Lisa was seven different lizards made of fire and marbles running through tunnels of root and stone. She scouted for anything of note, mapped the area, and kept an eye out for potential dangers.

Two of herself made their way back empty-handed. She didn’t want to push the others further so she set them on a patrol route and had the two join the fight instead. They ran circles around the vine and stone Golem barring their path to the ruins up ahead and distracted it.

She would have had more than seven, a few months ago. Then she’d lost her mana rings. Not that she was upset. She had done it to help her classmates and leveled because of it, but … still.

She’d get them back, someday.

One was nicked by stray debris and began to leak essence. Its structure was too damaged. She made it come back to spit out its marble, slapped a spell-patch on it, and sent it back into the fray. It ran up the wall and fell on the Golem’s head to explode in a puff of flames.

When she opened her eyes, Sion and Thomas had used the chance to strike at chinks in its armor. Where the latter thrust his sword, vines began to freeze and crack.

Good. He’d realized he needed to use ice instead of basic fire against green wood and plant life.

The Golem noticed, too. It swiveled its torso around to slap him aside. The people next to her winced.

So that’s where they were.

“Enjoying the show, are you?”

“Hey, Thomas insisted he could fight this one on his own,” Navid said. “Sion was the only one brave enough to face his pride.”

Lisa looked at where Thomas lay in a pile of vines. He threw up a sloppy ward before the golem could pummel him into the dirt. “Mhm.” She could see how well he could fight.

“He really kind of did,” Anne told her. “Say that.” She swung her legs on a boulder next to her, but after a moment, cocked her head and her expression shifted to annoyance. Her swinging stopped. “It’s not like that.”

“Not like what?” Navid asked.

Yeah, Lisa thought. Not like what? “I didn’t even say anything.” Or emote anything … I think?

“No, but I know what you’re thinking: ‘Oh, the rich kids are letting their retainers fight while they sit around and do nothing.’” Seemingly without looking, she drew her sword and whipped it to the side.

The blade sunk in the back of the golem just as the ward broke. They winced at the sound, but Thomas used the chance to slip aside and cut across its leg, freezing the limb to the ground while he rounded it.

Sion shattered the ice the moment he was in the clear. It got him an annoyed shout from the other.

Anne still stared at her. After a moment, her eyes darted to the side to make sure she had hit.

“You’re proud of that move, aren’t you?” Lisa asked.

She played dumb. “Why would I be proud?”

Lisa continued the level stare.

Her face was the visage of perfect humility and grace. For a second. Then it broke. She grinned wide and nodded, swinging her legs more fervently. “Yeah, and I practiced it a lot, too. Garen showed me how. He said it looks cool, even if it’s way impractical. And? Did it look cool?”

Lisa grunted and turned away.

“Hey! Lisa! Don’t do this to me.”

Freaking adventurers.

“We’re stuck on the fourth floor,” Navid said. “We have to make a challenge out of this somehow. But if you’re really upset, I could go help them to make this move along more quickly?”

The ground shook when the Golem slammed down. Sion scurried away. It promptly lost one of its arms and tried to shoulder-tackle him into the wall. He stepped back and pushed off its chest in the other direction.

“It’s fine,” she said.

“Really? Because you seemed annoyed.”

“I’m not annoyed.”

“Are you annoyed because of Garen?”

Lisa scowled. “I’m not annoyed.”

He pointed away. “Anne mentioned.”

Lisa turned to scowl at her, but that wasn’t fair either. Anne was just as affected by this as she was. More so, really.

She sighed. She supposed, if she were annoyed, it could have something to do with Garen. It wasn’t like Lisa would never get to see him again. She already saw him much less often since school had begun. But he would be gone for weeks and months on end in the new year.

Tooth of Seven had arrived. She could feel its heartbeat if she just willed it, one of the most powerful blades forged in their generation. So since it was here already, why not put it to use?

Really, she should have been excited about the Dragonslayer climbing again. Up the new Tower. Even if the city had turned the extended countryside into a patchwork of fields already, somebody had to find the new Gardens. In Trest, a group of climbers had made it to their Underworld already. Somewhere between the twentieth and thirtieth floors, their report said.

It was a rough estimate, but the rumor was going around that it was the twenty-fifth floor of each Tower that would house their landmarks. If anyone could get that far up, it would be Garen.

