Adam again brought his machete up, the edge of it gleaming in the harsh sunlight. He brought the blade down in a savage swing. A great tangle of vines fell to a heap at his feet. He chopped again and again, panting, clearing the way for his progress. Sweat beaded on his brow and had long since stained the pits and back of his shirt. He reached forward his other gloved hand and tore at the remaining thicket. Dropping it at his feet, he was finally able to survey the prize at the end of his hard work.

  More bare retaining wall.

  He sighed and wiped his face with his forearm. All morning had been dedicated to clearing the overgrown ivy at the bottom of the property. He glanced upwards. In the glare of the harsh winter sun, a Victorian manor sat on the top of a sloping hill. Smoke wafted from its rear patio. In every direction were woods, and somewhere beyond them, visible only from the house’s tower and widow’s walk was the town of Rider’s Hollow. All of it somewhere in the depths of New England. The house, and to some extent the town, had been Adam’s temporary home for the past six or so weeks.

  And boy, was he earning it.

  Adam was young, and reasonably fit, but the climb back up the hill was still hell on his leaden legs. The machete dragged in his loose grip. At the top, the ground flattened out. Behind the home was a tiled sitting area with a nearby arbor. A few garden boxes lie dormant. His mentor, Paradigm, reclined in an outdoor seat by a metal brazier crackling with a gentle wood fire.

  Once, Adam thought the planet-class superhero a mere vagrant on the streets of Pacific City. Now, he wasn’t exactly sure what to make of the man. He had cleaned, somewhat, and started wearing practical workman’s clothes instead of a tattered long coat and filthy rags. Still, he had his grimy beard, yellow teeth, and puffy face from more than a few years drinking. It was hard to believe the overweight man in front of him was one of Earth’s current defenders. Adam would have left his company weeks ago, if he hadn’t seen what the man was capable of.

  Paradigm shuffled the newspaper he was holding to the next page, peering over the top of it at Adam standing there panting like a dog.

  “You finish the ivy?” Paradigm asked.

  “No.”

  “Oh.” Paradigm turned his attention back to his paper. “Not sure what you’re bothering me for, then.”

  Adam stared at him, incredulous.

  “When are you going to teach me something useful again?”

  “I am teaching you useful things,” Paradigm said without looking back up from his paper.

  “How?!” Adam exploded. “Six weeks I’ve been doing this! You say we have to move to this rundown place in the middle of nowhere to train, so I drop my life and follow you. You say you’ll help me get my family back. You say I have to save the universe. But since we got here, all I do is clean! I sweep, I dust, I learn how to reshingle the roof, I weed the garden, I mow, I cut away the overgrowth, I fix up the furniture, I reorganize the basement, I change the lightbulbs, I clean the chimney, and I do it all over again. You’re just using me as free labor.”

  Paradigm nodded. “Sounds like good things for a man of your age to learn.”

  “How is any of this saving the universe?” Adam asked. “I could be back in Pacific City with my friends, having my lab research the problem my family was onto.”

  Paradigm folded his paper and used it to point at Adam’s chest as he leaned forward. “That’s the problem. You think everything can be quantified under a microscope. You need to learn that not all of reality exists in a sterile lab. Some things need to be felt to be believed.”

  Adam groaned. More hippy mumbo-jumbo. Honestly, if BASTION hadn’t been by to confirm Paradigm’s identity, and he hadn’t begun to show Adam how he could use his special eye, he wouldn’t be here listening to this crap. As it was, he was on the verge of giving up anyway.

  A week into being here, Paradigm had given Adam his one useful lesson. He had sat the boy down in the sun room of the house and had him meditate. He had Adam chant words that felt strange on his tongue, and focus on the darkness in his closed eyes. He went on for hours this way, until he had a vision.

  Adam saw his family again. They were all together, a tribe of Atlases, living in some ruins with an alien sky overhead. They were not sitting idle. Adam saw them building things from the materials they had on hand, making plans, gathering food and water, cooking, and building shelter. They were not only surviving, but still collaborating on ways to improve their situation, return home, and even stop the Invaders’ plans. Adam saw it all, but he could feel he was millions of miles away from them, and could only be a silent, invisible presence.

  Because Paradigm had taught him how to see they were alive, Adam stayed. Still, he wanted more progress.

  Paradigm apprised him for a moment. Apparently he found something favorable that he hadn’t before.

  “Sit down,” Paradigm ordered. Adam didn’t need to be told twice. He collapsed onto a woodcutting stump behind him. Paradigm nodded to the looming house. “D’ya know whose that was?”

  “No,” Adam said. “You haven’t told me.”

  “Maybe because you never asked right,” Paradigm said. He stroked his beard. “This house belonged to Vera Vex, the Arch Arcanist of Earth.”

  Adam’s mouth parted in surprise at he looked back up at the old house with a fresh perspective. He had been fixing up Vera Vex’s house? She was the most powerful spellcaster on Earth. Like too many others, she had died or gone missing on Invasion Day.

  “I thought she lived in Beacon City,” Adam said.

