Shout flicks Gasp’s blood at Ava’s back. His claws shiver and sing with magic that sounds and feels exactly like Gasp’s, and for a moment, it looks like he’s going to ignore the fallen woman. But something stops him. His entire body tenses like a bowstring, and he slowly raises his claws into the air as Gasp’s magic intertwines with something sharp, grey, and deadly.

Still, Ernest doesn’t stop talking. He shoots the smallest of glances our way, noting Taka’s death by the smallest raise of his eyebrows that I think is possible. With a motion of his shoulders that I almost miss he gets Zeze’s attention, and suddenly, all background noise fades away. Gisela opens her mouth to scream. Zeze’s magic silences her.

“That’s not good.” Noland says in the understatement of the year. “It looks like Shout can steal spells just like I can, and Ernest just scapegoated an entire section of the class-bearing population. Was this always their plan?”

I grimace and gently push Gisela behind the tree, then coat her in a triple-thick bubble of shields. Her eyes widen and she tries to say something, but thanks to Zeze, all she can do is reach for her notepad once again.

“I think Ava was supposed to kill Gasp.” I say slowly. “What we did made her think twice for some reason. Plus, it seemed to make her turn on HuSt. Why? What does she know that we don’t?”

Ava grabs Gasp’s head. She grips it tight, carefully maneuvers it into place, then wraps both of her hands around the dead woman’s neck. Plasticy magic pours down her arms and into the wound, filled with a sensation that is so absolutely alien to me that I can’t begin to actually describe it.

It is life. But it’s so plasticy and artificial that I really hesitate to call it that.

Gasp’s body shudders and lurches. Her hands wrap around Ava’s arms, her legs spasm like she’d just been kicked behind both knees, and her head slams into Ava’s nose. Ava doesn’t flinch–she just keeps pressing tightly, even as Gasp’s seemingly involuntary spasm’s batter her body with heavy blows with the weight of metal behind them.

For some reason, Shout stopped just short of digging his claws into Ava’s back. He looks down at her, his expression hidden behind his mask, and takes a half-step back. His body language speaks of fear and disbelief. Ernest snaps his fingers twice and points down at the pair of women with the impatience of someone who sees life as a currency.

Should we really just be watching this?

It doesn’t feel right just standing here. In two quick actions, Ava completely mystified me and left me wondering what the hell her deal is. Gasp’s death almost made me question Ernest’s motivations, but with Shout stealing her spell, it turns out I had him pegged right all along. The thing is, he wants to have his cake and eat it, too.

He wants to look like the paragon fighting against mind control and propaganda while also having it in his back pocket in case of emergencies. But he can never have it in the form of a Psychic Class–which most likely means Shout can permanently copy things, unlike Noland who just hijacks them.

“Can we do anything here?” I turn to Noland, and find myself staring at a very strained expression. “What’s that face about?”

Noland makes a conflicted noise deep in his throat. “I don’t know what’s happening. Depending on how much of this was planned, it might be extremely dangerous to try and do anything right now. Shout hasn’t killed Ava or tried to finish off Gasp. Ernest is acting like none of this matters. Is this still according to their plan? Do they even have a plan at all, or was the entire point of this just to kill off a few HuSt members and solidify their position among the elite?”

“Well, Taka’s dead, and Zeze’s still up on stage with Ernest.” I glance down at the corpse with a square missing from its chest and grimace. “Let’s assume their ultimate goal’s still the same; get support to control all class coin distribution and legality. How do they complete that goal, continuing from right here and now?”

“By letting Ava and Gasp run away, making them a pair of evildoers that they need to protect everyone else from.” Pearl frowns and crosses her arms. “I don’t know why they’re stooping to this if they have access to Shellraiser tech; that plus strong system-born should be more than enough to strong-arm a lot of the world.”

“Except for HuSt, by my understanding.” Fleur corrects Pearl. “Could it be that HuSt is not quite as unified as we think it is, and that this is a way to drive a wedge between those in HuSt that support the Preservation’s actions and those who do not?”

“That makes a lot of sense.” I mutter to myself, surprising both Gisela and Noland. I motion at my head as an explanation, which satisfies Noland and only makes Gisela more confused. “Noland… what if the plan was just for something to happen? The Preservation doesn’t care at all who dies, or who says what, as long as something happens that they could capitalize on.”

I nod and set my jaw as the idea takes root. “Ava kills Gasp after Ernest denounces her; the Preservation and HuSt solidify their ties. Ava does nothing and Shout kills Gasp; the Preservation looks like the good guys, and HuSt supports them. Ava turns on the Preservation; the Preservation kills her, then Gasp, and says HuSt was under control of a Psychic to demean them. I could go on, but do I need to?”

Noland shakes his head. “It doesn't matter what exactly happened; the Preservation just needed something to happen. That’s why they brought Ava and Gasp; hell, maybe it’s even why they brought Phineas the diddler. As long as one of the volatile personalities went off, they got what they wanted: a scene to take advantage of.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Bitter disgust works its way to the tip of my tongue, and I have to resist the urge to spit. “We gave them a damn good one to work with. How do we undo it?”

Gisela taps my shoulder, and I turn my gaze to see her scribbled-in notebook.