She guessed she was just used to the lazy old man being there when she got home, the retired story hero who came to visit her sometimes growing up and brought her funny souvenirs.

Besides, who would she bum money off of if he was was gone, now that she was too busy to fight in the arena? Or get her into places and out of trouble?

She supposed she could still steal his Key to the City and use it in his name or something …

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “I’m annoyed because Garen is quitting his job. Let’s go with that.”

Anne gave her a glance and she returned a warning look. Just because she was a Heswaren didn’t mean she needed to point out lies every time she heard them.

“Is it set in stone yet?” Navid asked. “Does he have a team?” He sounded vaguely excited. She supposed it would be big news once it got out.

“The decision itself is set in stone,” she said, “but little else is. The Dragonslayer and Moonstrider are going climbing again. There’s an open call for other members.”

Allison would be gone, too. She supposed working together would be the perfect way for them to reconcile, though. And this way, she wouldn’t have to worry about her having Micah maimed so he quit climbing anymore. She wouldn’t have to send a summon after them to hide in Ryan’s house if they went home on the weekends. More mana to invest in other things.

That was good news, right?

Navid spun on her. “Allison, too? Oh, does she have a bow? Because I saw this cool one—”

Lisa groaned.

“What? Tell me you aren’t excited about this.”

“I am,” she agreed.

“But?”

“But,” Anne butted in, “she’s also grumpy about her other team.”

“Oh?” Navid asked.

Lisa made herself grunt. So she acted like a Heswaren after all. Stupid Heswarens. Stupid exam. Stupid Ryan and Micah.

“Wait, honestly?” Navid asked. When no response came, he said, “I have to admit, that makes me a little upset, Lisa. That makes me feel bad. That just—”

She made her other lizard jump at him.

He laughed and dodged to the side. When he settled back in, though, his smile was gone. “In all honesty, though, I am a little jealous. Why are you stuck on them when you’re here with us?”

“Because Ryan’s stupid?” Anne offered.

“He’s not stupid,” Lisa told her, but only got a knowing smile in return. Why were they talking about this again?

“Then why are you angry with them?” Navid asked.

“I’m not.”

He gave her a considering look and shrugged. “Fine. I don’t know what you see in them, anyway. One’s the only son of two wannabe [Guards] from Westhill—and his father didn’t even finish classroom—and the other is the runaway son of two wannabe politicians, also from Westhill of all places.”

“And yet they are both higher level and did better on the practical exam than you,” Lisa told him.

“That’s not what I’m getting at,” Navid said. “I do not begrudge them their successes, nor do I think they aren’t talented. They are, in their own ways. I just don’t get what you see in them.”

Were her standards supposed to be higher?

“Micah isn’t so bad,” Anne said.

“And Ryan?” Lisa asked.

“Ryan’s an ass.”

“Mhm. You only like Micah because he has a crush on you.”

“That’s not true.”

Lisa raised an eyebrow and waited, but there came no wince or other sign of pain. Anne wasn’t as good a liar as the other Heswarens, so … she was telling the truth? Huh. Lucky Micah?

“I’m sorry, did you just say—” Navid started.

Anne fixed him with a pointed finger and glare. “Don’t tell anyone. It’s uncomfortable enough as is.”

He put a hand to his chest and raised the other as if swearing an oath of silence.

“Micah isn’t so great, either,” Lisa mumbled.

“What was that?” Navid asked.

Anne gave her a curious glance.

“I said—” she started, noticed their looks, and shifted. So what if she was angry with them? It wasn’t like they would find out if she vented. “‘Runaway son’, you mentioned, right? You know, he never actually told me? Neither did Ryan. I had to infer it from context.”

Navid winced. “Seriously?”

“Maybe he just didn’t want to talk about it because it’s a difficult topic?” Anne offered again.

“He talked about it with Ryan!” Lisa snapped. “And with anyone else who’s willing to listen, because apparently, everyone knows. But not with me. I’m not important enough to confide in. And the rest of the time he treats it like it never happened. Is family not important to him or what?!”

She took a step forward, forged a javelin of flames, and threw it at the limbless stone golem that was using its vines to drag itself from corner to corner and fling chunks of rock at their teammates.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

It smacked into its chest and it into the corner. The others used the chance to sever it from the wall.

“Wow,” Navid said. “They must really have pissed you off.”

