Lux heard Trella before he saw him, a barrage of orders echoing across the construction site, Trella’s voice snapping like a flag in the wind. Lux arrived at the edge of the lot and bent over, gulping the air in desperate lungful’s, chest burning.

  Every time, he forgot how out of shape he was until it came time to drag himself up some hill or across a stretch of soft earth. He tipped his head back, squinting up at the new building that loomed before him, red brick glowing dully in the morning light.

  The windows were going in on the fourth floor. Panels of plain red brick marched up the sides, neat and utilitarian. Workers streamed through the wide double doors, one group shoving a trolley stacked with clean glass sheets.

  “Get those straight up to the fourth!” Trella’s shout bounced off the stack of bricks. The last man pushing the cart was a beast kin, and something about his gait caught Lux’s eye. Even after the figure disappeared inside, Lux’s gaze lingered on the empty doorway.

  His mind went to the captives he and Twiggs had freed. He swept his eyes across the site, it was bustling, full of new bodies, voices, movement. He needed to know for sure. If all the rescued people had been put to work, he’d feel like trash.

  He trotted over to Trella, who was reading a scrawled note and flinched at the sound of Lux’s voice. “Trella, are the new workers from the batch of rescued captives?”

  Trella looked up, eyebrows lifting in surprise. “Lux! You’re finally awake!” He extended a calloused hand in greeting, offering a squeeze as if to reassure himself. “It’s been a rough couple weeks. The devil woman is a force of nature, she had us working day and night. See these?” He gestured to the violet bruises beneath his eyes, a small, wry smile flickering. “It was hell, but we kept pace.”

  Lux was still trying to process the flood of complaints when another presence appeared behind Trella. A woman with short blond hair tapped Trella’s shoulder with a single, dangerous finger. “Slacking again, are you?” Her voice was low and deadly. “Do we need to have another little chat?”

  A shudder coursed through Trella, however he replied calm as ever, “Just getting instructions from Lux. The work will be done on schedule.”

  At that, the blonde finally noticed him. Her gaze sharpened. “Lux? Oh, thank the blue skies!”

  Before he could brace himself, Violet shot forward and crushed him in a rib-cracking hug. “You were out for two weeks. I did a good job while you were gone, I made sure everyone kept to the grind.” Then, as abruptly as she’d embraced him, she let go and flicked his forehead. “Don’t ever make me do all the work again, or next time, I’ll paint your face on every outhouse door.”

  Lux blinked, then grinned, rubbing his forehead. “Noted, boss.”

  Lux took the news of a two-week blackout surprisingly well. The stiffness in his limbs this morning had tipped him off, nothing on Mystic Beau worked quite the way it did on Earth. He’d already decided that every experience here was just another story to tell, so nothing about waking up after two weeks of sleep could rattle him now.

  He gave himself a quick mental shake and focused on the building in front of him. He couldn’t deny it, the thing was nearly finished, floors of red brick stacked skyward.

  Violet suddenly moved close until her lips grazed his ear and whispered, “The building will need a ton of monster cores to run. Want me to go hunting?”

  He rubbed his ear, fighting a grin. “Yes, but this time, no stopping to show off at Ruby’s place on the way.”

  “You’re the best!” Violet let him go, blew him a kiss, and darted off without a backwards glance.

  Once she was gone, Lux faced Trella. “How’d the construction get done so fast?” He braced himself for a flood of information, and it came. Violet had taken over as city planner, Constance had finished the blueprint for the apartments, and Trella’s boys had just about killed themselves keeping up. The new workers were, as he feared, the folks rescued from the farm.

  “Trella, you can’t just put the captives straight to work, they need time to rest and recover.” Lux pinched his brow, feeling a headache coming on.

  Trella’s hands flapped nervously. “They’re fine! Azura whipped up potions, and everyone’s good as a Pigbull. Besides, Silver gave them a choice to stay or go. Not one left. They all either signed up as permanent residents of Silver City or took on temp contracts.”

  Lux let himself look around again, this time really seeing the people. There was laughter, easy chatter, a sense of motion and purpose. Maybe they had been worked hard, but none looked beaten down, if anything, they seemed relieved to have something to do. Lux closed his mouth and left it at that. Who was he to force a break on people who wanted to work?

  A different worry started gnawing at him, there were at least a hundred new mouths to feed. He leaned closer to Trella. “What about food? Can the farm keep up?”

