By the time we were done, we were at my house, and the car was very quiet except for Bee’s breathing.

“That’s... a lot,” she said at last, and all three of us muttered, “Yeah,” in unison.

Her fingers were twisted tight in the hem of her black T-shirt as she lifted her eyes to me and said, “Do you think it would be okay if I slept over at your house tonight? I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with my parents yet. Especially since they didn’t even miss me.”

That would be weird, I realized, and I nodded quickly. “Of course you can, no problem.”

David shook his head. “We need to keep talking about this,” he said, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “About what they told Bee, and about how we can prepare for the Peirasmos, and about what the heck I’m supposed to do without any powers, and—”

I cut him off with a palm laid flat across his mouth. “Tomorrow,” I told him. “Or the next day. For now, let me help Bee. Everything else will wait.”

David mumbled something behind my hand, and I rolled my eyes.

“She’s right,” Ryan said from the back, leaning forward and bracing both his hands on the headrest of my seat. “It’s late, we’ve had a lot to process, and Harper and Bee should have some time to themselves.”

With that, he lifted one hand to slap the back of David’s seat. “Don’t try to come between these two, man, trust me,” he said, his voice light and jovial even though I was guessing he didn’t feel it. I’d known Ryan long enough to know that tightness in his voice when he was worried about something.

But thankfully David nodded. “Okay. Yeah, you’re right, nothing we can do right now. We’ll talk later.”

With that, he leaned over like he was going to kiss me, only to pause, his eyes flicking toward the backseat.

Scoffing, I reached out and grabbed his face with both hands, planting a quick but firm kiss on his lips. I didn’t like PDA, but Ryan and Bee weren’t the public, and it wasn’t like they didn’t know we were dating.

Oh. Wait.

It wasn’t like Ryan didn’t know we were dating.

I looked back at Bee, who was watching me with her mouth slightly open. “Um. That is... another thing we should’ve mentioned,” I said, a little meekly, but Bee was already reaching for the door handle.

“One trauma at a time, please.”

David winced at that, but it made me feel better to hear a little of the old Bee in her voice. I gave him another quick kiss, this one on the cheek, and then stepped out of the car to stand next to Bee at the edge of my driveway.