Chương 72: 70: Hole in One

I huddled into Jules' comfortable fleece jacket as Katie and I walked toward the gate, wishing Jules and I had been the daily-text type of best friends. Instead, we were the lengthy-email, long-phone-call-every-few-months type, and that meant I had no idea where she might have gone. Vacation? A business trip Toby got dragged along on? A family visit? It could have been anything, and worrying at it like a dog with a squeaky toy wouldn't help me figure it out.

Much as I hated to let go of the idea, I needed to accept that I wasn't going to find Jules anytime soon. Which brought me back to my first problem: what to do with Pen. I eyed Katie sidelong, wondering what Pen would think of her. Would they become friends if I brought Pen here? It might be nice for Pen to have a female friend around her own age, but realistically I wouldn't be leaving her with Katie and Danny. I'd be leaving her with their parents.

Mercer was clearly overwhelmed, but maybe his wife was doing better. The walk back to the redwood forest didn't take long, but almost as soon as I wondered how we were going to find the gate, two shadows lunged out of the darkness. I slapped my pouch, thinking shovel, just as they began leaping all over Katie, and I realized they were boisterous black Labs, delighted to see her, not monsters.

Katie fell to her knees and let them slobber all over her, which I, of course, would totally have done, too, if they were my dogs. But something—maybe [Uncanny Insight], maybe my animal communication skill? —immediately informed me that Pen would not be living with the Mercers. Or rather, Gus would not be living with the Mercers. The Labs were just so very Labrador retriever. Every dog-person instinct I had told me they wouldn't be able to resist chasing a cat.

And that they might feel sheepish about it when they got scolded, but they'd do it again the very next chance they got. I tucked Warden's Edge back into the pouch as Katie got back to her feet.

"Our dogs, Ben and—Oh!" The last word came as she spotted Zelda. Her eyes widened, and she grabbed the younger dog's collar.

"No chasing. No," she told him firmly, hand tight on the band. Zelda huffed. As if. Called it. I silently patted myself on the back as I said easily, "No worries. Zelda won't run and she's perfectly capable of teaching a young pup manners if he tries to convince her to."

"Are you sure?" Katie sounded dubious.

"Chase is… well, we probably shouldn't have named him that. It was like, prophetic, or something. The trainer said he has a surprisingly high prey drive for his breed, but—" She gave the older dog a mock glare.

"I think Ben just eggs him on." I kept my sigh to myself. To be fair, I was in no position to criticize. Bear hadn't chased Gus, but only because she hadn't gotten around to it yet.

"Chase? Chase? Ben?" The woman's voice sounded frazzled.

"I've got 'em, Mom," Katie called back.

"Katie?"

"Here, Mom." Mrs. Mercer appeared from behind one of the redwoods. She was so focused on her daughter, I'm not sure she noticed me at all. But she paused for a moment, as if she were just appreciating Katie's existence, and then hurried forward, wrapping her arms around her daughter.

"Oh, Katie, it's so good to see you up and out and—""Mom, you're gonna strangle me," Katie protested, but she leaned into her mother's embrace, too. Pen hadn't really mentioned her mother. She hadn't given any indication that she regretted leaving her behind, and I—well, to be honest—I hadn't even noticed. I didn't have much of a relationship with my own mother (read: none), so I'd taken Pen's nonchalance for granted.

But seeing Katie and her mother holding on to one another as if they hadn't seen each other in years, instead of whatever time it had been, gave me a pang. Mrs. Mercer finally let go and turned toward me. Holding her hand out, she said, "You must be Olivia. I'm Rebecca Mercer. Danny's so… thank you so much for everything you've done for him." The entire right side of her face was bruised. Someone had hit her, hard. I shook her hand, thinking about those health potions in my pouch.

I didn't need to save one for Jules anymore. Should I offer? But she continued talking.

"I was less than enthusiastic about being dragged out into the forest just as it was getting dark, but Danny was so eager. He swore it would be good for us. He promised you'd bring Katie, too, but—" A breathy laugh, and she turned her attention back to Katie.

"I'm not sure I really believed him." The two Labs had come over to investigate Zelda and me. I held my hand out for Ben to sniff while Chase tried to get pushy with Zelda. She turned her head away, an eloquent 'back off' in Dog, and he immediately fell into a play bow. A good boy, then, maybe just not good with cats.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Katie said.

"Oh, honey, no. You don't have to apologize to me. I'm the mom, I should have been—""Hey," I interrupted. I really didn't have the kind of time that a good mother-daughter bonding-over-guilt moment called for.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we should probably find the gate before it gets too dark to see."

"Oh, of course," Mrs. Mercer said, hovering next to Katie as if she wanted to put an arm around her shoulders or hold her hand.

