I finished reverting back with a series of pops and crunches. I’d hurried the process a little, but not too much. We had a twenty-to-thirty-minute flight ahead of us—an extra minute or two wouldn’t change that. Plus, it gave the other two time to change.

  Lisa had packed her Tattletale gear and was sliding on the last bits of her costume. Taylor was donning her Skitter outfit, which looked a little finicky to get into from what I could see.

  “Question,” Lisa asked as she adjusted her domino mask. “Can you give me some kind of wind protection so I can make calls on the way back, once we’re in signal?”

  “Oh, sure. Good idea. I’ll try something.”

  I lay down in the grass and waited for them to finish getting situated. Taylor mounted up onto my upper shoulders, and Lisa straddled my hips.

  “Lie down on my back with your phone held up so I can get the positioning right.”

  Alright. Something like a little hood or dome…

  A cluster of tentacles sprouted up around her head, fanned out, and formed a small half-dome over her upper body.

  “That work?” I asked, glancing back.

  “Yep! Ready when you are,” she called.

  Taylor gave me a quick nod.

  “Alright. Tuck in. We’re blasting this time.” With that, I launched skyward at full speed.

  After about five minutes, Tattletale got reception and immediately started making nonstop phone calls.

  I kept us low to stay warm. Between hugging the terrain and watching the world blur past beneath us, I was able to keep my mind focused—anything to stave off the worst-case thoughts.

  As we approached the outer edges of the city, I climbed sharply to get a better view of the damage. Taylor grunted behind me as the sudden ascent pushed her against my back.

  It was bad. Really bad. The north end of the city was on fire. Buildings had been flattened, block after block. Most of the destruction was north of the Boardwalk, but some of it was creeping farther south.

  I brought us to a hover about a thousand feet up.

  Lisa called forward: “Purity and her squad are on a rampage. Indiscriminate destruction and murder to try and force the PRT to give her daughter back.”

  I twisted to glance over my shoulder.

  “They raided her home,” Lisa continued. “Took her kids into protective custody before the doxxing hit.”

  “Are your friends safe?” I asked her.

  She looked shaken by everything that was going on, but she nodded quickly. “They got out and are in a safe location. E88 called us out specifically. They seem to think we’re behind it.”

  “We’re not,” Taylor said.

  Lisa had a deep frown on her face. Taylor looked back at her. “We’re not… right?”

  Lisa opened her mouth, hesitated, then said: “I’ve been selling Coil intel and leads on various capes around the city for months. His enemies, specifically.”

  I clenched my jaw, and Lisa must have read it on my own or Taylor’s body language. She held her hands up, phone held tightly in one. “Whoah, whoah, hang on. Let’s be clear. I am not okay with sharing private information about people’s homes or families. I sold Coil leads on workplaces and possible businesses that were Nazi sympathizers. He must’ve dug deeper than that.”

  “That’s…” I tried to collect my thoughts. “I see where you’re coming from—wanting to root out corruption—but you’re in gray territory here. Nuance matters. A lot. And Coil clearly doesn’t care about any of that when it comes to his enemies.”

  Lisa nodded fast. “Exactly. And I’m pissed. Pissed that he did this, and that we’re being implicated.”

  I bobbed my head. “If your friends are safe for the time being, I want to take a look at things from the sky and make sure my family is okay. I can’t stop in on them like this.”

  “They don’t know?” Taylor asked me.

  I sighed. “I haven’t been able to make myself tell them.”

  I glanced back at her, with her indistinct masked face and yellow eye lenses. She nodded a few times but didn’t say anything else.

  “That’s fine, can you keep us slower so I can keep making calls?” Lisa asked from the back.

  I turned my head back around to front-facing and started to scan the landmarks to get our position. I held a big, clawed thumbs-up in the air, and then set out.

  I saw Arcadia. Home wasn’t far from it. I headed over, staying fairly high. Everything looked good. It was the early afternoon, school was out, assuming it hadn’t been canceled or evacuated at some point. Dad’s car was in the driveway. Mom's was gone.

