Skidmark stood a few feet away, waiting for a response, as the murderous thought floated through Zoe’s mind. To kill, or not to kill? Between one heartbeat and the next, the option tempted her like a low-hanging apple shining in the sun.

ding!

No, Zoe, you can’t!

Yeah, Zoe mused, Skidmark Steffanie was a member of the Gambler’s Game. She must be high enough level to resist a technique like [Our Heart’s Toll as One].

ding!

That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You’re being such a grump. Stop, please.

I’ll try.

Zoe leaned back.

“I’m fine and dandy,” Zoe said to Skidmark. “Just didn’t plan on being in hell.”

“Just the apocalypse, then?”

“Yeah…”

An awkward silence blossomed. Zoe continued sitting, and Skidmark continued standing. Through the invisible backs of the colossal doors, the rest of the party argued in pantomime as the falling sands eroded their words.

Zoe didn’t know why Skidmark was here, but the woman had made some attempt at conversation, so Zoe could return the effort. She didn’t want to be a grump, after all.

“Where are you from, Skidmark?”

“Glasgow.”

“Is it nice there?”

“It was alright, for what it was. Nothing but dinosaurs and marsh water now.”

“Right. Apocalypse.”

“Apocalypse,” Skidmark nodded and the awkward silence extended. “So what’s your build then? You’ve got chains for hands, and you took out Derrick pretty easily… with my help, you’re welcome, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Zoe said. “But I would have killed him without your help, and if necessary…”

“You think you could take me out?”

“If I had to. You’re a lightning user?”

Skidmark grinned.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

Zoe scoffed.

“Build? I wish I had a build planned, or anything planned. It’s been a lot of hard decisions made with no time to think about them, but I use mirrors and chains to solve most of my problems.”

“Reflection and bondage?” Skidmark winked. “I can get behind —”

[Self Reflects the World]

Skidmark’s eyes widened. She stood and gazed at her reflection in Zoe’s mirror-covered chest.

“That is cool. Can I?” At Zoe’s nod, she reached a tentative finger forward and prodded Zoe’s arm. The reflective force pushed back at her finger and she laughed with delight. “Cool! I’m less lightning, and more… hmmm… it’s forces caused by interactions. Negatives, positives, magnets, you know? I was kind of a physics student back in the before, and when the apocalypse happened I was working at… well it doesn’t matter,” she pulled her hands apart and lightning arced between them. “But it makes doing things like this pretty easy, and my Body Path is called [Attraction of Dichotomy]. What about yours?”

Zoe wondered if she should mention the technique wrapped around Skidmark’s heart.

“My body path lets me create harmonies.”

“Like music? That’s punk rock!”

“No… not music, it’s like…” How could she describe it? Her intuition reached for an answer, like a flutter of moth wings across her heart. “How do you feel right now?”

“Pretty chill, all things considered.”

“Even though we’re in a literal Hell?”

“Could be worse, couldn’t it?”

Zoe shook her head, but it was perfect. She dropped her mirrored technique and reached out to touch a hand upon Skidmark’s chest.

[Sympathetic Resonance]

She tapped herself.

And her chains hummed. Skidmark gasped, and Zoe felt her — beyond her skin, beyond the mask she put up, and into her heart — the thrum of emotion through Skidmark’s Skein — the “pretty chill” that rose to the surface — and that same harmonic traveled through Zoe’s chains and into her — and the bubbling, sickened tangle of feeling inside her — loosened — chilled —

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Zoe let out a long slow breath as she lowered her hands.

“Did you feel that?”

“What…” Skidmark looked at Zoe. “What was that?”

“Part of my Body Path [The Bell at the Centre of the World], I wasn’t sure it would work. I can touch the resonance of things and I suppose since we’re all Skein now — just threads — our emotions are another resonance.”

Skidmark nodded, something troubled in her eyes.

“And this is how you feel?” her fingers brushed over her chest. “How you just made me feel is how you feel?”

“Well, you helped me calm down, so right now I feel a lot better.”

“That’s good…” Skidmark glanced through the invisible doors. “Looks like they’re ready for us.”

She started walking back, and Zoe trailed behind. Her steps were slow as she reflected. It was an interesting use of her ability, and she hadn’t thought such a thing would be possible, but it just showed how little time she had spent exploring her power.

Something to correct once she returned to Earth.

Though she had no build planned, it was as though her techniques were aligning. Her Body Path let her study another’s Skein before she used [Mind’s Eye Incision]. They fit each other almost perfectly, despite one coming from the Smith and one coming from a parasite beyond the system. Was this because her techniques were her subconscious desires made flesh? Or did it have something to do with the dark fate mentioned by Oriz back in the dungeon?

She gazed at the small of Skidmark’s back. A koi tramp stamp peeked out of the top of her black denim cutoffs. Every inch the human punk. From the outside, at least…

But Zoe felt something inside her. Something alive, buried deep below the layers of human emotion, wrapped up in the Skein like a spider in a web. A consciousness that shied away from her resonant touch.

What was it?

