Fluff 2 E-Book

RavensDagger

• Herausgeber: Podium Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Fluff
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 549

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Attempting to conceal her "villainous" nature, a superpowered college student embarks on an unintentional road to infamy, in this sweet sequel.   Emily Wright was prepared to spend her first year on campus under the radar and out of sight, propelled by the force of her social anxiety. Fate, however, cursed her with the ability known as Sister Summoning. Revealed on Power Day—the annual event where people discover their superpowers—Emily's new talent caused five "sisters" to suddenly pop into existence. And as if that weren't enough, Emily found herself officially categorized as a villain.   Now known as the Boss, Emily must keep her "villainy" a secret while babysitting her supersiblings. Unpredictable and mischievous, yet devoted and helpful, the quintet menagerie of sisters—possessing the characteristics of a bear, an owl, and a trio of raccoons—will do anything to help Emily establish her Evil Empire.   Of course, Emily doesn't want anything to do with evil, but she has a family to clothe, house, and feed. With the help of volunteer minion Sam, a psych major interested in studying Emily, the Boss takes over the local protection racket to earn some cash. With her no-evil-intent policy firmly established, Emily's little sisters begrudgingly agree to defend the local businesses against criminals.   But word of the Boss's gang is spreading among hero and villain alike, placing Emily squarely in the social media spotlight—and the crosshairs of some powerful enemies . . .   The second volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with almost two million views on Royal Road—now available on Audible and wherever ebooks are sold!

Leseprobe

Fluff 2

RavensDagger

To my fans, who put up with my nonsense and still asked for more.

This book is for you, enjoy!

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from Podium Publishing.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 by Edgar Malboeuf

Cover design by Podium Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-0394-1874-5

Published in 2023 by Podium Publishing, ULC

www.podiumaudio.com

Contents

Prologue

CHAPTER ONE The Talk

CHAPTER TWO A Much Needed Break

CHAPTER THREE Hyperactivity

CHAPTER FOUR Doing What’s Probably Right

CHAPTER FIVE Thesis

CHAPTER SIX Definitely Not Extortion

CHAPTER SEVEN Racket

CHAPTER EIGHT Sisterly Love

CHAPTER NINE The Simplest Plans

CHAPTER TEN Rattle

CHAPTER ELEVEN Iron Chains

CHAPTER TWELVE All Chained Up

CHAPTER THIRTEEN The Good Guys

CHAPTER FOURTEEN Public Relations

CHAPTER FIFTEEN Maddening Skills

CHAPTER SIXTEEN Traits

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN A Sneaky Peak

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Metro

CHAPTER NINETEEN Mobile Base

CHAPTER TWENTY Putting the Super in Villain

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Busy City

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Convincing Arguments

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The Little Adventures of Steffie

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR We All Scream

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE A Bit of Quiet

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Doing Something

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN As Subtle as a Sledgehammer to the Nose

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT The Lucky Boy

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Fabien the Fabulous

CHAPTER THIRTY Rising Expectations

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE Right as Rain

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Next Steps

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE Cement’s Legacy

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR Confrontational Meetings

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE Hasty Plans

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX Wherein Everything Goes Terribly Wrong

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN All Out

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT A Perfectly Reasonable Escalation

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE Melaton’s Talk

CHAPTER FORTY Time to Go

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE Perfect Plots

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO Mad Skills

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE The Sapling

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR No One Special

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE Toaster

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX Rail Gun (Technically more of a coil gun, but it fires toast, so your semantics don’t matter here)

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN Pay Phone

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT Reading the Room

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE Owl of Her Attention

CHAPTER FIFTY Discreet as Usual

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE Racket-Making

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO The Interview

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE Generic Desires for the Future

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR Chaotic Evil Children

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE Paying the Price

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX Unflippable, Unflappable

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN The Wrong Sort of Nap

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT I’m Not Locked in Here with You

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE You’re Locked in Here with Me

CHAPTER SIXTY The Frustration of Falling Apart

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE An Invitation for Heroism

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO Healpats for All!

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE Pride Begets Fear

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR Spinning But Still Losing

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE Toast and Ice Cream

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX Yet Another Call

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN Definitely the Best Outcome

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT Keeping It Up

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE Sugar Rush Crash

Epilogue

About the Author

PROLOGUE

Stress

Part of being a good mother was dealing with the constant concern that her child wasn’t as safe, comfortable, and happy as she could be.

Claire hoped that she was a good mother. Emily, her only daughter, was a strange but kind girl. She had her share of issues, her nearly crippling social anxiety the foremost of those, but she was still a good girl, and Claire was so proud of her daughter.

When Emily had, with all the meekness of a mouse facing a cat, declared that she would attend college and move out of the house, Claire had never been prouder.

Proud, but worried.

Emily was a wonderful girl, but she had a lot of difficulty with more . . . social things. She stuttered, she had a hard time meeting people’s eyes when she spoke, and before every interaction she needed to psych herself up. Her Emily wasn’t as ready to face the world as some other young ladies her age.

Claire gave even odds that college would either teach Emily to open up a little, or her poor daughter would rush back home. She was hoping for the best. Emily needed to spread her wings, to grow up into the beautiful young woman she was.

The past weeks, with Emily at school, had been awful. Claire waited for the phone to ring, for the bad news to come pouring in. As time went on and no call came, she started to hope and fear in equal measure.

In the end, it was her husband who practically kicked her out of the house and told her to go check on Emily. The big softy was just as worried as she was, though he wouldn’t ever say so aloud.

She arrived at her daughter’s room. The dormitory building was nice and clean, with decent security. It was about as safe as a place filled with young adults could be. Claire adjusted her blouse and skirt, then straightened her back and knocked. It was no mystery where her daughter got some of her shyness; Claire had had to work hard to overcome some of her own anxiety.

There was a shuffle on the other side of the door, and Claire thought she heard voices. Was Emily watching something?

The door opened a crack, and Claire felt some of the tension lifting from her shoulders. Emily was there, safe and sound, and . . . with very obvious panic on her face.

The door slammed shut.

“Emily, sweetie?” Claire asked. Was something wrong? Claire listened, but the chatter on the other side died down. Not a show then. Was Emily entertaining guests? Claire felt some blood rushing to her cheeks. Oh my. “Um . . . if you’re really busy, I can come back? Give you time to clean up or . . . sweetie, are you with a boy? I hope you’re wearing protection.”

