Innovator: Adventure by Association the Everternia Saga Read online

  Her store, which doubled as her home, wasn’t designed to be an adventurer’s home, so it was light on personal accommodations.

  He let out a sigh that seemed to come from the depth of his soul. “Tragedy.”

  “I know. But it’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”

  “Do it soon,” he advised. “I have some seriously amazing things on the way. Things that will make you swoon, and make your eyes jiggle and dance.”

  She wasn’t sure she wanted her eyes doing that, but as a supportive friend she nodded agreeably. Just then, her necklace did a little jiggle, indicating an incoming communication. As soon as she activated it, Rex said, “I’m here. Where are you?”

  Glancing at James, she wondered if she should invite Rex to meet him. She liked the idea of her friends being friends. But how would Rex feel about the idea of being friends with a CM? He might view James as not really “real.” More importantly, she wondered about having two giant personalities together under one roof.

  It could be messy, and it might take a while to deal with the fallout. Nah, she’d try it another day. She and Rex had plans.

  “I’ll meet you at the bus stop,” she told Rex. “Be there in a few.”

  “Leaving so soon?” James pouted.

  “Sorry,” Sally answered with a smile. She knew his pout was just a tease.

  “Oh, I know, the life of an adventurer is always busy. You must do what you must do!” he declared. He kissed her on both cheeks, turned her toward the door, and gave her a little shove between the shoulder blades. “Go conquer the world, darling! Go on, shoo!”

  Waving and laughing, Sally hurried out.

  Rex was a big dude with a big laugh and a big face.

  Well, maybe not a big face, exactly, but his expressions were big. When he smiled, it was like a storm of sunshine and fireworks. When he frowned, it seemed like doom itself was unhappy.

  He was scowling as he sat at the bus stop. People gave him a very wide berth as they walked by.

  Sally skipped up to him and gave him a push on the shoulder. “Why frown?”

  He looked up at her and his expression eased. “Hey, Sal. It’s nothing big. Someone I know wanted me to go on a raid in the northern forest, but I’m bored with all that. Been there, done that, you know? He didn’t want to take no for an answer, though.”

  Sally had no particularly good answer to this, so she just said, “Oh.”

  “He’ll get over it,” Rex added. “So, our bus arrives in ten minutes, looks like. You all set?”

  She nodded and patted her backpack. “All set.”

  “Cool. I’ve never done the Myrtle Manor quest, so this ought to be fun.”

  She nodded again.

  He patted the bench next to him. “Pop a squat, girl.”

  She glanced at the bench, wondering what he wanted her to do. Based on the fact that it was a bench, she could only think of one obvious solution.

  She sat.

  Rex crossed one leg over the opposite knee and leaned back, resting his arms on the back of the bench.

  “Squat popped, boy,” she said, giving him a thumbs-up.

  He stared at her with a look of surprise, then laughed. “Fair enough.”

  She sensed she hadn’t gotten that quite right, but Rex tended to go along with it when she was odd. In fact, he seemed to like it.

  “You know what this town needs?” he asked.

  “I really do.” She had her own ideas, of course, but she wanted to hear his.

  “Snacks. All this outside space and no food vendors. It’s a steamin’ shame.” He shook his head, looking disappointed with the world.

  He was right. There was a veritable cornucopia of snacks that were not for sale in Reel.

  “Not many people here, though,” she noted. “Maybe it’s not worth it?”

  “Hey, you bring in some snacks that people want, and it will become worth it. This town’s dropping the ball.”

  Another phrase she didn’t understand. What did balls have to do with this?

  “So, Myrtle Manor,” he said, changing the subject. “It’s supposed to be pretty challenging.”

  “Like, fighting?” she asked. That wasn’t her favorite, so she hoped that whatever combat there might be, he’d be able to handle it.

  “Nah, not too much of that or I’d have done the quest already. More like, puzzle solving and stuff. I hear it’s spooky, too. Most people skip this one.”

