They were done except for the boss room.

  Penelope looked around 20A. It was barely ten in the morning, which gave them almost ten whole days before the barrier to the boss room would drop.

  “There’s a lot of crafting that can go on in ten days.” Jeru hummed as he floated in front of her.

  There’s also a lot of prep that Patrick is going to want to do. Penelope looked at the wall between 20A and 20B. That wall would be left alone, but there were walls between the other squares that were going to be taken down to make room for all the teams to be able to fight. They had sixteen full teams at level 30, with four more teams at level 28. Considering Penelope had an idea of the numbers waiting for them on the other side of the barrier, they were much better prepared than they had been in the last loop.

  “You’ve got almost twice the number of teams this time as you did last time.” Jeru gestured at the wall. “There aren’t going to be any level ones running the traps and you’ve made sure that everyone has at least 10 Magic so they can all use to get out of trouble.”

  The memory of Stephen above the Ballisto just before the large monster exploded flashed in her mind. Penelope stumbled as she tried to lock it away.

  “You okay?” Circe appeared beside her friend, catching Penelope’s arm to steady the other woman.

  “Thanks.” Penelope closed her eyes and willed the memory away. Why does this one keep popping up? I’m usually better at walling off memories.

  “Fear? Doubt? Regret?” Jeru rattled off a list of possibilities. “Most people you lost because they were overpowered or overwhelmed. Stephen chose to throw himself at the Ballisto. That wasn’t something he had to do or was forced to do. With all the others, you were able to save them by being stronger or getting them more allies. If you have to fight the Ballisto again…”

  I’m afraid he’s going to sacrifice himself to take it out. Penelope opened her eyes and looked across the battlefield, where the fifty-four-year-old was helping gather up monster corpses.

  Circe looked from her friend to the man Penelope was staring at. “Um, Pen, you know he’s married.”

  “What?” Penelope blinked as the words registered. “No, that’s not what I’m…” She sighed. “I’m worried Stephen has a martyr complex.”

  “Old Fire?” Circe raised an eyebrow. “He’s got a wife down here. If anyone’s got a reason to live, he’d be near the top of my list.”

  “That’s kind of what I’m worried about.” Penelope shook her head, then turned to walk towards the wall blocking off 30B. The portal there was already active, so she could use it to get back to the safe zone, then to 21A to see how the jewelry and magic paper were coming along. “If it looks like one of the bosses is going to get loose, I’m worried he’ll sacrifice himself to stop it.”

  “Number one…” Circe hurried to catch up to her friend. “He doesn’t have that kind of power. Someone would need to be on your level. Aly is someone who could do something like that. Maybe Paul or Cass, but Paul stays near the back of the fights and Cassandra is one of the first ones to back up when the monsters charge.” The brunette scoffed. “I’d be more worried about YOU trying to be a martyr than anyone else.”

  “I’m not going to throw my life away.” Penelope winced at how selfish that sounded out loud. Mainly because if I do, then we’ll reset and I’ll have to find a different way to beat the threat.

  “Good to hear!” Circe laughed. “So don’t worry so much. We’ve got ten days to sit back and relax—”

  “Patrick wants us to help him with the traps for the bosses.” Penelope stopped in the entryway of the wall. “The Tanks are going to build a short wall to try to contain the monsters. The Powers are going to help smooth the ground for us to fight on. I’ve got Casters that are going to fill the area between the two walls with vines, then we’ll light them on fire to create a fire line the monsters will have to cross.”

  “And he’s going to have the powers dig a trench on the other side of that and he wants me to get the Archers to make harpoons instead of arrows and fill the trench with those.” Circe shivered as she walked under the arch. “The only thing we’re going to have to fight are flyers.”

  “You hope.” Penelope walked with her friend towards the middle of the next square. “A really big monster might smash right over the wall and create a bridge over your pitfall ditch.”

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  “Don’t jinx it!” Circe whined. “But that gives me an idea. We should have the Casters string vines over the top of the ditch and cover it with leaves!” She pounded her right fist into her palm. “BAM! They’ll never see it coming! Now, all we need is oil…” A wicked grin pulled at her lips.

  Should I point out that Patrick is trying to turn the fat from the monsters into oil? Penelope glanced at her friend but decided to sit on that information. The nature of the traps they were trying this time had changed and some of the differences were drastic.

