I went to bed quite early. In part because using muscles that might not theoretically exist is absolutely exhausting but mostly because once the escape was in motion I didn't know how long before I could safely sleep again. It could easily involve driving for hours without stopping. I was woken by Charlotte, tapping on the gss of my cave. My invitation to breakfast.

  "Have you thought of a way to get us out of here yet?" Irene asked as usual. "When I do, you'll be the first to know" I lied back yet again. Peter grunted. I turned to him. "Sorry, did you say something?" I asked. "You've been scheming for days and you don't have one lousy idea? Are you even trying?" he grunted. I sighed.

  "I've had a few ideas, but the probable outcome is failure and increased security. You shouldn't just try escaping for the sake of escaping. You need to know your chances of success. And if your chance of escape is not commiserate with the consequences of trying and failing, you're best off staying in your cage. If you try to break out you put the guards on a hair trigger because they expect you to try again soon. Meanwhile the longer you go without so much as an attempt the more docile they believe you've become" I expined.

  "When does your docility stop being an act?" he asked. "So far as the guards know? Immediately. Them believing I'm all bluster is to my advantage. If you don't think I can escape then perhaps neither do the guards" I said mildly. Peter snorted. "Maybe you're only pretending to have a pn so you can sound cool and impress Irene and Charlotte!" he accused. I bit my tongue to prevent my lips twitching into a smile. All I need to do is maintain a poker face and "Vanessa will get them out" becomes a meme in the guards groupchat. "I can totally get us out. I swear it. I SWEAR IT!" I pouted.

  Peter fumed silently for a moment. "You've given my little girl hope. If you're lying. If you're raising our spirits just to dash them for your own sick amusement. If you pn on letting us rot in this cell until dying for these bastards starts to sound like our best and only escape… I will fy you alive!" he warned. I didn't have to fake the fear in my voice. "I'd be a fool to answer that whether I pned on leaving or no" I shivered. "You'd better get us out of here some day!" he warned. "I guess you'll just have to wait and trust me" I noted. "I don't trust you one little bit" he growled. "Good. Lets hope the guards don't either" I replied.

  "I trust you!" Charlotte said brightly. "Thanks Charlotte" I smiled. "As do I" said Irene. "That's not helpful, the guards might trust your instincts" I replied. "Why wouldn't they trust mine" pouted Charlotte. "Because the guards are fifty to one in the gender ratio and men are notorious for overestimating their abilities retive to women" I noted. "Then why would they think Irene is smart?" she posited. "Because she's got this wise old mentor vibe going on" I replied. "You choose the strangest of moments to restrain your cynicism" chuckled Irene.

  "Vanessa please exit the containment zone" came a voice from the loudspeaker. I sighed. I picked up a barbecued potato slice and held it in my teeth like an anime girl with her toast and walked off to see what the General wanted this time.

  ---

  The general had setup a bunch of testing equipment. "We are going to see how your power interacts with a bunch of everyday items" she expined. "Sure, whatever" I said distractedly. She gave me a look. "Vanessa, you're learning literal magic. You're tapping into forces you didn't even believe in st week. How are you *bored* already?" she asked. I sighed. "Magic isn't meant to take work. That's kinda what makes it magic. If it takes so much time to study and perfect then why not pursue an easier power like I dunno, politics?" I said.

  "You think politics is easy?" she said with an amused smile. "You told a man to y down his life for my education yesterday and he complied without question. How, pray tell would turning into a really big bunny rabbit or a lion or whatever Irene does or even teleporting be a match for a thousand loyal minions at your beck and call?" I challenged.

  She was left at a loss for words. "What good is one super soldier against a coordinated army?" I asked. General Wasserv?gel raised an eyebrow. "And why would I stop at a single soldier. You know what's better than one human weapon? A whole human arsenal!" she said. Her eyes took on a strange energy as she spoke, like madness slipping through the cracks in a fa?ade.

  "Then why amn't I being trained to fight alongside your men?" I pondered. She didn't answer. "You don't want them gaining a sense of comradery with me, do you?" I accused. "What care's a killer for comradery?" she posited idly. "Its useful. We were literally JUST talking about political power" I replied testily. She chuckled. "Perhaps I want my pet murderer hobbled! You'd do the same, wouldn't you…" she ughed.

  I rolled my eyes. "Whatever! Lets just hit some stuff with unidentified magic and watch nothing happen" I sighed. "You seem to believe the outcome is predestined" she noted. "Insanity is doing the same experiment and expecting different results" I said. "Its not the same experiment. We've got a lot of variables to test" she replied.

  She had me strike a bunch of stuff. A wooden chair. A metal chair. A pstic chair. A ceramic pot. A ceramic pot with a pnt in it. All sorts of fruits and vegetables. Ingots of common and precious metals. She got excited when a piece of potassium caught fire and I was barely able to contain my joy as I expined to her that potassium just *does that* sometimes. She still made me fire beams of the psychic equivalent of an untuned radio at balls of exposed rare earth metals for twenty minutes before she was forced to admit that the ball I was firing on was just as likely to burst into fme as the control ball.

