12. Footlong

My mind raced as I figured out what to do. The king hadn”t said where the portal was located, but I was pretty sure it was back at the Adventurers’ Hall. Probably in the big plaza outside. Thank goodness the Anks and Otugh had dropped plenty of hints to make sure we knew where it was.

I looked in the sky to get my bearings and realized all the lights in the towers were out. No wonder it was feeling so dark. I guess that was part of the challenge.

Even though the tower for the Adventurers’ Hall wasn’t lit up, I could see it perfectly against the dark sky. Months ago, Isobel’s Throne Golem had punched me in the face and popped my eyeballs like two fragile grapes. It had been a traumatic experience, but once they’d grown back in, I had perfect night vision.

While I was thinking about it, I needed to make sure Annabeth could see well enough to fight. We were going to be running through the streets, so I instructed three of my Flashers to stay with her at all times. Two of them landed on her shoulders and gave a steady glow, while one flew over her head and illuminated a broader area.

I debated dedicating a Flasher to Bermuda, but he was a cat and already had excellent night sight. If he wanted one, he’d let me know.

I was going to talk to Annabeth about heading out, when lightning struck the street right in front of us. I was totally unprepared for the sheer power that hit me. I flew backward and slammed into the ward over Indifies’ house. The flash was so bright my brain shut down for a moment, and the clap of thunder shook my heart.

I hit the ground and felt numb.

I couldn’t think.

I couldn’t breathe.

I struggled to pull myself together, but it was like I was floating in space and there wasn’t anything to brace against. My center––my sense of self and my place in the world––was gone.

I gasped and reached for something, anything, to anchor me. Surprisingly, it was my spirit that recovered first. I felt my aura blaze with spiritual energy, and then my magic sight returned. I felt like I was upside down, crouched on the ceiling, but at least I had a direction now.

‘What the hell was that?’ My Analytical Side booted up again. ‘Lightning always strikes the tallest point of the landscape, not in the middle of the street. That doesn’t make any sense…

‘Get up!’ he screamed. ‘Get up right now! Move it!’

‘What?’ I sucked in my first gasp of air as Tea and his Grove kicked me into overdrive. Then I realized what my magic sight was seeing, and I staggered to my feet in panic.

The lightning wasn’t just a discharge from the heavens. It had opened a portal, and a whole freakin’ army of massive, nasty creatures was starting to come through. They were upright, with two arms and two legs, but they had horns on their heads, hooves for feet, and were covered in thick fur. Their faces radiated an evil vibe, and the huge underbites and incisors bigger than my fingers made it worse. They looked like someone had taken the ugliest man alive, mated him with the ugliest goat alive, and then fed their spawn ugly babies for breakfast.

To top off the fear factor, they were as big as a stone golem and roared like rabid lions as they came for us. The civilized part of my mind shit itself in pure terror, then ran gibbering in fear. My testicles tried to crawl up inside me, and I may or may not have peed a little.

I was facing the creatures of nightmares. These were the boogeymen that had been talked about around the fire since our ancestors first walked upright. These were the monsters under the bed, the savage beasts in the shadows, the barbarians screaming murder.

If it had just been me, I’d have run away just as fast as my supernatural legs would carry me. I’d have run and run and never looked back. Even the Devil himself couldn’t have caused me to run any faster.

I wasn’t alone, though. Annabeth and Bermuda were crumpled on the street beside me. If I ran, the horde would be on them in seconds. They’d be ripped limb from limb and devoured in a frenzy of bloodlust. Annabeth’s happy smile and easy laughter would be no more. Bermuda would no longer sit in my arms and purr with love in its purest form.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I wouldn’t let that happen!

The animal part of my brain flipped the script, and adrenaline surged through me, shaking off my shock.

The flip side of flight is fight. And the flip side of fear is anger.

I felt possessive, righteous anger flash through my soul, and I was ready.

Not today, Satan!

They wanted to use light?

Fine! I could use light too.

My remaining Flasher let loose with the lumens of a small sun. I didn’t bother closing my eyes, as I wasn’t using my natural sight anyway.

I released my Bashers, my Belchers, my Surfer Dudes.

‘Attack!’ I screamed and then charged.

I had no plan. I just knew I had to jam them up at the gate. If too many of these trolloc-orc sons of bitches made it through, then we wouldn’t live to see another dawn.

I slammed into them. And they slammed into me. The action was fast and deadly. No quarter was asked, and none was given.

This was a fight to the death, and I was damn well going to be the one walking away.

If they had been like regular humans, I would have broken them like plastic toys and knocked them back to where they’d come from. They weren’t normal humans, though. I could hurt them, but their damn fur was keeping me from doing real damage. It was providing a lot of cushion against my tense-on-contact, so the full might of my explosive punches wasn’t coming into play.

The fur also provided at least an inch of padding, so my Spikes weren’t penetrating as far. They still drew a bit of blood, but I wasn’t shattering bones or reaching vital organs.

I still managed to stop the giant orcs at the gate and pull the attention of the ones that had already gotten through. The problem was all the monsters that were massed on the other side. They were pushing from inside the portal, and there was no way I could stop that much force.

