Silence filled the house without anyone around. Recompense back at the Unity Tower, reinstated to hero work. Darcy and Jordan, still working, of course. Vanya at the daycare, because apparently she was doing well with other kids around. And Vivainne, sitting at home, reading through a pamphlet on the hero program.

  Charles had not so subtly left it on the kitchen counter for her. After a cup of coffee, she’d picked it up, flipping through and reading the minute text. She suspected this wasn’t an official pamphlet, rather something he’d made specifically for her, but she appreciated it.

  Like Iris had said, there were more roles in the hero world than just fighter or combat specialist. More than just roaming the street and looking for people to fight and people to protect. The pamphlet even outlined a few jobs she thought she could do well. Reconnaissance and information gathering. Hostage recovery. Infiltration. All things she’d been doing these past few months helping the heroes stop her mother.

  But she’d spent so much time in the shadows already. Did she really want to stay there?

  She wanted to be in the light. Doing good. Not hiding. Not afraid. Not a secret. Nothing to hide, nothing to lie about, no secrets to keep.

  Vivainne pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the swell of her core deep inside. Fractured, irreparable. Another piece of her so far buried she couldn’t feel it. But she was tired of that being all she was. Something her mother had experimented on and broken just so she could perfect the next version.

  A shiver wracked down Vivainne’s spine and propelled her to her feet. She couldn’t stay here any longer. She couldn’t make any decisions while sitting alone in her bedroom, and she needed something to do.

  She slipped a hair tie onto her wrist and quickly dressed.

  Vivainne left the house, catching a bus across the city to the Tower of Unity. She could have messaged Jordan for a ride, and felt certain he would have hopped over and back without question, but she needed the time to think about what she was going to do.

  Needed to do something, needed to move, needed to make a decision that wasn’t dictated by the heroes or her mother or the situation she’d landed herself in by means of her birth.

  The bus dropped her off a few blocks away from the Tower of Unity. She walked the rest of the way on foot, one of many on the sidewalk in the middle of the day. She ducked through the open gate to the Tower of Unity, making her way up to the front door. A hero greeted her at the door, and Iris waved across the foyer from the front desk, pausing midway through helping someone before going right back.

  A smile flitted across Vivainne’s face. As minor as most of these issues were, especially so deep in a city with no superfauna to deal with, these heroes took it all in stride, acting with grace and a smile on their face as they helped the public.

  The woman walked away with a form in hand, allowing Vivainne to step up to the desk. “Having fun?”

  “Always a joy to assist the public,” Iris answered, slightly muffled from the white cowl over her face. “You have your pass?”

  Already prepared, Vivainne flipped out the tiny piece of plastic keyed to her fingerprint and showed it to the hero.

  “Wonderful,” Iris said. She stepped out from the desk and motioned Vivainne forward, opening the elevator for her. “What are you here for today?”

  “Not sure,” Vivainne answered. She stepped through the elevator doors, turning around to face the hero. “I have an elevator ride to figure it out.”

  “Good luck,” Iris said. She stepped back, allowing the doors to close. Detecting her pass, the elevator moved her up to the same floor it always brought her to. She stepped out, looking around for a familiar face. Stardust or The Path or Recompense. Not finding anyone, she wandered over to a man in a dark suit.

  “Uh, can you tell me where the daycare is?”

  He looked her up and down, eyes narrowing. “Do you have your pass?”

  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She needed the pass to be able to get to this floor, but apparently that didn’t matter. Handing over the pass, he inspected it sharply before jerking his head to the side.

  “Follow me,” he said.

  “Oh, you can just point me the way,” Vivainne said, but the man was already moving, cutting a brisk pace through the room that forced Vivainne to jog to catch up to.

  He led the way to the daycare, tucked away in the corner of the tower not far from the therapist offices. With a short nod, he left her there to approach the counter alone. A woman in a soft sweater and a pair of round reading glasses sat at the desk, looking up from her computer to stare at Vivainne.

  “I’m here for my sister? Vanya Monet?”

  “Name?” the women asked.

  “What?”

  “Your name,” she clarified.

  “Vivainne Monet.”

