Saturday night was the first time Lauren felt like she had truly slept in a long time. Not just the base sleep necessary to function, not just sleep to pass a night, but real glued-to-your-pillow-with-drool sleep. She woke Sunday morning deliciously dazed, her mind reset. It took her a moment to even recognize her surroundings.

  She sat up and did the exaggerated arm stretch and yawn people only do in shows. It just felt right. She felt lighter as she got out of bed. As much as she fought it, her grounding and conversation with Hogan and the headmaster took a lot of the mental burden of finding Rachel off her. Maybe that made her a bad sister, but what could she do compared to them? She was just one lost teen in a city she didn’t know. As long as she still felt her feeling, Rachel was still out there. Hogan and BASTION were circling in. She had to trust that. In the meantime, she’d train like hell. And she’d be the weapon that made the final strike.

  Lauren left her room. There was a girl sitting on the couch in the living room as Lauren entered.

  No, she realized, not just some random girl. It was Grace.

  Christ, she looked different. In the cool light of morning, there was no glossy-lipped and rosy-cheeked beauty pageant face. She looked so… plain without all her makeup. Unrecognizable for a moment, like her face shape had somehow relaxed. Could makeup really do that?

  Grace looked up at her, one eye visible beneath her undone hair. She absently swirled a spoon through a bowl of uneaten cereal that had gone to mush. Her expression was pitiable. She looked the opposite of how Lauren felt waking up. Like a burden was sinking in.

  Lauren sat in the chair beside her. Her anger at Grace was still there, but now more like ashy embers than a hot fire. Not much worth reigniting.

  “I really fucked Friday up, didn’t I?” Grace mumbled. Her southern accent drawled much more unkempt than previously. “Was everyone laughing at me last night?”

  That’s what she was worried about? Lauren contained an eye roll.

  “No. No one was laughing at you. They actually wanted to hear about it, and I was the only one who was there. I told them what happened.”

  “I feel like I messed up my first chance to be a leader here,” Grace said. “I’m grounded for two weeks.”

  “Yeah. We all are.”

  She seemed surprised by that. Grace tucked her hair back away from her face.

  “You and Lucy too? ‘M sorry.”

  “Yeah, it’s whatever,” Lauren sighed. “You might be strong and tough with your powers, but a lot of people here aren’t. Maybe you should try actually protecting people next time instead of rushing in.”

  Grace nodded. “The headmaster said something similar. Do you think that’ll make people like me?”

  “I think it would be a good start.”

  Grace looked hopeful. Apparently she was unable to detect Lauren’s scathing undertone.

  “Thanks, Lauren.”

  Lucy came out of her room a while later. She had a small bag slung over her shoulder.

  “I’m going to my parent’s. I’ll be back for class tomorrow.”

  Lauren stood and accepted the hug she knew was coming. It was wild how strong and full of love Lucy’s hugs were after only knowing someone for less than a week.

  “Are you gonna be alright without me?” Lucy asked. Her eyes looked for permission to leave in Lauren's face.

  Lauren smiled. “It’s less than a day, Lucy. I think I can manage one day here.”

  “Okay.” Lucy squeezed her hand. “Come meet my parents?”

  Lauren followed Lucy out into the cool morning. Mist hung in the air, turning the pine trees inside and outside the fence into indistinct gray monoliths. They waited by the parking lot loop.

  The school’s gate receded, and a worn hatchback pulled around to them. Lucy’s parents both stepped out, and Lucy embraced them.

  “So many checkpoints to get through!” Lucy’s father said. He seemed like a happy, down to earth guy. His hair was back in a ponytail, and he was dressed in casual, colorful clothes. He had the build of a man who used to be more athletic, but had gotten softer over the years.

  “Doug,” he introduced himself to Lauren with a handshake.

  Lucy’s mother Jeanine was a late-forties version of her daughter. She had the same heart-shaped face with flowing hair, and beautiful green eyes.

