"Bro, start talking," Ethan said as he draped his arm over Magnus's shoulders. "What are the superpowers you currently have?"
They were all on their way toward a public beach. After everything that happened last night, the girls had unanimously decided they all needed a day out — the kind of decision that wasn't really a decision so much as a collective announcement that nobody was going to argue with. So now the entire group was making its way down the coastal path for volleyball, waterskiing, or whatever other adrenaline-fueled activity Maya decided counted as "therapy." The Boyfriends Squad was off to the side, walking together because apparently, their girlfriends were currently shunning them, opting for girls' time. They had made it quietly but clearly understood that the boys were not invited into that particular conversation.
Magnus glanced sideways. Aaron and Miguel weren't actively asking like Ethan, but they were walking close enough and paying just enough attention that the distinction was mostly technical. He rubbed a hand down his face and started counting his phalanges.
"There's Telekinesis and Invisibility—those two are straightforward. Then there's Animal-Linked Comprehension, which is basically animal communication. Fortuitous Alignment—that's probability manipulation from what we understood, but with a price."
"So, luck control?" Aaron asked. "And a price?"
"Yeah, every good luck brings a later bad luck. Which is why I avoid using it unless necessary," he explained before continuing with the list. "Then there's Affective Discernment, which lets me get a read on people's surface-level feelings and emotions. That's how I knew the robbers were panicking."
They all nodded, recalling the moment.
"Then there's Premonition, which just shows me random contextless pieces of the future. Aura Weave, which basically amplifies my voice and certain emotions in others. Sympathetic Transference, which was what I healed Chloe with. And lastly, Oppositional Resistance Alteration, which is friction control. Thanks, Ethan—could not have understood that one without you!"
"You're welcome," Ethan said, waving a hand. "And wow, you're basically a superhero!"
Magnus rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm really not. I'm just a normal guy trying to survive and do the right thing."
The other guys almost rolled their eyes simultaneously.
"Right," Ethan said. "Freezing nearly twenty people on the spot while resurrecting the dead is a very normal Tuesday."
"She wasn't dead," Magnus protested. "That power doesn't let me revive the dead. It can only heal someone who's still breathing."
Aaron put a hand on Magnus's shoulder. "She would have been in a few minutes if you hadn't stepped in and done what you did. Don't downplay what you did last night."
Magnus blinked. "Thanks!"
"And, uh…" He hesitated. "Sorry about the whole restraining everyone in place thing. I didn't have time to explain and I wasn't sure if I could have saved her if anyone had pulled me off."
"Don't apologize for that." Miguel shook his head. "You made a call to save someone's life when there was no time to explain. Nobody's holding that against you."
Before Magnus could respond to that, Tony landed on his other shoulder with a series of chittering sounds.
"Okay," Ethan said. "What did he just say?"
Magnus rubbed a hand down his face. "He wants to continue my observation training because there are lots of people on this beach."
Ethan stared at the raccoon. "So the whole thing Alex said about him being your mentor is real?"
"Something like that. He's about as persistent as Maya and twice as convinced he's right about everything. There's no point arguing and no way to escape."
The three of them absorbed this information and apparently decided to accept it without further comment.
What came next was an impromptu training session where Magnus was forced to watch people going about their days on the beach while trying to figure out things about them and the other guys decided to join in.
Tony hopped down from Magnus's shoulder and landed in the sand. His head snapped toward the beach. He pointed with one precise paw at a group of people passing nearby.
Magnus followed the gesture and pointed in the same direction. "He wants us to observe them. First impressions only. No overthinking."
"We're people-watching with a raccoon," Ethan said. "Okay. Sure. Why not?"
Tony made a short, sharp sound.
"And stop talking so much," Magnus added. "His words, not mine."
Ethan held up both hands. "Silent judgment mode? Okay, Master Splinter."
"Splinter is a rat, not a raccoon," Aaron corrected him. "And does that make you Michelangelo?"
"Hey! Mikey is the best turtle, bro."
