Emily closed her eyes and, as she hadn’t done in a while, wished the floor would swallow her up whole. She didn’t have much of a choice. Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t think things through.

Opening the door up a crack, she looked at the familiar face in the corridor. “Mom. Give me two minutes.”

“Sweetie?”

“I’m naked.”

Her mom looked at her very much clothed shoulder. “Okay?”

Emily nodded and closed the door. Then she turned. “All right. Teddy, keep the talk about communism to a minimum. My mom’s a boomer— they don’t do politics well. Athena, no scaring her. Trinity . . . Only one hug at a time, all right?”

She received five nods. That was about the best Emily could expect.

“And be polite. Mom is . . . actually, she’s pretty nice, I’m sure you’ll like her. But no”—she wiggled her hand—“crazy stuff.”

“That’s easy,” Teddy said.

“I’ve never done a crazy thing yet,” Trinity said.

Athena just shrugged. “I’m the sane one here. You probably don’t need to worry about me.”

“Right,” Emily said. She spun around, took a deep breath, then opened the door.

Her mom was still there, standing in the corridor and looking a bit lost. Emily reached out, grabbed her hand, and pulled her in before closing the door. “Emily?”

Emily wrapped her arms around her mom and tucked her head into the nock of her shoulder. It was nice. Warm, and it smelled like her mom’s shampoo. She felt the stress keeping her back tense washing off.

“It’s good to see you, sweetie,” her mom said as she dropped her purse and returned the hug. “But who are all these girls?”

The tension returned.

“Mom, we need to talk.”

“I can imagine,” her mom said as she broke up the hug. “You need to tell me how you’ve been? How are classes? Did you make any friends? Why do you have five children in your room? That last one especially.”

“Right, right. You might want to sit down for this,” Emily said.

Her mom placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow. “I might not be a spring chicken, but I can still take a surprise or two.”

Emily licked her lips. “Right,” she repeated again. “Like ripping off a bandage then. I’m . . . a Hero. More or less.”

“Pardon?”

Emily laced her fingers over her stomach and focused on the ground. They really needed to vacuum. “You remember Power Day, uh, about a week ago?”

“Yes?” She was starting to sound concerned.

“Well, I got a power. I can make, um, little sisters for myself. Sorta.” Emily gestured to the girls, who were all smiling. “These are my summons? I can’t unsummon them or anything. They all have their own powers too.”

“Can I sit on the bed?” her mom asked. “Or would you rather I use that chair?”