  “We’re so happy Lucy is making friends here,” Jeanine said.

  Talking with them a bit, Lauren could tell neither of Lucy’s parents had a disciplinary bone in their body. But with a little flower child like Lucy, they probably didn’t need one. The Kane family finally left with a final hug from Lucy. She waved out the back passenger window as they took off.

  Before the gate even closed again, the school was missing something to Lauren without Lucy’s presence. Lauren didn’t let the lonely feeling settle. She went back to the dorms and knocked on door 5.

  Megumi answered the door. She wore an oversized shirt with only one button keeping it closed over her bra, and a pair of booty shorts. Lauren got a good look at the dark ink tattooed around her stomach and down her leg.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Is Thalia here?” Lauren asked.

  Megumi stared at her. She used a short nail to pick at a spot between her teeth, then flicked over Lauren’s shoulder.

  “I guess so. You don’t know how to text?”

  “I’m just checking—”

  “Whatever.”

  Megumi left the door open and walked back inside. Lauren entered, wondering if all teenage girls were this moody, including herself.

  Dorm 5 was identical to hers upstairs, except for the décor. Here, posters of metal and punk bands were attached haphazardly to the walls, each with creases and nicks that must have been earned in a previous bedroom. Used food and beverage containers were left on the dining table.

  Megumi rejoined Danielle on the couch and grabbed her phone.

  “’Sup?” the buff girl asked, barely glancing up from the football game on the TV.

  Lauren let herself into the hallway. She passed a bedroom with the door open and saw Thalia lying in bed inside.

  “Hey,” Lauren said, hand on the door frame.

  Thalia slid upward with her one good hand. “Hey. I was wondering if I had a visitor. Come in.”

  Thalia’s room was humid, and had an undercurrent of animal musk. Probably from the multiple terrariums and cages that took up not only her provided desk, but also some tables that had been brought in. They didn’t leave much floor space for Lauren to pick her way over to Thalia’s bed. She passed small furry rodents that looked up at her on their haunches, and snakes and reptiles lounging in logs or on tree branches.

  “Wow, this is something,” Lauren said as she sat at the edge of Thalia’s bed. She didn’t have much experience with animals.

  “Yeah.” Thalia winced slightly as she drew her legs toward her. “These are all my little guys. I know I have too many, but I just couldn’t choose who to leave at home.”

  “So being called Wild isn’t just a gimmick?”

  “Nope. We’re animal lovers. My family runs nature preserves across the globe. We fight animal exploitation and habitat loss. And we take in any animal that needs a home.”

  “That’s nice of you guys.”

  “What brings you here to the troll cave?” Thalia asked with a pointed look out the door. “I’ve asked those two to clean multiple times. They think Mary is our robot maid. I made her stop picking up after them.”

  “I just wanted to check on you,” Lauren said. “And Lucy’s gone for the day,” she added.

  “Ah, so I’m your next de-facto friend,” Thalia said.

  Lauren shifted. “It’s not like that—”

  “I’m kidding!” Thalia said, bumping her arm. “You’re such a tense girl. I’m the one who got shot. What do you have to worry about?”

  Thalia could see it in her eyes that Lauren did have something to worry about. She made her spill the beans. So Lauren spent the next ten minutes telling her about her life up until now.

  Thalia gave a low whistle, lying back on her pillow.

  “You’re not gonna go sneak out and look for her during our grounding, are you?”

  “No.”

  “Good, cause if you did, I’d have to go with, and I have a sore-ass arm, and we’d get in even more trouble. But I would go.”

  “I don’t want you to,” Lauren said. “I shouldn’t be going.” She was still trying to make that thought stick to herself. Hogan was handling it. He had only been on the case for a few days.

  “If you say so,” Thalia said.

  But the seed of doubt inside her was sprouting again.

