfortably, keeping his gaze trained on the balcony door, "Make sure to knock loudly?" He might not not be able to hear from the balcony, otherwise.

"Okay, we will."

Soon enough, there are loud knocks from the door. "It's us."

The door opens a few moments after he finishes knocking, revealing the room's occupant. He looks like a wreck. His eyes are red-rimmed and his hair and clothes are a rumpled mess, and he's shivering in the cold air - though he doesn't seem to notice that. 

He swallows, "Hi," he says, voice tight. He steps back out of the way to let them come in.

Franklyn flies towards James and offers a hug.

Adam and Aaron follow after him.

"Hi... The others are around town giving a preliminary look around."

Very hug. He nods at Aaron's words as he curls into it, burying his face in Franklyn's shoulder, and shivers, finally noticing how cold he is in contrast to the other's warmth. 

"Is there... tracking magic or something?" He asks after a moment.

"There is. And other kinds of sensing magic. We got another sorcerer, a girl that goes by Percy, she can sense emotions, and she is helping as well."

"We will find him." Squeeze. "We did a check and Davin is not associated with magic."

"Oh," he sighs, "I wasn't sure - I pushed him through the wall... and... he probably saw me flying, if he's been watching. I bet he... looked."

"We have been assuming that he knows, but that's very unlikely to have magic himself. And we have people sent to look what resources he might have. Probably won't find anything official."

"But for now, we will focus on finding your brother and keeping both of you safe."

Nodnod. He squeezes Franklyn and then pulls away a bit, turning his focus on Aaron. "What should I do? Can I help with anything?"

"You can help us with the search, if you are up for it. But you may rest first if you'd rather."

He's pretty exhausted, even after that nap, but. "He's got my twin, Aaron." He doesn't say 'what if it was Topher', but he figures he doesn't really have to. "Tell me what to do."

He understands.

"Okay, first, we will regroup. Then you can help with tracking him down."

They regroup on another hotel. Stephen offers James a hug when they get there and ask how he is doing.

The question doesn't get a verbal response, just a brittle smile, but he does accept the hug.

When he pulls away, he has to take a moment to stare at the activity in here, a little overwhelmed by the way they'd just dropped everything to come help.

"...You actually..." He stops, "...Thank you," he tells Stephen. 

"It's what family is for. Anyway, we are looking for your brother, have not caught a solid lead."

He's really not used to people caring about them like this. Honestly, deep down, he'd still been a bit uncertain about considering the Graywards family, but after this...

He nods, rubbing at his eyes. "Is there anything I can do to help? Is there some ritual that could use our blood relation to track him down, or something?"

"Yes, that would help. Alongside any sort of information you can share. Do you still have the note Davin left you?"

"Yeah," he's still holding it, actually, crumpled into a ball in his hand. He smooths it out and then offers it to Stephen. 

It's very detailed - the spider almost looks real from a certain angle. It probably took Davin a while to draw it, even considering how experienced he is at drawing this particular image. 

"Huh, it looks like he spent a lot of time in this thing. Maybe wearing gloves to avoid finger-prints or DNA testing. It won't stop magic." Stephen might sound a tiny bit vindictive.

He can't blame him for that.

"He's probably thought of most of the non-magical ways he could be tracked down, but hopefully he doesn't know much about magic," he agrees quietly. 

"Anyway, let's all touch base with the others."

Pretty much everyone came, except Temple (who is on the way). They haven't made that much progress yet, but they are searching.

(Percy introduces herself as friend of the family.)

Jamie has a moment of being overwhelmed by all of this again, but he recovers pretty quickly.

He'll get involved wherever they can use him until he can't stay awake any longer.

Which... considering he was already exhausted and that a lot of this magic involves wakefulness. He is sent to bed soon enough.

He's a little more resistant to this than to being stuffed with food. But he can't really resist effectively when he's half-unconscious already. He goes.

(He has nightmares. He's not loud - he just curls up into a ball and makes quiet distressed noises, interspersed the occasional cut-off word. He half-wakes a couple of times, but is tired enough from the magic use that he falls back asleep shortly.)

Adam might offer to sing (his magic calming song) if James wants that and is awake for more than a minute.

He manages that after about four hours, at which point he hesitantly agrees to try it.

Adam sings something that sounds lullaby like, and it is very comforting. Like a warm bath for the soul.

Oh, that's very nice. It sends him right back to sleep, a less fitful variety this time. 

If no one interrupts him, he'll wake up refreshed another five hours or so from then.

He will have a nice breakfast then, before joining the search.

They are many, and they have magic on their side. It still is a needle in a haystack sort of deal.

They haven't located Davin, and they are not sure what his alibi for this will be.

Temple arrives, followed by two people in matching green uniforms that help them refine their search. It still is several hours before their lead become hotter than "confident".

They have a direction to go in, at least, and a quick glimpse of Davin placing the note in the Starrs' car, before getting into another idling near it. 

"So we just... go in that direction, until we find that car. And hopefully someone will be able to sense him from there?"

"More or less. We can send some people ahead for any areas of interest in that general direction. Warehouses and such."

"Of course, he might not have gone with that option, but it is a lead."

"Yeah." 

The people sent ahead don't find anything around any warehouses or such. It looks like their best option right now is to just go through the city in that direction, and hope he didn't go to an entirely different one. 

Yeah, and there is the problem with the trail going cold faster than they can follow up. This will take several hours. In fact, by the morning of the next day they are basically just personally scouting the area instead of using the tracing magic.

What sort of area is that? And any unusual activity around it? Police reports/activity that they can find on-line? Or after "contacting" a police officer if that's what it takes.

It's mostly middle-class residential, a maze of side streets and cul-de-sacs with little parks tucked in here and there. There's lots of families living in the area, along with a fair few young couples, and a respectable number of retirees whose children have long flown the nest. It's one of those places where each house is the same one over and over with a few different coats of paint. 

A quick search online brings up only the sorts of things one might expect to find in this sort of neighborhood. A streak of still-unsolved break-ins, a recent abuse case, a year-old murder, a bunch of teens busted for throwing a loud enough party the cops were called on them, at which point it was discovered that they were all drunk... Not even a closer look at the police will reveal anything too out of the ordinary.

Collective sigh.

They will resolve to walk around sensing. Maybe even ask around about anything weird. Franklyn and Percy in particular are really good at charming old people into talking about local gossip.

This lady working out in her garden certainly thinks they're very charming. 

"Thinking of moving into the area?" She asks after a short greeting, "It's a lovely neighborhood for raising children, you know," she tells them. "The schools around here are some of the nicest in the city, and it's safe enough to let your little ones run around without worrying what might become of them. There's nothing for sale on this street, but there's two over on Cypress, if you'd like to take a look." She hums, "Or, no, I think one of them sold a couple weeks ago."

