“Show me what you got!” Ruby shouted.

  Sophia swung her arm awkwardly, hitting the bag very lightly.

  “Okay, that was good.” Ruby smiled. “You’re getting stronger.”

  Sophia shrugged. “How are Hadwyn and Lars going to convince him?”

  Ruby sighed. “I don’t know.”

  Sophia held the bag, flinching as Ruby hit it. “I hope they succeed.”

  Hadwyn managed to get Baluk alone. Where he then took the risk of telling Baluk what they would want him to do.

  “Isn’t that against the rules?” Baluk asked.

  Hadwyn shrugged. “Peter said it would be okay.”

  “So Peter is giving you guys clues too, huh?”

  Hadwyn tensed. He wondered how much help they got from Peter.

  “So you guys want me to join your team?” He shrugged. “I’ll be willing, but what’s in it for me?”

  Lars was about to respond, probably to lie, but Hadwyn cut him off.

  “Nothing.” Hadwyn replied. “Absolutely nothing.”

  Just as Hadwyn hoped, interest didn’t disappear from his face.

  “Fine. I just want to be done with this test.” Baluk raised an eyebrow. “How would I go about, you know… Betraying them?”

  Hadwyn and Lars looked at each other. There were many ways it could be done.

  And if they were going to do it, they would need to do it right.

  Ruby frowned. “It was that easy?”

  Hadwyn stuttered. “I guess so.”

  “So what’s the plan?”

  “Baluk doesn’t go to the frontline.” Lars replied. “First of all, we already know Baluk gets sent straight to the front because he’s just a distraction. So that’ll fuck their game plan for sure.

  “Hell yeah!”

  Hadwyn and Lars stared at Ruby.

  Ruby turned to them, her smile slowly fading. “Oh, I just hit level 30.”

  Hadwyn blinked. He hadn’t checked his level since… Well, weeks. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had talked, or even thought of his level.

  Lars immediately twisted his hands, formulating a projection. A projection Lars could only see, unless his spell got hacked. The projection appeared only as a slightly luminous dot that moved too fast for Hadwyn or any other person to see. A sort of rudimentary confidentiality addon.

  Ruby had this too.

  She unlocked it and the dots disintegrated away. Ruby had apparently customized hers, as it was sleek and purple, with several little blurred out snapshots of something in the corners. It had several different abilities. She pulled her hands apart to zoom in. Sure enough, it read 30.

  Lars unlocked his too. “Level 17.” He said proudly.

  Hadwyn noticed something weird.

  “Lars, yours has holes in it.”

  He scoffed. “Holes? Ha! These are just unnecessary sections I removed, to prevent interference.”

  Ruby laughed. “What the hell did you do to your statboard!? Why does it look like a trash bin?”

  Lars took great offense to this. “So what? Enjoy your stupid pretty board! There are probably hundreds of pests in the walls!”

  Ruby coughed. “And what, you're suggesting your basic statboard is safer than mine?”

  Lars sneered. “Basic is better. Low profile.”

  Ruby giggled again. “It's leaking.”

  Lars refocused on his board. Particles were starting to come off of his board.

  He immediately shut it off.

  “Just buy a new board.” Ruby suggested, feigning pity.

  He scoffed. “No way! Orion steals your stats and gives them to guilds.”

  “I heard about that!” Hadwyn added. “Who accused them of that? I.L right?”

  Lars gave a smug grin. “Gotta love I.L. After I got kicked out of college for my peaceful protest against statsharing, I got some mail from them.” He spread his hands. “Lars Sylvester, we would be glad to have someone like you among our ranks, please consider joining the Iron Legion!”

  Ruby rolled her eyes. “They send those to everyone. Also, didn’t they prove Orion wasn’t taking information?”

  Lars gritted his teeth. “Well, Orion said they were innocent, so I guess they were Innocent!” He mocked in his best impression of Ruby. You really just believe everything they tell you.”

