“This is my mess that boiled over. I’ll babysit your Damsel for one day. After that, I suspect she’ll either lose interest, or we’ll have other distractions. In return, you keep my kids safe, and whatever you end up doing, you don’t point it at me or my people. If you can fuck Teacher front-on with a nail-studded baseball bat while you’re at it, I’d consider it a favor.”

“I’ll look into that,” I said.

“Do I go talk to Damsel now?”

“No,” I said. “You say yes, and I’ll believe you. That should be enough to get her on board. She has details to share for our Teacher-fucking project tonight, but they were conditional on getting some promises. I had to ask you first.”

“Face to face.”

“It helps,” I said, shrugging.

“And you’re meeting her now. You’re meeting everyone now.”

I nodded. I looked back at the car. Kenzie sat in the back, knees drawn up to her chest, a smile on her face. It was not, at the very least, the horribly lonely smile from before. “Talking to Damsel and getting the tech going.”

Tattletale grinned. “Then I’ll come, to keep an eye on the kids in my charge, and to see what kind of glorious, horrible mess you’re about to make.”

From Within 16.7

The number of people we were heading back with had necessitated a second vehicle. Tattletale took one car, and because Syndicate was being punished, Syndicate rode with Tattletale in that car while Chicken Little rode in the other.

I wasn’t positive that this was the time to be dropping the hammer, going for the obvious sore spot, driving in any wedges, or making the kid’s mood worse, but I wasn’t positive about anything, and if something went wrong here, I could at least have the satisfaction of blaming Tattletale.

Still, it made for a much quieter car ride. Tattletale was free to give Darlene a talking-to in the other car, while five of us were crammed into Natalie’s car, which wasn’t the most spacious on its own.

Kenzie was in the corner opposite mine, knees up against her chest, head turned away, her eyes out the window. Candy sat sideways, and fussed with Kenzie’s hair as best as she was able. Natalie and I had combs, but they weren’t suited for Kenzie’s hair type, and Candy was using fingernails instead.

Chicken Little, quiet and aromatic in a slightly bird, slightly dog way, sat just behind my seat.

“I was secretly hoping we could make up, and you could show me around. Ever since you all told me about Rachel’s place, I’ve wanted to see the swimming hole—”

“It’s too cold to swim,” Chicken said.