  “She did,” Paradigm answered. “Vex had residences and sanctuaries all over the globe. This was one of them. The Vorpal House. It’s built on a leyline. This whole area is a confluence of energies.”

  A magical property. Adam hadn’t felt a thing. Then again, he had no idea what magic felt like. That was more the purview of his adventurous family members.

  “Is that why we’re here? Are you her replacement?”

  “Not exactly. Though I do fill a similar role,” Paradigm said. Adam listened intently. This was the most direct information he was getting in his entire time here. Whenever he asked previously, Paradigm had told him in due time. It seemed the time had now come. “I don’t practice magic per se, though I am something of a dimensional guardian like Vera was. I was assigned here to your Earth after her passing. You can think of me as something like a reality cop.”

  Adam touched the side of his head, remembering his eye. “Is my eye magical?”

  Paradigm shrugged. “Magic. Psionics. Ultra-genes. It all comes from the same source. Have you ever heard of the Primordials, Adam?”

  He shook his head. Not in all his studies.

  “Not many regular folk do,” Paradigm said. “They’re ancient, ancient beings. If anything came before them, we don’t know what. Gods were mere servants to them. Entire dimensions were their playgrounds and test chambers. They’re responsible for everything as we know it.”

  “What does that have to do with my eye and the Invaders?” Adam asked.

  Paradigm looked into the fire. The glow reflected off him. He spoke somberly.

  “You call them the Invaders. We call them the Nodvak. As far as we can tell, they were made to be the recyclers of the Primordials. Entropy made manifest. When worlds crumble, they’re there to collect. They throw what they find into the great chasm in the center of reality.”

  So, they had a name. And not just that, but a purpose. It had always been assumed they were an inter-dimensional conquering force. To hear they were only janitors was almost comical, if they weren’t so horrific.

  “This world wasn’t ready to be recycled,” Adam said.

  “No, it wasn’t,” Paradigm said, again thoughtfully stroking his chin. “The Nodvak seem to have gone wrong after who knows how many billions of years. They need to be either redirected or shut down, before they destroy it all. That’s what we need to do.”

  The immense pressure once again bore down on Adam. He could feel his chest tightening with panic. All these weeks, he had hoped Paradigm had some grand plan he was waiting to reveal. It was beginning to sound like he didn’t. All Adam wanted was to bring his family home, so they could solve the issue.

  “And my eye?”

  Paradigm gazed up at him. “You have a piece of a Primordial in your head, Adam. Don’t ask me how or why. But you may be one of the few beings in all of the existence with the potential to command the Nodvak to change their course.”

  Adam nearly swooned off the stump. He grabbed the rough surface with his hand and braced, feeling the splinters dig into his palm. A piece of a god beyond the gods, in his head. And he was supposed to learn how to use it. Any day now, he was going to wake up back in his bed at home, and tell his sister about his crazy dream.

  “…These people you work for, these… reality cops, do they know how I’m supposed to do this?”

  “No. We kinda gotta figure it out.”

  Adam nodded. Fantastic.

  Paradigm stood. Adam was again reminded just how tall he was. He stood over Adam and the fire, seeming to take up Adam’s entire field of view. He clapped his hands together.

  “It isn’t all hopeless. There are other ancient pieces of the Primordials scattered across the multiverse. You’re going to find them. I think the more you interact with them, the better your perspective will be. Maybe it’s time to try, see what happens.”

  “…Across the entire multiverse?” Adam’s head spun wondering where to even start. “How? If I can travel the multiverse, I want to find my family.”

  “You will. But you’ll need practice, and strength. Searching for these other pieces will give you both of those. Get up, get up,” Paradigm said, motioning for Adam to rise. He stood. His mentor held him by the shoulders. “I brought you to this house because it’s a place where normal boundaries are weak. Things move freer here. And the tasks you did weren’t pointless. They were all to clear your head. You need to be away from the bustle of civilization, do work to prepare your body and mind.”

  “So this whole time, you were training me?”

  He poked Adam in the center of his forehead. “Training you not to overthink.”

  Adam flinched. “Okay. So what do I do?”

  Paradigm turned him around. Adam faced the sloping hill and the bare woods beyond.

  “Let’s see if you’re able to do this yet. Don’t think. Close your eyes.”

  Adam closed them. He tried not to think. Was this about to work? He felt his eye active before, but never consciously channeled it. He didn’t even know he could. He was thinking too much. They really glossed over the part about him having an ancient god in his head. Paradigm said not to think. Now he was thinking about overthinking. How could you just stop thinking?

  “Feel it,” Paradigm said behind him. “Feel where you should be right now. See it. Visualize it.”

  He tried visualizing his family. He saw them all together. He felt the warmth and love of being with them. He tried to will them into his vision again. He wanted to be with loved ones. He wanted them all to be okay.

  There was nothing for a while, just spots in the darkness of his vision. He tried breathing deeply.

  “I don’t know…”

  “Be quiet. Just keep looking for it.”

  He breathed in. Something took form in the distance. It was more permanent than the shifting spots. Lines appeared, growing sharper and clearer. They formed a rectangle. A door.

  “I see something,” Adam said.

  “Step into it.”