"Which house was sold? They might have realized something about the other house that we might not necessarily during a visit."

"Hm," she thinks for a moment, "I believe it was 7 Cypress Crescent," she decides. "The house in the middle of the crescent, it's the one that backs onto Cypress Park, though there's the little alley in between as well. I'm sure that's why they chose it, but it couldn't hurt to ask them if they noticed anything off about the other one, it's true." 

"Oooh, that does sound convenient."

Percy and Franklyn keep with the small talk for a bit and fish for more information. Otherwise, they will leave her with a pleasant feeling out of this friendly conversation.

A pleasant feeling from a pleasant conversation to add to this pleasant day in such a pleasant neighborhood. There couldn't possibly be anything unpleasant going on around here.

There's a moving van outside the house in the middle of Cypress Crescent, a pair of nondescript burly men ferrying furniture into the building from the van. There's no car in the driveway, but the garage door is closed, so it's hard to say if there's any in there. 

There's also a young woman sitting on the porch watching the movers, a tall glass of something cool in hand. 

Percy jobs by, extending her ability to sense emotions over the house.

The movers are a little nervous, but mostly focused on their work. It seems to be the woman making them nervous, given how it rises whenever they get close, though one of them also finds her distracting in another way.

The woman herself is very bored, and a little frustrated, and a little amused, possibly by the way that one mover keeps darting glances at her whenever he passes by. She started taking long, languid sips of her drink whenever he got close shortly before Percy jogged by, tilting her head back to expose her throat with exaggerated enjoyment written all over her face. The strategy seems to be working well, which is increasing her amusement, though not doing much for the frustration. 

There's two more people inside the house. One feels like pleasure and fascination and sick, sadistic hunger. The other is in a great deal of pain. Their emotions are somewhat... dimmed, but she can feel the occasional spike of terror-fury emerge from beneath the fog, before it fractures again into more diffuse fear. They're either drugged or in too much pain to feel much else. Possibly a combination of the two.

It's like a punch in her gut, and she gasps for air.

The woman's attention snaps to her when she stumbles and gasps, watching her with curiosity but no concern.

"...Are you alright?" She calls out after a moment. 

Percy jumps like surprised on seeing the other woman there. "I-" she says with a shaking voice. "I am. I probably shouldn't have jogged this far."

"Mmm. We've only been here for a week or so, but I don't think I've seen you around here in that time. How far did you jog? " She steps down from the porch, slowly making her way across the lawn towards Percy. "Would you like something to drink? I can send one of these fine boys to grab you something."

"That won't be necessary." Percy withdraws her sense and focus on the woman. This has a visible effect on how well she looks, but she still is a bit shaken. "I am currently moving to town and have been looking around the neighborhoods."

"Supposedly this is a nice one. A bit boring for my taste, but there's a whole city to find more interesting things in, so I suppose there's no reason to complain." She really is very bored. She's a little interested in the conversation - likely because it's something new to do - but that interest is waning. 

Okay. Charming mode on. That pain can be shoved way waaay back. "Uh, since you're new too we could go out and figure out what the town has to offer?"

Amused, "Oh, I don't know, my husband-" a word she finds hilarious, apparently "-asked me to keep an eye on those two. He'd be very disappointed if I took off to enjoy the sights without him..." She's clearly tempted, though. 

Percy glances down at her hand for a ring, which also masks a look at Jackie's emotional state. "But clearly, you had to help poor me, like a good Samaritan. He doesn't need to know how."

Amusement and mild interest are overcoming boredom at the moment, though there's still a fair amount of the latter. She's wearing two rings - a wedding ring and a simple ruby engagement ring. She wiggles her fingers at Percy with a smile when she notices her looking. 

"That's true," she agrees thoughtfully, before pouting, "It's only fair I have a little fun, too. He's been so busy with his new project lately he's hardly paid me any attention at all." 

Percy looks at the rings appreciatively. "You definitely need some entertainment of your own."

"You know what, you're right." She looks up, noting the fading light of the day, "And it's just getting late enough to enjoy the nightlife, too. Give me a moment to change and I'd love to go out." She backs up a step, and then pauses, "Oh, I'm Jackie, by the way. Jackie Spade."

"Perseverance Logan, but call me Percy."

"Oh, another long name, huh? Mine's actually Jacqueline." She mock shudders, then laughs, "Well, I'll see you in a moment, Percy. Don't go anywhere!" 

She jogs back up to the house, slipping inside beneath a table the movers are bringing through the door. 

She doesn't. Instead, she just types furiously about what just happened and for the Graywards to do something about it.

And a few minutes later, Jackie comes back outside, more casual outfit replaced with something a little shorter and skimpier. Once she gets down the steps, she waves Percy over to the garage, "Come on, we can take my car," she offers, pressing the garage door control on her keychain. The door opens to reveal the same car that Davin was seen getting into after placing the note in the Starrs'. 

"Nice ride." Percy says, she is good at not showing any sort of panic related to entering a vehicle with a potential kidnapper. "Do you mind if we pass at my hotel, so I can change clothes?" She gives the address, it's a fairly decent one.

"Thanks," she laughs, "And not at all." 

And off they go to the hotel. 

"So you're thinking of moving here, huh? On your own, or are you bringing a family?"

"I have a boyfriend, possibly fiancée. Not with me today."

"What, he left you to scout the town out all on your own?"

"He has the most complicated family situation. As in, he has multiple half-brothers, and them and his father won't just let him leave."

The slowly growing anticipation she'd been feeling since Percy got in the car with her settles down a bit at this. 

"Wow, you hear about clingy families, but... So you've gotta have the escape route prepared before he leaves, huh?"

"That's the idea. I can't even tell you for sure I want to marry the dude, but I am serious enough to do something like this, at least."

She's feeling the sort of morbid intrigue that one feels when they accidentally turn on the soap opera channel and then get sucked in.

"Wow, that's really nice of you. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes, huh? At least you'll have one friend in the area, now." 

"Well, I was already planning to leave that town. Might as well not leave any stuck there. And, I appreciate meeting you." Charming smile.

"You've definitely brightened up my day, too." 

And soon enough they're pulling up to the hotel. 

And they go up Percy's room, so she can freshen up while Jackie waits.

The room itself is apparently rather normal, except for a random assortment of candles and crystals dotting around the space.

It's also very quiet.

She peers at the crystals and candles from the doorway, "Huh, you into wicca or something?" She asks, taking a few steps further inside to get a better look.

Perseverance turns around and points at a crystal on the floor. She does not speak.

In fact, Jackie might or might not notice how everything goes suddenly quiet once she is in the room.