“No,” Lisa said. “It’s just—” She sighed. “They lied to me. They kept on saying we’re a team, but when push came to shove, Micah didn’t want to fight for it because he was too afraid of offending his stupid crush—”

“I’m right here.”

“—and when I asked Ryan, he lied to my face to dodge the question because he would rather stick with Micah than me. But we were friends first, so why do I feel like the third freaking wheel around them?”

“Ouch,” Navid said. “So that’s why you stayed on our team?”

“If they don’t want to be on a team with me,” Lisa grumbled, “then I don’t want to be on a team with them.”

Ameryth had given her the perfect excuse. What else was she supposed to have done? It wasn’t like she could force people to like her. And she didn’t want to ruin what she had just because she was frustrated.

She’d thought this would give her some space to breathe. Instead, she just felt childish. She was supposed to be older and wiser, but she still didn’t know the answer.

“I told you Ryan was stupid,” Anne said.

“Yes,” Lisa agreed. “He is. But he’s also kind, and reliable, and loyal. Apparently just not to me.”

“Stupid, kind, reliable, loyal,” Navid counted. “What is he, a dog?”

Lisa chuckled. “The comparison isn’t that far off.” She looked at Anne. “Did I forget to hide a treat in my hand when I called him or something?”

She gave her an annoyed look. “Don’t compare people to dogs.”

She smiled and didn’t look away.

After a moment, Anne furrowed her brows and asked, “What?”

“I got you to defend Ryan.”

“What? No. I said you shouldn’t compare people to dogs, but— He is a dog, but like, the bad kind? Like when you say, ‘He’s a dog’? You know?” She turned to Navid. “That’s an insult, right?”

He smiled. “Why do you despise him so much, anyway?”

“He started it.”

“Just because he did better than you in the entrance exam?”

“What? No, before that. When we first met—”

“Hey,” a huffing Sion called with a smile and stumbled up to them. He propped himself up against his knees to catch his breath and said, “We almost have it, but it’s holed itself up in a corner and is thrashing around. And Thomas is out of mana.”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Thomas was trying to fence the thrashing vines back to get closer and … wasn’t doing as poor a job of it as Lisa would have thought. He was a great sword fighter, his spellwork was just shoddy and his abilities suffered for it as he tried to mix it in.

“Would any of you mind helping us out?”

They all turned to look at Lisa.

“What? Why do I have to be the one to waste mana?”

“You said you wanted to level?” Navid asked.

Oh. Right.

It was kind of them to remember. She glanced at the vine monster hiding in its shell and wondered how she could help. Uhm—

She stuck in her hand in her pocket while she thought about it and fished out something much larger than a marble. As she crafted the spell, she focussed on flexibility and resilience, increased the heat aura until it was practically desiccation, and gave it a good jaw, teeth, and claws for threshing through plants.

The rest, she let her [Flamewrought Summoning] fill in. It was fun to see what the Skill came up with.

She threw the crystals in the air and Sam formed to run up the wall, then spun around to stare at her.

She nudged her chin at the vine monster and gave a sharp whistle, adding a ping from her staff to get her meaning across. Hopefully, it would someday remember the meaning without the staff or ping. If it did, it would be a good first sign of improvement.

For now, Sam ran across to the ceiling to attack it from behind. One of the vines tried to slap it aside and it ducked, then dove inside the stone shell to begin digging into the bundle of green.

The vines on the outside went crazy and tried to worm their way back in to get it out, but they were thrashing around too much to manage.

Thomas sliced them off one by one.

There, that should even the playing field.

Sion gave her a thumbs-up. “Oh, and hey, Anne? Want to help us cut out its crystal in a moment?”

She almost jumped at the suggestion and gave him a friendly smile. “Oh, ah— Next time, maybe?”

Sion shrugged it off and jogged back. They watched him leave and start to hack into the vines as the other guy complained that he could finish it off on his own, even though Sam was already helping.

“So …” Navid said, still watching. “I heard Micah has a crush on you?” He glanced at Anne.

She hung her head. “Yes.”

“And you don’t like him back?” He nodded in understanding but didn’t seem bothered. “Poor guy.”

“I do like him,” Anne said. “I just don’t like-like him. So it’s weird whenever we hang out because— y’know— and—” She couldn’t find the right words, tried to gesture something else, and gave up with a huff of exasperation, apparently overwhelmed. “Nevermind. He's nice.”

