“I guess talking to you is my price to pay for being on time.” The rat looked unbothered by Ariatty’s disgruntled huffing, slinking around her feet, tail making a small trail through the grim that covered the warehouse floor. “Just goes to show what being punctual does for you in life. Why do I even try?” The rodent’s nose twitched with a sniff at a crumb or two, probably from the twins’ favorite stale pastries they often went out of their way to rescue from a dumpster across town. Ariatty made eye contact with the rat and flicked a finger in a direct order. If the rat could have rolled its eyes it would’ve, instead it just kept eye contact for a disrespectful amount of time before slowly turning around and ambling away, with little urgency. 

Even the rats had an attitude today. “Typical,” she sulked. “Completely typical.”   

“What’s typical?” Ariatty smoothly smothered a flinch, turning with gritted teeth toward the voice directly next to her ear. 

“Oh, nothing. Just wondering why you’re not going to scold a single person for being late. They won’t take you seriously unless you actually enforce your own rules.” 

Bastian gave a crooked grin. “How do you know I won’t this time?” 

“Because I know you. You’re altogether too lenient and it’s not good for morale.” 

“Hm,” Bastian put on a look of exaggerated concern. “I’ll take that under consideration. But then again Ari, it’s good to leave a little room for vices. It’s what makes people interesting, you know.” 

“I don’t,” Ariatty said and flipped her hair, purely to be contrary. 

“Don’t think I didn’t see that flinch,” Bastian tossed over his shoulder as he pulled a few battered folding chairs from the recesses of the room and nimbly set them up. “I caught you unawares and you know it.” There was a tone of reproof beneath the light grin. Ariatty cursed under her breath. 

“I’m working on it.” Maybe it was a little defensive but Bastian just nodded, smile turning a little more sincere. 

“I know,” was all he said, turning to collect a few more chairs and amplifying the sound of metal clanging entirely for her benefit. They may have been kids with unheard-of and unnatural abilities but at the end of the day, Ariatty thought, they were just kids. She mentally urged a rat to brush against Bastian’s ankle and grinned at his yelp.  

Despite such occasional immaturity, there was a reason why Bastian led the group. Not just because, at twenty-one he was the oldest. An eye sharp for details like Ariatty’s own, but paired with a smooth tongue that coated frustration as he led his kids with no need for an iron fist. Ariatty wished she could command respect so effortlessly. 

Ariatty sighed, properly chastened but unwilling to dwell on it. “So. What is it that I’m not gonna like about today’s meeting?” 

Bastian brushed the cobwebs off the last chair with unnecessary care, his back turned to her. 

“Why do you think there’s something you won’t like?” She could hear the goading grin in his voice. 

“You’ve met my eyes about twenty-two percent less than usual for starters,” she shot back with a smirk of her own. “You were three minutes late because you knew I’d be on time and you didn’t want to be alone with me. Or call it a gut feeling.” He turned around, brow quirked. She huffed a laugh. “Don’t tell me that still surprises you after eight years.”    

“I guess everyone has their tells,” he said. 

“I caught you unawares and you know it,” she returned, pleased with the eye-roll he sent back.  

“I should work on that.” 

“Or you could just answer my question.” 

“Hm,” he pulled a chair over with a flourish, setting it down directly in front of her and straddling it. “I guess you’ll just have to find out in the meeting.” This time his smile genuinely annoyed her. 

“No.” She crossed her arms and leaned forward, chin tipping up slightly as she looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Don’t pull that on me. You may be the official leader, but we’re doing this together. That was the deal.” 

“Was it?” he was still smiling but she could see the intent in it. He was trying to keep the situation from moving to a serious confrontation. 

“Yes, it was,” she enunciated clearly, ready to barrel toward the conflict. Unspoken deal it might be, but it was a rule they had always followed. As the two oldest members of the gang, they talked things through together, usually in private, before bringing them to the group. “What are you planning?” 

