I’m woken the next morning by a knock on my door. I open it to find Asher. She’s in the same tight jeans as the night before, but a different top. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail behind her head, though most of the shorter strands have escaped and fall on her neck. A pair of pink, heart-shaped sunglasses perches atop her head. She smirks as she regards me, shirtless with slept-in boxer shorts and mussed hair.

          “That’s a good look for you, Sasquatch,” she says as my face reddens. I try to hide a little behind the door.

          “W-What are you doing here?” I stammer.

          “Field trip. Get showered and dressed,” she says. She lifts her wrist, checking the time on a watch. “Breakfast is on for another half hour if you hurry.”

          I clear my throat, feeling heat creep from the tips of my ears, over my cheeks, and across my chest. “Okay,” I mutter. Asher smiles, stifling a laugh, and shoots me a wink before she turns and heads down the stairs.

                                                                 *

          Twenty minutes later, I gnaw on a granola bar as Asher stuffs two bottles of water into a backpack. There had been more clothes in the dresser drawers in my room, so I didn’t have to wear the same ones as yesterday. The shirt is snug like the last one, stretching across my shoulders.

          “You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” I say around the granola bar. Asher swings the backpack over one shoulder.

          “The park where we hunt. Aiden wants me to show you around,” she answers. She glances behind me and nods as Silas approaches.

          “Come on, Sasquatch,” he grunts. I blink after him and Asher and I follow. I lean down toward her.

          “Did you tell him your nickname for me?” I mutter. Asher shakes her head.

          “I can read minds,” Silas says, before Asher can answer. “Don’t worry, I won’t go rooting around in your head.”

          Asher snorts a little in laughter. “Lighten up a little, grumpy,” she says. Silas gives her a mockingly sweet smile as he opens the front doors of the hotel.

          The day is bright and warm outside, so unlike the pouring rain the entire day before. Silas immediately cuts to the right, staying close to the building. Asher walks behind him, pulling her sunglasses down over her eyes and leaving me to bring up the rear. I run my fingers along the rough red brick of the building.

          “How far are we from Central City?” I ask.

          “We’re just outside the city limits. Maybe five miles?” she replies. That surprises me. Walking through the drainage tunnels, I had nothing to indicate the passage of time. We must have traveled a lot longer than I’d originally thought.

           “We still shouldn’t draw unwarranted attention to ourselves,” Silas says from the front of our little procession. “If I tell you to stop and hide, you do it, understand?” He glances over his shoulder, giving me a pointed look.

          I nod wordlessly. We walk hurriedly along the sidewalk hugging the dilapidated buildings, zigzagging among the slumping structures and stepping over beams that have fallen and blocked foot traffic on the streets.

          We step around the corner and a forest comes into view. A cast-iron fence lines the greenery, bent and split open to create a makeshift gateway. The canopy of trees shades us as we step into the overgrown park, our boots landing on a path through tall grass, pressed and worn flat by dozens of pairs of boots.

          Birdsong reaches my ears, and distantly, laughter. Deep in the woods, a clearing has been made around a dried-up fountain. A small cluster of maybe four lean-tos has a stone fire pit between them, and chairs gathered around wooden picnic tables, faded by the weather. Across the clearing, a rudimentary paddock holds chickens, a couple pigs, and even a cow next to several small plots where crops shoot up from the tilled earth.

          “Asher, you’re back!” a guy calls. He lifts one hand in a wave, and I notice his other hand is poised above the soil. Asher pulls my sleeve toward him. Silas glances back at us, but makes his way to the lean-tos without a word.

          “Hey, Caleb,” she says. Once I’m closer, I see his fingers are splayed above a small plant. The plant is smaller than the others surrounding it. His skin is dark brown like the soil as he squats on the garden plot. He raises his hand slightly, his knuckles knobby, and the plant rises with it, sprouting leaves as it grows to match its neighbors in height.

          When he’s done, Caleb stands and wipes his hands, though I see no evidence of dirt on his palms. He wraps Asher up in a hug.

          “How was your recon?” he asks her. “I heard you blew up a lab.”

          Asher laughs as she pulls away from him. “Yeah, I did,” she says proudly. She turns to me. “This is Finn. I got him out with me.”

          Caleb inclines his chin in greeting. “Hey, man.”

          “Asher!” someone squeals behind us. A flash of red envelops Asher and she lets out a raucous laugh. The girl hugging her is tall, with a mane of scarlet curls and freckles across her face.

          Caleb groans. “Watch the tomatoes, Lydia!” he cries. The redhead steps back, but keeps her freckled arms around Asher’s shoulders. She has on a pair of worn denim shorts that leave much of her thighs exposed, her knee-high socks poking out from tall boots.

          “Sorry!” she laughs. She notices me and stares with wide, bright blue eyes. “Who are you?”

          “I’m Finn,” I say, and give her a little wave. 

          She finally releases Asher, who says, “He’s Aiden’s brother. I got him out of Null yesterday.”

          “What can you do?” Caleb asks. He sounds genuinely curious. I rub at the back of my neck, fidgeting.

          “I can control metal. I’m basically a giant fridge magnet,” I say. Lydia giggles and Caleb grins at me.

          “You’re a metallic?” he says. “I’ve never met one before.” I laugh nervously, feeling heat prickle over my skin.

          “I gather I’m special,” I mutter. Caleb nods emphatically. I get the feeling he’s about to rattle off about the science of my ability, but he’s interrupted by the approach of another.

           The girl’s hands are held aloft, and water falls before them like rain onto the crops. When she sees us, she ceases watering the plants and grins at Asher. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail, the dark roots giving way to silver as her hair falls down her back. Her eyes are upturned and almond-shaped, a brown so dark they’re almost black.

          “Cece, this is Finn,” Asher says. She gestures to me, Lydia’s arms still around her shoulders. “Finn, Cece.”

          “What’s this about you two blowing up a lab?” Cece asks, impressed. “Hope you got one up on that dickhead.” Her long sleeves are frayed at the ends, sticking out from her leather jacket. Her jeans are stained with dirt on the knees.

          Asher grins. “You know it.”

          Cece grins back at her. Lydia finally drops her arms from around Asher’s shoulders and turns to me.

          “What do you wanna see first?” she asks. “The meetinghouse, the barn?” I shrug.

          “Anything, I guess. Aiden wanted me to have the tour,” I say. Lydia nods and grasps my arm with both her hands, pulling me along.