  I snatched my civilian cellphone from my duffel.

  Missed calls. A lot of them. From Melody, Mom, and Dad.

  I called Melody.

  No answer.

  I called Mom. Maybe they were out together.

  She picked up instantly. I reminded myself to switch to my Morgan voice.

  “Morgan!? Are you okay? Why haven’t you been answering your phone!?” Her voice was panicked, tight, raw. Like she’d been crying.

  “Mom, mom. Calm down, please. I’m fine. I was outside the city limits, no signal. I just got back and found out what’s going on.”

  “Oh, thank god. Your sister’s okay, too?”

  “She’s not with you?” Mom’s voice spiked in pitch. Sharp, rising panic.

  “No—I’ve been out with some parahuman friends. I haven’t seen her all day.”

  Crying. A hitch in her breath. “She’s not here. She’s not answering her phone. My car’s gone. We thought she was with you.”

  Oh no.

  I have to keep it together. For her.

  I took a breath. “Okay. Don’t panic. I’m going to fly around with my team. We’ll turn the city upside-down if we have to. I’ll call some people, see if they can locate her phone. You’re about to have a whole team of superheroes looking for her. We’ll find her, I promise.”

  More crying. Then the phone shifted.

  Dad’s voice: “Okay, Morgan. Keep us updated, please. We’ll stay put. We’ll wait for your call.”

  “I will. I love you both. The area around the house is clear, but maybe hang out in the basement, just in case.”

  “We will. Go. Find your sister.”

  I coughed, trying to swallow the knot in my throat. “I—I will. Don’t worry. Bye.”

  I hung up.

  My stomach felt like it had dropped into my gut and tied itself into a knot.

  “Where do you think she’d go?” Taylor asked softly.

  “I… If I were Melody, I’d be looking for me. The first thing I did was try and call her when we stopped.”

  “Does she know where you live?” Lisa asked.

  “Tuck in and I’ll hold you tight, we’re going fast,” I called over my shoulder. Once they were in position, I strapped them in and dove. I tore through the air, just a few stories above the rooftops, my wings thrumming with deep, bassy booms.

  We approached the north side of the Boardwalk, my neighborhood. Buildings were burning. Smoke hung thick and oppressive in the air.

  Especially around my apartment.

  I halted as fast as I dared, coming into a low hover over the parking lot behind my building. The air I kicked up cleared the smoke, revealing Mom’s SUV parked in the lot.

  Oh… fuck.

  The SUV’s back hatch was open, and Dad’s folding ladder was propped up under my bedroom window.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  I dropped to the ground and unstrapped Taylor and Lisa, then plucked them off my back with my tail and set them down.

  “Get in the SUV, close it up. The air should still be good from my wings. I have to find her.”

  Lisa climbed into the driver’s seat. Taylor closed the hatch and slid into the passenger side. They shut the doors.

  Aside from the back wall, the rest of my apartment had collapsed.

  My heart was in my throat. I pulled out my phone and called Melody, trying to figure out how to get her out—if she was in there—without making things worse.

  I heard the stupid song she had set as my ringtone coming from inside.

  “MELODY!” I roared.

  Carefully, I tore down the back wall of my apartment, flapping my wings to keep the smoke at bay. The buildings across the street were on fire, and the smoke was clinging low to the ground like it wanted to stay.

  The smoke blocked out the sun near the middle of the apartment, by the staircase. Everything was grayscale and in shadow.

  Rubble blocked the bathroom door under the staircase. I tried to move it, but it was weirdly heavy. Like it weighed far more than it should. I powered through with my tail, flipping a slab of concrete aside to clear the door.

  “MELODY!” I screamed again. The door rattled in the frame. I tried to reach out and open it, but I couldn’t. The door banged open, and something rolled out.

  It looked like a black hole. Like someone had hole-punched reality and stamped out a perfect circle, with nothing on the other side. Not black like a color. Black like the absence of everything. A complete void.

