Taking a sip from his coffee, Pinn watched the window to the diner intently. Chewing slowly on his French Toast, he would never admit he was disappointed. Sami had yet to show up. There was no reason for him to have believed that Sami would be back as soon as the next day, but there was still some hope lingering. He was so focused on the window that he went tense, startled when Kelly approached.

  “Dining alone today?” Kelly asked.

  Pinn nodded, his face flushing slightly.

  “Shame. Did you hear about the Magnus show yesterday?” Kelly asked.

  Pinn’s breath caught in his throat. He had been sloppy, and must have let too many people see his face. The news of his miraculous savior had spread.

  “What about it?” Pinn asked, not meeting her eyes.

  “Yesterday was his last show! I never got to see him in person,” Kelly said, refilling his coffee.

  “Oh. Right. I was there. My parents took me,” Pinn admitted, feeling silly at the admission.

  “I think it’s sweet you go to shows with your parents. Did they enjoy?” Kelly asked.

  “Ma did,” Pinn said, remembering how excited she was that he used his power on the drive home.

  “Oh, look!” Kelly raised her coffee pot to the front door. “Sami’s here. Maybe he’ll tell me your name when I come back to take his order.”

  Pinn’s face went warm as she strode by to the next table. Sami glided in, water jug in hand and saluting Pinn with two fingers to his forehead, and his third hand held his phone. Pinn blinked, realizing that a third hand made of shadow had emerged from Sami’s shoulder, holding the phone. Smiling, Sami stopped in front of the chair, scrolling on his device with a real finger before sitting down.

  “Ahem… I need some money, could I get your card and its PINN Number? Pin with two N’s!” Sami said, pointing with his free hand as his shadow hand lowered the phone.

  Pinn’s heart dropped into his stomach. Sami had figured out his name? How? How much more had he learned? Were there traces of his identity out there? What if he already told people about him being Lightcrown? Swallowing hard, Pinn made no expression, waiting for Sami to continue.

  “No?” Sami asked, raising his phone again with the shadow to scroll further. “All right… Hmm… Are you Daren not to tell me your name?”

  Pinn continued to sit expressionless, not understanding what Sami was playing at.

  “Still nothing? Okay, what about… Umm… What’s a good pun for Manny?” Sami thought aloud.

  “What are you doing?” Pinn asked warily.

  “Are any of those your name?” Sami asked, taking a sip of water.

  Pinn said nothing, but relaxed internally. This was some game to draw his name out, but still didn’t explain how he found out about his name to begin with.

  The phone suddenly slipped out of the Shadow Hand’s grasp and Sami fumbled as he tried to recover. Smacking into the table, the screen landed face down. Sami sighed and sat down, a half smile on his face when he raised his phone and saw a fresh crack running across the glass.

  “What were you doing?” Pinn asked again.

  “I’m trying to work out my Shadow Hand by having it hold objects for long periods of time. Probably should have given it something less fragile to hold,” Sami said, looking over his phone for any other scuffs.

  “I meant the stuff with the names.”

  “Oh, check it out.” Sami showed Pinn his phone screen. A list of Bluetooth Devices with their names. At the top of the list was an entry called “Pinn’s Earbuds,” followed by “Daren’s Carplay” and “Manny’s BT Speaker.”

  Pinn blinked, impressed at Sami’s ingenuity. He also made a mental note to change the names of his earbuds. Or maybe destroy them, just to be safe.

  “The name of this place is Manny’s Diner,” Pinn told him.

  “Cool,” Sami said, looking back over his phone. “What about the other names?”

  Pinn said nothing and Sami smiled, amused.

  “I’ll get that name,” Sami assured him.

  Pinn grinned slightly just as Kelly came back around, notepad in hand.

  “Grapes and whipped cream?” Kelly asked.

  “Do you guys have crepes?” Sami asked politely.

  “No, it’s the same menu as last time, honey,” Kelly replied patiently.

  “What a shame,” Sami said. “Well, either way, I don’t have the money to cover it.”

  “It’s on me,” Pinn said. “To pay back for last time.”

  Sami’s smile broadened further than Pinn thought possible.

  “I actually need to head out soon. What’s something you guys can cook fast?” Sami asked Kelly.

  “We have a lot of French Toast on order, maybe we can…”

  “Gross, nevermind. Just fruit, nothing that needs to be prepared. And a cup of coffee to-go, with… I dunno like one sugar and one cream? Oh, and a refill on my water if that’s okay.” Sami tapped the side of his jug.

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  “Sure thing,” Kelly said. “And let me know his name when you get the chance.” She winked as she left.

  Sami grinned, bobbing in place as he looked to Pinn. Eyebrows descending slightly, Pinn wondered what had him so excited.

  “Coffee?” Pinn asked, imagining Sami jumping off the walls with any more energy pumped into him.

  “Did you do anything cool yesterday?” Sami asked eagerly.

  Pinn read the tone quickly, seeing that Sami just wanted an excuse to talk about his day.

  “No. Did you get up to anything interesting?”

  “I did! I passed the HUE tryouts! They were a lot different than I expected, but today’s my first day!” Sami said, beaming with joy.

  “Oh.”

  “Oh?”

  “Umm… Good job,” Pinn said.

  “You say it, but you don’t mean it.” Sami leaned forward. “Do you have something against people using their powers?”

  “No.”

  “Then how come you don’t use yours anymore? I know you still have them. What happened that day?”

  Pinn frowned, breaking eye contact uncomfortably. Sami was obviously referring to the Silent Scream. Casting his eyes down to his plate, he exhaled in shame.

  “I messed up, Sami. That’s what happened. People died. A lot of them.”

