I gave up on lying. "Fine, I'm level 26!"

  A voice from behind the wall chimed in, "She’s telling the truth."

  I screamed, staring at the swarm of dark cockroaches crawling all over me. "Now get rid of them!"

  The president blinked a few times before asking, "Say that again? What do you mean she's telling the truth?"

  "I am telling the truth, you asshole!" I shouted. "Get them off me, or I'll burn this place to the ground!" I wasn’t bluffing. The only thing holding me back was the very real possibility they’d snap my spine—or worse.

  I knew they wouldn’t kill me, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t leave me in a heap on the floor for a while.

  The woman behind the wall spoke again. "She’s telling the truth. I’m as shocked as you are."

  The president partially covered his mouth, masking his surprise, but nodded at the ceiling.

  The cockroaches vanished.

  Bloody hell. I could still feel their disgusting little legs skittering over my skin. This was a violation worse than waterboarding.

  I swore to myself, if I were more powerful, I’d end that man.

  The other three revealed their levels, and the president turned to Yamanda. "You did an excellent job... Damn, too good of a job. Holy... That's some... Damn."

  She stood at attention, fist pressed to her shoulder. "Thank you for your praise."

  I couldn’t deny she deserved it. She’d only given us one lesson on skills, but it had completely revolutionized how we fought. We’d grown powerful—fast.

  The president addressed the four of us. "You’re all dismissed for today. You’ll be assigned to other missions to grow stronger. But if an incident like today happens again, I’ll make your lives miserable. I swear it on our ancestors."

  I gave a thumbs-up. "Got it."

  I knew I’d screwed up, but being threatened by this guy still grated on me.

  He added, "Give them the communication rings and dismiss them."

  And just like that, we were back in our living quarters—the kitchen area, anyway.

  Communication ring… I guessed that was what was on my finger now. They looked like ordinary rings, except they were white with intricate rectangular lines overlapping each other. I bet they were ridiculously expensive, given we were only getting them now.

  “Resurrecting them, then killing them again?” Hessien asked, sounding disappointed.

  “I... yeah. I messed up. The good news is I’m not going to jail, even though I deserve it.”

  Vacinay leaned against the wall. “Why bring them back as zombies, though? That seems weird and cruel.”

  “I didn’t mean to. I wanted to bring them back normally, but the proper resurrection skill was way too expensive. So I thought if I got a pseudo-resurrection, I could tweak it to work like a full resurrection, but it failed miserably.”

  “I’m guessing it needs practice. At most, with that approach, you might bring people back for a limited time,” Vacinay said.

  I sighed. “Hell no. I’m sure I could make it work better, but after screwing up like that, I don’t want to try it again.”

  “You should still practice. You never know when you might need it.”

  “No way. I’m not touching it again.”

  "But—"

  "No."

  "Useless."

  "I’ll kill you and turn you into a zombie."

  She stepped forward. "Thinking you can even kill me is bold."

  "I touch you, turn you to fire, scatter the flames, turn the flames back to flesh—game over. You can’t even say I can’t touch you. Time freeze."

  "Let’s test that theory. Right now."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "No."

  "What, why?"

  "I don’t feel like it." I was exhausted from everything that had happened today. The last thing I wanted was some pointless fight.

  Vacinay rolled her eyes and leaned back against the wall.

  Hessien rested his arm on my shoulders. “I should probably come up with something sympathetic to say right now. But yeah, you messed up big time. If I were them, I’d be hunting you down like a mad fox.”

  “Okay, okay, I get it.”

  Ghomas yawned. “It is what it is. I’m going to sleep.”

  Vacinay followed him, saying, "You should have mind-wiped them."

  "Vacinay!" Hessien said, sounding disappointed.

  She half shrugged, mouthing, Sorry.

  He sighed. "How are you feeling?"

  "Between kinda messed up and normal, I guess. But mostly normal."

  "If you feel terrible, tell me. I don’t want you doing something reckless like that again."

  "Yeah, you too."

  "What do you mean?"

  "If you’re feeling terrible or whatever, tell me."

  "Oh... I’m always happy, though."

  "Eh... I don’t know. You shot me in the head back in the mountains, and then you went berserk trying to kill that rabbi—"

  "Okay, okay! I’m almost always happy."

  I smiled. "Yeah."

  "Go take a shower, then head to bed."

  "I... yeah, thanks."

  "I thought you were going to say, 'Stop treating me like a child.'"

  "I was going to, but I want to start being nicer to you since I’ve put you through a lot already."

  He looked surprised and, for some reason, picked me up like I was a child. "You’re starting to act like a grown-up!"

  "Put me down, or I’ll set your skin on fire."

  "No."

  "I’m serious!"

  "No."

  "What do you mean no? That wasn't a yes or—"

  "No."

  I didn’t set him on fire.