  I was frozen, staring at it. The thing darted out of the bathroom, climbed over the rubble that had once been my front wall, and tore off down the street.

  I snapped out of it.

  “MELODY!” I screamed again, digging through rubble, lifting pieces as fast as I dared. The last supports on the staircase gave way; it collapsed, crushing what was left of the bathroom.

  I had to find my sister.

  The air was hazy and visibility was shit, but I saw the black hole stop in the street. I tore through the wreckage as fast as I could without crushing her.

  The hole sank into the pavement a few feet, then blinked out. Or maybe existence blinked back in.

  My sister lay sprawled in the middle of where the void had been. Unconscious, covered in dirt and blood, clothes torn and ragged.

  I leapt over the building and landed next to her on the road. It was her. She looked… bad. Eyes swollen, nose running with bubbling snot, thick soot caked around her mouth and nostrils.

  God, I wanted to scoop her up and hold her. But I let training take over.

  Airway: clear.

  Breathing: rapid, shallow, raspy.

  Circulation: heartbeat strong, elevated.

  I cut her clothing in a few places to check for bleeding. A few puncture wounds, nothing immediately life-threatening.

  Disability: she’d run down the street. Spinal injury was unlikely.

  Okay. She was safe to move. I scooped her into my lower arms and cradled her against my chest like a child.

  My own chest wheezed and rasped, my throat thick. Part smoke, part the fact I was basically sobbing, just without the tears.

  I grabbed my phone and ran back to the apartment. Another few wing beats cleared some of the smoke. I had to get everyone out. This place was a death trap. Thick, acrid, foul-tasting air. Burning plastic. Tar. I didn’t need to be a doctor to know it was toxic as hell.

  I called Melody again. The ringtone led me to her handbag. I shook it, keys inside. I grabbed it and picked my way through the wreckage toward the car.

  I tapped on the driver’s side window. Lisa opened the door. I handed over the bag.

  “You got her?” Lisa asked. I nodded quickly.

  “I’m calling Amy. If she can’t help, we’re heading to The Rig. Melody needs emergency care. Can you drive?”

  “Yes, no problem,” Lisa said.

  “Can—will you take the car to my parents’ house? Keep an eye on them? Let them know I have Melody and I’ll call once she’s safe?”

  “Of course. I’d be happy to.” Lisa’s tone was dead serious.

  “Thank you, Lisa. I owe you big.”

  “No, you don’t. It’s family.”

  I leaned down to the passenger side.

  “Skitter? What do you want to do?”

  Taylor looked between us. Lisa made a little shooing motion.

  “I’ll come with. In case you need backup,” Taylor said.

  “Alright. I’ll carry you.”

  She hopped out. Lisa grabbed the keys and started the engine. I gave her my parents’ address.

  I lifted Taylor onto my shoulders with my tail.

  “Be careful,” I told Lisa. “I’ll be in touch. Try to pull your team out of this shitstorm if you can.”

  She gave me a thumbs-up, then pulled out.

  I jumped up and took to the sky as gently as I could with Melody in my arms. Taylor was already secured on my shoulders.

  I called Amy. She picked up immediately. “Amy, Melody’s hurt. Can I please bring her to you?”

  Her response was immediate: “Don’t even ask. I’m at home. Vicky’s out with some of the family, trying to mount a response.”

  “Be there in a few minutes,” I said, voice thick with worry.

  “Backyard!” She said, then hung up.

  I was already moving.

  “Where are we going?” Taylor called out.

  “Panacea’s house!” I yelled back as I blasted us across the city at breakneck speeds.

  “I uh– I’m not sure that’s going to go well. She really doesn’t like me.” Taylor said.

  Oh shit, I wasn’t even thinking about any of that.

  “We’ll just deal with it if it comes up. Trust me, I can handle it.”

  Taylor leaned forward to shield herself against the wind.

  I came up to the Dallons' home quickly and took my time to slow down before landing so I didn’t damage the property. The soil squished between my toes as I landed on their neatly manicured lawn.

