They reentered the building, Jake out in front. He couldn’t see anything different, no new monsters lurking and waiting to pounce.

Once he was further in he held up a hand and gestured for the others to follow. The glowing shield was much brighter in the dark and he avoided looking at it to preserve his night vision.

Jake headed straight towards the pharmacy, trying to keep clear of loose clutter on the ground so as to make it easier for Mar not to trip on something again.

He didn't know why they needed to hit the pharmacy, seeing as there were healers now who could just magic problems away. Unfortunately Maria had specifically requested that Alejandro pick up some medications and Jake wasn't ready to be on her bad side yet.

They reached the locked down looking pharmacy just as Jake finally spotted movement.

Something small, likely a tick, was crawling slowly along the top of an aisle further into the store. He tried the door while not taking his eyes from the tick. No luck. "This all started at night so of course it was closed."

"Can you get in?" Jake murmured to Alejandro as the man moved up behind him.

"Gonna be loud." Alejandro replied in the same quiet tone.

"Say when." Jake murmured as he pulled his arrow back and sighted on the bug.

"Now." The man whispered and then roared, followed by a ridiculously loud crash. At the same time Jake released the string and saw the tick go flying off the shelves with an arrow bisecting it.

Another arrow was on the string when Alejandro whispered, "I'm in, give me a minute."

Jake kept scanning until Mar suddenly inhaled. "Up!" She half squeaked, half whispered.

Jake drew the string back as he shifted his aim to the ceiling and loosed. "Good eye." He murmured after the arrow pinned another tick to the ceiling. "Damn. Not getting that arrow back…" He cursed.

"Incoming. Not tiny. A few." Saira whispered from inside the pharmacy, still sticking with Alejandro apparently.

He moved sideways away from the open doorway into the pharmacy, trusting Sandra could hold the gap.

Once he had line of sight down the next aisle he saw them. Three of the long armed things, walking slowly in their direction. He mentally counted his remaining arrows. "Seven..."

He really didn’t want to fight hand to hand if he ran out of arrows.

"Mar." He had an idea. "Think you can throw something behind them?"

"Um, I think so." She whispered.

"Do it." He murmured. "Alejandro, you almost done?" He could hear the man rattling around in there and Sandra replied. "He says, 'almost'."

Jake saw a bottle of something float off a shelf and disappear. "Her ability is so broken."

He heard a huff and something flickered into view above the approaching monsters and then continued down behind them with a loud clattering.

The creatures turned and in the silhouetted profile he noted the lumps on their backs. "All in the same spot…" Then they were facing away.

Jake let out a breath and fired. And draw, fire, draw, fire, draw. He stopped with an arrow drawn, waiting for movement. Nothing moved and he slowly released the tension on the bow.

"Nice throw." He murmured.

"Thank…" Something clinked and bounced on the floor behind her and Jake heard her intake of breath and feet shuffling as she spun towards the barely visible chip glowing on the floor.

"All done." Alejandro whispered behind them as the glow of his shield brightened the area.

"Saira, how's your Mana." Jake asked while looking towards his arrows down the aisle.

"Less than half. Near a quarter." She replied after a second.

"Damnit." His arrows were right there, on the way to the hunting department.

"Back outside. Go." He gave the order and once the light and sound of footsteps had moved far enough he turned and moved quickly back outside.

Saira had walked further away and was sitting under a tiny tree in a small patch of dirt surrounded by curbs and pavement. Jake joined them and Mar appeared sitting next to her mother with a smile on her face. She held up the chip and tossed it to Jake. He ignored the message when he caught it and put it away.

"Good start." Jake told them. "Next target is hunting supplies." Alejandro opened his mouth but then closed it and nodded.

"This time Saira," Jake told her, "try to use your ability a bit less."

She nodded with eyes closed and he continued. "Try for a scan every three to five seconds, but if you see something, especially something fast, go nuts and don't be quiet about it."

She smiled slightly and nodded again. "Understood."

"Mar, when we get in there, I will point out or set out things for you to carry."

She nodded. "Okay."

"Don't carry more than you can handle and be ready to drop anything if shit hits the fan."

She nodded and Alejandro chimed in. "I can carry some too." Saira added, "I can as well."

Jake shook his head. "You need both hands free to…" He looked them all over. "Actually if we find anything with straps or loops, Mar I want you to drape it on the others, quietly."

"Saira, I want you to focus on your Skill and only on that." He looked at her seriously. "You're our early warning and our best bet to avoid an ambush."

