Crescent 2.4
The images that got sent to Lisa's email account were fairly close in images on something golden, displaying only the hieroglyphics. She'd gotten them printed out before we returned home, and I went for the old books that we had. Translating Ancient Egyptian wasn't perfect, but the Rosetta Stone did help significantly. There were cross-references within the books that Mom and Dad had that would help with the translation, and this was something I really enjoyed doing. It was not, however something that I enjoyed doing while cooped up in the house.
After packing up the books and pictures into a backpack and grabbing some cash, I went to grab my dogs' leashes. Well, I suppose the proper term would be our dogs' leashes. Brutus and Angelica needed the exercise, and I knew they were well-behaved enough to be out in public. Rachel had trained them well, and thanks to her, I knew how to keep them under control. Of course, given Angelica's condition, I did worry about how some people would react to her, but if they decided to be a jerk about how she looked, I'd give them a piece of my mind.
Or I'd do something far worse. Wait. Worse? What worse? Why? Nobody fucked with my dogs. I didn't care who they were. I mean, I should care who they were. There were ways to measure out what was deserved to who. Fucking with the dogs alone wasn't it. I mean, it did mean that the person was probably a bad person, but that didn't mean I needed to pound the shit out of them. Even if it would be satisfying. If they ignored a warning, that was at least partially on them, but for the most part, it probably was a bad idea to do anything to random people. God, that was just wrong. Though, Nazis were fair game. They chose to be Nazis; they could reap the consequences of that. Fuck 'em. The rest, though? I could give a warning before they decided to do something. Our dogs deserved protecting.
I went to the landline and dialed a familiar number. Aisha's. I figured that she should at least be kept apprised of where we were, given… things. I still wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the whole secret relationship sort of thing that she had with Alec, even if she was cute, but I did want her as a friend. Plus, she was cute. Still though, she definitely meshed more with him.
The phone rang a few times before clicking over to her voicemail. I knew she didn't drive yet, but the fact that it went to voicemail still made me feel better if she was traveling. Mom died because she'd been on her phone while driving. I didn't want to have a cell phone cause any death because of me.
"Hey Aisha, it's Taylor," I said, after the voicemail beeped. "Just wanted to let you know that I'm taking Angelica and Brutus out for a walk to the Boardwalk. For once, I'm feeling a little like Fugly Bob's."
"This is a terrible idea," Lisa said, as she was still close enough to speak out loud. "Do you even know how much we'll have to work out to deal with that?"
I shrugged. "They have outdoor seating and I'm sure both Brutus and Angelica will like getting some of the meat. Anyway, Aisha, if you want to join us, you're welcome."
"Yeah, I suppose what she said," Lisa said. "Oh. Make sure you don't bring your brother. He might be a bit biased when it comes to us doing things like this."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Never mind. Just… Aisha, please don't bring Brian. I trust you more than him," Lisa said.
Well, that I agreed wholeheartedly with. "Bye Aisha. We'll talk more when you show up."
I hung up the phone, and as I went to hook the dogs up to the leashes, I decided to comment aloud. "Things like what? Egyptian translations?"
"Research," Lisa said. "That guy has me… has us looking into the specific research topics of a specific archaeologist in addition to this whole thing with Dad and Bushman… there's a lot I don't really want to go into with Brian."
"But Aisha already knows," I said. "And…"
"She won't tell him without good reason. You and I both know she can be trusted. Here, make sure the bag's on tight before we go."
I nodded, adjusting the backpack's straps, and then I gave a whistle to our dogs. They kept to my side.
"We really should go somewhere other than Fugly's," Lisa said.
"I like it," I said, and I felt some agreement from some of the others. At least, I thought I did. Assuming some of the stuff Lisa showed me was real, that there were others in similar situations to us, then maybe… Well, maybe it wasn't all in my head. Well. I mean, it literally was, but maybe I didn't just invent them. Maybe they had been there all along.
"Aww…" Lisa cooed as we started toward the door. "Well, if you're going to be like that, I guess we can go there. It does have some nice outside seating that we can use."
I nodded, and I made sure to lock the door once we were outside. It wouldn't take that long for the bus to show up, and for the most part, they were okay about dogs on leashes. I suspected that we might get some odd looks, but I wasn't about to just leave them home all day when they needed to go out for some exercise. Once the bus showed up, we boarded without much issue, and as suspected, Angelica did get a few looks.
