Blood Sword looked surprised when he opened his camper door and saw me standing there in the dark. Then he caught sight of Kesstel beside me, standing just out of the light glowing from inside his camper. “Noble. Miss Dehvro. I didn’t think that I’d have the pleasure of seeing you again until morning.”

Was that a polite way to say that it was midnight and he wanted to go to bed? Since he wasn’t in pajamas and I could tell there were several other people in his camper, I decided that I didn’t have to be polite back. “I need to talk to you about something. Information I found while I was in the Portal.”

Blood Sword stiffened in surprise. “Is this something all Hunters need to hear?”

I nodded. “Everyone should know about it, in my opinion.”

Kesstel shrugged. “You can decide after you hear what she says.”

I scowled at him. “They should all hear.”

“It’s not the first time you’ve tried,” he reminded me. “They didn’t believe you then; they won’t now.”

Blood Sword pressed his lips together and he nodded over his shoulder. “Why don’t you come inside and we’ll talk. I hope you don’t mind that Laurel and Jonovan are here too.” He stepped to the side and motioned us in.

The camper wasn’t big. Even though Blood Sword was technically the head of the whole expedition and the go-between for the other cities’ Hunters, he still only had a ten-foot camper. As nice as it was, with all the bells and whistles, it was still only intended for one person. Five people was simply four too many. The small table was already taken by the two Healers, the mugs in their hands releasing a nutty coffee aroma. Blood Sword shifted around me and Kesstel to pick up the third cup of coffee on the table then sit on the twin bed beside the table .

I glanced at the cups. Definitely not intending to sleep any time soon. Then again, did caffeine affect top-ranked Hunters like a normal human? With their enhanced bodies, how much did they have to guzzle to get the effect? Most medicines had to be adjusted according to a Hunter’s rank.

Jonovan nodded a welcome. “Evening. Or is it time to say morning, yet?”

Kesstel shrugged a shoulder and leaned on his right hip. “Still evening. Some people should be sleeping still.”

I pursed my lips and chose to not respond. Kesstel was still a little disgruntled that I broke up our cuddling to come talk to another man. Especially about something he felt was pointless to warn people about.

Laurel smiled and waved from the table. “We finally meet, Miss Dehvro. I’ve heard a lot about you lately.”

I smiled back. “Ah, yes. Hi.”

Was it just a Healer thing to have calm eyes that looked like they could see into your head? On second thought, no, I’d met too many other Healers that didn’t — especially Pink from the Rainbow Brigade. But Laurel and Jonovan looked like they were cut from the same cloth, staring at me with steadfast eyes. Just looking at them reminded me of the bottle of Sleeper cure in my Items Bag. I couldn’t wait to get back to Garden City and hug my mom again.

“Since you’re here,” Blood Sword said, “I want to ask some questions first.”

I glanced at him and nodded. “As long as I get to say what I want to say too.”

“Fair enough.” He nodded then looked into my eyes. “When did you reawaken?”

I blinked and habitually shifted close enough to feel the heat from Kesstel’s chest. I didn’t try to hide that I was stronger, I just didn’t expect Blood Sword to shoot so straight.

“No E could do what you’ve done,” Blood Sword explained then motioned to the table with the Healers. “Jonovan has also disclosed to me and Laurel that you are stronger.”

Kesstel stiffened and tilted his head to the side, staring at the Healer. “It’s against the law for a Healer to disclose another Hunter’s personal information without permission.”

Jonovan frowned and nodded, admitting his mistake. “Yes. It’s a breach in the Personal Information Safety Act, but I felt it was important for the leaders of this mission to know. That way, they can plan and act accordingly. I hope you will forgive me, Miss Jyn.”

I nodded, understanding. Even if it was against the law, the Hunter’s Association wouldn’t do anything to the second best Healer in Eden. At most he would pay a fine and get a slap on the wrist. Since he didn’t go around telling everyone, I wasn’t too concerned. After all, no E could have walked out of a Portal.

“Okay,” I responded to Jonovan then looked at Blood Sword. “I actually reawakened a while ago,” I admitted. “But I didn’t get stronger all at once. I’ve slowly been getting stronger over time.” I paused. “And I’m still getting stronger.”

Laurel hissed in a surprised breath and Jonovan stiffened. Blood Sword frowned, his thick brows pulling together. “How strong are you right now?”