More mutters. Definitely more than one person. They sounded feminine.

Claire swallowed, uncertain what to think anymore.

She decided not to jump to any more conclusions. That sort of thing only led to silly misunderstandings and fights. She would wait until Emily explained things and then she’d figure things out from there.

On that note, she reached up and knocked on the door again. “Sweetie? I’m sorry, but I did call. You haven’t been answering your phone.”

There was a long moment of silence, then the door opened. Emily looked at Claire, failed to meet her eyes, then spoke quickly. “Mom. Give me two minutes.”

“Sweetie?”

Her daughter’s mouth opened and shut as she searched for words. “I’m naked,” she settled on.

Claire looked down. Emily was in a nice sweater-vest over a blouse, and she wore a skirt that Claire would have found far too long back when she was Emily’s own age. “Okay?”

This time the door didn’t slam shut.

Claire leaned closer and tried to listen in on what was happening on the other side. She couldn’t make out much, just indistinct voices murmuring to each other. The soundproofing was pretty decent.

The door opened yet again, and Emily’s hand shot out to grab her mom’s. Claire was gently tugged into the room and the door was pressed closed behind her. “Emily?” Claire asked.

Emily pressed into her, arms wrapping around Claire’s waist and her head coming down to nestle on her shoulders. Claire sighed. This was a little more familiar. Emily was never the most touchy-feely girl, but she didn’t refuse hugs from her parents. Not unless they were in public, of course.

Claire hugged back as best she could. She wanted to enjoy the hug, but she couldn’t help but notice that her daughter’s room currently looked like a day care. “It’s good to see you, sweetie,” she said as she dropped her purse. “But who are all these girls?”

She felt Emily tensing up. “Mom, we need to talk.”

“I can imagine,” Claire said as Emily broke the hug. She decided to start with things that were a little bit easier. “You need to tell me how you’ve been? How are classes? Did you make any friends? Why do you have five children in your room? That last one especially.”

“Right, right. You might want to sit down for this,” Emily said.

Claire placed a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow as she looked up to Emily . . . since when was her daughter taller than her? Probably she had been for a while, but Emily’s constant hunch hid some of her height. “I might not be a spring chicken, but I can still take a surprise or two.”

Emily licked her lips. “Right,” she repeated again. “Like ripping a Band-Aid then. I’m . . . a Hero. More or less.”

A million confused thoughts raced across Claire’s mind. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but that wasn’t it. “Pardon?”

Emily laced her fingers over her stomach and focused on the ground. “You remember Power Day, uh, about a week ago?”

“Yes?” Claire said. It was hard to forget. It was shortly after Emily had arrived at the college, and the news was rattling on about the big day while Claire and her husband worried about Emily.

“Well, I got a power. I can make, um, little sisters for myself. Sorta.” Emily gestured to the girls, who were all smiling. “These are my summons? I can’t unsummon them or anything. They all have their own powers too.”

Claire looked at the girls. They were cute, in a sort of rascally pest way. They were also very obviously trying to be on their best behavior. They were her daughter’s . . . her superpowered daughter’s power.

“Can I sit on the bed?” Claire asked. She stumbled toward the bed, then paused. “Or would you rather I use the chair?” Technically this was Emily’s place, so it was only polite to ask.

One of the girls, the shorter one, with the chubby cheeks and a shirt that read BEAR in large blocky letters, raced over to Emily’s chair and rolled it closer. “There you go, uh—” She glanced over to Emily. “Hey, Boss, what do we call the old lady?”

Claire wasn’t sure how to feel. Insulted? At the same time, the girl was kind of endearing, in a clumsy way.

“Anything but ‘old lady,’ you dumb bear,” another one of the girls said. She was the tallest of the lot, though not by much. A lankier, skinny girl, with sharp features and a pair of large glasses perched on the tip of her nose. Her eyes were large and very serious as she turned to Claire. “Hello, Grandmother,” she said.

Claire looked up to Emily. “Emily, you know how I always wanted to have grandkids one day? I was expecting maybe one. Two at most. This is considerably more than that.”

“It’s okay,” three of the girls said at exactly the same time. The strange stereo effect sent a shiver down Claire’s spine. The girls were all entirely identical, now that she looked. It wasn’t just their clothes, their faces were all the same. “You can count all three of me as one.”

Emily rubbed her face, and for a moment Claire almost didn’t recognize her daughter. The shyness was gone, the insecurity was buried. Instead, there was just frustration, embarrassment, and another emotion that Claire couldn’t quite pin down.

“So I should probably introduce everyone. Mom, this is Teddy.” Emily gestured to the girl with the bear shirt. “She can turn into a bear. She won’t demonstrate that here because it’s against the rules.”

“I’m real soft,” Teddy said. “Way more soft than any of the others when I’m a bear. I bet you’d like petting me just as much as the Boss does.”

“The Boss?” Claire asked. She decided that just sitting back and asking questions was probably the best thing to do.

“That’s Big Sister Emily’s Hero-slash-Villain name,” the taller, more serious girl said.

“Villain?” Claire asked.

She hadn’t really noticed that sinking feeling in her gut before. It was too confusing and mixed in with a host of other feelings. Now the sinking was replaced by a sheer drop.

“Don’t worry, Best Mom,” the three girls said at the same time. “We wouldn’t Villain you.”

“Emily?” Claire tried to smile, but it felt brittle at the edges.

“Hey, Boss,” Teddy asked, “does your mom need to poop?”

“No, Teddy, my mom doesn’t need to poop,” Emily said. She patted Teddy’s head absently. It was a strange gesture. “Okay, Mom, where do you want me to start?”

“I think that maybe you should start from the top?”

Emily nodded. “So, it all began on my first day here . . .”

CHAPTER ONE

The Talk

There were very, very few things Emily wanted to do less than explain to her mom how she had—through no fault of her own—become a Villain.

Worse still, she then had to explain how she had acted and possibly earned just a little bit of that title.

The problem was, of course, that Emily wasn’t in the habit of lying to her parents, and even if she was, she had five little sets of eyes paying attention to her as she related an abridged version of the adventures she’d had over the past couple of weeks. Teaching her little sisters that it was okay to lie would be . . . a catastrophically bad idea.

