“That…that could work,” Jessica said, when Calvin finished talking.

  I wasn’t so sure. There were a lot of moving parts, and just like in an engine, every part needed oiling, and every part was a point of failure. His plan felt more complex than it needed to be, but as I went through it, there were only a few actual points of failure.

  The biggest one was on Tori, Bobby, and me. If we couldn’t break through to Rank One, the odds of successfully clearing the Willis Tower were pretty much nonexistent, and we had less than a week to make sure all three of us were through. Otherwise, I’d be clearing with whoever I could find—and that assumed I’d make it by myself.

  Really, it was less than a week. I didn’t want to spend days inside a Tier Three Dungeon, but it was pretty likely. We’d overnighted in the Watery Grave, and Brian and the twins had spent a night in the Twilight Menagerie. The Willis Tower dungeon would be longer than either of those, and based on the break timer, we wouldn’t be leaving once we went in. So, to play it on the safe side, that assumed about seventy hours until we had to start.

  Luckily, Calvin knew we were a weak point. He’d planned for it. In fact, looking at the dungeon parties he’d built, it looked like he’d been planning for it for a while.

  The other Delvers had the system pretty much down by now. There were three types of dungeons on Calvin’s list—which he had posted on a bulletin board near the fish-hugger fountain. The first were Tier Ones that had been cleared. The second were Tier Ones that either hadn’t been cleared or that we didn’t have information for. And the third were Tier Twos. Parties signed up for dungeons on the board, and reported back with as much information about them as they could, along with the time they’d cleared it and when it’d reset.

  Calvin barely had to drill sergeant them anymore, but he planned on getting more groups into the safer Tier Twos as soon as the reset period was shorter than the remaining time on the dungeon break. He’d do the same thing with the Tier Ones, but there were so many, Museumtown’s Delvers would probably miss a couple.

  That was where the third part of the plan came in.

  Calvin clearly hoped we’d be successful, but he’d planned for the three of us to fail. That was why, three hours before the break timer expired, he’d pull every Delver back to Museumtown and get ready to defend the settlement from any broken dungeons. He’d have the non-Delvers work on shoring up the defenses so they’d be ready.

  Jessica would be in charge of all that, of course. Calvin had a feeling that some of the Delvers would hit Level Fifty, and that he’d need to use every trick in the book to keep them from starting their trials until Museumtown was safe. That left her to manage everything else.

  And that was where I saw the plan falling apart. In the last couple of days, it had become clear that while a few people really respected her, Jessica hadn’t gotten the same level of pull Calvin had. Unlike him, her level seemed to matter. I didn’t have a solution, but I had concerns about whether the town’s defenses would be ready.

  “I have a thought,” I said slowly.

  They both looked at me. I hadn’t talked much since the meeting got started.

  “There’s a place we could put a lot of people that’d be pretty safe and very defensible, assuming the Consortium doesn’t change the rules on us. It’s high-risk, depending on what failure looks like, but if it works, it’d be almost perfect.”

  I explained my idea as best I could; Jessica looked mortified, while Calvin was more intrigued than anything. “It’ll take some timing,” he said.

  “You’re serious about this?” Jessica asked. “We’ve put serious time into getting Museumtown running, and now you want to abandon it?”

  I stood up. “Only as a last resort. I’ve got to get back to my Trial. If you see Tori or the twins…”

  “I’ll make sure they’re working hard,” Jessica said, “but I won’t push any of them past what they can handle.”

  The meeting broke up a few minutes later, and Jessica and I tracked down Tori.

  She was, as usual, perched on her statue, with Zane and Carol sitting nearby. Unlike usual, though, she looked frustrated. Her brow wrinkled and her eyes were squeezed shut. As we approached the gigantic concrete head, she muttered something under her breath.

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  Jessica cleared her throat. I put a hand on the woman’s shoulder as Tori’s eyes flew open. “Oh, shit,” she said. Jessica tensed, but to her credit, didn’t say anything.

  “How’s your Trial going?” I asked.

  “Bad. It’s about discipline, and I can’t focus right now,” Tori said. “Too stressed out.”

  I nodded slowly. “Are Carol and Zane working on their trials, too?”

  “I’ll check.” Before I could stop her she started yelling. “Carol, Zane, you two good to talk? I can’t get anything going here.”

  Carol and Zane weren’t as critical for this part of the plan—but then again, this wasn’t really part of Calvin’s plan at all, and it’d be better for them to do it than me. I was close to finishing my Trial, while they’d only started recently. More importantly, both Jessica and I trusted them to do the job—she because they’d keep Tori safe and not let her overdo it, and me because they were strong enough to succeed.

  Once they finished whatever they were pondering, the two twins joined us by the statue. “What’s going on?” Carol asked. Zane said nothing; he still looked shell-shocked, and like he’d been crying recently.

