1

Jordan was the last one to leave the fifth room. He looked back wistfully at the portal, wondering what might be waiting for them on the other side. Despite his relationship with his father, he still hoped they would eventually find him, more for Ethan’s sake. Once he was in the fourth room, he saw that Damon was awake, sitting and leaning up against the guardrail.

Janna had persuaded the members to go back for water. Although Damon had the benefit of the healing spells, she wanted to clean the dressings and the wound. Jordan, Ethan, Emma, and Angie were chosen for the expedition. They rounded up the remaining members’ wineskins and traveled through the portals to the tower’s entrance. They spoke briefly about the possibility one room would be the exception to the no-respawns rule and they could face more enemies, but the trip was quick and uneventful.

Outside at the base of the tower, they surmised it was afternoon from the sun’s position in the sky. Large cumulus clouds had gathered, blocking out the sunlight and darkening the landscape.

“God damn, look at that,” Ethan muttered.

The three other members followed his gaze. They discovered that the black glitch ripping through the boundary had doubled in size. As a result, the water rushed through in a torrent, gouging through the landscape. The small lake was now a vast river that carved through the earth realm. It spanned up to forty feet wide and slashed a path through the road they had taken to the village. Water chopped against the apple and pear trees, driving sprays of white mist into the air.

The expedition team couldn’t see the village from where they stood, so they decided to go check on the Jennings while getting their water from the well at the same time. They climbed up the side of the hill, avoiding the river, and macheted through the thistles and bushes.

Emma had an unsettling feeling that Brett was watching them, studying them.

The intuition never left her.

2

When Jordan, Ethan, Emma, and Angie arrived at the village, they found the Jennings family near the fire pit, prepping another meal. Ryan, Olivia, and Mike cheered and welcomed them over.

You’re back so soon, Olivia telepathed. We didn’t think we’d see you for days.

Is everything alright? Mike asked.

Angie told them about the monster battles and the injuries Harper and Damon had sustained in the tower. The family moaned their sympathies. “Do you mind if we draw water from your well?” Angie asked.

Good grief, woman, Ryan said as he nodded toward the well, you don’t have to ask. Go on, go on.

Ethan offered to fill the wineskins and discovered each one held a gallon of water. Ryan commented on the change in the landscape. The fishing is great with the river running just off the village, he telepathed, but those black things are growing and that worries me.

You’re not alone in that regard, Angie replied.

It’s even more critical now, Ryan added, that we come back with you when you’re finished.

Angie agreed. Have you seen any signs of Brett? she asked.

Olivia shook her head. No. But we’re constantly on the look-out for him.

The sky darkened, and it started raining. “We’d better head back,” Angie said. As the expedition team strode to the end of the village, the Jennings family went with them.

While the other members chopped back into the brush, Angie lingered briefly at the foot of the hill. She had a strange intuition telling her to stay with the family and not return to the tower. She hesitated another moment, trying to decipher it. Then Ethan called to her from within the woods, and Angie brushed off the impulse. She waved at the family. They raised their crippled arms in return, smiling crookedly. Rain pattered off their worn skin. Then Angie turned and disappeared into the brush. The Jennings family never saw her again.

3

The rain developed into a downpour, and the sky turned slate gray. The Jennings had given them another bunch of canvas material, so Ethan insisted on fishing before they re-entered the tower.

“Uh-uh. Let’s keep going,” Angie replied firmly.

Ethan planted his feet at the river’s edge. “We need the food,” he argued. “I doubt we’ll be making many more trips out of the tower.”

Angie paused, considering his logic. “We don’t have space in our food inventories.”

“I’ll carry the fish,” he said, exasperated. “I can roll them up in a sheet of canvas.”

Jordan and Emma watched the standoff with mounting curiosity.

“Look, it’ll only take a couple of minutes,” Ethan urged. “Emma’s lethal with that bow.”

Angie glanced at Emma. “He’s right,” she said, then quickly looked down. Angie contemplated it for another moment while raindrops the size of quarters tapped against their metal and leather armor. “Oh, alright,” she conceded.

Emma jumped and squealed in delight as she scampered toward Ethan. Jordan moved to follow her, but Angie blocked him with her arm. “You,” she said. “You’re coming with me. We have firewood to collect.”

4

Within five minutes, Emma sniped a dozen salmon. Ethan, who was up to his waist in rushing water, snatched the fish before they were swept away. The 252 experience points gave Emma a total of 1,168, making her the first player to reach quadruple digits. The points launched her into the stratosphere at level 47, far ahead of any of her teammates. She saved the 40 attribute points to discuss later with Harper.

Meanwhile, Angie and Jordan stayed near the river as they gathered kindling and firewood. When they finished, Ethan carried the wineskins and fish so the other three could load up on the wood. While Jordan stacked the wood onto their outstretched arms, the girls surveyed the glitch along the realm border and the river.

“We need to finish this realm,” Angie said quietly, “and get the hell out of here.”

Emma agreed.

Jordan finished with the girls and gathered the rest of the firewood. In the gloom of the rainstorm, they had one last look at the glitches and the river. Then the four members re-entered the tower.

