Even when walking fast and keeping his eyes over Hannah's shoulder, Luke couldn't help but notice the walls. It was a tight hallway, and thin strands of shadow slithered out, sometimes through the cracks, but often through the stone itself. With even more limited space to move, the tunnel became claustrophobic.

  Just as they'd hoped, the gems kept those thin tentacles at bay, but only just. Holding it up to the Deep Dweller's reaching, searching strands made them pull back or wither away, but holding it close to his chest wasn't enough to keep them from almost touching him. Luke had to move it around from left to right, up, and sometimes even down to make the bastard back off.

  "One of them touched me," Penny said somewhere behind him, her voice shrill.

  "Keep moving!" Liza shouted.

  Their party wasn't the only one in this tunnel. Several others followed close behind.

  "I'm—" Hannah began, then fell silent. A low grunt escaped her.

  "You, what?" Luke asked.

  "I'm holding it back," she croaked. "Hurry."

  Rather than a fast walk, Hannah set into a jog, and the others followed. Behind them, a few shrieks erupted, but they didn't stop, didn't turn back, at least not until they reached that room. They made it to the blood-filled room without issue, but it wasn't the same as when they'd left it. The walls, floor, and even ceiling were the deepest black, like they'd stepped into a black hole. There was nothing in there, not even the blood from before. Nothing except the undulating shadows extending from the walls.

  Luke, holding his breath and trying not to look at their surroundings, kept running, but slammed into Hannah's back. She had stopped in the middle of the room.

  "What?" Luke asked, but she didn't answer.

  The others filed into the room, spread out, and took in their surroundings with nervous glances.

  "Why have we stopped?" Penny asked.

  "It's Hannah," Luke said, walking around her to get a look at her face. He swallowed hard. "Her eyes are black."

  "Hey," he said, waving a hand in front of her face. Nothing. He snapped his fingers, but that didn't help either.

  Having a pretty good idea about what was going on and not wanting any of it, he slapped her across the face, thinking pain would set her free. It didn't. A small smile crept onto her face as more of the other Integrated rushed into the room, gave them a look of horror, and kept going without a word.

  "It's here," Hannah whispered.

  "The Deep Dweller?" Luke asked.

  She ran her tongue across her upper lip, then around and over her lower lip, as if tasting herself. "I could take you all. My hunger is endless. But this girl… This girl is special. Leave her and run along, and I won't touch anyone else."

  The Deep Dweller's voice was smooth and deep. It didn't sound like Hannah at all.

  "Zap her, Penny!" Liza said, snapping her fingers.

  Penny took two long strides and put her hand on Hannah's shoulder.

  Clap, clap, spark!

  Shock that dark!

  Come on back!

  Lightning surged through Hannah's body, and she convulsed, collapsing to the floor. Her health dropped, and she let out a gurgling scream. Seeing her eyes had returned to normal, Luke gave her a quick examination with Weaver's Eye. There was nothing wrong with her, not physically at least. Milla cast a healing spell on Hannah to get her health back up before he had a chance to do anything. Satisfied it was enough, he helped Hannah to her feet as the walls began reaching for them all, and this time it was no thin strands but thick tentacles.

  "We have to go," Luke said, and they set off running again.

  "How did you know that would work?" Penny asked.

  Liza laughed, a nervous, high-pitched sound. "I didn't. I've just learned you can't allow them to start monologuing."

  Luke had to half-carry Hannah the first few steps, but then she got her feet under her and ran even faster than before.

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  "What happened?" she shouted.

  "The Deep Dweller took you over or something," Luke said. "Penny zapped you to get it out."

  "Thank you, Penny," Hannah breathed as they ran. "It's still trying to get in." She raised her hands to her head, and just as they were about to exit the tunnel back into the original cavern, her legs folded under her. "The shadows, they're too strong."

  Luke almost fell over her, and Curtis knocked into his back from behind. But he got his feet under him, grabbed Hannah under her arms, and pulled her up. They continued running and made it out in one piece. Those added attributes in Strength and Agility were coming in clutch.

  Even when they were out, shadows reached after them, despite Hannah's best effort at keeping the monster at bay. Luke stepped toward the opening of the tunnel, holding his gem out in front of him like a shield. The tentacles hesitated, giving the others time to join him, all of them holding gems to stave off the monster.

  A shriek of frustration sounded from within the tunnel, and the monster withdrew. Silence fell over the group. In the distance, the sound of feet slapping on stone echoed off the walls. A faint sound. The other Integrated were fleeing, and they had quite a head start.

  "Sorry," Hannah said, panting. "I tried."

  "You did well," Penny said. "It's gone now."

  Hannah shook her head. "It's not gone. It's just biding its time. The Deep Dweller will be back, and we should go."

