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Erin fidgeted as she waited outside by the garage for Trevor, wondering once again if this was a good idea. Agreeing to go to the dance with him had been an impulse, curiosity mixed with bravado and, she had to admit, the small thrill of being asked out at all. Trevor was fun to spend time with, and she was willing to bet he cleaned up really well. She hadn't really considered all that would be involved in cleaning herself up until it had been too late to back out without looking silly. And she did appreciate that he was going to help her not make a fool of herself, really. But a fitting at an actual tailor? Erin hadn't actually known there were such things. When she heard tailor, she tended to think of fairy tale folks who killed seven flies in one blow or something like that. She knew about designers, obviously, but the way Trevor talked, this wasn't quite the same. She wondered what she was getting herself into.

Date: May 23rd, 2010 The city was in sad shape, but the day had been saved, but barely. The heroes realized that they needed to better themselves should such a dire situation ever arise again. An old abandoned arena, probably from the hey day of Circus Maximus would prove to be a way to better themselves. This was a venue where the heroes could spar away from prying eyes, on neutral ground and best of all, not worry about hurting anyone. Word was spread through the grapevine in the hero community. Take the evening off to come test your mettle against the other heroes. No one knew definitively who was coming, though heroes had their suspicions. But among all of these unknowns, there was one truth to the whole matter, tonight was going to be an interesting night.

James sat on the bench under the star, looking out across the campus, just thinking. It was all coming to an end. His time here. His childhood really. He wasn't exactly a good student, certainly didn't really care about the school in that way. But this is where his friends were. This is where he started that whole 'growing up' thing and finding his own 'responsibilities' bit had started for him. For that, he'd miss this place. He missed his friends already, though much of that was simply from his being so busy lately. Yeah, he was still part of the team (as far as he knew0 but that didn't mean he'd really seen people a lot lately. Heck, when was the last time he'd even hung out with Erin for more than an hour? Weeks maybe? And while he enjoyed her company quite a bit, an hour a few times a week sucked was all he'd been able to give her lately. There was just so much to do; he was overloaded and knew it. But damn he missed his friends.

It had been a weird couple of weeks. Dynamo was finally getting used to living at the Brownstone. He had learned the Interceptors patterns and habits well enough that he didn't walk in on them as often as previously did. There were a great deal of things thrown at him during those first couple of weeks. But things finally settled down after the first dozen or so pranks. He really liked it there, but there was something missing. See, he was practicing using his powers over and over again at the Brownstone. But it seemed like VINCE was learning just as much about his powers as he was. He wanted someone who knew what they were doing. Someone with experience. And that's where Erin came in. No, not like that! She was at Claremont, that super school. And she happened to be in the gym when Dynamo peeked his head in there.