‘More light.’ My Analytical Side kicked in and started directing my actions.

I duplicated my Flasher two more times and sent them through the portal. They started strobe flashing like it was a rave and confused some of the orcs on the other side. That eased the pressure a bit. It wasn’t easy to create and fill more soul creations while fighting, but I made it work.

‘More noise,’ my Analytical Side directed again, and I duplicated more Belchers and turned them loose inside the portal as well. Meanwhile, the first Belcher let out a thunderous “brRRRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWP,” and several of the orcs staggered away, clutching their ears.

‘Just as I thought, they have excellent hearing.’ My Analytical Side sounded very smug. ‘Which means they have a weakness.’

I felt Bermuda wake up behind me. He realized his human was in danger and screamed as only a cat can.

He screamed of alley fights in the moonlight.

He screamed of the law of the jungle.

He screamed of implacable, bloody death.

I felt the images surge down our link, and suddenly, I was calm. I was the eye of the storm.

I’d been fighting with frantic anger. Now I was a conductor, orchestrating pain and despair to my enemies.

The Moonlight was my Witness.

I WOULD NOT FALL!

The power of the Lagerel surged through me. My feet were solid in the earth beneath me. My trunk swayed in the wind. My limbs shattered their defense and threw them away.

Bermuda pounced on the nearest orc and shredded his leg. The orc screamed at a level I’d never heard before. It was like he was being burned alive.

His cry was so loud and agonizing the battle actually paused as everyone turned to look. Then the huge orc exploded, and blood, guts, and bone fragments flew everywhere.

Bermuda screamed bloody death again and jumped on the next orc.

If we’d just been fighting those at the portal, we’d have turned the tide of the battle right there. They were hurt by me, but they were scared shitless of Bermuda. None of them wanted anything to do with my Companion.

We weren’t just fighting those around me, though, and the press of bodies in the back was forcing those at the gate to keep going, even though they didn’t want to.

Annabeth staggered upright and took a moment to recharge her shield charm. Then she summoned her dagger and shillelagh and joined the fray. Once again, she used the shillelagh to block and create some space and the dagger to do the damage. It was now surgically sharp and cut through flesh and fur like hot butter.

She looked like a hobbit next to the massive monsters, but she was getting the job done.

The flow of the battle shifted once more, and this time it took on a weird dynamic. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off.

‘Call back your Dudes,’ my Analytical Side said, so I did. They just didn’t have enough force to do any real damage, and they were just wasting magic. If I’d had more time, I’m sure I could have found a way to make them more effective, but I was fighting for my life. There wasn’t time to strategize.

‘More Belchers,’ he commanded. So I made twenty more.

‘The others are fighting to protect you,’ my Analytical Side noted. As soon as he said that, it clicked. That was the weird battle dynamic I was feeling.

I was the weakest link.

Annabeth was carving them up like a Thanksgiving turkey, and Bermuda was popping them like balloons. I was giving them cuts and bruises. Even with the power of the Lagerel, I was only knocking them away and breaking bones. Of the three of us, I was by far the easiest one to fight.

That had to change.

And it had to change right now.

‘Grow your Spikes,’ my Analytical Side commanded.

The fight was so intense, I didn’t even think to question him. I just did it.

I poured power into all eight of my Spikes and told them to grow.

And that is what they did.

Grains of magic duplicated and snapped into position. The base of the Spike grew bigger, more solid, and the shaft started growing.

Three inches. Four inches. Then five.

Always before, I’d felt it when my soul creations bumped up against the max size of three inches. That wasn’t just a theoretical number. I actually felt my little creations straining to get larger, and the cost in magic went through the roof.

Now, though, the Spikes were growing easily—naturally. Like there wasn’t any limit at all. What had changed?

‘They are growing inside your aura,’ my Analytical Side said brightly. ‘It was just a theory, but it looks like it worked! When you grow your soul creations out in the air, they have to create their own space. When they grow inside your aura, it’s the perfect environment for them, and they can get even bigger.’

This wasn’t the time for a full theoretical discussion, but I felt a thrill of excitement. This changed things. This added a whole new dimension to what was possible.

Meanwhile, my magic started running low. My Spikes had an insane level of detail, and it took a lot of power to grow them.

‘Penny!’ I called, and she was on it. Fresh magic flooded my matrix, and I grew the shaft to six inches.

Now I was finally doing some damage. I was punching through fur and cracking bones. However, these guys were so big, I still wasn’t reaching their heart or lungs.

‘You know, the average size penis is six inches,’ my Analytical Side said gleefully. ‘So you could say you are f’in them up!’

It wasn’t that funny, but I howled maniacally—all my pent up fear and rage finding an outlet in a bad bit of humor.

“Time to pop some monsters!” I bellowed, which was just bad timing, as a creature of nightmare finally landed a solid blow and knocked me through the air.

You can’t be in a fight that is this chaotic, with this many fighters, and not get hit. I’d been tagged a lot up to this point, but they had all been glancing blows. Red and his team had softened the impact, and I hadn’t even really noticed them. They certainly hadn’t slowed me down.

