Poor Rachel. She's been stuck in this situation for well over two years in real time, now...*blush*

In Which Rachel Battles...Ku'Sox?...and Gets an Intervention

Newt had already burst through Zee's wards and tackled Rachel when Ash and I fuzzed in. But Rachel was in the process of tossing Newt over her body in a neat roll, sending the older demon crashing headfirst into a stone wall. Rachel was on her feet in a moment, lunging toward Zee, who was now prone on the floor. Al grabbed her around the waist, only to get his nose broken for his trouble. Ash got too close, and Rachel, twisting in Al's grip, pounded with a solid two-foot kick to his gut that sent him flying.

I watched in confused admiration as Rachel slipped from Al's grasp and clobbered him with a fierce side kick to the groin. She was managing to physically evade two lighting-fast demons while still maintaining a stranglehold on the line she was drawing from. Damn. Sparring with her vampire roomie on a regular basis must have made her one hell of a bad-ass. Should I get involved? I now knew a boatload of evil curses, had even experienced casting a hellcoil, but I hesitated to use any of them on a friend.

Zaebos was still out of it, but Ray was screaming her head off in the corner, staring at Rachel with terror in her wide eyes. And no wonder, because Rachel was now sending blobs of uncontrolled ley line energy in random directions. Judging from a singed spot still glowing with melted rock, one bolt of energy had just burst two feet above Ray's head. My heart clenched as I saw it. Rachel would never put Ray in danger. Something was terribly wrong here.

"Bring her down, you idiots!" Newt ordered, struggling to gather enough wits to heal her head. "Carefully!"

Rachel darted into Zee's big casting circle and activated it, crouching with wide, unseeing eyes. Now that she was closer, I saw that her eyes were red and trailing tears, and her pupils were blown until her green eyes looked black in the dim light. Rachel continued to spindle, muttering something under her breath that I couldn't make out, but it had the cadence of a chant. Her malevolent gaze was now focused on a point across the room, at some unseen foe, ignoring Ash and Al approaching her circle.

"Something's wrong with her. She might be high on something," I said. "I think she's hallucinating." I stepped closer to Ray, ready to circle her if necessary.

"Itchy witch," Al purred, and only faltered briefly when Rachel whipped her head to glare at him. "What delightful mischief have you been up to?"

"Stay back," she warned. "Take off that skin. I know it's you."

"Just let the line go, love. You used to be such a fan of talking these things out—"

"Stay. Back!" She was holding an enormous amount of power now. If she released it, unshaped, the room would be an inferno. I wasn't sure my circle would hold it off. I needed to get the kid out of here, now. Except the traveling circle out of reach across the room, and I couldn't jump into a line. Where the hell was Bis, anyway? "You just couldn't leave me the hell alone, could you? Even after I beat your ass? Just leave me the hell alone!"

Al was an amazing actor, but even he couldn't entirely hide the slap her words had just given him. "You enjoy beating me up, love. Come out and do it again."

"I won't drag your ass out of the line this time, you bastard. I'll fry your little kitty brain and leave you there to rot!" So saying, she launched herself through her circle at the befuddled Al.

Not knowing what else to do, I latched onto the line Rachel was tapping and yanked, hard. Rachel stumbled, her fingers digging into Al's shirt instead of his eyes. She howled, fighting me for the line as she clawed her way toward Al's face, and I kept pulling. Red warning flags began to pop up in my mind—that I was supposed to be pulling all energy through Ash, that direct tapping was still dangerous, but I knew what Rachel was trying to do— she was going to pull the line through Al, frying his mind in the process. If I could drain it enough, she wouldn't have enough power to damage him permanently.

Except Rachel released that line, and grabbed another. So I yanked on the second one, too, quickly adjusting my spindling to accommodate it. My hair floated and thoughts started to get a little hazy, but I siphoned the power as best I could, spindling and spindling and spindling until I was afraid my head would burst.