  Then she wheeled out a hamster in a cage and had me fire upon it until I was ready to pass out. I must have hit that thing a hundred times. My aim was getting better. I could now lock onto a target in 4 times the time it would take me to shoot it with a gun. (By comparison to my father's shooting drills, this was downright pleasant. In the st year, once my mother was out of the picture, he sometimes had me practice *that* almost useless skill for 14 hours straight)

  "YOU DON'T EVEN WANT SOMETHING TO HAPPEN, DO YOU?" screamed the general. "We've been at this for hours. I'm tired" I said bnkly. "None of the other test subjects were like this! Even in grandad's initial experiments on powerless savages this result was not seen… You clearly have some sort of aptitude for magic. You can direct its flow more naturally than even the telekinetic. Everyone who didn't die in the empowerment experiments and all the strays we've caught over the years had **something** happen" she muttered furiously.

  "Then logic dictates something is happening. You just haven't figured out what yet" I taunted with a carefully neutral face. "HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM? YOU'RE CLOSE ENOUGH TO MAGIC TO TOUCH, HOW ARE YOU NOT MORE FRUSTRATED BY OUR FAILURE?" she screamed. I shrugged. "I'm not going to spend my whole life chasing a power I never needed anyway. That's not going to lead me to happiness in the long run. If I want someone dead, I have steel. Making their heads explode would be cool I guess but if it ain't broke why tear all your hair out worrying about it" I said.

  "Maybe it only interacts with other magic" she said. I guess she wasn't in the conversation anymore. "The rabbit. FETCH THE RABBIT!" she screamed. "No!" I snapped. "NO?" she demanded. I've been at this for HOURS! I'll happily hit the rabbit with the do nothing beam in the morning, but I am *tired* and I am *cranky* and I just want to py some call of duty and then take an early night" I noted dangerously. "But…" she mumbled. I turned to the guard. "Please return me to the holding area" I said clearly and concisely. I held out my wrist and he pced a power binding bracelet upon it.

  I gnced over my shoulder at the general as I was escorted away. "Politics" I mouthed at her. All going according to pn this would be the st time we ever interacted directly.

  ---

  "Why's the game so violent?" asked Charlotte. "Its propaganda designed to desensitise pyers to death. They left it in the cell to turn us into merciless killing machines" I said. "I don't feel like a merciless killing machine…" replied Charlotte. "I didn't say it was based on solid science" I noted.

  I died. "You're not very good at this" noted Charlotte. "Yeah well, my father was of the opinion that if I had time to be shooting people in a video game I had time to be hunting woodnd creatures with real guns and after I escaped him I was more interested in catching up on the Barbie movies than seeking out violent imagery I'd already been hyper exposed to anyway" I replied. "Then why are you pying it now?" she asked. "I dunno. I guess the shelf looked lonely. Games are made to be pyed with. It would be a shame to leave without ever pying one once" I stated.

  I died again. A message popped up on the screen. "You have died 30 times. Perhaps consider lowering the difficulty?". I hurled the controller at the ground and it bounced twice. I cursed loudly. If Peter was a better parent he'd probably be mad at me for swearing in front of Charlotte. Or maybe he was one of those cool parents who didn't bother themselves with pointless dick swinging over things that didn't matter.

  "I think you hurt the pystation" said Charlotte. "Eh, the guards will repce it" I grunted. "But we won't be able to watch movies till they do" she replied. "There's a spare controller" I argued. "Eh. I'm going to bed. Maybe you should too…" I sighed. "But its still bright!" she compined. "I'm tired. General Wasserv?gel had me “using magic” on stuff for hours hoping to discover my secret power… She wants me to try using it on you tomorrow, better get some rest" I said.

  "You wouldn't… right?" she said small'ly. "Its completely inert by all previous tests. I don't really see a problem" I said dismissively. "But what if it hurts me" she whimpered. I gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "You've got nothing to worry about. You can walk off things that would leave me in need of being scrubbed off the pavement. Schrodinger's magic ain't going to phase you" I chuckled.

  "Now go to bed. That's your big sister's orders" I said. "Big… sister?" she asked. "Sure. We were in prison together, that makes us family" I chuckled. She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. "I… I miss my big sister" she whispered. "Maybe you'll see her soon if you do what you're told and go to bed" I whispered back.

  I wandered over to Irene and Peter, who were pying poker with interesting shaped stones for poker chips. "I'm going to bed. You should really go too" I said. Peter stared at me angrily. "Any particur reason?" asked Irene. "Just a feeling" I responded vaguely. She stared into my eyes as if trying to read my mind. Then she nodded once. "You know what, I think I will take an early night. Come on Peter" she said. A look passed between them and then he too wordlessly headed for bed.

  I wandered into my sleeping cave and id my head on that pillow for hopefully the st time. Sitting still and not escaping had been a special kind of torture. The sort you only see from the most patient of monsters and also the DMV. I was on board with Peter's impatience. But now, with the end so close in sight (one way or another) I found myself unable to doze off. My heart was racing. I sighed and then began meditating as calmly as my nerves would let me.