The screams started in the cheap seats. Of that much, Beckett was sure. The terror-filled roar came at them like the thunder following a lightning strike. A shiny, sparkly, spiked-metal bolt of lightning...

"OBTURATIO!"

Castle's commanding spell-voice halted the orchestra, stopped the performance, and froze the chandeliers just barely ten feet above their heads. People in the balconies above them were still screaming, certain that the inevitable tragedy had already occurred before their eyes. Their fellow opera-goers on the orchestra level, though, simply stared up at the chandeliers, silently dumbfounded. Some of the more curious types had their hands held high, trying to verify with their hands that their eyes weren't playing tricks on them. Most, though, were simply staring, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, at the sculptures that should have maimed or killed them.

Ryan knew that the panic going on above their heads could end up taking more lives than Castle's spell just saved...unless *he* did something about it. Ryan pulled his energy together and focused it on pouring as much peace as possible into the large auditorium...

*THUMP*

The entire theater fell into a peaceful near-silence. The singers onstage, the musicians in the orchestra pit, the conductor, the crew and every member of the audience...they were all fast asleep. Some, like the ushers, collapsed where they stood. A few of the older members of the audience were in a deep enough slumber to be quietly snoring.

Esposito found it impossible not to smile when he saw the results of his partner's peculiar gifts. "Dude, seriously...you really had to find a way to *encourage* people to fall asleep at the opera?"

Ryan rolled his eyes at that, but Castle had other problems on his mind. "Restituere," he whispered, sending the light fixtures back to the ceiling with a simple wave of his hand. The wizard scanned the audience as best he could, looking for any sign of movements that shouldn't otherwise be there. Their enemy was obviously nearby...and this, Castle knew, might be their only chance to stop her. And the last thing he needed to be worried about were unconscious innocent bystanders..."Sleepers need to be home in bed," the wizard said quietly.

And with another wave of Castle's hand, the theater emptied, leaving Jake, Stephanie, and the four Guardians alone near the orchestra pit. Jake jogged over to the edge of the stage, balancing carefully on the wall between the audience and the orchestra pit until he was able to drop down to the theater floor. "Is she here?"

"Only one way to find out," replied Castle. "Olga Kolontayev!" he called out with a power that echoed throughout the theater. "Show yourself!"

The shadows in one of the boxes above them seemed to shift as if parting for an unseen force. That force then moved slowly forward until he was finally visible to the group below him.

Ryan and Esposito stared at the man in disbelief. "Mr. VanVinderschlock," Esposito called up to the man standing above them, "I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to..."

"Espo," Beckett cut off the other detective, sensing something strange about the man standing above them. "He's not going to leave."

Esposito turned to his boss, confused. "Why not?"

Ryan focused on reading the mind of Vanderkellen's assistant, and quickly understood what Beckett was trying to tell them. "Bro, he isn't exactly a *he*..."

Martin VanVinderschlock stood at silent attention in the center of the box seats above them. Slowly, his face deformed and twisted as his body shrank, hunching over into the form of a pale, wrinkled, frail old woman. The woman then rose up in the box until her entire body could be seen above the railing, then floated effortlessly across the theater until she landed gently onstage. "YA zdesʹ", she said, gently announcing her presence to the only one she thought mattered: the wizard who had called her out.

"That's her," Beckett told them. Ryan and Esposito nodded in agreement.

Castle blinked the group onto the stage to face their opponent, then cast a universal translation spell to make sure everyone could understand each other. "You've gone to a lot of trouble to get our attention, Ms. Kolontayev. What do you want?"

"They are destroying the art I love," Olga replied. "Can you stop that?"

"I cannot," Castle replied. "Will you stop taking lives to attract attention to your cause?"

"I will not," said Olga.

"Then we are at an impasse," declared Castle.

Olga raised an eyebrow at her opponent. "An *impasse*? You think quite highly of yourself to think that you would be capable of standing in my way..."

"And you seem to be underestimating your opponent," Castle countered.

The witch laughed at her counterpart with a power that belied her frail-looking body. "You?! You who can't even face me on your own; you *dare* to consider us equals?"

"You don't work on your own," shrugged Castle. "Where is your sirin, anyway?"

Olga allowed herself a nearly toothless smile. "Ah, so you have heard of my pet? Very well, I shall formally introduce you..."

The sirin flew down from the catwalks above the stage, landing silently on the old witch's shoulder. A gentle, light, lyrically soprano voice floated from the bird. It was a sound designed to enchant, entrance, and mesmerize its victims...

