“I made one for Swansong,” she said. Her mask hid her face behind a smiling facade, as she looked down at the swooping white and black bird pin in her hand. “I wasn’t thinking, because I was rushing to do them.”

“I’m sorry, Kenz,” I said, reaching for her shoulder to give it a rub. It was hard when I couldn’t hug her.

“Do you think Damsel would want it?” she asked.

“I think…” I glanced at the others, and saw Byron grimace momentarily. “She would love it. Black smoke?”

“Yep.”

“I think she would love it, but she’s scared right now, scared of anything relating her to Swansong especially, so she wouldn’t accept it. She’d probably be mean about it, but I don’t think she’d mean it.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Give it to Natalie?” I suggested.

“No. I made one for Natalie already,” Kenzie said. “I know you don’t have a costume, but I thought you might want something in case you’re ever in trouble.”

She gave Natalie an owl pin.

“I wasn’t sure if you liked owls, but I tried a book and it’s hard to make a book look like I wasn’t super lazy about it.”

“I like owls,” Natalie said. “Thank you. What does it do?”

“Blurs your outline some, with the one setting. With the other, it burns out the battery for a really bright, really long flash. It works like my flash gun, so having your eyes closed isn’t enough, cover your eyes with your arm if you don’t want your eyeballs to go splat and dribble down your cheeks.”

Natalie held the device really carefully, staring down at it. “How do I activate it?”

“Double tap it, then swipe left for the blur, and swipe right for the flash.”

“Thank you,” Natalie said, still looking like she was afraid to do anything with the pin. “I think I’ll have to keep it somewhere safe, so I don’t accidentally tap it.”

“Okay,” Kenzie said. “It’s okay if you don’t like it.”

“I like it, really. I’m getting quite a collection.”

Kenzie nodded.

“Kenzie,” I said. “Did you actually nap?”

She froze.

“She gotcha,” Sveta said.

“I couldn’t nap. I was too nervous. So I sorta listened to a book, and I tinkered to take my mind off stuff. It really doesn’t help that my emotions are really wonky today. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t have done that thing with the puppy. Probably.”

“It’s been a wonky day,” Rain said, from the living room. He’d stood up, and now stood in the gloom.

“But, like, a bit more wonky for me. I won’t go into any detail.”

“Ah, okay,” he said. “I always get uneasy when the anniversary of my parents leaving me behind comes up. I can sympathize.”