My dad to the north, my mom to the west, Rachel and Cassie to the east, and Foil to the south. Foil had a gun, and it didn’t look like the one I’d handed her, but she looked like she was struggling, and it was hard to pin down why. Injury? Stress? Capricorn was closest to my mom and Rain, drawing out a diagram. He ducked and pushed my mom as Cradle appeared, swiping.

My mom turned into an orb, then turned back, getting her feet back under her. A flicker, not unlike Cradle’s, but one that left her in the same spot.

“Now!” my mom called out, moving to the side, her back to the wall just by the corner, her weapons extended out in front of her.

Byron’s water forced the soldiers who’d been encroaching in back. The slope was downhill, and the water effective. They’d paired up for that position for a reason.

Cradle’s voice was haunting, become it carried, and it came from different places even midway through a word. “I can see you so clearly. You think you’re better.”

“I don’t, but—”

“You do. I see it. All of the weak points. The flaws, the stains. You actually think you’re better.”

“I don’t, but I know I’m still fucking better than you!” Rain roared. He struck out with the silver blade, too short a weapon compared to Cradle’s lengthy whip.

Cradle appeared close, whipping out. Rain’s reaction was too slow.

An eruption of Byron’s power and a splash of water extended his way. Cradle shifted to one side, the whip still moving, and then shifted just in time as the water became stone. A loose spike of stone that stabbed up from a point just to Rain’s left.

Tristan collapsed, swayed, and then sagged. There was no revision back.

Byron had seen it as an emergency.

“The difference between us is that I overcame what I am. Then association with you knocked me all the way down, and made it impossible to be better again. You… you didn’t overcome what you were until we made you. Until we influenced you.”

“No. That’s not true,” Rain said, holding up the silver blade. He turned rapidly, taking a second or two to find Cradle each time Cradle shifted position. Lines, angled low and close to the ground, no more than ankle height, surrounded Rain’s feet, forcing each movement to be a quick shuffle. “Love Lost gave me her tokens. I know how the bleed works.”

“She managed it,” Cradle said, voice soft amid constant grenade explosions, the shouts of soldiers, and the snarling of dogs.

“What the hell did you try to give me, and what the hell are you?”

“I’ll show you what I’m giving you,” Cradle intoned.