Ellen wasn’t planning on spending much time in her own room.

  But it was still her room. Not the one she’d grown up in at the Traynor manor. Not the hotel room she’d rented, or Kade’s couch or bed at his apartment. Her space. No one else’s. Just hers.

  It wasn’t as dusty as she’d expected, either, although it was empty. That was fine. She’d spent far too much money on furnishings in the last few hours, in between driving Jessie and Kade around and helping them with their errands.

  Even just driving Deimos was different. She’d learned how to drive, of course, but none of her cars needed her input beyond a destination. Driving was so freeing. Everything was so freeing—and so much responsibility. She had her own space, and she’d chosen how to furnish it. It’d be done in a couple of hours. And she’d have to live with those consequences. Daddy…Bob…wasn’t responsible for any of it. It was all her.

  The feeling was like being drunk. She lay on the tile floor and stared at the ceiling for a long time. Then, after what dust there was started to itch her back, she made a quick phone call. The Desert Wind guild had put all of its money into buying the building, but Ellen hadn’t. She still had far too much of the money Bob had transferred into her account, and the place needed a deep clean before it was habitable.

  She rolled her eyes. The Desert Wind. Ellen supposed it was better than what Jessie had come up with, and she was glad that she’d been there to talk the high schooler down. But even so, it wasn’t her finest name creation. If she had it to do over again, she’d have picked something Greek. Maybe Latin. Something ridiculous and pretentious, like all such names should be.

  Or something nonsensical. In that regard, Jessie’s choice would have been better.

  “Ugh,” Ellen said. She stepped out into the hallway, then walked down the stairs to the atrium. Yasmin and Jeff had taken seats near, but not next to, each other. She sat across from them. “So, now what?”

  “Now, I wait for Kade. I told him I’d be in the gym, but…it’s not in great shape. It’s furnished, but it needs someone to go over it and clean it up. Someone who knows what they’re doing,” Jeff said.

  “Oh.” Ellen played with her phone for a minute, then nodded. “Got a specialist for that. 2:30 this afternoon. One of us needs to be here to let them in. Shouldn’t be a problem, since I’ve got furniture coming around that time, and the deep-cleaning company will be here at 1:00. I can let everyone in if you need me to.”

  Jeff stared. Then he rolled his eyes. “You’re going to have to slow down eventually, Ellen.”

  “Am I? Seems like we’re all making plenty of money—or at least you would be if you weren’t donating it all to the guild.” Ellen stood up and stretched. “Anyway, I’m going to see what they’ve…uh, we’ve…got in our library.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Yasmin said. She stood up and followed Ellen into the dusty, dim room the Portal Tyrants had set up as the outpost’s archives. By the time Ellen was done with her tour, another several thousand dollars had been added to her spending, and new lighting was on its way. It was going to be a busy afternoon at the Desert Wind’s new headquarters.

  Jessie lay on her bed. Her wheelchair was parked next to it, and she’d need it the next time she got moving. Today had started as a good day—really, it had—but she’d pushed her luck too much.

  Right now, though, she was annoyed.

  “Charcuterie would have been such a great guild name,” she muttered to her pillow. It was her pillow. She’d made absolutely sure to bring it with her, even though the thing took up space in Deimos’s trunk, and it’d be easier for the movers to move it along with the rest of her bedding pile.

  She couldn’t believe Ellen had betrayed her like that! “Cheddar, Pepperoni…Charcuterie makes the most sense. Not Desert Wind, not Darkstorm, not any of the other names. Definitely not something Greek or Latin. Those work for online gaming guilds, but not real ones. Too stuck-up-sounding.”

  In between the complaining, though, Jessie was also contemplating an email she’d received on her personal, GC, and extremely private hackergirl emails all at once.

  Governing Council Message:

  Status: Private

  As the legal guild leader for the Desert Wind, you are invited to participate in the Outer Council of the Governing Council as a guild representative.

  The Inner and Outer Councils make decisions about Phoenix’s policy with regard to portals, portal breaks and surges, and other matters involving other worlds. As a member of the Outer Council, you or your chosen representative will have access to classified, secret information and be involved in discussion and debate about that information.

