Nothing Nico can think of even remotely explains what he's seeing. And why is she dressed like that, in the rain and morning chill? It's fine now that she has all that fire energy, but what about before? Was she already like that, somehow, and that's why the card went to her? It's so...overt. It shouldn't be possible.

In any case, he's certainly not going to just give up Kyle's body for nothing. "Not yet," he tries. "For now I still need him. Once I've retrieved all my lost property, I'll go, and then I'll happily return his body to you." Kyle's higher souls are probably in tangled shreds by now, but she doesn't seem to know that and it won't be Nico's problem once she can't track him anymore.

Could he make a deal with her? Trade Kyle's body for the cards? It's tricky. If she gives him each card as she finds it, she won't have any guarantee that he'll really give up Kyle's body at the end. If she keeps the cards herself until they're all together, he doesn't have any guarantee that she won't somehow form her own relationship with them like she apparently did with his Wand.

How's she taking it?

DESTROY HIM

DESTROY HIM

Just remember not to hurt Kyle too much.

She'll charge across the rest of the space between him, not quite as fast as she can, and try and knock him down and sit on him. Maybe she can slap him unconscious, and then find a priest to get him an exorcism, or something. She'll figure it out when she gets there.

Wait, was that just th - ack!

Nico goes right down; brawling isn't his specialty to begin with and he's still a little clumsy with Kyle's body. Or, no, be honest, neither of those things matter because she's so much stronger than he is. How?

This is why he prefers meticulously-planned ambushes!

Up close the heat coming off her skin is striking, even though your coat. This is clearly not just a normal woman.

Yeah, yeah, it's somehow the card too. He decides to try a different test. "Reveal yourself!" he commands, if he can get it out with the thief sitting on his chest. He's not talking to her.

It comes out in a whisper, but you can do it; she's not any heavier than a woman her height should be.

Somewhere nearby there's another lightning strike. Light and sound disappear for a moment, and as they return Nico sees five branches whip past overhead, locked together in a chaotic not-quite-pattern.

The Five of Wands. Elemental fire from the Wands, balance between power and restraint from the Five. Upright it's about healthy and nourishing competition: training spars, say, or the kind of debate where everyone learns something. Reversed it's much bloodier: serious conflicts, deadly fights, contests with real stakes. The Golden Dawn called it "Strife", and said it had "volcanic energy".

This went so wrong, so quickly. Is this how Lane felt, when he called to Lake Winnipesaukee and it didn't answer? What can he do with this? What's the angle?

Sophie, the lightning whited out your vision for a second but you feel fine. You're sitting on Kyle(?)'s chest, knees on his upper arms. He's looking terrified and enlightened, like he just figured out the exact make and model of a missile that's about to hit him.

Sophie LOVES THAT. Let's work with that.

"Go away! Get out of here! Give him back!"

Can you scare a ghost so badly that it gives up on possessing someone? Does it make sense that ghost did a ritual? Maybe it was lying? Does she have any way to tell? Sophie's thoughts aren't keeping up with the pace of events, she can feel that, but her instincts, old and new, tell her that she's winning.

"Never!"

Sometimes it just feels good to shout defiance.

If you had to beat up the Five of Wands, how would you do it? It's a question that misunderstands every concept of the Tarot, but, well, here Nico is.

Opposite elements, water smothering fire. But he walked away from the river, where can he find - it comes to him that he doesn't have to search.

He'll try another evocation, dividing primordium into water right over the strange woman's head, then try to break free.

Suddenly a bathtub full of water pours down from above, all over you, Sophie. For one sudden moment you feel cold and weak, and Kyle's body is bucking free underneath you. You fall sideways, then the water on your skin starts to steam. As Kyle climbs to his feet your strength is already returning.

As soon as she possibly can, she'll knock him right over again.

That was hugely more effective than the evocation earlier, and it seemed like it worked pretty - no!

He goes right back down. Right idea, it seems like, just not enough power. He'll do another evocation, just to see.

The water's weaker the second time: more of a dense cloud than a splash. It sizzles right off of her. You could probably evoke a lot of fire right now, if you wanted.

