Hey, where are you? Milly sent the text to Niki.

Lunch. Same spot. Niki’s reply was quick. Did you get lost?

“Where is that?” Ruth was reading along over her shoulder as they walked out of the park.

“The west field near the oak tree. We’ve been going there for the past couple of days.” Milly recalled with a smile. “It’s real nice. Seeing as this was a big city school, I figured that meant being cooped up more than a chicken in winter.”

On our way now. Milly texted.

“You’re from the countryside too?” Ruth perked up. “Same here. Well, Irish countryside, but still. I had similar fears when I took the plunge. The campus is pretty scenic, but I do miss the ability to just pick a direction and keep walking till I can’t see people anymore. There’s always like at least ten people within a stone’s throw here.”

Just a casual glance around was enough to prove that. On the path, the trees had obstructed the line of sight, but now that they were in the open Milly could see lots of students. Some were even hanging out by the edge of the tree line.

Curiously, nobody was crossing their path. Everyone found reasons for veering off, whether to a water fountain, another group, ducking to fix their shoelaces, walking slower, or even just turning back entirely.

“I reckon so. Though it’s better than the actual city. I don’t think you could even throw a stone without hitting someone. There are so many people!” Milly threw up her hands. “I used to go for a jog back home but I’m not sure how to do that here without running into anyone or getting funny looks.

“Not to mention horseback riding.” Though Milly had at least been able to mentally prepare for that one. A dorm was no place for a saddle horse, even one as docile as Sunshine.

“Heh, you’re cute.” Ruth tousled Milly’s hair. “You still think anyone in the city gives a damn what you are doing. Trust me, if it’s not affecting them, they will barely register your presence. It’s how you can end up feeling completely alone in a crowded street.”

Then why were so many people looking their way right now?

Milly dipped out from under Ruth and shook her head, as much to undo the damage as to disagree. “Pull the other one. That’s not alone at all. Besides, you don’t even buy that or you wouldn’t miss those walks.”

“That’s not quite the same thing, but you’ll get what I mean eventually. Just see to it that you make yourself some friends. Now is the easiest time you’ll have for that.” Ruth smiled then looked ahead. “Ah, that’ll be Niki.”

Indeed, Niki was standing in the shade of the oak, staring right at them as they approached.

It was a nice place. West field was a large swath of grass with trees dotted around the outskirts. It was popular with the freshmen since it was the closest field to their dorm, and many of them were spread out in little clusters on the grass, enjoying lunch, chatting, or tossing a ball around.

Milly’s phone chirped. You brought Ruth? You are under her spell!

Milly didn’t feel any different, but she could see why Niki would assume that. Did it really make sense to bring Ruth, even if it was to clear up a misunderstanding?

“Uh, Ruth?" Milly paused while she stared at Niki’s text. “Are you using your power on me?”

“What makes you say that?” Ruth asked, stopping beside Milly and giving a friendly wave in Niki’s direction. “Yes, no, maybe. What difference would my answer really make? You’ll either trust me or not.”

Come to think of it, would it not make sense to be more cautious of asking a question like that to a mind controller? But then again, Ruth was easy to talk to, and she hadn’t actually done anything that warranted mistrusting her, other than play host to some vicious rumors. Did Milly really want to blindly buy into those like everyone else? Or was that Ruth’s influence?

Second-guessing her own thoughts was so stressful.

“…I guess, I’m just asking because I think Niki is scared of that. I forgot to tell her what we’re doing.”

Ruth plucked Milly’s phone from her hand and had a look.

“Hey!” Milly protested.

“Ah. Makes sense. We might have moved a little fast.” Ruth bit her lip then took a step back, putting Milly in the lead by default. “How about you go talk to her first then? I’ll stay here.”

“I need my phone back.” Milly held out her hand.

“Right, one sec…” Ruth tapped away on the phone then handed it over. On the screen was a brand-new contact labeled ‘Ruth’ with a phone number. “If you think it’s going to take a while, just text me and I’ll go deal with Hilda first until you two are ready.”

“Oh, sure. I don’t think it would take that long, though. Just gimme a sec!” Milly left Ruth where she was and ran on over to Niki.

Niki’s eyes widened as she saw Milly sprint at her and quickly held out her phone as if she was trying to appease an angry dog with a bone. “Wait! Here just take it!”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Milly skidded to a stop, tilting her head in confusion. “What? No, I’m not robbing you.” She reached out and gently pushed Niki’s hand down while she took a step closer. “Sorry, I, I realize that you might be a little freaked out right now, but just hear me out. Okay?”

