(Dyn)

  Wedge had kept his distance, hanging toward the back of the group. Moving silently through the tall grasses, his stone face was impossible to read.

  ‘Is he mad at me?’ Dyn wondered. ‘I bet he’s mad at me…"

  The big guy finally approached, still holding the e cloak in his hand. His shoulders grew heavy as he stared down at it. “I… made a mistake,” he said. “I will not stand in your way again.” He ha over.

  Dyn took the cloak from Wedge, looking up at his sharply angled gray face. He’d gotten it wrong. Wedge wasn’t upset with him; he set with himself over what happened.

  He wasn’t sure what Wedge o hear, so he simply said what he felt. “Thanks.” Wedge looked down at him and nodded.

  Dyn hurried to catch up with Ru and asked, “What’s going to happen to Quinten?”

  “Ideally, nothing,” she said. She had been ag strange sihey entered the arc beetle, avoiding eye tact as if something weighed on her mind. None of them would look directly at him—except for Athrax, who kept gng at Dyn, still waiting for the ao his question.

  “No, I mean, what happens whes tired?” he asked, and then his imagination took over. “Or… he runs out of food, ets in trouble, ets lost? How’s he going to find his way back?”

  “Dyn, stop,” Ru said, holding up a cwed hand and interrupting his runaway thoughts. “This isn’t our first mission.” She held out her other hand, revealing a palm-sized stohis is how we’ll know he’s fine.”

  Dyn opened his mouth, scratched his cheek, and then stated the obvious. “That’s a rock.”

  Athrax, just ahead of them, snickered with quiet amusement. Ru gave a low growl, sileng the old soldier. She held the sto to Dyn. “Pick it up,” she said.

  It was smooth, triangur, mostly blue with e and gray stippling. To Dyn, it still looked like any other rock. He plucked it out of her hand and immediately felt the weight—but something about it was off.

  The sensation was… sideways? It took a few seds for him to realize the pull was tugging him backwards, toward the arc beetle.

  His eyes lit up as he whispered, “It’s a magic rock…”

  Ru gave him a nod. “It’s paired with a brother, ected through dimension. Each will always lead to the other. Quinten use the brother to find us.”

  Dyn’s head tilted at the new cept. “Brother?”

  “They’re twins, made of dimension and resonance,” Hay’len spoke up from behind, pointiween W’itney and themself. “Just like us. They’re copies made from the same stone.”

  Hay’len’s voice softened, frowning slightly at the teicality. “I mean, we aren’t made of dimension or resonance…”

  “Hay’len… You’re doing that thing again.” W’itney gave them a stern look.

  “Sorry…” Hay’len said sheepishly. Their shoulders slumped as they slowed their pace, returning to the back of the group. W’itney sighed and shook their head before turning back to the open fields ahead.

  “Huh, Didn’t think rocks had genders. hought to ask.” Dyn turo Wedge. “You’re a bht?” The lithkai raised his eyebrows at him while the rest of the team burst into ughter. Even Ru chuckled.

  After they all finished getting the giggles out of their system, P’reslen appeared beside Dyn and motiooward the stone. “You talk to Quinten if you’d like.”

  Something about the smooth rock brought Dyn fort. Its cool surface rested naturally in his hand, as if it beloo him. He gnced down as a wave of nostalgia washed over him; it felt like home.

  “I ?” he asked.

  “Bring it close and give it a whisper.” P’reslen mimicked talking to a handheld device.

  Dyn didn’t believe him, but he brought the stone close to his mouth, his voice dropping into an awkward whisper. “Quinten?” A few moments passed, and he wondered if they were having a go at him.

  “Still here, mate. That you, boss? Voice sounds a bit funny,” the rock said.

  “It’s Dyn, just cheg to see if you’re alright.” He was relieved to hear Quinten’s voice.

  “Am I alright? Mate, I’m not the one who went face-first down a bloody cliff. Gd to hear you’re in one piece. Had to leg it after this arc beetle before it bolted on us again.”

  Dyn was holding a genuine rockie-talkie. His smile went from cheek to cheek. “Magic is so cool.”