Tony pointed again, ignoring their bickering. A man walking alone, slightly ahead of the nearest group, collared shirt despite the heat, phone face-down in his hand.
Magnus pointed. "That one."
Ethan leaned forward. "Stressed. Waiting on something."
Tony made a dismissive sound.
Magnus translated without editorializing. "He says that's confident for someone who looked for two seconds."
"I stand by it," Ethan said.
Aaron had been watching the man. "Phone's face-down on purpose. Someone anxious about missing a call keeps it face-up. He turned it over deliberately. He's trying to be somewhere and finding it difficult."
Tony paused. Then a short sound.
"He says that's closer," Magnus said.
Ethan stared at Aaron. "How did you get that from a phone?"
"Evidence instead of narrative," Aaron said.
Tony had already moved on. He pointed at a group of three women setting up near the waterline.
Magnus pointed. "Them."
Ethan went first. "That one's been the leader of this friend group since they were about eleven. The one next to her has been her best friend since before that. The third one's newer — still figuring out if she's in or still on the edge."
Tony watched them for a long moment without responding.
"He's not commenting," Magnus said.
"What does that mean?"
Magnus watched the group. The third woman said something and the leader laughed — genuine, not polite. "I think you were right, but you got there with a glance instead of looking."
Ethan considered this. "Fair."
Tony pointed again. A couple walking along the shoreline, mid-thirties, close but not touching.
Aaron spoke before anyone else. "First big trip alone together in a while. They're recalibrating. It'll be fine by tomorrow."
Tony's ears tilted slightly toward Aaron. Then a sound.
"He says the spacing between them is correct," Magnus translated. "He doesn't confirm the rest."
"The rest is inference," Aaron said. "The spacing is evidence."
Magnus passed this back to Tony. Tony made a sound.
"He says the… 'yellow-furred one' understands the difference between what is seen and what is concluded," Magnus translated.
Ethan pointed between them. "I'm starting to feel like this is rigged."
"It's just observation," Aaron said.
Tony pointed again — sharper this time, at a single passerby walking with deliberate pace.
Ethan jumped in. "Stressed. Phone posture, shoulders slightly—"
Tony cut him off with a short sound.
"He says lazy interpretation," Magnus said.
Ethan groaned. "Okay, fine. That one was bad."
Aaron studied the person for a moment longer. "Not stressed. Focused. Intentional pace. Thinking about something specific."
Tony went still. Then a slow, single sound.
"Better," Magnus translated.
The rhythm continued. Tony pointed, Magnus relayed the prompt, the four of them read. Ethan contributed enthusiastically and incorrectly more often than not, though occasionally landed something sharp when he slowed down enough to actually look. Miguel offered single observations — quiet, specific, load-bearing in ways that only became clear afterward. Aaron kept stripping everything back to physical evidence and building from there, consistently and without apparent effort.
By the last subject, Tony sat back on his haunches, tail flicking once, and pointed slowly at a passing group of four.
"Last one," Magnus said.
Aaron answered without hesitation. "Long-term friends. Low verbal dependence. Shared rhythm. They've been doing this — whatever this is — for years."
Tony stayed still for a moment longer than usual. Then a sound.
"He says Aaron has been the most consistent," Magnus translated.
Ethan threw his hands up. "I feel personally attacked by a raccoon's grading system."
Aaron nodded once, unsurprised. "I'll take it."
Magnus said nothing. But he'd noticed something: on the rounds where Tony had withheld his verdict or given a partial one, Aaron had likely been right. The raccoon had found technical faults with the methodology, but the conclusions had held anyway. And even on the ones where Tony had declared them all to be wrong, Magnus suspected Aaron could still have been right. It was more likely the raccoon was simply confidently wrong.
He didn't bring it up, though. Correcting Tony's assessments in front of an audience seemed unwise, and Tony would probably just find a new subject and make him prove it. But the thought stayed with him, quiet and mildly interesting, as they continued down the beach.
Then Tony's head suddenly snapped in one direction as he announced:
"Ah, the fast stormy one and her father are approaching!"
