Gwen’s filled with a secret warmth, like there’s a heat-pack somewhere inside her uniform, spreading out to the rest of her. She swings her hands from side to side as she waits for the rest of the club members to come in.

Miracle flies out of Gwen’s backpack and comes to sit on her shoulder. “You seem in good spirits. How pleasing.”

“Yeah,” Gwen says, wondering at it. She knows she kicked ass on that test.

And I’ve got a girlfriend who really likes me.

“Adrianna and I have been hanging out a lot,” she tells Miracle. She’s pretty sure she would rather die than tell Miracle what they’ve been doing, but the little fairy knows about the relationship.

“It’s good to build camaraderie with one’s fellow warriors,” Miracle says. “As the organization’s leaders, you make a powerful combination. I’m glad that you’ve decided to pair-bond.”

“Thanks, Miracle,” Gwen says. The little fairy likes to watch their meetings, but sometimes she flies around Gwen’s room and tidies up instead. From anyone else, that would drive her crazy, but somehow if it’s Miracle, it’s all right. She’s stopped vanishing at night now and instead curls up on Gwen’s pillow when Gwen goes to sleep.

Gwen pulls out a big container of cookies. “I bought snacks for everyone. Well, almost everyone. I guess you don’t really eat, huh?”

“I am not required to eat,” Miracle says, “but I can, by converting it into projected light. I enjoy the experience.”

“Here,” Gwen says, breaking off a piece of cookie for her.

Still sitting on Gwen’s shoulder, Miracle holds the cookie with both hands and takes tiny nibbles, eating happily.

It’s freaking adorable.

The others start to arrive. Trisha bounds into the room, practically skipping.

“Gwen. Gwen. I have incredible news.”

Gwen elbows her. “I thought you’d want to ask about my date so you could tease me for making out with Adrianna.”

“I would in normal circumstances, obviously. But this is way more important.”

“What is it?” Gwen’s pretty sure she already knows.

“I met someone,” Trisha trills.

Yep. There it is. This is what Trisha’s like when she’s noticed a boy she thinks is cute.

“What’s he like?” Gwen asks, more out of friendship than any real curiosity.

“His name’s Isaac, but he goes by Izzy.” Trisha says, leaning in close. “He’s really smart, and sweet, and funny, and he has this cool sweep of hair over his forehead. Our class was working with his class for a project, and we started talking in the library. I think he really likes me.”

Gwen dimly recalls a face. He had glasses and looked kind of nerdy, although she guesses she’s one to talk. “Is he the one who hangs out with Gus?”  

“Yup, that’s him. He’s really nice but he’s troubled, too, like there’s a darkness there. I really want to find out what it is. I could take care of him, you know?”

That sounds exhausting to Gwen. “That does sound like you.”

“There’s just one problem, though.”

“What’s that?

Trisha twists up her face. “He’s kiiiind of dating someone else at the moment.”

“Trisha!”

“I really think he likes me! Like, I could be so much better for him than whoever she is!”

“It’s a bad idea, Trish. You don’t want to get involved in someone else’s drama.” Gwen feels pretty clear about that matter.

“But what if I can really help him?”

Gwen winces. “I don’t know, maybe see if you can do it without being a homewrecker?”

“Not possible,” Trish says. “I’m already in too deep. If I don’t get to kiss him I might just die.”

Gwen sighs. This is Trisha’s sort of thing way more than hers—she’s totally out of her depth here. “Just don’t let it end in tears.”

“Only smiles here,” Trish says, pulling up the corners of her mouth with her fingers. “Moon, I missed having a cute boy to talk to.”

Adrianna smiles at Gwen as she walks in, which makes Gwen’s heart do a backflip. She’s already in her armor.

 Gwen’s excited—she’s been talking with Adri about the next phase of their plan.  Now everyone else gets to hear it.

The back room of the Camelorn building’s a buzz with conversation.

Gwen grins. Her club’s excited to be here.

“All right, everyone!” Gwen says. “Let’s get started.” Heads turn.

Adri steps forward. “First of all, we wanted to say, you guys kick ass. What we’ve accomplished so far has been incredible.”

There are cheers. Yvonne flexes a little.

“Adri and I wanted to ask if anyone’s come up with any new power ideas,” Gwen says.

