“Fair,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure it was. Not a hundred percent. There was a point where I couldn’t do everything I needed to do if people were keeping secrets. I didn’t want to press any buttons or tread on anything sensitive, and there were a lot of buttons and a lot of sensitive points.

“We’ll get you up to speed soon,” Sveta said. “But we have to be fair.”

“Out of curiosity, Sveta, how much wear and tear did your body take out there? Or is it bad of me to ask?” Tristan asked.

“It’s not bad at all,” Sveta said.

The conversation turned to armor and costumes. I listened with one ear, but my thoughts were on Sveta’s defense of Kenzie’s background, and how careful Tristan was in asking about Sveta’s body.

There was something I’d noticed with the group, and it was something I’d fallen prey to myself. When the group was talking, it was almost always in a guarded way. Even Chris did it to a small degree. Ashley too. Conversations were meted out with care, not necessarily so each person was protecting themselves, but so they protected each other. We often slipped back into talking like we were in therapy.

There were cases where individuals protected themselves and cases where individuals were also protected by others. Kenzie had a role as the baby of the team, in a way. There were things she didn’t disclose and things she was intentionally or unintentionally coy about, despite her overly open personality. That was compounded by how others were ready to step up for her and defend her. That was the security they’d given her.

I glanced over my shoulder at Ashley, who was hanging back, finishing the second of the bottles of water she’d brought back with her after going to the library. Ashley was very similar to Kenzie in that department. Unguarded in terms of how open she was about many things, but she had things she didn’t talk about, and she benefited heavily from the group’s defense of her.

It was the contract between them, the language they used and their habits, it carried over from the group. It was going to change over time, I was sure, especially if their therapy with Mrs. Yamada ran its course. I wasn’t sure if that meant the dialogue would become natural, if the contract would be betrayed in small ways, or both.

I was, as much as they’d asked for my help, the interloper. They protected each other from me, even if it meant Sveta was protecting someone as troubled as Ashley from someone she saw as a friend. I suspected it ran deeper than her wanting to see Ashley’s humanity win out over the monster.