  “But what about—”

  Paradigm shushed him. “Don’t lose it, Adam. This is the first step. If you’re ready, then you’re ready. I’ll find you later, just like I did. I should go update my employers anyway. Follow your eye. Trust its path. It will lead you to where you need to be.”

  He took a step forward. He seemed to be stepping more in his mind than in his body. The doorway came to him. He opened it with his hand.

  For a moment, everything was bright.

  The cold changed. It was more wet and breezy. He opened his eyes.

  Adam was standing on a damp sidewalk. He was in a suburb. Overhead were gray rain clouds in all directions. Dead leaves carried down the street into storm drains. Houses lined the street. A hatchback drove past.

  Adam had a feeling he had traveled very far suddenly. Vertigo overtook him.

  He had just teleported. He had powers.

  Across the street from where he stood was a green bungalow, slightly elevated on a small lawn. A driveway led up to a detached garage. Warm light glowed in the house’s windows.

  This is where his eye had led him? He had a pretty certain feeling another piece of a Primordial was not in the house, or any other on the street for that matter. He still couldn’t believe what Paradigm had told him. He was used to strangeness, or at least he was supposed to be, but this went beyond the pale. His eye buzzed from use. He felt the beginnings of a headache.

  He had no idea where he was, so he figured he might as well step up to the house his eye had taken him to and ask for directions. Maybe he was somewhere in California, close to the school. It would be good to see his friends again. He wasn’t there for the attack, but he met them in Winterhaven and stayed for a week to be with them. After that, it was to the house with Paradigm. He tried to keep in touch with Thalia. It was hard to keep his phone or his communicator charged with the Vorpal House’s inconsistent at best electricity. He knew things were rough, and he wanted to be there for them, but there wasn’t much for him to do. Training to rescue his family seemed more practical.

  He crossed the street, climbed the cracked stone steps that cut through the lawn, mounted the porch and knocked on the door. He held his hands clasped behind him, trying to look nonthreatening.

  A woman answered the door. Something about her was immediately familiar, though Adam was sure he hadn’t met her before. She was full-figured and had brown, curly hair. She gave Adam a friendly, open smile. Her eyes were baby blue.

  “Hi, can I help you?” the woman chirped.

  “Ah, I’m hoping so,” Adam said. “Can you tell me where I—”

  The woman suddenly began screeching. Her hands flapped wildly. Adam was afraid he had done something terribly wrong. He backed away.

  “Mitch!” the woman called. “It’s Adam Atlas! Adam Atlas is at our front door!”

  A man her age skidded from around a corner behind her like he had been waiting. He was tall and blonde, and wearing suspenders over a buttoned short-sleeve shirt. He adjusted his glasses as he strode forward.

  “Adam Atlas,” the man marveled. He reached over presumably his wife to shake Adam’s hand. Adam followed his instinct and shook it. “What are you doing here? Did you hear about the patent I filed for the Omni-Analytron Interface Matrix? Of course you did, your family is on the cutting edge of everything!”

  Adam was lost. “The uh…” They were still shaking hands.

  “Come in, come in!” The woman pulled Adam inside. He was guided to the couch in their quaint living room. A cup of herbal tea was placed in his hands in record time. Mitch paced back and forth while his wife introduced them.

  “I’m Dr. Jenna Greibert, and this is my husband Dr. Mitch Greibert,” the woman said.

  “Oh, he surely knows that Jenna!” Mitch said. “Why else would he be here?”

  “Could be for my stellar work in biochemistry,” Jenna said with a proud hand on her chest. “Adam, which one of us are you here to recruit?”

  “Or both!” Mitch said eagerly.

  Adam had a feeling he knew who these people were, if not the exact mechanics of how he had ended up at their house.

  “…Are you two Annabelle’s parents?” Adam guessed.

  They both froze their nervous movements, staring at him with wide eyes.

  “You’re… Adam? Annabelle’s Adam?” Mitch asked.

  Jenna fainted. Luckily there was a recliner behind her to catch her.

  The male Dr. Greibert gestured Adam to the hall while he tended to his wife. He got up and wandered down it after finding the light switch. He found the restroom, their bedroom, and an office, which left the last door at the end of the hall. He went to knock, and hesitated.

  He tried picturing his loved ones, and apparently his eye had brought him to Annabelle. It made sense, if that’s what his eye could do. He thought about her almost as much as his missing family. And now here he was, right in front of her door. That had to mean something.

  What was there to say, after all these weeks? He never ended up reaching back out to her. Every day made the silence heavier and harder to break. He distracted himself with the labor he was put on, but his mind left Annabelle only temporarily. His heart was still heavy over how he treated her. He never knew what to say to make things right. Maybe there wasn’t anything. He told himself it was best to stay away. But now his eye had led him to her home, for some reason. Maybe it was time to try. And if she wanted him gone, he would be.

  He knocked. “Annabelle? …It’s Adam.”

  He heard movement in the bedroom. A bed creaked, things were moved aside. The doorknob turned, and an eye glanced at him quickly before the door slammed shut again. Adam sighed.

