I moaned a bit as I stepped into the shower and the warm water from the shower head hit the tense muscles in my back. Ariel had sprung for the fancy type of shower head that could be dialed to various settings, and the high pressure massager was a godsend after the training session Melanie had just put us through earlier. I set about performing my ablutions while the pounding heat of the water worked its magic, and I found my mind wandering to tomorrow.

It was currently Sunday, and despite my intent to take Elle to the zoo yesterday or today, her power had unfortunately kept her stuck in a bad space yesterday and most of today. She had said a few things to me on the ride back to the Flycatcher after training though, so she might be making a swing back up. Depending on where she fell on the spectrum, tomorrow might be the best day to go.

At least it won’t be as crowded, I thought as I washed the last of the conditioner out of my hair. Better double-check Menagerie does shows on weekdays though.

I cut off the faucet and blindly fumbled about for the two towels I had laid out before hopping into the shower. I bit out a curse when I couldn’t find them and stuck my head out from behind the solid curtain. There—the damn things had apparently slipped off the toilet lid onto the floor while I was showering, so I snatched one up and swiftly set about wrapping my long, wet hair in the towel before grabbing the other and retreating into the warmth of the shower area. I towel dried myself as best as I could while savoring the last of the warmth as it began to coalesce with the cool air beyond the curtain, and once I was reasonably dry overall, I stepped out of the shower completely. The rest of the bathroom thankfully no longer felt quite so cold, and I hurried to towel off my feet and get dressed.

Once I’d pulled on the last of my clothes, my eyes found their way to the still fogged up mirror, and I wiped away some of the fog with my towel. It still made me smile to see myself in the mirror. Yes, you could still see the old me there, but I looked more like my long-lost sister than I did like myself from a year ago.

I exited the bathroom and as expected, Elle was curled up on her bed, and though her gaze was a bit distant, she did seem to be attempting to read a book. That boded well for a trip to the zoo tomorrow. What was unexpected, however, was Aisha flopped on my bed, doing something on her phone while flat on her back.

She glanced towards the bathroom door and released an exasperated, “Finally! You’ve been in there forever.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes is a bit long, I guess. “Whelp, I’m here. What’s up?”

“I’m bored and wanna go shopping. Come with?”

I snorted. “Need some retail therapy?”

“Hey, it ain’t my fault all that money from our last job is burnin’ a hole in my pocket. I worked hard and deserve to splurge a bit.”

“Fair. I’m holding on to some of mine to add furniture to our room back at Palanquin, but I’ve still got a bunch to spare.” I turned to Elle and asked, “D’you wanna come with, Elle?”

Her book dipped a bit, and her head rose as her somewhat spaced out eyes rose in my direction. “Fun.”

“Cool cool cool,” Aisha said as she swiftly twisted in place to plop her feet on the floor and jump up to standing. “Let’s gooo already!”

I pointed at my hair, which was still currently wrapped up in a towel, and remarked, “Still got wet hair.”

“Put it in a bun and throw your beret on,” she replied, waving away my concern. “Boredom must die posthaste!”

Eh, that’s not a bad idea, I thought before shrugging and moving to my suitcase. After a few seconds of shuffling things around, I pulled out the pink beret Aisha had bought me the day she joined the crew. I slipped back into the bathroom, released my hair from the towel, and pulled it all into a loose bun on the back of my head. Aisha was impatiently bouncing in place by the time I carefully set the beret in place and returned to the bedroom, and I rolled my eyes at her. “What do you think, Elle?”

She was already looking my way this time, and a small smile found its way to her lips. “Cute.”

Aisha impatiently lead us out into the hallway and downstairs before loudly declaring to the house at large, “We’re going shopping, kthanks baaai!”

“Woah, woah, hold up,” Masuyo said peaking in from the living room. “You planning to walk to the store?”

“No way!” I answered with a grin. “We’ve got this thing called the June Express!”

“And I’m sure in deciding to fly over miles of the city, you’ve definitely accounted for Melanie warning everyone to keep our presence here on the down-low?” my cousin drawled with a raised eyebrow. “It would be a shame for Gregor and Newter to have sacrificed the freedom to walk outside for several days now only for you three to ruin it for the sake of shopping?”

Aisha and I shared a wince, since we had very much so forgotten all about Melanie’s mandate. Elle, however, was the practical one and pointed vaguely in the direction of the garage before intoning, “Van.”

I could move the van with my power, but I knew without a doubt that Masuyo would probably rain on that parade too. But maybe… “Speaking of Gregor not being able to go outside, I’m sure he probably needs some stuff from the store, right? And you are his go-fer. Win-win?”

