Varick smirked sadistically at the two unconscious boys, the fairy and bug elemental, laying on the cold concrete floor under the flickering light of the basement. The man then turned around and walked up the steps, blasting the basement doors open with his golden magic and locking it behind him- ensuring the two wouldn't escape.

Varick's eyes fell upon Max and Maya, who were both in tears. He rolled his eyes and approached them.

The two girls looked up at the shadow looming over them. Maya's eyes were dark and angry, while Max just seemed to be in shock.

Varick glanced at Max, then froze as his eyes fell upon hers.

"Maximilian....you...you've become a ghost elemental." Varick's eyes narrowed and he stared at her, forcing Maya back against the wall with his golden magic. The man stared at his daughter, who was busy gazing off someplace else, as if in a trance.

"Don't touch her, you creep!" Maya screamed, groaning and struggling in the man's magic.

"Guards!" Varick called suddenly. "Throw the Psychic out and make sure she leaves!"

"What?!" Maya yelled, "No! Let them go! If you don't I'll be back and I will get them- and I will kill you just as I did your wife!" Her mind was burning with fury but just as the words slipped out, her eyes widened and she froze as Varick spun around to face her.

His pupils seemed dilated, as if there was nothing he hated more than having to look at her.

"I don't care." He said lowly, "You can't kill me no matter how strong you are." He glanced over at Idris's dead body then scoffed and turned away, uttering "what a shame" under his breath, then shouted again for the guards. Maya's eyes were wide, unable to process Varick's reaction to his dead wife.

"And ship Maximilian to the Azuki Asylum, she's become a ghost elemental."

The guards rushed in, grabbing Maya, who thrashed about in their grip, and dragged her outside.

Then they came in and grabbed a hold of Max, who didn't seem to fight at all, but rather, willingly go with them, knowing there was no way around this situation.

"Honestly don't know why you guys thought this would work." The wind elemental guard muttered as he tossed Maya down a rocky slope, leading back into Red.

The Psychic tumbled for a moment, skin getting torn up beneath the rocks as she fell, hands flying as she desperately attempted to grab onto anything. She managed to turn over on her back and slow her fall by sliding her feet into the gravel, though it sent a wave of pain through her ankle.

Maya stopped, breathing harshly, then spun around and stared up at the towers, looming in the dark fog beneath the moon. She panted for a moment then groaned in frustration, clenching her fists as she huffed and the rocks on the slope became surrounded by red magic, lifting and creating a path for her to walk through.

Maya got to the bottom of the slope, biting her lip harshly and pacing back and forth, throwing her bag on the ground.

The forest was silent, besides that of crickets and the air was foggy and dark, damp and cold.

'I just killed Max's mom oh my god- and Oliver and Taube are trapped in Varick's basement and Max is a ghost elemental and-!'

A tear trickled down her face as she collapsed against a tree- her voice coming out in a harsh whisper- "...it's all my fault..."

She sat there for a moment, then ruggedly wiped her tears away, standing up and glaring at the towers. She gazed down at the broken bat and tattered bag she had thrown on the ground. Her weapons had failed her. Her magic had failed her. She had failed her friends- and now one of them was getting shipped to an asylum and two of them were being held in a sociopaths basement.

Maya flashed a quick middle finger at the tower then stalked into the woods, leaving her bag and broken bat at the bottom of the slope.

'There's no way I can get them back by myself...' she sighed, then gave the darkness a look of determination, 'which is why I'm going to make a deal tonight.'

    "Any problems with the plan?" Valencia questioned, grinning with a wicked innocence as she glanced back at her two men with fiery red eyes.

Wilson shook his head 'no', puffing on his cigar and standing, grabbing a gun. Pheonix shook his head and, naturally, remained silent.

Valencia nodded, turning the door handle of her old, broken-down bar. "guys we're going to get that little creep of a hafbreed psych...ic..."

Upon opening the door, a familiar looking halfbreed stood there, arms crossed and looking off into the distance with a faded blue and deep red eye; her white hair was in shambles, arms and legs littered with bruises.

"Valencia." Maya stated, turning to face the stunned woman, "Let's make a deal."