Atzi, with growing horror, stared at Alana. She was still struggling on the ground. Despite the immense strength Atzi knew the pink haired woman had, she didn't seem to be able to break out of the manacles or throw off the person in the fox-mask.

  Atzi slowly backed out of the crowd, bumping into Hemm on her way out. "Th-that girl... she was here to kill me, I think."

  "What?" A look of disbelief followed by concern played out in Hemm's one big eye. "Why?!"

  "I don't even know! She tried to do it before. I barely got away." Atzi began walking back to the inn. "Maybe because I didn't show up at the meeting?"

  "Meeting? What meeting?"

  "Uh." Atzi looked around. "Can we talk back inside?"

  "Sure."

  They headed back into the inn. Atzi poured some golden rice wine for herself, threw it back, and poured herself some more. "One of my old coworkers is the person who had the book stolen for her. And... I didn't show up, because it turns out that handing it over made those Counterintelligence guys really interested. That fox masked person was one of them, out there." Atzi tapped her claws together. "I helped my coworker steal the book before, and then, um... that's her girlfriend out there. Who tried to kill me, right after."

  Hemm stared in incredulity. "Atzi, what have you been up to?"

  "A lot! You take what you can get when you live where I did. Until I moved here I stayed in a shack in the slums. For years! It sucks there!"

  Hemm crossed her arms. "Your life is pretty exciting, huh?"

  "Too exciting lately. They'd better give me a big reward for all this, then I can retire and live in a mansion and eat jewel beetles for every meal. But just in case this doesn't work out, um, don't be in the city in four days time."

  "What happens in four days?"

  "There won't be a city anymore, if this doesn't work."

  Hemm was silent.

  "B-but I think I know how to stop it this time! There's this crazy bat lady in Cthy, so I wanna go there. She's got some... I dunno, the earth reader absolutely freaked out when I told her about it. A tome. Really, really bad. Made Terra go completely nuts when she looked at it."

  "That's spooky," Hemm said. Her voice was light, like she was talking to a child. "Who's Terra?"

  "Oh, uh, the sage."

  "Wait, the Sage? Of Sostra?"

  "Yeah."

  Hemm laughed sadly. "Atzi, you are going to kill me. I'm going to… go clean now."

  She went off and Atzi finished her meal, and then decided what to do next.

  Wait, I have my very own bodyguards right now. Since I assume they're stalking me. Her curiosity got the better of her. She decided to sneak into the rich district to find out if anything was going on at V's place.

  -

  The fence was no longer guarded. Atzi hopped it as usual and made her way to V's mansion.

  It was a surprising sight.

  Part of the roof had collapsed, and there were no guards. Through the collapsed roof the kitchen was visible, and Atzi could see signs of there having been a fire, soot covering burned furniture.

  They'd better fix that before giving it to me.

  Atzi was curious what had happened, but her thoughts were interrupted by a noise behind her.

  Atzi whipped around. She came face to face with Fence, peering at her from an alleyway. They were slightly bloodied, staring at her from a shadowy corner, something gleaming in their claw.

  Atzi raised a claw and casually said, "Hey Fence."

  "Wah!" Fence fell over.

  "Shit. You okay?"

  Fence scrambled to their clawed feet, brandishing a dagger towards Atzi. "You fucking traitor!"

  Atzi backed away.

  Suddenly, a figure appeared behind Fence. They wore a fox mask. They grabbed Fence by the back of their poncho and slammed them into the ground. Their dagger skittered across the ground.

  "Hey!" Atzi shouted. "We're just chatting, cut it out!"

  "They're wanted," came the reply as they withdrew a pair of manacles and fastened them around Fence's wrists. The voice of the fox-masked figure was strangely affectless, still giving her no hints as to who was under it.

  "They're a-" Atzi felt bad about getting Fence caught up in this, even if they'd sell her for five bronze. "A friend."

  The foxed-masked person paid no attention to her, picking up Fence and setting them back on their clawed feet.

  "Don't you guys take bribes? I've got like a hundred gold." Atzi jingled her coin pouch.

  "No," came the reply.

  "That's like the one good thing about the guards and you don't even do that. Urgh. Can we at least talk without you dragging them off?"

  The fox-masked person paused. Fence wasn't struggling anymore, seemingly having accepted their fate. "You have two minutes."

  "Feh, some loyalty they have, huh?" Fence's voice was low, before rising into a shout. "Bet you wish you didn't fucking betray us!"

  "Fence, the city's gonna be completely destroyed in a few days," Atzi said.

  "Yeah, and my left nipple leaks gold."

