"You could give her a break," Lexi said. "She's just trying to help."
I flapped my hand at her and more or less ignored the both of them. It wasn't like I could smart off until Nate got me all fixed up. Though the idea of Izzy trying to help worried me more than anything else. Trouble followed her as much as it did Cassie, but she seemed to be predisposed to this horrible talent of making it a hundred times worse.
All patched up, Nate slapped me on the shoulder, washed up, and repacked his kit. Then he moved out of the way and went to assault my popcorn.
"The only break I want to give either of you starts with my fist and your noses," I growled, throwing down the towel and walking out to meet them. "You've caused more trouble than you're worth."
Isabella sank onto the couch and gave me the saddest look she could. "I didn't mean to do it, Edwin. I'm sorry. But you've felt what the Dream is like, you can't fight your way out of it. And sometimes, you have no idea what's real. I never knew Allison like I thought I did. I thought she loved me and that just opened me up to everything."
"That doesn't excuse you pulling the shit you did."
"How doesn't it? It wasn't me. I didn't do anything wrong and the moment I was free of her, I came back to support all of you." Isabella saw my eyes drift to the popcorn. She stole the bowl away from Nate and offered it out to me.
I ignored it. "After all this, I don't trust either of you."
"That's fair," Izzy said.
The bowl remained thrust at me. I took it and sat down on the coffee table across from them. "Logan wants me at the Alliance building here within the next half hour or so. Nate, you up for it?"
"We all are," Lexi answered. "You'll go with a full escort. If they get around all of us, you were fucked from the beginning."
"What part of 'I don't trust either of you' makes you think you're invited?"
She shrugged. "You wanna leave us here, your only safe spot, instead? Pretty stupid if you ask me."
I scowled at her and popped another popcorn in my mouth. I imagined her head was the kernel, my teeth crunching down on it a bit more savagely than if I'd been watching my show. "You can come but if you fuck Nate or me over, I'm turning him loose on both of you."
"The ladies will behave themselves," Nate said, his tone measured. "And they're on the level; or I think they are. Give them a chance, Edwin. It may be the last one we have."
The finality in his voice made me sigh. I trusted Nate. The guy had a second sense, maybe an animal sense, about people and their intentions. Except where his fiancée had been concerned. "Point remains. They try to pull anything and I'm feeding them to you. Give it five minutes and let's be ready to head out the door. Logan Patterson is not the kind of man one is late for."
"I've only met him once," Isabella said. "But when I did, he seemed friendly enough. Serious, but friendly. And he's the best area coordinator I've ever met, Scribe included. Thomaston hasn't had a bit of lawlessness for... I don't know how long. At least since the Kipa invasion and that's been what, like eight years ago?"
"Nine," Nate said. "It was right after Lexi and I got together."
A quick glance at Lexi gave me plenty of information. She turned her head away as if she hadn't heard her former fiancé say such things. I rolled my eyes. If I'd cheated on Cassie, not that it would ever happen, I'd have begged forgiveness. Not turned my nose up at it and looked off into my suitcase.
The five minutes passed more quickly than I would have preferred. We got back into the car they'd all come in and zipped through traffic at breakneck speeds. I just hoped the local cops knew that Alliance members were supposed to be allowed to drive like idiots when on recall or assignment or whatever. Otherwise, if we got pulled over, we were up shit creek.
We flew past a cop who was sitting on his hood, watching the world go by. I flinched, but the colorful spin of blue and red lights never followed us. Instead, Izzy waved joyfully at the man as we zoomed past and he waved right back.
Which meant that they were looking for this vehicle, were aware of who was likely in it, and what was going on. On one hand, that meant we weren't getting arrested. On the other, it sent a shiver down my spine. No one deserves that kind of power, and Logan had it in spades.
There were no armed guards outside of the Thomaston Alliance building, but six uniformed superheroes met us at the door. They recognized me on sight, but, thankfully, not the others. I saw the question in their faces, but I shrugged. "Un-uniformed friendlies," I said, in way of explanation.
Obviously, the notion made it into their minds. Superheroes still tried to keep their identities more or less under wraps; which was becoming far more difficult in a world where every corner had a security camera and everyone had a smartphone. I'd seen comparison pictures between me and a guy named Altitude, a Flyer who was more or less a spy for the Alliance. We had the same hair, the same eyes, and a lot of the same body structure.
But we weren't the same person.