“...Okay,” Niki said while she eyed Milly up and down warily. “What is going on? This better be good.”

“You’ve been acting weird after we met Ruth, and I was worried, but I didn’t want to push you.” Milly began, taking a glance over her shoulder to make sure Ruth was still where she left her. “So, I thought I’d go ask Ruth what was up between you two instead.”

Ruth was on her phone, not even paying attention to them anymore.

“You what?!” Niki hissed before she quickly looked toward Ruth. Milly gave her a second to relax and turn back, but Niki remained fixated on Ruth. Like she was sure the girl would pounce if she turned her back on her. Without looking to Milly, Niki continued at a low whisper. “I thought maybe she’d forget about me if I just stayed quiet and out of her way. Then you waltz right in and remind her?”

That at least confirmed that it was definitely Ruth that Niki had been worried about. Not some other psychic that she might have met before. It was a strangely comforting thought, as it meant Milly hadn’t entirely misread the situation.

“Well, that’s… I guess kind of what happened.” Milly admitted while she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as Niki gave her the stink eye. “Except for the reminding part! That’s the thing, Ruth says she doesn’t remember you at all. Are you sure it was Ruth? What if—”

“Yes,” Niki answered unequivocally, taking Milly aback. “Yes, I’m sure. If she doesn’t remember, good. Let’s keep it that way. Now, why is Ruth here?”

“Well, we were hoping to clear up some confusion. Like, I dunno, what if some other psychic made you think they were Ruth?”

Niki’s brow furred while she mulled the possibility over. With a sigh, she slowly turned back to face Milly. “Okay… I… I would like to know if that’s the case. So, what’s the plan here? I have to tell her what she did and see if she remembers at all?” Just saying the thought aloud had Niki stiffen her shoulders up.

Milly shrugged. “I dunno, hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Listen, I understand I kinda sprung this on you, so would you like it better if I told Ruth to come back later so you can think about it?”

“No!” Niki snapped, making Milly step back. With a sigh, Niki pushed up her silvery glasses. “Sorry, I’m not mad at you. Well, no. I am. Ugh, I wish you’d talked to me before you just went and stuck your nose in. Gah… Fine. We can talk now. I just don’t want anything to do with her afterward… Don’t tell her I said that. And don’t leave me alone with her.”

“Sorry. I just thought… Nevermind. I got it.” Milly nodded. She felt a knot in her stomach that wasn’t just from having skipped lunch. She really should have taken more time to think it through before jumping out of the bushes and getting this whole thing rolling. “I’ll be right here. You ready?”

“As ready as I will ever be… Wait, no. There is one more thing.” Niki tightly grabbed Milly by the shoulders and pulled her closer while, she gave her a hard stare. “If I start talking about anything that happened more than a month ago. Anything at all. You HAVE to stop me. Understand? That’ll be Ruth messing with my head.”

Milly hadn’t even seen Niki look so serious after they’d nearly died. What could she be concerned about that had her react this strongly? Perhaps it was just a method she’d devised to defend against Ruth’s power. If she set her limit ahead of time, she’d have a means of knowing whether Ruth was influencing her.

Milly reached up to take one of Niki’s hands firmly in her own. “I promise.”

Niki gave her a faint smile. “Thanks. I’m counting on you.” She then waved Ruth over.

“Oh my god, finally!” Ruth groaned as she came walking up to them. “I went ahead and told Hilda to just come to meet me here cause there’s no way I’m making it back there in time at this rate. So, catch me up to speed. Where are we at?”

Milly looked over to Niki to field that question, but she was clearly nervous. “...Well, Niki believes that she encountered you earlier this month. Are you sure you don’t remember her?”

“I know I’ve seen you around, but I don’t recall interacting with you before, sorry,” Ruth said while she looked Niki up and down. Ruth briefly paused then let out a soft sigh and ducked down a little to be at Niki’s eye level. “Hey, I’m told you might have had a bad experience with a psychic before, so I’m not going to look into your mind, okay? Relax. But, that means I’m going to rely on you to help me figure this out. Can you tell me what happened?”

The way Ruth could swing from being impatient to caring felt strange to Milly. Was that something members of ACE were trained to do? She recalled a similar thing when she first met Ruth. That quick swing away from whatever she was doing into reassuring the ‘victim’.

“About a month ago…” Niki started while casting a quick glance at Milly, as though to make sure she was paying attention. “I was exploring the school and just found the computer lab. You were already there researching Corvus Dynamics.”

