Hank felt very alone standing in the lunchroom the next day. He stared at the faceless vending machine with as much of a scowl as he could muster. If he was at Asok's—which was where he ought to be—he could choose from any drink the store had to offer, without the need to believe in RMing baloney.

I want to go home.

He cast a glance down the transverse hallway to see if anyone was sneaking up on him. He wondered if he had a shot with Anna at all, as he weighed the merits of staying with Rio. Should he throw away what had happend last night on the chance Anna might want to date him?

Rio's sudden affection towards him was confusing. She'd been so sweet and sexy. The way she cried in his arms while baring her soul deeply touched his heart.

But she is scary. And mean.

Hank sighed. The only way to get a drink at Milton's was to use the vending machine. "Well, I'm thirsty, so here goes."

He slapped a button and heard the familiar thunk the contraption made when something was dispensed. He pulled out what lay inside and found it to be what he wanted—a plain bottle of water.

He popped the cap off and took a slug. He must have closed his eyes while drinking, because before he finished swallowing, Rio was standing before him, not six inches away from his face. She stared up at him through her big red glasses, which he was certain she wore solely because they helped focus the laser beams she'd shoot from her eyes, should she want him dead.

He made a gulping sound before speaking politely. "Hi."

She stormed off in a huff. "You're leaving," she said with her back to him, as she feigned being busy making food. "Aren't you?"

A silent moment passed as Hank recapped his water. Rio turned and gave him a look. "Why?" she asked next.

Hank tried gaining the upper hand. He sputtered with annoyance while piling it on. "Why am I leaving? Cripes, why am I even here? I don't live here! I have a place of my own!"

"It's a dump."

"Yeah? Well, it's my dump, and it's where I live. If I had a pet like Bumbles, it would have starved by now."

"You've never had a pet."

How does she know everything?

He countered again weakly. "Well, if I did, it would be dead. I want to go home."

"No you don't."

Rio sounded so sure of herself that Hank chose a new approach. Besides, he sucked at trying to be nastier than her. He reached past her to purposely place his drink on the counter next to his new hoodie, buying a little time to collect his thoughts.

"Look. I have a job. My boss has probably fired me. I'm going to have to beg him to get my job back."

"You have no intention of working at Asok's."

He stared at her with a cross look that rivaled the best of hers. "How do you know? You don't know everything!"

Rio closed her eyes. Hank was getting used to the fact that, when she opened them, she probably wouldn't be as mean as she'd been before. And hopefully, not so pissed.

He also found that she was, as always, very pretty. Fearing her reprisal at thinking such a thought, he babbled.

"Please, Rio. I have to go. I can't take it here anymore. You guys freak me out." He glanced at the vending machine. "Everything does. I have to go."

Rio tried interrupting, calmly saying, "Hank."

It took her two tries. "Hank. Look at me. You're right. It's a freak show here. I'm a freak. I know."

She gave him her best puppy dog eyes and closed the space between them, to take his trembling wrists and use them to calm his fluttering arms. Even from a few inches away, Rio's body heat was amazing. The woodsy scent she radiated caused Hank to take a breath he found hard to jet go.

She craned her neck to speak up to his animal mane framed face. "But you know you're a freak, too. Look at what you've done. You've made your Dots disappear. You make that vending machine work. You've made me…"

She paused imperceptibly and released his wrists, searching for the most innocuous word she could find to describe her feelings.

"… Approachable," she chose.

It was the lamest word she could have come up with. She knew she had to do better. She spoke with her eyes closed, fearful she may go back to being her typically angry self.

"You've made me happy. You give me hope. I haven't had hope for so long, I forgot how it feels. You make me think maybe, just maybe, Milton could be right, and this evil tide I see surging will die away somehow, before swallowing us alive."

Having again spilled her heart, Rio opened up her eyes. The look on Hank's face hadn't changed. But then again, his looks never really changed.

She smiled, for it was the look he needed to be her savior. She begged the best way she knew how.

"Please. Maybe you can help save the world."

Hank let go of the breath he'd been holding and took in another. As he exhaled with ease, he placed his big hands on Rio's delicate shoulders. She reacted as if they were going to hug, and when it didn't occur, she took a small step back to keep from falling forward.

He noticed her stumble. His hands went from her shoulders to her back, and she found herself falling now due to his insistence. As they thumped together, Rio couldn't help thinking about holding him forever.

And she didn't mind if if he noticed her thinking that. Her warm body drove the scent of her hair to his face, and he inhaled a heady amount, as if she were a drug.

But Hank's feelings hadn't changed. "I'm too freaked out right now."

"I know."

"I really have to go."

He tried to kiss the top of her head, but she was squeezing too hard. So he took another whiff of her, and made her let go.

She looked up at him. Her meaness returned as she hurled words.

"Where will you go? You can't make this go away. It won't change what happened."

"But I don't even know what happened. I…"

He ran out of things to say. Rio forced a smile on her face as she rose up on her toes. Gently, she placed her hands on his temples. Despite the sweetness of her smile, meanness was still in her eyes.

