Security showed up right when expected. But the alluded to 'person who can break Gil's security' wasn't with them. Jumble and I wait it out as a sea of constructs builds up outside in a grey mass that shoves and squishes together in a way real people just couldn't do. Toes get stepped on. Entire bodies are crushed underfoot. None of them react to it–not even the ones getting crushed.

Jumble flicks her gaze away from a construct getting run through with a sharp pole. "Any word from Gil yet?"

I look down at my Class Card to double-check. "Nope. Clutter hasn't sent anything, either, so they're probably radio-silent right now. Hopefully that means they're in horizonguard territory."

"I can't think of any other good reason why. Bad reasons, though?" Jumble chuckles to herself and shakes her head. "There are too many of those to count. I–ahp!"

Dani groans and tries to move, but a light tap on the back of his head every so slightly the intensity of the static over his eyes and ears. Jumble put it there to keep him pacified. Apparently there's a very fine line between 'lulled into dreamland' and 'permanent mental damage'.

"Dang it, he's too twitchy," Jumble grumbles and whacks Dani between the shoulderblades. It doesn't seem to do anything. "If Gil doesn't show up soon, we're going to have to retreat and come up with some other reason why Dani's still alive. One that'll convince him."

Doesn't seem too hard. Dani doesn't think very highly of me, and he seems to think Jumble is being 'corrupted' by my influence. All we'd have to do is fabricate some scenario where Jumble pretends to deal the killing blow, Dani wakes up confused and alive, and she leaves him a note saying she's come to her senses. 'Course that all depends on what she said to him while Rina and I were fighting.

I glance over at her–and the expression of absolute disgust she's leveling at Dani. It's the kind of look you'd give to a serial child killer from the jury stand. So… yeah, that option's probably not going to work. Can't imagine the things she said to Euro's murderer would lead to a change of heart.

"Hey, what's all–oh, c'mon! This is just… argh!"

A mass of constructs shove away in a wave of grey. Leaving a very annoyed Gil standing right near the doors as he brushes a stain off his pants and mutters obscenities at the already regrouping mass. He flashes a glance at me and Jumble, then pauses. I can almost hear the gears in his mind turning as he slowly reaches into his pockets and pulls out… a comically overcrowded keyring full of dozens of the exact same key. Which he starts to flick through.

"Damn keys," he mutters just loud enough for us to hear. "I can never remember which one of these actually opens up the door. Should really label them."

A shimmer of darkness presses against the window. For the briefest of moments Clutter's handprint appears, and right in the center of his palm is his Class Card. I barely nod in his direction and motion for Jumble to move to the back–where we can't be seen through the front window.

"That's Gil?" She asks in disbelief as we move Dani behind a shelf and hunker down. "I thought he'd be… I don't know… cool like you? But he just kind of looks like a human."

I raise an eyebrow at Jumble's description. Sure, Gil isn't as… strange-looking… as I am, but he's far from 'normal'. For one, the dude's ageless. Can't place if he's twenty or sixty, because somehow he looks both at the same time. And… uh… well… okay, I guess he's kind of normal-human like. But he's so average human that it's weird. Kind of like if you put a hundred guys in a blender and poured all that into one mold.

Jumble taps my shoulder. "Shelby? You're distracted again."

"Right, sorry," I say sheepishly. "Gil bought us a few more minutes with that stupid key routine, and Clutter's standing by with his Class Card at the ready. Still good to go with the plan?"

"Mmhm," Jumble hums in confirmation. She pulls Dani's book close to her chest and shoots him one last sneer. "When do I let him go?"

"When Gil swoops in and attacks us. Make sure Dani actually sees him fighting us off, and specifically, look frustrated when Dani starts to stir," I say as I tap away at a message to Clutter on my Class Card. "If he doesn't think Gil saved him from us then this all falls apart. Think you can try to kill Dani in a way that'll leave an opening for Gil to swoop in and save him?"

Jumble snerks out a laugh. "I'll be really careful. Can I do a little permanent damage on the way out? That'd convince him that Gil interrupted us before we could really do anything, right?"

I motion for her to go ahead. "Just don't do anything a potion can't fix."

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"Oh, I won't."

From the wicked grin that nearly touches her ears, I have trouble believing her. But she wants this to work even more than I do, so instead, I'll trust that her hatred for the system can briefly overpower her hatred for Dani. Just until he's served his purpose, though; after that there's no need for mercy.

I chuckle to myself as I put the finishing touches on the message and hit 'enter'. It slides out of my Class Card and, hopefully, into Clutters. Who'll relay the plan to Gil… somehow. Not quite sure how it'll work, but they'll make do. Jumble raises an eyebrow as I send my Class Card away, then follows my lead as I stand and lean casually against a bookshelf.