  The door opened again. Standing there was a boy. He was six feet, well taller than Adam, with a neat crewcut and a chiseled body. He jutted out his lantern jaw. An impressive specimen, to be sure. Almost seemed designed to make Adam jealous. Whoever this mystery man was, he just happened to be wearing a pink shirt with the characters from Annabelle’s favorite childhood show stretched across his pectorals and abs. And he just happened to have the same glossy sheen to his skin that Annabelle did.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Adam looked him up and down. “Really?”

  “Hey,” the guy grunted. “I’m… Daxer. Annabelle’s new boyfriend.”

  “Oh, I see,” Adam said, nodding. “Does Annabelle happen to be in there with you, Daxer?”

  He sniffed, looking nonchalant. “Maybe. What do you want?”

  “Well, I don’t know if Annabelle told you this, but I was kind of a shitty boyfriend to her. And I wanted to apologize. I was too scared to, but I guess the universe has given me the opportunity. I was stressed out of my mind, and I let myself be turned away from her when she was just trying to be supportive of me. I was trying to do too much, and I was an idiot. I trusted the wrong people. And… I don’t expect her back, or to forgive me. I just wanted to say I know I was wrong, and I treated her like shit. So, I’m sorry.”

  Daxer’s lip trembled. He looked very touched by Adam’s words, for a guy now dating his ex.

  “One moment,” he said. He closed the door, and it reopened a second later to reveal Annabelle in his place. She glomped onto Adam and wrapped him in her boa-constrictor hug.

  “I forgive you!” Annabelle said.

  Adam cracked a grin. “You’re leaving Daxer just like that?”

  Annabelle smiled up at him. She leaned in close. “Just between you and me, he had a really big dick, but not much between the ears.”

  “Well, I’m sure it's in there somewhere if you miss it.”

  Annabelle giggled as she snuggled against her boyfriend.

  Adam stayed for dinner. It was spaghetti night, served by Annabelle’s dad. They sat at their small kitchen table just big enough for the four of them. Adam barely had time to appreciate the food with the million and one questions Annabelle’s parents volleyed at him. All of them about his family and their work. He had his canned responses of course, from his years of PR work, but they weren’t very up to date these days. He was internally disheartened to think about his family, and their struggles wherever they were lost out in the multiverse. He could tell Annabelle sensed something was different for the worse. They had a lot of catching up to do. They didn’t get into it in front of the doctors.

  The conversation moved to be about Rosewell. Adam admitted he hadn’t been at the school for a while, instead being on his own study with a superhero. Again, he was evasive.

  “I hope all those students are alright,” Jenna fretted. “We brought poor Annabelle here home as soon as that tragedy struck.”

  “Are you going back?” Annabelle asked across the table to Adam.

  “I think so,” Adam said. “At least to check on them. I have to do… further studies abroad for my program. But I’m hoping Rosewell can still be my base, like it was. It’s home to me right now.”

  Atlas Tower, empty as it was certainly wasn’t home right now. Neither was the Vorpal House with Paradigm. No, he wanted to be back among his people. If he could travel anywhere, as his eye seemed to let him, Rosewell could be where he rested his head.

  Annabelle nodded. “I’m going back, too,” she said to her parents.

  Forks lowered. Everyone around the table was immediately dismayed.

  “Anna, sweetheart…” her father said.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea…” Adam tried to say.

  Annabelle shook her head vigorously to dispel their doubts, blobby curls bouncing. “I’m going. It’s been on my mind to go back to Rosewell, Adam or not. I don’t belong here. I know it’s dangerous, but they accept me for who I am there.” She looked down. “Well, most of the time…”

  Adam’s heart twinged with guilt.

  “Anyways, I’m going,” Annabelle said, spearing a meatball determinedly.

  Her parents glanced at each other.

  “Well… if that’s what you want to do, we’ll sign off on it again,” her mother said. “Just please be safe down there, and look after each other.”

  “We will,” Adam promised. He was worried about her being in danger, but glad at the thought of her having his back. Somewhere along the way, he had fallen for his girlfriend. He needed her now more than ever. No more of them being divided.

  Annabelle smiled at him across the table.

  In her bedroom, Adam sat on Annabelle’s bed while she packed her things. Quietly, he told her about the events of the past six weeks. His family disappearing, being taken in by Paradigm, and the day’s revelations about his eye apparently being a piece of a god. He still didn’t know how to fully comprehend it.

  Annabelle looked up at him in concern as she shoved a pink unicorn plushy into her bag. “You have to save the universe?”

  Adam nodded. “Sounds like it. I’d start with my family, but apparently I have to do one to do the other. Or maybe I can pick them up along the way? I don’t know yet.”

  “I’m sorry,” Annabelle said. “I wish I was there for you through all of this.”

  “It’s not on you at all,” Adam insisted. “I was an idiot. I didn’t know what I was doing. I let people get in my head… I need to go back to Pacific City. And then I need to figure out this quest for other pieces I’m supposed to be looking for.”

  Annabelle nodded and put a cap firmly on her head. She put her hands on her hips, taking a hero pose. “Then let’s do it. Bendabelle and Adam Atlas. Let’s save your family and the universe. I’m ready.”