"You're not going to like this," she said.

He felt her take control of his mind. She made him close his eyes, and inside himself he saw debris blowing in a swirling wind. His thoughts were like leaves in the wind, flying by too fast for him to grab a hold of any one. When a thought finally did stick, it was as if it had been plastered to the windscreen of an invisible helmet he wore.

It was Rio's face, as big as if she were a hair's breadth away. The image of her face opened its mouth, displaying a frightening grin sporting too many teeth. As its mouth grew wider, so did its hollow eyes. It somehow managed to lean in further, as if to swallow him whole.

"Boo!" it yelled in his mind, causing him to jerk back physically.

Rio took her hands off Hank's temples. She still smiled sweetly at him, like the way a cat smiles after killing a mouse.

"You can't go back to who you were," she said. "There's no 'back' for you to go to. You're an Other now. This is what we do—we take our thoughts and stick them in people's brains. We make them listen to us.

"That's what Reality Makers do. You're a Reality Maker, Hank, and that is what you do."

She backed up the few steps necessary to stand by the vending machine. "What do you think happens when normal people…"

She closed her eyes and silently cursed, wishing she'd chosen a better word. She corrected herself miserably.

"… When people who are not Reality Makers press one of these buttons?"

She didn't wait for an answer. "Nothing happens, because they can't make Reality. I can make Reality."

She punched a button with her fist, keeping her laser beams eyes on Hank. "There is no soda," she said, bending down to retrieve the beverage.

She glanced away from Hank to judge the distance to the sink, then tossed the unopened bottle past his head and into it.

"There is no water," she continued, repeating the process of punching a button and tossing the bottle in the sink. "There's no fruit juice… no iced cappuccino."

With each declaration, Rio punched a button, each time harder than before, until she nearly dented the machine. After flinging the cappuccino past Hank's ear and into the sink, she took his hands in hers and folded them together, placing all four of them on her heart.

"No one knows we're here." She tore her dark eyes from his butter brown ones to glance around the room. "I hide everything you see."

"Rio, please," Hank pleaded, but she ignored him.

"And now you know it, too. Milton sends out that mutt week after week after week, and it always comes back alone. Until it brought us you."

"I know," he said, using a whisper. "I'm sorry. I really have to go."

Rio released his hands and took a step back. He stooped slightly while staring at her, still with his hands folded. He watched her go from an icy assassin to a woman in despair.

Or perhaps it was resignation—Hank couldn't really tell because Rio was a bit of a nut.

She spoke to the floor. "I can work that dumb machine, but I can't do other things. Not like you. All I do is affect Realities already out there. It was frightening when I was alone, Preventing the Realities of so many bad people. They have nothing but hate in their heart. They cheat and lie and brutalize, with no regard to cruelty."

She looked up at him, her face showing sadness. "I can't do those things either. I feel every bit of it, when I inflict pain and suffering, as if I had done it to me."

Rio turned away, searching the room for anything to look at besides Hank. She wanted to give him an icy glare, but he stood there so silent and peaceful that it pained her to put forth the effort. Instead, she let her puppy dog eyes return, because she knew he liked them.

And she was finding that she liked Hank very much.

"Rio…"

"I fight them so hard. I'm proud of myself. I make them lose, and sometimes revel in their misery, even though I know it sours me." She smiled out the side of her mouth as she cocked her head with self-mocking pride. "Boy, I make mad. And they, in turn, teach me to be a bitch."

Hank desire to be with Rio faded fast. He spoke with disdain. "I'm sorry to disappoint you. I really, really am."

Rio silently cursed her failure. Shimatta! Where is Milton? She called for him in her mind, screaming for him to come. Milton! Hank is leaving!

"I need to figure this out," Hank said. "I need to figure out what I'm all about. I'm very sorry, Rio-san, but I have to go."

"Fine!" she snarked, waving him off with a flip of her hand. "Get out of here! I have things to do."

She made her heels clack on the floor as she marched out of the room. He noticed her pace quickening, almost to a run. As he wondered what she was up to, he got an odd feeling, like he knew what she was thinking.

She's going to find Milton. She wants him to make me stay.

Curious as to whether he simply figured this out on his own, Hank tried following along with Rio in her mind. While doing so, he realized something that had nothing to do with where she was going.

She's cursing herself. She's angry.

Hank was certain what he was doing wasn't because he'd become an Other. After spending so much time with Rio and Milton, he figured he'd simply gotten good at understanding their motivation. Still, it was interesting how he felt certain of his insight. It was as if she had spoken to him, over her shoulder while stomping away.

Why are you cursing yourself?

Hank felt an acerbic reply. I like you. But you want some teenager you've been eyeing up since puberty.

That didn't sound like something he'd say to himself if he imagined what she was thinking. That had the tone and inflection of a remark she'd hurl when angry.

"Stay out of my head, Asshole!"

Hank was very sure Rio said that.