The time leading up to the plan passed by in a blur. Everyone readily accepted Annette and Inopsy into the plan with a lot less convincing than I’d expected–which was to say absolutely none at all. Okeria had even treated her a little better than he treated me, which was either a little creepy or a move to get on my nerves. I chose to believe it was to get on my nerves, since he seemed like a good father and a loyal husband. Amidst everything else that was wrong with him.

The real problem was convincing Annette that I trusted her. She had a horrible complex about what she’d done in her old life, but after a few conversations with The End, I got confirmation that she actually had gone off the deep end last time. It said those confirmations were backed up by the Embodiment who’d chosen Annette, who’d apparently been very concerned for her safety.

I really doubted that, but I wasn’t going to deny a Keratily counter now that we had one. Everything was going smoothly. We had the right people in the right places, save for Jun, Mortician, Annette, and Inopsy. Mortician had brought us the city’s footprint after nearly a day of searching, but it showed no differences compared to Okeria’s new overhead scan. No noticeable differences, at least.

“So what’re we supposed to do if you can’t find the crystals? Go punch Keratily in the face and see what happens?” Inopsy asked eagerly, as if he really hoped he could do just that. “She has to be at least a little weaker since we fought. I did manage to rip off both her arms and split her in half four times.”

I snapped to Inopsy with a frown. “That would’ve been helpful information days ago.”

He just shrugged. “Probably. You didn’t ask.”

“We did.” Jun said flatly. “Repeatedly. And you just kept saying you didn’t remember enough of the fight.”

“I didn’t remember much of it. That changed about fifty seconds ago.” Inopsy smiled cruelly. “Good times, good times. I can’t wait to put her in the dirt for good for what she did to Persephonia and me.”

That didn’t sound like him. Well, it did sound like him, but like a slightly different version of him. The version that had fought Keratily in the oilsea.

“Inopsy. Is Keratily getting closer?”

“Oh, definitely. I can think clearly when I’m close to her, and I absolutely despise it. All these crystal worms in my head keep yelling at me to do things.” He tapped the side of his head hard enough to drive his fingernail through his skin. “It's those crystals of hers. They give you clear thoughts and put in a few harmless suggestions that you don’t even realize aren’t your own head. I know I’m a little crazy, but I’ll take that over clear thoughts that aren’t my own any day of the week.”

Annette lifted her chin like she was sniffing the air. “I don’t feel anything. Am I going to start thinking thoughts that aren’t my own?”

Okeria slid a cup of thick liquid to her, announcing his arrival. I looked up as he strolled around the table and silently gave one out to each of us, a question on my tongue extinguished by the look on his face. Tired satisfaction.

I carefully eyed the deep blue liquid as I swirled it around the cup. “Is this the thing you said would help bring your memories back?”

“That and more.” He confirmed happily. “Give a big round of applause ta our dead friends in the pipes here, since its their stuff that sent me down the right path. Keratily’s function don’t stop us from makin’ memories in the first place, or else we’d end up feelin’ like we got holes all over the place. They carefully replace certain things with other things, but someone’s gotta remember Keratily settin’ up those crystals.”

He raised the glass up high, then downed it. I nodded and sent my helmet away for a second, then joined most of the table in polishing off whatever it was Okeria had made. Except for Annette–she sent her drink to her inventory.

“I’ll drink it later.” She said when she saw me staring. “Because of the whole… you know…”

She gestured at my face.

“Annette, we all know you’re human here.” Gloriosa chuckled. “Just keep your helmet on when you fight Keratily so she doesn’t find out. There’s no need to keep it on when you’re just with us.”

Annette wasn’t convinced. And from her body language, there was another reason she wasn’t comfortable with showing her face. So I gave her an out.

“Just make sure you drink it before you and Inopsy do your thing. I don’t want Keratily making you forget about a crystal while you’re in the middle of destroying one.”

I was expecting a nod. Instead I got confusion. She looked between me and Inopsy, then down at the table as if she was trying to understand what I’d just said. I didn’t think it was too complicated. Whatever. If she was stupid enough not to drink it, Inopsy would just point her in the right direction.

So I refocused on the map. I hadn’t been expecting a lot to change, and lo and behold, absolutely nothing had. It looked exactly the same as before, but this time, my eyes caught on certain places when I scanned the plans. A house far away from everything else that definitely hadn’t been zoned for the military district it was right next to. A warehouse in the middle of a busy market. And two temples that looked exactly like each other near the north and south gates into the city.

“Well, I guess I have to give it to Keratily.” I said with grudging respect. “Making us not think weird things are weird is a lot easier than completely hiding them from us. Hell, I think I walked by this warehouse a few times. And both of those temples.”

“I’ve literally knocked on that house’s door before.” Okeria said with disbelief. “That’s the place from that message I sent ya. How in the world did I completely forget about somethin’ so obvious?”

