Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less. And yet, I have failed to determine the underlying principle fueling Nobel's runes.

  I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries, but what to do with a power source that defies nature? I am left to conclude that perhaps the secrecy imposed by the government regarding these runes may be necessary until further study can be performed.

  ~Marie Curie

  Rome.

  They were really in Rome.

  Sarah could scarce contain her excitement when they landed on a late evening flight. She’d managed to complete the daily quest prior to heading to the airport, so could focus on the trip without worry about getting dragged into another challenge dungeon.

  Since it sounded like they were heading into another dangerous situation, Sarah had applied some of her free points to push her lagging three body stats up to E1, which pushed her Body rank up to E1 too.

  She’d gotten a flash of inspiration, and waited until they were preparing to land to apply them. That surge of strength helped wash away her fatigue from the long transatlantic flight.

  Best jetlag killer of all time.

  Sarah had wanted to see Rome forever and, despite the gravity of their mission to track down Eirene, she was thrilled to see the city. Not that she’d get to see much of it right away.

  While Tomas headed straight for the Suntara Group headquarters, Sarah was forced to join Gregorios in driving to a safe house in the city. Gregorios was a decent tour guide, but when he talked about the important landmarks lying so close by, but only barely visible in the darkness, she wanted to tell him to shut up. Better not to know how close she was while still unable to see anything.

  She did get to see the Colosseum. Traffic passed surprisingly close to the ancient home of the gladiator games, and Sarah eagerly studied the ruin with its three levels of stone arches. Although it was barely a shadow of its original self, she could imagine it in all its ancient glory, and the sight took her breath away.

  She’d seen many photos, but actually staring out the window at it drove home how old it was, how amazing its ancient construction and long life were. Gregorios surprised her by making an obscene gesture out his window.

  “What was that for?”

  “Tradition.”

  He didn’t explain further and distracted her by pointing out the Arch of Constantine as they passed. The huge, freestanding triumphal arch would have looked imposing anywhere else but in the shadow of the Colosseum.

  Sarah still wished they could get out and inspect its three giant arches and the statues standing atop columns flanking the openings. One more sight Tomas needed to show her. A little while later, she caught a glimpse of St. Peter’s Basilica in the distance, glowing with lights, and that just fueled her thirst to sight-see as soon as possible.

  The safe house ended up being a typical Italian three-story home with salmon-colored walls, wooden shutters over the windows, and a garden on the roof. It was clean and comfortable inside, and since they had little baggage, it only took minutes to settle in.

  After fixing some dinner, Gregorios turned on the television, looking bored. Sarah spent the next hour fretting while waiting for Tomas to return. She tried to keep herself distracted by exploring the safe house.

  It looked like a normal home with a few additions. The doors and windows were set in steel frames, and she didn’t doubt they were a lot more solid than they looked. A stainless-steel door with a keypad lock blocked access to the basement and she decided not to ask what was kept down there.

  Gregorios revealed that the council owned the safe house, although so close to the headquarters, it was rarely used. That didn’t entirely make sense to her, and he hadn’t sounded as confident about the location's security as he had about the place they had visited outside New Orleans.

  The most puzzling mystery was how Tomas could just walk into the headquarters building and search for Eirene without arousing suspicion.

  “I’m in good standing,” was all he had said. “Don’t worry.”

  She did worry. She couldn’t help it. Tomas was her anchor in this frightening new world she’d plunged into. Without him, she’d feel completely lost.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  He might still be an enigma who scared her sometimes, but his calm strength had saved her more than once. She relied on him until she understood better the dangers they faced, and how she fit into things with her path.

  At just past one in the morning, Tomas strode in the front door and declared, “She’s here!”

  Gregorios’s mask of calm vanished and he rose as quickly as Sarah did.

  “You’re sure?” Gregorios pressed.

  “I couldn’t risk gaining access to see her in person, but I’m sure she’s being held there.”

  “So the council was responsible after all.”

  “Maybe.” Tomas dropped into an overstuffed chair. “From what I gathered, she was actually taken by Mai Luan.”

  That appeared to trouble Gregorios more than Eirene’s capture had. It terrified Sarah. She rubbed her arms against a sudden chill. The thought that Mai Luan might still be alive had scared her, but it sounded like the terrifying woman was actually in Rome with them.

  Returning home to the States suddenly sounded like a very good idea. Sarah couldn’t fool herself into believing that she could survive another encounter with the terrifying woman, even with her new-found stats. If only she had 500 more free points to apply.

  “That doesn’t make any kind of sense,” Gregorios said. “The council has to know what she is.”

  “I think they do,” Tomas confirmed. “No one said cui dashi aloud, but the way they talked about her, it was clear.”

  “No matter what they want Eirene for,” Gregorios said. “What would drive them to permit any contact with a known cui dashi that didn’t involve big guns?”

