Death was a lot like sinking.

  Maybe. Lauren had never been in a body of water big enough to sink very far. A motel pool was probably the closest she ever came.

  But when her heart burst and her spine shattered, she pictured the ocean; its darkness and depth that she had only heard about secondhand. She was floating on her back in the middle of the water. That was life. Taking your turn being on the surface. Feeling the sun on your skin. And then something happens, like getting a hole poked in you, and you start sinking.

  The initial panic is the worst part of it. Your head and body are underwater, but you can still see the sun. It’s still there, just getting a bit darker as you go lower. You don’t want it to go. You aren’t ready to stop feeling it. That passes. The panic fades gradually as the cold seeps into you from below. But it’s a gentle cold. It’s taking you somewhere with no more pain, and the pressure wraps you like a cocoon, and suddenly struggling doesn’t feel so important anymore.

  Soon you’ve sunk far enough that the sun is a distant pleasant memory, and the miseries of life ebb away from you. You don’t know how far you’ve sunk, and you don’t know how much more there is to go. You open your eyes to look, but it’s only dark above and below. You’ve gone far enough that there’s no point in trying to swim your way back up to the surface. There is no surface. Maybe there never was. Maybe you’ve always been in this cool, dark stillness.

  And that last little bit of life in you gets ready to fade gently.

  Or enough of yourself dies that something else takes over.

  She thrashed. Animated. Alive. Struggling, despite it all. This wasn’t the end. Maybe it never would be, for her. Maybe she’d never sink fully to the bottom and get to know true stillness. Her body knew which way was up to the surface. It pulled her. She didn’t fight it, but she didn’t help it either. Up and up, lungs burning for life-giving air but never bursting, despite the pain.

  The ocean thickened around her. It wasn’t cool water any longer. It was hot blood and slimy amniotic fluid. Then it became dense, sinewy. Lauren climbed upwards more than she swam. She had to slip between massive muscle fibers growing to ensnare her. She cut holes, chewed her way through where she had to. This was now her struggle to live. She could’ve faded away in the empty depths. But her body was regrowing, and she would not be lost in it. She hacked upwards, searching for her brain to put her consciousness back into. The beast inside her would not inherit her body. She would not let it strangle her in this womb.

  She burst back to the surface. She felt the sun of life again, and breathed air. And when she managed to wipe the fluid from her eyes, she saw her ocean was an endless sea of flesh.

  “I knew you were waking up.”

  She blinked into the real world. A face hovered right above Lauren’s. All she could make out at first were red lenses and a medical mask. She took a sharp intake of breath and immediately began coughing.

  She was in a hospital bed. A tube was inserted down her throat. She gagged on it and tugged to reel it out of her. It came free coated in saliva. She coughed more, then noticed an IV was inserted in both her arms. One attached to a clear bag, the other to a bag containing thick pink slurry.

  “What the fuck is that?” Lauren rasped. She rubbed her throat. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  The figure who had been hovering over her stood straight. It was a teenage boy in a stark white lab coat and black rubber gloves. He pulled down his mask, underneath it thin lips grinning to show crooked teeth. His hair was long, disheveled, and not recently washed. His other hand brought up his red goggles to reveal his eyes: one crimson, and the other entirely milky.

  Lauren knew a mad scientist when she saw one.

  Her first thought was that she had been captured by the New Lords. The arena. She had found Rachel. Lilith was approaching. She had blacked out. Did something happen after that? They must have overwhelmed her and caught her. Was she in the clutches of Dr. Smythe again? Or in some New Lord lair? It didn’t make a difference now. She’d tear through them all.

  She grew her bone spike and prepared to send it through her captor’s heart.

  The curtain at the front of the partitioned space tore open. A half-second glance at it stayed Lauren’s hand. Standing there was Billy, aka Headcase, the telekinetic student who had helped her rescue Mara and the Skells.

  “I told you not to keep bother—” Billy’s words died as he saw Lauren was awake.

  She took him in. Billy looked haggard, but he wasn’t dressed like a prisoner. He was in a loose tee and sweatpants. His dark hair and facial scruff had both grown out.

  Lauren calmed down and retracted her spike. Billy wasn’t one of her closest friends, but she trusted him. If he was okay, she must be too. She looked around at their surroundings. She wasn’t in some foreign lair. This was the Rosewell medical ward. She hadn’t recognized it at first because she was distracted, but also because something was off about it. The lights were dimmer. The place seemed dead, almost abandoned.

  The unfamiliar mad scientist-looking guy backed up to give them space as Billy came around, blinking as if he was imagining things. Lauren accepted his hug, even though Billy’s pits were damp. He smelled good. That was strange, considering he just smelled like a slightly sweaty teenage boy. Still, Lauren’s nose wanted to linger as he pulled away.