  Ruby turned to Hadwyn. “What’s your level anyways?”

  Hadwyn looked sheepish. “I dunno. Last I checked, it was ten. Maybe it's twelve now?”

  Ruby frowned. “No, it can’t be twelve. Lars was below you when we joined. He’s level 17 now, so you have to be somewhere around twenty.”

  Hadwyn sighed. “Ruby… I have really terrible luck with my levels. I tried yearly progression and barely made it to nine.”

  She cringed. “I believe you, Hadwyn. Are you going to check? I recommend you do, that way you can get some sort of… well, idea as to what your level would be now.”

  Hadwyn relaxed. “I can’t check even if I wanted to.”

  Lars stared at him. Ruby frowned even further.

  “Do you… don’t you have a statboard?”

  Hadwyn shook his head. “No. I never needed one, at least until now.”

  Ruby seemed to be thinking for a moment. “You don’t happen to be one of those… reticent people, do you?

  Hadwyn rolled his eyes. “No no, I’m not like that.” He said this while looking at Lars. Who wore yet another look of offense on his face before looking for his shoulder in an exaggerated manner. Lars then returned to glare at Ruby. “Maybe I might betray you guys like Baluk.”

  Hadwyn sat back. He hadn’t meant to look at Lars. There were certain people who held the same beliefs as Lars, but even more extreme. They would refuse to trust any statboard system, and they would opt out of sharing their level with anyone or group. Those types of people were referred to as “Reticents.” Apparently, Lars didn’t go that far.

  “Really? Anyways, let's get back on topic.” Ruby spun her eyes like there was no tomorrow. “Hadwyn, how much time until the substitute arrives?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, but I have another concern. What if the sub doesn’t read from the same rulebook? How’s he… or she going to react to our little plan?

  Ruby stretched. She still wore her fighting uniform.

  “Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that practices around here.” She sighed. “I spent the better part of the morning sparring with Sophia and pounding cinder blocks.”

  Lars rolled his eyes. “Okay, I didn’t do much lately, but Hadwyn didn’t either.”

  Hadwyn grunted. “I did. I spent a lot of time doing pushups.”

  Lars laughed. “Pushups? No wonder we lost.”

  Hadwyn was starting to feel pissed off by Lars.

  Hadwyn gritted his teeth, Lars reminded him a bit of Loyd.

  I wonder how he’s doing anyways? Wonder if Alice ever found out that he was cheating…

  Hadwyn realized he was the one that started it by mentioning Reticents.

  “Let's change the subject.” Hadwyn dismissed. “Do you guys know about any good boards that I might be able to buy?”

  Ruby seemed to ponder for a while.

  Lars answered immediately. “Listen Hadwyn, If you don’t want god-knows-who breathing down your neck, I’d suggest building yours from scratch, or pirate it.”

  Ruby glared at him, “That’s illegal.” She raised an eyebrow. “Did you pirate yours, by any chance?”

  “No, that would be illegal,” He said in a small voice. “I built mine from scratch.”

  Hadwyn frowned. “I’m not in the know. Is this something that is a big deal?”

  Ruby turned back to him. “Do you not read the aldarian section of whistling bird? That’s how they got famous in the first place.

  Hadwyn leaned back in his chair. “Didn’t they cover the elven religious revival? Didn’t that get them famous?”

  Ruby narrowed her eyes as non-accusingly as possible. I don’t keep up with that stuff.

  “Why not? Weren’t you a missionary?”

  “I was, but the elves don’t want to cooperate with the modern church, which is a long story. I’m sure it would put you to sleep.”

  Lars shrugged. “You're right, I’m already getting bored.” He turned to Hadwyn. “Yes, people take that stuff seriously.”

  Hadwyn recalled Macro removing the serial numbers on his weapons. Makes sense now. He thought.

  “And to us, that was how The Whistling Bird even got popular among Aldarians in the first place.” Ruby added. “We all value privacy to some degree. Some more than others.” She looked at Lars.