  Adam stood. “Yeah, well, one day at a time. Let’s get home first.”

  “Deal.”

  Adam didn’t try testing his eye again, figuring one test trip was enough for one day. It clearly wasn’t going to take him to his family yet, despite his best efforts. Annabelle was a good start, though.

  It took them a few hours by commercial flight to land in Pacific City. He called ahead and notified the school he was returning, as did Annabelle’s parents. It was late and well dark by the time they made it to the Rosewell Express. It was good being back in the city, after months with only the slovenly Paradigm as company for Adam. No more drafty century-old room with flickering lights. Annabelle rested her head on his shoulder as the express took them into the mountain, and he rested his head on hers. The future felt overwhelming. He wasn’t ready for the business of gods and their creations. But if he had his friends and his girlfriend, things couldn’t be all bad. One day at a time.

  The two of them took in the damage done to campus quietly when they arrived. He shuddered, thinking about what the rogue Ollyrian had done. Poor Terry. And Lauren. He wondered how she was doing. It only just occurred to him to think about Atlas West. They were in dire need of a checkup. He had been out of the world for too long.

  He and Annabelle dropped their things at their dorms before walking together to the lounge, where they suspected people might be late into the night. He could see the lights on inside. Adam tried to think of something clever to say with his grand reentrance, something to lift people’s moods. He came up blank before he was pulling on the doors and standing in the entryway.

  One after another, over a dozen heads turned to look at him.

  “…Hi,” he said.

  “Adam!”

  His friends and classmates rushed to him at various speeds. Lucy was first, being one of the nearest, crashing into him and pulling him down to kiss him on the cheek rapidly. She was the only girl he knew who could do that and have it feel completely platonic, such was her affection for her friends. He patted her on the back and smiled.

  Adam was surprised seeing Lauren up and on her feet. She brought him into a full hug, which he returned gladly. By then, others had stepped up, mostly faces he recognized. A few boys he didn’t. It was more comforting than he imagined, seeing all of them again, even with the class diminished. He was among his second family again, and everything else could wait a minute. Here was a place he could rest.

  Thalia shouldered her way through the crowd, her eyes locked on Adam. He held out his arms to give her the tightest hug of them all. He missed his best friend dearly.

  Thalia grabbed his arms, but a hug wasn’t what she was after. Her head craned in for a kiss to his lips. Adam instinctively pulled back.

  Thalia locked up as her attempted kiss failed. An awkward moment stretched out as all eyes were on them.

  Adam’s mind went to their conversation they had when he was crossing the country. They had exchanged “I love you”s. He cringed, he cheeks heating. Everyone was staring. They clearly meant the words differently.

  In the quiet, Annabelle came springing inside. Except she wasn’t Annabelle. She had shapeshifted into a girl with brown hair, in a green leotard with a logo of a beaver head on the chest. A beaver tail wagged from her lower back. Two massive buck teeth jutted from her upper lip.

  “And I’m Beaver Girl! Canada’s beaver-themed superhero! I’m here to join Rosewell, eh?”

  Everyone gathered glanced between Thalia and Annabelle. Annabelle clearly hadn’t seen what Thalia had just done, given she was eagerly awaiting people’s reaction to her gag. She must’ve hung back for a moment outside.

  She shifted back into Annabelle. “Sorry. Poor taste after Terry, I guess…” She walked past Adam and Thalia, both of them frozen in place. “Reagan! I’m back! You don’t have to live alone anymore, yay!”

  Thalia’s cheeks flushed as the welcoming crowd dispersed.

  “Thalia—”

  “Don’t.” She pushed past him. “I’m such an idiot…” he heard her mutter as she left for outside.

  He sighed, but didn’t chase her. Just when it seemed things were good between them again. He thought maybe she had come to terms with him being with Annabelle, and they could all move into the future together. It seemed she was more thinking she was replacing Annabelle.

  Annabelle seemed in the mood to dance, so she pulled Lucy to the dance floor. Better her than Adam, for now. His body ached from the constant work Paradigm put him through. He’d rather drink and commiserate tonight, and spend a day or two resting. Whatever his destiny was, it would have to wait a bit longer. He pulled up the bar.

  “My favorite customer’s back,” Maeve the young, piercing-studded bartender said.

  “I’m your favorite?”

  She shrugged. “You asked my name once, so that was nice. Ginger beer?”

  “You know it,” Adam said with a weary smile.

  He brought his drink over to Lauren sitting at a booth. He slid in across from her. He took a sip as he regarded his classmate risen from the dead.

  Honestly, Adam hadn’t given much thought to Lauren when they first met. She seemed a bit rough around the edges, guarded, and always looking around as if for an exit. She was a quieter accessory to the more extroverted Lucy, if anything. How things could change in just half a year.

  Already, Lauren looked older. Her face was a bit longer and fuller, her shoulders just a fraction wider. He could see the beginnings of the adult face and body she’d have for the rest of her life. She wasn’t especially pretty, but not ugly either. Her two scars gave her most of her distinct character. Not that Adam’s opinions on such things mattered, or that he’d share them. As she lounged, she did so with the quiet composure of someone self-assured of their power. He wondered if she was even aware of that confidence. A battle played in her eyes that no one else was privy to. Maybe it was just his intuition, or maybe it was some arcane knowledge from his emerging powers.

