Even though Sophia needed a conversation with Jeff and me, it had to wait. By the time the portal's timer ticked down and ejected us onto the street, a medical team was waiting—complete with a B-Rank healer. Douglas, Arturo, and Sophia were all whisked away in ambulances, while the fourth member of the team was contained after a half-dozen tazers slammed into her body, followed by a C-Ranker's bludgeon when none of that worked.

Ellen shivered as we watched them strap her to a backboard—the kind medics used for head and spine injuries. "Hopefully, they'll find a solution for her. That's a terrible way to go."

"Agreed," I said quietly.

Councilwoman Myers was still at the portal site, along with a dozen or more reps. As soon as the GC team disappeared, she pulled us over, inserted a D-Rank core into a device on a folding table, and waved at us to sit as it started humming quietly. "Good work. I didn't expect survivors."

Jeff glared at her. I put a hand on his shoulder and cleared my throat. "Ma'am, one of those delvers is a personal friend of Jeff and me. We were never going to fail at saving her life."

"Delver Walker, correct? I hope this incident doesn't impact her too much. Do you know what happened to the team's tank?"

"He died," Yasmin said bluntly.

"Right." Councilwoman Myers pulled out a tablet. "Were you able to kill the Paragon as well?"

"Yes. It dropped a pair of cores—a sunlight and shadow." Ellen presented her core, and I reluctantly fished mine out of my pocket. Then I checked my status right in front of the GC councilwoman.

User: Kade Noelstra D-Rank Stamina: 42/340 (+10), Mana: 103/440 (+10)

Skills: 1. Stormsteel Core (D-10, Unique, Merged, God-Touched) 2. Thunderbolt Forms ( D-09 to D-10, Altered, Merged) 3. Mistwalk Forms (D-08 to D-10, Altered, Merged) 4. Cyclone Forms (D-08 to D-10, Altered, Merged) 5. Sunbeam Bond (D-05 to D-09, Altered, Merged) 6. Energy Font (D-06 to D-08) 7. Brendan's Hymnal (D-05 to D-07)

Path: Stormsteel Path Laws: First Law of the Stormcore

My heart dropped.

I was so close. Two cores, six levels across three skills, and an extra week, and I'd have made it. But I'd come up short. My solution for finding new Laws would have worked with more time. But with only two days before the convoy's roster was finalized, and with the GC restricting me from Paragon portals, I couldn't possibly learn the five Laws I'd need from Paragon cores in time.

Jeff knew it, too. He looked at me, eyes wide; when I shook my head, it hit him like a punch to the face. He looked ready to say something, but I held up a finger, and he went quiet, then looked at Ellen with the same question on his face. Her short, curt nod only hurt more. The Stormsteel Path's ridiculous requirements had forced me to fall behind her.

I looked down at the core sitting on the table as Councilwoman Myers pulled out a locking suitcase and a pair of gloves. Our cores went inside. Then she stood. "Thank you for your response. The Governing Council is waiving its right to a cut of the portal's loot. You'll still need to split it seven ways, and I'd recommend nine, since there was that member who escaped the portal and the one the healers may be able to cure. I'll be in touch when you're ready for these cores."

Ellen's hand on my shoulder was the only thing that kept my hand free of Tallas's Dueling Blade as Councilwoman Myers walked away. I shook with anger the whole time she drove me home.

And when I got there, Jessie wasn't there.

By the time Jessie wheeled herself through the door, I was done freaking out about where she was. I'd realized it was a therapy night, but the initial shock of her being missing had still been a lot. She was exhausted, and so was I, so we went to bed early and woke up even earlier the next morning.

I had a trio of messages.

Ellen: No rush, not an emergency, but we need to talk contingencies for you. What can I do to help?

Jeff: I'm sorry. I've got to go, whether you're with me or not. You understand, right?

Sophia: Can we talk? Ten o'clock, the Peoria GC center? You, me, and Jeff. No one else. It's important.

I took a deep breath, then started texting people back.

Kade: Of course I understand. Don't count me out yet, either. I have one other option, but it's a bad one.

Kade: I have a plan. I'll tell you about it this afternoon. It's stupid, though, and I was hoping to avoid it. It involves debt.

Kade: Ten o'clock is fine. I'll get there early and get a private room.

Then it was just a matter of waiting—and making sure Jessie got up for school. She didn't want to. The days after therapy were either great or terrible, and this one looked like one of the bad ones. But after some effort on my part, she got herself up, showered, and dressed while I made breakfast. "You should just let me stay home," she said hopefully.

