Even as she arrived among the group: Jay-Jay was quickly left behind. Everything was moving so damn quickly and she had no idea what was going on. Trailing at the back of the group was all she could do as everyone surged ahead. She followed, of course. One eye trailed behind them and ready to lash out, should anyone or anything attempt to follow them. 

“This isn’t how I imagined it all…” She spoke to no one in particular as she descended the stairs and came in view of the shade gate. The scene was one of carnage: Siya launching herself through the gate and everyone running towards Veti and the other, larger werewolf. Everything was moving so far ahead and so quickly for the already disadvantaged Jay-Jay. She hadn’t even talked to the bosses since she arrived at the castle, and now she was trailing behind them: trying desperately not to get in the way or cause more trouble as she stumbled through the darkness of ignorance. 

Eventually she settled next to Bain and Hoyle, unsure of whether she should follow up on her offer of cauterising the wound of the lycanthropic boss. Considering all that was going on, it hardly seemed the time or place to set fire to him, so she elected to instead follow the Vampire’s order of ‘get through the shade gate.’ Looking back on the scene of Veti and the larger werewolf, Jay-Jay moved through the gate, leaving Veti to the last. The feeling of powerless-ness returned, threatening to swallow her in a despairing loss…She needed a coffee. 

[*]---[*]

Stepping through the gate planted the Firebrand…somewhere? She wasn’t sure where on earth they had landed, but at least it was away from the stones and the werewolves that seemed to bring such sadness. She hadn’t remembered the mission being quite so tragic last time. Then again, she had hardly been the deciding factor of the last mission at all. This was meant to be the time that Jay-Jay did…well…anything. 

Yet here she was, once again the clueless child, stumbling in the dark. She didn’t even get time to gawk at Atticus or Henry for that long, and now was not the time to be in any more powerful a mood than confused sadness. 

She listened in as the strange master of giving-her-demon-the-heebie-jeebies who looked like just a normal guy…Gabe or something was it? She’d overheard the name at least once. Listening to him speak let her know that someone else was in the dark, just like her. That at least gave Jay-Jay some sort of confidence to actually speak.

“Right, so if they took this…whatever-it-was, we should track them down right?” She paused for a second as she realised that she’d said quite possibly the stupidest thing ever. Captain Obvious points for Jay-Jay, it seemed. “Do we have anything from the guy who took it? I can probably whip up a scrying spell real quick. They aren’t too complicated, assuming there is a catalyst.” This time at least, she hadn’t said anything stupidly obvious: and hell, it was a useful suggestion.

Looking around the group, stuck in a freeze frame as she waited for someone to either call her a genius or a moron, she realised they were still missing a number of people: Henry and Daisy, as well as the two bosses. Where the hell were they?