This time, though, I had dodged one stone club only to run into another one. The first monsters through the gate had just been fighting with their claws. The newest arrivals, however, were hairier and wielding primitive weapons.

The blow rattled me a bit, but the defensive force runes in the Hex Network had pushed the kinetic energy back, and what made it through had been distributed over a much wider area.

Thank goodness I had a real shield now, or that might have knocked me out of the fight.

As I flew through the air, I had seconds to snatch a look at how the others were doing. The stone clubs were overriding the advantage of Annabeth’s shillelagh, so she no longer had the upper hand. Bermuda was fast and small, and the orcs he tangled with screamed in such agony that nobody wanted to mess with him.

Running still wasn’t an option, although I would have loved nothing better. I was in the middle of the fight, with my back against the wards and too many giant orcs around me to make a break for it.

Sometimes the only way out is to go through. It was time to ‘porn size’ my pig stickers and go all Wolverine on their asses!

‘Penny!’ I called again as I bounced off the ward and landed on my feet. She flooded me with even more magic, and I continued to throw it all into my Spikes.

Eight inches. Ten inches. A foot long. Now we were finally talking! Even with their denser fur, Spike was punching deep holes in them, and that was enough to finally start dropping them like flies. I started shredding hearts, lungs, and other internal organs—although the last option didn’t slow them down fast enough.

I experimented and found the best option was a couple punches to the pelvic region. These massive orcs weren’t human, but they were humanoid and their skeletons were similar. The pelvis is the fulcrum for all movement in the human body, and once I cracked it, they stopped fighting and went down fast.

The battle continued at a furious pace, but now that I was finally taking them out in the center, the flow of the fight changed once again. We were eliminating them quicker than they were coming though, and we started advancing closer and closer to the gate.

I pulled my soul creations back and was wondering exactly how we were going to close this rift when Bermuda did it for me. He clawed the arch of energy, and it started flexing wildly.

“Run!” I yelled, and a moment later, it blew up. The explosion knocked me off my feet, but this time I was prepared for it.

I got to my feet and looked around. Orc bodies were everywhere, along with blood, guts, and other unmentionables from Bermuda’s explosive contributions. The smell was horrific, and the sudden silence was rather eerie.

I quickly looked around for Annabeth and Bermuda. They seemed to be okay, although Bermuda was pissed about all the crap in his fur.

“Are you okay?” Annabeth asked anxiously. “When I saw you surrounded by all those—creatures—I just about lost it.”

“I’m fine,” I replied. “Actually, I’m better than fine.” I quickly told her about the length of my new Spikes.

“What is it with men and the size of their toys?” she asked. She laughed, but it had an edge of crazy to it. Fighting those monsters had been scary as shit.

“Well, in this case, it was literally go big or go home,” I said, motioning at all the bodies around us.

She grimaced. “That was intense. I’ve never fought like that before. Thank goodness we’ve trained so much at the arena on the beach. Without all that practice, I’d have been killed for sure. Do you think the other teams are having it this bad?”

I shook my head. “I think we just got unlucky. The thunder has stopped, so no more new portals are opening up. I wasn’t counting the sounds, but I think there’s only about five or six total portals in the city.”

Annabeth was charging up her shield charm while we talked. Time was ticking by, but I didn’t want to go anywhere until her defense was back up to full strength.

“I’m okay right now,” she said, “but if we keep getting into fights like this, I’m going to run out of magic at some point. I’ve got enough to finish this quest for sure. But I’m worried about what I’m going to do after that.”

“We’ll work something out,” I replied confidently. “We always do. Now, are you ready to head out?”

She nodded, and we took off running down the street. I kept the Adventurers’ Hall firmly in sight as we navigated the winding lanes. Thank goodness the tower was tall enough to see from anywhere in the city. Without that, I’d have gotten lost for sure. Bermuda, having four feet and my magic, kept up with us quite easily.

We didn’t run across anyone as yet another minute slipped by before the voice helpfully noted we had twelve minutes left to get through the portal.

Finally, we heard the sounds of fighting ahead and slowed from a run to a jog. I wanted to see what we were getting into before barging into the middle of another battle. We followed the curve of the street towards the screams and battle cries. It sounded like a team was having the fight of their lives and barely hanging on.

The battle came into view, and I almost stopped in surprise. A team of five mages was facing off against the giant orcs, which was what I expected. However, there were only two orcs—one on either end of the street—and they had the adventurers pinned between them. They looked to be a lower ranked team, no matching outfits and no obvious sponsor logos, so I’m sure this was difficult for them. Two of the larger guys were standing their ground on either end and holding off the orcs. The remaining three mages were firing spells and trying to do some damage to bring the orcs down.

All of the mages looked injured, and one of the mages in the middle looked really rough. I’d say she had a broken arm at least and maybe more.

Annabeth looked at me like, “Two? All that fighting for just two of them?” Then she summoned her knife and lit into the one nearest us. I realized she’d upgraded her weapon too. Before, it had been a dagger. Now it was the size of a short sword.

Annabeth didn’t waste any time. She stabbed the orc through the spine and then cut it in half. My little partner was tough!