  The Governing Council acknowledges that you, Jessica Gerald, are a minor. If you wish to select a representative from your guild to sit in on council meetings until you are an adult, you may do so. If not, understand that you will waive your rights to be treated and tried as a minor for any crimes regarding the information you will learn while on the Council. The Governing Council would prefer the former option over the latter, but is willing to be flexible with your decision.

  Please reply to this message with your response.

  Thank you,

  Councilman Anders

  Councilwoman Myers

  Jessie glared at her laptop screen. Like she’d ever pick one of her brother’s friends—or, god forbid, her brother—when she had the opportunity to learn the GC’s secrets firsthand? Sure, it’d suck to be prosecuted when she inevitably committed crimes accidentally on purpose…if she got caught. But the information? That’d be worth the risk.

  She sent a quick, terse email back, waiving her rights and requesting the dates she needed to be at the GC’s Headquarters.

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  Then she closed her eyes and started thinking. About Kade. And about the information that really mattered. The Carlsbad Portal Break. The incoming monster tide. The Fallen Delvers Tournament.

  Jessie didn’t want Kade to fight in it. She didn’t want him entering that portal, below the place where Dad’s ashes were kept. She definitely didn’t want him fighting against the best, most skillful delvers in the city, and it wasn’t because she was worried that he’d beat them in that E-Rank portal’s weird environment.

  No, she was convinced Kade could fight anyone on equal footing and win. And that was what scared her. When he could beat anyone and anything on Earth, what came after that? She didn’t know, but she knew she’d have to figure it out before he got that far.

  Dad: Jeff, just stay the course. She’ll come around.

  Mom: You told her what you can tell her, and you’re doing what you can do. Now it’s up to her.

  Dad: If she doesn’t come around, she wasn’t the one for you, and that’s okay.

  Jeff stared at his phone screen. Yasmin and Ellen were gone. They’d headed into the building’s library fifteen minutes ago, and Kade still hadn’t shown up. He was tired.

  Tired in that way that you got when you’d met your goals, only to find that there were new ones right behind them. Tired from grinding harder than anyone around you, only to see yourself outstripped anyway. Tired from trying. Not of trying. Jeff had been tired of trying a lot over the last month. But tired from all the trying he was doing, that was new.

  The most recent thing Jeff was trying was ‘trying not to be envious as everyone outstripped him.’ It wasn’t going well.

  Yasmin had had enough of his shit, and he couldn’t blame her. He was trying, though. Trying to be less jealous and frustrated. Trying to accept that he could do a lot of good—both for his awakened friends and his unawakened ones—as a C-Rank tank. Trying to work up the courage to talk to Kade and Jessie about building a feeder team that cleared E, D, and C-Rank portals, letting Sophia and him lead it, and finding a new tank and healer so the other four could push without worrying about them.

  It’d be for the best. Jeff couldn’t grow, and Sophia wouldn’t survive more self-described failures. With Jeff at peak C-Rank and Sophia either C or B, they could easily make sure lower-ranked delvers got through the C and below-ranked portals they needed, and help whoever the Desert Wind Guild decided to bring in for their second, third, fourth, and future teams.

  Jeff was trying. But he hadn’t been able to do any of those things.

  He wanted to. But he also wanted to stick with Kade as long as he could. They’d been friends for so long, had each other’s backs since middle school, and he didn’t want to accept that he couldn’t help Kade directly.

  The Fallen Delvers Tournament was a chance for him to prove to himself that he had what it took, mentally and physically. If he could prove that it was just ranks, that wouldn’t be so bad. But if it was talent…

  “Jeff, I thought you’d be in—“

  “The gym, yeah. It’s not ready for us, though. The whole place feels like it got caught in a sandstorm or something.” Jeff stood up. “I figured you’d come through here, so I just waited.”

  “I wish you’d texted me. I’d have come down sooner if I knew you were bored.” Kade scratched his shoulder. “Is the sparring room functional? I could use a chance to fight something.”

  Jeff shrugged. “I have no idea. Let’s go see.”

  “Sure.”

  The training room was functional.

  The glowing, robin’s-egg blue portal in the corner wasn’t supposed to be there, though, and neither were the dozen goblins trapped in the portal metal-lined box. They looked thin and weak, and Jeff and I stared at them from the door for a minute before I asked, “How long do you think that’s been broken?”

