She relays this, then slips around back and into the woods when no one's looking, trying to pinpoint the exact location.

'We should probably wait to costume up until we're in the barrier proper, it'll be hard to explain our outfits if we don't. Right now it just looks like we're skipping.' 

And they're not the only ones - she can hear a couple of people laughing through the trees, and a light breeze brings the smell of cigarette smoke over to her.

'Right - '

She's sprinting toward the woods now, trying to catch up with Lianne.  (In the back of her mind, that electric excitement...)

'There's people around, can we - get them inside, say we saw a bear or something - are there bears here - ?'

'Nope. They won't listen anyways, I know this crowd - maybe say you saw a teacher coming? But we need to destroy the witch asap, the whole school's at risk, walls won't do anything against a witch - '

It's not long before Lianne finds the entrance to the barrier, before Kaylee's caught up to her.

Ahhh - 

'Kaylee, I've found it, over here. I'll wait for you.'

'Do I have time to catch up?  Is it moving?'

It is, inexorably, in the direction of the school.

'It's headed for the school - how far are you - '

'I'm not sure, I only just made it to the woods - at least a few minutes I think - '

How big does it feel (or, can she take it alone?)

It'd be a long shot.  But it's moving pretty fast.

'I'm going in, to at least start on the familiars. It's approaching you, though, so you might be able to catch up, or rescue anyone with the mark - '

'Okay.  I'll get there as fast as I can.  Good luck.'

'Thanks. You too.'

And in, outfitting up once she's past the barrier.

Like a cross between an oil refinery and a construction site - labyrinthine buildings all girders and railings tower around her, the sky is choked with black smog belched from enormous smokestacks, the air is cold and dry and smells of diesel and machinery.  Everything that isn't exposed dark metal is painted bright dump-truck yellow-orange.  Tall, slender humanoid shapes, cobbled together from tailpipes, emitting plumes of gray smoke, stalk the alleys between buildings.

She's going to prioritize moving fast over mopping up familiars - Kaylee can take care of that, or she can get them after the witch isn't a threat anymore.

Quickest path to the center?

Her barrier-sense leads her through alleyways and passages; every so often a pipe-figure will drop onto all fours and start sprinting after her like a cheetah, but they're not hard to take out.

Then up one of the towers, where more pipe-figures are camouflaged with the walls; apparently the correct path through a tower will spit her out into an entirely different labyrinth of buildings.  That gets her closer, but it seems like she'll have to navigate at least a couple more towers.

What do these things have against straight paths.

She proceeds, trying to strike a balance between conserving magic and moving as quickly as she can.

Soon, a ping from Kaylee: 'I'm inside.  Which way did you go?  I'll see about catching up...'

She relays her path so far. 'I'm pretty much bee-lining for the heart as much as this stupid thing will let me.'

She frowns.  'I think the maze must have - shifted, or something, since you got here - that doesn't feel like a straight path to me.  I'll try to meet you at the center?'

' - I hadn't known they do that. Take the fastest way here, then, these familiars aren't too much trouble.'

'See you soon.'

Shortly, Lianne's barrier-sense leads her to the edge of one of the towers, with no ground in sight below, and bids her jump across to the next tower over.

Good thing she's not particularly afraid of heights.

Over she goes.

As she jumps, a pair of familiars spring off of the opposite tower, one on either side of her, on a course to slam into her in midair.

She spins, sword out, angling to slice through them.