Once again, Lauren stood in her room looking at herself in her costume.

  She had last worn it on the night of the fight and the morning of Pariah’s attack. There was now no trace of the hole that had been torn through it, or the blood that had fully overtaken the suit’s colors. Her red, black, and white spandex-like metamaterial had been cleaned and repaired thoroughly. It looked brand new. Or maybe it was a back-up costume.

  Either way was fine, she supposed. Her feelings on the suit were still complex. On one hand, it still felt wrong for her to be wearing it. She looked like some pretender in the mirror. It didn’t come with a mask, which would have allowed her to hide her scarred face from herself and the world. She thought it represented too much. On the other hand, the last time she had worn it she embraced it because her friends in costume embraced her. They made her feel less silly, less out of place. And she had pride being a Rosewell student, when facing all those New Lords and their allies. She knew looks were important, especially now. She should look like a hero with the others, even if she didn’t feel like one.

  But her complex feelings on the suit weren’t the problem currently. The problem was that if she wore it out, people would quite easily be able to see things shifting under her skin.

  That problem, unfortunately, had not resolved itself like she had hoped. At least not yet. Things still bulged and rippled across her skin at random intervals. If anything, worse after another night of rest. It wasn’t too hard to hide in the loose clothes she wore in her day-to-day life. In a suit tight enough to show the dent of her belly button (seriously, who puts a teenager in this?), it was definitely a problem.

  As she stared at herself in the mirror, something almost like a human face bulged from her belly, open mouth stretching the suit, before being subsumed again. That was new, and very disturbing. What the hell was her body doing?

  She clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and willed her flesh to still. It was a nice thought, but the parasite wasn’t deterred so easily. But she could feel it. And if she could feel it, that had to mean there was some way to take it out of her. The doctor who had put it in would know. Had to know.

  Things were getting weirder and weirder. Quietly, Lauren was worried about how much time she had left.

  She didn’t want others asking about it, or showing concern, or even worse, disgust. It would go down eventually. If not, she’d seek out help in private. They all had bigger concerns first. Like finding help getting Pacific City back in order. She’d wear her costume out, but she’d need something to cover the bulk of her body. And her jacket was gone. She missed that jacket.

  She poked her head out her bedroom door. “Lucy? Do you have a long coat I could borrow?”

  “Sure!”

  Lucy delivered a long brown coat a moment later, a sympathetic look on her face. “Still uncomfortable with your tight costume?”

  “Yeah,” Lauren said, accepting the coat. “Thanks.”

  Lucy tried easing open her door. “I can help—”

  “No, no,” Lauren insisted, keeping it closed except to allow her head and arm out. “I’ve got it. I’ll be out in a moment.”

  She brought the coat in and closed the door, locking it. She shouldered on the coat and cinched it tight around her waist. In the mirror, she could still see a wedge of the costume on her neck and chest, and the rest of it below her knees. That was fine. It would show she was wearing a costume without showing too much. It would do for now.

  Lauren met her three roommates out in the living room, each in costumes of their own. Lucy still had her forest witch look, although she preferred to keep the mask and false hair clipped to her waist when not in public. Lauren preferred it that way too. Harper sat on the couch in her off-white hooded robes, her black fabric mask around her neck. Grace stood in her red, white, and blue bodysuit, obviously happy with how tightly it hugged her and accentuated her curves, with the help of a push-up bra. Between her suit and her makeup, she looked more like a young woman than a teenager. Lauren thought about Grace’s beauty pageants, and how long she had been getting dolled up to look older. It didn’t seem right, but she kept her thoughts on it to herself.

  As Lauren came into the room, she again noticed the scent on Grace. Not as strong as on Reagan, but it was there. It was still so odd; Lucy and Harper were scentless, so was Anika, but Reagan and Grace both smelled like delicious morsels. She couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Lauren’s stomach growled, and something pushed against her spine. She also kept that to herself.

  Grace took in her coat and costume look, but didn’t verbalize any judgement. Maybe she was really trying to be friendly. “Are we ready to go?” she offered instead.

  It seemed they were, so they headed out.

  It was a blustery afternoon outside, making Lauren’s choice to take a coat seem smart anyways. The plan was for everyone going out to meet up in the cafeteria before leaving together. The four girls crossed the lawn and headed inside.

  Most of the others were already waiting, dressed in their costumes. Young Gun in his camo armor, Watchdog in his medic’s outfit, Demiguard in her black and yellow padded suit, and all the others. These days, “all the others” was a pretty thin descriptor. Lauren found herself missing the imposing bulk of Lady Titan, Lyra’s quiet composure, and even the silly grin of Bendabelle. She hoped they were all doing well, wherever they were now. At least most of her friends had stayed. She wouldn’t know what to do without them.

  The new boys Monty and Moof were both there, Monty in his lab coat and Moof in a costume of loose, fur-trimmed armor panels and a helmet shaped like the horned head of a bull. A circle filled with jagged lines was the insignia on his chest.

  “What are you?” Lauren asked him as she came around.

  “The Minotaur,” Moof said proudly. “Not to brag, but I have a pretty badass power.”

  Lauren hoped so. Somehow Moof had ended up on her team when they were dividing tasks yesterday. She didn’t feel great to take out a student who she hadn’t trained with or even seen in action at all, but at this point they’d have to take what they could get.

  “And you aren’t going out, right?” She double-checked with Monty.

  “No, I’m more of a technician than a fighter,” Monty said with a crooked grin. “At least for now.”

  She didn’t know what that meant, but it was all as well. The less time she had to spend around a super-scientist, the better.