Her mom sat in Emily’s chair, hands on the armrests and purse on her lap. She was staring somewhere past Emily’s shoulder, deep in thought. She had been listening, making all the right sounds, and even asking for some clarification, but so far she hadn’t really said much.

It was somewhat comforting. When Emily had a rough day at school, she had often returned home to rant to her mom about it. Her reaction had often been similar then, too. “So?” Emily asked.

“Give me a moment, sweetie, I’m processing.” Her mom took a deep breath, then let it all out in a long whoosh. “You know, when I came here, I was making up all sorts of terrible scenarios in my head. Oh, and some not-so-terrible ones too. But this? This is all rather unexpected.”

Emily twiddled her fingers together. She wanted to sit down and maybe hide under her blankets, but that would have been far too awkward. So, instead, she just stood in the middle of her room while her little sisters watched from her bed and from where they sat on the floor. “I’m sorry.”

Her mom bent down, placed her purse on the floor, then stood up and pulled Emily into a tight hug. “Don’t be sorry,” she whispered. “In fact, you have nothing to apologize for. You did your best with a situation that you were very much not ready for.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Emily said.

“Mom’s right,” Athena said. “You did good work, Big Sis.”

Emily felt her mother stiffening just a smidge as Athena spoke up.

They broke the hug—after her mom gave her a final reassuring squeeze—then it was time to address the elephants in the room. “Okay. Clearly, things have been difficult, but you’ve made the best of it. Now . . . well, now the question remains: what do you intend to do?”

“I was hoping not much,” Emily said. “I have those files from Cement, I’ll look over them and see if there’s anything urgent there, but if there isn’t, then I think the best thing to do now would be to lie low and try not to attract any attention.”

A slow nod was her mother’s reply. “That’s a nice plan, sweetie. How realistic is it?”

“Realistic?” Emily asked.

She got a gesture to her sisters in response. “These five seem quite active, more so than you were at their age, I think, and even if you were quiet, you were a handful sometimes. Not to mention this place is far too small for six people to be living in it. Then there’s the money issue. Food and clothes aren’t free. And they need an education.”

“Right,” Emily said past the sinking feeling in her gut. “I can find work, maybe?”

“I think you’re going to need more than just a part-time job, sweetie. Kids are expensive.”

“We could brainstorm ideas on how to make more money,” Athena suggested.

Emily spun around, but she was too slow to put the idea down; the others were already tossing out ideas.

“Getting enough money to live a comfortable life should be everyone’s responsibility,” Teddy said. “So we’ll just take everyone’s money, then redistribute it evenly.”

“We can steal stuff,” Trinity said. Three racoon-eared heads nodded all at once. “Break into people’s homes, like that one time, and just take all their stuff.”

“I bet I could make someone so afraid of money that they’d just give all of theirs to us,” Athena said.

“No,” Emily said. “Just . . . no. We’ll find a more honest way to make money.” She ignored the pouting in favor of keeping her sanity.

“Money would be a solution, yes, but it’s not the biggest concern.” Emily’s mom started to pace the room. It was a familiar mannerism, but her mother had a way to make it look far more graceful. “We need to find proper lodging, and a secure source of income, then we can take care of the rest. How are your classes going?”

“Ah, well so far? I’ve been doing all my homework, and the tests aren’t for a while. We’re still doing introductory things,” Emily said.

“Good, good. I know how excited you were to start learning, I wouldn’t want that dream to fall apart over this.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Emily’s mom smiled. “No problem. Now, since I didn’t expect to drive all the way back home tonight, I booked a place at a B and B. I can do a little bit of babysitting for the next couple of days.”

“That’s . . . nice,” Emily said. “But two days isn’t a very long time to figure things out.”

“It’s enough time to make an educated choice,” Claire replied. “You don’t have to face all this alone. Didn’t you mention doing a training thing with the Heroes? I’m certain they would listen to your story and that they could help.”

Emily cringed in response.

In reality, it was a logical and even smart choice to make. The Heroes were, ostensibly, good guys. They’d offer Emily some help if she approached them. She wasn’t sure, but she had the impression that her power was very strong. Or at least very versatile. She basically had five weaker powers in the form of her sisters. The PR potential there was also noteworthy. Her sisters might have been little brats, but they were cute brats.

There were a lot of Hero-themed products out there. Emily could just imagine someone putting Teddy’s face on something like dog-grooming products, or using Athena to sell glasses or Trinity to sell . . . trash bags? She shook her head.

The problem was that she didn’t trust the Heroes. That, and for all the help they’d offer her, they’d ask things in return.

“I’ll figure something out,” Emily said.

She wasn’t entirely out of resources herself. She had her sisters, she had information of questionable value from the town’s last resident Villain, she had a few contacts in the world of Supers and Masks.

Better yet, she felt increasingly confident in her own ability to figure things out. That wasn’t to say she was that confident, but it was a lot more than when she’d started out.

“If you can babysit them all for just a day or two,” Emily said, “then I’ll do my best to find a way to take care of everything, I promise.”

Her mom eyed her carefully, then the woman’s eyes watered and she pulled Emily into yet another hug. “Oh, my baby’s growing up so fast.”

“Hey!” Teddy said. “The Boss ain’t a baby.”

“She said ‘my baby,’ you idiot,” Athena said.

“Yeah, so? Boss don’t belong to her, neither.”

Emily sighed. “Girls, please don’t insult my mom. In fact, just listen to her as if she was me, okay?”

It took a bit, but she got three (technically five) affirmatives from the girls. “So what do we call the Boss’s mom?” Teddy asked.

“Grandmom?” Athena asked.

“You’re not my daughters,” Emily pointed out as quickly as she could.

Her mom chuckled. “No, I don’t think I’m quite old enough to be a grandma, not yet. Please.”

“Uh, how about the GrandBoss, then?” Athena asked.

“That’s a good Villain name,” Trinity said.

“Let’s not give my mom a Villain name, please,” Emily said.

Teddy shook her head and pointed—rather rudely—right at Emily’s mom. “She’s your mom, which makes her important, and you’re, like, the best Villain around, so she has to be at least a bit secretly Villainous.”

“Teddy, my mom’s not Villainous,” Emily said.

“Well, I have had a few less-than-charitable thoughts before.”