  “You scared?” she asked.

  He made a sound like an engine venting stream. “Yeah, so scared. Digital ghosts are going to bite me in my booty.”

  Despite his words, his tone suggested that he had no actual concerns about the ghost situation.

  Sally hoped she got to meet at least one. She’d never met a ghost before.

  The bus arrived, rumbling and vibrating with the possibilities of all the places one could go. Before climbing the steps after Rex, Sally cast one last look around Reel, hoping for a sight of Nan.

  Nothing.

  Oh, well. To Myrtle Manor, then.

  2

  Rex stood from his bus seat. “Here’s our stop. Let’s go, big girl.”

  Sally hadn’t been able to convince him that riding the bus standing up, gripping a handle, was much more fun than making the journey while seated. Throughout the entire ride, he had just sat there. On a seat. Sitting.

  She didn’t mind that he was a bit boring on the bus, and she didn’t mind his odd nicknames for her, either. He said them as if they were fond little endearments, even though they were either boringly common words or strange combinations of words that didn’t quite fit. As someone who struggled with finding the right words, she sympathized with him, and knew that it was the spirit in which he said the words that mattered.

  It was okay if he called her “backpack babe” or “frankadanky.” She was pretty sure that second one wasn’t even a word. She knew he meant it in a good way.

  Actually, she should begin responding to him in the same way, to show him that she appreciated his efforts and to further cement their friendship.

  Following him off the bus, she said, “Sure thing, bus boy.”

  He paused, glanced at her, then shrugged.

  After a twenty-minute wait, they boarded a second bus, which eventually dropped them off on a country lane.

  As the bus rumbled off, Rex let out a low whistle. “Man, no wonder I never did this one. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

  What was he talking about? “Everywhere is somewhere,” she pointed out.

  “Yeah, I guess.” He checked his compass. “This way.” He started walking northeast, along the road.

  Sally admired the tall trees that flanked the opposite side of the path. To her right, she saw large expanses of open fields. Inhaling deeply, she smelled fresh air, cedar, and a multitude of herbaceous scents she couldn’t identify.

  She sneezed.

  “Gesundheit.” Rex patted her shoulder.

  Sally sniffled. “Weird that we would both sneeze at the same time like that.”

  In truth, his sneeze had sounded a little strange, but she didn’t want to draw attention to the fact.

  He barked out a laugh. “That’s what I like about you, boot girl. Even your sense of humor is different.”

  If he wanted to think she had intentionally made a joke, then she wouldn’t disabuse him of the notion. Maybe she was a natural comedy master who didn’t even have to try to be funny. Probably not, but in any case, he’d laughed, which was what mattered.

  “You think different is good?” she asked.

  “In a place where people are so predictable that I know everything they’re going to do ten steps ahead of them doing it? Yeah. Different is very good. I never know what to expect when I’m with you. I dig that.”

  She smiled. “You’re different, too. I also dig that.”

  He slowed down suddenly, causing her to get a step ahead of him on the dirt road. She paused so that he could catch up, and they continued walk
ing side by side.

  “You think I’m different?” he asked. Rather than his customarily loud, confident voice, his tone had become softer. Curious.

  “Yes,” she affirmed.

  He laughed again. “Care to elaborate?”

  Hmm, he wanted her to put words together. Usually, he was content with her short sentences, and filled in the conversational gaps himself.

  Now that she thought about it, he probably never even noticed how little she talked. He tended to say whatever came to mind and fill silences.

  Carefully, she said, “You like adventure so much that nothing scares you. You make…extreme choices. You live big.”

  Unable to articulate her thoughts better, she held her hands out as if grasping an armload of the clouds above. “See? Exciting fun.”

  A rueful smile curled his lips, then all his lip muscles got in on the action and formed a big grin. “That might be the nicest thing anyone ever said about me.”

  This time, it was Sally’s turn to pause. “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  She frowned. “That’s sad. Why?”

