All three of them. Kenzie had changed, overalls gone, replaced with a skintight suit that mirrored her outfit in color and where it changed from black to pink to red. Chris had his head turned, and he was using one hand to cram the last few feet of the dead tree into his mouth.

Ashley was on foot. White eyes were wide open behind her mask, the pupils not visible from this distance.

“This is fine. Same plan,” Tristan said, not sounding bothered in the least.

Two versus three, while Sveta grabs their flag.

Sveta reached for a tree and found her grip, hauling herself away.

Tristan began creating barricades and obstructions, aimed at being knee-height, to slow them down.

Ashley hurdled the first two. Chris trampled his way through the three that had been put in his way.

Kenzie turned, aimed, and fired her flash gun in Sveta’s direction. She missed, aimed again, and fired. The second shot caught Sveta in its area.

“You take Chris and Kenzie, I’ll work on Ashley,” Tristan said. He sounded confident. “Keep an eye on Kenzie, make sure she doesn’t fall.”

I flew to intercept. Chris had one hand full with the tree, mouth distended with a fat tongue sticking out, apparently to keep the tree from rubbing against his lower row of teeth; his hand served to protect the other teeth.

I was put in mind of the man I’d seen during the broken trigger, who’d had a tree come out the other direction.

Chris laughed, deep and booming, tree digested. He lowered his chin, mouth closed, hands and arms up to protect his face and guard Kenzie.

I could deal with big and strong. I flew closer—saw Kenzie turn, aiming her gun at me, and changed course, covering my face and head, my forcefield up.

Even turned partially away, my arms up, the momentary flash of light blinded me. A full second passed, and my sight didn’t return. I could hear Chris’s laugh, Kenzie’s amusement. My forcefield hadn’t helped.

I felt the forcefield meet resistance, and I forced it to shut off before Chris’s hand could close around me. I pushed out with my aura to try to throw him off balance and buy myself a second, and changed course. I felt his fingers graze my back, dragging against cloth and not finding enough slack to get a grip.

Blindness was disorienting. Blindness when flying made it hard to tell which way was up and which way was down, and I knew it would get worse before it got better.

I flew away and at the ground, forcefield up, and landed hard. I felt Tristan’s creation shatter under and around me as my power absorbed the hit, fragments bouncing off of me, dust collecting on me.

“Are you okay!?” I heard Kenzie call out.

“I’m fine!” I replied.