Sadie stands ready, hands glowing, keeping Jes in place, a dozen paces away. I clear the webs from my spear.

  “What now?” Jes asks. “I just saved your life, and you’re going to roast me?”

  “You just saved your own life,” Sadie says. “We just happened to be in the same room.”

  “I killed those spiders,” Jes insists. “I could have let them kill you first.”

  Sadie shakes her head. “If you didn’t have our help, you wouldn’t win. You needed us.”

  Jes stomps around in a small circle. “I could have stayed invisible. I didn’t.”

  Sadie may be right. It’s not impossible that we were an effective distraction. We kept the spider attention on us. I look at the big one. The legs are now curled under, and the handle of Jes’ axe protrudes.

  “Truth?” Jes pants. “Seen nothing like that big one before. These little ones, sure. They pop out of holes in the walls.”

  That explains where the little one showed up to snag my spear.

  “When that big one joined the fight,” Jes continues, “I went into survival mode. I didn’t think about it. Something just happens when there’s a big threat and some new reflex kicks in to keep my ass safe.”

  I know exactly what she’s talking about. I merge with my bondlings, she does whatever the hell that was.

  “Did you teleport?” I ask.

  She shrugs. “The skill is called Slipping. It’s hard to explain. When I turn it on, the world becomes an oil painting and I just slide to a new place. Doesn’t work very far, but I can slide out of their webs. They pop out, pin me to a wall, I slip a few feet over and beat them up.”

  I wonder if everyone who ends up here gets some sort of emergency escape from death skill. That makes it seem like The System wants to keep us alive rather than have us lose to all of the monsters. I’m not sure if the system is against us or rooting us on.

  “Good,” Sadie says. “We don’t have to protect you, you can take care of yourself. Move along.”

  I walk over to Sadie. We take a few steps back and whisper, but she never takes her eyes off Jes or lowers her flames.

  “Sadie, she did save us.”

  “She’s not one of us, Dom.”

  “What are you talking about? You plan on taking on this whole place alone?”

  She moves her glare from Jes to me with those horizontal pupils, then back to Jes, not speaking. I don’t think she’s being jealous the way she would be if another girl was hitting on her man, but more the way a dog is jealous when you give someone else attention. Sadie’s existence is based on keeping me alive. There’s a chance that seeing someone else doing that job is stealing her spotlight.

  “Sadie, she’s from where I’m from.”

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  “And where is that Dom? Where do you come from? Where is California? I’ve never heard of this place. How did you get here?”

  “I can’t explain it, Sadie. Our world, to use Jes’ words, slipped away and we fell here. Whether or not she showed up exactly where and when I did, I’m in this together with her.”

  “She’s not us.”

  “She’s a human, just like…”

  She’s not us. Sadie’s right. If Sadie is made of my life force, then Jes is an actual other being as opposed to being linked, bondling to summoner. When Sadie says Jes isn’t one of us, she means literally part of us. I gently put my hands on Sadie’s shoulders. She keeps her eyes on Jes.

  “Sadie. Strength in numbers. Jes is a capable fighter. If we team up, it makes us all safer.”

  “Jes can hear you,” Jes says. “Cave acoustics.”

  I turn to Jes. “And?”

  Jes looks around and nods. “I hate to say I used you guys as bait or a distraction, but at least it gave me time to think and plan before fighting. I’m not good in an ambush. They pop out of the walls, I pop invisible. You guys were already fighting when I was still trying to count how many spiders there were. I’m not used to fire flying through the air. It got super dangerous real fast and I wasn’t going to get in your way. When I got my bearings, I understood how to position myself and get in around you guys. When I saw the kill shots, I was able to commit.”

  “You saying we helped you win?” Sadie asks.

  Jes pauses. “We helped us win. I’m not sure what would have happened without you here. See all the eyes these bastards have? Even invisible, I leave footprints. I’m not completely unseen to them. But they got busy tying you up so I could get into position. It was teamwork. Very messy, poorly planned teamwork, but it was teamwork.”

  “Is your vote for teaming up?” I ask.

  “My vote is for staying alive, finding my mother and getting the hell out of Dodge.”

  “Why do you have to dodge if you’re invisible?” Sadie asks.

  Jes raises a finger and starts to speak but bites her lip and turns away in silence.

  “You know a way out?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “That’s the last step of the plan. First step is staying alive.”

  “Air, water, food, shelter,” I list. “Basics of survival, in that order. Wilderness survival is a hobby of mine.”

  “Defense from monsters,” Jes adds. “There is some nasty shit in these caves.”

  “Have you seen the minotaur? Big lunk with horns.”

  Jes looks at me and slowly points. Sadie stifles a laugh.

  “No,” I snap, mostly at Sadie. “Has the head of a bull.”

  Jes’ eyes go wide. “The body I got my gear from. His thighs looked like something huge went in and pulled sideways. That could be bull horns. I saw it’s silhouette in the distance. Twice.”

  “In legends, the minotaur rules the labyrinth. He’s not going to be a slouch. We’ve taken out a lot of monsters. I’m not so sure we can take him alone. Even if I had my other bondling.”

  “Murderer,” Sadie says flatly.

  “Sadie,” I silence her. “Baco was actually a monster, remember? We killed him already. I have to give her a pass on that one.”

  “Sorry about your other bondthing,” Jes says, looking to her feet.

  “Bondling,” I say. “That’s okay really, I can bring him back.”

  “Now it’s my turn to say it,” Jes says, looking up through her eyebrows. “No shit?”

  I nod. “I lower my vitality and shape it into a creature.”

  “AHEM,” Sadie announces, hands on hips, hoof tapping. “Creature?”.

  “Bondling,” I correct. “I can make Sadie or Baco, my war boar. I’m not quite sure why I haven’t gotten the ability to summon sirens.”

  “New summons are talent choices,” Sadie says. “You got one when you chose Baco. You just need to reach a level total of all your skills to get a new talent choice.”

  “Guess we need to go kill some things,” I say.

  “Wait, there’s math involved?” Jes asks. “You’re saying the numbers mean more than just better or worse?”

  “Skills come in categories,” Sadie says. “Get enough levels the right way, unlock new skills.”

  Jes furrows her brow. “I didn’t realize they were linked like that. Useful tidbit.”

  “She’s my interpreter,” I gesture at Sadie. “A little knowledge goes a long way. Ready to work on some team skills and levelling up?

  “Dom, are you sure about this?” Sadie asks.

  “Strength in numbers,” I say. “Both skill levels and number of people. Let’s beat some things up.”

  Sadie is great. Awesome, in fact, but she isn’t a human. Technically, she might just be part of me. I can’t imagine how tough it’s been on Jes not having anyone at all to talk to and bounce ideas off.

  “Or,” Jes says, a wicked smirk on her face. “Rather than just go killing things, I bet we can level up by sparring.”