  The woman turned back to her computer, typing rapidly for a few moments before glancing back up with an apologetic look. “You’re not on my release list.”

  “What?” Vivainne stepped forward, gripping the edge of the countertop as she leaned over the counter, suddenly wondering how bad the woman’s vision was. “But I’m her sister. Clearly. We look identical.” She waved at her own face like that would make a difference.

  The woman didn’t blink. “You’re not on my list. That means I can’t release her to you. It’s a safety thing, you understand.”

  Anger bubbling inside, Vivainne pulled herself away from the counter, turning her back to the woman. There was no reason to be upset with her when she was clearly doing her job, but why the hell wasn’t Vivainne on the list?

  Pulling out her phone, she debated calling Recompense for a moment before deciding on shooting a text to him. If he was working, she didn’t need to call him, but she wanted to see her sister.

  Vivainne: they won’t let me see Vanya

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  She waited, tapping her fingers impatiently against the phone, waiting for a response. None came.

  Refusing to leave, Vivainne paced in front of the daycare, waiting for a response from Charles. Eventually someone would have to come and get Vanya to take her home, and then she’d be able to spend time with her. She hadn’t spent any time with her since they’d rescued her from Vora. She was more of a stranger to her sister than Charles and Darcy and Jordan. How could she let that happen?

  Footsteps echoed down the hallway and Vivainne spun toward the sound, desperately hoping it was someone coming to help her, or to get her sister out of daycare despite the fact that it was far from the usual time they went home.

  A breath escaped her chest as her eyes landed on Recompense, red mask around his eyes, head cloaked fully in the brown leather of his suit. The soles of his shoes tread heavy against the floor.

  “Thank you,” Vivainne gasped, rushing up to him. “They won’t let me take Vanya. She says I’m not on the release list.”

  “You hadn’t come to see her yet,” he said, and although it wasn’t an accusation, it felt like one.

  “Well, I’m here now,” Vivainne said, crossing her arms over her chest. She stared at him, daring him to say something. When was she supposed to have come to see Vanya? This was the first day she’d fully gotten to herself, so she came to see her sister. After spending most of the day in her room, yes, but she came to see her sister.

  “You are,” Recompense said evenly. “Let’s get you on the list.”

  He stepped up to the desk, the woman sitting back and smiling as he approached. Her eyelashes fluttered and she grew flustered as he spoke, hardly pulling her eyes away long enough to take Vivainne’s legal ID and scan it into the system.

  Still beaming, the woman opened the door with a button and allowed them to pass through.

  Stepping through the doorway ahead of her, Recompense held the door open as she stepped through. “Where did you want to take Vanya?”

  Vivainne hesitated as she looked into the hallway, multiple doors setting off from the main corridor. Somewhere in these rooms was her sister, a sister she didn’t know how to talk to. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t know how to talk to Vanya. She’d never been around children, and hadn’t known about her sister until a few weeks ago. What was she supposed to talk with a four year old about?

  “There’s a park around the block,” Recompense said, stepping in after her and shutting the door behind him. “With a nice little playground. Why don’t you take her there?”

  “That’s a good idea,” Vivainne said. “I can do that.”

  “You’ll be safe,” he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to worry.”

  “I’m not worried,” Vivainne said, then added: “About that.” She turned her gaze down the corridor, still not moving. She ought to go find her sister, but she couldn’t move.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Recompense said. “She’s your sister, and she loves you.”

  “I’m a stranger.”

  “So go fix that.” Despite the fact that his face was fully covered, Vivainne couldn’t help but think he found this all amusing.

  “Okay.” Vivainne nodded to the hero and moved down the corridor, peaking into rooms until she spotted the familiar head of sleek, dark hair playing in the corner of a room with a boy with a head of curly hair.

  She made eye contact with the teacher, putting a smile on her face. “I’m, uh, here for Vanya.”

  The little girl whipped around explosively at the mention of her name, eyes wide as they landed on Vivainne. She could see the uncertainty there, the fear. The little girl didn’t have any experience with the world. She’d lived in a house with a nanny for most of her life, saw Vora on occasion, and had who knew what done to her. The only people she knew were the people in this room, and then Charles, Darcy, and Jordan. Vivainne couldn’t even count herself amongst that group.

