She walked several steps ahead of the group with Napoleon on her shoulder, his green eyes scanning the trees while she kept her focus forward.

  It had been three hours since they’d left the clearing behind them, three hours of nothing but footsteps on moss and the sound of Reth’s breathing as he carried two bodies on his shoulders.

  About thirty minutes into the walk, she'd seen lights in the sky through the canopy, flares arcing up in red streaks that exploded into brilliant points and hung there for maybe ten seconds before fading out.

  Flares calling for backup, announcing what had happened back at the clearing and telling every Vaekk in the zone that something had gone wrong, but she kept walking and nobody said a word.

  "Napoleon killed that warrior back there."

  She kept her voice barely above a whisper.

  "Tera, why didn't I get evolution points?"

  I'm checking the system data now... Tera paused. Your evolution percentage shows one hundred percent. It appears the system doesn't accumulate beyond that threshold. You need to advance to Level 4 before you can gain more evolution points.

  "What? That doesn't make any sense."

  You've had the option to evolve to Level 4 available, but with everything happening, you haven't activated it yet. Until you do, the progression bar stays locked at one hundred percent.

  "Are you fucking serious?"

  The words came out louder than she'd meant.

  "Sorry, I just... I forgot something important and it's fine, don't worry about it."

  Reth's expression didn't change and the two kids stared at her with those same cautious eyes they'd had since they left the clearing.

  She turned back and kept walking. After a moment she looked up through the trees. It was getting dark. They’d been moving for hours.

  She slowed down and called back. "It's getting dark and we should rest, how much farther to the camp?"

  "About two hours from here," Reth said.

  They weren’t allies. Not really. Just people who had decided not to kill each other yet, and the only reason she was even walking with this man was because he'd protected kids when he'd been ordered to kill them and that had to mean something.

  Reth shifted the bodies on his shoulders. "I've been carrying these for hours and my back is done."

  Most people would’ve dropped them already. He hadn’t.

  "There," she said, pointing at a large boulder half-covered by the roots of several massive trees. "We can rest there."

  They stopped and everyone sat down immediately except Reth, who lowered the bodies carefully to the ground before finally sitting himself.

  She looked at him across the small clearing they'd made. "What are the chances the Vaekk find us out here?"

  "Low," he said, rolling his shoulders and wincing. "One of the reasons I had you walk in front is so the kids and I could cover your tracks, you don't know how to walk without leaving a trail."

  "No, I don't."

  "Yeah, I noticed that in the first ten minutes."

  The silence dragged on. This wasn’t going to work, couldn't keep treating each other like threats when they were supposedly working together.

  "We can't keep talking like this," she said. "Not knowing what to call each other."

  He looked at her and waited.

  "I'm the Operator. That's what I go by,” she said. "What should I call you, and what about them?" She nodded toward the two kids sitting near Reth. "I'm guessing you don't know their names either."

  He was quiet for a moment, like he was deciding whether to answer. "Reth, and no, I don't know their names because I'm not affiliated with any group anymore."

  The girl spoke up, her voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. "Senna."

  The boy next to her looked at the ground. "Torin."

  "Thank you," she said, and meant it. "That's better, now we can talk without it being weird."

  Reth stared at her for a long moment and she could see him working something out in his head. "I want to ask you something about what I've seen so far, about you and that spider and…”

  He stopped mid-sentence, raised his head and shouted into the forest. "I know you've been following us since we left the clearing and you can come out now, all of you."

  Nothing happened and she felt her hand go to the nano thread wrapped around her wrist.

  Reth looked at Senna and Torin. "Tell them it's safe to come out, it's uncomfortable having to track all of you while we're walking."

  Senna and Torin looked at each other and something passed between them, some silent communication, and then Torin put two fingers to his lips and made a sound, a sharp whistle that cut through the quiet.

  Something moved in the trees above them.

