As soon as she heard the question, Astrid knew that her ruse was over. Denying it now would be futile as she couldn’t think of any believable stories. The others would ask too many questions, and she couldn’t keep lying her way out. Despite her desire to tell them everything, her voice refused to work. Villads and the others took her silence as a confirmation.

“You are,” Villads stated coldly.

“I am,” Astrid whispered, averting her eyes to look at the ground. She didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone scared of how they were taking the news, but she could feel them staring contemptuously at her.

She knew she had to say something. Explain her situation. There were so many things she had kept hidden or been untruthful about that she didn’t know where to start.

“Does your sister know about this?” Walter asked.

Astrid nodded then shook her head. How could she even answer this question? She knew Walter referred to her other identity, but she couldn’t continue lying about that anymore.

She thought of her real sister. Did she know about all the things Astrid had done in the past few months? Did those who had passed on have any way of knowing what happened in the world of the living? Astrid hoped not. Her family would be ashamed of her if they knew of what she had done. The thought of her family hating her was worse than the thought of all her friends hating her.

Don’t think about it, she mentally scolded herself, forcing all thought of her dead family from her mind. Her spirit was already taking a toll from the desperate situation of being trapped in this dungeon again, and now with her friends being angry with her, she couldn’t afford to make it worse by thinking about those she had lost.

“I don’t know,” she finally answered with a shrug, still refusing to make eye contact with any of them.

“Is she a follower of deception too? Is that why she refused to go with us? Was this a plot to get rid of us? Walter continued.

“No,” Astrid said, horrified that he would think that. “I never wanted to harm any of you. I just didn’t think we were ready to clear the dungeon.”

“What do you mean you didn’t think we were ready?” Walter asked, confused. “You weren’t part of the decision-making?”

Astrid's voice failed her again. She still had to explain her double identity to them, but she still hadn’t figured out how best to tell them.

Silence filled the room again. Astrid couldn’t bear to look at the other, so instead studied the slugs moving around outside the protective barrier. When she had cast it, she had known it might give away her secrets, risking everything she had worked to build for herself. However, she didn’t regret doing it, for without the barrier, all her friends would likely be dead now.

That realization brought her the courage she needed to tell the others everything. If she just explained why she had done all this, surely her friends would understand. Then they could all go back to focusing on getting out of this dungeon alive.

“I’m Astrid.” Astrid said, breaking the silence. She looked back at the others, seeing the confusion on the other’s faces.

“Why are you impersonating your little sister?” Brigitta asked.

“I’m not,” Astrid said. “I’m being myself right now.”

“You’re not making any sense. If you're Astrid, then where is Sigrid?” Ina asked.

“Sigrid was my big sister, but she died when my family farm was attacked by monsters.”

“But we have seen both you and your sister.” Walter said.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“You have seen me disguise myself as my sister. I just got the names switched around.”

“How could you?” Villads said venomously.

“Well, the inn wouldn’t rent a room to a child, so I pretended to be older to get a room, but the next day I forgot to change my appearance and went out as a child, and since I had already called my disguise Astrid, I had to come up with another name. Since then, I have dealt with two personas.”

“I meant who could you join the god of deception in the first place? He is evil.”

“I didn’t have a choice. He would have fed me to the monsters if I didn’t agree to follow him. I did what anyone would do in that situation.”

“I would rather have died than follow deception or accept anything he offered me,” Villads sneered, his voice full of hatred.

“Would you really?” Astrid sneered back. She couldn’t stop herself from getting angry at his words. “Would you leave the protective barrier to face the monster outside knowing there is no way you can defeat them all before they kill you?”

Villads looked out, and Astrid followed his gaze. The slugs outside had kept multiplying while they had been talking, and now there were more monsters than Astrid could count. Villads looked furious but made no moves to leave the barrier, nor did anyone else. Astrid hadn’t wanted them to either. She just wanted them to understand how dire her situation had been when she agreed to be a follower of deception.

“If I had the option to stop following Sham, I would, but gods rarely let their followers go.”

“We can talk more about this once we're back in Largon,” Walter said. “For now, let’s focus on getting out of this dungeon.” Kelan and Ina, did you make any progress at all on the puzzle?”

“The boxes have different colors, so Kelan tried unlocking them with elemental magic, but nothing happened. Then I searched them for any kind of hidden mechanisms, but I didn’t find any of those either, so we went back to the magic, though this time we tried doing it in different orders. We got through every combination possible, but still nothing. Then I tried cutting the lock with my sword, but that didn’t work either.

“Why doesn’t Astrid ask her god for help?” Villads said angrily, “This is his dungeon after all, and he helped her through last time she was in here.”

“That isn’t true.” Astrid said, trying to remain calm. It hurt to hear one of the first friends she ever had talk to her with such hatred and disgust, but she tried not to let it show. She didn’t want to break down crying now.

“So you were lying about having been in a dungeon as well.”

“No, I was here, but Sham didn’t help me out. I had to rely on my own abilities.”

“Abilities he had given you”

“We agreed to discuss this later,” Walter interrupted. “Sigrid, Astrid, or whatever your real name is, do you have a way to get us out of here?”

“I can try. I might be able to pick the locks.”

“Oh, so now you’re a thief too.” Villads mocked. Walter gave him a stern look, and he fell silent.

“Won’t it attract the attention of all the monsters if you leave the barrier?” Kelan asked.

“Not if they can’t see me.” She found her amulet and cloak from her inventory and put them on. There was no point in hiding them anymore or holding back on using any of her abilities. She willed herself to become invisible, but as she was about to step outside the barrier, Filip stopped her.

“Was that supposed to do anything?” he asked. “I can still see you.”

“So can I,” Brigitta said.

“I’m sure all of us can,” Ina said.

“You can see me because you already know that I am here, so the magic doesn’t work on you. The monsters, however, won’t be able to as long as I don’t do anything to give away my location.”

Astrid turned and left the barrier. She headed straight for the boxes. Or as straight as she could while zigzagging between the monsters. As soon as she reached the center of the room, she bent down in front of the first box and grabbed the lock.

Your level is insufficient to open magic locks.

She swallowed down a string of swear words and studied the boxes again. She had to figure this out fast. The boxes were locked with magic, that much was clear from the message she had received. She went over all the things the woman and healer had tried. There had to be something they hadn’t done yet. Maybe there were keys hidden somewhere in the room? Looking around the room again, she realized it couldn’t be the case; aside from the boxes, there was nothing but monsters in here. However, there had to be a solution that anyone could figure out. The puzzle couldn’t be impossible to solve.

Not having any better ideas, Astrid decided to try the same thing that Ina and Kelan had. First, she tried cutting the padlock with her dagger, but that didn’t even scratch it. Then she rapidly cast every spell she knew, but none of them had any effect on the lock either. In frustration she slammed her staff into the lock, hoping to break it open, but once again it did nothing.

Suddenly, something hit her in the back, and she let out a scream. She turned to see what had attacked her and narrowly avoided getting hit again. The monsters were moving closer. They could see her.