“... What?” I gasped.

Bethany put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side, frowning. “Hang on, you mean you picked a fight with him, and you didn’t even know who it was?”

I sighed and rubbed my face in my hands. “He started it.”

Wow, I didn’t know if this made my comments to him comical or disgusting. But I still didn’t regret it.

“Yeah, he would. And he’d get away with it. There aren’t many people who are stronger than Jordyn Price. I mean, what he lacks in strength, he makes up for with money and connections. Still not on my level, but he’s ambitious.” Bethany flapped her hand in the air. “Since you’re naive to the situation, here’s a quick history lesson for you, so pay attention. The founder of the Stone Mace Guild — something, something Price — accidentally caused the death of his sister and her husband when the Gates first opened. So he raised his nephew like a son and spoiled the kid rotten. The founder’s son — Jordyn Price — became the president after the founder died in the Gate. And the nephew — Blake Hans — continues to be spoiled because it’s a habit now. Do you get it?”

…Well, that explained a lot. I need to read the tabloids more. And history books. Then again, at this point, I don’t think I could be saved anymore. Haa …

“And President Price wants to marry you?” I asked, directing the conversation elsewhere.

“Of course, who doesn’t?” Bethany responded like it was a given. “I’m connected and rich. Not to mention gorgeous.” She leaned on a hip and struck a pose worthy of any model.

I couldn’t help but think of Kesstel and his bred-to-be-gorgeous looks. “Let me guess, you were born with it?”

“Of course not.” Bethany rolled her eyes like I was dumb. “I bought it. Well, not all of it.” She proudly motioned to her hourglass curves. “Most of it is natural, with just the right amount of tweaks.”

My mouth twitched. Don’t laugh, I thought desperately. Don’t laugh. She was being a hundred percent serious and I had a feeling that if I let out the mad laughter screaming in my mind, I’d be in trouble real quick.

I swallowed really, really hard. “I see.” I couldn’t have been more proud of myself at that moment. There was only a slight hiccup in my voice, the rest was pretty natural. Go me.

Bethany just shrugged. She looked over my own long, skinny frame with a critical eye. “You know, you’re kinda cute and slender, but with the right touches, you’d look great,” she muttered, like she was talking to herself. “That would be a super easy fix.”

As if I had money for that. Besides, high physical activity with a huge chest just … seemed like a nightmare. I shuddered. “Ah, hang on. This conversation has gone way off track.” I held up my hand. “Um, is there something you wanted to say to me?”

Bethany hummed and looked away. “No, not really. I just wanted to … talk. That’s all.” She glanced at me. “That’s what friends do, right?”

My jaw hit the ground. “Wait. Wait!” I took a breath trying to wrap my mind around what she just said. “How can you go from trying to kill someone to friends in one go?”

Her eyes widened. “Wanting to kill someone?” She actually had the gall to sound confused.

“Yes,” I insisted. “Does the name Trace ring a bell? Melee Hunter, likes knives a little too much? Creepy?”

She stared at me with a blank expression for a good thirty seconds. Then something clicked in her eyes. “Hang on, you mean Trace Martin? Late twenties, plain looking, brown hair, and creepy beyond belief?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Ew!” She shuddered heavily and wrapped her arms around herself. “Ah, I’ve had a restraining order against him for eleven months now. He took ‘fan,’ to a hard core freaky-stalker-fanatic place. Like, he was arrested trying to steal my panties.”

I gaped at her. Suddenly it all clicked in my mind. I gasped and slapped my hand over my forehead. I’m such an idiot. His creepy talk and her perfectly timing hostile attitude totally led me to believe that he was sent by her. But Trace never actually said that he was working for Bethany. That was something that I totally jumped to on my own.

“Ah, wait!” Bethany gasped. “Are you saying that he tried to kill you? What happened?”

I dropped my hand. If I didn’t what to think of Bethany before, I didn’t have a clue now. “He died in Feng Jungle.”

Bethany sighed and patted her chest. “Oh good. He was a creeper that needed to die.” Then she scowled at me. “But I don’t appreciate you thinking that I wanted to kill you.”

So Bethany didn’t send Trace. And I knew for a fact that there were more hitmen trying to kill me. They even went so far as to collapse a building on me.

I peeked up at Bethany. “Have you ever tried to kill me?”

She snorted. “Excuse me? Do you know who I am? I am Bethany Wilks.” She drew herself up in a gorgeous, well-practiced pose. “I am the face of the Hunters outside of Eden. There are billboards with me on them every mile in Garden City. And thousands more across the country. I have an image to maintain. Rich, powerful, gorgeous, and perfect. Killer isn’t in that description.” Man, she walked along that fine line of bragging, stating the facts, and complaining very well.

I’d personally seen many of her billboards with my own eyes when I went to visit my family. Each one made being a Hunter seem so appealing. Like: Become a Hunter and your life will be perfect like hers. It helped keep up the illusion that humans had. It probably helped keep the mass hysteria down, because they didn’t know what a threat the Gate really was to a normal human’s existence.

