“There’s no need to make something so monumental over something so scuffed and small,” Monokeros said. She sounded irritated. “I’m saying I don’t want her. Ask any parent if they’d adopt her or the girl without the blemish. Ask any boy if he’d date a girl with a scar or one without. A toy unboxed and scratched is worth a tiny fraction of what it would be if left intact. Worth is objective. This is not complicated.”

“You have no eye for true beauty and worth, Monokeros,” Ashley said. “I can tell you that. I’d have her as a subordinate, teammate, or friend before I had anyone else. You’re blind.”

“Such cutting insults. I’d say it’s been a pleasure to chat, but I’d be lying. This whole conversation has been so tiresome,” Monokeros said. She retreated inside. Her voice was faint. “My kingdom, my kingdom, my kingdom, for a decent housemate.”

“You’ll have no kingdom if I can help it,” Ashley said, but she said it to herself. She turned away, and the view went dark as she reached up for the eye camera with clumsy hands.

Tristan hit the spacebar. The video froze.

“That’s a pretty good indicator of what we’re up against, then,” he said.

I nodded.

“There were hints,” Ashley said. In the background, Kenzie was with Natalie, drawing something on the whiteboard. Ashley’s projection had come our way. “Monokeros’s attitude, she seemed cavalier, she doesn’t keep secrets, she likes to tease, hint, bait. It led me to think she had an escape route.”

“Goddess,” I said.

“Yes,” Ashley said. There was a pause. “Kenzie.”

I turned to look. Sveta and Capricorn did too.

I saw Kenzie smiling.

“She listened—I didn’t realize until it was too late. My view isn’t as good as real eyes, like this.”

I winced.

“I don’t get it,” Tristan said.

I made eye contact with Ashley—or with her projection.

“Watch her,” Ashley said to us, to me in particular. “My gut feeling is it wouldn’t take much.”

I nodded.

“I’ll try,” I said.

Beacon 8.8

Our group was splitting up, each person assigned a task. Sveta attended to the outcast-types, and Kenzie was even communicating with a group online, while Chris looked over her shoulder. Rain or Ashley would sign off on the messages before they were sent, just to head off the worst issues.

I found myself wincing a bit at the possibilities—each of those four had their issues. Tristan had seemed confident that they’d balance each other out. I wasn’t so confident, but I’d held my tongue. It was one group they were communicating with, and it was better to know sooner than later if there was a communication issue with those four members of Breakthrough.