Seth bolted up, heart in his throat. Wait no, that actually was bile. He turned, blindly reaching out for something, and found a plastic bowl within reach. He grabbed it just in time, for his stomach immediately threw a tantrum and regurgitated everything from now to last week.

"Bleeegh!"

He curled around the bowl as if it were the only thing keeping him from floating out into space. He wasn't sure why he was sick. Nor was he entirely sure where he was. His mind was too fuzzy and his guts too unhappy.

"Take it easy," soothed a familiar voice. Someone patted his back, before rubbing in large circles. It helped, and some of the fog began to lift.

"Beakor?" he mumbled.

"That's right, kiddo."

He frowned at the mess in the bowl. "Are we at your place?"

"Nope. This hovel is all yours."

"Oh."

Very slowly, the light bulb in his mind began to glow with a weak light. There had been something about Mrs. Beakor staying over to watch him while he was logged in to Eliona. He hadn't been too fond of the idea, but now, considering his condition, he supposed he didn't have any room to argue.

"You all right, kiddo?"

His head felt about a hundred pounds too heavy as he turned it towards her. She had somehow pulled the easy chair from his living room and plopped it beside his bed. It made an already tiny room absolutely cramped.

He blinked slowly. Wait a second...

He didn't own an easy chair.

"Did you-" he paused, wet cracked lips, then continued, "did you haul that chair over from your apartment?!"

A slow, unsettling grin spread across her face.

"Don't worry about it," she patted his knee. That only made him worry about it even more. "You finished with that?"

Seth considered the bowl. He still didn't feel very good, like he'd eaten three turkeys too much, but his stomach seemed to have settled.

"I think so."

"Good. Go clean yourself up."

She took the bowl and left his room.

Seth rubbed at his eyes. When he peered at the clock, he almost fell out of bed. It was nearly eleven o clock, almost a full hour after his alarm was supposed to go off. Had she turned it off?

"Thanks a lot," he grumbled. Now he only had a mere hour to get ready and bike across town to get to the Grubbery in time for his shift.

Still muttering under his breath, he dragged himself out of bed. A shower helped him feel human again, and by the time he went into the living area, he felt mostly okay if he ignored the ever-present weariness and bloated feeling.

Mrs. Beakor already had coffee brewing and was pulling out things from his fridge that definitely weren't there last night. Did she somehow go grocery shopping in the middle of the night, too? Was that before or after she had lugged furniture around?

"Take a seat, kiddo." She jabbed a bony finger at the table. "You're gonna have a proper breakfast today."

Seth grimaced. "Not really hungry."

"Coffee will be ready in a minute." She didn't seem to have heard him.

He flopped into a chair, knowing there was no point arguing. He leaned his head on a palm and watched as she set about making some kind of smoothie. It should have been weird having the weird neighbor lady from downstairs taking over his kitchen, but oddly enough, it wasn't.

Maybe he was just used to her barging in and doing whatever and wherever she pleased.

I never did give her a key to my apartment either, he mused. Though if he had, he wasn't even sure she'd use it. What use was a key to someone who didn't even seem to know locks existed?

"Does that happen often?" she asked.

Now she was spooning globs of plain yogurt into the blender.

I have a blender? Or had that come from her place as well?

He rubbed his eyes. "What?"

"Getting sick like that?"

"Not always," Seth admitted. "I usually feel crappy, but it's not like this."

It was unusual, even if his time in Eliona had been rather busy. There'd been the dungeon runs, the Knight attack and getting thrown into jail, and then hanging out with Agadhi—it had been a full day. Oh, and the weird clan dinner afterwards.

Leave. Leave now! Hurry!

Dark eyes stared at him, a memory so sudden that he froze where he sat. He even forgot to breathe, because everything came rushing back. The knocking. Mouna's hand, warm and calloused, gentle against his face.

He flushed instantly. No, that wasn't what was important to remember. It was the knocking, the impossible arrival of strangers who weren't supposed to know where the Veiled House was. It was the odd greeting, and the even stranger response from Agadhi. And even more concerning was Mouna's-

Head resting against his, awkward and uncomfortable and nice.