5

Brett sat with his wolves in the forest opposite the tower. The heavy rain pelted through the trees, but he had ample coverage to block most of the downpour. He watched Emma and his former teammates enter the tower. The Wendigo had told him he would get his wish. That Emma would ultimately be his. That in the end, after he had been fully transformed, she would go to him willingly.

So he didn’t hate her anymore. She was his Emma again. And her body and soul would soon be his.

“Come. I have another gift for you.”

The Wendigo’s voice spooked him from his ruminations, and he jolted from his seated position. Stumbling to his feet, he scampered down the muddy hill, then stopped. He turned and stared at the alpha wolf. “I want three to come with me,” he said.

The alpha didn’t so much as move. Three wolves separated from the pack and scurried to Brett’s position. Together, they dashed the rest of the way down. Brett waded into the river alone while his wolves stayed at the bank. He approached the glitch and waited.

Two crimson tendrils quivered through the black space and touched down onto the palms of his hands. He grimaced as his skin was slashed and a faint electrical charge coursed through his arms. He looked down at his hands and noticed that the tendrils had swelled like sausages. He saw red, pink, and white colors stream through the casings toward the glitch.

It’s drinking my blood again, Brett thought miserably.

He peeked at the glitch as he became lightheaded again, searching the black void for the Wendigo. But the only image out of the ordinary was that of the red tendrils that faded into the ichor.

Suddenly, the appendages jerked from his palms and withdrew into the void. Brett was swaying now, barely staying upright against the river’s current. He cast Intermediate Heal on himself and felt his head clear slightly. He noticed blood dripping from his palms into the rushing water, dissipating instantly.

“I have given you the power of telekinesis,” the voice informed him.

Telekinesis? He tried to recall what that was. Was it the power to…?

“Move things,” Brett whispered as he grinned and forgot about the pain in his hands. “How… how do I use it?” he asked, only to be answered by an eerie silence. He sloshed out of the river, toward the tower.

Brett searched the base for something small, finding the fist-sized rock Damon had used earlier that day. Brett focused on it, trying to will it into the air. Minutes passed, and the rock wouldn’t move. He cast another Intermediate Heal, and that sealed the wounds in his hands. He tried again, but the stone remained fixed to the tower’s base. He looked down and noticed a few pebbles shifting in the driving rain. He concentrated on one pebble. It rose from the pooling water, hovering in front of his face.

“Fucking yes!” Brett roared, and the stone fell back to the ground.

Laughing, he levitated the pebble again and whipped his hand to the right. The pebble sailed toward the glitch. He shot it back to his left, watching it zip by. He spun around and faced the forest, finding the closest pine tree. He fired the stone at the tree and punched a small hole through the wood.

He experimented with the pebble for another twenty minutes as the rain soaked him. Then he turned his attention back to the fist-sized rock at the tower’s base, grinning like a fool. He pointed at the rock, then stopped.

“Fuck that!” he shouted.

He whirled around, facing the forest again. He found a boulder impacted into the ground near the shore. The giant rock was four feet square and must have weighed six hundred pounds. He pointed both hands at the boulder.

At first it wouldn’t budge, but Brett concentrated, and soon it shifted in its crater. He strode toward it, and the giant rock ascended from the ground. “The closer I get, the more I can manipulate it,” he marveled.

Brett stopped at the crater with the boulder hovering thirty feet above his head. He sent it through the air and toward the village, thinking how delicious it would be to drop the boulder on the freaks’ cabin. But the rock started descending when it got thirty meters away from him.

Over the next hour, Brett experimented with his new ability, guiding pebbles, rocks, and boulders through the stormy sky and laughing maniacally the whole time. When he was satisfied, he ran to the glitch. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” he blurted enthusiastically.

But the black void remained silent as thunder rumbled overhead.

Brett’s smile faltered. Fear seeped into his heart and he loathed to ask what was on his mind. He peered into the void. “May I… muh, may I go into the tower?” he asked.

He was greeted with more deafening silence. The sounds of the forest became more pronounced. Rainwater crashed into the river and the landscape and the wind pushed through the trees, making the old wood creak.

But the Wendigo did not answer.

He glanced at his three wolves waiting patiently on the far bank. Dejected, Brett headed back across the river. I’ll start a fire, he thought, dry myself and these wet cl—

“Go into the tower,” the Wendigo’s voice echoed, “but do not contact or harm the people.”

Brett stopped in his tracks at the edge of the far bank as disappointment flooded his heart. Still, he would not give voice to his dissenting thoughts. He returned to the west side and gazed at his wolves across the river.

He pointed his finger at one wolf. The animal groaned. Its coarse fur shifted vertically despite the heavy rain. The wolf started growling but was cut off as it rocketed into the darkened sky. It whined anxiously and moved its limbs futilely, seeking solid ground. Brett directed the wolf to the other side and settled it down beside him.

He gazed at the two other wolves. They were in heightened states of agitation. One was compulsively biting its front paw. He sent that one over first and, as the rain finally stopped, he transported the last wolf.

He peered at his wolves. They looked up at him devotedly. He crouched next to them. “Are you ready for some recon, my savage friends?”

They stared at him and shook the rainwater from their hides. Brett stood and walked through the portal, followed by the three wolves.