There’s a backpack by the bed, so I grab that and head into the bathroom, excusing myself to get dressed in privacy. The first thing I see when undoing the zipper is my favorite pair of Tally token denims. Point to the packer.

Once dressed, I step in front of the mirror. I’m just a girl. Nothing special. Nothing fancy. Just a girl with deep set shadows under her eyes, blotchy cheeks, and birds nest hair. I’m not prepared to stand strong against Tayte. Bright side: I have nothing particularly useful to offer him, so whatever provisions he wants can’t be much. Maybe he’ll settle for a thank you and thumbs up.

I hold tight to my rock, to Brody. “What would you see, Kangaroo Fists? Just a girl?” He’s warm in my hand. “Nah, you’d see a fighter, wouldn’t you? Someone who made it through the closest call she’s ever had with her flame.” I kiss the rock, a tear sliding down my cheek. “You’d see the beauty of that girl still being human.” Much as I want to see myself as her, like he would have, I can’t. “You’re seeing me wrong. You always did,” I whisper, tucking the rock in my left front pocket for safekeeping and stepping out to meet whatever fate awaits.

Dad stays behind while Derry functions as my handler. Apt. A short walk and elevator trip later, I enter the meeting room, squeezing between Barry and Declan on a two-person couch that barely fits Barry. But wait. There’s more. Kiley’s positioned half on the couch arm and half on Declan’s arm. Tally’s full-on Barry’s lap. We’re getting the best bang for our buck here when we’re meant to be sitting around the ostentatious table in the center of the room. Pretty sure that’s a real marble top. Fancy.

“It may ease your distress to hear I can’t do anything with the powers I’ve taken from you,” Tayte begins from the head of the table.

I survey him carefully. Little lonely down there, Bud? “I heard something similar.”

“You may also like to hear you’ll get them back,” he pushes.

I shrug.

“You’re the least thankful person I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting in my life,” he candidly remarks.

Tally nods enthusiastically, agreeing wholeheartedly, earning a glower from Derry. Nuh uh. That’s my glower. I glower at him. Better. Nobody does that trick better than me. Rolling his eyes, he shifts his chair to face Tayte.

“We all have our special talents,” I note, redirecting my attention to Tayte.

Tayte’s special talent comes in the way of absorption. He can’t use the powers but can stop them. How long will it take to get them back? Does he control duration, or am I just waiting for the reservoirs to refill?

“Your friends requested my help, Sheyla,” he advises.

“Yeah, I was in a bit of a hot spot there for a minute.”

I don’t want to discuss my friends. I’m still upset at them over what happened. Do they have a decent explanation? Maybe, but I’m not ready to hear it. Probably never will be. In truth, I’m not sure what they could’ve done against Phelan in his agitated state, anyway. He was totally off leash, so much so that two of his own team defected. Not Connor, though. Connor surprised me. Hardcore disappointed me, too.

I scan the room uneasily for Molly and Seán, but they’re nowhere to be seen. Cool. If I’m not ready to come to terms with the lack of interference from my family, I’m definitely not ready to come to terms with the intentional interference from Molly and Seán. Okay, so they switched sides. That awards them a few appreciation credits. Still not enough to buy anything at the Sheyla Heart Mart.

“Well, were you aware you’re a conduit?” he presses.

“I’m empathic,” I correct him.

“I don’t just absorb the powers,” he explains. “I feel them. I draw them in and let them flow through me. I can truly understand them. You’re not just an empath. You’re a conduit.”

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“How exciting,” I deadpan. “What’s your price?”

“Forever in a rush,” he chastises. “Didn’t rushing get you into this mess?”

“Enough, Tayte,” Ryan steps in.

Tayte’s right. My single desire to wake my mother put me in this situation. I deserve anything he says or does to drive the point home.

“What I want from you is to study you.”

“Hard no on being your guinea pig. Are you a hard lessons guy? You didn’t learn from experience not to mess around with the science behind what we are? I’ve met those monstrosities you call daughters.” No way I’ve forgotten what Cathain and Alexandria did to Dreyna or me.

“Failed experiments. You’re familiar with those, aren’t you?”