  I gently laid Melody on the top of the picnic table. Amy burst out the back door, sprinted across the lawn, and dropped to her knees on the bench seat. She placed a hand on Melody’s shoulder.

  My chest tightened. I’d never seen Melody hurt like this before. It was a horrible, helpless feeling.

  Amy closed her eyes and tilted her head as she worked. “Hmm. Okay. She’s going to be alright, Morgan. I just need to get a few things—”

  The back door slammed open.

  Carol—Brandish—emerged in full costume, white suit glowing under the midday haze. She held a blazing sword in one hand, a shield of solid light in the other.

  Her lips were pulled back in a sneer, and she pointed her sword directly at me, or rather, at me and Skitter.

  She advanced slowly, cautious but deadly.

  Her voice was sharp as steel. “I don’t know what the two of you think you’re doing here. If you touch my family, I’ll ki—”

  “Carol, I’m treating—” Amy started to say, turning toward her.

  “Get away from them, Amy!” Carol snapped. “Before they take you hostage!”

  “Carol!”

  I saw bugs beginning to gather into a swarm around Skitter. Carol raised her shield until only her eyes peeked over the top, sword still extended as she approached us with slow, measured steps.

  “MOM!” Amy screamed.

  That stopped her dead. Carol’s head snapped toward Amy.

  “Morgan called—I told you! This is Melody!” Amy pointed at the table where my sister lay, unconscious and pale.

  Carol glanced between us, Amy, and Melody, confusion painted as clear as day on her face. She lowered her shield a few inches.

  “Wha– where’s Morgan?” Carol asked Amy.

  I coughed lightly, then replied in my best Morgan voice. “Um. Hi, Carol. Surprise…?”

  Her eyes widened as she stared at me, taking in my monstrous form from head to toe.

  “Morgan, is that really you? And what are you doing with her?” She gestured toward Skitter with her sword, contempt thick in her tone.

  “It’s a long story,” I said. “But we’re actually friends. Right, Skitter?”

  Taylor nodded quickly from her spot on my shoulders.

  Are we friends? Now’s not the time.

  “Can you put your weapons and bugs away, please? I just want my sister taken care of.”

  Carol waggled the tip of her sword in Skitter’s direction. “She goes first.”

  “That’s totally fine, right, Skitter? This is their home.”

  I felt Taylor squeeze my tentacles, then she relaxed her hands and her body, as well. I hadn’t realized how tense she’d been. The bugs dispersed.

  A moment later, Brandish dismissed her weapons with a flick of her wrist.

  “I’m… I’m sorry, Brandish,” Taylor said quietly. “I’m just trying to help Morgan make sure her sister’s safe. I’d… I’d probably be just as upset if strangers showed up at my house too.”

  Amy said, “I need supplies, be right back,” and darted into the house.

  Carol took a deep breath and sighed. “What happened?”

  I considered lying, but with how tightly wound everyone’s nerves were—and with Carol’s razor-sharp prosecutor’s intuition—there was a good chance she’d see through it. Or figure it out soon after.

  “I was out of town with some of the Undersiders, testing powers where it was safe and quiet.” I sighed. “We had a picnic, it was nice. After everything with the ABB. We didn’t know about all of this until just a little while ago.”

  “We need to have a conversation about the company you’re keeping,” Carol said, her voice only mildly caustic. She leveled a finger at Skitter. “They’re the reason this is all happening in the first place.”

  I shook my head. “No, they’re not. Someone else is using them as a scapegoat.”

  Carol planted a hand on her hip, skeptical. “You seem awfully confident of that. Sure you’re not the one being misled?”

  Now was my time to push back.

  “No, I’m not. First, they weren’t even here when it happened. I was with them.”

  Carol made a sound, probably the start of an interruption, but I kept going. “Second, what would the motive be? The Undersiders have done some weird jobs that didn’t make much sense to me either, but they’ve all been for someone else. This?” I gestured loosely. “Exposing the identities of the most dangerous people in the city? They’d have to be suicidal. Does that sound like them to you?”