Nothing.

The group in front of her never moved, never wavered, never lost focus even for a second. The witch gave a curt nod, acknowledging the success of her adversary's defenses. "Impressive. Not many can resist the charms of a sirin...unless..." Olga's cane echoed throughout the theater as she slowly approached the group, sizing up each person in turn. "One of you," she mused, "must possess the gifts of the mind..."

Ryan poured an extra stream of power into the mental shield he had created to complement Castle's physical shields. He said nothing, deferring to the wizard's chatty nature in the hopes that Castle would keep the woman's attentions focused on *him*, allowing Ryan to concentrate on blocking the witch's attempts to probe their minds.

Castle continued to carry the ball. "Interesting little tune your friend has, there," he called out in a mocking tone, "it's pretty, but where's the beat you can dance to? I'll have to give it a 42."

This infuriated the witch. She raised her hands to the 'sky', mouthing a silent incantation against the Guardians. The lower level of scaffolding fell to the ground with a giant crash, only glancing harmlessly off of Esposito's shield.

Castle simply waved his hand over the steel tubing, and with a quiet, "Restituere", the scaffolding disappeared, returning back to its position and purpose above the stage. The wizard continued to mock his opponent, prodding to learn her strengths and weaknesses at every opportunity. "Is that all you've got? Wow," he teased, eyebrows raises in a mock gesture of surprise, "I apparently overestimated you..."

The sirin launched itself from off of its master's shoulder. The Guardians watched the ghost bird fly through each of the Guardians in turn before soaring up to the rafters and out of the theater. It was only then that they realized that the sirin's flight was a decoy; a distraction to allow the witch to sneak around behind them,

wrap her hands around Jake's mouth,
and disappear.

Stephanie was in a panic, screaming bitter, angry curses at Castle with tears streaming down her face. "I thought you said you could protect us! Mr. Castle, you said..."

"Shhhhhh..." said Beckett, cutting off the woman's tirade. It was clear that the hunter's mind was focused elsewhere, on a sound that only she could hear. "Castle, the spell," she whispered, "It worked." Beckett took off at a run for the backstage door, Ryan and Esposito following their partner's lead without a second thought.

Castle followed the other Guardians at a speed Stephanie could keep up with. The young singer started to calm down at the sight of the three cops taking action...mostly out of her own sense of confusion. "What's going on? What worked?"

"I put a tracking element into the spell I wrote to protect you guys. I had a feeling that the old hag would try something like this," Castle replied. "That's what Detective Beckett is following."

Stephanie nodded, taking the wizard's word on blind faith even as the three detectives seemed to have disappeared. "So you can follow Detective Beckett?"

Castle reached into the link with his beloved partner, knowing implicitly that Beckett was still hot on the witch's trail, using the ultra high-frequency beacon to track wherever Jake Bradford went. They were gaining ground on their prey by the second, and Castle knew it wouldn't be long before they caught up to her...which would give the wizard a chance to catch up. "Easily."

"Oh," Stephanie commented quietly, "good."

Castle could practically feel the tension radiating off of his charge, and squeezed her hand one more time, trying to impart some reassurance. "She can't hurt Jake without going through us first. I *promise* you, we'll get him back."

Stephanie nodded again, but by that point the wizard was no longer paying attention. Beckett's voice echoed through the mind-link along with a picture of a locked door to a room labeled 'Wardrobe'. We found her. She took Jake behind *that* door.

On our way, Castle projected back before he grabbed Stephanie's hand and both of them vanished.

Beckett felt the presence of her partner fall in behind her as Ryan and Esposito flanked the door to the Wardrobe department. The count was silent, led by Beckett through the group mind-link. 3...2...1...Go!

Castle removed the door with a wave of his hand across his chest, hoping to preserve the potential element of surprise. That hope, though, quickly proved futile; the old witch had not been looking to escape from the Guardians.

She had been setting a trap.

Stephanie looked up to discover Jake suspended above them, attached to the ceiling from a long metal chain. He was stretched to his body's limit, each arm and each leg attached to the second and third story of opposing clothes storage carousels in the giant room. She wheeled around and buried her head in Castle's chest, unable to stand the sight of her friend in pain.

The determined detectives entered the room cautiously, stopping only when the carousels jumped to life after they took just two small steps into the room.

A disembodied voice echoed through the room. "Do not come closer," Olga told them, "or Wotan will be pulled apart in front of you."

"Descende," Castle whispered, focusing all of his energy on the man suspended in front of him. "Descende..."