“That’s thinking with your head,” Masuyo agreed, a hint of a smirk on her lips as she moved towards us, “and what I had in mind. Just give me a minute to go check in with him, then I’ll drive you wherever you want.”

Aisha groaned petulantly, so I gave her a teasing pat on her shoulder as Masuyo moved to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. “There there. Your boredom shall soon be killed without remorse. Just you wait.”

As it turned out, Gregor had in fact already prepared a small shopping list for Masuyo and had been intending to give it to her in the morning, but once she explained she would be driving the three of us into town anyway, he agreed it made sense to kill two birds with one stone. Some of the items were perishables, and malls tended to close early on Sundays, so we made our way there first. The quality of the storefronts reminded me much more strongly of some of the malls in Manhattan than they did of the lone, enclosed mall I had briefly visited back in Brockton Bay—that is to say the mall that wasn’t the Boardwalk. Bold, clear signs, polished windows, and employees whose eyes weren’t constantly shifting around in case they were about to get shanked or stolen from. And there were no shady mall cops who looked like they wouldn’t think twice about shanking you. Perks!

“So where to first?” I asked, curiously examining the mall map posted by the entrance.

“Lessee,” Aisha muttered as she stepped closer to the map. She covered her eyes with the other hand and blindly stabbed at one of the stores with her other hand before uncovering her eyes. “That one!”

Masuyo quirked an eyebrow and asked the question that I too was wondering, “That’s really how you choose?”

“Keeps things fresh,” she replied with a shrug. “I don’t always get something, but that’s how I’ve found a few goodies I might not’ve seen otherwise.”

“If you really don’t have somewhere in particular to be, then you realize it’d probably be simpler to start at one end of the mall and work your way down, right?”

“Sounds way too organized.”

I couldn’t quite manage to suppress my giggles at that response. How very Aisha. “Sure, sure, whatever. But if we pass somewhere with good clothes on the way, then I reserve the right to stop. I’ve still gotta replace the better part of my wardrobe.” Most of my clothes looked somewhat ridiculous when I wore them now, including what I was currently wearing, which I was attempting to hide underneath an also no longer so well fitting jacket. Just about the only article of clothing that still fit roughly the same was my beret, and that’s because it had some give in it and was able to accommodate the extra hair.

“That don’t bother me,” she replied with a grin. “Let’s go!”

We passed not one, not two, but three different shops with clothes for young women along the way, but true to her word, Aisha didn’t seem to mind the diversions. Elle mostly ended up wandering around staring at this and running a hand down that, but as for Masuyo and Aisha…

“Girl, you must be trippin’ if you think I’m gonna let you put Junebug in that.”

“This is a lovely blouse, and she needs at least some clothes that aren’t fit for a rave!”

“I’m not a dress up doll!” I reminded them from inside the changing room, knowing full well that even if they heard me I would be ignored. Instead I started pulling on the bright, emerald green jeans Aisha had passed over the door along with a threat of bodily harm if I didn’t come out to show them off. Having never been shopping with anyone but for my mother, and even then not since I was seven or so, I had apparently trespassed upon that most sacred rule of shopping: One does not simply try on clothes without also doing a goddamn catwalk for one’s friends. I had broken that rule straightaway back in the first shop, and despite disagreeing about basically everything else, Aisha and Masuyo had teamed up to persuade me back into the outfit for their viewing pleasure. Not their exact words, but close enough.

I finally got the skintight jeans to cooperate with my hips and zipped them up. They were high waisted and bore a few artful tears in the fabric, and though I hadn’t ever worn pants like them before, I had seen other girls wear them and knew they were considered fashionable. I unlocked the door and stepped out, but to my consternation, both Aisha or Masuyo were elsewhere in the shop picking out new items. Elle, however, had apparently grown bored with touring this particular shop and taken to leaning against the wall nearby and staring vaguely in the direction of the restock rack. Her head moved enough to indicate she had seen me, so I did a slow 360 to show the various angles and asked, “So what do you think?”

“Look nice,” Elle muttered before glancing away, her cheeks dusting a faint red.

I nervously debated what that could mean. Dammit, does that mean she is attracted to me? Or is she embarrassed because she’s figured out I might have a crush on her and she doesn’t feel the same way? Is it something else?? Gregor’s advice sounded nice in theory, but to put it to practice, I would need to muster the gumption to actually ask Elle how she felt. I had been granted a stay of execution thus far because she had been having bad days since right after we arrived, but if she progressed to a good day tomorrow as expected, I would need to ask.

