Isiell felt the bogut come upon them.
Fraeya's voice cut off suddenly, and a slimy presence tried to force its way into her own mind. With a twitch of her fingers, she reinforced the bubble of air around her and the human, to at least protect them from the chill she felt trying to break through her magic.
Cautiously, Isiell reached out with her own mind. Where fear was present, chaos always was, and she wanted to check the strength of this...
bogut.
"No," Fraeya whimpered and rocked back in forth on the ground next to Isiell.
Isiell knew it wasn't directed at her, but it still made her pause for a moment. She wouldn't be able to resist the bogut's mental presence for terribly long, but Fraeya would not have any defenses at all. Even if the girl had disturbed and annoyed this beast somehow, it was clear that whatever it had shoved into Fraeya's mind was distressing.
Carefully, her eyes still closed, Isiell knelt down beside Fraeya, and reached for the girl's hand. She didn't know if the mortal would be able to feel it, but she tried.
Then Isiell reached out again, to where she felt the bogut prodding and prying, almost as if from the inside of her own skull. She nearly shuddered, but let down her defenses.
Suddenly, she was back in the family manor in Underhill. It was gaudy and decadent, marble and velvet everywhere with not a speck of dust or drape of a curtain was out of place, and she knew she was in her mother's study.
Her mother's face filled her vision as Isielle thrown into a chair and held there by the guard who had... successfully intercepted her escape. Isielle's face was smeared with dirt and a lip was split and bloodied.
"Oh dear, this was hardly necessary," her mother cooed quietly, snagging Isielle's chin between her thumb and forefinger, forcefully twisting her face up to examine her daughter's lip.
"You said to bring her back by any means necessary, madam," the guard said from behind Isielle. "She fought quite vehemently."
When is this? Isiell thought, trying to wrest control of her mind back, even just a little. It had elements of things that had actually happened, but she couldn't... pinpoint the actual incident.
Isielle's mother clicked her tongue annoyedly, her hand falling away from Isielle's chin as she grimaced.
"You've gone too far this time, Isielle," her mother chided, then she turned and called out the door. "Bring him in!"
Him? Isiell's heart pounded and her breath stuttered for a moment.
Oh no. No no no. Not him.
Ariel. Her only friend. The one who never told her to fall in line. Who only ever, at times, rolled his eyes at her antics, and always offered her a place to hide when the guards were called out.
Open your eyes, the bogut whispered into her thoughts.
Save yourself. Save him. Just open your eyes.
Her hands clenched, and she started at the feel of a warm pulse under her palm.
"It's not real," she whispered quietly. "Not real. It's not real, and I'm already safe, and Ariel is safe."
Isiell clenched her eyes shut.