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Lex is scheduled to take a trip to Beigor for a meeting with the newspaper’s board of
directors. The afternoon that she is scheduled to leave, she kills time in the kitchen by scribbling the beginnings
of a story on a piece of parchment she finds. Expanding on a conversation she had with Casey, she begins to write a
satire in which the families of the Phoenix House are vicious, barbarian clans. Before she can finish the story, the
Williams come to escort her to Beigor. She rolls up the parchment and places it in her satchel before leaving.
After she leaves, strange occurrences begin to take place in the Phoenix House. In the midst of a meeting,
people begin to get a bit violent towards each other, lashing out verbally. Before long, a physical fight breaks out,
where the House is split into four clans: Botans, Summers, Fanels, and Winters.
Eventually, all four clans retreat into rooms of the House and barricade themselves in fortresses. The Winters,
led by the visiting Dagllas, in the kitchen take a very confused Lucien as their prisoner. The Summers in the office--along
with Tranns, Aden, Ariadne, and Lief--are debating how to gain control of the House when Tranns receives a ransom note for
Lucien, demanding she go to the Winters in exchange for Lucien. She keeps the information to herself for the time being.
Adriana, leader of her clan, discusses with Aden that she knows Philip will try to gain control of the clan soon.
She is not particularly worried, and simply says she’ll have to kill him if he tries. Aden inquires about Tranns,
and Adriana says that she will live if she chooses the right side. It’s not long before Aden goes to speak to
Tranns, and she shows him the ransom note. He speaks to Philip and says that he’ll side with him against Adriana
if he’ll protect Tranns. Philip goes into the Winter’s fortress and says that they can have Adriana and
kill her, in exchange for Lucien. The Winters are baffled but delighted, and they soon agree. Adriana is taken
as captive and Philip is placed in charge of the Summer clan.
Tranns and Adriana communicate telepathically, and Tranns tells Ana that she put daggers in her skirt as Adriana
was being taken away. Adriana cuts her chains free as the Winters are sleeping, and sneaks away to the attic.
Tranns joins her to bring supplies. The Winters soon find their captive gone, and blame Philip. He is as startled
as they are, and tells Lief to sniff Adriana out. He finds her and brings her down to the lobby, but secretly tells
Philip that the scent of Tranns was on her. Philip, who has shown a marked attraction to Tranns, going as
far as to kiss her, angrily decrees that Tranns will be punished as well. All four clans gather in the lobby as
Tranns and Adriana are tied together and surrounded by files and papers. A fire is started around them.
Just then, Lex returns to the Phoenix House, back from her trip. She is startled by the fire in the lobby,
and after a few moments, realizes that this is an excerpt from her story. She quickly writes down a neat, tidy ending
to the story and everyone returns to normal. The fire is put out and everyone is left embarrassed. Jake, meanwhile,
pesters Lex with questions about the story, realizing it was written on his own magic parchment.
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