Ana touched the wall, hand passing through it. "This one's fake," she pulled her arm back.
"Great. So where's the little box thingy at?" Chamrik crouched beside her.
"I have no idea," she sighed. "Better question is, where's the actual house?"
Someone's arm stretched through the illusion from the opposite side, nearly swatting her in the face. "Hey!" She shouted, until remembering that sounds barely passed through these either.
"I found it," Chamrik called from the side, and the illusion flickered out.
"Ana!" Verspri exclaimed. "Hi."
Ana glared at him. "You nearly smacked me in the face."
"Sorry," he glanced past her. "You got one of the bad streets, didn't you?"
Ana glanced over her shoulder. The dusty road lay littered with robotic bodies and blackened rocks. "Yeah. Luckily Chamrik's the one that stepped on the mine."
Verspri's eyebrows shot up. "He actually stepped on it? I thought, you know, he'd get lucky enough not to."
"Nope," Chamrik rose to his feet, his bag of illusion-makers clinking. "It just kind of popped when I did step on it."
"Wait," Ana studied Verspri--his mental presence was coming from several meters off to her right. "Segundo?" she guessed.
He shook his head. "I'm Pentago," he broke into a wide grin. "Can't you tell?"
Ana looked from his feet to his hair and back down again. The clean shirt and shoes should've given him away as not-Verspri sooner, but other than that all his clones looked identical. "Not really, no."
His smile fell. "Oh." But then he grinned again. "That's okay," he started skipping away. "I don't really want you to."
He disappeared through an illusion and Ana quirked an eyebrow after him, then glanced at the real Verspri entering the illusion-lined street to her right. He blinked in surprise. "Ana? I thought Pentago came--"
"He's over there," she pointed left. "He ran through that one."
"Thanks," he said, halfway blushing. "He thinks we're playing hide and seek. He always stays just close enough that I can never bring him back."
"Why don't you get your other clones out?" Chamrik asked. "Have them look for Pentago?"
"I did," Verspri sighed. "They just thought it was funny."
Ana rolled her eyes. "Good luck. At least you don't have to collect all these illusions so Alura and Ximena can put them back on the real houses."
"Speaking of which," Chamrik said, "those two are fake," he approached the one Pentago had run through.
"Right," Ana jogged towards Verspri. "You want to help?"
He shook his head, backing away. Ana just shrugged, bending down and reaching a hand into the illusory porch to feel blindly for the little illusion-making box. But it flickered, and she yanked her hand away.
"Did you see that, Verspri?"
"See what?"
She slowly reached out a palm to the illusion again. It flickered out.
Chamrik yelped in surprise, and Ana glanced over her shoulder. His illusion house had disappeared too.
"Ana..." Verspri said slowly. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing!" The space where the illusion had been burst into flame and Ana leapt away.
"Oops," a small girl's voice said.
"Ve-Are?" Verspri gasped. "What are you--"
The street around them burst into fire. Ana whirled around, arms raised in the inferno of heat. "Double oops!" the girl in complete pink cried, yanking on Verspri's arm. "It wasn't supposed to do that!"
"Is this how that other fire started?" Verspri asked, stumbling aside.
"Yes! That's not important now! Hurry up and get some water!"
A shadow obscured them, and Ana looked up only for cascading water to pound her in the face. She gasped at the cold, blinking and shivering in her suddenly-soaked clothes, everything around them also completely drenched.
"Hi, Ve-Are!" An ecstatic voice called from somewhere to her right.
"Lina?" Chamrik gaped--he stood only a few steps away, yet had stayed perfectly dry. Ana glared at him. "H-how'd you get there?"
Lina slid down from the roof, splashing to the muddy ground beside Ve-Are. They swept each other into a hug, spinning in ridiculously fast circles. Ana raised a questioning eyebrow at Verspri, but he just shrugged, mouthing, "don't ask me."
"I'm asking you," she mouthed back.
"I see you lost the bear," Ve-Are said, the two of them stepping apart.
"No," Lina muttered, shifting from foot to foot. A loud bellow roared right behind Ana's head and she spun, smacking a fuzzy snout. The bear yelped.
"Sorry!" Ana exclaimed. Verspri laughed and she shot him a withering glare. "Just wait until an invisible bear roars right behind your head!"
***
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Dragonfly opened his eyes and Teremki's heart skipped a beat. "Um," he said, mouth going dry.
Dragonfly's gaze drifted to the end of the bed where Teremki sat. "I missed the fighting, didn't I?" Dragonfly asked, voice raspy.
Teremki self-consciously rubbed the bruise on his forehead. "Who told you about that?"
"Aito visited yesterday morning, rambling about all the things going wrong he had to get off his chest. Stuff about broken defenses and how we had to be prepared for a fight," he paused. "I don't think he knew I was awake."
"Well," Teremki said, "I missed the fighting here too. Most of us did. Or, maybe we didn't. I'm not sure."
Dragonfly's hand found his, through the pale sheets between them. "That's a cryptic answer," Dragonfly croaked, then fake-gagged. "Ugh, is there any water?"
"Probably," Teremki hesitated. "You want me to leave and get you some?"
Dragonfly adamantly shook his head, but stopped and stared blankly at the ceiling. "Wow that made me dizzy."
"Of course it did. But, um," he hesitated, "I'm glad you think I'm better than water."
Dragonfly halfway grinned. "Trust me, I couldn't live without you."
"I really couldn't live without you," a smile uncontrollably spread over his face and he swiped at his blurry eyes. When he looked down again, Dragonfly had shut his eyelids, expression drifting into sleep. But that was okay. They'd have more time later. "You saved my life a few days ago," Teremki whispered. "Maybe someday I'll return the favor for real."
