“Allegations against your youngest team member. They’re doing a news segment tonight. The people involved are buzzing—they were asking some others for input on the legality. Protecting identities, not divulging enough that someone could find out her civilian details. But they’re bringing the parents in. The news crews took cameras to the holding prison to record footage or testimony.”

“You told this to Capricorn?” I asked. He’d said something about the segment, and the involvement of the parents. Was it from my mom?

“Ninety percent of it. The rest is inconsequential. Can I help?”

“Without putting your own necks on the line, rep-wise?” I asked.

“If you ask me to, I will. Your father will. But only if you need it. Are you upset?”

I understood the dynamic they labored under—they were part of a disparate team, but if they crossed the line or went against the vast majority, there was a chance they’d be kicked out.

And I’d be asking them to do it for what? A bit of firepower, when we didn’t have an active enemy to aim it at?

“No. I’m not upset. It makes sense.”

“Good. I liked Tristan’s questions and approach. He has a good mind for the PR stuff. He’s attractive, stylish, clever about some of these things. Keep him close, Victoria. He’s an asset.”

“He’s a friend. If that last bit was you trying to subtly maneuver us into dating, think again. That’s not going to happen.”

“It wasn’t. I see merit, there. Nothing more, nothing less.”

I nodded, annoyed and restless.

“We had a similar experience, back in the beginning. A team with all the promise in the world, people were talking about us, the public was supportive, the law, the heroes…”

“And then Auntie Jess died. Murdered. New Wave lost its momentum.”

“It lost what it initially had. I’d like to believe that if things had been left alone, if we hadn’t had to deal with the horror that came with Leviathan or after, we might have found our way back to prominence. All it would take would be the right event, all of us coordinated in how we’d approached it. Ideally, you would have all been over eighteen, and we could have gone all out in the public eye.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. It wasn’t that like my mom to be so impractical and out there, talking hypothetical situations.

Had Leviathan been that right event, with all of us not coordinated enough? Too many of us had died.

I suppressed a sigh. I wondered how my mother’s mind worked and I didn’t want to know, at the same time.