“We took care of your problem,” Bel said. She tried to look calm and confident and didn’t think about the mess they had made of the cat girls’ lake.

  “Oh yeah?” the boss responded. She was splayed out on a sunny rock, her tiara tilted askew.

  Bel saw an opportunity to slip away.

  “Well, I’m glad that’s over with,” she said with a wave. “We’ll be on our way now.”

  “Hold on.”

  Bel stopped, one foot inside the cave. She could see the rainbow threads from the teleporter waving around in the back of the cavern. That meant that the cat girls had found the missing pieces to it before taking their naps, and it was ready to send them home.

  Bel spun around and smiled. She desperately wanted to make a break for the machine, but she wouldn’t be able to outrun the cat girl’s laser beams.

  “Yes?”

  The boss stood up on her haunches and adjusted her tiara.

  “Did you really take care of it?”

  “O’ course,” Flann said. “Can’t ya see how crooked I’m walkin’ now? And my back is killin’ me!”

  Jann tapped his plugged nose. “We took care of the foul creatures that clogged your water. We wouldn’t want the smell to linger though, so it’s best if we’re on our way, yeah?”

  The boss looked down at them from her place on the rock. Bel thought she saw an evil grin tug at the corners of the woman’s mouth.

  “Well, if you’ve done a great job then we need to reward you.”

  Bel lifted her hands defensively. “Oh no, we’re okay. We don’t need a reward.”

  “Puuuurrfect.”

  The boss swiped her paw through the air, knocking a fist sized object down into the ground in front of Bel.

  “Take it. It’s your reward.”

  Bel bent down and picked up a small pyramid. She turned it around a couple of times, but other than one corner being wrapped in a reflective, silver metal, she couldn’t see any identifying marks. “What is it?”

  An enormous grin spread across the boss’ face and several more cat girls fluttered over. Their pupils widened, and Bel wondered what she’d done wrong.

  The boss began to talk.

  “What hangs below a man’s waist…”

  The rest of the cat girls joined in, forming an eerie chorus.

  “…that he stabs into the same hole many times?”

  Flann tapped Bel with his staff. She turned to him and he made a twisting motion in front of his lips, telling her to be silent. She nodded.

  As a group, they slowly backed away from the cat girls and towards the teleporter. The cat girls stalked after them, eagerly watching and listening. Bel could feel a heavy sweat breaking out over her body as more of the feline women emerged from holes in the cavern walls. By the time they reached the back of the cavern and their escape, there were at least a hundred of them, all staring at Bel with wide, eager eyes and hungry grins.

  Bel looked at the destination tablet. She could see that it was functional, and, from the look of the colored tendrils waving through the air, it would take them in the right direction to go back to the hidden chamber in Baytown. She didn’t know for certain, but she decided that she would have to risk it.

  With a quick flick, Bel triggered the switch and her group was swallowed by a tear in space.

  “Finally,” one of the cat girls droned.

  “Ugh. That took forever!”

  “That old king was such a jerk!”

  The boss shook her head. “Ladies, he tricked us fair and square. Who knew that it would take so long to find someone who would defend his inheritance without knowing what it was? Getting them to refuse the reward was easy though.”

  She grinned and pawed at her neck, revealing a small collar with a tiny pyramid hanging from it from under her fur. “But, now that we finished his task, we’ve gotten our reward as well. There’s no need to stick around here anymore!”

  She swished her tail triumphantly. “Let’s take a trip, girls.”

  The rest of the cat girls whooped and cheered.

  “Are you excited to see your sister?”

  James smiled at Daran, admiring her bright smile, the glow of her silver hair, the lines of the muscles on her arms as she manipulated the shielding sandstorm above the heads…

  “Are you going to answer, or just stare at me?”

  Daran moved to the side and bumped him playfully. “We’re in public, you know.”

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  She winked and he blushed.

  “Ah, um, Bel! Yeah, I’m looking forward to seeing her again. It’s been a while.”

  Their child, hanging from a sling on his chest, chortled when she heard her name. James poked her chubby cheek and delighted at the spinning of her cute little antennae.

  “Yup, you’re named after her,” he cooed. “We thought she was going to disappear into the Labyrinth, but she made it back!”

  “She does like getting into trouble.”

  James almost jumped when Beth appeared from nowhere, but he had mostly adjusted to her ever-increasing stealth abilities. Seth, the naturally silent scorpion boy, stalked behind her.

  James shook his head when he thought about Bel’s reckless use of the teleporter. “I still can’t believe that she went to the cat girls. Even you said that they were scary.”

  Beth shrugged and patted Seth on the back. “Not so scary with this guy around. He really knew how to handle them.”

  Seth may have blushed slightly – or maybe it was just a trick of day star setting in the sky. James still hadn’t figured out the taciturn semi-human’s nonverbal communication.

  “Besides, she even got a reward,” Beth said. “She must be way stronger than when she left us.”

  James shook his head. “She doesn’t even know what the reward is.”

  “…key,” Seth mumbled.

  “What’s that?” James asked.

  Beth leaned closer to Seth as he mumbled. She nodded with understanding.

  “It’s a key,” she repeated.

  “The pyramid?” James asked.

  “The answer to the last riddle they asked,” Beth replied.

  “So does that mean that the pyramid is a key to something?”

  Beth shrugged. “How would I know? I haven’t seen it.”

  James snorted with frustration, but before he could feel too annoyed Daran reached out and took his hand.

  “Be calm, husband, we are very close. Bel said that she would meet us on the other side of this river, yes?”

