I lost track of the number of boss monsters that we fought over the next eleven days.

Since there wasn’t anything for Glima to do, we were able to spend most of the days fighting in the pit and learning different techniques for how to beat various floor monsters. It seemed that there were more boss monsters in the book than there were regular monsters. Which made sense in a way. If the boss monsters were combinations of regular monsters, then duplication would allow there to be an almost infinite number of boss monster combinations.

There were a few new restrictions put in place, like where we could and couldn’t go, which I’m pretty sure Rix ignored. But the one that hurt the most was that our messaging function got disabled. In fact, everything about our crystal bands was locked and the cuffs only allowed us to use our abilities. Not being able to check in with Ether and the others hurt, but I tried to focus on what I do.

Everyone’s mood had started to improve as we got further away from the incident. Rix had waited until the other Bandits cleared out, then had resumed her exploration at night. The difficulty of boss monsters made it so that we needed her during the fights, but that had also helped her mood.

Oz and Ren had stopped sharing a bed the day after the last Bandit left. Oz had reclaimed some of her confidence, but Ren was still the mostly silent and quiet one. I’d thought about talking to her, but the few times I’d tried to get her away from the group, she’d told me that she was fine and walked away.

I was surprised that Justia had started getting over her aversion to violence and was lending a hand during some of our fights. Things were looking up, until Gesai pulled me aside on our way back to the bunk. We walked until we reached the Warehouse before I decided to break the silence.

“What’s up?” I smiled, but the look wasn’t returned.

The older woman looked around. "I’ve been watching you fight for over two weeks now.” She eyed me. "There’s something about you that you’re not being honest about.”

My heart started beating faster. The first two stats that we’d tried to ‘fix’ had been Power and Magic. I had been trying to reign in my Speed and not get hit. I could tell that Rix was trying to push herself to be faster than me, but Oz and Justia were still there to compare me against. As for my Defense, I’d tried not to take damage, but Rix was the only one who didn’t have four Defense, which meant that they could not take a hit. Justia was quick to target me with heals, but that might have given me away.

“What do you mean?” I swallowed as I tried to figure out what she was thinking.

“I mean, I’m supposed to be helping the lot of you. Rix I can understand having her stats messed up because of her rapid level up, but you…” She wagged her finger at me. "You don’t add up.”

I shrugged. "I don’t know what to tell you.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Glima noticed something too. She said that sometimes spies will have their crystals modified to hide who they really are.” Gesai pointed at my chest. "She also said that she can tell that mark on your chest is also connected to your Mantle.” Her eyes narrowed. "She offered to take a look, so before she gets to you, I need to know what you are.” She held up her hand. "And don’t give me that ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ story.”

I didn’t know what to say. I doubted that Glima was strong enough to get past Trent’s brand, but that wouldn’t mean that she wouldn’t tell Sipher. I wasn’t sure how the handoff was supposed to be handled. If he thought something was up, once he hit Tier Six, he might try tampering with the seal. I wasn’t sure what a man like him would do with that information, but I couldn’t imagine it would be good for me.

“I…” I sighed. "I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

“After all we’ve been through and you don’t trust me.” She shook her head. "I can’t protect you if you won’t…” She froze.

Rix was behind her with her barb wrapped in something pressed up against her neck.

“Rix, what are you doing?” I didn’t like the way the former Bandit was holding that improvised weapon.

“Fixing this.” Rix leaned closer to Gesai’s ear. "You are going to go in there and tell Glima that the brand on Atlas’ chest is a protection spell that pulls energy from his Mantle to power it. That it is a Tier Six enchantment and that if she tampers with it, then it will likely kill her.”

Gesai touched the barb on her neck. "So you know about him too.” She looked at me. "What about Oz… agh!”

Rix pressed the barb tighter and I saw a thin line of blood.

“How are you..?” Gesai held up her hands. "Sorry. SORRY!”

“What is that?” I pointed at the improvised weapon in her hand.

“Swamp Hornet Stinger.” Rix looked at me. "Level thirty-two. It’ll just numb a Tier Three, but on a Tier Two or lower…”

“It will paralyze me, then stop my heart, and even with my magic, there’s no way I could heal myself.” Gesai finished.

Rix nodded and let the woman go, pushing her forward. She pointed the stinger at our teacher. "Now go and fix this.” Her eyes narrowed. "And don’t think about breathing a word of this to anyone.”

“Atlas…” Gesai looked like she was about to cry as she got on her knees. "I just want to help… Please. You told me that we were family. Is this how family treats each other?”

Rix looked at me and sighed. "You’re going to get us all killed.”

“She was at a low spot, I was trying to give her a pick me up.” I looked at the kneeling woman. "I’d like to trust you, I really would, but how do I know you’re not going to run straight to Farsch and tell him this to try to get back into the family?”

“I wouldn’t, I swear!”

“Even if I’m really a demon hell bent on conquering the world?” I decided to add a little flair.

She hesitated for a moment and wiped the tears from her face. "You offered yourself as a trade for her…” Gesai pointed at Rix. "When you could have stayed quiet and been safe. Even if you are a demon, any world you make would be one I’d rather follow you into than Uncle Farsch.”

Not the response I had been expecting. I looked over at Rix.

“It’s your secret. You can tell whoever you want, but you’re going to get us all killed.” The redheaded Shooter went back on guard as I realized that we weren’t alone.

“What secret?” Oz stepped out of the shadows.