The way Gil says 'the back' sends a shiver down my spine. He maintains eye contact as he stands up, backs away, and perfectly maneuvers to behind the counter without checking to see where he's going. Then he ducks down, makes a creaking noise with his mouth, and does that thing where he walks down stairs that aren't there.

I roll my eyes and try to feel at him with my awareness. Yet, for some reason, I can't get a feel of anything further than the counter. It's like he put up a bubble that blocks everything.

"He's committed to the bit."

Jumble giggles and re-tangles herself around me. "Yep! What do you think he has back there? And what do you actually need to use that beacon thing–would some clothes be enough? Because I have some of Rina's old stuff in my inventory somewhere."

Pearl pops out of her shell and shakes her head. "It has to have a signal–either magical or electronic. Illumisia would be able to track by scent, but she's not here right now."

"No, she isn't. We wouldn't be struggling like this if she was," I sigh and absentmindedly scratch Jumble between the ears. "Maybe we'll finally find the secret to bringing her here. That'll turn the tides pretty damn fast."

"If the place we're looking for is the same one Click told us about, then there's a chance," Pearl agrees. She glances over at Gil rummaging behind the counter, then slips back in her shell. "We told him about me already, right?"

I think we did. If not, the horizonguard or one of the shattered-mask trio definitely told him about Pearl. "Think so. Why? Not keen on showing your face?"

Pearl vigorously shakes her head. "Nope."

"Fair enough," I chuckle. "Jumble, how's Dani faring?"

She holds up one finger, then awkwardly takes out her book without untangling herself from me. Her tail wraps around one of my legs for stability, and I get a reminder of just how muscular that thing is. Now that I think of it… I don't remember if Ii'ev ever seen a paindne swim. They're probably just as at home in the water as on land. I reach down and gently pinch one of the fins ridging Jumble's tail to get a feel of it.

"Yeep! Stop that!" She turns and swats my hand away. "It doesn't hurt, but it feels really weird. Like… like if someone grabbed the little bit of hanging skin between two of your fingers and kneaded it."

I shudder at the thought. "That's one horrible mental image. Sorry; won't do it again."

Jumble huffs, but it's closer to a pout than anger. "You don't have to apologize. How were you know it feels so weird? Oh, um, it looks like Dani's meeting with someone right now. He doesn't recognize the person right away, and they're talking to Dani like a messenger. It's… from… um… okay, they still haven't said yet… ah! The forehead-masked man!"

I sit up straighter. "Already?"

"Already," Jumble echoes as she surges to her feet, eyes still locked on her book. "They're talking about the prisoner… but it might not be… no, Dani just dropped Gnash's name. They want to know if we'll take some kind of bait to rescue Gnash."

I set my jaw and scratch my neck. Sawyer at least would jump at it. Llaliu too. They'll convince the others to go with them, and if everyone else joins in, they'll probably take a few constructs with them. Not that there's anything else we're using the small army we gathered for, so… maybe that's a good thing. As long as Dani says–oh, shit. Jumble's expression just turned ashen.

"He said no," she whispers, her voice full of disbelieving rage. "He doesn't think we'd come to try and save Gnash. What kind of monsters does he think we are?"

I scoff and summon a few coins. "I think he made that clear when he killed Euro. We need to intercept them and browbeat that messenger into leading us to Gnash."

Jumble nods, but doesn't look away from her book. "The messenger doesn't seem to believe Dani; it looks like the horizonguard has a higher opinion of us than Dani does. Now they're talking about where everyone else went. That's a good sign, at least, that they don't know about the amusement park district."

Yeah, it is. Maybe we have the heretic to thank for that. Or maybe the system just hasn't told them yet now that it's so close to getting exactly what it wants. We need to make use of that. And to do that, we need to find where the horizonguard's taken his main forces. Gil… he has to know at least a little, right?

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

A hand extends above the counter. Gil flares his fingers, then curls them into a thumbs-up as he 'walks up the stairs' from where he's been crouching down. As his other hand comes into view, a pair of something pulsating and small come with it.

Two eyes–bloodshot, frantically looking around, and dripping construct liquid. They lock on me and start to vibrate frantically.

