“Gold Morning,” I said.

“Then you were there. That’s the thing people put on their sleeves, if they were there or if they played a part.”

“Some don’t put anything on their sleeves, but they were there. Lung, Goddess,” I said. “Why?”

“You put it there for a reason, right?”

“Everyone has their reasons for wearing the armbands,” I said. I worried I sounded defensive. Again, I asked, “Why?”

“I’m not going to test you or test her,” he said. “Out of respect for that.”

There were a few nods around his group. One or two looked unsure, like the stupider, less ‘together’ members of the group weren’t sure if it was for real.

I wasn’t sure I believed it was for real.

“Good man,” I said, deciding there was no way to hammer it out. I met Natalie’s eyes momentarily before turning away.

Nothing from her in the way of signals. Damn it.

I went back to Rain and Byron, walking past a group that was preparing for the possibility of a frontal assault by Teacher. Others were preparing to deal with the maximum security individuals who had apparently been given the Pharmacist’s drugs. An attack from within, an attack from the outside, and then there was Teacher, who had the ability to hit us from oblique angles.

I wanted to ask Kenzie for a status report, but that meant approaching Monokeros. I wanted to ask the boys, but they were talking to Coalbelcher.

I checked my phone three times in the course of a single minute, even though I knew that all communications were jammed. It was a force of habit, a creeping anxiety as we went longer and longer without any input from the other half of Breakthrough.

I had a lot of anxieties in this moment. The small-scale victory with Lung and the Pharmacist only went so far.

Byron and Rain exchanged a few muttered words as they walked over from where Coalbelcher was.

“You apparently made an impression,” Byron said.

I frowned. “With Coalbelcher?”

“He said you said you’d get him out. I thought we had a problem when he called us over, but he’s changed his tune. Us being right about the danger of the cafeteria helped,” Rain said.

“I didn’t say I’d get him out. But I let him believe it. It could have backfired, come down on your head, if he didn’t think I at least tried, if this whole thing wrapped up, and then he ended up frustrated, with only you as a target.”

“It worked out,” Rain said, almost like he was assuring me. Then, quieter, he said, “One of the few things that has.”