"I'm ready." She stood up and Mar helped her up before fading out of sight. Jake was surprised but he guessed that the tree must have sped up her Regeneration.

"Everyone else ready?" A round of agreement later and he led them back in.

A tense minute later and he was pulling his arrows free from the three creatures. He waved Alejandro closer and in the dim light finally got a look at them.

They had thick muscular limbs covered with fur. It was hard to tell exactly what color they were in the blue light but it was something dark. Beastial faces, covered in hair, atop thick necks, looked unlike any creature he'd seen before but also similar enough not to be completely alien.

The fur thinned as it approached the torso and their chests and backs were mostly clear, exposing pale skin with strange patterns or tattoos. He lifted a muscle strapped arm and looked at the heavy duty claws that tipped the six fingers. "We got lucky…" He thought.

Behind he heard in drawn breaths as the others saw what had torn up everything outside.

He set about collecting their cores and then continued forward.

"Incoming," Saira was cut off by a metal ting quickly followed by a splat. "Above…" She finished quietly.

"I got it." Sandra murmured. "Don't worry."

Jake didn't look back, his eyes scanning as he left the aisle and took in the hunting department. He forced himself not to get distracted until he had thoroughly checked for threats, only then did he give in. "Sandra, Alejandro, you're on watch." He murmured. "So many goodies and not enough hands."

He got to work. Boxes of arrows were quickly and quietly cut open and stuffed into his quiver and then a second when his own filled up. An easy hop over the glass case and he started pulling out knives, machetes, and more bows. He started pointing out items for Mar. Knives removed from boxes and tucked inside their sheaths. "Pockets, everyone." He murmured. The knives started vanishing and he could just make out her voice murmuring 'pockets' as she warned people before shoving something into their pockets. "Smart." He thought.

He was almost finished with his wish list when Saira gasped. "Incoming! A lot! Huge!" She was barely whispering and sounded terrified.

"Go! Now!" Jake dropped what he was doing, grabbed his bow and leapt up into the air. He reached a hand out and grabbed onto a pipe halfway up the high wall. He stared out from his high vantage and felt his heart sink.

"Run!" Jake screamed. "Run!" He heard their feet start slapping against the floor but the sound was rapidly being drowned out by the roar of thousands of little claws skittering and clicking over everything.

His free hand was holding the bow and his finger was wrapped around the arrow resting on the string. He sent Mana flowing from his finger and into the arrow as he clung to the wall.

Blue light flared as the arrow started glowing brighter and brighter. His eyes leapt from the approaching nightmare and over to his team. "Not fast enough."

When the light coming from the arrow was nearly blinding he bent his legs and leapt from the wall. He soared out and as he tumbled he drew back the string. "There!" He fired while upside down in midair and like a bolt of blue lightning, his arrow flashed towards the center of the store.

A deafening explosion sent hundreds of football sized ticks flying and something hissed far far too loud.

Jake hit the ground running, another arrow already starting to glow on the string.

Dexterity +1

"I'll take it."

He sprinted down an aisle and thought he heard a woman scream followed by the sounds of a metal pipe hitting carapace.

Jake jumped to the top of the shelves and then jumped again from there, trying for as much altitude as he could. Behind him something cracked and collapsed but he was already focused on bigger problems as he soared nearly to the ceiling.

In a flash of blue light below and closer to the exit he saw Alejandro and Sandra, both slapping ticks out of the air, shielded behind them he saw Saira stumble in her mad dash but something caught her and dragged her forward. "Mar's there."

Another glowing arrow shot out and another explosion sent more of the endless tick swarm flying. In the flash of the explosion Jake saw a glittering carpet crawling rapidly across the ceiling. "Shit!"

On the way back down he saw Saira almost to the door, Alejandro and Sandra close behind. He was about to tuck and roll as the ground rushed towards him but remembered that he was draped with extra equipment. "Shit."

He landed upright on his feet, hard, and one of his ankles screamed at the abuse.

Vitality +1

"Worth it…" Jake ignored the pain and sprinted across the store. At the checkouts he used his uninjured leg to vault completely over them in a twisting somersault. The landing hurt more but then he was through the door, back into the sunshine.

And then he was slowing as he took in the bizarre scene.

A dirty looking, brown skinned man was holding Saira close in front of himself and just to the side of the doors. She was wrapped up in something the same color as the man's face with only her head and neck visible. Two similarly dirty men stood next to her captor, on either side, both brandishing dual pistols.

