“This is it.” I motioned to the bank where I’d found the sword yesterday.

My battle with the Dust Mephits certainly took a toll on the building. While the rest of the surrounding structures had piles of sand scattered around them, the bank was nearly buried in sand on the north side. It was missing more tiles on the roof, and the gaping holes in the windows were ominous looking.

Alex’s gaze was locked on the bank. “Do you think the money is still in the vault?”

My brows pinched together as I stared at him.

Mona turned her head and gave him a hard look.

He noticed our looks and flinched back like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “What? I was just wondering. I mean, everyone who had money in there would be dead by now. Shit, this bank isn’t even in business anymore. So … that's just free money in there. Right?”

Technically, that was true. It also wouldn’t surprise me if other Hunters were taking detours to do just that. After all, money was also a kind of strength, and what were Hunters except people obsessed with power. Even I was guilty of that desire. But that money still wasn’t mine and I wasn’t going to take the time to open the vault to see if it was still in there.

I rolled my eyes. “And you said that I was distracting you from the mission? Look, if you want to take a stroll tonight and check it out, be my guest. But wait until working hours are done.” With a huff, I walked to the side of the building where I’d found the sword.

Mona looked around as she followed me. She stopped and leaned down to stare at the markings on the ground.“There was a battle here, right?”

I glanced over to see her examining the indent my body made on the sandy ground when a wind attack had smacked me against the building. “Yep. There were five Dust Mephits.”

Alex let out a low whistle. “I’ve heard of those. Apparently they’re a pain to fight.” He stopped and motioned to a rusty red mark on the wall where I’d hit. “Human blood.” He looked at me. “Did you see the fight?”

I frowned at the blood splash. Hm, I hadn’t even noticed that I’d bled. I was too distracted with other things at the time. It took me a second to blink out of my thoughts before I answered him. “It was the Josu Ghost.” Man, I never thought I’d use that name for myself willingly.

Alex’s thin face screwed up confusion. “What?”

Mona turned to me. “The Josu Ghost? He’s on this mission? How do you know it was him?”

I opened my mouth to correct the gender, but paused. Never mind. It didn’t matter if anyone knew what gender the ghost was. “I’ve heard the stories about how the Josu Ghost walks around in a cloud. That’s what I saw, a cloud moving around the street. Then the Dust Mephits came out and they fought.” I shrugged. “The Dust Mephits died, and the Josu Ghost left before I could catch up.” At least the first part of that story was true. Go me.

“Did you see his face?” Alex pressed. “What time is he on?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Anyway,” I said before they could ask me more about the Ghost. “This is what I wanted to look at.” I led them to the spot where the sword was. I paused for a second, then took out the Orc sword. “I found this here. It belongs to a Red Orc.” Carefully, I put it back in the exact same position. “I strongly believe that this sword is connected to the Portal we’re trying to find.” If nothing else, it was a Portal I was desperate to find.

Mona’s mouth dropped open. “This is a Red Orc’s sword?” She leaned down and peered at the sword. “How do you know?” She felt the crudely made blade. “It’s huge.”

I pursed my lips. “I’ve seen a Red Orc holding one before. I recognized it as soon as I saw it.”

Alex made a sound of disbelief. “An E saw a Red Orc and lived? You must have been in a really strong team. Whose was it?”

“You mean, who did I leech on?” I gritted out the words. “Believe me, I was not with them by choice.” My eyes narrowed as I stared at him. “But that’s not why we’re here. Can you track the monster that owned this sword or not?”

Alex frowned. He took a breath and started to speak like a civil person again. “Just because you know what monster owned the sword — if that’s true at all — it doesn’t mean that monster can lead us to the Las Vegas Portal.”

Mona nodded. “It’s true. Monsters were pulled from all the North American Gates and dumped here. The Red Orc could have just popped up here.” She paused. “It’s just as likely that the Red Orc is already dead. Why else would it lose its sword?”

I gritted my teeth, frustrated with their logical reasoning. “I know that. I completely understand. But I need to find the Portal, and this is the only clue we have.” It was the only clue I’d ever gotten to finding the System’s world. I couldn’t stop now.

Alex sighed and shook his head. “This is a wild goose chase.”

“Even so,” I pressed. “Can you track it or not?”

He frowned and knelt down next to the sword. His fingers touched the sword lightly. “How did they make this? By banging on it with a rock?” he muttered. “Nevermind.” His eyes closed, brows tight like he was concentrating. He lifted his head up and turned this why and that with his eyes still closed.

My heart pounded heavily as I watched him. I’d never seen any tracking skills before, since I normally didn’t work in a team. There were several ways to do it, I knew. The first was reading the physical marks on the ground. That was a learned skill anyone could acquire if they found someone to teach them, and as old as humans existed. The second was tracking the magic signature of the target. A Hunter either had to get a skill stone or suddenly develop this hard-to-come-by skill. Apparently Alex’s skill fell into the second category.

A long while later, Alex sighed and shook his head. “I can’t find anything.” He opened his eyes and motioned to the marks all over the ground. “What ever happened here — you said the Josu Ghost had a battle here, right? — messed up the magical signature. I can’t even catch a trace of the owner of this sword. For all I can tell, it might’ve just randomly appeared here.”

