I ignore that last little jab and pass by them. Euro flinches away as if I’d attack them as Jumble whispers something to herself that sounds like… stereo static? It comes from deep in her throat like a guttural scream, but gathers in her mouth like two cheeks full of brackish water. My awareness flickers at the surge of magic; it’s stronger than anything they’ve done so far, but pales in comparison to what Dani can do.

  The pair hold their breaths, staticy magic spilling from the corners of Jumble’s mouth like errant comments. I wave a hand to dispel their concerns, but that only seems to raise their guards even further.

  “You are aware that I don’t hate the two of you, right?” I say genuinely. “Until Dani tried to take the sphere, I was completely ready to make some kind of alliance between the seven of us. But I refuse to work with someone like that. Or the people that enable him.”

  Euro grimaces. I wait a second for words to follow the expression, but there’s only silence in its wake. Not guilty silence, or even the kind that comes from someone terrified to speak against an abuser. Just the kind that comes from someone knowing they have nothing to say.

  A loud gulp snaps my attention to Jumble who just… swallows her mouthful of magic words. She pants as if the motion took a lot out of her, then sets her brow in defiance.

  “We don’t… enable him.” She huffs, then pauses to let out three wet coughs. “It’s his turn with the book. He’s just acting stupid because of all that power.”

  “His turn?” I raise an eyebrow in interest. “That sounds like you can pass around a powerful artifact at a whim.”

  Jumble breathes hard out of her nose. “It’s… complicated. The book makes it hard to think. Dani probably just thought they needed the sphere to lead them to the place, so he tried to take it. There’s no maliciousness in it; I promise.”

  Yeah, I find that hard to believe. She’s talking exactly like an alcoholic’s wife would; making excuses, saying the drunk doesn’t mean it, trying to explain their actions away by shifting the blame to the drink. Or in this case, the book. But… she’s opening up right now. I can’t stifle that and risk this new info by shutting her down. Instead, I need to prod her to keep talking.

  I shift my expression to one of annoyed sympathy and nod. “I mean, I get it, but… you know that doesn’t excuse him, right? What if the sphere was my anchor for this place? He could’ve killed me without even knowing it.”

  Confusion flashes over the pair’s faces for a split second. They share a look, and their expressions shift to grim understanding.

  “I didn’t even think of that.” Jumble admits. “We’ll talk to him when we get back and make sure he doesn’t try to take anything without asking first. If just taking something from you can kill you, we need to be way more careful.”

  Something’s… weird about what she just said. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s a certain detachment in her words that almost makes it feel like they don’t apply to her. Maybe… the book is the anchor for all of them? Or… shit, maybe the quest didn’t force everyone to have an anchor. That could be part of the reason Clutter can’t remember who they are; they’re actually working with the quest.

  But… why? They’re weak as hell. And even if I extrapolate that the book could make any one of them as strong as Dani, that means only one of the five can be strong at a time. If I was the quest, I’d only bring one of them here. Hell, I’d just bring someone else altogether. There’s something else going on here–I can feel it. But I have no goddamn idea what that actually is.

  Ah, they’re staring at me. Can’t just go quiet in the middle of a conversation when I’m trying to act normal. “Yeah. Be a lot more careful. So… how’d you get that book in the first place?”

  Jumble shrugs. “We found it in an old library. Euro thought it was a shellraiser written thing, but when we dated it, the thing was actually written way after they all disappeared. Way, way after.”

  “Jumble. Are you… you know…” Euro shoots me a nervous glance. “That’s kind of an important secret…”

  “I’m trying to repair some of the trust Dani broke.” Jumble whispers. “Even if it’s just a little. We can’t afford to lose our home base. Who else would let us stay with them? Who else even has a place where all that radiation isn’t a constant worry?”

  Euro purses their lips beneath the cloth, then slowly nods. Jumble smiles confidently and pats her friend on the shoulder.

  “Don’t worry; I won’t tell any of your secrets. Only the ones that she could find if she tried hard enough.” She laughs as Euro flushes with relief. It sounds genuine enough. “Continuing where I left off a second ago; the book wasn’t old at all. It was literally four days old–about a minute older than the second we found it. We looked to try and find where it came from, but we haven’t found anything yet.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  I sidestep a plastic paindne and hold up a hand for everyone to stop. The pair’s faces flash with worry for a moment, which instantly disappears when I open up a door on the ground.

  “What? Thought I was going to get you in the middle of a story?” I smirk as I hop down, then spread my arms to catch whoever jumps first. If they run, then they’re not worth anything. If they jump on their own volition, I’ll keep this going. “If I was going to kill you, I’d hear everything you had to say first. Or else I’d live the rest of my life wondering about the story that I cut off.”

  Much to my surprise, Jumble nods vigorously in agreement. She swings her legs over the hole without an ounce of hesitation, then drops into my arms like a sack of paindne potatoes. Her eyes slam shut the moment I touch her, and she slowly cracks one open to look up at me like a child waiting for a parent to yell at them. I swing her around, which gets a nice little yelp from her, and stand her up on her feet.

