The rope was more useful than expected, honestly. I could feel it grip tightly when it was wrapped around my waist, and knowing it wouldn't come off even if the knot came undone was kind of comforting. Of course, the people trying to cross made it hard to focus on that comfort.

Once the rope was affixed, I triggered State of Grace and Ripple Running. After checking with everyone, I got a running start and leapt out over the chasm, my foot slamming down on one of the pieces of debris. My overlay snapped into focus, and I stared ahead, using it to confirm which direction to go. Some of the arrows were gold (only a few), and some were black, but there were no white arrows.

I wasn't sure exactly what those indicated, but I was guessing good, bad, and neutral. I didn't waste any time jumping to the next piece, then the one after, following the golden arrow showing me the proper path. Behind me, I heard the others trying to leap as fast as possible after me, desperately aiming to keep up before the first one dropped.

Sadly, it wasn't to be. There was a jerk on the line, and I had to steady myself to hold on as the floor went out from under one of us. I turned my head briefly to see Jessie hanging over the chasm, being dragged down into the dark by some unseen force. Abel, who was ahead of her, had his rope around his midsection and was trying to drag her back up, while holding up a trail of lubricated space behind him.

Cursing, he leapt to the next step, making her swing helplessly, but was forced to leave her there and keep going lest he fall in with her. To her credit, my tiny blonde friend wasn't shrieking or begging to be pulled up, though she had her eyes closed and was muttering something I couldn't hear.

Abel continued on, and I was forced to turn away so I could keep going blazing the trail. We were about halfway across at this point, but the delay to check on them cost me valuable time, and Callie, who was right behind me, had already caught up to my platform, so I was forced to grab her hand and jump with her to the next one once I found it. Abel continued to make good time, even dragging Jessie, and was consistently releasing his spatial power as he went.

One of the big issues with crossing was Randall. And I DID mean big. The huge bear was much too large to drag the way we were doing for Jessie, OR to fit on the platforms. Abel was creating a lubricated space tunnel like he used in combat to move nearly instantly between two points. He was making a path for Randall so the big bear didn't have to be left behind on the other side of the moat.

Picking out the right target with my overlay, I leapt again, Callie with me, but my Danger Sense suddenly triggered midair. My foot slammed down on nothing as I used the already triggered Ripple Running for the first time, shoving myself sideways and pushing Callie out of the way of a nasty looking barbed arrow as it flashed through where her head had been.

Whipping my own around, I caught sight of a distant hooded figure drawing back a massive compound bow, another dangerous looking arrow on the string.

I considered my options. I could stop that person, or I could avoid the shots. If I stopped them in circumstances like this I was pretty sure they would die, but I wasn't confident they would shoot at me next time and not one of the others. Grimacing at the necessity, I triggered Pit of Despair on the piece of debris beneath their feet. The platform dissolved into dust beneath them and they plummeted through into the depths of the chasm below, barely having time to scream.

Landing on the next platform, I kicked off again, noting that a lot of the other robed figures were steering clear of me now. I wasn't complaining, it just meant less people I had to kill.

Despite them shooting at us, I regretted having to take out the bowman. If it had just been me I might have chosen to dodge, but with Jessie's life LITERALLY on the line and Callie hand in hand with me, I couldn't afford to take chances. There'd been no other option.

Finally, we reached the other side of the chasm, everyone managing to make it to the safety of hard packed dirt. When Abel arrived, the rest of us grabbed his rope and hauled Jessie up, while he used his spatial passage to pull Randall over while he could still hold it. The big bear came streaking across, landing next to us, and Jessie flung her arms around him and squeezed in relief and happiness, clearly releasing some of the tension accrued from her time dangling on a string.

"Everyone ok?" I asked lightly, my tone belying the fact that I had just straight up murdered someone. It wasn't my first kill, but somehow dropping the ground out from under someone at range seemed more...ruthless, than killing someone who was all up in your face trying to crush your skull.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Callie reached down and took my hand, squeezing it tightly as she smiled up at me. "We're all fine. Thanks to you. You saved my ass out there."

Forcing a chuckle, I just shrugged. "It's fine, you'll be saving mine soon enough I'm sure. You know how I get into trouble. We should get going and try to find the others. I'm hoping Mel found Chelsea or Gabe, the thought of the three of them out solo worries me, even if my sister can take care of herself and Gabe is a total monster."

To be fair, Mel was pretty scary too, but she wasn't at the same level as the other two in my head. Chelsea was a straight up monster in combat, at least based on what I'd seen of her. She could keep up with a Master and go toe to toe with Callen, who scared the shit out of me, and who Gabe really respected. Mel was strong, but she didn't play at that level. She also wasn't as big a target though, so maybe that was ok.