  “You’re awake…” Billy grabbed handfuls of his hair, staring at her. “They said you were healing, getting better…”

  Lauren’s eyes went back to the pink pouch attached to her arm with a needle. Half the bag was empty.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  Lab coat boy answered. “Protein. Fiber. Vitamins and minerals. Everything a girl needs to regrow essential pieces. Like a new heart. Dr. Yeoh’s formula base recipe was fine, if he wanted to make chicken nuggets!” He cackled. “I iterated on your nutritional slurry with each pouch. Also tinkered with your blood pump until you stopped needing it. I thought we’d need to keep some cybernetics in you, but Lauren, you’re incredible! Full regrowth, heart of a stallion in your chest now.” His one healthy eye traveled over her body like her gown and skin were both invisible.

  She was not pleased to hear that this creepy kid had been messing around in her chest and feeding her nutritional slurry like some kind of mama bird. Even though she didn’t know his name yet, Lauren did not like this new guy in the slightest. He exuded the vibes of a younger, male Dr. Smythe. Stabbing him might still be on the table.

  She turned to Billy. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

  He shrugged, clearly knowing he was a bit extra. “This is Monty. He’s new. Well—kinda new.”

  “From my perspective, you’re the new student, Sleeping Beauty.” Before Lauren could react, Monty brought his gloved hand up and plucked something from her forehead she didn’t even realize was there. She flinched away. Monty inspected a sticky pad with some kind of sensor on it. “Your brain was aflutter with activity. Wakey wakey, smell the bakey. An Ollyrian puts a hole through you, and you live. What are you?”

  Her memory of the last time she was conscious suddenly flooded in. She remembered all over again. Not just the arena. She had rushed back to campus after that. It seemed like just a moment later she was impaled on the fist of the trespasser.

  Monty took her silence as disinterest. “Mm. That’s alright. Welcome to the world of the living.”

  Lauren ripped out the IVs in her arms and threw back the sheets covering her. Billy stepped in to stop her from standing. “Woah, Lauren, slow down. Monty, go find a wheelchair.”

  Monty left the curtained room.

  “Billy, what happened?” she asked up at the classmate she at least knew. “The intruder… he attacked the city. He killed Seraph.” They had all watched it go down once they were evacuated to the bunker under the school. Then he had found them all. Lauren attacked. No memories after that. “Did… did he…”

  Billy realized what she was asking. “No! God no, we’re fine. He didn’t kill us one by one. Just…” His face darkened. “…he got Terry. He was dead as soon as the Ollyrian threw him down. And he got you, and you were touch and go for a while, fell into the coma… we did some emergency blood transfusions… but they told us you were healing. And you did.”

  Lauren nodded. Her emotions swirled between relief that most of them were fine, and a strangely powerful grief to hear that Terry was so casually killed. She remembered seeing him being thrown to the ground, but everything went so fast after that. “Coach and Ms. Almstead?”

  “Seen better days, but neither are dead,” Billy said. “Seraph resurrected too, just like she did after Invasion Day.” He scratched his forehead with a thumb nail. “But, shit… I think she’s done done this time. Fully retired.” A pained expression overtook him. This was the longest conversation Lauren had ever had with him, and it was about such morbid things. But she had to know. “Things are bad right now, Lauren,” Billy admitted. “Like, really bad. I’m not the best person to explain things.”

  Monty returned with a wheelchair. It seemed a bad sign that no actual medical personnel had come to check on her. She accepted Billy’s help into the seat.

  Lauren felt her arm, then her abdomen. The damage had been repaired, obviously. Something felt a bit strange, though. She pulled the collar of her hospital gown down, letting the top back button unclasp to she could inspect her chest. Billy blushed and turned away. Monty wasn’t at all shy about looking with her, though his interest did seem medical.

  Lauren ran a finger over the skin between her breasts. It looked fine, wasn’t discolored or scarred or anything. Still, something unsettled her. Her heart felt different. Did her arm feel different too? Maybe all of her did. What was that feeling? Things all felt a bit… loose. She adjusted her gown back up.

  Billy wheeled her onto the main floor. The lights above were in low power mode. The place lacked the bustle of medical staff preparing for their patients. Deep cracks chipped the skylights. Looking closer, she could see where cracks in the building had been sealed.

  Billy took her into the ramped hallway, heading for the outside door. Monty followed, then peeled off in his own direction.

  “Billy, how long was I out for?” Lauren finally asked.

  The exhale that followed was long. “Six weeks.”

  Six weeks. Six weeks? Jesus. Six weeks since her fight at the arena. A month and a half since the mission to save the city. What had happened in that time? She didn’t know where to start with her questions.

  Monty held open the doors, and Lauren was brought into the harsh light of day.

  Campus had also spent the past six weeks healing, only the scars of its damage were still visible. Half-disassembled scaffolding surrounded exteriors, with some stronger support bracing where needed. A few buildings were straight-up gone, their lots cleared. C-Hall was covered in draped tarps like medical gauze. The once-immaculate landscaping had been upturned by the tracks of heavy vehicles. In the center of the central lawn, a hole had been boarded over and taped off. Construction crews in vests and hard hats were here and there, performing miscellaneous jobs. This was after six weeks of work? She could only imagine how bad the damage had initially been.

  “You guys stayed through this?” Lauren asked.

