The second Tori and Hal stomped into Museumtown, she split off from him and headed toward the Fish-Hugger Fountain.

  She didn’t know for sure that Carol would be there, and Tori had no idea where to find her if she wasn’t, but the twins had been trying to rally the West Siders—again—and they’d agreed to meet up after. Tori had been looking forward to it—quietly—the entire mission. It had kept her going through the stupid bird dungeon, deep inside the Rat’s Nest, and even during the long, boring walks in the Mycopolis.

  Granted, she hadn’t talked to Carol about…any of it…yet. Not really, except in vague hypotheticals. But she was going to.

  “I’m going to,” she mumbled as she sat on the fountain’s stone edge. Carol wasn’t there, of course. That’d be too easy. “I’m really going to.”

  “Going to what?” Carol asked.

  Tori spun. Of course she’d missed Carol. Of course. She was standing there, ten feet away, leaning on her spear, muscles tight under her armor and top. She grinned stupidly, trying not to blush too hard. “Going to, uh, track you down. You promised we’d get the chance to catch up, but I was convinced we’d miss each other here.”

  “That’s a terrible lie,” Carol said. She winked, and Tori looked at her feet. “Come on. I’m starving. Let’s see what we can track down while you catch me up on what you and Hal did.”

  Tori nodded and fell in one step behind Carol. As they walked across Museumtown, heading toward the Shedd Aquarium—formerly the home of the Watery Grave dungeon until a team of Level Forty-Eights and Forty-Nines cleared it out the day before. Now it was nothing but a massive marble-facaded building. But the post-dungeon version did have one advantage.

  Well, two, if you counted not potentially breaking and pouring monsters right into the safe zone.

  The other was that it offered some of the best fishing in the safe zone, and a lot of the ‘uplift’ path folks were taking advantage of it.

  Fifteen minutes later, both Tori and Carol had fresh fish—Steelhead for Tori, while Carol had opted for salmon—on the grill. While they waited, Carol cleared her throat. “So, you and Hal did about as well as you could have hoped, then?”

  “Kind of. I wanted a full clear on the Mycopolis, but…you can’t win them all—especially when Hal’s involved. How about you and Zane?” Tori replied.

  “It’s going…okay.” Carol paused to sip from her glass of water. “The West Siders are figuring it out. We’ve got about half of the big players firmly on our side, and it only took fighting a few dozen of them. One-on-one, very organized duels. I know, shocking—the West Siders being organized.”

  Tori laughed politely. “So, you had to force them?”

  “You didn’t? I mean, Hal effectively put the Rat’s Nest in his personal debt, and demonstrated that even if this fungus plan works, they’ll be vulnerable to us forever. We can attack their food any time we want. That’s a threat. All I did was the same thing, but with less of the ‘wheels within wheels’ machination Hal does.”

  “He’s not that bad,” Tori said.

  “Sure.” Carol closed her mouth as a Level Thirty woman brought their fish. “Thanks, Ana.”

  “No problem. Need anything else? Not that we can offer a lot.”

  “Nope. Thanks.”

  God, Carol was so cool. Tori took a deep breath. “But you think the West Side’s coming along?”

  “Absolutely.” Carol took a bite and chewed, then swallowed. “That part’s easy. The next part’s harder, and it’s part of why Zane’s not here. We—the two of us, plus whoever Museumtown can spare—need to push west. We need those fields, unless your Mycopolis dungeon produces a lot more food than I think it will. And that part’s pretty tricky. So, Zane’s thinking about what role he wants to play.”

  “Oh?

  “Yeah. I may have, uh, encouraged him to take the time, though.” Carol winked. “He’s…well, he’s an angry guy. Lots of nightmares, lots of anger.”

  “And you’re not?” Tori asked, then flushed completely red and put her face in her palm. “Sorry. Uh, forget I said that.”

  “No, you’re right. I am angry. But my brother’s different. He’s visiting with Jessica, talking over his role and what Museumtown needs to do.” Carol sighed. Then she took another bite. Then another. Tori was pretty sure she was stalling, but if there was one trick she’d learned from Hal, it was matching silence with silence. Besides, she’d put her foot in her mouth enough already.

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  And, after a minute, Carol sighed. “You’re going to make me do it, huh?”

  “Do what?” Tori asked.

  “Never mind.” Carol slid her chair over next to Tori’s and held out her hand. “You were going to ask something, right?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Tori took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

  I heard Jessica’s voice before I got inside the Museumtown fortress outside of the Reliquary of bones. “And remember, you’re not required to fight out there. All you need to do is be there for your sister if she gets into it with someone. We’ve got the two of you out there because it’s the calm half of Phase Two.” She was talking to someone, but it took me a few seconds to recognize the second voice.

  It was a man’s voice, but young and quiet. I didn’t catch the words at all.

  “I know, Zane. I’ve known for a while. You don’t have to tell me about the two of them—in fact, it’d be better if you don’t say anything else.”

  Zane. That made sense. I opened the door just far enough to cough politely. “Jessica, we’re back from our trip to the Rat’s Nest.”

  “Oh, great. Let me finish up with Zane. Calvin’s out on the field. Could you grab him?” Jessica asked.