  “Hi,” Vivainne said, lowering herself into a crouch. She held out a hand for her sister, an offering. “I’m planning on going to the park. Do you want to come with me?”

  “The park?” Vanya tilted her head to the side. A sheet of black hair fell across her eye, blinding her for a moment before she brushed it behind her ear.

  “It’s a place with lots of grass. And trees. And you can play,” Vivainne said. “You’ll be outside.”

  “Outside,” Vanya repeated.

  “Yes,” Vivainne said. “And… And if you don’t like it, we can come back inside.”

  “Okay,” the girl said. She pushed to her feet, bare on the carpet, and walked over to Vivainne. She took her hand, small fingers soft and cold in Vivainne’s grasp. She was so little. The age Vivainne was when her core was fractured.

  The memories came back, interspersed with the video she’d watched.

  Vivainne sucked in a deep breath, refusing to let the memories take her over.

  “Where are your shoes?” she asked softly, poking at the girl’s bare feet with her free hand.

  Vanya giggled and shook her head.

  “They’re in her cubby,” the teacher said. He walked them out of the room and to the first one in the corridor, locating Vanya’s cubby and pulling out a pair of sparkling pink shoes.

  “When did you get these?” Vivainne asked, holding up the shoes to Vanya.

  “Darcy got them for me,” she answered in a quiet voice.

  “They’re nice.”

  “They sparkle,” Vanya said, nodding along. Her hair fell once again into her face and she swiped it aside with a hand.

  Vivainne helped her into the shoes, doing up the velcro, before turning her attention to Vanya’s hair. “Why don’t I put your hair up?”

  She pulled the hair tie from her wrist. Her anchor, ever since Recompense had given it to her, even if this wasn’t the same one. Sweeping Vanya’s hair back from her face, she did her hair in a low ponytail, enough to keep the hair out of her eyes.

  “Ready to go?”

  “Yes,” Vanya said. Hand in hand, they walked out the door. Vivainne waved at Recompense as they left, giving him a little smile before glancing back down at her little sister.

  They left the tower, walking around the block to find the park Recompense had mentioned. It didn’t take long for them to reach it, the busy street suddenly opening onto a green, grassy park. Trees littered the area, giving pockets of shadow Vivainne gravitated toward as she led her sister through the park. Vanya trailed beside her, forcing Vivainne to slow down as her sister investigated everything they came across. Bushes. Flowers. Grass. A piece of trash Vivainne quickly retrieved and tossed in the nearest trash can.

  Vanya lit up as they reached the playground area, swings and slides and a climbing wall in bright colors.

  “What’s that?” she asked, twisting to look up into Vivainne’s face.

  “That’s a playground,” Vivainne said. “Do you want to go play?”

  Vanya nodded eagerly, and Vivainne let go of her hand, watching like a hawk as the girl ran across the playground and onto the stairs up to the slide. She reached the top, hesitating for a moment before a girl around her age showed her how to slide.

  They reached the bottom one after another and Vanya took off again, racing the girl to the top of the slide.

  Watching as she moved, Vivainne wandered to the swing set and sat down, swinging gently as she watched Vanya play.

  Vivainne was lucky. She’d gotten to play as a child, at least while in school. She wasn’t locked up in a house 24/7. She’d had a mostly normal childhood, Vora experiments notwithstanding. She’d gone to school, made friends, even if she didn’t talk to them now since she was too quiet and gloomy.

  Vanya would have a normal childhood now too. She deserved one.

  This is why, Vivainne thought, watching the two girls play. This is why heroes exist.

  A smile came to Vivainne’s face as she picked up pace on the swing, Vanya’s laughter ringing out across the playground. Vivainne needed to protect this. She had to protect this, this innocence, this joy. Had to make it so that Vanya would never go through what Vivainne had gone through, and no other little girl would go through the same anywhere else in the world.

  This was why Vivainne would be a hero.

  She would be a hero, and even if she couldn’t save the world, she could save one little girl’s world. She’d already managed it once. She just had to learn how to keep doing it.

  Vivainne pulled out a phone, shooting off another message to Charles.

  Vivainne: what do i need to do to get into the hero program?