And maybe Jackie did look up or not, regardless. Aaron falls from the ceiling where he was holding himself up by pressing his legs against the opposite walls of the short passage between the room's door and the hallway. His hands go to her wrists and their touch is like a taser.

She did look down, not that it would have mattered if she hadn't. His shocking grip sends her falling to her knees with a silenced scream, her body jerking from the electricity. 

Good, can he drag her to the bed?

Percy goes to the bathroom retrieve Sawney, so the two of them may help.

He can do that, yeah. She'll start struggling weakly and trying to talk a few seconds after he stops shocking her, though all three of them together won't have any trouble with her. As soon as she realizes she's not making any noise she stops, shocked, and immediately becomes more compliant. If Percy's still paying attention to her emotions, she'll find that her fascination has completely outweighed her indignation and anger at the situation. She's not bored at all anymore! She's also not afraid.

The lack of fear is concerning.

Sawney retrieves an oddly shaped crystal and speaks through it close to Jackie's ear. "We are not planning to hurt or kill you. Cooperate and we will not change our plans. Don't move."

Those last two and a half words have some sort of weight to it and Jackie can feel her limbs fighting against any deliberate attempt at moving, her eyes and neck appear to still be functioning properly.

She makes a brief attempt to move against it, feeling gleeful (and aroused) when that fails.

Can he hear her if she turns her head to speak into the crystal herself? If so, he'll hear her say, "But what if I want you to hurt me?" If not, they'll have to take the way she's not struggling as a (not entirely incorrect) answer. 

Well, Sawney takes a step back. So he must have heard.

Percy didn't hear that, but she is not surprised. She types in her phone for them to tie her up, just to be sure.

She takes the crystal from Sawney, she also pulls out a pocket knife. "Hey, there. Please cooperate. Do you have any questions before we start asking you things?"

She giggles when he backs up. 

"Sure, I'll cooperate. I've got one question, I guess. You after me, Dav, or Dav's new toy?"

"Dav and who you called his new toy. I guess you're of interest right now."

"Aw, only for now? Well, ask your questions, let's see if I'll answer."

"What do you know about Dav's victim? And about his defenses?"

She's feeling talkative, apparently. "He's the brother of one of his past... 'victims'. Never met either of them - they knew each other before I met Dav - but he talks about them all the time. 'The one that got away,' or whatever. He's been watching them for as long as I've known him, waiting for some 'perfect moment'." She pauses before answering the second one, and then grins, "Well, honestly, you've already dealt with the majority of his defenses. No idea how you found us, but obscurity was a big one. I'm another." 

"That's good to hear. How are you part of his defenses?"

"I'm magic." In demonstration, she opens her mouth and breathes out a long tongue of fire, flicking it towards Percy's face, though not close enough to burn. 

Sawney flinches, and says someting that's silenced.

Aaron glares at her, but doesn't flinch.

"Huh. How did he find you?"

She smiles at both of them, eyes crinkling with laughter. 

"Mostly by chance," she tells Percy. "He went looking for people with... unusual abilities, after that boy escaped him. Happened upon me at a party and noticed that some of my little magic tricks were more magic than trick."

Percy smiles back. "How lucky, but I guess he has the resources. Speaking of which, what else does he have in there?"

Aaron takes the speaking stone for a moment. "How is Alex? What have you two done to him?"

"I haven't done anything to the guy. Dav won't even let me in the room," she says nonchalantly, though there's a touch of annoyance to her emotions. "I imagine he's trying to get him to manifest a power, though. Using the techniques he practised on me. It's only been a couple days, so I imagine he's still working on the straightforward pain one. Maybe he's done drowning too, though. Couldn't say!" 

Before Aaron can react in anger, Percy stops him. And apparently sends him away.

"Do you think Dav is good enough to have kept him alive?"

Aww, sending him away? That's disappointing, she was curious about what he'd do.

"Oh trust me," she chuckles, "Davin is very good." She recalls her own experiences which support this fact, the reminiscence a mixed bag of pleasant and unpleasant feelings - memories of pain, exhaustion, boredom, and anger, mixed with pleasure, euphoria, and fascination. "If he doesn't want the guy dead - and he doesn't - something would have to go seriously wrong to make him that way."

"Well... there is that, if he is constraining himself to only non-magical methods and not killing then it won't be anything we can't fix." She smiles, like this is an entirely normal topic. "Still, I feel that his twin won't stand for it."

"I'm sure he won't," she agrees. Then she chuckles, "You don't need to pretend for me, sweetheart, I've already decided to turn my coat. This has been one of the most interesting conversations of my life, so far, and I've had some interesting conversations, believe me. Even if you kill me when this is done, I think it'll have been worth it just to have seen all this magic." She really believes that, too, though her confidence maybe suggests that she's holding back a few cards to be played at the last moment. 

She tilts her head, "What else did you want to know about? His other resources?"

"Oh, it's not quite pretense, deary. I tell you if you turn out to be a good little girl. And yes, do tell us about his other resources."

She giggles, "Alright. The two guys you saw at the house are the only other people he has around right now, they're bog-standard mundane human, but he's beat some decent combat skills into them. Dav's no slouch at that, either - I dunno if they told you, but the fighty Starr learned a lot from Dav before he took the flighty one, or so I was told. Hmm," she thinks, "Oh yeah, there's a gun in the bedroom, but he won't be carrying it on him. No need. Aannd... he'll have a couple prepped needles with that drug he found that kept me out of it enough to be unable to use my powers, for whenever the guy manifests some. It's some strong stuff, so watch out for it." 

"Cute. Think the two guys can be convinced to surrender easily?"

Topher walks into the room followed by Aaron, he just stands there when Percy waves him to stop.

"Nah, they're more terrified of what we'll do to them than they are of what our enemies might." Her eyes follow the two when they enter the room, and she winks at Aaron when they stop. 

"He is cute, but might not find you particularly charming. Anyway, Topher here is going to verify that you are speaking the truth, if you don't mind."

"That's part of the draw," she points out, then smiles at Topher, "Truth sense? Mind reading?" She wonders, "Well, he can go right ahead."

Topher heard her, but instead of answer he just grabs her by the ankle.

Memories start surfacing, primarily of Davin, but her powers, the house and the people in it.

Fantastic. 

If he's pulling up memories of Davin, he's going to be treated to a bunch of memories of him torturing her in various ways. Also, some very violent sex. Frequently both at once, actually. The latest time he stripped her down and cut her up was in the house, which leads nicely into some memories of other things happening in that house, which gives him a nice feel for the layout.