  “If you think that’s something, give it a lick,” W’itney said with a grin.

  Dyn looked at the rock, shrugged, and before anyone could stop him, licked it. It was salty and reminded him of fk. He spat, wiping his tongue off on the cloak again.

  Eury grimaced, W’itney was in stitches again, and Ostello shook his head and sighed. Athrax pletely ighem until he turned around to find the group gging behind.

  “You’re so mean,” Hay’len said, crossing their arms and shaking their head disapprovingly.

  “He just… He just…” W’itney couldn’t pose themself, barely able to breathe, pretending to li invisible ro their hand.

  “Give me that before you hurt yourself.” Ru snatched the sto of his hand.

  “Did… somebody just lick this thing?” the rock asked.

  Ru hahe ‘rockie-talkie’ to Ostello. “You’re in charge of monit the echo locator. Notify me immediately if there’s any trouble.”

  Before Ostello could take the device, she added, “These are the only pair of brothers we have. Don’t let Dyn touch it.” Dyn opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it. Ostello accepted them with a nod.

  “And you…” She spun around to W’itney with an outstretched cwed finger. It had a s effe them. “Wedge may be the one evaluating you, but this is my quest. Pull another prank while we’re in the field and I’ll make sure Cook Echo has ara pair of hands until we get back to Nightshade.”

  “But… What if we don’t get back?” W’itney asked. A question all of them had, but none were brave enough to ask.

  “Then peeling tubers will be the least of your worries….”

  Ru collected herself, smoothing back the fur between her ears. “We’ve a bit of time before we’ve got to head back. Keep a while we tihe search. There are still tless dangers in this juhat could kill you. Again, speak up if you see something.”

  Athrax took point, and both teams followed after him. Dyn walked ahead of his group and found himself o Ostello as they crossed the lownds, where the air hung thick with humidity and patches of uneven ground squelched underfoot.

  “So, you call them echo locators?” Dyn did his best to keep up beside the intense elf.

  “You heard Ru the same as me.” Ostello preemptively cut off whatever shenanigans Dyn had in mind.

  “I know. I’m not allowed to touch, but I still ask questions, right?” Dyn’s legs were taut, his muscles well past exhaustion aering on the edge of failure. He hobbled awkwardly to keep up.

  Ostello let out a small sigh, keeping a wary eye on Ru. “What do you want to know?”

  “Echo locator sounds more like a mpriaor to me.” Dyn decided it was still far too warm to wear his e cloak. Shifting the bundled mess in his hands, he smoothed it out and folded it ly before draping it over one arm to free the other.

  “That wasn’t a question,” Ostello said. He observed Dyn wouldn’t drop the versation until satisfied and tered with a question of his own. “What would you have ?”

  Dyn got excited. This was his moment. “Rockie-talkies,” he said with a big smile.

  Ostello wore a fused expression. “I don’t get it.”

  Dyn’s grin faltered, a out an exaggerated sigh.

  “It’s a rock. That you talk to.”

  “That’s a bit basic, isn’t it?” Ostello pted with a fio his . “Although, I guess it helps me uand how you named your p Dirt.”

  Dyn hated how much that made sense. He’d been prepared to expin all about walkie-talkies, but the wind had been taken out of his sails.

  “Any ideas on how to distract the arc beetle so we leave?” Ru tossed the question to the group as they walked.

  The lownd meadow stretched out around them, dotted with clusters of wildflowers in muted purples and yellows. Tall grasses swayed gently in the breeze, their golden tips brushing against Dyn’s legs as he trudged forward. The air buzzed with the hum of is, punctuated by chirps and an occasional sharp snapping sound that set his nerves on edge. Despite the open space, the looming jungle opy in the distance seemed to press in, a stant reminder of the arc beetle’s domain.

  There were no immediate answers.

  “What do we know about arc beetles?” If Dyn was going to tribute, he’d o get caught up with what they knew.

  “It’s a bloody unon-ranked kaiju, rampaging around with a juiced-up Arc orb,” Athrax said, gng over his shoulder.