I didn't care though. So long as nobody messed with her, I could ignore the looks. Brutus stood guard over her as she did the same for me, and my heart melted. I couldn't help but give them both exactly what they deserved. When we finally reached the stop for the Boardwalk, I took my dogs off the bus, and together, we made our way over to Fugly Bob's.
Fugly Bob's was a restaurant on the Boardwalk located just around the edge of the Market, overlooking the beach. It was pretty much fast food of the most shameless kind, sold out of a strange bar/restaurant/shack hybrid that pretty much anyone who lived in the area had eaten there at least once at some point. Of course, most people with sense waited a year between visits because the burgers were just that greasy. Honestly, when you got takeout, the grease was so bad that by the time you got home, you could see through the bag. I loved it. I understood why Lisa didn't though. The specialty burger there, of course, was the Fugly Bob Challenger: if you could finish it, you didn't have to pay for it. Most people never finished it. Judging from the pictures on the wall, the latest success was some cape that went by the name Chubster.
Independent, I guess.
I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a couple of Fugly Bob's Pupper Patties for my dogs. Somehow, I knew Rachel wouldn't really approve of that, but it would make the dogs happy enough. I suspected the Pupper Patties were actually designed to have less grease, given the eponymous Fugly Bob had a dog-friendly restaurant. I remembered when Dad took me here for the first time. We saw so many dogs sitting outside, eating what Brutus and Angelica were going to, and I think Dad spoke with the manager a little bit. I couldn't really remember what it was about.
Probably was about the dogs and their food. It might not have been Dad though. Wait. Was he really like that even back then? Well, if the research and Bushman were right, he was probably like that since before we were born.
I took the table number and made my way to a seat outside, where I pulled out the pictures and one of the translation books. After indicating for Brutus and Angelica to sit, I grabbed my notebook and started to jot down the hieroglyphs, leaving lines underneath them for the transliteration and then the translation. The photographs were too close in to get an accurate picture of whatever the item LegendsGirlfriend had with these glyphs on them, but at least the hieroglyphs were clear.
I really got into my work, focusing primarily on the copying for now. I'd start the transliteration once I had the entire thing. Unfortunately, based on the pictures, I had to determine which parts were the first actual line.
Lucky for me, just because I was focused on this work didn't mean that the others were as well. I could feel Lisa taking glances around the restaurant between lines. My memory was good enough that I didn't always need to look down as I drew the hieroglyphics. I focused on my thoughts and drawings while Lisa was looking.
"Heads up," Lisa murmured, barely loud enough to hear. The dogs heard it fine, of course. Brutus perked his ears up, and Angelica tilted her head. Lisa pointedly looked over at a group of three approaching the restaurant.
Two were people I'd seen before. One, a brown-haired mousy-looking girl with many freckles, was the girl that had been in front of me in the bank. She looked a little uncomfortable in the green blouse and jeans combination she wore, even if it did accentuate her body a little. Perhaps it was less the clothing that made her uncomfortable so much as the company. On her right was an absolutely gorgeous blonde girl I'd seen before. She wore her own white blouse with a red leather half-jacket and her own set of hip-hugging jeans. She knew she looked good, and she held herself with a confidence that practically had her floating. Wait. She was floating. That was Victoria Dallon, Glory Girl. Which likely meant the girl next to her was her sister, Amy Dallon, Panacea.
Like I'd been trying to tell you at the bank.
Not now, Lisa.
The boy with them, I didn't recognize, but from how close Victoria was with him, he must have been her boyfriend. He was a little taller than she was, probably maybe an inch taller than me, and well, white. He had blond hair perfectly coifed and short, and he wore a red silk button-down shirt with his khakis. He was, however, wearing a pair of black sneakers with his outfit, indicating that he didn't just come from work. Probably from school, to be honest. He looked to be maybe a year or two older than us.
Probably the same age as Victoria, if I were to guess.
A benefit to them being in their civilian clothes, even as an open cape, meant that Victoria wasn't getting swarmed by fans at the moment. A negative was that she apparently had spotted me and recognition came to her eyes. She lowered herself fully to the ground and practically dragged her companions over with her.
"—Vicky, we should just go ahead and order," said Panacea, not even bothering to look at me.
