A week after my outburst on watch with Aiden, a knock comes at the door of my room. I look up from the book I’m reading and set it down as I rise from my bed. Asher stands on the other side of my door, hands on her hips. She wears tight jeans, a dark jacket zipped up to her throat. Her hair falls loose, framing her face in strands that gleam golden in the sunlight.

          “What’s going on?” I ask, leaning on my doorframe. I feel self-conscious suddenly about my wrinkled tee shirt and mussed hair.

          “We have a mission,” she says. “Get dressed and pack enough for a few days.”

          I blink in surprise. “Where are we going?” I ask.

          “The city,” she says. She gives me a smirk. “We’re gonna steal some shit.”

                                                                  *

          Silas taps a block of buildings near the canals, on a map of Central City. “Right there is where we’re going,” he says. “A senator lives there who has information on prisoners out in West City.” His long, pale finger taps the building marked on the map, spread across the reception desk in the lobby. Caleb stands beside him, stuffing a laptop into a backpack.

          “When we get in, I can get into his databases and copy the information,” Caleb says proudly.

          “And after we have it?” I ask.

          “We’ll go to West and get them out,” Silas replies.

          “Do you guys do stuff like this a lot?” I ask. Asher nods as she jumps up onto the desk.

          “We try to help as many people as we can,” she says. “We can at least get these prisoners out and get them to the Wilds.”

          I look up at her. “Wilds?”

          “You’ve never heard of them?” Caleb asks. I shake my head. “It’s the land outside Serendipity’s borders to the west, in the plains and mountains. There’s no government, no Null Enterprises.”

          “People live freely there,” Asher says. She has a wistful smile on her face.

          “Why doesn’t everyone just leave and go there?” I ask. “If it’s so nice.”

          “There are skirmishes and small-scale border wars,” Silas says. “It’s not safe for anyone to try and leave the country. Not through the front doors, anyway.”

          I nod, understanding. “Hence the covert op,” I say. Silas nods. “Okay. When do we leave?”

          “Now,” Asher says, jumping off her perch on the desk.

                                                                *

          Caleb, Silas, Asher, and I walk through the drainage tunnels toward Central City that night. They’re the same ones that Asher and I originally travelled through on our way from Null a couple weeks before. I shoulder my pack and duck my head under pipes running above us. We take different turns than Asher and I did, and come up through a manhole cover opposite the canals.

          “Finn,” Asher says. “Use your ability. Can you feel any cameras?” I close my eyes, narrowing my focus to the street above us. I feel the quiet hum of two security cameras in the alley. I clench my fists, and we hear the clank of metal hitting pavement. When we emerge from the manhole, the cameras are busted and crushed on either end of the alley. It’s dark; there are no streetlights here. Silas presses a finger to his lips as we file out of the tunnel.

          We cross to a dark building. The lower floor is an empty storefront, with apartments above. We enter, staying low.

          In a back room, Asher’s hand floats over a cluster of candles and lights them, casting the small room in an orange glow. Empty shelves line the walls. A cloud of dust puffs up as we set our packs on the floor.

          “Tomorrow night, we’ll get into the senator’s house and get his files,” Silas says. “For now, get some rest. We’ll take watch on shifts.”

          Cook has packed us food; Caleb hands out bottles of water and sandwiches. The meat and veggies in them are fresh from the encampment in the woods, the flavors rich.

          “Mm,” Asher sighs. “I missed Cook’s meals while I was away.”

                                                                  *

          The outer room of the store serves as the watch post. I find Asher out there in the middle of the night. She sits on the floor, leaning back against a countertop. She looks up.

          “Your shift isn’t for a few hours. Couldn’t sleep?” she asks. I shake my head, stuffing my hands into my pockets.

          “I’m pretty sure Silas was moving stuff in his sleep,” I mumble groggily. “It was freaking me out.”

          Asher chuckles a little. She pats the tile floor next to her, and I slump down beside her. Her arm presses against mine, warm and solid.

          “He denies it, but I think Silas does that to prank the newbies,” Asher says.

          I scoff. “I don’t think he likes me very much,” I say. Asher shrugs.

          “Don’t feel bad,” she says. “He doesn’t like a lot of people.” I huff a laugh.

          “Yeah, I get that impression,” I say. “He likes you. You two got history, Shortstack?” She grins at me.

          “Jealous, Sasquatch?” she says, laughing, lightly shoving my arm. I nudge her back. “Nah, he’s only got eyes for Aiden.”

          I’m taken aback. “What?”

          She snorts. “Oh, please. Not that your brother notices, anyway,” she says. “You both are idiots.” She smirks at me, and I give her an incredulous look.

          “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.

          Asher quirks an eyebrow at me and gives me a small smile. “Nothing,” she says softly.

          I watch the dark, empty street outside. “What about you?” I ask. “What’s your story?”

          Asher shifts next to me. She sighs softly. “My mom was a furnace too. She hid both our abilities from my father,” she says. “I left home when she died. I was under the radar for a long time before the Defiants found me.”

          “What made you go to work for your father?”

          “The fact that he’s my father,” she says with a shrug. “I had a last name that meant something and an easy way in.”

          “And you didn’t mind working for him?”

          Asher shakes her head. “Of course not. I’m one of the people my father wants to wipe off the face of the earth. I wasn’t going to sit back and let him do it,” she says. The smile she gives me is tight, a muscle jumping in her cheek. 

          Without thinking, I raise a hand and smooth the crease. Her skin is soft and warm under my fingers. She meets my gaze; my face is reflected in her dark irises. Her eyes flit down to my mouth and back up to my eyes. Heat floods my face. I can feel her cool breath on my skin, and I begin to lean toward her—

          And she turns away, my hand dropping from her face.

          “You’re up, so—you can take watch,” she says hurriedly, her voice quiet. She stands, rubbing her palms on her jeans. She doesn’t look me in the face, but her cheeks are pink.

          “Asher—” I begin, but she rushes into the other room where Caleb and Silas sleep, not looking back.