"I don't think so, Jessie. School's important." I said as I put the pancakes I'd fumbled my way through on the table.

"Says you? Really?"

I rolled my eyes. "When you're a delver, I'll let you ditch as much as you want."

"Fine. I'll hold you to that," Jessie said. She kept grumbling, but she got herself onto the bus and headed off toward school.

I relaxed the moment she left and headed for my own bus. The Peoria GC center awaited.

When I got there, the first thing I did was find a study room and put my name on it for the next four hours. That'd be enough time to have a conversation with Sophia and Jeff, then meet up with Ellen after. Then I dug around for a copy of Tonya's Binding. The lightning trap I'd used hadn't been the deciding factor in our fight against the Eldritch City's boss, but it had definitely sped things up—and it had stalled the Fleshweeper Shoggoths as well.

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And I was D-Rank now, still casting E-Rank Scripts and Bindings. I wanted to do a little digging and see if I could find any better Bindings to study. Most of Tonya's different Bindings were geared toward generalist supports, but I found a few Scripts with potential and slid the book into my bag so I could copy them into a new notebook. The current one was almost empty, and I was more than overdue for a replacement.

Among the ones I saw was a rain slick that enhanced lightning spells cast against targets inside of it, an improved lightning trap, and a lesser wind simulacrum—a Binding that, when triggered, would create a copy of the caster from compressed wind. That simulacrum could cast a single E-Rank spell before it dissipated—though I'd have to pre-cast the spell into the Binding. Still, it gave me a lot of potential for a very expensive ambush. I could see casting Thunder Wave into it without needing to worry about hitting allies. It was expensive at seventy-five Mana for a single cast of the Binding and five to inscribe it into my book, plus the spell's cost. But one copy—or maybe two—wouldn't be the end of the world.

And then, Sophia showed up.

She was dressed in jeans and, of all things, a sweater, and she wouldn't stop shivering. I shook her hand, but neither of us said anything for a while. Then, when Jeff finally arrived—fifteen minutes late and with excuses about having just sold his truck for potion money—she cleared her throat.

"I owe you both my life. Douglas and Arturo, too. And I hit C-Rank in there. I finished my C-Rank Trial this morning."

"Congratulations," I said, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice. I wasn't done yet. Not while I still had an option. Not until the convoy left with Jeff, Ellen, and Yasmin in it. I could still make this work.

It just felt like an increasingly long shot.

"Thank you." Sophia went quiet. Then she coughed again. "Sorry. Yesterday was…it was hard. Really hard. The team I was with…only Douglas and April had ever fought together before. We were uncoordinated and sloppy. Every GC team's like that. But I'm done. I did it. C-Rank is mine. I can get a job at any hospital in Phoenix, working on people after they come out of portals or helping to cure cancer or something. It's what I've always wanted."

"I see," Jeff said.

Sophia shook her head slowly. "I resigned from the GC this morning, just after I hit C-Rank. It cost me about twenty thousand to pay back the cores, but it was worth it.

"I made a mistake a few months ago. I should have rejoined your team, Jeff. But I was so scared that what happened in the trap portal would happen again. And then it did, even though the GC promised an easy trip to C-Rank. I want back in, Jeff, if you'll have me."

"Of course," Jeff said immediately.

I interrupted. "Sophia, we'd love to have you, but we've got a few logistical things to figure out first. Jeff, how are Raul and Karina doing on rank-ups?"

"Karina won't make it to C-Rank. No way. She's got less of a chance than you do—and before you say anything, I think I know what you're planning, and I think it'll work. I'm still counting you as part of the team for this."

"What?" Sophia asked.

I ignored her question for now. "Okay, Jeff. That does leave us with an open spot, and a healer like Soph would be perfect. But she needs to know, one hundred percent, what she's getting into before she commits. So, here's what's happening. Our team's Yasmin on support, Jeff as tank, and me as spellblade striker/fighter. Ellen's our mage, and we've got a fighter named Raul who's with us more often than not. We're about to sign up for the Carlsbad reinforcement convoy. That's why C-Rank is so important."

"Oh." Sophia went quiet for almost a minute. As she thought, I glanced at Jeff. He stared back; his eyes almost seemed to ask why I'd ruin his plan like I just had. I raised an eyebrow, then jerked my head slightly at Sophia. He nodded begrudgingly. She needed to know. After what she'd been through, and the guilt over three deaths and whatever had happened to April in the Eldritch City, she deserved to know exactly what was coming.

When she finally spoke, it was to ask a single question. "Do you know what your team will be doing for the convoy?"