“Oooh!” Penny says. “I started making a new turret! It can link up physically with other drones. It also connects to my jetpack!”

“Awesome. Anyone else?”

“I’ve been thinking about my idea of fences,” Moira says. “Walling off, hemming in. I think I’ve found a way to combine rope manipulation with the power of earth.”

“Very cool,” Adrianna says appreciatively.

“I’ve been too distracted,” Trisha admits. “I didn’t even remember to think up anything.”

“Me either,” Bonnie admits.

“It’s cool,” Gwen says. “I haven’t really come up with anything great myself. Just checking in.”

“Don’t feel like I need any new powers,” Yvonne says, leaning back. “I’ve got my main man Ambrose here.”

In a flash of color, the green lion appears next to Yvonne’s chair and roars. A couple people flinch.

“You’re insane, you know that?” Becca says.

Yvonne grins. “Insane like a lion.”

Ambrose yawns, then lays down on his paws.

“I’ve got something I wanted to show everyone,” Adrianna says. “Would that be cool with you guys?”

“Sure,” Trisha says. There are nods.

Adrianna flicks her finger at the empty side of the room.

Three flames rise up. Except they’re more than flames. They take on the shapes of Bonnie, Becca, and Gwen, silhouettes in yellow and red.

Becca puts a hand to her mouth in mock-surprise. “You’re an artist!”

“I figure I can use them as distractions,” Adrianna says. “Confuse the denizens of our next Nightmare.”

“Next Nightmare, you say?” Becca says. Everyone’s paying attention now.

“That’s right,” Adrianna says. “You guys have done an amazing job already. Two down—”

“Three to go,” Becca says.

“Four.” Penny looks irritated.

“Sorry, hon. I forgot.”

“The point is,” Adri says, “we’re making great progress. So let’s talk about what’s next.”

“We were thinking of doing Optimus next, right?” Bonnie asks. She looks around. “Trisha was telling me.”

“That’s right,” Adrianna says. “And wait until you hear what we’ve got planned for it.”

“Are we sure we’re ready for Optimus?” Moira asks. “The last time it appeared, it reduced three cities to piles of gold coins in a matter of hours. I know we’re pretty capable, but don’t you think it might be better to make sure we’re practiced before we get to it and Heliotrope? What about Aeropagus?”

Becca makes a face. “The blood and screaming one.”

“Aeropagus is intense, yes,” Moira says. “But it’s the smallest and weakest of the three we have information on. Wouldn’t it be better to start there?”

Adrianna’s pacing now. “No. I’ve been thinking about what Lana said. As long as Optimus and Heliotrope are out there, hundreds of people are going to die in the next attack. We kill one of those two now, and we prevent so many more deaths than with Aeropagus.”

“Plus,” Gwen says, moving in for her part. “When it comes to Optimus, we’ve got an advantage.”

“That’s right,” Adrianna says. “Something we don’t have with any of the others.”

“Don’t leave us in suspense,” Becca says.

“Spill it!” Trisha says.

Gwen grins. “We found out where it lives.”

Adrianna taps the golden line on the map. “We knew that Optimus keeps returning to the same cities over and over again. But thanks to Penny’s research—thank you, Penny—”

Penny beams.

“—now we also know it has a favorite location outside town.”

She traces the golden line up to a black label, surrounded by triangles of green. Mt. Cymbeline, it reads. 

“It hides out in the mountains?” Becca asks.

Gwen answers. “Yeah. Somewhere in—” She taps a mark on the map. “This valley, we’re ninety-five percent sure. The trail gets a little fuzzy after a certain point, but it’s looped back three or four times over the years.”

“And it stays there,” Adrianna says. “For months or even years at a time. We’re still not sure how much Nightmares are like living beings, but they do seem to need to recharge. In other words, we’ve figured out where it sleeps.”

Her ponytail bobs as she moves about the room. “Here’s the plan: ambush. We catch it while it’s sleeping, get to the creature at its heart, and we take it out, before it even has a chance to strike.”

“How?” Trisha asks. “Just blast it with our strongest attacks?”

“Pretty much. The main denizen might have some thick hide—scales, actually, from what I’ve heard—but that shouldn’t pose a problem if we all use our high-energy stuff.”

“Hell yeah,” Yvonne says, petting her lion. “I’m down. Got some things I want to try with my boy here.”

