Nick, Evelyn, and Derek came together as they watched their characters loot the bodies. Milo was mostly there to hold the reusable shopping bag as Grizzizzik and Clarissa pushed great axes, javelins, and other supplies into the bag. Nick shook his head.

“Grizzizzik snatched all the money these orcs had. He’s probably not going to tell Milo or Princess Clarissa about it,” Nick said.

“Hey! Share the gold!” Evelyn shouted toward Grizzizzik. The three characters acted like she hadn’t said a word. “They won’t hear us, will they.”

“No,” Derek said. “Alejandra tried telling Señora Florez everything, but she couldn’t hear anything. There’s definitely some magic keeping people from interfering with the game, however that works.”

Evelyn grumbled about something as she pulled out her phone. “Oh, god. I forgot about Tyler.”

Derek pulled out his own phone. There were forty-five missed calls from Emma. He didn’t know what that was about, but he was thinking he shouldn’t have made out with her. He tried finding Tyler’s name, but was interrupted again as Emma tried to call.

He immediately dismissed it and called Tyler as fast as he could. It wasn’t ringing for long.

Tyler sounded out of breath and worried. “Where are you?”

“Okay, deep breath. Sorry we didn’t pick up any of your calls.”

“Where are you!”

“We’re…” Derek paused, looking around. He didn’t actually know where they were. “We’re heading back. Soon.”

“So, you’re not at the school?”

“No. We… um…”

“Derek.” There was an underlining tone in Tyler’s voice. Almost like his friend was being the adult in the situation that he never wanted to be, and hinted for Derek to tell the truth.

“We… ditched the homecoming dance and… took on fifteen orcs. They’re dead now.”

Tyler groaned, the pain and annoyance carrying through the phone. “This was… you could have… what were you thinking?”

“Oh, come on,” Derek said.

“I have had the worst feeling in the world for an hour, and it hasn’t gone away. I am coming to find you. Where are you?”

Derek sighed, then motioned for the others to follow him as he told Tyler where Nick had parked the car. Tyler was grumbling the entire time, but followed the instructions.

Grizzizzik whispered something to Nick, who looked exhausted, but said something back. The rogue gave Nick a look, and Nick matched that same look. Grizzizzik shrugged and slipped back toward the orcs. Milo searched around in his void bag and handed Clarissa a piece of cloth before motioning to his mouth. She muttered her thanks before wiping the orc blood off as they walked.

By the time their little group was at Nick’s car, Tyler was getting out of his, looking pale.

“You don’t… this isn’t… I can’t have you…” Despite the long drive, Tyler’s mind was still scattered.

Derek raised a hand. “Dude, we’re fine. And we all got to level three. This is what we were supposed to do. Level up as quickly as possible.”

“No. Something’s wrong. Something bad.” Tyler looked around. “Where’s Grizzizzik?”

Everyone turned to Nick, who had his arms crossed. He closed his eyes briefly before staring at the ground. “He wanted to chop all the orc heads off to place strategically throughout Elmwood to send a message to his father.” That brought a silence among the group. Tyler’s chin slowly fell as his eyebrows rose. Nick gave a defeated shrug. “It’s what Grizzizzik does. This should surprise no one. It’s not me, it’s his character.”

Tyler’s head dropped the rest of the way. “Oh good god, that phrase.”

“Like you haven’t said your fair share of game master phrases,” Nick said.

“Yeah, well, here’s a classic one.” Tyler lifted his head to give Nick a look of chastisement. “That is certainly a choice your character can make.”

Derek couldn’t help it and snorted. Tyler turned his dry gaze toward Derek. He shrugged. “Oh, come on, Tyler. We’re fine. The orcs are gone. You were worried the whole time, but Grizzizzik’s got a master stealth plan going.” Derek paused, then glanced at Nick. “Right?”

Nick nodded. “Rolled a dirty twenty. His plus six in stealth is really handy.”

