"We are leaving." Dania's words carried an animalistic growl. She stood up and flexed her fingers to unsheathe her mantle-given claws.

The thing wearing Kaylie's face laughed, the sound of it twisting in Dania's gut. "Of course you're not leaving," she—it—said. "Jake is my son. You're not taking him anywhere."

Defiant rage ignited underneath Dania's skin, swelling to burst out of her on an echoing roar.

"NO!" she snarled. "You are not my sister. Jake is mine to protect! You're nothing but another fucking dungeon monster!"

As soon as she said the words, a card appeared in the air, hovering behind Kaylie's smiling face and malicious eyes.

#

Loved One Lost

Mortal/Undead/Shadow [Dream]

Dungeon Monster

Health: 60

Attack: 8

Defense: 6

Magical Attack: 10

Magical Defense: 3

Special: Face Of A Loved One: This creature’s Magical Attack is non-lethal. If any single hit inflicts damage that is higher than half the target’s health, the target’s attack and magical attacks are reduced by half, but no lower than 1. If any single hit inflicts damage higher than one quarter of the target’s health, the target experiences a -2 modifier to all stats except health.

Special: Dream Card: If this creature is slain, it will drop an uncommon card 20% of the time, and a rare one 5% of the time. If that card drops, 50% of the time it will be a [Dream] card.

#

"Language, Dani," the Kaylie-monster said, her smile growing. "I don't want you speaking that way in front of my son, little sister."

"You're not my sister," Dania said, reaching to touch one of her cards. "And he's not your son!"

Tawny light flowed to the floor, and the figure of a Dire Wolf Tracker sprang back into being. At the same time, Machairi leapt from the shadows, his knives flashing as he threw himself at Kaylie.

From the corner of her eye, Dania spotted Mark starting toward them. She snarled and leapt to intercept him, slashing her claws across his chest and throat as the Dire Wolf Tracker lunged in to snap powerful jaws at the Mark-monster's lower legs.

"Dania!" the Mark-monster bellowed. "What are you doing? This is insane!" He shoved at her, sending her stumbling backward. She scrambled to keep her feet, and tossed another card out, throwing her Dire Wolf Best Beta into the fray. Kaylie's scream rose up behind her, and Dania spared a glance her way while the two wolves harried her erstwhile opponent.

Jake's adult face looked stricken, but as she watched, he tossed out a Shadowling to join Machairi and another Shadowling in attacking the Kaylie-monster.

"Jake, buddy, why? It's me! It's Momma! Why are you hurting me?"

Her cry ripped through Dania, twisting inside her chest like one of Machairi's knives. Dania shook her head to clear it and reached out to grip Jake's shoulder.

"She lies, it's not her. Your mom is gone."

"I know," Jake said, his voice deep and rough. "This whole place is a lie."

"Not a liiiiieee. A drrrream."

The voice came from under the couch behind Dania. She turned in time to see Hush pulling himself up out of the shadow.

"Thanks for the pedantry, Hush," Dania snarked as she flipped her deck. Beside her, Jake did the same. "Are you going to help us out here?"

"I can shhhieeellld youuu, but if I helllp, yourrr rrrrewarrd willl beeee lessss. Isss that whaat you waaant?"

"No," Dania said through gritted teeth. "Not yet. I'll let you know."

"Yes!" Jake breathed as his new hand resolved. He narrowed his eyes and his free hand clenched into a fist. He touched another card just as Machairi stabbed both of his knives into the Kaylie-monster's lower back.

Jake's Shadowling Amalgamation loomed up out of the glowing black light that wreathed his selected card. It rolled toward the two smaller Shadowlings and engulfed them into a writhing mass of night-dark tentacles before turning to wrap three massive tentacles around the Kaylie-monster. The monster let out another scream and crumpled to the floor.

"Kaylie!" the Mark-monster bellowed. It punched the Best Beta in the muzzle and surged forward toward the downed figure of its partner, but Dania had already touched the other Dire Wolf Tracker in her deck, and the tawny light resolved into a second snarling, snapping, chest-high canine blocking the Mark-monster's way.

"Dani, help me!" The Kaylie-monster reached out a hand, turning to look at Dania with eyes wide and pleading. "Please! I'm your sister!"

"You're not my sister." The words threatened to stick in Dania's throat, but she forced them past her lips. "My sister died years ago."

"No, Dani! It's me! It's me!" Tears ran down the Kaylie-monster's face, and Dania blinked away the moisture that blocked her own vision.

"Jake!" That was the Mark-monster. The trio of Dire Wolves had him down, even as he battered them around the head and shoulders. "Jake, you don't have to do this! You can be happy here with us!"

"It's not real," Jake said, but his voice caught as he spoke. Dania looked over at him, but he squared his shoulders and touched another card. "You're not real. My parents are dead."