Or I could just put it off. Like, forever. That sounded safer.

Aisha ended up breaking the moment by hastily returning once she saw I was modeling the jeans. “Hell yeah, you’re totally getting those!”

“Thanks again for helping me spend my money, Aisha,” I remarked with a laugh. If Aisha or Elle noticed the anxious tint to my words, then neither commented on it.

“And as I said before,” Masuyo added as she walked up, having followed Aisha back over at a more sedate pace, “those jeans would go great with this blouse. June, you agree, right?”

She held up a cream wraparound top that was asymmetrically cut with an attached belt, and I blinked. “Isn’t that a bit too much to pair with torn jeans?”

“The jeans dress it down!” my cousin argued, ignoring Aisha’s victorious smirk. “That’s definitely a thing!”

Aisha and Masuyo resumed bickering, but I ignored them in favor of Elle when my possible crush moved to the restock rack. She reached out and retrieved a white blouse with a gold, elastic fabric sewn around the top to make it off the shoulder and matching golden shirring covering everything from the bust down. Elle glanced at the tag where the size would be then gently held it out towards me. “Please?”

“S-Sure,” I muttered, carefully accepting it while trying to suppress the heat threatening to make itself known on my cheeks once more. That was a losing battle, so I promptly fled into the dressing room and planted my back against it while I took a moment to breathe.

Once I had gotten myself back under control, I stripped off the top I had been wearing and pulled on the cream and gold one. I took a peek at the mirror before opening the door and couldn’t help but smile at the color combinations and how they looked on me. I slipped back out, and despite seemingly not noticing me depart their presence, Aisha and Masuyo did notice my return.

“Oh, that’s very nice.”

“Hell yeah, that totally works!”

Eventually we left that store, among my purchases the jeans and the off the shoulder blouse, and we resumed our trek towards Aisha’s randomly chosen destination. Funnily enough, I had not actually paid much attention to what Aisha’s finger had landed on earlier, or else all the shopping in between had distracted me to the point of forgetting altogether. Whatever the reason, I laughed when we reached the Sunglass Hut and Aisha declared we had arrived. As a good friend should, I pointed out that we were in currently in Autumn, which was notably after the season primarily associated with sunglasses, and Aisha let me know in a purposefully sugary sweet voice exactly where I could shove my preconceptions of when to buy sunglasses. One purchase of a pair of Ray-Bans later, the music playing over the mall speakers faded away for a brief announcement that the mall would be closing in a half-hour.

All around, it was a hilarious end to our visit, and I was all smiles and grins as the four of us made our way back to the van. And if I didn’t even bother to try to call shotgun as we approached the van and instead took pleasure in sitting next to Elle in the middle… well, nobody called me on it.

“Gonna miss him!”

“Careful, I think you’re gonna yank my arm off,” I joked with a wide grin as Elle pulled me along by hand.

When we woke up this morning, it was to the good news that today was indeed a very good day for Elle, and we had promptly made plans to catch a taxi to the Philadelphia Zoo in time for the opening. My friend had dressed up comfortably but nicely for the occasion in a bright green sweater with a white houndstooth pattern and comfy jeans. Perhaps because of the colors of her outfit, I had gravitated to the shirred white and gold top she had picked for me and my new emerald green jeans, but the biting air as we passed underneath a tiger walking by overhead—this Zoo was certainly an interestingly designed place, if nothing else—made me glad for the new leather jacket I had elected to wear as an outer layer. I caught more than a few eyes glance our way as we rushed past, but I didn’t notice anyone with a dangerous gaze, so I forced myself to pay them no mind. Growing up in Brooklyn had taught me it was best to keep an eye out for safety, and the day I had gotten powers strongly reinforced that notion.

The zoo administrators had built a stage with amphitheater style seating and canvas walls surrounding it all near the avian center and picnic area, and the staff had confirmed when we bought our tickets that all of Menagerie’s shows were held there. We had been touring the zoo since then as we waited for Menagerie’s first show time to come up, and despite how much Elle had clearly enjoyed all of the animals so far, it was obvious she was thrilled to see Menagerie. By the time we reached the right place, there was a bit of a line, but it thankfully didn’t seem too bad.

“See?” I remarked with a smile. “We made it in time.”

“Might not have,” she countered, but it was obvious she didn’t put much stock in the argument either. We had arrived ten minutes before the show was set to start, and as expected for a Monday in the middle of October, the Zoo was not the most packed tourist destination.

“Want some water?” I asked, gesturing at the drink stand parked nearby.

