There was something wrong inside Lauren.

  She stood naked in front of the mirror in her bathroom. She ran the hot sink tap, letting steam fill the space. Back in her bed again last night, she had slept terribly. She tossed and turned until her sheets came undone and tangled with her body. While she tried to sleep, her body was waking up. Things inside her groaned and shifted. Her powers were more active than she had ever felt before, and she didn’t know why.

  Well, there was one time before she had felt like this. But she hated dwelling on the memory. So much so that it spent most of its time in her head blocked out. She didn’t like remembering how exactly her powers had entered her.

  She was in the glass box Dr. Smythe kept her in for observation. It was always empty, not even a toilet to relieve herself in. But she was always in the box for a reason. On that particular day, towards the end of her stay, she huddled in the corner, away from the glare of the lights, while the doctor’s faceless assistants attached a cage to the exterior of the cell.

  It wasn’t a large cage. Smaller than a pet carrier and hiding its contents. But it thrashed. Something was inside it, and it was angry. It took them a moment to secure the cage to where a small exterior door could be opened to the cell. Dr. Smythe was there, saying something grand and self-important like she usually did. But she used words like “culmination” and “pinnacle”. Lauren got the sense this is what everything had been leading to. And she was terrified. She thought she remembered Rachel being there, in a cell of her own, but maybe that wasn’t real. What was real was the pain that followed.

  They opened the cage, and Lauren barely had time to see it. It came for her like it could sense her heat before the door even opened. It skittered on clawed appendages like some terrible mix of a crab and a human hand. It was between her legs and up her gown before she could take a second blink. Then its sharp talons were gripping her chest. It plunged into her chest, stabbing its way to her heart. And the only thought that could fill her head was that she had gone through all this torment just to die.

  She thrashed in agony for seconds, hours, or days. Probably for less time than she thought, but a brain experiencing that much pain isn’t good at keeping track. She screamed when there was air to, and she cried when she could, and she drooled when there was nothing else she could do. It was like her chest was being flayed open. The thing was relentless as it dug into her. The pain should have been enough to kill her, or at least make her lose consciousness. Maybe she did. Her existence was a searing blur. Maybe Rachel was there screaming her name, or maybe she wasn’t. She wouldn’t have even recognized her own name in that time.

  It was over, eventually, and the first words to make sense again came from her captor.

  “Subject is taking to its new biomass well.”

  She stared at her face in the mirror. Something rippled under her skin. The parasite was active again.

  That was as good a name as anything for it, she decided. Her power. Her sense. Her killer instinct. Her passenger. Her dark self. It was all the same thing. It was the monstrous parasite Dr. Smythe had sicced on her. Dr. Yeoh told her it wasn’t in her body anymore, in the sense of being able to find and remove it. But she saw it moving now. Like a wave it passed under the skin of her face, then down her neck, then through her arm before disappearing again like a whale finished breaching the surface for its air. It went back to the depths of her body, rearranging things.

  Dr. Yeoh said Lauren would keep adapting to external stressors, like injuries. Maybe this was it trying to fortify her against the next Ollyrian-level hit. That seemed improbable to accomplish. There was no resistance against the force of his punch. He touched her, and then his hand was through her. Her skin didn’t feel any tougher. If anything, she felt like a stuffed doll with weak seams.

  Something was wrong with her eye. She leaned in.

  Her right iris was dividing in two. Not completely. More like a figure 8, or two yolks crowding the same egg white. They still shared the pupil in the center.

  She wished she was more surprised. She was changing again, mutating, getting worse. The parasite had grown her a new heart, a new spine. She wasn’t sure they were hers anymore. They were stronger, better, not the same as the ones her parents had given her. Every injury took away some of her past, and brought her into her present madness. After all she had been through, how much of her body was still her?

  She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. When she opened them again, her dividing eye had come back together. That was good. She just had to hold herself together long enough to see them through this.