"Yeah, yeah, she's here," Gil sighs as he places the eyes on the counter. "Shelby, meet the construct who says you're its god. Damn thing left its eyes with me instead of trying something a little more… sane? Yeah, sane, that's a good word for it."

I stare at the eyes. They stare back at me. "Liquid construct?"

They bob up and down vigorously. It's… unnerving, to say the least. I glance over at Gil, who doesn't seem bothered by this at all. Maybe this isn't the first time something's given him its eyes for safekeeping.

I tent my fingers and rest my forehead against them. "Alright, construct. Where the hell are you now? The rest of you, I mean."

The construct's eyes turn towards each other, as if it's conversing with itself. One of them starts to vibrate frantically, then detonates into a spray of blood-red tinged grey. Gil flinches away as he's halfway painted with more liquid than the eyeball should've been able to hold, but before he can brush any off, it rushes back to ground zero and starts reforming.

Well… not reforming, exactly. That implies it's becoming an eye again. The flowing dress-like bottom that extends into a very frail-looking five-inch tall paindne is a hell of a lot more than an eye. It bends down, grabs the other orb, and starts stroking it like a cat while it takes me in.

"Hello once more, liberator," it says with a bow. "This one thanks you once again for its freedom. Unfortunately, it also has the misfortune of reporting that it's managed to come up with very, very little to report. Did you know your enemy has a liquid-manipulating Class? Because this one sure didn't."

I furrow my brow and step in a little closer. "You just left us to rot there. Didn't leave much time for an explanation, now did you?"

The construct purses its lips. "Hm. You seem to be correct."

"Yeah. Well… whatever, bygones and stuff." I wave a hand for emphasis. "Onto important things. Where's the bulk of your body?"

"In the back."

I turn to Gil. He shakes his head. "Not my 'in the back'. Must be some other 'in the back' I'm not familiar with."

The construct shrugs. "To be clear, the rest of me is safely tucked away in the waiting room for an as-of-yet unused trial ground. I looked high and low for one that would satisfy your last uplifting condition, creator, and I finally found it."

I don't like the finality the construct puts on the word 'it'. "There's only one Soul trial?"

"Yes. There are many entrances to it, though–but as you've already seen, your enemy has made accessing these things very difficult." The construct sighs and strokes its eye. "Very difficult indeed. Want me to show you?"

"Maybe if we have time. Right now, we need to focus on finding the right things." I summon my beacon and place it on the counter. "There's two places–three, if you count wherever the horionguard is–that we need to find. One's the central generator slash control slash computer room–whatever it's officially called. Two's this weird place where the non-paindne constructs were filled with colourful magic. Can you lead us to any of 'em?"

"Can I?" The construct pauses, then clears its throat. "Er, can this one? Yes. Of course it can. But you want to find your friend first, yes? The smallest, yappy paindne who bites and remarks above his weight class?"

Sounds like Gnash. "Can you help with that?"

"Nope!"

Jumble groans. "Then why bring it up at all?"

"Because I can get things ready while you save your friend. Leave me and the shopkeep here to do our work with the beacon; I'll meet you wherever you need to be met with more of myself. Then once you have your friend back we'll set off for the crucible."

'The crucible'? Is that what the weird magic place is called? Sounds apt-ish enough to be true. I give it a few seconds of thought, then nod down at the pint-sized paindne construct. It smiles, then squishes the remaining eye between its hands to get more liquid construct to work with.

Gil brushes a grey stain off his shirt. "I guess that's that. You two get going now; Gnash might not be as safe as you'd like."

"...We still have no idea where he's being held."

"Really? Hm. Then this wasn't very helpful. How about…" he rummaged around in his pockets, "this?"

He pulls out what looks like a garage door opener, grabs the construct and the beacon, then dips under the counter. A loud click echoes from behind the counter, and light floods the store. I shield my eyes and turn to look at the glass, where a squirming mass of shoved-together constructs writhes against the store's outside. And pressed right up against the glass like two starfish on display are some familiar faces.

The non-forehead members of the mask trio. From the looks in their eyes, they're pissed… though somehow it doesn't feel like it's directed at me.

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