the Severely Incompetent but Sincerely Determined Rescue Squad

Liesl was standing very close to the shield, hands on her hips and a studied look of indifference on her face. In reality she felt a bit useless and was unsure whether she regretted sending the Ilvermorny girl through the shield. Regardless, she wasn't going to miss any of their conversation if she could help it.

She shook her head as Professor - well he wasn't really a professor any more - Mister Arryn cast about for some way to understand what was happening.

"You've had a shock," she called loudly through the shield. "Just lie down until the potions begin to work."

Honestly, they may as well have sent muggles.

Declan pulled away, causing Dom to jerk back in surprise. She knew she messed up a lot, but what could she have possibly done now? This wasn't the time for their guaranteed little arguments that always dissolved away. "Dec-"

But he was asking where they were and Dom's eyes immediately sought out the other girl's, as though she might have some explanation for Declan's strange behavior. But it was Liesl, from the other side of shield, who was able to offer the final little piece that made it click for Dom. She looked down at Declan. She might not know anything about shields or ferries, seizures or salves, but she certainly knew a thing or two about Declan.

"Declan," she said, her voice soft. "It's Dom. I'm your- we've been together for some time." Her face softened and she reached out to touch his hand. "We were asked to come to Ilvermorny - something happened to the Hogwarts students and our friends thought they might be here. They are. And you got hurt trying to get to them. You had a seizure-thing. But you're okay now."

The man at the window watched with interest, watching the little ants below him struggle with the obstacles in front of them. He enjoyed watching them struggle. He was fascinated with their drive to keep living, despite ridiculous odds. He couldn't say, that of the things that mattered to him, that living was anywhere on his list. If he lived, then he lived, and he had another day to achieve is goals. If, though, he did not, then his plans just stopped mattering. What else was there, really?

He was, however, starting to become a bit irked with one of the little ants. She seemed to not be sufficiently intimidated by or respectful of the wizarding power right in front of her eyes. She was some sort of happy little idiot, wasn't she? Perhaps she needed a stronger lesson in knowing who she was and who she was not.  

"Aperi!" he fired his wand at the ground beneath the girl's feet, deciding to open the ground beneath her, hoping it dropped her into one of the castle's oubliettes. She would find it eye opening, he was sure, and despite how masterful she apparently thought she was, he was calculating that she would not have such a quick solution to this little obstacle.

Katherine was not destined for great things. She knew that. She couldn't cast a difficult spell even if she wanted to, but Potions? She was good at potions. So it was slightly disappointing to see that the salve didn't have to be used. Not because he was better but because she'd had a chance to be helpful but it hadn't happened. Sighing a bit, she looked up at the shield and then at the wall. Her fingers curled around her wand, wondering if there was anything they could do.

Maybe they could break it up? Did magic walls work that way? Kit didn't know, but it was a plan that they hadn't had a moment ago, so she turned towards the closest students - Andrew and Evander - to suggest her idea. But then the ground decided to swallow her whole.

Katherine let out a shriek far worse than the noise she had made when tripping over the beginnings of that rock wall. One hand reached out for something, anything, but the round walls that encircled her were too slick. Her toes were useless except for the friction that both hurt and really did very little to slow her down.

It seemed to go on forever, the drop. Her stomach was about to be in her throat if it wasn't already, and the light above her, she realized as she tilted her head up to bite back another scream, was fading fast. Merlin, this was the end, wasn't it?

She wasn't good at magic. She wasn't good at much of anything. But she had lived this long, illness or otherwise. And she was absolutely not going to go like this, even if she knew it would be quick, probably, when she hit the bottom of whatever this monstrosity was. So she risked it.

Pointing her wand downwards, she positively screamed out a cushioning charm. It didn't feel quite right. And she doubted it was even possible to levitate herself. Was it? Even if it was, she'd find a way to get it wrong.

Suddenly, the impact came. A crack echoed off the walls and for a moment she felt absolutely nothing. And then the blinding pain shot up her leg, radiating from her ankle. An involuntary cry ripped from her lips. It didn't feel right at all. Some part of her doubted she'd ever walk again, but Kit knew that she was resigning herself too soon. She had allies up there. And even though she couldn't see a thing, she had to see the damage. Already, she felt exhausted. Still, she knew she had few choices.

"Lumos."

Merlin, her ankle was completely not okay. Her other leg was bleeding and she realized belatedly that it had hit the edge of the container she found herself in as she tumbled down. She could hardly believe she'd managed the spell around the gasping breaths she was taking now. And, after she forced herself to catch her breath, she couldn't do anything but scream again, this time for help.

