If they had not been so exhausted, it would have been very difficult to sleep. Indira’s dreams were a mixture of cannon fire, pirate attacks, and howling. It helped that she was curled up, back to back, with Phoenix and the others. That source of warmth was the only thing that kept her comfortable enough to actually doze off.

Before morning had dawned, Indira woke. She slid free of the others, careful not to wake them, and shook Phoenix’s shoulder. He looked up and she held one finger to her lips for silence. Quietly, he slid free and joined her. Indira led him off to the opposite end of camp.

Gadget was there, still awake, analyzing her data. Indira knelt beside the girl and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Show me what you’ve found.”

“On the first page, I’ve mapped out Joey’s movement,” Gadget answered in a whisper. “He never stops. No sleeping at all. There’s another scent signature at his side almost ninety percent of the time. I’ve compared it against earlier data. The signature is from Ledge Woods.

“The rest of the town is kind of scattered. I’m pretty sure you three infiltrated at the end of one of his games. He finished off a few more groups before restarting everything. You can see here.” She pointed to the upper corner of the screen. “All citizens returned to life.”

There was a sudden spark of heat signatures. A flood of voices being recorded too. Gadget paused to play some of the snippets her bees had logged. They heard townspeople complaining about the game. Some asked why the Editors hadn’t come to save them.

It was also clear that Joey had run them through several games already. That fact was creating another problem. “When he transformed the town into a map from the game, it removed the food. All the townspeople are exhausted. Which means that every new game, they’re less active. Which leads me to the last important piece of data….”

Gadget spun another graphic onto the screen. It was a recording. A voice filled the air, and Indira shivered, hearing Joey. It was almost like he was sitting right next to them.

“I’m starting to get bored.”

Another voice answered. Ledge. “We could go somewhere else….”

“Yeah?” Joey again. “Where else is there to go?”

“There’s a bigger city. It’s called Fable.”

Gadget cut the audio, frowning. “The bee rotated position, so I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. But it sounds like the town is no longer presenting him with a fun challenge. It’s good news, I guess, that he’ll leave them alone. But it’s really bad news for Fable.”

Indira nodded. “Where he can do even more damage.”

“He’s already broken the Hero’s Journey,” Phoenix whispered. “We have to stop him.”

“Gadget,” Indira asked. “What’s the highest point in the town?”

The girl squinted a little, focusing on the statistics. Indira watched as she navigated several different screens. “Hmm. There’s a bell tower. It’s the highest location.”

“Thanks,” Indira replied. “How about you get some sleep? You deserve it.”

Gadget looked down at her feet for a moment, and Indira could only guess what the girl was thinking. Ever since Maxi had revealed how Joey had arrived in their world, Gadget had been working overtime to try to make up for her mistake. After watching Phoenix treat Squalls like a brother, Indira realized that maybe it was her turn to play the same role for Gadget. She reached out and set a firm hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“It’s not your fault. You heard Maxi. What happened was an accident. Less than a one percent chance. Last year…” Indira took a deep breath. “I messed up a lot last year. Mistakes happen. It’s what you do next that matters. All this research? It’s going to help us beat him, Gadget.”

That brought the briefest smile to the girl’s face. After a long and stretching moment, Gadget glanced at Indira’s hand on her shoulder. “Okay. Too much touching. Thanks.”

Indira smiled as the girl closed the device and quietly returned back to the others. Gadget had admitted earlier that she liked machines a little more than people, but Indira couldn’t help noticing that it was the fact that she’d endangered other people that was bringing out the hardest-working version of the girl she’d seen so far. Gadget nestled underneath a blanket and drifted off to sleep. Indira whispered a promise the others couldn’t hear.

“Don’t worry. We’re going to fix it.”

She turned back to Phoenix. He was watching her closely. An unspoken agreement was reached. Both of them turned and started walking to Ordinary.