A wall of black, whirling dots of ink exploded over everything, battering through James' dimensional barrier an instant after sweeping away the whole world around it. And then... - James Prophet woke up to the gentle beeping of his compu-alarm, the whirring of his electro-bed a gentle reminder of the very pleasant way he'd fallen asleep. He sat up wearily, listening to the hum of the stabilizers that kept his flying saucer in orbit of Earth. Rising to his feet, he caught sight of his face in a reflective surface of polished metal and paused. Wasn't that right? He was Hell-Ion, the half-blooded son of the crown prince of Lucifer-1, the biggest planet in the Antares system whose inhabitants had evolved red skin and ionic-wielding powers to protect themselves from the sun's red radiation. But he'd sided with his mother's people, not his father's, and become the guardian of the planet he'd once hoped to invade. Was that right? No. No, because when he looked in the mirror, he saw who he was. He was James Prophet, prince of Hell. This other life was patchy, with elements of his backstory hard to recall exactly, as if no one had ever bothered to write the story down completely, but he could remember his lives enough to know which one was real. - "Raven." Chris Kenzie woke up in a sitting position, peering through his mask at a very familiar face. His adopted father, Duncan Summers, was looking down at him with one of his characteristic indulgent smiles. "You fell asleep in costume again." Poking him lightly with his cane, he said, "Get upstairs and get some breakfast before your mother has my hide." The laughing acrobat was soon on his feet, running up the steps of the Ravencave to join his adopted mother, Jasmine Summers, for a hearty bacon and eggs breakfast. It was over breakfast, sitting with his new family and laughing and talking, that he caught sight of his face in one of Jasmine's highly polished plates. And the new life suddenly half-melted, as fast as it had come. He could remember patches; his adoption, his home, his family with Duncan and Jasmine, but other things were less sure, as if they'd been changed in an awfully fast hurry. He was Chris Kenzie, Geckoman, and he remembered that much with perfect clarity. - Erin fell thirty feet, landing on her feet in a lush, luxurious lawn. Coming to her senses, she realized she was standing beside the old Freedom Hall, the massive old mansion that had stood there before the Terminus Invasion and had once been the headquarters of the Freedom League. The sound of traffic was loud in her ears. Peering through the giant hedge between her and the street, she saw a scene like something out of an old movie; classic cars, men in suits, and women in needleskirts and pillbox hats that reminded her of pictures of Jackie Kennedy. But she hadn't traveled in time, she saw, not when she saw a young man walking along and listening to his iPod. The last thing she remembered was the end of everything. - Trevor Hunter woke up with a feeling of great loss, the way he always did on the anniversary of his parents' deaths. But Travis was there to comfort and steady him, as always, the greying-haired champion of justice a rock as they carried flowers to the graves of Ted Hunter and Janet Pryce-Hunter. Behind them was Margery, his grandfather's never-failing secretary, who'd stayed young and vital as long as Travis had thanks to their infusions of the Infinity Formula Midnight had taken from Wilhelm Kantor. It was raining just a little, enough that the smooth, polished marble reflected Trevor's face back at him as he and his grandfather recited the oath they'd taken to avenge any unjust killings like those that had taken his father and Travis' son. And it was then he remembered that his parents were alive. They'd abandoned him for Paris, left him in the care of an old man who lived alone, his favorite secretary long since dead. Patchy as the false life was, he could remember details of it, but there was no doubt in his mind about which story was which. He was Midnight II...but not this Midnight II. - Eve woke up as her cousin threw a pillow at her face. "Eeeeve! Wake up! Wake up you silly sleepyhead!" Faith gave her a big raspberry. "You'll be late for your recital!" "Fine, fine," grumbled Eve, who'd never been a morning person. She slid out of bed, headed for the bathroom, and started brushing her teeth. She looked in the mirror, saw the toothbrush blocking her mouth, and remembered. She was the hottest teen musician in Freedom City, she was a powerful psychic teen hero, she had a cute boyfriend with a nice smile. But that was a lie, wasn't it? She was Sage, and she remembered everything.

Warren took a deep breath as soon as he stepped through the gates of Claremont Academy, his suitcase on one hand and his guitar case in the other. New school, new problems and hopefully some new friends if Warren was feeling lucky enough. He really had no idea what to expect from this place, but he was not going to start letting doubting his decision. And now the question remains...Where do I go? He though as he rolled his shoulders. Tension did that to a person.

Late April tended towards chilly in Freedom City, but it got its occasional nice evening, and this was one of them. Dry and clear with temperatures in the sixties even after the sun set, it was a good night to be outside, if you weren't interested in sleeping. Erin decided to take advantage of the weather for some outdoor training. She was sick of the Doom Room, and even more sick of her homework. She could patrol the city like some of the other students did, but the thought made her a little nervous. She'd gotten a lot of practice at city heroism, but only in situations where she could definitely tell who the bad guys were. She wasn't sure she was ready to try and make decisions like that on the fly with sufficient accuracy. So it was back out to the agility course she went. She was getting pretty good at it now, leaping and flipping over the bars and around the barriers, vaulting the metal sawhorses like she was holding her own private Olympic games. It was satisfying to hone her skills, but even this was getting sort of boring too. Still, it wasn't as though there were anything to do inside at this hour of night.