“Please!”

I smiled and made my way over. In short order I paid for the drinks with a few bills from the front pocket of my backpack, then I swung the bag back onto my shoulders and returned to where Elle was holding our spot in line. I wished I didn’t need the backpack, since it kind of ruined the look of my outfit, but experience told me I needed to keep some metal nearby for my power. I always made a point to fill my casual backpack with coins and take it with me when going out in public for precisely that reason. The last thing either of us needed was for me to get ‘altered,’ as Melanie called it, and make a scene in the middle of a crowd.

“Hey kid, no cutting in line,” a gruff, middle-aged man grunted from a few spaces back when I sidled up to Elle.

I fixed him with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not. I was just getting us some water before the show,” I airily pointed out, waggling the two waters before handing one to Elle.

The guy made a noncommittal noise but let the matter drop. I turned back to my friend, and she smiled nervously. “Glad he didn’t… didn’t push it. Makes me anxious.”

“That’s what I’m for!” I told her with a grin. “You just let me handle that kind of thing, okay?”

She giggled a bit at that. “So brave!”

I winced. Brave, huh? She tilted her head inquiringly when she noticed my reaction, and I almost succumbed to the temptation to not explain or even lie. Almost. No. No, fuck that. She’s thinks I’m brave. I can be brave—I can! “Elle, I… I, um, w-wanted to talk.”

“Oh, u-um,” she stammered, abruptly uneasy. “A-About?”

There were a guy and girl in front of us in line who looked close to Masuyo’s age and like they might be a couple, and I swore they were casting the occasional glance back at us, but I swallowed nervously and soldiered on ahead. “So Ariel said something the other day that, um… got me thinking.” Holy shit, is it normal to feel like you have to throw up when confessing to your crush on someone? Because goddamn, I want so badly to pick a random direction and just run like hell. That sure as hell isn’t normal, but I guess it is like that in movies and TV, so—

“June?”

A distressed noise escaped me. Also, yup, that couple was one hundred percent giving me funny looks now. Fuck my life. “Sorry, I… I’m no good at this sort of thing, and I’m probably gonna fuck it up, b-but I think I might… like you? I mean, like like you?” I blinked. “Fuck, that came out like a question. It’s not a question! Well, I guess it’s kind of a question, but—”

“Rambling,” she pointed out, her cheeks burning red.

“No I’m—! Dammit, I am rambling, aren’t I?” I muttered, my face feeling like it was literally on fire. “Sorry. This is hella awkward, and I probably ruined your good day.”

“No!” she fervently rushed to say. “Good! Still good!”

“You’re not just saying that?”

“Really,” she affirmed, grasping my free hand with her own hand. “Very good day.”

Okay, nope. My face wasn’t just on fire. It was actively being held under a blowtorch. Or Lung was breathing on me. Wait, no. Ew. The first one—definitely the first one. “Good. That’s… that’s good.”

“I thought… Aisha?”

“Huh?” I intelligently answered, nonplussed for a moment before it clicked. “Oh! Nooo. Aisha and I are just friends.”

“We’re friends,” she pointed out, clearly confused.

“Yes, but…” I paused, unable to help an awkward, self-deprecating laugh. “Have I mentioned I’m no good at this sort of thing?” That sent us both into a fit of giggles that took us a bit to get over. “Aisha and I are friends, and you and I are friends, but I feel… different with you,” I lamely explained. “I enjoy hanging out with you both, but when you and I are together, I want to hold your hand, cuddle while sitting together, that kind of thing. Like, I don’t go on walks with Aisha. Does that make sense?”

Elle was silent for a few moments before looking down and saying, “June, I…” For a terrifying moment, I thought I was being rejected. “M-Me too, but… All this baggage. Deserve better.”

Just as quickly as it had sunk, my heart soared. “I know you’ve got baggage. Girl, I’ve got baggage. You know I do. We could probably fill, like, a fleet of those hotel baggage carts with all the shit we’ve got shoved in the closet. I don’t care. I want to be with you anyway.”

I was still holding her hand from before, and before I could chicken out, I gently tugged her towards me and let go so I could wrap her up in a hug. She buried her face into my chest and clutched me tightly. She was about half a head shorter than me, so while I couldn’t rest my chin on top of her head or anything like that, she was at the perfect height for me to nuzzle her platinum blond hair. The smell of her citrus shampoo filled my nostrils, and though I had smelled it before from the bottle, it was something altogether different to smell it nose-deep in her hair. It wasn’t until I felt the people at the front of the line start moving forward that I finally started to pull away, and to my embarrassment and horror when I looked up, the girl of the couple in front of us was looking right at me and, once she saw she had my attention, she gave me a wink and a discreet thumbs up.