  “Don’t fet about the serrated bdes along the edges of its legs,” Dyn said.

  Hay’len tilted their head and asked, “How’d you know that?”

  ‘Shit,’ Dyn thought. He khat because he’d bee when those bdes cut him in half, but he wasn’t about t that up.

  “Got a good look at them while it passed me by,” Dyrying to keep a casual tone. He’d bcked out before the beetle passed him. “Just pooling the information we know together, right?” he added with a weak smile. “Hopefully, it’ll give one of us an idea.” He wao keep the versation on the arc beetle and off his abilities.

  Athrax grunted. “Good to know. A rank disparity that wide, with no armor? I’d be beetle chow in seds if I rushed it.”

  Dyn was relieved to know Athrax wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

  “It likes long walks and flowers,” Hay’len said. W’itney shot them a ed expression, then looked cautiously toward Ru to see if they were in trouble again.

  She watched the twins but dismissed W’itney with a snort and said, “Ostello, hahe echo locator.” Once she had it in her hand, she brought it up to her snout and said, “Quinten.”

  They only had to wait a moment before Quinten responded. “Still here. What I do for you?”

  “Has the arc beetle strayed from the lownds?”

  “Nah, it’s been out in the open the whole time—easy as to follow,” the rock said.

  Dyn thought out loud about how to use this information. “It’s avoiding the trees, that, or the trees are avoiding it.”

  Ostello raised an eyebrow, intrigued, while W’itney looked at him like he’d just said something ridiculous.

  “Why?” the rock asked. “Should I be worried?"

  “That… doesn’t make sense. How do trees avoid anything?” W’itney asked, looking to Hay’len to expin it to them, as was their nature.

  “Sorry, I’m just thinking out loud,” Dyn said. “It’s big enough to knock dowhat get in the way, but it’s not big enough to walk over them.”

  Ostello narrowed his gaze on Dyn. “Humans really do like stating the obvious.”

  “I feel like I should be worried…” the rock said when no one replied to it.

  “I’m cooking, let me cook,” Dyn said. He could see his phrasing didn’t transte well. “Which means there’ll be fallen trees wherever the arc beetle’s been.”

  Ostello him slowly. “And how does that help us?”

  “Oi, you lot still there?” the rock asked. “Bit quiet on your end.”

  Dyn poio the rockie-talkie and said, “Ask him if he’s seen any break iree line.”

  Ru raised the stoo her muzzle again. “We’re still here.” She hesitated for a moment, weighing her options, before deg to trust Dyn’s instincts. “Have you seen any breaks iree line?”

  “The… tree lihe rock asked.

  “Yes. Have you noticed any gaps iree line rge enough to suggest the beetle has left the lownds?” she asked.

  “Nah, but these lownds’ve got a weird vibe, about ‘em,” the rock stated.

  “Ask if the lownds aren’t always ‘low’,” Dyn said.

  She pulled the stone away from her mouth. “I’m not asking that.” Dyn gave her an insistent look.

  She huffed, brought the stone back up, and said, “Dyn wants to know…” She shot him a quick gre, then closed her eyes. “If the lownds aren’t always… low.”

  “Yeah, how’d he know?” the rock asked.

  “Just keep an eye on the arc beetle a us know if there’s any trouble.” She set the stone firmly in Ostello’s hand before turning back to the group.

  Athrax was the first to figure out what Dyn had been puzzling together. “So, the beetle’s staking out this clearing?”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Dyn said. “I bet this entire area used to have trees like the rest of the jungle. Until the arc beetle moved in and made it a literal stomping ground.” He smiled. “We’ve found the monster’s ir.”

  Wedge gave him a nod of approval.

  “More importantly, we’ve narrowed down our search for the objective,” Ru said.

  “You sure this patch is worth it?” Athrax said, lifting his head to take in the meadow. “Could be wastin’ time while the book’s somewhere else.”

  “We don’t have the resources or time to search the entire jungle,” she said. “We o track the beetle, and it makes sehe objective would be hidden in the most dangerous part of the region.”