Lictor turns around toward the pyramid. I consider rushing him, but don’t dare. He’s too powerful. I’m only alive because he’s holding back, deciding not to hurt me for real. I can’t depend on that continuing. Next time I attack him, he’s going to mess me up. Probably not enough to kill me, but maybe something like what Corum did to Mandollel. It looked real unpleasant.

  I watch him take the first step and try something else. “Lictor, I understand.”

  He hesitates for a step, but keeps walking. I walk behind him. Not close enough or fast enough that he’d think I’m attacking him, but keeping my options open.

  “You wouldn’t have needed to lie to us, though. We would have listened.“

  He barks a laugh and stops to look at me. “I did need to. You didn’t.” He swings back toward the pyramid.

  I nearly reach out to grab his shoulder, but decide against it. “Well, maybe you are right. But how are you going to explain it once everyone learns what happened? That you just forgot to give us the Gem?”

  He chuckles at that. “It won’t be too much of a problem. The war would have been infinitely worse.”

  “It won’t be a problem for you because you’re going to pin it on us! I won’t let it happen.”

  This time, he stops for real. I know I’m pushing it, but he’s getting pretty close to the middle of the hall. I’m playing for time. As long as he hasn’t reached the pyramid, there’s some hope left.

  “It’ll be considered as a mishap. An honest mistake when using the device or a snap judgment made in the field. You will still be considered heroes, at least by those who know about the mission. Not many people will, which makes it even less relevant what anyone will think happened.”

  “I won’t go along with it. I’ll tell Mandollel, he’ll look at the device, we’ll cause a scene at the ceremony!“

  “Folke.” He steps toward me, and I fear I’ve gone too far. He places both hands on my shoulders and looks at me. His eyes are tender and the hands on my shoulders warm. “I believe you. You believe yourself, for now. I’ve been through this multiple times. You’ll see sense at the end. This is too important. You are too important. I can’t hurt or kill you and you can’t do anything that would force me to do so. I like you, respect you, but this is the way it will go. Trust me, I know.”

  He could just be saying that. I have no way of knowing if it’s true. He looks so sincere, but he also promised to listen and then slammed me against the wall right after. “There’s always a choice,“ I say as I notice something at the other end of the hall. “There, um, is always, I mean, the whole day, we, we tried and did team exercises and learned stuff!” I’m not even listening to what I’m saying.

  She’s there! The other Janitor. She’s walking toward the artifact from the opposite end of the hall, not paying any attention to us. Like she’s on a stroll. Is it a coincidence? Is anything, around here?

  Lictor shakes his head and smiles, interrupting me before my babbling turns too suspiciously incoherent.

  I’m trying to hold his gaze, keep him focused on me, stop him from turning away. “Wait! There’s something you must know. Something I learned on one of my own Rides!”

  That gets his attention. He stops and turns fully back to me. “What?”

  I lean closer. “I know that I can’t change your mind. But I won’t need to.” I’m speaking softly. Conspiratorially. Letting him in on something. “I met other people on my Rides. Made friends. Someone who will be able to handle even you. She will blow this all up in your face.”

  “She? Corum? She doesn’t know anything.”

  I let the smile creep up on my face. “Not Corum. I met her as well, but she’s not who I’m talking about. We have a system with her, and she’s right there behind you.”

  His eyes flick to the side, but he doesn’t turn to look. “You’re bluffing.”

  “I’ve finally understood how things work here. She’s standing right next to the pyramid, waiting for my signal. I’ll call her and she’ll touch it. Anything you will try, it won’t work. Even if you manage to get on a Ride, go on a hundred Rides, you’re late. She’s already seen what you’ll do once you’re out. Anything you learned, she will use against—“

  His teeth grind together so hard the sound makes me stop talking. He opens and clenches his fists. I don’t need to explain this to him. I’m honestly far from understanding how anything works here, but for the one iron-clad fact: who goes on the Ride first, wins.

  I change my tone back to soothing. “No one needs to know. We turn around and walk to the briefing room. I can steal the Gem from you or you can change your mind and give it to us, whichever way you want to play it. Whoever you want to keep happy. I’d side with Corum, myself.”

  He glares at me, shoulders tense. He hesitates and turns his head to look behind him. The lady Janitor waves at us happily from the artifact. She looks like she hasn’t got a care in the world. She has never been here before on any of the times we came through. Lictor’s blast must have shaken the whole building, though. I said I understood how things work here, but it’s obviously a lie. Still, I’m just happy she’s here now.

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  “All going according to plan?” she calls out to us.

  “Yes!” we both say at the same time.

  Lictor’s eyes go wide and flick back to me. He licks his lips and bites his lower lip. “You understand that if this turns out to be the wrong decision, everyone’s blood will be on your hands?”

  “The point is that no one should have blood on their hands. Not even you.”

  We’re hissing at each other, leaning our heads close. He lets out a fluttering breath and his nostrils flare.

  “Lictor, I want to give them and us a chance. So does the council. Ends don’t justify—“

  “I’m getting lectured by a kid,” he says, leaning away from me. He groans and turns away. He sees the other Janitor standing next to the pyramid and groans again, turning back. Her face is relaxed. Like she’s ready to stand next to the artifact as long as needed. “Fine. Fine, fine, fine.” He puts his hand in his pockets and shoves something in my hands.

