“Well, first,” Merl said, “wreckers never work alone. They patrol in squads of three, so you’re talking about battling three Third Earth, very powerful warriors, each with an identified weapon. But let’s say the whole thing with Alison and Fiona works and you gain possession of at least one of the weapons, without dying, by then the grid monitors would have already detected a point of chaos. Add that to a loss of contact with the wreckers and the monitors would have already sent in another squad after you. Before you even figured out how to fire the damn thing, they’d be up your ass.”

“Then we get the weapon and come back here,” Samuel said. “Simple.”

“Simple, huh? For a Militia Warrior, you’ve got balls.”

“Is that a compliment, Merl?” Merl puffed on his cigarette, eye squinting. “Just commenting on your general stupidity,” he countered, holding back the smoke then blowing it out in a quick stream. “All right, let’s break it down. How do you plan on facing-off three Third Earth wreckers, each with a weapon that could blow your ass into a million pieces?”

“We get Thorne in on this and Warrior Leto after he’s morphed into his beast-state.” Leto had developed a new power in that he could increase his size and strength by just a thought.

With the addition of two of the most powerful vampires on Second Earth, Vela felt confident that the plan could work, although they had one more step to take.

She turned toward Samuel. “Despite Merl’s objections, I think this is a good place to start, but we’re going to need Madame Endelle in on this. She’s got to be informed every step of the way because this is about Third Earth. If she has a new threat on her hands, she’ll need all the details we can provide. Besides, I’m pretty sure that she won’t give us Leto and Thorne without some convincing.” Merl sat forward in his chair and stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray at his elbow. “Yeah, you should definitely include Endelle.” Samuel snorted. “Now why am I not surprised.”

“Fuck off.”

“Back atcha, asshole.”

“Are you two going to start that again?” Merl glared at her. “Only if your boyfriend doesn’t shut the fuck up.” She leveled her gaze at Samuel.

Though he opened his mouth, his chin at a stubborn angle, he returned her stare, grimaced, then swallowed his retort.

Vela drew her phone from her pant pocket and called Jeannie at Central.

“Hey, girl. Yeah, it’s me, smack dab in the middle of hell, carrying my hand-basket.”

“Heard it’s the breh-hedden?” Vela tensed up then forced herself to relax. So it was now common knowledge.

But after what had happened in the workout center, she could hardly expect anything different. “Yeah. It is.”

“You deserve it, Vela, that kind of love. And I wouldn’t say that to just anyone.”

“Thank you, Jeannie. You’re such a good friend.”

“You’re welcome. So what’s your breh like? Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is talking about Warrior Samuel. I heard a rumor he’s the next Warrior of the Blood. Do you think it’s possible?” She glanced at Samuel whose lips were compressed as he tried to ignore Merl. Merl kept waving his fingers toward Samuel.

She interceded on a whisper. “Stop that.” Merl smirked, but he lowered his arm. “You’re worse than my brothers growing up.”

“Stop what and who’s worse?” Jeannie asked.

“Nothing and nobody. Listen, as soon as I’m out of this fix, let’s get coffee, okay?”

“You bet. Now how can I help?”

“I need a secure location, probably the palace, to bring over a Third ascender with a Peter Pan complex, myself, and Warrior Samuel.”

“A Third ascender?”

“You heard me right.” Jeannie whistled. “I’ve already got orders from Her Supremeness to do whatever you wanted. I have the fold set.

Tell me when.”

“Let me check.” She held her phone by her leg and asked if the men could stop posturing long enough to join Endelle at the palace.

But Samuel held his hand up for a moment, then waved it once over his body. Poof: flight battle gear, including that damn sexy leather kilt.

Vela may have weaved slightly on her feet. After swallowing hard, she asked, “Can I give Jeannie the word?” Samuel nodded.

Merl did the same.

Bringing her phone back to her ear, she said, “Fold at will.” Central had a lot of power and the sudden brisk ride through nether-space was smooth as silk. Some believed that the disappearing-reappearing power typical of all five Upper Dimensions wasn’t about dematerialization at all, but the folding of space, hence the term. The debate still raged in all the major universities, but it was one of those theories hard to prove.

Whatever it was, Vela had always enjoyed folding-travel.

And as before, the moment she started down the ramp, Samuel took her hand in his.

Merl glanced around. “Some digs.

Ro-tun-das.” The sing-song way he spread the word out made Vela chuckle.

“White mar-ble,” he added.

More sing-song, more laughter.

