I spent hours playing around Uncle's personal smithy as a child. Since I knew better not to get too close to the forge, I had free rein running around. Although my backyard was decent sized and even had a swing set, it wasn't as cool as Uncle Maveric's yard, full of the overpowering smell of hot metal, serenaded with crackles of an ever burning fire. Every time I snuck over, he'd open the large barn doors to his smithy and quietly tinker away while I was in view. Well, unless his project backfired or the magic didn't turn out properly; then things got really loud. When Mom was on bedrest for complications while pregnant with Micah, I spent six months under Uncle's careful, constant watch.

My steps were silent as I walked across the gravel path, unlike last week, as I got closer and closer to where the nostalgic smell was the strongest. Uncle's yard had changed a lot in the eight years I was away. It wasn't nearly as kidproof, full of nice furniture, a TV, hot-tube, and fire pit. But the draw I had to that smell was consistent.

I stopped outside of Uncle's barn-like forge and stared at the huge, closed sliding doors.

Levi sat on my shoulder and lifted his head to get a better view. He wrinkled his nose and flicked his tongue, disapproving of the smell. He naturally hated the smell of burning and this fire wasn't natural, compounding his distaste. He sent over the image of him dosing a fire with water. Sssss.

I shook my head. "No, you can't put water on Uncle's forge. I doubt you can put it out anyway, since it's made with magic fire, but he'd be furious. The fire is safe, so you don't need to be worried about it."

He huffed a breath, not believing that any fire could be safe. Hhhhh.

Since the doors were shut, Uncle wasn't inside there. And I already knew he wasn't in the house. He must be working on a new design. When he worked on minimal paperwork, he worked in the home office. But when he worked on big weapon designs, he did that in the office attached to the back of the smithy. I turned and skirted around the large building, just as silent as before. Not going to lie, it felt cool actually noticing the difference from the last time I was here.

For the most part, the building was plain — it had very little design and no windows. That, however, changed where Uncle's office was, with a single unadorned window cut out of the wall.

As I neared it, voices drifted through the air from the barely open glass.

"Dammit, Jynn!" Uncle roared.

I stiffened in surprise. When was the last time I heard Uncle this mad? Never, to my knowledge. And who was he yelling at? Maybe I should give him privacy. Silently, I turned, ready to flee before I got caught.

Uncle didn't seem to know I was just outside the window, and kept yelling, "I made it clear years ago that me and my family won't be involved in whatever you are doing."

I paused. What about our family?

A faint, crackly female voice responded. "I understand that, and I have no idea what's going on. I'm not even in the country, Maveric. There's nothing I can do about this. All I know is that she's not one of mine. Frankly, I didn't think it was possible for something to happen like this without me knowing, but Terre also confirmed that your grandniece is getting stronger."

My whole body stiffened like I was turned to stone. Hang on, they're talking specifically about me. Who was he talking to? Her voice sounded so weird. She definitely wasn’t there in person. No, it sounded like … a phone speaker?

Uncle let out a sharp breath. "So what do I do? She's an eighteen year old girl. She has no business getting tangled up in ... your stuff."

The woman snorted a laugh. "That's the age I was when I got tangled up in everything. Maybe you should put more faith in her."

Uncle tsked. "Yeah, but you aren't my little baby. I wasn't in charge of your happiness then. And God knows what the Noble will do if I try to step in now."

"True, but you were a great help for me," Jynn said. "Maybe that's what she needs from you, too. I don't know what's going on, all I know is that there's a reason for it. It's possible the girl doesn't even know what it is yet."

“But Ria doesn’t need a reason. She’s just fine how she is.” He paused, talking with a little less venom. "Ria did help the Prince with the tower. He said she did a good job. The fact that we're talking now proves that it worked."

I stood still, trying to figure out what they were talking about. Who was Jynn? The name was familiar, but who? Jynn, the Noble, the Prince. All the dots connected in a snap. Jynn Noble, Terre's mom. That's who Uncle was talking to. She knows about leveling up and getting stronger? What happened when she was eighteen?

While my thoughts raced, the conversation continued and changed directions. "How is France?" Uncle asked, much calmer.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I blinked in surprise. France? I thought the country was still uninhabitable? What was Mrs. Noble doing there? And could she and Uncle talk now?

"Nothing like the old pictures, that's for sure," Jynn said, her voice low and not impressed. "Everything’s in pieces still. It took two days to dig into the Louvre. It's nothing but a wreck inside. Found some artifacts the scavengers couldn't nab. The ugly painting of the woman — Moaning Lisa or something — was missing. It could have been nabbed during the original Gate appearing or during the Hunter Era. It might be in an underground collection, or decaying in the countryside in a monster attack grave. Who knows? We didn't find the DNA vault, either, so our trip isn't over yet."

Uncle hummed in understanding. "Is Vice President Wilks sure it's there?"