"...all your stuff or she dies!" The man was yelling.

"Seriously!" Jake already had an arrow ready and was just waiting for a shot while throwing quick glances at the open doorway, but the man had seen him and was ducking behind her body.

The man's two friends yelled at him and opened fire. Jake flinched in surprise as bullets sparked off the pavement near his feet and narrowed his eyes. "Thought guns didn't work… guess they die first…" He was about to kill one and hope the other was a bad shot when he noticed something on the ground. "The guns are just illusions."

He grinned even as the man holding Saira yelled. "Drop it or I drop her!" A hand oozed and stretched around her to pluck the knife from her front pocket before bringing it up to her throat.

"She is wrapped up in his other hand." Jake realized. "Eww."

A drop of red appeared on her neck and she screamed.

Jake wasn't about to disarm and he could hear the chittering, scraping and clicking growing louder from inside.

Before anyone could do anything else the man holding Saira suddenly stiffened and his disturbingly stretchy hand slid down, dropping Saira towards the ground.

Jake's arrow was already in motion when she started to fall and it slammed into the man's forehead, sending him back and down. Mar stood frozen behind him, two bloody knives in her hands.

Sandra spun into the two remaining men and they both went down.

Alejandro spun to the doorway of the store, raised his shield and screamed, "Keep running!"

Blue light flared away from his swinging shield and through the door, illuminating the swarm and sending the front ranks of the tick army flying back.

Alejandro turned towards Saira but Sandra was already scooping her up so he just fell in beside her and started following his own advice.

Mar, flickering and following behind, they all ran after Jake. The two men with guns struggled to their feet but appeared to be in shock, just staring down at their dead comrade.

Jake sent another glowing but slightly weaker arrow exploding in the doorway. Ticks flew and the two men finally noticed the danger but it was too late. A tick landed on one of them, his guns vanished and he screamed as it sank its jagged mouth into his flesh. The other man started screaming and shooting at the swarm, to no effect as it rolled up to and over him.

"Idiots." Jake limped backwards and readied another glowing arrow in case the others needed support but it proved unnecessary as the swarm seemed to have been diverted by the other men.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The others passed Jake as he continued backing up and he sped up but didn't turn around, using his ears to follow their movements.

Then the swarm stilled as something massive and pale heaved into sight in the doorway and slammed to a stop against the too small opening.

The whole building shook at the impact and the giant tick queen hissed. Behind him Jake heard someone gasp. "Oh god!" Someone gagged and threw up.

The queen stilled and just sat there for a bit as her swarm crawled around and over her to get outside. Her tiny legs… well, relatively tiny legs, clawed and scratched at the opening and the small head moved back and forth but the massive sickly pale bulk of her body was nowhere near to fitting through the gap.

"How tough is it?" Jake wondered. "Bet I get a good Core from that…" As exciting as the possibilities were, he held off on attacking, though he did keep his Mana charged arrow ready to go.

Finally the queen hissed again and the swarm... swarmed back inside as the queen slowly backed away into the dark. "I'll come back for you later." Jake decided as he noticed the three men's bodies were gone.

He turned back to the others and limped after them as they crossed the street and finally stopped at the bottom of the hill.

Sandra set Saira down in the brown weeds near some bushes and collapsed next to her. "That was fucking crazy!" She exclaimed and then started laughing.

Alejandro smiled but went up to Saira. "Are you okay?" He asked.

She nodded slowly with one hand on her throat. Green light flashed and she pulled her hand away and stared at the blood on her hand.

"Mar!" She suddenly shouted and struggled to stand up but before she could her daughter appeared sitting next to her.

Alejandro stood up and patted her shoulder as Saira threw her arms around Mar and wailed in another language through her tears.

Mar just sat still, staring at her bloody hands.

Jake heard her whisper, "I killed him…"

Alejandro stepped up to him and Jake saw what was coming too late to avoid it.

"My brother!" Alejandro threw his arms around Jake and thumped him on the back. "You're a hero!"

Jake finally shrugged out of the man’s hug and Alejandro turned to Sandra. "My sister!"

The woman was laying on her back in the circle of dead grass and she brandished her pipe at him. "If you hug me I'll whack you." He laughed. "And then I'll tell Maria." Alejandro faltered and then sat down next to her. He smiled and offered her a handshake. "Thank you for your help."

Sandra made a 'keep going' gesture with one hand. "We couldn't have done it without you." He added, smiling. She gestured again. "You are the most amazing, powerful, talented, intelligent…"

Sandra cut him off. "Okay, okay. Save some for your wife."

