Donovan!
—Good. Making headway with the plans. You’re up early—
—Fateball practice with Johnny. Wanted to let you know that we saw some goons putting up cameras all over the grounds. Max said they are motion-activated—
Shit.
I make a new connection to all my people.
—Hey, all—
—Sparkles!—
—What time is it…did I oversleep? I’m hungry…ooh, Theo is in my brain—
Classic Dunc.
—Theodora—
And then there’s Cosmo.
I quickly report on both the plan with River, and the new information about camera surveillance.
—I’ll see if I can find a way to block the feed—Duncan replies immediately. —Though I doubt a simple wi-fi jammer will work. Maybe I can…—
—Little bro. Let’s you and me put our heads together—
—Right, good idea, Max. What do you think about…—
I interrupt before this thread gets completely taken up by technical brainstorming.
—Let’s have another brain meeting after Wills has talked to her brother—
—Sounds good, pulu. Everyone try and act like model students today—
—Paragon is my middle name, Sparkles—Max replies.
—I thought it was Elias?—
Oh, Donovan.
—Speak soon—
It’s on the tip of my tongue to add ‘love you’ but I remember in the nick of time that I’ve people other than Ludo, Alexis and Dono ‘on the line’.
Willow emerges from the steam cloud, helping the child to get dry. “Can you find clean clothes for our girl?”
“Will do.”
As Wills gently starts to detangle the kid’s hair, I raid my dresser and try to find something half-suitable for our poor little waif.
I come up with cropped lime green leggings and my white sweatshirt with a massive, glittery unicorn on it. Maybe it will bring a smile to her face. I also find my smallest socks but shoes? Oh! I have new strawberry-patterned foam shower shoes that Willow bought me.
I grab a boxcutter from Ludo’s toolkit, then cut them down until the soles are half the length. They’ll be better than nothing.
Ten minutes later, we have our charge dressed and eating a nut bar.
After the last mouthful, she strokes the iron-on unicorn transfer of her new shirt.
