She supposed she, Juliette and Amias had masks, but Darlene had a hard time calling it costumes. They weren’t costumes any more than normal clothes were costumes. She had her nice coat, her velvet dress with the extra layers underneath, padding out the skirt portion, and black tights with silver-leaf pattern printed onto them. Her shoes were another thing Imp had provided her.

Juliette’s mask had four eyes, two smaller ones beneath the main ones, and spikes that could reach straight back from the masks’s edges. The spikes were on hinges, and didn’t actually reach directly back because the shape of her head didn’t let them, but it formed a distinct look. Amias had been lowered to the ground, he had slipped his mask on, black with gold flecks and veins at the edges, blending in with black hair and the black toque.

“You should network,” Aiden whispered.

“I can connect us,” Darlene said, loud enough for the others to hear. “Who wants in? It lets us coordinate. You saw the handshake.”

“Me,” Juliette said.

Darlene reached out, connected to Juliette, and felt the sensations bubble into existence—it wasn’t quite immediate, because background noise didn’t fill in, so it was only the parts that Juliette intentionally moved and the things that received new, less usual sensations that registered the sensations. The feeling of the cold metal railing as Juliette slid her gloved hand down the length.

It was that ‘had to be prompted’ thing that kept Darlene from feeling things like Aiden’s private areas. If and when a sensation stirred into her awareness, she politely ignored it.

Juliette knew the routine, and she moved and flexed everything in order, clenching hands, then feet, then forearms, calves, thighs, stretching—Darlene locked in the sensations.

“Anyone else?”

“It’s that easy to connect?” Capricorn asked. “What’s the upside?”

“Coordination,” Darlene said. “We know exactly where each other are and what and how we’re doing.”

“Drawback?”

“It’s weird at first,” Aiden replied, quiet. “But if you’re going to ask me the same thing you asked about Juliette, I trust Darlene. I’d trust her with my life. I trust her with this.”

Darlene’s hands drew together, clasping, then broke apart a moment later. She didn’t know what to do with herself, hearing that. The emotions inside her were a mess, everything a jumble. She imagined that if he’d said something a little more, then she could have teared up or felt as warm as she ever had, depending on what it was he said.

But that was all he said, leaving her… flummoxed. That was the word.

“So easy for you to say, huh?” Capricorn asked.

“Trust is earned,” Aiden said, and though he didn’t move his head, Darlene could feel the eyeballs slide against eyelid, turning Tattletale’s direction. “Darlene earned it.”

“Dumb,” Juliette said.

Darlene wheeled on her cousin. Juliette’s face was hidden by her mask, but even without the mask, even with Darlene able to feel every inch of Juliette’s face, forcing the sensations into being, she couldn’t feel the slightest of twitches or movements.