Fortunately, my brain didn’t have time to enter a manic spiral because the accordion effect of the line moving forward finally reached where we all were, so I did my best to shunt my attention into the act of walking forward with Elle clutching my arm fuck yes this actually happened hell fucking yeah!

My cheek muscles were actually hurting from smiling so much and for so long by the time Elle and I sat down. I was on cloud nine, and though I absently noted that a zoo staff member had come out on stage to hype the crowd up for the show, I didn’t really register what they were actually saying. I just cheered and clapped along with everyone else, including the smiling blond next to me, and before long Menagerie walked out onto the stage, looking a little bit silly in his stylized tan safari outfit with shorts and matching domino mask.

“And how is everyone this lovely day?” Menagerie asked once he reached the microphone stand.

A scattered few people cheered, but far more laughed, and somewhere in the crowd someone called out, “It’s a bit cold to be ‘lovely’!”

Menagerie sputtered and comically harrumphed at that. “Cold, you say? Well, I suppose it is a bit cold, but it’s not so bad if you’re an arctic fox!”

The body of the somewhat portly man with windswept brown hair twisted in on itself into a spherical ball of mass just over the floor and immediately ballooned out into the form of a small white fox with cute, stubby little ears. The whole transformation took perhaps the span of a second, and the crowd immediately expressed their approval with thunderous applause. I was legitimately impressed and readily joined in as the man-turned-fox pranced and jumped around the stage.

After a few more seconds of that, he twisted into the ball of mass once more before returning to his human state and reclaiming the microphone. He sketched a short bow and said, “Thank you! My goodness, but that cold really does hit you when you don’t have fur, doesn’t it?” He leaned forward conspiratorially and faux whispered into the mic, “I’ll have to talk to the zoo about upgrading from shorts to pants, eh?

That earned a few chuckles from the crowd, and while the joke made Elle giggle, it just made me roll my eyes good-naturedly. The clips online had hinted at Menagerie’s show being a blend of comedy and teaching about nature, but it was something else to experience the man’s goofiness in-person.

Up in the front row, an older teen with long, wavy brown hair abruptly stood and excitedly asked, “Excuse me, Mr. Menagerie! Would you please tell me if you can become a dragon?”

Menagerie looked to her in surprise, clearly having not expected anyone to interrupt the show, but after a moment he chuckled and amicably replied, “I can certainly change into a komodo dragon, but if you are referring to the dragons of fairy tales, then alas, I cannot.”

A little boy sitting a bit further down on the row in front of us called out, “What about unicorns?”

“Sorry everyone, if we could hold any further questions until the end of the show, that would be appreciated,” Menagerie responded with a somewhat plastered-on smile.

Elle and I were several rows back from the front, but I could still hear the first girl interject, “Nonsense! You’ll happily answer a few more of my questions.”

He paused for a second then shrugged. “Well, I suppose a few more questions from you wouldn’t hurt.”

Huh. Weird for him to walk it back that quickly, I thought.

“Unicorn! Unicorn!” the boy called out again.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll only be taking a few more questions from this young lady here,” Menagerie replied a bit of a frown now on his face.

A lot of the crowd began to murmur at that answer, and I turned to Elle and commented, “This is really weird.”

“Too weird,” she agreed.

The girl with the wavy hair, who had been tapping her chin while seemingly thinking through what to ask, finally queried, “Do you have to match the normal size of an animal, or can you be oversized?”

“I have to match size.”

“‘Match size’?” she pressed, latching onto that phrasing. “Clarify. Do you mean you mimic specific animals?”

Menagerie visibly hesitated for a moment before admitting, “I also control nearby animals. I can transform into an exact copy of any animal I’ve controlled in the past day or so.”

I didn’t see that anywhere online, I thought with a frown. Why would he just admit to something like that to some random person? “Something is definitely wrong,” I said to Elle as I reached over to grip her hand. “I think we should leave.”

Apparently other people agreed. Everyone in the amphitheater was shuffling around in confusion at this point, and many were rising or already on their way to the exits. Elle looked to me and nodded, her expression confused and a tad afraid, and we rose to join those leaving. Before we got far though, the girl up front clamored awkwardly onto the stage despite Menagerie’s protests and said into the mic, “Return to to your seats, everyone.”

