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“You want us to go and grab any more kids whose powers emerge explosively before the government can?” Lydia asked the next morning. She stared thoughtfully at her toast while waiting for her father to reply.

“Yes,” he said. “All of the adults will be in talks about how to respond but we can’t wait for them to agree on a plan. We have to minimise the damage and keep the young ones away from the government.”

“I see.” Lydia studied her toast some more. “You know we aren’t going to be able to hide this, right?”

Matthias sighed and nodded. “I know. Hide your identities but don’t worry about hiding your presence and do your best to give a good impression.”

“Do you want us to wear spandex as well?” she asked dryly. “Since you apparently want us to become a superhero team?”

Matthias stared at her for a moment before starting to chuckle. “No spandex, Lyd,” he said. “Though wearing your goblin silk clothing might not be a bad idea, since it’s protective.”

She looked up from the toast and stared at him. “This could well go badly wrong, you know.”

“I know,” he said. “But letting things spiral out of control would be worse, don’t you think?”

“Hmm…” She closed her eyes and concentrated on the churning in her stomach which seemed almost constant at the moment. It could just have been anxiety but somehow she didn’t think so and it did indeed worsen at the thought of not doing this. “Yes, I think you’re right.”

Sonia reached out and squeezed her hand. “Follow that churning in your gut and you won’t go far wrong, Lyd.”

“Yes, mum,” she said. She finally picked up her toast and took a bite. “Okay. If I’m in charge, you’d better tell me who I’ve got – apart from the obvious.”

***

For most of the morning, the news revealed no new emergences in the UK though it did mention that several similar incidents had been recorded around the globe.

“Do we need to deal with those as well?” Andrew asked. “That might be a bit much.”

“Leave that to the local families,” Karen said before Lydia could reply. “For one thing they know their locality better and for another it might be taken as an act of aggression if we interfered without asking.”

“I can’t blame them for that,” Lydia said. “It’s not hard to work out where the pulse originated. They might think we did it to give ourselves an excuse. Anyway, I suspect we’ll have our hands full at home, but what about mainland Europe?”

“Talk to Aunt Sarah this evening,” Karen said. “She’s friends with several European Astrals so she should be able to find out if they need help.”

“That’s a good idea,” Lydia agreed. “Now could you help me with this?” She waved a tablet at her sister; a spreadsheet with a dozen or so lines were visible on the screen. “This is the list of other kids we have to help us. I don’t know these people. Who should I group with whom and what are they good at?”

“Hmmm…” Karen scooted closer on the sofa and took the tablet. “Ah, they’re all kids from satellite families. Let me see.” She studied the screen and tutted thoughtfully. “There’s no one here I’d actively avoid teaming together so it’s more about making sure each team has enough firepower, logistics and healing in it. Let’s come up with some scenarios we might face and I’ll suggest teams for them.”

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