Meanwhile, a girl claiming to be Krysta Fanel, the daughter of the Guardians' old nemesis, shows up and makes herself at home in the House.  Although ill at ease, Aden allows her to join the group.  She explains that she too is a time warrior, from a separate timeline, and that she has become stranded in Shaldani like the Guardians.  While she claims to have known Tranns and Aden in her time, she admits that the two of them are very different in this one.  Still, she shows an instant fondness for Aden, continually mentioning incidents that he can't remember.

 

Ariadne and Mia are shocked when Philip stumbles into the lobby, bleeding from a stab wound in his side.  He explains that he was attacked by an Ebene soldier.  Just as Mia apologizes to him for her behavior in his room, Philip makes an inappropriate joke about Adriana and sets everyone off balance.  Tranns and Lucien, in the meantime, are off fighting a gang of Ebene soldiers.  They manage to best them, though Tranns is injured, and retrieve a sword which they find to be tipped with poison.  Taking the sword, Lucien ends up carrying Tranns back to the House.  The two bicker the entire trip.

 

While running a routine scan in the lobby with her crystal, Casey notices an unusual presence, but she is unable to identify it.  Philip's unusual behavior, however, continues.  After trying to entice Ariadne to bed, and being rejected, he begins to make unwelcome advances on Mia.  He finally gets so out of hand that Mia, Jonas, Casey, Adriana, and Tranns take him down.  They lock him in a cage in the basement and it is determined that the Ebene's poison has caused a Dragmire gene in his DNA to be activated, thereby turning him into an evil version of himself.  As Philip is the most powerful person in the House, an evil version of him becomes a serious threat so Adriana and Aden cast a spell on the cage, making it magic proof.

 

With Tranns standing guard, Philip proceeds to torment the other members of the Phoenix House, making sexually inappropriate jokes about the girls, using telepathy to haunt Adriana, and taunting all of them mercilessly about their shady pasts.  While Casey races to find a potion that will counteract the poison, aided by Jonas, everyone else gets fed up and Adriana uses her magic to knock Philip unconscious.

 

Casey finds the cure and gives it to Philip who wakes up with such guilt that he locks himself in his room, refusing to speak with anyone, including Ariadne.  Lionel agrees to take over Philip's duties on the front line team while Philip recovers.  Everyone is left with the uneasy memory of Philip Dragmire, wondering if he will ever return.  Adriana, meanwhile, mysteriously faints.  She comes to with Aden standing over her and begs him not to let anyone know.