There were two doors into the building that I knew about. The front door was no doubt seized by the mind-controlled army. The side door had been painted. I wasn’t sure I wanted to tear my way in and find out that the paint was a problem.

I didn’t want to charge in, only to find that they were securing their retreat. They’d be looking for trouble coming from either of the entrances after hearing the shots.

There might have been a third way in.

I ran toward the nose of the eighteen wheeled logging truck, and I climbed over the nose of it. It had collided with the wall, and it had done some damage.

Reaching up, I pulled at the damaged part overhead, and I leveraged the strength my forcefield provided to tear it away. I pushed at another part, widening the gap.

The bus parked so its nose was tucked into the corner between the nose of the logging truck and the wall. Jasper, Mar, and Landon climbed out of the bus.

“Are you okay?” Jasper asked.

I liked that it was the first thing he’d asked. Gilpatrick’s five pound of gun speech taken to heart. Less than five pounds of weaponry, more than fifteen pounds of protection, twenty-five pounds of support and problem solving. Jasper’s first thoughts were on the latter. Those were supposed to be the priorities, the ratios.

“A bit of road rash,” I said, examining my arms. “Too much adrenaline to feel the pain.”

Shadows shifted. Lord of Loss had decided to detach from the roof, and was pulling himself together enough to start climbing down.

“Come on,” I said.

We ducked in through the gap, into a staff washroom. I couldn’t see the source of the water, but it pooled on the floor below. We passed through the door and into the hallway.

“So you’re a cape,” Mar said. He’d been the kid who’d sat behind me on the bus and made smug insinuations about my name and background.

I gave him a dark look. It looked like Landon was on his side.

“You’ve got blood on your upper lip,” Mar said. “It looks like you’ve got a mustache.”

“Fuck off, Mar,” Jasper said.

I rubbed at my upper lip with the side of my hand, looking back to make sure Lord of Loss hadn’t followed us.

I could hear the humming and the music box. Upstairs somewhere. I could hear people in the building.

“Jasper,” I said.

“What?”

“I have to ask. How much of this is setup?”

“Setup?” Mar asked, incredulous.

“I know I sound paranoid,” I said. “I know if there’s a scenario or something, it’s probably against the rules to ask or answer, but I need the honest truth here, no bullshit.”

“You sound really fucking paranoid,” Mar said. “Holy fuck, you capes are screwed up in the head.”