“As I said, the runaway son of new Westhill politicians. It’s not like he ever had a chance.”

Anne didn’t say anything. Not wanting to tell the truth or lie, that was her only option, she suspected.

After a moment, she mused, “I don’t have a family name, riches, or anything like that, either.”

Navid looked at her. She left the statement standing.

“No,” he said, “but you are an honored guest of the houses Chandler and Heswaren. And when I first met you, all I knew was that you had appeared as the Dragonslayer’s ward out of nowhere, spoke in broken sentences with a heavy accent, and behaved like a feral child. And six weeks later when I met you the second time? No accent. You spoke almost fluently. That is why I respect you.”

So it was respect born from deeds. “And you can’t offer them the same benefit?” she asked him.

“Do you want me to?” He sounded genuine. “I thought you were angry with them?”

Lisa scowled. “I am now, but your issues run deeper. You make it sound like offering to be their friend would be doing them a favor.”

“It wouldn’t,” Navid said. “I don’t think that. But it’s not like I can be friends with everyone. I barely know half the people at our school. Do you?”

“The difference is that I know them and you’re still keeping them at arm’s length,” she said and slapped her chest without meaning to. It almost robbed her attention away.

“Hey,” Anne said and jumped between them. She held a hand out left and right. “No fighting. No real fighting. Navid is just trying to be nice.”

“Not that it’s being appreciated,” he grumbled.

She huffed and almost left to help the others, but then had a moment’s thought and turned back. “Just so you know, Micah would have a chance. By your standards as well as your parents’.”

He needed a moment to catch on, frowned, and she enjoyed his dumbfounded expression then when he realized what she meant. That immediately made her feel much better.

She made herself turn to turn away.

He grabbed her arm before she could. When she glared back, he put on the most earnest expression he had. “Sorry, just— Hold on, Lisa. Are you serious?”

She hesitated, suddenly unsure. This wasn’t really her secret to share. But since she already had …?

“Uhm … yes?”

“What the hell? Did you know about this, Anne?”

She glanced between them helplessly and slowly raised her shoulders up to shrug. It seemed like the perfect gesture to tag an ‘Oops?’ onto, to Lisa.

“Well, thanks for telling me. Don’t I feel stupid? What the hell do the Stranyas have in their blood? Or is it from his mother’s side?”

“I thought it was longevity,” Anne said and averted her eyes. “Boy was I wrong. I almost really embarrassed myself, too. It was a good thing he had no idea what I was talking about.”

She looked like she was cringing just remembering it.

Navid furrowed his brows and let go. “Longevity? What does he look like to you, anyway?”

“Uhm,” she said and poked the air as if drawing the outline of something, “do you know the sentinels from the fifth-floor Cisterns in Anevos?”

“Yes?”

“A lot like them. Just, you know, his size, and with hair and clothes, and human, I guess.”

“Huh. A golem? And which colors is he?”

Anne made a face and stepped back. “I’m not telling you that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s private!” She sounded flustered.

“C’mon,” Navid pleaded. He bent his legs a little and tried to look her in the eye. Anne kept on looking away, hopped on the boulder, and scooted back. “Please? I just want to figure it out—”

Lisa snorted. “Typical Madin.”

Anne caught on with a smile, “—one whiff of hereditary magic and suddenly you’re interested.”

“I’m not interested,” he quickly said, defending himself. “But if he has something in his blood, it would be interesting, don’t you think?”

Lisa frowned. No?

“I don’t think he actually has anything. But his children might get something of his, so …”

“You think my parents would approve if I introduced him to my family?”

“Yep.”

“Hey,” Anne complained. She looked appalled. “You shouldn’t arrange marriages like that.”

Right. Anne disliked the idea of arranged matches for whatever reason. What was wrong with helping two people find each other? Besides—

Lisa frowned at something else and asked, “Who said anything about marriage? All they would want is a child, right?”

Navid looked appalled by both of them. “You know you can be interested in someone without wanting to have children, right?”

“Of course,” she said. Lisa understood this one. “There’s also friendships, and businesses, and family, and—”

“No, I mean in a relationship.”

“What? No, that’s weird.”

“You’re weird,” Anne accused her.

“I think you’re both weird,” Navid said.