  “No,” Billy said. He had started moving her down the path that curved around the lawn. “Campus was uninhabitable for weeks. We only recently moved back. We spent time up in Winterhaven, in Alaska. You were there too, but I guess you wouldn’t remember. We had the funeral for Terry there. That was kind of the beginning of the end. The Canadians came, too.”

  “Canadians?”

  “Dackley. Canadian Rosewell. Their students came. Terry was Canadian, apparently. I didn’t know. I don’t think he told anyone. He wanted to go to school here.”

  And now he was dead for it. She hadn’t appreciated it at the time, but Terry was probably the one among them with the most potential to be a paragon. Flashy powers, a sense of responsibility, knew how to light up a room, physically and literally. Why did guys with such a bright future like him have to die, while Lauren was pulled back from the brink again and again? She couldn’t help but think of the costume store, the way it sold the dreams and memories of heroes. Had Terry made it? Would he be immortalized as a hollow costume for kids to buy?

  “Stop here.”

  They had come to the dorms. The building didn’t look too bad, all things considered. Probably one of the first repaired, since it was their living quarters.

  “Are you sure?”

  Lauren pulled herself out of the seat. Her legs worked fine, they were just a bit cramped. She had to start using them if they were going to get back into shape. Strange twitches pulsed through her body as she rose.

  “I’m fine. I’m not going to visit people with my ass hanging out.”

  “Right…”

  She could feel the breeze on her bum as she climbed the steps to the second floor. She didn’t have any key or ID on her, but she found her dorm unlocked anyway. The interior was just as quiet as the ward had been. If anything had been knocked out of place, it had been put back together since. Dorm 7 was more or less how she remembered it being. On aching legs, she stumbled to her room down the hall.

  Her jacket was gone. She realized that sad fact as she worked her stiff joints getting herself dressed in proper clothes. She had left Hogan’s jacket in the arena, it being the last thing on her mind with everything else going on. Her mind drifted to Rachel again. She had seen her sister with her own two eyes, even if her mood and words were confusing. How was she going to reconcile that with Hogan’s evidence? One thing at a time. What mattered was that she was alive. After six weeks, another day likely wouldn’t make a difference. She needed to regroup and get on the same page as everyone else. And get some PowerBurst in her. Her head was pounding.

  She came back out, Billy waiting patiently down below.

  “What did you mean, that was the beginning of the end?” she called down. “And why are things bad?” Besides the city being wrecked, she meant. She looked around. Besides the construction workers, she didn’t spot anyone going about the day. “Where is everyone?”

  Billy rubbed the back of his head. “…Half the class left, Lauren. After the attack. Their parents pulled them out, or they just didn’t want to come back. Including the two new students, and you now, there’s… 17 Rosewell students left.”

  Lauren grew suddenly dizzy. She gripped the railing. She took the steps deliberately one at a time on the way down.

  “17?”

  Billy shrugged and came around to meet her. “BASTION can’t force them to be here. Terry’s dead, Abigail was a villain, I guess, and Adam’s… doing whatever he’s doing. Luis is on his own program somewhere else. I think a few are like that.”

  “Who are the ones still here?”

  She was afraid to ask. If her friends had all fled, left her here …

  “Probably the ones you’d hope, for the most part,” Billy said. That calmed her somewhat. “C’mon, they’ll be in the cafeteria.”

  They left the wheelchair at the dorms at Lauren’s insistence. Billy led the way past blocked-off work areas. Through the buildings, Lauren saw guards stationed by the fence. She didn’t remember having ever seen any in plain view before. Rosewell had such a different feeling now. That hopeful excitement the place was oozing with when she had first arrived, that she taken for granted and had spurned in her focus on her quest, had been beaten thoroughly out of the school. She felt its absence like a wound more so than any physical damage to herself. She might not have ever felt like a hero here, but this wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

  Billy opened the outer door to the refurbished cafeteria. “Guess who’s here?” he called.

  Lauren followed him in. The place was darker too, and emptier, lacking the usual murmurs and squeals and verbal spars her ears recognized as background noises of meals. No workers behind the stations except for maybe the main food line. A dozen teens were huddled together at one table, like they had to watch each other’s backs for survival. They had been eating quietly as Billy and Lauren entered. Those dozen heads turned.

  Lucy. Thalia. Harper. Ike. Anika. Maggie-Lou. Mary. Nathan. Edward. Reagan. Troy. Vivian. Seeing each face brought her another fraction of relief. Lauren’s people were here, and they were okay. Their eyes lit up seeing her. Half of them shouted her name in surprise, then Lauren was rushing to them as they stood.

  They surrounded her in a fierce group hug. Lauren touched foreheads with them and felt their arm squeezes. They eventually let her go, forming a half-circle in front of her.

  The first thing she noticed was how tired and worn-out they each looked, just like Billy. Slumped shoulders and dark eyes were signs none of them had been getting good sleep. No one was groomed or dressed to leave campus. Vivian had dyed her hair brown. It made her look startlingly fully human.

  Lucy came forward and gave Lauren a one on one hug as soon as she was free of the crowd. Lauren hugged her back. Lucy was dressed in denim overalls with a red bandana tied over the top of her hair. She smelled like rich soil.