“Mom!”

“If the Boss is our sister,” Athena said. “Then that makes the Boss’s mom our mom, too.”

“I . . . I don’t know how I feel about that,” Emily said.

Teddy eyed her. “But you said that sharing between sisters was important.”

“I don’t think this is entirely the same.”

Her mom chuckled, then patted Teddy on the head. The bear girl leaned into the touch. “I don’t mind being called Mom. I have been called worse before. Besides, they aren’t entirely wrong. If they are your sisters, then I suppose I’d be something like a stepmom, at most.”

“Step-Boss,” Teddy said. There was a definitive note in the word, as if she’d just given the answer to an obvious question.

Emily closed her eyes. The day had far, far too many ups and downs for her to deal with, and it was far from over.

CHAPTER TWO

A Much Needed Break

Are you sure?” Emily asked.

It wasn’t the first time she asked.

In fact, she was quite certain it wasn’t going to be the last time she asked the same question.

Her mom rolled her eyes. “Emily, I know you. I think in some ways, I might know you better than you yourself do. I can tell when you’re fraying at the edges. You have that same look in your eyes as when your father and I drag you to a party and you’ve been forced to socialize for more than an hour.”

Emily frowned. “I’m fine.”

She received another hug. It felt a little condescending, but she accepted it all the same. “Sure you are, sweetie. And you’ll be a lot more fine with a couple of hours of time spent alone to think and decompress.”

Emily fidgeted. “You’ll keep in touch?”

Her mom nodded. “I have my phone, you know my number. I’ll send you a picture once we’ve arrived.”

Emily nodded, then she turned to her sisters and tried to adopt as serious a look as she could manage. “And you three will behave?” she asked.

Five heads nodded. “We’ll be good,” Teddy said. “We’re not gonna mess with Step-Boss. We’ll do exactly as she says.”

“Please, sweetie, just call me Claire.”

“Sure thing, Step-Boss,” Teddy said.

Emily pointed to Teddy. “No turning into a bear unless it’s super-superurgent and you’d best believe that you’ll have to explain it to me if you do.”

Teddy’s head bobbed up and down.

Emily turned her finger toward Athena. “No making people paranoid for fun. And don’t tease your sisters too much. Just because you’re the most well-behaved doesn’t mean you can get away with more.”

“Yes, Big Sis,” Athena said.

Emily pointed to Trinity, to all three of her bodies. “And you. No dumpster diving.”

Trinity squawked in protest from three mouths at once.

“None,” Emily said. “Not even a trash bin on the way over.”

Her mom’s laughter cut her off short. “I never thought I’d see you being so bossy,” she said. “It suits you. Now, don’t worry, I can manage a few kids. It’s just a quick run for ice cream. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“Please, stop jinxing it,” Emily said.

She got another hug, then five more as she knelt down and hugged each sister as they moved out of her room.

The door closed with a click, and suddenly Emily found herself in her room, alone.

She turned, taking in the room. It was a little messy. Something impossible to remedy when there were so many little mess-makers stuffed in such a small place, but otherwise it was the same room she’d started her school year in. It was just . . . quieter.

Emily frowned, then crossed her arms. She refused to miss her sisters after less than a minute had passed. Not after an entire life of trying to avoid people wherever she could.

Instead of wallowing in contrarian and bizarre feelings, she moved over to her desk and pulled it open. The papers they had acquired from Cement were all there, in a neat stack under a few crayon drawings on looseleaf. She didn’t bother hiding the papers, not when she couldn’t think of a good place to hide anything.

She pulled her chair closer to her desk, fished out a fresh notebook from her backpack, clicked the tip of a pen out, then leaned forward to study.

In reality, she figured that the likelihood of the papers having an answer to her problems was slim, but that didn’t mean chances for that were nonexistent. Besides, she could let her problems percolate in the back of her mind as she studied.

The papers, unfortunately, weren’t designed by a teacher who intended to teach anyone. They weren’t extracted from a textbook, either. They were a semiorganized pile of reports, maps, printouts from various websites, and printed pages.

She gave up on reading them all of five pages in, then started to work on cataloging them instead.

Her pen flew across her notebook as she started to break everything down into smaller chunks. First, she put a number on the top of each page. That would be their name. Once she had an idea of the broad category they fit in, she could add a letter designation to that.

Her desk was soon split into two dozen little piles, with a few more on the floor next to her when she ran out of space.

“This is a mess,” Emily concluded. But it was becoming a comprehensible sort of mess.

There wasn’t a manifesto in the papers, nor an easy explanation for what she had. Instead, it was the disjointed evidence of the creation of . . . of what she was realizing was a criminal organization.

Some of the papers were blackmail material. Evidence that different people had committed a crime of some sort or had cheated on a spouse. Most of the evidence of that nature was found in accounting reports with highlighted sections. They were from a few companies set in the city.

Most of the website pages were listings for buildings that were for sale. One of them was the place she had raided with her sisters. Hideouts? Safe houses? She flipped her notebook forward and made a list of the addresses. She could visit them, see if any were lived in.

The reports she had almost all ended with an H at the very bottom, one that looked a little bit like a crude drawing of a house.

Homie. The Villain that she and Teddy had captured with Melaton’s help.

She skimmed through the reports. Mostly they named shops and stores across the city that had had issues with smaller gangs, then they detailed how those gangs had been pushed away. There were also “collection” reports, with donation sums next to them. They didn’t amount to too much individually, but altogether was another story. Cement had been raking in tens of thousands of dollars a month in protection money.

He also ran a pair of little businesses. Entirely innocent, from what she could tell. Innocent except for the way they turned those donations into taxed revenue.

All in all, the collection racket was barely any more than what they were making from selling cheap pizza to hungry college kids.

Emily was only halfway through the pages and her hand was already cramping up.

She leaned back in her chair and folded up her legs under her. It was a lot of disjointed information to try to piece together.

To be fair, it wouldn’t have made sense for Cement to have everything labeled clearly. It was his business, and these were his notes. He didn’t need to explain his operations to himself.

She was struck by how small it all was. Complicated, certainly, but still very small. A few tiny scuffles with other gangs, a few reports of known thieves getting bruised up. A few little rackets run by a few little groups. The city probably never noticed any of it.

