I’d always felt this little ritual was really dumb when I saw it. When powers were involved, weapons barely seemed to factor in. I undid the strap on my armor and pulled it away from my upper body, while the burly guy used the back of his hand at my armpits, then the top of my chest, the underside, my stomach, and then between my shoulder blades and the small of my back. He did my legs, then straightened.

Maybe it was a power thing. Subjecting us to this.

“You don’t usually come here,” Bluestocking observed. “You go to the tea shop?”

“I go where there’s business. Are they here?”

“They are. They’re waiting.”

Tattletale, Snuff, and I turned to look as the guy moved from me to Sveta. I strapped my breastplate back into place as I watched with something between bemusement and sympathy.

Fingers closed around cloth, finding that the only shape being maintained was a combination of wire frame and tendrils. Past the arms and shoulders, there really wasn’t much at all, and his attempt to find something to investigate saw him getting grabbed through the cloth more than he found purchase on anything.

Gentle grabs. He didn’t scream in agony. There was only bewilderment on his face.

Sveta’s expression was almost the inverse of my own, yet didn’t make me feel bad—there was no humor in her expression, it was stock still as she frowned at the man, but… I could see how she stood a little taller as she watched him work through it, her eyebrows moving slightly closer together as she focused intently to manage her control.

The guy turned toward his boss, helpless.

“It’s fine. Go sit down,” Bluestocking said. “Visitors, Tattletale, you may go upstairs. I have to check my paperwork, I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Tattletale and I walked beside one another as we ascended the stairs. Most eyes in the place watched us as we made our way up. Nursery turned to look, saw us, and waved. Not a wave for Tattletale, apparently.

She was like a bully from high school who met up with a victim years later and talked like they were old friends. Just… didn’t connect.

“The last time I was here was when I was hiring those guys,” Tattletale said. “The community center thing.”

I set my jaw, nodding.

“The clairvoyants we were using dropped off the map, but it was in service of a bigger picture.”

“Comforting,” I said, sarcastic.

“That’s great,” Sveta said. “I’m sure Cauldron thought the same thing.”

“Cauldron kind of saved the world, Tress.”