  “We need you three to clear the first floor of the Field Museum,” Jessica said.

  I stepped in. “I’m close to my breakthrough to Rank One, but we need that dungeon cleared as a safe hide-out. I can’t do it, and Bobby’s not around. That leaves either sending in one of Calvin’s teams or giving it to you. It doesn’t need to be done tonight, but our hope is that—

  Carol interrupted. “You want to see if us losing a level costs us the Rank One Trial, huh?”

  “Honestly, that’s part of it,” I admitted. Honesty was the best policy here. “I need to know that, and you’re lower risk than I am.”

  “Alright, let’s go. I’ll check it out,” Carol said.

  “No. I’ll do it,” Zane interrupted. “I’ve got to, what, go through and come back out?”

  “Yes, but we don’t know how the dungeon works. I want to send you three in together so you can fight the Floor One boss. If you beat it, it might let you leave for free as long as you don’t—“

  I didn’t get a chance to finish because Zane was already walking. Carol gave me a look that wasn’t quite annoyed but wasn’t understanding, either. She watched him go, holding me back with her gaze, then lowered her voice. “He’s only pushing for me. Otherwise, he’d be done. Be careful.”

  Jessica cleared her throat, and I held a hand up. “Okay, got it. I’ll be as gentle as I can, but we need to know this, and we need the dungeon cleared so we can hide Museumtown’s people in it.”

  “Got it, but I won’t forgive you if he gets himself killed,” Carol said. She stared at me as she said it, and I glanced at her nameplate. Right now, she was just as strong as me, and she could probably follow up on her threat. I didn’t want to put her or Zane—or Tori—in the danger we’d be putting them in, but I didn’t have a choice. We had less than a week.

  By the time we got inside the Field Museum fort, Zane was gone.

  The seconds ticked by. I twiddled my thumbs, and Tori tapped her fingernails against her leg armor, next to the repaired hole the Chthonic Abysslord had ripped into it. Carol stared at the gray wall, completely unmoving, until after nearly a minute, Zane came out. “Sorry. Got jumped at the entrance. It wasn’t a big deal.”

  I checked his nameplate.

  Zane Parker: Level 49

  Class: Mage

  He dropped into a sitting position as I opened my mouth to ask. Tori shushed me, and we watched his lips move soundlessly. Then he opened his eyes. “Good news: I haven’t forgotten any of the rules of magic. Bad news: I can’t make the connections I used to be able to. I think you have to be at fifty to progress the Trial, but you don’t lose your progress if you lose a level.”

  “Does that work for you three? I don’t want to put your growth off if we don’t have to,” I asked.

  Tori nodded. “Just set aside the Dozen-Path Descent and another Tier One for us to catch up again after, and we’ll clear it multiple times.”

  “That’s reasonable. When can you have it cleared?” Jessica asked. I could tell that just the idea of sending her daughter into a Tier Two without backup was killing her, but she hadn’t pushed back.

  “Tonight,” Zane said. Carol nodded.

  Time Limit: Five Days, Nineteen Hours, Forty-Three Minutes

  Tori was all-in and ready to go.

  Their party comp was trash by any MMO’s standards. Carol had switched her Skirmisher to Fighter at Level Fifty, so she was their tank. Zane was raw damage. His fire magic could do some serious work if he got the chance, but compared to his sister, he was a wimp. In fact, Carol had pulled Tori aside and pretty much told her that her whole job was to bodyguard Zane—both because he couldn’t take a hit and because after Brian’s death, he didn’t care much whether he got hurt.

  Tori didn’t mind. She’d been looking out for the other two in Tier One Dungeons for almost a week. Besides, Carol was cool.

  Very cool. Carol reminded Tori of Tammy in a lot of the best ways. She looked different, but she cared about her brother a lot, and Tori saw that bond. She wanted that bond. A friend like Tammy.

  So yeah, she’d gladly hang out with Zane and make sure he stayed safe for Carol.

  “Boss should be ahead,” Carol said. She hefted her spear and readied her shield, pointing down the hieroglyphics-covered hallway. “You’re sure you don’t know anything about it?”

  Tori shook her head. “No. But we’re pretty overleveled for a first floor. Just don’t retreat up if things go wrong, and we should have this. I’ll do call-outs.”

  “Thanks, Tor,” Carol said. “Pulling in five.”

  God, it was cool that Carol had picked up tanking so fast.

  As she headed down the tunnel, Tori fell in place at the back of the formation. Scarabs poured out of holes in the walls, and she cast Gravity Well right next to Zane, making it just strong enough to tug at his pant-legs but not strong enough to topple him. Carol’s brother would be safe with her.

  She promised.

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