Uncle Max killed the eye in just under a minute.

  They watched him do it. The second he arrived, he didn't wait for explanations and just charged into the bingo hall. He paused for a second when he saw the wailing, writhing creature, then pulled out a gun from his backpack and clicked a button. The gun automatically unfolded into a tool resembling a scythe.

  Max then pointed it at the eye and fired three explosive shots that had it crashing down finally.

  Then, for good measure, he swung the scythe and sliced it open so that it couldn’t regenerate. Of course that also revealed the insides of the creature, inky and black with a few pustules that pulsed like it was digesting something. Lexie didn’t follow that train of thought and looked away so she wouldn't get sick.

  “That was unsightly,” Glinda said after we retreated some distance away to sit on the grass. "You know that’s probably what your small intestine looks like, Terry. All large and lumpy."

  “Lay off her,” Frank snapped, before Terry could respond. “She did amazing back there. And she saved your life.”

  Glinda blinked at him in surprise, and so did Terry. Frank didn’t back down holding Glinda’s gaze

  Finally, Terry chuckled to break the awkwardness.

  “No more fat jokes, sis. At least not today.” Terry turned her head to stare up at the sky, a smile teasing at the corner of her lips. “I did save your life”

  "Yeah," Frank said, sitting beside Glinda. "Twice by my count. It would have had you at the start of that if she hadn't stabbed that tentacle right in the keister."

  Glinda opened her mouth like she was about to protest, then thought twice about it. Then she sighed. “Fine. Thank you for saving me." She sounded begrudging but also maybe a little proud of it too. She stared at her sister for a good while, with a burgeoning respect.

  “You saved my life too,” Frank said to Terry, nudging her with his elbow. "Also, I didn’t know you could move like that woman. How did you manage to jump that far?”

  Terry didn’t say anything and just kept staring at the sky. It seemed she didn’t know the answer herself.

  And Lexie didn’t plan on giving it to her.

  She also didn’t plan on acknowledging the +1 Bravery and +1 Chivalry blinking in the corner of her vision.

  Gosh darn it. She’d earned Hero Points again.

  “What happened?”

  Lexie looked behind her to find some of the elderly who had run away returning, along with a few more people who had heard the commotion from nearby buildings.

  They started asking the same questions over and over but none of the six were ready to talk about it yet. Everyone was in varying levels of shock, relief, and plain old exhaustion concerning what just happened.

  It was crazy to think about the fact that they were attacked by a giant carnivorous eye. What was even crazier was that everyone survived it.

  It had been close a few times there. Aiden had been inches from being swallowed up. Frank and Terry had been in trouble a few times too.

  But the start of the attack was the most dangerous part of it all, because of the oppressive fear that made them all want to run out right into the creature's maw. If they had done that, they likely would have been the things pulsing in its belly right now.

  If not for Aiden’s knowledge, his preparation, and sheer dumb luck they would all be dead.

  And it seemed everyone knew it too, because all the survivors kept sneaking looks at Aiden, and the looks were filled with awe, gratitude, and hints of shame.

  Lexie knew the shame was because they hadn’t exactly treated him the best in the beginning. And they had made a mockery of his tutoring just minutes ago.

  Now, he’d just saved their lives.

  Aiden for his part wasn’t paying attention to any of them. He was watching the building from a distance with a forlorn look on his face.

  “Why do you look like that?” Lexie murmured so the others wouldn’t hear her, leaning on his side. He wrapped one arm around her.

  “Just thinking. That creature was very young,” he said. “It probably didn’t know what it was doing. It was just lost and hungry and looking for its mother. And now it’s dead.”

  Although he’d kept his tone flat, the same tone he’d adopted when telling her the story of Mouse, Lexie knew what Aiden was feeling was guilty.

  Her father didn't like killing things. Even things that were actively trying to kill him.

  Lexie felt a little bad for the creature too, after learning it was just a baby that got lost. But given the circumstances, where it was either the creature or her, she would kill it again.

  “Was there any way to return it to its mother without killing it?” she asked anyway, probably to ease her guilty conscience.

  Aiden shook his head. “Its mother is probably nowhere near here. And even if it was, there was no way for us to lure it back to her, and even if we did, most likely it would not accept the lost creature, since it appeared to have been away from its mother for a long time. So the young Hechtl would have just continued finding and eating people until someone else eventually killed it.”