  "My friends," Mateo said, pointing his spear toward the path that would take them to the outpost, "Let us continue!"

  "Agreed," Liza said. "Nymh just sent me a message. They are launching the attack on the dwarven city. Those who stayed, I mean."

  "That won't go well," Milla said.

  "If they want to be idiots, let them," Curtis said. "It's their business, not ours."

  "That's true, but—" Liza began.

  "Our business is the outpost!" Curtis boomed, interrupting her.

  "Yeah," Luke agreed. "Let's go before the Deep Dweller comes back, like Hannah said. I'm pretty sure we haven't seen the last of it."

  Heading toward the outpost, and by extension, the portal, made everything feel a little easier. Like most trips returning home, the way back felt shorter than when you headed away. Soon, though, they began noticing macabre signs of something being wrong. Very wrong.

  "More bodies," Milla breathed.

  Curtis grunted, turning one over with his boot. "Dwarves."

  "But not all of them," Penny said. "Look here, a human."

  Liza got down to sit on her heels in front of the body. "It's one of the humans from the outpost."

  "I have found more of the poor unfortunates over here," Mateo called from over by the far left cavern wall.

  "Stay away from the walls, Mateo!" Hannah called. She'd recovered somewhat by then, but she still looked exhausted.

  "These are the dwarves that fled," Luke said, identifying old dwarves and a few female ones. "I wonder what happened."

  "It doesn't matter," Curtis said. "What matters is that we find the defenders and make them pay for making fools of us!"

  "We are here to retrieve the big gem and finish the quest so we can close the portal," Liza said, holding up a finger, pointing it toward Curtis. "Needless slaughter will not be tolerated."

  "We'll see," Curtis said, trudging off toward the outpost.

  The others followed.

  "Found three more gems," Milla said, holding them in her cupped palm.

  "Two," Liza said, showing her own.

  "Good," Luke said. "I'm sure we'll find a use for them."

  After the brief stop to investigate the result of what had to be some sort of skirmish, the group continued. They were getting close to the outpost now. As they approached, faint sounds of battle reached them across the wide, long cave.

  "The dwarves?" Luke asked.

  "Maybe," Liza agreed, frowning. "I'm hearing a lot of shouting."

  "Friends, we must hurry!" Mateo shouted, running off at top speed.

  "Dammit, Mateo!" Liza shouted, waving for everyone to follow as she followed.

  The sounds grew louder and louder as they approached the outpost.

  Luke: "Anyone at the outpost?"

  Mac: "Shitshow. Dwarves, humans, and Integrated. Real shitshow."

  Dennis: "Most of the human dudes are running off to somewhere. A lot of dwarves followed."

  Luke: "You're at the outpost?"

  Charlie: "Nah, we're leaving."

  Dennis: "Some Integrated are staying."

  Liza: "We have to stop the humans from leaving! They have the Gem of Communication!"

  Emma: "Really? Shit. Well, I'm at the outpost."

  Dee: "Good luck with that, shitbirds, we're leaving!"

  MATEO: "HOLD ON, EMMA! WE ARE COMING TO YOUR AID!"

  Emma: "...OK. I'd appreciate that a lot. Not looking so good here."

  Luke and his party came around a bend in the tunnel. They'd been running back toward the massive cavern where both the outpost and the portal back to Earth waited for them. The clash of weapons and shouting filled the air under the high cavern ceiling. Dwarves were again attacking the outpost.

  With the defenses already so poor, things were not looking good, and as Luke ran up toward what remained of the wooden wall acting as a barrier, he saw Integrated trying to stand their ground as dwarves overwhelmed them with sheer numbers. Few of the previous human defenders remained.

  Curtis peeled away from the group and set off toward the dwarven flank.

  "Curtis!" Liza shouted. "Dammit! Mateo, Milla, you go with him and make sure he doesn't get himself killed!"

  "What a mess," Milla said with a groan, before she ran after.

  "I'll start setting up defensive wards," Liza told the others.

  "No! We have to follow the defenders and catch them before they escape with the gem!"

  "How? With all this?" Liza asked, gesturing toward what was turning out to be an even more massive attack than the last time.

  "He's right," Hannah said.

  "We have to get the gem back, or this won't matter at all," Penny added.

  "Fine," Liza grumbled. "But how do we find them?"

  Luke: "Emma. Where are you? We need you to show us where the defenders were going."

  Emma: "On the roof of that large central building. Get me the hell out of here and I'll show you!"

  "What building?" Liza asked.

  Luke pointed to the building he and Curtis were taken to when they first arrived. Dwarves were swarming all over the streets around it, trying to reach a group of Integrated barely holding on. "There."

  "Great," Liza said. "Just great."