  “No telling. The Portal Tyrants’ pictures are at least a month old, though, so probably after that,” Jeff said. He shrugged and pulled his sword and shield out of the duffel bag he’d been lugging around on his shoulder. “We should probably clean this up, huh? Ellen hired a deep-cleaner to straighten up the place, and unleashing a bunch of goblins on them would be a dick move.”

  I snorted. “You want to get the rest of the team together? I think Soph’s still up there. Not sure if her therapist’s okayed her for this yet, though. Does ‘limited delving’ include a portal break in your own headquarters?”

  “Nah. I think we can handle this.”

  Two minutes later, Jeff was in his full, C-Rank armor, and I had Stormsong, the Stormsteel breastplate and gauntlet, and my cloak on. The goblins had noticed us and started throwing themselves bodily against the window and door; the glass was shattered but held in place by strings of portal metal, and the door hadn’t so much as budged, but the goblins were covered in bruises from the impact.

  “Ready?” Jeff asked.

  I nodded and put my hand on the door handle. You’re on point. I’ll follow up. Three. Two. One.”

  The door opened, and Jeff ripped into the room as a pair of goblins missed the door—and hit his shield. He crushed one’s head with the round, metal edge, stabbed the other, and then crashed into the rest of the group with a war cry that drowned out their screaming.

  I had no idea if they were screaming in rage, terror, or pain. It all sounded the same. I raised Stormsong and followed him. “Why didn’t this break get reported?”

  Jeff shrugged. He stabbed another goblin. It screamed. “No idea. Something to follow up on with Jessie? She might know more about how detection and reporting work.”

  “Good point.” I didn’t bother with the Polarity Shift combo. Instead, I unleashed Thunder Crash on the nearest goblin. It all but vaporized under the B-Rank spell as a half-dozen bolts slammed into it from out of nowhere.

  “A little too much on that one,” Jeff said. His nose wrinkled. I didn’t blame him; the stench of charred goblin was unbelievable. “Cleaning company’s gonna hate you.”

  “Yeah, I’ll tone it down out here. Thanks.”

  The rest of the goblins died in seconds, and the blue, E-Rank portal hung in the air in front of us. “After you,” I said, bowing theatrically.

  Jeff disappeared inside, and I followed him.

  It was a standard goblin Warren world: wood barriers, skulls, stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, and the stink of unwashed, diseased bodies. Jeff was already halfway down the tunnel, running toward the screaming. I sprinted to catch up. The next half-hour was a blur of fighting and talking—and goblins’ screaming. So much screaming.

  “So, you’re gonna join the tournament, right?”

  I stabbed a green, pustule-covered goblin as it reeled back from a shield bash. “Yeah. I think I’ve got a solid chance, and that portal’s rank-down thing means the biggest problem for me is out of the way. I can beat anyone one-on-one, if the ranks are fair. You?”

  Jeff used his taunt skill, piling up goblins in front of him and stabbing through with short, methodical strikes before stepping on and over the dying monsters to get to the next ones. “Yep. Same idea. I bet I can beat you if everything else is fair.”

  “Well, hopefully, we’ll meet in the final round. Take the win for the Desert Wind Guild.”

  Another goblin dropped from the ceiling. It would have been an effective ambush if it hadn’t been screaming. I used Lightning Chain, pulled it into me, and thrust through its spine and neck. “I can’t believe Jessie wanted—“

  “Charcuterie?” Jeff shrugged. A goblin jumped on his back, and he slammed himself into a wall, then slammed his shield’s edge into the stunned monster when it let go. “I don’t know. I thought it was a pretty good name.”

  I stopped. “Really? Ow!”

  Another green-gray monster swung its now-bloody blade, trying to land a second cut. Only the shock of Jeff agreeing with Jessie’s stupid guild name had let it get the first hit in on my hip, and I parried, then put the crackling tip of my sword through the monster’s eye. “You’re serious?”

  “I am,” Jeff said. He grinned.

  I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just get this done.” My hip hurt, and even though the Stamina I poured into the cut helped, the fact that I’d gotten hit in an E-Rank portal stung even more.

  “Sure. Boss is right up ahead. Think we’ll kill it in under a minute?”

  “Yes.”

  “Great. Race you there.” Jeff took off across the cave floor, and I followed, then overtook him. We crashed through the wood-and-bone gate less than a second apart.

  The boss didn’t last thirty seconds.

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