The familiar panting and growls of Verdure Wolves reached my ears.

My eyes widened in alarm. At the center of Emma’s team I crouched low and cast Mist. The thick moist particles spread to the walls of the canyon and filled up the entire space. I didn’t know how well it masked our scent, but it should be thick enough to visually hide us. As for myself, I could see perfectly through the mist — and if I actually needed to fight the monster, I was going to need all the extra boost I could get.

A moment later, four Verdure Wolves stepped out of the jungle. They stopped where the barrier of mist began at the entrance of the canyon. The largest of the wolves, a level 40 alpha, sniffed at the mist. A low growl rumbled from its throat as it took a step into the mist and narrowed its bright green eyes at our location. Its line of sight seemed slightly over my head, it must not be able to actually tell where we were. But it obviously wasn’t going to back off because of the mist.

Damn. I Mirrored my kindjal and gripped the handles tight in both hands. Emma’s team was still comatose but at least they were alive, and I’d keep them that way. These wolves weren’t going to be what finished us all off.

The alpha took another step into the mist. Pale vapor wafted around its legs, kind of pretty against the green and white of its grassy fur.

A pale flash of blue struck from somewhere beyond the wall on the right and pierced the Verdure alpha. It yelped as the force knocked it off its feet and smashed it to the ground. The monster stopped moving and the tip of a huge ice arrow sticking out of the wolf’s motionless chest came into focus.

Before the other wolves could properly react, three Hunters appeared from the direction the arrow had come from. With quick movements, they hacked at the monsters.

I blinked, just as shocked as the wolves. I didn’t even know there were Hunters in the area. Quickly I looked up at the Guild symbol overhead. Was this the rescue team? Either way, it should be safe now that they were here. I drew the mist back into my body commanding it to quickly recede. Hopefully they didn’t notice it?

The last of the wolves dropped dead. A Hunter stood over the fallen monster with a satisfied smile quirked on his face. As he laughed a little and rested his dripping sword against his shoulder my eyes widened — I knew him.

“That was a nice little warm up,” Mark joked to the Hunter beside him.

No. I had to be wrong. This couldn’t possibly be true.

But I couldn’t deny it when Blake walked up to a carcass and kicked at it. “One of our Guild teams really fell to something as weak as this?” Unlike the other Hunters on his team, there wasn’t a scratch or spot on his armor. Then he blinked and turned his head towards me. “What the hell?” He glanced at the Hunters laid out in a row at my side. With long, confident steps he strutted up to me. He stared down at me, his lip curled in disgust. “What the hell happened here, you E insect?”

All I could do was stare at him as the scenes of my trauma played in my head. Then his words finally clicked in my ears and I stopped breathing. Did he … did he seriously not recognize me? Didn’t he know that I was the one he threw to her death? Or was it that he didn’t care enough to bother remembering my face?

Fury and loathing built up in my chest. My hands fisted around my kindjals so tight that my fingers ached. But I needed the pain. It was the only thing keeping me from lunging at him, a tiny sliver of awareness that kept me from wasting everything that I’d done so far. To hell with morals, I wanted him dead so bad I could see it in my mind. I wanted him to know what it felt like to be thrown to murderous Orcs. To feel the hopelessness of knowing that you were going to die painfully, and there was nothing you could do about it. And I wanted to watch that realization on his face as it happened.

But that moment wouldn’t happen right now. I was too weak. That wouldn’t always be the case. I just needed to be patient.

Blake’s gaze rested on my shoulder where there wasn’t a badge. “You aren’t even in my guild. What are you doing here?” he sneered.

I cleared my throat to force the knot down. “I’m here as a contracted guest.” That was all he needed to know. “Are you here to help?”

Mark approached and leaned around Blake. He peered down at Mason in delight. “Oh, it really is that arrogant little shit’s team.” His eyes landed on Emma and he scowled ugly. “Hmm, they needed to be knocked down a peg.” Mark kicked Mason in the chest hard enough to move his inert body a couple inches.