  “Sure, ma’am.” I disappeared and hunted down Calvin. Sure enough, he was drilling some of the lower-leveled folks, but when I waved him down, he whispered something to a Puerto Rican woman next to him, and she took over the commands.

  By the time we got back, Jessica was alone, sitting on the steps. “Let’s hear it,” Calvin said.

  So I told them everything Tori and I had been up to. It took a good fifteen minutes between their questions and my backtracking, but eventually, I finished up. It was good to be back and talking to the two of them; we had our disagreements, and Jessica was still unhappy about me siding with Calvin on our Phase Three strategy, but the three of us handled those disagreements like good neighbors—unlike whatever was going on in the Rat’s Nest.

  “So, can we count on them?” Jessica asked.

  “No,” Calvin said.

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to say no, because neighbors have to trust each other, but I doubt Theresa Mays is going to change her mind just because I was helpful to her once or twice. She’s got what she thinks is a good thing going there, except for the food issue.”

  “Is she going to side with someone else?” was Calvin’s next question.

  “Definitely not. She’s independent. I’ve seen folks like that before. They don’t work with other farms, they don’t help other people, and they don’t accept help if it compromises their independence. I’ve still got a small part of me that says she’s changing her opinion of Museumtown, but it’s pretty small.”

  “Alright,” Jessica said stiffly. “As long as they don’t ally with the Garden before we can. We need them as a buffer until we’ve hashed out something that works for both Green Bay and us. Has anyone seen or heard anything from Bobby Richards’s journey to Gary, Indiana? He was going to link up with the remnants of the Fireborns.”

  Calvin coughed once. I stared at him, and he coughed a few more times, then cleared his throat. “We’re talking that now, huh? Sure. I’ve got scouts as far south as Whiting, plus one or two deep-scout teams pushing close to Gary. Haven’t seen a damn thing from the Crusade, though. They’re buttoned up in there, and they’re buttoned up good. Either that or we’re missing something big that they’re up to.”

  “Maybe they’re aiming south or east?” Jessica asked.

  “Nope. They ain’t doing shit. Gary’s quiet. If I had to guess, the survivors are consolidating power or something. They’re not done screwing up the phases for us yet, though.”

  I sighed. “Okay. We’ve got some action west of us, but Carol and Zane are taking care of that. The Rat’s Nest is doing its own thing, and I’m waiting until I hear from Theresa Mays before we make another move north. To the southeast, the Crusade’s doing…basically nothing. Am I missing anything?”

  “Yes,” Jessica said. “The home front.”

  “Oh, right. Have we had similar food issues?”

  “Nah,” Calvin said quickly. “Scouts keep finding those damn coolers, so the Rat’s Nest must’ve messed something up last phase or something. We’re also getting some fishing going in the lake, and someone busted into a gardening shop and stole all the seeds. Shouldn’t’ve been possible, but they did it. Phase Three rule change, maybe?”

  “Either way, it gives the uplift people more to do. Fishing and farming are both viable ways to make our territory…well, viable,” Jessica said. “Speaking of which, we need to figure out what we’re doing with the Millennium Park safe zone.”

  “The what?” I asked.

  Jessica sighed and rubbed her temples. “Told you he’d forget, Calvin.”

  “You took it over in Phase One. Big ol’ park nearby, the big-ass silver statue boss was there? Ring a bell?” Calvin asked.

  “Oh, right.”

  “You’re in control of it. We need the space if we’re going to get urban farming going, and it’s one of the few places nearby that’s not completely covered in brambles and Solemnus leftovers. The Beacon’s been pushing the Graft back, but even so…” Jessica trailed off.

  “So, you want me to lease out the land or something?”

  “Well, yes.”

  I laughed. “You didn’t have to ask. I’d teach these folks how to plow it up and get it functional, but—“

  “Don’t bother,” Calvin said. “You’re busy. Sort of wish I knew what with, but as long as we can get that land going, that’s good enough for me.”

  I nodded but didn’t say anything. Truthfully, I had a lot on my mind, and as important as surviving Phase Three was as a backup plan, I was going through the motions. The Millennium Park safe zone didn’t matter to me at all. Heck, everything I’d done to help the Rat’s Nest was a waste of time. I could have been studying Laws and getting closer to tearing into the Waypoint Beacon.

  But it was necessary. If I couldn’t break Integration, we’d need to survive Phase Three so I could try again in Phase Four. That security was the only reason I could take these gambles—the only reason I could dedicate my next few hours to figuring out the catalyst for my projector and get back to communicating with the World Engine.

  “If there’s nothing else…?” I asked, standing up and stretching. My back popped, and I ignored it.

  “Nope,” Calvin said. “I’ll get the troops out to the new safe zone, get some basic security set up, and make sure it’s clear. Jessica, you got some folks who want to take a shot at farming it?”

  “Absolutely. I have a few dozen in mind.”

  “Great. I think we could be ready by the end of tomorrow if we…” Calvin’s voice faded as I shut the door and headed toward Museumtown’s entrance. I had a lot to do before I could even attempt to combine—and change—the three elixirs I’d gotten into something useful, and a lot of work to do if that worked.