Emily had to reconsider what she knew about Cement. She had originally assessed the older Villain to be little more than a passing threat, but now she started to see that she had been underestimating him.

It was a scary thought to have.

Her phone buzzed, and Emily almost jumped out of her skin.

She was getting too used to constant noise, so that now she was spooked by silence.

Grabbing her phone, she opened it to find a few messages from her mom. Pictures of the girls all sitting around a table, with ice cream cones in their hands, and plenty of ice cream on their faces and clothes, too.

It looked like they were having fun.

She smiled, then sent a quick reply to her mom before glancing back at all the papers. If she didn’t figure something out, that fun might soon evaporate.

Feeling a little more resolute than usual, Emily picked up her notebook and flipped back a few pages. Cement ran a couple of businesses. Honest ones, as far as she could tell, at least when it came to anything but their accounting.

With him gone, who was running those?

And then the people paying into the protection racket he had going, how would they react to Cement being gone? Would it be favorable?

Two leads to follow.

Emily nodded to herself as she made note of some addresses.

She had classes tomorrow afternoon, but the morning was free. That would give her plenty of time to investigate.

If the people who were now freed of Cement’s protection racket were generous, maybe that would be the first honest bit of money she’d make in a while. And if the businesses could use some help, maybe that could be a good source of income too.

It was something.

CHAPTER THREE

Hyperactivity

And then we asked if we could have those sprinkles, and Step-Boss said yes, so we all got sprinkles, and they were so good!” Teddy said.

Athena was nodding next to her. “And Step-Boss asked me how I was doing, and I said okay, and she said that if I ever had trouble I could tell her, and she was really nice.”

“Best Step-Boss gave me three cones. Three!” Trinity said.

Emily stared at her sisters with mounting horror as they prattled on and on. Teddy, usually the most placid of the bunch, was bouncing on the bed; Athena was pacing in little circles in the center of the room; and Trinity wasn’t even trying to hide how hyper she was feeling. The girl was, quite literally, all over the place, running around and bumping off herself. She’d crash to the ground, then spring back up and keep going.

“W-what did you do to them?” Emily asked.

Her mom looked far, far too satisfied with herself. “I did what I would do to any child I was only temporarily responsible for. I gave them sweets, loaded them up with nice things, and gave them all the attention they could want. Now they’re your problem.”

“Mom!” Emily hissed.

“Oh, don’t be that way. They’re going to crash any minute now.” She glanced at the sisters, who were clearly not crashing. “Any minute now.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I need to head back. I took the bus over from a stop close to the B and B I’m staying at. I don’t want to have to walk all the way back. I’ve done my share of walking today, I think.”

“We can walk you back to the bus stop,” Emily said.

“I can take care of myself that far, sweetie,” she said.

Emily shook her head. “It’s not a problem. And besides, I want these three to bleed off more energy. A lot more.”

Her mom hesitated, then nodded. “Sure, why not? They’re all still dressed up for it, anyway.”

“It’s not too cold out, is it?” Emily asked. It was starting to get cooler out, but winters had been getting milder, and they were starting later in the year besides.

“Oh, just you wait. Getting five little bodies into winter gear is going to be something else.”

Emily guided her little sisters out of the room, then to the elevator where her mom was waiting. Athena started talking to her mom while they waited for the elevator to reach their floor. When it did, a surprised Sam exited, pressing herself to the side of the corridor so that all the little sisters could get by. Emily shot her an apologetic look. The girl from the room across from hers was nice, but Emily wasn’t sure if she could convince her not to tattle to the housing director about all her little sisters.

Another reason to find a better place to stay in a hurry.

They exited the dormitory and started down one of the college’s quieter roads. A few students were out still, but they were subdued, heading back home after a long day. Maybe if it had been the weekend, or Friday night, there would have been a more festive air outside, but as it was, the campus was cool and quiet.

“Did you find anything while we were out?” Emily’s mom asked.

Emily breathed into her hands to warm them up. When she lowered them, they were both grabbed by Teddy on one side and Trinity on the other. She smiled. “Yeah, I got to dig into some things. I think I have . . . something of a plan.”

“That’s good. How much is something?”

“It’s not much, honestly, but it’s a start? I’ll know more tomorrow. I plan on heading out and looking into a few things in person. It might be nothing.”

“You’ll be fine, I’m certain. And if you’re not, then your father and I will do what we can to help you out. You’re not in this alone, Emily.”

“Yeah, Boss, you’ve got me,” Teddy said.

“And the rest of us,” Athena said. She shot a glare at Teddy.

“Thanks, all of you,” Emily said before that could devolve into an argument about who was the most useful.

The bus stop wasn’t as far as Emily remembered it being. Then again, she had mostly been walking all over the city. They had to wait for a few minutes for the bus to arrive, a few minutes that Emily’s mom filled with inconsequential chatter and gossip about work and the neighborhood and even a few old classmates of Emily’s. Athena stayed close and listened while Emily’s other sisters fooled around nearby, always close enough that Emily could keep an eye on them.

The bus pulled in with a squeal, and Emily gave her mom a tight hug. That meant that all her little sisters had to give her hugs too. The older woman ended up running into the bus while the driver looked on, unamused at the delay.

The bus moved on, and Emily let out a long breath that came out as a plume of steam. “Okay, let’s get back home,” she said.

“Dibs on the bathroom,” Teddy said.

“You can’t dibs the bathroom!” Trinity said. “I need it too.”

“I need it more,” Teddy said.

“I have three times more pee than you!” Trinity said.

Emily rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “Trinity, Teddy, keep your voices down, please. We’ll . . . figure things out once we’re back home.”

The walk back didn’t give her that much time to think, not when she had to wrangle her sisters. Her plan was still to head out in the morning and talk to the businesses that Cement had been involved with. Securing any sort of income would make everything else significantly easier.

They arrived back at the dorm, moved up to the fifth floor, and were on their way to her room when Emily noticed the door to Sam’s room open and the girl stuck her head out. She saw Emily and grinned. “Hey, neighbor,” she said. “Can I, ah, have a word?”

“Um,” Emily said. “Sure, just give me, ah, a minute?” She unlocked her room’s door and let her sisters in. They started arguing over bathrooms and other stuff, so she figured they’d stay distracted for a few minutes. “Okay, what’s up?”

