I'm not sure why, but when I recognized her, the first thing I said was, "Let me stand up." Maybe I thought she, or somebody else here, had been responsible for our hurt legs. In a way, they kind of were. Her hand snapped away from my face, and she pointed at some unknown person in the dark and flicked her finger upward. At once, every light in the room turned on, and I shielded my eyes. Hodek did the same, turning his face away from the ceiling.

About ten more people occupied this room, some of them vaguely familiar and some completely new. Once more, I tried standing up, and was finally able to. I leaned down to offer Hodek a hand, and he reluctantly accepted my help. I noticed there were clumps of dirt around his left eye, probably from the fall. I was about to point it out, but he gave me a sideways glance and shook his head before I could even lift a finger. I turned my attention back to Anniversary—my sister, my best friend, who I had not seen in seven years.

"Anni, I..." Anything I had planned to say when this day finally came was gone. It had evaporated before it could even reach my teeth, and I was left completely speechless. It seemed she was, too. All we did was stare until somebody in what I remembered to be the standard patrol uniform tapped her on the arm.

"Uh, what exactly am I looking at now?"

"Don't be rude," she hissed at them without hesitation. I was taken aback by the ferocity in her voice; usually, that was reserved for when something really got on her nerves, and she would never snap in front of someone on-duty. The patrol soldier just held up their hands and raised their eyebrows.

"Sorry, ma'am, I just wasn't informed. We weren't expecting anyone back at this time of day, and—"

"Does it look like I expected this?"

"Oh, wow..." a small voice caught my attention, and I looked down to see a young girl circling me and tugging on various parts of my clothes. "So it is you. We thought you were dead!" She commented with just a little too much glee in her voice. I raised an eyebrow, giving my best attempt at a polite smile.

"Um, sorry, do I know you?"

Too late. She had already been diverted by someone else—the man who had lifted my mask in the dark. "Handle! You lied to me, he's not that pale," she complained.

"That was before he was taken aboveground, Garde. Now leave him alone, aren't you supposed to be in bed?"

"Anni said any eight available patrols. That's what I am! I mean, I'm gonna be—!"

She let out a squeak of protest as Handle hoisted her up by the waist and started carrying her away. It was a little uncomfortable to realize just then that since I'd been gone, people would have their own different ideas of me based on hearsay, my file, and what I'd been like before the old base was cleared out. Somebody who never knew me then could have an opinion on me now. Hodek had managed to stay by my side this whole five minutes, and I wondered: if I just felt disconcerted by that idea, what would it be like to have my face plastered on countless internet forums and news channels?

"Masquerade."

Anni's voice called me back to earth. It had been so long since I heard that name spoken out loud. And on top of that, it was more difficult than I'd imagined to see my sister like this. She was far older than I remembered, though that was a given considering all the time we'd spent apart. She still had a trace of her teenage attitude but most of that had been shoved aside by years of sleepless nights, searching for her immediates and giving orders she wasn't sure would help. That one look I shared with her was enough to tell me everything she had to go through in order to get here. I only hoped she could see what I'd endured, too.

Anniversary paused, looking me up and down before coming to a single conclusion.

"You grew out your hair."

"I like it like this," I responded automatically. I had a feeling there was more she wanted to say, but based on the way she glanced around at our company, she might have built up some kind of strong, emotionless name for herself in our family. It wouldn't have been wise to break that now, of all times. She just cleared her throat and gestured beside me. "Uh, who is...?"

"I feel like there are more pressing matters at hand than who I might've brought here with me. But if you have to know now, Hodek here is my—"

"Friend!" He cut me off, placing a hand abrasively on my shoulder. I turned my head and raised an eyebrow, but he didn't look my way. He kept staring straight ahead, like if he took his eyes off of Anni she would do something. I glanced back at her, not exactly sure where to go from here.

"...right. My friend." What did he think I was going to say? "On second thought, maybe it's better if we talk somewhere else. Who are these people?" My eyes scanned the various guards that were now surrounding us, inching closer by the second like at any moment they'd be ordered to attack. Anni sighed and flicked her wrist in the air, which caused every other person in the room to stand up straight with their arms practically glued to their sides. I flinched at the sudden and collective movement, whereas Anniversary simply walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"They're your new brothers and sisters. Well...I say new like they came here just yesterday. Most of them have been here for quite a while, actually."

