“No,” I said. I kept the hand where it was, waiting.

“Oh,” I heard her.

The tendril slapped my hand in a high five.

“Don’t be so down on yourself, okay?” I asked. “If the two of us are being careful, I think we’re alright.”

“It’s been a long time,” she said. “I haven’t been doing exercises, except for that misery-training with Rain before.”

“You’re doing fine.”

I could hear the slaps as Chastity knocked out the last people.

We stood in the shadows at the very edge of an area one of the construction lights illuminated. The heat from the light had melted snow in a patch, while leaving snow intact just an inch away. The other members of the group joined us. My mom and dad. Capricorn. Foil. Ashley and Damsel. Rachel and… two very non-mutant dogs.

“They shrunk.”

“Your teammate cut them out,” Rachel said.

“Precipice?”

“They weren’t leaving the building without going through the front doors,” Foil said. “He cut them open so we could get the dogs out.”

“Whatever works,” Capricorn said.

“The scent trail leads through the town,” Rachel said, her hand on the hound’s back, as it sniffed at the ground, lifting one leg so the ‘wrist’ pointed forward.

Through an armed populace. Past a settlement where capes that didn’t want to integrate into proper society were collecting.

“Go around,” I said, pointing. “It doesn’t make sense that they’re in this town, so close to things. We’ll see if we pick up a scent at the perimeter.”

Rachel made a small whistling sound. The wolf and hound followed her. Others began jogging, taking the indicated path.

I floated, hesitating and watching. Sveta stayed where she was.

“Go,” she said.

“Did you catch everything earlier, when we were all talking?”

“Most of it. The Harbingers. The broken triggers that aren’t broken.”

“I’m glad.”

“Don’t worry about me. Don’t feel you have to, okay? I’ll manage. I can deal with the bad days. I’ve got support, friends. Jessica’s back, and she’ll get in touch soon. Weld is out there, and all I’ve wanted to do from the beginning was to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.”

I thought about my conversation with Weld.

“I’m sorry it’s a bad day.”

She gave me a push, hard enough I would have fallen if I hadn’t been flying.

“I’m figuring out how to do my part, I’m doing what I wanted, even if it isn’t pretty. Thank you for giving me an excuse to risk it. But I’ll manage. Really. Go help the people who won’t manage.”

I looked at the other group.

“Yeah,” I said.