Torin Firebringer didn't look any happier than the last time Lexie had seen him. She was beginning to think it was just his face. He had a permanently dissatisfied countenance.

The guy next to him though, had an irreverent grin that showed off two dimples on both cheeks. He looked a little like Cara in that they both had jet-black hair, slender frames, and dark eyes that glittered with mirth. But, he was taller, only a few inches shorter than Torin. Additionally, unlike Cara who was dressed more casually, he was wearing traditional garb from District 6–loose linen pants and an even looser linen shirt with intricate woven detailing along the hem. The trim material looked expensive, shining like pure gold. It might actually be gold. The Skysoarers were basically royalty in District 6, said to be descended from the Old Emperor. It was probably why Kai could afford his extremely white and funky-looking sneakers that added a touch of informality to his attire.

Lexie recognized his footwear. They were sneakers that Logan would have gone crazy over back on Earth 2 and they reportedly cost about a hundred thousand credits. Lexie knew because Xena had mentioned it, and so had Chris, Abernathy, and Doyle at one point. Every teenage boy on Earth 9 wanted them, and even while most of the group continued sparring on their mats, a few people shot envious and interested looks at the pair.

Then again, the looks might just be because they were Torin Firebringer and Kai Skysoarer.

Lexie blinked as Torin and Kai approached them. When Torin's eyes traveled to her, she simply stared back at him.

Why was he looking at her so intently? Did he want to say something? His expression suggested he wanted to pick a fight with her, but Lexie's 80% EQ told her that she was probably reading him wrong.

"What are you doing here?" Cara sounded annoyed at her cousin's presence, even as he pulled her into a side hug and ruffled her hair, a move which she struggled valiantly to fight off.

"We're here to see you. When they told me that my wayward cousin was planning on joining the Fighter's circuit, of course, I had to come watch her train," he said. "Wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten everything I've taught you."

"The only thing you taught me was how to lie and pick my nose more covertly during state dinners. Now get off of me." Cara twisted around and attempted to strike her cousin's crown jewels but he must have been very used to that move because, to avoid her blow, he expertly swiveled his hips in a smooth fluid motion that made Lexie think of air.

"Those are the most important lessons in life, cousin," he said and when Cara finally bit him on the shoulder, he let her go with a chuckle. He turned his attention to Lexie.

"I watched most of that," he said to her "Did you cast a spell that slowed her down?"

"No," Cara answered for Lexie. "She's a card user."

Kai seemed to be waiting for a punchline and when it didn't come, his eyes turned into saucers. "Stop. Really?"

"Really," Lexie responded.

"I didn't know cards could do that."

"Obviously because you're super ignorant," Cara said smugly as if she hadn't reacted with a similar level of shock when she found out about Lexie's skill. "But Lexie here is like a card genius. She makes them from scratch like it's nothing. Every week it's a new one. Last time she had this card that was like a reverse magnet that basically kept her away from me almost the entire time. It was a little jerky and I don't think she's done with it, but when she is done, it's going to be amazing."

Lexie blushed, surprised to hear Cara sing her praises so effusively. She didn't think that the other girl had been keeping a close eye on her experiments. On the contrary, Lexie thought Cara only obliged her for Conrad's sake and maybe even viewed Lexie as a pain in the ass. Lexie would understand if the other girl got annoyed at being paired up with her all the time seeing as how Lexie wasn't a physical match for her.

But apparently, Cara genuinely liked her for no good reason. Huh. Is this high charisma at work?

"She's overstating it," Lexie said. "Cara's been kicking my ass every single week. She kicked Jan's ass last week too."

"That's because a girl walked in here to deliver food, and he lost his marbles."

"What kind of girl?" Kai asked.

"This kind," Cara said and she made a curved gesture in the air so everyone there got exactly what she meant.

Lexie glanced at Jan who was still sparring with Shadow, his body dripping with sweat. In the mat next to theirs, Lane and Urmas were going at it, and next to them were Boris and Tate. The other guy, Horatio, had dropped out of the group, so Ken didn't have a partner and was lifting weights in the gym.

Boris versus Tate was an interesting match up and surprisingly Tate wasn't losing as badly as Lexie expected. Some might say he was even keeping up with Boris.