Sam chewed on her lower lip, then glanced up and down the corridor. “Want to talk in my room? It’s a little more private.”

Emily hesitated, but then Sam moved back and she didn’t have anyone to argue with, and the mounting awkwardness had her following the girl into her room.

The room was a mirror of Emily’s own. At least, the floor plan was. The decorations couldn’t have been any more different. Sam had awards on a shelf over her bed, soccer trophies in a neat, glittering row. There were posters for obscure bands on the walls, and a big desktop computer next to a desk much larger than Emily’s own. There were also a lot of clothes on the floor and half piled into a basket next to the bathroom.

Somehow, Emily’s room was cleaner, despite having her sisters occupying it. “S-so, ah, what did you want to talk about?” Emily asked.

Sam moved around her and closed the door. “Right, so this is a bit strange,” she said as she moved over to her bed and sat on the edge of it. She was still nearly as tall as Emily sitting down. “So, you’re a Villain, right?”

Emily’s heart skipped a beat, then a second. “No,” she squeaked after too long a pause.

“Hey, hey, don’t freak out,” Sam said. “Look, we haven’t talked much, but you seem pretty cool. So, you probably don’t know this, but I’m majoring in psych. It’s been pretty easy so far, but I’m an ambitious sort of girl, you know? I don’t want to just be some two-bit small-town therapist.”

“W-what?” Emily asked.

“I want to discover stuff. I want my name to be, like, mentioned in some textbooks,” Sam continued. “So when I discovered that the girl across from me was a Villain, I told myself that it was an opportunity.”

Emily shook her head and tried to regain her wits. She had a skill that would allow her to teleport a sister to her side, which would definitely alert the others. She had to pick which to bring over, though. Athena was the cleverest, so she’d figure that something was wrong fastest when one of the others disappeared. Maybe Teddy? Trinity would run back to the room to get the others while also helping Emily, though.

“That’s when I came upon this great idea,” Sam said. “I want to be your minion.”

Emily blinked. “Huh?”

“Yeah, see, I get to chronicle and test aspects of the psychology of an actual Villain. It’s not perfectly scientific, but hell, it’s better than what anyone else has. And everyone knows that the best science is criminal.”

“N-no,” Emily said.

Sam pouted. “Don’t be that way. Come on, I’m great minion material. And I have a car!”

This was, Emily knew, an insane and terrible idea. On every level that an idea could be insane and terrible on.

CHAPTER FOUR

Doing What’s Probably Right

Emily had not had the most restful sleep. There was too much weighing on her mind. Also, Teddy had started to snore right into her ear, and while Emily could sleep through her fair share of noise, the sound somehow grated on her throughout the night.

In addition, Trinity managed to have the sharpest little elbows, a fact that wasn’t helped by the sheer number of elbows she had at her disposal.

So Emily woke up feeling groggy, as if she had only slept for two hours despite whatever lie her clock told.

After shuffling through the new morning routine of forcing her sisters to take quick showers one after the other, then enduring a cold shower herself, Emily got dressed, packed up all their costumes in a backpack, and then took a couple of quiet minutes in the bathroom, where she pressed her head up against the mirror and willed herself awake.

She figured that all that was just part of the college charm, though. At least, from all the testimonies she’d heard from others, that was part and parcel of being a student.

“So, Boss, what’s going on this morning?” Teddy asked.

“We haven’t done anything Villainlike in a while,” Athena said.

Emily frowned. “We broke into someone’s home and beat up a Hero yesterday.”

“Feels like it was a long time ago,” Trinity said. She stared off into the distance in three different directions. “Do I feel time three times more than other people?”

Athena shrugged. “Maybe having three bodies and therefore three sources of living experience is changing your perception of time?”

“That makes sense,” Trinity said.

“Did you even understand what I said?” Athena asked.

“No, but it had lots of big words, so it’s probably right.”

Emily had to hold back a chuckle. At least her sisters could be kind of funny. Not on purpose, which was both a shame and terrifying, but still funny. “Come on, we’re going to meet someone.”

“The new minion?” Teddy asked.

Emily wanted to protest, but that was exactly what Sam had called herself. “Yeah, we’re going to meet the new minion.”

They left the room, then made their way downstairs. Emily didn’t pause to see if Sam was still in her room or not. They had set a meeting spot the night before, and Emily had to hope that Sam was the sort to be punctual when it came to meetings and the like.

Emily had never visited the student parking area, but it wasn’t too difficult to find; it was a multistory building, with most of it tucked underground and out of sight. The gate at the front had a fancy reader system that would open if a student presented their ID. Basically, it gave students a place to park without having to deal with parking on the roadsides.

Emily was the one to set the location of their meeting after Sam had revealed that she had a car, so Emily figured it was a fairly safe spot to meet. Somewhat quiet, somewhat secluded, and if things devolved into a fight, there was room to move and plenty of cover around.

She wished she didn’t have to start thinking so strategically about things as simple as morning meetings with other students.

She guided her gaggle of sisters down a flight of stairs and to the bottom level of the parking garage. It was strange going from the bright light of the early morning to a place that was nothing but gray on gray illuminated by sterile neon white, the only splash of color coming from the few cars that dared to be something other than white, black, or gray.

“Where’re we going now?” Teddy asked.

There wasn’t much to see or do in the spot, though one of Trinity immediately moved over to a mysterious door with some warning signs screwed into it and started poking around.

“Now we wait,” Emily said. “Don’t wander too far. I don’t want any of you to get hit if a car pulls in.” She’d seen some of her fellow students driving. It was pretty obvious that they weren’t all that experienced.

She found a large pillar to lean against and pressed her head back against the cool stone. After half a minute of nothing, she glanced at her phone. She was maybe a bit too early. Sam had another five minutes to arrive on time.

Five minutes with nothing to do while her sisters played patty-cake to one side or argued over what was cooler, Emily’s mom or the concept of communism.

It was enough time to look into some things that she hadn’t had time to tackle in a while.

Emily focused for just a moment, then blinked her eyes open. “Status,” she muttered.

