Teddy warped and shifted, turning back into a girl in a butter-yellow sundress and plastic bear mask. “Bit of a coward, that one.”

Athena nodded. “Weak.”

With a sigh, Emily stepped back and shook her arms. There were pins and needles running through her whole body, as if she’d been on the verge of fainting herself.

“You were really cool, though, big sister,” Athena said. “Superscary.”

Teddy nodded. “I thought she was going to poop her capitalism right out of her.”

“I . . . what does that even mean? No, don’t answer that—it’s rhetorical,” Emily said. “We should probably leave.”

Athena gave Emily a big thumbs-up and Teddy skipped forward to take Emily’s hand in hers. “Home it is! We can call that idiot guy and tell him he owes us one.”

“Right,” Emily said.

She’d have to call Handshake, trade that bit of information for something or other. And he’d promised her the location of a safe house. That might come in handy.

As for Glamazon, Emily figured she could take care of herself.

Emily wiggled her hand toward Athena. As soon as the girl’s hand was in hers, Emily turned and made her way out of the factory.

The sky had darkened even more while Emily and her sisters had been inside, turning to deep blue.

Home wasn’t far away—just a few blocks to the college, and then a walk over to the dorms. Still, Emily couldn’t walk over dressed the way she was. They found a spot near another factory, as abandoned as the first and with a broken-down bathroom on the first floor. Changing in a hurry, soon the three were walking home in the dark.

Emily swiped her phone over the panel next to the dorm’s door, then she practically stumbled to the elevator and up to her room.

The moment she saw her bed she crashed into it and gave up. Life was too much sometimes.

She could figure out what to do with the sinking realization she was more of a Villain than she expected in the morning. Or maybe, if she was clever about it, she could do nothing about it and pretend that she didn’t turn mean when under pressure.

She doubted it was going to be that easy.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Triple Threat

Emily woke up to something heavy and warm pressing against her side. Then she felt something breathing near her back.

Blinking, she stretched her head up and looked down through bleary eyes to see two bodies taking up what little room was left on her bed. Teddy was sprawled out, one leg over Emily’s, the other folded over the side of the bed. Her elbow was digging into Emily’s stomach and her head was pressed back into the nook between Emily’s shoulder and neck.

A turn to the side revealed Athena rolled up in the fetal position and hugging Emily’s free arm close.