"Danny said you want us to go through it?" she asked. Her doubt was obvious, but we started walking in the direction from which she'd come, Ben and Chase bounding around like Labs getting to play off-leash in a forest, Zelda walking sedately by my side like my shadow.

"Into it, yes. You need to get experience."

"Experience in a… a monster-zone?" Not just doubt, now. Dismay and plenty of resistance.

"Experience leads to levels, levels lead to strength, strength leads to survival. And survival is the goal. Eventually, for those who make it, there'll be ways to get experience other than killing monsters and clearing rifts, but for right now, this is what we've got." I could feel myself not being friendly. My words were coming out clipped. Not hostile. But not nice either. I didn't feel like I had nice in me, though. It had just been such a long day. You could be reading stolen content.

Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. For a few seconds we trudged through the forest without words. It wasn't silent, because the dogs were romping, but it also wasn't as noisy as it should have been. The ground was covered with a layer of pine needles, I realized, absorbing the sound of our steps in a way that the crunchy sand of my forest at home didn't do. It gave this forest a sense of serenity, of peaceful mysticism. Given the potential for mana-crazed squirrels that was undoubtedly unwarranted.

But the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku, forest-bathing, that had always seemed weird in the spiky, sweaty Florida wilderness suddenly made more sense. I wished I'd had a chance to camp here. I should have visited Jules last year. She'd invited me, but finding someone to take care of the dogs had seemed like an insurmountable obstacle.

"All right," Mrs. Mercer announced.

"We'll do it. We'll kill things. Sure. Yes. I can do it. We can do it." I didn't laugh, although I wanted to. Had I said that exact thing, in that exact way, when Jack wanted me to kill goblins? Maybe. My vague sense of hostility dissipated, but my voice was extremely dry when I said, "I have wonderful news for you."

"Yes?" I couldn't see her face, but Rebecca's tone was wary.

"Your rift appears to contain robots. You might just need to break some machines."

"Oh. Oh, God, yes. That… I can do that." The relief was palpable.

"I can definitely do that," Katie said enthusiastically.

"We were talking about weapons before, though, and I still don't have anything. Should I grab a branch or something?"

"Your brother brought you a baseball bat," Rebecca said as we arrived at the gate. It was the first time I'd really seen a gate at twilight, and the good news was that no one was going to be stumbling into it by accident. The daytime shimmer in the air, that eerie mist, was radiating a dusty yellow.

"Watch out," Joey called from the other side of the barricade.

"The gate is about twenty feet to the left. Head this way." Why in the world did he think we needed to know that? How would we miss the big, glowing… oh, right. I was seeing the mana seeping out of the rift, not the gate itself.

"Hey… hey!" Danny's second word sounded some combination of muffled, shocked, and some emotion I didn't recognize. I immediately spun away from the gate that had been drawing my attention. Was he under attack? Katie was clutching him like a teddy bear, lifting him off the ground like only the big sibling who was four years older should do. I couldn't hear her words, but I could see her face in the light from the gate, and I had to look away. It was… intense. Raw emotion, not meant for me.

Rebecca was watching, though, and the feelings on her face were easier to witness. Complex, still, but I had no problem appreciating the intense gratitude that she was feeling. Her children were alive. Her children were safe. (Relatively speaking.) Her children were hugging one another. For a mother, it was probably pretty close to nirvana. Well, for a certain type of mom.

I thought about Pen's mom for a second, undoubtedly in a perfectly mentally healthy way of avoiding thinking about my own, and then cleared my throat.

"Interrupting again, sorry, but do you want my help for the first bit of the rift or shall I take off? I need to get home soon, but I can stick around until you've all got your first level if that would be helpful."

"Yes, please!" Danny's voice still sounded muffled.

"Would you?" Rebecca turned her attention to me.

"I don't truly understand what's been going on, but Danny says you're the highest-level person on Earth, so you must know what you're doing."

"Mom!" Danny immediately protested. I blinked.

"What?"

"Never mind, ignore her." Danny slapped a baseball bat into Katie's hands, and then started shoving her toward the rift.

"Here, Mom, take a golf club. And some golf balls. You can throw them, it'll work. Joey, do you want to come with?"

"You know it," Joey sounded amused.

"But is your dad gonna kick my ass for leaving this thing unguarded?"

"The rift isn't anywhere close to overflowing," I said, still trying to process what Rebecca had said.

"That means no monsters. Maybe some Sarathi, but I'm pretty sure they're going to be allies, not enemies. What did you tell your mom, Danny?"

"Nothing! Don't listen to her! See if I ever tell her anything that says discretion is advised! Ever again! Let's go!" Danny shoved Katie, who was half-laughing and clutching her baseball bat as if a ball might come flying at her face any second, into the gate and disappeared after her. Rebecca picked up the golf club he'd left abandoned on the ground and two packages of golf balls.