  Reagan in costume as Demiguard stood over her map at the center of the cluster of students. Her black half mask covered her eyes in uniform white, and she had put black lipstick on her thin lips, a bit messy. That was new. It complimented her dark suit and hair.

  “You ready?” Demiguard asked.

  “If everyone else is,” Lauren answered. “Let’s go over it again.”

  Demiguard charted a route from mid-downtown to University Hill with her finger. “Team 1 goes to find the Fallen Stars. Lucy, Grace, Vivian, Edward, and Anika.”

  “The charmers,” Anika said with a grin of her own.

  Something like that. The Fallen Stars were apparently a group of middle-schoolers that had been invested with some serious cosmic power. The hope was that they had just gone a bit wayward in the chaos, and not become a full on criminal gang. Evergreen, American Angel, and especially Galaxy Girl could be some good big-sisterly hero role model energy for the young girls, if they were susceptible to that, and if not Anika’s punk edge and Edward’s heartthrob looks might help sweeten things.

  Demiguard started from the same point and led to the International District, the routes diverging after a short while. “Team 2 finds Bleak Street, if they can. Lauren, Thalia, Harper, Maggie-Lou, Ike, Moof, and Reagan.”

  “You refer to yourself in the third person, huh?” Anika drolled. Reagan glared at her.

  Reestablishing contact with the Skells would be useful too, in its own way. They knew the undercity better than anyone else, at least according to Mara. Lauren never actually got to benefit from that information much during and after the ordeal with the subterrans. But they had dealt with the pests, and that had to count for something. Lauren could imagine they had their own issues with the New Lords and other criminals, at least. And Mara was likely among them.

  Troy, Mary, and Billy were going to head out together as a semi-team 3, if only to fulfill the headmaster’s request of making appearances in public again. Lauren had said they would, and they were technically doing that, and maybe a few extra things on the side. The headmaster’s timetable was too slow. Every adult’s was. Lauren wouldn’t rush into things, but she wasn’t going to sit around all year either. Not while the bad guys were consolidating. Not now that she knew Rachel and Dr. Smythe were out there together. And not while Lauren was getting worse.

  Nathan would be the only one staying behind with Monty. It wasn’t Lauren’s place to tell him to go or stay, but he wanted to hang back until he had more practice with his powers. She didn’t really grasp what those powers were yet, but she couldn’t fault him for not being ready. There would be plenty of them out today.

  Lauren rapped on the tabletop, something that felt natural to do in a leadership role. “We know what we’re doing, then. Let’s meet at the express in 5.”

  She had been holding her breath as much as she could stand to throughout the brief meeting. All the smells were messing with her head. Maybe some air closer to the ocean would help with that.

  They broke apart. Lauren only went a few steps before someone was catching her attention in the corner of her vision. It was Vivian, she realized. She looked so different with her hair dyed brown. That was the point, she supposed.

  Vivian twirled some of her dyed hair nervously, looking guilty but wanting to talk to Lauren. Lauren brought her a few more feet away from the dispersing group.

  “What’s up?”

  She held her arm across her torso, obviously uncomfortable. Lauren waited patiently for her to find her words. The two of them hadn’t spoken much directly to each other before. Vivian seemed nice, though. There was just a lot of expectations on her shoulders. Lauren could only imagine how chafing that was.

  “I, uh… I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” Vivian said. Her voice was low, and as she said it she looked to the floor.

  Lauren didn’t understand. “Sorry for what?”

  “For Pariah.” Vivian said it like it should be obvious. “For him hurting you so badly.”

  Lauren still wasn’t getting it. “Why are you apologizing for that?”

  “Because he’s an Ollyrian, and I think he came here for me, and I should have been strong enough to stop him—”

  “Vivian, stop,” Lauren commanded. Vivian seemed startled, but she stopped speaking. Lauren touched her shoulder. “None of that is on you. None of what he did is on you at all. I’m sure others have already told you that, but now hear it from the girl who got her heart punched out. I don’t blame you. It doesn’t matter you’re part of the same species as him. Everything he did is on him. And that doesn’t make you weak for not stopping him.”

  Vivian’s eyes glistened. She seemed to appreciate Lauren in particular saying it. She nodded. Lauren brought her in for a hug.

  “Thank you,” Vivian said. “…Are you biting me?”

  Lauren had indeed taken the opportunity to start gently biting Vivian’s neck. She was also drooling on her. She broke the embrace and wiped her mouth, then Vivian’s neck with her cuff. “Sorry.”

  Vivian smelled amazing, just as good as Reagan did if not better. Lauren couldn’t help herself anymore. She stepped back. She really needed to get ahold of herself.

  “It’s okay,” Vivian said. She half-turned away, then hesitated. “…Director Weiss thinks it might be good for me to find ways to loosen my mental conditioning. She says it would make me a better hero, like Sentinel and Stargazer. But, I don’t know. Home wouldn’t like it. Do you think I should?”

  Lauren blinked. Was she seriously being asked for her opinion on if the single most powerful being on Earth should try to loosen their restrictions on violence? Life had gotten way too weird. It was only slightly less surprising, and also not surprising at all to hear that Director Weiss was still alive. Hopefully that meant Hogan was alright as well. He had seemed more like a ground agent, not likely to have been on the Nest at the time it went down. And someone should have told her by now if he was harmed. Not that he was her father or anything.

  “…I don’t know,” Lauren answered honestly. With everything going on with her, she was the last person around who should weigh in on that.

  “That’s alright,” Vivian said. “It’s probably impossible anyway…”

  Vivian left and Lucy switched places with her at Lauren’s side.

  “You alright?” Lucy checked. “You look a little… nauseous.”

  Lauren nodded. She felt that way. All the smells were so heady. It made her head swim. Not to mention the constant churning happening inside.