Lexie noticed Tate's eyes meet hers for just a split second before he avoided a blow from Boris. That was close. Impossibly close actually, in the sense that Tate shouldn't have been able to dodge that. It had come at him too fast for him to see it. And maybe he didn't.

After all, it was like his body reacted before his mind did.

Wow. Was it the mana-powered mechs that boosted his reaction time so drastically? How did they work?

"I'm Kai by the way," the dark-haired boy said dragging Lexie's attention back to the conversation.

"Huh? Oh, I'm Lexie," Lexie said.

"Lexie Sparrowfoot," Torin completed for whatever reason.

Kai's eyebrows furrowed. " Sparrowfoot? As in…that Sparrowfoot?"

"Yeah," he said. This made Kai grow silent. His head swung between Lexie and Torin as though he were trying to figure out a particularly difficult puzzle. At the end of it, all he said was, "Huh. Small world."

Cara tucked her hair behind her ear. "Anyway, don't you have two somewhere to that's not here? Like hero school?"

"Relax. We're leaving in a week. We just hopped over to Arcadia for the day to sight-see."

"With teleportation orbs?" Lexie blurted out.

"Yup," he said casually like it was nothing, even though orbs were very expensive and regulated.

Of course, since they were both children of [Heroes] and elementals at that, it was a given that they would have access to teleportation orbs.

Lexie always wondered how Cara got here so early every day. She had always assumed that Cara was temporarily living somewhere close or at least in the same district. But maybe she was still living with her parents in District 6. Did she use teleportation orbs every week to come here?

Jeez.

"Speaking of which, there's something I gotta tell you," Kai said to his cousin. "In private."

"What is it?"

"The 'in private' part was a key detail in that statement," Kai said sarcastically, as he grabbed her and dragged her away, leaving Torin and Lexie standing there in extremely awkward silence.

After a few seconds of no one saying anything, Lexie was about to head back to the bleachers, then remembered something…

"Oh, by the way, I don't know if you heard but your cousin Dewie's at Victoire right now."

"His mother mentioned," Torin answered almost immediately like he was trying to get this obligatory conversation out of the way.

"Yeah. Well, Dewie's a little…I mean it's hard for him to get along with people sometimes." Lexie met Torins eyes and even though he didn't seem in the mood for conversation, much less requests, she forged on anyway. "Do you think that you could, you know, keep an eye out for him, make sure no one picks on him? He kind of had a hard go of it in elementary school and I don't want anything like that to happen again."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Lexie didn't know why she was asking Torin this. Maybe because he was Dewie's cousin or maybe because she thought he was the kind of person who would protect Dewie in a situation like that. Maybe. She wasn't sure because she couldn't get a totally accurate read on him. He just seemed so wooden most of the time. But he was Theo's brother so…he probably wouldn't be that bad. Right?

Torin considered her and nodded.

"How are you?" he asked and the question was so out of the blue that Lexie blinked.

"Uh, I'm good?"

He gave a clipped nod like a cadet would. "Good. My mom wanted to know."

"Oh." Lexie was a little dissatisfied that she'd never gotten to meet Stella Firebringer in person. She wanted to know for sure if she and Lexie Sparrowfoot were as close as Aiden said they were. They should have met at the Azure dining, but it just wasn't meant to be quite yet. Or maybe Stella had avoided the dinner because she was trying to respect Aiden's demands.

"Um…how are you too?" Lexie asked because it seemed like the right thing to do.

"Fine," Torin said.

"I heard you have a fight coming up against Top Dog. Are you nervous?"

"No."

"Oh…that's good then. You must be pretty confident."

"Yes."

Damn it, it's like pulling teeth with him. Thankfully, Conrad finally came out of his office at that point, with a dark-haired pretty girl who was standing beside him holding a lunchbox. Conrad was holding her hand with one of his, and his other hand held a half-eaten donut.

Conrad scanned the room, his eyes zeroing in on Torin. "Torin, Kai, you're distracting my dojoettes. You need to leave. And Lexie, no flirting with boys until you figure out a way to beat Cara."

Outraged, Lexie gasped. "I wasn't–"

"Cara, kick your cousin out. You can use the new move I just taught you."

