Kent. Lamar. Amanda. Angelina. Nevaeh. Turner. Nicholas.

Jeff Carlton had put every ounce of his time and energy into C-Rank to find that list of people. To recover the friendships he'd had growing up with them before the Carlsbad Portal Break had driven a six-hundred-mile-wide wedge between them. He'd sacrificed so much. Every cent he'd earned delving had gone into more power to delve more quickly, the C-Rank armor and weapons he'd saved for, and building his team up.

The only relationships he'd forged in Phoenix that had mattered in the face of his old friendships had been with Kade and Yasmin. Every other one had been irrelevant—or a stepping stone toward his goal.

He'd found Amanda and Kent the first time they'd visited the Carlsbad bunker. That left…

Lamar. Angelina. Neveah. Turner. Nicholas.

Of the five, he'd only been in touch with Lamar after the evacuation. But all five of them had definitely stayed. He had to find them. They had to be somewhere. Somewhere in the city above, if not in the bunkers below.

Jeff joined the rescue teams as soon as the Spark of Life cleared him to, coming in after the strike team and the B-Rankers from the convoy and Carlsbad Fortress had cleared an area to look for survivors. They operated in groups of three; there was too much ground for six-man teams, and if Angelo or Deborah said an area was clear of monsters, that meant it was clear. They weren't there to fight. He, Yasmin, and Sophia were there to lift charred rubble and dig through ash, pull people out, and make sure they were stable enough to get them to the bunker and the med center.

Or, in some cases, to confirm they were dead.

He found Neveah that way. She'd been his first kiss—behind an armchair in the mud-brick house she'd lived in, when he was a kid. It had been her idea, and it had never gone further. But finding her under the rubble had…it had hurt. He'd been too slow to power up. Too weak. Too…something.

Even when they found Turner alive a few hours later, Jeff couldn't push Neveah's body out of his head. And there were still three names on his list.

Lamar. Angelina. Nicholas.

The hours dragged by. They turned into days—three of them. Jeff was running out of time—and so were his friends. Five days in Carlsbad, without any support? Every hour that slipped by was one less hour for the three of them to be alive.

When they found Angelina, she was still alive, but barely. They had to take precious minutes—minutes the other two might not have—to get her back to the med center. Jeff felt every second like a dagger to his stomach. But they kept searching.

They were still searching when the call came in; all convoy teams report back to the bunker for debrief and new orders.

And they were still searching an hour later when Deborah Callahan showed up.

She was covered in blood—most of it caked on and dried, and very little of it human. Her armor was dented and dinged, but intact, and her sword and shield were in the middle of rebuilding themselves. The glare she shot at Jeff and the wave of aura that hit him were almost enough to kill him on the spot. "Delver Carlton, you received an order. The Light of Dawn doesn't like to wait."

"I know," Jeff choked off the rest of his response.

"Then why aren't you back at base?"

"Because he's searching for the last of his friends," Sophia said quietly.

Deborah stared at her. Her eyes flashed like daggers, and it was all Jeff could do not to interpose himself between the A-Rank tank and his teammate.

Then Yasmin set herself in the way instead, blocking Jeff, and he realized he'd had his weapon out. Was he really angry enough to attack Deborah? To his surprise, he was. But Yasmin didn't give him the chance. "Jeff's been working for this for a long, long time. He's dedicated everything to this. Everything. He'd ditch me in a second if it meant finding either of the two."

Jeff looked at her, "No, I—"

"Shut up, Jeff. You and I both know it's true. This is the only thing he cares about like this."

Deborah kept staring. Then she nodded. "I understand. You have people you consider yours. You want to take care of them. Have you checked back at the bunker? The lists are updated."

"No…" Jeff said, face reddening.

"Then let's go."

A half-hour later, Jeff thumbed through the pen-and-paper list, looking for his last two names.

He found one. Nicholas had been far to the north, against the wall. A team had brought him in three hours ago. The Spark of Life was working on him herself.

But that left the last name on his list.

Lamar.

The next morning, I met up with Jeff at the makeshift cemetery the Carlsbad people had built near the bunker.

They'd lost over a hundred. There'd been fewer than seven hundred people—mostly delvers and their families—in Carlsbad Fortress to begin with, and the cemetery was crowded both with temporary headstones and with people visiting their friends and loved ones.

Jeff stood in front of one grave. It was marked 'Nevaeh Martinez.' Nothing else. Just the name. A few trinkets sat next to it, propped against the wooden headstone. Jeff stared at it. I stopped next to him and slightly behind, and I waited.