Seth pressed both hands against his face and took a deep breath. Focus! She'd seemed afraid for him, and wanted him to leave. And so he had, but now he wished he hadn't.

Who were those people? And why did he have to leave?

"Now that's an interesting look." Mrs. Beakor smirked. She'd paused to look over a shoulder at him, and when he noticed her watching, she waggled her scruffy eyebrows.
"Did you do some naughty things?"

"No!"

His face grew even warmer, and he was sure it was redder than a ladybug's shell. If there was a dark hole nearby, he would have dove right in, headfirst and without hesitation.

"Uh huh."

She turned back to her breakfast making, though her tone made it clear that she didn't believe him. He did his best to ignore her, all the while trying to puzzle out who those visitors possibly could have been.

Considering how Mouna and Agadhi reacted, the visitors were known to them. And dangerous. It made Severance want to dive back into Eliona and see what was happening. But then his thoughts kept going back to Mouna's intense dark eyes, the warm feeling of her skin against his-

Mrs. Beakor came to the table and placed the smoothie before him. The sound of the glass setting down made him jump, and his attention snapped over to the suspiciously purple drink like it was a scorpion that had suddenly snuck up on him.

"So, kiddo. You gonna tell me what happened?"

When he stared very intently at the smoothie glass like it was the center of the entire universe, she placed both palms on the table and leaned in.

"Seth, dear. The look on your face is what cute little kittens do when they've eaten the goldfish out of the tank."

He scoffed. "You're seeing things."

"Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm blind as a bat, you know. Do you want to know what I think?"

"Nope."

He grabbed the glass with both hands and began chugging down the smoothie. If he was busy having breakfast, then surely Mrs. Beakor would leave him alone. Right?

"Well then, just know that if you get her pregnant, you better name me the godmother, all right?"

Seth spat out a mouthful of smoothie across the table. His throat constricted, and he fell into a fit of uncontrollable coughing.

"I'm not-! That wasn't—it's not like that! It's not even possible!"

She patted his back soothingly. "Uh huh."

His entire head was redder than a lobster at this point, and it was almost like he'd combust right then and there. He jabbed a trembling finger at her.

"You! You're crazy!"

Her cackles filled the kitchen.

***

She was kind enough to give him a ride to work. It was the least she could do, in his opinion, after all the harassing she did.

Seth sat in the car, watching buildings pass by. He'd given Mrs Beakor a brief summary of his discussion with Agadhi, but knew he'd have to go in much more detail during the next meeting with everyone. Which was fine, because he was starting to feel like he was drowning.

The System was barely holding together. That was even with leeching from all the players that logged in. It was so bad that even Ervante had withered away just from using his creepy Gift. Seth couldn't even imagine. He'd healed a couple of times on Earth and it had knocked him flat. How could Ervante have withstood that, again and again?

He rubbed at tired eyes, feeling a dull ache throbbing behind them. This was exhausting. Did his uncle Fenn know this would happen? He wondered how much Fenn actually knew about Eliona. Surely, he had to know something, but there wasn't anyway to find out now.

Well, that was a lie. There was something Seth could do. He just... didn't want to do it.

He looked down at his phone, pressing the button on the side so the screen lit up with the time. It'd take another fifteen minutes before they arrived at The Grubbery. There was more than enough time.

I should just do it. Get it over with.

"Everything all right, kiddo?"

Glancing up, he saw Mrs Beakor giving him a concerned look. She was perceptive as always, and he offered a small smile.

"Fine. I was just thinking of making a call to someone I don't want to talk to."

"Oh? Who's that?"

Seth took a deep breath. He could feel his heart rate pick up with ridiculous nerves, but the more he thought about this, the more he knew it had to be done.

"My father," he admitted. "I need to find out if my uncle left anything behind for me. In his will or something."

Mrs Beakor remained silent for a long moment.

"Do you think he did?"

Seth shrugged. "I don't know. But he was very smart and I'm sure he had to have known something. It's worth a shot, anyway."

"It is," she agreed carefully.