  She put on clothes and found Lucy outside drinking coffee. Fog settled over the cliffside, obscuring enough to almost make campus look normal. Down below, Maggie-Lou sat in a lawn chair and played a banjo while singing a folk song. Lauren leaned on the railing beside her friend.

  Oh, what is this that I cannot see?

  With icy hands gettin’ hold of me

  Oh I am death, none can excel

  I’ll open the doors to heaven and to hell

  Maggie-Lou’s warbling voice carried across the quiet field. Cheery song she picked. Then again, it probably matched the general mood around the place pretty well.

  By one look at her face, Lauren could tell Lucy had a rough night too. Something looked heavy on her mind. She took a deep sip from her mug. They stood there together for a while, not needing to say good morning with words to feel each other’s presence. Lauren figured she’d speak up about something when it felt right to.

  Oh death, please consider my age

  Please don’t take me at this stage

  My wealth is all at your command

  If you will move your icy hand

  “We met the Canadian students at Terry’s funeral,” was the first thing Lucy said.

  “Billy mentioned that. Were they nice?” That was about the extent of what she knew about Canadians.

  Lucy nodded, her eyes still downcast. If that was what was bothering Lucy, Lauren had no idea why.

  “I got drinks with their leader, this girl named Missy. She used to be friends with Terry. I liked her.” Lucy paused for a while, putting her chin on her hand. Lauren got the sense she was trying to decide how much to say. “We got to talking about all the violence and destruction. I told her about how I just wanted to help people, and help the environment. I don’t feel built for this. The… fighting. I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay with it.”

  Her voice got quieter as she talked. She left room for Lauren to interject, but she chose to stay quiet and hear her out.

  “Missy offered for me to transfer to Dackley. Canada needs new heroes just as much as we do. I’d get citizenship, my parents would too. They’d give us a house, a new life. I’d have to put in a certain number of years, but… what they do up there, it’s practically kayfabe. A lot less dangerous. They aren’t trying to fight a war. And all I do is grow plants.”

  She waited again for Lauren to voice her thoughts. Lauren made her finish.

  “My parents are more willing than I thought they’d be. I think they’re more afraid than they want to tell me. But they said it’s my decision to make.”

  Lauren let it hang in the cold morning air.

  “Say something.”

  “What am I supposed to say?”

  “I don’t know,” Lucy said, turning to her. “Be mad at me for wanting to go. Tell me I’m stupid, that I belong here, or say the opposite. Tell me I should be there out of the way because I’m just going to slow the rest of you down. Just say something.”

  Lauren couldn’t be mad. Sad, maybe, to hear her best friend was thinking about leaving, but never mad. It was her decision to make. Honestly, it would crush Lauren to lose a sister all over again. But she’d cry about it in private after Lucy left. Now wasn’t the time to be selfish. Being selfish got people she cared about hurt. Lauren would be different. If Lucy wanted to go, at least she’d know her friend would be safe.

  “That’s why you haven’t gone yet? Because I wasn’t there to say something?”

  “I want to go because I’m afraid,” Lucy said. Her voice became a thick river of emotion. “But I’m more afraid for you.”

  “For me? Why?”

  Lucy looked at her like she was flabbergasted how Lauren couldn’t understand.

  “You were in a coma for six weeks. We didn’t know if you were going to survive. You looked like a corpse. And before that… we never talked about when you came back to campus that night. You were drenched in blood.”

  “I had to fight,” Lauren said.

  “Drenched, Lauren. What the hell happened? I don’t know if I even want to know.”

  Lauren didn’t know, and she didn’t know if she wanted to either. Lucy was right. There was no time to think or talk about it. She had given herself fully to the parasite. It had gotten her out of that arena. How many people had it gone through to do so? She remembered the coppery taste of blood on her lips, and not much else. Again, she felt that she should have felt more about it. Something was changing inside. Her friends were her people, and her enemies were the ones hurting them and keeping the truth from her. She felt like she cared more about the former and less about the latter than she had before her coma. Maybe that was bad. Could be it was just her accepting the situation for what it was. She thought about what Director Weiss said. This place made heroes, and it made people like her and Lauren. She might have been starting to understand what that meant.

