Sveta sat on the hill, while Tristan stood near me. There were other people sitting around the slope or hanging around in the shade of the station, but we were mostly clear of eavesdroppers. It was a question of waiting for a few people to walk away before speaking.

“Chris and I had a disagreement,” I said. I watched the trucks go.

“I was wondering why you looked pissed,” Tristan said. “I didn’t want to say anything.”

“He didn’t like that I showed up unannounced.”

“I’ve run into that,” Tristan said. “He complains if we turn up unannounced, he complains if we don’t invite him to stuff like our group’s visit to the Wardens’ headquarters, when we were asking about hiring a lawyer and sounding people out on Hollow Point. I think he likes complaining.”

It bummed me out a bit that Cedar Point’s name hadn’t survived, with all we’d done.

“It wasn’t complaining. He was pissed,” I said. “I’m telling you guys so you know. He might be bothered enough to bring it up.”

“How pissed was he?” Tristan asked. “Scale of one to ten?”

“Pissed enough to weaponize things I told the group in confidence. Seven?”

“Okay,” Tristan said. “Did you get the rage vibe from him? Do we need to disinvite him from the meeting with Lord of Loss?”

“That’s—no,” I said. “My first instinct is no, we don’t, but I don’t want to go by first instincts only. The situation made it hard to tell if it was lingering rage, and… the more I try to find words, the less sure I am about disinviting him.”

Sveta was quiet, “It sets a bad precedent.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Shutting people out, and I don’t think he’d forgive it very easily. I could have handled it better, but Chris isn’t the sort of person I really ‘get’. I feel like every time I find out something more, I just have more questions.”

“I think if you asked him,” Sveta said, “he’d say you don’t need to get him or get answers. You should just respect his boundaries and let him do what he wants.”

“People in his day to day are scared of him,” I said. “Teachers, kids. I need some answers, just to make sure I’m not standing around doing nothing while missing something important or dangerous.”

“Yeah,” Sveta said. She looked up at me, and said with grave sincerity, “I totally, one hundred percent get that.”

“You’re thinking about the Irregulars?” Tristan asked.