Looking down, she found Errol's hands to be empty and the cat to be  boiling. Vanessa straightened and looked to Kendra, closest to the  sticks. "Hurry, get him another gravity stick!"

"You can only hold  one at a time," Warren said, stepping toward her. Too close. Too close  with a sword and an expression that was not Warren's; it was deadly and  angry and full of betrayal.

"Then back off!" Vanessa held up her spear in defense.

Warren  soared into the air, but Vanessa had her gaze locked downward on the  churning, rolling mass of black flesh. The gravity sticks were too far  away. What if the cat regenerated too quickly?

"Errol, get up," she commanded.

With  a groan, the magician pushed himself to his feet, hunched and in  tatters. Vanessa winced. He would be lucky if he survived the night.

"On  my back." Vanessa turned and hunched down. Errol climbed up, and  Vanessa tipped the gravity stick completely upside down, propelling them  up and away from the reforming cat.

As they reached the twenty  feet mark, their momentum lagged and soon they were slipping down. The  gravity stick was still upturned. Fear laced its way into Vanessa's  mind. Errol's weight was pulling them down.

Straight below them,  the cat roared. It was bigger, more muscular. A panther. The cat's nose  twitched. It smelled its dinner incoming.

And it wasn't going to be Vanessa.

"Let go of me!" Vanessa shouted. Their descent stayed firm, and Errol clung to her desperately. His screams deafened her.

But, they had already gotten too close to the cat's range.

The  panther jumped and sunk its claws into Errol, pulling them both down.  Together, they hit the catwalk hard, and Vanessa rolled away, turning  her gravity stick, kicking off, and shooting far away to where Kendra  and Warren floated.

Within seconds, the panther devoured Errol. She had seen this coming. She had known it was going to end like this.

It still stung.

"I  have the spear; you have the sword," Vanessa panted, her voice  unsteady. How much more did she have in her? How much more guilt? How  much more death? "The guardian probably has several more lives. How  about that truce?"

"Why did you betray us?" Kendra accused. Her  juvenile face held such anger in her eyebrows, and Vanessa sighed.  Kendra had no clue about the forces stacked against her. Of the Sphinx  moonlighting on both sides. She didn't know how hopeless resistance was.

"One  day those I serve will rule all," Vanessa said. "I do no more harm than  I must. At present, our needs align. We must defeat the guardian to  escape this place, and neither of us will succeed alone."

"And once we have the artifact?" Warren asked.

"We'll  be fortunate to be alive and to have reached the next crossroads,"  Vanessa said. Her eyes lingered on Warren's knitted eyebrows. He still  didn't trust her. But, why should he? "I can give you no further  assurances."

"Defeating this guardian will be no small task," Warren admitted. "What do you say, Kendra?"

Vanessa  watched the wheels turn in Kendra's head. When she had first met the  child, she had wondered why the Sphinx wanted her involved. Now, she  knew. At just thirteen, Kendra packed a punch many seasoned adventurers  lacked.

Kendra's eyes scanned Vanessa but returned to Warren. "I don't trust her."

"A  little late for that," Vanessa said. Sue her, okay? She thought it was  funny. Really, why were they still debating on trust? Obviously no one  trusted each other, but teamwork was necessary.

"You were supposed to be my teacher and my friend," Kendra said. "I really liked you."

Vanessa  grinned despite herself. She had never had a confrontation with one of  her victims before, and this rehashing had dashed her patience and  empathy to tatters. But, Vanessa had truly never meant to harm Kendra.  It was just collateral. Nothing personal.

"Of course you liked  me," Vanessa said. She rubbed the bruise on her arm. "In the spirit of  teaching, here's a final piece of instruction. I used the same approach  when we met as Errol did. I rescued you from a supposed threat in order  to build trust. Of course, I helped set up the threat. I visited your  town the night before the kobold showed up at your school and bit your  homeroom teacher while she slept. Later, the kobold put a tack on her  chair to put her to sleep, then I took over and gave you quite a scare."

"That was you?" Kendra said.

"We  had to make sure you had ample reason to accept Errol's help. And then,  once you realized Errol was a threat, I came to your rescue."

"What happened to Case?" Kendra asked.

"The kobold? He's off on some new mission, I presume. His purpose was merely to alarm you."

"Is Mrs. Price all right?"

"She'll be fine, I'm sure," Vanessa said. "We meant her no harm. She was a means to an end."

"I'm  not sure I get the moral of this lesson," Warren said. His voice was  hard and he narrowed his eyes at Vanessa. "Don't trust people who help  you?"

"More like, be careful who you trust," Vanessa answered. She  felt the weight each word held. To Kendra, this was banter. To Warren  and Vanessa, this was the culmination of years of melding into each  other and being ripped apart at the end. "And don't cross the Society.  We're always a step ahead."

