Danielle looked up from checking that all her things were in her bag, to see a circle of shocked faces around her. “What?”

  “Danielle, are you saying that you and Zephyr McPherson are talking, right now, using the Now Hear This Skill?” Ainoa asked. Danielle tried to remember how long Ainoa had been there, and couldn’t.

  “Yeah, we got them because we’re on the council. He said – ” Danielle cut off and held up a hand as another message started.

  “Now Hear This, a message from Zephyr to Danielle, When did you use your token?! I’m on my way back to camp from the Access Point. Brooke is sick, she’s covered in red spots. She came out to the temple of the elements meeting anyway, though, and collapsed right in front of everyone. The Rangers said we should all – ”

  “Now Hear This, a message from Zephyr to Danielle, Sorry again. We should all stick close to the camp until we hear from the Authority. Not just Lithios or leaders, I misspoke. They actually took Brooke to Ranger Headquarters. They said it’s not usually deadly, but she’s got a severe case. They also – you know what? End skill.”

  “Now Hear This, a message from Zephyr to Danielle. They also said the Authority would bring some help for the rest of us. They didn’t check anyone else for spots, just assumed we’d all need help too. Everyone who was on the campout has a few spots showing now that we looked, though. Bring our party home. End Skill.”

  “Now Hear This, a message from Danielle to Zephyr. Message received; will tell all here to head home per Ranger advice. Authority agents expect to, quote, “be busy distributing disease recovery kits whenever the first epidemic hits,” unquote. I imagine that’s the help. Need to talk to others now, further messages for new info only. Skill ends.”

  Danielle immediately activated Amplify Voice. “Attention Please!” she said loudly. The people nearest her covered their ears, and nearly everyone stopped talking to turn to her. “There’s been a message from camp. Someone collapsed due to an illness at the Systemist meeting, and the Rangers have advised everyone there to stay close to camp, as of an hour ago. Roughly. Information so far is that the disease is rarely deadly, but the girl who collapsed has been taken to the Ranger base for treatment because she has a severe case. It’s unclear why we are asked to stay close to base, but there is some evidence they may be looking to give us something, maybe medical supplies, but that’s speculation. We’re expecting to hear directly from the Sending Authority at some point, but since it takes a while to get back, I for one am going to get moving. End Skill.”

  Danielle paused to let that sink in, then in a regular pretty-loud voice, added “I apologize to the people who were uncomfortably close when I activated that Skill. I didn’t mean to hurt people’s ears, I just forgot.”

  “Danielle, that was rude,” Heather said. “I don’t want to go back yet.”

  “You don’t have to, but I’m going to,” Danielle said. “I’m sure some people will stay; it’s a big crowd.”

  Heather started to object, but she only got a single word out before Gideon interrupted, “When did you find time to use the token?! We only got them last night! I walked you home from that meeting, I know you went home!”

  “There, you see?” Heather said. “Zephyr was at that meeting until late, too, so he hasn’t had a chance to get to the Access Point either. She’s delusional.”

  “Zephyr is at the Access Point right now, he apparently ran there right after Brooke collapsed an hour ago,” Danielle said. “I’m not delusional, and this isn’t impossible or miraculous, it’s just System Skills.”

  “System Skills you don’t have yet and can’t use,” Heather challenged.

  Danielle glared at her, then manifested her illusory keyboard and started typing into her Planner. It took three tries to get Now Hear This to activate from the text, but after a minute of whispering to the System, the voice of the System read out the message: “Now Hear This: A message from Danielle Falconer to the SHAD Party. Yes I do have Now Hear This, and yes Zephyr does too, but he’s used almost his whole generation and shouldn’t reply to this unless it’s urgent. I am going to be very angry at anyone else demanding explanations or calling me a liar in public, you jerks. Skill Ends.”

  “That’s not how Now Hear This sounds,” Heather said, but she looked seriously unnerved.

  “That’s how it sounds when I use it together with Planner. Anyway, if it wasn’t Now Hear This, I dare you to tell me what it was,” Danielle challenged her back.

  “You didn’t have to call me a jerk,” Gideon said.

  Danielle glared at him. “You didn’t have to go yelling about my schedule in public,” she said. “But fine, I apologize for calling you a jerk. Maybe by the time we’re back to the Rooms, I’ll even be calm enough to actually feel sorry.”