Clearly, they were in the wrong. Their parents would all agree with her on this.

Navid grumbled something and stepped back. He leaned against a cluster of roots and after a moment, his eyes darted from corner to corner until he shrugged and asked, “So … just out of curiosity, what might his children get?”

“Ha!” Lisa pointed.

“What? I’m just asking.”

She knew she had been right.

Anne hid her chuckle behind her hand. “He doesn’t really have anything to pass on right now, right? Except his [Essence Sight]?”

“[Essence Sight]?” Navid asked, looking interested. “And what’s that do?”

Anne looked to her.

“Mm, think of it more as an affinity sight?” Lisa suggested. “As far as I have been able to tell, it’s a weaker version of the Heswaren truth sight. He can see subtler and more natural forms of magic than mana.”

“Huh,” he said with a nod. Then again, “Huh.”

“You said you weren’t interested,” Anne accused him.

“I’m not, I’m not,” he insisted. “Totally not my type and all that. This is just interesting. I just mean, it would be interesting if any our descendants could rival your family’s insight, right?” He smiled.

Anne gave him a droll look. “Weaker.”

“Sure.”

“For anything else,” Lisa said, “you would have to wait for him to get Body Skills or something similar.”

“And what would that be?” he joked. “[Alchemist’s Liver] or [Alchemist’s Kidneys]? So they can drink as much alcohol as they want? I mean, I guess it would be kind to give your descendants that ability. But the only other thing would be that they could also drink … as many potions … as they liked …”

He trailed off. He might have been joking before but he looked genuinely interested, now. "Hum."

Anne and Lisa glanced at each other and Anne scooted forward to kick him in the shin.

“Ow! What was that for?”

She hopped down and headed for the Golem to help the others. And retrieve her blade, probably.

Lisa smiled and waited on Navid to follow. In the back of her mind, she checked on her scouting lizards and found nothing amiss, aside from some tussles with insects and other small critters.

“You know,” Navid said, “for someone who complained about her friends not confiding in her, you keep an awful lot of secrets.”

Lisa gave him a befuddled look. “Secrets?”

He rolled his eyes and picked up his backpack. “You know what I mean. What’s obvious to you two”—he jerked his head in Anne’s direction—”isn’t always obvious to the rest of us. It probably isn’t obvious to them, either.”

Lisa frowned. “That doesn’t mean I’m keeping secrets. It just means I can’t be bothered to describe everything I see to the blind.”

He shrugged. “Seems awfully similar from my point of view.”

“No,” she said. “The difference is that Ryan lied to me. I used her truth essence. I could smell a lot more lies on him, too. He reeks of them. But friends aren’t supposed to do that to each other.”

Could you be friends with someone if all they did was lie to you?

Navid nodded. “That’s fair. But I know you, Lisa. You’re … blunt, to put it lightly. What I don’t get is, if you’re so upset about this, why you haven’t called them out on it already? What has you so hung up on them?”

She opened her mouth and shut up.

Navid seemed surprised. For a moment. Then he gave her an understanding look and pat her on the shoulder before walking away. The others immediately gave him a hard time when he finally deigned to help them.

Was she keeping secrets? Oh, so many. More than she could count. But for good reasons. Did that mean she was lying to her friends? Only about a few things, but … were they important?

Yes.

Lisa knew why she hadn’t said anything. Or why she was upset, but not angry at them. And angrier than she should be at the same time. Because if she did say something and they told her the truth, the obvious next step would that she had to tell them the truth as well, right?

She wasn't sure if she was ready to do that yet. Or if she ever would be.

Could you be friends with someone if all they did was lie to you?

She didn’t know, but she didn’t want Anne to be the only true friend she’d ever made down here.

So when Anne called her name in excitement and Lisa looked over and saw what lay beyond the large, ruined doors at the end of the hallway, she smiled.

A golden sheen spanned the doorway. A massive chamber covered in roots much larger than the ones around them was inside, much larger than the ones inside the Golem they had just fought.

No doubt, they belonged to a guardian.

“Lisa!” Anne called again and seemed excited for her. “You wanted to level, right?”

She did. Every level counted. Because at least, it would be one thing she could stop lying to others about— Had to stop lying, now that Allison would be gone. But she didn’t mind. Lisa was looking forward to having a proper Proof Of paper of her own.

She could shove it in other people’s faces to show off her Skills.