I blinked in consternation and tensed in panic as Elle and I immediately turned around and walked the few steps back to our seats. That does sound like a good idea, I found myself thinking. We could get accidentally trampled if people freak out and try to run. And they probably would freak out soon if they weren’t already. That girl was obviously a Master. Definitely better to stay in our seats until it’s safe.

Elle, as well as several other people in the audience, started to pull out their phones as the crowd began to rapidly become panicked. Several people were crying or shouting for help. “Everyone calm down and be quiet,” the girl commanded. “Also, put away your phones, turn them off, and leave them off. Oh, right, but first delete any pictures or recordings, and, um… Yeah, I think that’s all.”

A lot of the crowd calmed down, and though Elle and I—along with a few others scattered here and there—were still visibly upset and panicked, Elle did end the call to Melanie she had just started and turned off her phone before slipping it back into her jeans pocket. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What is going on? I worried as I pulled out my own phone to turn it off. We’re being mastered, but only somewhat? What can we do?

“Not enough,” Elle whispered fervently to me. I turned to meet her frightened gaze, and she added, “Need more time.”

Right, today’s a good day, I realized. We haven’t been here long enough for her power to reach the stage yet. It’s up to me then. Steel bars over the stage, there’s a steel frame under the wooden stage… No, wait: The microphone’s wire contains metal! I could use it to choke her until she’s unconscious. It would be a gamble. The fact the Master had gone for the microphone at all and was actually saying orders meant it was possible she needed to vocalize for her power to work, but she could be sandbagging like how I pretended to be a Tinker.

The Master had noticed not everyone was calming down and muttered seemingly to herself, “Dammit, not enough yet. Right, sorry! Everyone please say your name!”

“Elizabeth Delaney,” Elle said clearly, her eyes beginning to shine with unshed tears.

“J-J-J—” I started to stutter, interrupting my planning. No! It doesn’t matter what your deadname is, you’re June fucking Fujiwara, goddammit! “J-Juniper Fujiwara.”

“Everyone please raise your right hand. Now raise your left hand. Clap your hands. Um, sure, let’s throw in snapping too, why not.” By the end, everyone in the amphitheater was snapping their fingers, Menagerie included, and the Master smiled brightly. “Excellent! Now everyone calm down and be quiet.”

I’m probably making Elle freak out, I thought. I should really calm down. I felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut I sagged so abruptly into my seat. Beside me Elle wiped at her eyes, which no longer held any fear. I reached over and wrapped a comforting arm around her. “Don’t worry,” I murmured, smiling a bit to console her. “I’m going to choke her now, okay?”

Seemingly pleased with the state of the crowd, the Master had turned her attention back to Menagerie and was saying something away from the mic. Desperately hoping the currently calm crowd wouldn’t gasp or give up the game in some other way, I had the microphone’s wire begin to coil up on the stage just behind the Master. Once I had eaten up the slack, the wire lashed out and swiftly wrapped around the Master’s neck, and she released a brief, surprised shout and frantically began clawing at the wire.

For a split second, I honestly thought it was going to work. It might have too, if I hadn’t been trying to take her down non-lethally due to Melanie’s rules against killing. “Bard!” the Master gurgled. “Help!”

The person who had been seated next to the Master while she was in the crowd instantly burst into some kind of body made of blue light and surged forward, crossing the distance to the Master in just about a second then seeped into her body.

The Master’s eyes flared with light the same color blue, and in a burst of speed, she tore away the wire with ease before I could push into elsewhere. She then shouted loud and clear, “Nobody attack anyone!” before coughing and rubbing her throat.

If I keep attacking, then I might reveal where I am and get stopped, I rationalized as I let the torn pieces of wire fall limply to the stage. I tilted my head as I sedately considered how to approach the issue. Um… Even if it’s on pause, we’re still in the middle of the performance, so I should be quiet, stay seated, and keep my phone off. I especially don’t want to worry Elle, so I should stay calm and not attack anyone. But Melanie’s training about being mastered said if we think we’re being mastered and can’t get away, then we should take down the Master as soon as possible. How do I do that?

“Holy cow, that was a close one huh, Bard?” the Master remarked with an awkward laugh, her eyes still glowing with blue light. The noise in the amphitheater was minimal because only a scattered few people in the crowd were murmuring lowly amongst one another, so even without the mic it wasn’t difficult to hear the Master. “Here I thought I’d managed to catch a new party member without someone getting all pissy, then lo and behold, there’s a parahuman in the crowd!”

It’s not attacking if I just let something fall on her, right? That’s just letting gravity do its thing.