"With pleasure." Cara smiled and cracked her knuckles, readying herself to do just that. Smiling, Kai put his hands up defensively, killing the fun.

"Alright alright, we're going. But can I go one round with Torin before we go?" His eyes gleamed with challenge and Torin raised an eyebrow.

"No," Conrad said pointing to the door.

"Alright. You coming to alumni day at Victoire?"

"Nah. I dropped out for a reason. The only scenario in which I'm ever stepping back into that school is when I'm dead."

Kai thought that was pretty funny and laughed as he sauntered out, Torin trailing behind him.

That was when Tate, sweaty and exhausted from his battle, finally came up beside Lexie. She analyzed his face, and to her surprise, he didn't look half as bad as he did when he'd fought Shadow.

In between pants, he pointed his chin in the direction of Torin's back.

"He has the personality of a log of wood," he said. "Just so you know."

"Yeah, I know. Wait, how do you know that? And why are you telling me this?"

"No reason." He clicked his tongue. "Have you made up your mind?"

Lexie shook her head. "No. I need to talk to my Uncle first."

Tate frowned. "You're not going to tell him about–"

"Your theory about dungeons being Eldritch dreams? No, I'm not going to tell him. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't even know how I'm going to start with that."

"It's not a theory but okay. So then what are you talking to him about?"

"I'm just going to ask him questions about dungeons," she shrugged. "This is new territory for me so I need all the information I can get from a trusted source."

Tate put a hand on his chest and gave her a mock wounded look.

"I don't want to say that I don't trust you," she said. "But I kinda don't, not all the way. Also, my Uncle has more dungeon experience than anyone I know so…."

"Your Uncle doesn't know how the game works."

"Yes, but he's one of the best dungeon experts in the whole world. Also, he has nothing but my safety in mind. Whereas you…I don't think you even consider your own safety."

"Is that a way of calling me a crazy daredevil?"

"No offense," she added and he smirked.

"None taken. I'll also pretend that you don't intentionally humble brag about your uncle all the time."

"That's because you don't ask about my dad. If you did, I would humble brag about him instead." She hesitated but ultimately couldn't help herself, adding in a stage whisper, "He's a generational genius."

"Lexie!" Conrad called again. "What did I say about boys?"

"I wasn't flirting with him."

"Cut her some slack, he's her first crush." That was from Boris.

"No, he's not!"

As the boys chortled, an irritated Lexie decided that she wanted a card that could temporarily take away everyone's voices like Ursula did. in The Little Mermaid.

***

Uncle Max was doing something that required a lot of grunting. Lexie could hear it from his and Luke's shared patio, even before heading down to the basement. As she approached, she hesitated a little when she heard a second male voice murmuring something she couldn't make out.

"Um Uncle Max," she called out. "It's Lexie. Are you decent?"

Slam!

A thump echoed and shook the floorboards, followed by a groan.

"He's on his ass," another voice called out, one she recognized as the wolf shifter. Bane.

Lexie felt relieved and comfortable enough to continue down.

"The only thing you're Uncle's decent at is losing," Bane concluded, holding his hand out to Max who sat up.

Uncle Max glared at the other man and slapped the hand away, getting up on his own. "That's only because she distracted me."

"Ah, I see. Then what's your excuse for the other three times you lost?"

"What do you need Lexie?" Uncle Max said, swiftly changing the subject.

"Oh um… I just wanted to ask you a few questions about dungeons."

Rather than look excited to discuss his second favorite thing aside from guns, her Uncle narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you never ask questions for no reason Lex. And unlike your dad, you don't like knowing things just to know them. There's some intentionality to your questions and sometimes it means you're considering something crazy."

She blinked. She didn't think he would read her that well.

"So what do you need a dungeon for?"

Luckily, Lexie had already prepared a convincing lie for this moment. "It's not for me. It's for my friend. He thinks he wants to be a delver and I'm trying to convince him otherwise."

"Him?" Bane's eyebrows raised. "Is this a male friend?"

"Yes." Lexie was tired of saying it at this point. "Just a friend."

"Of course," Bane said grinning.

"Is the friend you're referring to that scrawny kid you came with that other time?" Max asked.

