Nightmare Realm Summoner

”Use the Town Token?” Alex asked, tilting his head to the side. ”It’s that important?”

”More than I can put into words,” Claire replied. ”Literally. I can’t say anything else. I really was only on Ayrin for the first week of the Apocalypse, so I don’t know the full extent of what it does — nor could I tell you if I did —, but what I saw was more than enough. The Town Token can’t fall into an Outworlder’s hands. You need to use it.”

”Why me specifically?” Alex asked, arching an eyebrow. ”You suddenly feeling altruistic?”

”Because the Nightmarch know my leaderboard name. Using the Town Token will put an enormous target on us. We won’t survive. But nobody knows who you are. Not yet.”

”Ah. That’s a more pragmatic reason.”

”Quite,” Claire agreed. She hesitated for a second. She swallowed, as if the words she was trying to manifest were getting lodged within her throat. Finally, she managed to force herself to speak. ”I… may also feel a little guilty for hiding so much information.”

Alex blinked. That was actually something of a surprise. Claire’s entire society was built around lying. She’d flat out told him as much. It wasn’t like she’d tried to hide it. The entire point of Court was to be a giant game of lying and backstabbing.

I’m not happy about being lied to, but this is literally what she was raised doing. She feels guilty for that?

”Would you change anything if you could go back?”

”No,” Claire said without a moment of hesitation. ”I have no way to know exactly how much I can reveal. I feel the Trial tightening the noose around my neck already. If I’d tried to say anything before you caught on yourself, I almost certainly would have failed. Your timing was good. I’ve… found myself growing to dislike lying to you, but I cannot allow myself to fail this trial.”

That’s possibly the best answer she could have given me. She’s sticking to her guns. I may not be happy with getting lied to, but at the end of the day, she didn’t try to put a dagger into my back or sell me out. She has an agenda, and I can respect that even if I don’t like it.

”Then that’s that,” Alex said with a shrug.

Claire blinked. She stared at him for a moment. ”You mean you don’t care? I did not think—”

”No. I didn’t say that. I understand what you did. That doesn’t mean I don’t care,” Alex said. ”If I’m being honest, it pissed me off. Logically, you might have a sound reason for hiding information. But you got mad when I didn’t reveal my own information. That’s pretty hypocritical.”

To Alex’s surprise, Claire winced. He hadn’t expected her to really have much reaction to his words given how flat her tone had been.

”Yes. I know.” Claire averted her gaze. ”It has been difficult. Adjusting to your mannerisms. My instincts have been honed over every year of my life to claw every scrap of power I can and hold it close to chest until the time is right. Normally, I would not have any problem with hidden information. It is natural. But with you… it hurt. I did not like being kept in the dark. I was unused to a true partnership.”

”You still are. I don’t even know which you is real. Was the personality you had all the way up until now just fake? There just to get my guard down?”

”No,” Claire said after a second, her tone voice quieting. ”Perhaps it was initially. I needed your help. But the longer I spent in that manner, the more I found myself growing attached to it. It is freeing to be able to simply… be. Without worrying about a dagger in my back or slipping up and revealing information that I need to be hiding. I trust you.”

”And now? Why the switch in personalities?”

”Because I have grown too comfortable. If we have this conversation while I am not guarding my every word the way I am right now, I will mistakenly reveal too much,” Claire replied. ”And then I will die and fail my Trial.”

Alex watched Claire for a few more seconds. Then he blew out a short breath. Claire couldn’t take anything back — and she’d already freely admitted that she wouldn’t, even if she could.

He had no way to know for sure if she was telling the truth now. But, at the end of the day, nobody ever completely knew if somebody was telling them the truth or not. All he could do was go on the information he had and his gut.

”No more lies,” Alex said. ”Not from me. And not from you. Anything you can share, you do. I’m not happy you lied. I haven’t completely forgiven you. That’s a hell of a lot of information you kept secret. Information that could have been vital, and you definitely could have given hints or breadcrumbs that worked around your Trial, just like you did now.”

”I know,” Claire said simply. ”I feared the risk was too great. I did not want to take it. Even now, I do not know what would have happened if I did what you suggest. Perhaps it is because I am selfish, but I do not want to be weak again. I will not allow it to happen.”

Alex extended a fist toward Claire. She looked at it in confusion.

”What’s this?”

”For one more try,” Alex replied. ”We’re in it pretty deep right now. Pulling a bunch of shit over the Everbloom family is already going to be difficult. I don’t want to do it alone. Frankly, I don’t think I can. I can’t bullshit anywhere near as hard as you can.”

”You are still willing to work with me?” Surprise flickered in Claire’s eyes.

”I’m not exactly a paragon of justice and fairness myself,” Alex said. ”And you’re newer to being human than I am. I’m not saying I’m going to forget this whole thing, but holding a grudge isn’t going to do me any favors.”

Claire reached for his hand. Alex pulled it back, narrowing his eyes.

”Fist bump,” Alex said. ”Don’t punch it this time around.”

”I remember,” Claire said, knocking her knuckles against his as a small grin pulled at one corner of her lips. ”I will do my best to avoid concealing anything from you that I do not have to.”

”I think that’s about as much as anyone can ever expect from anyone,” Alex replied with a shrug.

”Does this extend to personal life?” Claire asked, clearing her throat. ”I understand the need to share information important to our survival, but there are certain personal aspects that I feel would be a bit—”

”Just the bits that keep us from dying and help us both get stronger, please,” Alex said, raising his hands defensively before him.

Claire let out a relieved breath. ”Good. Then this conversation is done?”

”For the time being.”

She relaxed. Something shifted in her stance that Alex couldn’t exactly place, but the steel left Claire’s eyes and her expression softened.

”Should we head back to town, then?” Claire asked, her voice slipping back into its familiar, energetic lilt. ”I know I’d be pretty hungry after a fight like that. Derek was really something else.”

Alex stared at her for a moment. The abrupt shift in the way she acted was… disconcerting at best. That said, there was no reason for her to bother keeping up the energetic persona after revealing her colder side to Alex if it was fake. It was just extra effort for no benefit since he’d already seen her acting like a real Dhampir.

The only purpose going back to acting casually would serve would be if it was a personal one and that Claire had been telling the truth about how she let herself act when her guard was down.

Now that I think about it, she definitely acted similar to how she was a moment ago every time she started doing Court related stuff. Her story lines up. I suppose only time will tell if it lines up because it’s completely true or if it’s because she’s a great liar.

Either way, she’s not a straight up enemy. She’s never tried to screw me over, and she hasn’t used the information she got from the Nightmarch family to claw ahead of me on the Initialization Trials.

That’s enough for me to extend enough trust to someone who grew up in a society of master liars to give them a second chance. Hypocrite or not, she forgave me for keeping information to myself pretty quickly. The least I can do is see how things play out. Logically, she’s a very competent ally.

And beyond that… I really don’t want to lose another friend.

”Food sounds like a good idea,” Alex said. ”But we shouldn’t just sit around after that. We can explore more of Valley Ford soon, but there’s one more thing I want to do before we get too busy here to allow for it.”

”What’s that?” Claire asked.

Alex smiled. ”We’re going to pay another visit to the Mirrorlands. I need some more monsters to properly evolve Glint — and I want to see just what you’re really capable of.”