  “You’re okay…” Lucy whispered in relief.

  “Always. I’m always okay eventually,” Lauren tried to assure her.

  Lucy held her arms as she took her in. Tears brimmed her eyes as she smiled.

  “How are you?” Lauren asked. She looked at the group. “How is everyone?”

  “Where do we start?” Thalia asked behind Lucy.

  “With food,” Lucy said. She led Lauren to their table, everyone settling in around them. Ike brought and set in front of her a premade reheated meal. Some breaded meat and sides of potatoes and steamed vegetables in a plastic tray. It was less fresh than what Lauren had come to expect, but more than understandable given the circumstances. She dug into the meal, just grateful to have fuel besides paste being pumped into her. She became aware of her ravenous stomach as the food started bringing it back to life.

  Others continued eating, but Lucy seemed preoccupied with trying to decide how to bring Lauren up to speed.

  “I know things are bad,” Lauren said in between bites. “Billy told me the others left. What’s the situation?”

  “That’s a good question,” Lucy started. “Honestly, I wish we knew better. We’ve been back for a week. Campus is a mess, as you can see. We haven’t had classes again yet. Winterhaven was… a lot. BASTION is scattered. The Nest was fully destroyed. There’re still people in charge, though. We have a new BASTION person at the school. Hopefully they aren’t a mole too. We’ve mostly been doing group therapy with the headmaster. Pacific City’s… doing bad.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Lucy’s lip trembled at that last part. Of course. Lucy was from here. This city was her home. Lauren reached out and touched her hand.

  “I’m so sorry, Lucy,” Lauren said. “Are your parents okay? Are they safe?”

  Lucy nodded, squeezing her hand, appreciating the support.

  “They were both home in Ursa Valley during the attack. They’re okay. The city isn’t, though. Pariah, the Ollyrian, well… you saw. The Sorin Tower was destroyed. A bunch more buildings were hit when Seraph tried to fight him. The city’s main docks look like they were nuked.”

  Lauren nodded along. She saw the fight happened as best as coverage could keep track of it while they were in lockdown in the bunker. She could only imagine how bad the aftermath was. Lucy wasn’t done.

  “The city’s been in chaos. Not just because of the destruction, but that’s made everything worse.” The others at the table shifted. Lucy looked like she’d rather collapse than deliver the rest of the news. Lauren was put on edge.

  “What happened?”

  Lucy looked at her. “Villains invaded Pacific City. They’re everywhere now.”

  A chill went down Lauren’s spine. The arena. The army of rogues around Lilith. She had become so narrowly focused on seeing Rachel the rest had fallen into the backdrop. They were already here. That must have been part of the plan. The earthquake generator to cause chaos. Then villains would flood the streets. Was the alien attack part of that, or just a coincidence?

  “They’ve been carving up the city,” Thalia took over to explain. “Gangs, supervillains, criminals. Entire streets and neighborhoods are unsafe. Police are overwhelmed. BASTION has been trying to save itself since the attack before they try to save others. The small number of heroes around can barely do anything. And you can see how we’re doing.”

  Lauren looked around at the tired, stressed, afraid faces of the few teens who had decided to stick around and continue trying to be superheroes. They had faced weeks of seeing this happening and not being strong enough to handle it. Chaos and disorder from leadership, their home that was meant to be a safe haven destroyed. It was a wonder any of them were left. She felt immense respect for each of them still here. Still, she could see were at a breaking point. Something was needed to turn the tide back.

  “There’s other complications too,” Lucy said.

  Lauren blanched. “More?”

  “It’s online,” Lucy said. “We’ll show you when we get back to the dorm.”

  They finished their meals in uneasy silence. Nathan, the skinny scarecrow haunting campus came in eventually. Lauren was surprised to see him among those who stayed. He nodded at her awkwardly.

  As the group got up to disband from lunch, Anika came up to Lauren. Despite everything, she still looked effortlessly beautiful. She wore a dark long-sleeved dress that sat wonderfully on her body and tights that really went with her look.

  “Hi,” Lauren managed to say.

  “Hey.” Anika sounded like she felt just as awkward, which was a surprise. She usually seemed so confident. She stepped a bit closer, like she wasn’t sure if a hug was in order. Lauren didn’t know either, but she would have taken one.

  “I’m really glad you’re okay,” Anika said after a brief pause. She picked at the fabric over her hip. “I didn’t believe it when they said you were recovering… I didn’t think anyone could survive that.”

  Fair. Lauren wouldn’t either.

  Anika shook her head. Lauren liked how she always had one swoop of hair that moved on its own, and Anika always had it highlighted in a different color. “I mean… I should have believed them. Cause, you’re awesome…” Her words fizzled out. Had she lost her catty bad girl edge, or was this just some other part of her?

  “Do you still want to get that burger sometime?” Lauren asked.

  Anika brightened. “Yeah!” she cleared her throat. “I mean, yeah, that sounds great. After all the shit going on… I think that would be a good normal thing to do.”

  “I do too,” Lauren said.

  Anika nodded. “Cool.” She hesitated in saying something else. “…Are you really okay?”