“I—” 

“Ariatty!” A figure burst through the doors, bubbling with energy as she wound an arm around Ariatty’s shoulders, all but hanging on her. She was followed closely by Ethan and Evan, the twins who shared an ability of magnetism that they used for mischief as often as help. Jacks tagged behind them, absorbed in twisting his fingers into the unnatural shapes that only his joints allowed. “I have a great idea for our rounds this week!”

Normally Tyra was Ariatty’s favorite person to see. They’d partnered for their street cons for the past four years and knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses inside out. With Ariatty’s skill in ‘encouraging’ animals to do as she wanted (though in the city that mostly just meant rats) and Tyra’s ability of subtle matter manipulation, they never failed to bring home a haul of wallets that mysteriously dropped from the pockets of passersby as they startled over a bold rat or two. But Tyra’s timing meant that Bastian slipped easily away from her frigid gaze, putting a few of the younger children between them. 

The manipulative coward. 

Ariatty absently nodded along to Tyra’s plans as her (quite literal) partner-in-crime eagerly shared, unabashed by how obviously Ariatty’s attention was taken up in glaring at Bastian, who was purposely ignoring her. 

Bastian whistled loudly a few moments later, shrilly cutting through the babble of a dozen kids. 

“We might as well get started since we’re all here.” One of the twins cheered obnoxiously and Bastian graciously bowed in his direction. “Yes, yes, thank you very much. I know you all have other things you’d rather be doing than our all-important family meeting so I’ll just hand out the assignments for the week and you all can be on your merry way.” 

This time both the twins gave a fist-pumping cheer, one of them leaning over to poke a very prim Gladys into screeching, her nails glowing a little with light distress. Across the circle, Jacks happily punched Mattie who gave an unnecessarily dramatic cry of pain and huffed furiously at Jacks’s doe-eyed contrition. Denny, on her other side, urged him to punch her again. Tyra exchanged a look with Ariatty as most of the rest of the kids giggled. 

“Alright everyone, quiet down.” Ariatty didn’t yell but the babble died down and Bastian shot her an exasperated look. “Bastian?” She sweetly motioned to him and he gave a sarcastic nod of thanks. 

She sat back, arms crossed, one leg slung over the over, waiting for the shoe to drop. She didn’t usually listen carefully to these meetings as Bastian assigned who would be partnering for the week and what part of the city they would canvas. She and Tyra were rarely assigned somewhere other than the strip and, as the most effective pairing, they were always paired together. 

“Ethan and Evan, I found one too many crumbs on the floor this past week so you guys are split again,” Bastian announced pointedly. “I don’t want to keep finding traces of stale pastries everywhere, we’re street kids, not animals. Ethan, you’re with Mattie.” Mattie tried to look displeased but not a single person bought her scowl as she flushed at the twin’s wink. “Evan you get Ivy.” Evan and Ivy both looked disgruntled which fooled no one but themselves. 

“Some people get all the luck,” Evan whispered a little too loudly into his twin’s ear. Ivy sneered. 

“Sure, because you’re God’s gift to humanity aren’t you?” 

“Didn’t say that, I’m just saying you, my dear, most certainly aren’t.” 

“Babs,” Bastian cut in, but Ariatty saw the slight smirk playing on his lips. He knew exactly what he was doing with those pairings. “You’re with me on blackjack this week.” Babs put up a peace sign and adjusted his baseball cap, the only one tactful enough to work the casinos with Bastian. “And Tyra, you’re gonna go with Gladys.” 

“What?” Tyra’s head snapped over and Gladys’ brow creased in surprise as they both spoke at the same time. “Wait—” 

“Bastian—” 

“And Ari,” Bastian bulldozed over them, “you’re gonna partner with Denny this week. You guys will take the strip.” 

Ariatty could feel the anger flushing to her cheeks. 

The second oldest and second youngest— they clashed as consistently as they interacted. Cheeky and careless in the most grating ways, Denny seemed to have a special interest in frustrating her. He wasn’t generally allowed to use his ability – fire manipulation was both inherently risky and too likely to get him caught – and his lack of respect for the rule had caused problems more than once. After a particularly heated encounter had left them yelling at each other as half the gang watched, Bastian had firmly instructed her to let him be the one to deal with anything to do with Denny. He had, it seemed, changed his mind.