  He sighed, his smile falling away as he strode forward. “Eh. I’m always too big, too loud, too…everything. Just too much for most people. And I have a reputation for not making good decisions. It scares people off super fast.”

  His forehead crinkled. “Actually, I should probably tell you before you hear it from someone else—I’m generally considered bad news. You know, a piece of brrrlllrrroooo.” He coughed. “Sorry, language filter. I mean a piece of garbage.”

  Garbage? How could a person be garbage? Sure, there were times when he could use a good shower, but….oh. Her thoughts came together and she solved the puzzle. “Most mercs are bad, so most people don’t like them,” she said. “That’s not…not about you. They’re just being lazy.”

  He looked at her sideways. “Lazy? What do you mean?”

  Rats, he wanted more words. She’d already come up with a lot. Digging deep, she explained, “Lazy to not take time to know you first.”

  “You think if they got to know me, they’d decide I wasn’t garbage?”

  She nodded and snapped her fingers in agreement.

  “Maybe,” he said. “Maybe not. Either way, I’m glad you think I’m all right.”

  She nodded emphatically. “You’re all right, goat boy.”

  He squinted at her. “Goat boy?”

  It had felt like one of those moments where he slipped in one of his odd endearments for her. Since she liked goats—especially the baby ones—she’d thought “goat boy” was a good one. His face suggested that he didn’t like goats as much as she did.

  She shrugged. Did he know that the baby ones sometimes wore little baby goat pajamas? It was adorable. He needed to know about this.

  Before she could begin to explain, the path wound around a sharp bend, then dead-ended them right into a wrought-iron gate.

  “Huh.” Rex grabbed the gate and gave it a mighty shake.

  The gate must be mightier than his shake because it didn’t even squeak. What an impressive gate!

  Sally looked for a lock mechanism that she might be able to tease open, but no luck.

  Each side of the gate had a ten-foot hedge. Sally leaned close, examining it. Rex squared his shoulders and prepared to barge through it, but Sally caught his arm at the last second.

  “Look,” she said, pointing closely.

  Rex bent and peered. “Well, doot. Look at that.”

  Spiky, grape-sized burrs hung abundantly in the hedges. If they wanted to keep their skins on—and she sure did—there was no going through those.

  “So…what?” Rex threw his hands up in the air, annoyed.

  Since she knew the answer wasn’t in the places they’d already been, she forged ahead along the road, looking for a call box or perhaps a gardener’s shed.

  Instead, she found a neat break in the hedge half a kilometer from the gate. The hedge had been sculpted so perfectly into walls that the opening looked like a doorway.

  This time, Rex caught her arm. “Oh, nuh uh. No way.”

  “What?” She turned to peer up at him. “We should follow it.”

  “Nobody told me about any hedge maze, and that sure as steam is a hedge maze. Do you want to wander around in there for days? Because I don’t.”

  Sally craned her neck to see inside the maze, but with Rex’s firm hold on her bicep, she couldn’t see anything. “Mazes are puzzles,” she told him.

  “Yeah.” He scowled as if that was bad news.

  “Puzzles…” Words failed her. Gathering herself, she tried again. “Puzzles are my jam.”

  Hah. She’d said it with real authority, too.

  Rex’s mouth screwed up into a tight knot. “I don’t like feeling trapped, Sal. Are you sure you can get us through there without getting lost?”

  Sally smiled. “I got this. You know, more or less.”

  He sighed. “For a second, I believed you. Now, I’m just scared.”

  Sally’s smile widened. “Best way to start.”

  He closed his eyes, looking pained. “I thought I was the crazy one.” Opening his eyes, he heaved out a breath and nodded grimly. “All right. Let’s do it.”

  “Okay. One sec.” Sally slid one arm out of her backpack so she could rummage around in it.

  “Wait, you have cutters in there, don’t you? Yeah! We can just slice our way through this maze. I should have trusted you.”

  Instead of machinery, though, Sally extracted a small writing tablet and a pencil.