It was a quiet Memorial Day weekend around Freedom City, one quiet enough that many of Freedom City's superheroes (including its teenage contingent) went out of town to visit their families over the weekend, or go elsewhere with their families to enjoy the long weekend. Claremont Academy was hosting a barbecue for the kids who had no place to go, but there were plenty of other things to do in and around campus. Until, that is, the emergency alert went off: it rang first for the members of Young Freedom, jangling through the communicators they all carried, but then it began beeping frantically all across campus. This was a school emergency, requiring the attention of many of the teenage heroes at Claremont who weren't affiliated with Young Freedom. The Freedom Leaguer Siren had been visiting campus for the holiday, perhaps to visit her old friend Duncan Summers, and she quickly took charge of the emergency. "Everyone who can help, follow me! If you can't get yourself quickly, find a teleporter, flier, or speedster, and follow the distress call." She took out her League transponder and fiddled with it quickly, her scientist's fingers moving fast over the hand-sized piece of high technology. "If you have to get there on your own, use League coordinates 08401-08406. That'll put you in Ashton, right at...oh, by the loa, it's Rick Lucas' house." Siren had been on the old Freedom League; the ageless beauty had been there since the 1960s. She knew Rick Lucas, the former mascot-cum-junior member of the Silver Age League, and of course his son, Claremont student Mark Lucas, very well indeed. "Quickly now!"

James stretched, cracking his neck before blinking out and reappearing back at school. He was tired. Not sleepy tired. More ‘been running around all over the place, dealing with magical and dimension problems for the last 6 hours’ kind of tired. He was pretty knowledgeable in the magic stuff, true. And while he could sense magic and dimensional traces, they were still often limited and indistinct, which basically meant a lot of running around for him while Phantom would have just known where to go with a thought. And so he was running around a lot trying to take up the slack. Who knew that actually caring about a job and following through could be this hard? He really needed to work on this magic stuff more. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, enjoying the quiet and stillness of the room for once. He needed a five minute break before heading out again. He had a lot to do. But not ten seconds of sitting down, there it was. That tingle on the edge of his awareness, telling him something was off on the dimensional borders. “Gotta be kidding me,†he said wearily as he sat up with a groan.

Every now and then people wake up with that feeling in their stomach that the day is going to suck. They’ve got no reason for that belief. As far as they know, this is just another ordinary day, and most of the time it really is just a normal day. Other times however... you wish you had stayed in bed. Today will fall into the latter category. The early morning passes just like any other day. People get up, say good bye to their families and head off to work or to school or run some errands. But then, right before 11 o’clock things turned real sour, real fast. Monsters were lose in the streets, seemingly appearing out of no where. Heedless of the danger, the heroes sprang into action as the first explosion broke the early morning silence. The scene before you was one of wanton destruction. It was a rampage, nothing but the after effects of brutal savagery. And judging from the roars and shockwaves, there was still something out there hell bent on destroying everything it came across. Smoke was already billowing high into the sky, and you could taste the ash in the air.