  Six figures dropped from branches she hadn't even noticed anyone hiding in, all of them wearing the same dark leather gear and small packs on their backs, and they landed without making any sound at all and walked straight toward Reth.

  The Operator jerked backward and Napoleon's eyes went red, his blades extending as he shifted into combat mode.

  Three hours and I missed them completely. What the hell.

  The six kids walked past her like she wasn't there and knelt in front of Reth, all of them dropping to one knee at the same time.

  One of them spoke. A boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Black hair. Sharp eyes. "Jaren. No family name. I was raised by…”

  "You're from The Veil," Reth interrupted, his voice flat. "I know, I recognize the crest on your gear." He paused and his expression hardened. "Explain why you didn't follow my instructions back at the clearing, I told you exactly where to go."

  "Strategically, it was a bad idea," Jaren said. "Everyone in this zone moves in groups. It made more sense to wait until all of us broke free from the control and then regroup together."

  "Then why didn't you show yourselves earlier when we were walking?"

  Jaren pointed directly at the Operator, or more specifically at Napoleon sitting on her shoulder. "We were analyzing you and the control you have over a mechanical spider that belongs to this zone. That's what our teachers taught us. Be careful and don't trust anyone until you understand what they can do."

  Yeah. I would’ve done the same.

  Jaren stood up and walked toward the Operator but stopped a few feet away. He didn't kneel like he had with Reth, but lowered his head slightly in what looked like respect.

  "Thank you, Operator, for helping Senna and Torin when they were still frozen, even if that wasn't your intention we know you could have left them there."

  She felt awkward. She hadn’t talked to real people this much since she got here, if you didn't count Tera and Napoleon, and she didn't know how to handle people being grateful instead of trying to kill her.

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  "It's fine," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "I'm just trying to survive like everyone else."

  Jaren turned to the group and his voice shifted. "Find somewhere to sit and eat something. Clean up if you need to. We're resting here for three hours." He looked back at Reth. "If that's acceptable."

  "It's your group, not mine," Reth said. "If you decide you want to move on without me, you can do that."

  Jaren gestured to two of the older-looking kids in his group. "Patrol the perimeter and watch for other Vaekk or any other groups, we've learned the hard way that other people don't respect the rules about not attacking students."

  That last part hit Reth and he could see it in the way his expression went hard for a second.

  "That wasn't directed at you," Jaren said quietly, meeting his eyes. "What you did for us back there, we'll never forget it, none of us will."

  All the other kids nodded and looked at Reth with something that went beyond gratitude, something closer to reverence.

  The Operator found herself staring at Jaren, at this kid who couldn't be older than sixteen but carried himself like a military officer, gave orders like someone who'd been doing it for years, and she wondered what kind of childhood produced someone like this.

  What bothered her was that they’d been there the whole time and she never noticed, and she'd been scanning the forest the whole time with her enhanced perception and hadn't felt them once.

  I can analyze terrain and catalog threats and I never sensed them, not even a hint.

  "Napoleon," she said quietly, keeping her voice low. "You didn't see them either, did you?"

  "If I had detected them, Operator, I would have informed you immediately."

  Reth and all the kids stopped what they were doing and turned to stare, their eyes locked on Napoleon, on the mechanical spider that had just spoken in a clear voice.

  The kids looked at each other and something passed between them, then they looked at Reth, and that look made her nervous.

  Reth's voice went cold and he looked at her. "You don't know how to cover your tracks, can't move through a forest without leaving a trail everywhere, and you've got something mechanical fighting for you, a creature nobody's seen before except in this zone." He paused. "No armor, just civilian clothes, and that thing on your shoulder just killed one of our best warriors."

  He did something with his eyes, some internal command she couldn't see, and said out loud, "Activate ranking board."

  "Ranking board?" She activated her own HUD, confused. "What's a…”

  I'm analyzing this now... it appears to be a system feature that was already available to everyone else, Tera said in her mind. The firewall hiding your Level 3 status must have blocked your access to it. Now that it's removed, you can see it.

