“What are you doing?” Heather asked Danielle. “You don’t need a bunch of mana tokens to go take temperatures!”

  Danielle stood up and slid the mana tokens into the bottom of her satchel. “The Sending Authority really wants me to spend back some mana tokens with them,” she said. “To offset all the mana they had to pay me on Sunday. I guess if they’d been willing and able to use the Inside Skill Sharer, they could’ve paid in normal money, at least for part of it; but since I’m Sent, they don’t get to exchange mana for Unified dollars with me, so they’re starting to feel the pinch on mana a little.”

  “Well tough beans for them!” Heather said, putting her hands on her hips. “They made you come and make all those tokens and make yourself super sick, they don’t get to tell you what to do with your mana now!”

  Danielle grinned. “You tell ‘em! Seriously though, I told you about the bolt-hole rooms, right?”

  “The what now?” Heather asked.

  “I remember on Saturday when you came back from the Town Council meeting all loopy, you mentioned something about a hidey-hole in case of assassins,” Akari said.

  “Ah – right, I was having trouble talking so you could understand me that night, wasn’t I,” Danielle said. “Um, so the deal is, when the Sending Authority lady first found out that I’m ‘the Saint,’ she was like ‘oh no, I don’t know if we can even keep people from killing you,’ and I asked what she recommended, and one of the things she suggested was that I rent a few rooms in different parts of town so if I have to run from Wolves, or violent Systemists that want to take out a crisis of faith on me, or whoever, I’m never too far from someplace I can dodge into and have wards protecting me. So, now I have a couple rooms that meet that description. The thing is, they’re kind of super empty right now – just furniture, and even that needs some assembly.”

  “What, the beds aren’t always put together?” Sadie asked.

  “The bed frames are, but apparently you can convert them into other kinds of furniture if you trade in the mattress, pillow, and linens for some other stuff. There’s a kit to lift up the bedframe and lay a lattice across it for hanging herbs and stuff; there’s a different kit to turn the beds into some kind of sofas; there’s one that turns them into worktables; there are even kits that let you use the space for a kennel for a companion animal – which reminds me. Two things. Akari, you got added to the door next door, right?”

  “Yeah, like we actually talked about before you first went to do business with them,” Akari said. “So we can split into two rooms in fall.”

  “Right. So the food-storage option I just mentioned includes, get this, extra cold boxes. We can decide to get a room conversion kit for that, and split it between the two rooms, so everyone gets to keep one bed, and also lift up one bed to make more floor space, and put an extra cold box in that floor space. Oh, and they take away the two unused footlockers from each room. Or, we can keep the extra beds and footlockers; or we can ask for a more complete list of options. That seemed like something you guys should have input on, though,” Danielle said.

  “Extra food storage sounds like a pretty compelling choice,” Sadie said. “How long do we have to decide?”

  “I promised to tell them whether we wanted more mattresses or not by catalog day,” Danielle said. “If we go for a conversion kit, I think they’ll just stash the kits next door, and we can do the swapping and assembling at Fall Fair time, when we’re ready for people to see it.”

  “But the cold boxes will be over there?” Sadie asked.

  “Ooh. Good point – yes, I think so,” Danielle said. “So we could quietly stash some jerky in there, and see how well it’s lasting.”

  “Or dried berries we don’t want to be tempted to eat before winter. Or both,” Sadie said.

  “I like this plan,” Heather piped up. “I would like it even better if we actually set up one of the hanging herb stations; even if I have to move everything over later, that’ll be incredibly useful for my new Class and Career.”

  “So the idea is, when Fall Fair comes, we move over our own mattresses to two of the bedframes over there, and then Sadie and Heather take the empty bed frames and use the kits to make those spots into these extra-food setups?” Akari asked.

  “Yeah. And the one Heather uses in the meantime stays and one of us takes it over,” Danielle said. “The bed frames count as rented furniture – also the bookcases, footlockers, and cold boxes – but the rest of the conversion kits and stuff all become ours. Oh! Including the books I already bought, so our new room will have its own full set,” Danielle said. “That’s not automatic, but it filled in a corner of the room rental payment, and it seemed like a good idea.”