  “Oh.” The thought didn’t make her feel all that relieved. Only sadder.

  The whole situation was so…unnecessary.

  She was about to ask how the thing got here in the first place when she noticed Max was done with his work and was now storming their way, a vicious expression on his face. And when he got there, he voiced the question before she could.

  “What was that thing? Where did it come from? And why was there confetti in it?”

  Aiden rolled his shoulder. “It was a Hechtl. Rare creature of the eldritch.”

  “So a demon. Fantastic. How in the ever-loving hell did it get here?”

  Aiden shrugged. “Either a very powerful summoner or an unstable dungeon. But I don’t see a portal anywhere around here, and I don’t see a summoner either.”

  Max gave a nasty laugh. “Great. So we don’t just have to worry about disappearing dungeons and dungeon creatures, we apparently have to worry about demons too.”

  “Eldritch.” Aiden corrected.

  “Oh, like it matters.”

  Aiden paused in thought. “This could be linked to the disappearing dungeon. Maybe it escaped from one.”

  "And what? It’s just been floating around for days and no one noticed?"

  "I noticed!" A new voice floated from far away, carried by the wind. Old Man Lochlan was briskly marching toward them, with two sheriffs and two costumed strangers in tow.

  Lexie instantly knew they were [Heroes]. It was the spandex and the self-important way in which they walked.

  “I saw that damn thing on my farm earlier today," Mr. Lochlan was saying. "It’s why I couldn't make it to the meeting. By the time I went to call for help, it was gone.”

  “It came to the bingo hall in your place.” Frank chuckled at his own joke. “Maybe it wanted to tell us why you couldn’t make it."

  Mr. Frederick shook his head, but smirked. His double-breasted suit was now completely rumpled and his glasses were broken but nevertheless determinedly perched on his nose.

  Now that the whole thing was over, both men seemed to have a sense of humor about things.

  Lexie wasn't quite there yet herself.

  “Who are those two clowns?” Frank pointed at the newcomers who stood there patiently surveying the group.

  “We’re from the hero’s association,” the shorter man said. “My name is Dexilot and this is my partner Robert Graves. We were on our way to respond to the SOS on Mr. Lochlan’s farm when we heard there was some commotion over here.”

  “Y’all are [Heroes]?” Glinda asked.

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  “We’re hero-support.”

  “So they sent their assistants. Nice.”

  Dexilot flinched at the insult but his partner seemed to think it was funny. Dexilot then puffed out his chest so far out that he reminded Lexie of Luther Firebringer.

  Maybe that's something they teach them to do at the hero academy.

  “We received word that there was a sighting of an Eldritch creature,” Dexilot said stiffly.

  “We more than sighted it,” Frank said. “We nearly got eaten by it. But we fought back because as always, the human spirit is indomitable.” He put a hand in the air and pointed to the skies. “Take that, you Fae and Orcan bastards. Earth remains number one.”

  The hero support guys blinked at him and then seemed to search around the group to find a more logical person to talk to.

  “The thing appeared out of nowhere,” Mrs. Corwin began speaking from her wheelchair, her voice still shaky. She was bordered by Merryweather and the other silent man who had helped them, whose name Lexie still didn't know.“We were about to begin drills with Sparrowfoot here about how to protect ourselves from Dungeon creatures when suddenly this big ugly eye creature broke the windows. And then as we were all running around terrified –”

  “These drills,” Dexilot interrupted, his gaze flickering to Aiden. “They were organized by you, Sparrowfoot?”

  Aiden shook his head. “They were organized by the mayor in response to the growing threat of UD’s in Hovelton.”

  "Right. And he put you in charge of them?”

  Aiden stiffened a little as though understanding the direction of questioning now.

  “Not necessarily.” He answered carefully. “Max was in charge. I was assigned to help him because I’m the only one here apart from Max with dungeon experience.”

  “Were you aware that, due to your rap sheet, you’re not allowed to lead groups of more than three without a license?"

  “It's the cult leader convention," Robert added.

  “You think he’s a cult leader?” Glinda asked.

  “That would be a natural assumption given that he's a [Villain]."

