"15231 Spring Vale, apartment A," Jake read. He looked out over the top of Dani's phone and pointed to a duplex ahead and to the left. "That's 15231 right there."

"And this is apartment A," Dania said as she turned 8-Ball's wheel to steer them into the driveway. A cherry-red sport bike sat ahead of them. Dania couldn't say for sure, but she didn't think it was the same make as Leo's bike back in the cabin's garage.

But what do I know? Bikes aren't my thing. I prefer 8-Ball, here.

She reached out and patted the dash, which earned her a questioning look from Jake and a smirk from Machairi. But Dania just shrugged and grabbed her backpack.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go check it out. Keep your head on a swivel."

"Nice place," Jake said as he opened the truck's door and hopped down. Dania followed his gaze and took in the manicured lawns and carefully placed flowering shrubs that bordered the driveway and sidewalk.

"This is Spring Echoes Glen," she said. "It's a bougie retirement and assisted living community. We've had a couple of patients come in from here occasionally. Come on, kid, I wanna get back to the cabin tonight if we can."

"What cabin?" Jake muttered, but he fell in behind her as she followed the sidewalk to the front door. She knocked softly and waited for a couple of minutes.

No answer.

"Jake—"

"Knock again, Dani, please." Worry saturated Jake's eyes, and he bit his bottom lip. With a sigh, Dania complied.

"I'm coming! One second!"

The muffled voice that reached them from beyond the door sounded female and relatively young. Dania inhaled to a count of four to try and slow her racing heartbeat as the door swung open from inside.

"Hello? Can I help you?"

The woman who opened the door looked like she was a couple years younger than Dania, but not many. She had bright, red-gold curls piled into a messy bun on top of her head, and a flawless, light brown complexion. She wore black leggings and a soft, fuzzy cream sweater that might have been actual cashmere. Her pink-lipsticked smile lit up her face and shone in her dark-lashed blue eyes. She held the door open with one hand and leaned against the doorjamb as she waited.

She looks like a goddamn social media influencer, Dania thought. This should be interesting.

"Hi," she said. "My name is Dania Ellis, and this is my nephew Jake and his friend Mac. I'm sorry to bother you. Um… do you live here?"

The young woman laughed. "No, this is my grandpa's house, but he's napping. Can I help you with something?"

"Um, well… this is kind of awkward, but… did you or your grandfather receive a deck on this most recent Drop Night?"

The woman's smile grew. "Do you want to come in?" she asked as she pushed the door wide.

"Yes, thank you," Dania said with relief. She stepped through the door.

And stopped as the woman lifted a 1911 pistol and pressed its muzzle against Dania's forehead.

"Inside, now. Close the door," the woman said, her tone clipped and her bright smile completely gone. "Hands out to the side, all of you. If your companion card makes a single move, I squeeze."

"I am not her companion," Machairi said.

"Machairi!" Jake hissed from behind Dania.

"Do you want to see her die?" the woman demanded. "Either of you?"

"No," Jake said quickly. "Neither of us wants that."

"Look," Dania said, using the tone she'd perfected on agitated patients in the ER. "We're not here to hurt you or your grandfather in any way. We just want to talk."

The woman stared at her for a long moment. Beneath the anger in her icy blue eyes, Dania could see a ripple of uneasy fear.

"Please," Dania said. "If I were here to attack you, would I bring my kids?"

"He's a deckbearer," the woman muttered.

"So am I, but neither of us has pulled our decks. Please. We just want to talk."

The woman let out a sigh. "Fine," she said, stepping back. She lowered the gun, but kept it pointed in Dania's direction. "Have a seat on the couch right there. All of you."

"Dani—" Jake whispered as he stepped up to take her hand. Dania squeezed his fingers and shook her head.

"Later," she said. "Let's just have a seat and do what we came here to do."

"Amari?" The man's voice that drifted down the hallway didn't quaver, per se, but it held the weight of age. "Is someone here?"

"It's okay, Grandpa," Amari called back. "Stay in your room, please. I'll take care of this."

Dania heard the creaking metal of wheels an instant before a man wheeled himself out from the dimly lit hallway to the right of the couch. His weathered face was a deeper brown than Amari's, and the short, tight curls in a military cut atop his head were snowy white. But his dark eyes looked keenly at Dania, Jake, and Machairi before tracking back to his granddaughter.

Something that looked like a green-skinned doll with ivy vines for hair sat on his shoulder, legs crossed at the ankles, one hand resting lightly on his ear. As he emerged from the dimly lit hallway, the doll blinked rapidly, and turned dark, pupil-less eyes to look at Machairi.