What the hell...? Andrew's eyes opened wide as the ground simply seemed to swallow a woman whole. What the hell was that? He and Michael had bantered back and forth, jokingly, about being dropped into a hole, but Andrew hadn't believed him. Andrew had honestly thought that, in a couple of matters, Michael was possibly a little touched. Damn! He'd not been lying. These things really apparently existed. Now, what the heck did they do about it.

"Hey!" Andrew flung himself prostrate on the ground, snatching his wand. "Lumos!" he shined his wand down in the hole. "HEY! You! Talk to me! You okay? Are you hurt?"

He shined his light around the walls of the hole. Smooth as glass. He took his fist and tapped on the wall, not able to reach far. Almost as hard as rock. He wasn't going to be able to carve a handhold in this with a stick. This required better skills or equipment than what he had. Andrew could climb. He could definitely climb, but he wasn't going to be able to freehand this. If he'd had some climbing gear, then maybe. He didn't see, though, that anything short of rock climbing equipment would help her now. It wasn't going to stop him from looking around to see if there was a rope or something.

It looked like she was hell and gone down that thing. It made her look like a little bug. This wasn't for a kid to do. Or even an adult unless they had the know how.

Okay?! Of course she wasn't okay. Her eyes stung with tears as the pain continued up her leg. Kit knocked her head against the wall, crushing her eyes closed as she tried to distract herself from the pain.

"I've broken something!" She shouted up, her voice cracking.

Kit knew that any normal, strong witch or wizard would just fix it themselves. She knew it was a possibility. But for her? Merlin.

When she opened her eyes and tried to make out what was happening above, all she really saw was the shine of the end of someone's wand. Probably the guy who was shouting out to her. Andrew? Probably.

"Get me out of here! I can't- I can't fix it myself!" She shouted up to whoever was there, desperation filtering into her voice.

Declan, who had stared at Dom's attempted explanation, had turned sharply to look when the girl's cry met the air. With the wall and the girl in danger and this barrier thing, how were they going to get into the castle? He turned to the redhead, glancing between her and Dom.

"We ought to start making some sort of tents. It's getting awful dark out," he looked upwards, worried that they'd be stuck out at night and that things would continue to get worse.

"One of the other students transfigured me to get me through," Scarlett pointed out, gesturing towards the Hogwarts girl.

Although it was an idea he wanted to rely on to get he, Dom and the girl to the other side, he did worry a bit. The girl who had told him to lie down. He hadn't actually listened to her, he realized in hindsight, because he was leaning back on his palms and sort of gazing around worriedly.

"I know that spell you used isn't an easy one. At this point, it would probably be better to make thing to camp with. Out of socks or ties or anything you can get. We'll do the same and pass some over. In the morning, if you're feeling up to it, we can try and get across, yeah?" He frowned slightly. "It isn't worth making you any more tired than you already must be. This place looks like a proper nightmare, and if walls can rise out of the earth, it will probably only get worse."

No, no, no. This couldn't be happening.

He wouldn't have believed it or looked away from the shield if he hadn't heard a piercing scream and suddenly felt the presence of the person next to him, Kit, disappear. He hadn't been able to react quickly enough, managing to only turn toward her as she was swallowed up by the ground. He heard another scream, coming from Hit this time, when she saw Kit vanish into the ground. Neither of them knew what to do.

The only thing that was able to come out of Evander's mouth was, "Kit!" as she disappeared and Hit could only manage to cover her mouth with her hands, in complete shock after what happened. She probably never felt so useless in her life. Evander knew he was useless for most things, and this, though he didn't want it to be, was one of those things. He began to panic, throwing himself down next to Andrew when he lit the tip of his wand and called out to Kit.

"We have to do something.." he stated obviously, not knowing what else he could do or say. His eyes frantically looked around in and down the hole, seeing Kit a ways away. His fingers dug into the dirt beside him, frustration taking its place within him at not knowing what to do right away and he pushed himself up slightly.

"This is your chance Evan. Stop being a baby and show us what a hero you can be." Cronis looked at his brother with a blank expression though anyone who really knew him knew that that meant he was terrified out of his mind.

"Shut up, I don't see you trying to do anything." Evander's voice shook with anger and frustration that he shouldn't be taking out on his brother but Cronis was egging him on. Maybe it would actually bring an idea out of Evander, though it was doubtful. Cronis didn't think Evan had it in him to actually come up with something with the amount of pressure he thought he had on him. "I'll go after her, down the hole." Evander pointed, the only idea that came to mind being that.