  Lars threw up his hands. “Don’t come crying to me when your info gets stolen. Actually, do come crying to me. I want to see it.”

  Ruby turned back to Hadwyn. “The point is, everyone values privacy. From what I can tell, you’re worse off without a board. If you go to any statstation, your information will definitely be shared. Maybe not in Rorin, but in any other place. Like Paknov, or Graunvilk. Hell, even here in Brelkon they probably do some surveillance. You should get yourself a board. But it’s up to you, Rorin’s been cracking down on illegal surveillance. But I recommend you get yourself a board.

  Hadwyn shoved his hands into his pockets. “Any brands you recommend?”

  Ruby thought about it. “Uhhh… Lupin and Statstar are pretty affordable.”

  Hadwyn sighed. “I heard some stuff about Orion. Is Orion affordable?”

  Ruby waved her hand. “Orion is a luxury brand. They were the ones who figured out how to do 360.”

  “Qvet?” Hadwyn suggested.

  Ruby frowned. “They’re a Keywark brand. I don’t think it would be that high of quality, but they don’t get any complaints. Sounds okay to me.”

  Hadwyn got up. “I’m gonna go to one of the shops to see if I can pick up a set. You guys need to go over the plan with Baluk to make sure he throws.”

  Hadwyn got to the shop. It had all sorts of packets to buy. There was, of course, Orion. With even the most basic iteration priced at a whopping 99,999 coppers.

  They guy at the store waved at him. “You have something in mind?”

  “Yeah, you don't have Qvet here do you?”

  “We actually do.” The guy said, sounding relieved. “They were on clearance. There are a few left.” He pointed to the back aisle.

  Hadwyn found near his feet a few scattered Qvet packets. He grabbed one that looked the least damaged and brought it to the front.

  He paid 999 for it and returned to the perimeter.

  When he returned, he found that the substitute had arrived. A tall man with black coat.

  He introduced himself. “I’m Martin. You will be referring to me as sir.” Go to your team and prepare, the test begins in 20 minutes.”

  Hadwyn rushed to his room. He was pleased to find that Marco and Lars had appeared to have traded rooms, due to Lars having his coat hung up and there being no more goddamned weapons on the floor. Hadwyn did the procedure of inspecting his bedsheets to make sure there weren’t any knives waiting to stab him when he sat down.

  Once he was satisfied, he immediately tore open his package.

  It came with an Instruction packet. Hadwyn followed them and managed to open up Qvet. Hadwyn gave it permission to read his aura.

  His level was 15.

  He gasped in awe. His level had grown 6 points, it was almost 16. He felt ecstatic, almost. Whatever the hell Peter was putting them through was actually improving his level.

  But there was something else.

  A core ability.

  His heart stopped. Aldarians who possessed core abilities were the strongest of the strong. Adonys, The Hand of Gods. Cryo-Corvin!

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

  He selected it.

  Error. It stated. Problem fetching ability, please wait.

  Hadwyn tried numerous times, but he could not find the ability anywhere. The list of his strengths, weaknesses, and recent feats were very vaguely listed. They didn’t even reach the bottom of his view.

  He stared at the sort or hallucination of the statboard, then he became dizzy after a while, so he closed it.

  He laid down in his bed, feeling the same as when he started. No… You’re improved. You’re at level 15 now! You’re much stronger than before, by almost twice!

  Hadwyn nodded to the voice in his head. That was true. He had nearly doubled his strength since he last checked.

  You are weak. You must throw away your value and hold the world accountable! Pathetic!

  Hadwyn shot up from the bed. He could have sworn that voice was a little too vivid to be an inner one.

  Suddenly, there was banging on his door that nearly gave him a heart attack.

  “What-” Hadwyn opened the door. “He saw Martin with a disappointed complexion. “...Sir?”