“I can start working on some bigger turrets!” Penny says.

 “I can do a stronger water blast,” Lana says. She’s smiling wide. “A hundred lives saved in one blow. That’s…wow. That’s perfect.”

“Yeah,” Trisha agrees. “I like this plan.”

“I don’t.”

It’s Kate, and she’s scowling. “I think it’s stupid.”

In her head, Gwen lets out a silent scream.

Kate matches the stares. If anything, her scowl intensifies.

“What?” she demands. “It’s a dumb plan. I’m not going to hold back my opinion when our lives are going to be on the line.”

“Why do you think it’s a bad plan, Kate?” Adrianna asks patiently.

“Because we just barely got through the first Nightmare, and the second one got us lost in the maze despite us trying to keep it from doing that? We’re not ready for the big two.”

“I appreciate your saying that, Kate,” Adrianna says. “But I really do think we’re ready. We still held our own with Trismegistus. If we can take a floating angel down that quickly, I don’t think a golden snake is going to pose that much more of a problem. And it’s going to be asleep, remember?

“Yeah? And what are we going to do if it wakes up?”

“We subdue it,” Adrianna says. “It’s still working from a disadvantage either way. This isn’t just guesswork, Kate. We’ve been studying its tactics.”

Adri moves a little closer to Kate. “I know it’s an ambitious plan. But we didn’t get where we are without being ambitious. Plus, we get this done, and it’s a major feather in our cap when it comes to the Captaincy. They’ll have to give us more leeway.”

“Whatever. It’s still a dumb plan.”

“I’ll tell you what, Kate,” Adrianna says, coming closer. “We’ll do practice drills as often as we can in the weeks leading up to Optimus, all right?”

“Fine,” Kate says, with a lot of eye-rolling. “Don’t get a stick up your ass; I’ll stab whatever you want me to stab. I’m just calling it now so nobody blames me when it all goes to shit.”

“Noted,” Adrianna says. “Then we’ll make sure to fight in such a way that you can put your worries to rest.”

Kate just rolls her eyes.

As the meeting wraps up, Adri gives Gwen a hug and a peck on the cheek and rushes off to a rescheduled track session. People filter out of the room.

Kate’s at the coatrack, stuffing a comic into her backpack.

Gwen cuts her off before she can leave, blood boiling.

“What the hell is your problem?”

Kate’s eyes widen. Then they focus in on Gwen, like a predator’s.

“My problem? Oh yeah, Gwen, because I’m the one who came over here trying to tackle a girl a head shorter than me like a linebacker. I’m the problem, sure.”

Ughhh, this is so infuriating. “No, stop talking,” Gwen says, biting back the scream. “We’re talking about you. You shit all over everyone’s plans, you never offer anything yourself—”

☾

“Wow,” Kate says. “I knew you were a shitty leader, but I didn’t realize you couldn’t take any freaking criticism. You want me to kneel on the ground and say, oooh, Ms. Vice President, yes, we should go into this battle without any clothes on. I didn’t realize this club was a dictatorship. You know, Gwen, some people might call what you’re doing abusing your power.”

There’s a horrible smile on Kate’s face.

On some level, she’s enjoying this.

“That’s not what I’m saying—” Gwen tries.

“Or is it criticizing your girlfriend you can’t handle?” Kate makes a mocking, simpering face. “News flash, Marlowe: Adri was eating glue in kindergarten like all the boys were. Get the hell over her and start treating her like a goddamn person.”

Kate using the nickname stings in Gwen’s ears.

 “That’s not the point—” Gwen tries to say.

“Oooh, is the point that you’re insecure? That you know you don’t really deserve to be vice president? Because you don’t, you know. She’s just dragging you along because you’re her girlfriend—”

“I don’t know why I freaking bother,” Gwen says, fury flaring up in her again. She pulls on her own coat. “If someone does die in there, I hope it’s you. I’m definitely not saving you.”

Gwen yanks her arm through her sleeve and walks out.

The silence on the hillside is almost painful. Gwen’s heart is beating way too fast.

“Everything all right?” Lana’s there outside. “I heard yelling.”

“It’s nothing,” Gwen says, cheeks burning. “Arguing with Kate.”

Lana’s expression softens. “Ah, I’m sorry. That’s rough.”