  “Not much of an apology when you admit you don’t mean it,” Ainoa said uncertainly. Danielle realized belatedly that she hadn’t heard the message they were all talking about.

  Gideon laughed, though he still sounded tense. “No, I believe she meant it. Emotions aren’t everything. It takes character to admit you owe an apology while you’re still mad at the person you’re apologizing to.”

  “Where’s my apology?” Heather demanded.

  Danielle glared at her too. “You get yours via Now Hear This, once you admit I’m not delusional.”

  “Come on Danielle, that’s just a waste of mana,” Gideon said. “You’ve made your point, let’s not turn it into a whole fight.”

  “That was cool, though,” Ezra said. “You can message the party. Can you do it for the Shade Tree Society, too?”

  “I can do it for any org in which I have a leadership position,” Danielle said. “That’s how the Skill works. That one guy who uses it for the Rangers probably has an official position with the state that lets him target us. Zephyr can target me because we’re of equal authority in the town and the Society, but if Cassy stepped down from the town council, she’d lose the ability to use it because she doesn’t have any other authority positions. Well, unless being Trusted by the party counts, and it might; but it would still keep her from personally targeting me I think, because I’m higher ranked. We can’t test it now, though, because we’re equal authorities for the town. Where is Cassy?”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “She was over by the fire, talking to some of the Theocracy Party people,” Sadie said. “I can’t see her right now, there’s too many people up and moving around.”

  “Do you have any red spots?” Danielle asked. “Any of you who were on the Access Point camping trip. Zephyr says a bunch of people from that trip have them.”

  “I’ve got a bug bite or two,” Sadie said. Heather didn’t answer, but she did rub at one arm.

  “I don’t think it’s bugs,” Danielle said. “Brooke apparently had lots of them today, and she didn’t last night. I had the two on my face, but this morning there were a bunch on my arms too. Lucas thinks it’s a rash.”

  “It’s a pretty slow rash, if so,” Sadie said.

  Danielle just shrugged. “Apparently. The alternative is bugs biting us in our beds, though, so it’s bad either way.”

  Cassy and Akari appeared out of the crowd. “I’ve got the pots rinsed out, so we’re ready to go from that standpoint,” Akari reported. “How are you guys doing?”

  “We’re still arguing,” Jordan reported. “Heather called Danielle delusional.”

  “We’re not arguing, we’re checking for spots,” Sadie said.

  “I’ve checked my bag, and I’m ready to go,” Danielle told her. “I’d really like to get closer to camp before I catch up with Brooke by passing out.”

  Jordan and Gideon gasped in unison, which was kind of funny, but Danielle didn’t feel like laughing.

  “Have you used that latrine we dug here?” Akari asked. “If you’re feeling sick, you should go use it before we start walking.”

  “Oh. That’s a good idea. Um, show me where?” Danielle asked.

  “All right. Everyone else, get ready to go already!” Akari said, and led Danielle to the treeline, where a quartet of latrines were curtained with rain ponchos for privacy.

  Danielle emptied her bladder and waited for Akari to do the same. “I feel like a school kid, using the potty before the field trip,” Danielle joked.

  “I was just thinking that if you got bad enough to pass out, you’d rather not have a full bladder when it happened, just in case,” Akari admitted. “Especially when we don’t know how far away the nearest Rangers are.”

  “Yeah, that’d be gross,” Danielle said. “Hope it won’t come to that, though. I’m guessing Brooke probably didn’t get a use of Weaken Disease this morning, or a whole bunch of healthy berries with lunch. I could be wrong, I guess. I think my party’s been taking care of me better than hers, though.”

  “Aw, that’s sweet of you to say. Well, here’s hoping it’s enough to make a difference,” Akari said.

  By the time they got back to the group, everyone in the SHAD party was ready to go – even Heather, who was looking subdued rather than angry, now. Peter and Lucas had joined the group, as had Ainoa, and the entire Lemonade party. It was pretty clear that the rest of the big group was getting ready to go too; the rain ponchos started disappearing from the latrines moments after Danielle left them behind, and a couple of people were putting out the fire.

  “How are you feeling, Danielle?” Lucas asked.