Erin woke that morning to the sight of the sticky note she'd pasted to the bottom of Alex's bunk the night before. April 1. That was good to keep in mind. Back in the old days, her family had liked to try and get her before she was really awake, when her brain was fuzzy and she was vulnerable. She remembered the year her dad had woken her up, telling her she had ten minutes before it was time to leave for school, and had her racing around the house like a madwoman before she realized that not only was it six in the morning, it was also Saturday. Dad had laughed so hard, but she'd gotten him back later when she'd filled the sugar bowl with salt before his after-dinner coffee. But that was a long time ago. Today she mostly wanted to be cognizant of the fact that weird things might be happening, so she didn't freak out and do something stupid over nothing. With a sigh, she rose from her bed and stretched, rolling her shoulders as she grabbed her bath caddy and headed for the shower. She restrung the shower curtain that had been rigged to fall, then took a quick shower and dressed, screwing the aerator back onto the sink faucet before she left. Somebody had had a busy morning already. On her way down to breakfast, she disarmed a bucket of foam peanuts left on top of a door, and cocked her head to listen to a muffled explosion that didn't seem to be too close. Odd. She carefully checked her food in the cafeteria, but it was unadulterated, if a little boring. Not that she wasn't grateful to have the food, but maybe she needed to branch out a little. She was shelling out a lot of money for Oliver's food, but she probably had room in the budget for something for herself as well. Several students said hi to her in the cafeteria, and Erin had gotten used to that by now. Lots of people were friendly here, and she did her best to be friendly back, even if it was sometimes a little awkward or stilted. She'd never get better if she didn't practice. She saw several pranks playing out, but no one seemed to be trying anything on her. She wondered if it was because somebody had something bigger planned, or if no one had decided to try and prank her today. That was fair enough, she guessed. She hadn't been able to think of anything good to do herself. April Fool's Day just wasn't as fun as it used to be before she got her powers, or before everything really. Most things didn't surprise her anymore. Chemistry was her first class of the day, and today was a lab. She suspected any fooling around would be frowned on there. This teacher hadn't been there long, since the one with all the hair left, but he ran a tight ship. She tossed her backpack against the wall with everyone else's and got to work trying to turn some clear stuff pink for the good of science. Erin was not really that good at science, but with a few whispered hints from her lab partner, eventually the liquid in her beaker turned pink and she would have something to write about in her report. She closed her notebook as class ended and headed back to get her backpack and stow her things. She'd have to get moving if she didn't want to be late for her training session, since she'd have to change-- Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as something sprang out of her backpack, directly towards her face! Erin leapt backwards and bumped into a lab table, tensing automatically as she wrapped her hands around the thing that had sprung at her. It was soft, she noticed, and... crinkly? Studying it, she realized it was a fabric snake, the kind that usually popped out of cans of peanut brittle. Looked liked she'd been pranked after all. She started to smile at the silliness of it, when she realized the whole room had gone silent. Looking around, she noticed that everyone was staring at her, and holding quite still. Kevin, one of the sophomores in the class, had gone bone-white. “Um, sorry Erin, really sorry,” he stammered. “I got the wrong backpack. It was just an accident!” He looked like he thought she was about to snap and jump on him. He did think that, she realized, and so did everyone else. “No problem,” she muttered, putting the fake snake down on the lab table. Grabbing her backpack, she headed for the door. “April fools.”

Blake took a deep breath as he walked through the gates of Claremont Academy. He was finally here. Unbeknownst to KC, every single one of the students in the school shared a common trait with him. However, Blake was blissfully ignorant and probably in for a big surprise. He had his single dusty suitcase on one arm, containing clothes, comic books, and of course pens, pencils, and paper. He smiled broadly. This was going to be freaking awesome.

James was tired of all this cold and snow. He liked warm weather. And there were certain fun activities associated with winter; it still wasn’t his favorite time of the year. It got dreary too. Wore on people too. He’d had enough of it. He couldn’t change the seasons, but he could certainly make some minor adjustments. And now that he had some good friends who’d enjoy the change, he’d make it happen. A rather nice, if small, resort outside of the city was in their slow period. They were more than willing to rent the entire facility to James. A few dozen bungalows, a large pool, a volleyball court. Perfect place for a party of a couple hundred people easy. Saturday and Sunday would be pretty crowded. Not that there would be that many at first of course. Friday was just for a smaller group. Those who knew about their powers mainly, or at least those would wouldn’t reveal anything. Some would be heroes, others not. Well, the others that is. James didn’t really have a secret life given the Family name. James had showed up early on Friday. It took a little while for the snow to melt, the water in the pool to warm up nicely and the ground to dry. It was just like afternoon in the middle of summer, within the confines of the little resort anyway.

Easter break meant a quiet campus around Claremont Academy, though by no means an empty one given the large number of kids who lived in the city or who didn't have a good home to which to commute for the holidays. But fortunately Duncan Summers always had a project in mind for the kids, though it wasn't always one they liked. Still, extra credit was extra credit, not to mention their civic duty. Between the goody-two-shoes, the kids looking to pass their next test, and the small detention crowd, there were a surprising number of Claremont kids waiting around in the science lab when Mark arrived. Looking around at the small crowd, he gave a cheerful, though somewhat diffident hello, before looking around for his friends.

