Astra, meanwhile, was pretty sure she was being followed. She focused on breathing steadily and walking forward, but the sound of somebody's steps behind her nearly drowned out the sound of her own steps, the gentle thump of her bag on her back, and the regular night sounds of insects and distant cars. Tap, tap, tap in hard soled shoes. She looked down at her own feet in her scuffed sneakers and kept walking.

It wouldn't be the first time someone followed her home. She knew it wouldn't be the last.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, stared at its cracked surface for a moment, then unlocked and opened a message to Tori.

Astra: have you ever been stalked

Tori: There is a reason I changed my name.

The response was quick. Astra suspected Tori was one of those people that clutched their phone to themself like a safety blanket, always ready to answer a message just in case. But maybe it was just timing. There was a lot to be said for timing.

Astra: there goes my q about what you did about it

The footstep sound behind her continued. Was it faster than before?

Astra looked up and caught her reflection in the rounded mirror placed above the curve of the street. She was definitely not alone on that street. Far behind her walked a blurry dark figure, dark hat and coat wrapped around its body. What a cliche. Astra started to jog, anxious to get home to her sister quicker.

Tori: I'm considering making a proposal to Jill that she should fund some sort of assistive technology that will help you interact in public without your power creating problems for you. I started thinking about astronaut suits, though of course that would not be a reasonable solution. Your thoughts?

Astra blinked down at her phone.

Home was close. She sprinted and jumped over the back fence of the apartment building next door, then ran through a hole in the side fence to get to her own building.

Then stopped still, breathing heavily, and paused to reflect. Pressed the call button.

"Wow, that's intense. Thanks. Do you do this stuff a lot?" Astra asked before Tori could get a word in.

Tori paused, slower to speak than to type. "Well, part of my job is like this."

"It would be really cool, even if she says no, which she probably will because it's Jill and I don't think she wants anything to do with Maxine or me."

"Uh, that makes me wonder, why did you message me instead of Maxine?"

Astra laughed, softly, the sound echoing up the stairs as she reached her door. "I don't think Maxine has ever known fear in her life."

And then she was through the door and home, with nothing to fear but her sister's bad taste in sitcoms.