  The sound of rushing water had been growing, but James hadn’t been paying that much attention to their surroundings. Daran was right though, they were nearly at the river.

  He looked around at their group. They were a disorganized lot: a bunch of young and liberal meerkats from Jan’s family, a stodgy old mole who had worked as a matchmaker for years, and a large troupe of the orphaned and disenfranchised, a little more than fifty in total. James had seen an opportunity to lead them to a new place where they could establish a better society, one built upon the technology, laws, and governments of Earth. He was finally living the isekai dream.

  And he couldn’t wait to get real plumbing installed in Baytown.

  “Who’s that?”

  James was called back to reality by Beth’s question. He looked over the river, wondering if Beth could see all the way to the other side. He couldn’t, but he didn’t need to see that far to spot the person who was flying towards them.

  Daran reached up and pulled back the veil of sand that she’d been keeping over their heads since they left the Golden Plains so that it wouldn’t cause a problem for the person coming to greet them. Beth claimed that she could deal with any errant spearheads who descended upon their group, but James and Daran hadn’t wanted to risk it.

  The people on the other side of the river didn’t seem to have any concerns about attack, and James wondered if spearheads weren’t attacking this part of Satrap, or if Bel’s friends were just strong. When the woman landed in front of them, James guessed that it was the second option.

  The gorgon – the second one that James had ever seen – could have been ripped right from the cover of any fantasy novel from Earth. She was everything a woman on a fantasy cover should be: tall, beautiful, and strong. She also had a crazy mishmash of traits that would have gotten his younger self to pick up any book: wings, rattlesnakes for hair, and a big hammer on her back.

  The woman looked them over for a few second before James realized that they were being rude. He unslung his daughter and handed her to Daran so that he could step forward and properly greet the woman.

  “Hello there,” he said, putting on his best friendly smile. “We’re traveling to Baytown. I assume Bel told you to expect us?”

  The woman nodded her head at him. “Yes. I am Crecerelle, leader of the gorgons here.”

  She hesitated a moment before stepping forward. James raised his hand to shake, but instead she jerked his arm forward and crushed him into a brutal hug. He was so desperate for breath that he didn’t even notice the snakes snickering at his discomfort.

  She released him a few moments later and he staggered away. “Bel has told me that shaking hands is common in your culture, but anything aside from hugging is very rude to a gorgon.”

  “I’ll remember that,” James replied weakly.

  Beth stepped forward and gave the woman a one-armed hug. James suspected that she was just comparing their muscles.

  “And how is our beloved Bel doing?” Beth asked.

  “We will cross and you can see for yourself.”

  Crecerelle turned and shouted – a sound that could have blown down the proverbial little piggy’s house of bricks. Something happened on the other side of the river, and the next thing James knew the surface of the water was frozen solid.

  Crecerelle gestured towards the ice. “It is slippery, so cross carefully.”

  Daran gestured with a hand, sending a shower of sand across the surface. “That should improve things,” she said.

  Crecerelle gave her a thumbs up.

  “Did Bel teach you that?” he asked.

  The gorgon laughed. “Yes. She is full of many wonderful habits.”

  “More like nonsense,” Beth replied.

  The gorgon clicked her tongue. “And she has described all of you perfectly. Come, she is eager to see you again.”

  Crecerelle wasn’t lying. They were barely a quarter of the way across the icy bridge when Bel slammed into him. He hadn’t even seen her coming – one moment, he was carefully putting one foot in front of the other, and the next he was spinning through the air, a pack of multi-colored snakes hissing in his face.

  “James! It’s been forever!”

  James wanted to respond, but Bel’s crushing embrace was even worse than Crecerelle’s iron grip. His eyes rolled back as he gave Daran a desperate look.

  “You are maybe crushing him, Bel.”

  “Oh no, I’m so sorry!” She let him go, steadying him with a hand on his shoulder. “I forget that I’ve gotten stronger sometimes.”

  James staggered for a moment before getting his feet under him. When he looked up, he froze with shock.

  Bel didn’t look anything like the sad, confused gorgon he remembered. Not only was her head full of strange snakes, decorated with of fiery rocks and flowers and toxic green lines, but she looked like an absolute unit. The scar across her face was just one of many now, an eyepatch covered her missing eye, and her armor had a sharp and deadly look to it. Over her armor, she wore an impossibly clean coat of a deep blue silk with golden accents, and, under the skirt of her armor, she had matching pants that hung down to her bare feet. She looked like some crazed crime lord from a bad movie, or like someone he would have crossed the street to avoid.

  “Nice eye patch,” Beth said.

  “Oh, this?” Bel tapped the metal oval, and James noticed that her nails were now made of a gleaming metal. He thought they looked sharp and deadly.

  “Manipule – she’s another gorgon, you’ll meet her in a minute – she made this for me. My new eye was freaking people out.”

  “Your new eye?” James asked. “When did that happen?”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise!” Bel gushed. “I got it from a spirit! Check this out!”

  Bel lifted the eye patch, revealing a swirling vortex of color. It was impossible for him to focus on for more than a moment without feeling the urge to vomit.

  “Yeah, I think we understand why she made you the eye patch,” Beth said. “James looks like he’s about to lose his dinner.”

  “It’s fine,” James said. “It’s okay as long as I don’t look at it.”

  “Oh.”

  Bel seemed disappointed as she lowered the eye patch to cover her scary eye. “I think it’s cool.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” James assured her. “You’re super cool now. If I saw a book with you on the cover, I’d buy three.”