Ptricia growled at the revelation that they knew the two of them were there. "But how? We have a zero-emission profile! I put a lot of effort into it! Unless... damn! They must have some sort of psi detector! When you stopped the fan, it must have pinged, and located us in the ducts! That's how they know... bugger!"<br/><br/>She hauled out her Eye of Horus as she cursed. "Not gonna let a chance to get a read on the main enemy spellcaster go by... I'd kill him now, but that might not remove the curse. He may well be the only one who can reverse it... Uh huh... Damn, glad 'm only using passive stuff, this guy is good, and his personal wards are not too shabby..."<br/><br/>Chris's jaw dropped. "M...my...parents?" he squeaked. He didn't have time for any further explanation as a red light and a loud siren started going off in the vents. "Shit! We gotta run!"<br/><br/>"Can't you just rip us a portal out of here?" Ptricia asked. "No matter, I had a contingency plan for if things went pear shaped. At least the guards shouldn't be responding any time soon, they're all seeing pretty little birdies by now."<br/><br/>She hauled out of her backpack a device that expanded to full size as soon as she dropped it. "Get on behind me! Use my tail if you have to!" She yelled out as she jumped up onto it.<br/><br/>It had started out a a computer mouse and a set of six inch rulers. The mouse now had a handlebar arrangement mounted on the front end, and the rulers had been shaped into dragonfly-like wings, two to each side. As she grabbed the handlebars,there was a puff of gas from underneath, and the front end of the mouse body lifted. The wings started beating like a hummingbird, and the whole thing hovered, tail end brushing the ground.<br/><br/>Ptricia stood astride the mouse buttons, holding the handlebars, as the red beam of the optical mouse LED shone out like a search light from the underside. She brushed the scroll wheel with her foot, and the vehicle started to drift forwards.