“It’s not like I’m going to be out when it arrives,” Ashley said. She stood from the picnic table.

“I wasn’t sure what to do but I thought books would be best,” Lookout said. “They were always something I went to when I couldn’t sleep. I had stacks of them on my bed, piled high enough they could have tipped over and bruised me. I’d sleep with my head on a book sometimes.”

“I don’t think I’m going to do that,” Ashley said. “But I’ll read what you send me. C’mon.”

Lookout went to her. They hugged.

The buzzer sounded again, more intense. Rain’s anklet beeped once.

“I should go,” Rain said. “They’ll get pissy if we get in the way of schedules.”

“Yeah. I can stay, I think. It’s my yard time,” Ashley said. “They’ll let me know if it isn’t.”

“Then I’m going to duck out,” Rain said.

He clasped hands with Capricorn, then the handshake became a half-shake, half-hug thing. “Keep us up to date on that team thing.”

“Yeah,” Capricorn said.

We parted ways, our group heading back toward the gate, while Ashley walked on the other side of the road.

Guards were out, each with positions in mind. They fanned out, each armed and uniformed, their belts heavy with gear. For the most part, they were isolated—one guard to a given location. There was one case where the guards moved in a group of three, with something of a determined cast to their features.

We were almost at the gate when Lookout took a hard right turn, striding away from the group.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She was silent.

Something was wrong. I lifted off, but in that same moment, Sveta’s arm went out, propelled by tendrils. She grabbed Lookout by the shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

I wasn’t the only one to look in the direction she’d been going.

Off by one of the buildings, a woman with black hair and a few tattoos was leaning against the side of a building, camouflaged. She was a considerable distance away, to the point where I couldn’t make out details of her face, tattoos, or outfit—only a top with a ‘v’ cut at the neck and a frilly flap that went from collar to shoulder, black pants, and shoes.

“Monokeros!” Ashley shouted the name. When she had Monokeros’s attention, she shook her head.

The woman laughed in response, audible even from a considerable distance.

The woman stepped away from the wall, thumbs hooked in pockets, and started walking away. We’d been traveling north to south, and Monokeros had been a few hundred feet to our west. She walked north, which put her behind us and off to the side.

A non threat, supposedly.

Ashley stared, watching the woman as she left.

“Fuck,” Capricorn said. “You okay, Lookout?”