"Are we there yet?" Kitty moaned as she walked through another thicket.
"Not yet." Kurt sighed. "I wonder what happened to Rahne?"
"She probably got occupied chasing a squirrel or something," Kitty muttered, unhappy that Rahne could move through this environment with such ease.
"We're almost there," Althea pointed out. "Look!" Up ahead of them were the lake and the castle Rahne had seen.
"It's like, totally about to fall apart." Kitty said. "There's no way that they'll be anything in there that can help us."
"I think you're right." Althea said unhappily. "We should probably go…"
"No." Wanda said suddenly, shaking her head. "Something's not right here. I don't think we're looking at what's really there."
"What do you mean?" Lina asked.
"Take it from me. I've had my memories and perceptions of reality altered so many times I've started to get a knack for recognizing what's real and what isn't. That," she pointed at the castle. "Is not what it seems to be. I think it's an illusion of some sort, to keep people away. Part of the illusion may even try to alter with our minds so that we want to stay away from it. Like you guys felt just now."
"Then that tells us that there's definitely something there worth checking into." Dead Girl said. "I noticed the same thing. Being dead gives you a kind of unique perception of reality."
"We've noticed." Kurt groaned.
"In that case, we head for that castle." Althea said. "I've got a feeling we'll find Rahne there too."
"How do we cross the lake?" Xi asked. "It's too wide to swim across." None of them could see the ice bridge that Rahne used—made by a couple of showing off students with too much extra time—thus leaving the Misfits and X-Men on the other side in something of a quandary.
"Well, I can swim over or create a wave to carry me over." Althea mused. "Lina can fly over and Kurt can teleport himself and maybe one or two others across at a time."
"That'd mean splitting up." Wanda pointed out.
"Can't be helped." Althea said. "Besides it makes it easier for us to scout the area and look for Rahne. From this point on, consider yourselves on a mission, that means codenames only if we run into anyone. When you reach the other side, take a discreet look around and keep in contact with the others. Our teleportation watches may not work, but our communicators should. Clear?" Everybody nodded. "Then let's go!"
At Althea's encouragement, the group broke up. Lina flew across the lake as Kurt teleported Kitty and Dead Girl, then Wanda and Xi, and finally Fred to the other side as Althea took "the scenic route" as she called it and started swimming across. She could have let Kurt simply teleport her across, but where was the fun in that?
When they were on the castle's grounds, they split up and wandered off in search of Rahne or anyone else who could help them.
Lina was of the most use in the air, which rendered the whole point of using her holowatch somewhat moot. She took off to the air, looking down on the castle grounds, flying just over the numerous spires, turrets, and towers that topped the caste.
Over to one side seemed to be a sporting field of some kind. Deciding to investigate, Lina flew over only to find it empty. Sighing she almost decided to head back when she suddenly saw people walking onto the field. She ducked inside one of the box seats—which seemed precariously perched on a number of towers situated on the ring around field—and waited. They were talking and she could just barely hear them, thanks to the field's acoustics. They were wearing blue robes and carrying…were those broomsticks? Lina wondered.
"Okay team!" One of them yelled. "Everybody get ready to airborne while I let the bludgers out." He opened a large crate he had carried with him and released two sleek, jet black balls that promptly flew in the air and started zigging and zagging all over the sky over the ground. Lina had a sinking feeling as one of them angled over to where she was hiding. Deciding that the word 'bludger' implied that she did not want to be hit with one, she flew out of the skybox and to her horror; the bludger started chasing her all over the field.
As you can guess, this made her rather noticeable to the people below. "Merlin's beard! What's that?" One of them asked, pointing at the bobbing and weaving Lina. "Is that some sort of dryad? Or overgrown doxy?"
"I have no idea." Another one of them blinked. "Somebody get Madam Hooch!"
Lina would gladly have assured them that she wasn't dangerous were it not for the fact that she was a little preoccupied at the moment, especially as the second bludger decided to join its brother in attempting to knock Lina senseless.
"Wings don't fail me now." She muttered as she flew, suddenly grateful for all the aerial obstacle courses the Joes and X-Men had set up. She nimbly avoided the bludgers repeated efforts to pound her face in.
Finally though, Lina started to get tired and her reflexes slowed. A bludger hurled itself straight at her. Lina, acting purely on instinct, started to turn away. The bludger impacted against her wing, which looked deceptively fragile. The ball shredded itself on impact, though one of the pieces continued onwards, hitting Lina in the gut.
Grasping her stomach, Lina barely managed to get herself down without falling. Curled up to protect her injured stomach, she failed to notice the crowd gathered around her and soon blacked out.
"All right, what's this all about a monster?" Madam Hooch said as she walked onto the Quidditch field. "I honestly don't have time for cryptic messages and—good heavens!" She exclaimed when she saw Lina. "Who—what—? Where did…this come from?" She asked the students who had come onto the pitch for practice. None of them could answer her. "I suppose I should take it to Madam Poppy or Hagrid, they might know what…it is." Hooch mused as she magically levitated Lina off the ground and took her off the pitch, leaving behind a gossiping gaggle of confused students whose minds were no longer on Quidditch.
Meanwhile. Kitty had managed to sneak into the castle—three guesses how—and promptly started gaping at the weirdness all around her; ghosts, talking paintings, trick stairs, suits of armor that seemed to speak, and dozens of students and teachers in black robes.
Trying desperately not to get in the way, Kitty blindly headed down one corridor and ran smack dap into a creepy looking old guy who was named Argus Filch.
"What 'ave we 'ere? A student playing hookey? If only they let me get the stocks and manacles out, then we'd not have any of this nonsense." He muttered as he stalked towards an increasingly frightened Kitty.
Kitty, understandably, turned and ran away. She was so scared she barely noticed when she—literally—ran through a gaggle of Hufflepuffs walking through the halls. They stopped and gaped as this ghost girl ran right through them and kept running straight into—and through—the wall.
"I can tell it's going to be one of those days." Susan Bones sighed.