  “Everyone can have their own copy of A Fermitatem Ranger’s Guide to the Outside,” Sadie said.

  “Hah, yeah, we will. I guess arguably we do! Did you look into the room at all, Akari?” Danielle asked.

  “Yeah, I saw the bookshelf, but I didn’t think about what it meant,” Akari said. “It’s been a weird week, you know? I noticed the beds not being made up yet, too, but I didn’t know what was with that either.”

  “So do you all want me to order a room set of food storage conversion kits?” Danielle asked.

  Sadie frowned. “Yes, but, how expensive? It sounds like something we should all be contributing to.”

  “Oh – uh, it’s either 24 or 40 mana – I think this is the 40-mana one, because the extra cold boxes are a little more valuable than the foot lockers we’re trading in, enhancement-wise,” Danielle said.

  “That’s not bad, actually,” Akari said. “Ten mana each.”

  “The catalog is a more immediate mana need,” Danielle said. “I’d prefer you to spend your mana on what you want from there, first, and pay me back for your shares of the room kit afterward. That’s more like what would happen if we really got the room in fall, anyway.”

  “OK, that works,” Sadie said.

  Akari nodded in agreement, but Heather shook her head in confusion. “OK, that’s all well and good, but why did mentioning companion animals remind you to ask about drying racks? And for that matter, what does any of this have to do with that whole handful of mana tokens you put in your bag?”

  “Oh, right. Well, as of Sunday, the Rangers are kind of trying to sell me an actual falcon,” Danielle said. “Like, a companion bird, for hunting. That would kind of also require a conversion kit, but it goes over a bed, so in theory I could put it in our room next week, but – I mean, there’s no way I was going to sign up to bring any kind of animal into our shared room without even discussing it. That’s not a done deal yet, I promise! However, the bolt-hole rooms, those exist, and they need a few things – some emergency food and some medical supplies and soap and washcloths and basic stuff like that. That’s what I’m actually planning to order today.”

  “Wait, is this what Ranger Michael was doing yesterday, with 7013 and 5013?” Akari asked.

  “Um, yeah,” Danielle said, her face flushing in embarrassment. “I feel weird about it, really. All the Rangers and the SA people are convinced I’m going to spend the next however-long constantly dodging murder attempts, and I mean – part of me is scared, and another part of me thinks they’re the crazy ones, but I’m trying to be responsibly prepared, but what am I supposed to do with a bunch of empty rooms, you know? But the whole idea is that they’re secret, so I should try to stealth and slip into a room nobody knows is mine, and have it be like I disappeared. That means they’re trying to be all discrete about adding me to the doors, so that’s why all the weirdness about it yesterday.”

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  “Because we were watching,” Akari said flatly.

  “Right, but obviously you’re trusted party members; and since most of camp is sick and staying in, it was a pretty good time to discretely do the ones in those buildings while I was there anyway,” Danielle said.

  “How many of these, exactly?” Sadie asked.

  Danielle was sure she was redder than the regular cherry tomatoes now. “I’d, um, rather not say – I mean, it’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just, you know, it seems like it should be need-to-know,” she said, hoping she sounded like a sensible person dealing with a threat, and not a paranoid trying to live out a video script.

  “How are we supposed to know to come help you, if you’re in one, then?” Akari asked.

  “Um, assuming I’ve been chased in alone, I guess I’ll send a Now Hear This and let you know?” Danielle suggested. It occurred to her, a bit belatedly, that there was a non-zero chance of one or more of them being chased in with her. “The idea is that you should be safe if they’re chasing me away from you,” she added, though now she was wondering if that actually played into Agent Bea’s thinking, or the Rangers’, or if they just didn’t think as much about how to protect the people who were not Skill Sharers.

  “Well. That’s a lot of stuff to think about,” Akari said. “Do you have furniture decisions made for these secret rooms of yours?”