I scowl. It’s very disapproving.

“I want to test the limits of your abilities,” he persists.

“I’m not interested in giving you information to use in your war.”

“It’s your war, too, Sheyla,” he counters. “Now more than ever.”

“I don’t have to be on your side just because I won’t be on theirs.”

“I didn’t ask you to be on my side.”

“Your experiments were clear on that point the last time I saw them.”

“I let them dabble in control,” he concedes. “That doesn’t mean I blindly agree to their methods.”

“But you allow them. Allowing things to happen weighs the same as supporting them.”

That statement is problematic. My friends did the same. They did nothing to stop Phelan from destroying innocent people. Grease fire tickles my nose. Someone’s feeling regret. I’d complain, but smelling that gross smell means my fire fuel tanks are refilling. Slow and steady wins the race.

“Isn’t that what you’re doing?” he returns sharply. “Choosing not to act against the Tribunal to protect the Sumairs? Choosing not to transition and hovering in this middling capacity? All that so you don’t have to act. War has casualties. Countless deaths without meaning. You can’t control that. You can, however, control this moment.”

Hmm. Am I the pot or the kettle in this scenario? Seems I’m the kettle. Point to Tayte. “I am controlling this moment,” I assure him. “I’m controlling it by not letting you study me and using whatever you discover to your advantage.”

“War was a means to protect the people I care about, the only means I had.” He leans forward, and my bodyguards match his advance. Calm down, Guys. He’s way over there. We’re way over here. “I’m interested in exploring my options now. If there was another way to protect them other than you, I’d be just as inclined to take that route.”

“How am I protecting them?”

“By appropriating the thing inviting danger,” he reports.

He can’t be referring to me vaccinating his Rebels. Matthew was very firm on that point, and the Amazonians were very firm on the results of interference. “Look, Matthew already shot down my vaccination offer.”

“Matthew doesn’t see the bigger picture.”

“So, you expect me to believe all you actually want from me is to study me? More specifically, you want to study me stripping the Rebels of their Sumair status? Your army? You want to destroy your own army?”

Electrical fire is thick in the air. We’re all confused. What he’s saying makes no sense. I’ve met Cathain and Alexandria. I’ve met Matthew. I’ve talked to the Amazonians, who are worried about the coming war. I’ve chosen a side, the side of humanity. He doesn’t want to preserve humanity. What does he have to gain by allowing me to vaccinate and potentially immunize his Rebels?

“You can break the bonds holding us to our makers, but I want to see if you can do more.”

“What more can I possibly do?”

“I want to see how you’ll use the powers instead of wasting them,” he admits. “A conduit.”

I don’t have that sort of power. Can I feel emotions? Yes. Can I invoke and revoke emotions? Also yes. While I haven’t tried, I don’t want to take abilities. “Why would you want to see that?”

“To replicate it.”

Wow. He’s very blunt. At least his goal makes sense now. He wants to mimic what he thinks I can do so he won’t need me to be his weapon. He can be the weapon.

“I’ll work it out eventually on my own,” he insists. “This way, you can help a few people in the process. That’s what you want to do, isn’t it?”

Helping people experiencing withdrawal and the constant craving associated with being a Sumair is tempting. Bonus bright side: troop reduction. Can’t see how that could be a bad thing. Fewer bodies mean fewer dead bodies. Objectively.

“You will help me,” he asserts, “and I’ll continue to help you.”

I stare blanks. “If I don’t?”

When Tayte wrings out the sponge holding my power, everything he’s been containing roars back into me. There’s no filter to slow the stream. More emotions whip through me than I can safely stow, especially since the reserves were refilling before all that hot garbage got jammed back in there. The fire demands release. My body starts to smoke. Declan and Barry move away to avoid the blistering heat from my position between them.

Just as quickly, Tayte soaks it all up again, a toothy smile morphing his face. “You will help me,” he repeats. “I can stall the return or unleash it all at once. How we move forward is up to you.”

Derry was right. His help has serious provisions. My supply. His demand. He has me over a barrel, monster Water Sumair that he is, but does he realize how dangerous it is to play with fire? Guess he wants to mess around and find out.