Lexie nodded.

"Yeah no chance," He shook his head. "Tell him to give up. He doesn't have what it takes."

"You haven't even had a single conversation with him."

"Lex, he's barely bigger than you."

"He could have a growth spurt. And so could I."

"That's not even the important part. Frank said he was a mundane."

"Some mundanes become delvers."

"Most of those die."

His tone was grave enough that it felt like an omen. Lexie swallowed.

"That's what I told him," she lied. "But he wants to do it anyway. So I thought maybe if you gave me a list of all the dangers he could encounter as a delver in a dungeon, then I could convince him against it."

"You want him to list all the dangers?" Bane snorted. "Have you got a century to spare?"

"I could tell you all the things I've gone through," Max said. "How many brushes I've had with death, how many times I've seen someone's limb get blown off or eaten? But I'm not going to tell him stories that will just give him ideas and false hope. Remind him that mundanes don't have the physiology for dungeon work. They don't have strength, or magic, and can't heal fast enough. They're usually only there to be cannon fodder, for greedy delvers who want a monster distracted while they escape with the loot, leaving the poor bastards in there to die."

Lexie's eyes widened. "That happens?"

"More times than I can count." His expression was getting graver by the second and now disgust mingled in. "Tell him not to do it, and if he's not convinced, bring him to me, and I'll beat sense into him."

"Oh, I don't think that'll be necessary," Lexie said before moving on to her next point of inquiry. "What about when the dungeon has already been raided and the core disabled? Is there any danger then?"

Uncle Max's expression relaxed just a little. "Is he trying to become a miner then?"

She shrugged. "I might try and push him in that direction instead."

Uncle Max thought about it and shared a look with Bane. "Well the pay is shit, and the hours are brutal, but danger wise…usually the only thing you have to worry about is tripping over your own feet and losing the rest of your crew. It's pitch black in there, especially after most of the gems have already been mined, and unless your crew can afford magic lights, it's hard to see. Usually, a rope is tied between each crew member so they at least don't lose each other. And of course, there's also the danger of the dungeon closing in on them."

"But no monsters?" Lexie asked. "No monsters have ever attacked the miners?"

"Not that I know off."

Lexie nodded. At least that was one thing to be relieved about.

"If the dungeon is so dangerous how come you've survived it so many times?" Lexie asked. "And why do you keep doing it?"

"Because he's a nutcase," Bane said.

"Because I prepare for everything," Max countered and pointed at his trusty knapsack in the corner. "You see that? My entire life is fitted in there. Weapons. Potions. Food and water to last me months to possibly years. I stay alive because I respect the danger of the dungeon enough to not take chances with it, and I don't bite off more than I can chew. I pick my battles carefully and plan even more meticulously. That's why I can still do what I do."

Lexie mulled over those words at home as she sat at her desk, trying to figure everything out.

The conversation with Max was enlightening, and relieving and tied in with a lot of what Tate said about the safety level of what he was doing. If he was truly only going in after the dungeon had been mined, then there was a low risk of a monster attack.

There was still the risk of him getting missing though, and not getting out on time.

If she could mitigate that and become hyper-prepared like her Uncle Max, then maybe, maybe Lexie would consider Tate's offer. The two major dangers Max spelled out were losing each other and the dungeon closing. Lexie would stand at the entrance to keep it open and get out quick. But what if she couldn't reach Tate in time? Would she really have to leave him behind?

A shudder ran down her spine and a knot rose in her throat. Even thinking about it made her disturbed. She couldn't imagine doing that, leaving someone to their deaths like that. The guilt she would feel afterward would eat her alive.

Which led her to her next thought.

If she was going to go dungeon exploring with him, and that was still a big if, she needed to make a card that would find and locate Tate at all times and be able to guide or teleport him back to her in time. Teleportation orbs wouldn't work, because mechs could be funny in dungeons. Teleportation was a weird field of magic with some parts of it being forbidden knowledge.

Lexie had to overcome that somehow.

Right as she had the thought, she heard a sound at her window, like a tap. She glanced over and jerked, fear dousing her.

A seven-foot tall man was floating there, dark eye holes boring into her.

"Hello," the Eldritch Lord said.

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