It was one week later and I was exhausted down to my very bones.

Three-hundred-and-forty-two Instances cleared…tens of thousands of people.

And still, it didn’t feel like enough.

My entire day was consumed now with farming Instances. Climb the mountain, activate the mechanism, have the Stone Golem launch me to the Great Tree, then hit the water region. I was a one-man clearing machine. Kevin and Ian needed an entire team of men to help them finish off an Instance, but not me. All I need were a few official looking soldiers to calm and corral the people.

Of the three-hundred-and-forty-two Instances, I’d cleared eighty percent of them myself. And I was starting to feel the fatigue setting into my very skin.

Everything had taken a backseat to these Instances—breaking through to Adept, dealing with Craig, the body tempering potion—all of it. But I was doing good, making a real difference, and even though I was tired, I didn’t want to stop.

Unfortunately for me, the President of the United States was flying into town in an hour and what I wanted didn’t matter.

This is the price you have to pay for all the good you and Dickens are doing, I told myself. Time to get out the kneepads and beg for more soldiers.

But first…a nap.

“Lex, wake me up in an hour, will ya?”

He flapped his wings from his perch on the bunkbed above me.

“Uh…Dirk, you remember the first time we met?”

My eyes were closed, my brain nearly shut off.

“Yeah,” I replied absentmindedly, barely paying attention.

He cleared his throat—a terrible hacking sound like a cat with a furball. “Ach, ahem, well, you were very clear. Rule number two: do not wake you up under any circumstances or I get the shower—”

I was suddenly awake, laughing as I rolled over in the bed.

“Lex, Jesus, dude. You think I’m gonna torture you for doing something I ask you to do? I’m not a fucking monster.”

He didn’t respond but I could feel his thoughts through our bond…and they were not very charitable.

“Wow, I can feel everything you’re feeling, you know that right.”

“HONK! I can’t help how I’m feeling!” he complained. “I really don’t want to go in the shower…”

My eyes drifted closed, my thoughts slowing.

“I’m not gonna do that, bud. You can relax,” I mumbled.

He said something else, but I missed it, my mind finally shutting off as I drifted down into darkness.

CRASH!

I bolted awake, unconsciously pushing my mass to the max as my forehead cracked against the bunkbed scaffolding. The entire metal girder caved in from the impact. I ignored the damage, bursting out of my bed with Red already shifting into armor form.

Athena was standing at the door to the training room, her eyes wide, her mouthing hanging open.

“Oh, uh…did I wake you?”

My heart was beating a thousand miles an hour, adrenaline spiking so hard that my limbs felt shaky. It took me another half-second to realize that we weren’t under attack, were in a safe zone, and the sound that had woken me up was just an inconsiderate pre-teen and not Kneer Ungr coming to gut me in my sleep.

“My bad, dude,” she added, seeing how shaken I was. “You okay?”

I let out a heavy breath and Red relaxed back into her cape form.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Lex was still on the top bunk, his feathers ruffled from his own panicked response. “How long was I out?”

“Three minutes…”

I groaned, my head craning up to the ceiling. There was no way I was going back to sleep now.

“Fuck…”

Athena coughed into her fist and at least had the good grace to look apologetic.

“Uh, Lacy sent me,” she said. “Michelle called and asked you to head over now.”

“What? I have an hour.”

Athena shrugged. “Just what she said.”

“God fucking dammit,” I muttered. Peeling off my shirt, I looked back at the girl. “I’m gonna shower first. Can you let her know?”

Her eyes tracked over my back, noting the burns and scars creating a tapestry—my father’s art work. A moment later, she seemed to realize she was staring and nodded quickly, pulling the door shut behind her.

I paused in the center of my room, eyeing the open prison shower in the corner of the room.

“Fuck that.”

Turning around, I aimed for the hallway connecting all of our Personal Spaces. Lacy’s shower practically called to me.

Pulling the door open, I started for Lacy’s room when a sound pulled my gaze up.

Nikki was standing outside Mama G’s room, her hand on the door handle. Her eyes were wide when she saw me and I froze.