Milly knew that name. She’d seen their logo on a defibrillator in one of the halls. It was the company largely responsible for Bulwark Bay’s abundance of advanced medical equipment.

There was a spark of recognition in Ruth’s eyes. “Right, I recall that being a real pain. Seemed as though every website or news article was just their PR. All prattling on about how they were ‘dedicated to furthering humanity and science’. There was a whole page of just glowing worker reviews raving about the dental plan and days off! Nothing useful, at all.” Ruth got more agitated the longer she talked about it.

“You were grumbling aloud about that page back then too.” Niki nodded, looking a little paler than before. She squeezed Milly’s hand. “It was clear you were frustrated, to say the least. I decided I shouldn’t bother you and just come back later, but then I realized you were one of the ACE heroes. I didn’t know a lot about you, but if a hero was looking into this, it was probably important. So, I suggested you might want to try breaking into their own database.”

Something was wrong.

Milly stroked the back of Niki’s hand with her thumb in an attempt to soothe her while trying to figure out what had Niki extra on edge.

“Aye, I remember. Some girl showed me how to breach one of their new locations that didn’t have their security up to par yet. So, that was you?” Ruth actually looked excited as she took Niki’s other hand. “Great! I was so preoccupied with finally getting somewhere in the investigation that by the time I’d finished reading their files, you were gone. I was kicking myself for days! See, we used to have someone on our team that could do that, but she graduated last year. It's been tough getting good info. Hey, do you want t—”

“No!” Niki pulled her hand back. “Not now, and I didn’t back then either.”

“Uhm, hello? It was your idea.” Ruth said, bewildered. “Who are you trying to fool? You didn’t just figure out how to hack into one of the biggest companies in the city on the spot. That’s the sorta thing that takes planning and you had a whole strategy ready to go. Don’t tell me you weren’t dying to try it out. You were just scared of what the consequences might be, weren’t you?”

Rather than deny it, Niki bit her lip and looked away.

“See? All you needed was an excuse and some assurance like ‘I’ll take care of it, there’s nothing to be afraid of.’ Hardly anything that needs a power to explain.” Ruth smiled as she stepped in and reached a hand out for Niki’s chin.

“Hey!” Milly grabbed Ruth by the wrist and positioned herself in between Ruth and Niki. “She said ‘No’. How about you back off? She can’t be the only computer nerd you know.”

“Oh.” Ruth glanced down at her restrained wrist then back to Milly before flashing a smile. She stood back up to her full height, nearly half a head taller than Milly. Ruth had looked so short standing next to Hilda, but there was still a good three years between Ruth and them. She easily shook her hand free. “How gallant, but isn’t this for the best? As a retroactive support member of ACE, the responsibility for the hack would ultimately be on Principal Arkwright, and she’s got more lawyers than you could shake a stick at. Niki, as a private agent, you could get in a lot of legal trouble for a medical data breach… If it was ever discovered. Isn’t that what you were so worried about?”

Niki shrunk behind Milly as Ruth turned her attention back to her toward the end. Midway through the sentence, she held on tightly to Milly’s shoulders like she was clutching a shield. “Y-you made me do it.”

Milly inwardly cringed, remembering that Niki told her that defense hadn’t held up in court for someone else. Now it made sense why Niki had looked into that and Ruth in general as much as she had. Milly just wished she knew what she could do about it right now other than to try to make herself look big while Niki hid.

“I’m trying to help you—Wait…” Ruth tilted her head while she regarded the two of them. She took a step back and held up both hands in a disarming gesture. “There’s… something else, isn’t there? The potential punishment isn’t the core of your fear. It’s not even me, it’s… something I’m representing?”

Niki stayed quiet as a church mouse, but her hands were shaking even as they gripped Milly’s shoulders tighter, painfully so.

“I think that’s enough,” Milly said as sternly as she could manage. She didn’t know what was truly going on with Niki, but it was obvious she didn’t want to get into it. Milly reached up to lay her hand over Niki’s.

However, Ruth didn’t seem to be paying her much attention anymore. She only had eyes for Niki. “What’s wrong, Niki? You can tell us, don’t be afraid. You’re among friends.”

“As if you scare me.” Niki’s death-grip on Milly’s shoulders slackened a touch. “I know your type. Two-faced and silver-tongued. Well too bad, you are not the first person to try and blackmail me with your ‘Oh, I can keep a secret’ bullshit! He already ta—Oof!”

Niki doubled over in pain as Milly elbowed her in the stomach with all her might.