Emily felt as if someone had just turned off gravity, and maybe dialed down common sense while they were at it. “Oh, Teddy,” she said.

She wanted to be angry, but that wasn’t in her nature. Worse, Teddy looked like she’d been proud, the same look Emily wore when she had “helped” her mother with the laundry and had turned all her dad’s shirts pink.

“It’s . . . okay?” Emily said. “No, wait, it’s not okay, but, but it’s not your fault. I . . . Let’s grab something to eat at the dorm, and then I can explain things, okay?”

“All right, Boss,” Teddy said.

At least her mood seemed easy to lift with the promise of food.

CHAPTER FIVE

Honey-Glazed Blackmail

Emily eyed Teddy, then looked up to the older woman behind the counter. She hated ordering in lines. She never knew what she wanted, and the pressure kept mounting until she was at the very front where she was expected to make a choice before the people behind her got angry.

It was incredibly stressful, and she’d always found herself envious of those who could just casually walk up to a counter and rattle off an order.

Did they know what they wanted that well? Did they not care that a wrong choice could cost more than they wanted or might not taste the best?

She cleared her throat as the woman stared at her, one eyebrow raising as if to ask if she intended to order before the sun went down. “R-right. I’ll have a medium coffee, black, and a chicken . . . two chicken wraps. And, uh, half a dozen doughnuts. She’ll pick.” She pointed to Teddy.

Emily pretended not to feel guilty about putting the girl on the spot.

“Cool,” Teddy said. “Half a dozen is six, right?” Emily nodded. “I’ll take six honey glazed.”

The woman blinked, entered the order in her machine, and let Emily tap her phone to the card reader. “Please stand to the side, your order will be coming soon.”

“Thanks,” Emily said. It was only when she was near the end of the counter that she realized she hadn’t ordered anything for Teddy to drink. “Um. I’m sorry. Did you want something to drink?” she asked.

“Nah.”

That . . . made her life easy.

Five minutes or so later, Emily and Teddy were heading back down toward their home. Emily’s home. Was it also Teddy’s? she wondered. How did people handle summons? Was Teddy a citizen or not?

“S-so, uh,” Emily asked. “Do you remember things from before the summoning?”

“Nope.” Teddy was bouncing along next to her, box of still-warm doughnuts held close to her chest.

That simplified things a little. Teddy wasn’t someone her power had kidnapped. That would have been terrible. Emily would have had to run to the Heroes and explain everything and hope that they didn’t punish her too much for what her power did.