Vivainne’s escape room run played over and over again in Pip’s head as she watched the girl from across the dinner table, her dark head of hair bent over the application Artemis had given her rather than focused on the delicious food laid out in front of them.

  Pip didn’t blame her. What she’d pulled off was badass. Sneaking into a room full of albeit fake criminals and escaping with enough evidence to stop them, all without them ever knowing she was there? Pip didn’t know anyone else who could pull that off.

  Which made it all the more annoying that Viv wouldn’t speak to her.

  It wasn’t even entirely Pip’s fault that she’d hit her with a snowball when they first met, why was she still holding that against her? It wasn’t fair.

  “I told you you’d want to come here,” Florence said, mouth half full of a garlic covered breadstick. “There’s nothing quite like our program here.”

  “So where’s my application?” Pip asked, turning her attention to her aunt and grandmother. “She gets one, but I don’t?”

  Vivainne glanced up, half her written essay hidden by her arm, and glared at Pip. What was that for?

  “Don’t you want to see the other locations?” Thalia teased.

  “No,” Pip declared, slamming a fist into the table and rattling the dishware. Across the restaurant, eyes turned to stare. Florence snorted into his drink, muttering something that sounded an awful lot like nerd.

  “Okay then,” Artemis said. She reached into her bag and pulled out another packet of paper, placing it in front of Pip, precariously close to her plate of pasta.

  “Does anyone have a pen?” she asked, looking around. She’d gotten rid of her last pencil earlier in the day after finals, and now she needed it. Dumb, stupid luck.

  “You don’t need to fill it out right now,” Artemis said. “Finish eating first.”

  “Fine.” Pip carefully tucked the application away, casting an envious glance at Vivainne. No one had said anything to her about filling it out right away. What was so special about her? Wasn’t she a delinquent who was supposed to be doing Unity ordered community service right now?

  “Don’t worry about it,” Florence said, leaning across Pip to steal another breadstick. Where he was putting them, Pip didn’t know, and she could eat plenty. “You have months to put in your application for this next cycle.”

  “Have you done yours?” Pip asked.

  “Obviously.”

  “See,” Pip said, shooting a look at her aunt. “You should let me fill it out.”

  Artemis let out a sigh. “Can we at least finish dinner first? Think about the essay while you wait.”

  “Wait, what essay?” Pip asked, blinking across the table. Her eyes drifted from Artemis to her grandmother. Thalia hadn’t mentioned anything about an essay.

  “It wasn’t my idea,” Thalia said, taking a sip of her wine. “I wanted admissions to be a giant game of super twister, but I was overwhelmingly shot down.”

  “A short personal essay about what being a hero means to you and the good you would do,” Artemis explained.

  “Ugh.” Pip glanced down at the application with disgust. What did being able to write an essay have to do with being a hero? Couldn’t she just tell someone what being a hero meant to her? That would be easier than writing it down.

  “A video essay is also an option,” Artemis said, as if reading her mind.

  “Oh, good,” Pip said, letting out a sigh of relief. She could talk all day, but writing… that was a pain. She would have all the words in her head, but actually getting them on the page in the right order and with the right spelling… that was the hard part. “I’ll do that instead.”

  Vivainne stopped her scribbling, the scratching of pen against paper quieting. “Why?”

  “I’m dyslexic,” Pip said with a shrug. “Damn dyslexia. Always trying to foil my plans.”

  “Ah.” Vivainne returned to her essay, blocking Pip’s view with the side of her arm.

  “What’s your essay about?” Pip asked, trying to catch a peak at the page.

  “That’s none of your business,” she snapped, more sharply than Pip expected. What was wrong with her?

  Pip pulled back. “Okay then.” She turned to Florence, still smarting from Vivainne’s response. “What was yours about?”

  “The responsibility I’ve watched my parents shoulder and the example they’ve set in place for me,” Florence said with a shrug. “Pretty simple stuff, really. It’s not like I was ever going to be anything but a hero.”

  “Me too,” Pip said, leaning back in her seat. She would need to think about what to write, or talk about. There were plenty of possibilities. Like Florence, she’d grown up surrounded by supers. Maybe not as in the world as he was, because Mai didn’t want them too exposed to that world, but around. Perhaps she could talk about that?

  She’d have to talk to Khione about it.

  “What about you, Vivainne?” Florence asked, leaning so far back in his seat the front legs tipped off the ground as he peered around Pip. “When did you decide you wanted to be a hero?”