  "You wish. I'm serious, though. And I'm gonna stop it from happening. You know what that means?" Atzi got closer and whispered. "They're gonna give me the biggest reward you've ever seen. I'll pay your bail, alright? I'll figure something out, just uh, hang in there for a few days."

  "I don't want charity from a snitch!"

  But Fence loves charity. That told Atzi they were pretty mad. "I didn't even mean to betray V! I just stole the book so I could get the sage to listen to me, then these assholes started asking questions and I... figured I could use them to help stop the city getting destroyed." Atzi shook her claws. "You don't think it's weird I knew exactly where that was? It's V we're talking about, and that thing's the most valuable book in the city." She looked around. "... Uh, what happened to everyone, anyway? Cory's new girlfriend showed up near the inn trying to kill me, I think."

  Fence spat on the ground. "Figure it out yourself."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Time's up," the fox-masked person said.

  Fence started a string of insults, cut off when they both suddenly vanished in front of Atzi.

  Atzi sighed. Great, now I'm a snitch in this loop. I hate being a snitch. That put a damper on her mood. But it's fine. When the undead are stopped? I'll be a hero and rich as Branek.

  To distract herself, Atzi wandered around looking for where a party was at. Eventually she found a house hosting lots of people. However, instead of any partying, there just appeared to be a lot of gossiping going on. The mood was heavy, and people were whispering in each other's ears.

  That's just how some of these rich folks party. Probably from being brought up as spoiled brats.

  Atzi ignored them, wandering over to the buffet table, and started stuffing pastries into her mouth.

  Just then, she saw someone. She glanced over, mouth full of pastry.

  The woman was very tall and only looked somewhat human. Not anything Atzi had seen before. She had six red eyes with black sclera, and a pair of mandibles coming out of either side of her mouth. A fanciful silver ornament in the shape of a spider sat in her black hair. She wore ornate red and brown robes, and held a glass of wine in one hand.

  Atzi thought. Kurgi mentioned someone like that. Her penpal? What was her name again? She swallowed and walked over. She tried her luck, asking, "Hey, you know a Kurgi?"

  The woman immediately swung towards Atzi, face furious. "What, did that bitch send you to find me?"

  Atzi peered up. "Uh... no? Do you not get along?"

  The woman seemed to calm down a little, but still looked irritated. "She insulted me to my face!"

  "She did?" That doesn't sound like her at all. "I thought she was way too easy-going for that."

  "Yeah, well, looks can be deceiving." The woman slumped onto a couch. "Sit down since you're so nosey, I guess."

  Atzi sat down. "I'm Atzi," she said.

  "Scabiel."

  Aha, yeah, that was this girl's name. "I don't really know Kurgi, just overheard her at a party last night. Only interesting person there." This excuse will do.

  "She- we were friends," Scabiel said. She took a sip of wine. "I came here as part of my gods' entourage. I wanted to meet up with her after the letters we'd exchanged."

  "So what happened?" Atzi asked.

  "First, she was kissing someone in front of me, ignoring me while I waited. When she finished, I- It's embarrassing to admit, but I felt indignant." Her hand tightened around her glass. "I suppose friends was the wrong word. I was hoping for something more. If that was it, just me reading more into our exchanges than was really there, I would have lived with it." Scabiel's voice had a bitter edge.

  Oh yeah. She's a massive slut. Guess Scabby didn't take that too well.

  "But then she started insulting my appearance and stated that she would 'never want to be with someone like you!'" she said in a nasally affect. "It took all my will to not kill her on the spot."

  That's weird. She acted like she was really excited when I talked to her. Atzi liked Kurgi from the brief time they'd spent together, so she didn't want to just nod along. "She sounded really excited to meet you when I overheard her. What did she say exactly...?"

  "It doesn't matter!" She made a sharp motion with her arm, dangerously close to spilling the wine from her glass. Then she looked at Atzi. "You want to help me?"

  Atzi thought for a moment "Hey, sure. I'm stuck in the city anyway."

  "Great!" Scabiel set her wine glass down. "We're now dating."

  "We... are?"

  "At least as far she'll be concerned. We'll be the happiest, most sickening couple ever." Scabiel's mandibles clacked. "I will grind her to dust through jealousy."

  Atzi felt the need to ask, before she accidentally wandered into the worst situation ever again. "You aren't gonna eat me, right?"

  "What?" Scabiel looked confused. "No!"

  "Oh thank the Water." She sighed in relief. "It's... uh, bad experience with blood mages before, is all."

  "I do not practice blood magic."

  "You don't? I thought you were a mage like her."

