“Kenzie might be melting down,” I said. “Or something. I don’t know how to interpret this.”

I showed Ashley. I went to show Tristan, and he was already pulling his phone out of his pocket.

He showed me his.

26 unread emails

“She likes you more,” he said.

“I told her I don’t use my phone. She was bothered at first, but she accepted it,” Ashley said. “Now I’m glad.”

“What is this?” I asked. “There’s a part of me that’s weirdly glad for the stream-of-consciousness insight into who she is and how she thinks, even if this isn’t good, but… this isn’t good. It’s not healthy.”

“It isn’t,” Tristan said. “But it could be worse. If anything, it’s a good prelude or warm-up for our discussion with Houndstooth. We’ll talk with him, we’ll send Kenzie a message, if she hasn’t had her phone confiscated, and we’ll see how things go from there.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m not sure of anything,” he said. “But we all have our weaknesses, and Kenzie’s wrestling with hers. We’ll figure it out.”

I nodded. I took my seat between the two. “Can I ask you two a favor?”

“What favor?” Tristan asked.

“Why not?” Ashley asked. “I made the mistake of going along with an errand with the two most stubborn people I know. I deserve whatever I’m subjected to.”

“Could be we’re the two most stubborn members of the group,” I said. I found myself reaching for that part of me that stood taller, that focused on the mission and the role. “But we’re the three most style-conscious people in this whole exercise. We might be missing Kenzie in that. Three of the four most style conscious.”

“I wouldn’t say Kenzie’s style-conscious,” Tristan said. “But that’s a conversation for another day. What’s this about style?”

“I want to take a picture. Lean in close,” I said. “Please.”

Ashley gave me a look.

“Please,” I said. “And since you don’t have masks, you can use my hand, Ashley. Tristan, cover up a bit with your hand. Look photogenic.”

“I’ve only had my photo taken twice,” Ashley said. “They were basically mugshots.”

“Did you look good for the mugshots?”

“Of course.”

“Then look good for this. Come on. This could be your equivalent to a poster. She thought you were cool enough to ask for an autograph, let’s give her a good picture.”

“Okay,” Ashley said.

The two leaned in close, my hand in front of Ashley’s eyes, fingers parted in the middle to reveal one of her eyes. Tristan used one hand, positioning himself so his hair wouldn’t be in the camera’s frame.

I winked and hit the button to take the picture.

“None of this matters,” Ashley said.

I applied a caption to the picture.