  “I don’t know if I’m the one too soft for this place, or…” Lucy trailed off before she accused Lauren and the other students of being too violent. “I know my city needs you guys. I’m glad it has you. I… I want to be strong enough. But I’m afraid that I’m not.”

  Lauren put her hand on Lucy’s arm. Lucy set her mug down, and they embraced each other. Lauren spent a while just holding her friend and rocking gently back and forth. She noted there was no intoxicating smell on Lucy, not like there had been on Billy and Grace. She wondered what that meant.

  Lucy pulled back, and her expressive eyes were full of guilt.

  “Should I go, or should I stay?”

  “I can’t answer that for you,” Lauren said. “…I can’t say that this is going to get any better. I’m not a hero. I want to take back this city for you guys, and to finally get some answers. It’s gonna be fucking messy. I want you to be safe, but… you’re our heart. You’re my heart. I know I’m doing the right thing when you’re next to me. If you leave, I’m afraid I won’t have that. But that shouldn’t be on you. We’ll live. We’ll keep each other safe. You should do what you feel is right.”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Here came the tears. Lucy bit her lip to stifle crying and playfully punched Lauren’s arm. “Damnit. I waited six weeks for you to give me a straight answer, and that’s what you come up with? When did you get all emotionally smart?”

  Lauren chuckled. They hugged again, and Lucy kissed her on the cheek.

  “I know I’m not Rachel, but you’re my sister, Lauren.”

  “You’re my sister. And I don’t need you to be Rachel. I need you to be you.”

  Right then, Lauren didn’t even know who Rachel was. But Lucy was here, right here beside her since she had first come to this school.

  “Thank you.” Lucy wiped her cheek. “I’ll keep thinking about it. I don’t need to decide now. What are you doing today?”

  “Getting us out of this rut,” Lauren said. “I’m gonna talk to Knapp, get us cleared for the field.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lucy asked.

  “What else is there to do?” Lauren asked. “Why are any of us here, if we’re not fighting to protect people?”

  Or to carve a path through the city directly to Dr. Smythe. They could do both at once.

  “To learn,” Lucy said, hand on her hip.

  “Well, is there anyone here right now to teach us?” Lauren countered.

  Lucy conceded the point.

  “There’s some things you should know about how people are doing before you pull them all together again,” Lucy said. “Vivian is doing about as bad as you might think, considering a member of her other species came down to the planet, massacred a bunch of people, and she was helpless to stop them.” Lauren thought about how she had seen Vivian with brown hair. “Please, go easy on her. She’s hard enough on herself. I think she wants to break her mental barriers and be able to fight.”

  “Maybe she should,” Lauren said.

  Lucy gave her a look, but didn’t voice disagreement. “Just go easy on her. Speaking of wanting to help, Reagan is doing weird things with Monty since he showed up.”

  Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Like… sexually?”

  “No!” Lucy made a disgusted grunt, something Lauren agreed with. She was disgusted with herself just thinking of it. “No, Monty is a super scientist. She spends time in his lab. They’re private about it, but I’m guessing they’re trying to give Reagan superpowers. It’s not making her look good to be honest, but that’s between them and the school I guess.”

  So called super scientists and their damn meddling. If they were spending time together, that meant Lauren could avoid both of them at the same time. Fine enough.

  “What else?”

  Lucy shrugged.

  “Thalia is agitated about Adam being gone. He’s on some kind of apprenticeship. Grace has been on her media tour. Honestly, she’s probably the most proactive out of all of us. That’s the big stuff you should know.”

  Lauren nodded. “Thanks. I’m gonna grab breakfast and then find Knapp. I think we should go out tomorrow night.”

