As for the others, they were just glad there was food on the table and soldiers to keep them safe. The hard scrabble for survival among the ruins was behind them; life now was more restful, for Marius did not order them to do anything beyond their fair share of the chores and fishing.

Now, Cade had emerged for some fresh air, and to see what the legionaries had done to the keep. The orchards were tilled, stripped, and planted, and the harvest boiled in clay jars and stoppered with corkwood to preserve them.

He wished they had thought of that. All the knowledge in the world was only useful if you thought to ask the right questions.

The keep had been repaired, clay used as mortar and rocks from the waterfall used as filling. Cade was glad that the Gray ship had not been discovered—that would have thrown quite a wrench into Song’s plan.

“Codex,” Cade said softly. “Show me the caldera.”

The machine flickered into life, slower and more glitchy since the EMP. Clearly, the pantheon had yet to recover from the attack fully, and Cade was glad of it.

But now was the time to plan. The contenders had hardly managed to scrape through alive in the past, focusing on keeping themselves from starving.

They had to take the initiative. To mount an expedition of their own, before the timer began again and they were forced to rush into danger without thought or preparation.

“What are you thinking, Cade?” Amber asked gently, laying her head on his shoulder.

Cade turned his head and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. He wished he could take a day off. Walk alone with her beneath the waterfall and pass the evening watching the twin moons.

Instead, he breathed deep and pointed at the hologram, where the blue dots glowed amid the sea of jungles.

“I want to go out again,” Cade said.

Amber stiffened and lifted her head.

“So soon?” she asked.

Cade closed his eyes and nodded. Every second he delayed was another that his plan could be found out. Another in which the second EMP device could be found. Perhaps Song was being tortured at this very moment, to tell the pantheon of the Gray’s plans. No, there was no time to rest.

“It’s my … duty. Our duty,” he said.

Amber bit her lip, then nodded and returned her head to his shoulder.

“You’re right,” she whispered. “I wish you weren’t, but you’re right.”

Cade squeezed her hand tight, then released it and pointed at the map.

“We don’t know what the rules of the next game will be. What weapons we can use, what obstacles we will have to overcome. But if Abaddon is going to force us to attack the top of the leaderboard, well … the least we can do is be prepared. No desperate battles where we’ve barely had a second to prepare. If we bring back the best of what’s out there, in our own time…”