“Nah. No more questions,” Tristan said.

“Some,” Papa said. He hesitated. “But this is a lot to take in. I need a moment to get my thoughts in order.”

Mr Vaughn smiled. “Instead of that, why don’t you hold onto any questions you might have, go home, sleep on things, and you can email our department any time. We will answer any questions—if you want to send us a hundred, it won’t be a problem.”

No. There’s a big difference between what they say to our faces and what they say if they have time to compose an email and word things carefully.

“I think we covered most of it,” Tristan said.

“…Yes,” Papa conceded.

No!

“Great!” Mr. Vaughn pronounced, with a smile.

Byron had to bite back his annoyance. Danger, management, secret identity, school, schedule, holidays. It was a mantra he mentally recited, so he could fire off the questions when he had the opportunity.

Mr Vaughn leaned back. “Tell me, what do you think?”

“I’m very interested.” There was no hesitation in Tristan’s reply.

“I’m not sure,” their papa said, sounding hesitant. “To be honest, our number one priority is getting this whole situation fixed. The PRT has resources.”

“The PRT absolutely has resources,” Mr. Vaughn said. “I would say they’re above average in what they can offer.”

“Alright,” their papa said. He looked at Tristan.

What’s the pitch?

“If you look into it, however, you’ll find they’re strictly above average. They’re exceptional and consistent at holding things to that level. You won’t get the exceptional wages, service, or attention from them. The people at the top have been in the PRT since before Tristan was born. There’s something called upward mobility, how many promotions you can get or how high you can rise in the hierarchy.”

“I know what upward mobility is,” Papa said.

“Then it should please you to know that when it comes to Tristan and his brother, we can give them mobility, and we can give them something the PRT won’t. We can give them exceptional.”

“With more risk, I’m guessing?” Tristan asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Vaughn said. “Being on a corporate team is like being in sales, except you’re selling your own brand. We’ll pay you handsomely, and you stand to gain much more if you hit our reward points. You’ll get extra for media events, a stipend for holding higher rankings on the right sites on the internet and any cape ranking lists in magazines. You’ll get a thousand dollars for every headline you net, five thousand if you get a positive headline in a major paper. But it’s more work, and not everyone’s cut out for it. If you don’t think you can sell and you can’t handle the risk, then the PRT is a safer bet.”