He’d played his hand well, knowing she wouldn’t protest in front of the whole group, and Ariatty was furious at the way he’d effectively trapped her into a week of working with the problem child.  

There’s a reason why Bastian leads the group. The sentiment was sourer now as the meeting dismissed and the kids hurried out of the room, none of them eager to catch the cutting stare Ariatty hurled at Bastian. Every street gang leader needs just a little betrayal at his beck and call. 

*** 

“Why?” Denny’s arms were crossed, his head tilted at an infuriating angle. 

“Why?” Ariatty repeated back to him incredulously. “Are you seriously asking me why you can’t use your powers?” 

“Bastian lets me.” Ariatty bit back a few frustrated obscenities and gave a tight smile. 

“That’s an outright lie.” 

“Well, he let me once.” 

“Well he shouldn’t have,” she dismissed, turning away and stalking down the strip. 

“Yes, he should have,” Denny mouthed back, clearly to annoy her. It did, but she ignored him. “ ‘Ratty—” 

“Don’t call me that,” Ariatty tossed back sweetly, continuing down the street. 

“Whatever. Your plan is stupid, I don’t want to do it.” 

This time Ariatty stopped, turning around with a dangerous laugh. The plan was certainly not her ideal partnership with Tyra, but with her careful direction to a nearby few rats and Denny’s younger-than-his-age features and nimble fingers, they might be able to get enough wallets to hold up their end for the week if nothing else. 

She certainly wouldn’t allow him to use his abilities. Most of the kids were on the street because of their abilities. People didn’t like what they could do, it was too unnatural. But the kids usually found them helpful in scraping by. Denny, however, was a liability. Fire was just too uncontrollable, too visible, too easy to point to as magic, or whatever people had taken to calling it these days. Even in Las Vegas, where they slipped under the garishness that the city wore with pride, fire was unsafe on multiple levels. It was something that should’ve been impressed into Denny long ago. 

It wasn’t his fault that his ability wasn’t useful to them. Nobody blamed him for it and they would take care of him anyway— as long as he wasn’t stupid enough to put them in more danger. 

“You think my plan is stupid?” She asked tightly, wanting to dare the kid to step another toe out of line, but Bastian’s intensely annoying voice drifted into her mind. 

“I know you’re mad but we still need to eat this week. Remember, he’s fourteen. You’re twenty-one. One of you needs to be the adult and it shouldn’t be him, Ari.” She cursed Bastian under her breath but turned away from Denny’s goading. 

“Well, that is unfortunate for you, Den, because my stupid plan is the only thing we’re going to be doing this week. And your adorable face is the only ability you’re gonna be using. So suck it up.” 

Denny murmured something rude under his breath and scuffed his feet as he followed her down the street. 

Nine hours later Ariatty stormed to Bastian, followed by a reluctantly sulking Denny. She slammed a mere seven wallets onto the rickety table that Bastian had the audacity to call a desk. Bastian looked down at the wallets and then back up at Ariatty before his eyes shifted over to Denny. 

He listened patiently to Ariatty’s detailed rundown of Denny’s attitude and ineptitude, the seven different times he’d almost gotten them caught, and the five times she’d caught him playing with sparks on his fingers. 

Bastian knew better than to talk to her in front of Denny. “Can’t let the kids see mom and dad fighting,” he’d said once. She’d smacked him, but the idea generally stood. He gave Denny a satisfying scolding and an evening of the least sought-after chores before sending him on his way and turning to Ariatty. 

“Look, I get that he’s a handful—” 

“More like a truckful,” Ariatty glowered. 

“—but I really think it would be good for you to bond with him a little more. He’s not a bad kid, Ari. I think you need to let that sink in a little.” 

“So what– the best way to let it ‘sink in’ was to blindside me and stick me with him for a week?” She was still fuming over how he’d trapped her into it without so much as a warning. 