Jake cried out in pain as the chain around his waist began to slowly tighten. "The chain in the ceiling is enchanted, wizard. If it feels a magic other than my own, it will start to squeeze the life out of him."

Rendered powerless, Castle felt the young woman who was wrapped around him squeeze him tightly...before pushing away from his embrace to face the woman who had been 'haunting' her for almost a decade. "Face us, you *witch*!" she spat out angrily. Olga emerged from behind the revolving clothes racks, which motivated Stephanie to push her friend's luck. "What do you want from me?!"

"You," replied Olga.

The witch's response took Stephanie by surprise. "What?"

"I want you, child. Your life. Your voice. The chance to be young again."

Jake was horrified by the witch's demands. "Don't let her, Steph! No! Don't do it!"

Stephanie looked up at her friend, wiping the tears from her eyes as the decision, she felt, was almost made for her. "Will you let my friend go?" she asked quietly.

"Immediately," Olga replied, her conviction simple but firm.

Stephanie drew in a quiet, shaky breath, letting it out slowly to steel her resolve. "Then let's do this."

"NO!" Jake screamed, horrified by his friend's decision. He thrashed at his bindings even as the chain around his waist fell away. "STEPHANIE! NO!"

The two women below Jake never heard his screams. Olga and Stephanie started to rise slowly into the air. The witch's eyes started to glow as a bluish-grey mist float from her mouth.

Ryan watched the exchange between the two women, understanding the motivation behind Stephanie's decision, but horrified that the young woman felt like the only way she could save her friend's life was to sacrifice her own. A memory rose to the front of his mind. "you can't affect the free will of others. Kevin might be able to..." Inspiration struck as he watched an arc of light erupted between the two women. He focused all of his energy on reaching deep into Stephanie's mind...

And the witch, the singer, and the Guardian all collapsed to the floor, lost to the world around them.

Ryan's awareness returned to the feel of fresh earth underneath him and the medicinal smell of a pine forest. As he pushed himself to a standing position, he discovered that they were in a small clearing ringed with torches to give some light in contrast to the black, cloudless sky overhead. Stephanie was still collapsed in a heap on the ground across the clearing from where Ryan had awakened, and he ran over to check on him, grateful that, even in this strange clearing, he still had the physical speed of the blessing. "Steph," he whispered, "wake up. Are you okay?"

"She can not hear you," a woman's voice called to him. "She will awaken only when there is a victor between us...and the other is dead."

Ryan stood to confront his opponent, striding cautiously to the center of the clearing in order to stay as far away from Stephanie as possible in order to keep her out of danger. "So," the woman stated in a quiet voice thick with a Russian accent, "*you* are the one."

Recognition flickered at the edge of Ryan's awareness as his memories returned to him. The wardrobe room. Jake, caught in a trap. Stephanie's sacrifice, and his 'hail Mary' pass to try to save her. And, most importantly, the old woman. The witch who wanted to take Stephanie's life for herself.

The witch was now standing opposite him, looking almost a century younger than she had in the physical world. "I hope you don't mind me saying so," Ryan teased his opponent, "but you didn't age well."

Olga ignored the taunt. "You are an odd one," she commented. "You carry yourself with the power and grace of an old master...yet it is clear even now that you do not understand what you've done."

"Enlighten me," countered Ryan, his voice dripping with confidence and sarcasm.

"Only one consciousness can exist in a body at a time. The young woman who holds claim to this body has relinquished her rights to me," Olga explained with an arrogant curtsy. "But now that you're here...only one of us can remain. And it isn't going to be her."

Righteous fury consumed Ryan's emotions as he thought of the possibility of losing. "We'll see about that," he growled, crossing the space between himself and his opponent with lightning speed.

The witch waved her hand, sending a rock flying at Ryan's head with the speed of a bullet.

An electric tentacle reached in front of Ryan's face, stopping the rock before it vanished. It took only a flash of a thought for Ryan to recognize the tentacle for what it was: in this battlefield of the mind, his wild, electric aura was not only visible, it was a tangible extension of his body.

Which meant that he could use it as a weapon.

Ryan reached out to his opponent, determined to pull Stephanie's consciousness out of the witch any way he could. Olga continued to try to lash out at him with rocks, sticks, boulders...anything she saw around her. Ryan simply stretched the base of his aura around him like one of Castle's energy shield, bouncing the projectiles off of the shield the way that bullets flew off his shield in the physical world.

When the witch saw that her plan was failing, she grew desperate, pulling a torch out of the ground and using it to draw a circle of protective fire around her.