Jake meanwhile sat down next to Mar. Her mother had noticed her bloody hands and after briefly freaking out, thinking she was injured, the woman finally realized what it was.

She might not have meant to but she flinched and pulled away slightly. Mar curled in on herself and vanished at the rejection.

Jake caught her when she tried to stand up. "You did the right thing." He told the air where he knew her face was.

"Let go of me!" She screamed and appeared with her face in his.

Her eyes were full of guilt and fear that she was trying desperately to bury under her rage but Jake didn't let her go. "You saved your mother's life." He told her calmly.

Mar opened her mouth to scream as she yanked uselessly against his much higher strength but then Saira tackled her daughter into a hug and Mar broke down and melted into her arms.

Jake got out of the way of the crying women and found a patch of dirt to relax in. "Sheez."

Sometime later they all gathered back up and took stock. An easy choice was made to skip the garden and dry foods objectives, who doesn't like snake meat after all.

Saira healed everyone back up, at the cost of some bushes and a small tree, and they started walking back up the hill towards home.

Along the way they gathered the survivors from their houses and Alejandro asked Jake about how he was jumping around in the store.

"The gym." Jake told him. "We," He nodded at Sandra, "have been working out almost nonstop since this started." The first time had just been stress relief but watching and feeling Mana soaking into his muscles had been intoxicating. Unfortunately the workouts had steadily diminishing returns.

"Really?" Alejandro asked, his gaze thoughtful. "I might have to start working out… I did go up from the fighting and running after all.

Luckily fighting and running for their lives had netted everyone some small gains.

Finally the much larger group returned, mostly triumphant, to the Fort.

The gate guard popped out of a small stone shack and let them all in. Jake looked at the new structure as he passed. It was crude but it might deter a large bird, for example. "I see Bradley has been helping."

Jake handed off a few of the Chips to his teammates before they split, though he did hoard the Vitality and Strength, not for himself but for Alejandro's mystery neighbor.

He followed Alejandro and endured the wife's glare while her husband handed over the loot from the pharmacy, all in the name of Runes.

Finally he was outside a door on the third floor of the building Wilson had been asking about and Alejandro was knocking with no response. "Interesting…"

Eventually Alejandro tried the door and it opened into a dismal apartment. Moving boxes were stacked up against one wall and a mattress lay on the floor in front of an old couch.

In the middle of the room an ancient, decrepit old man was slumped over in a wheelchair. Jake would have thought he was dead if he couldn't hear his wheezing breath.

Alejandro gently shook the old man and called softly. "Lee, wake up."

Jake noticed the name. "This is who Wilson was looking for?" He glanced at Alejandro. "What are you plotting…"

The old man suddenly sat upright. "Uh, who?" His dull eyes gazed up and a smile spread on his face. "Alejandro, you're back. Maria was worried."

Alejandro laughed. "It was a nice stroll, nothing to worry about."

"That's good…" Lee trailed off when his eyes landed on Jake.

Alejandro followed his gaze. "Ah yes, this is Jake. He was a great help today and was impressed by the shield."

Lee looked back at Alejandro excitedly. "How was it?"

"Hah didn't you see the giant bird?" Alejandro asked. When Lee shook his head Alejandro started telling the story until Jake cleared his throat.

"Oh right, sorry." Alejandro chuckled and gestured at Jake. "He wants a Rune." He said conspiratorially. "I told him you need stats."

Lee looked at Jake with new interest. "Do you have Vitality? Strength?"

"Some." Jake replied carefully. "What can you offer?"

"What do you need?"

Jake held out one of his new bows. "What can you do to improve this?"

Lee reached for it with a trembling hand but then aborted the move and looked to Alejandro who took it and held it before the old man.

"Hmmm." He touched it carefully and ran his fingers down the length. "I can probably make it tougher…" He murmured. "That would make it harder to pull… but also shoot harder?"

He looked at Jake. "Want a stronger bow?"

Jake opened his mouth but Lee continued. "Might break it though." He tapped a finger on it. "Mana doesn't like plastic and I don't know what this is made of."

Jake nodded slowly, this was a new bow and not even the best of the new ones. "Do it."

Lee nodded and closed his eyes. He put one hand on the bow and an absolute torrent of Mana raged out of him.