The steel structure over the stage was too heavy as one piece for me to manipulate, so I needed to separate a chunk to drop it. Unfortunately my lack of fine control came back to bite me in the ass when the structure groaned a bit as I pulled it apart. If everyone hadn’t been absolutely tranquil, it never would have been noticed, but if wishes were fishes… She made a tremendous jump forward that just shouldn’t have been possible for a normal human and, twisting in a 180 turn mid-air, landed on the stairs running up through the middle of the seats with her eyes on the stage as the braced steel beams feel down and through where she had been standing moments prior. “Oh for— Nobody active— No wait, nobody harm anybody at all. Sheesh.”

Oh god, I could have hurt Menagerie! He was right there, and I dropped a steel beam! Melanie would have had my head. I can’t do that again…

The Master slowly rotated in place, surveying everyone with interest. “Oh, I’ve definitely got to have you, you wily bastard. Let’s see, how about…” She cleared her throat, which devolved into a brief coughing fit before continuing. “Woof, where was I? Oh right! Anybody who isn’t a parahuman bend over, wrap your arms around your knees, and stay that way. Anybody who is a parahuman, stay seated upright.”

Well, there’s no sense in hiding, since she would have figured it out anyway, I thought mildly as everyone in the crowd except Elle and I bent over.

The Master’s gaze swept quickly over everyone and alighted on us a moment later. She gasped with delight and squealed, “Two?! Awesome!” She hurried over to us and called out when she arrived. “All the normal humans near here move up to the stage to give us some room. Go ahead and hop out, Bard, and get up here, Druid!”

The light in the Master’s eyes faded away, revealing bright, honey colored eyes that practically shone with enthusiasm. The blue light leaked out of her into the form of a humanoid shaped figure of hazy blue light before changing into a scraggy man with messy, dirty blonde hair, but my eyes almost immediately moved back to the Master as she leaned in with an intense gaze and demanded, “You two really are parahumans, right? Tell me!”

She already knows anyway. “We are,” I confirmed somewhat warily. Elle twisted in her seat to look away and gripped my arm with both of hers, though judging by her grip, she wasn’t upset. Just seeking comfort? I didn’t know. I felt like I should be panicking, but it didn’t really make sense to either, especially since I didn’t want to worry Elle.

“If you think looking away will stop my power from working, then you’re going to be so disappointed,” the Master smugly informed us in a sing-song tone. Menagerie walked up at that point, and I glanced around, wondering where this ‘Druid’ person was. “Okay, I really want to do a power show-and-tell right now, but if we stay here much longer, then it might cause trouble. Probs best to move along.” She clapped her hands together and started to bounce with obvious excitement. “Still, three parahumans for the price of one? What a steal! If your powers fit right, then I might finally have a full set!”

“It’s probably best if we move along, Boss,” the scraggly guy, presumably Bard, pointed out.

“I did just say that, didn’t I? Sorry, sorry, just so much excite! Okay, okay, okay—c’mon, you two come with the three of us!”

The show is over, and the zoo hasn’t closed yet. Elle would probably like to see more of the animals before we leave for the day. I rose to my feet, and Elle stood with me.

The Master pointed towards the exit like she was indicating some far away monument just on the horizon and dramatically declared, “Well then, my party! We’re off!”

And so we left. The Master and Bard moved towards the exit with Menagerie on their heels, and I followed more slowly, since Elle was still gripping my arm with both of hers. The Master swiveled around when she reached the exit, already taking in a deep breath as if to call out a command. She paused when she saw how far back we were and rolled her eyes. “C’mon, you two. Hurry it up.”

If we move quickly, we might even have time to get a souvenir after we see all the exhibits. I picked up my walking pace, and Elle released my arm in favor of holding my hand, making our progress much quicker as we finished crossing the distance to the Master.

The Master cleared her throat again and said to the room at large, “Okay, everyone here who isn’t a parahuman! If anybody asks what happened here, I want you to tell them… Hmm… Tell them the stage roof fell down and nearly killed Menagerie, and he decided he was done working for a place with such a shoddy setup and quit on the spot to go get a new job at a different zoo. Feel free to embellish a little, but don’t mention that these two girls are parahumans or that they or Menagerie left with me. Oh, and don’t mention that Bard or I were here either. In five minutes, you all should all get out of your seats and leave here. Kaybaaai!”

Her orders to the crowd done, she fixed her gaze on Menagerie, Elle, and me and said, “Don’t make a scene, leave your phones in the trash can on the way out, and again, none of you three are allowed to hurt anybody directly or indirectly unless I tell you to, okay? Each of you should be friends with everyone in the group.”