  Lauren shrugged. “I should probably see a doctor sometime soon. But it seems to be every time I get hurt, I actually get stronger.” She thought about the strange looseness she felt, like things were still sliding back into place under her skin. “At least, that’s how it has been. Hopefully it keeps being that way. Cause I’m kind of a dumbass.”

  Anika laughed. They said goodbye and Lauren met Lucy by the doors. She had been watching them with reluctant happiness.

  “Still going for that, huh?” Lucy took them outside.

  “She’s hot,” Lauren said appreciatively. “I can’t believe she likes me.”

  “There’s a lot to like about you,” Lucy told her. “She was a blood donor for you in those bad first days. I was too. Not that it’s a competition.”

  “Thank you,” Lauren said. “I really appreciate you, Lucy.”

  That seemed to improve Lucy’s mood a bit. It also made Lauren feel good to say. She had a new appreciation for her friends who had stayed. Maybe it was the near-death experience. Or maybe it was all they had been through together forging stronger bonds. Somewhere along the line, they had become a family of sorts to her. She felt the same pride she had putting on her costume to go fight Usagi. She didn't want to let all they had made here just fall apart.

  They climbed the stairs and went into the dorm. Lucy put on water for tea. Lauren sat on the couch. Lucy brought them both a cup.

  “So what’s this other bad thing?” Lauren asked.

  Lucy came around and turned on the tv. She pulled out her phone and casted a video from it. Harper whispered in from the door while Lucy set it up.

  “You’re really not gonna like this,” Lucy said.

  A video played on the tv. It was a press conference. By the décor, it looked more business-oriented than something governmental.

  A woman stepped up the podium in the center of the screen. Mid-thirties, pale and with hair like dark cherries. She was dressed sleekly in a dark blazer. Everything about her was sleek; her facial features, her piercing eyes, her makeup. She had the harsh, striking beauty of a model. Something about her was horribly familiar to Lauren. This woman was skinnier, but she looked like Agent Dodds.

  “Hello,” the woman began in a flat tone without ceremony. Her accent was neutral. She held herself straight, shoulders back, looking supremely confident in front of cameras and scores of people. “Some of you may know me. For those of you who don’t, my name is Cynthia Null. My family name may be familiar in this hemisphere, though you are probably more familiar with my father, Cyrus. This is somewhat my fault. I was sent away to Europe at a young age, and I found the place more agreeable. I wanted to make a name for myself, and over the years I believe I have made my own sphere of influence, much like my father had.”

  She licked her lips before continuing. “My father was one of the victims of the intergalactic outlaw know as Pariah’s sudden and devastating attack of Pacific City. I weep for all the victims of that tragic and senseless day, but as a daughter I weep for my father especially.” Her face and detached tone suggested she didn’t weep for much. “Although I do not know why Pariah chose to attack this nation, I do know one thing: my father would want things restored as best as they can be. And he would do everything in his power to help.

  “With that in mind, I have returned from my self-imposed exile to the United States to take up my father’s mantle as philanthropist, builder and benefactor to his community. Before his passing, Cyrus had begun quietly easing himself out of the tech sector and transitioning his resources into construction and development. Now, with Pacific City so devastated, we will bring the full force of that plan to bear in making Pacific City safer and stronger than ever.

  “Part of that plan is restoring what was physically broken. But on that day, and in the days since, more than just buildings were destroyed.” She paused, letting the tension build. “The public’s sense of safety and trust in their protectors was similarly shattered. I believe it is through no fault of theirs that our remaining defenders failed. Seraph did the best she could to prevent the massacre. In the end, she was broken, and now has retired from global defense altogether, which is her right.”

  She cast her gaze around. “It wasn’t just Seraph that failed the people of Pacific City. At the first sign of true danger, BASTION absconded with the protectors they so proudly dangled before you mere months ago. They did not allow their heroes to join the fight, and they were missing when the time came to pick up the broken pieces of the city. They chose to hoard the power they collected instead of sharing it with those who needed it.”

  Lauren snarled. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She turned to Lucy. “What the fuck?! Don’t people know Pariah attacked the school too? Terry’s fucking dead! We couldn’t do anything!”

  Lucy had crossed her arms and hung her head. “It gets worse.”

  She unpaused the video. Cynthia continued.

  “If we cannot rely on the government’s saviors, then I believe we’re in need of a protective force that cannot be subverted by government bureaucracy and corruption. My father believed that too. He was building a program in the months, days, and hours before his death. I think the time has come to reveal that program. My father always saw the best in people. He saw promise. Even in those that were discarded or passed over. Like BASTION, passing over perfectly good candidates for their school due to things like troubled backgrounds or abilities that would be perceived as ugly. Cyrus Null was never so shallow. He began taking these powered teenagers under his wing, and eventually founded a private academy. A school for the true next generation of America’s heroes. In our hour of crisis, when our streets our overwhelmed by the decay of crime, I bring to you our solution: The New Lord’s Academy!”

  In unison, five teenagers stepped onto the stage with Cynthia. Each was dressed in a matching private school outfit. Identical white shirts, dark blazers, ties, skirts or pants, and dark shoes.