He pulled a face. "Yeah. I'm going to call."

"Use my phone," Mrs Beakor nodded to her purse, which was on the floor by his feet. "That way they'll have my number instead of yours."

"Right. Thanks."

Grateful for the suggestion, he leaned down and awkwardly opened her purse. Thankfully, her phone was right on top. But he still caught a glimpse of a dark bottle with skulls stenciled in white on the side. He had no idea what that was for and he didn't want to know.

He dialed his father's number and held it to his ear. It rang three times before it was picked up.

A tired man's voice answered. "Hello?"

Seth tensed. For a second, he couldn't speak. His father sounded normal, though Seth didn't know what he was expecting.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself. This was just his father. It wasn't his mother. Nor was it Carly. It was so much easier talking to a man who didn't care than a woman who cared too much in all the wrong ways.

"Dad," he finally said. "It's me, Seth."

There was a pregnant pause.

"Seth." His father sounded surprised. Maybe even shocked. It was the most emotion Seth had ever heard from him. "Are you okay? Where are you? Your mother said you were in the hospital. The people with you-"

"Are fine," Seth curtly said. His heart thumped in his chest. Why was his father asking such questions? Since when did that man care? He gritted his teeth, anger surging through him. "I'm fine. I just called because I need to know if uncle Fenn left anything for me."

"Seth, please. We're worried about you."

Seth's hand tightened around the phone and he sucked in a breath through his teeth. What a joke. What a hilarious, unbelievable joke.

They reached a stop light on the road, so once the car stopped behind a pick-up truck, Mrs. Beakor glanced at him, her eyes sharp.

"I told you I'm fine," Seth said. It took a lot of effort to keep his voice steady. "I just need to know if he left something for me. It's important."

His father sighed. "All right. Okay. There was something. A small wooden box with your name on it."

"A box?" Seth felt a flutter of hope.

"That's right. We have it here. Seth, if you come home, you can have it. I know... Fenn meant a lot to you." There was a strange, pleading note to his father's voice.

And just like that, Seth was even more angry.

"Thanks," he ground out, and immediately ended the call.

He returned Mrs Beakor's phone to her purse. The lights had just turned green, and the car inched forward, following the truck ahead. Black fumes spat from the truck's exhaust.

"All good?" Mrs. Beakor asked.

Seth shrugged, jaw aching from how tightly his teeth were clenched. He stared at the truck in front of them, the swirls of dark smoke reminding him of K-792. Its rockets often left similar clouds of dark, oily smoke.

His skin felt too tight. He dug his fingers into his legs, and forced himself to take a breath.

"Well," he tightly said, "looks like I have to go home. Uncle Fenn left a box of some kind, and they have it."

"Hm." Mrs. Beakor tapped a finger against the steering wheel. "You think we should just show up and storm the place?"

A startled laugh escaped Seth. That suggestion was so ridiculous that–

He blinked.

Hold on. That actually might work. They'd have no time to play any tricks on him, and he'd have the scary old lady to act as his muscle. They'd have no choice but to hand it over. He could almost picture it:

He'd ring the doorbell. Carly would open it, and see him standing there with his hands on his hips, his fedora pulled low over his eyes. She'd start to scoff at how silly he looked, but then she'd notice the looming terror of the old lady behind him. Mrs. Beakor would be so powerful that her shadow would cover everything before her, casting the entire house and everything in it in absolute darkness. The only light would come from her glowing eyes. Carly would have no choice but to cower in fear.

What is this? A movie? Seth snorted at the absurdity. Okay, so maybe it wouldn't quite go down like that, but it was satisfying to imagine. He looked at Mrs. Beakor, only to see a rather wicked smirk on her face. She'd totally do it, too. Of that, he had no doubt.

"Sure," he said, totally on impulse. "Let's do it."

Mrs. Beakor's eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

Nothing about this was a good idea, but Seth didn't care. If he had to go see his family, then he might as well go there hand-in-hand with crazy.

Ha.

He smiled, even as his guts churned in a sickening way. "Yeah. Let's do this."