“Even if that was eerily accurate and true, you guys were nasty about it,” Kenzie said. “That wasn’t okay.”

“Fuck,” one said, under his breath.

The guy who’d tripped over the trash hadn’t quite found his feet. He tripped over the trash he’d knocked off of the pile, falling again.

I walked over to him, grabbed him by the scruff, and dragged him back to the others. Kenzie had approached too, but it wasn’t to help the guy. She used her eyehook to pick up the trash.

“We were the ones who helped stop the portal thing from being worse, you dingbats,” I said. “Do you want to make this a thing, Looksee? We could arrest them.”

“Nah. I think they learned not to mug potential capes. And to be nicer, right? Don’t call people names or go straight to being rough.”

“Not mugging,” the guy I’d just brought back to his friends said. “We were investigating and looking out for trouble.”

“I’m trying to be nice,” she said. “You keep arguing points or swearing instead of saying sorry. Maybe we should call the police after all.”

For all the good that’ll do.

The men gave their apologies in near-unison.

Kenzie nodded, satisfied.

Her face and hair briefly went blurry again as someone drove past.

“Do you guys have a number I can try calling?” I asked. “Or an email we can send? We’ll call someone to pick you up. You’ll get your eyes back in two hours.”

They gave me an email. Kenzie sent the message to the families of the blinded men.

“I asked before,” I said, my voice quiet. “Are you okay? With Ashley’s pre-court proceeding not going well, same for Rain, the group being in a weird place, how are you holding up?”

“I’m holding,” Kenzie said, smiling. “Ashley told me to be tough, so I’m being tough. I’m focusing more on my stuff, but it’s a good distraction.”

“You’re sleeping okay? Eating okay?”

“Not sleeping, but nothing too bad. I’m staying up until midnight, sometimes one or two in the morning. Working on stuff like my box here. I was working on Tristan and Byron’s thing too, I have some stuff that has a one percent chance of working, max, and it would be video only if it worked, but it would maybe let us see Byron while Tristan is out and vice versa.”

“Eating?”

“Eating! That reminds me. Do you want to come over sometime soon?”

“I’ll answer your question if you answer mine.”

“I eat. Three regulars. My parents were always very big on sitting down and eating as a family. Unless it’s an emergency, I don’t miss dinner.”