When he turned, his eyes were red, but they were dry. Tear streams had pushed through the grime on his face, but they'd dried, too. "Thanks for waiting," he said.

"No problem," I said. Then I took a deep breath. "Are you ready to go home?"

"No." Jeff shook his head. "I won't ever be ready to go. Let's get out of here."

We started walking back to the convoy's trucks. Their engines sputtered as Deborah Callahan talked to a few delvers, Derrick, and a couple dozen unawakened humans.

"What do you think about them staying?" Jeff asked.

"The strike team? I'm not sure. The plan makes sense—if they throw their firepower at the Carlsbad Portal Break, they can probably help the locals get it back under control, and the path's safe-ish. In the long term, it's the right call for Phoenix, and for everyone else." I paused, took a deep breath, and stared at Deborah Callahan as her eyes locked with mine. After a moment, she turned back to her crowd, and I continued. "I'm just not sure I trust Deborah alone with the convoy."

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Jeff kept walking. He threw a pack onto the back of an empty eighteen-wheeler. "You know I'd stay if I could, right?"

"I know, Jeff." I'd known for a long time. This was what he'd dedicated his life to—saving his friends. And now, most of them were going to Phoenix with him. The convoy would be packed full, and my teammates would have their hands full with keeping the unawakened humans safe. "I appreciate you coming back home with us. So does Yasmin."

"I know."

"How are you doing?" I asked.

"I should be the one asking you," Jeff said. I raised my eyebrow and waited him out. He cracked quickly. "I…I don't know, Kade. I gave up everything for this. It was all I've thought about since my system awakened. And I failed."

I nodded and put a hand on his shoulder, looking him in the eye. "Do you really think you failed?"

"Neveah died. Lamar's still missing. Angelina might not pull through. I had seven names. That's three people I failed."

"And what about—"

"Hey, Jeff!" someone called.

He turned, face shifting instantly. The sad, broken man he'd just been was gone. In its place stood a confident, brave delver, upright and unbroken. I blinked at the transition. "Hey, Turner! You're heading back with us, right?"

"I am. They're trying to evacuate as many people as they can, so I got tapped for that. So did every unawakened who's expendable. It's going to get messy here in a couple of months, though, once they realize sanitation work is not optional." Turner laughed. His brown eyes locked onto me, and he scratched at his cornrows. "Friend of yours, Jeff?"

"Right. Turner, meet Kade. Kade, this is Turner. We were best friends before the portal break. Kade's my closest friend in Phoenix—and he's the guy who shut down the portal here."

My face went red. "I got lucky, and I paid for it," I said.

"You'll have to tell me all about it," Turner said. "Jeff and I tried to stay in contact for a while after he left, but it was hard. We're still friends, though. We'll always be friends. And speaking of friends, have you heard anything about Lamar?"

"No."

I put a hand around Jeff's shoulder. "He's the last person from Jeff's list. No word on where he is or if he survived."

"Ah," Turner said.

"Alright, people! Convoy leaves in ten minutes! Delver teams, patrol formations are assigned. If you're not an active delver, get your butts on a truck," Deborah shouted.

I shrugged. "Good luck out there, Jeff. Keep Ellen and the rest of them safe. I'll be joining you soon enough."

"Right." Jeff winked, turned, and joined the rest of my team.

Ellen waved. So did Sophia. I waved back. Then I settled in on a trailer bed and closed my eyes. Jeff had never taken loss well. But he'd be okay. The rest of the team would help him through it, and I'd be here.

And in the meantime, I was ready to go home.

Jessie was waiting. Who knew what she'd gotten herself into while Tara was supposed to be checking in on her? And I had a message from the Portal Tyrant to his guild's officers about her treatment. My broken core hadn't changed his resolve to help Jessie. I mentally relabeled Terrel Young as a mostly good person.

Then I shut my eyes. My goal over the next three or four days was to stabilize myself, figure out how to get stronger—with and without the God of Thunder's help—and then start making it happen. Something was going to go down at the Carlsbad Portal Break. Ellen's problems with her dad were coming to a head, too. Things were going to happen soon. And when it did, I needed to be ready.

And that meant fixing my core, gaining more ranks, and moving along the Stormsteel Path. I couldn't keep any of my promises if I couldn't do that.

School dragged by for Jessie.

