While Mateo squeezed the shaft of his spear, Luke stepped up next to Milla, remembering the rage in Curtis's eyes the last time they clashed.

  Today, his expression reflected none of that. At least not at that moment.

  "Nymh wanted me to escort Milla back to the party," Curtis said. "Apparently, it’s important to have a healer come along when you assault a fortified position."

  The others tensed, but not Luke. Neither did his sister.

  "But you’re not going to," Milla said.

  Curtis gave a weak smile. "No, I’m not."

  "You’re coming back with us?" Liza asked.

  He gave Luke a look. "We fought alongside those humans back at the outpost, and they happily sent us on when they knew about the dragon and the shadow monster thing. I’ve got a score to settle with them."

  Milla lowered and distorted her voice in an imitation of Curtis. "I’ve got a score to settle with them, pardner."

  For the first time, Luke heard Curtis chuckle. It sounded unpracticed, like he didn’t do much of it, which, you know, tracked with his personality.

  "More people will want to come, too," Curtis said.

  "Yeah," Penny said, pointing to the other Integrated. "Look."

  At first, a couple moved away from the larger group, then more. Soon, a good third walked across the grass, heading for the still-open doors into the cave chamber. Nymh stood rigid and still, watching all those people leave, then more followed. When all was said and done, about half of the Integrated had bled away from the group that would be assaulting the dwarven city.

  "Let's head back now," Penny said.

  Hannah stepped up to her, put a hand on Penny's back, and pushed her forward, walking in step. "Yeah. Can't wait to get out of this dungeon."

  "Not looking forward to going back into the cave though," Milla murmured next to Luke as they followed with Liza, Curtis, and Mateo bringing up the rear.

  "Right," Luke said. "You're not big on confined spaces."

  She shook her head. "At least the caves are big. Most of the time."

  He nodded and then turned to Mateo, handing over a gem. "Keep this with you, Mateo. If we're right, it'll keep the Deep Dweller off you."

  Mateo took the gem, gave it a look, raised his hand in thanks, then put the item into his inventory. "I shall guard this treasure with my life."

  MATEO: "I AM NOW ABLE TO COMMUNICATE! ?QUE EL VIENTO LLEVE MIS PALABRAS!"

  Penny groaned and turned to look back at them. "How did you make even your name caps?"

  "Please stay off the communications channel, Mateo," Liza said.

  MATEO: "I WILL BE SILENT AS A SPECTRE IN THE NIGHT!"

  "Great," Liza said. "Thanks."

  "What do we do about the party?" Luke asked.

  "You mean Curtis and Milla?" Liza asked.

  Luke nodded. "Yeah."

  "Let the girl join you. I'm fine without a party," Curtis said.

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  Liza gave him a once-over and looked like she wanted to try her hand at an impression of his surly demeanor, but then thought better of it. "Fine. You will still stay close and listen."

  "Yes."

  Fishing another gem out of his inventory, Luke held it up to Curtis. "Do you have one of these already?"

  "Nymh gave me one when I joined their party," Curtis said, looking from the gem to Luke. "But thanks."

  Luke's eyes widened a little at the sudden niceties. "You're welcome."

  They reentered through the doors and returned to the dark cavern. A chill ran through Luke, who zipped up his hoodie for a little more warmth. Soon, wards from Liza and the hovering, warm balls of light Milla conjured gave them light to see by.

  "You should loot the dwarves," Luke said.

  "They're empty," Penny noted.

  Luke shook his head. "I'm not talking about the items. Selling their remains can get you quite a bit of money."

  "Ew," Milla said. "Gross, little brother."

  He shrugged. "You'll need an income if you get kicked out of the DIA."

  That made her wince and glance down at the corpses as they passed by, but then she shuddered and shook her head. "No way."

  Curtis and Mateo took a few each. After some consideration, Hannah grabbed one, then went over to a second and glanced up at Luke. "You sure you don't want this dead guy?"

  "My inventory is full already. Need to sit down with the Integrated shop once we're back."

  "Fair enough," she said, shrugging. After that, she collected the remaining bodies, using her shadows to reach out to them, like extensions of her hands, similar to what Luke did with Threads of Mana.

  "That reminds me, I have items," Luke said, having decided it was in his best interest to share them with the others. Not that they'd ever figure out he kept them all to himself, but starting down that path of self-interest wouldn't see him to a destination he had much interest in visiting. Better not to be an asshole.

  When he described the scroll, bracelet, boots, and bow, most of them just gave him blank stares and shook their heads. Milla and Liza had their own ways of conjuring light, so they had no use for night sight. And, as it turned out, Hannah's shadows allowed her to see in the dark. Not a single one of them was able to equip a bow or use scrolls.

  But then Luke's gaze landed on Mateo, who was almost jumping out of his sneakers from excitement.

  "Which one?" he asked Mateo.

  Mateo got down into a squat and jumped for all he was worth, striking a pose as he landed. "The boots, my friend! Imagine being able to leap higher without fear of falling. I have not spoken of it before, but being atop that dragon's back was a lesson in humility."

  Luke checked in with others, but none of them voiced any complaints, so Luke handed over the boots and brought the bow out of his inventory, along with the scroll.

  "Anyone want these to sell?" he asked.

  "How about you sell it and then we divide the money instead?" Liza asked.

  "Money will be useless," Luke said, shaking his head. "I think it's better to sell it to the Integrated Shop. Credits will be more important than dollars."

  As they walked through the tunnel that would take them back into the cavern where they had killed the dragon, Liza continued the discussion. "Dividing Credits sounds fine, but what about everyone else? A lot of people fought against the dragon."

  Luke pondered that for a moment. "I don't think it's a good idea to share with everyone. That way, each person gets almost nothing. It's the right thing to do, perhaps, but at some point, we have to prioritize ourselves a little."

  "Agreed," Penny said.

  "Fine," Liza said.

  Walking around a rock outcropping as they headed across the floor of the huge cavern, Luke peered up and back, but the dweller wasn't there.

  "It's close," Hannah whispered, her eyes taking on a faraway look.

  "How close?" Liza asked.

  "Its physical body is inside the stone, moving around everywhere. But it's the other part I'm more concerned about. It's like the shadows are everywhere, all at once."

  "We had better bring out the gems," Luke said, taking his out. He'd already handed his spare ones over to other people outside the core group, but far from everyone carried one.

  "It's in here," Hannah said, once they stopped outside the tunnel where they'd entered. It felt like it'd been days since then.

  "Right," Liza said. "Curtis, I'd like you to go first. With Luke behind you. Mateo, you bring up the rear. Keep your gems in your hand."

  Hannah didn't move away from the opening when Curtis stepped up next to her. She shook her head and spoke in a low voice. "No. I should go first."

  "Are you sure?" Luke asked.

  She looked back at him and gave a weak smile. "I'm sure."

  "I'll go behind you then," Luke said.

  Hannah gave him a searching look, then gave him an almost imperceptible nod, like her thoughts were elsewhere.

  "I don't like it," Liza said. "What if we face other dwarves, or humans for that matter? Before we ended up on Nymh's shitlist, she said the defenders in the outpost were restless, like they were getting ready for something."

  "I can take care of myself," Hannah said.

  "I don't doubt it. But—" Liza began.

  Hannah shook her head, shadows squirming in her hair, hiding between the strands. "I mean it. Down here, my shadows can deal with whatever comes our way at this point, as long as it's not that thing. We should get as much light as possible when we do this. And we move fast. Don't fall behind, or you might not make it. I'm not convinced the gems are as effective as the defenders seem to think."

  That was not a nice thought to have, Luke decided, as he followed Hannah into the dark tunnel.