"Ames, she helped at the bank, and things were so crazy there that I didn't get to thank her properly," Victoria said as she approached. She gave me a smile while they walked.
"Vicky, I healed her jaw up from what Trickster did," said Panacea. And… that was something I would have liked to have been told. It wasn't Amy's fault I didn't remember that, but if one of the others had mentioned the healing…
Well, to be fair, I never did ask about exactly what happened at the bank. Why hadn't I? Because Greg mentioned a video being online and it's Greg. That's… fair, I guess. Greg was… well, Greg. There really wasn't a better way to put it. As for why I didn't remember it… that was another question that I'd need to deal with. I didn't remember anything that
I kind of like him. Alec's voice echoed. Nobody asked him though.
"You sure you want to do this, Vicky?" asked her boyfriend.
"Absolutely," Glory Girl said, and she approached closer. "Hi, you probably already know who I am, but in case you don't, I'm Victoria Dallon."
I smiled back at her, with a nod. She was a little imposing this close, even out of costume. I felt a little nervous tickle in my stomach as I spoke up. "Taylor Hebert."
"Nice to meet you, Taylor," Victoria said. "I think you've probably already met my sister, Amy."
"Yeah," I said, and I idly rubbed my jaw. "I was behind her in line at the bank. Thank you again for the help, Amy."
Panacea gave me a neutral look, but she nodded after a second. Guess she wasn't a woman of many words. That was fine, honestly. It wasn't like I wanted to end up in her care ever again. I'd rather her not have to spend time saving my life when there were others who probably needed her far more.
"Honestly, thank you for being willing to step up. I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't," Victoria said. "And this tall lump of antisocialness is Dean, my boyfriend."
"He just looks a little lost in thought," I said as I noticed him looking me over. That… was a little creepy, to be honest, even if he wasn't terrible looking. He had a girlfriend, and said girlfriend could probably pick him up and throw him in a dumpster if she so wanted. Hell, she could probably throw a dumpster at him if she were so inclined. "Nice to meet you Dean…"
"Stansfield," Dean said automatically. He shook his head. "Nice to meet you too." He then bent down and offered a downturned hand toward Brutus. "And who are these adorable ones?"
"Brutus and Angelica," I said. "Brutus is the rottweiler, while Angelica is my sweetheart little one."
Angelica barked at that.
"I'll admit, the whole bank thing happened so fast," I said. "It's kind of a blur."
Victoria nodded. "Fights can be like that. Especially if it was your first time. Was it?"
I honestly had no clue. It was possible that it had been the very first real fight I'd ever been in. It might even have been likely. However, I wasn't even fully sure on that one, and Rachel wasn't speaking up. Honestly, my first fight was likely when she and I teamed up against the Nazis.
"It's the adrenaline," Panacea said, glancing down at the dogs. Her gaze lingered on Angelica for a little, but then she gave me a sharp look. "How's your jaw?"
I rubbed it and gave a small wince. "It's okay. I'll be okay."
"What, did you get in another fight?" Panacea asked. "What, did you fight Lung this time? Well, considering you hadn't ended up in the hospital, asking for burn treatments, it's probably not him."
"Some Empire guys wanted to take my dogs," I said. "I politely told them no."
"That's… terrible," Victoria said, glancing down at the dogs at my feet. "The Empire has dog fight rings, where they would use dogs like that."
I nodded. That wasn't something I wanted to talk about. Dog fighting rings were some of the lowest ways dogs could be treated. Right down there with being food.
"Luckily, they weren't capes," I said. "But I managed to stop them with the help of one."
"That's good," Victoria said. "Do you mind if we share the table with you?"
I grimaced. It wasn't that I minded, per se, but I wasn't sure Aisha would want to sit with them. But at the same time, it almost looked like two of them were on a date yet Victoria had to bring Amy with her. I didn't know how true that was. Maybe she wanted to bring her sister with her. Maybe there was some other family dynamic thing going on that I didn't understand.
Heck, I barely understood my own family dynamic and I only had one body to worry about. That said… it would be cool to dine with a superhero or two. Sure, the Dean guy would be there too, but he seemed to be letting his girlfriend take the lead in this. Smart, I guessed, if you had a superhero girlfriend. If only he'd just stop staring at us.
We hadn't even really dressed up that much. There was no way that he would find us more attractive than his own girlfriend. So, it was a little on the confusing side.