My heart sank to the ground. So, I was the reason why it couldn’t be used to track right now? I bounced my fist rhythmically on my thigh. “What if we get out of this spot? Walk around and see if we can find the trail outside of the fight zone?”

He frowned. “I don’t have that ability. My tracking skills aren’t the greatest.”

My fist tightened in frustration. It was like helplessly watching liquid gold slip through my fingers. “We could —”

“We should give the sword to Charlie,” Mona piped up. “She can give it to Jack or Laurel, and they can find someone with a stronger tracking skill. I think I remember Tyson’s team had a very strong tracker.”

It took me a second to remember that Blood Sword’s name was Jack. Laurel was the S ranked Healer in charge of team two.

“If this sword can do what you think it can — lead us to the Portal that we’re trying to find — it should come to the attention of the leaders.” Mona reached out to pick it up.

I jumped forward and scooped it up before she could. It was fine if they touched it, but any more than that agitated me. I gripped the sword possessively and frowned at her. “I’ll hang onto it until we show them.” Before she could say anything, I put the sword back in my Items Bag.

I didn’t actually want to show anyone else. God knew how hard it was for me to show these two. I was so used to keeping everything to myself, it felt wrong to reveal any of my secrets to anyone other than Kesstel. It was a bad mentality, I knew, and certainly not helpful in this situation. If more people were helping me track this sword to the Portal, I’d find it faster. But this blade was tied to such an emotionally traumatic situation for me; I just wanted to keep it all to myself.

I looked down at my empty hand. I could still feel the weight of the blade on my fingers. Would Blake or his people recognize the blade if they saw it? After all, some of their teammates were killed by blades like this one.

Mona’s mouth twitched, and she looked like she was going to say something harsh. Then she huffed a breath. “Either way, we had a deal. We came here just like you asked. We didn’t find anything, so now we’re to hold up the other side of the deal. Now you’re going to let us concentrate on the mission without any trouble. Correct?”

I nodded slowly. As long as we kept moving around, I’d had another chance to search for more traces of Red Orcs.

Mona stood up. “Good, let’s go.”

I’d already promised, so all I could do was follow behind as my ‘bodyguards’ led the way. The city seemed like an endless maze of broken buildings, dirty streets, and bits of humanity fading away in the harsh sun. As soon as we got out of the cleared area, the monsters popped up one after another. Since I wasn’t allowed to fight, Alex had me keep track of the map so we didn’t go in circles or wander into another team’s area.

For the sixth time in two hours, Mona pushed me behind her and glared toward the other side of the cul-de-sac that we were in. “Get behind the car!” She pointed to a rusted black SUV beside the closest townhome building. She didn’t even check to make sure I followed her instructions before she brandished her two knives and sprinted at the giant spiders.

“These things are everywhere,” Alex complained and took out his own sword. “Is it just me or are they getting bigger?” He didn’t wait for an answer before he joined Mona.

Why did he ask if he didn’t care for an answer? I rolled my eyes as if I hadn’t done the exact same thing before.

As it was, he was right. Every time we encountered a group of spiders, they get bigger and stronger. This group of twenty, the second group we’d found today, were level 30 and almost two feet across. When they weren’t camouflaged, they were a pale brown color with tufts of hair along their eight disgusting legs. Fortunately — or unfortunately — I only had to see their bodies for five second before they blended in with the background. After they moved, it was another five seconds before their exoskeleton could adjust and camouflage again.

I stepped behind the SUV and leaned on the hood, with my chin in my palm. Yeah, I was getting so done with this “pretending to be an E” thing. The last couple days had been really hard. Normally it wasn’t an issue because no one was there to stop me from doing what I wanted. Now I was being choked yet again by the strings of my rank. Not because I didn’t have the strength to fight against everyone’s prejudice, but because I was still holding onto those strings for convenience.

I huffed a breath and pushed off the car. What the hell? It didn’t matter what Mona and Alex said, I wasn’t going to miss out on all that EXP anymore. As for the ‘destroying the energy crystals and making the monster vanish’ thing — well, I’d think about that in a minute.

My kindjal appeared in my hand and —

A cold chill rushed down my spine to my toes then back up to my skull. The hair raised on the back of my neck. I whipped around, brandishing my kindjal at whatever was behind me.

The cracked sidewalk and driveway were empty right behind me. Dead shrubbery and messy rocks filled the ‘lawn,’ and several dead palm trees rested against the tan buildings. The only noise I could hear were the sounds of the fighting behind me. But in the small dark gap between the two tall buildings behind me there was … something.

Goosebumps spread across my skin. Whatever it was, it was staring at me. I could feel the hostile gaze, like a smothering pillow, even though I couldn’t see it.

My eyes narrowed. Poison mist billowed from me, washed over the dead lawn and into the gap between the townhomes.

In the shadows of the building a large humanoid, at least seven feet tall, moved. It turned and ran, my mist wafting around it as it moved. Sunlight flashed over it as it turned the corner and disappeared behind the townhome.

I gasped. That shape! That red skin!

A Red Orc.

*****