2022, March 23th

Collapse - 27 years

Alexander and Anton came back near midnight, long after Sibyl and Josephine returned from dropping Katherine home. They burst into the hotel suite laughing and joking. Josephine would have awoken if she'd been asleep. As it was, she was on a couch in the common room watching quiet television to sooth her insomnia, something she'd inherited from her current body.

They removed their coats and boots as they chattered drunkenly in mixed English and Russian. Even though others were trying to sleep, Josephine knew from experience that telling them to be quiet was pointless.

Alex looked around. "Oh good. The sleepover's over." He sprawled onto the couch beside her. Anton collapsed into the armchair opposite Alex and withdrew a bottle of Scotch from a paper bag. Shrink wrap crackled as he unscrewed it.

Swell. The night wasn't over.

As he filled two glasses, he glanced at Josephine. "How was the interrogation? She run out of questions yet?"

Josephine ignored him. Whenever Anton was drunk, his accent came out. It would work perfectly for any In Soviet Russia joke. "Maybe next time we'll find out if I can fax my Authority. Or maybe it can work over smoke signal."

Alex stretched to grab his glass. "And she's going to be living with us." He sipped. "It'll probably get better once she's easier on the eyes. Think Sakhir'll let her dump that chubby body early?" His eyes were on the television, but Josephine knew he was waiting for a reaction out of her. "Course even then, it's not like she'd be worth sleeping with. Could you just imagine that would go? 'What happens if we fuck with the condom on backwards? If we fuck upside down, would it feel different?'" He held up his finger. "Hold on. Actually, fucking her might be fun."

Anton chuckled.

"Of course," continued Alex, "chances are we'll just end up with another lesbian in the group. I've seen her thoughts. She's the kind of person who'd start with some harmless college kissing just to get attention."

Josephine couldn't help herself. "You shouldn't worry. She won't stay with us long once she realize what enormous assholes you are."

Alex barked laughter. "Like hell she would. We could demand she fellate every one of us for entry and she'd still do it. Even with all her bubbly excitement, you still have no idea how badly she wants this."

"I'm not saying she won't join. I'm saying she'd run off after she figures out that she'll get just as much bullshit from you as she gets now."

"Nah, she'll stay." Pause. "You stayed, didn't you?" He craned to look at her. She avoided his eyes. Within her reach was a table lamp. She envisioned smashing it across his head, then making him forget. He might think he'd hurt himself while drunk.

Sakhir emerged from an adjoining room dressed in a hotel bathrobe. His eyes were bleary.

"We'll keep it down," Anton said. He gave Alex a look indicating that he'd best agree.

"Where were you two?" Sakhir's tone was like a father's who'd caught his son sneaking in after dark.

"Out," Alex said. "A few bars. Just having fun."

"You left to get away from Katherine."

Alex shrugged. "Yeah?"

"She noticed. She's worried you don't like her."

Anton refilled his glass. "We needed break from her uh..." he fluttered his fingers against his thumb to indicate talking, "from her jabbering." His english continued to devolve alongside his sobriety.

"She's coming over again tomorrow. You two are going to be here, and you're going to welcome her. I don't want you affecting her desire to come with us."

Alex shrugged, palms face up. "Why? Why roll out the carpets? She's already decided. We could have left this shit-hole town last week."

"I will not have her rushed. I want her to leave with us only once she's ready to leave everything behind. I want her to want to be with us."

"For what? What's her fucking power anyway? I'd hate to go to all this trouble just to find out she's a dud."

"If you had been here today, you'd know it wasn't." He locked eyes with Alex.

The events of today passed between their eye contact.

Alex sat up. "She did what?"

"What?" Anton asked. "What happened?"

"She evolved Sibyl's power," Sakhir said. "Sibyl is now able to see auras through walls."

"How? Is that her power?"

"We don't know. She did it by coaching Sibyl, but Christof saw her power stir when Sibyl's power evolved. It reacted somehow to our powers."

"What do you mean 'coached'?"

"I mean she did it with all that jabbering. So let me make myself clear. When she comes back, you're going to answer whatever questions she asks and you're going to smile as you do so. If it is her gift to make us more powerful, then I will not have you jeopardize her desire to do so by alienating her. Do you understand?"

Alexander and Anton nodded.

Sakhir turned to leave. "Who knows. Maybe she'll evolve your power too."