“Hey, Nik’,” I said sheepishly. “How you doing?”

Her posture was slumped, her eyes shifting from my face to the ground repeatedly as if she was afraid to hold my gaze.

“I’ve been better.”

“Sorry to hear that.” I took a step toward her and she visibly flinched. A sharp pain stabbed me in the chest, but I didn’t hold it against her.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “It’s not you…I’m just…” She chuckled humorlessly, shrugging. “Broken.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. A half-smile touched her lips, obviously forced. “No, I’m fine, really. Don’t worry about me. It’s just gonna take some time is all.” Before I could respond, she changed the subject. “Tell me about you! What have you been up to?”

This small talk killed me. This was the woman I’d once shared everything with—things I’d never told another soul. And now, she was basically talking to me about the weather. I supposed it would take baby steps, but still, it hurt. Pushing her wouldn’t do any good, though.

So I struggled to find something lighthearted to discuss.

“Oh,” I remembered suddenly. “I’m off to meet the president again! Different one, obviously, but who knew little old Dirk would personally meet two different presidents in his life?” I forced a chuckle. “It’s not the White House, but I think it still counts.”

A genuine smile touched her face and that lifted my spirits a bit.

“That’s amazing, Dirk!” She looked me up and down with an appraising eye. “You’re filthy though. I hope you were gonna shower.”

“That’s actually where I was heading.” I nodded toward Lacy’s door, then paused when her smile faltered.

“Is that Lacy’s room?” She kept a good-natured smile on her face, but I could hear an undertone of something.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I rubbed at the back of my neck in embarrassment.

“Uh, yeah. It’s the best one…” I trailed off, realizing it sounded like a flimsy reason.

“Dirk, please. I’ve seen the way she talks about you. If you’re not already together, you should be.” She hesitated. “I’m not trying to be weird. Really. I’m happy for you.”

“Uh, thanks.” This was not a topic I imagined we’d be discussing right now and I was ill equipped to handle it.

“She was actually telling me about all the good you’ve been doing. Saving those people trapped in the Tower.”

“Oh, yeah?” I shrugged. “She’s probably overplaying it. There’s a lot of people helping me.”

Her eyebrows climbed her forehead.

“A humble Dirk Damascus?” She chuckled. “I’d never thought I’d see the day.”

A couple different responses passed through my brain. Prison was humbling. But no, that wasn’t true. Watching my friends die in the Tower over and over again, was the real answer, but far too heavy for this particular discussion.

So I kept it simple.

“Thanks, I’m working on myself.”

She nodded, a sad smile on her face.

“Listening to her…it made me realize that I never thanked you properly…for saving me, that is.”

I waved her concern away.

“No problem. I know you’ve been through a lot.”

“No, that’s no excuse,” she said with a shake of her head. “I’ve been shitty and…I’m sorry.”

I frowned at that.

“Nik’, you never have to apologize to me. I owe you more than I could ever repay.”

She chuckled lightly. “Even, then?”

I nodded. “Even.”

She pursed her lips in thought.

“When are you leaving?”

I shrugged. “Soon as I’m presentable.”

She looked to the side, clearly embarrassed to ask me something.

“Can I…can I come?”

That took me by surprise. “Of course, you’re absolutely welcome.” I pointed back toward my room. “Why don’t you meet up with the others and I’ll be right there.”

She nodded, walking past me. Suddenly, her arms were wrapped around me in a hug. I was so taken aback, I didn’t know what to do. So I returned her hug.

“Thank you.”

Then she was gone before I could respond. It felt good that we were mending that bridge, even if we would never be what we once were.

As I entered Lacy’s fancy shower, I felt lighter than I’d felt in a week.

Things were finally starting to come together.

***

When we were ready to go, it was quite the entourage. The entire party wanted to come—even Mama G. Lex made up some bullshit about being an ambassador for I.A.S., until I reminded him that his organization was responsible for millions of deaths. He decided to come all the same, but only as my talking goose—which, if we were being honest, was about the extent of what he actually was.

