“I’m done,” she said as she reopened the door. The window set into it allowed her to see an unaware Teddy picking her nose. The girl yanked her finger out and scurried in to change.

Melaton looked back, then moved her head up and down as if inspecting Emily. She squirmed a little under the gaze, but didn’t move.

“Nice costume,” Melaton said. “You able to take a hit?”

“Um . . . no?” Emily said.

“That doesn’t look armored at all,” Melaton added.

“It . . . isn’t,” Emily confirmed.

Melaton sighed. “Well, you’d better be good at dodging then.”

“Right,” Emily agreed. “So, once Teddy’s done, we head out?”

The Hero nodded. “Yup. Will this be your first outing in costume?” At Emily’s nod, she went on. “Oh. In that case, I might as well show you the ropes.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The Ropes

Melanie . . . Melaton? Emily still wasn’t sure how to address the woman. It didn’t really matter, she figured. Either way, she seemed to know where she was going and took off with a steady stride, as if expecting Emily to keep up.

She had to jog to catch up. Melaton might have been half a head shorter than Emily, but that didn’t mean it was easy keeping pace with her. Emily couldn’t decide between walking quickly and jogging to stay even.

“You’ve never been out and about, right?” Melaton asked.

“N-not really,” Emily said. “Um. You mean in costume, right?”

“Obviously,” she said before reaching up and rubbing at her chin. “Right. This’ll suck. I’m not the sort of person you’d want teaching you the ropes.”

“That’s . . . okay?” Emily tried. “I don’t really want to be a, um, public Hero or anything. I just want to live my life.”

“Humph. Yeah, that’s fair. Can’t even blame you. Chasing after Villains is a mess, dealing with corporations is a nightmare, and Endgames are complete shit.”

“You’ve been to some?” Emily asked.

Melaton didn’t reply for a while. “So . . . there are four paths you can take. For being a Hero, I mean. There are probably more than that, but it’s easier to break them down, you know?”

“R-right.”

They reached the end of the alley and Melaton stepped out into the foot traffic without so much as slowing down. Emily stumbled and stuttered after her, aware of every eye turning their way, of the expressions of surprise appearing on the faces of those around them and of the phones coming out of pockets to snap pictures.

“Um . . . um, uh,” Emily said intelligently.

Teddy grabbed her hand and squeezed it. A look down at the big brown eyes half hidden by a cartoonish mask reassured Emily that she wasn’t entirely alone.