That doesn't sound helpful, no.

That was by far the best evocation he's ever even heard of, and it didn't help at all!

Can he do something with the wire? Even showing it to her, when she can apparently steal his cards, seems like a supremely bad idea.

Weirdly, the water helped; Sophie's thoughts feel a little more centered, a little better at keeping up with the fight she's in.

What even was that? Can this thing that's possessing Kyle just summon water whenever it wants? That first attack almost worked, and if it keeps messing around maybe it'll find something even better. She has to stop it from doing things until she can come up with a proper plan.

Sophie vaguely knows that you can't really knock people out by hitting them on the head like you can on TV. What about choking? Is that safer? A little uncertainly, she puts her hands around his neck and tightens them just slightly.

"Careful," Nico rasps, around her too-strong fingers. "I can survive without this body, but poor Kyle won't be so lucky."

Nico's been focusing too much on the occult aspects of this. She's somehow somewhat the Five of Wands but she's also a person. The way Nico's weekend is going, she's probably his mom. And also a powerful spiritualist or something. WHAT ARE THE ODDS later, that's an important question but he has to save it for later. Right now he has to somehow resolve this weird standoff. She doesn't want to hurt his body but she's so much stronger than him, she can just pick him up and carry him away to her lab, or dungeon, or basement if that's all she has.

He doesn't have any tools or weapons. How can he still win?

Sophie keeps kneeling on her possessed boyfriend, trying to think. This is not the kind of problem her Friend knows how to solve; this part is clearly her job.

People can live without oxygen for minutes, underwater, and not drown. If Kyle's still in there (please God let him still be in there), a little choking shouldn't hurt him too much.

Maybe the ghost-or-whatever will have to let him go once he's asleep, and that's why he looks so tired. Maybe she can research an exorcism online once he's unconscious. Maybe Pastor Reed can help.

She just has to try something.

She tightens her fingers around his neck, trying to cut off his breathing without crushing anything important.

Glrk.

He can't keep Kyle's body moving if it's unconscious. If he bails out she'll come for his real body. Only moments to decide. He needs to do something smart, fast, but he can't breathe. Air is the element of thought and he doesn't have any...

Elemental opposition. Water. He needs more water.

This stupid state is full of lakes, is the ironic thing. He's spent days driving around them, or over them. Ancient water systems, not exactly aware, certainly not smart, but powerful. Places Sam Lane knew well. If this woman were trying to kill Lane, the whole water table would rise up and...

Ah. Of course. What a stupid, brilliant idea.

He gathers himself, carefully attending to all the points where his two higher souls touch Kyle's lower one, and all at once relaxes, letting himself be pulled back north to his body at Pawtuckaway Lake.

Kyle's purpling face isn't quite unconscious when his expression suddenly shifts, from frightened-but-defiant to confused-and-desperate. You've never seen that look on his face before, but somehow it's made of familiar pieces in a way none of the others were. At the same time, your Friend's sense of him withers away; she's paying attention to something else, now, a long distance over there.

She'll let go of his neck immediately; if it's a trick she can just grab him again. She swallows. Thinks about her Friend, and gathers her courage.

"...Kyle?"

Kyle blinks, and there's a sense of effort to it, of weight. That's new no. He remembers this feeling. Once his whole life was like this. Before Boston. Before...

He was driving up the hill, over the bushes.

He drew a circle in the dirt with his foot.

He called to fire, and it answered.

He tied shut the door

He saw

He flinches away. That's too hard for now, forget about it.

There's a beautiful, shining woman leaning over him. She called him "Kyle". That's...right, he decides. He's using parts of himself that haven't needed to do any work in quite a while, and it's a strain, but...maybe not a bad one. He blinks again, savoring the weight of it.

Kyle. If he thinks about that word too much he'll lose himself again, but as long as he just focuses on each moment as it comes it's not so bad. Except as each moment lands, drip drip drip, he's starting to realize what might have happened.

"Am I - did I die?" His eyes focus on the glowing stranger's face. "Is this heaven?" Then he looks over her shoulder, at the trees lit from above by pulsing lightning. "Or...not?"