She grabbed the girl’s hand and started to pull her along while stifling the blush that burned itself onto her cheeks. She felt like a mother pulling her kid along, or maybe a big sister. She hoped people thought it was the latter.

“We-we need to talk. Right now . . . as soon as we get back to the dorms.”

“But, Boss,” Teddy said, “I’m hungry.”

Emily swallowed. Had . . . had she been neglecting a child? Forget the Villain quests she’d been rejecting all morning—that truly made her a bad person. “Then . . . then food first.”

Teddy’s grin had Emily’s stomach twisting up. It reminded her a bit of the rare times her dad would smile at her for doing something he approved of, but with much bigger canines.

She held on to the girl and led her toward the end of the campus. A little Im Orton’s there was run by a school club. She’d stopped there with her mom when they visited the place for the first time.

Everything had been far more expensive than it should have been, but she could splurge a little bit once in a while. And she really needed a coffee.

“S-so, um . . .” Emily began, then ended up not adding much to that. She didn’t know where to start.

One of the things she’d read earlier about powers was that, generally, powers were helpful to their owner, regardless of their alignment. Someone who could control fire wouldn’t be burned by their own flames, and minion creators wouldn’t be harmed by their minions, at least not purposefully.

Was Teddy a minion? She looked . . . normal.

“What is it, Boss?” Teddy asked.

“You shouldn’t call me that,” Emily said.

“Can’t call you Emily,” Teddy said. “What if we’re robbing a bank and someone hears your name?”

Emily felt a little faint. “No, no robbing banks, please. We . . . we don’t do bad things, okay?”

Teddy frowned. “What about getting points and doing quests?”

“Only good quests, quests that don’t hurt people,” Emily said.

“Does mugging hurt people?” Teddy asked.

Emily had a bad feeling. “Yes, Teddy, mugging hurts people a lot.”

“Oh. Shouldn’t have mugged that guy, then.”

Emily stopped. A quick look around revealed a nice little alleyway between two buildings, which she was easily able to tug Teddy into. “W-what did you do?” she asked.

Teddy was smiling, but a bit of confusion marred her eyes. “Got a quest to hurt people, but I was hungry, so I didn’t take it. So I got a quest to mug people. Only got to the one, though. Made one point.” She nodded proudly.

Emily shook.

“You want me to spend my point?”

“No!” Emily said. “No, Teddy, that’s . . . no.”

“Did I do bad?” Teddy asked.

Emily nodded. “Mugging is, it’s bad, Teddy, really bad.”

“Should have just taken the first quest, then,” Teddy muttered.