I looked at Jessica. She took another bite of her barbecue chicken sandwich, adjusting the wrapper to catch the drips of sauce and bits of lettuce and onion.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

With index finger and thumb still holding the sandwich, she held up some fingers to block her mouth while she chewed. I nodded, and waited for her to finish the mouthful.

She swallowed, paused, and then said, “I mean that if I were to report, there is a chance my reasons for reporting might be seen as insufficient, unproven, or unclear.”

“Just a suspicion. A strong one. Not enough reason to bring authorities into it or take action against the person or people you’re worried about.”

“Yes,” she said.

“What would happen?”

“It’s hard to say. The future of the law is unclear. But I can say I would be tied up in proceedings as they judge whether I had merit, which could take months or even more than a year. Even if nothing happened, the fact that it even had to happen in the first place might impact who I could work for. I might have to take a leave from work, and I might not be able to work with the Wardens or with critical-risk, powered juveniles.”

“You’re kidding,” I said.

“The PRT was stringent about who they would hire and take into confidence, and there’s no reason to believe the next group to take power will be any less careful. Even with that in mind…”

She trailed off.

“You thought about telling people. That doesn’t seem… just. There are a lot of people that rely on you. Even with the group therapy kids, it’s pretty clear. I feel like if they didn’t have you, some pretty bad stuff would happen. And they’re, what, ten percent of your caseload? Less?”

“Less. But I can’t ignore one wrong involving my patients for the sake of ensuring I can maintain care for the rest. Thankfully, it isn’t that binary in reality. I can act clearly and decisively when there’s a clear and decisive danger. I can ask multiple someones that I know and respect to keep an eye out.”

“Me being one?”

“Yes, Victoria. You’re one of several. Some are waiting until the group is more visible, people in the Wardens will reach out and coordinate, they know where your group originated and that I’m concerned about where it may go.”

“I may not be the best choice—I know you didn’t choose me, exactly. You wanted me to try and steer the group away from the hero thing. I volunteered myself for this and you were…”

“Relieved to have one set of eyes on things, on a more ongoing basis.”

“Yeah,” I said.