Sharing a bed with Teddy wasn’t all that great—Teddy moved a lot in her sleep, and she snored, and she liked cuddling up into Athena’s side and drooling all over her—but it wasn’t awful.

Once they’d taken over a decent part of the country, they would be able to afford a big bunker, or a secret base, or maybe a gothic mansion on a hill somewhere, and then Athena would get a bedroom all to herself, with lots of bookshelves and stuff.

“What are you thinking about?” Teddy asked.

Athena twisted around so she could see Teddy’s face. Her eyes were closed, but the bear girl was obviously still awake. “I’m thinking about later, when Big Sister becomes a big-time Villain.”

“Oh, that’s cool. She wants to become more than just a Villain, though,” Teddy said. “I think she wants to become a Super Villain, or maybe a Demon.”

Athena’s eyes widened. “Whoa.”

Her big sister was aiming high.

“Yeah. It’s pretty cool,” Teddy confirmed.

“Do you think . . . do you think she’ll need our assistance?”

Teddy snorted. “Yeah, of course. She can’t turn into a bear on her own or . . . uh, make people a little bit nervous?”

“My powers do more than that,” Athena said.

“Sure,” Teddy said.

Athena poked her in the tummy, eliciting a groan. “Don’t be mean. It’s against the rules.”

Teddy stuck her tongue out, but flinched when Athena raised her hand for another poke. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. We’ll need to be a lot stronger to help the Boss is all I’m saying. I’ll need to turn into, like, a much bigger bear, and you’ll need to be even scarier.”

“Even scarier . . .” Athena said.

She wondered if she could do that.

Was she scary already?

Probably not. She was a skinny tallish girl, with big glasses and near-white hair. None of that sounded scary. She couldn’t even make a disappointed face like Big Sister could. That face was the scariest thing she’d ever seen.

Athena could rely on her power, of course, but that felt like it wasn’t enough. Or maybe it was more of a crutch.

No, Athena would need to work on being scarier.

Or maybe she could work on her overall presentation.

She imagined herself looking really cool, posing as people fell into nightmares all around her.

“Yeah,” she said.

Emily came out of the bathroom with a towel around her head, yawned, then trudged over to her bed. “Good night, Teddy.”

“Night, Boss,” Teddy said.

“Good night, Athena.”

Athena smiled up at her big sister, the sister she was going to make so proud. “Good night, sis.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Knots