The compromise had been a homeschooling network and the homeschooling network had been Darlene’s introduction to the backhanded statements, the fake smiles, the two-facedness. Mostly it was the dads and moms, but some of the other boys and girls had learned it too.

She felt now like she’d felt then. There were dangerous people out there who wanted to hurt her and people she cared about, a black mood spread out among a few people, and even in her happier place people were shitting in the drinking water.

Tattletale briefly met Darlene’s eyes, her fingers still busy tapping and clicking at the disc, to go through channels and adjust settings.

Darlene felt the swell of Aiden’s chest as he puffed up a fraction, the little lean forward and up, like he had to push himself and stand a little taller to speak, and her full attention was on him before he even got the first word out. She felt his expression like she felt his own, even though his mask was blank, a circular disc with a conical beak, two beady eyes, and the cock’s comb. Eyebrows drawn together and up. Her own moved to match.

“Are they okay?” he asked.

“No signal. We won’t know until they’re clear of whatever it is that’s jamming it.”

“Can I take a look? I’m more familiar with Lookout’s tech.” Capricorn asked.

“Be my guest,” Tattletale said. She unstrapped the shield-like disc from her forearm. She passed it to Capricorn, who strapped it to his own arm.

Capricorn was pretty cool, but in a bit of a Chevalier way. He’d been a hero for a while, relatively speaking, and he was still around. She couldn’t see or feel his face because the only one she was connected to right now was Aiden, so he had a cool mystique, with an emphasis on the ‘cool’. His personality felt like it would be painted with shades of Samuel and Juliette.

Tress probably wasn’t taking the disc because her arms were artificial. Her body was encased in armor, and that armor had connections at the shoulders and back that had two large arms, half of a neck and half of a face extending from them. It was like she had a giant robot version of her, but it was only a quarter of the way there, and she was living like someone who had been chopped into pieces, moving forward by crawling with the overlarge arms. Darlene could see Tress’s face, but it was harder to get a sense of her than it was with the helmeted Capricorn.

In this moment, though, Tress was easier to read. Worried.

“Should we check on them?” Tress asked.

“Define ‘we’,” Tattletale said. “These kids are in my care.”

“I’d go,” Juliette said. “I’m old enough.”