  Martin brushed off his shoulder for no apparently no other reason besides rude pantomime. “Go outside and start the mission!” He jerked his thumb.

  “Get out there pronto.” He ordered. “If Peter comes back, tell him to come talk to me.”

  Hadwyn rolled his eyes. He didn’t mean to, it was simply involuntary.

  Big mistake.

  Martin must have not been in a good mood, because he glared daggers at Hadwyn, but he said nothing. Instead, he brushed capelet aside, revealing the wood and metal of a gun on his hip. Cold dread overcame Hadwyn.

  Hadwyn was no fool, underneath all the poking fun at such a device was fear of it. If Martin decided to shoot him, there was nothing he could do about it. Bang. His life would be over in under a second.

  Luckily, Martin wasn’t reaching for his firearm, instead fishing out another metal object. Some sort of key.

  “Step back.”

  Hadwyn took a step back into his room.

  Martin calmly closed the door and locked it.

  Then, his voice came from the other side; “You Aldarians think you’re hot shit. Let me tell you something. You serve us, not yourself. Now I’d like to see you break down this door.”

  Hadwyn realized that Martin wasn’t joking around, he tried to open the door. It didn’t work. Whatever wood material that had been used was designed to…

  Then he realized. This wasn’t a dorm room, it was a prison cell. That was why the locks were on the outside. Hadwyn was an idiot for not putting it together earlier.

  He backed away from the door and kicked in in frustration, then he rammed into it again.

  “Try and get out.” Martin sneered. “That door is designed to hold people stronger than you.”

  Hadwyn heard Martin walking away and he cursed. Of course it was a prison cell, you moron! He thought to himself. It's a goddamned military base!

  He banged on the door again. It was useless. Martin had no reason to lie about the strength of the door.

  He turned around.

  The window!

  He looked through the panes, almost opening it and jumping out until he saw the height.

  He gritted his teeth, if Martin made it to the site before he did, the plan with Baluk would fail. And if the plan with Baluk failed, they wouldn’t get a second chance.

  So he opened the window and hurled himself out of it.

  The impact hurt. A lot. Had he been an anivor, he would have broken his neck and died. But because he was aldarian, he hit the ground, probably breaking at least one bone, then he rushed to the site.

  He dashed through puddles formed by the rain and leaped through downed trees. He almost tripped several times, but kept his pace up.

  Finally, he made it to the field, catching his team off guard.

  “Where were you?” Sophia asked.

  Hadwyn was panting. He turned around to point at the building, but realized it was no longer in sight.

  Did I really run that far? Damn…

  Just then, Martin appeared through the brush. He stopped in his tracks, grimacing.

  “Fuckin’ hell…” He muttered. “Only took you five minutes to remember you had a window.”

  Ruby looked at Hadwyn. “What’s that about?” She whispered.

  Hadwyn forced a smile. “I’ll tell you later.”

  Martin grinned angrily. “Split up into your two teams.” He commanded. “Teresa, take your squad into the forest.”

  Hadwyn cracked his knuckles as Martin began returning to the base. “It’s showtime.” Lars said.

  Ruby drew her sword. “Let’s hope Baluk isn’t a double agent.”

  Hadwyn frowned. He forgot to take that into consideration, but it didn’t matter. He knew the squad was prepared for a full fledged fight.

  The whistle blew, and then they were off. Hadwyn dashed alongside Ruby, who looked genuinely surprised that Hadwyn was keeping up with her.

  The peace of dashing through moist greenery was interrupted by a giant boulder flying towards them.

  “SHIT!” he yelled.

  Both he and Ruby lept to different sides of their trajectory, Allowing the massive rock to smashing the ground without touching them.

  “Teresa again!” Hissed Ruby.

  Hadwyn looked up. Log arced over the treetops, but a stone came up from another part of the forest and shredded it.

  Hadywn looked up in surprise. Baluk must have thrown the stone. He thought. It was the most logical explanation.

  SSSRRREEEEEEEEE!

