“He’s awake now, I think,” Val’s voice said.

  “Can you hear us?” Luneth’s voice said.

  Neverwyrd’s dark magic streets fading away, replaced by an electric cabin and Val’s visage.

  “Yeah.” I rubbed my eyes. “I went somewhere else there for a minute. How long were you guys out?”

  “A minute? Try half an hour! No one else passed out, just you. You missed dessert Daniel!”

  “It was like a weird, bad dream.”

  I remembered Maea telling me someone was coming for me and shuddered. We shuffled out from the guest room where Val had dragged me and greeted the Sun svark family again.

  “We have saved you dessert friend Daniel!” Mama Sun announced. “Flara, go get the pie from the charger. How are you feeling?”

  “A little groggy,” I said. “About dessert, not sure I’m--”

  “We’ll help him finish it if needed,” Val cut in.

  Flara came back with the slice of quantapple pie plated and set it in front of me. A snarling crackle of electricity pooled on the crust then fizzed off. I glanced at Val and Luneth.

  “I’m not sure I should be eating more of this. I might pass out again.”

  “Dude. Live a little!” Val teased and she took the fork and ate a few bites then passed it to Luneth.

  “You sure?” he asked and I nodded.

  “What’s wrong friend Daniel!? You don’t like the pie?!”

  “It’s not that. It just upset my stomach…”

  “You have a special reaction to quanta, friend Daniel, do you know that? It’s nothing to be ashamed of. My nana used to say, Some people the universe just wants to chat with more. You seem like one of those people!”

  I glanced out the window nervously. There were strange green lights floating above the sun trees out there. The evening was late. Something is coming for you. I stood, chair crackling, while Val and Luneth still ate at the remainder of the pie.

  “I’m really sorry, but we must be heading on,” I said lamely, trying to discretely pull Val and Luneth up.

  “Really delicious,” Val said grabbing the half-pie piece in hand as she stood.

  “But you didn’t see the sunflower maze!” Flara protested.

  “Or the scarecrows!”

  “Or meet the animals!”

  Running back down the electric path under which flows of current went like coils. I could see the green lights above the trees in the distance. They were becoming more obvious as night fell.

  “Daniel!” Val hissed when she caught up to me. “What’s gotten into you?!”

  “I just have a really bad feeling, okay? Can you trust me on this?”

  She nodded and pushed harder, speeding up. Me and Luneth flew so Val was the pacing one. We reached the orchard’s edge in five minutes and I carried Val back. We went into the Navigation Room finding Captain Lorlux in conversation with the other man Tanzan.

  “I see,” said the purple-haired raider. “I’ll consider it, anyway.”

  “Greetings Daniel. Luneth.” Tanzan rose to leave, but before he did Lorlux said, “Luneth, I’ll make you the same offer I just gave Tanzan. Crew. We do things equal here on the Fool’s Errand.”

  He gave Luneth a breakdown of the crew responsibilities, similar to what I’d gotten.

  “Sir,” I cut in. “With all due respect, I have a really bad feeling. Can we head out?”

  Lorlux croaked, then nodded. “Say no more.”

  He announced into the intercom for Sleipnir to disable the [Floating Anchor] and start the engines. Then he hopped up the ladder to the helm without a second glance at us. A minute later we were moving. After the business with the [Lithic Apex Mimic] everyone was on edge and operating at peak efficiency. We’d almost been trapped forever. I glanced at Luneth, sitting quietly at the navigation room table.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “What was so good about Stonestomach anyway? We’ve got better amenities at the Fool’s Errand it seems to me. No offense.”

  The moonfolk smiled sadly. “You never met her, so you wouldn’t know. My fiance was back in Stonestomach. Clorandine is her name.”

  “That’s the name you said in the toast back at the orchard.”

  “She’s still alive Daniel! I know that for sure since the [Grace Prophecy] went through.”

  If I could just ask Maea who is coming for me. I thought that would be the right question. Why did I waste the whole hour being all woe-is-me?! I went to see Wilia. She was working in the kitchen. Out of respect, many of Brufo’s things were still hanging the way he’d liked them, pots I’d never seen Wilia use.

  It was all very fresh for us still. She stopped scrubbing a wok and set it aside and took off her gloves and we sat at the kitchen table.

  “How are you holding up Daniel?”

  “Pretty good, I guess,” I said, then remembered how I was acting in Neverwyrd. “Actually, I’m upset, Wilia. I lost my friend. I…I fear I could have saved him.”

