His expression broke, calm confidence giving way to… she likened it to how he’d acted on camera, when their state had been hit by the flooding. She’d watched from a distance, because she’d been with Reach, then. Seeing her dad on camera, expressing his sadness over the dozens of deaths.

Except this was real.

She didn’t know what to say, or how to handle it.

“You’re here, eighteen and—you’ve grown so much. If I tried to say how proud I am of you, all of this would be over before I was out of things to say. I’m so, so proud of you.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand.

“Let me speak. I’m… crushed with guilt. I put you here.”

“I put myself here,” she replied, around the lump in her throat.

“No, I… I played my role in shaping you. Telling you to be brave, to aspire to big things, how to talk to people. We’ve never talked about it, but that day you got your powers…”

“That wasn’t you.”

“Wasn’t it?” he asked, quiet. “When the government reached out to tell me what happened, I was proud. Scared but proud. They say you get powers if you achieve true greatness, true successes. You were managing clubs that seniors didn’t, singing in choir, you were popular, loved by your teachers, loved. You stood above all of them. Of course, I thought, and my heart swelled. I didn’t know how it would change your life and that terrified me, but it made sense that it would be you.”

Brianna nodded, her eyes moist.

“I opened the door to that room, and the window in the door showed me your reflection. I heard you crying. Not so different from that small girl who told me she didn’t want to go to school.”

“I didn’t know you were there.”

Why didn’t you come in?

“I watched from there, as you pulled yourself together. My busy Bee, putting on makeup and a brave face. Until I could open the door, see you smile, composed, like you hadn’t shed a tear in a long time. I made you this way.”

“I made the decisions. I was old enough to be my own person.”

“I’ve thought about that day over and over. It wasn’t that the powers were new and scary.”

Brianna shook her head.

“The moment you got your powers, it wasn’t success.”

“The damn expectations of that place. Of everyone,” she said.

He winced. “I tried to convince myself that wasn’t it, ever since hearing you and seeing you at the door. I never really succeeded. I sent you there.”

“Dad… you can’t do that.”

“I can.”

“Was it our expectations as well?” he asked.

She shook her head, but when she moved her mouth, the words didn’t come out. “Yes.”