  “About two hours ago,” she said, so deadpan Pip couldn’t decide if she was joking or not. But she had to be joking. Why else would she be on this trip, if she hadn’t decided to be a hero already?

  “It was pretty awesome, what you did,” Florence said. “What’s your power, exactly?”

  Vivainne opened her mouth, then paused, casting a glance around the room.

  “It’s safe to talk here,” Artemis said in a soft voice. “The owner is a friend. Very super friendly.”

  “Okay,” Vivainne said with a nod, then turned her attention to Florence. “I’m a shadow shifter/manipulator. Umbrakinesis, I guess?”

  “Pretty good power,” Florence said with a nod. “My power is pyrokinesis.”

  “Not hard to guess, considering who your parents are,” Vivainne said with a nod. It was true. While not everyone inherited powers directly from their parents, it made a lot of sense that two supers with fire based powers would have a child with fire based powers.

  “Fair enough,” Florence said, flashing her a grin. He was a better person that Pip was. She couldn’t keep trying with Vivainne if the girl wouldn’t talk to her. “What about your parents?”

  Vivainne’s face went still, expression freezing. She swallowed, then reached for her glass of water, hair shielding her from view. “Uh, nobody important.”

  What was up with Vivainne’s parents? She lived with Recompense, along with a few other supers, and had apparently gotten into a fight with her sister that caused her to get in trouble with the Unity system. There was something going on there, and Pip would just have to do her research to figure it out.

  And by do her research, she meant ask Thalia.

  He exchanged a look with Pip as he sat all four chair legs back on the ground. “Okay. Anyway. Neat power. I’ve tried that room before, and I can’t really do anything but torch the place.”

  “Doesn’t that defeat the point of the room?” Vivainne asked.

  Florence shrugged. “There’s not really one right answer.”

  “Though, torching it is wrong.” The new voice split through their conversation, and Pip looked up to see Janean and Nicoli joining their table. “Sorry we’re late.”

  “Don’t be,” Thalia said, pulling back an empty chair. “It gives me an excuse to order another bottle of wine.”

  Janean arched an eyebrow, striking Pip with the uncanny feeling she’d seen it before. Florence had that exact same face. “Another bottle?”

  “Why not?” Thalia waved down the waiter, placing another order and forcing Janean and Nicoli to do the same.

  As it usually did, the conversation at the table transformed into one amongst adults, Florence, Vivainne, and Pip sitting on the outside. Normally, it wouldn’t have bothered Pip, but she couldn’t just escape from the dinner table like she normally would. They were in a brand new city, one she didn’t know her way around and had only briefly visited on vacations. Even then, most of that time was spent with her grandparents in their brownstone, not out anywhere.

  Florence leaned over, his knee brushing against Pip’s and forcing it to stop bouncing. “Why don’t I get us out of here?”

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “Please,” Pip gasped, pushing back her plate. She couldn’t stand sitting here for another moment, not when they had a city to see. Even if they couldn’t go back to the Unity Tower now that all the adults had left for the day, they could go and explore, couldn’t they?

  “Mom, Dad, is it okay if I take Pip and Vivainne out for a little adventure?” he asked, interrupting the adult conversation with the most polite voice Pip had heard from him.

  Janean glanced across the cloth covered table, meeting his eyes before giving a small nod.

  A yelp jumped up in Pip’s throat before she could stop it as she pushed back from the table, grabbing her coat and her bag in a flash. Florence let out a low chuckle behind her and grabbed his own quilted jacket. He pulled it on over his knit sweater, tucking on a pair of gloves.

  “Why do you wear all that?” Pip asked curiously.

  “Can’t go around looking like a Californian all day,” Florence said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Vivainne asked, looking up at him from the table. “We’re wearing the same jacket.”

  “And yet, it looks so much better on me,” Florence said, flaring the jacket out like he was on some sort of runway. “Now put yours on. We have things to see.”

  “I’m okay staying here,” Vivainne said, smoothing out the tablecloth in front of her. She hadn’t touched her food, a plate of some shrimp pasta sitting in front of her growing cold, application filled out in front of her.

  “No, come with us,” Florence said. Why was he trying so hard to get her to come along? She wasn’t any fun, even if her power was fascinating. He reached out a gloved hand, signature smirk on his face. “I promise, it’ll be more entertaining than sitting here and watching The Archer get drunk all night.”

  The dark haired girl hesitated, gaze darting between the adults at the table. The way they were talking, there would be no getting them to stop anytime soon, and eventually Vivainne would run out of things to do. Pip certainly would, even with the power of creation at her fingertips.

