“Sina…?” Tyler grabbed Vengeance by reflex and rushed outside. Not too far from the door, he saw Sina and Kael, and the whole lurvine brigade surrounding Ikala, who had his hands up.

  Ikala was alone, but hundreds were watching him, as if it were some type of show. Citizens were doing the same, albeit from the other side.

  Aiden stood behind Kael, glowering at the man.

  “Pretty aggressive welcome from my own city,” Ikala said with a smirk. “Is this how you treat soldiers?”

  Soldiers rained down boos on Aiden and the lurvine, but neither cared. Now that Tyler could loosely see mana trails, he could see that Ikala was like a blackhole, dark and limitless, pulling in all of the mana around him. It felt so oppressive.

  When’d he get so strong? Tyler wondered. Was he always like this?

  He suddenly had a flashback to his conversation with Kai. “The guy’s obviously bad news,” he had said. “Aiden says Sina’s been tryin’ to eat the guy for months.”

  No… this’s been going on for a while.

  “Well?” Ikala said. “Is this our city, too? Or are we just mercenaries to you lot.”

  “Of course,” Aiden said. “You all own property here. This is your city and you can come and go if you please—if you’re not conspiring against us.”

  Ikala laughed. “Conspiring against you?”

  “Yeah. You just flexed enough Aura to scare the shit out of everyone, and you’re pretending like you’re just walking. Is that what you told these soldiers? That you were just gonna… walk by peacefully, and you were going to get swarmed?”

  The sentiment shifted against Ikala.

  He remained calm. “Nice deflection. You attack me, now you’re… blaming me?”

  Aiden didn’t budge. “I’m surprised I have to. How many cores did you have to steal from the other soldiers to get this strong? Hundreds? Is there a single person here that hasn’t been shaken down by you?”

  Ikala narrowed his eyes when the crowd dimmed. His ploy to get the soldiers riled up was falling flat under the sheer impact of what Ikala had done.

  It was clear that he had been hoarding cores and jerky, and last night, he must’ve threaded and eaten the stockpile. Judging from the amount, he must’ve threaded dozens—or even hundreds—of cores. He probably shook down the third evs and half the soldiers. And those bitter about it must’ve groaned or jeered because the people watching the farce fervently turned around to see dozens of people turning and walking away.

  This was a political stunt—and it was crass and rudimentary. Now, it had lost steam.

  Ikala clicked his tongue. “So? You gonna let me enter my city or not?”

  “No,” Aiden said. “No, I’m going to speak to General Ikina about why she let you rob so many of your soldiers of their cores and meat. You’re going back to camp. Play the victim again, and we'll cut off your supply completely.”

  “I’ve committed no crime,” Ikala warned. “And people are free to do with their resources what they want.”

  Aiden smiled venomously at him. “Racketeering is a crime. Welcome to Wraithwood.”

  Sina and Kael growled, and Ikala almost snapped. Tyler could see it. The sheer rage. He wasn’t terrified. It was like he was looking at a pack of chihuahuas at his legs, and he was holding himself back from punting them.

  It seemed inconceivable—but that core.

  Ikala really was like a neutron star, warping the space around him. Tyler could feel his pressure from a distance. This was the difference between the second and third evolution—and he was a champion. From what Tyler had heard, Ikala was actually famous in the second domain. So unlike the families, who didn’t give their best people, Ikala was a first-round draft pick. And now Tyler could feel that power. It dripped off his skin.

  Ikala turned, and as he did, he made eye contact with Tyler—and smiled creepily before turning to the troops.

  “Hear that, guys?” Ikala sang sarcastically. “Mira’s boyfriend just told me I’m a criminal. And since they make the laws, well, that means I am a criminal. That’s the fate of anyone who gets strong here.” The third evs jeered, and some of the second evs, too. But most soldiers were caught in the crossfire of this terrible situation, merely wishing they didn’t have to choose a side.

  Tyler thought it was over, but Ikala stopped walking. “Oh…” He spun around to give Aiden a death glare. “And keep those pups away from me. If they keep tryin’ to bite me, I’m going to exercise self-defense. And when your puppies are chopped to meat chunks, you better hold back. ‘Cause it’ll be you I find myself defending myself against.” He turned and left.

  Translation: I have no problems killing people who come after me.

  “You shouldn’t’ve threatened me,” Aiden said. “Mira’s coming back tomorrow—and she doesn’t like being threatened.”