  She watched Reth's eyes move like he was scrolling through something, and then they stopped and focused and his expression changed.

  "ENGINEER, LEVEL 3," he said slowly, and she could hear something in his voice that might have been surprise or suspicion or both. "Red letters."

  His voice dropped lower. "You're the Engineer everyone's been talking about."

  Her hand went to the nano thread and she felt her heart rate spike. "Napoleon, defense mode, now."

  Napoleon's eyes burned brighter red and his blades extended fully, his legs positioning for combat.

  "Calm down," Reth said, raising one hand slowly. "I'm not threatening you, but you need to understand that right now nobody here trusts anybody, we're three completely different groups that shouldn't be working together, an ex-Vaekk warrior, kids from The Veil who never associate with outsiders, and an Engineer who's killed two Vaekk warriors including a Rathen Apex."

  The kids' expressions shifted when he said that last part, the suspicion and wariness transforming into something closer to curiosity and maybe respect.

  “Let’s start over,” Reth continued, standing up and facing the group properly. "Because all of us came to this zone to survive and evolve, and I think we're all fucked if we try to do it alone against the groups out there."

  He took a breath. "My name is Reth, I was a member of the Vaekk for most of my life, and a few hours ago I betrayed everything I knew to protect the children standing here, and that's all I'm going to say about it."

  The kids started introducing themselves one by one, not Senna or Torin or Jaren since they'd already spoken, and not the two on patrol. She tried to remember the names but there were too many and she was too focused on what was coming next.

  Then everyone was looking at her and waiting.

  I can't tell them everything, but I need to say enough to not destroy whatever trust we're building here.

  "My name is the Operator," she started, and her voice sounded steadier than she felt. "When I woke up I was already in this zone and I don't remember anything from before that."

  She saw skepticism flash across several faces.

  "I know how that sounds, I know it sounds stupid and ridiculous and like I'm obviously lying to you, but I'm telling you the truth, I don't know where I am or how I got here or what this place even is." She paused. "What I do know is that I ended up here by accident."

  She looked around at all of them. "Look, I figured out pretty fast that someone like me being here is... it's a problem. An Engineer. Not a warrior. Apparently that's some huge offense." She paused. "There was another group, not the Vaekk, and they made it real clear before they tried to kill me. So yeah, I'm evolving too. Not like you, but I'm doing it so people stop trying to murder me every goddamn day."

  She turned to Reth. "The Rathen Apex, yeah, I killed it because it attacked me first. I had nothing against that thing but it was trying to rip my throat out, so..." She gestured at Napoleon. "And your friend in the forest, the one Napoleon killed, maybe you grew up together or trained together, I don't know, but he tried to kill me so I killed him first, or Napoleon did, you've seen what he can do."

  Her voice got harder. "So yeah. I'm killing to survive. Same as everyone here. And I really hope me being an Engineer isn't a problem."

  The silence stretched.

  Reth finally spoke. "Some groups think this place is sacred, only certified warriors should enter, unwritten rule." He paused. "The Vaekk don't see it that way, never have." He looked at her. "When Lord Tarn fought your spider he was smiling, it was a real fight and he respected it." His voice dropped. "I don't look down on what you did. We came here to fight and evolve. You won fair."

  Jaren stepped forward. "We're assassins, different from warriors like Reth. We use traps, poisons, and whatever tools we require." He looked directly at the Operator. "Our teachers taught us to use any means necessary, and what you've done isn't different from what we do." He paused. "You used what you had and you survived."

  His voice changed, became more formal. "As ranking member of The Veil here, I speak for all of us. We know you saved Senna and Torin. We won't harm you. And we appreciate the honesty."

  First time since I got here someone's said they won't kill me.

  Something loosened in her chest. Just a little.

  "This is Napoleon," she said. Napoleon's eyes were still red, still in defense mode. "Stand down. We're okay."

  His eyes turned to green. Blades retracted.

  "He's my companion. I made some changes to him. Engineer stuff that helped us survive."

