“Yes,” Candy said, at the same time Kenzie said, “Maybe.”

“Woah,” Chicken Little said. “I don’t know if I can even process that. My head is exploding right now.”

He moved his arms to demonstrate, while making a little explosion sound with his mouth.

Kenzie giggled a bit.

“Mannn,” Chicken Little groaned.

A beep of the other vehicle’s horn made me twist around. I looked back and I could see Tattletale and her driver in the armored black land rover, above the glare of their headlights in the heavy snowfall.

“Oh, whoops, sorry Tattletale,” Aiden said. “Shit.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“When I did the explosion sound,” he mimed the sound he’d just made, while moving his hands. “I also made the birds react.”

“React how?”

“Short, silly freak-out from all of the birds.”

The birds that weren’t capable of flying along were packed up in the other car.

The other car honked again.

“I stopped!” Aiden said. He twisted around and looked back, calling out, “I stopped!”

I twisted around myself, to try to get a clearer view of Tattletale, Snuff, and the land rover. It didn’t look like they were honking to warn us about anything.

“She’s going to be mad,” Candy said, sing-song. “We’re going to arrive at Kenzie’s old headquarters and Tattletale’s going to bend you over her knee and give you a spanking in front of everyone.”

“Again with the spanking? Don’t be weird.”

“I’m not being weird. I’m taking an idea I know bugs you and drilling it in there. We’re gonna drive for another hour or more and you’ll sit there with the idea… Rain would see.”

“It’s annoying and uncomfortable.”

“I’m trying to annoy, so good.”

“Guys!” I interrupted. “Please. Candy, we’ve had way too much uncomfortable for one night. Let’s be as nice to each other as we can.”

“Okay,” Candy said. “Sorry, Chicken.”

“It’s okay.”

The car trundled along. As we got deeper into the city, the snow on the roads got less bad. We were at the point where the road was cleanly delineated, when some of the areas outside the city or closer to the ruins of Gimel’s Brockton Bay had barely had an indent in the snow to mark where the sidewalk dipped down to the road.

“I’m sorry,” Kenzie said. “I don’t want to stir anything up, but I do want to say it. I’m really sorry I hurt you guys. I know I can be a blockhead sometimes but I think I’m really sorry enough that it’s going to carve something into that block.”

“Shh,” Candy said. Her fingers continued to comb through Kenzie’s hair, long after the point she’d combed out the buns and had the hair just long, kinky, and parted to one side. Kenzie had refused hugs, but accepted this.