Yoshi shrank back, seeming alarmed by her own outburst now. "I-I didn't know I was allowed!!" she stammered. "I didn't kn-know humans had anything like yllur! No-no one ever said!! But I'm--I'm a girl!!"

There was a high-pitched whistle from somewhere in the street, causing several people on the sidewalk to look around. Liya and Vlad did not, though; Liya looked somewhat puzzled by Yoshi's sudden apprehension, and Vlad put up his hands bracingly.

"Whoa, hon, it's okay--"

He was interrupted by a loud boom, then. The night lights reacted almost immediately, going from a languid purple to a swarming, hot orange. The three of them looked, Yoshi with her hands over her ears, Vlad showing his long teeth. Through the angrily-swirling night lights, it became immediately clear what was wrong.

Across the street, a door and the windows next to it had blown out, and smoke was pouring from the openings. People had fallen to the ground near the entrance, though it didn't seem like anyone was hurt outside. Instantly an intricate circle of livid teal lines had appeared at the entrance, and beaded lines were spreading out from it, containing the windows and doorway, illuminating circular spells with squares inscribed in them. The sign next to the door, glowing yellow and red, read in Aetherian and Archipelagan: Qefer Clinic.

"Oh, my god, okay--" Vlad scrambled to pull his cell phone from his coat. Liya had frozen up solid beside him, her eyes fixed on the smoke but her head full of flames.

She ground her teeth, but got out, "Sh...should we he--"

Vlad, cell phone up to one ear and a hand covering the other, whipped around to her. "You two need to leave," he ordered. "Right now."