Max sat with the others in a loose semicircle, doing his best to look like he belonged there.

  Kaitlyn sat close enough that her shoulder brushed his whenever she shifted. Mia and Hayden leaned forward like they were watching a movie. Sam sat cross-legged, chin propped on his fist. Even Skippy had settled — for about thirty seconds.

  Tarni and Lily stood in front of them, telling their story.

  It had been Lily’s idea to start talking. After Max announced they’d come to help, nobody had known what to do. Too many strangers. Too many questions. Too much silence pressing in from all sides.

  So Lily took control.

  She didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t need to. She just… did. One moment everyone was standing awkwardly near the dungeon entrance, the next they were sitting, arranged like students, while she explained the System in that calm, measured tone of hers that made everything sound organized and survivable.

  Max liked that about her.

  He lasted exactly two minutes before Skippy started poking him.

  Sharp nail. Center of his back.

  Max twitched.

  Another poke.

  He glanced over his shoulder.

  Skippy immediately looked off to the side like he’d just remembered an appointment with the horizon.

  Max narrowed his eyes.

  Poke.

  Max exhaled slowly through his nose.

  Thankfully, that was when Tarni took over.

  The shift was instant. Where Lily spoke like a lecturer, Tarni performed like a one-man stage show. He jumped to his feet, arms swinging, voice booming, reenacting everything instead of explaining it. One second he was Zane, the next he was a monster, then a car, then somehow a stick representing a fishing spear gun

  Max had no idea how he made it look all so convincing, but he did.

  Within minutes, the rest of the kids who’d escaped the birthday party were glued to him, eyes wide, mouths open, completely hooked. Even some of the adults had walked up behind the kids to listen, leaning in despite themselves.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Max watched their faces more than he watched Tarni.

  Relief. Awe. Disbelief.

  Hope.

  That last one made something tight twist in his chest.

  The laughter started when Tarni mimed Zane arguing with someone invisible. It rolled through the group, loud and real, the kind of laughter people didn’t fake. A moment later someone sniffed, and Max saw one of the younger kids wiping their eyes.

  Tarni didn’t slow down. He carried them through it all —from finding Zane covered in blood at this very house that they were now all camped around, the insane road trip to Sydney to save Bell.

  A man at the back suddenly called out, “See, Timmy? I told you McDonald’s was poison!”

  The kid groaned, “Dad!” and covered his face.

  The crowd cracked up.

  Max smiled despite himself.

  Tarni, encouraged, launched into a fight scene with so many added spins and enemies that Max was pretty sure the real version had been about half as dramatic.

  Lily cleared her throat.

  Tarni kept going.

  She cleared it again.

  Tarni froze mid-gesture.

  Max almost laughed.

  She didn’t scold him. She didn’t even frown. She just said, gently, “Let’s not give everyone the impression this is easy.”

  That did it. A few of the older kids straightened, smiles fading as reality slipped back into place.

  Yeah, Max thought. Listen to her.

  Tarni nodded and adjusted his story, toning things down. It lasted until he drifted toward talking about Skills and what they’d been offered during selection.

  Max saw Lily’s interruption coming before she spoke. Her shoulders shifted. Her eyes sharpened.

  “I think we don’t need to share everybody’s Skills and stats, Uncle Tarni. That’s something we can save for later.”

  Tarni lifted both hands. “Later,” he agreed.

  Smart, Max thought. Very smart.

  You didn’t show strangers your cards. Not in a world like this.

  The stories went on.

  When Tarni described the other world — the village, the strange air, the people — Max felt the shift before he understood it. The crowd leaned closer. Breathing slowed. Eyes sharpened.

  He scanned the faces again.

  That wasn’t curiosity.

  That was want.

  Max’s stomach tightened.

  Tarni hesitated — just a fraction — then kept talking.

  He sees it too, Max realized.

  Good.

  Because the mood had changed, and not in a way Max liked.

  By the time Tarni reached the part about the police — the shouting, the gunshots, Zane going down, Lily getting hit — the crowd wasn’t leaning forward anymore.

  They were leaning in.

  Gasps broke out. Then voices.

  “Are they the same ones who helped yesterday?”

  “You mean the guys in the dungeon right now?”

  Tarni and Lily nodded, answering what they could.

  Max didn’t nod. He watched.

  Watched shoulders.

  Watched hands.

  Watched the way some of the adults were looking at each other instead of at Tarni.

  Then a voice from the back cut clean through the noise.

  “Could we have started at level five if they hadn’t interfered?”

  Every muscle in Max’s body went still.

  There it is, he thought.

  Not fear.

  Not gratitude.

  Blame.

  Silence spread across the group like a shadow.

  Max didn’t speak, Skippy moved closer to his side, and he automatically put his arm around his sole bonded companion.

  He just waited to see who would show their teeth first.