“How?” demanded Aru.
At this, Aiden looked a little shifty. “Uh, well, earlier today, I saw somethingkinda weird through my window. You had a lightning bolt.”
“How did you know it was a lightning bolt?”
Aiden ducked his chin and mumbled something. Aru only caught one of the words:zoom.
She glanced at his camera. “Zoom lens?You took a picture of my lightning bolt?!”
“I didn’t mean to! You were leaning out the window!”
“AndI’mthe creepy stalker?”
“Okay, I’m sorry!”
“Say you’re a creep.”
“Can’t I—?”
“Say it.”
“I’m a creep. And I’m sorry. But it was a lightning bolt … in your hand … and that threw me.”
Vajra beamed, clearly flattered. Aru ignored it.
“Don’t spy on me ever again,” said Aru, “or I will lightning-bolt you.” Aru was not surelightning-boltwas a verb, but she also didn’t care.
Aiden squared his shoulders. “Fine, then don’t spy on me, either.”
“I didn’t—”
“Isaw you, Shah.”
“Okay, fine. Sorry.”
“Me too,” said Aiden. He shuffled in place for a bit before adding, “Also, I know Brynne can be a … a lot? But she means well. She just—”
At that second, Brynne strolled over wearing shiny metal sneakers that she must have picked up from the shelf markedSHARP THINGS.
“Check it out.” She grinned, showing them off. She pointed her chin at Aiden. “These kicksenhance the wearer’s fighting ability. They can only be used in one battle, though, so you gotta make it count. What’d you get?”
Aiden held up a kit ofUNIDENTIFIED NECESSITIES.
“Classic Aiden,” said Brynne. “You’re such anammamma.”
Aiden tucked the kit into his camera satchel. “I’m not a grandma.”
“Do you or do you not have snacks in your purse-slash-camera-bag?”
“Let me live, Bee,” hesaid, but he was smiling.
Bee? Ammamma?They were, Aru realized with a strange pang, close enough to have nicknames for each other. Aru turned to Mini, who had just walked over with a little bar labeledPOWER NAP.
“What’d you get, WebMD?”
Everyone stared at Aru blankly.
Mini pointed at herself. “Are you talking to me?”
