I’m alone. The space below the rock is warm, not clammy and cold like it was when I closed my eyes. It’s still stuffy, though. When I crawl out from the hole, the sun is already edging back toward the horizon.

  Finna’s leaning on a tree nearby. When she spots me, she rolls her eyes. “It rises. Maybe we can finally get going.”

  I shade my eyes. It’s already evening, but I literally crawled out from under a rock. I’m sore all over, but otherwise I’m fine. I breathe in the warm forest air and smile. My smile vanishes as I raise my hand to block out the low hanging sun and nearly poke a thumb into my eye. “Where are the others?”

  “Rworg should be around. Mandollel went to hunt down the rest of the Kertharians. We’ve been up for hours, but you just kept on sleeping.”

  “I’ve been through a lot lately,” I mutter. I listen, but it’s just the two of us. It’s now or never. “Look, Finna. Can you pick pockets?”

  She snorts at me and drops to squat on her haunches. “How come?”

  “Do you think you could pick Lictor’s pockets? If it was important?”

  She looks at me for a while. She doesn’t say anything, just keeps on looking as her face keeps tensing up more and more.

  “You said it yourself. The thing we were looking for might be in his pocket. If we get another chance, how could I talk you into trying?” It feels like stabbing her in the back and in the face at the same time. Still, once she realizes what this means, she’ll probably stab me. We’ll be even then.

  Her mouth opens a couple of times but she closes it again, licks her lips.

  “Finna, I need—“

  “Shut up,” she says. She blinks and looks to the side, eyes glinting with tears. “Just tell me to do it.”

  “Finna, I’m sorry.”

  “Shut up!” She bounces up and turns away, wiping her face with her sleeves. “If Mandollel finds out, he’ll kill you.”

  “I know. I told him once and he cut my head off.”

  Finna chuckles, but it has a bit of a sob added in. I stay wary in case she decides to stab me after all. “He does that, yeah.”

  I walk closer, fingering the teratome gland in my pocket. “But, you’ll do it if I ask?”

  “Yeah. I got you the diversion, didn’t I? You’d damn well better know what you’re talking about afterwards.”

  “Thanks. I really mean it.” I pat her on the shoulder and she grins at me, tears still in her eyes. I take out the gland from my pocket and pop it into my mouth.

  Or I try to, but Finna spins and her hand slaps mine like a snake uncoiling, shooting the gland from my hand straight into the forest. She leans close to my face, teeth bared. “Don’t you dare,” she says, finger raised between our faces so close I’m seeing it double. It smells of dirt. “Don’t you dare leave us in the forest with a corpse.”

  “No, I…” I actually have no idea what I could say, but I wouldn’t have had a chance to continue as Finna continues, pushing me backwards and waving the finger like she’s about to poke me in the eye.

  “Things are messed up enough already! You have extra thumbs. We have been running in the wrong direction for half a night. Mandollel is still whining about cramps and his arms being sore! You’re absolutely not leaving us to do this with just three people. Even if that bastard was lying about everything else, he made it very clear we’ll need all four of us.”

  “I’d just be back for real sooner!”

  “No! You’ll stay here and help. I don’t know what happens afterwards. Maybe you’ll disappear. Maybe you won’t. But I sure as hell ain’t going to spend time burying your goddamn blackening corpse in some damn forest!” She hisses the last words quietly, as there’s a rustle from behind me.

  Rworg pushes through some woods. The blood on him has dried and is flaking off. “Locke has risen! Now we can—“

  The glow of the pyramid fades. I’m still pulling my hand back to slap it again on the artifact, but recoil away. The Janitor is standing with her arms crossed, where she always is.

  “—side effects can be pretty nasty. Oh, sure, ignore me and go on another one, won’t you?”

  “Wait. I’m back. For real,” I mutter, raising a hand toward her.

  It’s harder to orient to being back this time. Maybe it was because I didn’t die at the end. Have I actually died on every single Ride so far? That’s a pretty grim thought.

  “Seems you brought some thumbs with you.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  I gasp and look at my palms, and there they still are. The thumbs are sticking out from the middle of my palms like… I don’t even know what to call it. The Janitor tuts me as I curse.

  “I tried to warn you. Couple of extra fingers is quite standard, though. Those can probably be taken off.“

  “Minerva.”

  She stops, closes her mouth, and harrumphs.

  “I have to get back to the briefing room at once. Can you smooth things out with Liam?”

  The corners of her lips lift up, even if the smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “So that’s what it feels like to be talked like that.”

  “Please, I need to go.”

  “Fine, fine. Go.”

  I turn and run off before she has finished. Liam is waiting on the other side of the door, so I slow down. I don’t want to slam him with it. This is the real world, and I’d feel bad even if it wasn’t. I lost track of the time on the last Ride. Now I have to wing everything, as I didn’t manage to plan things out like I wanted to.

  Liam is there, wringing his hands. I slip past and run. I know Lictor will have his hands full with Mandollel and Rworg, so that should give me enough time to talk to Finna. We should try to get the Gem off him without him even realizing it’s gone. The later we take it off him, the better.

  Etherthorn Weave is looming, time running out. As Lictor said, we’re boxed in. Even if I tried to cause a scene, I can’t count on the council. Marek would intimidate everyone to change their minds or create an illusion of the Gem. Lictor would lie about knowing something about the future.

  It’s up to me. Us.

