Epilogue

“Trinity, fingers out of your nose. And yes, I mean all fingers, even the ones from your other bodies. Teddy, strutting around with your chest out is cute and all, but remember to look where you’re going, you almost tripped twice already. Athena, remember not to turn my parents paranoid, please. Maple... um, don’t be afraid to say hi to mom and dad, okay?”

She had to scramble for that last one. It wouldn’t do to tell all of the other sisters off and not have anything to say to Maple.

So far though, despite her terrifying abilities, Maple was the quietest of her sisters, and Emily was entirely appreciative of the fact.

She and her brat-pack of sisters were heading to Miss Headerson’s place. The kindly teacher had said that she didn’t mind using her place as a meeting point for Emily and her parents, and she was used to dealing with Emily’s sisters.

Besides, having them come over to play instead of getting lessons would be good for them, and for Steffie who’d taken a liking to the girls even if they tended to get her into a heap of trouble all the time.

Emily suspected that Heather was mostly just happy for the almost-normalcy her sisters brought to Steffie’s life. The girl’s only companion was her mom, which wasn’t terrible, but she did need to make proper friends, and Emily’s sisters counted, even if they were ‘bad influence’ sort of friends.

“Okay, we’re crossing the road here,” Emily said. “Which means...”

“Look both ways,” Athena said.

“Hold the Boss’s hand,” Teddy added. She grabbed Emily’s right hand before any of the others had time to swipe for it.

“Play dead,” Trinity said.

“No to that last one,” Emily said. “Okay, everyone grab onto one of your sister’s hands, yes, that’s right. No Trinity, all three of you need to be holding on.” Once that was done, she made a big show of looking both ways, then waited for a car to rumble past, even if they probably had plenty of time to cross in front of it.

It was the principle of the thing. And besides, if one of the girls tripped or something, she’d need to untangle herself, stop, pick them up, then run back to safety. She suppressed a sigh. It used to be that jaywalking was an easy crime.

Miss Heatherson’s house had a familiar car parked out front, her mom’s old beater as opposed to her dad’s pickup.

She checked her sisters one last time, brushed some lint off her skirt, then walked over to Mrs Headerson’s front door and let Teddy ring the doorbell (but only once) since it was her turn.

The door opened, revealing the teacher, and Emily’s mom. “Hey,” she said.

They filed into the house and exchanged the usual pleasantries and a few quick hugs. Once her mom gave her a hug, all of her sisters insisted on getting their own, even the otherwise shy Maple walked over and quietly raised her arms.

“Come on, your dad’s in the living room,” her mom said.

Emily nodded and followed her. She wasn’t sure why she had a tiny pit in her stomach. Her dad was one of the kindest people she knew.

He was standing in the living room, a big guy with a bit of a gut with a plate of triangle-cut sandwiches in one hand who somehow looked surprised despite all the noise they’d made on arriving. “Em,” he said before setting the plate down on the coffee table. Then he smiled and raised his arms.

Emily walked into the hug and returned it as best she could, but her dad was a head and a bit taller than her and he more engulfed her than hugged her.

“So, these are my new girls, huh?” he asked.

“Hey old man,” Teddy said, making exactly the kind of first impression Emily didn’t want her to make.

He laughed. “You must be Teddy, right? Come here.” He got to one knee and was still taller than any of her sisters.

They got through the introductions with surprising ease. Each sister got a hug and a pat on the head, and he didn’t comment when Trinity stole one of his sandwich triangles and started to nibble on it right there.

“Hey!” Steffie said as she rolled into the room. “You’re here!”

“Girls, why don’t you all go play in Steffie’s room while the adults talk?” Heather asked. “But no leaving the house. You remember the rules, right?”

Soon enough the entire gaggle, plus Steffie, were making a mess and plenty of noise as they crossed the home towards the girl’s room.

“Cute kids,” her dad said with the tone of someone who had absolute certainty in what they said.

Emily felt a weight coming off her back. “Yeah, they can be when they want to.”

He nodded. “You doing okay?” he asked.

“I am,” she said.

He nodded again, and that was that. He always took her at her word and didn’t mince his own.

“Are you certain sweetie?” her mom asked. “You have a lot on your plate, and now with Maple too, that just adds to your workload, doesn’t it?”

“It’s not so bad,” Emily said. “We’ve been keeping a low profile, and with Sam’s help we’ve started to earn a bit of money. We’re starting this advertising thing, and I started looking for another place to stay. The dorm isn’t big enough for all of us.”

“That’s nice,” her mom said. “You’re not doing anything dangerous then?” she asked.

Emily considered what to say, then settled on a comfortable lie. “Nope.”

“In that case, sweetie, why are you on the news?” her mom asked with a gesture past Emily’s shoulder.

She turned and saw herself and her sisters being filmed while next to that warehouse she’d saved Alea from. The headline was Daring Rescue in Eauclaire Villain Hideout!

“Well, uh, I can explain,” she tried.

***