My eyes were being drawn all around, from one recruit to the next, finally resting on Anni again with another realization.

"...you're the new Elder?"

She smiled, almost like she felt sorry about it. "You flatter me, Masquerade. As if anyone could replace the Elder." She looked around quickly and then muttered in my ear, "Yeah, pretty much. Isn't it exciting!"

"Are you sure? You look really tired. It's...kind of a big deal."

"And there you go again. You've always been the worrywart of us, haven't you, Masquie? Oh, it's so good to have you back," she said with a much more forced grin than before. I got the feeling that instead, she wanted to break down and cry. Before I could say anything else, she clasped her hands and addressed the rest of the room. "Well, looks like it was a false alarm. Your older brother and I are going to discuss some things in private, and in the meantime you all should be getting ready for bed." She took one step forward, and suddenly everybody had much better things to do than stick around here. I knit my eyebrows.

"Commanding the new ones with an iron fist? That doesn't sound like you, Anni," I said quietly, watching as the crowd around us dispersed. She sighed, folding her arms.

"I wish it wasn't like that, to tell the truth. I try to be nice, I really do. But I guess we're all just a little tightly wound from the last couple of years."

I couldn't have agreed more. Without the Elder in charge, there was bound to be chaos. Who knew that when the dust had settled, Anniversary would be the one to lead us?

"Well, come on," she said after a minute, grabbing my arm. "We need to talk. About a lot."

"Oh. O-of course, but what about..."

"Your friend can wait outside with one of the guards. If any are even available," she muttered to herself, pressing a button on her bow tie and looking to the doorway expectantly. Within a second five younger-looking guards stood before us. I managed to spot a familiar face, and told him to watch over Hodek. It was weird to be the one giving orders, and even weirder treating Hodek like some sort of prisoner. I reminded myself over and over in my head that this wasn't the case as Anni dragged me to her new office.

[JEFF]

What the hell was Max thinking, leaving me out here with some string bean of a guard to tell people to leave me alone. I felt like a kid waiting outside the principal's office, and probably looked the part, too. I kept shifting my gaze all around the hallway, watching people go by, point, whisper, whatever could make me feel more out of place.

Get your shit together, Hodek. Not a second after thinking that, I closed my eyes and quietly groaned to myself. Great. Now I can't even say my first name. Stupid guy got in my head.

"Well, it looks like you might be staying here a while."

My little chaperone—Jade, Max had told me—finally spoke after what must have been five minutes. I twitched at the sudden break in silence. "What?"

He turned to me, perplexed. "What, you didn't hear? Masquerade said..." he seemed to realize something, glanced down at my neck, and made a small, disapproving sound. "Oh. We're going to have to do something about that."

Needless to say, I didn't like the way he phrased that. I wasn't so sure if I could take him down in a fight—string bean or not. He was almost the exact same size as Max and looked even more intimidating, though he obviously wasn't trying to. I bit my cheek, remembering how that lucky bastard managed to wound me bad enough to stay in my home for a night.

Less than ten minutes in this place and you're already sizing people up for combat. This is why you don't make any friends.

Shut up. I've got Max, that's enough.

And how are you so certain of that? Don't you think that after a couple of days here, he'll have forgotten about you entirely?

I said, shut up. Get out. I'm not dealing with this right now.

"Sounds like they're wrapping up, uh...Hodek, was it?"

Jade's voice pulled me out of my own head, catching me off guard again. "Sure," I muttered, not bothering to ask how he knew what Max and that girl were even talking about. The door they were behind seemed pretty soundproof to me. Maybe I just had a dull ear. He fixed me with a strange look, somewhere between pity and confused disgust. Whatever I was doing (there wasn't much I could point out to you), I was doing something wrong. I decided to focus on the exposed pipes above my head rather than what this literal stranger thought of me.

Does he even know who I am?