  Carol frowned, arms crossed. “I don’t know them well enough to make that call.”

  Amy came back out with what looked like a big Tupperware container full of chicken sitting in some water. She walked over and took a seat at the table, and stuck her fingers into the tub.

  “What on Earth are you doing, Amy?” Carol asked.

  Amy didn’t answer. Her brow was furrowed with focus as she reached out to lay her other hand on Melody’s chest.

  So I answered for her. “She’s using her power to heal Melody.”

  Carol gave me a look like I’d just said the dumbest thing imaginable. “That is not how her power works.”

  I answered back, voice just as firm. “Yes, it is. She’s just been too afraid this entire time to actually show anyone else.”

  Carol scoffed. “I’m her mother. No offense, Morgan, but I think I know her better than you do.”

  “Do you?” I asked, my voice calm. “Because I can tell you for a fact, my parents don’t have a clue about this.” I gestured with one massive hand over myself. “Everyone hides things from the people closest to them. Different things for different reasons.”

  She gave me a downright icy look. “What are you trying to say, exactly?”

  I fixed her with my eight-eyed alien gaze. “The whole time I was a Ward, I was too scared of my own power to even understand what it was. I’m still scared sometimes. But now I’m forced to use it. Nobody knew what I could really do—not even me.”

  I pointed a massive claw at Amy. “She saved my life, in more ways than one. And she finally found someone she could open up to about her power when she realized that we were in the same boat.”

  Carol just stared at me in silence.

  I didn’t want to tell her without Amy’s permission. That was Amy’s decision to make.

  Amy’s voice broke the silence, quiet and distracted. I turned. A tear slid down her cheek. “You can tell her,” she whispered.

  “You sure?” I asked softly.

  She hesitated only a moment, then nodded.

  I turned back to Carol. “Her power isn’t healing people. It never was. That’s just something she can do with it. Like I can do this– ”

  I raised one of my lower arms and shifted it. My claws grew into foot-long daggers, then retracted. My hand morphed into a spiked mace, then into a mass of tentacles, then back to normal.

  “Her power is controlling and changing biology at a fundamental level. For me, it’s my own body. For her, it’s other people’s.”

  I clenched my jaw for a moment. “I was terrified to show anyone my power. It’s horrific to look at. I thought I’d lose everything if I let it out. And Amy…” I glanced at her. “She’s stuck in the same situation. People see her as a healer. That’s what they expect. What happens if she changes that?”

  Carol’s expression shifted. Her posture eased, and she turned to Amy. “Is that true?”

  Amy nodded, wiping her cheek with her shoulder.

  She stood and asked me to help her roll Melody onto her side. I stepped in and did it gently, lifting her upper leg with one hand to keep her stable.

  I hadn’t noticed, but the tub of chicken had turned into a sludgy, black, goopy mess. Melody was breathing easier now, no longer gasping for air or rasping in her sleep. She looked like she was truly resting.

  “She just needs to rest now,” Amy said. “Her lungs were in really bad shape. I had to replace parts of them, and she had a lot of nasty chemical exposure in her system.” She pointed at the tub. “That’s what I pulled out.”

  Amy sniffled, then startled slightly as Carol stepped behind her, gently turned her around by the shoulders, and pulled her into a hug. Amy froze for half a second, then hugged her back.

  I shifted, propping myself up on my elbows, and pulled out my phone while they had their moment. Skitter hopped off my back and stood nearby, awkward and silent.

  I called Mom and Dad. I told them Melody was okay now. Resting, safe. That she’d inhaled a lot of smoke from the fires near my apartment, but she was stable. We were with the Dallons. I could hear the relief flood through the line. Just hearing their voices helped ease something in my chest.

  Taylor stood a few feet off, stiff and robotic. Still clearly uncomfortable here.

  I held my phone out toward her. “Do you want to call your family?”

  She hesitated—too long—then took it.

  I knew that she felt out of place and shunned here. It didn’t take an empath to figure that out. I tried to show my support for her by circling my tail around her on the grass in a protective manner. She glanced at me, then took a seat on my tail like she had on my arm in the past. She had a quiet conversation on my civilian phone, barely above a murmur.