  I hear the shouting the moment I step into the corridor. The door is ajar and Rworg is still watching what’s happening inside. He has his hands on his hips and is shaking his head, his tail of coppery hair swinging in response. It’s hard to grasp I’ve been gone for a few minutes.

  Rworg notices me when I nudge him to the side to peek inside. ”Locke, where did you—”

  I shh him, and Finna does the same. She’s standing near the door and noticed me the moment I peeked in. Finna swipes her finger over her neck, making savage cutting motions at Rworg.

  Mandollel has pushed Lictor up to the opposite wall and is poking him in the chest with his finger. Lictor’s backing away, stumbling over the couches and the table while Mandollel keeps chasing him around.

  ”Well, sorry,” Rworg mutters, and walks in. This is the part where he’s going to start peeling Mandollel and Lictor off from each other, I guess.

  ”I’m back,” I say to Finna. It’s not a very clever thing to say and she’s already rolling her eyes, but I don’t have time to get embarrassed. I lean close to her. ”Lictor has a gem in his pocket! You gotta swipe it off him!” I hiss.

  Finna pinches the sides of her nose and closes her eyes.

  ”Let him talk us into the mission. He can’t know we know, you know?”

  She lets go of her nose and rubs her eyes instead. “Fine,” she says. She turns back to the tussle inside the room. Rworg has pushed between Lictor and Mandollel. Mandollel is swinging his arms, trying to grab hold of Lictor, but Rworg has a palm pressed on his chest, holding him away from the Janitor. Lictor has his hands raised, palms outward, trying to placate Mandollel.

  I wait, but Finna’s not making a move. I guess it’s fair that I handle this. ”Stop!” I shout.

  All three of the men turn to look at me. I hide my hands behind my back. Lictor can’t see the thumbs as he’d understand immediately what I’ve been up to. Rworg has both hands full, keeping the two men apart from each other, and he has to crane his neck to look at me awkwardly from the corner of his eyes.

  ”I’m sorry, it was all a misunderstanding! We were talking, and I said something stupid and it got a bit out of hand. I’m sorry.” I bow low in apology to all of them, pressing my palms into my trousers. The bow might be a bit much, but I don’t want to face Lictor when spouting such nonsense.

  I hazard a peek. Lictor’s hands are still raised before him, but he edges out from behind them to look at Mandollel. ”It’s true. I swear it,” he says.

  Mandollel rips himself off from Rworg’s grip and turns his back to Lictor. He crosses his arms over his chest and presses his chin down. It looks like he’s sulking or seething, but I can see him holding back a smile. He straightens up and lets out a long breath.

  There’s a long pause. I can see Lictor holding his breath.

  ”I apologize for my outburst,” Mandollel says. He bows the slightest of bows to Lictor and reaches to correct his cloak that has been spun halfway around Lictor’s body.

  Lictor tenses but lets him help him. He pats his overalls down to smooth them. ”Ahem, well, let’s get back to business, then?”

  The rest of the briefing goes without incidents. Finna takes it easy, lounging on the sofa. She scowls the whole time, but I guess it would be suspicious if she didn’t. I’m not sure how much she trusts me, but I’m getting a feeling that more than I thought. Maybe she has met me before. It’s hard to know, here.

  Lictor waves his hands around and talks to us about the importance of the mission. Rworg listens, mouth drawn into a thin line. Mandollel does as well, but I catch him glancing at me and Finna every once in a while.

  Lictor is the only one in the room who doesn’t know that something is up. Well, Rworg too, but I’m not sure if he counts. So far I haven’t heard him speak more than maybe five words at a time. Keeping track of everything is getting harder and harder. He’s seen me for the first time. I’ve seen him multiple times, but it’s all bleeding together. So much has happened between the time I originally met him and where we’re at now. At least he’s not covered in blood at the moment.

  Finna’s not making any moves. She grunts and pouts at Lictor’s explanations and changes from lounge to slouch and back again, cleans her dirty fingernails with a dagger she pulls out from somewhere. I know she can’t just march up to him and put her hand into his pocket, but can’t she at least stalk him a bit?

  Lictor’s still talking about the importance of halting the Kerthar advance, focusing on Mandollel and talking animatedly at him. The elf must be the one who has most doubts about the mission. I bet Lictor has prepared the speech in advance to persuade him. I zone him out.

  My mind wanders back to Lille and the time we were hunting a boar. I wanted to chase after it the moment I saw the tracks, but she held me back. We spent a whole day following tracks, trying not to step on its droppings and Lille lecturing me about what you could learn from the animal by inspecting the spoor or scat. I’m still not sure why you need three different words to call what boars leave behind after eating, but once we found the animal, I was happy we were prepared. Even still, I’m not going to follow Lictor into the toilet to inspect… I wrench my thoughts away from the subject and try to look like I’m paying attention.

  Finna will handle it. I’ll have to trust her. I can try to help. I’ll get Lictor’s attention at some point. I don’t know anything about picking pockets. Does she need to sneak up to him from behind?

  Rworg clears his throat. The sound is like a landslide. “Enough. We are in agreement. Yes?”

  I glance at Finna. She pouts less than usual. We both nod at the same time.

  (EDIT: or it did for a moment. We’re back at #10 now, haha. Some ratings might sure help! ??)

  (EDIT-EDIT: Back to #9! It’s not like I’m refreshing the list every 15 minutes, but just happened to notice…)

  the hidden Time Loop RS and have been for a good while already. Feels pretty amazing (even if that’s a list no one normally sees).