‘It’s almost time to make the switch. Can you get me to the stage, remove Zeze’s magic, and protect me?’

I lean back after reading with a frown. “That’s a tall ask. Why?”

She turns her notebook back to herself, quickly scribbles something out, and turns it to me. ‘I can’t tell you. It’s… the backup plan we had for if we couldn’t get in on the Preservation’s plan.’

A secret backup plan from the people who constantly lied to us. Yeah, that sounds like the kind of thing I definitely want to be a part of. But if she thinks it’ll do something for our current situation…

“Noland? What do you think?”

He shrugs. “Might as well. We’ve got fifteen minutes until Ursula gets here. Will whatever you’re about to do buy us that much time?”

Gisela–no, this is Dora–nods confidently as she writes without looking at her hands. ‘As long as you can keep me alive, Gisela will finish the other half of the plan near when the party’s about to end. I promise it won’t do anything to hurt you or the resort.’

“Shit, we’ve got no better options.” He sighs and looks at me. “Let’s do it, Shelby. Shout and Zeze are the only real worries, so don’t let them out of your awareness. Make three relocations and I’ll get them to the stage.”

I don’t bother asking why he needs three if he’s going to get them to the stage; I just do as he asks. My coins fill with spells almost instantly, and after touching them to each of us, Noland palms all three of them and gently tosses them upwards.

“Alright. Gisela, I’m going to take control of Zeze’s spell the second I get there. Shelby, you keep Shout away from Gisela. Oh, and give me a few coins with shields in them.” He holds out a hand again, and with a roll of my eyes, I make some for him. “Thank you very much. These will keep Gisela safe for however long she needs, but be aware that the Presrvation could start up their mech at any time. And that Ava and Gasp are complete unknowns as of this moment. Ready?”

I nod. So does Gisela.

“Alright. We’ve got this.”

He flicks a coin into the air, lets it spin around three times, then snatches it with his other hand and whips it at the stage. Zeze and Shout both startle and snap directly to it, magic flaring from both of their forms, and they close in on my coin in a millisecond. I grit my teeth and feel for the connection to my coin, wait for it to be close enough to the stage, and trigger it.

Noland flickers from my side to the stage. Zeze and Shout converge on him in a heartbeat, spells and claws aimed to pierce his heart. For a split second I wonder why the hell Ava is still allowed to heal Gasp untouched, but I’m answered with a shuddering cough that comes from just a foot away from me.

Taka stands up. His eyes are glassy, and I can see through the hole in his chest, but he’s undoubtedly alive. He shakily snaps his fingers and his section of torso appears back in his chest, held in place by strands of magic that very slowly start to heal him.

“That bitch.” He mumbles drunkenly and takes a step towards me. “She was supposed to die, not me. Gotta… tellllllll… thhhemm…….”

I stare at him, my muscles tense for a fight, but Taka doesn’t meet my gaze. In fact, his eyes aren’t focused on anything. He just stumbles slowly forward, clutching his chest as he mutters incoherently. Before I can even think, two voices speak inside of my head in unison.

“Kill him.”

“Kill him.”

My hand moves. A projectile screams into my coin, and I shove it towards Taka’s chest. Some part of him notices the motion. His eyes try to focus on me, but fade into dull unknowing. A whirl of magic bursts free from my coin, ripping him apart from the waist up in a spray of magic, blood, and… and…

Salt.

Thoughts race through my mind as the mass of writhing, deadly magical salt continues to mince what remains of Taka’s torso. But I don’t need an explanation–I know that this is because of Fleur. What confuses the hell out of me is why absolutely nothing informed me of this change. And… what it means for Fleur as a person.

Gisela grips my shoulder tight. The look in her eyes says she is not okay with what just happened. The look that replaces it says she’s far too used to not being okay with things. She shudders, straightens her back, and puts on an aire that’s both confident and unshakeable. With a confident nod, she puts away her notebook and lets go of me.

The sound of her breathing comes back in a flicker of gold. She glances down at her chest, as if not quite sure she could actually talk, and quietly whispers a string of vowel and consonant sounds to herself.

It’s time. I take hold of the other two coins, completely putting Taka’s death out of my mind, and readying myself for the rest of what the Preservation and HuSt can throw at us.

My spell rips us away, and in the blink of an eye, we’re on the stage. Looking out over a sea of glazed-over eyes, placidly excited expressions, and a complete dissociation from what they definitely just saw. Ernest rages against one of my shields–this one keeping him inside like a bug in a plastic container.

Gisela swallows hard, then takes a deep breath.

“You’ll do fine.” I whisper to her and shift my focus to Shout, who breaks away from Noland in utter silence. “Do what you gotta do.”

She doesn’t answer me. “To everyone here; this is why magic is terrifying. Just like conventional weapons, anyone who wields one against an unarmed populace is a brutal monster.”

Ava finally looks up at the sound of Gisela’s voice. Gasp’s helmet moves as well. Gisela barely glances down at them, but I know they see each other.

“But laws can kill just as easily as any weapon.” She continues, growing visibly angry as she speaks. “And the Preservation doesn’t just want control of the weapons–they want control of the laws as well. Leaving absolutely nothing for us to survive with.”

Her fist slams against a platform. “If we let them get away with this, it isn’t just magic they’ll control! It’s literally everything!”