“Head to the Adventurers’ Hall!” I yelled as I ran through the middle of the team. They just stared at us in disbelief—especially when I slipped inside the final orc’s guard and broke him down in four punches.

“Time’s ticking,” I scolded them. “Move it!”

“Where’s the Hall?” one girl unfroze long enough to ask.

I pointed to the tower in the sky. “Right there,” I said.

“The rest of us can’t see it, Jason,” Annabeth said helpfully as the team stared into the pitch black sky.

Oh. I hadn’t realized that. I knew it was dark, but I hadn’t realized it was that dark. That was going to be a problem. I wanted to help the team, but that was a distant second in my priorities. My main thought was for Annabeth and how she was going to find the portal if we happened to get separated.

“Eleven minutes,” the voice said.

I stopped, made ten Flashers, and filled them with magic. Then I had my Dudes grab the Flashers and rush them to the tower. Once they were in place, they lit up the night—providing a beacon of hope.

“Thank you!” The other team seemed beyond grateful for the assistance, and Annabeth seemed happy too. I gave them a quick smile and wave. The competition was real, but so were these people. I couldn’t leave them without any hope. When it comes to the choice between monsters of legend and my own people, I’ll choose the mages every time.

I made sure the three of us were together, then we set off running again. The other team tried to keep up, but their injuries slowed them down. We left them behind, but I sent out a silent prayer to the universe that they would make it through the portal in time.

It wasn’t long before we were fighting again. This time it was two giant orcs against a team of four, but one orc had a club and the other was swinging a mage around by the leg. It was a surprisingly effective bludgeoning device, as nobody wanted to get hit by a dead body.

We took out the orcs, yelled for the mages to head to the Hall, and kept on going. I wanted to get to the portal home as soon as possible. I was afraid it would be a small portal, like we’d had coming here, and there would be a line to go back. There was no way I was getting knocked out of the tournament for something like that.

We had six more encounters as we wound through the streets. The number of orcs we were facing continued to go up. The last battle we interrupted had two mid-level teams fighting against sixteen orcs.

Bermuda decided he’d had enough and left the rest of the fighting to me. He jumped into my Throne Room and went over to the stream on the tree side to get a drink. I was glad he was with me now, instead of underfoot where he might get hurt. We weren’t having breaks between the battles like before. Instead, it was just starting to turn into one big brawl with individual pockets of conflict inside it.

‘Your Companion is using your Freshness Fountain,’ the Bank Crystal alerted me anxiously. ‘He shouldn’t be here, but I couldn’t keep him out. Somehow, he just wandered in.’

‘That’s okay,’ I replied. ‘Bermuda goes where he wants. Just alert me if he starts using too much magic.’

I spared a moment to check in with my fur baby, and sure enough, his coat was now clean as a whistle. He was sitting on my throne looking very pleased with himself. I sent a quick image of warm affection his way before returning to the screams and stench of real life.

“Six minutes,” the voice said.

We arrived at the main road through the city. Otugh’s warehouse was somewhere along here, but I’m sure it was warded up now. Our new problem wasn’t the orcs, although there were still several around. It was the other adventurers. Despite having a clearly lit up tower in the sky, a lot of the idiots couldn’t figure out what to do.

The main road was very wide—it had to be to handle the carts and the foot traffic moving around the city—but the number of adventurers present and their confusion about what to do was making it very difficult to navigate. Some teams hurried up the road, and some headed down. Some teams fought the orcs, and some just stood in the road trying to figure out what to do. Some teams gave up and left down side streets, but more adventurers were arriving all the time. The whole scene was madness.

“Five minutes,” the voice said.

“We’ve got to do something,” I yelled at Annabeth over all the noise.

She nodded. “We can’t leave all these people to the orcs,” she yelled back. That wasn’t exactly what I meant, although I agreed with the sentiment. I wanted to save ourselves first, and if we could save teams from getting hacked into sushi, that was just gravy on the cake.

My Analytical Side groaned and clutched his head in pain over the mangled metaphors, but I ignored him. Annabeth thought for a moment and then took a deep breath.

“Go to the light! You’ll be alright!” she yelled, trying to get a chant going. I joined in. “Go to the light! You’ll be alright!”

Then her magic kicked in, and her voice boomed up and down the street. “Go to the light! You’ll be alright!”

Others picked up the chant, and soon the whole street was yelling the phrase. Best of all, some of them actually wised up, listened to what they were yelling, and started heading in the right direction. Once a majority of adventurers started moving, that seemed to flip the switch, and suddenly, everyone headed towards the Adventurers” Hall. The resistance melted away, and we finally had momentum.

“Four minutes,” the voice said.

We hurried along with the crowd, and then all at once the plaza opened up in front of us. I knew we were close. I hadn’t realized we were that close.

Fortunately, my fear of only having one tiny portal home was unfounded. There were at least ten portals all around the perimeter of the plaza and five more in the center. The adventurers were streaming through, and the plaza was emptying out just as fast as they arrived.

We ran towards one of the less crowded portals in the center, where I realized we had a problem. Well, not really a problem—more of a delay.