"What the..." Jake took an involuntary step back as he fought down panic. "It's not an attack…" He told himself. The flood of Mana kept going and he felt cold sweat on his palms. "He might kill us all with that much Mana." Then another thought occurred. "How does he have that much…"

The torrent slowed and something else moved, something that reminded him of the symbol on Alejandro’s shield. The new, different power flowed down into the bow and wrapped the Mana into a brilliant symbol. "The same as the shield." He realized.

The terrifying sense of too much Mana faded behind the other power and then he felt neither.

The symbol faded into the bow and vanished.

Lee sagged slightly. "There you go."

Alejandro held it out to him and Jake hesitated a moment before he took it. It didn't feel any different and he stared down at it in confusion.

"Try pulling it." Lee said and Jake looked up. "Right." He pulled and while the draw was slightly heavier at first, it seemed to grow exponentially until the string started groaning and he let up.

"Hmmm." Lee looked at the bow. "Is the string plastic?"

Jake blinked. "It might be…" He said. "Can you enchant strings?" The idea seemed silly for some reason.

Lee shrugged. "Dunno. Never tried."

Jake started to hand it back but then thought better of it. He reached into his pocket and pulled an extra cord. "Try this one."

Lee took it and then held out a hand. "Chip me."

Jake was curious and quickly found a Vitality Chip in his pocket and handed it over.

It vanished instantly and Jake watched color literally come back into the old man's pale face. Not a lot but definitely a noticeable improvement.

"It went up." Lee smiled and picked up the cord.

Another torrent of Mana flowed out of the old man and this time the target melted.

"Ah well." Lee sighed and dusted the evaporating strings off his lap. "Want me to do the other bows?" He asked while looking at the aftermath of Jake's shopping trip adorned all over him.

"Sure." Jake decided that having nearly indestructible bows would be better than nothing. But then he had another idea and pulled out a broadhead arrow. "How about these?"

Lee shrugged, took it and poured Mana into it.

"He still has Mana left after that?"

When the Rune flashed and faded into the arrow Lee grinned. "It worked. I wonder…" Lee looked at the quiver. "Want them all upgraded?"

Jake nodded slowly. "Sure, just let me check something first."

Jake took the arrow back and tested his own Skill. His Mana flowed and the arrow started glowing blue. "It works… I wonder if the arrow will survive my Skill now..." He considered it and handed the quiver to Alejandro. When Lee asked about cores he just dumped his stash onto a plate resting on a cardboard box nearby. "One for one." Lee told him, holding up an arrow and a Chip. Jake just nodded his acceptance and waited.

Lee carefully picked out specific Cores after each arrow was finished and Jake watched him smile and laugh, along with Alejandro, as his body visibly improved.

Jake kept his mouth shut and his face blank as thirty arrows were enchanted one after the other. Each Rune was using more Mana than he had seen used since the System started.

Finally it was done and Jake surreptitiously wiped sweaty palms on his pants. Something was very wrong here.

Lee looked a little tired. "Only a little tired after that?" But he stood up slowly after the last arrow and the last Chip. He was unsteady on his feet but took slow steps to the kitchen and opened the fridge.

Lee returned with a glass of water with ice cubes clinking against the glass as his hand trembled. He sat down, drank some water and smiled widely as he set the glass down. "I can walk again!" He exclaimed.

Jake stared at the ice cubes. "He has ice? Sure." He was looking blankly out onto the porch and trying to make sense of things when he suddenly realized that it was getting dark outside and yet inside… he looked up. There was a light glowing on the ceiling. "Magic light… I guess that's not actually a big deal." They did live in a magic world now.

Lee saw him looking and turned to Alejandro still smiling. "I got the lights working." He pointed at the ceiling. "Got one in your apartment too."

"Maria must be happy." Alejandro was looking up at the ceiling. "But how do you turn it off?"

"That's the part I had to figure out." Lee said. He stood up again, obviously still excited to be walking, and went past Jake to the front door.

"It's this Rune here." He touched a spot on the wall and the light faded, a moment later the light came on again and Lee shuffled back to his chair. He sat down with a huff, breathing elevated from the small exercise, and looked at the pile of Chips on the plate and then back to Jake.

"Want more? Also how come you have so many of these?"

Jake had another idea. "Can you make freezing arrows? Or burning? Exploding?"

Lee looked thoughtful and started muttering to himself, his eyes half closed and unfocused.

Alejandro smiled and patted Jake on the shoulder. "You got him started, who knows how long he'll be like that."

Jake looked at Alejandro seriously. It was time to get some answers. "Why did you bring me here?"