  “Alright, I’ll see you around.”

  Lauren felt Lucy’s eyes on her as she turned to leave. She was still wondering what happened that night while Lauren was gone. The other students were probably wondering too. With how things were in the city now, she had a bad feeling that night would have a long shadow.

  . . .

  “Lauren.”

  Lauren smelled the person approaching before they spoke. Why did they smell so much better than the bacon she was piling onto her plastic tray? Her hand trembled. The scent was intoxicating. She dropped the buffet tongs and turned around to see Reagan standing behind her in the otherwise empty cafeteria.

  Not much had changed about Lauren’s least-favorite classmate. Black clothes, black hair, and a dour, sharp face just a bit too long. Her body was both gangly and athletic. She didn’t have much of a mind for either fashion or makeup. None whatsoever, in fact. No, a girl like her didn't have time for any of that. They had spoken maybe all of two sentences to each other since the museum. Just as well to Lauren.

  She gave Reagan and wide berth and went to sit down. To her dismay, she followed and sat down across from her. She really wanted something. Reagan shifted in her jacket, equally not enjoying their close presence to each other.

  Lauren took a bite of bacon. It tasted like ash. Reagan, on the other hand, smelled like she would taste amazing. She really wished the other girl would go away. She was giving Lauren very strange and uncomfortable thoughts, like the urge to climb over the table and start making out with her. She gagged, hoping these wild sensory swings or hormonal imbalances or whatever it was would go away soon as her body settled.

  “What do you want?” Lauren asked, hoping to move the visit along.

  “You’re going to go out with a team soon,” Reagan said. It was a statement, but a soft statement, which might as well have been a question.

  “Yes.” Lauren started shoving more breakfast items in her mouth in defiance of her body wanting Reagan instead of food. Whatever this bizarre sudden… attraction was, it was more revolting than her eye nearly dividing.

  Reagan watched her wolf down food with mild disgust.

  “I want to go out on the first mission. I want to be on the team.”

  That was surprising to hear. Lauren spoke again as soon as her mouth was free to do so.

  “That didn’t go so great last time.”

  Reagan bristled. “Because you led us into an ambush, dick! I just got unlucky. I did my physical therapy, and I’ve spent these weeks training, unlike everyone else. And…” She almost mentioned her experimenting with Monty, it seemed. But she held it back for now. “Look, I’ve been keeping tabs on things. How things are in the city. We need a strategy. I can be your lancer.”

  “My what?”

  “Your right hand, or whatever you want to call it!” Reagan said. She was getting snippier the more she had to talk. “I know we got off on the wrong foot…”

  “You mean the foot you planted in my fucking face?”

  Reagan rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to be on the bottom of the pecking order.”

  Lauren could have said something very mean about being on the bottom after the museum, even she knew that was uncalled for. It was her fault, Reagan wasn’t wrong about that.

  Reagan took her silence to continue. “You seem to be taking this seriously, and the others clearly respect you more than they do me. We don’t have to like each other, but I want to help, okay? I’m here to be a hero. You have to see the value in that.”

  “So you’ve been scouting?” Lauren asked.

  Reagan nodded. “All over, undercover. I can show you.”

  “Debrief us tonight.” Lauren said. Saying that made her feel more like Weiss, or Hogan. Professional. Now wasn’t the time to have rivalries inside the school. They’d need to all work together on this. Even is she did still find Reagan to be repulsive.

  Reagan nodded, a slight hint of relief unwinding her. “Thank you.”

  Lauren couldn’t hold it back any longer. She stood and leaned in until her face was an inch away from Reagan’s. Reagan was clearly offput, but she only drew back slightly.

  “What is this?” Reagan asked. Her eyes shifted around. “Are you trying to intimidate me?”

  No. Lauren was getting one last whiff. It was the most heady, fresh, amazing smell in the world. Surely one little taste…

  After a moment of the close proximity, Reagan leaned in slightly and parted her lips.