“S ranked,” I responded, bubbles of excitement popping in my chest. It still didn’t feel real. Hell, nothing that had happened in the last couple days did.

“And still getting stronger,” Laurel said in amazement.

“Good Lord,” Blood Sword muttered under his breath. “How is that possible?”

I shook my head. “It’s a unique thing that only I can do. I can’t even tell you why or how it happened, I just know that it does.”

“It was from that time when you were unconscious for four days, wasn’t it?” Jonovan asked. He frowned and twisted his mug in his long fingers. “That’s about when you stopped coming to get healed.”

I nodded. “Yes. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want to become a lab rat.” And I couldn’t tell them anyway. Nothing good would have happened with people constantly following me around.

Blood Sword slowly nodded. “Yes. I can see why you come to that conclusion.” He glanced at Jonovan. “No offense, but it’s not the first time medical scientists have ignored human rights when trying to discover the secrets of Hunter evolution.”

Laurel shrugged. “True. But those were mostly on criminals. What human rights did they have? Still, I know several crazies who would love to get their hands on someone who keeps getting stronger. Maybe they could create something that could improve everyone.” She looked at me, considering.

Kesstel rested his arm on my shoulders. “But no one else will know about it, outside of this camper., Right?” There was no asking in his tone. It was a flat out order, accompanied with a warning flicker of his aura.

Laurel smiled, as if he’d told a bad joke. “She’s an S now. Even with you there, who is going to make her do anything against her will now? I think she was wise to hide until now.”

Jonovan nodded his agreement. “Even with laws in place, the number one rule of Eden is the strong are always right. If she doesn't want to be experimented on, she needs to be strong enough that they can’t make her.” He paused. “As it is, we’d already decided that we weren’t going to disclose anything about her reawakening outside of the three of us.”

Blood Sword took a drink. “But she still should change her registration information when she gets home.”

I shrugged. “I already was planning on that.” Unfortunately, it meant I was going to be homeless until I found new housing. Since so many Hunters showed interest in the Orc weapons I picked up, I was confident I’d be able to get into a nice house now. But until everything was settled I was going to be caught in limbo.

“Now,” I said before anyone else could talk. “There’s something I want to talk to you all about.” I took a breath. “Earth is dying. In fact, it’s almost dead, and when that happens, it's going to collapse and we’re all going to die.” Since Blood Sword played straight ball with me, it was only fair that I threw it back at him. And this way, there was no way they could misinterpret me.

My words were met with silence.

“You said … you found this information in the Portal that you were just in?” Laurel was the first to react.

I nodded. That was close enough at least. “Yes. The Gates are controlled by a giant interdimensional monster that’s trying to eat Earth. That’s what all this is about. The Gates, Hunters, everything is caused by this monster. And it’s almost won.”

It was the same message I’d put in the Hunter forum every month, only to get kicked off the forums for thirty days again and again after I caused waves of people to hurl abuse at me. I was starting to think there were people who were counting down the days with me just so they could dance the same steps online. This time I at least hoped that something positive might happen because I was talking to some influential people face to face. The Association’s President and Mr. Wilks shut me down before I could get to the main problem, but maybe I could get one of these three to understand if I started with the main threat first.

I was doomed to be disappointed.

Jonovan frowned. “Miss Jyn, I thought I warned you away from —”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the cult!” Agitation shot through my veins in an instant. I wasn’t one to lose my temper — in fact I think I let go of too many things for my own good — but in the face of the same thing over and over again, I was tired of accommodating people. “It absolutely has nothing to do with that horrible con man. I should know! I was the one who provided the clues to take him down. He was a murdering thief, that’s it.”

Jonovan stiffened and frowned. Did he remember the clue box I left outside his office door? And how they never did find the person who ruined the last assembly the cultists ever had?

Fog rolled over the floor, several inches thick, and curled around everyone’s feet and with it, my S-ranked aura. The three S Hunters were fine, but Jonovan’s face paled a little. Still, I didn’t try to rein it in, if this was what it took for them to take me seriously.

I motioned to the sky, trying to indicate the monster up there. “But this, this is different. It’s true! I’ve seen it with my own eyes. That earthquake that happened when the Las Vegas Portal opened was part of an attack that caused Earth’s spirit to fall unconscious. In literally less than a year, the planet we are standing on shatters like a glass ball and we all die.”