“Keratily.” Inopsy said easily. “Now imagine what it's like fighting her when you just completely stop perceiving some of her attacks. My head got bashed in by something I saw coming, but just didn’t register as a threat.”

Okeria shuddered. “Terrifyin’. Now that your head’s clear, do ya think ya stand a better chance?”

Inopsy immediately shook his head. “Keratily needed a way out of that hazard. She saved up so much of her strength to get out, so she’s going to be a lot more powerful and angry now. Especially if we’re going after a big source of her strength.”

“Then we just have to hope we can weaken her enough.” I said, putting an end to that stream of thought. I could already see some people losing hope, even if they didn’t realize it. “Inopsy, Annette, go attack either of the temples. We’re evacuating near the south gate to start, and if we finish there before you do, go to that one next.”

“Will do, boss-man.” Inopsy easily agreed. “Come on, glow-moss. We’ve got a Matria to kill.”

I could imagine Annette frowning at the nickname Inopsy had taken to calling her. She didn’t really mind it coming from me, but for some reason, it really bugged her when he said it. Which only made him want to say it more.

“I really don’t like our chances, you know.” She said as she followed him out of the room. “You said she shoved a crystal so far up your–”

Annette’s voice faded away before she could grace us with wherever Inopsy had been run through with a crystal. Unfortunately for me, my mind went directly to sodomy. That was an image I wish I could have Keratily scrape out of my head.

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t just hear that.” Okeria laughed. “Juniper, Mortician, ya should go with them ta let them out. Ya know where you’re gonna go?”

“Thorn. He’ll need all the help he can get based on what I’ve seen.” Jun donned her armor, which cut off an affectionate smile aimed squarely at me. “Keep in touch, Seb. I’ll scream as loud as I can if we really need the help.”

“And we are going with her!” Mortician eagerly added. “We can’t wait to test out our newly empowered strength! And defend Rainbow Basin, of course. That comes first, and strength testing comes second. Definitely.”

Jun patted me on the shoulder as she walked by. “See you when we need you.”

“Hopefully you won’t need me. Maybe all these preparations will be for nothing, and it’ll all go smoothly.” I said sarcastically.

“And Keratily will turn a new leaf before Moricla somehow makes it over here.” Jun snorted. “Love you, Seb. Good luck.”

“You too.”

Okeria waited for Jun and Mortician to leave before mocking me. At least that’s what I thought he was going to do with his mischievous smile, but instead, it just melted away the second we were alone. From the remnants rose a grim line, set and ready to do whatever we needed to do to come out victorious.

“Alright, home base man, we’re the command center until somethin’ hits the fan.” Okeria swept his hand over the maps, and they melted into the table. The model reappeared, with all the figures in place already. “Thorn, Mortician, and Juniper are in charge of this huge group. We got more than I expected, but less than I hoped. Juniper and Mortician each took a huge share of water?”

I nodded in confirmation. “Everyone did. And we’ve got three more crates of the stuff ready to go to deal with whatever casualties we suffer. Ambus and Gloriosa haven’t hit any snags yet?”

“Not yet. They’re workin’ ta evacuate everyone who won’t resist first, just like we decided on. Still don’t feel right ‘bout leavin’ all those vulnerable people behind, but we couldn’t move ‘em while there was a risk of Scalovera catchin’ on. When we go loud, that’s when we go for ‘em.”

“And no snags so far? Everything’s working like we’re hoping it does?”

“So far.” Okeria confirmed. “Now for the hardest part–sittin’ and listenin’ while we trust everyone else ta do their jobs. I’m guessin’ ya never had ta do this before?”

I snorted and tried to stop my leg from tapping to no avail. “What gave it away?”

“Ya care a little too much. Once ya get the first real casualties… that’s when ya start gettin’ those calluses. When ya realize ya don’t really care that some idiot got themselves killed, even if they were an innocent civilian.”

“I watched Nia die in my arms. I know what casualties look like.”

“No, ya know what carin’ for casualties feels like. It’s the apathy toward people ya don’t know that hardens ya.” Okeria grabbed Inopsy and Annette’s hastily made figures and placed them on the northern temple. “Sit back, watch, and listen. Feel helpless. Do what needs ta be done. That’s what a leader does.”

Fifty minutes passed as uneventfully as they could when we were starting a war for a city. Jun’s group started fighting not five minutes after they got there, but without reports of any truly dangerous combatants, they were comfortably holding their own. Not to say that there weren’t any casualties, though–just that they were able to treat them before they became corpses.

Ambus and Gloriosa had no issues. The first group were more than eager to evacuate, but they were waiting for a bigger distraction to move to safety. Once Scalovera and his hired elite showed somewhere else, then they would move. Somehow, imagining myself there with them just… waiting… was so much worse than imagining being in the fight.

We didn’t hear from Inopsy for all that time. Until we did.

{Keratily’s on the move! I’ll hold her off, but she knows there’s two of us here! We need a teleporter or an escort for glow-moss!}