Zoe wanted to believe that it was just Skidmark Steffanie’s soul. That it was the force controlling the mind that called itself Skidmark Steffanie.

She wanted to believe she had intruded upon someone and manipulated their emotions in a way that made them deeply uncomfortable.

Because Zoe could handle being rude, she could handle being hated, but what she couldn’t handle was how much that soul felt like a spinning coin wavering on the edge of falling.

Would it be heads? Tails?

She couldn’t be sure, but from that brief glimpse — it felt too much like the Gambler.

And that thought sent an icy wave through her blood.

Had the Gambler survived? Was a fragment of his soul lurking inside Skidmark Steffanie? Such a thing didn’t seem impossible — hell, Zoe was in hell! — she had no idea what was and wasn’t possible with the Crimson Armada System.

But she didn’t want to believe it… who would?

But it just opened up more questions. Why would the Gambler choose Skidmark of all people? Zoe’s brow furrowed at the thought, and even the optimistic Black Star remained silent. Because if the Gambler could hide himself inside one of them, then maybe he hid himself in all of them.

Maybe she had a piece of the mad bastard laughing inside her now…

Her chains flexed and jangled. She forced them down, forced herself to cancel [Mind’s Eye Incision] as it begged to slice her apart.

No.

I can’t cut myself apart out of fear.

Measure twice, cut once, and her body path would let her measure. Because if she started hacking people’s souls apart to uncover the god hidden inside…

But what if she was wrong?

Ding!

We should be sneaky, Zoe. We should be sleuths and figure out where he is hiding. When you know he is hiding, we can cut him out and smash him against the ground.

I thought you would want to be his friend.

Ding!

Some people dig their own graves and all that is left is to bury them.

Zoe grinned at the earnest seriousness of the Black Star’s tone.

“What’s so funny, then?” Bella asked her with a smile.

Zoe blinked.

She stood surrounded by her friends. When had she walked up to them? The sand fell behind her, a curtain waiting to be parted, a cascade of white noise. The faint, almost sterile smell of the desert blew through the portal.

Zoe shook her head.

“I’m sorry, I was somewhere else. What were you saying?”

Bella raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve chosen the [Sunderer] rune because… well, because of you.”

Bella’s words took Zoe by surprise.

“What do you mean?”

Was Bella mad at her? Had Oriz turned Bella against her? She felt her chains tremble as her connection with her friends fluctuated. Her heart technique palpitated, and Zoe’s eyes widened as she fought for control. What was happening to her? The technique stabilized… but Zoe felt sickened. If she lost control, did that mean everyone would die?

What was this place doing to her?

Or was it because she had a piece of the Gambler inside her?

Too many questions!

She fought the urge to fall to her knees and scream and blinked at Bella.

“What do you mean ‘because of me’?” she asked.

Bella looked sheepish, and Oriz stepped forward.

“I hope you don’t mind, Zoe,” Oriz said. “But I explained your Body Path to Bella and the others. Your ability to access the universal layer of resonance is potent, but since your path is not yet complete, you cannot create portals.”

“Not yet.”

“Exactly, but then we have this runeblade. The Four-Hearted Wasp explained that [Sunderer] is not an exact translation, just the closest one. With this rune activated, and her Body Path [The Anchor in Darkness], she can anchor herself and cut between worlds, then you can stabilize the portal. You two are a perfect pair for this very situation we find ourselves in — escaping dimensions.”

Zoe laughed and swept Bella up in a hug so tight the other woman blushed.

“Put me down,” Bella squeaked out. “I’m still hurting from the ritual.”

“I could kiss you,” Zoe laughed again. “I thought you were… never mind. Are you sure about this? We can cut our way out of here?”

“Now that is where the problems begin,” the demon said with cold pleasure. “With enough pressure, and the rune of [Sunderer] you can cut almost anything, but do you know where you’re going? Who is to say that by cutting here you will end up anywhere but deeper in hell? This is no marble of dirt and ice floating in the void, this is pocket folded upon pocket, and the threads, my dears, have already started fraying…” The demon threw back its head and cackled. “You want to escape? We all want to escape. Welcome to Hell!”

Silence descended like a bucket of ice water.

“I hate him,” Anton said.

The demon only smiled.

Oriz stepped forward.

“Can you guide us toward the correct location to cut our way out of Hell?” she asked. “Can you take us to the point in Hell that overlaps with the corresponding point on Earth that leads to…” she furrowed her brow and looked over at Zoe. “Where exactly on your planet were we before the Barbeque Pit? I remember a cave…”

Zoe opened her mouth and closed it. After a moment, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“We never got the name of the town, did we Anton?”

“From what my eyes saw, someone stripped away the town’s name. Either Sister Salt, or the System, but there were no signs or anything. Though couldn’t we just say your town, you’re the mayor right?”

The demon grinned.

“Those are fantastic directions, to be sure.”

“You’re magical,” Anton said. “Can’t you just… know… or something?”

“Of course I can.” The chains rattled as a long-fingered hand slipped free from between the black shining links. “If you’re willing to make a new deal.”