Kenzie had a blue raincoat with duffle coat toggles on the front, and was standing a bit in the rain, head bent over her phone. Ashley stood on the sidewalk, her hood up. Rain had settled for an umbrella, but hadn’t opened it yet.

“I’m walking to the bus station in Webster,” Rain said. “Normally Tristan, Sveta, and I walk that way.”

“I can head that way,” I said. “I’ll walk with you guys for a bit.”

“I’ll come,” Kenzie said, not looking up from her phone. “There’s still time before dinner.”

“You sure?” Sveta asked.

“Yep,” Kenzie looked up from her phone.

“And Ashley?” I asked.

She didn’t reply, turning away to look down the length of the road. She turned around, looking the other way. In that moment, a car appeared.

“I’ve got a ride,” she said.

“Spending time with the ol’ guardians?” Sveta asked.

I didn’t miss the word choice. The forced cavalier attitude. Awkward.

“I try to get as many of my appointments into the same day as I can,” Ashley said. “It’s nuisance enough to have my day disrupted with this inanity, I don’t want it taking over my weeks.”

“We’re inanity, are we?” Rain asked.

“You can be,” Ashley said. “Checkups and tests, therapy, group therapy, being supervised without it being official supervision, interviews, prosthetics tune-ups, work. It becomes inane.”

“It’s all for good reasons,” Sveta said.

“I’d do better without all of the distractions,” Ashley said. She looked at me, and she did the up-down assessment too. It was something different from what Byron had done. “I look forward to learning what you have to teach.”

“It was nice to meet you,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I was lying, but it seemed like the thing to say.

She walked down the little dirt path that extended through the grass from the building’s side door to the road. A black sedan. She opened the back door, climbed in, and closed the door with more force than was probably necessary.

“I have so many questions,” I said.

“Weld’s kind-of dad figure was the Director in charge of the Boston PRT,” Sveta said. “He was also kind of in charge of looking after Ashley, because her town was close to Boston.”

“Making sure she didn’t do too much damage?” I asked.

“Yes. And gradually trying to get her used to the idea of cooperating with the good guys, making sure she was staying reasonably healthy. They reached out regularly, letting her know there were better options. Except that Ashley was a different Ashley.”

“Yeah,” I said. “She’s going to be on your team?”

“Yeah,” Sveta said.

I didn’t have a response for that.

She squeezed my arm. “I spent a lot of time with a lot of people who never got a chance, Victoria. I feel like it’s my duty to give her one.”