The other man seemed confused so Jake continued. "Why bring me in here, with him?" He pointed at Lee. "You're not an idiot, so why trust me with this?"

"You saved lives today, of course I trust you. Plus you wanted…" Alejandro began.

"That's not what I'm talking about." Jake interrupted him.

"I don't understand what..." Alejandro tried again.

"You should Never bring anyone else in here. Never let anyone watch him do that again." Jake said emphatically.

"What are…" Alejandro started but Jake kept talking.

"He just used enough Mana to destroy a small city and you don't get the problem?" He saw Lee was watching him closely now as well.

"Obviously you are hiding something here. I've been watching and observing everyone here." He waved generally at the area.

"No one can use that much Mana." He hesitated in thought for a moment. "A Class could explain the first Rune. Yes it's a ridiculous amount of Mana... but then you did it thirty more times without stopping."

Lee and Alejandro both looked wary now.

"You should have never let me anywhere near this room." Jake explained. "I'm betting you have something... maybe an item? Something that people will be willing to kill you for." He shook his head. "Maybe not most people, not yet but soon, people are going to adapt to the new world and then they will come for you."

Alejandro looked hurt. "I trusted you…"

"Why?" Jake cut him off. "Because we fought some monsters together?" He shook his head. "You're far too trusting Alejandro. Anyone could just…"

Jake moved with the full effect of his higher Attributes and watched them both in slow motion as he spun, strung an arrow and drew down on Lee.

Eyes widened and mouths opened. Alejandro started moving in front of Lee as the old man started lifting a hand up. But it wasn't enough. They were far too slow and far too weak and in an instant Jake had an arrow drawn and aimed at the old man's heart

Then the floor underneath his feet shifted and his aim slid away from the old man. At the same time light started glowing from every wall, from the floor and the ceiling.

In between heartbeats, before Jake could adjust his aim, the light brightened into a web of symbols all flaring into blinding brilliance. The Mana filled symbols surged brighter and stronger everywhere around him and something else was rising… something beyond Mana.

Jake could feel it all focusing in on him… could feel it closing in around him.

Death.

Jake dropped to his knees, arrow pointing at the ceiling and released the tension on his bow, slowly.

The growing light slowly faded and the rumblings of the building stilled.

Alejandro was pale and standing halfway in front of Lee who was looking at him wide eyed, his still withered hand, shaking and pointing palm forward at Jake.

The whole thing had barely lasted a second but Jake felt like he had just fought a battle.

"While that was more interesting than I expected…" Jake gasped finally, slightly out of breath. "My point stands."

He pointed at Alejandro. "You are too trusting. And you." He pointed at Lee. "Are too greedy for Cores to even think." He drew in a slow breath. "Don't you agree, Maria."

A hand slapped the side of Jake's head. "Pendejo." Maria walked past him. "Dinner ready." She said and walked over to Lee and Alejandro.

Jake didn't know when she had come into the apartment behind him and that failure bothered him just a bit.

Both of the other men shied away from the small woman and both still got whacked upside the head. "¡Pendejos! No shake mi casa."

She stomped back past Jake and out the door as she said. "Ven a comer." Then she called back before the door swung shut. "Tú también, Jake."

They all looked at each other in tense silence for a few moments. Finally Lee spoke.

"You're right…" He glared at Jake. "You just didn't have to be an ass about it, psycho."

"More of a sociopath actually." Jake replied, smiling.

"You would have died." Lee told him and Jake nodded.

"You have more defense than I expected and that's good, but what if I was smart and just waited for you outside?" He touched the floor softly, sensing none of the power from before, only the memory of it remained.

Jake shivered mentally while Lee looked thoughtfully at him.

"I can see why Wilson was curious about the building at least." Jake murmured.

Lee glanced at Alejandro. "Who's Wilson?"

Jake laughed and stood up. "Don't let him hear you say that." He stepped to the door. "Better not keep Maria waiting."

Both of the other men started moving at his warning. "And while we're at it let's talk about exploding arrows." He opened the door and looked back at the old man. "I've seen what you created." He glanced around. "This building… I know you did something to it, so making things tougher is literally the least you can do, and I have a lot of ideas."

He was listing off ideas for arrows, 'returning' 'homing' 'black hole', as he followed Alejandro next door.

Unfortunately Lee shot down all of his great ideas with a boring, "maybe someday."

Jake smiled as he went through the door. He had likely the best enchanter in the world right here and he intended to make full use of him… Jake saw Maria glaring at him from her seat at the table ...he just had to survive the night.