He stopped himself.

“Sorry, that was almost a question.”

“It was a question. It clarifies the numbers,” Dinah said.

“I don’t know if that means it improves them,” Miss Militia said.

“It does. Just… working on clearer terminology and understanding of my power. Yes.”

Miss Militia looked up at the camera. She seemed to think for a long second. “I wouldn’t object. Except they need to know the rules. Did they overhear the restrictions we put on the other team?”

“Yeah,” Golem was audible through the speakers. “I’ll go over them. Sorry to interrupt.”

Guess we’re doing this, then, I thought to myself. Hearing it improved the numbers was maybe more inevitable a thing than Contessa telling us it was so. We had to.

I looked at the others. They seemed to get it too. Kenzie was bouncing.

Fuck. I’d have to get my costume.

Tristan punched one fist into his palm.

Golem was out of the meeting room, and started toward us. When we all headed his way, he stopped, waiting for us to come to him.

“What are the restrictions? Minimal power use?” I asked.

“The powers you can use are restricted based on the power,” he said. “Powers you willfully use or turn on are a no. That would be your aura, Antares. Probably your power, Capricorn. Sveta should be fine. Lookout should be fine. Precipice…”

“I turn on all of mine,” Rain said.

“Are there any you can turn on now and keep on?”

“My blades.”

“Do that, then. This way. The portal at the end of this hall will put you close to the Inwood region. We opened it ourselves.”

“I can keep my flight on?”

“Same idea, yeah,” he said. “Someone had a metaphor for it.”

“The ice is cracked, it’s fine if we spread out our weight and don’t make any sudden movements,” I said. I started flying.

“I think their metaphor was about animals on the other side of the glass at the zoo, and not wanting to tap or tap so much it irritates whatever’s on the other side. Yeah. If you have to use a power, don’t use it while everyone else around you is.”

“The villains aren’t going to be playing by these rules,” Tristan said.

“No. We instructed the Huntsmen to communicate with the villains if they could. They should warn them of the risk.”

“That’s not going to work, knowing Damsel,” I muttered. “And if she’s in charge—”

“No guarantees,” Golem said.

“She likes to be in charge,” I said.

“Yeah,” Kenzie said, still bouncing.

Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck.

“That’s about it. She says the numbers get better and I trust her,” Golem said. “Before you go, is there anything you can tell me about Contessa? Stuff I can pass on? I let you through security and I tacitly signed off on this… it’d be nice to throw the skeptics a bone.”