Name: Emily Wright

Alignment: Villain

Alias: The Boss

Level: 1

Powers

Sister Summoning

Create Sister

Rank 5

Sisterportation

Level 1

Double Trouble

Level Max

Healpats

Level 4

Triple Threat

Level Max

Points

Power Slots: 0

Skill Upgrades: 5

Skill Slots: 0

Sometime yesterday she’d gained a Skill Upgrade point. As it was, the only skills she could use that on were Sisterportation—the skill that allowed her to teleport a sister to her side—or Healpats—her on-touch sister-healing skill. Neither was exceptionally useful just yet. She’d consider putting a point or two into them if her next skill wasn’t as useful.

If the pattern held, her next skill would be a utility skill, not another little sister. That was probably excellent news.

Emily glanced over to Teddy. She was Emily’s first sister, and probably the one she understood the most. Which was strange, considering that Teddy was a girl Emily had only known for a few days.

“Status, Teddy,” Emily said. She wondered if she’d need to use Teddy’s full name for the skill to work, but a screen appeared before her, hovering next to her own status page.

Name: Teddy Wright

Alignment: Villain, Little Sister

Alias: None

Level: 1

Powers

WereBear

Rip and Bear

Rank 2

Iron Bear

Level 1

Points

Power Slots: 0

Skill Upgrades: 3

Skill Slots: 0

Teddy had also gotten a Skill Upgrade point. Was it taking down Black Shield? That . . . was probably the case.

“Status Athena.” Her owly sister was the most mature and quietest of the lot, and the one Emily secretly worried about the most. Of all her sisters, Athena had inherited the most from Emily, including some of her more negative social traits.

Name: Athena Wright

Alignment: Villain, Little Sister

Alias: None

Level: 1

Powers

Owl Seeing Eye

Owl Alone

Rank 1

Points

Power Slots: 0

Skill Upgrades: 1

Skill Slots: 0

She hadn’t had much chance to unlock more Skill Slots. If ever Emily decided to take things more seriously, then they’d all need to work on getting more of those. They seemed to be the fastest way to grow stronger.

“Status Trinity,” Emily muttered.

Name: Trinity Wright

Alignment: Villain, Little Sister

Alias: None

Level: 1

Powers

Eternal Racoon Hurricane

Three’s Company

Rank 1

Points

Power Slots: 0

Skill Upgrades: 1

Skill Slots: 0

Emily stared at the name of Trinity’s power. Eternal Racoon Hurricane? “What does that even mean?” she muttered.

“Heya!”

Emily swiped her hand before her, and all four panels disappeared with a blink. She stood up straighter and glanced over to the stairwell where Sam was exiting. The girl looked a little scruffy, her tightly curled hair still wet.

“Hey, Boss, this the new minion?” Teddy asked.

Emily rolled her eyes. “Everyone, this is Sam, our neighbor from across the corridor. Sam, these are my little sisters. That’s Teddy, that’s Athena, and the other three are Trinity.”

“They have the same name?” Sam asked.

“Three bodies, one sister,” Trinity said from three spots at once.

Emily nodded. “She’s one person with three bodies. It’s . . . weird.”

“Power weirdness,” Sam said. She grinned from ear to ear. “That’s really cool.”

Trinity puffed out all her chests. “You hear that? I’m cool!”

“I saw you eating trash before, you’re not cool,” Athena said.

“Eating trash is supercool,” Trinity said.

Emily sighed. “Trinity, don’t eat trash, it’s not . . . cool. If you eat trash, you’ll never be cool.”

It was hard to place the confused and conflicted expressions crossing Trinity’s face. One part hopeful, one part disappointed, one part bewildered.

“Oh, this is going to be great,” Sam said.

Teddy spoke up next to Sam. “So, just so you know, the order of minion-ness is me, then Athena, then Trinity, then Trinity two more times, then you and other minions like Alea Iacta.”

“Wait, you have other minions?” Sam asked.

Emily hesitated, considered what to say, dismissed it, then finally settled on something that explained everything as succinctly as possible. “It’s complicated.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Thesis

So, just the one other minion, right?” Sam asked.

“Yes. Technically,” Emily said.

“And he’s got powers?”

Emily nodded. “Some strange sort of luck manipulation. It’s a bit complicated.”

“And he works for you?”

“Well, he owes me, a bit. And I think he might be a little afraid of me?”

Teddy piped up at that. “Boss is scary.”

“Right, right, cool,” Sam said. She flicked a thumb over her shoulder. “This way then.”

Emily glanced at her gaggle of sisters, then made sure they were all following behind her as she kept up with Sam. The girl had longer legs, and she didn’t seem to put much thought into her stride as she moved.

“So I get that you need my car,” Sam said as she started to walk down the parking garage. “But you haven’t told me where you need to go.”

Emily frowned. “You’re right, sorry. It’s just . . . I don’t know how to say this. I guess it’s only fair that I fill you in a little.”

“That’d be nice, but we can wait until I can take proper notes,” Sam said. “Notes?” Emily repeated.

“For my thesis paper.”

Emily just shook her head. “All right then. Well, we’ll be heading to a few places. None of them are too far from here. Is that okay?”

“I guess, yeah. Any interesting places?” Sam asked. She fished into her purse and pulled out a key chain.

“Not really, no,” Emily said. She glanced over to a little car as its lights flashed and its doors unlocked. It was a dull gray car that looked . . . like any other car on the road. Emily didn’t know cars well, but even she could tell that it was about the safest, least offensive car around. Maybe six or seven years old, with a tiny bump on one side of its rear bumper hastily covered by a college sticker.

“This is my ride,” Sam said. “Uh, we might have to shove aside a few things to make space. Are all the kids coming?”

Emily glanced in the car. There were three spaces in the back, two in the front. She didn’t need to count to know that they’d be two shy. “I guess the girls can squeeze into the back.”

“Two of me could stay here,” Trinity said. “I could go back home, and if you need me, I could take a bath with Mister Toaster.”

“I . . . would rather not have to resort to that,” Emily said. “Although keeping one of you home to watch over things isn’t a terrible idea. A bit late now.”

“What did she mean about the bath and the toaster?” Sam asked with obvious concern.

Emily thought too long about how to explain that. It gave Trinity plenty of time to reply. “Me and Mister Toaster took a bath the other day, then there was a big tingle-snap and one of my bodies died,” Trinity said. At Sam’s confused look, she explained some more. “I get better when I die.”

