Technically, we came to find out about the attack on the portals, but we can’t say that outright.

“Lord of Loss, leader of Earth N,” the man with the parted hair said. “We welcome you.”

Lord of Loss’s body language was magnanimous, hands spread. He seemed warm, even, for a giant in ragged armor. He approached at a walk. “I’m sorry for the mess. Things have been chaotic. I recognize the heroine from the community center. Antares?”

“Yes.”

“We did that to try and get ahead of what we’re seeing today, serving up a scapegoat. We had a riot two days ago, because we weren’t able to get out ahead of things or give the masses another sacrifice.”

“It shouldn’t be about sacrifices,” I said.

“It all comes down to blood and bread,” he said. “With snowfall only fifty or so days from now, we don’t have the bread. Will the community center and its outcome be a problem?”

I shook my head. “Not especially.”

“Good,” he said. “What brought you here, Breakthrough?”

“Can we talk about that alone? Our team and you?” Capricorn asked.

“I don’t know all of your powers, and I won’t call in any of the expensive favors needed to get that information. You keep your five. I’ll keep four I trust. Fair?”

Capricorn glanced at Sveta, then me. He gave Lord of Loss a nod.

Lord of Loss selected his people. The others were dismissed with a wave of the hand.

Nursery had an updated costume, I noted. It was fitted to her slender frame, a curved golden band at her belly highlighting the slight bump. She stayed.

Oddly, it wasn’t the professional looking man or woman in the white armor with the sharp designs that were tapped for his retinue here. He turned to the group of teenagers with the bleached animal designs. One was asked to stay, a boy with fangs bleached into the black fabric of the bandanna that covered his lower face.

The man with the parted hair, too, stayed. I thought it might be because he was Lord of Loss’s lieutenant.

He wasn’t. Lord of Loss turned toward the house behind him, paused, then beckoned. Another cape stepped out, walking down the dirt path, and joined us. Most of the others in the area were gone by the time he reached us. The one with the parted hair stood just behind him, as Nursery and the fang kid stood at either side of Lord of Loss.

Tall, with long brown hair that passed his shoulders, carefully cultivated facial hair, and reading glasses that he looked over most of the time. He had a billowing shirt that ninety-nine percent of people wouldn’t be able to pull off, and tight black jeans tucked into boots. His fingers had a lot of rings, and another ring hung from a simple leather cord at his neck.