  At the head of the line was Lilith. She smiled and waved. Her eyes weren’t black and glowing, just white with normal green irises.

  Lucy paused the video on that image, which to Lauren seemed to be privately mocking her specifically. Lauren was surprised to see her alive and well. She had no memory of how things ended in Lilith’s arena, but she did know she had come out bloody. It wasn't important now.

  “They’ve gone public,” Lucy said.

  Lauren trembled. If she was holding something, it would have snapped.

  “…How?” she asked. “How are they getting away with this? They were villains. And now they’re taking our place?”

  “People have short memories,” Lucy said. “That conference was a couple weeks ago. We’ve been watching them. They’re introducing new students to the public slowly, starting with the ones who have caused the least public trouble. Then they make a show of ‘apprehending’ other troubled teens, already New Lords of course, and making them part of the program. It makes it all look like a great success. We think they do fake battles with the city’s villains. And of course, they were there to clean up the city while we ran away.”

  “We were attacked! They weren’t!” Lauren said. “Pariah was probably their inside job! They probably wanted the city even more destroyed with the machine we shut down!”

  “Maybe.” Lucy shrugged. Exhaustion made her tone jaded. “People don’t care. They care about what they can see. They see them making things look better. They saw us run and break apart. Who has the better publicity?”

  Lauren absorbed what her friend was saying. Lilith being touted as a hero, while her friends the real heroes were pushed to the side just because they needed time to recover. It made her quake with anger. The New Lords couldn’t get away with this.

  The New Lords. The faction in the shadows. Dodds, Cynthia, Pariah, Dr. Smythe being at Lilith’s arena. What had Dr. Smythe told her? Something about a powerful man coming down from the sky. She knew about the imminent attack. Lilith hadn’t just found her. No, they were working for the same people. The same people Dodds and Cyrus were. But those people must have wanted Cyrus dead. And Dodds would have been killed in the Nest. Now this Cynthia was apparently the one in charge. It was all schemes within schemes moving like hidden gears.

  “Goddamnit!” Lauren said.

  “What?”

  “We need a new Terry,” Lauren said. The realization hit her fast and hard. To solve this, they were going to have to get back in top shape. They were going to have to coordinate and work as a team. They needed someone to keep the morale up and keep everyone focused. As grating as she found Terry to be, he was good at those things. “We need a new leader.”

  She faced Lucy to see her reaction. She looked doubtful.

  “What?” Lauren asked.

  “Lauren, I hate to break it to you, but the rest of us have been awake all this time. We haven’t found a leader in that time. I don’t have the fortitude for it. Thalia doesn’t have the discipline. Ike is too disciplined. The rest of them… well, only one thing has changed.”

  Lauren realized what she was getting at. “Me?”

  “You.” Lucy stepped closer. “You got punched by an Ollyrian, and you got back up from it. You led the team to rescue Mara. You did what was right even if people tried to stop you. We never stopped talking about you while you were healing. People look up to you. You want a leader? You should be one.”

  Lauren was already shaking her head. “No. No, I can’t. I’m a shitty leader. We saw that.”

  “You’re only a shitty leader when you get too focused on what you want,” Lucy said. “You’re a good leader when you see the bigger picture. You don’t need to know how to do everything. But if you want to keep these people and not have them trickle out of here, they need someone to rally too.” Lucy paused. “Or, we can all just give up and go home.”

  She said it almost like she was hoping Lauren would pick that option. Of course she thought that was an option. Lauren never told her. There was no time, everyone was focused on the threat. She hadn’t yet told Lucy she saw Rachel. She almost did, before deciding to attack Pariah. But what her sister had said had held her back. Nothing about Rachel made sense. Not Lauren’s memories of her, not her attitude, or her sticking with Dr. Smythe. None of it. It was a tangled mess Lauren would have to cut through. And there was only one way to do it. It was becoming increasingly clear this dark machine containing the New Lords, Null’s dynasty, crime in Pacific City, and maybe a wider conspiracy was working to keep Rachel hidden. Probably not the main goal, but definitely as a byproduct. The machine needed smashing. And her friends needed to be heroes again.

  “Will you ask Ike and Troy to make a fire tonight, and tell everyone about it?”

  Lucy nodded. “I’m glad you’re back, Lauren.”

  She left. Lauren collapsed onto the couch. She switched the tv off of Lilith’s smug face. It felt like she could see Lauren through the screen, even though that was crazy. Right?

  Harper appeared from the hall, holding a smoothie. Lauren jumped upon noticing her. Her red-haired roommate looked just as gaunt and tired as the rest of them, but that was part of Harper’s usual look; it was hard to tell if she was actually doing any worse.

  “Grace’s interview is on,” she reported.

  “Grace’s… interview?”

  Lauren had altogether forgotten about their fourth roommate, figuring she was one of the ones who had taken flight. Harper sat next to her and told her what channel to turn to.

  Sure enough, Grace was on a talk show, sitting in a chair beside the desk of a handsome older man. Tango with Swango was apparently the name of the show, according to the plate on the front of the desk.