“She’s so awful,” Gwen says. “Saying I’m a bad club leader. Moonshit.”

Lana touches her shoulder.  “Don’t take what she says too seriously,” she says. “From everything I’ve heard, that’s just what she’s like.”

“Yeah,” Gwen says, trying not to look like she’s thinking about all the things Kate said. “Wish I knew why.”

Lana nods. “Me, too.” She smiles at Gwen. “You’re doing a good job, you know,” she says. “I really do mean that. If it wasn’t Adrianna, I’d want you to be president.”

Gwen stuffs her hands in her pockets. “Moira’s better. She knows logistical stuff.”

“Yeah, but you care a lot, and it’s obvious, in a way that helps keep the rest of us going,” Lana says. “That’s what I really admire about you. And Adrianna, too.”

Gwen nods. She’s touched. “Thanks, I guess.” She studies Lana. She’s never really looked closely at her face before. Lana has a cute, triangular face and a kind smile. “Talk to you next week?”

“Yeah!” Lana says, as they push out the door and start to head in their separate directions. “See you soon.”

Trisha’s been encouraging Gwen to hang out with Penny more, so that’s what they’re doing. Charlie, too. Turns out Penny and Charlie get along pretty well. Charlie opens up to Penny about her grade anxieties in a way she only ever used to do for Trisha and Gwen.  They’re at a table at the school library.

“How’s the research going?” Gwen asks. “Made any progress tracking down the Hidden Nightmare?”

Penny’s whole face lights up. She leaps up and summons her lab coat armor. Charlie almost falls out of her chair.

“Oh, thanks so much for asking, Gwen! I’ve been finding a lot of cases where it’s almost certainly the culprit. I even convinced Moira about a few of them. But I still need to figure out how exactly it hides from conventional means of recording. So I’ve been studying…”

Penny drops one of her books on the table. It makes a whoomph.

“This!” Penny proclaims.

Trisha cranes her neck to read the title. “Alien Life-Forms of the Roussillon Cloud?

“Uh-huh!” Penny beams. “I’m investigating the other astrocryptozoological megafauna! There’s been a surprising amount of insight!”

“Like the Auroras?” Gwen asks.

Penny nods. “Picture being on a ship and seeing huge blobs of color and light out your starboard window. Suddenly you’re feeling really happy and seeing people and places from your childhood. Then the feeling’s gone and the Aurora’s zipping off to the other side of the system. Then there’s Abacus Webs—“

“I didn’t think those were real,” Charlie says softly.

“Oh, they’re real, all right, but they’re so weird people don’t want to believe in them. They’re only on Arden Empire planets. Dust clouds which give people visions of these red and blue spider creatures sitting on white strings that go on forever.”

“You think they’re a kind of Nightmare?” Gwen asks.

“I mean, it’s so super similar, isn’t it? With the clouds? Even if they’re not directly related, they might be distant cousins. But I’ve been focusing on the ways people detect them.”

Penny’s grin grows super wide. “Ardenites say there’s a burst of rare particles right before a Web appears. So I’m thinking maybe it’s the same with Nightmares.”

“Can we track those particles?” Trisha asks. “I was always falling asleep in High Physics class.”

“We totally can! It’s mostly done with Ladytech, but that’s not a problem because….”  Penny pulls out a folder full of diagrams. “I have Ladytech in my brain!”

Charlie’s eyes go wide. “I forgot you have a link to her database! That’s so wild and scary, wow.”

“It’s wonderful,” Penny sighs. “Hundreds and hundreds of blueprints for all sorts of stuff only the Captaincy has access to. But it’s terrible, too, because I want to build them all, and I can’t, I don’t have time. Ugh.” She pulls out one of the drawings. “This is what I was thinking of building next.”

Gwen looks at it. It’s clearly a machine, but she has no idea what the hell it could be for.

“Love it, but you’re going to have to tell me what I’m looking at,” Trisha says.

“It’s a positron detector!” Penny says. “In theory it could use the same battery as my jetpack does.”

“Positrons,” Trisha says. “You think that’s how we’re going to find the Hidden Nightmare?”