  “Oh, what bullshit.” Max rolled his eyes and his aura, which had just been guarded before, now shifted to full-on animosity.

  “Yeah. What does that matter?” Frank frowned at the men. “It's because of him we were able to survive that. If not, it would have been a massacre.”

  "The rules are the rules,” Dexilot said.

  “You can take those rules and shove them up your own ass,” Max snarled. “You’d rather they be dead?”

  “Language Max,” Aiden said wearily.

  "I don't give a damn, Aiden."

  “You don’t tell us what to do mister whoever you are," Robert said to Max in a quiet, but heated voice. “Especially since I’m not sure you have the license for that weapon either.” He pointed his chin at the black gun-scythe that was still in Max’s hand.

  A predatory smile spread Max’s lips. "Well, why don’t you come take it from me then?”

  The taller officer raised an eyebrow. “You’re aware we have powers right?”

  “Barely.” Glinda snorted. “Isn't that why you're hero support and not [Heroes]?”

  “Yeah. What is your power? Bet it’s something stupid. That’s why y’all took so long. Because you were actually scared to face that thing and waited for us to kill it ourselves."

  “What a ridiculous accusation!” Dexilot immediately burst out with. “How dare you?”

  “Relax, Dex. Easy,” Robert said.

  But Frank wasn't done. "And what kind of name is Dexilot anyway?"

  "It's a combination of Horanic and Luvian," Mr. Frederick volunteered helpfully. "It means ten inches."

  Frank snorted. "Really? Does that mean that your power is that you can stretch your limbs about ten inches longer? Oh jeez, it’s even stupider than I thought.”

  They must have been close because Dexilot's face flamed red. Lexie watched the whole thing with interest. Between the annoyed townspeople and judgmental [Heroes] she saw a situation that was quickly devolving out of control.

  “Alright, forget about the drill license,” Robert said. “Just tell us again how you defeated the creature.”

  But it was too late at that point. No one was willing to talk much and simply gave an abridged version of everything that had happened. They were attacked by the creature. By sheer dumb luck, it got killed. The end.

  “And how did you get these weapons?” Dexilot asked as he gestured to the pistols still in their hands.

  “They’re water pistols, man,” Merryweather said. “You could get them from a toy store.”

  “He’s clearly talking about the corrosive on the inside. Which one would probably need a license to own.”

  “I wish they would give you a license to shut up,” Frank muttered and Aiden smiled a little.

  “You,” Dexilot said to Frank. “Tell me where you got yours from.”

  “Hmm I wonder where…” he said, rubbing his chin. “You know I think I may have looked into that creature's eye for so long that I kind of forgot a few things. I have no clue where I got that from. Does anyone remember?”

  All the elders individually shook their heads.

  “I think it was there when we got there,” Glinda said.

  "Definitely. Maybe they left it after the last bingo night," Terry concurred.

  “Why would you have a water gun for bingo?” Dexilot asked.

  Terry snorted. “You’ve never been to a Hovelton Senior Bingo Night, have you? Let me tell you, things can get pretty heated and sometimes people need to get cooled off.”

  Dexilot wasn’t buying it. “You realize we can just take you all in for questioning don’t you?”

  “Oh, that would be great PR,” Max mocked. “‘The hero’s association ignores threat of unstable dungeon for months and then goes after a group of traumatized elderly people, forcibly rounding them up for questioning after they survived a demon attack.’ That would be a great headline, don’t you think?”

  “Well, they admitted that their minds have been meddled with.” Dexilot smiled pleasantly. "We have every right to do that, to discover the extent of the damage.”

  "Oh, you know what? I remember where we got the acid potions from now!” Frank announced as he snapped his fingers. “They’re mine.”

  Both hero-support guys frowned.

  “Yeah. I got them from a buddy in Moulding. I can take you to him if you want. Of course, his mind is not so good anymore, and he's not all the way there, so he might not remember giving them to me, but he definitely did. He told me that was just a fancy liquid for the water guns. How was I to know that they were filled with illegal substances?”

  Dexilot raised a disbelieving eyebrow and Robert pinched the bridge of his nose in clear irritation. When Dexilot opened his mouth again, Robert held his hand up.

  “Let’s just clear the thing and leave,” he said resigned.