Menagerie, Elle, and I all tossed our phones in a nearby trash can, and the zoo’s rogue gave us a goofy smile like the ones he had used earlier on stage. “Right only makes sense to get along,” he jovially said. “Hello, you two! My name’s Druid. And you are?”

Wait, what? “But… Your name is Menagerie.”

“W-Well, that was my cape name, yes, but…”

He looked to the Master for assistance, and she chimed in, “You’ll only call him Druid from now on. Don’t call him Menagerie, got it?”

I shrugged. “Okay.” I guess if everyone else is going to be doing that, I wouldn’t want anyone to be confused.

“Now then,” she continued to say as she turned to leave. She had already made it clear we were leaving and needed to be quick, so Elle and I made sure to keep up with the other three members of our group. “We’ll get to figuring out whether I’m keeping you later, but for now, tell us what your names are. First name only is fine.”

“Elizabeth,” Elle supplied. “Everyone calls me Elle.”

“I’m J-J-Juniper. I go by June.” The Master and Bard gave me strange looks when I stuttered over my name but didn’t press any further. I glanced around curiously and determined we were likely heading towards the employee lot down at the south end of the Zoo.

“Right, let’s finish up introductions while we make our way back to the van,” the Master said. “I’m sure by now you’ve figured out this is Bard, and my name’s Octavia. I’m really hopeful that your powers fit in with one of the free themes!”

“Themes?” Elle quietly asked, sounding unsure.

“Yes! Tell me, have you heard of Octahedron?”

Menagerie, Elle, and I all shared confused glances, and Bard facepalmed. “Boss, I keep telling you nobody calls us that.”

“I know, I know, but you can’t fault a girl for wanting her team to be called the right name. Anyway, all the people online call us The Eight.”

My eyes widened as I made the connection. “The D&D capes? I thought you were in Chicago?”

“So you have heard of us!” Octavia said with obvious glee as we entered a somewhat more secluded area. “I told you were getting better known, Bard! I told you!”

I should have kept my mouth shut, but the words tumbled out before I could help it. “Uber and Leet mentioned you rejected doing a collaboration with them. I didn’t know who you were, so I asked Amy, and she pointed me in the right direction on PHO. Everyone says you’re losers who’ve lost touch with reality.”

Octavia was in my face a moment later, her eyes dark with anger. “Shut up. Shut up right now, or I swear to god, I’ll command you to stop breathing. Do you want that? Huh?!”

The ground on either side of Octavia swelled up and formed into two suits of armor with halberds that forcibly pushed her away from me with their free hands. “Leave June alone,” Elle said, her voice soft but dangerous. “We’re friends, Octavia, and you don’t threaten friends.”

It looked like Octavia wasn’t even paying attention to me anymore as she examined one of the suits of armor from up close. “Wow,” she breathed out in wonder. “You made these? Just like that? Were you the one who tried to kill me back in the amphitheater? Tell me!”

“June did,” Elle answered, her tone and expression still severe.

“Boss, we’ve got company,” Bard pointed out as a zoo staff member approached at a jog from the direction we had just come.

“Damn, sorry,” Octavia said. “Elle, get rid of these suits. Hi there, Mister Zoo Staff Guy! Just pass us by and don’t tell anybody that you saw us!”

“Menagerie!” the staff member called out as he got closer, ignoring Octavia. He stopped and watched us warily when the suits collapsed back into the ground. “Are you okay? We just saw the stage, and the people leaving the show said you were quitting. What’s—”

“Oh for the love of,” Octavia huffily interjected. “Staff guy, look to your left. Look to your right. Spin around. Again. Again. Now go away and don’t tell anybody you saw us.”

I watched with raised eyebrows as the man followed each task to the letter and ran off. “How does your power work, Octavia? It seems kind of… faulty.”

Octavia’s eyes flashed dangerously, but Elle stepped forward, and the other girl backed down begrudgingly. “That’s for me to know. None of you will wonder about how my power works again, and you won’t realize I’m using it on you, got it?”

It could be dangerous to think too hard about how a Master’s power works. Might make it harder to break out of it later. Besides, we’re friends, so it’s not like she would use it on us, right?

“Now, before I get side tracked again, let’s get a move on. I need to know if I’m keeping you, and Bard’s right that we should do it somewhere safe.”

“I dunno what you mean by ‘keep,’” I asked as we continued moving south, “but you make it sound important. Why do you want to know that?”

She tossed me a victorious smile over her shoulder, her white teeth almost predatory. “Because if I am, then I’ve finally finished my Octahedron!”