Sweat dripped down her body. Muscles she didn’t even know she’d had ached and twitched as she forced her body to straighten, back crying out in protest. The instructor had called for a break, which Vivainne latched onto like a desperate man drowning, gasping for air.

  She stumbled across the room, grabbing for her water bottle only for it to be snatched out from beneath her fingers. Stopping short, rage built up in her chest as she glared at the thief.

  “The fuck?” she demanded, grabbing for the bottle. Darcy held it just out of reach. She was infuriatingly unaffected by the class, a faint sheen of sweat across her body, only a single piece of blond hair out of place.

  “You’re going to chug this bottle of water, and then you’re going to throw up, and it’ll be all pathetic,” Darcy said. “And I saved you. You’re going to take little sips, and I won’t be embarrassed by you puking your guts out.”

  “What?” Vivainne shook her head, blood pounding hot through her veins.

  “Trust me,” Darcy said. “Little sips. You don’t want to throw up.”

  She withheld the bottle until Vivainne nodded. Vivainne snatched it from her hands the moment it was in range, unscrewing the lid and tipping it to her lips before deciding to listen and only taking a little sip. Her body was already not happy at the abuse it had been through, the last thing she needed was to throw up.

  Breathing and stomach settling together as she sipped on her water, she once again glared at Darcy. “I thought you said this was an easy class.”

  “It is,” Darcy said. She reached up, adjusting the high ponytail at the top of her head. Sticking to her usual color scheme, she wore a set of gold bike shorts and a crop top, mesh across the front to turn it into a shirt, not a sports bra. “For me, at least.”

  “You could have mentioned that.”

  “It’s good to push yourself,” Darcy said. “You want to get in shape. Besides, I’m supposed to be babysitting you, and I never miss this class. There’s always something new to learn.”

  Vivainne hadn’t missed the fact that she was being babysat. She couldn’t exactly blame anyone, but she wasn’t going to sneak off and fight anyone again, especially not now that she knew just how bad of a fighter she was. It wasn’t a surprise. She’d never trained to fight, or really even worked out much. She’d taken Yoga for PE in highschool, and vastly preferred the poses that meant laying on the floor or sitting down rather than standing or stretching or balancing.

  Taking this class with Darcy was not her idea, rather Darcy had proposed it, saying she needed to know how to defend herself at the very least. And of course, there was the added benefit of not leaving Vivainne alone. First Jordan dragging Vivainne out of the house to the tower when he took Vanya into daycare, showing her the georoom where he familiarized himself with different areas of the world and trained his transportation power. Then Recompense took Vivainne to lunch, despite the fact that he had work of his own to do and was in trouble himself, then they’d handed her off to Darcy.

  She tried not to be annoyed by it. She wasn’t doing particularly well.

  “I don’t think I’m very good at this,” Vivainne said.

  “You will be,” Darcy said. “Everyone starts from zero. You’ll train and get stronger and learn how to fight and protect yourself.”

  “I’m not going to be a combat hero.”

  “So? Still need to be able to fight and defend yourself. Defend yourself, at the very least. Just because you don’t plan on being a combat hero doesn’t mean you won’t land in dangerous situations where you have to defend yourself or others. That’s the reality of this life you want. Jordan isn’t a combat hero, by any means, but do you know the number of scrapes he’s gotten in? Scrapes he’s had to fight his way out of.”

  Vivainne refrained from commenting. In a world with a multitude of powers, there could always be a power that kept Jordan from forming a path and getting away. Besides, she could see the point Darcy was trying to make, even if she didn’t like it. She would have to fight, running across her sister had proven that, so she would have to train.

  “Okay,” Vivainne said. “I’ll keep training with you.”

  “Excellent,” Darcy said, clapping her hands together. She placed her water bottle down, looking across the room at their teacher. Whether she was a hero, a super, or just a normal human who’d been trained in martial arts, she was good. And also ruthless, calling them back into a group and beginning to speak. When she asked for a volunteer to demonstrate a move, Darcy volunteered, and Vivainne winced as the hero was slammed to the ground.

  She needed to train to fight, but perhaps she should join a more beginner friendly class. A children’s class, perhaps.

  By the time the class ended, she was covered in enough bumps and bruises, a fair number self inflicted, that her entire body throbbed. And considering she wasn’t injured, not really, she couldn’t ask for a healer to fix it. That would be pathetic and embarrassing.

  Darcy clapped her on the back, smiling widely. How could she be so happy and invigorated after a class like that? “That was a good start.”

