“Things I need to figure out. One personal, and a bunch of external ones. People, forces, trends. I feel like I might be drowning, but it’s because of others making the waters choppier. Pushing me under, even.”

“Tattletale?” he asked.

“That was a fast reply.”

“An accurate one,” his voice was smug.

“Yeah. People like Tattletale. Don’t get me wrong, I have my own stuff to deal with, and I’ll figure that out with my therapist. But I really want to handle or get away from the people who are making life way more fucking difficult than it needs to be. Get some control over things, so they stop getting in the way.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Capricorn said. “This strategy of yours. Uniting the teams. Is that you handling things like you just described?”

“Yeah. Some. Is that a problem?”

“Nah,” he said. He smiled. “Nah, it makes sense. Assess the problem, get the resources together to address that problem. More contacts is good. More resources is good.”

I nodded. “You brought this up for a reason. How hard it is to escape, the power stuff.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Nothing big. Tired of swimming, always on the cusp of drowning. Can’t get away from my situation. Rain was a friend and we’re going to see him later, but he’s gone. Sveta—can’t complain to her. It’s like bitching about a cut finger when your friend is inside a blender.”

“I think she’d listen and understand,” I said.

“I have days where I can’t do it anymore. No energy to keep fighting and pushing forward. Byron worries about me then, you know? But that’s not the hard part. It’s that all the time, I’m also watching Byron, worrying about him. Gotta keep an eye out, try to analyze, figure him out, make sure I’m not being too hard on him when he’s having a bad day.”

“It’s good,” I said.

“But I was never good at understanding him. I want the days we fight tooth and nail and fuck with each other. I know they’re bad, duh but that’s so easy. This is what drains me. We’re not fighting each other, and how do you fight onward if you’re not revved up and ready?”

“You find external focuses. Other enemies to fight. Line them up, knock them down, vent off steam that way.”

He created what had to be his fourth top, setting it to spinning. It was more balanced than the others, but it had some wobble.

“I miss kissing boys,” he said. “I saw a guy with a beard on my way here. He wasn’t my type at all, but it hit me pretty fucking hard, that I’ve never kissed a guy with a beard, and I might never.”

“Never is a pretty ridiculous word when we live in a world with powers.”