“I don’t know,” Penny says. “But it’s something we can try, isn’t it?” She smiles. “I’ve got a million things I can do. Sooner or later, I’ll find one that works. And then…”

She leans over her folder. A drawing of a Nightmare-shaped blob is sticking out. Wavy lines come off of its body as it knocks over a building with a claw. “Then, Hidden Nightmare, you’re mine.”

☾

Gwen’s hyped. Tomorrow they’re taking on Optimus. She and Adri are meeting up today to go to the café and plan, and maybe kiss a little if they have time. Gwen’s waiting outside the gymnasium for Adri.

A few minutes go by, which feels weird. Adrianna’s usually right on the dot. Restless, Gwen starts to walk around a little.

To her surprise, she turns a corner, and there, down the hall, is Adrianna.

She’s waving goodbye to a dark-haired boy. Black jacket, black eyeliner, the type of guy who looks like he listens to witch metal. There’s something in his expression that makes Gwen’s heart stop.  He was really happy to talk to her. Were they—?

Adrianna turns and catches sight of Gwen. “Gwen!” There’s such a big smile on her face that Gwen stops the train of thought. “Sorry, ran into someone I knew. I hope I didn’t make us late.”

“Nah,” Gwen says, as casually as she can. “It’s been, what, like three minutes? You’re good.”

“Oh good,” Adrianna says. “I was worried.”

Adrianna takes her hand. They walk together for a minute before Gwen finds the courage to say:

“So, uh, who’s your friend?”

“His name’s Morris. Have you met? Sorry, I should have introduced you. Our families used to go to the opera together. Well, they were sponsoring it together.”

“Ah,” Gwen says. Her mom’s never been into opera. “No, don’t know him.” He must have gone to a different elementary school.

Adrianna sounds a little sad. “We used to be friends when we were kids, but we lost touch, I guess. Well, I kind of pulled away.”

Gwen’s getting nervous. “Why’s that?”

Adrianna looks at her a little too long. “It’s hard to explain,” she says. She lets out a breath. “He’s family. That’s part of it.”

“Oh,” Gwen says. Relief washes over her. It’s weird, because the way Morris was looking at Adri didn’t look like family, but she must have been misunderstanding. Come on, Gwen, paranoid much? Just let yourself believe you actually have a girlfriend who likes you for Moon’s sake. “Makes sense. Family’s complicated.” Gwen’s got cousins on her dad’s side who still won’t talk to her mom.

“Yeah,” Adrianna says, looking relieved herself. “Complicated’s a good word.”

“Glad you’re catching up. Family grudges are stupid.”

“Definitely,” Adrianna says. She does the tiniest, tiniest glance over her shoulder, and for a moment her lips tighten, like she’s still worried about something.

Then she squeezes Gwen’s hand again and smiles.

“Want to get going?”

And suddenly everything’s good, and they’re heading off to cookies and sandwiches together.

☾

Gwen’s never been this far into the outlands before. Looking out the helicopter window, she sees the shine of a river running through the grassy plains.

It’s time.

Everyone’s in a good mood. Becca’s making jokes. Penny’s giggling. But inside her head, Gwen’s plotting their course on the maps they’ve been studying, like they’re a dotted line across the paper, intersecting with a line of gold.

Somewhere in the row of mountains ahead, Optimus is sleeping.

The mountains look like twisted art projects from above. Gwen watches them come and go. Eventually, their ride rounds a snowy peak, and then, suddenly—

There it is.

Between three mountain slopes, trees and rocks vanish into a valley filled with yellow light.

Gwen can almost see its shape. Like it’s curled around itself.

The helicopter touches down on the flattest hill they can find, and they disembark. Gwen looks back at her companions, armored in every color of the rainbow.

Badass.

They make their way down the slope. Gwen sees what Adri meant about it sleeping. It’s hard to put her finger on it, but the Nightmare feels…passive somehow. The little wisps of golden fog move lazily.

Gwen swears she can almost hear the deep rumble of breath, rising and falling.

Adrianna, sword on her back, directs them to move quietly. One by one, they slip into the fog.

Gwen reaches for Adrianna’s hand.

But it’s not there anymore.

Gwen blinks the golden light out of her eyes. She’s in a room with stone walls. Hung with red banners and wooden shelves full of wine-bottles.

Music is playing, violins and breakbeat drums. On the open floor in front of her, a crowd of people are dancing.

Except they’re not people at all.