  Danielle shrugged. “Tired and headachy and kinda itchy. I think I’m still doing better than Brooke was last night, probably thanks to your help this morning, but like I said a few minutes ago, I’d like to get back to the Rooms before I catch up with her and collapse. I mean, it’d be even better if I don’t collapse, but if it’s bad enough the Rangers are actually taking people in to their base clinic, I’d rather be close to camp where they can bring an ambulance or something if I end up needing it. Besides, Zephyr thinks maybe everyone who went to the Access Point on Thursday was exposed early, which is a lot of us, so everyone else should be getting extra rest and water and stuff too. If he’s right. Maybe even if he’s wrong. Let’s talk more while we’re walking.”

  That got their core group moving, and a lot of other groups followed them pretty closely. “Make sure nobody’s left behind alone – pass it back,” Danielle said. Gratifyingly, it sounded like people were indeed passing it back. She kept walking.

  It got harder to keep going, but her party and Lucas between them made sure someone was always at her elbow to keep her from wobbling off the path. Danielle wasn’t sure she kept her eyes open the whole way, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other, and made sure she was always even with whoever was right beside her. If she focused with her mana sense, she could sense their mana sources, so she made it a game to keep her own mana source exactly the same distance from her guide’s mana source at all times.

  They were about halfway back when the general announcement came. “Now Hear This! A message to all Exiles of Firmitatem on layer 1, from the Sending Authority via the Layer 1 Ranger Outpost. We have confirmed a case of mana pox in Camp Constanza. This disease is rarely fatal, but it is highly contagious. It is normal for new Sent towns to have an epidemic of mana pox during their first summer, and the Sending Authority has some supplies in stock to help get you all through it. Please keep in mind that it is best to get your first case of mana pox over with as soon as possible, and gain immunity, because the severity of some aspects of the disease scales with your level and mana production.”

  “Uh-oh,” Danielle muttered, but the message wasn’t over.

  “In order to facilitate your recovery, the Sending Authority will be giving everyone in Camp Constanza some disease recovery supplies, and one relevant Skill token. We will then be taking you in small groups to the Dome of Decision to activate those tokens. You may wish to bring your care package Career token as well – sometimes people pick up Career Skills while recovering from mana pox, and it’s never too soon to pick up Trim Meat, Dehydrate, or even Purify Food, all of which can come from Career: Food Processing. (I mean, so can a half dozen other Skills, but those would be nice.) Ahem. In the event you are not near your room at this time, please return to camp to receive your epidemic-handling Skill and supplies.

  “We’re aware that many of you are probably busy collecting food for supper, so we’ll be providing brown bag dinners yet again. I’ve been told to report that we’ll be using donated chicken tenders from Inside in this batch of bag dinners, so if you consider that relevant, there you go. To repeat, the Sending Authority will be providing illness recovery supplies, including a relevant Skill token and a trip to the Dome of Decision Access Point to apply said tokens. Please return to camp and make yourselves available to receive deliveries at your rooms. Skill Ends.”

  A wave of reactions and speculations ran through the group. “It’s so unfair he gets to babble on and on like that,” Danielle said. “Zephyr kept getting cut off. Stupid level 1 limits.”

  “That’s the biggest thing you’re taking away from that whole message?” Nathan asked from behind her.

  Danielle turned to look at him. “You’d rather hear an I told you so?” she asked. “I did. I totally guessed right. It’s an epidemic, and they’re passing out supplies and stuff. They even reminded people to take all their tokens, same as I did.”

  “Wow,” Ainoa said. “That’s true. So, uh, what’s mana pox?”

  Danielle turned forward again. “A contagious disease, is all I know. I never heard the name before just now. I just knew some contagious disease was probably out there, and Brooke and I were both definitely sick, so it was probably wishful thinking that it wasn’t really going to be a thing.” She started putting one foot in front of the other again. “I gotta keep going. If I let myself stand still too long, I’ll fall asleep on the spot, and that’d be bad. This is no place to sleep.”

  Danielle kept the group moving; one foot in front of the other, repeat, repeat, repeat. Sometimes she tried to pay attention to the conversation behind and around her, sometimes she didn’t. The crowd that had been mostly stretched out behind her started surging forward, healthier people walking faster and passing her slower group, now that they knew for sure there was a real reason to get back to camp. Some of them thanked her for the advanced warning, and she nodded and said “You’re welcome” each time, hoping she came off as accepting the thanks gracefully and not as smug or antisocial. She wasn’t sure what she looked like; she was very tired. Her arms itched, and the itching turned into a burn when she rubbed at it, so she used Local Anesthetic a couple times to numb the worst of it. Mostly, though, she just concentrated on not letting herself stop moving.

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