  “I’m fine. I just need some fresh air.”

  “If you want to stay behind—”

  “I’m fine,” Lauren insisted. It had to be her leading the way to the Skells. She was Mara’s only friend at Rosewell, and the others hadn’t properly met Baxter or any of the others. Truthfully though, she wasn’t feeling herself. At least today shouldn’t involve any fighting. They were trying diplomacy. “Just stay behind Vivian if things get hairy, okay?”

  Lucy nodded. Lauren thought it would be good for Lucy to have a mission, one that hopefully wouldn’t end up violent. It could show Lucy she had a place here where she could use words and her status as a hero to help. Maybe it would tip her towards staying.

  They left together for the express.

  . . .

  Half an hour later, Lauren sat on a rooftop with her team. All seven of them were in costume. Pacific City sat under a gray, drizzly sky. In the distance, large ships moved in the bay and pulled out into the choppy ocean. She expected the city to look more different than it did, for some reason. She couldn’t see the path of destruction from where she sat on a mid-sized International District building, only that the city’s largest tower was now missing from Downtown. The city didn’t look overrun by villains, but she supposed they would stay in the shadows for the most part, like Dr. Smythe did.

  Her team loitered, waiting for any of Haint’s little horrors to return from scouting. Lauren didn’t actually know how to navigate to Bleak Street, and it didn’t seem very searchable online. So Haint had sent a dozen of her creatures from her satchel down into the sewer to find it. She assured Lauren they were great scouts.

  Haint now leaned beside her in a jagged brown cloak with layers of fabric underneath that made Maggie-Lou look like some kind of monster made of cloth. Loose fabric bunched around her neck and tightly covered her face, making her look like a human-sized and shaped rag-doll with the way it clung to her eyes and nose and filled the inside of her mouth despite it allowing her to speak clearly. It was a freaky design, but pretty cool.

  Ranger Wild and Miss Eclipse both ranged, neither of them liking to stay still. Reagan brooded on her corner, as she did, while Young Gun and “The Minotaur” were off to the side talking.

  “Yeah, she played hockey, so I was just surprised when she came home with a boyfriend,” Ike was saying.

  “My older cousin doesn’t like being with anybody,” Moof said. “I didn’t understand until she explained it like food. Then I was like, oh, sex is your kale.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes but smiled. Hopefully things were going okay over in the University District, the next major hill over. There weren’t any visible explosions yet, at least. Fresh air did seem to be doing her some good. She still felt off, but things might’ve finally been starting to settle. Just an easy talk today, that’s all she had to do. Probably didn’t even need the backup. But it was good for the others to get out again. They had to see this place was theirs.

  Ranger Wild leaped back onto the rooftop at the same time Miss Eclipse walked in through a shadow. Both of them were on edge. Lauren immediately sat up, alert.

  “What is it?”

  “Bank robbery,” Thalia answered quickly. “Supervillains. The Fang Gang. Four of them, five blocks down. We heard the alarm. They’re going to be getting away soon.”

  The team snapped into action, gathering around. They looked to Lauren for orders.

  Stopping supervillains wasn’t the objective for the day, but it was a good opportunity to help. The more they helped, the more effective Rosewell would look, and the less monopoly the New Lords had. This could be good.

  “We’ll go stop them,” Lauren decided. Her team nodded, clearly raring to. “Everyone, stick together. Remember your basics. It’s like Ms. Almstead says, protecting people is most important. Keep them contained. This is our re-debut. Let’s make it count.”

  They broke away, following Ranger Wild along the metro line over the street down the block. Eclipse grabbed Moof, who had no way of traversing the rooftops himself, pulling him backward into shadow.

  Leaping across roofs, it wasn’t long before Lauren could hear the ring of an alarm sounding. People were running down the narrow streets. When they were within a block, she scaled down the side of a building with a series of hops and was soon at street level.

  Above the street was the elevated metro tracks, and across was a bank with golden lettering in some Asian script. People fled out the doors ahead of dark shapes larger than people moving inside. Lauren’s six teammates joined her at her side. They didn’t have much time to decide on a strategy before the doors burst open. It was immediately clear why they were called the Fang Gang.

  The first one to slink out was a deathly-skinny teenage girl with neon green hair, a black skirt, and a mesh top. Both hands were tipped with ten-inch daggers of nails. Vena, the New Lord who had slashed and poisoned Lauren’s face at the museum. But she wasn’t alone.

  Second out of the bank was a lumbering beast. Lauren recognized it from home: a horned lizard. Except this lizard was ten feet tall and stood on two feet. It wasn’t a human with a skin mutation, that much was obvious immediately; it had a tail, a fully reptilian head shape, and long digits that clutched two duffel bags bulging with loot. The only sign of any human characteristic was a vest tightly buttoned over its massive, scaly belly. It tilted its head at the teenagers across the street and licked one of its eyes with a long tongue.

  Third out of the bank was an adult woman in a lacy corset, a duffel bag secured around her, but she only appeared normal for a second before she reared back on a massive green snake tail that began at her waist. She had a long, severe face and silky black hair bound behind her head. Two very sharp looking blades looped around her hips. She also regarded the teens, a forked tongue flicking out of her mouth.

  Last to swagger out of the bank was a man in a long coat and brimmed hat. He tilted his head up, his eyes shining in the shadow covering his face. He grinned, and two long fangs were immediately visible at the forefront of his mouth. He put a hand on his hip, pulling back his coat and revealing the glint of a coiled whip.

  Things were still for a moment as the man, clearly the leader of the gang, came down the bank’s steps towards the street. His companions waited at the ready. He seemed ready for company, and not too concerned about it.