Mannequins. Their plastic legs are slacks and dresses, waltzing on a wooden floor. Some are standing nearby, holding glasses of wine. Laughter and babble is coming from them, but their mouths aren’t moving.

Gwen’s severely creeped out.

A stiff hand touches her shoulder.

“Play!” a voice says.

Gwen turns around and has to stifle her scream.

The mannequin’s lips don’t move. “Play, music, fun! Good times!” It’s a female mannequin, but Gwen can’t tell anything about the voice. The mannequin grabs her hand. “Play, music, good times, dance with me!”

Gwen pulls away. “No thank you!” she says, in a strained, high voice.

The music stops. All the mannequins turn to look at her at once.

The one nearest her cocks its head to one side.

“Never stop?” it asks.

The others take up the chant. “Never stop! Never stop!”

The bottles of wine fall over, one by one. The red liquid pours down the shelves, spilling in huge puddles onto the floor. The lamps above flicker out. The mannequins are walking towards her.

Gwen bolts, slashing at the fabric of the walls.

There’s a thud behind her, and Gwen looks back to see mannequins landing on a bed, crashing into each other, thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—

The walls fall down around her, curtains of red cloth collapsing one by one. She tears her way toward light—

And bursts into a giant cave.

The others are there, too, surrounded by the tattered remains of tents.

They’re standing in a valley of gold.

Gold coins shift under their feet. Jewels and treasures, too, red rubies, golden candelabras and glittering diamonds.

Stalactites hang down everywhere, dividing the space into chambers. The cave walls seem a mile away.

“Everybody okay?” Adrianna asks.

There’s a chorus of yeahs. People are brushing themselves off. Some, like Penny, look a little spooked.

“Let’s be careful,” Adrianna says. Her voice drops to a whisper. “And try not to make too much noise.”

They proceed up one of the hills of treasure. It’s not exactly easy going. Every step, some piece of loot slides down with a clatter. Every time, Gwen’s paranoid that it’s going to be the one that wakes the beast.

“Gwen,” Adri whispers. “Can you get a look from the air?”

Gwen flies up to the top of the cavern. The view almost takes her breath away. The cave and its riches go on and on and on.

She spots shapes over the next hill.

“Mannequins, coming our way!”

Adrianna draws her sword. “Everyone, brace yourself!”

They’re on top of them in less than a minute. Pale bodies charge down the hill, making a lot of noise. It takes Gwen a second to understand what’s going on.

Every single one of the mannequins has a screaming, howling monkey on top. The mannequins are saddled, with bits and reins, and some of them are crawling on their hands. The monkeys all look the same, golden and wide-eyed, bearing fangs and waving their fists.

Gwen’s never going to get used to Nightmares.

The monkeys leap at them. One lands on Trisha’s head, pulling her hair, only to be sent flying by Bonnie a moment later. Kate appears from nowhere and lands on a mannequin’s back. She stabs the monkey, kicks it aside, and draws her bubbling dagger across a mannequin’s throat.

This isn’t so bad, Gwen thinks. They can do this.

Then Gwen hears a roar.

The mannequin’s the size of a horse. The monkey’s more like a gorilla. The steed rears back and vomits white lightning at them.

Adri charges, drawing its attention

The next few seconds are a blur while Gwen’s slashing. Trisha’s burning arrows fly by, three or four at once. Moira’s catching mannequin and riders in nets and hurling them. Penny cuts them down with her gun-sword while her drones fire away.

“Ow!” It’s Becca, rubbing her shoulder. She turns towards Lana. “Watch where you’re aiming that thing!”

“Sorry, sorry!” Lana says, wide-eyed. The big round shield arcs carefully around Becca and returns to Lana’s hand.

“I need help over here!” Bonnie says, looking frustrated at the edge of the crowd.

“Sorry!” Trish fires off three shots, and the monkeys closing on on Bonnie go down.

They’re making progress. They’ve almost cleared the crowd.

Adrianna’s far away from the rest of them, dodging each lightning blast. She flicks her finger, and flames in the shapes of her, Gwen, and Yvonne appear. While the giant monkey’s distracted, Adrianna raises her blade.

“Take this!” she screams.

A fireball bigger than she is flies forth from the end of the sword. It hits the mannequin square in the chest.