  Trella grinned. “Twiggs is coaxing miracles out of the dirt. We’re swimming in food, even sold off two more batches.”

  “Twiggs is awake?” That caught him of guard, Lux had expected Twiggs to be comatose like himself.

  Trella shrugged. “Twiggs was only knocked out for a couple hours. The gossip is that you just don’t handle your potions well, Lux.” He looked genuinely sorry for him.

  Lux felt a pang of jealousy but shrugged it off. He had things to do, like tour the gleaming new building in front of him. “Any chance I can get a look inside?”

  Trella’s eyes lit up. “Absolutely! Come on, I’ll show you everything.”

  Inside, the lobby was flooded with sunlight pouring through generous windows. The front desk stretched long and high, the wood planed flat and pale, perfect for leaning an elbow while you converse with the staff. The walls were already plastered and painted, a floral painting hanging with almost defiant cheer above the desk.

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  Off to one side, two elevators gleamed behind polished metal doors. A run of chairs hugged the walls, separated by pots of flowers, a touch of comfort even in a place that still smelled faintly of paint. It all seemed impossibly complete, considering the chaos outside.

  Trella caught his glance and supplied the answer, “We kept it simple, reused everything we could. Among the newcomers, there’s a carpenter. Between him and the apprentices, furniture’s coming out faster than we can put it down.”

  Down a freshly laid hall, their footsteps echoed on wooden floors. Doors lined the corridor, numbers nailed squarely at eye-level. Trella opened room three.

  The room was boxy, but larger than Lux expected. A sturdy king-single bed frame and a cupboard were the only fixtures. The air reeked of fresh paint and pine, the walls were cream-white, and a vent in the ceiling promised warmth or cold at the push of a button. Not cramped, even Novgar could stretch out in here.

  “Mattresses and bedding should be here by the end of the day,” Trella said, glancing around with real pride.

  The tour swept them back out to the corridor. “All the rooms are like this, every floor. The first four are basically move-in ready. Last floor just needs windows, bedding and furniture.”

  Lux exhaled a low whistle. “Trella, this is outstanding work.” The words came out before he could think to temper them.

  Trella beamed, but a shadow flickered behind his smile.

  “Why the look?” Lux asked quietly.

  “Promise you won’t get mad?” Trella fidgeted, eyes on the ground. When Lux nodded, Trella produced a battered notebook and handed it over.

  It was his ledger for Silver City, Lux saw immediately, the writing sharp and familiar. He flipped through pages, then stopped dead at a section of math that made his chest tighten. They’d blown through every coin, and worse, the outflow was a million gold more than what they had on hand.

  “Trella,” Lux said, voice suddenly thin, “did you do these figures right?”

  No answer. Lux pressed, “Trella, there’s a huge gap here. Where did the money come from?”

  A pause, a breath, and then Trella blurted, “Violet said if we didn’t finish in three weeks, she’d can the whole contract and blacklist us! So I called in a favour and got a supplier to give us a month’s grace on payment.”

  Lux snapped the book shut, Trella actually jumped at the sound. “Sorry, slipped,” Lux said, though his insides felt like a crate dropped from a roof. They were in debt, and not by a little, a whole million gold coins, looming over his head.

  He slammed the ledger against his palm, thinking. He’d known this wouldn’t be cheap, but he’d been kidding himself that using their own wood would be enough to keep things manageable.

  Now, with the price of plaster, glass, insulation, wiring, and god knows what else, he understood how deep the hole was. Still, none of it was Trella’s fault. “We were going to run out sooner or later. I’ll handle the debt. How long do we have?”

  “Just two weeks.”

  Lux couldn’t help the harsh laugh that escaped him. “I’m going to strangle Violet,” he muttered, patting his chest as if to restart his heart. He forced himself to calm down. “If we default, what’s the penalty?”

  “Mining rights on the mountain behind the lake. Violet put them up as collateral.” Trella’s voice was almost a whisper.

  Of course she did. Lux could almost see Silver’s face if he lost those rights. He took a steadying breath, then lied through his teeth. “No worries, Trella, I have a plan.”

  Relief washed over Trella so instantly it almost made Lux’s lie feel justified. “That’s great news!”

  Lux jammed the ledger into his belt and thought fast. Maybe Twiggs could scale up the farm, crank out more vegetables, bring in gold. First step, talk to Twiggs. Second, chase down his missing pouch, which he hadn’t seen since waking.