It smiled, showcasing rows of pointed thorns in the place of teeth.

"Have you lost your damn mind, girl? I'm not hiding in the bedroom while you greet visitors…especially when one is a deckbearer." The man glanced at Machairi.

"They both are," Amari said, resignation in her voice. "They say they want to talk to us."

"That right?" The man wheeled his chair around and came to a stop in front of Dania. "Well, then. With whom are we speaking?"

Something about his demeanor twigged a deeply buried conditioned response in Dania, and she found herself sitting up ramrod straight, her shoulders falling back as if she were standing at attention under the gimlet eye of a commanding officer.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"My name is Dania Ellis, sir. This is my nephew, Jake Kinley, and his companion card, Machairi. We…we wanted to come talk to you because we believe you may be targeted by a ring of card traffickers."

"Card traffickers?"

"It's what I told you about, Grandpa," Amari put in. "These assholes target deckbearers who they think are at a disadvantage, and they kill them or coerce them to give up their cards."

"Thank you, Amari," her grandfather said. "While I agree with your sentiment, in my day ladies didn't use such vulgar language."

Dania pressed her lips together and looked at Amari, who was in the process of rolling her eyes. She caught Dania looking and gave her a brief smile.

"Sorry, Grandpa," Amari said, and Jake stifled a snicker.

"She's right, sir," Dania said. "We got your address off the body of a deckbearer who attacked Jake and me at our home. He set fire to the house while we were asleep inside. We were lucky to get out."

"And lucky to take him down?" the old man asked, his snowy eyebrows climbing his forehead.

"Lucky and skilled," Dania said, allowing her own smile to come through. "He thought he was hunting a defenseless, low-level kid with a deck. Instead, he found two deckbearers with access to a private dungeon and combat experience."

"Ahhh." The old man sat back in his chair, and a smile played around his lips. "I thought I recognized your bearing, sister. Army?"

"Yes, sir," Dania said.

"The 'Stan?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hmm. Well after my time. Not surprising, I guess. I'm ninety-four." He hit her with a grin that lit up his face, and Dania smiled back. "So you saw this dead fellow had my address and you decided…what, to come warn me?"

Dania opened her mouth to answer, but Jake scooted forward and spoke instead.

"To warn you, sir, and to invite you to come with us."

"Come with you?"

"I…one of my cards was a building that exists only in the dream realm. It's a safe place, no one can go there unless I allow it. You and your granddaughter would be safe there for as long as you…need."

"As long as I live, you mean?" the old man asked, and Jake's eyes went wide.

"I didn't mean to be disrespectful—"

The old man waved his hand dismissively. "I know, son. I've commanded enough young men to know disrespect when I see it. That's an interesting offer." He let out a sigh. "If I were even thirty years younger, I'd tell you thanks but no thanks, I can take care of myself. But…that's no longer the case."

"Grandpa—" Amari started. But the old man shook his head.

"No, Amari. You're a good girl, and you're tough as nails. I couldn't be prouder of you, but you need to live your own life, not hang around and be my bodyguard. I wish you'd just take the deck."

"Not while you live, sir," she said, drawing herself up tall. "It's your deck, and you'll wield it for a long time yet."

"You and I have different ideas of what a 'long' time might be," he said. And then he shook his head again. "But that's well-traveled ground, and we don't need to hike it again." He looked at Dania.

"My main concern is providing for Amari here. My financial and physical estate is all handled, ready for her to take it up as soon as I die, but then I was gifted these cards…they should be hers, too, but she's stubborn like her grandmother and won't take them. I'm afraid someone else will get to me before she agrees."

"Grandpa, we barely know them! You can't possibly be considering—"

The old man held up an imperious hand, and Amari fell silent, but Dania could read the misery on her face as she looked at the old man. They're all each other has, she realized. Like Jake and me.

"Sir, if I may," Dania said, sliding forward. "Your granddaughter does have a point. You barely know us. But I might have another solution. The man that burnt our house down carried a valuable, powerful deck. I'm willing to give that deck to Amari, in order to allow her a better shot at defending you both. The only problem is, she won't have an opportunity to level up if you stay here. We… we have a dungeon that spawns monsters. It's a long story, but the bottom line is that if you come, she could practice her skills on our property in a relatively safe environment."

"Relatively safe," the old man said, the corners of his mouth deepening.

"Yes, sir," Dania said. "They are monsters, after all. And I'm happy to let Amari hunt them to level up if she wants. We'll help her. You too, of course, though you may find it challenging if you have mobility issues."

"Naturally," he said. "So that just begs the question: what's in it for you? What do you get out of bringing us to your dream building and keeping us safe?"