"So we shouldn't team up," Kendra said.

"You  have no other choice," Vanessa laughed darkly. "Neither do I. None of  us can flee. If we fight each other, none of us will leave here alive.  You can't afford to pass up my help defeating the guardian. Nor can I  afford to pass up yours. And, albino or not, Warren is looking paler by  the minute."

Kendra looked down at the panther. She glanced at Warren. "What do you think?"

Vanessa  studied his face. What did he think? He knew Vanessa's fighting  capabilities. He had to know there was no winning without her.

He sighed. "Honestly, we'd better work with her to kill the cat. Even with a combined effort, it will be a challenge."

"Okay," Kendra said.

Vanessa smothered her satisfied smile and turned her gaze to Kendra's hip. "Anything good in the pouch?"

"Probably, but we don't know one potion from another," Kendra said.

"I'm  not sure I could be much help discerning potions," Vanessa said. She  looked at Warren. The makeshift shirt bandage around his abdomen might  have once been white, but it had incardined into a deep, bloody red.  Sweat soaked his rippling muscles as he grimaced. Not a bad sight. "Your  shirt is soaked."

"I'm all right. Better than Christopher."

Vanessa pursed her lips. That was low. "I'm quite good with a sword."

"I can hold my own," Warren replied, hand on the hilt.

"Fair  enough, finders keepers," she said. He knew she was better. He didn't  want her at her best, if she turned against him. His see-through  reasoning stung. But, whatever. Made sense. "Patience is our best  weapon. If we do this right, we can dispatch it without ever touching  the ground."

Together, they moved like a well-oiled machine and  dispatched two more lives. Even at their worst, together, they became  their best.

Until one of the poisonous snakes from the cat's head  nipped Warren's ankle. Exhaustion pinned him down, and the skin under  his torn pant leg appeared green. He wasn't looking good. Worse by the  minute.

"You'd better lend me the sword," Vanessa said. "It will not be a gentle venom."

"One of these potions counteracts poison," Kendra said.

"And probably five of them are poison," Vanessa replied. "Time is essential, Warren. I'll need you with me as we face the final forms."

I need you to survive—even if we leave here bathed in hatred for each  other. I need you alive, out there, hating me with all you got. But,  you need to stay alive.

They held eye contact and she poured sincerity into gaze. He always knew what she was thinking.

He gave her the sword.

Alone, she dispatched one more form, and retrieved the spear.

The  eighth life birthed, complete with two heads. It looked good for them,  until a head sprayed a black sludge that caught Warren across his body.  He screamed and collapsed on the catwalk.

Vanessa felt her pulse in her ears as she ran to his side. Kendra fell beside her. No.

Charred skin crackled as he twisted in pain. "Acid, or something," he muttered feverishly, eyes wild.

No, no, no, no.

Vanessa cut open his pant leg. Green and blue patches covered a swollen ankle the size of a baseball. Oh god. Oh no. No. No!

What would her mother say? Pray?

Why  was she even thinking about that right now? Vanessa didn't know, but  she closed her eyes for a brief second and sent a plea to a god she  didn't believe in.

"We can't get him out of here?" Kendra's voice rose higher, full of panic.

"The tower will not let us leave without the artifact," Vanessa said, slow and steady. "A safeguard to protect its secrets."

"Can any traps be worse than that thing?"

"Yes,"  Vanessa said. "The traps that prevent a premature exit will be rigged  to cause certain death. The guardian can be defeated; the traps probably  cannot. Hand over the potion pouch. Warren is dying. Blind luck is  better than none." Vanessa began considering various bottles, uncapping a  few to sniff them. Below, the panther heads roared. She needed  something. Please, God. Please.

"No potions," Warren gasped below them like a dead man. "Give me the spear."

Absolutely not. The audacity? Vanessa side eyed Warren's grasping hand. "You're in no condition—"

He pushed himself to a sitting position. "The spear," he repeated.

Vanessa  ignored him and rifled through the potion bag. "This might buy you  time," Vanessa said, holding up a bottle. "I think I recognize the  potion. It has a distinctive odor. It will transform your body to a  gaseous state. During that time, poison will not spread, acid will not  burn, and blood will not flow."

She held it out to him, and his eyes flicked downward. This was it. Did he trust her?

I will not let you die, I promise.

Vanessa never said the words she needed to.

Lips twisting into a grimace, Warren shook his head. He didn't trust her.

With a tight mask of control, she handed over the spear.

He  rolled off the catwalk and plummeted to the mighty two-headed cat. With  the force of a dying, free-falling man, he impaled the cat between its  heads and collapsed on the floor next to it.

Kendra snatched the  gaseous potion and flew to his side. Vanessa followed and tugged at the  spear in the cat as Kendra poured the cloudy juice into Warren's  unconscious mouth.

Was it all going to end today?

Maybe. But, not quite yet.