Of course, I wasn't really worried about the whole thing with the translation. The odds that any of them read Egyptian or would recognize it beyond some basics were very slim. Ancient Egypt just wasn't a big subject in school. Well, at least at Winslow it wasn't. I had no clue about Arcadia.
It wasn't big in Arcadia either. But that didn't mean certain movies weren't seen. Even I remembered that Ben Stiller film in the late 90s that was a humorous remake of the Boris Karloff classic. The Mummy was a great movie.
The Aleph version is way better. Brendan Fraser plays the male lead instead.
"Feel free to join us," I said, and for a brief second, I internally winced. Thankfully, the dogs were here with us, but I almost gave the whole thing away. I had no clue how any of the three of them would react to the situation I was in. I still wasn't fully sure about it, but what Lisa had found had helped a little. "If you don't mind a little bit of table crowding."
"Not at all," Victoria said. "Dean, you mind getting mine and Ames's orders in? I'll have the mushroom Swiss burger, and Ames…?"
"The Portabello and Cheddar," Amy said. "I know flying burns a good amount of calories for you, Vicky, but you really shouldn't go for too much here."
"Got it," Dean said. "And… did you already order, miss?"
"And paid," I said. "Two Pupper Patties and a bacon cheeseburger should be coming any minute now."
Dean nodded, and I glanced back down at my notes, dismissing him. He mentioned something about how he'd be back before heading off for their order.
"So, Taylor, that's what, two times in two weeks that you got in a fight with cape involvement?" Victoria asked. "You've gotten pretty lucky."
I shrugged. "Didn't really feel that way at the bank. They would have hurt people…. Could have hurt me."
"And the Empire?"
"Nobody fucks with the dogs," I said, a bit of Rachel's conviction shining through.
She nodded. "Ames… she doesn't… y'know, right?"
"You know I can't tell you that, Vicky," Amy said.
"I know, but…" Victoria shook her head. "Look, Taylor. You clearly have a heroic bent to what you want to do, but it's dangerous for people without powers to get involved in situations like that."
I nodded. "One of them had me at gunpoint before I got some help from the cape."
"I'm glad you managed to get free of that," Victoria said. "Even if you got some bruising for your trouble."
I shrugged. "My dogs got worse. They didn't take kindly to the attack."
"Ames, do you think you could?" Victoria asked.
"You don't need to," I said.
Amy shrugged. "I can tell you what if anything is wrong with them. But if it's brain related, I can't do anything about it."
Huh. For a brief half second, there was a microexpression on her face of worry. She was lying about the brain thing. Lying well, but lying, nonetheless. Why would she lie about handling brains? Well, brains were complicated things. If she fucked it up, who knew if she'd be able to fix it easily? I didn't know exactly how her power worked, and really, it wasn't like I had any ideas. So what if she didn't trust herself to do brains? Our brain was complicated enough without any power working on it. And our dogs were too.
"I don't want you to force yourself or anything," I said. "But if you wouldn't mind checking Angelica first."
"Which one is she?" Amy asked.
"The terrier," I said. "I don't think they really need any parahuman healing, but I just haven't had the opportunity to bring them to a vet."
I wasn't sure what vets to trust yet. Most wouldn't treat them with the dignity they deserved. Okay, that probably wasn't true. But if they were going to work on our dogs, they needed to be trustworthy. That, I agreed with. That didn't mean that no vet could be used though.
Amy nodded, and she reached down. A brief microexpression of disgust passed through her as she looked at Angelica, and before she could touch her, I scooped the dog up.
"What?" Amy asked. As if she didn't know.
"You don't need to do anything." I shook my head, petting Angelica. "They'll heal up on their own, and I can find the time to get a vet to check them over."
"Fine," Amy said with a huff. "They look like they're fine enough. How long has she been missing the eye and ear?"
"Since I've had her," I said. Which was true on multiple levels. When Rachel had acquired her, she'd been missing the parts, and well, I had just met her a few days ago. "Think her previous owner is the reason."
"Poor thing," Victoria said. "You sure you don't want Ames to heal her?"
I shook my head. "Neither of them. Brutus doesn't need it, nor does she."
"That's too bad," Victoria said. "But if she doesn't have permission, so be it." She glanced at my notebook and then the photos. Careful consideration passed behind those blue orbs. "That's interesting. Translating some Egyptian?"