  I lay in the bathtub, the water up to my neck, not really thinking about much—just replaying the day’s events.

  I wasn’t going to jail, so that was cool. Amazing, actually. But at the same time, it sucked that there’d be no justice for the village I’d burned down.

  I couldn’t even joke about it. I could fix things, let them have their justice, but I was selfish. I wanted to live. I wanted my life to remain untouched by my actions.

  I took a deep breath and stared at my reflection in the water. I was so very selfish.

  I should have hated myself for it. I should have hated myself for being okay with how I felt, for being okay with how limited my guilt was. But I didn’t.

  And these feelings of regret wouldn’t last long. It sucked, but that was me.

  I stood up, feeling the water drip down my body. Pallisos had chosen well.

  Anyway, enough with the sadness and guilt.

  I jumped out of the tub and grabbed a towel. After drying myself, I threw on a simple white long-sleeve shirt, a black bra and underwear, and a red skirt that reached my knees. Skirts were okay—better than pants but inferior to a dress.

  I headed to the bedroom. The three of them were fast asleep on the same bed. For some reason, Ghomas was right at the edge.

  Vacinay was curled up at Hessien’s feet, while Hessien snored, flat on his back.

  I climbed onto the bed, planning to fall asleep.

  But then the ring started vibrating. I looked down at it to see a small 2D hologram of the president.

  I hadn’t known their tech was this advanced. Anyway, my ring wasn’t the only one vibrating.

  All of ours were, but the others were still fast asleep. I took my ring off and threw it on the floor.

  Whatever it was could wait until tomorrow. I was beyond tired.

  I lay back down on the bed.

  Three seconds later:

  “Get up, you lazy fuckers! You think I’m letting you all escape? You’ve got work to do. Up, up, up!”

  Arghhhhh!

  I bolted upright, screaming, “What is it?! It’s nighttime. Can’t I sleep now?”

  “Find your little friends and bring them back.”

  “What? They’re right here on the bed.”

  “No, they’re not. I got a report that they were spotted somewhere else. I’m guessing it’s Ghomas’s cloning skill.”

  “But the rings…?” They must have dressed the clones and given them rings.

  The fact that Ghomas could now clone others was both terrifying and impressive. But the big question was, why had they left me behind?

  Could it be that they were ashamed of me?

  I thought about it for two seconds before dismissing the idea. Vacinay’s solution to the village had been getting rid of the witnesses, Hessien wanted to claim I was innocent even though he knew I was guilty, and Ghomas… he’d just accepted I was going to jail.

  In short, they were all just as morally questionable as I was. So, they must have sneaked out because they wanted to keep wherever they were going a secret.

  I jumped off the bed and saluted. “I understand. I will deal with them with the full power of the law. A public hanging!”

  “Wait, what? No, no! You can’t kill them!”

  “Yes, I shall deactivate them from life.” I dashed out of the room.

  “Stop! Stop!”

  “No mercy for traitors!”

  I slammed the door shut and used time freeze. I assumed he’d send Yamanda after me, so I wanted to get ahead of that problem. I ran down the steps, flung open the door, and stood there.

  I had no way to track them. Getting a tracking skill wasn’t an option since I didn’t have any skill points left, and it would be a waste since that was Vacinay’s job.

  Why had they sent me anyway? I found it hard to believe they didn’t have a knight with a tracking card.

  I unfroze time and pondered...

  I placed my hands on my hips, frustrated. Maybe the president had a clue. It would be hard to describe them to people around here—

  Someone poked my shoulder from behind. I turned to see Hessien, wearing a brown cloak. I wondered if he’d stolen it since we didn’t have a dime to our names.

  I asked, “I’m guessing Ghomas created clones of you all in the streets too?”

  He grinned. “Yeah. You want to come with us?”

  “To where…?”

  He pulled out a poster that looked worn and torn. I assumed he’d taken it from a wall or something.

  It showed a street where everyone was chatting and drinking.

  “To drink…?” I asked.

  “Of course not. It looks like it’s going to be some kind of party.”

  “Oh. But I want to get drunk.”

  "..."

  "What?" I asked.

  "Let’s just go."

  "I don’t get how you said you weren’t going to drink. Who goes to parties and doesn't drink?"

  "I didn’t want to make it seem like you had to drink. And I’ve never allowed you to drink at any parties we’ve been to."

  "I’m 18."

  "And I’m Superman."

  "Oh my god..." I pulled on my hair.

  “We have to meet up with the others. Let’s go,” Hessien said, moving forward.

  I sighed and followed him.

  It was taking too long, so I used time dilation, speeding us up fourfold.

  It didn’t take long before we met up with Vacinay and Ghomas, who were lurking in a dark corner like shady dealers.

  Once they realized it was me and Hessien, Vacinay smiled and pointed into the distance. “Let’s get drunk!”