  Wide-eyed with surprise, Jumble stares at me wordlessly as I move to catch Euro. The rogue is a lot less confident than Jumble is, but after some silent encouragement along with a confident smile, they drop down too. The moment their weight rests in my arms they scramble to get to their feet at Jumble’s side, eyeing me suspiciously as if I just did something worth being suspicious over.

  “Do I have something on my face?” I raise my bandaged arm and prod at my cheek. “Did Jumble kick me when I tipped her onto her feet?”

  Euro slowly shakes her head. She nudges Jumble with her elbow, who startles and immediately coughs multiple times.

  “I’m perfectly fine. Just wasn’t expecting that; you kind of crossed my wires.” She laughs in embarrassment and starts moving. “Uh, where was I?”

  “About a minute…” Euro trails off.

  “Right! That.” Jumble coughs into her hand and looks back at me. “The book just appeared right there a minute before we found it. Normally I’d think that just meant the system gave us a reward, but we weren’t doing a quest or anything. Just looking around for some old stuff that could… give us a leg up on the competition, y’know?”

  Euro rolls their eyes. “We were looking for a shortcut. You don’t have to sugarcoat it.”

  “Well, I was looking for a way to say it that made us look better, and not like a bunch of idiots that couldn’t get the hang of their classes. Which we aren’t! There’s plenty of completely understandable reasons we were having problems. Real ones.”

  I raise an eyebrow in doubt. “Suuure. I definitely believe you. So much that we can just skip over that part and get to you explaining what that book of yours actually does. Did you get famous for discovering something like that?”

  Jumble tilts her head to the side. “Famous? Sure, a little, I guess. Some people asked us questions, and I guess we got some free meals, but it faded pretty quickly once everyone realized that the book only worked for the five of us.”

  “It was a pretty horrifying revelation.” Euro mutters. “All those people just wanted the book. More than a few of them would’ve killed us for it.”

  I nod in mock sympathy. “Sort of like, say, how Dani tried to take my sphere.”

  Euro nods. “Exactly like… that. U-um. I’m sorry.”

  “No, no, just keep making excuses for him.” I smile humorlessly and pat them on the shoulder. “Don’t let your guilt or higher thoughts get in the way of defending your friend.”

  Staticky silence lingers as Euro stares at me. They shudder under my touch like a shaking leaf, and if Jumble wasn’t there with a mouthful of magical whispers, I’d let it sink in a little more. Because she is here, though, I lift my hand and pat the paindne between the ears in a motion that gets a very confused and fearful squeak out of them.

  “Just don’t let him do it again.” I whisper harshly. “Because there’s people here who won’t hesitate to rip people like him in half. I met one of them earlier today, and he threatened the lives of two of my… well, they’re not quite friends, but I’d prefer if they didn’t die pointlessly. Hell, I’d prefer if nobody had to die pointlessly here.”

  Jumble moves to step between us. I calmly remove my hand before she can, which confuses her just long enough for me to start jogging away. The pair stare at my back for a few long seconds. I can feel the confusion and confliction simmering in their stares; neither of them expected me to be this… I’ll call it ‘pleasant’ to make myself feel better. Truth is, I don’t give enough of a shit about either of them to care.

  Except Dani. I’d love to break a few of his fingers the next time I see him. But I won’t. Because the horizonguard is a thousand times more dangerous than these idiots, and at worst, they might be useful as meat shields for a few moments of distraction. I glance over my shoulder to confirm what my awareness is already telling me; they’re hurrying to follow me. Meaning they want what I’m offering enough to keep following the person that’s blatantly threatened them more than once.

  So who the hell are they actually? If Jumble’s telling the truth about the book, then there’s no way Clutter knows them from that. Not enough to know their favorite colours; that’s the kind of knowledge you’d only bother remembering from your favorite celebrities or athletes. Or important enemies, I guess, but Clutter never mentioned anyone like them before. I hope he trusts me enough to tell me about any enemies he has.

  …Y’know, why not just tell the truth here? The worst they can do is confirm what I already know and refuse to elaborate. They’d know how the censorship works if they were using it a bunch already.

  “Hey, weird question.” I lock eyes with Jumble, who nods ever so slightly. “Are the five of you well known out of this place?”

  Jumble furrows her brow. “I don’t think so. Finding the book was the most fame we’ve ever had, and like I said, it was barely anything. Euro, do you remember being famous?”

  Euro shakes their head. “Nope. Nothing at all. Why?”

  “Just trying to put together why the horizonguard and you showed up at the same time. Must’ve just been a coincidence.” I lie with a shrug. Just like they’re lying to me. “Well, we aren’t even close to our destination yet. Anyone want to share stories to make the time pass faster?”

  Jumble’s eyes light up as she clears her throat. “I may have one or two locked, loaded, and ready to fire.”

  Euro sighs theatrically. “There goes my afternoon.”