  “How’re things?” Adam asked.

  “Oh, you know,” Lauren answered. “The horrors.”

  “Indeed,” he agreed.

  She shifted and looked at him. He thought she might start a conversation about what he had been up to, or her convalescing, or something about the school and class. What she talked about instead caught him by surprise.

  “Girls like you,” Lauren stated.

  Adam swilled his drink in its bottle. That didn’t always feel like such a good thing. “Some do.”

  It was then that Adam noticed Lauren was a point in a triangle spanning the room. Anika glanced at her from the bar, looking like she was trying to attract Lauren over. On the far side of the dance floor, Reagan was casting much more furtive glances Lauren’s way. Adam cocked an eyebrow.

  “What do I do if I want to try having a relationship and being a normal teen with one girl, but also feel like having mean sex with another girl would fundamentally fix something in me?”

  Adam coughed on his spicy beverage. It took him a moment to recover. He forgot all about his looming responsibilities and slipped into the mindset of a teen ready to hear drama.

  “…What have you been up to?”

  Lauren gave him the lowdown on how things had been since she had woken up. She told him in a low voice about her shifting body, her strange urges, and kissing Reagan. She quieted when others passed or stopped by, giving Adam the sense he was her first confidant about these things. He listened intently, giving her his full attention.

  “Wow,” he said at the end. “Things change.”

  “What should I do?” Lauren asked again.

  “About the girls?” Adam shook his head. “After every way I’ve messed up my relationships with girls, all I can suggest is pick one to keep close and stick with her. Put up boundaries with everyone else.” After a moment, he shrugged. “Or hell, I don’t know, maybe girls who like other girls are better at sharing.”

  That didn’t seem to completely mollify her, but it was the best Adam could offer. They chatted for a bit longer before Annabelle and Lucy came back to join them. Adam told them all about his new ability to teleport and see visions. He didn’t yet tell them about what Paradigm had divulged earlier in the day. Not that he didn’t trust them, just that he still didn’t know how much of it to believe. Annabelle followed his lead on it.

  They said goodnight to the girls after a while, and to the hangout as a whole. Adam and Annabelle walked arm and arm together to the dorms, an unspoken understanding that they were spending the night with each other for the first time in a while.

  “Lucy told me Thalia leaned in to kiss you,” Annabelle brought up before Adam could.

  “I was going to tell you when we were alone,” Adam said. “…I don’t know what to do with her. I hate this limbo we keep finding ourselves in. I think she thought you and I weren’t together anymore.”

  “She wants to be with you,” Annabelle said.

  “I guess she does,” Adam sighed. “Maybe it’s time I start distancing for a bit. Again.”

  “It’s up to you,” Annabelle said, squeezing his arm in her grip. “I trust you. I love you, Adam.”

  “I love you too,” Adam said immediately. That was the first time they had ever said it to each other. He was surprised how easily it slipped out of him. It felt right to say. He really was in love with Annabelle. He was also surprised by her trust, after all that had happened. He wasn’t sure he even trusted himself to know best. But he’d try to do better.

  Dorm 2 was more or less how he remembered it, which made sense given that none of Adam’s roommates had left. Edward was inside on the living room couch, reading a thick leather book by lamplight as they came in. He had been at the lounge earlier, but had left after a while. Still, he greeted Adam and Annabelle back again.

  “Good to see you both back,” Edward said, closing his book.

  “Good to see you too,” Adam said. “Don’t let us interrupt you, we’re just going to slink off to my room and get some sleep.” He rubbed his sore lower back for emphasis.

  Edward stood and stepped forward a bit. “Actually, I was wondering if we could talk for a moment now that you’re back.”

  Adam took in his roommate. Edward looked uncommonly flustered by something. He wasn’t typically a guy to be visibly bothered. Apparently Adam was everyone’s trusted ear tonight.

  He kissed Annabelle on her cheek. “I’ll meet you in my room in a minute, love.”

  She left them and closed Adam’s door. He heard the shower start up in his room.

  The two roommates leaned against the kitchen bar.

  “What’s up?”

  Edward seemed to search for where to begin.

  “I know it doesn’t get brought up very often, and I appreciate you all trusting me… but Lilith is my cousin.”

  “I know that,” Adam said. He had his own unpleasant encounter with Edward’s cousin at his foundation a few months ago. He kept track of the New Lord’s debut in the city, seeing Lilith had laundered her image. The seeming effectiveness of their re-debut angered him, but he had to keep in mind the Rosewell students saw the New Lords in a way common folk hadn’t.

  “Well… over break, I saw her for the first time in a few years. We both went to our family home for the holidays. Neutral ground, I guess you could say.”

  Adam couldn’t act unbothered, hearing that. “What, like you opened Christmas presents with her?”

  “I know it sounds bad,” Edward said quickly. Guilt was etched in his face. “Darkhearts are supposed to be above any conflicts we decide to join. We were both summoned home. Lilith is different, at home. She has to leave her demons at the door. She’s more like I remembered her being when we were kids.”

