"Shelby!" Zane exclaimed in surprise.
"Oh? You know him?" Xoxo asked with a playful tone.
"Yes. He must be here for me. Xoxo, bring him here."
"Alright," she replied with a smile, waving her delicate hand. In an instant, Shelby appeared beside them.
"Hey, Shel—" Zane began, but Shelby instinctively jumped back, startled.
"Zane! You're here! And who—" his voice cut short as he dropped into a defensive stance.
"Relax," Zane said, raising a hand calmly. "You're in Solaris City—an artificial city built by the Atlantis. She's the guardian here, an A.I. with sentient life."
Shelby glanced at Xoxo suspiciously, but before he could ask more, Zane turned to her and said, "Can you excuse us? We need a private conversation."
"Of course," Xoxo said with a soft, knowing smile, then vanished into thin air.
Shelby's eyes narrowed. He couldn't sense her presence at all—not her mana, not her trace—and that level of concealment was something only experts of the highest tier could manage.
