“Thank you for coming, Mom,” I said, without turning around.

“Your dad’s here too. We brought the team. Victoria—”

“Mom,” I said, interrupting.

She stopped.

“Whatever you’re going to say, just… save it? Please? Whatever you want me to hear you out on, I will. E-even Amy. Her, you, family, obligations, anything. But—”

I hesitated as my voice wavered.

“—not tonight?” I asked.

I remained tense as I saw her approach. Inscrutable.

She gave me a hug from behind.

I stopped taking my notes, laying pen across the pad, my fingers pressing it down hard, as if to secure it there. Resting in the sink, one arm draping out, a portion of Tattletale’s upper body was animated, a finger tracing its arcane runes at the base of my wrist.

⊙

“…give this a try?” I asked.

The emergency services workers had arrived. Briefed by Foil on what to watch out for. That being told not to go down one hallway was really important. That one little girl in the bunch would ruin lives for fun and two more girls would hurt people or kill for a laugh. Or something.

My mom’s team was helping to guard the location. Protect Foil, protect us. A technology blaster was pacing the area, searching for bugs or anything the other side might be using. A thinker was talking to Lord of Loss and the mercenaries.

Even with the warnings, I felt it was best to occupy the hallway.

“Yes,” Sveta said.

“If you need to call it quits, say so,” I said. “It’s insidious.”

“It’s insidious all the time. If you’re right, then… maybe.”

“Maybe,” I said.

Rain stepped forward. He lifted a hand, then dropped it.

At the far end of the hall, under the influence of his power, Sveta endured.

⊙

My dad, having helped with the heavy lifting, returned to the second floor. The people who had camped out here weren’t intending to go to any hospital. That included Darlene and Lookout. Chastity was keeping Rain company while he worked, while Byron had his head down for what I imagined was the nap of the emotionally exhausted. Ashley was with Kenzie and so on and so on.

Solidarity, friendships, bonds. Support.

I watched from a distance as my dad approached one of the only people who happened to be alone. Candy, who sat with her knees to her chest, while the doctor looked over Darlene’s wounds, a handful of feet away.

I heard her respond to his question. “I don’t like when strange men get close. Sorry.”

I saw him back off, walking away, sitting against a distant wall.

He created a globe in his hand, and he rolled it across the floor, to Candy.

She stopped it, then rolled it back.

It was, of course, a grenade, but he caught it, reabsorbed it, then created another, rolling it.

So the back and forth went, a half-dozen times.