by Natalie Grey
Yaro said nothing to that.
"She did make a difference," Caspian said. "I found friends in her guild. They helped me become a better healer without worrying about their own ranks.”
"I was going through a really bad time," Lakhesis said. "My sister died, and my parents...haven't coped well. They didn't want to see me anymore since it just reminded them about Kara being gone. I came here because I needed a place to get away. I don't know what I would have done without this world, and I don't know what I would have done without these people telling me jokes and just giving me an escape.”
Gracie looked at her, her heart twisting. She had never guessed that behind Lakhesis' bright, cheery persona was something like this, but now that the other woman mentioned it, she could remember the slightly brittle edge to her voice sometimes, and the way she was just a bit too cheerful.
"I hadn't been worried about whether I stood up and did the right thing," Jay said. "It hadn't even been on my radar. Gracie showed me what it looked like to care, even when the people you cared about weren't part of the real world.”
Yaro had paused, but now he stirred to life again. "Very touching stories," he said, and his voice was far too sweet, "but none of it changes the fact that you cheated your way here. You didn't play as hard as others did to win your ranking. You found your title by accident. How are we supposed to trust that you should have this power?”
Gracie looked down at the ground, her vision blurring. None of this mattered to Yaro. Why should it? He hated her, and no matter that she refuted each point he threw at her, the goalposts would only keep moving.
She'd learned long ago that those fights were unwinnable. Her parents hadn't ever let her accomplishments get in the way of favoring her sister, the guys at her college were sure as hell not going to believe she was there on merit, and the men she played D&D with weren't willing to see her as a person instead of a bundle of physical features.
There would be no winning this. To her surprise, her anger began to drain away. She should hate this man, she thought. Part of her was still raging at the absolute unfairness of it all. He was being an asshole, and she shouldn't have to deal with that.
But she would. It was just part of life. She was angry because of everything she had been through, and the same must be true of him. And maybe, just maybe, Dhruv had been right—that this world could be the place they worked all that out so they didn't hurt their friends and family outside Metamorphosis.
"You shouldn't trust me," Gracie told Yaro. "You shouldn't trust anyone with power. Anyone who can control people is untrustworthy.”
Her entire team was silent. Alan and Ushanas, who had just arrived up the road from Kithara, had stopped a few yards away, unsure what was going on.
Yaro said nothing.
"Who you should trust is these people," Gracie said, jerking her head at the ones around her. "Because they're the ones who call me on my shit. That's what you should trust; that's the team I've surrounded myself with.”
There was a long pause.
"And when they disagree, and you get rid of them?" Yaro asked. "What then? You'll be a dictator with no one to stop you.”
Gracie shrugged helplessly. "It's a chance I'm willing to take because I think I'd rather lose all of this than lose these friends. And if everything goes wrong, if it all goes to hell...well, at least I'll know I tried.”
"Tried what?" Yaro pressed. "Why do you even need this?”
"Because there's an asshole who wants to be the thought police, and another asshole who hates him and keeps taking money over being ethical," Gracie said, "and both of them are fucking around in the servers. I'd like to be able to do my damned job as a tank and keep that aggro off all the rest of you.”
"Nice spin to put on it," Yaro said, "when really, you're just a power-hungry bitch who wants all the men to be drooling over her.”
Gracie laughed. She couldn't help herself. "You really think you can find an insult I haven't heard before?" she asked him. "You believe you can come up with something that'll devastate me? Look, I don't know why you hate me. You won't say. But if you need to hate me, fine. I'll still be your tank.”
She turned to walk away, and she heard Yaro's voice again—but he wasn't speaking to her, he was speaking to Jay.
"I guess she is the woman you thought.”
"Dhruv?" Jay sounded halfway between shocked and furious. "What the hell?”
"You think I'm going to be the worst she encounters?" Dhruv asked. "She was tempted to ban me at the start. She tried to explain herself to me, and she won't be able to explain herself to everyone. But in the end, she's focusing on what matters.”
