Chapter 216

Mantle was a big place. Like, a huge city—the capital of the Deepshunters. Larger even than Treyhull. The city spilled down the gigantic mountainside in a flurry of colors, growing denser the farther they went. The city did, after all, have the protection of Enzo d’Celestin himself, and the rest of the High Officers of the Guild, making it one of the safest places to live inside the dangerous, shifting realms that were the Fractures. Thus, ‘regular folk’ flocked to it for a number of reasons.

Getting lost in the crowd wasn’t difficult. Zoey was somewhat worried Rosalie, famous figure as she was, would struggle to maintain her anonymity, but this wasn’t the modern-day reality she was used to. People knew of ‘Rosalie d’Celestin,’ the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, spear-wielding daughter of Enzo, but essentially no one—in terms of civilians—had seen her in person.

As such, the four of them were just faces in the crowd. They explored the city briefly before finding a tavern to grab food at. Like usual, they took a booth in the corner of the establishment, and Maddy threw up a sound-dampening illusion. That was a smart idea in almost any circumstance, considering how their conversations tended to veer, both professionally and, uh, less professionally. Today’s talk would include a number of sensitive topics. It was their first chance for a big team discussion since Lucinda’s intervention.

“Alright,” Delta said, pushing her cleaned-off plate forward with a satisfied sigh. She had piled the food down; she must have been hungry. “No more chit chat. Time to get to the real stuff. All four of us got new skills. Seeing how we’re involved with a literal deity, and dealing with the end of the world, I think we’re a little past being stingy with what they do. So let’s hear ‘em.”

“Um,” Maddy said. “End of the world?”

The three of them froze.

“Uh,” Delta said slowly, clearly trying to come up with an excuse for her slip-up. “I meant that ... metaphorically?”

Zoey rolled her eyes at the clumsy attempt at a recovery. “She needs to know, anyway. Was just waiting till we finished a shard with her. I guess now is as good a time as any.” If admittedly, she wished they could have handled it more tactfully than Delta accidentally blurting it out. “Especially now that we’re in Mantle.” She faced Maddy, bracing herself for the long explanation.

This wasn’t the first time Zoey had been through this conversation, so she had a better grasp on how to handle it. She laid the situation out for Maddy. The shard eaters. Ephy. And so on. She trusted Maddy by this point, and wanted her to stay on the team—so honesty was required, at least as far as Zoey was concerned.

“But none of that is all that relevant, right now,” Zoey concluded with. “Realistically, our immediate future is just getting stronger, exploring shards. Like a normal team. There’s some other stuff that only I have to worry about.” Like Aria and Ephy’s demand to grow a following. “But I wanted to tell you, if you were gonna stick with us. Since it’s a big deal.”

“No kidding,” Maddy said, rubbing her forehead with a baffled look. “I guess it does answer a lot of my questions.”

The mage stewed over the announcement for a few seconds, then, finally, shrugged nonchalantly, picked up her fork, and took another bite of her food.

“So, skills?” Maddy asked after swallowing. “All four of us moved up in advancement, right?”

Zoey blinked at her.

Well.

Maddy was from the Sovereign. Hardly some random wayfarer pulled off the street. Zoey guessed she was better braced to take astounding news than most people. Despite her apparent lack of concern, though, she knew Maddy would be chewing over the announcement for a while. Accepting things at face value and truly digesting them were different matters altogether.

Delta also snorted at Maddy’s reaction. “The skill I got is the coolest out of everyone’s,” she said, moving past the heavier topic, “so I can go first.”

“You don’t even know what ours are,” Rosalie pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter. Mine is still the coolest. Yes, even better than Zoey’s.” The foxgirl twitched. “Though, I am curious what you got, like always.”

Zoey paused. “One of them is pretty ... interesting.” Her brow furrowed. “But not in the usual way. It’s different from anything we’ve seen so far.” And because of that, she had been looking forward to a moment where she could discuss it with her team. “The other is pretty cool in a more normal way, though.” That one, she was excited to work with Maddy on.

Delta, as the rest of the team, was obviously interested by the foreshadowing. Rosalie already knew Zoey’s abilities—she had been the one to read them, obviously—but the others didn’t. Zoey insisted, “You go first though.” Delta had sounded genuinely excited to share.

The grin slipped back on. “Alright,” she said. “You ready?”

Rosalie looked around. “As long as you aren’t about to cause a bunch of property damage, or something. We have a reputation to maintain in Mantle. It’s not like Treyhull, where we’ll be leaving soon. We’re here for the foreseeable future.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Check it out.” She scooted to the right, pressing her shoulder into Rosalie’s and making space on the seat to her left. Her face screwed up briefly in concentration, and a shadowy figured started to come fuzzily into existence. In less than a second, it finished manifesting.