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Quinn walks into Casey's room and finds the bathroom door shut with the word "Tainted" carved into the wood. When
he opens the door, he discovers that the bathroom has become a water tank, filled up to the ceiling with water and that Casey
is drowning in the middle. He manages to rescue her. Casey explains that she was going about her own business
when the sink started flooding and she suddenly discovered that she was locked in. There is magic afoot, but the source
of it cannot be identified so Quinn takes Casey down to the kitchen to be treated for oxygen deprivation, reporting the incident
to Tristan, Insa, and the Meyer siblings.
Insa sets out with the intention of investigating, but she suddenly senses a presence in the lobby. She and the
others look around to find a source, but Insa suddenly lets out a scream. Blood bursts onto her dress, staining the
fabric and spelling out the Risan word for "Tainted." Tristan and Tobias rush to help her, but a ring of fire erupts
around her, separating them and closing in on her. Just as Lucien and Tranns arrive to help, a strange old man appears
from above, dressed in nothing but the tattered remains of a newspaper from Beigor.
The man, a wizard named Joachim, takes credit for the attacks on both Casey and Insa, insisting that the "dirty girls
must die." Tristan attempts to find him off while Lucien and Tobias rescue Insa. Joachim proves very powerful
with elemental magic, however, and continually taunts the Phoenix Fighters, telling them that the three girls with the taint
of Niflheim must die. He further adds that his daughter was kidnapped by the Niflheim, something that is impossible,
as Tristan points out, since Joachim would not be able to remember such a thing.
Joachim's power is drained and he leaves abruptly, allowing Insa to survive. Tranns surmises, with Tristan's help,
that Joachim means to attack the three women who went to Niflheim: Casey, Insa, and Lex. On orders from the admirals,
the three girls are restricted to magic free zones until the matter can be resolved. In the courtyard, Ariadne stands
guard over the three of them, wearing her cloak to avoid being seen green in daylight. The House waits in nervous tension.
Ariadne develops a bit of a cough and leaves to get water. After she returns, Tobias joins the girls out in the
courtyard, but Ariadne's cough get worse and he leaves to get her something to drink. In the bar, he is shocked to discover
another Ariadne, frozen in ice. Meanwhile, in the courtyard, the coughing Ariadne reveals herself to be Joachim in a
cloak. He casts Insa, Lex, and Casey into a ditch and starts to bury them alive. Their screams bring both Tobias
and Tristan out. Joachim gives Tristan a good beating with his shovel, gleefully taking out his imagined revenge on
the former Niflheim prince.
Quinn arrives on the scene and together, he and Tobias manage to subdue Joachim. Quinn offers Joachim the opportunity
to walk away, but Joachim launches into a tantrum about the Niflheim. Enraged, Quinn pulls Joachim into the shadows,
trapping him inside one of his many games. The girls are dug out of their grave, alive and well, and Ariadne is thawed
out. Everyone is merely left wondering why Joachim believed that his daughter was taken by the Niflheim in the first
place.
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