  “Are you our good-doers for the day?” The man asked in a drawl, across the street to Lauren’s group. “How does this work? We skirmish a bit, then—”

  Vena slinked forward, at the man’s elbow with eyes narrowed.

  “These aren’t the New Lords, Spitter!” Vena hissed. “They’re Rosewell.”

  Comprehension dawned on this Spitter’s face. He rubbed his stubble-covered jaw. “Ahh, the real young heroes. You haven’t been around for a while. I thought you all died and scattered.”

  “They should have,” Vena said.

  Snake woman and the lizard came forward when it became clear a fight was brewing. It sounded like these bank robbers were expecting to meet the New Lords and have a sham fight to keep up appearances. They had arrived and gotten in the way of that. Though Lauren’s team outnumbered them currently, things could turn bad if New Lords actually showed up. They had to be careful. But they couldn’t look weak. Their block was clear, but their were civilians at both ends of the street, and more in the windows above. No backing down now.

  “You’re outnumbered,” Lauren pointed out in her most authoritative voice, which hopefully sounded strong. “Put what you stole down, and this can be easy.”

  Those were hero-ish words, right?

  Spitter gave a dry rasp of a chuckle. “Who are you supposed to be, The Teenage Flasher?” Lauren looked down at the coat over her costume as Spitter and Vena chuckled. “Why don’t you give me a quick peek before we leave? And we are leaving, make no mistake. It can be around you, or through you.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Lauren looked at her six friends flanking her. She felt pretty damn special heading a team of six superheroes. Her friends filled her with confidence. Together, that’s how this was done. Demiguard, closest to her right nodded. They were all on the same page about this. Only one thing to do, then.

  “I guess it’s gonna have to be through us.”

  Spitter grinned. The lizard reared its head back, roaring and breathing fire simultaneously. That was gonna be something to watch for. The four villains charged, and Lauren led the assault from her side. Here it came.

  The snake woman on her coiled body was fastest forward. Her two exotic curved blades were in her hands. One came swinging for Lauren’s neck as they met in the middle of the street. The parasite inside was with her, granting her an enhanced sense of speed. She ducked the blade as it swung overhead. Then she was beside the woman’s slithering body, with Vena ahead.

  Lauren locked eyes with the teenager. She should have kept part of her attention on the snake woman. The end of her body lashed on its way out, plowing into Lauren. Her feet lost contact with the ground and she smashed into the side of a parked car.

  She grunted, but the collision wasn’t too bad. For her, at least. She left a significant indentation in the door. An internal tremor passed through her. She grimaced. Now was not the time for more shifting.

  Vena was on her. She held out her arm to block the ridiculously long and sharp nails coming for her. They slashed through the sleeve of Lucy’s coat and her costume. She waited for the sting of venom to course through her and sap her senses. If there was anything passed into her blood, she didn’t feel it. Must have been her immune system’s adaptation. At least her body was doing that right.

  This time, Vena didn’t stand back and taunt while she waited for her victim to weaken. Another slash came from her opposite hand. Lauren rolled with it, dodging the worst of the rake while twisting to kick Vena’s legs out from under her. She nearly toppled in her chunky boots, but the villain girl held her balance. Lauren sprang upwards. She called for bone to cover her knuckles, intending to deliver a solid punch that would end things quickly. In her peripherals she could see her friends struggling with the other three.

  For the first time, her bone weapons failed to manifest.

  Her hand went towards Vena exposed. She received a nail rake across her fist for the trouble. Lauren gasped. Vena’s toxin may have now been impotent against her, but her nails were still wickedly sharp. Vena’s other hand lanced toward her neck. Luckily, Lauren still had a strong reaction speed. She sidestepped.

  Vena overextended herself, thinking she had a killing angle on Lauren. Lauren brought her fist around and gave a regular punch to Vena’s ribs, covered in not much but a thin layer of skin and mesh fabric. Her hand may have been unprotected, but Lauren’s muscles were much stronger than a normal teenage girl’s. The hit left Vena gasping and wincing. Lauren wasn’t taking any chances. She gripped Vena’s head and slammed it into the glass window of the car they were still beside. Not hard enough to crack the glass or the girl’s skull, but plenty to make her limp and probably give her a concussion. She let the girl fall.

  Before her head hit the ground, Lauren was paying attention to the wider fight. It was a pitched battle. Rosewell’s advantage wasn’t as big as Lauren had hoped, even with Vena now down. This gang was obviously seasoned villains.

  Closest was the snake woman, her blades trying to strike Miss Eclipse, who has doing her best to block with temporary shields of shadow. Minotaur was being constricted in the coils of her snake body. Under his bull mask, his teeth gritted in strain.

  “I’ve had dreams like this, but it’s so much worse in real life!” Minotaur called.

  The giant horned lizard had dropped his duffle bags and was swiping at Ranger Wild, who tumbled around it and made the occasional jab. She vaulted over its tail and attempted to swipe at its back, but its hide was obviously thick. Haint’s little creatures crawled over it, attempting bites with their oversized teeth. The lizard opened its maw and exhaled a sweep of fire that blasted over the street, knocking Thalia backwards.

  That left Young Gun and Demiguard against Spitter. Lauren would’ve figured he’d have been the easiest to bring down, but that didn’t seem to be the case so far. The coat-clad man wielded a silver whip which curled and snapped like it had a mind of its own. A snakehead that comprised its tip bit at Young Gun, preventing him from getting an easy shot with either of his concussion pistols.

  Demiguard tried to close the distance with her shock batons. Spitter weaved around her, then opened his mouth unnaturally wide. His throat bulged for a moment, before he launched a wad of brackish fluid from his mouth. Demiguard just barely dodged at close range. The wad hit the car behind her and sizzled as it made contact, quickly beginning to eat through the glass and metal of the vehicle.