  A few of the younger kids started moving closer to get a better look at Napoleon, then stopped suddenly and covered their noses.

  Oh god, my smell, I forgot about that.

  "Sorry," she said quickly, feeling her face heat up with embarrassment. "To survive I had to hide in some places that weren't exactly hygienic."

  The Operator took a breath. "Look, the Vorminian camp is about two hours from here and I don't think other groups are going to react well to seeing an Engineer walking around, so when we get close I'll split off and take my own path."

  Senna's voice cut through the quiet with absolute certainty. "The moment you leave this group and move alone, you'll die."

  She felt herself tense.

  Was that a threat?

  She looked at Senna's face but the girl's expression didn't change, she was just stating a fact.

  "I defended myself against a Rathen Apex and a Vaekk warrior."

  "Those were individual battles," Reth said. "One opponent at a time, and here everyone moves in groups, if your spider is fighting someone then there's nobody protecting you from the other three or four people attacking at the same time." He met her eyes. "Senna's right, you'd be dead within an hour."

  Jaren's expression changed. He was working something out. "Lord Reth, when we report what happened with the Vaekk... you'll be marked as an enemy by every group in this zone. They'll see you as a traitor and you know what that means."

  He paused to let that sink in. "But none of us care about that, we're assassins and you saved our lives, our debt to you is for the rest of our lives, we'll never forget what you did."

  Jaren looked at the other kids from The Veil. "I have an idea but I need permission from all of you before I say it."

  He turned and pointed at the two bodies Reth had been carrying. "Those were our teachers and we respected them, but the truth is they failed in their primary duty, they failed to protect us, they let their guard down and allowed us to be captured by the Vaekk."

  Some of the kids looked like they wanted to argue but Jaren kept going. "They failed their duty. The Veil would've executed them for that. That's law." He paused and looked at each of them. "They failed us, so they don't deserve to be honored and they don't deserve names."

  He pointed to the dead woman's body. "Senna and Lyra. Remove her clothes." Then he pointed to the decapitated man. "I need two volunteers."

  Two boys stepped forward.

  Jaren turned to face both Reth and the Operator. "My plan is simple. You two wear their clothes and pretend to be our instructors when we reach camp. Nobody knows us, nobody knows what Veil members look like, and we stay together as one group."

  The kids were nodding, all of them agreeing with the plan.

  "We need every advantage we can get if we want to survive this place," Jaren finished.

  The Operator and Reth looked at each other and she could see him thinking the same thing she was.

  It made sense, It could actually work.

  "I agree," Reth said.

  "Yeah," she added. "I'm in."

  Jaren walked over holding four packages and stopped a few feet away, clearly trying not to breathe through his nose.

  "Cleaning cloths for field hygiene, we use them out here. Four packages." He held them out. "Use all of them because you absolutely cannot show up at camp smelling like that, and one of the girls will bring you the uniform in a few minutes."

  She took the packages from Jaren, still feeling the heat in her face.

  Movement at the edge of the clearing made everyone turn.

  One of the kids on patrol appeared from the trees, moving fast but quiet. A girl, maybe fourteen. She went straight to Jaren and spoke low enough that only he could hear at first.

  Jaren's expression changed. He raised his hand and the clearing went silent.

  "We have movement," he said. "Not Vaekk. Different armor. Different formation." He looked at the girl. "How far?"

  "Half a mile, maybe less. They were trying to stay hidden but Kess spotted them." She paused. "They're heading this way."

  Reth stood up. "How many?"

  "At least six. Could be more."

  Already. We just stopped.

  Senna stepped forward holding folded clothing. "We have the uniforms ready."

  Jaren pointed at two of the boys. "Hide the bodies in the brush. Cover them well." He looked at the Operator. "Clean up and change behind those trees." Then at Reth. "You take the other side of the boulder."

  He turned to the rest of the group. "Form up defensive positions. If they want a fight, we give them one."