  Lauren sharply pulled away. Reagan immediately turned beet red. She turned away, her guard fully up once again. “What the fuck was that?!”

  Lauren had already started walking away, equally unsure of what she was just thinking of doing. She dumped the rest of her food.

  “Be careful of people who want to stick strange things in you, Reagan,” she called back.

  “…What?!”

  . . .

  She knocked on the headmaster’s solid wood door, in the middle of the administration building.

  “Come in.”

  Lauren opened the door to Knapp’s office. The headmaster was behind her large desk in the rather small office. Important-looking papers and a laptop were arrayed in front of her. Thick books still lined the space, with a small window letting in stark winter light and a warm lamp glowing to give a golden cast to it.

  Knapp did not look like she was faring as well as her office had. The world had been beating her down. Lauren saw it in her demeanor when she saw her yesterday. Like everyone else, she wasn’t sleeping enough. Her head had been resting on her hand when Lauren came in. Still, the older woman did her best to pull herself together and sit straight as her student entered. She gave a welcoming gesture to the well-padded seat across from her.

  “Is this a bad time?” Lauren asked as she sat.

  “No, not at all,” Knapp said. If it was, she didn’t let her tone betray it. “I’m sorry our conversation was short yesterday. That wasn’t right of me at all. I should have brought you breakfast this morning.”

  That sounded nice. Lauren was in a much better mood for it than she had been the first time the headmaster had brought her breakfast, and they had their first one on one. Knapp had such a nice, motherly vibe that before Lauren had been too hostile to her school to appreciate. She felt a rare pang of missing her own mother.

  “How are you doing today? What can I help you with? You must have so many questions. Are your classmates getting you up to speed?”

  “Yeah, they’ve been great,” Lauren said. She dodged the question about how she was doing. The answer was weird, weirder than usual, but it clearly wasn’t something Dr. Yeoh could detect or help with. Maybe Monty, being a fringe scientist… what a horrible thought to actually consider. “I wanted to ask you about us going out as teams again.”

  Knapp cocked her head, looking concerned. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea at present… our support networks are completely down right now. I understand you raring to help, really, I’m proud of your drive, but it’s a very hostile environment out there right now. You’ve only just woken up.”

  “I know, it’s dangerous,” Lauren said. "And I know I haven’t been the best at knowing when to stop. But I’m learning. I just want to see what’s out there. Maybe start getting us on people’s minds again. We can’t just let the New Lords and whoever else it out there go unchecked. That’s what we’re here for.”

  Knapp gave her a long look, under which Lauren shrunk a little. She knew she was being analyzed, probably to discern her true intentions.

  “What did you find on that solo mission of yours?” Knapp asked.

  Lauren winced. She too was wondering about the blood. And probably wondering what Lauren got out of meeting with the New Lords. There would come a reckoning on that. Lauren might’ve been forcing the issue by seeking out the headmaster today.

  “Lilith, their leader, wanted me to fight. I did it for the distraction. And because Lilith said she might know where Dr. Smythe was. It was an ambush. I had to fight my way out. After my coma, I barely remember it.”

  She left out the part where she had seen the doctor and Rachel, and lost control. The first part she wanted to tell Hogan first. The second would stay with her. She didn’t want to be seen as a monster. She wasn’t a monster. It wouldn’t happen again. This school was her home, and they wouldn’t take it from her.

  She had a feeling Knapp knew that wasn’t the whole story. Either way, the headmaster let it lie for now.

  “I want you to join our weekly therapy sessions, as well as do some one on one sessions with me,” Knapp said.

  Lauren shifted. “I don’t—”

  “You’re asking me to trust you with my other students, and yourself,” Knapp said. “I need to know you’re stable. You’ve been through a lot these past few months. Everything the others have, and more. You might be able to just walk away from that kind of violence, but that doesn’t mean you should.”

