Messages tweedle-ee into my inbox one after another in a cascade of justifications, excuses, and explanations that leave out all relevant information. None of them go any further than being recognized as words on a screen for one reason and one reason only.

  Jumble has a goddamn Worth Class. Just like me. Sound whooshes along with blood in my ears as I try to make sense of what I’m seeing. Is… she lying to me? She has no damn reason to, since I haven’t told anyone here that I’m a Worth Class too. Hell, a lot of the messages pinging in are explanations of what a Worth Class actually is, and how it is actually possible for someone to have a Class with Worth as a focus.

  I slowly type out a response. Once I finish I read it over once, sneer down at it, and delete it all. Everything in me is screaming that this is a trap. Because, logically, that’s all it can be. How can this utter coincidence happen? Unless fate screwed up and–oh. Shit. That’s exactly in line with what a Worth Class ability can do. I should know.

  Since I have one.

  “Shelby? What’re you doing?” Pearl whispers harshly as I start moving. “Do you believe her? Is it… safe to believe her?”

  “There’s one damn easy way to see if she’s telling the truth.” I flick my Class Card with a fingernail. “If she wants me to believe her, then she’ll show me. Otherwise she’s a damn liar who knows exactly how to lie to us.”

  Pearl shudders. “I don’t even want to think about that.”

  I grimace with a nod of agreement. “Which is why I want to trust her. Another… one of us… would be unbelievably huge. Especially one that doesn’t get sucked to and from Earth at the system’s whim.”

  “Mmmh, she could stay here with Clutter. Unless there’s other problems with her.”

  Her admission of not knowing if she herself is… real… definitely throws a wrench into this. Could be that the system’s been screwing with her for years, or she could be a fictional character that just thinks everything she’s saying is real. One way or another, I need to get that info from her.

  I round the corner with a loud thump that startles the hell out of Jumble. She fumbles with her Class Card for a moment before catching it, sighs in relief, then turns to me with resignation written into her every movement. Euro is… checking under the bed in slow-motion, a shimmering mass of staticky magical noise covering their ears like earmuffs.

  “You don’t believe me.” Jumble states sadly. Like she’s said that a thousand times before. “I don’t blame you. The system tries to get rid of every Worth Class at every single opportunity it gets–including any information that might get out. But I’m not–”

  I cut Jumble off by stepping into her personal space. “Show me your Class Card.”

  She startles again, but doesn’t back away. “U-um… s-sure!” She stammers and turns her Class Card towards me with a growing blush. “S-see? Right h-here, it says ‘Storyteller’, and one of the primary stats is–”

  “Fate.” I mutter in disbelief. “No goddamn way.”

  Jumble tilts her head to the side in confusion. “Yeah, Fate, Mind, and Worth. U-um, shouldn’t you be more worried about Worth than Fate?”

  I slowly close my eyes and breathe through my nose. Time to put some trust out there for the sake of the resort–and for Jumble’s sake, too, if she’s gone through anything like I have. Without a Pearl or Illumisia to make it tolerable. I swipe over to my own information tab, turn my Class Card over, and hand it to a very confused–and very nervous–Jumble.

  She stares down at it for a long moment. Then she lifts her chin to stare into my eyes with a look that asks permission at the same time as trying to understand my intentions. I give her a small, sympathetic smile as I gently grab her free hand and press my Class Card into it. The contact makes her tremble, and when I let go, she’s breathing a little too hard. Poor thing’s almost hyperventilating.

  I nod down at my card. “Take a look. It’ll explain more than anything I could say.”

  “U-um…” Jumble gulps and slowly brings my Card up to read it. “O-okay.”

  With the reluctance of a gambling addict flipping over their last hand of cards, Jumble slowly turns my Class Card to her eyes. They sway from side to side as she reads the few words written there, widening from suspicious slits all the way to watery saucers of disbelief. Her Class Card clatters to the floor as she raises her other hand to cover her mouth, stifling a sob as tears flow freely down her cheeks.

  “You’re… I…” She sniffles loudly and switches her gaze to me. “You’re…”

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

  I flip a coin between my fingers and hold it up with a confident grin. “Shelby Thestalos, Gambler, at your service.”

  A full-body shudder wracks Jumble as she nearly collapses backwards. She catches herself on the wall and slides down it, tenderly holding my Class Card between her pointers and thumbs as she presses it to her forehead to hide her eyes. Sobs, hiccups, coughs, and snotty sniffles emerge from the mass of… emotion that is Jumble. I shoot a momentary glance at Euro before I kneel down and gently pat Jumble on the shoulder.

  She sheepishly lowers my Class Card, revealing reddened eyes wrinkled with… relief. Even a little bit of joy. It’s almost enough to make me forget everything that made me suspicious of them in the first place.

