Two Skill Upgrade points. One from her mugging the other day, and the other from scaring the capitalism right out of that Handshake guy. “Right, so there are three sorts of points, right? The Power Slot ones give you a whole new power. You don’t know what you’ll get, though, like when you got the power to summon me.”

“I think I’ve heard of that,” the Boss said. “Some of the best Heroes have a bunch of powers.”

“That’s right, yeah. The Skill Upgrades one allows you to make a power’s skills better. Like, once I unlock some skills for my bear power, I could make them better and stuff like that.”

“Okay,” the Boss said.

“And the Skill Slot ones, those unlock new skills for a power you already have.”

A frown appeared on the Boss’s forehead. “I don’t understand that one, sorry.”

“Ah, it’s like . . . I could get a new skill that allows me to, uh, talk to bears. It would match with my power, but be a whole new skill.”

“I guess I can see that?” the Boss said. She didn’t sound like she saw the whole thing, but Teddy figured she would in no time.

They’d arrived at their destination, so Teddy slowed down and finally came to a full stop.

The Boss blinked a few times and looked around in confusion. “Why did we stop?” she asked.

Teddy pointed across the street to the Im Orton’s they’d gotten lunch from. “We’re here,” she explained.

The Boss stared at the busy store, a look of confusion appearing and then passing with a roll of her eyes. But because she was the best Boss, all she did was mutter something under her breath, and then nod her head. “Fine. Might as well.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A Queen of Sorts

Emily didn’t exactly sleep well that night. The entire time had been spent curled up in a small ball so that the large towels she’d unpacked could serve as a blanket against the cold in her room. She listened to Teddy’s steady snoring and tried to fall asleep to no avail.

She did sleep, eventually, but when she awoke, it was with bleary eyes and no energy.

At least it hadn’t been the sound of her door slamming open as a team of Heroes barged into her room that woke her up. She’d had a few nightmares like that already.

She got dressed in a hurry, tacking a note to the inside door telling Teddy not to step out unless it was an emergency. She also left her number, just in case, and made a note in her own agenda to maybe find out if getting a phone for Teddy was doable.