“I won’t! We’re good. I am low-key-enzie right now,” she paused, glancing around the room. “I miss Chris already. He would’ve liked that.”

“I can guarantee he wouldn’t have,” Rain said.

“He likes snarking because it makes him feel clever, so if I set ’em up so he can knock ’em down, he gets to feel good, and I don’t mind because it’s just me being a dork.”

“I’m not sure about that, but okay,” Rain said.

Kenzie turned my way. I stared at her, and I saw a slight smile on her face, uncertainty.

“Don’t take any actions, approach anyone, or give Goddess a line of communication to other teams until you’ve talked to us. We’re going to be super close to the front, dealing with sensitive matters. The wrong action at the wrong time could make our enemies unpredictable or change up the dynamic.”

I’d been trying to think of a convincing reason for her to stay put and stay away since before holding the door for Byron to step outside. This was the best I could manage.

There was a pause.

“Fiiiiine,” Kenzie said, like she was finally conceding the point in a long argument.

“I’ll watch her,” Sveta said.

I glanced at Ashley, who was still being quiet, lost in concentration.

“Victoria,” Sveta spoke up in a sudden way that suggested she’d had to push herself to say it. “Is Byron close enough to hear?”

I turned my head. “He headed down to the car to warm it up.”

“Byron was supposed to give Tristan control. What’s going on?”

This was hard. Hard like convincing myself to walk into traffic blindfolded. I didn’t have a ready answer.

“I don’t like teammates fighting,” she said. “And I don’t trust Byron like this.”

“I normally like Byron, but I agree with Sveta,” Rain said.

I tried to give an answer, “If we have them swapping back and forth, they’re going to fight each other, or Tristan’s going to keep control, and we’ll pay for that in spades later.”

“So you’re choosing Byron? Taking sides is also the kind of thing we pay for,” Sveta said.

“I know. But honestly, Byron’s more powerful in this situation.”

“His power is weaker right now,” Rain said.

“It might not have as much density or water pressure or… whatever it is that’s different, but it’s water. It’s sprays of water when it’s as cold as tits outside. I can beat him in a fight—I just proved that. I don’t think the water pressure that he has right now would go through my forcefield. Trust me on this?”

“Earlier, he asked if you’d be willing to kill someone,” Ashley said. All eyes turned to her. “You said yes.”

“I might,” I said. “What does that have to do with Byron?”