Bethany waved vaguely towards the Gate. “My whole job is to make sure the humans on the other side of the Wall keep thinking life is great. You and I both know that isn’t how it really is, but the rest of society doesn’t need to know. They love their fairytale and the Hunters Council is happy to help them. It helps with distributing taxes, military and other political mumbo-jumbo that I know way too much about. Which is why I have to keep my hands clean. I can act however I want, it helps with the spoiled princess theme, but my hands have to stay clean. I mean, what would the people think if the face of the Hunters was cold-blooded enough to blatantly kill someone? Even if it’s normal in the Gate, the world outside would be in an uproar.”

I sighed and dropped my face into my hands. “You’re right. Sorry,” I muttered, still trying to get my thoughts in order. “I think I jumped to conclusions a little too fast.”

She was quiet for a minute then snorted in a very unladylike way. “Well, I can’t really blame you. I don’t make a habit of being nice to people I don’t like.”

That’s because you’re strong enough to get away with it, I thought.

So, if she wasn’t the one that sent the hitmen after me, that left only one person I could think of. And honestly, it made a lot of sense. I mean, Blake’s only been actively trying to kill me since day one. I didn’t know why he was using hitmen now. Was it because he didn’t want Price to find out he’s trying to kill the guild’s most desired Hunter recruit? Or because he didn’t want to take the time to do it himself? Or both? Either way, it felt a little better to know that I had a clear direction.

But only a little bit. Ahh, this day had been way too long. If I knew that I was going to be hunted down to be recruited, caught in a Portal Burst, watch Kesstel disappear maybe forever, then have my opinion of Bethany get flipped on its head, I might have just stayed at home today.

I need a nap. No, it was late enough in the day that I could call it and just go to bed. Maybe tomorrow, I wouldn’t feel like I was a step away from collapsing from the mental strain.

“So, who is trying to kill you?” Bethany said casually, as if it was perfectly natural for her to say. She tapped her pink fingernail on her chin. “Let me guess, Blake? He was so charming to you earlier.”

I sighed. “I don’t know anymore.” And I didn’t trust her enough to tell her anyway. Hell, I hadn’t even told Kesstel about it. Why would I tell her?

“Hmm, well, when you do, let me know. Suppressing people is one of my specialties,” Bethany said with obvious glee.

Yet again, she managed to blow my mind. And the most amazing thing was, even though she knew what I used to think of her, she still obviously looked like she wasn’t going to go away. What did I do now to warrant this reaction? Was she really going to latch onto me like a friend? That was just too bizarre. Then again, I’d rather that than her actually trying to kill me.

I didn’t even know how to answer that statement, so I changed the subject. “I’m going to head out now. It’s been a long day.”

Bethany turned and walked with me. Her bodyguards fell into step twenty feet behind us. “I completely understand. God, did you know there was a Portal Burst today? Well, of course you did,” she rushed on before I could get a word in. “You must have seen the red sky, right? Isn’t that just the freakiest thing? Do you know where it was? The Josu Rainforest. They said that the whole area got sealed off somehow and no one could get in or out of it. Luckily, there was an S Hunter close by that saved the day.”

Right before walking through the Gate, Bethany suddenly stopped walking. It was so unexpected, I couldn’t help but look around for a threat. Instead, a bodyguard rushed right past me in the blink of an eye and disappeared through the Gate. As soon as he disappeared in the Gate’s opaque blackness, Bethany walked through.

Bemused, I followed.

The bodyguard was waiting for her on the other side of the Gate, vigilantly surveying the grounds. Several more bodies slipped through the Gate behind me, all dressed in the same matching armor, before they disappeared from sight. I didn’t know if they were using powerful magic stones or if they’re Stealth was that high, but it was unnerving seeing someone disappear like that and not being able to sense them. It just set every Hunter instinct that I owned screaming with danger.

Bethany turned to me, completely unconcerned by the men. “Hey, what’s your number?” She pulled out a gem-studded cell phone and swiped it open.

Wow, she really was serious about this friend thing. “I don’t have one.”

She looked at me over her phone. “What? Who doesn’t have a phone this day and age?”

I shrugged. “Me. I’ve never needed one.”

“Hmm,” she gave a low hum. Her phone disappeared with a casual wave of her hand. “Well, we can fix that. Meet me here at ten tomorrow morning. No, that’s super early. Eleven … thirty. Meet me at eleven thirty and—”

“Hang on,” I held up my hands before she could go any further. “I’m actually booked tomorrow. Like all day.”

Tomorrow was Saturday, the day that the Aero-Teuthida was due to Maveric. At least I finally found the trick to finding them. And hopefully, people were scared away from the Josu Rainforest for the day so I could get some work done.

To be honest, even if I didn’t have to find another floating squid, I still would go back to that rainforest. It might be the best place to wait for Kesstel, since that’s where he’d disappeared.

Tomorrow was also the day the cult was meeting.

*****