“Stop it!” I yelled, hating the fact that I wasn’t stronger.

Mark finally looked at me. His brow wrinkled in confusion as his head tilted to the side.

Blake looked up, as if bored that he didn’t get a better reaction. “Send them away.” He jerked his chin in the direction of his fellow guild members on the ground.

Several Hunters entered the canyon and walked up to us. They stooped down inspecting Emma’s team, looking at them like they were looking at dolls.

A gorgeous woman in red robes looked at Blake. “They’re injured.”

He clicked his tongue. “It’s not life-threatening. Leave it. It’ll just be a waste of MP.”

Why was he a part of a rescue team? I mean, seriously?

“And their armor and weapons?” She gestured at the scattered gear on the ground.

Before he could say anything, I piped up. “I’ll take them.” I reached out and started to collect them into my Items Bag.

“Stealing?” A Hunter swept his leg out and took mine out from under me.

I twisted to avoid Kip and landed awkward and hard on the ground. I glared at the Hunter. “No. Do you really want me to take precious time putting them back on right now?”

Blake huffed impatiently. “Come on already. Don’t have time to chit-chat.”

The red-robed mage reached out and touched Billy’s shoulder. She whispered something, a soft chant. A moment later, Billy levitated. She moved to the rest of Emma’s team until all the unconscious Hunters were floating five feet off the ground. Then she walked up to me and tapped my shoulder.

I gasped as a chill wrapped around my body, freezing me into place. Then I rose up and joined the rest of the team. I wanted to scream and curse, tell them that I could walk just fine, but I couldn’t even move my mouth enough to tell her off. Did she really have to treat me like I was a lifeless doll too?

With a pleased smile, she signalled to Blake. “Ready!”

He looked at me and the rest of Mason’s levitated teammates. “Perfect. Let’s go.” He turned around and started to run.

When Mason’s team moved through the bush, we were careful and kept in formation to ensure that we were always ready for anything. Blake’s large team charged right through at a full sprint. Anything that was in their way was cut down as fast as possible, whether it was a plant, monster, or rainbow crystal. Even small trees toppled needlessly to the ground. There was almost no defense against their aggressive tramplings.

All the while, Mason’s team and I soared behind them like balloons on a string. The magic that kept us up and immoble also acted like a barrier so that we weren’t hurt as we were pulled through the jungle at such a reckless rate of speed. Humiliation burned through as endless as my worrisome thoughts. Where were they taking us?

We finally came out of the jungle and the purple transportation circle came into view.

The mage swished her finger and the force that kept me and the others afloat now carried us to the magic circle. We started to lower to the ground. When we were about a foot up, the magic around us suddenly disappeared. We dropped the rest of the way to the ground in a pile of people.

Billy’s leg landed right on my stomach and I gasped. Scowling, I pushed him off me.

The mage raised her red-tipped fingers over her mouth and giggled, her eyes just as delighted as the rest of Blake’s group.

God, they were all a bunch of vicious people. I guessed Blake’s special aura just drew those people to him.

Blake jerked his chin towards the transportation circle. “Throw them in there,” he ordered me. “A medical staff is waiting for them on the other side. Mason’s team is done for the day. If he’s lucky, you all might have another chance tomorrow. But I don’t plan on letting that happen.” He smirked and signalled for his group to follow him back into the jungle.

Mark followed Blake, but his attention remained on me. Just before they were out of sight, he tapped on a teammate’s shoulder. The female Hunter glanced over her shoulder at me, just long enough for me to see that it was Penny that he talked to as they both shot me a parting glance. Just like that, Blake’s team disappeared into the depths of the Feng Jungle.

Weird. What was that look about? I tsked. And what a gracious, magnanimous savior Blake was. He seemed even worse than my last encounter with him. Was it because he wasn’t trying to save face in front of a newbie like Emma had been? I knelt beside her team on the ground. I was sure that Blake was telling the truth when he said that medical staff were waiting on the other side. This was a Guild-run operation. He wouldn’t try anything sneaky under the nose of President Price. At least, I hoped not.