  She gave me a sad smile and rubbed my hand. “You don’t have to think like that. I have stuff like that too. He asked if I wanted to accompany him for the parlay too, you know.”

  I glanced out the window.

  “What do you keep looking for out there!? It’s creeping me out Daniel.”

  “Tell me about it,” I sighed. “I had an experience Wilia. I drank a tea made from those quantapples like that one on the counter there--” I pointed to where the quantapple I’d given her lay in a bowl of fruit “--and passed out basically. I had a dream of a place called Neverwyrd. There was an angel there who told me something was coming for me…”

  “What?”

  “What do you mean What?”

  “What’s coming for you Daniel?”

  “I tried to ask that, but the dream cut off before--”

  Wilia was rolling her eyes.

  “It’s true!” I protested.

  “Suuuuure it was. You couldn’t just ask for one bit of more information about something coming for you? Also, something’s pretty much always coming for us out here, right?”

  “What would it take for you to make me some quantea?!” I asked desperately. “Or try to anyway…”

  “Well I don’t know that recipe,” she said hesitantly then broke into a big smug grin. “But I love tea! I’ll do some research at the library and see if I can help you out Daniel!”

  She picked up the quantapple and sniffed it. “Mmm. Pretty fresh still. With just one quantapple how much of this can I really make?”

  I glanced out the window again, but this time to see if we were still close to the Orchard of Suns. We were passing the northern edge of the property now, beginning to glister in starlight.

  “If it helps we can get a couple more!”

  Wilia immediately took a bite of the apple. “Mmm…smooth.”

  She offered it to me. “No thanks, I might pass out again or whatever.”

  “You sure? You’d get your answer, right?”

  “I’ve got something better in mind. Are you up for a little foraging expedition?”

  I carried Wilia over to the edge of the orchard and together we began picking quantapples quietly. One from each tree, no more. I kept darting up above the trees to see if any of the svarks were coming. Wilia had filled her apron about halfway with apples by the time I saw lightning leap from the house.

  “They’re coming now! Let’s go!” I hissed, grabbed her and flying away.

  We got back to the airship giggling. Wilia had eaten one of the apples as we flew back and it had caused her to wink in and out of existence in a blur of pixels every few seconds. She called it digital hiccups. As soon as I touched down she offered me a bite and I took it. I didn’t pass out.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Still here.”

  “Good! Well, not good. That means I’ll actually have to learn a quantea recipe for you. But, I’m glad you’re here.”

  Tanzan waved at us. I hugged Wilia awkwardly then went to my quarters. She went on to the library, presumably to see if quantea was mentioned in the local books. I was close to a skill myself. Or a Perk, or a Trait. Come to think of it I didn’t know what Level 15 brought. I began to page through one of the skill books I’d pulled from the library when a shadow fell across my doorway.

  It was Val. She looked strange, shy. She came in twirling her hair absently and closed the door then looked at me.

  “Tanzan’s a spy,” she said suddenly. “I’m pretty sure about it. Not necessarily a bad spy. I think I know him from my…earlier life. Maybe he’s on the run, but more probably he was in on those Hunters that got Brufo. I…probably could have told you that yesterday, but I want you to know now at least.”

  “Thanks,” I said honestly. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

  “Good.” She gave me a hard smile that immediately set me on edge. “What kind of guy were back in your precious Ellay Daniel?”

  “What!?”

  “Like, did you have girlfriends? Did you treat them right? Did you know the rules of the game? Did you take a girl on a moonlight romp just after kissing another one? That sort of thing.”

  I blushed. “No, it wasn’t--well, I guess I need to be honest with you, too.”

  I sat up and gestured for her to sit beside me. Mossy tried to sit in the spot I’d just cleared for her, so I snatched him and held him in my lap.

  “When I passed out back there at the Sun orchard, I saw this angel Maea. The one I’d seen before. Do you remember at your Trial, how that purple angel helped us? Her. She told me…She told me to say goodbye. She told me something was coming for me.”

  “Coming for you? Why for you?”

  “I tried to ask, but I was coming to just then, and I couldn’t say it in time. So I want Wilia to make some more quantea, so I can ask the angel that question. Wilia and I were gathering ingredients for quantea. That’s all we were doing, Val.”

  Valietta sniffed, and smiled broadly, and laced her fingers through my hand. “Okay. Thanks for telling me Daniel.”