We packed up after an uneventful night. I had expected sleep to be hard to come by, but instead I slept like a baby. I drifted off the moment my head hit the pillow, and when I finally woke, the sun was already high in the sky.

  Farah, Steve, and Farisyah had gone back to their encampment in the school the night before.

  We still had a few hours before the barrier to the South opened. I did not want to do the next part, but we headed back into the school anyway to say our farewells.

  We found Prema first. She had set up shop in what used to be the Student Union offices, and she was doing what she always did. She was holding everything together through sheer force of will. People came in and out in quiet, broken groups, and she listened with the kind of patience that made you feel both relieved and ashamed.

  A young healer sat outside at a desk, taking names and handing out appointment times.

  I could not get over how normal it felt. Like I had walked in to see a dentist and been told to wait my turn.

  We did not wait.

  Instead, we went looking for the others who wanted to see us, namely Shaheerah and Andy. As we moved through the corridors, the atmosphere shifted. People started talking. Whispering. Pointing when they thought we would not notice.

  More than once, I caught the word “Horsemen” in hushed tones. Some of them looked at us with something close to fear, then shuffled away and avoided our eyes like we were a bad omen they did not want to acknowledge.

  I sighed and did my best to ignore it.

  I pinged Jess privately in chat to ask if she was okay, because the last time this happened, she was the one who took it the hardest. She did not reply. She just kept walking, head high, shoulders set, a steely determination carved into her face.

  It was comforting.

  It was also sad.

  We were changing too fast, and none of us had been given a choice.

  When we found Shaheerah, she was with a cluster of spellcasters, mostly Sorcerers and other Magus. She thanked us for what we had done, and she was the first person in hours who sounded genuinely grateful instead of polite, or afraid, or exhausted.

  Her team would be heading South too, but they would move on their own. Separate from us.

  Shawn pulled her aside to talk. It lasted less than a minute before it turned into an argument. They were close enough that I could see their expressions sharpen, their hands cutting through the air as they spoke. Then, somehow, it softened. They stepped in and hugged like they had been holding their breath for days.

  Our Horsemen chat pinged while we watched.

  Siva: Uh… what’s going on with those two? They keep arguing, but…

  Jess: I don’t really know. Sometimes they look like they’re going to kill each other, but other times it feels like they’re going to elope.

  Shawn: I’m IN this chat.

  Siva: We know.

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  I smiled despite myself and kept my eyes on Shaheerah as she said her goodbyes. When Shawn finally rejoined us, he looked like he had gotten into a fight and survived it.

  Which, to be fair, describes most of our lives now.

  We had a quick lunch with Andy and his team at one of the other canteens on campus. Over lukewarm food and tired smiles, he told us about the commune they had built in the North, and for the first time in a long time, someone painted a picture of the future that sounded hopeful.

  Everyone in the commune had a role. Hunters. Food supply. Security. Even people handling disputes and logistics, the kind of work you only notice when no one is doing it. They were rebuilding their lives in small, stubborn ways. They were taking back parts of the North and expanding carefully as more survivors abandoned the clearing of Crimson Zones and chose stability instead. They traded their chance to leave the North for something quieter. Something that lasted.

  I envied it more than I wanted to admit. I needed that kind of peace more than I wanted it, but I also knew the path I had set myself on. I was not stopping.

  I offered the others, privately, the option to go with Andy when he returned. Shawn replied with a smirk. Jess and Siva did not bother responding at all. I took the silence as a good sign.

  We updated Andy on what had happened since we left. We did not lie, exactly, but we let the ugliest parts stay in the gaps between sentences. Some things were easier to imply than to say out loud.

  When it was time to go, Andy asked me to walk him back to his school bus.

  “What happened to Shawn?” he asked as we headed across the courtyard. “He’s changed, hasn’t he?”

  I thought about it longer than the question deserved. Had Shawn really changed?

  “No,” I said finally. “I don’t think he has changed at all. He is still Shawn. He is still irritating. That thing around his neck is keeping the darkness in check, and somehow it is also feeding it. That part makes no sense to me yet.” I slowed as the bus came into view, then added, “I think this is the side of him he used to keep buried. The circumstances changed, and now we are not who we wanted to be. We are who we need to be.”

  Andy stopped with one hand on the open driver’s side window, staring at nothing for a moment. When he looked back at me, his expression had gone softer.

  “Please take care of him,” he said quietly. “We were not close back then. He was just the guy you said hi to when you passed the sales department.” He swallowed once. “But he is a good one. Keep him that way.”

  I nodded, and we clasped hands. Then I pulled him into a hug and leaned close enough to whisper.

  “Thank you, Andy. Thank you for coming when we needed you.”

  He smiled when we separated, and then he climbed into the bus.

  A minute later he was rolling out, driving the familiar yellow school bus. Behind him came an armada of yellow taxis, horns blaring in salute as they followed him out.

  Shawn sidled up beside me as we watched them go and said casually, “You know, I never liked him before.”

  “Huh? Why?” I asked as we turned back toward Jess and Siva.

  “He was our General Manager,” Shawn said with a shrug. “I am pretty sure there is a rule somewhere that you are not supposed to like your GM.”

  I stopped walking for half a beat, caught off guard.

  I had not known Andy held that kind of position. It did not matter now, but the thought still landed strangely, like discovering someone’s old title after you had already watched them bleed for you.

  And maybe that was the point.

  The system stripped away all the labels we used to hide behind and left only what we were willing to be.

  For Andy, it turned out that meant being the kind of friend who showed up when it mattered.

  “Alright, are we done with our farewell tour?” Siva asked.

  I nodded, and we pinged Farah to meet us at the Digger. It was almost time.

  None of us suggested going back to Prema, and I was quietly grateful for that. I was not in the mood for anyone taking a guided walk through my head. Not today. Not after everything.

  By the time we reached the Grave Digger, Farah and Farisyah were already there. Farah looked… steadier. Not okay, but functional. Farisyah stayed close, the mask still fixed over her mouth like a warning label. But her eyes lit up when she saw Jess.

  Then we ran into the most complicated problem we’d faced all day.

  Seating.

  We had a quick, low-stakes argument about seating that was more absurd than exhausting. In the end, Shawn took the wheel, Siva rode shotgun, and the back seats went to Farah, Jess, and Farisyah.

  I would ride ahead on the Phantom.

  I swung onto the bike, took one last look around the campus, and tried to lock the image away somewhere. Not the blood. Not the screams. Just the idea that we had survived this place, and that survival still meant forward.

  I brought up my HUD, activated [Pathfinder], and selected the pulsing barrier to the south. The route lit up like a line drawn into my vision.

  I revved the engine, and the Phantom growled beneath me.

  Finally, resisting the urge to call out “Four Horsemen, riding out!”, we moved.

  Heading South by Southwest.