  I grab it and take a look at the Gem through my fingers. Even the glimpse makes me woozy. I’m falling into my fist, eyes first. I press my eyes closed and shove the Gem into my pocket before I lose my balance. “Which way do you want to play it?”

  “No one will believe a Janitor getting outsmarted.” He states it like a fact, his face wrinkling before he smooths it out again. “Oh well, serves me right for picking the right people for the team. Doing good work never goes unpunished.”

  I pat him on the back. I don’t know what else to do.

  Lictor pushes open the door to the briefing room and starts talking right away. “This is where we begin for real. No need for introductions this time. You’ve all met each other enough times already. No point pretending.”

  Everyone is where they always are. Rworg on his sofa, Mandollel behind him, Finna opposite them both. Rworg startled when Lictor slammed the door open. He sits back down and seems to relax for the first time I’ve seen him. Mandollel smiles and nods at me, like you greet an old friend.

  I stare at his face, jovial and welcoming. Even after all this, there are still layers of deception that Lictor has folded on top of each other. I shake off the thought and nod back to Mandollel, before he starts to wonder why I’m hesitating.

  “Finally,” Finna says, and tosses the mass of tangled hair off her face. For once I can see her eyes clearly, though they still glare at Lictor.

  “You all think you know something about the mission, but that was to lay the groundwork. Try to forget everything I’ve told you on previous meetings. This time I’ll explain the whole mission, as it’s actually planned to happen.”

  “Does this mean you’ve deceived—” Rworg says.

  Finna turns her glare to Rworg. “Of course it does.”

  I’m standing behind Lictor, but sneak past him and go sit next to Finna. I get a glare as well. She doesn’t yet know how much things have changed. I’m so excited I nearly reach over to pat her on the back or even hug her, but come to my senses in time. I’m not sure if this is the first time we’ve met for real, so I decide to play it safe. She looks like she’d bite me.

  Lictor waits for everyone to settle down. “A lot has happened since we last talked.”

  Rworg frowns for a while, but then his eyes go wide. “Ah, while we waited, you used the artifact to—“

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Lictor interrupts him. “We trained with Folke and I introduced him to you three. You’ve learned to work together beautifully.”

  Then he explains it all over again. The Kertharian mages taking part in the war, the teleportation attack this night, and the Etherthorn Weave. Mandollel is shocked by the revelation about teleportation and Lictor talks him down. I have to admit he does what he does well. I tap my foot and mouth the words as Rworg gets in his comment about their madness burning the world. Lictor explains everything, passionately, like he was doing it for the first time. Finna seethes for the whole time, waiting for Lictor to tell us about killing every Kertharian on the other side of the border. She keeps getting more tense next to me on the sofa and I’m not sure if I should try to console her or wait it out.

  “You have your guesses on what’s going to happen to the Kertharians. We have barely hours before you go, so it’s now safe to tell all of you: we’re going to banish the Kertharians into the future. The device you’re carrying leverages the elven Time Gem to—“

  Lictor gets interrupted by Mandollel, Rworg and Finna snorting and shouting questions and groaning and rolling their eyes at the same time. He waves his hands around to silence everyone and points at me. “Folke can confirm all this.”

  I squeeze the Gem into my fist in my pocket. I nearly lose my train of thought as I realize how natural it feels not to have extra thumbs anymore. I focus and try to look serious. “It’s true. I’ve seen the original plans myself.”

  Finna snorts again. “You’re both full of—“

  “We’re not!” Lictor says. “Think about it. Tenorsbridge cripples itself by trapping the ether to save Kertharian lives! We could keep massacring every mage or squad that gets teleported over by using the Mountain Ride. We’re buying time to save the Kertharians from themselves. Killing a whole nation would be the easy and quick solution, but the wrong one. Why would we deserve to live instead of them, if we did something even more monstrous than they are doing now?”

  I can’t believe how full of spoor he is! I’m so conflicted it feels like I have to flex to keep sitting still and not start running around and punching everyone around me. He has probably practiced this version of the speech as well. Or maybe he has had to listen to someone argue for saving the Kertharians a hundred times over, and is now repeating what they said. He believes every word he says. Even I can’t avoid thinking so.

  Finna and Mandollel give each other a jubilant look. Even her mask breaks, the relief shining through the gruffness.

  Mandollel stands behind Rworg and pats him on the shoulder. He doesn’t even seem to realize he’s doing it. “I was prepared for whatever was necessary, but this is welcome news.”

  “You don’t find this hard to believe, elf?” Rworg asks, eyeing the hand still patting on his shoulder.

  “Elves play with time all the time anyway,” Finna cuts in. “He’s been boasting about that since he got here.”

  Mandollel’s hand stops and he raises it toward the ceiling, following the gesture with his gaze. “Once! Once I’ve mentioned—.”

  “Enough, enough,” Lictor says. “The device utilizes the Time Gem loaned to us. It feeds it with an enormous amount of mana. The mission is to follow a set of coordinates on the other side of the Kertharian border to calibrate the device and focus the effect. You have the plans and the route with you, so you can go over them once you’re there.”

  The others rise up. It seems I’m not going to get this explained to me in detail, but we’ll have plenty of time on the road for that.

  Lictor slaps his hands on his thighs and stands up as well. “Let’s go. For just this once, let’s not be late for the ceremony.”