“I could have handled it better,” Bastian admitted, humbly enough that it wouldn’t be any fun for Ariatty to rub it in. “But what’s done is done, can’t you make the best of it?” 

“I will if he will.” 

Bastian just looked at her for a moment, letting the childishness of the statement sink in until she looked away, annoyed and embarrassed. “Fine. But I get full authority to give him as many chores as he deserves.”

“Poor kid’s gonna be on latrine duty for the next five years, isn’t he?” Bastain sighed. Ariatty just smirked. 

“And poor Ariatty’s going to be dodging the police and quite literally putting out fires for a week. I think it’s even.” 

Denny was marginally more well-behaved the next day. She only caught him playing with his fire a few times and while he refused to look quite as pitiful as he could’ve to help out, he wasn’t an active hindrance either. Their haul that morning would’ve been a failure with Tyra, but after the previous day, Ariatty was thankful for it. Maybe with a little more encouragement, they could do better in the afternoon. 

“Good job,” she nodded, handing him his half of their stale lunch. He accepted it without complaint, as used to it as she was, but took a bite with more grim necessity than excitement— even after a long and surely hungry morning. There was none of the brightness she’d seen in his face as he took in the sights of the Las Vegas Strip, eyes lingering at every restaurant. 

“Have you ever been to In ‘n Out?” she asked on a whim. 

“No,” he scoffed. 

“I’ll take you if you help me reach the goal for today.” 

“Actually? You’re not kidding me?” 

“Not kidding. I’ll take you if you behave.” 

“And when you say behave…” he looked dubious.

“I mean keep your nose clean, don’t mess me up, and, most importantly, stop playing with fire.” His eyes narrowed, seemingly weighing the deal. She rolled her eyes. 

“Fine, never mind, no deal.” 

“No, no—” he urgently stuck out a hand. “Deal.” 

“No second chances,” she said, taking his hand. “One toe out of line and you’re—” she ran a quick finger over her throat. 

“Even a toe?” he challenged. She leveled him with a stare. 

“Even that counts as a toe.” 

“Okay, okay, I won’t. Jeesh.” 

“Just for that, I’m adding a good attitude to the list retroactively.” 

“Come on—” She leveled him with another stare. 

Ariatty had never considered herself a particularly generous person, but she found herself looking the other way more than once throughout the day for offenses that she could easily use against him. For once, Denny seemed to be trying. She didn’t regret these overlooking moments as she sat opposite the kid in a booth as his cheeks bulged like a hamster, mouth full of hamburger. 

“Slow down, you’re just gonna puke it back up if you eat like that,” she huffed. “Then Bastian will know everything.” She’d already sworn Denny to secrecy over their little outing, it wouldn’t do to have every kid clamoring for In ‘N Out. Denny didn’t even have the decency to pretend to eat slower. 

Without the incentive of a burger, Ariatty mostly expected the next day to go back to the ill-behaved boy from before, but, though Denny wasn’t quite walking the straight and narrow, he seemed to have softened a little at least. 

“Hey ‘Ratty, can we—” 

“Don’t call me ratty—” 

“—go into one the hotels? I bet there’s lots of great marks.” 

“You just want to sightsee. Don’t try to pull one over on me, it’s not a good look.” 

“As if you’re that hard to pull one over on,” Denny scoffed, suddenly darting away and toward the golden entrance of the Bellagio. Ariatty ran after him, startled and cursing. She found him collared by a doorman in the entryway, grinning largely with as much charm as he possessed at the unmoved employee. 

“I’m so sorry, sir,” she apologized. “My brother can get a little excited.” 

She sent Denny dirty looks the rest of the day as he grinned unrepentantly. She assigned him latrine duty for a week but didn’t report it to Bastian. 

It wasn’t all bad, she admitted to herself on Friday morning. Though he wasn’t smart enough to realize that experience like Ariatty’s might be well worth listening to, he was still a clever kid. He was also rather funny – if a little cheeky – and Ariatty found herself biting back laughter at his sharp observations. They partnered better than she thought and she looked forward to a somewhat productive final day. 

Unfortunately, nothing ever went as smoothly as she hoped. 