  I stuck my tongue out and licked one lower thumb and wiped some of the soot off my sister’s face. I chuckled. That only made it worse. Silly me. My skin is like Teflon. I was just smearing things around.

  Amy and Carol pulled apart while I fussed over my sister, trying to make sure she was covered and decent where her clothing had been torn and cut in places.

  Carol cleared her throat and said, “We can get some of Vicky’s clothing for her. And get her cleaned up.”

  “I, um. I’d like that, thank you.” I glanced over at Skitter, where she was seated on my tail and staring at the ground while on the phone.

  Carol followed my gaze and rubbed her forehead with a sigh.

  “Carol?” I asked her softly. She looked over at me. “She’s my friend. I know you’ve had terrible experiences in the past with villains. You’ve known me and my sister for years. Will you… Trust my judgment, please?”

  Skitter hung up and held the phone out to me. I took it in a tentacle and put it back in my neck bag.

  Carol looked over at Skitter, her lips tight. Studied the bony girl. Finally, she sighed. “What’s your name, Skitter?”

  Skitter turned my head over to me, and I gave her a single nod. She turned back to Carol. “It's–” She cleared her throat. “It’s Taylor.”

  “Well, Taylor, we have one hard rule in this house.” She glanced back and forth between the two of us. “No masks.”

  Taylor tensed. Her fingers worked over each other, fidgeting. She shifted on my tail a bit, almost squirming, then reached up and peeled her mask off, brushing her dark hair from her face.

  Carol smiled faintly. “Come on in. I’ll get you all squared away.” She raised one finger. Her tone turned to granite. “Do not make me regret this.”

  Taylor nodded quickly and stood.

  Amy came over to me, and I noted that she was deliberately keeping me between her and Taylor.

  She whispered to me, “I want to talk to you for a moment, without her.”

  I looked over at Taylor. She looked even more uncomfortable than she normally did.

  “Please excuse the whispering a moment,” I asked her gently. Taylor nodded, eyes downcast.

  I turned back to Amy. Her cheeks were flushed, and her brows drawn.

  Ah. Pissed Amy.

  “Why are you hanging out with them, and what is she doing here?” Amy hissed, barely above a whisper.

  I took a slow breath and whispered back, “Amy, you trust me, right?”

  She nodded, without hesitation.

  “I haven’t completely figured the Undersiders out yet, but I’ll be honest with you: I don’t think they’re hardened criminals.”

  I glanced back at Taylor without moving my head. “I’m trying not to judge, but they come across more like people like us. They’re our age, maybe just stuck with bad home lives.”

  I thought for a moment. “Some of them might even be homeless. Or don’t have parents at all.”

  Amy’s expression had softened marginally, but not by much.

  I sighed. “Listen. I don’t know them all that well, but I know her better than the rest. I’m not asking you to like her. Just… keep an open mind? For me? She shuts down when people treat her like crap. I believe her when she says she won’t cause trouble, but I also don’t want her to wall herself off the whole time.”

  I reached a hand out and rested it on Amy’s shoulder. It was like popping a balloon. The tension just deflated out of her.

  “Fine, fine. I’ll try. She hurt Vicky, though.”

  I gave her shoulder a light squeeze. “And you hurt her back. Doesn’t mean you’re both right.”

  Amy huffed a frizzy lock of hair out of her face and nodded. She stepped in and hugged me. “Thanks,” she murmured against my chest. “For telling Carol. I don’t know if I could’ve.”

  I chuckled softly. “I know how much of a hardass your mom can be. I’ll go to bat for you anytime. You know me, I’m kind of past giving a shit about most things. I say it like it is.”

  Amy stepped back and gave me a faint grin. Raising her voice, she said, “Hang tight. I’ll get you something to change into.”

  Then she turned and disappeared into the house with her mother.

  I looked over at Taylor and gave her a little wave.

  Disaster averted. For now.