"Sometimes I wish I could run away." Helena was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling. Her legs dangled over the side. "But I can't. There's no where in the world I could go. I'm trapped here."

"Yeah," Winnie replied.

Winnie sat beside Helena with her legs tucked under herself as best as her body-hugging dress would allow. Her cheeks burned from the bottle of vodka Helena had stashed under her bed. She could only imagine how dizzy Helena must feel. She must have take two shots for every one of Winnie's. At least the bottle was empty.

"She wouldn't even care that I ran away," Helena continued. "She'd just hunt me down like a jaguar escaped from her zoo. As soon as I was home, she'd go right back to ignoring me. Except she's not even ignoring me. She goes out of her way to avoid me. The only times she pretends to care are when she has some politician over for dinner and she needs to act like a human being. I can't talk to her then because I have to put on a good face for the guests. As soon as the politicians are gone, so is she."

"Yeah."

"And what the fuck was her problem about tonight? Almost there, then something suddenly comes up. The wars are over. My mom owns the world. What could possibly be so important that she needed to backtrack all the way home? It's not like she's any closer to Nigeria now. She probably just blew whatever it was out of proportion. She was probably relieved when it came up. It's bullshit."

"Yeah." If Winnie weren't as drunk, she might be a better listener.

Helena sniffed. "What time is it?"

Winnie visualized the bedside clock in her dorm. "It's after one."

"I guess that's... what? Ten o'clock at the charity?"

"I think so, yeah."

"What are they doing?"

Winnie visualized. "The music is still playing, but it looks like a lot of guests have gone."

"How much did the charity make?"

This took Winnie some scouting. She found the raffle ledger in the organizer's room. It was closed, but that didn't stop her anymore.

"About fourteen million."

"Seriously?" Helena sat up. "That's pathetic. It probably cost that much just to host the stupid thing."

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"Do you think it would have made a difference if we had decided to come late?"

"Of course not. We would have only gotten there, like, half an hour ago, and nobody cares about the queen's daughter. My mom probably did all this on purpose to make that abundantly clear."

"Yeah...," said Winnie. Victoria obviously hadn't. Whatever had come up had clearly been important. If Winnie were allowed, she would check Victoria to no doubt find her involved with some frantic situation. "It must be tough being her daughter. I wish I could help." After weighing the idea, Winnie placed her hand on Helena's shoulder.

Helena leaned into her until Winnie found herself hugging Helena. Helena sniffled. She leaned to fetch the Vodka bottle. It's emptiness was another woe for her.

"Do you want to go steal some more?" Winnie asked. Against her orders, she checked the route to the restaurant on floor fifty. "It looks like nobody would stop us. Whatever's going on has all the guards busy."

"No, I don't want to go downstairs." She said despondently, but then her head lifted. "Let's go upstairs instead."

"To your mom's suite?"

"To her office. I happen to know she keeps some gin in her desk. It's her favorite bottle."

"Your mom drinks?"

"A lot. Let's do this. You know, since she's so busy."

Helena got up with surprising energy.

Winnie had little choice but to follow.

----------------------------------------

"...Wow," Bishop said. Victoria had forgotten he was still on the line, watching the same feed as her, but her sentiment was the same.

That was fascinating. She wished she could rewind the surveillance footage to watch again. That man had deflected every single flechette. And here she was thinking his power was some nonsense about card playing or statistically significant luck, but if his power was that blatant... Good heavens, the things he should be able to do.

The sentinel might have failed, but learning that might have made it worthwhile. Josephine would soon discover that the armory was locked away. And that's not to say that the sentinel was for nothing. It wounded Josephine. The Nigerian family wasn't bothering to treat her wounds, but rather hoisting her along. Her head rocked from side to side, and when they found the armory locked, Josephine hardly reacted. She was barely conscious.

"Admiral," she said.

Admiral Medina got back on the line. "Yes, ma'am?"

"I think it's time to get your marines ready. The woman who was shot is the one who can erase memories. If she passes out, I want your men there."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You're apprehending them, not hurting them. For her, all they need to do is put a bag over her head. If she can't see someone, she can't affect their mind. And I want the medical bay to prepare for her, because I will not have her die."

"Yes, ma'am."

On screen, the fugitives talked with one another. The surveillance had no audio. The urge to project her mind to right where they were was tantalizing, but impossible so long as Naema was there. The group turned to leave when Josephine halfheartedly pointed toward a supply locker. They carried here there and put her down. The others searched inside. The camera couldn't see, but they took something. Naema showed it to Josephine, and Josephine nodded. Was it a crate? A case? Victoria couldn't tell. Whatever it was, Tan tucked it into his pack before she could get a good look at it. The group headed off once again.

"What was that, Admiral? What did they take?"

"We don't know, ma'am, but that was an equipment hold. Cleaning supplies and such."

"They're not going to clean the deck, Admiral. As soon as they're out of there, have somebody find out what's missing."

"Yes, ma'am."

Victoria watched on...