“Yep.” She closed the door and headed for her car as the black FRoE vehicle pulled away across the parking lot. When she slipped into the driver’s seat and stuck her keys in the ignition, she dropped her head back against the headrest. “Crazy.”
Then she shook it off and headed back to her apartment. A quick glance at the clock on the dash made her sigh. Only eight-thirty. Plenty of time to get some real work done.
The pizza box from Mellow Mushroom in her hand made her mouth water, and her stomach growled in response as she walked down the hall toward her apartment. Her keys jingled in her hand before she unlocked the front door, then she stepped inside and froze. “Not again.”
The puzzle box had worked its way out of her backpack one more time and floated mid-air in front of her. Cheyenne kicked the door shut behind her and dropped her keys and the pizza on the counter beside the basket of troll-crafted underwear. Her shoes thumped against the door as she kicked them off, then she opened the pizza and pulled out the first huge, greasy slice. “Now, this is how to end a day like—ow!”
The pizza dropped from her hand, and she spun to face the glowing, floating puzzle box. It vibrated in the air, the low hum growing louder and louder. She squinted at it, then bent her arm behind her back to rub the fading sting there. Probably just leftovers from the fight.
She shook her head and started to turn around again, but the drow legacy box shot another dart of golden magic—at her shoulder this time. The halfling jerked away and hissed. “Seriously?”
The box started spinning, all the sections but the one she’d locked into place whirling, shifting in every direction. When it shot two more tiny magical attacks at her, Cheyenne’s body erupted with the heat of her drow magic and she ducked aside. The golden darts left charred holes in the counter.
She backed into the living room, and the hovering box followed. “This is not my idea of a—”
Another golden burst shot toward her, and Cheyenne tossed her hand up. The black shield appeared just before the legacy box’s attack sparked off it with a metallic ping. She cocked her head and smirked. That’s getting easier.
Then a volley of golden sparks sprayed from the whirling, humming copper box. The halfling ducked and ran, circling her tiny living room as the attacks peppered the back wall of the hallway and the bathroom like a machine.
“Cut it out!” She brought up another shield the length of her body in front of her, and the golden attacks ricocheted off the translucent black spell. Charred holes appeared in the matted carpet, walls, and ceiling. The halfling tossed another shield in front of Glen, then growled at the legacy box and raised both hands. “I said, stop!”
The black light of one more shield burst into existence around the box, filling her apartment with bright sparks and muted golden light as it whirred and sprayed magical darts at the shield around it. The attacks bounced back, and the thing gave up. The box hovered inside her shield, motionless. Then the shield disappeared, and one more layer of etched runes slid slowly into place with a series of soft clicks before locking into place beside the first. The two locked levels lit up from within, then the puzzle box dropped to the floor with a thud.
Cheyenne eyed the thing and stepped slowly across the carpet. “You done?”
The box replied by sitting there on the floor like…a box.
Waving down her shield and the one she’d cast to keep Glen safe, the halfling picked it up. The metal was cool and dull in her hands. She flipped it over and grinned. Looks like I’m getting the hang of these stupid drow trials after all.
She took the box with her to the counter and set it inside the basket of brightly colored troll gifts before snatching up her pizza again. The first bite made her close her eyes and sigh as she chewed. Fellwine, fistfights, and fast food. I think I just found the trifecta.
Standing at the kitchen’s half-wall counter, Cheyenne wolfed down the first slice, picked up the second, and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and her last clean plate before heading toward her office chair. She powered Glen up and turned the monitor on, chugging half the water while she waited.
Once she logged into the dark web and navigated into the Borderlands forum, she felt almost as good as if she’d eaten another barf-worthy energy bar. The halfling scooted her chair toward the desk and sucked in a sharp breath. “Ow.”
She rubbed the ache in her lower back, which was much more painful than the bruised ribs she probably had. All that magic, and it’s being crushed by an orc and punched by a troll that hurt the worst. Her hand moved toward the bottom drawer of her desk, but she paused and shook her head. Mattie’s healing recipes can wait.
When she looked up again at the Borderlands forum and the top five posts showing on her monitor, her eyes widened. Woah. The Borderlands just exploded.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The first topic at the top was actually a pinned announcement created a little over an hour ago: ‘Posted Names, Class, Age, and Time.’ There were already about sixty comments on this one, but what really caught the halfling’s attention were the other most recently created topics below.
I’m Looking for My Son.
My 16-Year-Old Daughter Hasn’t Come Home.
Trying to Get hold of Kalyss.
Troll Brothers Missing ages 8 and 11.
The first slice of pizza curdled in Cheyenne’s stomach, and she grimaced at the second on her desk before sliding the plate away from her keyboard. Then she scrolled through the newest topics and found at least two dozen others having to do with missing kids. All of them were made after 5:00 p.m. Sir