  “Okay.” She pushed her chair back, rising without taking Florence’s outstretched hand. She donned her jacket, what really was a near replica to the one Florence wore, and tucked the application into one of the inner pockets.

  Once she was situated, Florence offered her an arm once more.

  “No thank you,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  He rolled his eyes. “It’s to keep you warm.”

  “That doesn’t sound as innocent as you think it does,” he mother piped up from the end of the table.

  His smirk faded into something abashed as Janean and Thalia cackled at her joke, his eyes no longer looking at her.

  “Whatever,” he muttered, waving at the hero. “We’re going now.”

  “Have fun,” Nicoli said.

  “But not too much fun!”

  He stalked away as the infectious laughter got to Pip, bubbling out of her as she followed him outdoors.

  “I’d take your arm,” she said, giggling between the words. “But you’re really not my type.”

  “Shut up,” Florence snapped. “I’m gay, shut up.”

  “Sometimes,” Vivainne said, the door shutting behind her as she stepped out onto a snowy sidewalk. “I wonder how the old heroes managed to get anything done.”

  “With lots of innuendos,” Pip said.

  “And sex,” Florence added.

  “Hey, you didn’t need to say it.”

  “Like I’m wrong? There’s a reason so many heroes are coupled up,” Florence said. “And your grandma is the absolute worst of them. I swear, my mom isn’t bad until she’s around The Archer.”

  “True,” Pip said with a shrug. “Being hot and sexy is definitely a Carter trait.”

  “And being bad at jokes, too.” He huffed and offered up his arms again. “But seriously, if you hold onto me, you’ll stay nice and warm. I’m basically a walking space heater.”

  With a roll of her eyes, Pip took the proffered arm. Just as he said, he was toasty warm, the warmth seeping into her side and arm where she touched him. It was almost uncomfortable, until a burst of icy wind raced down the street accompanied by a howling car. Maybe he was right.

  “I’m fine,” Vivainne insisted, tucking her hands deep into her pockets. She didn’t even have any gloves. “Where are we going?”

  “I figured we’d just start walking, and see what we find,” Florence said. “Either that, or get mugged.”

  “That would be entertaining, wouldn’t it?”

  “It would,” Florence said. “Have I told you yet about the time someone tried to mug my mom when we were out school shopping?”

  “No,” Pip said, a smile bursting across her face. That had to be a great story. Manhattan, being faced with a common mugger? He’d be lucky if he got away without his face being melted. “Did they really?”

  “They tried,” Florence said, eyes twinkling. “Until she melted the knife into their hand, that is.”

  “That doesn’t seem…” Walking alongside them, Vivainne glanced up at the sky, snow slowly drifting down around them. “Proper for a hero.”

  “I mean, they were trying to rob a woman and eight year old child,” Florence said. “How would you react?”

  She shook her head, growing silent. Watching her, Pip couldn’t hold back any longer. “You don’t really have room to judge, right? Didn’t you fight your own sister and get punished for it?”

  Vivainne froze in her tracks, red slowly crawling up her cheeks, and not just from the cold. “I was trying to stop her from doing something worse.”

  “So, it’s fine then, right?” Why was it that fighting her own sister was fine, but a mother defending herself and her child wasn’t? It wasn’t like there weren’t healers and doctors around to deal with injuries like that, after the mugger was apprehended.

  “No, it wasn’t,” Vivainne snapped, her voice hard. “I was wrong. Which is why I’ll take my punishment without complaining. Because I understand I reacted poorly, and could have responded better.”

  “So you’re saying his mom did the wrong thing?” Pip demanded, unsure what brought the retort out. It just wasn’t fair for her to sit here and judge, when she wasn’t even familiar with the hero world. Sometimes, you did what had to be done, and cleaned up later. Sometimes, that’s what it meant to keep people safe.

  “No!” Vivainne threw up her hands. “I’m just saying, couldn’t there be a better way to deal with that? I mean, he was just a thief.”

  “He was a criminal,” Pip said, emphasizing the word since apparently Vivainne didn’t understand.

  “So that makes it okay?”

  “Woah,” Florence said, stepping between them. “This really was supposed to be a funny story. Like, haha, wow, typical New York. Not… whatever this is.”

  “She has no right to judge heroes when she doesn’t even understand what it means to be one,” Pip said, jamming a finger around Florence at the girl.

  “Honestly, I think I understand more than you do, right now.” She took a step back, nearly bumping into a pedestrian on the street. “I’m going to go back to the restaurant. This was a bad idea.”

