The next few days passed normally. Classes, studying, lunch with Sarah, the usual routine of college life. Dario almost managed to convince himself that the meeting at the warehouse had been some kind of strange dream.
Then Maya showed up at his chemistry lab.
"Hey," she said, sliding onto the stool next to him. "Mind if I join you? My lab partner dropped out."
Dario glanced around, but the teaching assistant was busy helping another student and hadn't noticed Maya's arrival.
"I don't think you're registered for this class," he said quietly.
"I'm not registered for any classes. I'm not actually a student here."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"Keeping an eye on you. Alex is worried about how you reacted the other night."
"I'm fine."
"Are you? Because you looked pretty shaken up when you left."
Maya began setting up her equipment with practiced efficiency, despite supposedly not being a chemistry student.
"Look," she said, lowering her voice, "I know we came on strong. Elena's been doing this for years, she sometimes forgets how overwhelming it can be for newcomers."
"Overwhelming is one word for it."
"What would you call it?"
"Terrifying."
Maya paused in her measuring. "Terrifying how?"
"You talked about killing people like you were discussing the weather. How is that not terrifying?"
"Because the people we remove aren't really people anymore. They're predators, parasites, monsters wearing human faces."
"According to who?"
"According to their victims. According to the evidence. According to basic human decency."
She pulled out her phone and showed him a news article. The headline read: "Local Businessman Dies in Apparent Suicide."
"David's work," she said matter-of-factly. "Richard Morrison, owner of three sweatshops in Southeast Asia. Employed children as young as eight, kept them in conditions that would make prison look luxurious. When one little girl died from infected machinery wounds, he had her body disposed of and threatened the other workers to keep them quiet."
Dario stared at the article. "How do you know all this?"
"Because Mammon can make people tell the truth. Every horrible, shameful secret they've ever hidden. Morrison confessed to everything before he died."
"But suicide—"
"Was the kindest death we could give him. David could have made it much worse."
"You're vigilantes."
"We're justice." Maya's eyes darkened, and Dario caught a glimpse of something ancient and terrible looking out at him. "The legal system failed those children. The international community failed them. We didn't."
"What gives you the right?"
"Power gives us the right. The ability to act when others won't or can't."
The teaching assistant appeared at their station. "Is everything okay here? I don't have you on my roster," he said to Maya.
"Just auditing," Maya said with a bright smile. "Hope that's okay?"
"Well, I suppose... just for today."
The TA walked away, and Maya turned back to Dario.
"Kali can be very persuasive when she wants to be," she said. "Just like Cassius can make bullets pass through him, or Nyx can make people forget they ever saw her."
"How do you know what Cassius can do?"
"Because we've been watching you for months. Ever since the incident at your high school made the supernatural community take notice."
"The supernatural community?"
"Oh, Dario. You really don't know anything, do you?"
Maya finished setting up her experiment and turned to face him fully.
"There's a whole world existing parallel to the mundane one. Beings like our passengers, others who've learned to hide among humans, government agencies that monitor unusual activity. You think that shooting at your school was random?"
"It wasn't?"
"Those men were sent by someone who knew exactly what you were. They were testing you, trying to force Cassius to surface so they could study his abilities."
Dario felt the blood drain from his face. "That's impossible."
"Is it? Think about it. Two random criminals show up at your school asking specifically for Cassius by name? They knew about him before you ever admitted he existed."
She's right, Cassius said quietly. I've suspected as much, but I didn't want to worry you.
Why didn't you tell me?
Because there was nothing you could do about it. Nothing we could do except stay vigilant and hope they'd lose interest.
"Who sent them?" Dario asked Maya.
"That's what we're trying to figure out. There are several possibilities. Government black ops, religious extremists, other supernatural entities who see us as threats."
"What do they want?"
"Some want to study us. Others want to use us. A few want to eliminate us entirely."
"And your group?"
"We want to protect ourselves and others like us. Sometimes that means removing threats before they can act."
The implications were staggering. Dario had thought his biggest problem was learning to coexist with Cassius and maintain a normal college life. Now he was discovering that there were entire organizations dedicated to hunting people like him.
"How many of us are there?" he asked.
"Hard to say. Most don't even know what they are. They think they're mentally ill, or they suppress their passengers so completely that they never fully manifest. Maybe a few hundred worldwide who are actually aware and active."
"And how many are hunting us?"
"More than that."
They worked in silence for the rest of the lab period, measuring chemicals and recording results. When class ended, Maya packed up her things quickly.
"Think about what I've told you," she said. "And think about what happens to people like us who try to go it alone."
"What does happen?"
"They disappear. Sometimes their bodies are found, sometimes they're not. But they all disappear eventually."
She left, blending into the crowd of students leaving the building. Dario stood alone in the empty lab, trying to process what he'd learned.
Is it true? he asked Cassius. Are we really being hunted?
I believe so. I've sensed... watchers. People who pay too much attention to us, who show up in too many places where we happen to be.
Why didn't you tell me?
Because I hoped I was being paranoid. Because I wanted you to have a normal life for as long as possible.
Well, that's over now.
Not necessarily. We can still walk away from Alex's group, make our own choices.
And end up dead in a ditch somewhere?
Better dead with our principles intact than alive and complicit in murder.
Dario shouldered his backpack and headed for the door. He had a lot to think about, and not much time to make a decision that could determine the rest of his life.