I was all that stood between the wave of vines and the three defenseless Pilgrims. Unfortunately, I was out of elemental spells, and my sword did nothing but sprout new baby vine monsters.

“Our chances don’t look good,” I told the two mesmerized Pilgrims beside me.

They only nodded, watching the monsters with disconnected interest. The vines were so busy fighting one another to get to the blood that it was slowing them down.

Valiant lay on the black ice. He’d fallen on a sharp rock, which had penetrated his arm all the way through. On the plus side, the rock had kept him from sliding too far. He was still close enough for me to reach without having to step onto that black ice. Beyond him, the shimmery black ground slowly dipped…and then disappeared into a chasm. I could work with that. I hoped.

“Valiant, I need you to listen to me, and do exactly as I say,” I said. “Can you do that?”

He nodded, his eyes wide with horror.

“Don’t look at the monsters. Look at me.”

His gaze flickered to me.

“Good. Now I’m going to come get you. When I pull you off the ice, throw yourself on the ground. Got it?”

He nodded. I didn’t think he realized he was impaled on a rock or how much it would hurt when I lifted him off of it.

“You two, stay down and out of the way,” I told my Pilgrims.

They obeyed, and I stepped up to Valiant. The vines were coming, so it was now or never. I pulled him off the rock. I tried not to jostle him, not completely succeeding. He was bleeding out all over now. I helped him off the ice, quickly cutting his shirt off of him. He dropped to the floor, and I launched the bloody bundle of fabric across the ice.

The vine monsters shrieked, taking the bait. I threw myself over Valiant as the vines shot over me, straight for the blood-stained shirt. They skidded when they hit the black ice, sliding over the edge into the chasm. Rising to my knees, I pulled out a healing potion and poured it into Valiant’s mouth.

“Thanks,” he coughed.

“You can thank me by promising to listen to me next time.”

A burst of magic slammed into my chest, throwing me onto the black ice. The fog monster had broken free of Nero’s spell. It was spinning, twirling out of control around me, speeding me along on my way to the edge. I looked for something—anything—to hold onto. There was nothing. My fingers slipping off the glossy lip, I fell into the abyss.

9

Order and Chaos

Rocks rained down with me as I fell into the abyss. They were on fire, burning down to the ground like falling stars. A brilliant white light caught my eye, and I turned. My hair. It was rippling in the wind, shining like a beacon of light in the darkness of night. I waited for it to do something more than shine, something magical, something that would save me. After a few moments, the glow on my hair faded out, and I faded into darkness. My hair wasn’t going to do anything. It couldn’t do anything.

“Nero,” I whispered.

Leda.

“I wish we’d had the chance to finish our date.”

We will.

A blinding light, a thousand times brighter than the weak glow of my hair, flooded the expanse. The darkness melted away. Black blotches floated in the air in front of my face, suspended in time.

A winged silhouette dove down, displacing the floating rocks. Arms folded around me. I looked up into Nero’s face.

“I’ve got you, Leda.” His voice shook with naked vulnerability.

I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the searing light. He was carrying me up. Either I was already dead, or Nero had just saved my life. Based on the throbbing pain from five distinct locations across my body, I was guessing the latter.

“Oh, thank goodness,” I said. “I did not want to die down there surrounded by those vine monsters.”

“Neither did I. Want you to die,” Nero added quickly. He was uncharacteristically flustered. It was adorable.

“Yes, I figured that out when you swooped in heroically to rescue me. How did you do that trick with the rocks?”

“Telekinesis.”

“You mean inverse telekinesis,” I said.

“Inverse telekinesis?”

“Telekinesis is moving objects with your mind. Inverse telekinesis is making them stand still.”

He stared at me for a moment, then declared, “You just made that up.”

“I did not. It’s a thing. And you just did it. Case in point.”

“That’s circular logic.”

“No, it’s not. It’s very un-circular logic.”

“You can’t just assign your own names to things that already have names.”

“Of course I can.” I smirked at him. “Don’t you know me at all?”

“You’re throwing the entire world order into chaos.”

“And that’s different from what I normally do exactly how?”

“You make a valid point,” he said as we landed. Rocks littered the ground where the black ice had once been.

“What happened up here?”

“The smoke-and-stone monster broke free of my spell and knocked you over the edge. Then it floated up and turned to stone. I broke through it.”

“Wow.” I looked around at the rocks. They covered everything. Neo hadn’t just broken through; he’d broken the whole monster. “You must have hit it hard.”

“I was motivated.”

Eleven pairs of eyes were watching us.

“Where are Captain Somerset and Valiant?” I asked Nero.