Those two minions in particular don't feature in many memories - a few moments where she stopped to watch a spar, one of them helping her carry Alex into the house, the other handing her a drink on a deck by a lake somewhere. In one memory she watches one of them shift uncomfortably outside a room where Dav is working on someone, their screams leaving him pale. 

Memories of her powers take place over a wider timescale. Stalking through a forest, setting illusions of terrifying beasts on her quarry. Breathing fire on a small stage at a private party, the true magic of it hidden behind sparkles and stage magic. Scars and ink vanishing under perfect illusions of unblemished skin. Sitting and shivering in an alley, breathing fire to warm herself up. A memory of walking casually out to a car to the sound of screams and curses, getting into the backseat and allowing herself to be tied up, a glimpse of a different face - Alex's face - in the reflection of the window. Watching, soaked and freezing and fascinated, as her fire consumes two people in a large, opulent bedroom. 

(Needless to say, she's having a great time. Topher might not be.)

Topher runs to the bathroom. They can't hear any noises, but given how green he was before breaking contact.

Sawney follows him.

"I guess that was predictable."

She's a bit too busy laughing to answer verbally, but she does nod. 

Percy makes an oddly pleased face at that.

Aaron sighs.

Sawney returns a few minutes later, without Topher. He takes the talking stone and orders. "Don't use magic."

She tries - and coughs, when her attempt to breath fire meets resistance. The revealing nature of her outfit makes it obvious when her illusion gift fails as well, as the illusions covering her tattoos and scars and some still-healing cuts and bruises fade away. 

"Well, I guess that's that plan scrapped," she mutters to herself. "Oh well." A little annoying, but this whole situation remains too interesting to arouse her ire. "You got it," she tells Sawney. "How's the mind reader?" She's not concerned, but she does hope he's recovering alright. That experience was a delight. 

She can technically move again. She still tied, but her muscles are cooperating.

Sawney just give her a look and hands the talking stone to Percy.

"He is recovering," Percy answers. "And I am pretty sure he will tell us that you have been honest."

(She shifts experimentally, getting a bit more comfortable, but doesn't make any attempt to escape her bonds.)

"Good," she's glad. His reaction was entertaining, but she doesn't wish him permanent harm.

"And of course he will. I like you, why would I lie?"

"Oh, I know," She pats Jackie's knee. "I absolutely believe you in your honesty."

"What are you doing?" She asks, really curious now. "Were you faking it even more than I was, before we got here, and this is who you actually are? Or are you acting now? Something in between? I'm genuinely having a hard time figuring it out!" Which is delightful as well. 

"Oh, it's magic." She smirks. "But seriously, I can sense other people's emotions and channel them as my own. I am enjoying this as much as you are. Literally."

"Really? That's incredible!" She's a little envious, actually, there's a few emotions she'd like to be able to experience but never could, naturally. "Is your empathy only receptive?" 

"Mine is," Percy makes a sympathetic face. "But do you want to know a little secret?"

"Oh do tell."

"There is more to magic than these little gifts that you know of. If you know how, it can be extremely versatile."

"Really!" She grins, "I shouldn't be surprised after this. Do you think anyone around here might like to see me terrified?" 

"I am sure I would find it delightful." She pouts. "Sadly, our schedule might be quite busy for the night."

"Aw. Another time, then, when you aren't needed to storm the castle," she sighs, disappointed but accepting. 

Pat pat.

Anyway, they knock her out and move her somewhere safer to stash an unconscious person.

Then they start planning how to "storm the castle".

"We know where he is, we know there's hardly anyone guarding him - or at least no one that could give us much trouble." He shifts, tense and impatient, "I guess we should try not to alert the neighbors? How do we do that?" 

"Swift action and only a small team going into the house? Our two fliers, plus me to stop them in their tracks. Either Aaron or Percy as the fourth person."

"I understand they have senses, but at least Percy can sense things at a distance. If the real me is inside the house, I could find somewhere defensible and create clones from there."

He nods, "The three of us and Franklyn, with Percy watching outside with the others so they'll know when we've got him, or if anything goes wrong?" He glances up at Sawney, "Will you be able to stop both of the 'minions'? I don't know much about how that gift works." 

"I can affect multiple people at once, though I wouldn't want to use my gift more than four times today if I were to get into a live combat situation."

"What other gifts would we have with us, then? I can use my health gift to pull the air away from them," he suggests. "Though keeping air out of a space like that is a bit costly," he admits. 

"Combat-wise, I can also dispel momentum with a touch."

"And I can shock people and sense danger towards me."

"On top of the self-duplication, control earth, control plants, and I can contact people in their dreams, which is good to notice when people are unconscious."

"My breath gift is tracking people's gazes, my main contribution is the emotional sense. And of course, Franklyn can fly and command animals."

"Right." He leans back against the wall, closing his eyes for a second, features tightening. "...I'm not sure we need a more detailed plan than... see who's awake from outside the house, and then knock out or have Sawney stop the people who are awake, and secure the people who are asleep. I'm feeling pretty reckless and impatient right now, though, so someone else should check my logic," he says candidly.

"Some preliminary warding beforehand. Could do things like Invisibility but that would cut on our lifeforce budget."

"Might be a good idea to have someone invisible so they can go ahead and get to Davin before we start."

"That should be me then."

"Why not me? I could just stop Davin. Even through the door."

"If he is not inside the definitely sound-proof room where they are keeping Alex. I can at least break the door in that scenario."

"He'll probably be in the room. So yeah. It'll give you that defensible position to make clones from, too. Should we take Aaron as well, then, or limit the size so we use up less lifeforce on wards?"

"I might be biased against the idea."

"Uh, sorry, Aaron. But while I think you should be our fifth man. I think the four of us," he points between himself, Stephen, Franklyn and James, "should be the ones inside."

"I should be able to sneak in better than you. And a nice electrified pat in the head from me is faster than you saying 'don't do anything'."

He sighs, frustrated, "The longer we debate this-" he cuts himself off. "I don't think it actually matters that much who goes where, I think any of us could deal with Davin on our own, especially if we catch him by surprise. Just - whoever it is will have to deal with - with whatever he's done to my brother, too. So they'll need to be ready for - that." As ready as they can be, anyway. Jamie turns his attention to scanning the room around him as though he'll be painting it later, rather than getting caught up in guessing what they'll find. His guessing has been straying too close to remembering lately. He really can't afford to backslide right now.

Franklyn hugs him.

"Every single one of us know how to deliver magical healing and one Davin and the other two are contained we will be able to fix anything."

Hug. He nods at Morgan's words, "Just... draw lots or something, figure out the warding, and let's go," he mutters into Franklyn's shoulder.

They get on moving then. Warding themselves against general harm. Then driving near Davin's house and performing the invisibility ritual from a van.