  “Stinger arrow!” Hadwyn shouted.

  Ruby shot out her hand. “HALT!”

  The stinger arrow didn’t stop, much to her horror. Instead, whatever forcefield was between her and the arrow decided to displace her instead. She flew into a tree, pulverizing it with her body.

  The force was too much for her hand, which couldn’t handle the concentrated pressure of the ability, so it tore it apart.

  She yelled in pain, but her cries were deafened over the sound of the shockwave carried by the arrow.

  Hadwyn!

  Hadwyn ducked. He already knew the stinger arrow was on its rebound. Sure enough, it ripped through the wood in its way and roared over its head.

  How much are those again? 100 copper a piece? He thought in frustration. Where did they even get the money for that?

  He rushed over to Ruby, who was clutching whatever was left of her hand.

  “Do you see it anywhere?” She moaned.

  Hadwyn looked around. He eventually spotted the disconnected hand. “That looks really bad Ruby.”

  “No shit. Help me up!” she replied.

  Hadwyn grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up.

  “We need to get… to Lars and Sophia… They’re gonna lose.”

  “We can ask for a forfeit!” Hadwyn exclaimed. “This counts as a-”

  “Then what, throw the match again?” Ruby glared at him. “No way. Teresa is smart. If we quit, she’s gonna figure out Baluk was betraying them.”

  Hadwyn increased his pace, as did Ruby. “That thing you said earlier, about Baluk being a double agent… I have a feeling you might be correct.”

  Ruby winced, either from the pain or from the prospect of Baluk betraying them. “Dammit! Let go of me, I'm not missing a leg!”

  Hadwyn followed her orders, she was still the leader, after all.

  She looked into his eyes. “Realistically, this would call for a retreat. But I want to beat this stupid match so we can enter the bureau.”

  He gritted his teeth. “Peter said this wasn’t going to be the only test, but he is being forced to make us enter early.” He looked at her. “Why did you even join? Lars joined because he’d spy than be spied on, Sophia was sent here as a dare by her friends, and Teresa’s been in the military before. Why are you here?”

  Ruby squinted. “I wanted to get out. You might not know this, but a few years before I left, the plates moved.

  Hadwyn’s eyes widened. “The plates? Where?”

  “In the wasteland.” She shook her head. “Everything got shifted around. A lot of people died, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. Plates moving fucked up the borders. It was enough to start a war.”

  Hadwyn gritted his teeth. He showed her the severed hand.

  She shrugged. “Keep it. I’ll probably get a new one when I regenerate.”

  Hadwyn cursed. He had just realized that he had forgotten to bring anything with him.

  Looks like I’ll have to rely on my rudimentary abilities. He thought. I have almost none.

  Hadwyn shoved the hand into his pocket, in case Ruby changed her mind and wanted to reattach it later.

  Lars appeared through the bushes, followed by Sophia.

  “We got him.” Lars hissed through his voice. He went pale when he saw Ruby.

  “Where’s your hand?”

  “Hadywn has it.” She growled.

  “Who’d you get?”

  Lars smiled. “We didn’t exactly get him… but we did injure him.”

  “Who?” Ruby asked.

  “Marco.”

  Marco’s head was barely above the ground. He had a gag thrown over his mouth. Marco was obviously trying to yell for help.

  “Look who it is.” Ruby said. She patted him on the head. He writhed when she touched him.

  She ruffled his hair hard enough that he began viciously moving his head. He yelled something behind his gag.

  “Tell me what trick Teresa’s using!” Ruby yelled.

  Suddenly, another trunk slammed into the ground next to them.

  “If you don’t talk,” warned Ruby, who jerked her arm stub in the direction of the improvised projectile, “I’ll let a boulder fall on your head!”

  He began shaking around again.

  Lars finally reached down and removed his gag.

  “For fucks sake!” He coughed. “I was agreeing, you broad!”