The pair fly back and crash against one of the stalactites.

The cavern shakes.

The tip of the stalactite breaks off. Bodies and rock crash down into the hill, sending gold and treasure spraying everywhere. Again Gwen feels the room shake.

And then the ground beneath her starts to rumble.

Gwen sees Adrianna go pale.

“Shit!” she whispers.

Something’s moving beneath the gold. A mound rising up, zig-zagging towards them.

Kate groans. “We didn’t even last ten minutes. How bad at this are we?”

Gwen turns on her, ready to spit. “Like you give a shit? You didn’t even want to be here—”

Kate’s nostrils flare. “Yeah, blame the girl who killed five of them for you. At least I’m doing something, unlike you—”

“Guys!” Adrianna’s running over. She grabs their hands and tries to pull them forward. “Stop it, both of you. We don’t have time for this—”

Gwen tries to run with her. But it’s too late.

It’s already upon them.

The ground gives way.

Like sand, everything’s shifting and moving. Piles of gold become valleys. Gwen’s slipping, slipping—

Gwen tumbles ass over head as the ground beneath them flows away.

She lands hard on a golden slope.

The creature rises over her.

It’s a snake, sure. Its head reaches up to the ceiling; its body’s wide around as a train car. But it’s more than that. The golden coils are twisted into a knot. At the center of the knot is the biggest mannequin of all.

Its face is drawn on. Angry scribbles, spiral eyes and a jagged monster mouth. It hangs limply, tangled in the snake’s body.

Optimus, Gwen thinks, and doesn’t know which one she’s referring to.

The snake hisses, a roar that fills their ears.

Gwen reaches down to push herself to her feet—

And stops short.

A clear plastic needle is poking out from between the gold coins.

Right where her bare hand was about to be.

Gwen can’t breathe. Can’t look. She turns—

And sees needles everywhere. Poking out from behind candelabras and gold coins and gold watches. Hiding just under the surface. Liquid drips from some of the tips.

A sick feeling creeps over Gwen. A numb horror. She can’t move. Can’t think.

She almost—she nearly—

“Gwen!” It’s Adrianna. The giant snake is rearing back. It opens its mouth, and Gwen sees it has four giant needles instead of fangs.

Gwen pulls herself into the air as the snake plunges down. Flying away from the awfulness, escaping—

The snake follows her with its gaze.

Holes open in the cavern walls. Rivers of red wine and white dust pour onto the treasure hoard.

Gwen’s shaking.

Why hadn’t they done more? Practiced more? The first one was a shitshow; had they really expected this to go any better? Shit. Kate was right, they weren’t ready—

“Gwen!”

It’s Penny and her drones flying up to fight beside her.

Becca joins them a second later, glowing purple. “We’ve got this,” she says.

Gwen isn’t even sure if Becca believes what she’s saying.

But she gathers her courage. She flies at the snake, slashing its chin—

The snake seems unbothered. Pieces of rock fall from above.

One strikes Gwen’s arm, and it stings—

A purple glow fills the air above Gwen’s head.

Becca is holding the boulders in place. Her face is filled with strain.

“Like I said,” she says through gritted teeth. “We got this.” With a grunt, she hurls them at the giant snake.

The serpent hisses as some of them hit its neck. Penny lets loose four sprays of bullets at once.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Trisha’s firing off arrows, faster than Gwen’s ever seen her, just red bursts one after another. Yvonne and Ambrose are striking it with burning claws. Bonnie rocks the ground beneath. Lana’s blasting with a huge water spray.

Optimus snaps its needle-jaws. Its eyes search for an opening, but can’t find a way to get them.

Gwen’s heart starts to lift.

It’s working.

They can do this. If they can just hold their ground—

Which is when the wall of the cavern explodes.

Gwen can’t see. She hears the rubble falling, but there’s too much light coming through. She throws her throbbing arm up, but it barely does anything.

 It’s so bright. Like the sun in your eyes on a summer day. It hurts.

Something very big is standing in the light.

The light fades into an orange glow, and Gwen sees it clearly.

It’s shaped like a person, but one whose skin has been badly burned. Its arms are bound together behind its back.  Orange liquid drips down from its empty eye sockets. Flames and flowers dance around its heels.

Gwen hears Moira’s inward breath and understands.

She knows what this is. And knows they’ve lost.