Athena insisted on coming as well, since she’d already met the governor and we’d set that precedent. But Lacy made her shower also, because she smelled like wet dog from all her training.

With all seven party members, Nikki, Athena, and Lex, we made quite the image as we filed into the caravan Michelle Waterstone had sent to pick us up. There were three sedans and four humvees, along with at least a dozen soldiers.

Before I left, I checked in with Captain Dickens who I’d like to say had grown to respect me once he’d seen what I was capable of. We exchanged handshakes and I left him and his team the Skeleton Key to continue liberating Instances.

Michelle hadn’t come with the caravan, being too busy as the governor’s aide for something as inconsequential as escorting us. But she had sent one of her people who had introduced himself as Daniel Portman. Daniel was a UCLA grad and gave me a real ladder-climber vibe, but wasn’t completely unbearable. He sat in the car with me and gave me the rundown on how I was to comport myself around the president.

“I have met a president before, Daniel,” I had said.

He had politely nodded, then continued explaining etiquette to me without missing a beat—like we were meeting fucking royalty or something.

When we pulled up to the State Capitol building, Michelle was there and thankfully rescued me from Daniel’s endless rules.

“Sorry about him,” Michelle said as we shook hands. “He talk your ear off the whole time?”

I groaned. “Ugh, yes! Felt like he was prepping me for a fulltime position as the president’s fluffer.”

She laughed at that, but Athena looked between us in question.

“What’s a fluffer?”

Michelle and I shared a wide-eyed look, then I glanced away like I hadn’t heard her. She pulled on my sleeve in annoyance.

“Don’t ignore me! What’s a fluffer!”

Lacy wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Like fluffing a pillow sweetie.”

“Oi, that’s not what he meant,” Amos added cheerily. He clenched his fist and held his arm up in a lewd gesture. “Fluffer is the bloke or sheila that keeps the porn star hard as a—”

“Amos!” Lacy hissed. “Didn’t I tell you that you could only come if you kept your dirty mouth shut?”

His eyebrows rose and he held a hand to his mouth.

“Thought ye meant ‘round the pres’.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, teaching the girl porn terminology sounds totally acceptable. You’re right.” Her eyes pinned him in place and he held up his hands innocently.

“Why you breakin’ me balls? Dickhead over here said it!” He pointed at me, just to clarify that I was the ‘dickhead’.

I threw up my hands and gave him a betrayed look. He shrugged, absolutely no remorse in his eyes.

“Can we stay on task here?” Michelle asked the group. “President’s due to land at Sacramento International any minute and this entire place is gonna turn into a God’s damned wasp nest.” She eyed each of us, waiting to see if we’d argue. After a moment, she nodded. “Thank you. Let’s head inside and you can meet with the governor before the real meet-and-greet.”

We were quite the motley crew as we followed Michelle up the stairs and into the building. Amos had insisted on bringing his pigeons, though they were thankfully enclosed in his magical pigeon container. Lex stood out the most and at first we didn’t know what to do with him. We all kind of agreed that a goose perched on my shoulder might not be the photo op the governor was looking for, but he also couldn’t waddle his ass fast enough to keep up with us. Eventually, we settled on Jerome holding him, because no on was giving that guy shit about holding a goose in his arms.

The men manning the security booth in the lobby gave us all badges that we pinned to our shirts. They looked comically official given our eclectic cast of misfits. The guard had tried to exclude Lex from the badge holding crew—until Lex scared the guy shitless by chewing into him with kid-friendly insults. Michelle smoothed it over and we ended up clipping a badge to his wing, which he soon realized was annoying. But he had made his bed, so he had to lie in it now.

Once that was done, Michell escorted us deeper into the building to meet with the governor. I was familiar with these halls now, having infiltrated once on our own and been escorted the second time. We were nearing Johnson’s office and I felt the nervous energy among the bunch. Athena and Lex were sniping at each other over something silly, while Amos kept licking his palm to smooth over his handful of hairs.

“Will you stop that?” Mama G barked.

Amos put an innocent hand to his chest. “Just bein’ presentable, love.”