Ash and Al were working calming curses on the struggling Rachel, who still struggled like a madwoman— but a madwoman who had clearly not been yet beefed up with demon strength. Zee wouldn't have been that stupid. But from their shouts of frustration, it was clear that neither demon had a simple detox curse between them. And neither did Newt, because Newt was nearly always being force-fed some medication or other and wasn't allowed to have them, as she was helpful enough to point out.

"Damnit, Zee! What were you doing to her?" Ash grunted as he was finally forced to sit on Rachel's legs. Zee, looking quite dead on the floor, did not answer.

"Is Rachel going to be OK?" Ray asked in a quavering, teary voice. "It was just supposed to be a fun lesson."

Rachel suddenly stilled, face going blank, eyes briefly rolling into her head. But she wasn't unconscious— she was tapping into a third line, and she latched onto it fast enough that I couldn't beat her to it. Both demons were suddenly blown off her. She flipped from her back to her feet in a single powerful snap, hands glowing red-gold.

"Vyaximemnya," Ash said, and Al cursed.

Oh, shit. Rachel honed in on me as I tried to tear the third line from her grasp, and I realized that Ray was still standing right behind me. If Rachel unleashed even a fraction of the power at her disposal, I'd be ashes, along with the little girl she'd given up everything to protect.

"Get away from her," Rachel said, in a low, menacing voice.

Ray clutched my arm. "Rachel?" she asked in a teeny voice.

Getting away from Ray seemed like an excellent idea right now. Assuming Rachel didn't blast me into sooty chunks the instant I took a step.

"Rachel, you're scaring her. Look, I'll walk away. But you'll hurt her if you let your power loose in this room." I tried to keep my voice reasonable.

"Take off the skin you wear," she growled. "You're not fooling anyone. Never again, Ku'Sox. You've taken everyone from me. I'm going to finish what I started."

Ray's fingers tightened on my arm as Rachel raised her arms, and I poured all the power I'd gathered into one hell of a protective circle around us. The green energy crackled and heat shimmers rose as it began to melt the wall and floor around us, but even so, I knew it might not be strong enough.

But Rachel never got the chance to lay her smackdown, because Nebiros appeared in a crack of sound, clapped Rachel over the ears, and slammed her with a detox curse. Al and Ash were right behind him and, between the three of them, managed to channel and banish her unspent energy before it erupted. The four demons fell into an exhausted heap.

Relieved, I forced all my own spindled energy back into the ley lines and released them, letting my circle fizzle. A moment later Ceri knocked me aside to gather her sobbing child into her arms. I stepped away, feeling a little lightheaded. I drifted over to the demon pile as Ash and Nebiros disentangled themselves and shook out their wings. Feathers were strewn everywhere and little bits of down began to settle like snow.

My angry mate grabbed me by the shoulders. What the hell were you thinking? Ash's mental voice was furious. Where the hell is your silver?

I didn't want to draw all that through you. She was going for a kill! Ash didn't reply, but I could still sense his frustrated rage as he gave me a quick mental onceover. I'm fine. I can handle the energy. I did it a few days ago!

Foolish woman! You handled it because I filtered the lines for you! How many times must we warn you?

Ash! I won't to it again, OK? And I'm fine. Focus! What the hell happened to Rachel?

Both of us looked down to where Al cradled Rachel in his arms. Rachel had opened her eyes and was staring at us all with a mix of alarm and bemusement. "Ow," she said. Her gaze fell on Newt, being helped to her feet by the angelic Nebiros, and then on Ash with his hawklike wings, feathers still askew from the battle. She turned her eyes to Zee, relaxing when she saw that he was still unconscious. "What's with the angels? Am I dead? Or is this a rescue?"

"Perhaps more of an intervention," Al said, teeth gleaming. "Tell me, Itchy Witch, when did you start playing around with such dangerous concoctions? You should have let me know sooner. Our lessons could have so much more fun."

