Erskine was walking around the back of the car when he heard the voice. Hauntingly familiar, but very definitely... different. Younger, for one thing. A whole lot younger. He froze, staring at the back window, wondering if he wanted to know. Then the question was abruptly answered, and Erskine burst out laughing.

It was Barney's reaction that did it. Merlin may have opened the car door, but Barney had already leaned down to strap Allie into the seat. The sound of that voice, and the sight of Rafe, spurred Barney into jerking violently backwards. This consequently had the effect of making him crash his head into the top of the car door, which in turn caused him to reel back with an angry hiss that was probably deliberately put in place of swearing. The cabbie gripped his head and very nearly sank down onto his haunches, still hissing, but Erskine suspected it had less to do with the pain by then, and more to do with trying to work out what the hell had just happened.

Allie wasn't in his arms anymore. She'd somehow ended up in the car - cuddled up next to the childlike version of Rafe and fast asleep.

Erskine pursed his lips in mock consideration. "Maybe we should ease mortals into the whole 'visible magic' thing. What do you think?"

Ghastly, who was standing with the others a little too far away to see what had happened, frowned at the display. "Do we need to make Rafe meet us there separately? What's going on?"

Erskine wanted to answer, but he didn't think he was going to be able to say a word now without distorting it badly. The childlike version of Rafe was missing a tooth. Why? Just because. Petulant Archangels. Pouting Archangels. Erskine sorely wished he knew where and how to contact Dexter at the moment, because letting the Adept miss all of this was just a damn shame, and an unforgivable crime. It needed to be rectified as soon as was humanly possible.