“Here.” Lacy pulled out a bottle of something from her Inventory. At first, I thought she was giving him a sample-sized bottle of vodka, but she held it out and he put out his hand palm up. She squirted the hand sanitizer into his hand and he winked in thanks before massaging it into his other hand.

Mama G hadn’t snapped at any of us in days, which was how I knew she was tense.

I paused before we rounded the corner to the hallway leading to Johnson’s office. Michelle noticed and cast me a questioning look, but I held out my hand to ask for a moment.

“Guys, I know I’m not the leader. And I’m damned sure not great at pep talks. But for better or worse, we’re the best humanity has to offer—” I laughed as Byron and Frank shared a frightened look. “—okay, maybe not the best. But we’re the best positioned and the governor needs us. More than we need him, in fact.” I stood up straight, fixing a confident smile on my face. “So let’s go in there, smile, shake hands, and act like we belong.” I caught each of their eyes, injecting all the confidence I could. “And if worse comes to worse…Lacy’ll just illusion us all into the best versions of ourselves.” The group shared a nervous laugh as Lacy gave us all a thumbs up.

“Everything’s gonna be fine. We’ve got this.”

I waved for Michelle to lead the way and she nodded before heading around the corner.

Following close behind her, I was surprised when she suddenly halted a moment later.

When I looked over her shoulder, my blood froze. I whirled around, trying to signal to Lacy, but she was idly chatting with Nikki at her side and didn’t see me trying to wave them back.

Before I could block their view, Nikki’s eyes tracked up and locked on Craig thirty feet down the hall. A choked whimper left her throat and Lacy followed her gaze.

“Get her out of here!” I whispered and Lacy nodded, pulling Nikki back around the corner.

Whirling on Michelle, I felt the heat rushing to my face.

“What the fuck!”

Her eyes were wide and she did a double take between Craig and I.

“I didn’t know he was gonna be here! I swear!”

“Motherfucker,” I muttered. Turning back to the team, I kept my voice low. “Frank, turn on your eyes. Jerome, armor on. Byron, get the buffs rolling. Amos and Mama G, go back with Lacy and Nikki.” I looked down at Athena, who had a feral glint in her eyes as she scowled at Craig. “Athena, you too.” She opened her mouth to protest, but I cut across her. “This is serious. You don’t have any mental defenses. Go!”

She hesitated a second longer, but Mama G gently pulled her away and she didn’t resist.

I turned to face Craig, feeling his presence at my back like a plunging knife. When we locked eyes, he smiled. It was the kind of smile that could win a girl’s heart in an instant and swing entire crowds in his favor. I understood why Johnson wanted him by his side.

The governor appeared from his office, noting Craig’s gaze. Johnson turned to him and said something quietly before giving him a nod and heading toward us.

“Red threads?” I asked Frank at my side.

“Nothing.”

Jerome was in full armor—helmet and all—and the governor faltered when he saw him. Lex was still clutched in the man’s hands, but that didn’t take away from his terrifying visage in any way. The governor picked up his feet a moment later, but his eyes kept flicking to Jerome.

Good. I wanted him nervous.

“Dirk! Glad you could make it!”

“The fuck is he doing here?”

His smile never wavered, but the skin at the corner of his eyes tightened. He leaned in conspiratorially as he held out his hand.

“Don’t worry, son. You’re still my prized horse. He’s just here as a show of force to the president.”

My body vibrated with barely-suppressed anger and his hand hovered there before me. He looked down at it, raising his eyebrows in question.

“Don’t be like that, son. Take my hand. I’m a much better ally than I am an enemy.”

The threat in his words was contrasted by his pleasant tone, but I was tipping over the precipice.

All the bullets in this building couldn’t stop me from ripping you in half, you fat fuck.

That was what I wanted to say. But Lacy wasn’t here to cover up my mistakes. I had to be switched on, diplomatic.

So I gritted my teeth and took his hand.

“Thatta boy,” he said cheerfully, slapping me on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s get a drink while we wait for the old bird.”