As he said it, he touched another card. This time, the light that flowed from his hand was bone-white, and it arrowed toward the Mark-monster. It let out a scream that mingled in ear-scraping cacophony with the Kaylie-monster's wails. Dania grimaced as the sound pierced her mantle-enhanced hearing and shattered inside her skull. For just a moment, the entire scene froze, as if the dungeon itself held its breath. Then both monsters let out a distinctive rattling sound, and went limp.

Congratulations. You have defeated the Loved Ones Lost. You have earned 100 experience points. You have leveled up. You are now level thirteen.

Dania heard the notification, but she paid it no mind. Her eyes stayed glued to the anguished death mask of the monster that looked so much like her sister. She blinked, and the memory of the last time she'd seen Kaylie's true face—battered and bruised from the car accident—rose up from her memory and superimposed itself on the monster's visage. She shook her head and dismissed the memory, as well as all of her cards and her deck, then went to wrap her arms around Jake's shoulders.

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He stiffened under her touch, then shrugged her off.

"Jake?"

"Not here," he said, his voice still roughened and aged from his mantle. "Can we just… let's get out of here."

"SSStep outsssside," Hush said. "But taake the cardssss when you go."

Right. The cards. The whole reason we're here. Fucking cards. They better be worth it.

Jake just continued to stare at his mother's face and outstretched hand, so Dania stepped forward with a sigh as the body dissolved into a foil-wrapped pack of cards. She picked up the pack, and then turned to gather the single card that remained where the Mark-monster had fallen.

"Come on, kiddo," Dania said then, reaching out to tap Jake on the shoulder. "Dismiss your cards except for Machairi, and let's go home. I think we're done here."

"There arre morrre levelsss—"

"We're done," she repeated, her eyes going flat as she stared at Hush. "At least for now."

The unusual monster nodded at her, and pointed to the front door. With a tug, Dania got Jake moving in that direction. He stumbled as he crossed the threshold of the house, and then again as they descended the porch stairs.

"Easy there, kiddo," Dania murmured to him. "Just keep it together for a little bit longer. Just let us get home, okay? Then we can rest. Just keep moving until then."

The minute their feet touched the sidewalk in front of the house, that everywhere-and-nowhere voice spoke.

"You have reached the waking point for this floor. Do you wish to wake, or continue on your journey into the Shadow of the Mind?"

"Wake us the fuck up," Dania snarled, even though her mantle was back in her deck. At the last second, she cursed and grabbed Jake's hand.

Everything went dark, but they didn't fall.

Dania gripped Jake's fingers. She blinked hard and opened her eyes wide, but the oppressive, stygian darkness lay over everything like a shroud.

"Deckbearrrerrr…"

Dania swallowed and turned slowly toward Hush's low whisper. She blinked then, and narrowed her eyes. An irregular shape resolved in front of her: roughly triangular, but lacking in straight lines and sharp angles.

The dungeon entrance! We're in the hollow under the deadfall, and it's starting to get light outside!

"Come on, kiddo," she said, squeezing Jake's hand once more. He didn't squeeze back, but he didn't resist as she pulled him toward the slowly lightening opening. She cursed as her boots slipped on a root covered in loose dirt, but eventually, she, Jake, and Machairi climbed back out into the world of reality.

"Thanks, Hush," she said, brushing the dirt out of her hair and looking toward the house. "Are you coming?"

"I cannnnot," the monster whispered, his voice growing faint. "I am a crrrreature of sssshhhhadoooow. I willl sssseeee youuu toniiiiight."

"The day dawns. Hush cannot move in the sunlight," Machairi said, his voice solemn. Dania glanced at the companion card to see him staring fixedly at Jake, his lower lip caught between his teeth. "He will join us from under your bed later."

"Okay," Dania said. She shook her head. "One problem at a time. Let's get Jake back to the house, Creepy, okay?"

"Okay," Machairi said, and started walking that way. Dania followed, leading an unresisting Jake by the hand. The forest had gone still and silent with the growing dawn, and their footfalls in the crunching snow provided the only sound. Dania's shoulders twitched, but she ignored the eerie sensation and pushed on.

I'm too exhausted to be rational right now. Let me get Jake somewhere safe. Then we can rest, and… Fuck, I don't want to think about it, but I suppose we're going to have to talk about that last floor.

The aftermath of her own combat experiences and her nursing training in mental health had taught Dania that compartmentalizing trauma was possible for a finite period of time in order to meet a more immediate need… but that eventually, she and Jake were going to have to unpack it all, lay it bare and address what they felt, so that they could begin to heal. It wasn't a pretty process, but it was absolutely necessary.

But rest first, she told herself firmly. He deserves it, and so do I. Let's get back to the house, we can rest, and then… we'll see.

Eventually, she led a stumbling Jake up to the back door of the cabin. She fumbled with her key, but got the door open and ushered him inside. Then she closed the door, locked it, and turned to meet Jake's eyes.