Gracie turned back, shaking her head. "You could have just asked.”
"No," Dhruv said. He shrugged. "I couldn't just ask this. Power changes people, and this power was what Harry created for himself.”
"I know that," Gracie said. "I knew that the first day you got on my case and I wanted to ban you. This is how Harry saw people: ants in an ant farm, rats in a maze. He wanted to pick and choose people until he ended up with some fucked-up utopia where all the people thought exactly what he did and did exactly what he wanted and never called him on his bullshit. That's where his powers lead; I know that.”
Dhruv said nothing.
Gracie walked closer. "That's why I'm saving them for him."
"He'll find a way to take them away from you," Dhruv warned her.
"Maybe. But I've beaten him before, and I'll do it again. I'm not going to turn into a power-hungry maniac in the meantime." She shrugged. “Happy?"
"Eh." Dhruv shrugged back.
Gracie rolled her eyes. "Do you want some food?" she asked with excessive politeness.
Dhruv gave a sound that might have been a laugh. "No, you have a good feast. It was nice to meet you as a queen." He disappeared without any more fanfare, logging out with a little bloop.
"Argh." Jay rubbed his forehead. "I hate that man.”
"I see why he did it," Gracie said. "Better it was him who tested me than some random jackass.”
"Oh, he did mention," Jay said, "that he wouldn't mind if you banned Harry.”
"Good," Gracie replied. "Because I plan to."
Chapter Twenty
"Anyone want to tell me where we're going?" Grok asked on the main channel.
Harkness shushed him, but not before Thad looked over his shoulder at the Ocru. In reality, Grok was about 5'4" and incredibly thin, the sort of person who could gobble down a whole pizza and ask for more an hour later. He tended to hunch his shoulders and make himself look even shorter, and he was doing that now as their transport zoomed across the desert. He turned away first, and Thad looked back to the desert ahead of them.
No one else said anything on the main channel, and he had the suspicion that they were talking behind his back.
They didn't like Yesuan. The new Piskie healer was the subject of considerable speculation. They'd noticed that he was on one of the team accounts, and they'd also noticed that Thad seemed to take his orders.
And he gave a lot of orders. Yesuan didn't seem to give a damn if people liked him. Sometimes, Thad even thought Yesuan wanted people to hate him. He was certainly behaving the right way if that was what he wanted.
Right now, for instance, Yesuan was the one steering the transport. He'd come into the guild's morning practice, announced that they were going somewhere, and left without waiting to see if anyone would follow him. He'd led the way to the far end of the transport docks and taken one of the ones that was already there. As far as Thad had known, those were just ornamental, but Yesuan seemed to be able to drive them.
If Jamie were still here, he'd be asking worried-sounding questions about all of this.
Thad crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to growl his annoyance with his former healer. He'd built Jamie up to what he was. Sure, Jamie had shown natural talent, but it was Thad's investment of resources and gear that had allowed Jamie to level so quickly, and it w
as Thad's offer of a job that had gotten Jamie into the guild when Thad was first approached by Brightstar. Thad had taken the time to court healers and the very best DPS there was. He gave them his time. He gave them leeway. He gave them perks.
And this was how Jamie had repaid him.
Yesuan looked at him now. "They don't like you," the Piskie said.
Thad stiffened but did not look over. He checked that he was on a private channel before responding, "Do you have a point?”
"They shouldn't like you," Yesuan said. "You forget that. You want to be their leader and have them be your friends.”
"No, I don't." Wanting to win a popularity contest was like grade school all over again, and he was definitely past that.
The transport shuddered to a halt, and the Piskie looked at Thad coldly. "I have no patience for lies and self-deception," Yesuan said. "And I don't have time for fools who can't understand basic logic, either. Stop acting like a child, or I will leave you all here and find another guild to serve my purpose.”
Thad looked at him furiously. The rest of the guild, noticing that the transport had stopped, was coming over, and Thad gestured for them to stay away.