  “Let your girlfriend tell me that,” Ikala said. “I don’t speak to weak people.” He turned and walked away with his hands in his pockets, giving murderous glances to some of the soldiers.

  Aiden turned to Tyler. “Have Malo and the Dante watch ‘em. I want eyes on him around the clock.”

  Tyler nodded and rushed into the forest, relaying the issue with Malo.

  Malo nodded. “Good call.” He retrieved his sword with the most serious face Tyler had seen on him outside of battle. He rushed out the door and went to the guard’s quarters to assemble the rest.

  “Fuck,” Tyler said, scoffing. He looked down and saw Vengeance was still in his hand. “I need to check up on Kai, but…” The creepy smile Ikala made at him popped into his head, and his body freckled with goosebumps. “Sarah…”

  Tyler decided to grab Sarah and then go to Kai’s house, but it turned out that he didn’t have a choice. Halfway to her work, Tyler felt intense magical pressure erupt from Kai’s house. Not now! he screamed, veering off course. He rushed into the house and found Kai overheating. The medics had beaten him to the house, and they were pouring elixirs into a water bowl and dipping a rag into it to rub on his head, arms, and exposed chest.

  “What’s going on?” Tyler cried.

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  “His channels are ripping apart,” a healer said hurriedly, pulling out a syringe and poking it into a blue vial.

  Tyler turned his attention to Kai’s mouth. His mouth was clamped down on the core still.

  “Kai!” he yelled. “Spit it out!”

  “Shhh!” A man helping Kai abruptly turned aggressively. “He can’t stop. If he stops now, his spirit channels could collapse!”

  “What?” Tyler ran his fingers through his hair. “S-She’s stupid. She’s fucking stupid!”

  “Leave!” the healer inserting the syringe said, eyes flickering with golden light as she examined Kai. “You’re not helping!”

  Tyler shut up and turned to the door, trying to determine whether to release Vengeance or not. He decided to do so. It wasn’t his sword. And he didn’t know how to use it.

  Then, he walked outside and paced back and forth, trying to get his head on straight. He felt like everything was spiraling out of control. And everything felt… wrong. It was like Mira was coming back tomorrow, and everything was happening today. And while Kai’s situation was a natural consequence of Mira’s returning, Rickland, Ikala—it all felt… connected for some reason. It was just too convenient.

  Just as he was thinking, I need to get Sarah, the military encampment erupted in what sounded like a riot. It was then that Tyler had to choose between his sworn duty as a guard and getting Sarah. He chose to be a guard.

  Sarah was untouchable—and he had a job to do.

  He rushed to the encampment and heard soldiers yelling at someone. He rushed up and saw General Ikina, a woman with graying hair, standing before them.

  “Go back to your quarters—this is an order,” she demanded.

  Malo and the Dantes were behind them.

  “For what?” another yelled. “Answer us!”

  “This is an order!” General Ikina snapped. “Question me one more time—”

  “And what? You’ll punish us? We haven’t done anything but sit here for six months! We’ve broken no laws. We’ve caused no trouble. So why the hell are you locking us up?”

  A full-blown mutiny threatened to break out when Malo suddenly disappeared and appeared before the soldier speaking. He smashed her in the voice box with his sword’s handle, and she collapsed, grabbing her throat as she wheezed on the ground.

  “Let’s make something clear,” Malo said. “You’re soldiers—and you’ve been given orders. It doesn’t matter why you were given the orders. It doesn’t matter if the orders are unfair. It doesn’t matter what you think. You’ve been given orders, and you will comply. Question your general again…” His eyes flashed with lethal intent. “And I will kill you.”

  That stopped everyone in their tracks, and for the first time, the chaos calmed down enough to see Ikala. His face shone with wrath as he and his two friends stared at Malo.

  Now that Tyler could see mana, the third evolution soldiers were significantly weaker than the second evolution soldiers, but two of Ikala’s soldiers were mildly stronger than the second evolutions, minus Malo and the Dante. But Ikala was far stronger than Malo, at least in raw power. For the first time, Tyler comprehended that there was a person who was vastly stronger than everyone else present—and by an overwhelming margin.

  Ikala was sneaky. He stockpiled cores and meat for months. And now, the day before Mira returned, he was making his move.

  Tyler stared at Ikala. When the latter made eye contact, he grinned and then looked at the border of the military encampment and the main strip. Tyler didn’t know what Ikala was looking at, but her had a very, very bad feeling about that smile. He turned and ran.