  Grace was gussied up in a sparkling blue dress, her hair and makeup done professionally. She exuded confidence and charisma. She was mid-story when Lauren tuned in.

  “—And I fly back in forty minutes later, and I have the bag of soggy food in one hand, and the cat in the other. And I tell everyone what happened, and my friend NeoKnight says Grace, that’s great and all, but we just asked you to pick up tacos for us!”

  She and the host laughed together, the audience echoing it.

  “You’re a riot, Grace!” the host said as the laughter died down. “What an incredible journey you’ve had from Texas to here, making friends and becoming a hero.”

  “It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, Tom.” Grace was playing up her southern accent.

  The host, Tom, settled into a more serious expression. “Maybe now’s the time to talk about what’s on all our minds. How’s Rosewell doing? We know your school was attacked by Pariah, forcing you all to flee the city. Are you all recovering well?”

  Grace touched her heart. “First of all, thank you for your concern. We’re doing the best we can. It pained us all to have to leave the city for as long as we did, but with the damage it just wasn’t safe for us to stay. Pacific City is all of our home, and we love it here. All of us who could came back as soon as we could to help.”

  Tom nodded as a few in the audience clapped in support.

  “And what about this news of the New Lord’s Academy. Feeling a bit of pressure maybe? Like they’re coming in to steal your thunder?”

  Grace turned to the audience with a dazzling smile. “You know what I say? The more the merrier! We’ll get a friendly school rivalry going, see who can help the most. Everybody wins, right folks?”

  The audience loved that answer. They cheered and whistled.

  “You have such a great attitude, despite everything that’s happened,” Tom said. “Let’s give it up for our guest Grace, aka American Angel. We’ll be right back…”

  The front door opened. Speak of the devil. Grace came stumbling in on heels. She was in a different dress, this one a green sheath. Big black sunglasses covered her eyes. “I am getting so sick of this media blitz…” she mumbled. She lowered her sunglasses. “Lauren?”

  Lauren stood. Grace slipped her heels off and came in. “You’re awake.”

  “And you’re on tv,” Lauren said.

  Grace glanced at the screen. “Oh, you’re watching the Tom Swango interview?” She sighed like she was getting ready for a fight she didn’t want. “Let me hear it. Grace, you’re a bimbo, going on tv while the rest of us are trying to rebuild our lives. Is that really all you can do to help? Well, guess what, maybe—”

  “No,” Lauren interrupted. “I get it. You’re fighting fire with fire. You’re using your personality skills to keep Rosewell on people’s minds. The New Lords have good publicity. We need it too. You’re helping.”

  Grace blinked, stunned for a moment. “You… get that I’m helping?”

  “I do.” Previous grievances aside, Lauren could see Grace was trying to do the right thing. Sure, she didn’t like getting her hands dirty. And she may not be the best strategist. But she did have skills to help, and she was sticking around where others weren’t. Grace clearly fought for recognition. Lauren could toss her some.

  Grace’s face filled with gratitude. She made a giddy sound and ran over to squeeze Lauren.

  “Oh, I knew we were gonna be friends!”

  Lauren rode out the hug. She was getting better used to them. And now that Grace was so close, she noticed how good she smelled. Lauren leaned in and ran her nose up and down Grace’s neck.

  “Okay, let’s not get too friendly!” Grace said, gently pushing Lauren away.

  Lauren blinked and let the weird feeling pass.

  “We’re having a bonfire meeting tonight,” Lauren told her roommate. “We’re going to set things right. We’re going to save this city. I’m glad you’ll be here for it.”

  Grace gave the same brilliant smile she had in her interview. “Me too. I knew there was hope. This is what we’re here for.”

  Lauren nodded and stepped away to go to her room. “I need to go call my—” She caught herself. “I mean, I need to go call Hogan and tell him I’m awake. I’ll see you at the fire.”

  In her room, Hogan’s phone went to voicemail. Seriously?

  “Hey, I’m awake. Let me know you’re okay, okay? I have major important stuff to talk to you about.”

  She hung up. She couldn’t be too mad at him not answering, if BASTION was trying to pull itself together.

  Headmaster Knapp came onto campus in the evening. Lauren sought her out. She was surprised to see Lauren up and about, but happy too. These past few weeks looked like they aged her more than anyone else so far. She had lost her spry step, and heavy things weighed in her look. Still, she made Lauren feel at home again as best she could. She told her about their weekly group therapy sessions, and said they would talk more soon. She left for her office. Lauren imagined her job wouldn’t be easy right now, but it was nice even with everything going on she still made time to connect and look after her charges.

  A skeleton crew led by Dr. Yeoh returned to the medical ward. Apparently they were needed elsewhere when no one at Rosewell did. They gave Lauren a physical. They checked her reflexes, her muscle strength, her breathing and heartbeat, and had her spit into a tube. Dr. Yeoh declared her rather distractedly good to go. It seemed even after great injuries, Lauren’s health wasn’t much of a concern anymore. He said to come find them if anything strange happened. Lauren already felt strange, but she didn’t know how to describe it, so she left it for now.