It was well past eleven pm by the time Erin stopped into the common room, but she was dressed to go out. In the sense that she was wearing her uniform, anyway, which was about as dressy as she ever got. James wasn't around tonight, hadn't been for the past several nights, but the habit of looking for him in the evenings was too ingrained to let go of easily. She hoped that whatever was keeping Phantom so busy didn't last much longer, so that James would get some free time again. Until then, though, she was on her own to entertain herself on the evenings she didn't bother with sleeping. Duty pulled at her to leave the empty common room behind and get on with her night's training, but she was bored of endless solo practices. Even Archer was having a hard time throwing anything new at her out of his fetid little mind these days. Plopping down on the couch in the middle of the room, she picked up a wiimote and booted up her favorite racing game. Also not as fun solo, but at least it was better than slapping around computerized mooks for the rest of the night.

January swept in cold and dreary, dumping patches of snow here and there, but not enough to be enjoyable or scenic, even three weeks into the new year. It had taken that long for Erin to get things set up for her interview with Phantom. Even after she'd worked up the nerve to set things in motion, the dimensional guardian had been indisposed for awhile, busy with other things, apparently. But eventually the stars had aligned, and Erin was hopefully going to lay to rest some of the questions Shadivan Steelegrave had raised, for all that it meant dealing with someone who made her distinctly uncomfortable. James had offered, more than once, to come along with on this trip, but Erin had turned him down. Not because she didn't appreciate the offer, but this wasn't the sort of thing she wanted an audience for, any audience. It seemed like it would be easier to talk about the Terminus and what it might have done to her world with an unsympathetic stranger than with a friend. That's how it had been before, anyway, the debriefings were easier than talking to the friendly psychologist. James gave her a ride anyway, dropping her off in a beautiful private library that smelled like leather and old books. Erin clasped her hands together behind her back and looked around, automatically gauging the security of the room before she did anything else.

Chris woke up despondent. Fighting crime without his zappers was... hard. He could take one guy in a fist-fight, easy. Taking three or four? That was much harder. "Giving em back was stupid," he mused, pulling on a bright green t-shirt. "Considering I'm no Raven. I reckon I need to learn from someone who's good at fighting..." He was halfway down to the canteen to get breakfast when... "ERIN!" he shouted, to the shock of passers-by. Chris spun and ran up to the girl's dorms, knocking on Erin's door.

It was several days after the team's return from the Lost World and the battle with the forces of the Terminus, and not long after Erin's consultation with Phantom, the dimensional guardian. It was one of those few nights when she had custody of the room and Alex was out, in this case on a date with her unhandsy boyfriend. She hadn't seen much of Mark in the last couple of days; after his return from the custody of Shadivan Steelgrave, even his ultra-tolerant parents had kept him at home for a couple of days. Erin was just settling down with her math homework, Oliver entangling himself on her lap, when she heard a knock at the door.

Lent came sooner than usual this year, what with Easter set as early as it could possibly be. St. Stephen's was decorated for the season with a purple altar cloth and sextet of taper candles, a far cry from the opulent preparations of the Christmas season. The smell of burnt candles and old incense hit Erin first as she pushed open the heavy front door of the church, late one evening at the end of February. She'd half-hoped that the church would be locked and dark, but with one of the heavenly host in residence, it appeared that visiting hours were extending later than usual. Despite wishing for the confidence boost she got from her uniform, Erin had come in street clothes tonight, and she stuck her hands in the pockets of her puffy blue jacket as she walked into the sanctuary. The conversation had ended... poorly last time, but after a lot of arguing with herself, Erin had to come back to the church eventually. She still had questions that needed answers. This time, though, she hadn't brought James. He was a good friend to have at her back, but she suspected that there would be no productive conversation with him around. Her footsteps echoed off the vaulted ceiling, each creak sounding loud in the silence.