Evelyn was rubbing her arms, looking between Nick and Derek. “Well, I mean, let’s think about this. Tyler is the messenger of sorts for the true game master. His gut instincts have been right every time so far. When did you start feeling this way?”

Tyler frowned, then pulled out his phone. “The moment I started calling Derek. So… 9:43.”

“Does anyone know when we started the battle?” Evelyn asked.

Derek tried to think, but he remembered being too excited to skip out on homecoming to fight actual orcs in Elmwood.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Nick shrugged. “That sounds about when we started the battle.”

Tyler looked like he was concentrating. “What happened during the battle that hadn’t happened any other time?”

Derek glanced at Evelyn, who looked at him before her eyes fell on Nick.

“We got stabbed,” Nick said. “Multiple times. We were distracting the orcs from our characters so we could take the brunt of the damage since Hraktar wasn’t here to do that.”

Tyler didn’t move for a good five seconds, staring at Nick. Then he pulled out his phone. “Let me see.”

Nick was confused. “What?”

“Wherever you were stabbed, let me see.” Tyler tapped something on his phone before the flashlight turned on. The confusion never let up from Nick’s face, but he grabbed the end of his shirt and lifted it. He didn’t have to get far. There was some sort of mark where the orcs stabbed him in the stomach, and yet there was no blood. It looked more like a bruise, but it was gray.

Derek paused, then checked his own stomach. It was littered with more gray marks. He touched them, not feeling a thing, and yet seeing them all over his body.

“Shit,” Tyler whispered as he turned his phone to Derek’s abdomen.

“What is it?” Evelyn asked.

Tyler looked at it, rubbing his hand down his face. “I don’t know. And I really don’t want to find out what happens if you get more. No one gets stabbed again.”

Milo took out his magnifying glass and looked closer at Derek’s stomach. Time slowed down, and Derek felt nerves coming to him.

Make a medicine check.

Derek winced as he grabbed the d20. He hadn’t done a lot of these checks, and there was only a +1 bonus. It really needed to be a good roll. Nick and Evelyn depended on whatever Milo discovered, too.

He rolled a nineteen. He let out a relieved breath as it turned into a dirty twenty.

Time resumed itself, and Derek watched as Milo continued to stare at Derek’s abdomen. He prodded the mark before reaching behind him and bringing out a vial of gold mana, downing it. He placed his hand against Derek’s stomach, and it looked as though the mana was spent, but Derek never rolled any dice. Mana sifted through Milo’s palm into Derek’s stomach, but something stopped it.

Milo took his hand away, almost shaking off the excess mana. “I have… no idea what that is.”

Derek’s face fell as he stared at his mana fusor.

“Did you roll for that?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah. Medicine. Dirty twenty.”

Tyler let out another breath. He turned off the flashlight and slipped it back in his pocket before looking at Evelyn. “You too?”

She had her hand on her shoulder, giving a distracted nod. Tyler had his hands in his hair. “Alright um… this feeling sucks. Absolutely no one gets hurt by these creatures again.”

Nick rubbed his chest. “What about the hell hound a month ago? It went straight through me. It… it was attacking Alejandra when I went to go save her. How is this different?” Nick was finally starting to look scared. “Is it different? Is Alejandra hurt?”

“Remember how Phantom stabbed you? How he literally fell right through you?” Derek asked Tyler. “Do you have any marks?”

“No.” Tyler checked his shoulder, to be sure. “This, somehow, is different.” Tyler dropped his hands, his eyes noticeably more wet. “Keep an eye on this. All three of you text me if it changes. In fact, give me constant updates. Once a day, I want to know what those marks are doing.”

Derek was trying to think of something, feeling the need to talk, but not sure what to say, when Nick’s phone went off. Nick jumped out of his skin before swearing under his breath. He pulled it out, saw the name, and his face dropped into his glare. Derek winced, glancing at Evelyn, who was covering her mouth, eyes wide.

“Hey, Dad,” Nick said, turning away from everyone.