  He paused, mentally retracing his steps. “How’d you even get the ledger? My pouch was with me last time I saw it.”

  Trella scratched his head. “Silver took it so we could keep working while you were knocked out. I think Twiggs has it now, or maybe Violet?”

  Lux groaned, picturing Violet vanishing at high speed. “I hope it’s with Twiggs.” He cinched the ledger tight to his waist, ready to bolt.

  As he started down the hall, Lux threw a final question over his shoulder. “How many rooms in this place?”

  Trella rattled it off instantly. “Thirty rooms per floor, five floors, so a hundred and fifty rooms. Each floor has a men’s and women’s toilet and a storage closet.”

  Lux checked out the nearest men’s room. Blue tiles underfoot, white-plastered walls, three wooden stalls and a row of mirrors above the sinks. No frills, but more than functional. He didn’t bother with the storage closet, he could guess what he’d find there.

  Back in the lobby, Trella stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “One more spot to see.” He gestured to a plain door marked STAFF ONLY. Lux pushed it open and came face to face with a softly humming machine, fist-sized monster cores plugged into its side.

  “This is our power source. We got it as part of a bundle, so we have five more waiting for the next buildings.”

  Lux’s suspicion prickled. “Let me guess, those machines ate up most of the million we owe?”

  Trella winced, and Lux shook his head in disbelief. Buying all six up front, it made sense only if you saw the world through Violet and Trella’s eyes. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, waving the issue away. “What’s done is done.”

  Back out in the hall, a crowd of workers passed, and Lux found himself thinking again about all those new faces. “Where’s everyone staying?” There were only so many farmhouses to cram into.

  “We bought tents and some are sleeping in wagons. But I wanted to ask you, can we start renting out the new rooms as soon as the bedding lands?” Trella’s nervousness was almost comical.

  Lux frowned, picturing tired hands and hunched backs sleeping in muddy tents after twelve hours of lifting bricks. They deserved actual beds. “Everyone’s earning a wage, so they can pay!” Trella yelped, reading Lux’s expression the wrong way.

  He waved his hands. “No, it’s perfect, that’s what the rooms are for.” He couldn’t help but laugh as Trella flushed bright red. “If the bedding arrives today, move-ins can start tonight.”

  “Brilliant!” Trella called, already halfway to the elevator. “We’re short a few bed frames, but people would rather a mattress on the floor than another night outside.” The elevator doors snapped shut on his last words.

  Lux headed for the road, humming. The city had only two finished streets so far, both radiating from the designated dungeon site. One road curved past his house, the other led straight to the farmland. That was his destination, and he set a quick pace.

  But when he reached the farm, he stopped cold. The fields were barren, all that remained was some windblown brown leaves. What happened here? Trella had said that Twiggs was working miracles.

  He was still scratching his head when a wagon rumbled up, drawn by a squat Pigbull. The driver was unfamiliar, but the voice from the back was unmistakable. “Are we there already? Novgar has to unload fast so he can check on his Lucky Charm!”

  “Novgar?” Lux peered around the wagon, and the big green man barrelled into view.

  “Lucky Charm!” Novgar boomed, arms outstretched. Before Lux could blink, he was swept off his feet and crushed in a bear hug. “Novgar was so worried! Lucky Charm is not only weak, but also sensitive to sleeping potions!”

  “Too tight, Novgar!” Lux gasped, flailing until the grip loosened. Laughing, he caught his breath. “I’m happy to see you too, but what happened to the farm?”

  Novgar tipped his chin at the dead leaves. “Twiggs moved the farm,” he rumbled, gesturing back the way the wagon had come. Then he set to unloading, stacking crates on the road like they were feathers.

  The grainers and warehouses stood just where they had always been. While Novgar set about his work, Lux wandered in, peering around inside.

  The place was orderly, crates and sacks stacked in rows too neat to be the result of laziness. The food in there, enough for the current number of residents, would keep them fed for years.

  Trella hadn’t exaggerated about how busy Twiggs had been. Lux could see it right here, every crate and every sack quietly proving Trella’s point.

  With nothing else to see Lux walked outside to wait for Novgar to finish. Less than five minutes later, Lux was perched in the back of the wagon, trundling toward the new farmlands, his pulse beating like a drum.