"That's what the intel said," Jynn commented back. "We'll dig around a little longer. We took care of all the surrounding powerful monsters, so it's finally like a vacation Bethany promised."

Uncle laughed. "You say that as if fighting monsters is boring for you."

She laughed. "They keep running away or dying too fast. Anyway, now that you're in a better mood, I need to call Terre. I probably won't be available again for a while. If we can't find the DNA vault in the Louvre, we're going to have to do some deep searching. I promised Bethany that I’d find the DNA vault, or find out who has it now. I don’t know how long that’ll take."

"Good luck." They exchanged goodbyes and there was a click.

I froze, wondering what to do. Eavesdropping wasn't on my pastime list, and now that I heard a whole load of stuff I probably wasn't allowed to know, my mind went blank. What if Uncle was disappointed that I disregarded his privacy? I should have just left. Maybe I should pretend I didn't hear anything.

The window opened all the way and Uncle leaned out. He rested his hand on the windowsill and looked at me. "Did you have fun listening?"

I stiffened. "Ah, oh, hi Uncle." Try as I might, I couldn't get my smile to feel natural, it was more like a grimace. "Good morning."

He snorted a laugh. "Good morning to you, too." He waved his hand. "Come on in."

Standing in his office, I was torn between wanting to examine the amazing weapons hanging on his wall and fidgeting like I was in trouble. Unlike the useless pieces in my home, these works of art were amazing, every inch brimming with magic. But all that paled under the watchfully gleam in Uncle's eyes.

He sat calmly at his desk, examining me.

My fingers itched to pinch my thumb, but I resisted. Since he already knew I eavesdropped, I could ask about it, right? "Was that Terre's mom?"

Uncle nodded. "We've been friends for decades." His words were concise, but he didn't sound like he was turning me down. Was he still trying to decide what to do?

Taking heart, I moved on to another question. "Is she really in France? I thought it was uninhabitable and all the communication towers were broken there?" They shouldn't be able to have a phone conversation from this distance.

Uncle leaned forward, laced his fingers together and rested his chin on them. "That was true until recently. Jynn and her crew fixed up a tower in France and when Terre activated the tower yesterday, they connected to the two. It's not a permanent thing, since the condition of the French tower is bad, but it'll hold out for a couple weeks." He paused. "But not everyone can use the French tower. It's strictly between the handful of individuals involved. I got a com device because I was part of the project. Everything about it is classified." His mouth wrinkled in annoyance as he shook his head. “Which is why I recommended to the young designer to not make the com devices a speaker, but some engineers hate hearing criticism.”

Such an important thing, I realized. Uncle really did have his fingers in a lot of government projects. “So Mrs. Noble is trying to find the French DNA vault? Is it because ours got stolen?” What with being a hermit then going off grid for almost a week, I was really behind on news. All I knew was that the most promising geneticist of the century disappeared a little bit ago, along with the USA's DNA bank. Which was a big deal.

Uncle's mouth wrinkled. "That's also classified." But his tone was very discouraging.

I nodded slowly, understanding. It really was gone. What was going to happen now? It was worth going to war over. The French DNA bank up for grabs because the country was wiped off the map decades ago. The few surviving people were absorbed into surrounding countries, while the land itself was so full of monsters left over from the Paris Gate that no one dared to live there. But our DNA bank was different. It had a clear owner, and now a clear thief. With so many hopes of revitalizing the continent hanging on those vials, it was worth going to war for.

Uncle stood up. "Enough of that though, show me how strong your magic is now."

I paused. "You know about—" My voice cut off.

Ding! [Sharing information about the System with unauthorized people is prohibited.]

Uncle glanced at the screen in front of me. I knew he saw a normal blue screen, but he probably knew the actual color. Ugh, this System was so finicky. Why wouldn't it let me talk to others about things they already knew?

“You can’t say it, huh?” Uncle gave a long sigh, his shoulders drooping as if in defeat. "I know some things. Enough to understand some of what's happening to you with that." He motioned to the screen with a lax hand. "And from what I know, it might be more than you're currently allowed to know. So talking is useless."

"That's a lot of ‘know’s,” I muttered, feeling the same frustration he did. I just wanted a hand, someone to help point me in the right direction. But the System obviously didn't want that. What the hell did it actually want?

"What I can say for sure is that it's not malicious," Uncle said slowly. "It will always have your best interest wherever it guides you. No matter how hard it seems. You can trust it."

I paused and nodded. Suddenly, the weight of uncertainty lifted from my shoulders. Maybe those were the words I actually needed to hear the whole time. That the trust I put in the System wasn't misplaced and I did the right thing. I could trust my judgment and others could trust it too.

Uncle cleared his throat and shoved a calloused hand through his hair. "Now, you mentioned last night that you needed to talk to me? What about?"

*****