Laughter filled the sewers, and we turned to see Edge and his six men with guns trained on us. Though they fought together, their clothes clashed. While Edge looked the part of a street partisan with his black trenchcoat and blue kevlar body armor, like me, the rest were likely wearing whatever they’d had on when BioZone agents rounded them up, save for a magic pendant here and a techno-bandana there. Three of them had assault rifles, the others had handguns, though one had a Civil War era single shot rifle.

  Let me come back to the techno bandana. One of assault riflers—Kebab – Level 10—wore grey sweatsuit pants, a Led Zeppelin Icarus angel t-shirt, and a white bandana that flashed words across it. Right now it read, “You’re dead meat.” The words disappeared for a half second and more reappeared, “On my skewer.”

  KEEL: You need me. You need me now. We must hunt, Will!

  I didn’t wait to consider my options. In a moment, my knife was back out and my legs pumping toward Kebab.

  “I’m with you!” yelled Kiara, and I could see the shepherd’s crook shield bar at the bottom of my vision dropping fast.

  The bullets started to rain down, but nothing reached us through the shield.

  Before I could get to any of them, I saw Trix’s eyes go blue and a level 2 guy named Pillman, wearing a black puffer jacket and green Pumas, turned his weapon on the guy with the antique rifle and gunned him down.

  At the same time, Kiara lit up a muscular assault rifler named Bagman – level 9, dropping his health by half. Bagman backed up, rifle out, panic firing.

  Edge roared in anger, pulled a trident out of his inventory, and stabbed Pillman through the chest, felling him. I noticed Edge grin as he stood over Pillman and wondered what ability he was harvesting.

  By the time I reached Kebab, the shield from the shepherd’s crook was gone. I slammed on Turtle, figuring I wouldn’t face anything more dangerous than seven gunmen in a sewer today. Kebab tried to fire at me again, but his gun jammed.

  I laughed along with Corporal Keel as the knife speared Kebab, taking his health down by half. He dropped his jammed gun and slashed at me with a switchblade, carving a long gash down my forearm. Through Turtle, I barely felt it. I pulled my knife out of his chest and then slashed his neck. Kebab dropped to the ground, and my health was topped back up. I looted his headband and dropped it in my inventory.

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  KEEL: Give me more blood!

  Kiara hit Bagman again, and he kept backing up.

  Trix’s psy points dropped as a bearded level 2 gunman named Cooker turned and fired on Bagman. Bagman was forced to turn his attention to Cooker. With one spray, from Bagman, Cooker was roasted. He squawked and fell awkwardly, his head hitting the tile and his body coming to a rest halfway in the water.

  Only three gunmen were left now: Edge, Bagman, and Pusher.

  Bagman was limping, and bleeding bad. Kiara targeted him again with a Magic Smack. It looked like it would for sure hit him, but at the last moment he twisted away and the magic energy hit harmlessly against the sewer wall. Kiara fired another shot, and this one connected. Bagman collapsed on the tiles with a scream. At the same time, Kiara screamed and grabbed at her temple.

  KIARA: I’m hit.

  TRIX: You’re okay, babe. You’re just getting a prison tattoo for taking down Bagman.

  KIARA: Prison tattoo? I knew I shouldn’t have killed anyone.

  I looked up to see Edge and Pusher – Level 11 – with assault rifles out. They both fired on me and my health plunged to the red, even through Turtle. Edge’s weapon jammed, and he crouched down to take out the clip. Without Keel’s voice in my ears, I would have bolted, but Keel wanted blood, and that meant, somehow, that I wanted blood. I sprang at the gunners. Kiara hit me with one and then two heals as Pusher continued to fire, riddling me with bullets.

  My Turtle countdown timer was down to six seconds when I reached Pusher. I used the Charge ability I’d taken from Jagger and dove into the gunman, spearing him through as Kiara Magic Smacked him to the face. He fell to the ground, with the hunting knife sticking out of his chest as Turtle timed out. Pusher’s health was blinking red.

  KEEL: Let me kill this one.

  I ran a finger over the locking mechanism at the bottom of the weapon and wondered what Keel looked like.

  KEEL: Yes! Now don’t tease me, Will. Slide that way again, with force this time. I will kill for you!

  I was about to follow Keel’s command when I felt a hand on my arm and looked over to see Trix.

  TRIX: Breathe, Will.

  I forced myself to inventory the knife and then shook like I was coming down from Z. I’d almost lost control that time.

  Edge slammed a new clip into his assault rifle and grinned, revealing a gleaming gold tooth in a sea of white.

  Trix’s psy points dropped to zero as she spoke to Edge. “You take another shot and Pusher is dead.”

  Edge laughed, hinting at nervousness. “You think you can bargain with Edge?”

  But he didn’t fire. He was lost in Trix’s eyes, which glowed bluer than I’d seen yet. I wondered how long this could last. Kiara caught Trix’s play and held out Brinkley’s staff, strengthening Trix’s manipulation spell.

  “You don’t want to lose your last wingman, and we all may need each other to get out of this quadrant. We’ll even leave the gear of the fallen to you. What’s it gonna be, Edge?”

  Sweat beaded on Edge’s forehead as he looked in Trix’s eyes and thought it through. Though standing, tense, his gun ready to fire—he looked disoriented. Still locked on Trix’s eyes, he lowered the weapon. “I accept. The next time we meet, Edge fights with you.”