Byron had a gut feeling it was worse than a vehicle with a reckless pilot at the helm. This pilot knew what he was doing and he was on course; he just didn’t give a damn about the damage he’d end up doing.

Gleaming 9.8

Sveta was smiling, her face more relaxed than it had been when she had been challenging Byron and I. Things were balanced out. Kenzie was content enough.

Yet somehow, with whatever effect Goddess was supposed to have, more people in the room were upset than content. Me. Natalie.

Amy. I didn’t want to think about or focus on Amy. I didn’t want to think about the fact that she was here, invading my space yet again. I could still recognize that she wasn’t happy with the current dynamic.

Tristan.

For all the advice, the good advice, that Tristan was supposed to calm down and focus his efforts on our number one enemies here, he was as angry as I’d ever seen him. He’d taken off the bulk of his armor before switching out to Byron, and I had a full view of his face and neck. I could see his eyes.

He turned those eyes toward me. The look was dark, the tilt of his head and the overhead lights casting the sockets in shadow, with the shadows branching out through the lines along the nose and between the eyebrows. His fist was clenched.

A study in contrasts. In the moment before he had disappeared, Byron had looked okay. Less tense than I’d known him to be in a long time.

“Enough,” Goddess told him. “I can’t stand infighting.”

He didn’t back down, and he didn’t break eye contact.

“I’ve talked to some of my contacts. They claim they’re ready. Tell me what you’ve done.”

“We had a skirmish with Teacher,” I said. “The team that helped us with that should sit this one out. They’re depleted and as eager as they are, they’re also inexperienced. Tiredness combined with being spent is a recipe for disaster.”

“You have others?”

“Plenty of others,” I told her.

“When you said ‘the team that helped us’, who was ‘us’. Everyone went?”

“Capricorn and myself,” I said. “Capricorn Blue, to be specific.”

She looked at Tristan. Seeing him still staring me down, she touched his shoulder. He turned away from me to look at her.

“They ran into a cape,” Tristan said. “Set powers and interdimensional doors on fire.”

“I know her. Teacher will send her after me sometimes.”

“She’s the prison pharmacist. She’ll be there.”

Goddess didn’t seem to be too bothered by that.

“Where’s Cryptid?” Kenzie asked.

“Assisting me. He’s with the team that’s looking for the girl who has my power.”

“Oh, cool. He’ll be good at that.”