“I can’t leave my Flashers behind,” I yelled and pointed above us. Annabeth looked up at my lights in the sky, showing the location of safety to all the mages still in the city.

“Three minutes,” the voice said.

“You can’t take them down yet,” Annabeth yelled back. “There are still so many people they can save. Let’s wait till the last little bit before you bring them back.”

“Sounds good,” I replied as we stood there watching the people race to safety. We were right beside the portal, so we could jump through at a moment”s notice. Annabeth slipped her hand inside mine, and I gave it a squeeze. This night had been intense, and the battles had been crazy. Doing it all with my best friend made it all so much better.

Annabeth was a blessing in every sense of the word. She was a fierce warrior, a follower when I was feeling sure of myself, and a leader when I wasn’t. She was insightful in the quests, and she brought a whole other set of skills to interacting with people. Best of all, she made this whole thing seem a little less scary and a lot more possible.

“Two minutes,” the voice said.

“You know, it occurs to me that saving all these teams is probably not in our best interest,” I noted. “I just got caught up in those creatures and how nasty they were. After our fight at their portal, it felt like it was a humans versus orcs situation.”

“I know what you mean,” Annabeth said. “I wasn’t about to stand by and let them kill everyone. It all feels so real.” We stood there for a moment. “I’m getting my head back in the game too, and it would probably be a good thing for us if we were the only ones who made it back home.”

“So, should I take the lights down?” I asked.

“I feel torn,” she said. “I’m sure all the best teams have already made it back, or they don’t need the lights to know where they are. We are probably helping the lower level teams, and I just don’t want to let them get chewed up by those creatures or by this cleanse. I know it’s not a smart play, but let”s leave the lights up for just a bit longer.”

Annabeth had a kind heart, and leaving the Flashers up for another minute wasn’t going to hurt anything. I gave her hand another squeeze, and we waited together. It was an oddly peaceful ending to such an adventurous day.

“One minute,” the voice said. The walls on the king’s castle flared to light, and I felt a massive power building. If I had to guess, the cleanse was going to start there and flood throughout the city.

“Time to go,” I said and called my Flashers. They arrived a few seconds later, and I thanked them for their help as Penny absorbed them. I kept my lead Flasher, of course, as duplicating them was still faster than making them from scratch, even with Penny’s help.

We both looked around one last time. I wasn’t ever going to forget this place. Then, together, we turned and stepped through.

Arriving back in the arena was just as jarring as when we’d left. We went from the darkest night to a space flooded with light. There was dance music playing, and it mingled with the sounds of the teams to turn the place into a big party.

And why not? We’d survived and been very successful. We were back on the floor of the arena and safe again. What better time to celebrate?

We were unsure of what to do next, so we moved away from the portal and looked around for Miss Mountain. I spotted her a moment before she spotted me. We locked eyes, and she immediately started moving our direction.

Once again, she plowed through the teams like a battleship propelling through water. One mage didn’t get out of her way fast enough, and she bounced him like he was a child.

It was great to see her again and I was getting ready to greet her, but she spoke first.

“Where are you hurt?” she demanded. She was all business and looked just as deadpan as usual, but there was real concern in her voice. She dropped to one knee in front of me, and first aid supplies started appearing out of thin air.

“Oh! I’m not hurt at all,” I said brightly. I looked down at myself and realized I was still covered in gore. No wonder she thought I was injured.

“Sorry,” I continued. “Give me a moment.” I tapped into my Freshness Fountain and did another quick clean. Thank goodness it didn’t take very much magic. I then reached over and did the same for Annabeth. The quick clean was great for us, but our clothes looked worse than the first time. Now they felt stiff and had a weird texture.

“Hmmm.” Miss Mountain didn’t look convinced. “Arms out,” she commanded, and I complied. Then she did a quick full body physical to make sure I was okay. She ran her hands over my body while gently squeezing and pulling to make sure everything was good. She pressed my stomach lightly to make sure there were no internal problems, listened to my heart, and even checked my mouth to make sure my teeth and tongue were undamaged.

“You are good,” she declared—one eyebrow slightly lifted in surprise. Then she turned to Annabeth and did the same thing. I felt grateful she cared about us enough to make sure we were alright. I had no doubt that if we had been injured, we’d have been bandaged, splinted, and carried back to John in short order.

“You are good too,” she said, and all the first aid supplies disappeared again. I guess she was using her magical pocket, like Eugene had talked about back at the Gathering. Then she got to her feet, and we got a faint proud smile.

“You were fierce?” she asked.

“We were fierce!” Annabeth said proudly and gave her a condensed version of our adventures.

“Very good,” Miss Mountain nodded slightly. I could tell she was proud of us. “Like the sailor said, you’ve done admiral. Now follow me.”

We chuckled at her pun and fell in behind her as she headed for the exit. Once again, I felt like we were two baby geese paddling after their mama. She led us out of the arena, down a hallway, and through the giant doorway we’d first come through at the beginning of all this. There were lots of supporters waiting for their teams, but it was easy to spot John, and we headed his way.

