Reeve’s eyes struggled to focus on the creamy light moving before her. She pinched and opened them wide a few times and decided she was looking at…a ceiling onto which light was reflecting off of water. She rolled her head to the side and took in a room carved of smooth, nearly white soapstone. She and most of her party lay on stone platforms that ringed the circular wall. Turning to push herself up, she found the stone bed cushioned with something that looked like water but felt rubbery.

Walter sat, legs crossed, in the middle of the room between a lumpy black and white rug and a reflecting pool only slightly larger than a hot tub, which was set flush into the floor. He wore some sort of loose robe that was nondescript save for its bright orange color. Leaf and the twins wore similar robes where they lay, apparently still out cold, and Reeve was disappointed when she looked down to find herself attired in the same. She swung her legs off the platform and pushed up to a full sitting position. Tenting out the neck of the robe, she saw that all she had on beneath was the stained undershirt and breeches she usually wore under her leather armor.

She looked around again. It wasn’t a rug; it was the unmoving body of Bunce. Forming the final point of an odd triangle, a bird, maybe half a yard high, stood near Bunce and Walter. White feathers fringed with faint blues and yellows covered the bird’s body. Its head, which had a long black bill and a pronounced broad crest at the back, reminded Reeve of a backward hammer. The bird pecked Walter on the knee, and he absentmindedly reached out and stroked its head until the bird pecked at his hand and he withdrew it.

“My weapons…” Reeve sat up straighter and looked around the room. She didn’t see her naginata or bow…or Nyx. She patted her waist as she called up her UI, dismissed a host of port error messages, and found that her small hatchet and the miscellaneous small weapons she kept in her Inventory were also gone. She felt as queasy as when someone had stolen from her locker at school. She’d never had items disappear from her Inventory without her knowledge—she didn’t even know that was a thing. Her Companion Log indicated Nyx’s approximate direction and nothing else. But at least the cheetah was alive.

Stolen novel; please report.

Leaf stirred, then sat up quickly, looked around the room, met Reeve’s eyes, and rolled to her feet to begin a quick circuit. “All are safe?” She said as she passed Reeve, who rose from her bed.

“Think so.”

Leaf continued her circuit, and Reeve walked to where her father sat. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “You OK?”

“It’s like seeing you in the ICU,” Walter said.

Reeve knew her accident, the time she’d spent in the hospital, and everything that’d followed was a big deal to her parents, like, the biggest, but she honestly couldn’t even remember large chunks of it or her life from before and never knew what to say. She tried every day to love who she was—not then, but now—and move on. It seemed to be harder for them. She looked around for a change of topic. “What’s with the bird?”

“It was here when I woke up. Seems to like me, though.”

“You seen anyone? Other than the party?”

“No, just us.”

“Your weapons gone?”

Walter looked down at his chest and patted at the front of his robe. “I guess so.” He looked inside the neck of the robe as Reeve had a moment prior. “I liked those suspenders.”

The sound of fabric moving caused Reeve to turn in time to see Dusk rise from her bed. Reeve had to suppress a sour feeling as she found that Dusk looked both elegant and badass despite the shapeless orange robe, which looked nearly magical against her dark skin. But, Reeve thought, if she’d cared about looks over other attributes, she wouldn’t have chosen a half-orc character. She nodded to the half-elf, who returned the gesture and then woke her sister via a small flick of Dawn’s petite nose.

Leaf joined the group standing around Bunce in the middle of the room. “I see no means of entry or egress,” she said.

The bird pecked Walter on the knee.

“Our weapons are gone,” Reeve said.

Leaf nodded.

The bird looked at Reeve, then pecked Walter on the thigh.

Dusk and then Dawn joined the group, standing behind the bird. Dusk raised her hands to display her palms. “We cannot cast here.”

The bird turned one dark eye to Dusk and then Dawn and then pecked Walter on the side of a hairy big toe.

“Ow. Now that one hurt,” Walter said. Roused from his vigil, he looked up at the group standing over him.

The bird pecked Walter on the knee, and there was a blinding light accompanied by an explosive clap and every standing member of the party was thrown backward to impact the nearest wall.