The minutes turned into hours, and the hours turned into bells that dismissed one class, only for another to rear its ugly head. She didn't need trigonometry—she had friends for that. Same with history, English, and civics. Everything she was learning in that class, all the bullcrap about how Phoenix's government worked, how a citizen could take part, and all of that, was just lies.

She'd seen behind the curtain. Not for long—and she hadn't tried a second time—but long enough that she knew who really ran the city. It was the guilds and the Governing Council. The mayor and his government were just figureheads. Delvers, former delvers, and unawakened humans who'd stuck their noses too deep into delver affairs—those were the people who made the decisions.

So, honestly, screw civics.

Jeffie's main focus was on her calendar, the clock on the wall, and her phone.

Kade: I'm on my way home. Passing Globe. Should be back today.

Kade: It was…bad. I'll tell you more later, when it's just us.

Kade: Sorry for making you wait to hear from me.

Jessie: That sounds good. Glad you're safe.

She wanted to type more than that. So much more. To yell at him for making her panic—they'd been out of touch way longer than she expected, and even with her job at the Peoria GC, she hadn't been able to find out why. Tara had needed to talk her down from a full-on freak out twice in the last four days. It had been…rough.

But if she started, it wouldn't just be updates on work, or about the GC building their would-be guild wanted to buy.

She'd have to tell Kade everything that had happened while he was gone. And that would mean he'd want to see the message Carter Richards had given her. The demands he was making. The threats he'd made—against Kade, and against her. The second Kade saw what Carter had said, he'd go ballistic, and she had no idea where her brother would put the blame. So, the longer she could put that off, the better it'd be for everyone.

Especially for Carter. Now that she knew who he was, and now that he'd told her everything he'd had to do to survive someone who Kade was trying to deal with too, she couldn't help but understand. She wouldn't forgive him. No. But forgiveness wasn't necessary to help someone, and the best way she could help him was by stopping Kade from killing him. The second-best way to help him was to get him on her brother's side.

Jessie wasn't sure that'd be possible, and she wasn't sure she wanted that. But she didn't want Carter dead, either.

The last bell rang, and Jessie loaded herself onto the bus—slowly, because the chair lift sucked. Then Stephen helped her to a real seat, and she leaned back against his shoulder carefully.

The bus bumped and shook as it lurched toward her apartment.

Tonight was the night. Kade was coming home.

Queen Mother Yalerox's core was exquisite. The God of Thunder had spent days staring at it, pondering the stormy, gray orb. Swirling clouds laden with raindrops so large they looked more like berries than water. Winds so strong they tore at the container Eugene had placed it in, slowly shredding the stonework. A lattice of sandstone around the outside that eroded and reformed infinitely.

The God of Thunder had rarely seen its equal. Even at A-Rank, it would be a meaningful step in his progress toward the pinnacle of power. He salivated at the thought. The final rank was right there. So close—true godhood. The real kind, the kind with true immortality—the kind where he wouldn't have to worry about these games anymore. The temptation was almost overwhelming. For a moment, Eugene thought about killing all his Paragons for their power and attempting to ascend on the spot.

But no. He'd committed to his line of play, to the long game. He'd invested his time and effort in them, and when the time came to recoup that investment, he'd do it. But not yet. That core was Kade's by right of conquest, anyway.

Kade's core had been fragile since D-Rank. Eugene had known it. Any storm magic was inherently unstable, and the two Laws Kade had consolidated weren't enough to brace his core—not against the storm. His rate of growth had been a problem, too, but not the only one. Eventually, every one of Eugene's pupils' cores fractured. They usually did it in a controlled environment and usually took it easy. Cowards. But smart cowards.

Kade's was one of only a handful that had fully broken, though. And he was the only Paragon—delver or monster—who'd been able to harness his remaining power for any length of time.

No. Instant power was tempting, but Eugene hadn't reached SS-Plus Rank by taking instant power every time it was offered. And Kade's broken core was far, far too valuable to throw away for a tiny step down the Path. In its current state, with the tools Eugene had and the A-Rank core, it had more potential than it ever had.

Besides, the kid had earned this.

The God of Thunder tucked Queen Mother Yalerox's core away. If Kade Noelstra returned to his portal world, he'd offer to help patch his broken core. Not to fully repair it—that would be up to Kade—but to use the Paragon of Hurricane's core to solder the shattered pieces together before pouring metal lightning into the cracks.

When Kade was ready, the God of Thunder would help him move another step toward perfection. And when Kade had taken enough steps along the Stormsteel Path, Eugene would be ready to feast on his core and ascend.

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