While we’re walking to the platform, I keep my eye on Lictor, in case he tries to go for a last minute Ride and somehow pull the rug from under us, but he makes no such move. I guess it would be too much of a risk, as Mandollel is walking next to him and Corum is in the room already as well. Using the artifact when extremely powerful and trigger-happy people are looking at you might make for a short trip.

  This time, we reach the platform before most of the crowd is in the hall. We climb the stairs and take our places. Lictor stays standing at the bottom of the stairs. He shakes each of our hands. Mandollel strikes another pose as he shakes his hand. Rworg’s grip hides Lictor’s hand completely and makes him squirm and grunt. Behind me, Finna chuckles.

  Lictor shakes my hand, too. I grip it warily, but on his face I see something like respect. He lets go of my hand and pats my shoulder. He moves almost like he might hug me, but then shakes his head with a lopsided smile and steps back. I climb the stairs, confused.

  Finna goes last. She does hug him. She bumps into Lictor, grips him, pushes her face against his chest. Lictor’s brows shoot up, then his expression softens. He pats Finna on the back a couple of times and mutters something awkward. Finna lets go and runs up the stairs, face turned downward. She comes to stand next to me. I make sure to look everywhere but at her, concentrating on watching the familiar faces trickle in. Corum greets some important-looking wizards and ignores Astaroth completely as he comes in and wiggles his eyebrows at her.

  The other Janitor comes to stand next to the stage. I realize I still don’t know her name. I peel off from the others and walk up to the side of the stage. Lictor gives me a worried look, which I ignore. Neither of us can try anything new at this point.

  I bow to her and crouch so I can talk to her at the same level. “Janitor.”

  Her eyes crinkle as she smiles at me. “Kid. Good luck on your mission.”

  “Thank you.” I hesitate and purse my lips. What are you supposed to say in a situation like this? None of the things that happened for me, happened for her. She has no idea who I am. “I… truly mean it.”

  Her eyes squint even further. “I never get a chance to talk properly to you, but I know enough to be around when it matters. Well done, Folke.”

  My mouth opens and I close it. I’m messing this up even worse than I thought I would. “Can I ask for your name?”

  “Mona. Never managed to ask me before?”

  “Well, for a long time, I thought it was Minerva.”

  She chuckles at that. She takes a step closer, leans into my face, and speaks in a low murmur that makes my face tingle and my stomach tighten. “That’s the code for this evening. I spend a lot of time taking care of the city. Having a system helps speed things up.”

  Now that I’m this close, I can smell her skin. Nothing else. The merchants and wizards are milling about behind me. Lictor clears his throat.

  Mona smiles at me. “Go on, the ceremony is about to begin.”

  I stand up and bow again, as low as I can manage. I turn around and Mandollel winks at me. Finna groans.

  Rworg nods with a serious look on his face. “I approve. You have to reach to grasp. ”

  By the time I reach my place, my face must be bright red. I try to play it off by rolling my eyes at Rworg, but Mandollel keeps winking at me and the Janitor. She chuckles and winks back. Everyone still keeps doing that. It must be a city thing. It’s infuriating.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  One of the guards is helping Marek make his way toward the stage. He has a confused look on his face as he dusts his hat, turning it around in his hands. The crowd falls silent as Corum clears her throat and gives the signal for the ceremony to begin.

  I have time to think about all the adventures I’ve had while I wait for the blushing to recede. The speeches go on, but I tune them out. I do watch Astaroth’s reaction to the stocky merchant’s jab, because their whole schtick is still pretty funny. The real adventure is only now beginning. I’ve died multiple times, uncovered conspiracies, met an archwizard and perhaps made some enemies. The thought of a 17-year-old hunter like me making an enemy of something like the war faction of Tenorsbridge makes me chuckle out loud. I try to mask it as a cough. The chuckle holds equal parts confusion, amusement and desperation. Maybe I’ve made some friends too. Or will make, before all this is over.

  I’m hit with a pang of homesickness. I never got to talk to Ral like he asked, such a long time ago. I saw Lille, but that was on a Ride and didn’t end the way I would have liked it to. Finna might be right in that we’re being sent on a suicide mission. I’ve died enough times to know I really don’t want to. I have to make it back home. I make a silent promise to get back alive, but I have no idea what’s waiting for me over the border. The teratome should be easy to avoid, but what about everything else?

  Marek is already speaking. Not too long to go. It feels like the speeches are at least twice as long as the last time, even if the words are exactly the same. Mona’s eyes are glassed over. She must have heard this so many more times than me that I’m almost sorry for her. Lictor, on the other hand, seems animated. He licks his lips and looks straight at Marek before bowing at us with everyone else in the audience.

  I get a real bad feeling about everything, and put a hand in my pocket.

  There’s nothing in there. The Gem is gone. The soft glow of the teleportation circle illuminates us from below. Lictor raises a finger and wags it at me. His other hand is moving toward his pocket as the world winks out again.

  “—AAA!”

  Rworg and Mandollel flinch away from me. The shout sounds distorted, rippling out from the ether.

  “What is it?” Mandollel asks. He grabs me by the shoulders, face twisted in worry.

  “We must stay quiet,” Rworg growls. His gaze circles the dark forest around us. It’s the same one, again.

  I turn both of my pockets over and pull them out. Only a piece of lint drifts out. “Lictor nicked it! He took the Gem back!”

  Mandollel releases his grip, panic on his face. “The Time Gem is not in the device?”

  Rworg starts to shout something, but Finna kicks him from behind and the shout turns into a yelp. “What?” he asks in a hurt and low voice.

  “You said we need to be quiet,” she says, imitating Rworg’s guttural way of pronouncing things.

  Mandollel turns to Finna, wrangling his hands together. “You don’t understand! The Time Gem is—“

  “It’s right here,” she says, pulling out the Gem from her pocket.

  It’s my turn. “What!?”

  She shrugs. “I saw Lictor nick it from you, so I nicked it back.”

  The Gem shines in her hand, reflecting what little light there is from the stars. It has a light of its own, somehow intensifying the starlight as it bounces around inside it, over and over again. The light is enough to cast shadows on Finna’s face, but the shadows move in a way that feels wrong. Delayed or happening before they should, out of step with themselves. She closes the eye nearest to the Gem and turns her head away from it.

  Mandollel stares at the Gem, breathing in and out, grasping at words that don’t seem to come to him. He turns away, drags his hands down his face, and spins around for a full circle.

  “Nice,” Rworg says.

  Finna cocks her head sideways and blows a lock of hair away from her face. “Can’t let people get away with stealing.”

  Mandollel’s hands are raised and all of his fingers twitch toward the Gem. “We have taken care of that heirloom for a millennium—“

  “That’s like two generations for you guys,” Finna says and tosses the Gem at Mandollel in a lazy arc.

  He catches it with both hands, closing his palms around the Gem as if it were a newly hatched chick.

  I chuckle at the whole show. They must have spent quite a while together. I’m just starting out, but I think I can get along with these people. I better, as everything depends on us now.

  There’s a war to stop. A mission to survive. If I want to see Lille or anyone again. I breathe out as Mandollel and Finna keep heckling each other. Rworg watches the dark forest, that I know is teeming with Kertharians and teratomes and who knows what.

  Time to go. Adventure awaits.

  rate/review it on or , as it really would be hugely important to me and help me justify posting things to RoyalRoad.