Fuck me, was I worried about Kenzie. I was worried about Byron. I was worried about Sveta. Even Rain looked dog-tired, his nice new costume caked with mud and dust.

I felt a pang of guilt, seeing them greet Jessica.

I’d wanted to protect them. I’d failed. Two dead, one imprisoned, and if I counted Rain, the only reason he wasn’t in prison as well was that the prison had been attacked.

It took more willpower to approach that dynamic than it had taken for me to hurl myself into physical contact with Titan Skadi. I floated over the railing of the stairwell and down.

“…would really advise contacting your mother. If you wait, she may see it as a betrayal.”

“I know,” Byron said. “A part of me was hoping for a magic solution. Kenzie was saying she might have ideas, but then she went silent. We just heard…”

“Yes,” Jessica said. “I talked to Tattletale.”

“Yeah,” Byron said.

“Focus on your family for right now. Kenzie is resting, but even if she were awake, I don’t think there would be much you could say or do.”

“I’ll contact my mom next. It won’t be easy.”

“Do you want help? We could talk about how to go about it,” Jessica said.

“That would be appreciated,” he said.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she told him. “For Rain, Sveta, and Victoria as well. You must be so anxious about Byron and Kenzie.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “That it happened.”

“All of this was a long time in the making. It’s unfortunate it came to a head today, but… it’s understandable. Everyone is frightened, and she’s young. Battlefields don’t make good therapy couches.”

It felt like a condemnation.

“This world of ours doesn’t let children off easy,” my mother said. “Sometimes you can’t avoid the battlefield. Life goes on, life gets hard, and we have to live it regardless.”

I expected Jessica to say something to that, a rebuttal like one of the ones she’d given me, when I’d argued about cape society versus her ideal world for capes, but instead, she was silent.

“I want to avoid this battlefield,” I filled in the silence. “Circumvent it. It’s part of why I wanted to talk to my sister.”

“We were discussing that while we waited,” my mother said, looking over at Jessica.

“Darnall has been talking to Amelia Lavere,” Jessica said, and her tone of voice had changed from compassion to something more guarded and measured. “It’s been hours, with breaks for Darnall and Amelia to rest and eat. Wayne needed to take a break to check on other patients in crisis. I wouldn’t expect miracles.”