  “Um, yes, I might have bought four different conversion kits and paid a little extra to have them deliver one of each kind to each room,” Danielle said.

  “So you have four, then,” Sadie said.

  “No comment! Come on, Sadie, I’m trying to be responsible and not tell you stuff other people will try to pry out of you if they’re feeling hostile,” Danielle said.

  “And Akari and I are trying to figure out which way to run with you, if we’re trying to watch your back while you retreat,” Sadie said.

  “Exactly. But hey, you’ve got temperatures to take and water bottles to sterilize, and that means I’ve got plenty of time to think about other convincing arguments for telling me which rooms they are,” Akari said.

  “Ugh. OK, fine, if something like that happens, we run for the nearest room that ends in 013,” Danielle said. “Don’t tell anyone, not even the guys please.”

  “Not even Gideon?” Akari asked

  “No! I can’t add people to these doors, they count as regular rented rooms, not org rooms,” Danielle said. “And Gideon’s got his own issues and priorities! Not to mention that we don’t know him very well, for having technically gone to school with him. What Class even is he, now? The messenger thinks he’s a Scout! Or a Sneak, maybe – anyway, that he can be sneaky and fast, like me and Zephyr and Marc and Gonzo. Come to think of it, what’s Marc?”

  “Basic Weapon Fighter, but he’s trying to become a Scout or Hunter, and he’s got Lauren and Gonzo helping him figure out what to take,” Sadie said. “Maybe he got one of those on Sunday? We haven’t talked this week.”

  Heather smirked. “Well, well, look who knows all about Marc, now!”

  “Don’t even start,” Sadie said.

  “Remind me who’s too young to have a boyfriend again?” Heather teased.

  “Me! I am too young for a boyfriend, now quit it!”

  Heather laughed. “Wow, I didn’t expect you to just say it.”

  “We’re all too young for boyfriends!” Sadie exclaimed, throwing up her hands in exasperation. “It was true a month before school ended, it’s true now, and it’ll still be true in another month!”

  “You have to give her credit for consistency, Heather,” Danielle said. “She might be talking to Marc a lot, but she’s not talking about dating like you were with Harry Bronzen.”

  “If she’d done a little more talking to Harry before she started telling people she wanted to date him, she could’ve saved herself an embarrassing couple of weeks,” Sadie said, busying herself collecting dirty clothes from under her bed to hide her red face from them. “Whatever. Go play nurse, I’m doing my laundry.”

  Sadie went into the bathroom and slammed the door on Heather’s sputtering protests.

  “Should I even ask?” Akari asked Danielle.

  Danielle shrugged. “Harry’s cute and kinda rich, but it turns out he’s not that nice, and Melanie caught on before Heather actually talked to him about it. She got to him first and convinced him to string Heather along for a few weeks then dump her hard. Sadie was saying we’re all too young to be doing the dating thing anyway, starting from well before Heather got up the nerve to ask him, and Heather was mad at her for being unsupportive, and then the big ‘prank’ reveal happened. That was only three weeks before we got Sent, so it’s kind of a sore subject, still.”

  “I can’t believe she went there,” Heather fumed.

  Danielle rolled her eyes. “You’re the one that decided to try and tease her about it. Where did you think it was going to go? Anyway, shall we get moving? It’d be nice to get back before lunch this time.”

  “Um, Sadie was wanting me to help plan lunch,” Akari said.

  “Oh. Right, uh, new plan,” Danielle said. “How about we go start at the far end and work our way back here, then take a break to get lunch started, then we finish the other side of the floor?”

  Akari went to the bathroom door and knocked. “Sadie? We’re going to get going, but I’ll stop back in when we’re halfway done and help you get lunch going, OK?”

  “OK!” Sadie called out through the sound of running water.

  Akari waited a minute to see if she had anything to add, then shrugged. “I guess we’re good to go.”

  They got going. Overall, more people answered the door, and Danielle could see progress compared to the previous day.