Some sort of mix up (which a good half of Young Freedom blamed Next Gen's antics for), led to their time in the training room being taken up. With some grumbling, they'd headed out to the quad for team manuevers instead. Thus, they were arrayed on the field debating the merits of touch football versus capture the flag for training time. After some debate, capture the flag was decided on. With the gold team comprised of Hellion, Psyche, Wander, and Edge on the gold team and Zephyr, Breakdown, Phalanx, and Geckoman on the blue team. Each one went off to hide their flag to the best of their ability and discuss tactics. As usual, Mark had left the rules confined to 'good sportsmanship' so really, anything went. Psyche trailed after the other three after they'd hidden their flag, leaving it up to Mark to plot out the strategy while she scanned the quad for the other half of the team's and their scrap of blue.

Late one crisp Friday in January, the various members of Young Freedom sat around the conference table in their headquarters and listened to the Star of Africa. Edet Chereno was the only Claremont student from Dakana, the richest nation in sub-Saharan Africa, and as he spoke with his faint English accent the daka crystals embedded in his red-tinted body glistened in the light of the overhead lamps. "The White Lion has disappeared." He looked from one to the other of the students there before looking back at Mark, the Young Freedom member who knew the African student best. "The great African hero," Mark murmured. "The King of Dakana. He's a friend of my family too," he added before letting the Star continue. Even Mark looked worried for this one, or at least as worried as Mark ever got. "He was returning from a conference in South Africa, along with the Prime Minister and the Queen, when his plane disappeared completely from Dakanan radar. Two follow-up missions have failed to find him; indeed, one of the rescue missions has now disappeared." Edet swallowed hard. "My country is at peace, but we have many enemies. The other nations tell mad stories about us, that we harbor a secret cure for cancer that is only for the elite, that a king keeps a monster chained up in the mountains, that our wealth comes from trade with the Grue." He rubbed one of the crystals in his skin and said quietly. "We cannot win a war against all our neighbors while at the same time choosing a new king. Even a victory would mean the death of tens of thousands." "And you came to us because teenage American heroes going to Africa will attract less attention than the Freedom League?" Mark had actually not wondered about that question at all; Edet had come to them because they were superheroes, naturally. But Edet had explained it when he'd first approached Edge, and so Mark had decided to bring it up himself. "Yes," agreed Edet. "Even the news of the king's disappearance would be a disaster. We must do all we can to prevent that. And...because it will allow me to come with you," he added. "I would not see my mentor, my patron suffer and be unable to come to his aid. Please, help," he asked them. "Before my homeland falls into a war that none shall win."

The entire Bayview mall was bathed in red. It hung in streamers from the ceilings, covered the walls, and painted the glass display cases, spattering signs and drenching employees and their wares alike. All the unrelieved visceral color was tiresome to the eyes, but that was what you got for going shopping just before Valentine's Day. None of the cash-hungry stores were about to let anybody forget that the best way to show love was to buy your significant other plenty of presents. Alex, though, had taken care of her gifts far in advance of the holiday, and it wasn't something Erin had to worry about. They were on another mission entirely. "Don't you think it seems kind of, I dunno, optimistic to put out the swimsuits in February?" Erin asked rhetorically, perusing the racks of lycra and spandex in Macy's Juniors department. "We've got James to make a pool party work out, but it's not even thirty degrees outside yet. Who's going to be going swimming yet?" Despite her skepticism, she paused in her searching to examine and discard several different suits. She'd gotten some money from her sort-of-parents for Christmas, and she wasn't going to wear a borrowed suit anymore if she could help it.

The snow had hit Freedom City hard. Not quite as badly as some cities further south, but they'd gotten a few inches dumped on them, enough to make the roads treacherous and hero work a misery, even for those who were immune to most weather effects. It wasn't easy to fight crime you couldn't even see. But with the snow still falling quietly outside, it was a good night to snuggle in under the covers, or, for those who weren't sleeping types, to hole up indoors and try to relax a little. James hadn't had as much time to relax lately as he was used to, with all the extra work he was doing outside the school, but he managed to make his way to the common room tonight, as he still did a couple of times a week. Erin was there already, like she usually was when she wasn't busy with her own training. From the look of her windburnt cheeks and hands, she'd been training tonight already, and had likely only avoided frostbite thanks to her healing abilities. She looked up from the Sunday newspaper she was reading and gave him a nod of greeting. "Hey, I see you're staying where it's warm tonight. Smart," she added with a wry grin.

