I checked my phone. My phone was safe, covering distant territory. No messages had been sent by Rain or Ashley before all communications had been shut off. I looked at the monitors—also safe.

People were heading toward the cafeteria, and in that group, I could see Crystalclear and Rain. It was good. Coalbelcher was in the group with some of his lieutenants. Less good.

In her apartment, Ashley stood with her back to the kitchen counter, her head bowed, her arms folded. The Damsel, for lack of a better description, sat on a chair, one arm draped over the back, the other along the table, by the laptop that was now closed. It wasn’t much use to them, now that the internet was cut off as well.

Another screen showed the video feed from Ashley’s eye-cam. Once we were inside, if for any reason she wasn’t still in her apartment, then chances were good that we’d have to deduce her location.

Goddess walked over to look at the screens. Kenzie, organizing her stuff and unplugging things from the computer, looked up.

Amy moved in my peripheral vision. I shifted my stance. My aura was on and off in such a short period of time it barely rippled past my skin.

She wasn’t focusing on me. She’d taken a step toward Sveta, who was attaching her armor, her mask on the table next to her.

“Hello,” the small creature on Amy’s shoulder said, voice high. A few people glanced over.

“Hello,” Sveta said, before returning to what she was doing. She kept Amy in the corner of her eye.

“Dot, meet Tress,” Amy said. “My mother told me a lot about her, and I make—made small talk with her boyfriend when I ran into him at the Wardens headquarters.”

“You have a machine body, and you don’t smell much like flesh or blood.”

“Be polite,” Amy said.

“It’s good!” Dot exclaimed. “So special, to have something made like that. A lot of love and care.”

“There was,” Sveta said. “The most important person in the world had to work hard to make it even possible, and someone had to study very hard to learn how to make it, and that’s a kind of love too.”

Lookout, helmet on, gear gathered, approached to get a better look at Dot. I opened my mouth to express a warning, but Lookout stepped back as Amy turned to look at her.

Good, I thought.

Dot didn’t seem to care, instead adjusting her perch on Amy’s shoulder.

“My Red Queen does good work with a lot of love too,” Dot said.

“I’ve seen the work she does,” Sveta said.

I could feel a weight pressing in on me. Amy looking my way made it worse.