  “And, what? Did she tell you something?” Adam asked.

  Edward was on the verge of quitting the conversation, doubt clear. He shook his head but continued.

  “She warned me about Lauren. She said there’s a side to her we haven’t seen. She said Lauren has a deeply black soul. I was never as good at soul reading, but… I can’t say I don’t get similar readings from her sometimes. And the way she looked the night Pariah attacked…” Edward hesitated, biting his lip. “Tell me I’m crazy.”

  “You’re crazy,” Adam said immediately. He leaned in, trying to keep his voice low despite feeling a bit heated for his friend. “Honestly, listen to yourself. You’re taking Lilith’s word for something? She almost killed me. She almost killed a lot of us with her friends. Lauren isn’t perfect, but she’s on our side, and Lilith isn’t, neutral ground or not.”

  Edward was cowed as soon as the first sentence left Adam’s mouth.

  “You’re right.” Edward rubbed the side of his head as if to clear it. “What am I saying? It was just good to see Lilith closer to herself again. I let her get in my head. I’m sorry, Adam. I won’t doubt again. Please don’t mention this to anyone.”

  Adam clapped his shoulder. “I won’t. Just remember where the lines are. We need to stick together.”

  Edward nodded, and Adam left to get some rest.

  . . .

  Twelve hours later, Adam and Annabelle lounged together on the dorm couch, her head on his chest. He had woken up just as sore as he expected to. He could hardly move his neck without groaning. Universe-saving or not, he wasn’t yet in any shape to help anyone or be transported to where his eye next thought he should be. Last night, before he had fallen asleep, he had managed to mentally travel to his family again. They had practically built a village by then. Not surprising, since adventure was in their DNA. Wherever his family had been flung to, they were managing for now, and his eye didn’t yet seem to allow him to cover that distance physically. He’d try again soon.

  Annabelle had very sweetly offered to get him anything he needed as he took a rest day. It helped she could stretch her arms to the kitchen without getting up.

  He flipped through channels on the dorm TV.

  “Oooh, have you ever seen The Thing?” he asked his girlfriend.

  She scrunched her nose. “Is it scary? I don’t like scary movies, even during the day.”

  “Oh, but it’s a classic!” he said. He kept looking for her sake. “Raiders of the Lost Arc is also on. Another classic. Probably more our speed. Maybe we should switch back and forth between the two.”

  “Ooh! Ooh!” Annabelle snapped at the screen. “Is that one with you in it?”

  Adam groaned when he saw what she had spotted on the channel guide.

  “Really?”

  “Put it on!”

  Adam reluctantly changed the channel to Wild Time! With the Wild Family. The family edutainment show Thalia’s family used to do from the time her older brothers were young kids to when Thalia was ten or so.

  “You seriously want to watch this?”

  “Yes!” Annabelle said, patting his arm.

  It was a later episode, Thalia being a part of the cast. Her kid self bounded energetically into a room designed to look like an open treehouse. She did a cartwheel and walked over to a puppet of a monkey sitting on a tree branch. They greeted each other and talked about the biome of the day.

  A doorbell rang. Thalia’s face lit up on screen.

  “Is that a guest? Who could it be?” she asked her puppet companion.

  “Ah, fuck…” Adam hated watching his kid acting. Annabelle squealed with excitement.

  Thalia opened the door and kid Adam stepped in, with two brown eyes and a haircut that had not aged well.

  “It’s Adam Atlas!”

  The two friends hugged, and Adam waved to the studio audience. He was dressed in a precocious safari outfit, a leather satchel attached to his hip.

  “I thought you were off on an adventure!” Thalia exclaimed.

  “I was!” Kid Adam swooped his finger up, bringing the audience in on his tale. “To the faraway land of the Amazon!” He opened the satchel. “And I took some pictures of animals I think we should try to identify together!”

  Melancholy flooded Adam. Where had that time gone? Where had those two carefree kids gone? That boy on screen didn’t know what he’d have to grow up to do. He didn’t know the world’s heroes would fall out of the sky, or that he’d have to clean up the aftermath. Shoulder to shoulder, he and Thalia leaned over pictures that were displayed for the viewer in the corner of the screen. They jostled each other. Could they ever have that energy as friends back?

  “I gotta use the bathroom,” Annabelle said. “Wanna see if I can stretch enough to walk to the toilet and back without getting up?”

  Adam shook his head, smiling. “You are so deeply, fundamentally weird.”

  “Yeah, but you like it!” Annabelle said. She got her whole body up and left for his room.

  Adam took the chance to ease himself up and step out the front door for some fresh air.

  Grace was just coming down the stairs as Adam leaned against the exterior, his breath visible in the brisk air. Lucy and Lauren’s roommate wore a puffy jacket with a fur-lined hood that her blonde hair bounced out of, soft boots clomping their way down the steps. She carefully held what looked like a few dresses draped in her arms.

  “Morning,” Adam said.

  “It damn sure is,” Grace chattered. She knocked loudly on Dorm 5, a few doors down.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Thalia wants to try on some dresses for her date,” Grace answered.