  "I am a spider sorceress, I primarily practice nature magic." Scabiel looked proud.

  Atzi made a sound of understanding. "Where are you from, anyway? I've never seen anyone like you before."

  "The deserts of Novasium. I am a mage under the profound rule of The Shapeshifter."

  "You get extra eyes if you do that?"

  "The Shapeshifter has granted we mages the secret of shapeshifting. I was originally an ordinary human, gained the ability to shift into a spider as all spider sorceresses do, and later developed this inbetween form on my own." Scabiel clicked her mandibles, gently this time. "Though, I have since forgotten my original human appearance."

  "You forgot it?"

  "Magic works in strange ways. I would forget even this form if I spent too long as a full spider."

  "Bugs are cold-blooded, so are you one of us now?" Atzi said.

  "One of-?" Scabiel hummed in thought. "I do prefer the heat, but I have never tested my cold tolerance."

  "Probably not, then. It's the worst part of Sostra compared to Pomaria. Humans don't get it! The cold just shuts us down completely. Can't even move when it's bad enough."

  "It sounds awful." Scabiel shook her head. "In any case, as for the matter I need your assistance in..."

  "Oh, right. Where is she right now?"

  "She should be at another party, kissing other women." An ugly look crossed Scabiel's face. "The slut." She got up and held out her hand for Atzi. "Just follow my lead."

  You know what? I'll do this. Atzi took the spider sorceress's hand. Great way to not think about my old allies getting locked up.

  With that, the duo left to find Kurgi.

  -

  It didn't take them long to find Kurgi, and indeed she was making out with someone. A human woman Atzi didn't recognize at all. They were sitting together at a table just outside another fancy mansion. The 'party' was as muted as the last, with Kurgi and her partner the most active people present.

  Atzi watched as the woman - wearing polished stone earrings and looking like she'd never worked a day in her life - and Kurgi fervently kissed. Yep. Not a shock.

  "Okay, here's the plan." Scabiel interrupted her voyeurism. "We chat near her until she notices us. When she does, I'll kiss you."

  Atzi nodded fervently. "This is a really good plan."

  "I know!"

  I will absolutely let myself be used as a tool between these disasters.

  Scabiel led Atzi over near Kurgi. They began chatting about something inconsequential. Atzi made sure to mention several times that she was incredibly resistant to poisons.

  Eventually, Kurgi stopped her kissing, looking over to Scabiel and Atzi.

  "Then let's see how much," Scabiel said.

  She kissed her. At the same time, her two mandibles clamped down on the sides of her face, injecting some sort of poison.

  Atzi made a surprised yelp, but internally cheered. This is the second-freakiest woman I've made out with. The sensation of poison felt tingly, but she was totally fine. Atzi could feel Scabiel's sharp teeth with her tongue. She entirely forgot about the plan as she just went along with the physical sensation. Atzi briefly remembered she was being tracked. She laughed internally at some idiot spy having to sit and watch this.

  Finally Scabiel separated, whispering, "That should do it."

  Kurgi's voice was harsh. "Oh, what are you doing here? And who's this?" She motioned her claw at Atzi.

  "Why do you care? This is just my wonderful girlfriend. At-zee."

  "Hi." Atzi waved.

  The human woman that Kurgi had been making out with was looking down at the floor, blushing and awkward.

  "Well, good for you!" Kurgi stood up. "I'm glad you found someone to be nice to you, with how ugly you are!"

  She was really nice when I met her before, but she's acting totally different now. What's going on? "Hey." Atzi crossed her arms. "Why are you being mean to her anyway?"

  Kurgi pointed at her. "Because she's awful! Mean and awful!" At the same time, Scabiel turned up her nose and said, "Because she's a hopeless bitch!"

  "Awful?! I'm not the one who-" "Bitch?! Bitch, please! You-"

  Everyone else at the party briefly glanced at their drama, before returning to their muted conversations.

  Wow. They are absolute disasters. But Atzi couldn't shake the feeling there had to be something else going on there. "Did something happen when you first met?" Atzi interrupted them, directing her question towards Kurgi.

  "Yeah! She told me I was stupid and would never amount to anything!" Kurgi huffed.

  "Was that before or after you called her ugly?" Atzi asked.

  "I did not, you lying bitch!" Scabiel shouted at Kurgi.

  "You did so!" Kurgi had tears in her eyes. "You were awful to me! And I hate you!"

  With that the daughter of the Serpent ran off, leaving behind Atzi, Scabiel, and a very confused human woman.

  Weird, Atzi thought, It's like they remember two totally different conversations.