  The girls in 6018 were basically feeling better, and assured Heather they didn't need anything. The girls in 6014 gratefully accepted another round of filled canteens, but claimed they'd already had breakfast and promised they would handle soup on their own at noon. The girls in 6012 wanted temperature checks again. Heather couldn't decide who was warmest this time, so she settled for doing the same girl as the day before; her temperature was only slightly elevated. The girl high-fived Heather, and they all thanked her for her help over the last three days.

  Cassy and her roommates were doing so much better that they were getting ready to go out. Cassy explained that the plan was to take a short trip into the forest and see if they could find any edible plants to go with the pemmican rations for the next few days. Danielle asked them to be back by supper time so the SHAD party could have a party meeting, and the ABCs assured her that they intended to be back well before supper. Akari wished them good hunting, or at least good foraging, and the two groups went their separate ways.

  Room 6002 smelled much better than the day before, if not exactly clean. The residents all seemed to have gone back to sleep without eating breakfast that morning, but the one who let them in was walking upright this time instead of leaning against the wall. They all cooperated in getting their soup and Urgent-C tablets out, and they had two camp stoves on the counter this time, so Danielle and Akari were able to get their breakfast soup warmed in only two rounds. Three of them even took their Fever-Ace without further prompting, and helped talk the fourth one into it.

  They still didn't want their temperatures taken, but Danielle was a lot more confident that they genuinely didn't need it. Heather still spent the entire visit just holding the door open to air out the room, but Danielle didn't hold it against her. She was still relieved to get out of the stink, too, comparatively faint though it might have been.

  Back at their own room, Akari and Sadie worked out a plan for lunch that basically amounted to rabbit stew, using a rabbit someone had caught an entire week ago; the meat had been roasted and then repeatedly purified, but the plan was still to boil it well and get it used up. Sadie let Akari recommend spices, but the question of whether to add anything else turned into a hot debate. Danielle volunteered to contribute a can of soup just for the broth and vegetable bits, which they didn’t go for, but it did cool off the debate for some reason. They concluded on using the rabbit meat with just a pounded-up biscuit to thicken the stew a bit, and everyone drinking Urgent-C alongside it.

  Danielle made good use of the time while they were discussing it by washing out the guys’ canteens and lining them up to be filled later. She also refilled her own canteen. Heather just rested on her bed until they were ready to head out again.

  Continuing around the building, the next stop was 6025, where they'd found the girl that needed to be taken to the clinic the day before. The other three girls were still looking exhausted, but seemed to be handling things well enough; everyone had half-full canteens of Urgent-C and half-cans of soup by their beds. Danielle was a little concerned that they hadn't finished anything, but they said they were planning to keep working on them until they were gone, so she let it go.

  They did ask her to come back if she got any news about Mandy; they hadn't heard anything themselves. Danielle promised to pass on any news that might come her way, but reminded them that it hadn't even been a full day yet. Heather checked the temperature of the girl who seemed the most out of it, but it was still under 102o, and her roommates promised to be sure she kept drinking her water, soup, and Urgent-C.

  The girls in 6021, 6015, 6005 and 6001, who had been handling themselves well to begin with, all reported that their fevers seemed to be down and several said things to the effect that they thought this would be their last "day off" from snaring and whatever else they had been doing. Danielle reminded them that they had extra rations, and could afford to take one more day just to rest up and make sure they were 100% before they got back into the deep woods, but congratulated them on their good attitude.

  The Lemonade girls weren't at home in 6011; Danielle confirmed it using Sense Mana Source. She resolved to check in on them later, and hopefully make plans for a shared campfire Saturday evening.

  Overall, the rounds went a lot faster than the previous day, and Heather didn’t even come close to emptying her mana pool, let alone Danielle. Everyone was on the mend, even the people who had been sicker than most, and it showed. They got back to their own room with so much time to spare before lunch that Danielle even had time to finish writing out her supply order for catalog goods to be delivered to her bolt-hole rooms.

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