Evarus Falls

“Hey, hey, hey! Come on.” He held up his hands in surrender. “What gives?”

“Why did that guy know your name?” The early alarm, Jiyu’s mention of agents and spies, Gate’s distrust of Fawkes, not to mention her own history with him. Too many crows gathered to ignore. He needed to spill the beans. She thrust the point of her cutlass into his chest. And quickly.

Sadie tried to ignore the blaring alarms drilling into her head, still going off from their heist. As they ascended, the storm cloud that was in the distance an hour ago rolled into their vicinity. Thunder joined the racket, and rain pelted the deck.

“Talk, man. Or we throw you overboard.” As a proper pirate would, though she knew she wouldn’t. Not when it risked actual, for real death. He’d be dropped off as soon as they cleared the plains instead.

“Okay, okay. I give.” He waved his hands frantically. “It was when I first got the gate app a couple of months ago. I needed the cash, or my family did at least. And my brother hasn’t debuted yet.” He spoke rapid-fire and sighed when both they both eyed him skeptically. “My mom lost her job. I found a way to help out, you know? That’s all. When she found another, I quit working for them. It was only one job.”

“Just quit? Then why are they so mad at you?”

He grinned like a wolf. “I may have blown up a section of their southern base on the way out.”

Sadie frowned. It seemed too easy. He always had an easy answer. “Your bother. Is he the pirate you mentioned knowing?”

He nodded. “Idiot’s taking forever to debut.”

“Can his mentor not share some?” Jiyu asked. “That’s what Ravi does with me until I debuted.”

Fawkes shrugged. “Don’t know. Never asked him the details.”

Sadie hadn’t realized there was a waiting period to be a public member of BRINK, but it made sense. They all had to start over and work their skills back up, get a public avatar to hide their face if they wanted as Mom did, and just generally put on a strong front. That took time.

“So is this not your face?” Sadie asked Jiyu.

Jiyu cocked her head, confused. “Oh, I haven’t gotten the skill to change up my avatar yet. Haven’t really bothered since I was mostly running the equivalent of fetch quests.” She slapped her cheeks a few times with both hands. “So yeah, this is my face.” She pouted in an exaggerated manner. “What? Don’t like my face?”

“That’s not what—”

“I don’t,” Fawkes deadpanned. “No one asked your stupid face to join.”

“I’m going to make kimchi out of your stupid face.”

“I already used stupid face.” Fawkes tried to hide it, but he looked ticked off. “You can’t just use it again.”

“Only a stupid face would say that.” Jiyu crossed her arms and stomped a half turn away from him. “A stupid face who works with the Police and Investigation Guild.”

“Come on. It was one time. I get— Look. I know it looks bad. It’s why BRINK wouldn’t take me. No one would vouch for me—including my brother who just laughed in my face when I asked.” Fawkes rolled his eyes as he sat down on the steps. He tried to brush it off, but hurt strained over his words.

“You said you were in the assassins,” Sadie said. “Guessing that’s a lie?”

“That was a teensy lie.” He smiled sheepishly. “I may have gone through my brother’s stuff and downloaded the gate app without him.”

That she could believe considering she basically did the same thing. “That’s the real reason you were so insistent on joining me.” Part of her felt relieved that this time she seemed to have the truth, but the other part of her almost felt hurt.

“Can you blame me?”

Positions switched, she may have done the same, and this wasn’t exactly how she wanted to join a Brink guild either, not how she imagined it—floundering around on a quest guessing the next steps on her own. Well, not entirely on her own anymore.

Sadie sat down next to him, getting her butt wet in the puddles pooling in the rain. “I guess I can’t.”

“I’m sorry for lying.” He swiped his nose with his finger and sniffed.

“Is Fawkes your real name?” She pointed between her and Jiyu. “Like ours.” It’d been part of his gamer tag and how she’d always called him.

“Sort of. It’s my grandmother’s maiden name. I was visiting my grandparents in France when I made my first gaming account, and I just kept it.”

“What’s your actual name?” Sadie intended to look him up later, just to double-check if Gates ever got an internet connection back.

“Lounès Toumi. I like Fawkes too though.” He shoulder-bumped her. “I may have made the handle after I accidentally set a trash can on fire and lit off some fireworks.”

“Like you accidently got me suspended?” Sadie said, laughing.

“Exactly.”

“Wait, so the trash can was on purpose?” Jiyu asked. When Fawkes grinned, she said, “Cool”

Sadie’s neck stiffened. She should relax. Fawkes was a normal dude with reasonable explanations for his actions, even if he was still annoying. Maybe she should just trust him and stop worrying about it. She wouldn’t be on this airship without him or have made it to Ravi’s.

“Thanks for not throwing me overboard,” Fawkes said. “Although a warning would be nice before you stick a sword in my face again. Consent and all that.”

Lightning struck by them causing everyone to jump. Fawkes looked back and sprang to his feet, mouth hung open. Sadie followed his pointing finger.

Jellyfish six feet long floated near the stern. Crisscrossing strands of data with red dots running across the strands composed the entirety of their body making them look like a 3D cross-hatch with ramen noodles attached. One held the arm of the ship’s alarm system.

“At least we know now it wasn’t Fawkes who set off the alarms,” Jiyu said.

“What are they?” Sadie asked.

No one had time to respond because the jellyfish attacked.