“They’re a big group,” Rain said. “It’s hard to get into just how varied the branches are, the different beliefs, how they add up, some of the leaders that have come and gone. It’s hard to just point at them and say they hate this or they hate that.”

“Most of them hate black people,” Kenzie said.

“…Yeah.”

“Did your family? Did you? Do you?”

Rain looked back at Erin. “Yeah. I did. Once. You have to understand—it’s hatred for anyone and everyone, because that way it keeps everyone close to the family. So ‘black’ was just one more label, you know?”

“Back at the first meeting with Mrs. Yamada. You kept giving me looks,” Kenzie said. “They weren’t because I pay attention to the clothes I wear and dress nice, or because you were trying to figure out what was wrong with me.”

“It wasn’t about you,” Rain said. “I was figuring stuff out then. I was trying to reassess my whole way of thinking. It was me, not you.”

“It was you,” Kenzie said. She paused. “Being uncomfortable with me being there.”

“It was—” Rain started. “Me being uncomfortable with everything.”

“Including me. Especially me, right then,” Kenzie said. She paused, waited for a response. When Rain didn’t deny her, she added, “That… sucks.”

“Yeah,” Rain said.

“I’m not saying you suck. It sucks to hear it.”

“If it helps,” Rain said. “I’ve changed a lot since then. I’m still figuring some stuff out.”

“A lot of different groups to un-hate,” Chris said.

“I—kind of,” Rain said. “I still catch myself a lot. I think of things, I realize I’m making these assumptions. Then I want to change and I don’t know how. I try to use you guys as role models or talk to Mrs. Yamada, or I read, look up and watch a movie. But it’s a lot to re-teach myself.”

“Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Natives, Middle Easterners, then gay, trans,” Tristan rattled off.

“Deeper than that,” Rain said. “I had to start with re-figuring women and how I thought about them. I’m still pretty shitty, as much as I’m trying, because I hear you rattle that off and my first thought is ‘some of these aren’t like the others’ and I have to stop myself.”

“You’ve said a few things,” Chris said.

“Probably.”

“I figured you were a redneck.”

“Worse,” Rain said.

“They get in your head,” Erin jumped in. “They got my parents. My little brother. They got Rain when he was little. I accept he’s trying.”

“There was a Fallen group that found a pair of people like me,” Sveta said.

Rain closed his eyes, looked down.

“Boy and a girl. Case Fifty-Threes. Arizona. Peat and Fen. They showed up in a few cities, did some stunts, hero-ish. Junior level stuff. But they were juniors, we think.”

“I know the story,” Rain said.