Ryan let his aura explode in a flash of blinding light, extinguishing the 'fire' and knocking the witch to the ground. He then lifted the witch's weakening spirit up off the ground with the tentacles of his aura, stretching her out in a pose not dissimilar to the one she used to hold Jake captive in the physical world. "Stephanie's not dead," Ryan spat out, "or *she* wouldn't be here. So where is she?"

"She and I are one," Olga replied weakly. "You kill me, you kill her."

"Wrong. Answer." Ryan didn't buy the witch's attempt at deception for a second, and set his mind toward reaching into Olga's mind to find Stephanie. Two of his aura's feelers drilled into the witch's skull, causing her to cry out in pain. "I'll only ask you this one more time. Where. Is. She?"

"I believe the American expression," Olga replied through a pained expression, "is go to hell."

"You first," growled Ryan. His aura drilled into every inch of the witch's body before finally ripping it apart in a blinding flash of light.

Ryan re-awakened not to the dirt floor of a pine-filled forest, but to the hard concrete floor of the opera house. He groaned when he realized he must have hit his head as he collapsed. Two pairs of hands were instantly behind his own, helping him up to a seated position. Squinting to re-adjust to the fluorescent lighting, it took him only a moment to recognize his helpers to be his partners, Beckett and Esposito. "What happened?" he asked with a groan.

"You tell us, bro," replied Esposito. "Stephanie surrendered herself to the witch, and then the three of you just collapsed..."

Memories flooded Ryan's mind, and he was quickly overwhelmed by one primary thought. "Stephanie..."

Ryan forced himself to a standing position and raced over to the girl, making it to her side just as she was regaining consciousness. The relief that flooded the detective's emotions became a palpable wave of good tidings throughout the room as everybody finally started to relax.

Stephanie blinked and squinted, re-adjusting slowly to the artificial lighting as she looked up into the eyes of the man who had saved her life. "Detective...Ryan, right?" At Ryan's nod, Stephanie continued, "you were...you were *in my head*, weren't you?" Blushing slightly, Ryan nodded again, which left Stephanie with a question. "But, what about...?"

Ryan knew exactly who she was talking about...as did his partner. Esposito stopped Ryan from getting up a second time, jogging over to the collapsed form of Olga Kolontayev to check for a pulse. It was only one tense moment before he stood up and announced to the group, "she's dead."

Stephanie took that good news as encouragement to push herself up to a seated position with Jake and Ryan's help. "Not that I'm not grateful," Stephanie said with a smile, "but how'd she finally kick after all of that?"

An image flashed in Stephanie's mind that was powerful enough to lose her sense of where she was...a fact that Jake noticed immediately. "Steph? What is it?"

Stephanie was shaking her head, trying to get her disoriented mind to re-focus on the present. "Oh? Sorry, Jake, I...I must have hit my head a little harder than I thought..."

Ask the kid what she saw, echoed Mike Royce's voice in Beckett's mind.

Beckett immediately did as she was told. "What did you see, Stephanie?"

"It was...it was the witch, only about 80 years younger than she was today," replied Stephanie. "She was in the middle of a forest, and she had these...these ropes of light that were digging into her everywhere. They...they ripped her apart. That's what killed her." Stephanie then wheeled around and immediately turned on her friend. "I have *not* lost my mind, Jake! *That's* what happened to her, I'm sure of it. Don't ask me how I know, I. Just. Know."

Jake stared at his friend, horrified. "Steph, I didn't say anything..."

Stephanie quickly turned back to Ryan. "You...you were in my head again, weren't you, just now? You were..." Stephanie's eyes widened as she realized what she had seen and what it meant. "What I saw...you did that, didn't you? When you were in my head?"

Ryan quietly nodded. "The thing is, though, Stephanie...when I explained the memory you saw, I wasn't in your head that time. I deliberately kept those thoughts to myself. *You* were the one who was reading *my* thoughts."

Stephanie's eyes widened in shock...a look that was imitated by everyone else in the room. "I-I *what*?!" exclaimed Stephanie.

A charge of excitement went through Ryan's whole being as he pulled Stephanie up to a standing position. "Come on," he told the young woman with a knowing smile and a terrible Yoda impersonation, "much there is need you to know, young Jedi..."

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know it was a long one. One more chapter (the scene I know some of you have been waiting for), then this one goes in the complete column. :D Got a busy weekend planned, so I hope it will be up by Monday, but I can't be 100% sure that will happen this time. Sorry, gang...anyway, leave your comments below!