  “But he’s-”

  “It’s not worth it. Sparrowfoot saved these people, they’re not going to say anything that they think will implicate him. Let’s just do our job and go. Dora’ll kill me if I’m late for Mikey’s ballet recital again.”

  Dexilot sighed and then gave Aiden a cold look as though it were somehow his fault. And then the two of them headed to the bingo hall that still had the remains of the creature in it.

  “Don’t worry,” Max said when they were out of earshot. “I used a tech jammer to delete all the surveillance footage. They won’t be able to get anything out of it."

  Aiden gave him a weak smile. “Thank you.” And he turned to the rest of them. “And thank you all too. For not saying what happened.”

  The elders fell over themselves to respond.

  “Of course we wouldn’t!”

  “What kind of rat bastards do you think we are, selling you out and letting you go to prison for saving our asses.”

  “They must have some nerve questioning us like that. Especially that Dexilot fella. The insolence. I have diapers older than him.”

  “Yeah, he’s an annoying little shit.”

  “Don’t worry about him, Sparrowfot. He comes anywhere near you, I'll whack him with his.” Gertrude held up her walker.

  Lexie was surprised as she witnessed the unanimous support of her father. Aiden looked stunned too and swallowed thickly as he looked down at his laced fingers. She thought that she saw a suspicious sheen in his eyes.

  Don’t cry, dad, she thought. Or else, I’m going to cry too.

  She leaned into him more and his arm tightened around her.

  “Thank you,” he said again to the small crowd.

  “You saved our lives Aiden,” Terry said gently. “We’re the ones who should be thanking you. You helped us even though we’ve made things nothing but difficult for you.”

  “And talked badly about you.”

  “And thought endlessly about how you were going to destroy us.”

  “I didn’t think that," Frank said smugly. "I just didn't like you because I didn’t like the way you dressed. Still don’t. You look like a pansy.”

  "And the way you were so polite all the time was off-putting," Glinda concurred. "It felt super disingenuous so I didn’t buy it at first. But now I think you’re just that disgustingly nice. You know you could afford to be mean once in a while."

  Aiden gave a weak smile. "Yeah. I’ve been told that."

  He gave Max a look, but Max had seemingly tuned out the group, probably because he was uncomfortable with the show of emotion but also because he was trying to figure out what was happening and how the Hechtl got here.

  He turned to Mr. Lochlan who was standing there staring after the officers, "You said you found it in your farm? Where?"

  "Around Bowman’s trail."

  "And what was it doing?"

  "Nothing. It was just floating there, upside down. But when I saw it, I bolted out of there, before it could do anything else."

  Aiden looked thoughtful. "Floating? Hechtls sometimes do that when they first break out of their eggs or enter an environment they're not familiar with."

  "You think it just broke out of an egg?"

  "That or it came out of a dungeon." He faced Mr. Lochlan. "Was there a dungeon when you found it?"

  The man shook his head.

  "I also didn't get any alerts about a dungeon forming," Max said. He eyed the hero-support guys who were still in the building. "You still think the hero association has nothing to do with this?"

  "Max..."

  "Not accusing, just asking."

  Aiden remained quietly introspective for a few seconds. While he thought, Lexie was thinking too and trying to figure out where the Hechtl had come from.

  Aiden and Max seemed to think it was from a dungeon, but the problem was that there was no dungeon anywhere close. And they said something about a summoner too? Could it have been summoned from somewhere?

  "What about the disappearing dungeon?" Max suddenly asked. "Could it have escaped from it?"

  Aiden thought about it, then shook his head. "That happened weeks ago, and I doubt that an Eldritch creature was just hanging around since then and no one saw it."

  "Unless it was hiding somewhere."

  "It's a child. It's not that smart." He sighed. "And besides, an Eldritch creature in a dungeon would be unlikely to venture out until hatching. And from what I saw, the creature only hatched recently."

  Max rubbed his chin. "And so what? It was in the dungeon the whole time?"

  He nodded. "The dungeon would have to still be here. Maybe somewhere hidden near the place where the creature was found after it hatched."

  Lexie suddenly got hit by a realization so strong that she almost choked on air.

  She bolted to her feet startling everyone around her and drawing her father's gaze.

  "Lex," he asked. "Are you okay?"

  “Yeah. And I think I know where the dungeon is.”