Suddenly, Johnny slipped on a puddle. As he waved his arms around, trying to keep his balance, his mind whirled with questions. Where had the puddle come from? He was pretty sure it hadn't been there the first time. If it had, how did he miss it the first time? It was a pretty big puddle. When he finally regained his balance, he froze as he felt someone behind him."Who are you and what are you doing here?" Dorothy demanded.Well, that explained the puddle. She must have created the puddle after she passed by. Johnny wasn't sure how he didn't pick up on her plan when she passed by. There hadn't been a hint that she had planned to smoke him out in her mind. Had she really been able to keep it out of her head, or had he let his guard down and failed to catch it?"Answer me," Dorothy said as she poked his back with a gun.That was a bit unexpected. Johnny hadn't thought she would be carrying a gun. He couldn't recall her carrying one in the test, but the point was moot. If he didn't say

Several days passed since the incident, and Johnny had done his best not to think about it. Of course this was easier said than done when everything kept reminding him about it. He literally couldn't escape it since he was trapped indoors until he felt certain he could go out without being recognized right on the spot. Johnny sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose."What's wrong?" Katherine asked."I just have a lot of thoughts on my mind," Johnny said as he removed his hand."Do you want to talk about it?" she asked."No, I rather not," he said.There was no way he was going to tell her about Dorothy's suggestion or what was going on with the top families. He couldn't bring someone who was estranged from her own family and was crippled into the picture. Johnny didn't mean it offensively, but it was the simple truth. She had no way to help him. It would only bother her and possibly stress her out like it did to him.Of course, that was only if Frank was willing to let Johnny talk

The phone rang several times before someone picked it up. "Who's this?"Johnny didn't really expect Dorothy to actually pick up the phone. Why wasn't she more on guard? Didn't her phone tell her it was from an unknown number? Well, it didn't really matter. He couldn't use the excuse that Dorothy didn't answer to deter Katherine. Now that Dorothy was on the phone, he handed it over to Katherine, who took the phone from him.As she placed it against her ear, she said, "Dorothy, it's me."Since he was so close, he could hear Dorothy say, "Katherine, why are you calling me from an unknown number? Did something happen? Do you need help?""No, I just borrowed this phone so I could talk to you," Katherine said."Okay?" Dorothy said uncertainly before asking, "What do you want to talk about?""I wanted to talk about Johnny becoming the Burns family head," Katherine said.As soon as his name was mentioned, Johnny choked on his spit. Several thoughts crossed his mind. The most prominent was whe

Johnny shook his head. No, that couldn't be it. While it was true dungeons could form out of nowhere and unleash a bunch of monsters, they typically didn't appear anywhere near where the top families lived. He didn't know the reason, but for some reason they just didn't show up near them. That's what made people want to live near them too.Even if a dungeon did form, he couldn't imagine the Burns family being unable to handle it on their own. They weren't one of the top families for nothing. If they could be easily taken out because of one dungeon, what about everyone else? How could anyone have any hope of tackling it themselves? Dorothy was right. It really was a ridiculous idea."Brother, what do you think about what Dorothy said?" Katherine asked."I think we're going to have a serious talk about why you're talking about dangerous things over the phone," Frank said."But," she started."Johnny, I'm going to have a quick chat with my sister. Can

While Johnny didn't like the idea, he didn't have much of a choice. Sticking around wasn't going to do anything except waste time and put himself in possible danger. With no one else with him, he had no one he could rely on if he was suddenly attacked by a bunch of monsters, which was a serious risk. He didn't want to take that risk."Where do we meet up?" Johnny asked."We'll try to continue with the plan and head for the head of the family's office," Frank said.Just as Johnny was about to protest that idea, he heard a loud animalistic roar. He frantically checked his surroundings and didn't see anything. Before he could feel relieved, he heard screams and shouts on the other side. He placed his hands on the rubble, hoping to at least find a small opening to get a better look at what was happening."Frank? What's going on? Are you okay?" Johnny asked frantically.There was no response except more shouting and fighting. He was completely in the da