“Trinity has an . . . interesting relationship with death,” Emily said. “It’s complicated, but because she’s one person with multiple bodies, ah, dying isn’t a problem for her. She just sort of reappears next to herself.”

“Wow,” Sam said. “Hey, Trinity, can I interview you later? I’ll give you, like, chocolate or something.”

“Really?” Emily asked.

“Look, at first I was just aiming for some great grades and maybe a publication in a few of the more fun psych mags, but this is starting to smell like a Nobel.”

“There . . . isn’t a Nobel for psychology,” Emily said.

Sam shrugged. “Then whatever’s right under that.”

Emily decided that maybe Sam wasn’t entirely sane, not that Emily had missed all the earlier hints. “Okay, everyone in the back. Trinity, you’re the smallest, so how about you sit in the middle and on the edges.”

“We’re probably supposed to use kid seats,” Sam said.

“I don’t know what that is, but I refuse to sit in one,” Teddy said.

“It’s like a chair for babies so they don’t hurt themselves,” Athena said. “You’d definitely need one.”

“Girls,” Emily said. She opened the back door and gestured into the car with her head. The sisters piled in, then she shut the door and waited for Sam to clear some space on the passenger seat before sitting herself. The car smelled like energy drinks, coffee, and pine freshener. Emily sat with her bag on her lap, so it wasn’t hard to reach in and find her notebook. “Do you have a GPS?” Emily asked.

“I do, yeah,” Sam said. “But I’m from here, I know my way around the city.”

“Oh, that’s useful,” Emily said. “I’m, uh, from nearby. Anyway, this is the first address.” She tilted her notebook toward Sam and tapped the address in question.

Sam scanned the address, then blinked. “Azzip’s Pizza?”

“You know where it is?” Emily asked.

Sam nodded with a chuckle. “Of course, I’ve ordered from there my whole life. They have this special Upside-Down pizza, it’s great. You’ve got to try it.”

“Uh, I’ll take your word for it.”

“We’re . . . not going to rob them, right?” Sam asked.

Emily shook her head. “No, we’re not doing anything like that. The place was paying protection money to another Villain. He was called Cement.”

“The one who was arrested?” Sam asked. She put the car in reverse and soon they were navigating their way out of the parking garage.

“That’s him, yeah,” Emily said. “He fought some Heroes, but I don’t think they were proper Heroes. There’s a . . . I don’t know how much I should say.”

“Oh, conspiracies,” Sam chortled.

Emily shook her head. “It’s not like that. It’s another thing I’ll have to talk to you about later, I guess. When we have more time.”

“All right, all right,” Sam said. She drummed her fingers on the wheel as they arrived at a red light. “So, you haven’t told me why we’re going to Azzip’s. We’re taking them over? Doing some racketeering? Getting some protection money?”

“No, the opposite. We’re, uh, freeing them,” Emily said. She still had a lot of doubts about . . . everything. Things could go very wrong, but at the same time, she wasn’t seeing many other options.

That, and there was a sort of pressure to keep moving. It was a weird balancing act. More time to think would be great, but it would maybe mean less time to act, and more opportunities outright missed.

They made it off the roads around the college and Sam started to navigate her way through the city the way only someone really familiar with the area would. That meant turning into gas station parking lots to exit out behind them onto quieter streets and cutting through small alleys as they beelined for the pizza place.

“We’re just visiting the one place?” Sam asked.

“No,” Emily said. “We have a dozen places to look into. But it’ll all depend on how long they each take.”

“So, your plan’s to walk in and be like ‘hey, you’re free now’ and then hope for the best?” Sam asked.

Emily felt her cheeks warming. “Uh. Well, maybe?”

“Wow,” Sam said. “You really haven’t figured this all out, have you?”

“I haven’t had time to figure most of it out,” Emily said. “It’s not like Villainy comes with a manual.”

“I mean, it doesn’t, but there are literally hundreds of books and movies and shows that show you how it all works,” Sam said.

“I don’t think those are an accurate portrayal of things,” Emily said. “Besides, I, ah, don’t really care for superhero fiction. I always found it a bit silly.”

Sam just gave her a look. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a bit strange?”

Emily pressed herself into her seat. “I guess.”

“Hey, the Boss ain’t strange. She’s great,” Teddy said. “She’s been working hard to be a better Villain, too. She used to be all shy and stuff, now she’s just scary.”

Emily glanced back at Teddy. She wanted to deny the girl but . . . but Teddy was probably not entirely wrong. Some of that fear she felt when dealing with people had faded. Not entirely . . . or maybe not at all. In fact, it was definitely still there, but it was now buried under other, bigger fears.

None of the therapists she’d ever spoken to had suggested being too busy to be shy before.

“I’m working on it,” Emily said. “But, uh, do you have a better idea?”

“For getting protection money?” Sam asked. “Yeah, of course.” She pulled up along the side of the road, glanced around, then put the car in park. They were right behind the entrance to an alleyway, in front of a closed restaurant on one of the older streets of the city. “Tell you what, I’ll come with you, like a proper minion should, and we’ll work this out together.”

“Uh,” Emily said.

“Yeah, I’ve always wanted to bully people into giving me stuff,” Sam said. “But, like, being a bully’s kind of frowned upon, you know? Now I get to let loose!”

“Wait, what?” Emily asked.

It was too late—Sam was already stepping out of the car, and her little sisters were rushing out of the back as well.

Emily groaned. What had she gotten herself into?

CHAPTER SIX

Definitely Not Extortion

Azzip’s Pizza wasn’t what Emily was expecting.

For some reason, she had a mental image of the kind of grungy, dirty pizza place that would give a health inspector literal and metaphorical hives.

Instead, the place was a clean, if modest, little shop. Some chairs and tables were placed in a small area out front, with a bench next to the doorway, and enough parking space for two and a half cars next to the building.

Emily, Sam, and her gaggle of sisters could see the building across the street from the tight little alley they were in.

“So, you going to go in the front door in costume and ask to talk to the boss?” Sam asked.

Emily knew that she had failed to plan this well, but it still made her cringe inside to have her terrible planning rubbed in her face. “Yes,” she said.

“With all the little ones?” Sam asked. She glanced back at the sisters.

Emily shook her head. “No, that would be . . . frankly, kind of terrible. I don’t even know if we’d all fit. I’ll take . . . Athena? She’s the most, ah, socially mature.”