Leg bouncing restlessly, Pinn’s eyes shot up at every passing individual on the sidewalk outside Manny’s Diner. With half his French toast gone, it looked like he’d be eating alone. Not that he wasn’t used to the phenomenon, but it was rare that he had news he wanted to share. And Sami was the closest thing to a friend to share the news with. Plus, his gift was going to go bad if he didn’t take it today.

  Sami’s Shadow Hands appeared in the window before he did, wiggling around in front of him like they were waving to him in the wind. Pinn raised an amused eyebrow.

  Two Shadow Hands? Since when was he able to do that?

  Next came Sami, his face shining with anticipation, peering from the window to gauge the audience’s surprise. With a light nod, Pinn acknowledged him and Sami grinned, storing his Shadow Hands away. Rushing with energetic steps, Sami strode to the door with quick, long strides and slipped inside. With a squint, it was apparent that Sami was missing something that was usually a part of his outfit. Giving his memory a quick pass, Pinn realized Sami was lacking his usual gallon of water.

  Sliding a chair from the table, Sami sat himself down and placed four hands on the table, clasped together in a pattern of real, shadow, real, shadow. His smile was small and confident, like he was too cool to show too much emotion.

  “That’s new,” Pinn acknowledged.

  “I know, isn’t it super cool!” Sami exploded immediately. “You’ll never guess how I got the new hand!”

  “I’m guessing you used the power enough to get good at using it.”

  “Yeah, when fighting Boli!” Sami said excitedly.

  “Boli?” Pinn asked, his voice immediately harsh. Abruptly, he pushed his food away and stood. “Where is he? Take me there. We can finish this right now.”

  “Already done! He’s in custody with Hammerton PD. If I have to testify in a court case, do I have to lie on the stand when they ask about your death?” Sami asked thoughtfully.

  Pinn’s tension released, and he slid back into his seat, but the scowl on his face remained.

  “Still alive?” Pinn asked, disappointed.

  “Well, yeah, he’s powerless.”

  “Powerless,” Pinn repeated flatly.

  “You know what I mean. Not Awakened. Once we got rid of his bots, he pretty much folded over. Easy takedown.”

  Pinn released his frown and took another bite of French Toast, immediately improving his mood. Sighing, he felt like he reacted very poorly.

  “Good job, Sami. Really. I saw Slattery’s hit pieces on HUE, and I think it’s incredible that you still went out and did the city such a service. There was always a lingering feeling in my heart that Boli was still out there planning the next set of events for another Silent Scream. You’ve lifted a weight from my shoulders. Thank you.”

  Sami’s perpetual smile grew even wider, and he sat up proudly to the praise.

  “Did you read about the patrons keeping HUE afloat for now?” Pinn asked.

  “Some of the mayoral candidates, right? I saw them at the fundraiser thing. Money coming out of their ears. They can definitely keep the organization going, but…”

  “Politicians.” Pinn agreed, the single word filling in the details between them.

  Kelly came by with a bowl of grapes for Sami, looking over the two with a pleasant air.

  “Good to see you, Sami. Have you already gotten your present?”

  “You got me a present?” Sami asked.

  “Not me.” With a knowing smirk, Kelly looked to Pinn whose face warmed slightly under her kind gaze. Clearing his throat and recomposing himself, Pinn picked up the gift box on the unoccupied chair next to him and placed it on the table in front of Sami.

  Head tilted, Sami looked to Kelly who nodded excitedly. Further confused, Sami flipped the box open and gasped.

  “No way! Crepes!” Sami held the plate up like it was a sacred relic, spinning it slowly and admiring it.

  “I’ll go get you some coffee.” Kelly winked as she moved away.

  “Just water, please!” Sami called after her.

  She nodded, leaving as Sami moved the box aside and placed the plate down. Picking up a fork he took a small chunk out and savored the flavor, smiling gratefully to Pinn. Bobbing in place he immediately went for another bite. Pinn chuckled. The kid was easy to please.

  “I thought you’d be in a rotten mood after how HUE was treated, even after taking out the Underground. Wanted to cheer you up.”

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  “Thanks! Also, I quit HUE yesterday.” Sami took another bite, bouncing in place with glee.

  “You… Quit?” Pinn asked, baffled. Sami was full of news today.

  “Yeah. After all the scrutiny we got, we were told we’d have to lay low and I knew I wasn’t gonna be happy with that.”

  “Not your style,” Pinn agreed.

  “So I’m trying out freelance Awakened work. Not sure exactly how that goes, today will be my first day.”

  “That why you don’t have your water bottle? You wanted to remain nimble in a fight?”

  “Yeah, normally I’d leave it at HUE or in their truck until the end of the day, but I don’t have an office or anywhere I work from.”

  “But… You have a place to sleep, right? And a means to keep yourself afloat?” Pinn always had it in the back of his mind that Sami was an orphan.

  “Yeah, I’m good. Money’s not too tight and my apartment’s nice. If it ever gets bad, I’m pretty sure HUE will take me back.”