I guess we must have smelled a bit, as we got enthusiastic greetings from everyone but nobody moved to hug or get too close. Except for Tyler. He swept me up with a big hug and an even bigger kiss. After all the nasty stuff I”d seen, it felt wonderful to be in the arms of my man. He tasted like honey and smelled like spring. I ran my fingers through his nice clean hair and wrapped my legs around his solid waist.

Miss Mountain greeted John and Sandy, made sure we were all good, and bid us farewell. I’m sure she still had lots of teams to escort out of the arena. Before she left, she let Tyler know she was perfectly fine with a threesome. Two men were even better than one in her view. Tyler just laughed and thanked her again for all her help and support.

“How are you both feeling?” Sandy asked. “Do you need to rest up, or do you want to blow off some steam?”

“There’s no way I could rest,” Annabeth replied. “I’m too wound up. Let’s get some food, and then see what we want to get up to from there.”

“That sounds like a plan,” John rumbled, “but let’s head back to the room first. You two are a bit ripe. If we go to the buffet like this, you”re going to ruin my appetite.”

“We certainly wouldn’t want that!” I laughed. “I could use a shower. Hot water and real soap sounds wonderful right now.”

“Agreed!” Annabeth exclaimed. “And I’m going to burn these clothes. I never want to see them again.”

And with that, we all took off back to our suite, but not before Tyler whispered in my ear that he’d be happy to blow off any steam I needed. I shivered in anticipation, and a whole different spike stirred its head and wanted to come out and play. Suddenly, we couldn’t get to the suite fast enough.

True to his word, Tyler shredded my clothes as soon as we got to the bedroom and blew the steam right out of me. I gasped that we probably didn’t have a lot of time for the fun stuff, so Tyler lathered up his shower stick and slipped inside me while his hands cleaned up my outsides. It was a master class in multitasking, incubus style.

The hot water felt cleansing, and the thick lather of soap made me feel wonderfully refreshed. Quick cleanups with the Freshness Fountain were nice, but they were no substitute for the real thing. As wonderful as they were, what really pounded my stress out was Tyler’s smooth, powerful hip action.

I was in heaven. My man was touching me, loving me, and speaking words of encouragement as I cried out again and again. I couldn’t say no as he milked me with his manhood and took me over the edge with his touch. I came again and again and again.

I was spent.

Done.

Finished.

Fully sated.

Okay. Maybe not.

Somehow, Tyler eked out one more time for good measure.

I was shaking and just about collapsed as Tyler turned off the water and toweled me down. I was back to feeling steady again and blissfully happy as Tyler helped me get dressed. By the time we were walking out of the bedroom, I was ravenous.

I had no idea how long we”d taken, but John hadn’t started banging on our door, so it must have been acceptable. Annabeth looked fresh and happy too, so our crew headed off together to get some grub.

I held Tyler’s hand, and I was so happy I could have skipped along the whole way. I was safe. My friends were safe. We were still in the tournament. Life was good!

The only things that marred an otherwise perfect moment were my shoes. They still looked like they had been through a gore-fest convention. They were as clean as I could get them, but I still needed a new pair. Maybe I could get some new footwear at the fair. I knew it was mainly focused on magical items, but surely there was a vendor that sold clothes.

We made it to the buffet, and it was packed. It seemed like we weren’t the only ones that were hungry after our adventures. Gold Trim got us a table right away, and this time we were close to a dueling chamber. It looked like we were going to get some entertainment to go with our meal.

Tami was our waiter this time, and it was very nice seeing her again. She asked how my “dress” was, and I told her it was the envy of everyone on the red carpet. We laughed, and she said that if I ever ended up nearly naked again, she’d be happy to drape me in another tablecloth gown.

I got my first plates of food, ate like I was a starving young animal, and went back for more. High class restaurants with fancy meals were nice for dates and things like that, but when it came to refueling my body and getting ready for the next event, I’d take a buffet any day.

Tami made me a new drink this time that seemed to be a mix between lemonade, Sprite, and some other mystery ingredient that had a bit of heat to it. It was absolutely delicious, and I had so many of them she started bringing me two of them at a time.

Sandy had gotten my first message with the summary of our progress and shared it with John and Tyler. My Bank Crystal had also sent out two more updates—one after we’d found the secret floor at Indifies’ and one when we’d arrived at Adventurers’ Plaza, so the crew was already up to date on what had happened. They still wanted to hear all about it, though, as it made for an exciting tale.

Tami was fascinated by our adventures, and Gold Trim stopped by as often as he could to hear the story. We had all the time in the world, so we just relaxed, ate, and talked all about it. Both of them wanted to be included on any future updates, so I tapped Bank Stamps with them and added their contacts.

I was excited to count our bag of pearls and see how much we’d won. Sandy counseled patience, though, and said the middle of a buffet was not a good place to be sorting out money. Annabeth agreed and said we could count it all out when we got back to the room. I knew they were right, but I was still anxious to have a final number.

Sitting by the dueling chamber was just as entertaining as I’d hoped. It certainly stayed busy. Every few minutes a new pair of mages showed up and went at it. Most of the duels ended quickly without a lot of injury. Someone’s pride always got hurt, and there were dirty looks and a few curse words, but overall, it wasn’t too bad. A few of the fighters really went at it, though, and the loser had to be dragged out of the chamber and carried off.