  None of the fights were going particularly well for them, though Vena was still the only one out so far. Lauren couldn’t decide where to intervene first. She was shaken by her weapons being suddenly unreliable. Fists and feet it would be, then.

  Minotaur and Miss Eclipse were in trouble. She’d hit the snake lady first. She took the first step of a charge.

  Something thumped onto the roof of the car behind her. She turned.

  A shirtless, muscular boy rose from a landing position. An animal skull mask covered his face. Wild hair blew in the cold wind. Bladed gauntlets covered the back of his hands. Trophy Hunter grinned down at her.

  “So you’re alive.”

  Lauren looked around again. Two other New Lords had appeared at the edge of the fight. One, a girl in a blank metal mask with a grey coat, holding two guns with wide mouths. And the other was a teenage girl with a deathly pallor, rot marring her face and clouding her eyes. She wore a black and purple suit with a skull decal across the chest, and held a scepter made of bone and topped with a skull.

  And there went most of the numbers advantage. This could go bad quickly. Lauren would just have to deal with it quickly.

  She turned back around and swatted at Trophy Hunter’s legs. He vaulted over her head and landed behind her back. She swiveled to catch him.

  “Ah ah, Lauren,” Trophy Hunter said pointedly. “Didn’t you hear? We’re the good guys now. You don’t want to look bad in front of the city by fighting us, do you?”

  She glanced down the street. There were still eyes and cameras on the fight. Fuck. She could see them twisting this against the Rosewell students. Like they’d need that. She held back her urge to go for the New Lord again. He was one of Lilith’s lieutenants, and might know where she had found Dr. Smythe. Or he’d know where to find Lilith. But her friends were in danger now. That could come after.

  Trophy Hunter grinned, seeing she had realized they were trapped. “C’mon, this won’t be so bad.”

  He ran off towards the fight. Lauren followed.

  Trophy Hunter threw himself in with Spitter’s fight against Young Gun and Demiguard. Lauren had no choice but to keep an eye on the situation while she tried to help Minotaur.

  Miss Eclipse was weakening under the barrage of blades. It was a cloudy day, but still, she probably had a certain limited reserve of shadow to call on before her supply was depleted.

  Lauren attacked the nearest coil of the snake body twisting around. She tried again to summon a spike or anything else. Nothing came. She had to settle with pounding on the thick flesh with her bare knuckles. Minotaur was just a few feet away, being jerked back and forth, what Lauren could see of his face going purple.

  Lauren’s hits caught the villain’s attention. She turned her human half around; eyes set with murder. She doubled back on herself, both blade tips aimed for Lauren.

  Lauren grabbed her snake body and rolled over it, narrowly avoiding the sharp tips. The snake lady’s head suddenly collided with something invisible in the air. She blinked, startled. Her swords dropped to her sides.

  Lauren didn’t waste time questioning it. She deftly stepped up the snake’s body and punched just as the woman half was turning back around. Lauren’s knuckles met her jaw, and she again bounced off the invisible surface apparently still in front of her.

  She uncoiled enough for Minotaur to slump and breathe.

  “I… put up my maze…” the boy gasped.

  Lauren saw it. The others around the street were coming up against more invisible surfaces, seemingly at random. The horned lizard charged at Thalia, but collided with a surface before it reached her. It spit flame that burned and died prematurely.

  Thalia stepped back, but something tripped her. Lauren saw what it was. Skeletal hands had broken through the street and grabbed her ankle. The zombie girl was behind her. She gestured with her scepter, and more hands clawed at the lizard, but much less effectively against its colossal feet.

  Spitter’s whip was finding it harder to defend him, now that he was trapped between invisible walls. Young Gun was on one side of him, and Demiguard the other. He fended off Ike on one side, but his attention was split. Demiguard somersaulted underneath another caustic torrent and popped up beside him. She beat at him with her sticks.

  The snake woman bucked under Lauren’s feet. She really should have moved earlier. Lauren hit a wall of her own and slid down it. Then several hundred pounds of snake body were on top of her, crushing her down into the corner. Her face was pressed to the side. She saw Trophy Hunter and the metal-masked girl appear behind Demiguard.

  “Demi—”

  Lauren tried to voice a warning, but the breath was crushed out of her.

  The girl raised one of her wide-mouthed guns and fired in Demiguard and Spitter’s direction. A wave of air rippled from the cannon, gaining size as it traveled down the corridor. It slammed into Demiguard and Spitter both, sending them sprawling down together.

  Lauren needed to get in there to help, but she needed to solve her own entanglement first. It would have been so easy to teach this coldblooded bitch to shift her weight if she could only summon a bone spike. As it was, she didn’t even have an angle to bite.

  The woman’s face appeared over her own, then a blade pointed down, aimed directly at Lauren’s head.

  There was nothing she could do except hope she would heal from her skull being spilt down the center.

  The wall pinning her suddenly gave out. Her head fell backwards, and she was now laying flat. The sword overshot its mark and impaled in the ground right over her scalp.

  Snake lady’s arm was in reach.

  Lauren grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull away, but Lauren’s grip was too strong. The other sword came around to cut Lauren’s wrist. Lauren tugged downwards, pulling her off balance. Her weight finally shifted. Lauren’s legs were free from being crushed. She sprang upwards, at the same time using the power in her legs to slam her forehead into the woman’s own.

  Snake lady reeled back, dropped her other sword. Lauren backhanded her as hard as she could. She might have been thirty feet long, but focusing on her head should still do the trick. She reared back, but like she had with Vena, Lauren grabbed her and slammed her into the nearest surface. It took her a moment to find the closest invisible wall. She nearly managed to coil her body around Lauren, but Lauren pressed her back and found a good angle to hit her from. Her head again bounced as Lauren punched it, and she slumped.

