Max watched Nina stalk into the dark. He sighed. Every time the girl had looked at Max he had tried to put on his friendliest smile. Her nose would scrunch up and her eyes narrow before she would walk away while muttering to herself. Max couldn’t help but wonder what he’d done to upset the girl, he’d even saved her life.

Maybe girls really do only like bad boys?

Shaking his head, Max pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight app. The tunnel was wide enough for at least three people to travel side-by-side, but Max was forced to walk along a narrow, raised walkway. A deluge of rainwater flowed under his feet.

“What are you doing?” Nina’s face appeared from nowhere.

She snatched the phone from Max’s hand. Her hand flexed and the crumbled components of Max’s phone fell into the water.

“Every time I think that you may be acting, that there is some semblance of competency hidden behind your farm boy routine you … you go and do something so colossally stupid.”

“That was my phone! How do you expect me to find my way home through these tunnels without it?”

“My god … you were trying to use GPS?”

“Well, do you carry a map of the sewers around with you? Besides, it’s dark in here.”

Nina held up a finger on one hand as she massaged the space between her eyes with the other. Max waited for her to finish, putting on his best smile. She sighed, before looking up at Max once more.

“Wipe that perverted grin off your face,” she huffed.

Max’s smile dropped, “Look, I don’t know who you think you are … but I risked a lot back there. Truth is, I don’t know what came over me. I could have been killed!”

“I … I’m sorry. Let’s just keep moving, okay?”

Max followed the girl as she led him further into the tunnel. They went by several access ladders, but the girl never slowed. Max had no idea where they were going, but he was fine with any direction that led away from the river. Away from the Quad that was hunting them.

What have I gotten myself into?

“Look,” said Max, “I don’t know what kind of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into, but I think it’s time we split up.”

“Split up?” the girl laughed. “By all means Max, go your own way. When my brother’s men find you, and they will, I won’t be there to save you.”

“Save me? I saved you!”

“It doesn’t matter,” she shook her head. “The only thing that matters is getting out of the city as quickly as possible.”

“I’m not leaving. I told you, we can go to my grandfather’s house.”

“Assuming the house is not in your name, and is not your listed mailing address,” Max winced as Nina counted on her fingers, “and assuming they haven’t already identified you … and aren’t already there waiting for us. We have, at most, until morning before a dozen agents kick down your door. Probably a Quad as well.”

Max watched Nina’s face as she yelled. Her breath was heavy, and her face slightly flushed. A vein pulsed on her forehead. It was almost cute.

“Is your grandfather’s place equipped to deal with that? I don’t suppose Grandpa is hiding an army, is he? Oooh, maybe you’ve got an elder elemental in your broom closet? A tank under the stairs?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Is that all you need?” Max smiled. “I mean, he’s got a few guns and antique swords but … I think what is really going to slow them down is in the shed.”

“In the shed? I’m traveling with a crazy person …”

“Look, just listen to me. I know a place they’ll never find us. I haven’t found any way to open the dungeon without this.”

Nina snatched the orb as soon as it appeared in Max’s hand. Her movements were too quick for Max to even register. As he tried to take it back, the woman held him at arm’s length with a single palm pressed into his chest.

“Is this … how could you possibly have a command orb?”

She seemed almost reverential as if the orb were a holy artifact. She continued to ignore Max, despite his increasingly loud and physical protests. Max began to hyperventilate; his panic slowly being replaced by a blind rage.

“Give it back,” Max roared.

The girl looked up in surprise as if she had forgotten Max was there. She glanced down at the orb a final time before placing it in Max’s hand and letting him go.

“Who are you?”

The words were almost too quiet for Max to hear. The girl seemed lost, her expression blank and unmoving. Her head was turned slightly to the side and her eyes remained firmly glued to Max.

“Just,” Max let out a breath, “just don’t touch it again. It’s the only clue I have about where my grandfather went.”

“Sorry,” she shook her head, finally recovering from her shock. “I just don’t think you realize how valuable what you have is … if my brother found out. Let’s just say it would be enough for him to overlook what I took. Entire governments have gone to war for less.”

“… what did you take?”

She ignored Max’s question as she grabbed his shoulder, pressing him up against the damp wall. “Don’t show it to anyone.”

“I won’t,” Max said, thinking back to the numerous times he had taken the orb out in public over the last week. Hopefully, no one remembered seeing it.

“What functions have you discovered?”

Maxed noticed her lip tremble and her eyes widen for a moment before her face froze into an unreadable mask. Not the perfectly controlled aristocrat she thinks she is.

“It has an intelligent interface that allows me to interact with my skills, but that’s not the best part. The best part is —”

“You have a dungeon in your backyard. The orb unlocks it.”

“Wait, how’d you know?”

“It doesn’t matter, just take me to your grandfather’s house. We don’t have much time.”

***

Nina carefully pushed the manhole cover up, sliding it across the black asphalt. Her green eyes appeared next, scanning the quiet neighborhood.

“It’s clear,” she said.

She jumped upward with a single motion, landing on the empty road, before reaching down to help Max. His hands were strong and surprisingly large, but his palms were smooth and soft. He had the hands of a man who had never held a weapon. The command orb really was wasted on him.

Nina glanced down at the small pouch on her waist and felt a slight tinge of doubt. Certainly, she needed the orb more. Taking it might even save Max’s life. No, she glanced at Max again, dropping his hand. I won’t become as bad as the rest of my family.

“The house is just down the street,” Max pointed to his left. “Should only take as a few minutes if we walk.”

Nina nodded and began to stroll forward. She’d have to let him point out which house it was, but there was no way she would follow Max’s lead. The very thought made her stomach turn.

“So,” Max said after nearly a minute of blissful silence. “Are you going to tell me why those guys are after you?”

“I took something,” Nina said. “Something precious, and they want it back. They will kill me, you, and anyone else who hinders this objective. Remember that. You don’t know what kind of people you’re dealing with.”

“Seems to me,” he shrugged, “that I’m already caught up in it. Any chance I can just say, ‘Oh, my mistake. No harm no foul?’ Think they’d let me off with a warning?”

Nina chuckled, but quickly guarded herself. Still, she couldn’t entirely suppress the warmth in her cheeks. The pervert could be funny.

“There,” Max said. “That’s the house.”

The house was old and made entirely of brick. A stone wall covered in leaves and creepers ran around the front of the building. The grass needs mowing … and someone really should look at the shrubs.

“It’s …” Nina looked back at Max. “Surprisingly presentable. Who was your grandfather?”

“Is. Present tense.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed —”

“No,” Max dismissed her apology with a wave of his hand. “I don’t really know what happened to him. He could be …”

“It’s okay,” Nina rested her hand on Max’s shoulder. “I understand. Now are you going to invite me inside, or not?”

“Of course,” Max pulled a set of keys out his pocket and walked towards a small wooden gate. As the gate opened he bowed with a slight flourish, “After you, milady.”

Nina ignored his antics, walking right past Max and up the cobblestone path that led to the front door.

“Wait,” Max yelled, “The shed’s this way.”

“I know. Are you telling me that after everything we’ve been through together you aren’t going to even offer the lady a bite to eat? Some tea perhaps?”

“Tea? Well, you might have to settle for coffee, but I can rustle up some sandwiches. After that though …” Max smiled, fumbling with his keys.

“I can’t wait to show you the dungeon under the shed.”