I clench my fists, feeling something flare hot in my palms.
Holy shit. I guess it’s the Lumina.
If they’ve hurt Ludo, I will burn this tunnel down. I will incinerate them all.
The footsteps round the corner. I raise my hand, ready to strike—
“So I set up dedicated short-range wireless, you see? It just needed a localized, point-to-point system to stream the feed.”
The voice is bright, chatty, and completely oblivious to the impending violence.
We all freeze.
Ludo steps around the corner, and with him is Duncan, looking very pleased with himself.
“Dunc!” I’m out of the shadows and hugging Duncan within seconds.
“Am I glad to see you,” he exclaims, hugging me back. “Me and Wills have beenfreaking.”
Alexis joins us. “How long have we been gone?” he asks immediately. “Days? Hours? Weeks?”
Duncan blinks, obviously confused. “Huh? What do you mean? It’s Wednesday. You’ve been gone for three days. How could you not...” His eyes grow wide. “Ooh! Spacetime continuum problems? Sweet! What was it like? How did you experience time?”—Did space bend/black hole/this tunnel is dark/who are the new guys—
It makes me smile to have Duncan’s brain bouncing around my head again, but Alexis frowns down at him. “If we can hold off the inquisition, Links. We are tired, hungry, and thirsty.”
“Oh, right, sorry, sir. Are any of you hurt? What do you need?” Duncan turns serious, and my heart swells with love for my friend.
“Extra-large deep-pan, four-cheese pizza,” Donovan says. “Cold Coke with ice, salted caramel chocolate ice-cream, and tortilla chips with guac.”
Duncan's mouth drops open.
“What?” Donovan says. “I haven’t eaten anything but two apples in four years.”
“Ah, maze-ing,” Duncan gasps. “This is like Void Weaver come to life!”
Knowing Duncan, I’m pretty sure Void Weaver must be a video game.
“Did I hear you tell Ludo that you were streaming a feed? You mean that camera in the cavern was you?”
The wards let Duncan through; that makes sense.
He nods enthusiastically. “Yep, I put it up the night you left. Took a little while to figure out the logistics, but I got it streaming onto me and Willow’s tablets. I also added some open-source Python code so that it would alert us to any movement around the portal.”
I’m completely lost, but Max is impressed. “Dude! Nice. I used something similar to keep an eye on my weed-grow in the woods. OpenCV library?” Maximus muscles his way forward to talk to Duncan. “What’s your name, little broseph?”
“Oh, I’m Duncan, and yes, the script used the OpenCV library.”
I can’t imagine males more different than Maximus and Duncan. Max is all reckless impulsivity, cheeky charm, and swagger. Duncan tries to keep a low profile, blushes at the drop of a hat, and is a total nerd.
I guess they both have that ADHD thing going on, though, along with tech-geek.
Finally stepping into the Defectivum basement, I barely make it into the center of the room before Willow throws herself at me.
It’s so good to see her; my throat contracts, and I swallow down a sob.
“Beee-itch! You scared the crap out of me! Are you OK?” She quickly scans me over.
“I’m OK, Wills. We’re all OK…”
