They chat for a bit about potential wishes, until they've pretty much exhausted the topic. When the conversation lulls, Mallory changes the topic. "It's great that we're starting to have so many here. Were we planning on hunting together?"

"Sure, I'm in. Should be a fun change of pace."

She nods.

"Yeah, let's. Give our superhero teamwork a spin."

"We'll want to familiarize ourselves some with each other's powers, and plan strategies. I'd suggest practicing a bit at an abandoned field I know for powers testing first, then we can go dowsing. I'll also bring my spare grief seeds, so everyone can have a full gem before we hunt."

Everyone agrees that sounds like a good plan.

"I need to get going. It was fun meeting everyone!"

They all say bye to Taylor, then head out for the abandoned field. Sophie and Lianne both call their parents to let them know they're staying out late. It's a bit of a drive (luckily Mallory's car has plenty of room) and then a hike to test their powers.

Mallory's thing turns out to be guns; she doesn't fire any, but she describes the extent of flexibility she's gotten (a lot; she started with pistols, and now she can make any type in any size she wants). Alexandra's weapon is a bow and arrow - she's figuring out slowly how to do trick arrows that do more damage, and can already do multiple arrows at once - and Sophie's is polearms, mostly halberds. 

They practice a few combinations - Lianne's swords make for really good shields, the others can't get through them - and Lianne figures out how to change the size of her sword, and how to summon multiples.

"Hey, my soul gem's running down a bit. How about we wrap this up then head on out? I'll need to be getting back home at some point, too, and I have a long drive ahead of me."

"Works for me."

They all return to their regular clothes, then Mallory passes around the spare grief seed, and they pile into her car to return to the city.

They agree that Lianne should get to practice dowsing, since she's new.

When they get back to the community center and Mallory's parked, Lianne takes a deep breath and starts to search for witches.

It takes her a while.  She's practiced it but never detected an actual witch before, so for a while she's not sure what to look for -

 - but then when she does find one it's pretty unmistakable.  Her despair-sense leads her through a poor part of town, to a disused warehouse.

Yeah that feels... Slimy. Like something dark is dragging its fingers over her grave.

She shudders, lets the others know she found one, and follows the trail until she comes to the warehouse.

"We're here," she says. "Should we transform now?"

It's Alex who shakes her head. "No. Wait until you need to, it's a waste of magic otherwise. C'mon, let's get this thing." And she throws the doors open.

The warehouse is empty, and dark.

The entrance to the barrier is inside, a bit off to one side of the room.  Looking at it is strange: it's just as indistinct as ever, a blurry heat haze in the absence of heat, but somehow much more visually arresting even in the almost pitch black.  Hard to see, but extremely easy to notice.

Deep breath. "Yeah, let's go."

And she leads the others inside.

The other side of the entrance manifests as an ornate wooden door, which swings shut behind them.

The door isn't attached to a wall; it's freestanding, in the middle of a large circular room.  The room is walled with glass cabinets, which display vases and sculptures and jewelry and all manner of other symbols of material wealth.  There are no lights in the room; the objects themselves appear to be radiating light, somehow lighting up the whole room without being too bright to look at.  There's no ceiling either; the walls stretch upward farther than she can see, leading into darkness.

...Is there a way to leave the room? Or anything moving?

Nope.  Nope.

There is, distantly, the sound of a music box.

"We're going to have to jump," Sophie says, transforming and looking up.

"Hah, flying's my favorite part!" Alex poses a bit when she transforms.

Mal sighs, but smiles a bit, and transforms. Her outfit is dark, black with occasional glimpses of other colors. It's less frilly than the others', more of a robe or stately dress.

...Oh, yeah, Kyubey said she could fly now. Lianne transforms, and can't help but grin, both at herself and at the rush of energy. This already feels so much less scary than last time.

Then they can all take flight upwards - though it's more of a soaring jump than flying, bouncing off the walls for added momentum. Lianne takes a few attempts to get it right, and bumps into things more than the others, but she's having fun (it helps that Alex is laughing and goading her on). 

Up, and up, and up and up and up.  The light follows them, somehow, always bright enough to see up and down but never very far.

Eventually their shaft intersects with another one, slanted and steep, cocked at an odd angle for something so artificial-looking.  (As they come to rest in the intersection it becomes a little difficult to tell which shaft is the vertical one.)