"Are you sure about that?" Thad asked venomously. "You wanted good players who knew how to follow orders, and you've got them. Who else are you going to get to do this without asking questions you don't want to answer?”
For a moment, he thought Yesuan would call his bluff, but then the Piskie nodded. "Interesting," Yesuan said. "So you do have a backbone after all. But you're still lying to yourself.”
Thad rolled his eyes and sighed. "Can we not do this? I don't want to have a philosophical discussion right now.”
"Of course not," Yesuan said. "And it doesn't matter anyway.”
With that, he started driving again, and Thad frowned at him. What did that mean?
It meant that Yesuan was insufferably pretentious, that was what it meant. Thad had seen enough by this point to know that. He rolled his eyes and went back to watching the desert. There was nothing out here, no plants or scrub brush, and the dunes and sandstone bluffs were steep enough that people would not have been able to get here by foot or mount. Then Harkness shouted and pointed, and the whole group hurried over to one side of the transport to get a look.
Thad frowned. Yesuan was guiding them in a lazy circle around a full replica of Saladin's Keep. Or was this Saladin's Keep?
"It's a real place in the game," Yesuan said, sensing Thad's stare. "The instance is different, of course, but the place exists.”
"Son of a bitch." Thad had not spent much time doing PvP, but he had to admit that he’d enjoyed Saladin's Keep. There was something appealing about running around abandoned buildings, especially the ruins of former splendor.
With the verdant oasis in the center of the keep, the place had an amazing feel to it, clearly a desert without feeling too bright or too dry. The game's developers had really gone all out in the keep, too. Sometimes gold coins or jewels winked in the sunlight, and people claimed they saw ghosts and heard courtly music on nighttime runs.
He turned to Yesuan as the Piskie deposited them near one of the gates. "What are we doing here?”
"Getting ready," Yesuan said simply. "I gave you the instructions. You'll run skirmishes against each other while I watch—and explore the ruins. There are things here I need to find.”
He hopped off the platform and disappeared into the ruins, and Thad stared after him with a frown.
He did not like this dude, whoever he was—but he'd be lying if he said that the man's absolute, uncaring arrogance wasn't at least a little bit interesting. After all, Thad had been lying when he said he didn't care if his guildmates liked him. Of course, he cared. Who wouldn’t?
Yesuan, apparently.
Thad turned to his team. All of them were here, not just the first-string players he brought into the dungeons with him. Yesuan had insisted that everyone come to these practice sessions. That meant Thad was looking at twenty-eight players since Brightstar refused to sponsor a full-sized guild of fifty.
"We'll be running skirmishes," Thad said. "Even numbers on the roster will start in the dining hall, odd numbers will start in the library. Yesuan's not on anyone's team. Harkness, you do invites for the even team. I'll take the odd team.”
They partied up, and Thad nodded at all of them. The teams were a little unbalanced, but it would be an interesting exercise that way. "We focus on AoE and snares," he told them. "I don't want either flag carrier to go a single second without being under some negative effect. That means I expect you to arrange your defense and protect your flag carrier. Yesuan will be observing.”
”Why—“ Grok began.
"The skirmish begins in two minutes," Thad said. "Teams, get to your bases.”
He didn't want people asking questions, particularly ones he couldn't answer.
Thad led the way to the library. Their team had none of the healers, which annoyed him—but it made the other team comparably less deadly. He'd take it. He checked his team as he ran. They had Preacher, the guild's highest-ranked rogue, and Kala, a summoner who specialized in demons. She already had her amarok out, the ice-wolf's white fur glinting blue in the sunlight.
Demon Syndicate's off-tank, AreTee, was on the other team, as were two of the mages, Harkness and Anubis. Thad had DreadPRoberts, nicknamed Deep, and Blast, and FaceMelt, known as Face.
They could make this work.
