“Hey,” said Heavy, stepping past Theo. “You two. You’re the same as us, right?” The familiar sensation radiating from Anatoly and Alyssa couldn’t be ignored.

  “Yeah,” said Alyssa, nodding. “It’s why we could pass the ship.”

  “What are you guys talking about?” asked the Chairman.

  “Nothing.” Heavy rubbed the back of his head and ughed, but the tired smile never reached past his cheekbones. He seemed distracted, almost distant. A moment passed while he stared vacantly, but then his gaze shifted. He met Alyssa’s eyes and asked, “How’s your sister?” His voice warbled; his intent was clear.

  “She’s dealing with something a little troublesome right now, but I like to think she’s keeping an eye on the situation.” Alyssa’s answer was quick and crisp.

  Tomtom dry swallowed. An unreadable expression crossed his face. “Good to know,” he said, almost biting his tongue in the process. He scanned towards Anatoly and then back to Alyssa, motioning with his eyes. The words he left unsaid were obvious to any observer.

  “Don’t worry about him. He’s on a leash.”

  “Fuck. You mean—?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Guys I’m feeling really left out, right now,” said Theo, butting in again. “Can someone cue me in?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Sarah, jumping into the conversation. “Instead, why don’t we talk about this isnd.” She motioned towards Heavy and Hana. “You two have been here longer than us. What do you know about it?”

  “Sure, sure,” said Heavy, now more rexed. He continued, “The isnd seems to be a gathering point for the parallel tower climbers. There’s an altar innd a bit. If you follow me, I’ll show it to you. Once you see it you’ll understand.”

  The group moved together with the exceptions being Anatoly, who insisted on keeping a wide berth, and Hana, who opted to stay in her hammock to sleep. Moving innd, they quickly arrived at a small wooden temple with a stone altar in the front adorned with wild flowers and gold. The side of the altar had a mural depicting eight humans approaching the tower, and at the top of the tower were small drawings of lizard-like creatures. Six of the human silhouettes were shining, and they had been altered to bear features simir to the people present on the isnd.

  “Hana theorized that when eight people gather here the next stage of the Tower will start,” said Heavy.

  “Huh?” Alyssa tilted her head. “That’s kind of bad, isn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well,” she continued, “If you think about the st stage, it seems unlikely that awakeners other than us would pass anytime soon.”

  “You think we’ll be waiting here a while, huh?”

  “I mean, you and I both know exactly why we were able to survive that ship. That is a limited option.”

  “Oh!” Sarah jumped into the conversation again. “Tomtom, I’m curious. The monsters transformed into our teammates to try and mess with us. Since you were alone, what did they turn into?”

  Heavy froze in pce. He looked down at Sarah and forced a gentle smile. “They turned into memories. I had to relive a few hard moments.” And then he spoke no more of it. The look in his eyes could trace all the intricate details of the universe.

  “So we’re just going to wait?” asked Anatoly, finally approaching the group.

  “What else can we do?”

  “We can go back to the ship. Sail and explore the waters around the isnd more. See if there’s anything else here.”

  “But what if we’re off the isnd when the next group arrives?” asked Alyssa.

  “What if the next group that arrives has more than two people?” Anatoly answered the question with a question. “Will the Tower pick and choose who moves on? Will the extras be left behind until another group of eight appears? Or is eight just the minimum number to move forward? There are too many questions and variables. I prefer to keep my fate in my own hands.”

  “The isnd has fresh water and food,” said Heavy. “There’s no reason to make a rash decision. We can think about this more carefully.”

  “We could split up.”

  “If we separated and then another group showed up to the isnd, would we be able to come together again after?”

  “We can connect to the streaming ptforms. We can keep tabs on other groups and make pns based on that information.”

  “Not every group climbing the Tower is streaming.”

  The conversation stalled. A powerful disquiet fell over the group.

  “We should go back to Hana,” said Alyssa. “After that, I say we vote on what to do next.”

  Harper’s mana pool dimmed as it ran empty. Her body ached. Every muscle, every tendon, every bone, and every ligament felt stretched thin; it was as if she were made of pulled taffy. Occasional gunshots went off but most hit the water. The few that did hit her body only forced her to use the st dregs of power she had left.

  She crossed the river, and her pursuers were hot on her heels. Harper’s head burned. She didn’t know why Caroline wanted her dead, nor did she know the history they shared. Harper’s only memories from the Fourth Great Gate Disaster were fragmented at best. She only ever remembered her father’s back and his wide shoulders.

  Now her father was gone. That reality still hadn’t fully sunk in. Even now her tears refused to fall. She felt a roaring emptiness inside that demanded to be filled, but with what she did not know. She didn’t have the luxury to ponder on the nature of mortality. She didn’t have the freedom to mourn her own father. Deep down, buried in the tar pits of her soul, her strict moral code started to crumble. Harper always wanted to be like the greatest hero she knew, someone who didn’t compromise, but this was now a world without heroes. She even hit her mother. She had nothing to go back to.

  “So why not try it?” She let out a hollow ugh to herself as she reached the gate to The Tower. She looked back, briefly, and met Caroline’s eyes. That moment stretched an eternity.

  “Don’t do it!” Caroline screamed. Her voice cracked like gss. The pins in her skull burned like fire and her eyes blurred red. Brackets and words filled her vision to the horizon in a slow sprawl.

  “Sorry.” Harper didn’t know why she was apologizing. She only knew that it wasn’t for Caroline. She stepped into the Gate and reality disappeared. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in a desert. In front of her were several stones bearing familiar inscriptions.

  “Goddammit!” Caroline punched the ground.

  “Miss, the Chairman is calling,” said one of the armed soldiers, walking up to Caroline with a phone in hand.

  “Hang up.”

  “I can’t do that, Miss.”

  “Aaaaagh, fine. Give me that.” She grabbed the phone. “What do you want?”

  “My daughter, I’ve already gotten what I want just by hearing your voice.”

  “Stop. I’m not in the mood, Dad. Tell me what you want.”

  “Very well. I’ll cut to the chase. I intend to go public. To expose the Returnee as your kidnapper.”

  Caroline went silent. Her hand holding the phone started to shake. “... Dad, please don’t get involved,” she said. For a moment the madness clouding her eyes peeled back. “If you attack her then…”

  “She kidnapped you, Carol. She touched my daughter.”

  “Dad please.”

  “This isn’t a negotiation.” It was only now that Caroline realized that the men who had been helping her earlier now surrounded her on all sides. She dropped the phone. “It’s time for you to stop with this misguided revenge.” Her father’s voice kept coming from the phone, but the cracked bck screen only reflected Caroline’s own visage.

  “Ah.” She sighed and then cringed at the familiar tic. “Dad, I’m sorry.” Caroline stepped on the phone, crushing it underfoot. She looked up at the men surrounding her and then sensed her own body. The madness returned, painting her eyes in corkscrew swirls. She couldn’t let herself be locked up like some princess in a tower. There would be no knight in shining armor coming for her.

  Like Harper before her, Caroline realized that the only correct path was through The Tower. She moved like a bullet, stepping into the shadows conjured by her ability. The men surrounding her didn’t use weapons. They were trying to hold back and capture her, and that was also their folly.

  Caroline tore through their ranks and dove into the gate.