"I honestly don't know what he thinks I'm gonna do with these," she muttered.

"You coming, Joe?"

"Wouldn't miss the fun for the world." He came around the barricade and headed toward the gate. They were all on the move while I was still standing around like an idiot. But what in the world had Danny told his mother? The highest-level person on earth? Why would he lie to his mom about something that silly? Rebecca whistled for the dogs. Ben and Chase came running, and she gestured toward Joey.

"C'mon, boys, let's go with Joe." I checked on Zelda—at my heel as always—and then followed.

"Listen, whatever Danny told you, I'm pretty sure he's exaggerating," I said as we entered the gate. As always, there was the moment of dislocation. It was getting easier and easier. I didn't even feel nauseous this time. I chose Instance 2 for Rift #312, because it was the one that Danny and Katie were already in, and stepped out into bright sunshine, beating down on the gray rooftop. Rebecca stopped so abruptly that I nearly bumped into her.

"What the—" She drew in a deep breath. I patted her on the back.

"Exhale." Danny and Katie had moved to the edge of the rooftop and were peering over the rim. It was not a nice big wall, as one would like to have at the edge of a rooftop, but more like a lip, a couple of bricks high.

"Danny, Katie," Rebecca's voice hit the high-pitch of fear.

"Chase, Ben!" she added, with more of a snap as the dogs bounded over to their kids.

"Come away from there."

"We're not that high up." Danny turned back and jogged over to his mom.

"It looks really high, but I think the city slopes. This is maybe the second story. We're gonna need to figure out how to get down."

"This way." Katie gestured over the side. She'd wandered to the corner and was pointing over the side to the left.

"There're stairs. Like a fire escape, I think."

"First, though—" I started, just as the initial drone rose above the wall.

"Katie, move!" I meant move, like, you know, run away. But that's not what Katie heard. Her baseball bat had been resting on her shoulder, and she lifted it off and swung it at the drone as if it were the ninth inning, three on base, two outs, and a tie score. In terms of the remaining shards, the destruction wasn't quite as thorough as when Warden's Edge rebounded an attack, but it was far more satisfying. Definitely a home run.

"Oh, my," Rebecca murmured.

"Good job, Kit-kat!" Joey called out. I applauded politely. Danny cheered. The dogs barked their hearts out. Not Z, of course, who looked like she wanted to yawn, but the other two, who were bouncing around like… well, like black Labs.

"There will be three more drones rising above the roof in about ten seconds," I said.

"It would be good if you could do damage to one, Rebecca. Maybe move over to the edge and get your golf club ready?"

"You can do it, Mom," Danny said, grinning.

"Oh, wow." Katie turned toward us.

"I just got—hey, Danny, I think maybe I got the same thing you got. Discretion advised? What do I do?"

"Kill the drones first," Danny said, dashing over to her.

"They're almost—there they are." He tossed his dagger at one and it died. Yeah, just like that. Level 8 dagger-throwing was apparently impressive against pitiful little Level 1 Laser Sentries. Rebecca's golf club, on the other hand, did next to nothing, but the dogs were jumping on the drone she was trying to smash as if it were cheese flying through the air. Joey took out the third drone with his rifle. Not with bullets, but using it as a club.

The drone fired at him, but its light bolt sprayed uselessly along the roof's surface. I think Ben finally took out Rebecca's drone, but she was breathing hard as she hesitated over its remains.

"Is it dead?" she asked.

"Did we get it? What the hell are these things?"

"Probably dead," I said, joining her. I kicked it.

"Yep, dead. But the big one is on its way." I indicated the direction from which it had come before.

"If you haven't gotten a level up notification yet, then it would be really good if you did some damage to this guy."

"The big one?" she asked.

"How big is the big one?"

"Oh, you know, not that big, really." I pointed at it as it flew toward the roof.

"Oh my God," she said, staring at it.

"No, truly no reason to worry," I told her.

"Danny's killed one of these before and Zelda could probably take it without even trying."

"Zelda?" She moved her stare to me. I tilted my head toward Zelda. Zelda thumped her tail on the ground once. In Dog, it encompassed pleased to meet you and this is boring and get a move on, all at the same time. I don't think Rebecca understood Dog, but she looked from Zelda to the incoming [Laser Sentinel: Level 5] and took a firmer grip on her golf club. And then she set her chin, pulled out a golf ball, dropped it on the ground, and took aim.

I wouldn't call it a hole in one, but she clipped one of the Laser Sentinel's antennas hard enough that it broke off. In between the cheering and the barking, Danny finished it off with a single shot, his dagger hitting exactly on the line of red lights.