“You have to be careful,” they had told me. “Witness protection works, but only when you do what we tell you to.”

“I will,” I told them.

“Never make contact with the Butcher, Heavensword, or anyone else affiliated with the Teeth.”

I didn’t. I couldn’t, no matter how much I wanted to. To protect my son, I would never, ever speak with Elena or Klaus again.

“Your name is Riko Fujiwara. Your son’s name is Jacob Fujiwara.”

I thought giving up ‘Alexia’ would be simple. I gave up ‘Junko’ without so much as a second glance. So why did being ‘Riko’ make my heart heavier by the day? Why did calling my boy ‘Jacob’ feel like the worst sin?

“We’ll set you up in Brooklyn with an apartment, and we’ll help you find a reasonable job. Beyond that, you’ll receive a stipend as ‘alimony,’ which we recommend you use for childcare while you work.”

I thought it was a mistake when the first ‘alimony’ check arrived. Surely it was too much…? But the checks kept coming, always the same amount and never a day late. I was given so much money, I didn’t need a job. I could dedicate all my time to… to Jacob. Give him my everything.

“Don’t be social beyond what’s necessary. The less people you interact with, the less chances there are for someone to see through the fiction.”

We lived over a grocery, one that stocked baby supplies no less. Four employees, but just the one if I only shopped once a week. I had more money than I knew what to do with, so I paid the neighbor to buy us clothes instead of doing it myself. Less people, less problems. And no going outside! That was how the Teeth found us, walking in the park, and for what? Clean air? Sunlight? Nowhere was clean in New York, and we could get sunlight just fine through the window! There was no reason to go outside—none. Nothing but danger lurked out there.

I should have known better. Danger was everywhere.

I heard the alarms, loud and shrill, cutting through the walls like not even the traffic could. Of course. Of course the first Endbringer attack in the US would be here. God, where was the closest shelter?! I knew where one was by our old apartment, but that was in Queens. It would be suicide to go that far, much less on foot with a toddler in tow! I banged on the neighbor’s door without reply, and everyone had already fled the grocery.

Alone.

I took my son to the tub, the furthest place we could get from the exterior wall. I held him tight as the fighting grew closer, shushed him in vain when he began crying and wailing.

Did it hear him, that monster? Did it hear my little boy?

Why did I hide in the tub? What good was a tub against such a demon?

The ceiling cracked above us. I tried to flee. Too late.

I threw my son to safety.