There were pictures, so he shuffled over to the edge of the bed, and I sat on the other side, my ass half on the bed’s railing, and I held the book between us, so we could both see it.

Two good Simon books, which were most likely aimed at someone just a bit younger than Juan was, but he didn’t seem to complain. I moved on to a comic involving the robot prison ship, peeking ahead so I could skip past the scenes which were aimed at someone much older than him, and then, to be safe, moved on to something aimed at a younger age again. Kids in animal masks getting into trouble.

There wasn’t much likelihood that Juan had powers, but he’d had a bad day, and this was okay.

I was halfway through that book when I saw someone look in at the door, peeking around. A boy. He stopped as he spotted me.

I finished the page, then paused, partially closing the book, and checking on Juan. Fast asleep. I checked his pulse, because I was paranoid, then fixed his blankets, and eased myself up off the bed with flight, to not disturb him.

I used a notepad by the side of the bed, and wrote a brief farewell:

Nice to meet you, Juan. The nurses have my number so if you want to go flying sometime, we might be able to arrange something. 🙂
—Victoria

I walked over to the door. It wasn’t one of the ones I’d taken a flight with. Older, thirteen or so, with what might have been his first pimples.

I saw the hesitation on his face.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go to the cafeteria. It’s late, I don’t think many people will be around.”

He nodded.

⊙

“Hello?”

“Tempera? Hi, it’s Victoria. I’m sorry to call you so late.”

“It’s fine. I don’t sleep much, and the call is more than welcome. Why the call?”

“I’m at the hospital, talking to someone—”

“You’re still at the hospital?”

“Yes. I’ve been talking to a teenager, he’s listening in on my half of the conversation right now. He’s got a friend with powers, but she’s not doing so hot. It’s new and it’s scary and neither he nor she know what to do.”

“We’ve been there.”

“We’ve been there. Yeah. I know you’re in touch with the Wardens. They’re decent, they have a lot of resources, they have some good people.”

“Absolutely.”

“He can describe particulars and you can let them know.”

“Not a problem. Just so you know, it might be hard to get someone on the phone this late, but if it’s a problem, I know some people I can round up and we can go talk to her as a big supportive group.”

“Great. I’m going to hand you off now.”