  Another down.

  Harper had disappeared somewhere. Down the corridor, Minotaur was still catching his breath. He pushed himself upwards. “I… reconfigured the maze when I saw you were in trouble,” he reported to Lauren.

  The chaos was ongoing. It was clear the three New Lords had no intention of helping the Rosewell students at all. Instead, they were doing their best to sabotage and get them killed with plausible deniability. Demiguard had slowed. It looked like she might have been caught by the end of Spitter’s whip at some point. One of her arms dragged. Young Gun tried to shoot him, just to be jostled by Trophy Hunter. The two boys got in each other’s face, looking ready to kill each other.

  The horned lizard was still fighting a corner of the maze and Haint’s swarming creatures, as Thalia navigated around to try to find a way to assist the others. They had all adapted to having to work inside the maze by now. Lauren could change that on them again.

  “Drop the walls,” Lauren ordered.

  “Done,” Minotaur said.

  Lauren sprinted unimpeded directly to Spitter. None of the others knew they could move freely yet. He only had a moment to react before Lauren plowed into him. Too slow.

  They slammed into a car, hard enough to shatter the windows. Spitter groaned. His neck swelled, the sign that he was about to let loose acid. Lauren grabbed his throat and prevented the bulge from moving any higher. He choked on it, which looked painful.

  “Lauren, watch out!”

  The lizard was stomping forward, liquid fire spilling from its mouth. She had to move, or she was going to be fried. She threw herself backwards. Something caught her foot as she went. Must have been the same trick the dead girl used. The lizard breathed a gout of fire over the scene. Lauren’s vision was washed in white heat. She only hoped she had avoided the worst of it, and her friends had too.

  When the gout ended, the first thing she realized was that the sleeve of her coat was on fire. She untied it and threw it off. The scent of burnt hair filled her nostrils. There went her outer covering. But that was least of her concern right now.

  Young Gun fired and shot the lizard in its eye. It reeled, screeching.

  Thalia slammed into one of it’s legs with strength beyond herself, while Miss Eclipse appeared on the other side of it and attempted to grapple it down with shadow tendrils.

  Spitter had managed to survive the fire, also having shed his coat. He retrieved his whip. One of Haint’s horrors was behind him. It latched onto his leg from behind and sunk its teeth into the meat of his thigh. He screamed a curse and threw it off. Blood seeped into his pantleg.

  Blood.

  To Lauren, it looked and smelled amazing. She stopped moving. Her mouth watered, and everything else besides the sight of the stain fell away from her concern.

  It was then that Lauren’s arm exploded.

  She snapped from her daze. At first, she thought her right arm was gone entirely. But it wasn’t. It was moving. They were moving.

  Her arm had burst apart into six separate tentacles, each attached to her right shoulder. Each had to have been at least eight feet long. One moment her arm was there, normal, and the next a nest of fleshy tendrils was snapping and flexing around her. They moved so fast they were hard to see, but she could at least tell they weren’t made of her normal flesh and skin. They were dark, ropey, corded, with strange protrusions and spikes and even fins. Each ended in a wicked tip of bone the size and shape of spearheads and scythes. They lashed and moved under some power that didn’t come from Lauren’s mind. At least no part of it she was conscious of.

  Lauren gaped, not knowing what to do or say. So this was what her body had been building. It was horrifying.

  Metal masked girl must have been freaked out too, because she dropped all pretense of cooperation. Both of her cannons pointed directly at Lauren. Spitter fled behind her.

  Lauren was paralyzed in shock. If acting was up to her, both the girl’s cannons would have fired and knocked her down. It wasn’t. The tentacles attached to where her arm had been somehow locked in on the threat, like each speared tip was the head of a hydra. They flexed forwards, and Lauren’s feet were dragged along without her say-so.

  The tentacles wrapped around both cannons and ripped them from the girl’s grip. She was battered aside, her guns discarded just as quickly. No, the tentacles didn’t want her. They were chasing Spitter, and his wound. He was fleeing down the street. Lauren kept putting one foot in front of the other in order to maintain balance and not start getting dragged by her new appendages. Whatever was happening with her friends and the firebreathing lizard was lost behind her.

  Lauren was catching up with the limping Spitter, whether she wanted to or not. She was slightly afraid of what her new limbs were planning to do once they caught up to him. She knew now the smell she had been craving was the smell of blood. Her body wanted it. So badly. It was about to get what it was after.

  The street began to rumble. Above them, the metro train came around the corner of the block towards them. It passed overhead, shadowing the street.

  Spitter was just twenty feet away. His whip was in his hand. It lashed upwards, and connected to some part of the train. He was lifted up and off his feet, being carried along with the train. His whip retracted to pull him alongside it. In a moment, he was gone with the train over Lauren’s head.

  Lauren almost sighed in relief. This was too much too quickly. Her tentacles had lost their prey, and she was actually glad for it. Now she could circle back and—

  She was pulled the opposite direction as her tentacles suddenly elongated, the spiked tips barely managing to bite into the end of the train. Lauren was pulled into the air screaming.

  She continued screaming as her body twirled and twisted in the wake of the train. Buildings passed in a blur, the street below growing more distant beyond her boots as her tentacles reeled her in.

  They continued shrinking until they were the length her arm had once been, and Lauren realized she was now clinging to the back door of the train. A metro employee stared at her wide-eyed from the other side of a glass window. She was about to pound on the door to be let in. Unfortunately, her tentacles had other plans. They had condensed into a sort of pseudo-arm formed of the lengths of flesh knotted together, each bone tip now one of her too-many fingers. That arm grabbed upwards and pulled Lauren with. She was forced to cooperate with her other arm, until she was dragged onto the roof of the train.

