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Hector spent the rest of the evening trying to strengthen his metal. He imagined it becoming more durable like Garovel said, but it was difficult to tell if he was succeeding at all. Garovel seemed to think he was, if only a little.

‘Why don’t you ask Lynn to help you out?’

‘Ah--how?’

‘Have her break through your metal when it’s strengthened and when it’s not. See if she can tell the difference.’

‘O-okay.’ He descended the ramp.

Gina and Mr. Edith were busy making dinner while everyone else was gathered around the television in the corner of the garage. Even his mother was with them, though she sat off to the side.

Conditions were far from ideal. The garage was in turns too warm and too cold, and the bunker only had one-and-a-half bathrooms for eight people. They’d considered moving to Roman’s mansion in Walton, but Gina didn’t think the risk of exposure was worth it. She had a more discreet location lined up, and she planned to have everyone make the transition tomorrow, when Abolish’s attention was sure to be occupied.

“Dinner in ten!” called Mr. Edith from the kitchen, apparently having spotted Hector’s approach. And as usual, the food smelled amazing. Gina had been fetching fresh ingredients from Walton by herself, and she and Lynn’s father seemed to work exceptionally well together.

Hector returned an acknowledging nod and made his way over to the others.

Mrs. Edith saw him first. “Ah, are you ready for more sword training?”

“Actually, um--I need, uh... Lynn’s purple shadow-thing.”

Lynn perked up at her name. “How can I help?” she said, still quite slow to stand.

“I will observe,” said Mrs. Edith.

“Me too,” added Melanie. “I wanna see what that purple stuff can really do.”

The King also seemed interested, and even Mrs. Goffe spared them a look. Everyone had already observed Hector training with his metal, so that much was old news to them, but they had yet to see Lynn do anything with her shadow, aside from wave it around a little to prove that it was actually real.