  —---

  I met Reta shortly after the Cailain ceremony. I felt weak and exhausted, but I still had that feeling in my gut that something bad was going to happen. I’m not sure why I felt that way, but you don’t always need a reason. So I asked permission to leave.

  “You want to leave?” Reta asked.

  I nodded.

  “Without your Dreamscape showcase? You know this is your one shot, right? I’m not giving you three months to feed your fantasy. Either you stay here and prove it—or you don’t do it at all.”

  My face contorted and creased into unnatural angles. I didn’t know something was wrong. And more often than not, I’ve found that I’ve worried over nothing. If I didn’t stay—I would lose something that I felt was important to me.

  Still—

  Family came first. Always. I told Nethralis and Emael that my family came before the forest. And I essentially told that to Reta, too, during the illusion trial. There’s nothing more precious and necessary than family. Nothing. So I said:

  “I need to go.”

  She folded her arms. “Just like that?”

  I nodded hesitantly. “I have a bad feeling… a gut feeling. Maybe it’s about Kai. I gave him a third evolution core to thread like a fucking idiot. It could be Tyler. It could be anything. Or, it could be nothing. But it could be something. So… I’m going. So I’ll…”

  I was going to say, I’m going to teach myself whether you’re going to help me or not, but I wisely determined that was a terrible thing to say to your teacher. So I refrained.

  Reta looked toward the teleportation circle in the distance and back. “I hope you don’t regret this.” She nudged her head to the Drokai council chambers. “Go tell Tinus you’re heading out. You owe that man a lot.”

  I nodded and bowed my head. “Thank you.”

  —---

  Tyler ran to the location that Ikala’s eyes led to. It was the spot where Wraithwood Cafe was. It was a new restaurant that Sarah and the other Earthians were helping to create. Trigan had said that if Mira wanted to instill a unique culture in Wraithwood Village, she should try to instill her food and customs. By using American culture as the reference point, establishing cultural norms tailored to Theovale residents would create a fusion and a new culture. With this in mind, Sarah and other people from Earth had put aside their roles to help with projects like Wraithwood Cafe—and all of those people were lined up outside of the new tree house restaurant, including Sarah—who was screaming.

  “Get off me!” Sarah screamed as Tyler came into view. She was a brunette with gentle features and a braces-straightened bright-white smile. But her face was twisted in panic, fear, and terror as she yanked free from Rickland’s hand.

  “I didn’t even touch you!” he yelled.

  “Yes you did! You just grabbed me!”

  “Oh, I get it!” Rickland turned to the troops and back. “This is a set up. All of this! You and the nepobaby set this up!”

  Rickland’s acting was terrible—but the soldiers were already pissed off about… whatever General Ikina ordered them to do. So they bought right into it—and Tyler fell into the trap.

  Once Tyler reached the scene, Rickland yelled, “See! See! It couldn’t get more blatant than this!”

  When the lulled soldiers saw Tyler, it inflamed their rage once more. Tyler was not their favorite person. And now, after some riotous policy was enacted out of nowhere, Mira’s brother ran to the scene with “probable cause” to enact his will on the soldiers. That’s what they’d think, anyway.

  It was a setup against Tyler, made to frame him as a nepotistic Tyrant.

  The soldiers turned to Malo. “Is it true?”

  That was a loaded question.

  An immediate, “No it’s not,” would make both Malo and Tyler seem guilty. Because why would Malo know if Tyler had set something up? At the same point, saying, “It doesn’t matter if it’s true—orders are orders,” was obviously a bad thing to say.

  So Malo said nothing and that seemed equally damning.

  Tyler was set up—and he felt like the walls were closing down on him. Ikala. Ikala set this up. He was riling up the troops. First, by provoking the lurvines with a “peaceful walk” and then having Malo bring the Dantes to watch them. Then, Malo probably saw him for the first time with his new power and called a lockdown. And while Wraithwood’s leaders had survived all of those traps, this last one was especially bad. The soldiers hated Tyler, and his very presence had validated all of the soldiers’ wildest beliefs. The situation was set to detonate at any moment.

  Tyler had to fix the situation—and fast.

  “What, nepobaby?” Rickland yelled. “You don’t have anything to say? You had your girlfriend call me out here and you’re not going to say anything?”

  The chatter intensified, and Malo went to take action, but Tyler stopped him.

  “No,” Tyler declared to Rickland, “I called you out here to beat your ass in front of all the soldiers for harassing Sarah. And by the looks of things, everyone’s gonna see it.”