It started with Denny pushing the boundaries a little more than he had the past few days. It ended with a flame catching the awning of one building and spreading to another, and then a third. 

Ariatty froze with horror at the fire, spreading with a rapidity that was only birthed from magic, eyes darting to Denny’s wide-eyed, horrified expression from under the awning, fingers still outstretched. 

He’d been playing with fire. 

A woman’s scream shattered her momentary paralyzation. 

“It was him! I saw him!” She was backing away from the fire that Ariatty could already feel scalding her skin, pointing a skinny finger at Denny. “It came out of him! He lit it on fire, he’s one of them!” Ariatty had very little time for thought as people streamed out of the shops and sirens cried in the distance, a cop car pulling up with a screech. 

It was the worst-case scenario. Not just a spreading fire with people in active danger— it was spotting. Someone had seen Denny do it. Somebody would testify to it. It would make headlines, it would cause alerts, and the city would go on a witch hunt. 

Find the kid, find the kids who did this. Find them. 

She ran toward the smoke, coughing hard, her eyes stinging and her skin far too hot as she seized his hand and yanked him away.  

It was pure instinct that guided her through the streets, walking, not running despite the urgency boiling under her skin, refusing to meet any eyes but head upright so as not to look sketchy. Panic went singing through her veins as police came flooding in every direction, their radios mumbling descriptions. 

…male…thirteen to fifteen…wiry build…fire-based unnatural abilities…possibly more in the area…capture on sight…may be dangerous…

It was mostly pure luck that they burst through the door, panting heavily, more from distress than exertion.  

“What happened?” Bastian voice was low with urgency, “Ariatty, what happened?” 

“Fire,” she gasped out, fingers still clutching in an iron grasp around Denny’s thin wrist. “Fire on the strip. A sighting.” 

“Was it—?” His eyes flicked to Denny. The kid was looking up at her, eyes wide and begging for her silence as she nodded. Bastian cursed. 

“Stay here” he spat at the boy, before he ran out the door, calling for Babs and the twins to come after him. Denny’s eyes filled with tears but he quietly obeyed.

The following hours were a blur. Gathering the kids who were still out on their beats. Gathering the things they could afford to bring, leaving behind what they couldn’t. Mobilizing as fast as possible, urgent with the need to leave the city, leave it now. Maybe they could come back in a few months, maybe not. Either way, it was foolishness to stay. 

There was a reason Bastian led the group, Ariatty thought with a weary sigh of relief as he directed them away, walking with intention. 

She hadn’t known about this particular contingency plan but couldn’t find it in her heart to grudge the fact that he hadn’t told her— too relieved that they had somewhere to be. The sun had set when they finally settled in an abandoned building a few miles outside of the city limits. It was Babs, not Ariatty who was charged with directing the gang in setting up their meager belongings. Bastian simply took Denny by the arm and marched him into another room. 

The door was closed but the walls were rotten enough to easily hear the furious shouting. 

The rest of the kids looked at each other with wide eyes, unusually frightened of their leader, half of them wondering what horrible crime had caused the yelling heard through their entire living space and the other half somber in the knowledge of exactly what had. 

Bastian wasn’t wrong for his anger. Ariatty vaguely felt she should be feeling exactly the same way; near explosive, ready to all-but-beat the lesson into the foolish perpetrator. Perhaps it was some level of shock, her heart was still beating harder than it should and she knew her face was twisted into a terrifying scowl, the only way to keep her real emotions from painting a billboard across her face, but she felt simply numb. 

She couldn’t find any real surprise when her legs suddenly weakened and collapsed under her. 

“Ariatty,” she looked up to find Bastian’s eyes, still fiery but cooling a little as he looked intensely at her. His hand was resting, heavy and grounding, on her shoulder. “You’re not hurt?” 

“No,” she shook her head quietly, not bothering to remind him the answer was the same as the last three times he’d asked. 