  “Mhmm.” Vivainne nodded, not trusting herself to speak at the moment. Sweat left her skin tacky, the shorts and t-shirt she was wearing damp and stuck to her body. “I need to shower.”

  “We have showers down below,” Darcy said.

  “This tower has everything,” Vivainne said, shaking her head.

  “It’s not like showers are that spectacular,” Darcy said with a shrug. “Can you think of how terrible this place would smell if there weren’t showers?”

  A laugh broke free of Vivainne’s chest, pain echoing in its place. She groaned, pressing a hand to her chest as the muscles in her sternum throbbed.

  “You’ll get over it,” Darcy said, smirking at her. “That pain is just your pathetic muscles being broken and knit back together. And that’s the actual science.”

  “Right.” Vivainne dropped her hands and forced herself to stand up straight. “Where are the showers?”

  “Follow me.”

  She led the way down, descending yet another floor into the tower. They were already below surface level, a floor full of training rooms that Vivainne had no idea existed until they’d gotten her pass updated and brought her below. She wasn’t certain she was supposed to be here, but no one had protested, so she wouldn’t bring attention to herself. Not anymore than she already had.

  The floor Darcy brought them through not only had showers, but also small rooms like bedrooms, some kitchens, quiet rooms. A living space for heroes. But why? No one lived in the tower.

  “For heroes on call, or unable to go home,” Darcy explained as Vivainne peeked into room after room. “Sometimes you just need a safe space to rest, where the public can’t reach. Where better than here?”

  “That makes sense,” Vivainne said. If someone couldn’t go home, or if they just needed a quick shower or a nap, this was the place for it. Better than having exhausted heroes on the street, or leaving heroes with no place to go if their home got compromised. Not everyone had a huge defended home like Recompense, or was open with their identity like the Carter family.

  That was another matter Vivainne would have to think about. Heroes generally had two choices when they debuted. They formed an identity, separating their personal life from their public persona, or they chose to be one and the same. Hero, and human, at the same time. The Carter family was the most famous, by far. Starting with the very first hero, one who’d defined what the hero system was, Thalia Carter, who never had the option of being privately super. Then, her children had followed in her footsteps. Artemis Carter, Athena Carter, Orion Carter. Famous, beautiful, terrifying heroes.

  Vivainne had never been interested in fame, but with her mother’s crimes coming to light and going to trial, there would be little avoiding it. She could always become a hero and put on a persona, but there would be no way to redeem the Monet name. If that was something that mattered, she could go public. That did limit who was willing to work with you, however, if you were a part of a determined team.

  Yet another thing she needed to think about.

  “Darcy?” Vivainne stepped out from beneath the water for a moment to call out to her in the other stall.

  “Are you seriously going to try to talk to me while we’re naked?” Darcy demanded.

  “I was wondering,” Vivainne started. “How did you decide that having a hero persona and keeping your identity secret was right for you?”

  Darcy sighed loudly, forcefully enough that Vivainne could hear it over the roar of the showers. “Only idiots go public,” Darcy said.

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  “What about the Carters?”

  “They’re a bunch of hot, insanely attractive idiots with more power and money than anyone has a right to.” Darcy sighed again, this time hardly audible. “And there are others, but really, don’t you want to be able to go into the store and not be swarmed with fans?”

  “I don’t go to the store,” Vivainne said with a shrug.

  “The library?”

  “No.”

  “Do you go anywhere?”

  “I go to the tower.”

  “That doesn’t count. And you really need to get out more. That’s just sad. And don’t go public. It’s just a bad idea.”

  “Okay,” Vivainne said. She fell silent in the water, mind racing as she finished showering. Darcy made a good point, but there was still the matter of the Monet legacy, and the stain it would leave on the world. It wasn’t her responsibility, her mother’s actions weren’t her responsibility, yet she couldn’t help but feel like she ought to do something. Something more.

  Darcy got out of the shower before Vivainne. After a few moments, she ran over to the shower and banged on the door. “Hurry up,” she yelled through the door. “We have to go to dinner.”

  “What? Since when?”

  “Since right now,” Darcy said. “Hurry up. I’ll be waiting.”

  Finishing her shower, Vivianne dried and dressed quickly, putting on the clothes she’d worn to the tower earlier in the morning, Darcy rushing her all the while. The moment she had her shoes on, Darcy grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back upstairs, uniting with Jordan on the stairs.