  In the school woods, she helped collect wood for the bonfire. She watched Ike and Troy get it started. Ike brought over some pallets to make a small platform for her. They set up chairs on the other side.

  The students came in ones and twos. Lucy was one of the first, being trailed by a boy Lauren hadn’t seen before. He must’ve been the other new student Billy mentioned. He was a big guy, maybe 5’11 and padded with just enough bulk to make him look jolly and easygoing. His light hair swept up to form a sort of stubby horn at the top of his head. He wore a light jacket over his tee and shorts, despite it being a cold winter night.

  “This is James,” Lucy introduced.

  James shook Lauren’s hand, his cheeks dimpling as he grinned. There was a hint of a playful nature in his small, round eyes.

  “Everybody calls me Moof,” James said. He had a pretty dubebro voice, but he gave off a nice vibe, and he seemed to have Lucy’s approval. “Nice to meet‘cha. Sorry about the whole uh,” he gestured around. “with the uh, and the getting punched through the heart and stuff.” He chuckled. “That musta’ sucked!”

  “Yeah. Nice to meet you,” Lauren said.

  He found a seat. Lucy leaned in. “I don’t call him Moof.”

  “You over Ike now?” Lauren asked.

  Lucy pushed her. “Don’t even. James does like to cook and bake, though.”

  It didn’t take long for everyone to come in, given they were at half the size they were. Lauren took stock of everyone. Lucy, Harper, Grace, Mary, Thalia, Vivian, Maggie-Lou, Anika, Reagan, Ike, Edward, Nathan, Billy, Troy, and the new guys Monty and James. Plus Lauren, that was the entire current class of Rosewell. Lauren tried not to feel disheartened as she looked at them. There were more or less the people she could rely on, anyway. So what if their enemies had a small army, an entire city of enforcers and supporters, and a shadow network of probably near-infinite resources and wealth? Rosewell had… 17 mostly dysfunctional teenagers. They could work with that.

  Lauren hopped onto her small makeshift stage. The fire crackled between her and her audience. They waited patiently for her to speak. Seeing them staring, she felt the familiar paralysis of attention creep up her throat. She pushed it down. She reminded herself she knew these people, for the most part. She trusted them, and hopefully they trusted her. Nobody here was out to get her.

  “Hi. So, I’m back,” Lauren said. Someone coughed. “Um, thanks for coming. I think I’m mostly up to speed on how things are. Which is not good.”

  She let the moment stretch out too long remembering why she brought them together. They needed a focus.

  “I don’t know how to do these big speeches,” Lauren admitted. “But I think you guys need one. Because you all look sad as shit. And I get it. Things suck right now. But I think they can be better.” A few leaned in to pay her closer attention. “You all stayed here because you want to be superheroes. And I’m here because I want to save someone I care about. Or, that’s what I wanted. I do want—I don’t know. Look, the point is, there are people out there who need our help. And you’re the ones who stayed. That means you want to help, even when things get tough.”

  She looked at Reagan, sitting there, hearing her out, and thought of Mara and Danielle who weren’t there anymore.

  “And I brought some of you into danger because you wanted to help. And I came back fine, and others didn’t. And that’s not fair of me.” She talked as much to herself as she did the other students. “And I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to work for myself anymore. I want to work to help you, and the people who need us. I want to all work together to do get done what we need to. There’s a lot of shit to shovel through out there. But we’re the ones to do it. No one else is going to save this place. So it’s on us. If you want to. I want to. If you do want to, we need to get our heads in the game.”

  She ended suddenly. Was that enough? Lucy looked like she appreciated the words. Lauren wanted to mean them. She was done double-dealing with the New Lords. Done going off half-cocked on her own missions. She was just a player in Lilith’s schemes, and others suffered for it. She wouldn’t do that to these people anymore. They deserved better. They’d do this the right way. If it wasn't up to anyone else, she'd just have to do her best to steer them right until someone better suited came along.

  “I want to,” Reagan said. Lauren looked at her, and she nodded her support.

  “I want to,” Ike repeated.

  “I want to.”

  “I want to.”

  The call went out through them. Each repeated it as they looked at Lauren. Each call sealed her further in as their unofficial leader. She still felt she was the last person who should lead, and trying to solve other's problems was the opposite of what came easy. It sounded like in every direction in Pacific City was a problem to be solved. One big yarn ball of messes, with answers somewhere in it. Lauren wasn’t sure anymore if she wanted answers. The image of Rachel turning away haunted her as she stared into the center of the fire.

  She may have been afraid of the truth, but she needed it. Conditioning or not, Hogan was right. Lauren needed to keep searching. She wouldn’t know peace until she found what was going on. Might as well break a villainous underworld or two while she was at it. It wasn’t just for Rachel anymore. It was to understand what was happening inside her. Her mind, and her body. She knew on some deeper level that whatever was happening to her wasn’t going to end well.

  She thought of the Hellhounds patch on her missing jacket that Hogan had given her. For some reason, she spoke the words written on the bottom of the patch. She still remembered them.

  “Impii cognoscent nos.”

  “What does that mean?” Anika asked.

  Edward was the one to answer as he also stared into the fire.

  “The wicked shall know us.”