After Bel rampaged through the remnants of the raiders, she discovered another group of humans behind their fighting force. They looked like civilians to her, cooks and servants who supported the main fighting force. They also looked terrified; Bel guessed that some of them had watched her turn into a giant, fiery being and tear a path through the rest of the humans and now waited to see if she would do it a second time.

  “Bel!”

  Bel turned to see Orseis and a few of the delvers running up to her.

  “Don’t leave me like that!” the little girl complained.

  Bel shrugged. “I didn’t want the brigands coming inside. It wasn’t very exciting anyway, just a weirdo with a fancy hat.”

  She turned to Rock and gestured at the people. “I don’t really feel like talking to them, and I think that they’re terrified of me anyway. You should talk to them.”

  Rock rubbed the back of his head. “I suppose I could. What about all of their stuff?”

  Bel sighed. “I guess we could use some wagons?”

  She turned to Cress, who had gotten busy wiping off her maul after she verified that the fighting was over. The other gorgon tilted her head, spilling some of her snakes to the side.

  “Wagons would be useful. Those work lizards would be better. I want to bring one of those cannons with us.”

  “And all of their food,” Orseis hurried to add. “With enough wagons to carry it.”

  Bel rolled her eyes. “If they don’t want to stay here, then don’t make them starve to death, Ori. For all we know, they’re just normal people who those brigands forced into service.”

  Orseis’ expression wavered as a war between her hunger and her decency broke out.

  “I don’t think they’ll have anything good,” Rock said. “Why would they go raiding if they did?”

  Orseis breathed a sigh of relief as her inner conflict was resolved. “You’re right. They can keep most of their food then.”

  Bel shook her head at the younger girl’s antics. She left Orseis with a few of the delvers and wandered back towards Baytown. Her thoughts drifted to her impending assault upon Central City, where she was mostly certain Technis would be waiting.

  Would he have his entire army with him, including Clark and the rest of his inquisitors? Would his regular soldiers have more cannons and flintlocks? Or would they have new, secret weapons? Maybe something fantastical from James’ world, like a fighter jet or a lunar lander?

  Bel tried to remember some of James’ stories and imagined herself squaring off against a tank or an airplane. As much as she tried to wrap her head around things she’d never seen, she couldn’t quite imagine how those fights would unfold.

  “Those who don’t watch where they’re walkin’ will get eaten by birds.”

  “What? Huh?”

  Bel looked up and realized that she’d already walked back to Baytown and was aimlessly wandering down the main street. Flann and Jan were sitting on some crates nearby, playing some type of game in the dirt.

  “I’m not going to get eaten by birds,” Bel objected.

  The two old men laughed. Then Flann leaned forward to his game and moved a stone from one spot to another. He triumphantly flicked his ears before looking back at Bel.

  “It’s just a saying, young ’un. You look like ya got a lot on your mind.”

  Bel’s snakes flicked out their tongues. “I do! I’m really going after a demigod. It feels crazy!”

  She ran her hands through her snakes, further disturbing them. “If Technis is anything like the Dark Ravager, then he’ll be terrifying and powerful.”

  Jan moved another stone and chuckled to himself. He handed his playing stick to Flann and said, “my win in two moves.”

  Flann’s fur stood on end and he stared down at the playing area and Jan left him to struggle through whatever move he’d made.

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  “Could you beat the Dark Ravager if you faced him today?” Jan asked.

  Bel opened her mouth, hesitated a few moments, and then nodded. “It depends, but maybe.”

  “Too bad. If you didn’t have a chance then we could just go have fun somewhere else.” Flann’s whiskers twitched as he laughed to himself. “Now we’re gonna have to do some real work.”

  “That piece,” Flann moaned, “I forgot all about it!”

  Jan cackled. “It’s your bad eyesight, ya old fox! I’m surprised you even know what game we’re playin’!”

  “What are you guys playing?” Bel asked.

  “Chess,” Jan replied. “It’s something your brother showed me. It’s a fun little game.”

  Flann huffed. “Not as good as garters and bars if ya ask me.”

  “Oh, you’re just mad because ya keep losin’!”

  “But there’s no chance! No excitement!” Flann summoned a small flame to dance over his fingers. “No sizzle!”

  “Sizzle my foot! If ya didn’t have fuzz for brains, maybe you’d be able to think your way through it!”

  Bel looked around as the two argued and realized that she recognized the place.

  “Hey Flann,” she interrupted, “can I borrow your ear cuff again? I want to give my brother a call.”