  “Why do you think we’re having dinner right now?” he asked, grabbing both Darcy and Vivainne’s arms respectively. With a little bit of momentum, he’d be able to open up a pathway and step through space.

  “No clue,” Darcy said. “I hope it’s a good one though.”

  “Why are you acting like this is a big deal?” Vivainne asked, looking between the two. They had an almost frantic energy about them, excited far more than anyone should be for a simple dinner. “Charles does family meals all the time.”

  “But not dinner,” Darcy said.

  “Dinner is for special events,” Jordan added. “So this has got to be something special. Wonder what it is.”

  “I can’t think of anything,” Darcy said, eyebrows slowly creasing. “Where’s the little V?”

  “Oh, shoot,” Jordan cursed. “I forgot about that. I’ll be right back.” He let go of their arms, taking a step backward and vanishing into a path in the same movement. Darcy and Vivainne looked at each other, waiting for him to return. A few moments later, he returned, Vanya held in one arm, her arms wrapped around his neck.

  “Can’t believe you almost forgot my sister,” Vivainne muttered.

  “Like you would have remembered,” Jordan said. They grabbed onto him once again and they were off, stepping through space and entering into the wide front foyer of Recompense’s home.

  Voices drifted down to their ears from the next room, along with the scent of cooking meat and frying herbs.

  “We’re having dinner with someone?” Vivainne glanced between the others, waiting for their cue to move or act. It wasn’t that she was afraid, Recompense was a hero and anyone he invited to eat with them would doubtlessly be good people, but Jordan and Darcy had lived with him for years and they knew better what to expect from the older hero.

  Before anyone else could move, Vanya wiggled out of Jordan’s grasp and took off down the hallway at her toddling, slightly uneven pace. The rest followed her.

  The moment they stepped into the kitchen and dining room, Vivainne froze, mouth dropping open. Artemis Carter sat at the kitchen island, glass of wine in one hand, chatting amiably with Charles.

  Beside her sat a woman with a darker complexion, black hair pulled back from her face into a simple ponytail. Black cargo pants, a purple shirt, utterly unassuming and totally iconic.

  “Is that Thalia Carter?” Vivainne whispered frantically.

  For once, Jordan and Darcy were as starstruck as she was. Darcy nodded, eyes wide and locked on the hero. Jordan, meanwhile, just shook his head in disbelief. Thalia Carter, the Archer, was a hero everyone knew of and had been around for as long as there had been heroes. The first hero, the founding hero, and the only one left from the Age of Titans. At least, the only one still semi-active. Even if you didn’t love heroes, you knew of The Archer. You knew of Thalia Carter. And for anyone obsessed with heroes, immersed in the hero world, meeting Thalia Carter was akin to meeting god herself.

  At the sound of little feet, Charles broke away from the conversation and turned his attention to Vanya at his feet. After greeting her, he looked across the room and found the trio standing in shock, and let out a deep, chest warming laugh.

  “Come in,” he said, lifting a hand and ushering them inside. “Children, Thalia and Artemis have decided to join us for dinner.”

  “There’s more of them than I remember,” Thalia commented. She leaned on her elbow, studying them carefully, purple eyes piercing. “Stop standing there like idiots. I know I’m phenomenal, but I’m not that phenomenal.”

  Stumbling over themselves, and each other, they made their way into the room. Vivainne couldn’t tear her eyes away from the heroes, cheeks flushing when Thalia met her eyes and smirked.

  “You’re the one who keeps getting into trouble,” Thalia said, looking directly at Vivainne. Her hands shook as she tried to steady herself, mind melting under the attention. How was she supposed to talk to these heroes? “I like that.”

  “Mom, no,” Artemis said, though she too smiled. “We’re not supposed to encourage that.”

  “Maybe you’re not,” Thalia said, giving her a look. “I can do what I want.” She turned her attention back to Vivainne, just when she thought she’d be able to recover. “Are you planning on going into the program?”

  Vivainne swallowed hard, her mouth dry. “I am,” she managed.

  “Excellent,” Thalia declared. “Where are you planning on attending?”

  The question caught her off guard, and she glanced over at Charles. Didn’t you just attend the program in whatever city you lived in, or the closest one that had a branch of the hero program?

  “Don’t tell me you’re planning on staying here? No offense, but it’s better to get out and see the world a little bit before you have to settle down and defend it. Plus, with everything going on, it would be better for you to get out of Los Angeles.”

