We got back on the road as fast as we could.

  Being able to stretch our legs was nice, but I could tell that everyone was tired of riding in a car. It didn’t seem like it took us long to reach our destination. When we did, Aelin stopped the bus in front of the checkpoint at the city wall.

  “All yours.” The blonde looked at Gesai and motioned at the driver’s seat.

  “I’ll handle this.” Kara got up and walked down the aisle. Once she was in the driver’s seat, she rolled down the window.

  “I need you all to step out of the vehicle for inspection.” The guard began motioning towards the benches that were beside the city walls.

  There wasn’t a lot of traffic between cities due to the possibility of rogue monsters that had gotten away from the initial Dungeon Breaks however many years in the past it had been. Most of the monsters tended to stay away from the roads, but it was still plenty of a deterrent for most of the population to risk a trip.

  “I have clearance.” Kara held out her left arm so the guard could scan her Crystal Band.

  The guard was wearing red armor almost like the type that Kara had worn as a Scarlet. Except he didn’t have on a helmet and the shade of red was much darker, almost maroon.

  The guard scanned her CB and surprise almost instantly covered his face. He saluted, turned around and hurried back to the guardpost.

  “What was that about?” Aelin leaned against Justia's seat. “They didn't let Trent into Tres that easily and he's like best friends with the God there!”

  The truth was that Trent had been married to Tres’ sister. At least until the Primus, a secretive group of Gods that hunted gods that didn't have a city, had ambushed their party. Trent was the only one who had survived, but he had been thrown down into higher floors than any Adventurer had ever gone. His equipment had been destroyed and he'd been forced to fight his way back to civilization by himself. I wasn't sure how many people knew about Trent and Dee, so I wasn't going to say anything about it. To be fair, if Tres hadn't wanted to talk to our teacher then we wouldn't have been stopped at the gate.

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  “Are you friends with Klix?!?” Aelin squealed.

  The look of panic on Kara’s face was obvious and this situation was something that we should have thought about beforehand. Gesai and Justia were both aware of the familial connection between Kara and Klix, but none of the other members of my team, minus Ether of course, were.

  I tried thinking of a reason why Kara would have the clearance, but I was coming up blank. I had an idea and went with the vague notion before fleshing it out.

  “Klix didn't want us to be detained.” I stood up. “Kara has the invitation.”

  There wasn't a written invitation, but I couldn't tell them that the reason that Kara could order the guard was because she was a Scarlet.

  “Why’d you give it to her?” Aelin looked between us. She covered her mouth as she giggled. “You are adding her to the harem!”

  I should have been prepared for Aelin’s next question. The blonde gained way too much pleasure from my discomfort about her timing on the subject.

  I sighed. “All I'm thinking about right now is getting Trent better.” I looked towards the back of the bus where he was unconscious. “Until then…”

  “Klix left it with Kara since Atlas was asleep.” Gesai motioned for the blonde to sit down. “Now sit down before the guard comes back and decides that we DO need to have a full inspection.”

  Mouthing a silent thank-you to Gesai would have been noticed by someone, so I’d have to remember to tell her later.

  Aelin looked disappointed that we didn’t have another celebrity in the house as she took a seat behind the driver.

  I was thankful that no one bothered to ask why Kara was driving. As far as any of them knew, we’d run into Kara in Mive and while Ether’s older sister was from here, we hadn’t brought the others into why she had been in Mive.

  Ether snuggled close to me as I sat back down. “You’re going to have to tell her.” She kept her voice low so the others wouldn’t be able to hear us. Shelly and Jenne were the only two who weren’t bound to keep things we discussed private and I had a suspicion that Jenne was bound under something similar to Trent. And while Aelin and Ren didn’t have as strong of a seal as the others, it would still take a fairly strong force to get them to divulge anything that they were told.

  “I know…” I glanced over my shoulder at my unconscious mentor. “We’ll reevaluate everything once Trent is awake.”

  I just hoped that would be soon.

  Rating, Review, Follow, Favorite, or Comment does wonders to boost my morale. If you want to help support my writing or check out advanced chapters, head over to my .

  Immersive Ink

  RR Writer's Guild