She turned to smile at him, but Samuel caught her eye and glared. He’s flirting.

Now she smiled at Samuel. No he’s not. He’s just being himself and he’s funny.

What-the-fuck-ever.

She chuckled some more, but squeezed his hand. I think he wants to meet Endelle more than anything else.

Ya think?

Then you should stop worrying about his designs on me.

He’s the kind of man who has designs on every woman.

This time, she met his gaze as they moved into Thorne’s Command Center.

And you don’t?

This time, his lips curved and he didn’t quite meet her in the eye as he said, Used to.

Just as I thought, though she squeezed his hand again.

Thorne left one of the nearest stations and led them once more to Endelle’s private suite explaining that Jeannie had already let him know what was happening and that Endelle was on her way.

Vela moved to the far end of the couch, but Samuel chose to stand near her off to the side of the adjacent purple chair.

Samuel introduced Merl, who had planted his feet opposite the couch, his arms folded over his chest.

Thorne held Merl’s gaze forcefully, like he knew exactly what game Merl played. But Merl stared back unaffected.

Given the stature of each, the stare lasted a long time.

Merl appeared to enjoy pissing contests.

She wondered what Endelle would think of Merl.

Samuel thought Merl had probably jumped from the womb playing with fire because the moment Endelle entered the room, he turned the force of his flirtations on the leader of Second Earth.

Merl made a long speech, saying things about being humbled to meet She Who Would Live and that he’d looked forward to this moment for five decades.

He took her hand, kissed her fingers.

Samuel had heard Endelle had hooked up with the Sixth ascender, Braulio, who, rumor had it, was also the Sixth ascender, James. Weird fucking times on Second Earth.

What the hell is he doing? Vela slipped into Samuel’s mind easily. And he liked it.

He glanced down at her, met her gaze, and shrugged. Hell if I know. But Braulio had better make an appearance pretty quick.

No, shit.

Samuel withheld a smile, but he met Thorne’s astonished gaze. Thorne shook his head as though he couldn’t figure Merl out either.

A moment later, Alison and Fiona entered, looking puffy-eyed but beautiful from being awakened in the middle of the night. At first, Samuel thought Merl might attempt to spread his charms in their direction, but he remained fixed on Endelle, a predatory glint in his eye.

Endelle, however, turned a shoulder to the interloper, made the introductions to Alison and Fiona, then had Vela lay out her plans.

The women listened quietly, eyes wide.

“Can you do this for us?” Vela asked.

“Of course,” Alison said.

Fiona nodded.

Vela addressed Alison. “And you think you could reconfigure one of the shotguns?”

“I’ll know as soon as I approach one.” Alison repressed a yawn and blinked a couple of times. She had a flying toddler at home and needed her sleep.

“We’ll want Leto as well,” Endelle said. “You three women need to work on these skills and see what you can figure out. We’ve got to get a wrecker weapon, one that will take down a darkening grid wall, so that we can pull Duncan out of his cell. Are we all clear on this?” Nods and murmurs followed.

Samuel had to admit he felt oddly comfortable in this room, as though his dark power recognized the other ascenders. Which sparked other thoughts, not so pleasant, like his deepest fears that somewhere in this necessary exercise, his currently dormant streams of energy would hurt one of these people accidentally.

He corralled his thoughts, however, and focused on Vela. She appeared calm, but her foot bounced, not surprisingly. His role to support and defend was one thing, but Vela led the charge.

Endelle’s voice intruded. “All right, let’s give the women some space to work.” Thorne led the way for the men and Endelle to leave the room. Once well into the next rotunda, he drew the party to a stop and asked for more details about the darkening grid, the explosions, and Duncan’s cell.

Samuel knew the drill and gave as many relational points as he could; length of travel time, dimension of the cell, the changing state of the floor as one location surpassed the next, the size of the grid tunnels, and anything else that came to mind. Merl added what he knew as well.

Thorne listened intently, his hazel eyes shifting between both men.

When Samuel finished his account, Thorne called out to Jeannie and requested Leto to join them right away.

Leto had taken Thorne’s sister, Grace, as h i s breh, so that essentially they were brothers-in-law.

Leto arrived within the next few minutes but Endelle’s first words were, “We’ll need you in your beast-state. You, Thorne, and Samuel are headed to Third in the darkening.” Leto’s brows rose and though he stared back from faintly astonished blue eyes, he merely nodded. With a blur of movement, he morphed into what he called his beast state, although he appeared exactly the same, just bigger.