  “Hey, wait,” Florence said. “Why don’t we all just cool down. Look, I can go first.” As he spoke, the air around him cooled significantly, heat no longer emanating from his body.

  “Now isn’t the time,” Pip said, glaring at him.

  “Oh, come on,” he said. “That one was a little bit funny. And you’re making a scene. Just let it go.”

  “What about her?” She leaned to the side, spying around him, but she was gone. Pip spun, searching up the sidewalk and down back toward the restaurant. Dozens of people walked up and down the street, but she wasn’t one of them. “Where did she go?”

  “Probably back to the restaurant, like she said,” Florence said, sighing. “I really thought she was starting to like me.”

  The wind returned to Pip’s sails in an instant, anger picking up right where it left off. “I thought you were gay,” she fired at him.

  “I am,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But I was trying to be nice to her. She’s clearly going through something right now.”

  “That doesn’t give her a right to be an ass.”

  “And what excuse do you have?” Florence asked, shaking his head at her. “You’re not exactly being the best person right now.”

  She took a step back, heel hitting the edge of the sidewalk. “I was defending your mom.”

  “She doesn’t really need you to,” Florence said with a shrug. “And Vivainne is probably right. It was a little extreme. My mom’s always been like that.”

  Just like that, he poked a hole in the sails of her righteousness. She deflated, uncrossing her arms and dropping them to her sides. “I just don’t think it’s fair.”

  “No, you just want to be right,” Florence said. “Now, why don’t we go find her before our families get angry with us for losing her?”

  “Fine,” Pip said, spitting the word out. It probably wouldn’t be great if they lost Vivainne, especially in a city this big, when Thalia was supposed to be responsible for her.

  I’m not wrong, though, Pip thought, her face burning despite the cold. Heroes sometimes had to take extreme action. It was just part of the job. Too many people judged heroes, judged her family, for the actions they had to take to keep the world safe. People who weren’t heroes, who weren’t around heroes, didn’t have room to judge.

  Florence grabbed her hand, hauling her from the edge of the sidewalk and straight across it, beneath the awning of a random corner shop.

  “What are we doing?” Pip asked as he grabbed the door and pulled it open.

  “Checking to see if she’s inside,” he said, beckoning her through in front of him. “It’s freezing outside, and she doesn’t even have any gloves. Stupid Californians.”

  The door slammed shut behind them on a burst of wind, snow drifting in around their feet. Wiping her feet off on the mat, Pip then tipped up onto her toes, trying to see past the shelves of goods to spot the tall girl.

  “There she is,” Florence said, from his vantage point of twelve inches over hers, pointing across the store.

  Unable to see where he was pointing, Pip followed the direction of his finger, weaving around shelves as she marched toward the back of the bodega, waffling between anger and an apology with every step. Giving an apology was the right thing, she knew, but she also wasn’t wrong. The girl was, for all Pip knew, a total stranger to the hero world. How did she know what was reasonable and what wasn’t?

  The murmur of voices drifted up as they neared the back of the store, modulated with an electronic buzz.

  Stepping around a final shelf, Pip found herself at the back of the store, in front of a wall of TVs, all set to the same news station. Vivainne, clad in all black, stood like a shadow in front of the screen, frozen in place.

  “Hey,” Pip said, stepping up beside her. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that…”

  Her voice trailed off as her attention finally caught hold, locked onto the screen in front of her. A reporter stood in front of a greenscreen of a picture, words scrawling by at the bottom faster than Pip could make sense of. But the words weren’t the interesting part.

  No, that was the picture.

  Because Vivainne was in it.

  She stood beside a taller woman, a woman with the same dark hair and fair features, holding a golden award in one hand, the other wrapped around Vivainne’s shoulder.

  “...people are expressing outrage at the arrest of the Award winning research scientist and philanthropist Vora Monet, following her disappearance last month,” the reporter said, caught somewhere in the middle of her report. “Customers are returning their implants in droves, while others believe the Unity organization feels threatened by the advancements her technology offers. Evidence of her crimes has yet to be made public at this moment. Let’s go to Ava Roberts, outside the federal courthouse now.”

  The report changed from a woman in front of a greenscreen to another in front of a large courthouse, in the middle of what appeared to be a pack of other reporters, police officers, and protestors.

  “Damn,” Florence whispered from behind her. “Viv, is that your mom?”

  Vivainne nodded, silent and captivated as the reporter continued speaking.

  Pip shook her head, eyes locked on Vivainne as her stomach tied itself in knots. “Yeah,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Now I really feel like an asshole.”