  “I’m not sure…” Vivainne trailed off, her heart beating too fast. Not only was Thalia Carter having dinner with them, but she was giving Vivainne advice on where to go and what to do when she went into the hero program. She’d never even imagined leaving the city, especially not now that she had a home. An odd home, it may be, but it was home. And she couldn’t just leave her sister.

  “You know, Artemis here teaches at the program in New York,” Thalia said, laying a hand on her daughter’s sparkly shoulder. “She’s an excellent teacher.”

  Artemis glared, eyes shooting daggers at her mother. “You just want to gather all the best prospects there so you have some entertainment,” she accused.

  “Not for my entertainment,” Thalia said unconvincingly. “I’m looking out for my granddaughter.”

  “You don’t even know that she’ll choose New York.”

  “She will. She’s her grandmother’s daughter. Just because Athena decided to live in Colorado doesn’t mean that the city isn’t theirs. Pip will realize the truth as soon as I show her around.”

  Artemis shrugged, leaning back against the countertop. “It is a good place to train,” she said finally.

  “I’ll be taking my granddaughter to the city here near the end of the month, whenever her school goes on break,” Thalia said. “You’re welcome to join us.”

  “I’ll… I’ll think about it,” Vivainne said, stuttering over her own words as she tried to answer. Had Thalia Carter just invited her to go to New York City? It didn’t matter that it was just to tour the hero program there, or that she probably did this with plenty of people, considering she’d helped found it, but still. Thalia Carter invited her somewhere.

  She could pass away today, and be entirely happy about it.

  “Why think about it?” Thalia asked. “Just come along. What’s the harm? Worried you’ll like it too much over there?”

  “I… I have family here.” She swallowed down the bitter memories and turned her eyes to Vanya, a girl she hardly knew but didn’t want to leave. Not so soon after finding her.

  Abandoning the salad he had been carefully constructing, Recompense placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “She will be okay, no matter what you decide. And for what it’s worth, it’s a good idea. Both Darcy and Jordan left the city for their program days.”

  “Not having an immediate support system is certainly an incentive to do your very best so you don’t, you know, die,” Darcy said, speaking for the first time. Relaxing now that she’d broken her silence, she walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer, the glass clinking against her polished nails.

  “Plus, you can always come back,” Jordan said. “And with a friend like me, you’re never far from home?”

  “Was that two song references in one?” Darcy asked, quirking her eyebrows as she looked at him. When he shrugged, she shook her head. “You can do better.”

  The conversation turned, mercifully, off of Vivainne and to the two young heroes. Thalia and Artemis asked questions of the two, quickly relaxing them. Vivainne wasn’t sure if they’d met before today, but in no time at all, they were talking like they’d known each other for years. The job had to help. They all understood each other on that level, and had a number of similar experiences. Free from the attention, Vivainne managed to breathe, and walked around the counter to join Recompense.

  “Can I help?” she asked, looking at the food he had laid out on the island, all in various stages of prep. Meat roasted in the oven. Pasta boiled on the stove. A thick and creamy sauce bubbled on the stovetop in front of her, thick with the scent of oregano and garlic.

  “Sure,” Charles said, stepping back from the cutting board. “Why don’t you keep working on this for me?”

  She stepped up to the cutting board, picking up where he left off on finely slicing some bell peppers. Her slices were not so flawless and neat as his, but after a few moments she found a rhythm and picked up her pace, piling them carefully to the side.

  “Don’t worry too much,” Charles said to her left, stirring in handfuls of grated cheese into the pasta sauce.

  “What?”

  “About where to go or what to do for the hero program,” Charles said. “Ultimately, you get the same training. If you want to stay here, that’s understandable. Though, leaving would do you some good.”

  Vivainne frowned, but said nothing. This was her home. New as it was, it certainly felt like it, surrounded by people who cared, who she was learning to trust. A little sister she had to figure out how to take care of. And issues with her mother still not fully squared away, trial yet to be set.

  “It would give you some space from what you’ve been through,” Charles said. “Time and space away. And, you wouldn’t have to be here if your mother’s trial gets dragged out.”

  “Is there any news on that?” she asked, speaking softly. She didn’t want to draw the attention of the Carters again, not about her mother.

  “They’re going to level charges at her sometime next week,” Charles said. “And from there, it’s a matter of how the courts choose to proceed. Lawyers, and all that. Not my forte.”

  Vivainne nodded, silent again. The sooner this all got started, the sooner she could be finished with it. “Will you keep me informed?” she asked, looking up at him. “I don’t want to hear from the news.”

  “Of course,” he said. “I’ll do the best I can.”