Even so, I couldn’t go first and protect them on the other side because then who would send the team over? But then who, exactly, would be prepared to catch them when they got the other side? Damn him, Blake could have spent just a moment longer to actually help me get the team inside the transportation circle.

I huffed and tapped my fingers on my aching forehead. They were high leveled, I told myself, the inertia coming out of the transportation circle wasn’t enough to kill them. Right. I just had to keep telling myself that. And I had all their weapons, so it wasn’t like Emma was going to accidentally land on Billy’s unreasonably huge-ass claymore.

I walked over and grabbed Axe Guy. This silent giant was the biggest, so I should send him through first. It would be awful if he landed on petite Morgan. I already knew it was a pain, but damn, I hated dragging a man in full armor. How many times have I done this today? Still, I gritted my teeth and brought him to the purple magic circle. It took me a second to figure out how to position him so that he entered it without me touching it too. I gave a small sigh of relief when he turned into a blur and shot up the thin purple arch back to the Gate entrance.

From there, I grabbed the next biggest person, Billy. One by one I sent the team into the magic circle and watched them go. Morgan was the last. She wasn’t the largest, but my arms trembled as I exerted the last of my strength to push her into the magic.

I let out a puff of air and turned back to the Feng Jungle. The day wasn’t a total loss. I had my stats back, but there was no way I could take on this jungle by myself. My shoulders fell. Ugh. But how would I explain how Emma’s team got injured and where Reina was?

If the Stone Mace Guild didn’t find the target crystal today, they would look for it again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. It would just keep going. I was contracted to stay with the team until the crystal was found. I just hoped that it wasn’t found before I had a chance to come back.

With one last look at the silvery jungle, I stepped into the transportation circle. Immediately, I became weightless and shot through the sky on the magical cord, aiming for the entrance. I wasn’t in the same mood to look around. I still did, but the sight of Gate Vale spreading out before me had lost its wonder.

How many caterpillar nests like the one we encountered were out there? Did they always knock out the Hunters and transform them so fast? Then did the webs vanish like that every time? No wonder no one knew what was going on. I knew that a parasitic planet was causing all this, but I didn’t know that it was intelligent enough to set traps. Did it also prevent people from changing in front of crowds on purpose, just to stay under the radar? Goosebumps spread over my body. Just how smart was that thing?

The exit circle came into sight. A group of people were around the circle, holding Emma’s teammates and moving them out of the way. I flipped around and got ready to land. My feet touched the ground and I hopped forward a couple steps until I came to a stop next to a healer. Instead of a Stone Mace patch on their shoulders, there was an Eden Hospital symbol on the breast of every healers’ white robe. What strings did the Guild have to pull to get Hospital healers to wait here?

A healer bent over Mason and touched her faintly red glowing hand to his shoulder. A second later, his face tightened and he slowly opened his eyes. One by one, the team woke up.

“Mason?” Emma whispered and tried to sit up. I hurried over to her and put an arm around her back to brace her up before she flopped back to the ground. She blinked at me in confusion then grabbed my arm in a weak grip. “Jyn, you’re okay.”

“Steady now,” a female healer said to Mason as he tried to sit up too. Her soothing voice was like a drug. “I don’t know what knocked you out. You might be dizzy still.” She looked at me and frowned faintly. “Do you know?”

I hesitated then shook my head. “I don’t.” It wasn’t a total lie. I didn’t know exactly what those caterpillar things were, just that it was an anomaly — but saying that wouldn’t explain anything.

She bobbed her head and looked at Mason. “You have a small cut on your arm. Would you like me to heal that?”

Other healers were muttering to the team in quiet voices.

“Where’s Reina?” Billy’s raised voice silenced every soothing word and gentle chant the healers muttered. He struggled to his feet and almost fell down but locked his legs and stayed upright. “Where’s Reina!”