“Okay,” he nodded a little, “Okay. Go— go rest for a while.” Ariatty didn’t argue. The thin mattresses lining the two rooms they graced with the name ‘dorms’ sounded better than anything else on the planet. Bastian could handle things for a few hours without her. She brushed off Bastian’s offering hand and stumbled up the crumbling stairs. 

A choked sob caught her attention as she passed by the door of Bastian’s new office. It was open a crack, just enough for her to see a glimpse of the slumped, hitching shoulders. 

She hesitated. The day’s overwhelming stress pulled her almost irresistibly toward a bed and her hands were still unsteady. 

But Denny was sobbing. 

She sighed and softly pushed the door open just enough to slip through. 

“Den?” 

He looked up, eyes bloodshot, cheeks flushed underneath some grime, tear tracks making a stark trail through the dirt. He looked underfed. That was the first thought that came to her mind. Skinny and fragile. Too much like exactly what he was— an abandoned child. For a second she just looked down at him. 

“I didn’t mean to ‘Ratty,” he sobbed, the words like a drowning man’s hand scrabbling desperately for something to hang on to. She was the last person he would normally go to for help or comfort. “I didn’t mean to, I swear!” 

It wasn’t quite true. He certainly hadn’t meant to cause the damage he did, but the carelessness that had caused it was all his fault. Ariatty couldn’t bring herself to blame him for the small lie. “He’s gonna kick me out,” Denny gasped, struggling to suck in a breath, “he’s gonna make me leave, I just know it! But I didn’t mean to, I swear I didn’t mean to do it, and I’m sorry, I’m really sorry I swear—” 

“Hey— hey, shhh,” Ariatty knelt next to him, wrapping an arm around his slim shoulders on instinct and drawing him close. “He’s not going to kick you out, okay? Bastian’s mad, but it’s gonna be okay, alright?” 

“I swear I didn’t mean to, I didn’t think— but I really didn’t mean to—” 

Ariatty knew she’d been right all along. Every time she told him to stop playing with fire had been sharp with the knowledge that a disaster exactly like this was both easily possible and easily avoidable. But, while rubbing it in no longer held any appeal. So she just shushed him, unwilling to pile any more guilt on his head. He was bowing low under the weight of it already. 

They sat there for a while. At some point she found Denny was clinging to her. At some point she found herself swaying a little.     

It took some time for Denny to calm down enough to grow more conscious of the situation, pulling back and scrubbing at his cheeks shamefacedly. Ariatty mentally reached out, the move instinctive as she felt for nearby animals, inviting a small squirrel through the cracked window. The squirrel was much more amiable than any rat and scampered happily into Denny’s lap, crawling up and sniffing at his face. Ariatty smiled at the way his lips stretched into a watery grin as he looked up at her with a question. 

“Go on. He won’t mind if you pet him.” Denny ran a careful finger down the squirrel’s back, before carefully taking it into his hands. 

“You sure he won’t kick me out?” he mumbled, stroking the squirrel without looking up. She nodded, licking her thumb and swiping at a bit of grime on his cheek as he wrinkled his nose in disgust and tried to duck away. 

“I’m sure. You’ll be on latrine duty for the next five years though.” 

“I already was, thanks to you,” he glowered without much heat. 

“Next ten years then,” she corrected. “Have fun with that.”

He grunted but there was an impish flash to his eye. “I think I will.” Ariatty had sudden visions of everything a fourteen-year-old boy could do with unprecedented access to their sewage and shuddered. A moment later her attention flicked back to his re-hunching shoulders as he looked at the door and she felt a flash of sympathy. It wouldn’t be easy to go out and face the rest of the gang – especially Bastian – after everything. 

She yawned ostentatiously. 

“Bastian told me to get some rest. You wanna sneak in with me?” She could see the relief ripple through his posture as she offered an out. 

“Yeah,” he nodded. She tipped her head toward the door. 

“Let’s make a dash for it before anyone catches us and gives any crap about it.” He gave a small grin, setting down the squirrel with a final pet as Ariatty encouraged it back outside. 

“I’m ready.” 

There would be time for facing everyone later. For apologies and scoldings and latrine duty among everything else. 

But for now, it was time for a nap.