"Other than it being the right thing to do?" Dania asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Other than that," the man said, his smile growing as he nodded acknowledgment of her point.

Dania cut her eyes to Amari, taking in her athletic, muscular figure and the competent way that she held the 1911.

"Potentially two more deckbearers to help us take these assholes down."

Amari's eyebrows shot up, and the old man leaned back in his wheelchair and laughed, nearly toppling the doll-like creature on his shoulder. Dania gave a half grin and then shrugged.

"Sorry about the language, sir," she said.

"Eh. You're a soldier. You've earned it," he replied, wiping under his eyes before turning his chair to regard his granddaughter. "What do you think, sweetheart? Are we in?"

Amari looked at her grandfather, and then over to Dania. Without another word, Dania reached into her bag and retrieved the Cats and Bats deck. She held it out.

"It's a Beast/Infernal deck," she said. "But there are some cool synergies in it, and those bats could come in handy in tracking. It doesn't fit with my build or Jake's, but we'd very much like to have it in the hands of an ally."

Slowly, Amari stepped forward and took the deck in her free hand. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a gasp as the deck faded from view. When she opened her eyes, wonder filled her blue gaze as she looked at her grandfather.

He touched his chest with a nod. Slowly, Amari lifted her hand to her chest and made the splay-fingered gesture they all knew.

Deckbearer Amari Phillips has drawn her deck.

"Gods above and below," Amari breathed. "I'm a deckbearer!"

"You can incorporate my cards when I die, or give Ms. Ellis here her deck back when it's time," her grandfather said. "Although I'm not sure how well my Plant/Water deck will mesh with Beast and Infernal."

"Grandpa, you're not going to die—"

"I am, Amari. You know it and I know it. The cancer is just speeding things up."

"Um, excuse me," Jake said again. "I'm sorry, did you say cancer?"

Amari clenched her teeth and dismissed the three cards floating in front of her, and looked down at the floor.

"Yes, son," the old man said. "I did."

"So…the thing about the Night Haven is that you can't die there from anything other than old age," Jake said with a smile. "If…that's helpful to you at all."

Amari's head shot up, and she stared first at Jake, and then at Dania, who nodded confirmation.

"It might be, son," the old man said softly. "It just might be. Although, I'm plenty old. But… Amari? Are we in?"

She let out a gusty sigh. "Fine," she said. "Yes, we're in. Grandpa and I will accompany you to this building, and then I'll help you find the traffickers. And Grandpa can stay there as long as he wants."

"You both can," Jake said. "But, sir, I'm sorry. What was your name?"

The old man laughed. "Joe Phillips," he said with a smile. "Joseph Aaron Phillips. And this is my companion, Audrey." He reached up to stroke the ivy hair of the small plant creature on his shoulder.

"Wait— CW5 Joseph Aaron Phillips?" Dania asked. "The helicopter pilot? You received—"

Joe cut her off with a shake of his head and a finger to his lips. But then he nodded and pointed to his lapel, where a tiny blue rosette with white stars was pinned.

Dania swallowed hard and came to her feet. Tears filled her eyes as she raised her hand to her brow and snapped it down in a salute. "Sir, it's an honor."

"The honor is mine, sister," Joe said, returning her salute with a wink. "And that's all we'll say about that, all right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you. Well, then, shall we go?" Joe reached out and took his granddaughter's free hand. "I'm excited to see my new home!"

"The sun is just setting now," Jake said. "As soon as it's night, we can enter through my shadow. So you've got a few minutes, if you want to pack."

"Good idea," Amari said. "Ms. Ellis, do you want to give me a hand?"

Dania nodded, and followed Amari down the hallway, leaving Jake to chat with the living legend in the living room.

"Your grandfather is—"

"Yes, I know," Amari said, though her tone was kind. "He's a very special man. That's why I wanted to speak with you privately. He seems inclined to trust you and your kid, and I will follow his lead. But I promise you, if you cross us, I will hunt you down and destroy everything you care about. He is all the family I have left in the world, Ms. Ellis, and I'm not about to let anyone take him from me."

Dania closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling to settle her rattled nerves. "I understand perfectly, Ms. Phillips," she said, opening her eyes and smiling. "That's how I feel about Jake. That's why we're doing this."

Amari unbent enough to give Dania a tiny smile. "I could tell you love him," she said. "He seems like a good kid."

"He is. The best. So. Now that we understand one another…shall we be friends? I'm Dania."

She held out her hand. Amari looked at it for a second, then took it. Her smile grew until it lit up her whole face.

"And I'm Amari. And yes, let's be friends."