The house is dark, like most of the others in the neighborhood at this time of night, though there's one or two lights on in three of the others on this street, the residents up late working or playing. A scan over the people inside will find one of the minions sleeping, while Davin, Alex, and the other minion are awake. The awake minion is occupied with something mindlessly entertaining, while Davin and Alex are... in much the same states they were hours earlier, with a some slight variations. No one seems the slightest bit alarmed by Jackie's continued absence. 

Good, Percy gives Stephen for the go ahead, using the map of the house that they took from Jackie's memories.

Invisible, Stephen does so. Are there any easy access points? Ideally an open window?

If he circles around to the back he'll find an open kitchen window, though he'll have to remove the screen and clamber over the sink just below it.

Heh, easy enough. He removes the screen and uses some stones as footholds to go up and through the sink.

There's some boxes on the counters, full of various kitchen items, and more on the table in the breakfast nook which overlooks the backyard. Down a short flight of stairs past the nook is the living room, where the minion is watching TV. The hallway leading to the basement stairs is just a few feet away from the screen. 

Alright. Stephen goes straight to where Davin and Alex are, making notes of any potted plants are around the house.

There's a couple on the main floor, though none in the basement of course. The basement is pretty sparsely furnished in general, even more than the partly assembled rooms he'd seen upstairs. He passes a mostly empty recreation room, a small kitchenette with a minibar, an open door leading to a temporary bedroom with a cot containing a sleeping minion in it, and then finds himself outside of the soundproofed room. 

The door is locked, of course.

He uses some clay to jam the sleeping minion's door. Then he... politely knocks at the door.

Continued silence for a moment, and then the sound of a lock being opened, and the door swings inward, releasing a wave of unpleasant scents and the sound of someone breathing raggedly.

"What is it?" Davin asks as he pulls the door open, his tone clipped and annoyed, "This had better be important-" 

He gets clay shoved into his mouth. Then a kick in the stomach to both get him out of the way and because it would feel good.

It absolutely does. Stephen goes inside and closes the door.

"Mmph-!" He staggers back, one hand going to his stomach and the other rising to try to tear the clay out of his mouth. He looks around wildly for his attacker, but of course he can't see anything.

With the full room visible to him, Stephen can now locate Alex, as well. He... doesn't look great. Some might say he looks the opposite of great, actually. Davin's got him chained to some sort of frame, wearing nothing but bruises, cuts, burns, ink, and copious amounts of his own blood. He's staring at the ground, gaze unfocused, and doesn't react to Davin apparently being attacked by air at all. 

Stephen kicks Davin on the side, and goes check on Alex and his most serious injuries.

He creates a copy, it's not invisible but that's expected. The copy kicks Davin again and holds him down on the ground.

The first kick sends Davin staggering down to one knee, and the second onto his back. Having someone visible to fight does steady him, though. He surges up against Stephen's grip, trying to wrench himself out of it.

Meanwhile, Alex: pretty seriously injured, though nothing looks bad enough to kill him in the next few hours, even without help. The lashes and the older cuts on his back look to have gotten some care, though they've been worsened again since then. He's only bleeding sluggishly from the open ones, it's just that the sheer number of them has stained his skin red - the only really deep cuts are a pair on his face, cutting over his cheekbones. His nose looks like it's been broken and reset, his eyes are both black - either as a consequence of the broken nose or as their own injuries, it's difficult to tell - his neck is covered in dark bruises, and the skin that can be seen under the manacles on his wrists is rubbed raw. 

Besides the 'torture of a thousand cuts', the most eye-catching thing is the extensive, intricate brand curling up his right arm in the shape of billowing flames. Someone - presumably Davin - has slathered it with a cream of some kind, but it's not bandaged. 

The appearance of another person in the room has drawn his -foggy, unfocused - gaze. He blinks sluggishly at the pair grappling on the ground, and opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a rasp, and then he starts coughing painfully.

"It's okay. We will rescue you."

Stephen gives a bit lifeforce to stabilize the worst injuries. He searches for the syringe with whatever is being used on Alex.

(Alex jerks back at the sound of his voice, making a soft confused noise.)

There's a little table next to the frame, which holds Davin's instruments, an open case which holds three unused syringes and a few small bottles of the drug, and a sharps box containing the two used syringes.

He creates a copy. "Can you understand me? It's Stephen." The copy says while the still invisible Stephen picks up the syringe to administer on Davin.

Alex stares in the copy's general direction for a long moment before he recognizes him.

"...Ste-," his voice is hoarse, and he starts coughing again half-way through the word. "...Jay?" He asks after he's finished coughing, and taken another long moment to marshal his thoughts.

Davin sees the syringe coming and redoubles his efforts to escape his captor's grip, twisting out of it and kicking the man in the side. Then he lunges for the door. 

Stephen-1 lunges at him with the syringe. 2 does the same. 3 is focusing on releasing Alex.

"I think we should go inside."

 "Right." He doesn't bother asking what went wrong, climbing out of the van and heading for the back of the house, where whatever entrance Stephen used must be. 

He turns the handle and then tugs the door open forcefully enough that it hits the wall with a bang, waking the sleeping minion and alerting the one watching TV. He slips to the right of the door, just barely dodging the syringe, and then Stephen-2's lunge catches him just as he's slipping out into the hall, sending him crashing back down to the ground. 

Formerly-sleeping minion rolls out of bed and charges for the door, cursing when he finds himself locked in. He starts tugging and pushing on it to try to get it to open. 

TV-minion goes rushing for the basement stairs. 

"Minions are aware." Percy warns in a hushed but worried tone.

Sawney, Franklyn and Aaron follow right after James.

Well, that is escalating, so Stephen-4 pops into existence. And the invisibility of original flavor Stephen pops. Oh, well, they make a collective effort to drag Davin away from the door and close it.

They have a fight on their hands, but they manage it just as TV minion gets down the stairs. Once the door is closed and locked there's a pause, and then the door shakes as the minion kicks it. 

"-that door's meant to keep people in, not out," Davin mentions breathlessly from where he's pinned to the ground. 

"Too bad for them."

Formerly-sleeping minion finally manages to get the door to the temporary bedroom open just as Jamie, Aaron, Franklyn, and Sawney reach the basement. 

Jamie reaches out and tugs the air from his lungs, wincing at the strain, sending the man to his knees as he gasps ineffectually. The other one stops trying to get through the torture room door to turn and face the four of them. 

Sawney approaches the one with air being drawn from his lungs and says. "Don't do anything."

Aaron lunges at basement door minion his open hands sparking with electricity.

Basement door minion pulls back out of Aaron's reach and tries to sweep his feet out from under him, eyeing his sparking hands with wide, wary eyes.