Tyler turned toward Derek. “Do you need a ride home or back to the school?”

“Um, home. Take me back home. I’ll text my friends and let them know not to worry about me.”

“I took Evelyn out for some ice cream.” Nick was walking off a little further away, but they could still hear him.

Derek pulled out his phone and started texting in his drama group’s message.

“Obviously that’s unnecessary,” Nick said, his voice lowering in anger.

Tyler looked at Evelyn. “Are you okay?”

“Seriously? You think that’s a calm and reasonable response?” Nick asked.

“Yeah.” Evelyn kept her gaze on Nick. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Derek finished texting and looked up to see Nick, shoulders tense, the glare deepening. This was going to be bad.

“Akshi and I made eye contact at the dance.” Evelyn dropped her gaze. “Briefly. And… I wanted to leave. Nick had the idea of killing orcs. Derek came.”

Tyler stared at her, then glanced at Derek. Derek was absently rubbing his shirt, already planning on looking at the gray marks in better light.

“So, I’m not supposed to look out for my sister! Is that what you’re saying?” Nick asked.

Tyler gave a pitiful look at Nick.

“Sorry, Tyler,” Evelyn said.

His gaze shifted back to Evelyn. “Sorry? Why sorry?”

“For… tonight.”

“Get all your people you used to spy on me and hire them out to the FBI. Seriously. Your tracking skills need to be put to better use for this country,” Nick said.

Tyler sighed, compassion filling his face. “I admit I got a bit scared. I hate this feeling of helplessness. Just… all of you need to promise to pick up when I call. And if Akshi made eye contact with you, then…” Tyler trailed off, digging his palm into his forehead as the implication hit him. “You’re not alone in this. None of us are. We have three more weeks until con.”

Tyler must have felt the same way Derek did when he said that. Three weeks. Derek glanced at Milo with orc blood mingled with his own on his clothes. Evelyn made eye contact with Akshi. Grizzizzik’s father now had a genuine reason to stay at the high school and learn all he could about Evelyn. Three weeks was going to be hell.

“Do you feel like Akshi is going to hurt you?” Tyler asked.

Evelyn shrugged, her face crumpling. “I don’t know. I didn’t think I could get hurt, but…” She placed her hand across her middle.

“You said he made eye contact. Does he know anything?” Tyler asked.

“I don’t think so. I think I made it so he thought it was random.”

Tyler winced. “I’d rather you be sure.”

“Yeah.” Evelyn rubbed her arms, her voice trembling. “Me too.”

Nick slammed his phone shut, stomping over to his car, the dark glare on his face. “Evelyn, we’ve got to go. Dad’ll call the police in eight minutes if we’re not home.” Evelyn nodded, heading for the car. Nick pointed to Derek. “Do you have a ride home?”

“Yep.”

“Good. See you Monday.”

Clarissa climbed in the back. Tyler and Derek moved out of the way as Nick started the car and drove away. Milo remained; his arms folded. They were silent as they watched the car speed off.

“I hate all of this.” Tyler checked his phone again. “I’ll talk to Alejandra and Rafael. All of you need to keep an eye on Evelyn at school. Make sure she’s safe. I don’t…” Tyler almost shuddered. “I have no idea what to do.”

Derek looked at the road where Nick’s car disappeared. “I really want to kill more orcs,” Derek mumbled.

Tyler gave him a look. “Pick up your phone next time.” Tyler started heading toward the car. “And stop getting stabbed. This whole thing is freaking me out.”

This was going to be a very long three weeks.

They got in the car. Milo buckled himself in the back. He tightened it as he leaned forward. “So… there’s no easy way to say this, but… can I do more experiments on you later?”

Derek smirked as Tyler rubbed his forehead. “Let’s get everything sorted out to get you to level three. Then you can try again. Maybe being level three will help.”

Milo nodded. “That sounds good.”

“You’re level three now. Do you still want the ability to make your cannon?” Derek asked.

A smile grew on Milo’s face. “Hell yes I do.”