He nodded slowly.

I indicated his feet. “You having those is handy, but we’re not exactly walking. Are you going to be okay driving in this?”

“No idea,” he said. “I’m an okay driver, but I’ve never driven in weather like this.”

“If you want, I can fly alongside. If there’s a problem, I could… do some exterior damage to the car, but maybe make it stop.”

“You can fly in this?” he asked.

I winced, stepping outside, the door still open behind me. My hood was up, the icon at my forehead, and my hair was tied back. The hood was pinned to my hair at either corner of my brow—it wouldn’t move naturally or flow right, but I doubted it mattered—I just wanted it to stay up when the rain was coming down.

I was wearing a tight-fitting waterproof jacket over the hooded portion of my outfit, waterproof, and the ornamentation that helped keep my hood in place kept the one hood nestled in the other. I had better gloves, and I had tights on underneath the tight-fitting black pants.

I wasn’t sure I would be terrifically comfortable, even with those precautions, but we didn’t have a lot of choice.

“Yes. We’ll both do our best,” I said.

“And—I know we said we wouldn’t discuss it, but—” he started. He lowered his voice. “I can trust you? You won’t… help Goddess by dealing with me?”

Funny, to have the idea turned back on me, when I was the one making the leap of faith.

I thought about it. It seemed like I could, if he was a real threat, if I was more willing to kill. It would even make sense.

“You’re taking about two seconds too long to answer that,” he said.

“You can trust me, and I’m extending my trust to you because you’re right. There are a lot of factors that could mean I’m compromised. We’re both helping her, because we’re both dealing with the same threats.”

“Sure,” he said.

I imagined he was thinking about the same thing I was—the question of what happened if I had to choose between him and Goddess in a more explicit way.

Speckles of moisture were already beading my face. My costume seemed to be keeping the worst of it off, but it made me aware of the time spent standing in the rain, making no headway.

I turned toward the door, paused to think for a second, double-check my thought processes, and then leaned partway inside.

“Kenzie.”

She was at her desk, helmet off, costume on. She spun in a half circle, putting her hands out to either side and behind her to catch the desk and stop. “Yes?”

“Don’t do anything.”

“I know. You guys already decided we shouldn’t.”

“Really. Don’t. Talk to us first if you’re considering anything.”