"That wasn't them, was it?" Jake whispered, his eyes wide and his voice so very, so terribly young. "We didn't hurt them, did we?"

"Jake, listen to me," Dania said, dropping her keys on the kitchen counter and walking over to take his face in her hands. "That. Was. Not. Them. Your parents are gone. You know that."

"I know, I just…"

"It was a dream designed to prey upon deckbearers' deepest desires," Dania said, and a spark of anger ignited in her as she spoke. "It's one of the most fucked-up things I've ever heard of."

"Yeah, but they wanted me to stay. They told me they loved me, just like my mom and dad."

"Your mom and dad would not have wanted you to die in a dungeon set by some capricious asshole of a god!" The fire of her anger throbbed through Dania's words. "They would have wanted you to do exactly what you did, kiddo. You did really good, you know that? You kept your shit together, you used your deck to your advantage… you're a badass deckbearer, and you acted like it. My sister, my real sister, would be so proud of you—is so proud of you, Jake. I… I'm not religious, but I gotta think that somewhere, somehow, she knows. And she's fucking glowing with pride for you."

Jake stared at Dania for a long moment before his eyes welled with tears and his face crumpled. Dania dropped her hands to his shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. He was almost her height, but he tucked his head in and let her hold him as he wept.

"She… called…out…to… me," he sobbed.

"I know, kiddo, I know." Dania stroked her hand over his head, then gritted her teeth as she realized it was the exact gesture that Kaylie had used and the monster had echoed. "But it wasn't your mom. You know that. You saw the cards, too."

Jake nodded, his tears wetting the fabric of her shirt. "But she sounded just like her… and I wanted it to be real, Dani. I wanted it to be real so bad."

"I know, bud. I did too." Dania pressed her lips against the top of Jake's head. He brought his arms up and wrapped them around her, squeezing hard. His young body was still whipcord-thin, but their training had caused him to put on some muscle, and it hurt just a little. But Dania didn't move. She stood like a rock and let Jake unload all of his anguish and grief and pain onto her.

He's just a kid. She directed the thought at Nyx. This is such a shitty thing to do to him. Why couldn't you have chosen a goddamn adult? Why did it have to be a kid? My kid?

Eventually, the sobs that wracked Jake's body stilled. He clung to Dania for a moment longer, and then dropped his arms and stepped back. He swiped at his eyes and sniffed heavily, looking down and away.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Don't be," Dania said, turning away to give him a moment. She opened the fridge and pulled out a package of cheese slices. She tossed them on the island counter, and then bent to grab a butter knife. "That whole situation was fucked up, and you're handling it about as well as can be expected."

"You're not sobbing," Jake pointed out. Dania looked up from the silverware drawer.

"I'm not the one who had to murder a facsimile of my parents." Her words were soft, but firm. "And I've done fucked-up things before. My tolerance is higher. I'll probably cry in the shower later."

"In the shower?"

Dania shrugged, dropped the butter knife next to the cheese, then turned away. "Trick I learned in the Army. Shower's private, and no one notices if you come out with your face red and puffy, so long as you've got hot water available. The point is, grief and tears are a normal—even healthy—response. We're safe now, so now's the appropriate time to deal with what just happened."

"Which means crying like a baby?"

Dania pulled a frying pan out of the cupboard and put it on the ancient burner with enough force that it rattled.

"Are you?" she asked, turning the knob until it clicked a few times and the fire leapt beneath the pan.

"Am I what?"

"Crying like a baby? Are you crying and hoping someone else will come along and take care of your problems for you? Or are you acting like a man and a warrior and dealing with your emotions in a healthy, safe way so they don't come back and bite you in the ass at the worst possible moment later?"

She pulled the bread from another cupboard, grabbed the butter dish, and turned back to the island. Jake met her glance with a frown, but didn't say anything as she began assembling several cheese sandwiches for grilling.

"Can I have one of those?" he asked amid the sizzle of butter as she dropped the first one in the pan.

"If you answer my question," she pushed. "Are you acting like a baby?"

"No," he said. "You're right. Processing emotions is healthy. I just…I was so angry."

"I know," Dania said from her place in front of the stove. "I'm angry too. But I'm proud of you. You handled that fuckery about as well as anyone could have. And I'm even more proud of you for dealing with it right away. So yeah, you can have one of these. In fact, have three. I figured you'd be hungry, and I'm not about to eat four sandwiches by myself."

She looked over her shoulder as he chuckled, and saw him slide onto one of the ancient barstools. He grinned at her, and she smiled back, and then laughed when he launched into a huge yawn.

"We'll eat, and then get some sleep," Dania said. "All right?"

"Yeah," Jake said. "We've got a bunch of levels to make, and cards to sort… but I'm smoked."

"We'll handle all of that tomorrow." Dania flipped the first sandwich onto a plate, and slid it across the island to him. "Tomorrow is soon enough."