Jeff answered quickly. "We'd be a support team. The main team is sponsored by the Roadrunners and Portal Tyrants. Two S-Rankers, four A-Rankers. That's enough to deal with anything—especially given who the S-Rankers are. The Portal Tyrant and the Light of Dawn are both coming, along with the Spark of Life. They'll be attacking any nearby portals. That leaves patrols, small portals, and recon to the B and C-Rank teams."

"You're not going to be entering anything harder than what we just cleared, then?" Sophia asked.

Jeff started to say something, but I interrupted him again. "We can't promise that, but the plan is for E, D, and C-Rank portals only."

Sophia nodded slowly. Then she stuck out a hand that shook slightly. "Alright. I'm in."

"It's great to have you on the team," Jeff said. "I'll get our registration updated."

"Thank you," Sophia said.

So, that left just one problem.

Ellen met me at my apartment at just after one-thirty in the afternoon, as Phoenix's temperature crawled over 105 Fahrenheit. She was all business. Within a minute, sticky notes covered my kitchen table. "I've been thinking about your problem, and I've got a few possible solutions. None of them are legal, but it's possible that if we sneak a few portals with Jessie—"

"No, I'm not putting her career any more at risk than I already have. She really likes the GC rep stuff, and it's good for her," I said.

"I figured you'd say that." Ellen ripped three of the sticky notes up. "Okay, so, that leaves us with way fewer options, and most of them aren't going to go over well with the GC—"

"Sorry, I'm going to interrupt. There's only one option that's guaranteed to work, and it's this one." I tapped a pale yellow sticky note. On it were three letters.

"Eugene's the only way to make this work."

"Eugene?"

I felt heat rise into my cheeks, laughed a little, and nodded. "I got tired of calling him the God of Thunder. Eugene is easier to deal with."

"Did Jessie make that up?"

I laughed awkwardly. "Sounds like it, huh? No, this one was all me."

"Fair." Ellen slowly balled up most of the other sticky notes, leaving three behind. "I do have some other options, though. They're not good, but they're options. One of them involves getting an S-Ranker to vouch for you."

"No. Absolutely not."

"The Spark of Life—"

"Sarah's going to be too busy to watch over a D-Ranker in the convoy," I said.

"It's absolutely ridiculous that you're on a first-name basis with and S-Ranker, Kade. She'd probably do it for you." Her face soured for a moment. "She feels like she owes you."

"She might. But I don't want to rely on her."

"Fine. What do you need from me?" Ellen asked.

"I need you to be here for the next few hours. I have no idea what'll happen when I contact Eugene. He'll probably open up another S-Rank portal in my living room and drag me into his world again, and I need someone to explain what's going on to Jessie so she doesn't freak out."

"And what should I say to the S-Rankers who swarm your apartment fifteen minutes after you disappear?" Ellen asked. "Should I say 'Oh, it's just Kade things?' Because I don't think they'll buy that."

No, they wouldn't. "I'll be through the portals quickly this time. In and out as fast as I can go. If Eugene's any kind of smart, he won't make things harder for me on this end than they have to be. Once I'm in there, though…it'll probably be pretty hard on me."

"Okay." Ellen paused. Then she stood. "If you're going, let's get started."

I stood too, walked to the living room, and sat down on the floor. "I'm not sure how long this'll take. I've never contacted Eugene before. Hopefully, it's pretty quick."

The God of Thunder wasn't sure whether to be thrilled with his new name or insulted by it. Eugene, of all things!? But it was a name, and it'd been a very, very long time since any mortal being dared call him anything but "God of Thunder," "Your Eminence," and "Oh God, the Horror!" when he was frying them for their insolence.

Not that he'd ever consider frying Kade Noelstra. The others…they'd used insolence as a shield, to hide their failures and fear. But this kid? As near as Eugene could tell, he wasn't afraid of him. He didn't save his insolent, casual attitude for Eugene. No. Everyone got it—every S-Ranker in the city Kade lived in had been treated the same way, except for the healer woman.

Eugene watched Kade. He waited for the opportune moment as tension mounted and the other delver—the girl named Ellen—sat next to him. Kade was trying so hard to make contact. As if Eugene had even once lost track of what he was doing. Ha.

He waited until the girl's fingers meshed with Kade's. Until they both squeezed the other's hand.

And then, he opened his portal and grabbed the kid. Kade's fingers unthreaded from Ellen's hard enough for both of them to gasp in pain. Eugene snorted and ripped Kade out of his world and into the God of Thunder's pocket dimension.

"You really didn't want to come and visit me, did you, Kade Noelstra? Well, I forgive you. It's time to get caught up on your education!"

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