Jamie stops pulling the air back, continuing towards the door. The minion stays where he is, as Sawney ordered.

Cute. Aaron just jumps over the feet, like this is a coordinated dance. Then he makes contact with the minion.

And down he goes, with a strangled shout. 

"Don't do anything." Sawney repeats.

"We have subdued them."

A Stephen opens the door.

Jamie pushes inside, stopping in his tracks when he sees Alex, and then Davin. 

He kind of can't breathe.

One of the Stephens had managed to get the syringe into Davin while they had him pinned to the ground. He's still conscious, of course - the point of the cocktail is to keep the drugged one awake, capable of feeling all physical sensation as normal - perhaps even heightened - but unable to focus on anything for more than a moment. He stares at nothing, twitching occasionally when someone moves in his line of vision. 

Alex is on his front on the ground, eyes half-lidded and unfocused as a Stephen works on his injuries. He slowly pans his gaze up to the door, staring at Jamie for a moment with unfocused eyes for a moment, and then tenses, trying weakly to push himself up from the ground, "Jay-"

Stephen kids walk in and gasp at the sight.

But they approach to help.

Sawney approaches Davin and whispers "Don't do anything." Then he feels groggy, and not just because of the wakefulness overuse.

Jamie snaps out of it, joining Aaron, Franklyn, and Stephen at Alex's side. "Don't move, Lex," he says, gently, easing him back down. He glances at the other three, "I don't know how to heal, but if any of you need more lifeforce..."

"I think the best we can do is tie the three up and get Morgan over here."

"Right," he looks around, "He'll have... rope and cuffs..." his eyes catch on the frame and he flinches, turning his attention back to his brother. Alex is obviously injured and covered in blood and half-out of it, but he's right here and he's safe. Jamie focuses on that for now. 

(There are, in fact, ropes and spare chains and such around for them to make use of in securing the three prisoners.)

It's good that they can secure everyone.

The house is, presumably, such that one can't easily spy on the inside, right? Regardless, they figure out an arrangement where they can keep their prisoners out of the way and get Alex stable enough to move. He will accept health donations, but James still is recovering from his own overuse, so mostly the donors are Stephen clones (who are drained dry and then puff).

Topher will do some probing to see what Davin knows.

He knows there's some kind of masquerade - that there's more to know (he didn't tell Jackie) - but he doesn't have any idea just how much. He knows that some very rare people gain magical gifts from being put in extreme conditions. He knows it's rare because he's tried to bring them out in many, many people, and out of all of them only Jackie, Jamie, and Alex gained anything. 

This reading is no more pleasant than reading Jackie was. The emotions behind the memories are a little different - more enjoyment of the pain, less of the fear. Jackie liked her victims angry and afraid but not hopeless. Davin likes them cowed and crying. Despite the differences it's still another series of memories about torture.

Adam... will help Topher by singing to him.

That considerably helps Topher to focus.

Davin knows too much, and he is a monster.

He doesn't like this, to him this is not exactly better than amputating someone for theft.

Also, if he doesn't, someone from The Merchant Enclave will come along to ensure the Masquerade's secret.

Stephen knows this face and comes to give some encouraging words.

It doesn't really help.

But Topher goes through the process of copying as many relevant memories to himself as he can. He can't catch everything, this a matter of erasing information that had years to cement itself. But things like the twins' address, Topher's family, the last few hours and so on. He does something similar to the minions.

There's a fair amount to go through, and most of it is... very unpleasant. The minions at least only have a few memories of magic - watching Jackie play with her powers, helping her kidnap some people with her illusion and possession gifts. One of them was called in to help Davin when Alex manifested his gift, as well, scorching the room and almost catching Davin before the drugs had started working. 

Topher slurps all of that up. He needs a nap once that's done.

Franklyn tries his best to comfort James while they wait.

Jamie appreciates that he can cling to Franklyn while they heal Alex, though he stays as close as Morgan will let him. 

As long James isn't in the way, Morgan will just keep healing Alex enough that they can move him back to the hotel.

Which happens soon enough. They keep Alex properly sedated for the trip and fly him to their penthouse suite instead of going through lobby.

Davin and his minions (Jackie included) are not sent there. Once they have properly cleaned the house of everything they wouldn't want to leave behind, the Graywards split.

The  twins, Franklyn, the tired Topher and Adam go to the penthouse take care of Alex for the night.

The others, including their captors are sent to the truck the Graywards came in and are kept unconscious until they decide to depart.

Once Alex is stable enough they can rest for a while, Jamie curls up next to him on the bed. Eventually, he even falls asleep. 

They take shifts, but everyone takes their rest.

Everyone is very tired, so the ones that are sleeping in that shift, sleep soundly. 

Early the next morning, Alex shifts, and then slowly opens his eyes.

He spends a long moment staring at the ceiling, just breathing.

He's... confused, a bit. His head feels fuzzy, like he's been asleep too long, or has the beginning of a cold. He tries to remember what happened the night before but- his mind shies away from it.

He catches a small movement in the corner of his eye, and turns his head slightly to look. 

His neck twinges - he freezes - and then he jerks up, scrambling back to slam against the headboard with a bang, hands coming up to cradle his face. It doesn't hurt- the burns on his arm are gone- "How long-?" 

"They had you for a few days, we got you out last night."

"Are they dead?"

"No. Not yet."

Nod. He curls forward to rest his head on his knees, trying to- process. He remembers- his voice, and the sharp pain of the knives, and the shock of hot metal on his skin, over and over, you'd think you might get used to it after a few times but apparently not- and the agony when he pressed against his back, and- in-

He digs his fingers into his calves, wrenching his thoughts away with a shaky, shuddering gasp, almost a sob. His heart beats loud and fast in his ears, and he casts around for something else to think about, but it's no use- his thoughts keep circling back- 

"Hey, hey don't hurt yourself. You are safe now, and we will deal with them shortly."

"I- he- I couldn't stop him- I couldn't stop myself- she was in my head-"

"She won't hurt you anymore. They can't hurt you anymore. We will make sure of it. Give you the tools for it."

Nodnod.

He tries to remember the techniques Jamie uses. He breathes. He tries humming- he doesn't have Jamie's eye for detail, or his habit of drinking in the contents of a room to ground himself, but music... he can focus on that.

It helps, but. 

"...Can I... Could you..." He looks down, frustrated by his inability to ask. 

"Could... do you want a hug?"

More nod, "Yes. Please." 

Only now Morgan realizes that the implication was for him to give the hug himself, and it's not like he can just wake up the others for it.

Okay, it's just a hug, he can do it. He approaches with the arms awkwardly raised and leans on the bed for the hug.