I nodded. "Didn't want to do it at home. I called a friend to meet me here, but I think she was out or something."
"What's the translation?" Victoria asked.
"Haven't really gotten started yet," I said. "But, well, if I've copied this down correctly…" I frowned as I looked down at my notebook. "It looks like it might be something out of the Book of the Dead."
"What makes you say that?"
Interesting. She seemed genuinely curious. Amy, by contrast seemed to have occupied herself with glaring either at my dogs or me, but I wasn't entirely sure I cared which it was. She wasn't going to get to touch my dogs. Not with how she looked at Angelica. Yes, she probably could give Angelica her eye and ear back, but the dog had adjusted to life like this.
"I recognize these hieroglyphs here," I said, pointing at the start. "A rough translation is something like 'Khepri, on a boat, ancient one…" for that phrase. If that's correct, then this next line should actually be down here. Which means that this line should be second."
"Why would someone send you pictures of something with a passage from the Book of the Dead in it?"
I shrugged. "Maybe it's a test. There's someone at the university that can probably verify it for me."
"Couple people, I'd imagine," Victoria said. "I'm taking some classes over there as dual enrollment. One of the class options was an introduction to Ancient Egypt, run by Professor Abdol."
I nodded. "He worked there when my mother did. He's supposed to be very good."
Victoria shrugged. "I haven't taken his classes. I focus more on parahuman studies. Powers are one of the most important things we've had happen to the world. We need to understand them."
"Makes sense to me," I said. She came from a family of capes. She herself was a cape, albeit an open one. Studying how powers worked might even be a way to help with the handling of her own powers. It wouldn't help us much other than just learning more about the crap we'd dealt with. I doubted that any class like that would cover divine intervention. Khepri. Khonshu. Both were out there, apparently, and I knew that neither was a result of us going nuts.
Progress, I knew. We were slowly making our way to progress.
Dean made it back to the table before Victoria got the chance to ask her next question. He gave her a smile and took a seat next to her. As he glanced at me, he looked down at the terrier in my lap. "Huh. She seems happy."
"She is," I said, petting Angelica behind her good ear. Her tail wagged behind her, albeit not as fast as it could. I took a free hand and closed the notebook, putting the pictures away. If this was indeed from the Book of the Dead, I could probably open up our copy at home to make sure. That said, Professor Abdol would probably have a copy himself, and I hadn't seen him in a long time.
Not since Mom's funeral, anyway. Was that genuinely when I saw him last? Yes. I hoped he remembered us. Of course, whether he did or didn't was beside the point. He probably remembered Mom.
Ugh. Mom.
Stop that already. She was our mom and she loved us.
She loved you, Taylor. Not me. Never me.
She just didn't understand. I still don't understand. I doubt all of everyone understands.
"—lor?" Victoria asked, and when I shook myself a little, she smiled. "Taylor, sorry, looked like you were a little lost in thought there. Do you think that Professor Abdol will be worth it?"
I nodded. "He's very smart, and I think he might have been working on something that tied powers to Ancient Egypt, but I can't be sure. I just remember Mom talking about things like that when she would help review some of his papers for editing."
"What happened to your mother, if you don't mind me asking?" Dean asked. I must have made a face or something because he immediately raised his hands in mock surrender. "You don't have to answer the question if it makes you uncomfortable."
I shook my head. "She died in a car crash a couple years ago. I still miss her every day."
"So, it's just you and your dad?" Victoria said, and she reached across the table to take my hand. She gave it a light squeeze, a comforting one. "I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's okay," I said with a small, thankful smile. "Thank you. She'd probably like me having the chance to meet you… all of you, really. I don't think the two of you were active as capes before she passed, but I remember her and Dad talking about how what your family did was brave. Being open about who you are can't be easy."
"When they're not in costume, they're not acting as capes," Dean said. "But still, they do get recognized, and they have to deal with fans."
"And what happened to their aunt," I murmured before shaking my head. I put the pictures and books in my bag as a waiter brought my burger over with the Pupper Patties. "I bet having the powers makes up for it though. Both of you are amazing."
"The way you stood up to Ballistic without powers was pretty cool too," Victoria said. "I love watching the video of it."
"I still haven't seen it," I said. "And like I said, it was a bit of a blur."