  “Oh.” Her arm slumped.

  Another rock clipped a tree a few feet away. Sophia yelped and Lars moved himself closer while keeping his sight trained on the sky.

  “I have no idea where the hell she is.” Spat Marco. “She told me to run until I found you guys.”

  He grimaced. “I and that I did.”

  “Yeah right.” Lars scoffed. “More like the other way around.”

  Marco rolled his eyes. “Yeah, only because I sat down to snack. But kudos to you man, whatever makes you feel happy.”

  Lars spat the grass from his mouth, rubbing his hands together. “Ruby, he doesn’t know, let's just leave him here-”

  “No, NO!” Marco shouted. “Now way!”

  “Yes way!” Ruby snapped back. “Lars, you wouldn’t happen to have a healing potion on you?”

  “Gotcha.” Lars tossed the vial to her. She caught it with her other hand and drank it.

  “That was mine.” Marco growled.

  Ruby narrowed her eyes at Lars, who threw up his hands in defense.

  “Ain’t against the rules!” Lars exclaimed.

  “Beating your ass to a pulp isn’t either.” Snapped Marco. “Suppose I should have done it while I had the chance.”

  Lars didn’t say anything.

  “You owe him a vial.” Ruby added.

  Lars rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever.”

  “Give him back his money too.”

  Lars sighed and tossed a pouch at Marco’s feet, or at least, where his feet would have been. The pouch was actually around his eye level.

  Marco flicked his head back and forth in frustration like he was spazzing out. His ragged hair flew up and down. “Lemme out of this now!”

  Sophia, who had refrained from conversing, raised her hands.

  The dirt began to shift and Marco began to rise.

  “Oh, finally!” he cried in relief.

  “Wait!” Ruby commanded, jabbing her almost-hand at Sophia. She obediently relaxed her arms and Marco began to sink back into the ground.

  “Dammit!” He cursed. “Haven't you had your way already?”

  “We know you like it Marco.” Lars hollered. Ruby glared at him and made a zip it motion with her hand. Her fully regenerated one, Hadwyn noticed. It was definitely her dominant one, Hadwyn concluded.

  “Marco, you were complaining about being sent here… I know damn well Teresa doesn’t run without tying her shoes first. Why did she send you?”

  Marco grimaced. “Shit if I know. I think she’s suspicious that one of us is a spy. She thinks its me because of how friendly I was with you guys. Lesson learned on that one.”

  “Hold on.” Hadwyn put his finger to his lips. {It's Quiet} he voiced.

  Ruby looked back at him with concern. {Right. Teresa seems to have stopped.} By now she had grown back her hand fully and was peeling off the scars and dead skin.”

  “Let me go, please.” Marco begged.

  “Fine. Say you surrender.”

  “I surrender, for the love of gods.”

  “Sophia.”

  Sophia stuck her arms out, lifting Marco.

  “Yes!”

  He got up and did a little spin, then he stretched.

  Ruby raised an eyebrow. “We’re cool, right?” She mocked.

  Marco gave her a thumbs up.”Sure.” But Hadywn saw a twinkle in his eye. A mischievous twinkle, almost a guarantee that he would get her back for it later, but for now, they had to focus on winning.

  Teresa knew that there was a man on the inside. She just didn’t know who he was. It was only a matter of time before she eventually figured it out. It was only Akoto and Baluk.

  Marco popped his knuckles. “I’d really be an idiot to think you guys don’t have an agent inside.”

  “Yeah, you’re right about that.” Lars blurted, before anyone could really stop him.

  Marco pressed his fingers to his temple. “Please don’t tell me it's that annoying prick Akoto.”

  “It’s not.” Hadwyn sighed. {He already knows} He voiced to Ruby, who replied with a nod {He surrendered. He’s out. You’re good.} she gave him a thumbs-up.

  “So it’s Baluk then?” Marco asked, shaking bits of dirt from his clothing.