Hug. More of a half-hug, really. He grips the back of Morgan's shirt tightly with one hand and leans against him, letting out a shuddering sigh. 

Awkward back pat? Very gently.

He tenses slightly at the touch, but relaxes again after a moment.

It does actually help him calm down a bit. He hadn't been sure it would - just knew he should try touch as well. Morgan doesn't smell or sound anything like he did, and the awkward tentativeness actually kind of helps... 

He pulls away once he has some control over himself. "Thanks," he murmurs. 

"Alright, how are you feeling?"

"Hm," he snorts. "I'll live. A little sore." He runs his fingers up his right arm, staring at the unblemished skin there, not entirely sure how to feel.

"...I kind of want to see his face when he realizes you erased every mark he made," he says, settling on grimly satisfied. 

"Now I want that too. I am sure Topher will be willing to share that memory around."

"I'll probably pass on that." He's had enough people in his head to last him the rest of his apparently extended lifetime.

"...Do you know what's going to be done with them?"

"The conspiracy will likely disappear him and send him to a prison colony in one of the less inhabited worlds."

"Prison colonies, huh. Her too?" He frowns, "He had some lackeys... and probably there's more people connected to him who know about magic, and defintely aren't the kind of people who should."

"I am sure they will work something out. Might recruit some of the lackeys, but I don't think she would be among them."

"I'd hope not. The idea of her wandering around free with that gift-" he shudders, wrenching his thoughts away from the topic. 

"...I... have one of those, now," he realizes, remembering- flames, reaching out furiously, so close, but stopped at the last minute with the pinch of a needle. 

"Yeah, we know.  She won't be allowed to be free." Pause. "I am sorry for how you got it."

Nod. 

"...It's only the one. I can learn the others the usual way." He kind of doesn't want to use the one he has. Feels like proving him right. "Think I could I trade this one for something in the vault, once we're attuned to it?"

"Yeah, absolutely."

"Great. Don't have a lot of good memories of fire."

He glances to the other side of the bed, where Jamie is curled up.

"...How bad was he?"  

"He... did very well, but it was hard on him."

"Hm. He pushed himself." Of course he did. Alex did the same. "He's been eating at least, right? Getting at least a few hours of sleep?" 

"Yes. Not nearly enough."

"Just when he'd started recovering, too. Bastard has the worse timing." Pause. "Or the best. Or maybe you guys have the best timing. Fuck, if you'd found us a few weeks later..." 

"He... has been on you for a while. He probably made his move because of us."

"Maybe. He would have caught us eventually, either way. And if you hadn't found us first..." He swallows. "He wasn't prepared for you at all. He was prepared for us."

"Yeah. And I don't think there was an easy way for him to acquire rituals, but it made me so much easier that he didn't." Pause, oh right don't make the victim nervous. "But I think we still would've managed to beat him, realistically."

Nod.

"...Thank you. For..." Coming for them. Rescuing him.

"You're welcome. Do you need anything?"

"...Not that I can thi-" His stomach growls, and suddenly he notices how hungry he is. "Okay, maybe something to eat."

"Alright," He goes over a bag and pulls out some Tupperware containers and soon is offering something that looks like a home made nut bar to Alex.

"Thanks." 

"You're welcome."

People start to stir awake.

Jamie's among them. When he notices Alex is awake, he surges upright, reaches for him

"Alexei-"

"Jamie," he catches his brother's arm and tugs him into a hug. 

Hug. "You- he-" he shudders, "I'm sorry, I led him straight to us, if I hadn't been flying so much-" 

"Don't," he cuts in. "He knew where we were the whole time. You didn't do anything wrong." 

"You did admirably. Specially given everything."

Nod. 

(He was impatient and a mess and... but they got the job done. It's a little worse that it was- inevitable. But Alex always tells the truth.)

"And he won't be coming back, this time."

Alex flinches minutely (he'd thought he was dead, last time, that he'd killed him-) but nods. 

They continue talking quietly as the Graywards and their allies wake. 

"What now?" Jamie asks once everyone is up. 

"That depends on you. We will drop them off in an Elsewhere facility, dad has enough clout that people will let us have a few days to recuperate before knocking on our door to get our part of the story."

"Do you still want to come live with us?"

"Yeah." 

"Even more than before," Jamie adds. "We were... mostly packed up before... all this. Just a few things left. We probably would have called the next day..."

"Alright, in that case we can just give everyone the signal to go ahead."

"Sounds good..."

...Do the Graywards mind terribly if they just stay where they are until they're all ready to leave the hotel?

They don't mind at all. They can all have a proper breakfast before departure.

They'll join them for breakfast, though they're still not moving farther than a few feet away from each other. 

It won't take more than a couple hours for them to finish up packing up the apartment - there's mostly just some of Jamie's art supplies, some toiletries, and some clothes left to pack. Jamie convinces Alex to rest and let others handle the work, so he sits back on one of the old couches while that happens. 

They'd pretty much decided to leave the furniture, kitchen supplies, and other replaceable things behind. Clothes, books, Jamie's supplies, Alex's guitar, and some sentimental things make up the most of what they're keeping. Altogether it fills up a pair of large suitcases, two dufflebags and two backpacks, along with the guitar case and a box of rolled up cavases. Once that's done, and assuming there's room in the Graywards' vehicles, they can just pile those in and be on their way.

They make sure the Starr twins are comfortable and go their way.

In the middle of the trip, the effects of what they used to keep Davin asleep wear off.

Davin wakes up in a small barely lit room where he is tied to one of six bunk beds.

"Hi, honeeeey." Percy says walking in through the only door.

-quite the reversal of the usual circumstances, this is. Still, he's sure he can work with it.

He raises an eyebrow at the woman, "I'm sure we don't know each other well enough for pet names," he remarks. 

"Really? I am so sorry. I just feel a familiarity between us, blame Jackie." Percy nods her head towards the bed where Jackies is, still very much sound asleep.

He glances at her, "Made a like-minded friend, did she?" He looks back, "One who clearly knows more about magic than we have had the chance to discover." 

"You could say that." Smile. "Oh, where are my manners. Do you want anything?"

"Out of these bonds, for a start," he says, tone filled with some humour. "Failing that, knowledge of our destination would be appreciated. What fate has been decided for us? What is the justice system like behind the masquerade?" 

"Very nifty. Very... adaptable, one might say, specially to special circumstances." She smiles and inspects how he is actually feeling.

Wary and calculating. She reminds him of Jackie - he's wary of what that means for him. He's perfectly aware of how much Jackie would like to hurt him, and that her desire to do so is only held back by her desire to follow him. This woman has no such reasons to play nice. He's focusing on trying to get as much out of this conversation as he can, and lose as little as possible.