Turning into a monster was nearly the equivalent of dying. Kesstel could be considered a miracle and that might be one reason why Goddess resented him too. If he could stay human, why couldn’t any of her people?

Kesstel wrapped his arm around my shoulder and leaned close to my ear. “Calm down first,” he whispered.

I frowned then leaned into his warm chest and took a breath to settle the emotions raging in my heart. The mist receded across the floor, returning back to me. The three Hunters watched it with shock on their faces. Unfortunately, the thing they were most interested in was my mist, not my words. Damn.

“Earth’s soul fell unconscious?” Kesstel asked, the only one that took my words seriously.

I nodded stiffly. “Yes.”

He hummed under his breath. “That’s unfortunate.”

Impulsively, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down until he had to look at me. “No, that’s the wrong thing to say. I need you to help me save Earth. I can’t do it alone. I need you. This is your home too, because it’s my home.” I stared into his blue eyes. “Please. Help me.”

At first he was quiet, then he sighed. A small, losing smile touched his face. “Okay. I don’t believe anything will change, but I could never deny you when you finally ask me for something. Like you said, it’s my home too.”

A warm, sweet feeling spread in my chest, making me feel light as air. It was the first time he accepted that Earth could be his home too. The first time he said he was going to fight for this planet. Since he agreed that he could live here too, maybe he wouldn’t trying to make the finding the parasitic planet a suicide mission. If we were alone, I would have hugged him. Only, I wasn’t daring enough yet.

Instead I leaned forward and rested my forehead over his beating heart. “Thank you.”

“You honestly believe this,” Blood Sword muttered, seriously observing me.

I smoothed out the wrinkles in Kesstel’s shirt and turned back to the other three. “It’s true. I’ve been trying to tell people for months, but no one will believe me.”

“Still, think of how insane this sounds. World spirits and interdimensional monsters?” Jonovan said. “It sounds like something from a book or what crazy people would say.”

“Thirty years ago, did you believe that someone would be able to heal with magic?” I challenged him. All three of these Hunters were normal people before the Gates appeared, but Jonovan was the only one whose history I knew a little about. “If someone said that to you, you would have thought they were crazy. Now look at what you do everyday.”

His lips twitched, but he didn’t deny my words.

“The reason that is true today is because of the interdimensional monster that’s attacking Earth.” I was so used to calling it a parasite, it was odd calling it something else. But I had a feeling that ‘interdimensional monster’ would have a greater impact on these Hunters. “It’s filling Earth with monsters and energy crystals from its own body to weaken Earth enough for it to eat our planet’s soul.”

“Now you’re saying that energy crystals are part of the problem too,” Blood Sword said. “You are aware that nearly everything on Earth is powered by them, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “Yes. But that doesn’t make them any safer.”

Kesstel tapped his fingers on my shoulder as he added, “You call it ‘clean energy’ but what it is doing is releasing the para — interdimensional monster’s magic into Earth’s atmosphere and choking the soul of the planet.” He shrugged. “I told you all this over seven years ago, and you didn’t take it seriously then. I always found it funny how determined you all are to destroy your planet.”

Laurel pursed her lips. “What were you going to call it before you changed the name?”

“I’ve always thought of it like a parasite,” Kesstel admitted. “Interdimensional monster might be accurate, but it acts like a parasite.”

I nodded.

The three Hunters looked at each other. Various degrees of emotions were displayed on their faces — disbelief, concern, caution, confusion. None of them looked sold on my words, but they weren’t completely rejecting my words either.

Blood Sword looked at me and Kesstel. “There’s a lot that you’ve said, and we’re going to need some time to process. I’m … not saying that you’re wrong, per se. But there’s a lot that needs to be thought through.”

I nodded. “I understand.” It was a small step, but I’d take it.

Blood Sword put his obviously cold coffee on the table. “Then I think we’ll end the talk here and say good night. We’re planning on looking for the Las Vegas Portal at eight in the morning. Get some rest until then.”

Kesstel and I bid them all goodnight and left.

As we walked through the dark to our camper, I reached out for Kesstel’s fingers hanging by his side. Just before our skin touched, I noticed two people hanging out just outside the inner ring of campers.

I looked over to see Penny and Mark step out around a trailer.

Penny hooked her thumbs in the black studded double belt around her hips and nodded over her shoulder. “Let’s talk. Alone.”

*****