  Reinforced walls that went all the way to the ceiling were going to be put up on the 30D and 30F sides of the boss square. The intention was to force the bosses to leave their square and fight in 29E. Diagonal, reinforced walls were being made from the ends of those two walls out to the opposite corners of 29D and 29F. The plan was to give themselves more space if they needed to fall back.

  One of the main reasons why they were doing this was because there was a portal in 30D. A reinforced tower had been built around the portal with a strong metal gate that could be barred from the inside. No one knew if the monsters could use the portal and while there was concern about it being used to transport monsters to the second floor, for the moment, they were going to let the portal stay while reinforcing it on both sides.

  The pair made it to the portal in 30B and walked through it to get to the safe zone in 21E. The portal to 21A was all the way near the start of 21D, so they had to walk a little ways, but the trip was much faster than it would have taken in the previous loop. Thanks to the portals, buildings didn’t have to be moved every few days, which made it easier to fall into a routine and for people to know where things were.

  Derek was waiting for them when they emerged in 21A.

  “The fighting is over, huh, Red?” He smiled at her.

  “She’s told you, she doesn’t like that nickname.” Circe pointed at the blond man. “Maybe I should take one of your ears since you don’t use them.”

  “It’s a term of endearment.” He smiled. “One I use just for her.”

  I’ve heard you call just about every other red-haired woman ‘Red’, so that’s a lie. Penelope took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “What do you want, Derek?”

  “To prove my worth.” He gestured at the jewelry building. “I’ve had time to contemplate what I did wrong and I want to show true contrition.”

  “And anyone who uses words like that in a speech has rehearsed it.” Jeru shook his head as he floated around the blond man’s head. “Nobody would blame you if you blew his head off.”

  No one except the almost hundred people who think he’s the one who should be in charge down here. Penelope did her best not to look at the floating Elf. “Derek, we’ve been over this. Your ban is for this entire floor and the next one. If you can contribute—”

  “I know what you said, but trust me, you need me out there!” Derek pointed at the portal. “You have no idea what’s behind that black barrier. If I’m not there to help coordinate things—”

  “How do you know what’s behind the barrier?” Penelope interrupted him. Her mind began looking for clues on how Derek might have been able to communicate with the Demons.

  “I don’t, but the floors are progressing and I know the pattern!” He puffed out his chest. “Sixteen teams isn’t going to be enough. You need to use the elixirs to level me and my people!”

  “You know the pattern?” Penelope eyed him. “What is it?”

  “I can’t tell you that for free.” Derek shook his head. “After you let me drink enough elixirs to level up to 20, then I’ll tell you what the pattern is.” He smiled bigger. “I promise, you’ll thank me after the fight.”

  Penelope pinched the bridge of her nose. “Derek, that is the opposite of proving that you’re going to be a team player.” She sighed. “If you have information that we don’t, then you need to tell us how you got it.” She looked over at him. “Did you talk to one of the Shadows?”

  “You can do tha—?” He clamped his mouth shut. “Maybe.”

  “That’s a no.” Penelope shook her head. “Which means that we have more information than you do. So no, I’m not going to take your desperate attempt to take over—”

  “There are going to be twelve bosses!” Derek blurted out. He grinned as he took in the shocked look on Circe’s face. “See? I told you you’d need me!”

  Penelope didn’t try to hide the boredom in her voice. “Why do you think there are going to be twelve bosses?”

  He began counting on his left hand. “Can’t you see? There were six bosses on the first floor, then there were six bosses and their minions on the second floor, which means the thing that is getting added on the third floor…” He looped his right index finger back around to his left index finger. “It’s going to be bosses again!” He puffed out his chest. “I can’t believe you didn’t see that, Red. But that’s why you need me.”

  “Derek…” Penelope sighed. “We’ve already taken that into consideration, as well as the chance that there will be double the number of minions from each column and the chance that we run into a boss from each of the ten columns.” She shook her head. “You aren’t telling me anything that hasn’t been talked about.” Though, you coming to me like this means you don’t have a mole in the leadership, which is nice to know.

  “But don’t you see? You need more teams than you have. Every one of those scenarios is going to require more firepower—”

  “We have it covered.” Penelope shook her head. “Thanks for trying to be helpful, but you still have a long way to go before we’re going to trust you to level up.”

  “You’re going to be sorry!” He jabbed his finger in her direction. “Everyone who dies is going to be on YOU!” He stomped off.

  I know. Penelope watched him sulk as he left.

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