The room was large and furnished richly. Veronica felt uncomfortable. She didn't even know where to begin searching. Where would someone keep something hidden in this strange new world? Perhaps they shouldn't have split up. Dave would probably be better at searching than she was.

Shaking her doubts off her eyes scanned the room. There was a fire blazing away in the hearth. By her standards that was normal behavior. Yet, it was the first fireplace she had seen since she had awoken. Veronica had been led to believe that there were more efficient ways to procure warmth these days.

Inching closer to the fireplace she found runes etched in the ashes. She recognized the them. They invoked spells to take the energy of the fire and to transfer it to a sorcerer. Her eyes narrowed. It wasn't a spell for youth; it was one for vitality. Something was wrong. Morgana shouldn't need to be using these in addition to ones for youth.

Then again, she had been using those spells for over a millennium. While Morgana was powerful she wasn't Merlin. Her revitalizing spells seemed to be faulty, if the runes were any indication. Her body must be crumbling around her for her to resort to stealing energy from flames. It was a time consuming and difficult process.

Perhaps they wouldn't have to fight her at all, only wait for her body to give out. There was no way of knowing how long Morgana had left though. She could have the ability to live for another hundred years for all Veronica knew. No; it was best to just keep this in mind and press on with the plan. They had the Prime Merlinian after all.

"Veronica!"

She jerked her head up. Hadn't Balthazar taught him to keep his voice down? Sighing she strode into the other room. When her foot crossed the threshold she stepped back.

"Dave, what did you do?" she asked.

"I stepped on the rug and then it went all…sticky! I think I lost my cell phone in here."

Her eyes scanned the design on the carpet that Dave was currently stuck in up to his waist.

"It's a Persian Quick Rug," Veronica said, "Very old magic."

"What the hell is it with magic and puns?" asked Dave.

He gestured wildly with his hand.

"Do you know how to shut it off?"

"Don't you?"

"I tried using the curtains to pull myself out," Dave said, "Didn't work so much."

Veronica saw where curtains were nearly sunk into the rug.

"Didn't you go over this in your training?" she asked.

"Balthazar sort of skipped past this part. Not Persian Quick Rugs, just traps in general," Dave said, "He said it wasn't useful."

She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I did always have to get him out of things like this," said Veronica, "You would have thought that he'd learned his lesson."

Putting her hands on her hips she started to look around the room. It had been a long time since she had had to think about things like this. Merlin had taught her well and she knew how to keep her head under pressure. Veronica thought for only moments before she was able to summon up the knowledge she needed.

"The best way to get out of it is to pull yourself out with a force stronger than the one that's pulling you down," she said, "That's all I remember about it."

"So you couldn't uh, give me a hand?"

"I don't have the magic. If I gave you a hand, literally, then that would just get me sucked in too," Veronica said, "Use your head."

Dave blew out a frustrated breath. He looked around and then set his face. With a wave of his hand some chains from what looked like a torture device began to interlock. Still guiding it with his hands the chains lowered down to where he could grab them. Slowly they started to raise him upwards.

"Good job," Veronica said.

A grin spread on his face, only to be replaced with a frown. He started to lower the chains again.

"Dave, no," she said.

"No, I know what I'm doing," insisted Dave.

With one hand still on the chains he reached out towards a coffee table that was also trapped in the rug. His hand fumbled on the table, knocking over a map. Beneath the map was a yellowing scrap of paper. Dave snatched it up and shoved it inside of his pocket. Then he raised his hand and the chains resumed pulling him upwards.

One by one the chains separated. It was done in such a way that he slid down the chain towards solid ground. Veronica was impressed by the mechanics and thought that he had put into his rescue. The small amount of time it had required to design such a device labeled him permanently as Balthazar's apprentice.

Then one of the chains snapped. From the surprised look on Dave's face it hadn't meant to do that. He started sliding backwards on the chain towards the Persian Quick Rug. Veronica hurried over and held out her hand. Dave took it, his palm sweat in hers. Taking a deep breath she started pulling him towards the wooden floor.

With a great tug of effort she yanked him so that he was over the floor. He jumped down and tumbled. His fall took her with him and she hit her head hard.

"Ouch," she said.

"Sorry," Dave said, "I didn't mean for that to happen."

"I guess you didn't mean for the chains to break either," she said, "What was the scrap of paper anyway?"

Grinning Dave took it out of his pocket. It didn't take long for her to recognize the second half of the Rising. She smiled and helped him to his feet. Veronica wanted to say something congratulatory, but she heard a scraping noise. It was followed by the door opening. Her face paled. They had returned home.