Natalie filled the momentary silence with her voice, sounding like she regretted saying what she was saying before she was even a few words in, “I got into this because powers are neat. Now I’m seeing the people behind the powers and I’m thinking about getting out.”

“Anyone would have doubts after being caught up in a situation like this,” he said.

“No. I mean, kind of, but that’s not what I mean. I don’t want to suggest they’re doing badly, either. Except, um, obviously, they’re in a strange prison.”

“Yeah. But that’s something we can fix. Besides that?”

“Ashley’s… really grown since I first met her. Sveta’s—obviously Sveta is doing terrific.”

She’s going through a breakup with grit teeth and she’s keeping up her day-to-day. A body doesn’t change that.

“But?” he prodded. “It didn’t sound like that was the end of it.”

“But I see them grow and do better or do worse, or they get hurt and… I realize I don’t really matter. The laws don’t really matter at this point. When it’s stuff like this I’m glad, as awful as it sounds.”

“Because it’s a chance to matter?”

“No. Gosh, no. I’m explaining myself badly.”

The chair’s seat was too low, and Kamil’s arms and legs were long. He stretched legs out in front of him and crossed ankle over ankle. “They’re their own people. We can shepherd and we can find opportunities to nudge them to a better path, but we can’t stop them when they get started or reverse their courses.”

“Yeah,” Natalie answered. “Sorry, I didn’t end up answering your question.”

“You did, a little. You’re thinking of leaving?”

“I thought about it. I feel like right now I’m serving more as a… witness.”

“To a crime?” he asked.

“No. To… whatever it is that happens. Gold Morning happened and it was a long, long time before we got anything even close to the full story. I don’t know if people even believe the story we got. Whatever happens next, these guys are going to be on the periphery of it and if I’m on the periphery of them then…”

“Then you might be able to explain, when people want an explanation,” he filled in.

“I go back and forth on whether it’s worth it,” she told him. “I like them, I feel sorry for them. A lot of it is interesting, I really feel like I helped and am helping with Lookout. I’m even happy to help here, as stressful as it is. But I can’t shake the feeling that things are going in a bad direction and I can’t stop that. I like a lot of the people individually but… the collective and the momentum of them all worries me so much.”