  “Oh.” Adam did a double take. “Wait, what?”

  Thalia answered the door as Adam walked over. She took in Grace, then Adam behind her. She was still dressed in flannel pajamas, hair unbrushed. She opened the door wider, letting Grace in.

  “You have a date?” Adam asked. He hadn’t known Thalia to ever date, and if she ever did, he couldn’t imagine her wanting a dress for it. A trip to the zoo would be the most urban and glamorous thing he could imagine her doing for a date.

  Thalia was unimpressed to see him, and by his question, judging by her face.

  “Get in here if we’re going to talk,” she told him.

  He stepped into dorm 5, conscious of the fact that Annabelle was probably wondering where he had gone to. Still, he wanted to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. Not for any other reason than for one friend being concerned for another acting out of character.

  Thalia led Grace to her room, closing the door most of the way, but enough for Adam to still talk through it. Across the way, he saw Mary dangling lifeless, her knees buckled as strings held her by her wrists and shoulders to the ceiling. It startled him for a moment before he remembered she was a marionette robot. Even robots slept in.

  Clothes ruffled in Thalia’s room. Adam stood by the doorway, conscious of not peeking in.

  “Let’s try this green one on first,” Grace said.

  “Who do you have a date with?” Adam called in.

  “Why do you care?” Thalia bit out.

  “Thalia…”

  Why did she have to make things so damn hard? Was it his fault for not just asking her out properly? But then he wouldn’t have Annabelle, and he couldn’t say he regretted that. He just wanted his girlfriend, and his best friend. Was she wanting him this whole time? That seemed deeply unfair to keep to herself. Then again, he was nursing a crush of his own in private. Damn it. They just kept going in circles.

  “Oh, that looks amazing on your ass,” Grace said. “Adam, come in here and look at her ass.”

  Adam did not come in and look at her ass. He stayed planted where he was.

  “Who’s making you dress up? You hate dressing up.”

  “Maybe I used to. Maybe I’m more mature now. Maybe now I want to look good for my new date.”

  “And he would be…?”

  He ran through the options. Edward? Troy? He felt like any of his roommates would have been a bro and given him a heads up. Or maybe he had been gone for too long. Who could Thalia have met?

  “If you have to know, Marcus Dragovel is taking me to a society function.”

  That did cause Adam to swing her door open. Thalia was midway out of shimmying off a tight dress, only in her bra above the waist. She stared at him, irked.

  “Marcus Dragovel? Prince of Marcivia, and New Lord? Are you insane?! Thalia, he’s a supervillain! He almost killed me! He’s one of our enemies!”

  Thalia was not phased by Adam’s outburst. She calmly finished peeling off the dress. She accepted the next one from Grace.

  “Are you sure about that? Marcus says it was all a misunderstanding. He didn’t know Cyrus other than as a business partner. He reached out and invited me a while ago. I wasn’t going to go. I thought I was waiting for you, for some stupid reason. He told me he gave you his information to pass onto me.”

  “I didn’t because I heavily suspected he was, again, a supervillain! Shouldn’t he be in prison right now?”

  Thalia shrugged. Her passivity made his blood boil. After everything he had been through on that trip…

  She stepped into a red dress that Grace helped zip up.

  “If you mean Sir Stygian, no one was found inside that suit in Colorado. I know you told me he claimed to be Marcus, but Marcus says he had nothing to do with it. He barely even knows what the New Lords are. Sometimes good people get caught up in bad things. Are you sure it wasn’t just the evil teens messing with you?”

  Adam clenched his teeth. He tried to stay calm. He pounded the heel of his hand against his forehead.

  “Are you really doing this because I’m still with Annabelle? You’re gonna act out and put yourself in danger. You’re not stupid. You know it was probably him.”

  Grace’s eyes widened, but she stayed quiet.

  “Not everything revolves around you, Adam. You’re the one butting yourself into this,” Thalia said. She looked at herself in her mirror propped between animal enclosures. “I like the green better.”

  “Agreed,” Grace said.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Thalia said, her eyes flicking to Adam. “If he is evil, I’ll handle myself. I have great instincts. It’s just a date. I’m allowed to have fun.”

  Adam put his hands on his hips, feeling stupid and embarrassed and impotent to stop this from happening. He had no proof, and at this point Thalia might have rejected it even if he did.

  “…Okay,” Adam said. “Okay. You’re going on a date with a supervillain. Great.”

  “Great,” Thalia agreed.

  “Great…” Grace echoed, awkwardly stepping between them.

  Adam gestured to her general area. “You, have fun with that.”

  He stomped off back to his dorm. Along the way, he already began forming an idea of what he was going to have to do.

  Inside, Annabelle was standing by the couch, a bowl of fresh popcorn in her hand. She turned to him, a handful moving toward her mouth.

  “There you are! I made breakfast popcorn. That’s okay, right?”

  Adam looked at his beautiful, wonderful, strange girlfriend with her tummy poking out of the bottom of her too-small unicorn print pajamas, staring at him wall-eyed with her cheeks stuffed with popcorn.

  “Annabelle, my love, how would you feel about attending another function together?”