I held the phone in my hands, pinky out.

I’d need to get new gloves. Which would be a pain. My gloves were special, having a pad at each fingertip. Made specifically to stop my power from activating. I flexed my fingers. It was an odd feeling, having my hands free for so long.

We were sitting on a bench in Liberty Square, people walking all around us. A large tree’s shade covered us from sunlight. She’d gone away, to talk to someone on the phone, while I was just sitting here, thinking about-about everything really.

But, most of all, the woman. The woman that would have killed us if Aiolos hadn’t shown up. And maybe we shouldn’t have been in a hurry to get away from him. He was working with Alpha Surge’s Project: Tomorrow.

But we had to keep our circle of trust as small as possible. Especially if the Houses of Doom were after us too. I knew, better than anyone, how they slithered their way to every corner of the world.

How they tempted you with evil. How, whenever they were involved, nothing was simple or easy.

“Done admiring your own hands?” I turned to Maria.

“We should go back,” I said. “We’re safer in Atlantis than here.We have to also find out what everyone else discovered. I-”

“You look like you’re about to shit yourself.”

“What?”

“Was it the woman we fought against? So she’s dressed in a Houses of Doom Halloween costume. What’s the big deal?”

I let out a sigh. I didn’t want to tell anyone about this. Worry them without reason. But the Houses of Doom weren’t something you could easily explain. Before Charles did what he did, they were an undisputed fact of life. A criminal organisation–a powerful criminal organisation that ruined everything. But still, a criminal organisation like any other.

Now, they were a myth. An urban legend. Everybody knew they existed, sometime long ago, but not anymore. And that was what I’d thought too. Even after I’d regained my memories. No way they could have survived for so long without anyone figuring them out.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“What if she’s the real deal?” I looked down at my feet. “The Houses of Doom were real. We all know it. It wouldn’t be surprising if they popped up out of the shadows, would it? Not after everything we’ve seen.”

She grunted something. Again I turned to her. I didn’t say anything though. We were on better terms, but I knew that I was always walking on thin ice with Maria. So I just waited for her to talk.

“I can’t believe I have to give you a pep talk. And this isn’t even the first time!”

She sounded genuinely mad but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. In a year full of insanity, this probably took the cake. And probably ate it too.

“So you’re going to cheer me up?”

“Since you didn’t bother bringing any of your actual friends with us.” Her shoulders shagged down, like this was the last thing she wanted to do. “Because, as much as I hate to admit it, you have made friends in university. More than I have.”

“I don’t even know how it happened.”

“Well, it did. And you somehow got Kent Smith and Alpha-fucking-Surge to trust you. You said you were going to stop wallowing in self-pity and despair? So do so! Get up and let’s beat a century’s long criminal organisation and find who killed Alpha Surge!”

It wasn’t exactly the kind of inspirational or comforting speech I expected, but it was enough to get me to stand up. Because she, in some respects, was right. Because I couldn’t afford to be overwhelmed now.

One step at a time. I put the phone away.

“Okay, okay,” I said, flexing my fingers. “We go back to Atlantis. See what everyone else has, and go from there.”

“What about–and I can’t believe I’m actually saying this–the Houses of Doom?”

A thought had popped into my mind. It was there since we first met the woman, but I kept it buried deep in my mind.

Sofie.

She knew the Houses of Doom. She hadn’t been a member in over fifty years, but there would be value in her advice. She was all the way in New Weston but it wouldn’t be impossible to get to her.

There was Sofia too, but we wouldn’t be able to find her. She was probably out somewhere in the world with a different name, living a new life. We would never be able to get her.

So my mind kept circling back to Sofie.

“I think-I think there’s someone that can help us. But we need to talk it out with everyone else.”

“So, back to Atlantis with the next ship?”

My phone–my normal phone–vibrated. A missed call from Sadid and a message from an unknown number. Apparently, it was Amir Saidi, the guy I’d helped out.

“Everything alright?”

In hindsight, maybe I’d taken on too much at once. Sadid’s sister, Birgit’s parents, this new kid, and the mystery we’d stumbled onto. I looked up at Maria, only to see Alpha Surge standing there, a smug smile on his face.

I shook my head.

“Yeah, it’s all good. Just-I’m still just a little disoriented, that’s all.”