“Like, tell her she did good when she does something evil? Not good in, like, the opposite of evil way, but good in the . . . uh, did right way.”

Tina nodded. “That could work. It sounds a bit slow, though.”

“That’s all right. The Boss’s plans aren’t meant to be real fast. I think she’s playing the long game.”

Tina slid one thing onto the rack and pulled off another. “She has a long-term plan?”

“Yup,” Teddy said.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Tina’s eyes narrowed, and since they were really big, that was a lot of narrowing. “Then it’s a secret long-term plan.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Teddy agreed.

“That’s really cool,” Tina said.

Teddy nodded. It was really cool. She pointed to a blouse. “You should get this one.”

Her new sister looked at it for a moment. “It’s very red. I don’t know if I like red.”

“You should like red. Capitalists don’t like that color. They have this whole thing called a red scare. It spooks them.”

“Are capitalists dangerous?” Tina asked.

Teddy nodded. “Oh yeah. Very. Even the Boss said that capitalism can be bad.”

“Well, if Big Sister Emily said so.” Tina picked the blouse off the rack. “But I’m going to look into these capitalists myself. You sound like you’re nervous about them.”

“A bit? They steal your food and they have these invisible hands,” Teddy explained. “It’s real creepy.”

“I think that’s enough stuff,” Tina said as she tossed the blouse atop her pile of clothes. She didn’t have all that much as far as Teddy could tell. A few skirts, some blouses, and a few other things, like pj’s that were all flannel and fluffy, and a poofy white scarf made of some sort of fur.

Teddy helped her carry some of the stuff, because she was a bear and bears were stronger than owls. Not that Tina could even turn into an owl. Her power was all mind-gamey and kind of boring.

They had to wait by the entrance for a while, the woman behind the counter eyeing them the entire time, but then the Boss showed up and everything was okay again. She paid for the clothes, because they lived in a failed system where taxation and disproportionate monetary compensation were still a thing, and then the Boss reached down and grabbed each of them by the hand.

“Where are we going now, Boss?” Teddy asked.

“I think we should take all this back home. If you feel like changing, that’ll be the best time,” Emily said. “And then we have someone to meet later. She’s paying the tab, so eat as much as you want.”

“Really?” Teddy asked.