  “Mai Luan is terrifying,” Sarah said. “But what’s a cui dashi?”

  Tomas blinked. “Right. I keep forgetting how little you know, but you need to understand what we’re facing.”

  “Cui Dashi are a melding of bloodlines,” Gregorios said. “They are the extremely rare individuals who inherit the hekha rounon gift as well as the active nevra core of the facetaker.”

  “Nevra core?” Sarah asked.

  “It’s our center, our soul force,” Gregorios explained. “Think of it as the fuel cell of our powers. We have the ability to tap our nevron, or the energy generated by our core, and leverage the force of our souls in ways no mortals can.”

  “That’s why facetakers are among the rare few A-rankers in the world,” Tomas added.

  Sarah gaped. “A rank?”

  Gregorios shrugged. “A nevra core powers our Spirit and Talent to a degree no normal folk can hope to duplicate.”

  Despite being so new to the world of magic and superhuman ranks, Sarah sensed reaching A rank had to be insanely hard and must result in them being insanely powerful.

  Tomas said, “You’re new to ranks, Sarah, so it can be hard to put things into context. Each rank represents a significant jump in power. Being A rank makes facetakers roughly equivalent to superheroes.”

  “I’ve always been partial to Aquaman,” Gregorios said with a grin.

  That was incredible, but Sarah frowned. “But you were fighting D and E rankers in the hotel, and you broke an arm. How does that work?”

  “Excellent question,” Gregorios told her with an approving nod. “You’re even sharper than Tomas said.”

  “So Tomas has been talking about me?” she asked, glancing to him. He shrugged, trying to look casual, but flushed a little again. Still adorable.

  Gregorios saved him by continuing. “That suit I was wearing was a recent acquisition. It had barely been E-ranked. Any body I wear will slowly evolve to higher ranks over time, and I can speed up the process, but hadn’t bothered with that one. Hadn’t figured I’d wear it long enough to matter.”

  Huh. That was so fascinating, and the conversation was helping to fill in some of the gaps in her understanding of how the system worked.

  “Tomas said people don’t evolve to higher ranks.”

  “Normally not,” Tomas agreed. “But if you were to suddenly unlock a high-ranked Spirit, your Body rank would also evolve, usually to within a rank or so. Otherwise your body and spirit would end up unbalanced.”

  “But once you unlocked any kind of Spirit or Talent above F-rank, you’d be stuck,” Gregorios said. “Mortals don’t evolve higher.”

  Except for her. She was so tempted to tell them about her path and ask Gregorios his thoughts, but again hesitated.

  If Tomas was en enigma, Gregorios was a total mystery. Eirene might be scary, but Sarah felt like she’d developed a better rapport with her. Better to broach the subject with her first.

  So she moved on. “So that’s why Mai Luan was so strong? She’s an A-ranker like you?”

  Tomas hesitated, and Gregorios grimaced. “Not exactly. When those bloodlines merge, the two different powers magnify each other exponentially. Cui Dashi can enhance themselves beyond anything the rest of us could hope to match, and they can overwhelm the souls of even experienced facetakers.”

  “She’s stronger than you? But you’re A-rank,” Sarah objected. “What’s stronger than that?”

  “S-rank,” Tomas said with a grimace. “The realm of the cui dashi.”

  Gregorios added, “If our nevra core is a fuel cell, hers is a nuclear reactor.”

  Sarah shuddered. Although Mai Luan had looked like an unremarkable, slender, Chinese-American woman, she had possessed incredible strength and survived injuries that should have been lethal.

  Now that she was starting to understand the reality of the world of magical ranks, she was starting to fear she’d only seen a fraction of what Mai Luan could actually do. Had she not bothered to really go after them at first because she didn’t think they had a chance at harming her?

  It seemed their escape from the vault was little more than extremely good luck.

  “Part of the problem,” Gregorios added, “is that the vastly magnified power of the cui dashi lead them to view the rest of the world as lesser beings. The next logical step is wanting to take control.”

  Tomas nodded. “They become dangers to everyone. Every single one has turned bad."

  “How do you even fight an S-ranker?” Sarah asked softly. She’d thought she was afraid before, but Mai Luan was like every nightmare she’d ever had, rolled into one deceptively petite package and given life.

  “With great difficulty,” Gregorios said with a frown. “That’s why we've always united against them. Until now.”

  “It gets worse,” Tomas said. “Mai Luan is scheduled to appear before the council tomorrow. She’s going to use Eirene in some kind of experiment.”

  “Oh, no,” Sarah breathed. She couldn’t imagine what Mai Luan’s plan might be, but the thought of that vile woman torturing Eirene left her shaking with terrified rage.

  Gregorios’s expression hardened, his eyes glinting with points of purple light.

  “We’ll see about that.”