  Rex frowned. “Nobody’s cutting through anywhere with those.”

  “Yes, we are.” She shook the book and pencil at him. “These are more powerful than anything.”

  Without waiting to see if he followed, she stepped into the labyrinth.

  A way forward and a way backward. Sally looked from one to the other, wondering which would be the best way to start.

  They looked the same, and since she wasn’t one to second-guess herself, she continued forward. If she’d meant to go the other way, surely she would have turned that direction first. If she had, it would have been the way forward, and the path she now walked would be the way back.

  Piece of cake. She practically had this solved already.

  At least, until she came to the first real choice of left, right, or straight. That complicated things significantly. She drew the options in her notepad, then looked to Rex for his input.

  He arched his eyebrows. “Oh, naw, don’t look at me. This one’s all you. You said you had this. Let’s see you get it.”

  He made a grand bow, with a sweeping gesture that encompassed the three possible paths.

  She blew out an exasperated breath so exuberantly that her lips bounced, making a pblllt sound. It seemed appropriate, and she quite liked it, so she did it again, but this time deliberately and pointedly. Pbblllllllllt.

  Rex grinned, his eyes sparkling.

  She couldn’t help it. His smile was too infectious. She smiled back.

  Choosing the straight path, she followed it until it branched out into another left, right, or straight decision. Pausing, she sketched out what they’d seen, then again chose the middle path, which again bloomed into the same three choices.

  “You think if we just keep going straight, we can go directly to the manor? Because that’d be cool,” Rex mused.

  Sally shook her head. “Not that easy.”

  “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

  All told, they followed the straight back five times before they came to a large fountain situated in a large, round space, surrounded by hedges. It was quite pretty, really.

  She walked around the fountain, admiring it. It was a geometrical wonder of water and rock. At the top, a small carved-rock cube filled and spilled over its sides into a slightly larger cube. The second cube then overflowed into a third one that was larger still. From there, the water flowed through a series of four stone spheres, and finally over three shallow triangle sh
apes. At the base, the final triangle was quite large—probably taller than Sally.

  Yes, it was pretty, and a feat of engineering, and even quite pleasant to listen to. But they were here to solve a maze, not enjoy the scenery.

  “Can you climb it?” she asked Rex, looking up at the water feature.

  “Wouldn’t that be cheating?” he asked.

  “It’s a puzzle,” she reasoned. “Whatever solves a puzzle is the answer.”

  “Sounds good to me.” He kicked off his boots, set his backpack near Sally’s feet, and peeled off his shirt. He paused. “Hang on. What if it’s booby-trapped?”

  Sally shrugged. “You’ll find out soon.”

  “Thanks for your concern!” he exclaimed sarcastically. “Wow.”

  “You’ve died for dumber reasons,” she reminded him. He’d said that more than once, and she felt like it could be his motto.

  “Yeah, you’ve got me there. All right, up I go, then. But it’s going to really stink if I break my neck, die, and have to use a godsend to regenerate and run back here to my body. You’d be sitting here watching the specter of death over me for a really long time.”

  “Don’t die,” she advised.

  “Thanks,” he grumbled, then began carefully climbing up the water feature.

  As she watched him climb, she wondered if she should try getting a godsend. Jin had said he was worried about how it would interact with her code, since she had two types instead of just one. As much as she wanted to solve that puzzle and wonder why that might be, he’d also told her that the less she knew about such things, the safer she was.

  It was maddening, like getting the answer “porcupine” without knowing what the question was. The more she tried not to think about the porcupine, the more she couldn’t avoid thinking of it.

  What was in her code that might become problematic if she earned a godsend? Without one, she’d be in trouble if she died. Jin could help, and he said she could call him whenever she wanted, but so far she hadn’t taken him up on that offer.

  Maybe she should.

  “Sally.” Hands pressed on her shoulders.

  She blinked. Rex suddenly loomed over her, peering into her face.