"Is that so? I suppose it won't be adaptable in a way that favours me, given that my choice in subjects has apparently brought its wrath down upon me." 

"Aw, is that all the ways you can think it might not favor you? Really? You know that magic exists, surely you can imagine the situation is much worse."

The wariness spikes, though doesn't show in his expression or manner.

"I prefer to think optimistically." 

Percy traces his jawline. "I imagine you would think that, yes. I am more focused on emotion, you see, sensing it from others. And I - in particular - have an interesting mixed blessing. I don't have emotions of my own, I sort of channel it from others." She gives Jackie a meaningful look. "It can be so interesting."

He tolerates the jawline tracing - his emotions spark annoyance, but it doesn't show. Then he takes in her words, and tenses. 

"...I don't suppose you've gained her interest in enabling my work, as well, have you." 

Percy makes a thoughtful noise. "You could say I do feel similar, but emotion is not the only component of action. You know? Information, resources, your own personal history. I don't have someone's heart. I have someone's heart while knowing I won't have it forever." Smirk. "It causes different incentives."

"...Ah." 

If she was waiting for fear, now she's got it. He attempts to tamp it down - he knows what Jackie likes - distracting himself with the conversation, but it's not going away that easily. 

"Will you be spending some time with her as well? I expect she'll appreciate it more than I will." 

"I don't know. I feel that will be easier to arrange later. Now... this thing between us, is so much more unique. Can you imagine if you had the opportunity to turn yourself something... beautiful?"

He narrows his eyes at her, tilts his head to the side, and smiles, the fear subsiding, "Am I not already? If you are channeling me, you must know that I am perfect as I am." 

Percy gives him a look that could be construed as something in the general area of merciful. "But Davin... you lost."

That remark hits, shaking his confidence. 

After a moment to regather himself, he swallows, "For now," he insists. "A minor setback."

Or even a major one. It's recoverable. He doesn't lose. He can't. 

She burst into laughter. "That level confidence is just so... flawed."

"In what way?" 

"Davin, dear." She tells in the mocking mimicry of a stern teacher. "You are a rich asshole with no magical powers, no magical connections, and a seriously over estimation of your capabilities when there is an entire magical conspiracy around that managed to elude this world of instant communication. And that does not even touch in why they would be angry at you." She traces her index finger across his chest, down his navel. "Angry enough to overlook when a poor young woman can't suppress the unique ways her mind is arranged."

He swallows, leaning away from her, "What- you won't- you aren't actually her-"

"I am not her. I just have her emotional's core I can have anyone's emotions. Including yours."

He manages to regather his composure after a moment. 

"There's always a way," he insists quietly, almost to himself, his voice slightly shaky. Even if they won't stop her from harming him, he can come back from that. He's come back from a major injury before.

She channels Jackie. "I will love to take that desperate optimism away from you. I promise I will do my best to do it in the short time we have together." Then she channels him. "And for the long time I live, once I have drained the life of you to add to my own."

He pales. "You- you're bluffing."

"You clearly must have noticed that magic uses people's lives as fuel. And why would we want to keep you alive in the first place.?"

"No, no, there... there must be something I can do to change your mind!" 

"Really? Something that beats the uniqueness of this situation? I am kinda of skeptical."

He- can't think of anything, actually, she's right. She's right. 

Finally accepting the position he's in, he starts struggling against the binds keeping him tied to the bed in a panic. 

"I can see that you are agitated, I will leave you to your thoughts for a bit."

And she does that.

A bit after she leaves, he sags back down on the bed, confused and frantic and still afraid. She didn't- but she'll be back, surely- 

(He lost, he made a critical mistake, he's wrong- no, no, he can't be-)

(His thoughts are pretty agitated as well, and will be for a while.)

She watches the emotions carefully, she returns once he is somewhat settled in a nice level of terror. The truck has stopped and she is carrying a bag.

The fear rises slightly when she enters. He doesn't say anything - just watches her, tense.

She removes some objects out of the bag. A piece of chalk, which she uses to draw something on the floor, a metal cube, something that looks like a small rope string. Percy is completely ignoring him during the entire process of assembling the objects in some arcane way.

Davin starts feeling very sleepy.

He resists as much as he can, but eventually succumbs. 

Percy repeats this process with the others and leaves again.

Once out, she announces to whoever is concerned that their prisoners should be out for long enough.

And they can part ways and take the Starr twins home.

Once they get there, they head up to the bedroom they'd been staying in, but only stay inside long enough to unpack and put away those things they'll be keeping there. With Jamie sticking to Alex like a burr, they decide to go looking for Sawney together, Jamie's case of art supplies and box of canvases in hand, to ask if he can keep them in the art room. And to ask how Topher is doing, as Jamie had recalled what he'd had to do during the assault. 

They can absolutely keep their art supplies in the art room.

Topher is alright, maybe more reserved than usual, but nothing dramatic.

Oh good. Spending time in those heads can't have been fun. They're both glad he's recovering. 

They finish settling in, putting the art supplies in the art room, and then retreat to their room to try to get some more rest. 

People give them space, but will check on them and offer company of things to occupy themselves with.

Not to mention treatments for their injuries.

They are visited by Concerned Authorities from Elsewhere a few days later. A couple of women wearing green-black overcoats, and a man in a bright pink sweater. They want to ask questions about the incident.

"What are they going to ask about?" Jamie asks before agreeing.

"Just generally your version of events. They can detect lies and sense forms of mental tampering."

"Uh huh... They'll want us to explain what those two did to us? I can give it a try, though I'm not sure if I can go over all of that while sober." Nevermind Alex, for whom it's only been days. 

"They will want to at least a statement to the effect that you two are too affected to testify at the moment. And you really don't need anything else."

"I can give them a bit more than that. Alex will probably want to, but it'd be bad for him. Think they'll accept my statement that he's too badly affected, or does he need to come down himself?" 

"They are going to hear from him directly. It's protocol."

"Damn. Alright. We'll be down in a few minutes." He disappears back into their room.

A few minutes later they make their way downstairs, as promised. 

Where the three people are waiting for them. They will talk with the twins separately.

Damn it.

Fine.

Jamie goes first, giving them an overview of both... incidents. Both the one when they were sixteen - the gaining of trust, the kidnapping, the escape, which it's pretty clear wouldn't have happened without his health gift - and this one. 

Alex... tries, but he has to stop partway through explaining how he was taken. 

The man in the sweater stops the interview there. They thank Alex for his time and polite suggest him to go back up and recuperate while they interview the rest of the family.

Eventually, they decide to leave, though they take Topher and Sawney with them for further talks during the investigation.

(This is entirely because Topher is a memory manipulator. But he doesn't seen to mind much.