  “I know,” Sami said somberly, his eyes lowering with a crack in his characteristic smile.

  “It’s better that people think I’m dead,” Pinn grumbled.

  Sami’s face shot up, staring deep into Pinn.

  “No way. That’s not true at all. I know the Silent Scream was bad, but you still tried your best, right?”

  Pinn refused to make eye contact.

  “Dude, seriously, what happened that day?” Sami asked.

  Kelly approached with a bowl of grapes, a side of whipped cream, and a pitcher of water.

  “How’s it going with the name?” she asked.

  “I’m just calling him ‘dude’ for now,” Sami said, smiling graciously to her. Pinn was impressed by how quickly he could move from serious to pleasantly polite.

  “Dude…” Kelly repeated, amused. “I think we can do better than that.”

  “Yeah, just give me some more time,” Sami said, popping a grape in his mouth with his Shadow Hand.

  “That’s a neat trick!” Kelly exclaimed. “You’re Awakened! I’ve never been able to speak with someone Awakened before!”

  Sami shot Pinn a shocked expression. Embarrassed, Pinn lowered his head, his face turning a shade redder.

  “What?” Kelly asked curiously, then tilted her head with her mouth half open. “No! No way, you are not Awakened, are you?” She lowered her head to get a better look at Pinn. He’d gone beet red.

  “He definitely is,” Sami said, grinning excitedly.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I love learning about Awakened people! What kinda power do you have? Is it something flashy or more clever like Sami’s shadow thing?”

  “You hear that? She called me clever,” Sami said, adjusting an invisible tie and enjoying the compliment like a cool breeze.

  “Come on, you have to tell me!” Kelly pleaded, lowering herself to the table level where Pinn’s face had plummeted like he was trying to dig his way into the wood.

  Sweat rolled down his neck, and he felt the heat radiating from him. Somehow, it felt even warmer than the flame that he could use to cover his face. The literal Lightcrown, as people called it. Cringing, he breathed out slowly as he felt the powerful eyes of both Kelly and Sami lingering on him. Shivering, he spoke slowly.

  “Not… Not right now, okay?” Pinn said, mortified by his own words.

  Kelly quivered like she just registered how awkwardly close she’d brought herself to Pinn. Standing herself up, she nodded.

  “Okay, not right now.”

  Stepping away, she went to address another patron a few tables down. Pinn’s face remained on the table. Sami spoke around another grape.

  “Dude, are you okay? That was… Well, to be blunt, that was kinda embarrassing to watch. Do you not get out much? I mean, other than when you were Lightcrown?”

  “I don’t like talking to people like that,” Pinn said, his voice shaking.

  “You mean UnAwakened?”

  “No. I don’t want to be rude to her.”

  Sami leaned in a little closer.

  “Don’t sweat it. You were nice about it. Really, I don’t think you need to be worried. Kelly didn’t seem to mind. She was quick to drop it, so I think she could see you were uncomfortable,” Sami assured him, sounding sincere.

  Pinn raised his head, slowly wiping his face with one hand.

  “You ever figure out that third power of yours?”

  “Trying to change the subject?”

  “Obviously.”

  “We should talk about HUE! What do you think of them? I noticed you hesitated earlier. What’s up with that?”

  Pinn opened his mouth halfway, pausing. He knew the general nature of Sami’s third power. But he didn’t want to be rude and change the subject again.

  “HUE is fine in theory. But I don’t think they have a sustainable model in mind. They’re still fresh, so maybe it’s up in the air, but…”

  “You think their donation model isn’t gonna work out? I think a lot of people will do HUE’s work even if they aren’t getting paid,” Sami said.

  “No, that’s exactly the problem. The donations will never run dry. So long as they maintain their current public opinion. And given their reputation with local news, they’re fine on that front. If they’re in dire straits, some big-shot millionaire looking for a PR boost will drop a few hundred thousand on the hero stuff that’s in the news all the time. But the fact that people would continue to work without pay is a bad sign. That’s not sustainable,” Pinn said.

  “Good people aren’t sustainable?” Sami asked, smiling and drinking some water.

  “Yeah.”

  Sami scrunched his face, then popped back into an enthusiastic grin when Kelly approached.

  “Your coffee.” She presented a cup, then hesitated before placing it on the table. “The tables shouldn’t be peeling this soon. We just got them.”

  “I didn’t even notice. They look fine,” Sami said quickly, trying to assuage her.

  “Mmm, I don’t know.” She placed the white cup down and thumbed at the edges of the wood. “We’ll get this sanded down for our favorite customer.”

  “It’s fine,” Pinn said quickly, embarrassed.

  “Who said you were our favorite? Sami introduced himself on day one and never has a complicated order,” she teased.

  Sami munched on his grapes, grinning.

  “You guys should get some crepes for your favorite customer,” Sami said, his mouth full.

  Kelly laughed and moved on to the next customer. Pulling out his phone, Sami checked the time.

  “I gotta go, dude. I don’t want to be late for my first day,” Sami said, wiping his mouth with the back of his Shadow Hand. Pinn was impressed by the control he had over the limb, if not a hint jealous.

  “I’ll see you next time,” Sami promised, getting up from his seat and grabbing his water and coffee.

  “Next time,” Pinn agreed.

  “Wish me luck. Or, you know, come along and watch out for me. I think it’d be pretty lame if I get killed by a super strong Awakened guy on my first outing,” Sami admitted.

  “Don’t count on it.”

  “Someday you’ll tell me why,” Sami said, saluting Pinn with two fingers to his temple and turning to leave.

  Pinn watched the young man go, wondering if he could share in the enthusiasm that Sami had for helping others. But more importantly, he hoped that the city wouldn’t break Sami down like it did him.