  Wind whipped past. Past her blowing hair, she could see Spitter also riding the top of the train towards the front, doing his best to remain balanced as the train jostled and turned. He looked back and saw Lauren.

  “Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me…”

  Lauren took unsteady steps forward towards him. The air carried the scent of his fresh blood. It smelled so good, Lauren was almost in agreement she needed it. Almost. Her rational brain was still very much frightened and wanting to disengage, to go back and help her friends.

  Spitter put two fingers in his mouth and blew a shrill whistle. It took a moment for something to happen, Lauren still lurching toward him.

  The emergency hatches on the top of the three cars between them were flung open. People crawled up to join them on the roof. Six people in street clothes, with scaled bandana masks covering their faces. Each held a weapon of some type, bats, or pipes or a pistol. So Spitter had some minions.

  The first one came charging recklessly, bat at the ready to swing. Even with her strange arm throwing her off, dodging was a trivial thing. Lauren grabbed the bat from him and used it on him on the backswing. The first thug went flying off the train.

  Lauren cringed. Hopefully he’d survive. There wasn’t exactly much room to stop them from falling.

  The next one fired a pistol at her. Lauren instinctively held up her twisted tentacle arm. Surprisingly, the flesh on it was strong enough to stop bullets. That was useful.

  Her arm didn’t wait for the thug to stop firing. It burst apart without her commanding it to do so, again becoming six long tentacles. The tentacles lashed and snared the gun-wielding thug, pulling her off her feet and sending her flying. They remained swaying defensively in front of Lauren. Maybe this was better than bone spikes and knuckles. If she could learn to control it. This was still all too much to handle.

  The last four came charging at once. They beat at the tentacles in front of Lauren, which lashed at them in return. Lauren tried to focus and get control of her new limbs. She felt them, but couldn't feel how to control them. They tingled like arms that had lost circulation. If anything, her trying to assert control seemed to make the limbs hesitate. The minions started beating them back, and Lauren didn’t have much train behind her to retreat to.

  Fuck it. She loosened her grip on the parasite’s limbs. She had to figure that’s what they were.

  Unbound, they worked much more effectively. They wrapped the minions tightly and shoved them each off the train.

  Their and Lauren’s attention turned again to the front of the train. Spitter was no longer there.

  She looked to the side, following her instincts. He had disembarked on a rooftop, which quickly passed.

  Again, the tentacles wouldn’t stand to let him get away. They grew until they grabbed the nearest ledge. Lauren was yanked involuntarily off the train. This time she had the sense to grab the lip of the building she had attached to even as she slammed into its side. She groaned and pulled herself up. These involuntary urges were getting tiresome fast, but she couldn’t stop them, any more than an ill person could stop vomiting.

  Spitter had evidently grown too tired or lost too much blood to continue fleeing. He doubled over and groaned as Lauren hopped to his rooftop. Her tentacles lashed and pulled forward like eager hounds on leashes.

  The villain had dropped his whip. He held both hands up.

  “Wait… please…”

  “I’m sorry,” Lauren said. She really was. She didn’t want to be doing this. She was just drawn to him, and it scared her.

  Spitter’s eyes caught something behind Lauren. She turned.

  Something plowed into her right shoulder, ripping it open. The force of it dragged her backwards, until she slammed into the side of the rooftop entrance. She was pinned in place. Her shoulder had been pierced by a shiny harpoon. It hurt, but not as bad as her first impalement had. And the same boy had done it. Trophy Hunter came leaping onto the roof.

  Lauren grabbed the harpoon with her left hand and prepared to yank it out. Trophy Hunter had a large revolver in his hand, and he was pointing it at her head.

  “Don’t touch that,” he said, cocking the hammer. “Unless you want a real bad headache.”

  Lauren dropped her hand, breathing through clenched teeth. Her tentacles writhed at her side, but apparently weren’t much use when pinned at the joint. She maybe could have yanked the harpoon out fast enough, and maybe could have taken a few shots from him, but everything was off about her. She couldn’t trust her limbs to not pull her directly to Spitter, still bleeding and gasping behind Trophy Hunter.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Lauren asked.

  “That’s a great question.”

  It wasn’t Trophy Hunter that answered, or Spitter. No, Lauren would know that chilling voice anywhere.

  “Long time no see my friend. How have you been?”

  Lilith smiled her dark, evil smile as she stepped around into Lauren’s field of view. She was in her private academy outfit, though her eyes were back to being green embers in pools of black. She wore a top hat on her straight, raven black hair. Just seeing her made Lauren’s skin crawl. More than it had been, anyway.

  Lilith looked her up and down, taking time to take in Lauren’s twitching tentacles.

  “Oh goodness, look at that. You get weirder every time we meet.”

  “Where the fuck did you find Dr. Smythe?!” Lauren demanded to know, spittle flying from her mouth as she strained forward. She almost ripped the harpoon out to go for Lilith, but again knew that wouldn’t have gone well.

  Lilith looked back at Trophy Hunter. “Oh, now she wants to talk?” Back to Lauren, “You know, last time we were face to face all those weeks ago, you didn’t much feel like talking. Where have you been, girly-pop? I missed you.”

  “I was in a fucking coma, after Pariah punched me.”

  Lilith’s eyes widened in delight and surprise. She started laughing. It went on for a solid minute, Lauren panting and Trophy Hunter holding his gun on her.

  “Oh… of course. Of course, I expect nothing less from you,” Lilith finally managed to say. “That’s just… that’s so you, I love it.”