"I want Preacher and Deep on defense," he said. "I'll run offense with Kala, Face, and Blast. Kala, feel free to peel off if someone needs snaring.”
"Roger," Kala said. Like most female characters in the game, Kala was played by a man. She had dark brown skin and spiky bright-blue hair that Thad was beginning to think should be changed. PvE bosses didn't care what players looked like, but a noteworthy target was easier to select in a PvP game.
He'd mention that to Jack, her player, later.
"Everyone else," Thad directed, "make yourself useful. After this game, we'll give specific feedback.”
The timer Thad had set dinged, and he ran out of the library toward the oasis, not waiting for any of the rest of the team to weigh in. He had the vague sense that some of them were spreading out across the keep, and he shook his head, annoyed. The keep's setup was a trap, with the long, open corridors not easy to get in and out of, and considerable time lost with running the long way around.
He'd be giving them a talking to about that.
Or Yesuan would. A tight knot of anxiety formed in Thad's chest. He didn't like the idea of Yesuan giving feedback while the rest of the team stared at Thad and wondered why he wasn't in charge anymore.
But he'd been looking, and there were no other healers to be found. If he didn't want to use Yesuan, he was fucked. And if he did, he had to put up with this.
As he ran past the oasis, he saw a flash of pink hair. Yesuan was lurking amongst the trees, presumably to watch all of them without being seen. Thad swore silently. He didn't like being watched by someone who seemed determined to find fault. When he stole another glance, however, he saw that Yesuan didn't even seem to be watching anyone. Instead, he was pacing between bushes and plants, peering intently at the ground.
What was he looking for?
Thad didn't care. He wanted all of this to be over, and there was only one way to do that: get ready for the next month-first and pay whatever price Yesuan was asking. He had also been reaching out to other prospective funders, wondering if they might pay for him to run one of the other sponsored guilds. It was possible. He had options, he told himself.
He had options.
For now, he would just get through this. Whatever Yesuan wanted, Thad didn't care. If it meant getting back at Callista and Jamie, he'd do it.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Jay arrived at work the next morning, he was not surprised to see a summons to one of the conference rooms. When he got there, Dan, Dhruv, and Sam were sitting next to a somewhat smaller spread of d
onuts and coffee.
Jay was going to need to spend whole nights running dungeons at this rate.
"That was a dirty trick," he said to Dhruv as he picked out a donut.
"We thought you liked donuts," Sam said, sounding confused.
"Not the donuts," Jay said. He got himself a cup of coffee and shot a glance at Dhruv. "You going to explain or should I?”
"I want to see how you sum it up," Dhruv said, after a moment’s consideration.
Jay reflected that he really should have known better than to expect Dhruv to have any shame about his actions. The man was immune to normal forms of social pressure. He sat down and gazed at Dan and Sam, both of whom looked intrigued.
"Dhruv wanted to know whether Gracie was going to turn into a tyrant," Jay began, then took a bite of donut. "So, naturally, the way he decided to do that was to see how hard he could poke the bear before he got banned.”
Dan gave a deep sigh and looked at Dhruv.
"I used what I knew of her to see if I could get under her skin," Dhruv said, entirely unconcerned. "And I did get under her skin, and I do still have some concerns—but not big ones. She's able to hold her temper. She hasn't caved to the temptation of muting people or banning them. We're lucky, as far as things go, that she's the one who found the quest.”
"What did you do?" Dan demanded, not at all distracted by Dhruv's explanation. "Seriously, what did you do?”
"He made an alt and followed Gracie around, insulting her," Jay explained.
"I also sent her emails," Dhruv admitted.
"You what?" Jay demanded at the same time Dan said, "You realize that's actually a legal liability—“
"Okay." Sam tapped the flat of his hand on the table. Everyone looked at him in surprise, and he gave a tight smile. "Long story short, Dhruv's concerns are put to rest and Jay's not incandescently angry, so I assume everything resolved itself, and we actually do have work to do today. We need to focus on that.”