  Flann quickly took if off and tossed it to her, but didn’t stop arguing with Jan for an instant. Bel caught the small, golden jewelry and slipped it over her ear. She fussed with the fit for a minute, but it was made for a fox’s ear and would never fit hers well. She soon gave up and pressed the indentations that would initiate a call with her brother.

  He picked up after a short delay.

  “Flann?”

  “Nope. It’s Bel.”

  “Oh, hey Bel. Is everything still okay there? We’re moving as quickly as we can, but I don’t want to leave any of the children behind and Daran wanted to give some more people the chance to start fresh with us.”

  Bel’s face scrunched with dismay. “James, you know that I’m racing Technis, don’t you? What if he’s opening the portal right now?”

  “Then you’re too late,” he replied. “Look, I know your mother made it seem like this is all a big panic, but she could do something if she really wanted to.”

  Bel grumbled at his weak logic.

  “Don’t forget that Dutcha is hiding out somewhere, eating a mountain out from under the elves,” James added. “She could do something too.”

  Bel pushed her way through a wide pair of double doors and into an abandoned building. The hinges groaned slightly, but the interior of the building was still in good condition.

  “I get what you’re saying, James, but I don’t want to be idle for too long.”

  Bel walked over to a corner of the room and inspected a small nook that was once filled with figurines. She was disappointed to find it empty.

  “I don’t think you should rush into a fight like this. Beth’s been planning this for years. You should at least wait for her help.”

  Bel frowned. “Isn’t she coming with you?”

  “She is, but she’s scouting a path ahead. I think she wants to sneak through the mountains again, and ambush some of Technis’ retreating army. It’s actually safer to move through the Labyrinthos than the surface now, given all the dinosaurs and whatnot flying in from the east.”

  “Huh.”

  Bel walked to a back corner of the room and pushed through a still unlocked door.

  “Hey James, guess where I am?”

  “What? You’re still in Baytown, right?”

  “Yeah, but where am I?”

  “The docks?”

  “No.”

  “The latrines?”

  “What? Why would I…”

  Bel shook her head. “I’m in the temple.”

  “Oh! The one we sent on fire?”

  “Yup,” Bel said with glee. “I’m looking for a statue of Lempo.”

  “Can’t you just destroy something and she’ll show up?”

  “Maybe. I couldn’t find the statues of any other gods though.”

  Bel went through the slightly charred hallway, pushing open doors as she went. The building was slightly more tidy than it had been on her first visit, with most of the errant papers cleaned up. That didn’t make it any less cluttered though, and most of the rooms were stuffed full of stacked crates.

  “This place is still a mess.”

  “Well, why would they bother cleaning it if they were leaving to another world?”

  Bel laughed. “You think they stopped doing their dishes too?”

  James joined in her laughter. “Oh, unless they think they need dishes on Earth.”

  Bel kicked open another door to reveal a conspicuously tidy room. She went inside and walked around, but there wasn’t much there – just a few rolled up rugs. She was about to leave when she realized that she could feel heartbeats on the other side of one of the blank walls.

  “Hey James, I found something interesting. I’ll have to call you back.”

  “Oh, sure. Hopefully it’s just interesting and not dangerous. Look, I’ll try to convince Daran than we need to leave in a day or two. Robète is making things increasingly uncomfortable for everyone she doesn’t like, and I think Daran is getting fed up with it.”

  “That’d be great. Be safe.”

  “You too.”

  Bel removed her finger from the ear cuff, ending the call.

  She ran her hands over the mysterious wall and found a few indentations. She poked and prodded them, but nothing happened.

  Then she punched the wall, but all she accomplished was hurting her hand. So she blasted the wall with a liquid shockwave, collapsing it inwards.

  I hope I didn’t just destroy whatever was in here, she thought belatedly.

  She coughed at all of the dust in the air and waved her hands to try to clear it. The dust stubbornly clung to the air, and Bel was forced to retreat and wait for it to settle on its own. She kept track of the hearts that she’d sensed, but they hadn’t moved, even when she’d blown through the wall.

  Bel could feel a sense of anticipation stirring within her own heart. What was in the room? Why hide it in Technis’ temple?

  She pulled her ragged sleeve over her mouth as she waited eagerly for the dust to finally settle. The moment she thought it was clear enough to see she and rushed forward and into the hidden room.

  The space was illuminated by a few weakly glowing blobs of flesh floating in fishbowls. Bel was disappointed when she realized that they were the source of the mysterious heartbeats, but a moment later she realized that she’d found a workroom dedicated to Technis’ form of flesh manipulation. But it held more than that – it was also filled with technology so strange and bizarre that Bel couldn’t guess at its purpose, but it filled her with a strange sense of familiarity.