  Sharing about herself sounded miserable. But Lauren relented. She couldn’t just sit up here for weeks more while the school and BASTION finished putting themselves together.

  “Fine. We can go out, then?”

  “I’ll approve you for one short, well-planned and cautious expedition,” Knapp said. “I really can’t emphasize enough that you will have no central communication or adult backup. It’s a vicious urban jungle out there. Prioritize small acts of good that will show people Rosewell hasn’t given up on them. I can’t lie, we could use the positive PR. But for the love of God, don’t engage any threats beyond a mugger with a knife. Just… talk to people. Make them feel safe. Can you do that?”

  “Absolutely.”

  . . .

  Reagan unfolded a map of Pacific City onto a cafeteria table. It had been scrawled over and marked up, marker lines dividing districts. The 17 remaining Rosewell students gathered around it, half looking over the map and half sitting in the sidelines. Lauren stood across from Reagan, Lucy at her side.

  Neither her not Reagan mentioned the awkward moment they had earlier. Lauren felt guilty about it, considering her and Anika were courting and Lauren didn’t smell anything on her as they stood shoulder to shoulder. She didn’t meet Anika’s gaze that she could see out of the corner of her vision. Reagan’s intoxicating scent flowed off her in waves. Other scents, some lesser and some greater, came off many of the people around her. It was like standing in the most wonderful fragrant garden, except each flower was also a delicious piece of food. It was hard to concentrate. She did her best to lock in to what Reagan was saying.

  “—Russian Mob is using the docks for their illicit business. Human trafficking, smuggling, things of that nature. If they’re being led by a villain, I don’t know who. Could be a mundane operation. Yakuza and Triads have been carving up the International District. They definitely have powered members each. The Game Board is believed to have set up shop in De Costa. They have a silly game-theme as you might imagine, but they’re deadly-serious professionals. Other gangs with territory include the Red Teeth bikers, the Dust Devils; the Hexers, a group of hackers and thieves; the Skells, and the Fallen Stars.”

  “The Skells aren’t a gang,” Lauren spoke up. “They’re just homeless trying to survive.”

  “Maybe they were. Times change,” Reagan said. “I think you know someone who decided to join them.”

  Mara. Lauren figured she might.

  “Who are the Fallen Stars?” Lucy asked.

  “The newest generation of Star Sisters gone bad,” Reagan answered. That made Lucy gasp. Lauren failed to comprehend what that meant.

  “Wait, one of the gangs controlling Pacific City is a group of evil magical girls?” Billy asked. “Like, preteens?”

  “This isn’t a joke,” Reagan said with an edge to her voice, like Billy was questioning her intel. “I don’t know about evil, but the newest generation chosen by the celestial gemstones has lost their way. They don’t like outsiders. But maybe there’s some way to talk with them. They could be powerful allies.”

  “The Skells, too,” Lauren added. “I should talk to Mara. We got rid of the subterrans for them.”

  “Maybe…” was all Reagan had to say. She moved on. “There are also several dozen confirmed villains and villain groups now operating in Pacific City. Someone put a signal out that the city was up for grabs after Pariah. Major threats include Mr. Metropolis, Mastersaur, Dryad, Dr. Haze, Banshee, Wavelength, Roadkill, Behemoth, the Sideshow, Dredge, Professor Pernicious, and more. The New Lords are also operating as heroes, so there’s that. I’ve identified two primary villain hangouts: a dive bar in Santa Blanca and a classier establishment in South Sierra.” She looked up at the group. “Any questions?”

  “Yeah, I have a question,” Troy said, raising his hand slightly. “What exactly are we expecting to do about all this?”

  Again, the attention went to Lauren. She was getting better used to it.

  “We make allies, we beat bad guys, and we take back our city. So who’s ready to get out there?”

  Under her shirt, she felt the tendrils of the parasite crawl up her spine.