  “Yes.” Hadywn answered.

  “Poor choice.” Marco said. “Kch Kch Kch.” he shook his head.

  Hadwyn rolled his eyes. “Winning makes you soft.”

  “And why is that?” Ruby asked.

  “Simple, that prick Akoto is a teacher's pet. But when you get to know him, he’s a self-centered asshole-”

  “I hate to rain on your parade, but you can give your story later.” Lars said, tearing a blade of grass into pieces out of boredom.

  “Yeah, well… Akoto and Ruby trust each other, so naturally, Me and Baluk are the least trustworthy ones.” He blinked. You really think Teresa didn’t know? She knew.

  Hadwyn sighed. “So, what you’re saying is… she knows about Baluk.”

  “Not guaranteed, but I’ll bet my spare change that she’s already figured him out.”

  Ruby seemed to ponder for a moment, “How much spare change are we talking about?”

  Marco had a wolfish smile on his face at the suggestion of an actual bet. “Got about 500 c’s minimum. Whatchu got?”

  She smiled back at him. “Waaaaaay more than that.”

  Suddenly Hadwyn realized something.

  “Ruby, the timer!”

  Ruby froze. Marco bit his upper lip.

  Hadwyn grimaced. One of the rules was that there was a timer. If the time was up, Teresa’s team would automatically win. Yet another one of Peter’s ridiculously unfair rules. But neither Hadwyn, nor anyone in his squad, actually worried about the timer. So much so, that they had almost forgotten of the crucial role it played. The reason for this was due to the fact that Hadwyn and his squad wouldn’t last much longer than 2 hours before Teresa tracked them down and TKO’ed them.

  That was when Teresa had been playing offense. She had every advantage at her disposal and she had no problem using them. But now things were different.Team Ruby’s plan had actually paid off and disrupted Teresa’s repetitive planning.

  Hadwyn looked around. His entire team was here, unscathed. Meanwhile, Teresa lost Marco, and Hadwyn was pretty sure by this point that she had taken down Baluk as well.

  Hadwyn closed his eyes as the light drizzle of rain hit his body. “We need to assume Baluk got made.” Hadwyn said grimly. She’s still got herself and Akoto.

  Hadwyn imagined Akoto happily dispatching Baluk at Teresa’s whim. Hadwyn had exploited the distance between Akoto and Baluk and now it was coming back to bite him.

  He finally got the rejuvenation he apparently needed from the rain and turned to his team.

  “Teresa’s hiding. And that’s exactly what she plans on doing…”

  He paused. “No one here happens to have a clock, do they?”

  Everybody looked around expectantly at one another. Hadwyn sighed.

  “I do.”

  Hadwyn whirled around. Sophia was holding out a metal cylinder. “This is my grandfather's clock…” She said, “...Be careful.”

  Hadwyn took the clock carefully and checked the time.

  And we started at around… 12?

  It was 4:09 according to the mechanical clock he held.

  He handed it back to her.

  “She plans to hide for the rest of the time.” Hadwyn said smartly. “We need to take her down before that happens. You guys need to brainstorm ideas on how we can get them to reveal themselves, to find them.”

  “Wow. Taking charge now, huh?” Ruby asked in mild amusement.

  “Temporarily.” He smiled.

  Marco scoffed. “Have you ever considered asking her nicely?”

  Ruby glared at him. “Teresa’s something of a teacher's pet, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but she's gonna do whatever it takes to win, even if she gets nothing out of it.”

  There goes that idea… Hadwyn thought. He had been silently considering that one.

  “Wait.” Hadwyn said. “Ruby, remember that voice throwing thing you could do?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, I think I might have a way to lure Akoto and Teresa out of their little hiding spot…”

  She grinned, “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

  Lars and Sophia nodded. “I’m gettin it.” Lars said. He turned to Marco.

  “Are you gettin’ it?”

  Marco turned to him stupidly. “Hell no! You care to clue me in?"