  “Where’s my sister?”

  “I haven’t the faintest fucking idea,” Lilith said. “Nor the doctor. Honestly, I barely had to find them the first time. They seem to know what you’re up to. They wanted to watch you fight.”

  Lauren glowered at her, all it felt like she could really do in the situation. Maybe her team would show up, if things had gone their way.

  “Ooh, you’re so precious,” Lilith said in a saccharine voice. “The little kicked puppy who keeps getting up over and over and over again, wandering around in circles. Can’t you see that things aren’t going well for you and yours?”

  In the absence of an answer, Lilith tapped her chin.

  “I want to watch a movie with you. I’ve been waiting to show you it. It’s really good.”

  Spitter finally spoke up again. Lauren had almost forgotten he was there.

  “Lilith, this wasn’t the deal. You were just supposed to take Vena…”

  “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Lilith wheeled on him, and the older villain shrunk back. A pool of blood had wetted the ground around him from his wound. “You can leave anytime. I’m catching up with my friend.”

  Spitter left the rooftop.

  Lilith pulled some of her hair behind her ear, composing herself.

  “Sorry. Things have changed, as you can see. Have to take on new responsibilities. But!” She clapped. “I always have time for you. The movie!”

  Lauren watched as Lilith removed her top hat and set it on the ground. She reached into it and pulled out a white contraption that was far longer than the hat was deep. She set it on the ground and gave a playful shake of her butt as she unlatched it and pulled it upwards. It unfolded into a standing projector screen.

  Lilith picked her hat back up and came to lean beside Lauren. She pulled out a mini projector next, setting it on the ground at their feet and hitting a button.

  The projector lit the screen up, and Lauren’s stomach sank.

  Lilith fished into her hat and pulled out a carton of popcorn. She offered some to Lauren beside her. Lauren ignored it. Lilith began munching.

  The footage was of Lilith’s arena. An overhead shot, it showed Lauren sunk down on the outside of the booth where she had talked to her sister. Lilith and a small army were walking up the stairs towards her. Lauren was sitting in a pool of her own blood. Lilith pulled out her sword. They exchanged words.

  That was when Lauren’s memories abruptly cut out. But the footage continued. She watched it silently with a terrible feeling as to what was going to happen.

  She sprung upwards from where she sat. Lilith had the good sense to disappear suddenly. Lauren’s momentum carried her into the crowd.

  She was glad the footage was silent.

  She watched in resigned horror as her other self killed dozens. She did things she didn’t know she was physically capable of. Guts were spilled. Heads were ripped off. Sometimes the powers of others flashed. It wasn’t enough to stop her. She waded through gore she created. Eventually, the tide of bodies turned the opposite way. The rest tried to flee. Some made it. Some didn’t.

  Lilith continued obnoxiously eating her popcorn as she watched in rapt fascination.

  “Amazing,” Lilith breathed when it was finally over. “Do you remember any of that?”

  She actually found it beautiful, Lauren realized. She herself wanted to throw up. She barely felt her impaled shoulder over the disgust and self loathing overwhelming her. Just when she was starting to feel like maybe she could lead these other students. If only they knew. If only any of them did. They’d put her right back into a deep, dark hole. Just where she belonged. She couldn’t control herself.

  “No.”

  Lilith shook her head. “I’ve watched that every night since I last saw you. Carnage perfected. If Spitter and his crew were there that night, they would have fled as soon as they saw you. Others will. You mark me on that.”

  Lauren didn’t much care about having a fearsome reputation. Dread overwhelmed her. She could see the life she had slipping away.

  Her voice was hollow when she spoke. “What are you going to do with that?”

  Lilith made a show of thinking that over as she stepped away from the wall.

  “Well, I could release it to everyone, let others enjoy the show…” She smiled, waiting for Lauren to beg. She didn’t, and Lilith huffed. “Orrr… I could destroy every copy of it. Swear on my soul I’d do it, too.”

  “For what?”

  Lilith smirked. “You’re so lucky I have a job for you. You couldn’t have come back at a better time. Maudlin… you remember Maudlin, don’t you? Short, silent, creepy? She’s fled the rez. She has her little tantrums sometimes. I just want her to come home, where she belongs. Convince her to come back to my awaiting bosom, won’t you?”

  “Why?”

  “Why you?” Lilith asked. “Geez Lauren, you’re so chatty today, won’t even let me get a word in edgewise. I’ve tried to send some of my people to bring her back. Maudlin gets her hands on them, and well, it doesn’t go so good. But you and her, I think you have some things in common. She’ll listen to you. And if she doesn’t, you’ll survive her mutilations.” Lilith stuck her hand out. “Deal?”

  Lauren gave her a level stare.

  Lilith put her hand down. “You have a week. Look for her in Intershore. You’ll find her.”

  Lilith wanted Lauren to say something else. She waited, then finally moved to leave.

  “Lilith?”

  Lilith turned back, happy to hear Lauren’s voice again.

  “I’m gonna hurt you. All of you. This isn’t your city.”

  Lilith frowned.

  “No, it’s not. It’s not yours, either.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  Lauren’s tone was cold, clear, and sharp. She wasn’t clouded by anger. She was afraid of herself, but not of Lilith. That seemed to disturb the other girl. Lilith turned away, snapping for Trophy Hunter to follow. He lowered his gun and together they left.

  Lauren grunted and pulled the harpoon from her shoulder. It clattered down. Her tentacles shrunk and melded together back into her normal arm. She rolled her shoulder, the wound already stitching together.

  Lilith had given her a lot to think about. But first, she walked to the other side of the roof.

  She fell to her hands and knees and began lapping up the filthy, congealing puddle of blood.