  Almost.

  “C-can I…” Jumble swallows around a lump in her throat and spreads her arms. “Can I hug you? Please? I-I promise I’ll be really careful not to be… inappropriate.”

  I lean in further and wrap my arms around Jumble. She whimpers quietly and gently returns the gesture, pressing her head into my jacket’s shoulder. Her entire body trembles as she just breathes shaky breaths and slowly comes to terms with what’s happening. It feels like she hasn’t seen another person in… years with how her fingers twist into my jacket and refuse to let go.

  Maybe I was luckier than I thought to accidentally run into Clutter as my first non-ancient friend on this world. Anyone else could’ve easily brushed me off, or reported me to the horizonguard, or just not believed me whatsoever. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to be so isolated within your own people.

  “How long have you had this Class?” I quietly ask.

  Jumble sniffles. “Since I was… really young.”

  I raise an eyebrow. She said that like Pearl or Illumisia would. Now that doesn’t mean she’s actually ancient, but she could easily be a few hundred years old. Classes seem to mess with biology like that.

  “If you don’t want to say, you don’t have to.” I assure her. “Even though I haven’t been a Worth Class as long as you have, I understand that the system despises us. If you lived with paindne descended from the first wave, then–”

  “You–” Jumble raises her head so quickly her forehead almost smashes my nose. “How do you know about that?”

  Whoops. “It’s a… pretty short story, actually, now that I think about it. You probably don’t want to hear it if you don’t want your worldview shattered–wait. How do you know about it?”

  Jumble’s eyes widen. “U-um. I… don’t want to lie to you any more, but that’s… really private. Can I just say I don’t want to talk about it yet? B-but I promise I’ll tell you before the quest ends!”

  I raise an eyebrow. Her insistence on saying nothing is definitely suspicious, but for some reason, it feels… normal. Mundane, even. Like someone who doesn’t want to talk about something embarrassing. I bet she somehow found her way here before this, which is why the book that kicked all this off was even here in the first place, but it must not have been a… pleasant quest. If I want her to trust me, and especially if I want her to join the resort, I have to be willing to extend that branch of trust.

  Even if it definitely opens me up to getting screwed over later.

  “Yeah. Okay.” I squeeze her a little tighter to loosen her grip, then push away slightly. “I won’t push you, but I hope you’ll eventually trust me enough to tell me. Can I ask what the rest of your party actually is, or is that a little too private? …Jumble?”

  She flinches, her face flushed and her eyes refusing to meet mine. “Y-yes! I am Jumble! …Um, I-I…”

  Pearl grins ever so slightly as Jumble tries to stammer out a few words. “She stopped listening when you hugged her. You might want to repeat yourself.”

  Guess I squeezed her a little too tight. I glance over at Euro, who is still just checking out the bed and everything else in that direction, and nod in their direction.

  “Who are they actually, Jumble?”

  A little of Jumble’s joy fades away. Just a little, but enough to be visibly noticeable. She looks longingly at Euro’s back and sighs.

  “They’re all… constructs.” She reluctantly admits. “B-but not like the one in this quest! I based them on all the characters in the books, and I put a lot of work into making sure they weren’t just… under my control. That’s not the kind of friend that I want.”

  That’s both impressive and a little scary. “How did you manage to do that?”

  “A lot of quest-plastic, a near encyclopedic knowledge of paindne anatomy, and a lot of trial and error in seeing what gems and treasures can replicate brain functions. It turns out the answer was ‘brainstones’.” She smiles fondly. “Each of them is their own person, so they can be nice or jerks just like real people can. Dani’s more of a jerk, but Euro’s way nicer and friendlier than their book counterpart.”

  I nod in agreement. “Most rogues who dress like that aren’t written to be as talkative as they are. So how long have they been alive?”

  “Ten-ish years?” Jumble shrugs. “I was working on them for so long that I can’t really remember the exact date. Which sounds completely wrong, now that I say it out loud, but it’s true. Um… how long have you been here? Were you one of the first humans who came here?”

  “No, definitely not.” I chuckle and shift to sit down next to her. “It’s been a few months, but it feels like years and days at the same time. I… don’t really want to ask this, but you said you weren’t sure if you were… real. How can that be true?”

  Jumble laces her fingers together and looks down at the ground. “I… can’t say that, either. It could make you hate me even more than you already do.”

  “Okay, we’ll set that aside for now too. Let’s start with an easy one, then; how did you find the way to trigger this subquest?”

  “Now that I can tell you. It’s the same way that led me to your bunch of towers, actually; it’s one of my skills.” She grabs her Class Card off the ground and sends it away. “It kind of works like… a prophecy, except it isn’t guaranteed–or even likely–to come true. I call it ‘Stories Yet To Be Told’.”