I glanced over as Solange popped in on Zee's travel glyph, crouched and wary as she surveyed the situation. She smiled in relief, rose, and joined Ceri, ignoring the rest of us. My returning gaze snagged on other details I'd missed the first time: the chairs and table (now overturned), the empty candleholder, the scattered matches. "She was having the same lesson you just gave me," I guessed.

Rachel struggled to sit up, batting at Al in annoyance, and Al let her go. She held a hand to her head, rubbed her eyes. "He was teaching me how to merge with a Collective. What a nightmare. Whatever the hell drug he gave me...I can't even describe it. Gah!" She rubbed her streaming eyes again and blinked around the room. "Why am I still seeing angels?"

"It's a long story," I said. I grinned at Al. "You should show her."

"Not a chance. My dangerous apprentice is far more into the bad boys, aren't you, love?"

Rachel favored him with a withering look before trying to stand and finding herself far too wobbly. "Watch it, you. Zee taught me a few things you never got around to."

Al huffed, standing up and dusting himself off. He was back to his old self, smoked glasses, green frock coat, perky little black boots and all. I smiled as he put a gloved hand over his heart. "I do believe I am jealous. You must tell me all about it."

Rachel slumped. "Not all of it. Not yet. But...I'm really glad to see you, Al. All of you." She looked up at Newt, who was wandering over while examining a little vial of something black and sludgy. "Even you," she added, "though I'll claw your eyes out if any of you try to drug me with that again."

"I must take Ray home," Ceri interrupted, striding over with a crying Ray still clinging to her neck. "Solange as well. Gally?"

"What, am I your personal taxi service, now?" Al snapped. But when Rachel gave him a tear-streaked glare of total exasperation, he caved. "Oh, fine, woman. I suppose I can always return to collect my wayward familiar and her progeny again. If necessary." He leered at the elf as Solange and Ceri walked over to him, but Ceri wasn't buying it. She put her free arm in his, and whispered what might have been a thank you in his ear as the four of them vanished.

"What happened?" I finally asked, as Rachel relaxed. She had a lot of explaining to do to Al, and was clearly dreading it. "You kept telling us to...take off our skin?"

"Zee was guiding me through merging. The first time was fine, though I couldn't light the damned candle. The second time he put some of those drops in my eyes, and then we merged again, and suddenly I started seeing shit. I swear to God, Ku'Sox was here. You know I almost killed him once, right? I— this sounds so crazy, but I thought he was wearing Zee's skin, so I tried to take him out."

"He does that," Newt agreed.

"I saw a huge open plain with all this seething, terrifying blackness, and a battle, and I saw Al dying with his guts all over, and then there was this weird room with pillars and fire and some kind of mosaic and Oliver was being tortured by someone, and a room full of crying babies all hooked up to tubes, and...I couldn't even think. I didn't actually see Ku'Sox. I just knew he'd killed everyone I loved and was coming for me wearing their skins, and I could hear Ray screaming and I thought Ku'Sox was going to kill her too, and I was just frantic..." she sighed. "Ray's OK. Ceri's OK. Al's OK. It wasn't real."

"Think I found your problem," Newt said, wafting the bottle under her nose. "Nice fresh batch of seethe here, but it smells funny. What do you think?" She handed the vial to Ash, who sniffed and grimaced.

"Definitely smells off. Belladonna, maybe?"

Rachel was staring at Ash. "You're Ash...?" she asked, finally recognizing him. "Why do you look like that?"

"This? Evie has an angel fetish," he said.

Well, he wasn't wrong, but I elbowed him in the ribs anyway as I blushed. I wasn't sure why the demons were so keen on keeping their secret, but I went along anyway. Why spoil the surprise? Instead I focused on the ingredients. Belladonna was a poison, but very occasionally used magically in tiny amounts in witch spells to induce a dreamlike trance. But it was dangerous— too much would send a witch on one hell of a terrifying trip. "Why would Zee do that to her?"