"Oh, right. Almost forgot." I nudge Dani's body with my foot. "Make sure he thinks less than a minute has passed since you 'The End'ed him."

"Ooh, good call," Jumble says. She leans down, taps the static on his head, then stands back up. "All done. So now we just wait for Gil to open the doors, then?"

I nod. "Mmhm. The moment Clutter finishes reading the message and relays it to him, we're go. Spells ready? Mana not running too low?"

Jumble flexes her bicep and squeezes it with a wolfish grin. "We can take whatever he throws at us. It's him I'm worried about."

"Don't be. He's had a Class longer than any of the other Worths I know–except you, of course," I quickly clarify. "He'll be fine. Just… have… to… wait… for… him… to…."

I trail off expectantly only to be met with soft jingling and annoyed sighs through the door. Any second now those'll turn to understanding. Any second now. Any… second…

My awareness blazes danger. I croak out a startled cry and fumble a shield in the path of whatever the hell is making such a disturbance of magic. A simple coin plinks against it and falls uselessly to the ground. I blink in surprise, but the danger doesn't go away. The coin is still full of raw, destructive potential. And the man who flicked it at me is standing directly in my line of vision.

Gil rattles his keys and grins. "Should've paid better attention, ladies. Now who the hell are you two, and why are you snooping around in my humble little store?"

The doors are open. A quick stretch of my awareness confirms it–and it also confirms that Clutter's hiding behind the seemingly indestructible counter. How the hell did Gil do that? I didn't notice a damn thing. And why a coin? Is he mocking me? Or… wait… is he restricted just like I am?

He rolls a coin through his knuckles and subtly raises his eyebrows. Right. "Hey, buddy, we don't want any trouble. We were just chasing this fugitive and he happened to duck into your place. Give us a minute and we'll be outta your–"

"Nope," Gil states. "Not happening. The boss says anyone here is a guest, and anyone we don't recognize is an enemy."

With a very readable and obvious motion, Gil fits his coin into his palm and chucks it at us. I instinctively ready a shield to toss in its path, but my awareness latches onto something that feels like a snowstorm stuck inside the coin. So I swap the spell to a purification and detonate it before it can reach us.

Howling winds spray forth as salty mist meets coin. My skin prickles with dangerous cold while frost creeps up my arms, hampered only by the strength of my purification. Jumble audible shivers and positions herself behind the windblock that is me–and with that movement, she releases Dani from her staticky magic.

I subtly nod at Gil. He returns it.

"Why are you attacking us?!" I cry out over the localized blizzard. "The horizonguard is evil! Pure, raw, hateful evil! How can you work with him?"

Gil cocks his head to the side. "Evil? He's trying to clear the quest. That's the entire point of quests existing at all. If he's evil for doing that, then you might as well say the system's evil for giving them out."

I pull my lips into a thin line as amusement glitters in Gil's eye. "What if I am saying that?"

"Then you're insane," he laughs. "And I have a very simple policy; no shirt, no sense, no service. Shoes, though, I'm pretty lenient on."

Yeah, he's having a little too much fun with this. It's pretty convincing, though. I reach back and tap Jumble's hand to let her know we're moving onto the next step, all the while Pearl giggles like a madwoman in her shell.

"Well, sorry for disturbing you, then. Buh–bye."

I shift a projectile into my hand and launch it at Gil. He holds up a handful of small Worth coins to block it, each filled with something that feels like a rainy day condensed down to handheld size. One bursts. A deluge of damp air fills everything, and suddenly, the howling winds from the snowstorm that's still going strong bite far worse than before.

Cold plus water equals extremely dangerous–but not immediately. I look down at Dani, my body creaking with a quickly-forming coating of ice, and summon another projectile. Jumble steps out in front of me to take the brunt of the attack, but then reconsiders and shoots me a pleading glance. I make an effort to look as disgruntled as possible before making a show of nodding at the door.

She smiles with a silent thank-you. And plunges a static-coated hand towards Dani's chest.

He screams in barely-conscious terror and scrambles for his book. The one Jumble has latched to her side. Just before she can run him through the coin at my feet erupts with searing heat and force–enough to send all three of us sprawling like dolls against the walls. I groan and raise a hand to my uninjured head, then turn to see Jumble doing the same. We lock eyes for a moment, and then she obviously mimes for me to throw her a coin.

Stealthily I drop two pre-made relocations into the back of a shelf. Then I push a projectile into one and toss it to her. She snatches it out of the air, hurls it at Dani, then screams at me. "Relocate!"

As my projectile spins into deadly motion, I latch onto the two relocation coins that I can find and pull us out of there. Magic takes hold, the world shifts, and I hope that Dani was sufficiently convinced that Gil actually saved him.

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