  Pinn watched as Sami scarfed down the rest of the crepe, every bite seeming like it was the best thing the teen had ever eaten. Smacking his lips, Sami reached for the grapes with a Shadow Hand and popped two in his mouth. Pinn didn’t remember him ever being so dexterous with the dark appendages, but Sami was always full of surprises.

  “How do you feel about leaving HUE?”

  “It’s actually kinda lame. Definitely something that I had to do, but literally all of my friends are in HUE. I wanted friends. A group of people that I could call my people and I had that. Not that I cut ties with them, but it was really nice to see them every day. But I’m kind of excited by the opportunity of doing stuff totally on my own.”

  “I’m happy for you, Sami.”

  “What about you? Anything going on? Or did you do anything cool during the blackout?”

  “I stopped an Awakened guy from burning down the Steele Mill. And now he works at the shelter,” Pinn said nonchalantly.

  “Did you… Use any of your powers?”

  “I did.”

  Sami thrust a triumphant fist in the air startling Kelly who yelped just as she was about to put down his water. Laughing it off, Kelly cleaned up a few drops of spilled water and moved to the next customer.

  “That’s so awesome, dude!” Sami said, whispering conspiratorially. “Are you back in action? You wanna team up?”

  “I’m not back on the job. It was a one-time thing. I think. Still working out how I feel about the side effects.”

  “I like the open-endedness. Let me know if you want me to help out with anything! Like if we can categorize what powers cause the most frequent number of side effects or something.”

  Sami’s enthusiasm brought a faint smile to Pinn’s face. There was an irony in the fact that Sami had only one external power and was still more ambitious for the sake of the city than Lightcrown.

  “My immediate plan is to continue looking into who’s making the Antiserum. I feel like there are a few threads of investigation I can pull on. Did you find anything on that?”

  “No, both the Underground and Boli had Antiserum, but not much. Either it’s super expensive to make, or the supplier is really conservative about how much they give out.”

  Pinn nodded, appreciating what little information Sami had. Raising his head slightly to look at the ceiling, Pinn made his next admission slowly.

  “I might reach out to Slattery to work for her as part of the investigation.”

  Sami laughed. “Seriously?”

  Looking back at him, he nodded.

  “I didn’t think you’d have the credentials,” Sami said. “It might be worth it. Why do you need her instead of just running stuff on your own?”

  “I feel like she had some connections that feed her just enough information for her to spin stories. That could help a lot. Even just pitching the idea to her might be enough for her to reveal that she has more information. Do… you think it’s a bad idea to work for her?” Pinn felt self-conscious asking a teenager for his thoughts, but his mother would never have allowed it and his father wouldn’t have entertained it enough to have an opinion.

  Sami shrugged.

  “I think you’re right. She probably has a lot of people to make calls to and she’s been out in the city more than once to interview people. But I wouldn’t trust her. Strictly professional. Even professionally, I’d be wary. She interviewed you once as a teenager, so I’m surprised you’re even considering it. Won’t she recognize you?”

  Pinn was surprised he even remembered that. “Even if she does, I don’t think I’ll have a problem with it.”

  Lips bending in thought, Sami looked somewhat impressed. “You gonna give her your real name?”

  “Still thinking about it. Speaking of which, I think it’s time we got on a first name basis,” Pinn said, finishing his French Toast with the bit of the strawberry that always came with it.

  “You mean your real name?” Sami leaned forward eagerly.

  “That’s right.”

  “I already know it.” Sami sat back in his chair, self-assured.

  Pinn raised an amused eyebrow. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Your name’s Pinn. Two N’s.”

  Pinn kept his face expressionless. “That’s some guess.”

  “Not a guess. Remember that day when I was reading off all the Bluetooth devices and there were three devices? Daren, Manny, and Pinn. After that day, there were only two. Pinn disappeared. Like he was hiding something after being caught.”

  Pinn felt a twinge of warmth on his neck. “Could have been a passerby with the device on that day. Or another diner customer.”

  “Nah, passing cars don’t stick around long enough for them to remain on detectable devices for minutes. And there was only one other guy in the diner that day. I told you I’d figure your name out.”

  Pinn sat silently, trying to scrounge another excuse. Then his face scrunched slightly in consideration.

  “You came yelling about my name the day after the Bluetooth trick. I take it you double-checked the devices after that stunt? You stopped asking after that day,” Pinn said, blinking in realization.

  Sami nodded, taking another mouthful of grapes and finishing the bowl. Pinn smiled.

  “At least I’m more impressed than embarrassed. Why didn’t you mention anything earlier?”

  “You had a whole thing going with your name. I didn’t wanna ruin it for you.”

  Pinn chuckled. Looking at their shared empty plates, Pinn slid a few dollars on the table and they both stood to leave.

  “Good luck with Slattery,” Sami said.

  “You too, I look forward to hearing about how well you do freelance,” Pinn replied as they reached the door and started heading in opposite directions. “See you next time.”

  With a wide grin, Sami saluted him with two fingers to his temple and began running off.

  “Next time!”