"Dean, can I borrow your phone for a second?" Victoria asked.
"Why aren't you using your phone for this?"
"Because yours has a bigger screen, and I'm pretty sure you have unlimited data," Victoria said. "I have to save my data for patrol route communication and research for my classes."
"Can you even receive data when you're flying?" I asked. It was probably a stupid question.
"Sure, I can," Victoria said. "You don't think that the cell signals only go down to the ground, do you? Sure, when I'm flying faster, there's a chance that my phone jumps between towers, causing disconnections, but if I keep below a car speed, and I don't go too high, I get data fine."
Dean sighed, and he pulled out his phone, one of the newer radial models. The phone easily cost more than Dad sent me every month for food and bills. He navigated to YouTube, and he pulled up one of the videos from the bank.
As I watched the video, my lips pursed. The video clearly showed me getting swapped with what appeared to be a pylon or something like it near Ballistic, and then it showed me closing my eyes. My body opened my eyes, but just from the look and pose alone, I could tell that wasn't me. It had to be Rachel. The pose, anger, and the whole demeanor she had when attacking Ballistic was purely Rachel. She clocked the ass across the jaw, sending him stumbling. That was actually pretty cool to watch. Then, the body relaxed, almost as if I had breathed out a heavy sigh, and my body held itself differently still. This wasn't the casual arrogance that I associated with Alec, but the smile that came to my face as I removed my glasses was something I associated with Lisa. If she truly was what Sarah was calling herself now, she was certainly the reason I had that mac and cheese that night. Had to be Lisa.
"Huh," I said.
"Yeah," Victoria said. "That was a nice hit. And you said you fought some Nazis a couple nights later? Taylor, officially, I should tell you to get away from the gang members if you run into them. That you shouldn't be trying to fight capes without any cape powers yourself. And really, that's mostly correct. You shouldn't be putting yourself in any unnecessary danger. That said, what you did there? With Ballistic, with the Nazis you spoke about? That's awesome."
"Just don't do it again if you can avoid it," Amy said.
"Basically, yeah," Victoria said. "You don't have powers, and those without powers typically have a hard time dealing with those who do. Be careful. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Believe me, I have no intention of playing "hunt the Nazi." I shook my head. None of us did, really. Even if beating Nazis up was a wonderful pastime. In the meantime, we still needed to find out more information about Dad. Bushman too, for that matter, but mostly Dad. "It's hazardous to my health."
"Glad we're on the same page," Victoria said as I set Angelica down next to her Pupper Patty.
That thing looked good for them. My own burger looked like a heart attack on a plate, and I loved it. I took my first bite, and the juices dripped down my lips as the smell and taste made all of us, including Lisa, temporarily speechless. The food was so good.
Dad might have preferred to keep kosher most of the time himself, but there was no reason for us to do so. Judaism passed matrilineally and Mom wasn't Jewish. I wasn't entirely sure what religion she had been, if she'd been any, but Jewish definitely wasn't it. She might have been Muslim, but if she was, she wasn't a practicing one. She never wore any sort of hijab or burka or anything like that.
No, Mom was… well, she was definitely not religious. I suspected some of it had to do with the whole Lustrum thing, but other bits crept in there too. Maybe we needed some more research on how Mom was when she was with Lustrum. If fit mattered, honestly.
"If you'd like, I can come with you to meet with that professor," Victoria offered. "Since your friend hasn't shown up yet."
"You don't have to," I said. I didn't really want to inconvenience her. "I know mostly where I'm going."
"I'm there a couple days a week for my classes," Victoria said. "It really is no trouble."
Okay, if it wasn't going to be trouble for her, that might be okay. I felt myself smile. Sure, with my dogs here, I wouldn't be able to go flying or something, but it would be nice to spend an afternoon with a nice girl who wasn't already the girlfriend of someone inside me. Yes, Victoria had a boyfriend, but it wasn't like that. And there wasn't anything wrong with Aisha, but wow, that kiss was far from platonic. That part of the relationship was primarily Alec. This could at least be my attempt to get a new friend. "That could be nice, thank you."
"No problem," Victoria said, and she leaned closer to me. She lowered her voice. "Anyone who deals with Nazis or enemy capes like that is a friend of mine, no matter how many of you are there."
Wait. She knew? How? We'd been careful. But she found out?
Fuck.
