“Oh,” Teddy said as the realization hit. “You were being all sneakylike. I can do that, too, sometimes. Bears are real stealthy predators. That’s why nothing attacks a bear. Because we’re sneaky and we’d eat anything that’d try.”

“I’m certain,” Emily said. She reached her hand out and it was almost instantly grabbed by Teddy. “Come on. I guess we should get this over with.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Melaton

A little bit later and they were on the corner of Main and Sixth, a rather busy street with tight roads that probably predated the idea of cars and was rather cramped. A little terraced café sat on the corner, as Melanie had told her.

“This it, Boss?” Teddy asked as she eyed the café.

“We’re supposed to go behind it,” Emily said. “I think, um, maybe this way?”

A bit of exploring later and she found a tight little alleyway that led toward the back of the café. This was the second time she’d gone into an alley in a week—probably in the last few years, in fact.

The shadows cast by the buildings above them turned the already chill air much colder, and the stench of old leftovers warred with the buzz of flies, making the area rather unpleasant. Emily wondered what the people who’d seen them go into the alley thought they were doing.

“Hey, kids.”

Emily gasped while Teddy spun around and moved to place herself between Emily and the voice.

There was another alley nearby, a sort of T-junction in the passages lit only by a rusty old light hanging off the wall. Standing just on the edge of that light was the rather short form of a woman with familiar frizzy hair.

The height, hair, and voice were enough to identify her, which was good because the rest of the woman was covered in a complex costume that fit her form closely. It was made of red leatherlike material with bumps where armored plates stood out under the cloth.

Her boots—which reached up to her knees—were covered in metal plates, the same as her gauntlets, though those only covered the tops of her hands. The knuckles of her palms and her fingers were left free.

There wasn’t anything on Melanie that wasn’t covered except for her mouth and chin, but even that was only exposed because her lower mask was undone and dangling to the side from a strap. There had to be a hole somewhere at the back, too, because her black hair was loose over her back and shoulders.

“Me-Melanie?” Emily squeaked. “You’re Melaton?”

She eyed the woman, the Hero, and backed up just a step. Teddy growled at the woman in red, though what she could do against her was questionable. Melanie had a handgun strapped to one thigh and a large knife on the other.