What I found fascinating was all the different ways magic was used for attack and defense. There were the normal shields and weapons, of course, but there were also animal totems, plants, stones, mud, water, heat, cold, and tools of every kind. One guy even fought with what appeared to be a bag of MM’s.

It was easy to see which Paths were real and which were made up. The real Paths had fully realized attack and defensive themes with lots of detail and power. The made up ones went back to regular weapons like swords and clubs and tried to give them a visual twist. For example, one guy displayed that he was on the Path of the Vicious Wolverine, but he fought with a sword that looked like a really long fang.

I was starting to seriously analyze Paths and what they could do. From what I could see, they inspired mages to be more focused with their magic and helped them create a more fully realized attack and defense system. It didn’t change my underlying theory that detail and personalization were king. In almost all cases, the mages that fought with the most detail in their magic won their matches.

Finally, the meal wound down, as all meals do, and our thoughts turned to the future.

“So, what is next on the agenda?” Annabeth asked.

“Do you mean tonight or until the next quest?” Sandy asked.

“Both,” Annabeth replied, and I nodded in agreement.

“Tomorrow is a day for rest and preparation,” Sandy said. “I assume most teams were injured and used up a lot of magic, so tomorrow they can heal up and work on regaining their magic. Tock also noted that tomorrow is a day where the Palace makes a lot of money. Most of the teams and spectators are still here, so they spend the time drinking, gambling, and indulging in all the services the Palace has to offer.

“For us, I thought this would be a great time to visit the fair. The Bank has an entire store dedicated to Paths, and per our agreement, we need to learn as much about them as we can. Since we’ve made it to the second round, we are supposed to visit one of the confessional booths and get interviewed. Apparently, we can do that at any time before the next quest.”

“Is this like they do on reality tv shows?” I asked. “You know, like when the drag queens say how they really feel and throw some shade?”

“I assume so,” Sandy laughed. “Although I don’t know about throwing shade. When you both do well in the tournament, everything you say in the confessional is bound to come out. I don’t think we want to create any new enemies.”

“Agreed,” Annabeth said and gave my hand a pat. “I’ll make sure he stays in line.”

I just laughed with them and let it go. I hadn’t planned on throwing any shade, but sometimes my Anna Lykit sassy side came out. It probably was a good thing Annabeth was watching out for me.

“The next tournament quest begins the day after that,” Sandy continued her scheduling conversation. “It starts at noon, so we’ll probably do a repeat of what we did today. That seemed to work out well. As for tonight, I thought we might try something a little different.”

She paused dramatically, and her eyes twinkled.

“How about we all go to karaoke?”

Huh? That was not what I was expecting her to say at all.

“It could be a wonderful, stress-free time that doesn’t focus on magic or the tournament at all,” she continued. “It’s got a bar, so John can gather information at the watering hole, and it’s also on a full stage with a live band. This isn’t dive bar karaoke, although that can be a lot of fun too. This is big time, supernatural karaoke!

“Who knows? Maybe we’ll hear popular songs from the turn of the century, or get to listen to someone with world class talent. I know we’re here on serious business, but we have to remember to have fun too.”

Her excitement was infectious, and we all agreed to go and check it out. We said goodbye to Tami and Gold Trim, and then mapped our way to the show. Sandy was right, this wasn’t dive bar karaoke. This was classy, 1920’s karaoke with a touch of the Moulin Rouge.

The theater had lots of character, with scrollwork, gold leaf, and alcoves with statues. Some of the statues were classical, like ancient-looking gods in togas. Some of them were naked, though, and doing very naughty things to each other. There was lots of seating, with high tables and tall stools. The tables weren’t very big, just enough to hold a few drinks, but they were easy to move around. That worked out well as some of the groups had over twenty people, and they’d grouped several tables and chairs together.

For us, one table was perfect, and we easily gathered five stools and settled in to enjoy the show. The band was freaking amazing, and it felt like they had been playing together all their lives. However, I realized they were only a group of talented musicians jamming together when a couple of mages stepped up on stage, pulled their instruments out of thin air, and joined in. A few minutes later, a musician left carrying an empty glass—I assumed heading back to the bar for a refill.

I was feeling a bit thirsty myself, so Tyler, John, and I headed to the bar to get whatever fruity concoction the bartender was willing to make me. While I was there, I felt a light touch on my elbow. I turned to see a muscular woman and her team with curious looks on their faces.

“Rumor has it that you were the team that lit up the tower,” she said softly. “Is that true?” They didn’t seem hostile, so I nodded politely. “Thank you for that,” she said, and her whole team nodded behind her. “We got so turned around fighting those crazy monsters, we’d never have found our way out. We’re still in the tournament and still planning on winning some more prizes, thanks to you. I know you”re the House team and this is probably so overwhelming for you, but would you let us buy your drink?”

My mind flashed to the genie with the blue bottle that had poisoned me at the Gathering. This team seemed nice, though, and I’d already ordered the drink from the regular bartender. They were just going to buy it. Surely there couldn’t be any harm in that?

