The first thing Sadie noticed upon waking: every inch of her body hurt. Second thing: her limbs contorted in an unnatural position. Third: she sat in a net.

“How’s it hanging?” Fawkes sat cradled in a net hung from the main mast of their stolen airship. Raiders worked beneath them hauling off goods from the cabin. The airship balanced precariously in midair between two of the Floating Peaks, and a wide tear tore through the air far too close for comfort. The air bristled and shimmered around it, inviting you in only to destroy you.

The number of tears had multiplied since she entered Evarus, and every single one looked worse.

“You’re not funny.” She snapped the words, but it wasn’t him she was mad at. They couldn’t hang around like this for long. They needed to escape and reach Vidar.

She finally gained traction on finding out what happened to her mom, escaped some weird new Glitches attacking them for no good reason… and crashed the airship. Because she couldn’t keep her eyes open for two seconds from a teensy little electricity.

And now she sat unmoving in a net. Mom would never get caught like this.

Positives, at least she finally caught some sleep.

But now she itched to move. She made noises at the raiders until one looked up. “Look man, we need to speak to Vidar. We have important information for him.”

“Sure, and I’m Superman. Get in line.”

“I’m serious. He needs to hear from us.”

The raider waived her off. “You can do tryouts like everyone else. You’re not going to get in the raiders by speaking to Vidar.”

“Get into..? Look dude, I don’t WANT to be a raider. I want to be a pirate, and this is about—” How much should she tell him? The teenage boy looked at her with a blank face and glazed over eyes. Could people get high here? She signed. He wouldn’t believe anything she said, so no point in trying to convince him of their actual mission.

“Uh-huh. And you’d be pretty crap at that given how you crashed this airship. I’m sure they’d love to have you.”

Sadie sat back in her net and steamed. Worthless grunts. She swung her legs in frustration and checked her phone. Out of commission almost twelve hours. Those jellyfish packed a wallop into her still hammering head.

Gate: While his story is not unlikely, you should still avoid trusting him.

Sadie typed and then deleted a message. Nothing she said would change Gate’s mind, but sleep brought clarity to hers. She’d trust Fawkes from here on out.

Despite his annoying habits, she wanted to trust him. One less thing to worry about, which made room for those jellyfish. Those things wanted something; something they thought she had, or knew about. Did Ben send them thinking she was holding out?

“Don’t sigh at my puns. They’re captivating.” He laughed at his joke and slapped his knee.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She ignored him and checked her status. Nearly everything had increased exponentially but most notably her sword skill, and the sword itself raised over twenty levels.

Sadie: is the logout issue affecting these guys too?

It was the first time she’d encountered multiple Brink players since coming other than Fawkes, and she never had a chance to ask Jiyu.

Gate: Yes. It appears to be affecting all travelers.

“Hey, man,” she said to the raider. “Has Brink posted any notice warning players not to log in.”

“Yeah, about a day ago.” He heaved a box over the railing into the arms of a flying mech. “I didn’t get the memo though. So annoying they haven’t figured out a way to log out yet. I was supposed to go to dinner with my girlfriend.” He put his hands on his hips and leaned back. “Ugh, she’s going to be so pisssssssed.”

Sadie ignored his dating complaints not wanting to linger on that particular conversation and mulled over the jellyfish. They searched specific, recent memories involving her parents. They started as soon as Dad attempted or had already gained access to the gate app, increased searched memories when he left, and stopped as soon as they were both gone.

“Hey, guys,” she asked Fawkes and Jiyu who had just woken, “What did those jellyfish feel like to you?”

“I blacked out almost immediately,” Jiyu said through a yawn. Fawkes said the same.

It had to be Ben who sent them then. They had no other reason to search her memory like that and didn’t even bother with Jiyu and Fawkes. Well, tough luck because she really didn’t know jack shit about this key.

“Hey, you!” One of the raiders called out. “Keep it quiet while we scavenge here.”

“From our ship! Isn’t there some kind of code of honor?” Fawkes yelled down at him.

The raider adjusted his goggles and smirked. “For an airship you stole yourselves? Besides, you two aren’t even in any guilds.” He gestured to Sadie. “And since you managed to crash it, that makes it fair game.”

“What a load of nonsense,” Fawkes murmured.

“At least we’re alive?” Jiyu offered. “Actually, I take that back. It is nonsense.”

“Not you agreeing with me,” Fawkes said in a half-baked American accent. It was odd hearing him speak English and not the translation coming from Pidgeon. Now that she thought about it. How did that even work without the neural gear?

“Know what?” Jiyu flipped him off. “I take back my take back.”

“Guys, focus,” Sadie said. “How do we get out of here?”

“You don’t,” a raider said, laughing. “We’ll let you down when we finish.”

And who knew how long that would be. Sadie tried to call her weapon to fling it at him, but nothing happened.

“Neutralizer net,” Jiyu said.

Great. Typically, only assassins had that kind of stuff, but Sadie’s net hung from a hook, which gave her an idea. “Keep watch for me.”

“Oh, sure,” Fawkes said, “And we’ll be sure to swing into action at a moment’s notice.” He swung back and forth to prove his point.

“Just do it,” she hissed. When the raiders left with a haul a few minutes later leaving only one guard—the same she’d argued with who was more interested in his phone than them—she swung her net.

Keeping an eye on the hook, she slowly gained momentum in the direction of the open end. As she gained speed, she added little hops trying to get the loop over the hook end. On one bigger attempt, the hook creaked and groaned. She shrunk back down to try and slow herself.

The guard below either didn’t hear the noise or didn’t care.

Sighing in relief, she worked herself up to speed again. Once she had a sufficient swing, she timed her hop and popped the loop right off the hook.

Except she forgot to aim her landing too and dropped right onto the raider guarding them in a jumble of limbs and rope.

He pushed her off her, cursing.

“Would you believe me I’m sorry?” Sadie asked.

The raider frowned. “No, and since you attacked a member of the raiders, you can pay your debt to the colosseum instead.”