“Heliotrope,” Moira whispers.

The Nightmare takes a plodding step forward. Gold coins melt under its molten trail.

The bright light flares again.

Gwen hears the rumble of the serpent moving.

“Fi—” Adrianna tries to say.

Before she can get the word out, the ground erupts beneath them again. Gwen sees bodies flying.

When the light fades, Adrianna’s on her feet. Moira, too. Others are trying to get up.

“Um, guys?” It’s Trisha.

She’s on the ground. There’s a red mark on her hand.

Gwen sees the needle that pricked her.

“I don’t feel that great,” Trisha mumbles. “Kinda woozy.”

No, no—

Heliotrope twitches its head. Fire streams out of its eyes. Becca swerves out of the way.

Only to be struck by a golden tail.

Becca falls down to the ground. Her body slams into the golden hillside. Into the needles.

Becca struggles upright. She looks down at her pricked arm. “Well, that sucks,” she says. She slumps back against a golden bowl.

“Run,” Adrianna says quietly. She shakes her head, like she’s trying to convince herself of something. “Take the wounded and run!” she bellows.

Yvonne looks at her like she’s crazy. “Run?”

“There’s nothing else we can do now.” Adri’s face is grim. “We need to get Trisha and Becca to safety!”

She summons the dancing flames again. The serpent turns to look at them. Heliotrope, too.

Adri’s right. They’re down two people.

All they can do is run.

Gwen wastes no time. She flies down and picks up Trisha in her best attempt at a princess carry. Her shoulder hurts, but she grits her teeth and gets her into a better position. Why does Trisha have to be so tall?

“Didn’t know you felt that way about me, Gwen,” Trisha jokes. But her voice is weak. Nearby, Yvonne’s lifted a bleary-eyed Becca onto Ambrose’s back.

Meanwhile, the titans are turning away. Golden light filles the air. The snake slithers towards the side of the cavern.

The burned titan smashes another hole in the opposite wall. Rubble falls down, glowing orange.

Someone’s running forward, stumbling over the golden hill.

“No!” Moira says, her voice ragged. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare.” She’s clutching her rope so tightly, it has to be digging into her hand.

She hurls it forward. A giant net wraps around the titan’s heel. Moira pulls it back, keeping the titan from taking another step.

Heliotrope turns toward Moira. Like it’s studying her.

The net burns up. In seconds, it’s crumbled into black ash.

But Moira’s running toward the titan, so close now it could crush her.

“Moira!” Adrianna screams.

“You son of a bitch!” Moira shouts. Gwen’s never seen her this angry. “You don’t get to do this again. You don’t get to show up, make everything worse, and just walk away!”

Stone pillars rise from the ground. They surround Heliotrope on six sides. Ropes grow between them, hemming the titan in. And Moira’s standing on one of them. The pillars move closer and closer.

“Moira, don’t!” It’s Lana, running toward her.

Heliotrope turns, like it’s studying its prison.

Then it explodes.

Fire bursts from its body. The rock pillars shatter as the ropes burn. Moira’s falling, falling—

And lands hard on a chunk of rubble. Her back arches, and she screams in pain.

Heliotrope lifts its foot. Moira stares up as if not comprehending. The shadow falls over her.

Gwen can’t breathe. She can’t make it in time. No, no—

Lana’s at Moira’s side. She snatches her up.

The burning heel comes down.

And strikes Lana’s blue dome. The blue light wavers, like it’s struggling with the force of the attack.

Then water erupts from the shield in every direction. The leg’s pushed back.

Heliotrope sets its foot down elsewhere. It turns away, and lumbers through the hole it made.

“No!” Moira screams. “No, no, no!” Tears are dripping down her face.

Lana’s running back towards them, carrying Moira, her shield flying behind her. Moira’s clutching her arm and sobbing.

Orange and gold light fills the cavern. Gwen throws a hand over her eyes.

When the light clears, the cave is gone.

They’re standing in a green mountain valley with scraps of red cloth on the ground. The smell of alcohol hangs in the air.

They’ve lost.

Gwen flies up, holding Trisha tight. She looks out across the hills.

Two vague shapes are moving over the mountains. One orange, the other gold.

The golden cloud’s slithering south, out of the foothills.

Toward the civilization they left behind.