I smiled, nodded, and thanked them for being so kind. They seemed very grateful, but they also seemed a bit anxious about talking to me. I got the feeling it wasn’t good to be seen talking to the House team. Still, they paid for my drink when it arrived, wished me well, and scurried off.

Tyler and John were totally amused by the whole thing, and as we were heading back to our table, it happened again. This new team couldn’t buy me a drink, of course, as I already had one. But I still got a quickly whispered thanks and a shallow, but sincere, bow.

When we got back, Sandy and Annabeth made their drink run, and the same thing happened to them.

“I feel happy with our decisions,” Annabeth said when we were sitting down together again. “The people that I talked to don’t seem like the higher level teams, and they seem very grateful that we helped them stay in the tournament. I know we’re competing against more teams this way, but I think we made some friends tonight.”

“I don’t know that I’d call them friends,” I laughed. “I think we’re still very much the uncool team, and they don’t want to be seen talking to us. I agree with you, though. I’d prefer to be kind and supportive rather than assholes.”

“I think we should toast to that,” Annabeth smiled. “To being kind and supportive when we can!”

“Hear, hear!” I agreed, clinked glasses, and took a long sip. The first fruity concoction went down very easily, and it wasn’t long before I needed another. I didn’t even have to go to the bar this time. Instead, a waiter stopped by and told me I had a fan and the drink was already paid for. I looked around, and a shy brunette caught my eye and gave me a wave.

For a moment, I thought she might actually come over and talk, but instead, she looked around with a guilty look to see if anyone had noticed. Then I got another brief wave before she faded into the crowd.

I’d been so caught up in the decor and music, I hadn’t noticed the waiters circulating through the theater. They were rocking the early 1900’s Moulin Rouge theme with outfits of leather and lace. They were covering up more than they were showing, and lots of teams were showing more skin than they were. The hint of naughtiness was tantalizing, though, and it really showed off the male waiters’ asses to good effect.

The night continued, and that wasn’t our only visit by the waitstaff. In fact, nobody from our table bought their drinks for the rest of the night. Sandy and I were still a bit leery from being poisoned last time, so we made a rule that John or Tyler had to take the first sip from everything that arrived to make sure there weren”t any magical hijinks going on.

They loved that, of course, as it would take a lot more booze than we’d gotten tonight to get those two drunk. The evening developed a rosy glow, and when Sandy finally signed us up to sing, I barely staggered at all as I ascended the steps to the stage.

Annabeth asked what I wanted to sing, and I said anything by Pentatonix—which didn’t limit us at all. They are an amazing acapella group that covers all ranges of music, so there was a lot to choose from. We quickly decided to do “Hallelujah,” as everyone knew it and they’d already sung it together when they were trying to keep Karl’s rotten magic off of them in the cave.

Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but I was shocked at just how good we sounded. Annabeth was our lead, of course, and her voice soared like an angel. She wrung every drop of emotion out of the lyrics, and I felt inspired, sad, and worshipful all at the same time. John took the bass, and when his voice dropped, the floor shook. Sandy and Tyler knew how to sing backup, and they filled in the middle.

That only left the top end for me, and to my surprise, my voice was melodic and clear. I always knew I could sing tenor, but I’d always tried to sing more manly. My dad hated it when I sounded like a Welsh choir boy. Now I was with my friends and the lower registers were taken, so I found a whole new part of myself I’d been missing.

I felt something stirring inside. There was something here. Something worth exploring.

I wasn’t ready yet, so I just sang, blended with our group, and had a wonderful time.

When we were done, the master of ceremonies hurried over and asked us to sing another song. His name was Darius, and he’d been cracking risqué jokes and keeping the show organized all night.

Annabeth suggested “Cheerleader” which is a fun, upbeat song that matched all the support we were getting tonight. I knew most of the words, but not all of them, so my Bank Crystal kicked in and displayed them on a scroll for me. Darius got the others sorted out, and soon we were belting it out again. I thought that would be it for us, but the crowd loved Annabeth and wanted one more.

This time we tapped into one of the greatest songwriters ever and sang “Jolene” by Dolly Parton. At the end the whole place was singing along with us. “Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Joooolleeeene. I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man.”

We left the stage to the sounds of vigorous applause, and it felt nice. We weren’t being booed, and nobody was being hateful. Sure, we were still the House team, and I’m sure other teams still weren’t brave enough to be our friends, but for this one evening, we found our spot. We belonged.

Sandy was right. This was just what I’d needed to recover from the first quest and to get ready for the second one.

We stayed for a while longer and then headed back to the suite. Annabeth was on cloud nine over how well our performance had gone, and she was already thinking about going back again tomorrow night. I thought that sounded like an excellent idea.

I was weaving a bit, so Tyler undressed me and put me to bed. Then he got naked himself and crawled into bed behind me. He wrapped his manly arms around me, and I felt happy and safe. Bermuda settled onto my pillow, and Mr. Tubbles settled onto Tyler’s. We weren’t in our normal bedroom, but our little family was together, and that was all that mattered.

With that thought in mind, I peacefully drifted off to sleep.