  Lauren distracted herself for a while by being Thalia’s companion. They went and met up with Adam for lunch. She settled into being their background character as they talked about Adam’s new role as head of the foundation.

  After lunch, Thalia said she wanted to rest, her polite way of telling Lauren to go back home for a while. Adam had homework and reading he wanted to do. So Lauren returned to her dorm alone. Grace was now either gone or in her room, but Harper was back. Without a word between them, Lauren settled into watching a show with her.

  Bzzt.

  Her phone buzzed. Lauren sat up from a daze. She didn’t know if she was just asleep or not. It was now 8:35 PM. Sitting next to Harper had a strange way of making time pass. Did she eat dinner? It was hard to remember. Maybe she had grabbed something from the fridge.

  Lauren checked her phone, wondering who it could be. Maybe Lucy had something to tell her.

  New Message

  On Uptik.

  Lauren opened the app. There was only one person she had messaged on there. Sure enough, there was a red 1 next to her conversation with TheRealVigilance. Lauren’s heart quickened. She tried not to give anything away to Harper as she clicked it.

  Were you part of the armored truck raid the other day?

  Her thumbs shook as she typed.

  Yes.

  The convo died for a minute. Lauren had an idea. She slipped her school ID out of her pocket and onto her folded lap. She glanced at Harper, who was still watching TV. She took a photo of her ID and sent it. It had a picture of her they took on their way to school, the school’s name, a barcode, and a BASTION ID #. Maybe Vigilance had seen something like it before.

  Typing bubbles appeared again.

  What do you need help with?

  All of Lauren’s resolve to not sneak out was swiftly melting out of her. She thought of what to say. How much to say. What did Adam mention on Friday, before everything went down? He said that BASTION probably had a person monitoring every student’s phone. Was Vigilance a “vetted” person for her to talk to? He was a hero, but apparently didn’t know about the school. At what point would her monitor shut this down? Her phone was also probably a tracking device for them to find her if she snuck out. She had to think about this carefully and act quickly.

  My sister is missing in Pacific City. I need info. Can we meet?

  She sent the message. It went through. Any moment, she expected her phone screen to go dark and agents to kick down the front door. Her stomach twisted as she waited for signs of typing. Was she really about to do what she felt like she was going to? Hogan had to be smart enough to touch base with local heroes. Sneaking out would get her into more trouble, keep her planted for even longer than two weeks. But what if he had missed something? What if he dismissed this guy out of pocket? It was time Lauren got her own information, if she could.

  Where?

  Lauren closed Uptik and opened the map app. She zoomed in to where the forest met the outer edge of the city. There was a park there. Morgan Park. It had to be close enough for her to make it.

  Morgan Park.

  Another message took a minute to appear.

  In South Sierra? That’s a hike for me. But close to your school up there I’m guessing? I’ll be there.

  Thank you, she sent. She really was about to do this. Lauren was about to shut off her phone when another message appeared.

  It’s late. BASTION is okay with this?

  Shit.

  It’s fine. Just please be there.

  She hit the power button on her phone until it went dark. She didn’t know enough about phones to know if that would stop them from tracking her. Maybe someone wasn’t even watching her right now. Probably too much to hope. It was time to go.

  Harper watched her as Lauren sprang up and put on her jacket and boots. Her wallet and phone were in her pockets. She left the dorm.

  The sun had set over the trees, leaving behind a dusky twilight. Lauren raced down the stairs. No agents or school staff were running toward her location. That was a good sign. There was no using the Rosewell Express, not with her ID locked down. Which meant she’d have to get into town the hard way. She’d have to run like she did back to the lab.

  No one was around to watch her slip around the dorm building to the fence at the bottom of the slope. There were windows and balconies, but she didn’t have time to find a more private spot. Speed was prioritized over discretion. At any moment someone could appear to stop her.

  The fence was an easy climb. She dropped to the other side, hardly feeling it. And like that, she was off campus grounds. She turned and sprinted off into the woods.