Between the holidays and their assorted adventures much of the time Young Freedom usually devoted to training had fallen by the wayside. At least that was the explanation Psyche had given when suggesting Edge arrange for this session. Thus Wander, Psyche, Phalanx and Edge found themselves completing the warm-up routines in the Caldwell Manors own Simulated Tactics and Advanced Training System. Having completed his warm ups and solo exercises Phalanx hovered near the entrance to the S.T.A.T.S. room watching as the others completed their own simulations.

(Wharton State Forest) Poor Lonely Sinners Traffic in Freedom City on New Year's Eve was miserable, but that didn't matter much to those who had alternate means of travel. When Erin had decided it was time to get out of town, it hadn't taken long to get out of Bayview, then to shed the city entirely, running out as far as the boundaries of Wharton State Forest, where the buildings were few and far between, and she could start to see constellations in the sky again. Most nights the smog of the city was reassuring, after months of looking at a sky free of the light and smoke of humanity, but tonight the celebration and noise was oppressive, smothering. There was a party somewhere on campus to watch the ball drop in New York City, but that was the last thing she was interested in. New Year's wasn't quite as bad as Christmas, but it still wasn't something she was quite ready to participate in. Last year at this time, she hadn't quite been allowed outside yet, and maybe that had been easier. Dr. Franklin had brought her a little bottle of sparkling grape juice and a tray of party snacks, then had gone away when she asked to be alone. She missed Dr. Franklin, for all that she still saw him once a month for follow-up appointments at the Goodman Building. Dr. Marquez was her doctor now, and it wasn't at all the same. Dr. Franklin wasn't pushy, and he'd understood that the last thing she wanted to talk about this time of year was the future and resolutions for the new year. It was hard enough to live in the present without being buried by the ghosts of the past that were everywhere during the holidays. Dr. Franklin wouldn't have blithely given her the assignment to write down her new year's resolutions in her stupid therapy notebook and bring them in next week. He would've understood. Erin gave the notebook under her arm a resentful look, even as she slowed to a walk and began looking for someplace to sit. A large flattish rock on the edge of a dormant field sufficed for a seat, so Erin sat down and opened her notebook. It wasn't like she hadn't had to do this kind of assignment for school before, back way long ago in normal school. There were BS resolutions anybody could put down onto paper without even thinking about them. Erin wrote a couple down. "To do better in school and stay caught up on homework. To start making and saving some money. To be nicer to other people." Neatly printed in big block letters, and double-spaced, of course, they took up the first third of the page, and were completely meaningless. Resting her hands flat against the notebook, Erin looked up at the sky again. She didn't even know what she wanted, how was she supposed to make resolutions for what she should be doing? When she'd been a kid, she'd had all kinds of detailed plans for how she wanted her life to go, and none of them had come close to working out. For a long time, her only plans for the future had been to get through another day, or even just one more fight. There wasn't time to think of anything beyond that, even if it had been practical to do so. That same survival mentality had persisted long after she'd left her own world, through her time in quarantine, then with her new-old family, and then getting settled in at Claremont. Just put one foot in front of the other, finish one grueling day after another, and let the future worry about itself. But it had been a year now that she'd been surviving, and maybe it was time to think about something more. She paused uncertainly with her pen poised above the notebook. Even if she made a resolution, she wasn't sure she wanted to write it down. But if she went in with the list she had, Dr. Marquez would just make some comment about being too insecure to actually make real promises to herself, and she'd just be annoyed and defensive all over again. She was getting so tired of that, too. Finally she put pen to paper and wrote: "To do more normal things." Other students did normal things despite their powers and wherever they come from. They dated, got jobs, went to parties, all those things she'd expected to do in high school. Why did it all have to be so hard for her? Maybe if she just tried it a few times, she'd remember how it was all supposed to go. Well, it was something to hope for, anyway. Looking periodically at her watch, Erin studied the clear black sky and counted down the seconds to midnight.