"What?!" Magnus followed his gaze and stopped walking as his eyes locked on…
General James Hale. Wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, sunglasses, and flip-flops. Walking beside him was Katherine Hale in a flower sundress, and slightly behind them was Jordan Hale in a bikini.
The absurdity of the image immediately made his brain stall.
The girls had also spotted them. Several conversations stopped simultaneously — their jaws were too busy dropping to do anything else.
"I genuinely did not think he owned any clothes that weren't his uniform," Nicole said.
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Sofia agreed.
"This is so weird," Valeria said. "Like seeing your homeroom teacher at the grocery store."
"Vanessa has bikinis?" Camila whispered. "I honestly thought she wouldn't ever be caught dead in them."
Jordan froze midstride as she saw their group. For half a second, something that looked genuinely like panic crossed her face before settling into the more familiar expression of controlled discomfort. Her parents, however, didn't share the sentiment.
Katherine was already moving. "Alex." She pulled Alex into a hug. "And Magnus and Sofia too." She turned toward them. "Good to see you all again!"
James gave a single nod to the assembled college students.
"General Hale," those who recognized him — Valeria, Camila, Nicole, Priya — greeted James.
He shook his head slightly. "I'm currently off-duty."
"Mr. Hale, then," Nicole said.
"Ms. Park." He nodded once. "Give my regards to your father."
"I will. He mentioned inviting you to golf, but said you never seem to have a free moment."
"My duties are time-consuming. And what free time I have is for family."
Meanwhile, Jordan was working through greetings like she was checking items off a list. "Reyes. Ramirez. Ortega. Castillo. Whitaker. Vega and Hernández. Walker. Desai." Her eyes landed on Magnus. "Have you been following the schedule, Chane?"
Magnus raised both hands. "I have. I swear I have."
"Good."
Camila leaned toward Valeria and said quietly:
"Those were the driest greetings I've ever witnessed. And that assessment already included Nicole's monotone. Also, what was that last part about?"
Behind his sunglasses, James's gaze had settled on Magnus. The background check had hit an unexpected wall in the form of a name — Salvatore DeLuca. Retired mafia. Still influential. If Lucy Chane was indeed Magnus's mother, then whatever situation she might be involved in was more layered than James had initially anticipated. He filed this carefully. It wasn't something he could address today, and Katherine had been very clear about what happened if he tried to work on vacation again. So, he gave Magnus a simple nod and moved on.
Ethan watched the interaction, then leaned toward Magnus and said under his breath: "Why does that man in a Hawaiian shirt scare me a little?"
"Picture him in full military uniform," Magnus muttered back. "Then you won't just be scared a little."
"Yeah, okay. I see it now." Ethan shuddered.
The Hales moved on after wishing everyone a good vacation. As they walked away, Katherine draped an arm around Jordan's shoulders.
"They're all staying at the Ramirez beach house," she said, making it sound like casual conversation. "Alex mentioned it."
Jordan said nothing.
"Would you like to spend a day there? With your friends?"
"They're not my friends," Jordan said automatically. Then she paused. "And I thought we were spending the whole vacation together…" She made air-quotes. "…As a family?"
Katherine rolled her eyes.
"It's not as if you and your father would talk any more even if I kept you both in the same room all week." Her tone was entirely pleasant. "Spending time with people your own age could be good for you too. If you want to. While you do that, your father and I could go on a date. We haven't done that in a long time." A brief pause. "We might even have a hot night of it if you stay over with your friends."
Jordan stopped walking.
She turned to look at her mother with an expression that occupied the complicated territory between shock, disbelief, and genuine horror. "I did not need to know that about you and dad! Why would you even tell me that?"
Katherine laughed. "You and your father had a years-long misunderstanding partly because every one of us kept things from each other. So now I'm going to start saying everything out loud, including the things that make you both uncomfortable." She smiled. "Someone in this family has to."
Jordan stared at her for a long moment.
Then she looked back toward the group of college students they'd just left, now spread out across the beach in various states of volleyball preparation and sun-related chaos.
She looked back at her mother. "I'll… consider it. No promises yet."