Bethy bounced in place. "Oh! I can look for them!" She reached up for the dark shawl she was wearing over her current black ballgown (who knew when she'd changed) and whirled it up and around her head. Darkness flew from the shawl as she screamed. "FLY MY MINIONS! FIND ME MY QUARRY!" And a fucking TORRENT of flying squirrels spilled from the dark, swooping out over the nearby forest and spreading in every direction.

"Did you...turn them into that shawl?" I asked, noticing the thing was gone.

She shrugged. "I can turn me into bats, and we already decided they were bats, so I can obviously turn them into stuff too. Plus that shawl was super cute right?" She glanced down at herself. "It goes perfectly with this dress. I totally want to show Tracey and Ada. Or Gabe." She pouted. "That big jerk. He's never around to appreciate my outfits anymore. I hope my tree bats find him."

My melancholy and guilt receded slightly, blown apart by Bethy's absurdity, as I tried and failed to stop from cracking up at her antics. Callie was nodding. "Magic squirrel clothes are definitely cool. I wonder if you could use that power on Biscuit."

Bethy looked skeptical. "He doesn't have wings though. He's like a land bat." She paused thoughtfully. "I guess I could be land bats if I wanted. Which means I can tame land bats. Maybe I could teach him to have wings? That seems more useful." She looked down at her feet. "Poptarts, Donuts, come out for mommy, I'm going to teach you how to fly. We can use this big hole."

"NO!" Shouted every person in the group as she turned to the chasm. She jumped, giving us all a hurt look. "I mean...we don't have time for that." I said desperately. "You should do it somewhere else. When we aren't busy."

"I guess." She said sulkily. "Fine, you two can stay in. I'll teach you to fly later. It's going to be fun." She got a pensive look on her face. "If I can give you wings then you'd basically be bats. Does that mean I could turn into a swarm of tiny winged kitties? That sounds so cute!"

I almost cut her off, but honestly I kind of wanted to see that. I was going to convince her to try, but Callie elbowed me in the ribs, glaring at me for getting off track. I cleared my throat. "Right, that sounds like an interesting question for later. For now can you like...contact the squirrels? See through their eyes or something?"

She just snorted. "Of course. What kind of vampire can't use their familiars to view things from a distance. Hold on a sec." Her eyes began to blaze a creepy red and she stared off into the middle distance, clearly looking at something none of us could see.

Off in the distance I could see the gliding forms of squirrels swooping back and forth, some circling, some flying away. It took maybe fifteen minutes before Bethy squealed with delight, jumping up and down and clapping in excitement. "I found one! No wait, two. That red mask girl who is always hanging out with Axel. She's with the girl with the cool black and white hair!"

"Chelsea and Mel?" I asked in surprise. Apparently Mel had found and grouped up with my sister, which was a great outcome for both of them. "Do you see Gabe?"

She shook her head slowly. "I'll keep looking. They're about ten miles that way." She pointed diagonally through the forest. Apparently they'd managed the crossing.

"I'll take Callen and Callie and go meet up with them." I said firmly. "Abel, stay with the others, we can move faster in a small group, and Chelsea will be more comfortable if Callen comes. We'll be right back, but if anything happens have Randall roar as loud as he can and we can turn around."

My mentor snorted. "I can babysit a bunch of teenagers and a bear. Besides the vampire is here, so if I need backup I should be fine." He glared at her in annoyance. "Assuming she notices my pleas for help, since she can't seem to remember my NAME!"

"Sorry, what did you say Andrew?" Bethy said politely. "I got distracted. But don't worry Shane. I'll make sure everyone is ok, and Alex can help me out if I need it."

Abel gritted his teeth, glaring at her. "You're obviously doing this on purpose! Those weren't even the same name."

Bethy gave him a sympathetic look. "It's ok Andy, I'm sure you'll do something memorable soon. Just keep trying to be interesting. I believe in you." I had to physically step between them because I was worried Abel would fling himself at her and try to choke the life out of her, and Bethy wasn't someone Abel could afford to piss off, no matter how hilariously she was baiting him.

After making sure my teacher wasn't going to take a swing at the vampire princess, I bid my goodbyes to everyone along with Callie and my sister's bodyguard and we headed off in the direction Bethy had pointed us. I wanted to get the group back together as quickly as humanly possible. Whatever the BMP assholes were planning, I doubted it was pleasant, and if we wanted to get out of here alive I was pretty sure stopping them was our best bet. And we needed to do it soon.