"He wouldn't, not on purpose. It would be profoundly stupid and dangerous. He was probably affected by it as well, once they merged." Ash stoppered the bottle again, looking grim. His eyes met mine, calculating something.

"Yes. I suppose I should take care of this fool. I thought you were smarter than this, Zee." Newt shook her head at Zaebos with disgust. "Drugging your student without verifying the formula first. Idiot. But she got him, toasted his chi good. His mind's been damaged, and he'll need to be evaluated." She wandered over to a huge, ornate mirror hanging near Zee's fireplace, and placed her fingers on it. "Dali, dear, we need you. Zee's had a bit of an...accident. Yes, bring some of your thugs along, in case he's irreparable. He's got a lot to answer for."

Ash, you did check the drug you were going to give me, right?

Um...

Brilliant. I grimaced. The hallucinations induced by too much belladonna were reputed to be nightmarish.

Al reappeared, now alone. "Well, now, that was exciting. Rachel...?" He reached out a hand with a brilliant smile. "Your escort awaits."

Rachel hesitated. She looked at the travel glyph wistfully, then sighed. But to give her some credit, she faced Al with a determined expression rather than making a beeline for home. "I guess we have a lot to talk about, huh?" she said, as she clasped his hand and he hauled her to his feet.

Al smirked. "Indeed. I hoped you enjoyed your vacation, my little truant. I want to hear all about it. Particularly the part where you created us a whole new ley line!"

Rachel sighed again. "Sure, whatever, Al." They vanished from the travel circle in a puff of burnt amber. Dali and several heavily armed thugs appeared moments later, and I wondered what happened when two sets of demons tried to use the glyphs simultaneously. A moment's hesitation from Rachel and I'd have had my answer.

It finally hit me. Ray had been rescued! Rachel was safe! Zee was neutralized for the moment! The relief was like cool, clear water washing away a whole world of worries, and I felt my spirits rising. Yes, I still had the death sentence of Hope's malformed tulpa to think about, but at least I didn't have to worry about Rachel and Ray any longer! I watched with a stupid and probably blatantly malicious smile as the Brute Squad gathered up Zee and vanished with him, while Newt and Nebby filled Dali in on everything that had gone down. Ash was still hovering nearby, and I turned to him. My mood soured. He was still scowling. "It's over," I said.

"You think so...?" He glanced around the room again, shaking his head. "This makes no sense. To sabotage any demon in training is remarkably stupid and dangerous, particularly when the Ever After is already so fragile." He folded his arms, and gave his wings a fluff and snap before folding them away. "I don't know what it means. Someone else was trying to prevent Zaebos from doing whatever he was doing? Why? The entire Collective knew Al was going to put a stop to it within a few days. Unless this concoction was meant for you, instead."

I shuddered, feeling my high spirits slumping once more. "But...Zee's the only demon who would want to hurt me at the moment...isn't he? Why would he mix up a contaminated drug and give it to the wrong student?"

Ash held up the vial. "He didn't make this. Seethe's a tricky drug and needs time to ferment, and Zee wouldn't have had the time to watch over it. He most likely got this from the apothecary. I ordered some for you days ago, and based on the date on the label, it's likely this came from the same batch. We need to talk to Rahasiel."

"Indeed." Dali had the tired air of a busy beaurocrat who has to deal with yet another disaster, and his unfriendly gaze on me seemed to say you again...can't you just die already? "Come on, we'll get to the bottom of it. Someone's going to get surface time for this."

I stuck close to Ash as we all headed for the travel glyph, certain that someone was going to find a way to pin this on me somehow, because that was just my luck these days. My dread only grew worse when Newt leaned over to whisper, "And I need to have a little chat with you, Yvette. You've been keeping more secrets!" She smirked at my questioning look, then slanted a glance at Dali. "But it can wait."