"What? Are you mad? You can't do that!" Hit finally spoke up, her hands dropping from her mouth at Evander's words.

"Why not? I have to help her somehow!"

"Yeah, but that's not the way to do it. You're being rash, we have to think about what to do. If you just follow her down, you'll end up hurt too. It's too deep, unless we all use some spell to get you down." She said softly, looking at any and everyone to give some ideas.

"You're an ass, Yaxley," Andrew sniped quietly at Yaxley, hoping Kit didn't hear him. "Do you have even the slightest clue what you're up against? Have you ever gone rock climbing? I have. Unless you have, this isn't a job for you. Do you have a harness? Ropes, hammers, carabiners, pitons, cams,..any of it? You're not going to leap down there and back out. Look at those walls--they're like glass. You're not going to find anything to grab onto. You leap down there, and you'll be stuck like her. There isn't any magic if we pulled all we have together for us to simply 'poof' her out of there. All we have is our own hands right now."

"Kit," he said, looking at her. "Hold tight. We're not leaving you. Let's take care of first things first. I'll find you some pain potion." Okay. Could he do that? He was going to try, but right now, he figured she needed some sort of reassurance. He wasn't beyond making her promises he wasn't sure he could keep. "Look around. Are you alone? Any sort of holes? Any gaps? Any bugs? Anything?" He wanted to be sure that she was relatively safe. That was key for him right now. If she was safe, he could work on a plan.

"Yaxley, if you want to be helpful, find someone that knows where the freaking hospital ward is and where the nearest exterior door is. If you can find me a map, I'll try to get there. Can you do that?" he asked, calmer. "You can help. We all need to help, but do what you're good at. Figure out what you're good at and help with that. Right now, I need a map to get into the castle.

He didn't figure he could do more than make her comfortable. He was hoping that he could get pain potion and a blanket. Under ground, it was going to get cold. It was already getting dark. She was going to need water and food. It was going to have to be something they could toss down to her without damaging it or her.

Finding what they were going to need to get her out? That was going to take time. Maybe lots of it.

Cronis didn't like hearing people insult his brother, but he couldn't say Diamond was wrong about Evander at that moment. "He's right Evan, you have to think rationally. You can't just think you can go down there and get her back up here like its nothing." He wasn't siding with anyone, not really, but he couldn't let his brother do anything too stupid.

Evander couldn't believe that his own brother was going against him. But he knew Andrew had a point, he lowered his head sadly but knew he had to do something, somehow.

"Cronis, you're one to talk." Hit glared at the older Yaxley, causing him to look down as well. "Evan wouldn't have started acting so rash if you hadn't egged him on with the stupid talk of being a hero." She almost yelled at the Slytherin. She knew that she was probably hurting Evander's feelings in the process but he technically deserved it too.

She looked at Andrew. "Don't be so tough on him. I know we're all on edge and this didn't make it any better. Evander's really close to Kit, that's why he's acting like that. He won't do anything like he said about jumping." She assured the other Gryffindor.

"Right, I'm sorry. Everything just got to me." Evander replied, looking from Andrew to Hit. "I-if I could get to the castle, I could work on the potion to help her pain." Evander glanced at the wall that separated them from the castle and sighed. "But I guess I can't."

"You can't get there now, but Andrew's right, find someone wh knows about the castle." Hit told the Ravenclaw. "Ask Scarlett. Or maybe Casey, since she's still on this side of the shield. It should make it easier for you. And she's been here all year, so that's helpful."

Evander nodded and looked around for the Weasley girl, Cronis nudging him on his upper arm and nodding in the direction the girl was. Evander nodded back at his brother, muttering a thanks, before running over to the girl. "Hey, Casey, we need a map of the castle. Have you got one, or anything we can use to make one for Andrew?" He asked her, hopefully.

@Casey Lou Weasley

There was a squeal and then people behind her began chattering. Well, arguing, more like. Liesl knew what she was going to see before she even turned around.

Okay, she was wrong. She hadn't expected that sinkhole, or whatever it was.

While Dominique and the Ilvermorny girl tried to talk with Declan, she wandered over to where Kit had apparently fallen down a well. How did that rhyme go again?

"Like glass you say?" she asked Andrew. "If she can swim, can't you just fill the thing with water?"

"In the meantime, I'll see whether that girl has any of her potions left."

She strode back off toward the trio stuck behind the shield.

"Hey! Ilvermorny Girl!"