It almost had been. Unfortunately, taking down the bad guys was easier in stories.
Maya carried the book back to where the girl sat watching her with wary eyes. “Put the drink down first. No spilling on this.”
Obediently, she set the bottle aside. Maya extended the precious book, feeling like she was exposing a vulnerability. “It’s a story I loved when I was your age. It’s about a girl named Marjorie. She lives on the moon, and she uncovers a conspiracy where evil grown-ups are doing terrible things. She and her friends figure out how to stop them, even though they’re just kids.”
Maya watched as the girl turned the book over, her gaze skimming the text on the back in a way that made it clear she knew how to read, at least. Maya didn’t need to read it. She could close her eyes and recite the book cover to cover from memory. She’d read about Marjorie and her misfit gang of friends compulsively, even though books about space travel were spurned by the TechCorps, whose company policy was that reaching for the stars had been a barbaric selfishness when there was so much suffering that needed alleviating on Earth.
As a moral stand, it sounded good on paper. Unfortunately, barbaric selfishness was alive and well on Earth, and the TechCorps had refined it to an art form.
But as a child, she’d believed. When Birgitte had recruited her into the simmering internal rebellion, it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world. Of course it was Maya’s responsibility to help Birgitte carry the burden of dismantling a broken system of greed and exploitation. She had been determined to live up to the example of her namesake. Marjorie Starborn, genius rebel, defender of the moon.
It had taken Maya a long time to get mad at Birgitte for putting that on a child.
It would take a lot longer for Maya to forgive herself for failing.
“Did this really happen?” the kid asked with wide eyes, back to staring at the cover.
“No, it’s a story. Fiction.” At the unblinking gaze, Maya frowned. “They taught you to read, right?”
“We read tactical manuals,” she replied. “Military history. Combat strategy. Physiology. PsyOps.”
“Sounds like what Knox reads to relax.” Maya retrieved one of the loaner tablets and started loading age-appropriate books off the server. Not that she was the best judge of age-appropriate—she’d been reading books on physiology and psychological warfare at eight, too. But she knew which types of stories the kids in the neighborhood devoured.
“I’m going to give you some books,” she said. “These are just about fun. You read them so you can imagine having adventures or falling in love or all sorts of things. If there’s any you like, I’ll get you more like it, okay?”
“And I can find my name like you did?” the kid asked, perking up.
“If you want. We should come up with a nickname, though, just for now. Something we can call you until you pick a name.”
After another solemn moment of considerable thought, the girl braced her entire body as if for a blow. “Rainbow.”
It was almost defiant. She was clearly prepared for laughter or derision. Summoning a warm smile was the easiest thing Maya had ever done. “I think Rainbow is a great name.”
“I saw one once,” Rainbow said excitedly as the tension fled her tiny body. Her words came faster, as if Maya had passed a silent test. “They brought us out for endurance training during a thunderstorm. But there was a break in the rain and the sky…” She trailed off in awe. “Everything in our rooms was always just … gray. But the sky was painted in so many colors. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”
The torrent of words faded, and Maya held her smile even with her heart twisted in knots. “I bet. Next time it rains, I’ll take you up on the roof. Sometimes we don’t just get rainbows in the sky, but the light reflects off the big buildings up on the Hill like they’re prisms. Rainbows everywhere.”
“Wow,” Rainbow whispered.
“Wow is right. Come on, grab that drink.” Maya rose and held the tablet in one hand. “This is yours for now, until we get you one of your own. I put some movies on there, too. Let’s get you back upstairs before Tia Ivonne realizes you snuck out.”
Rainbow accepted the tablet, cradling it oh-so-gently against her chest. “Can you show me how to fix her faucet? I want to make it better.”
“Sure.” Maya gave Rainbow’s shoulder a gentle squeeze of encouragement and unlocked the warehouse door. Her tool bag sat near the exit, and she scooped it up and led Rainbow upstairs. Ivonne’s niece Luna answered Maya’s knock with a look of confusion but stepped aside without comment.
The faucet proved to be an easy fix. Maya let Rainbow hold the wrench and showed her how much force to use. Once it was repaired, Maya tucked her into the bed Ivonne had made up for her and left her exploring the books on her new tablet.
The partly open window over the bed answered the question of how the girl had gotten out at least. The thought of her scrambling down the side of the building was enough to make Maya’s stomach lurch, but Dani probably scaled their building sometimes for fun. When the team got back, Maya would put her in charge of all cat burglary–adjacent childcare.
Ivonne was standing in the entryway when Maya returned, her silvering black hair in a long braid and one hand pressed to her chest over her long nightgown. “I’m sorry, Maya. I don’t know how she got past me.”
“She’s apparently a tiny Dani,” Maya replied, shaking her head. “Or a tiny Nina. Either way, I think the easiest way to keep her somewhere is to convince her she wants to be there.”
“The poor thing. Did she finally talk to you?”
“A little.” Maya dug in her back pocket and surfaced with an emergency card loaded with untraceable credits. “Her name is Rainbow. If you have time tomorrow, it would be a huge help if you could help her pick up some clothes.”
“Of course.” Ivonne folded her fingers over the card before leaning in to kiss Maya’s cheek. “You’re a good girl, Maya.”
“I try.” Maya returned the kiss. “Get some sleep.”
Maya waited on the stoop until she heard the older woman engage all the locks, then hurried back down the stairs. Ivonne had come into their lives only a few months ago, but she’d adopted Maya, Dani, and Nina within moments of settling into the upstairs apartment. For the first time in her life, Maya now knew what it was like to be smothered in vaguely parental affection.
She actually didn’t hate it.
Ivonne and Luna were a nice addition to their growing family. They mostly didn’t talk about the fact that they’d met when Nina’s crazy, evil clone sister had kidnapped Luna in an attempt to blackmail Knox and his team, just like they didn’t talk about the fact that Knox and his team had basically lured Nina, Maya, and Dani into a trap in response to that blackmail.
Lies, betrayal, backstabbing—not the best way to kick-start a relationship. But everything had come out okay in the end. They had all bonded over the fact that they hated the TechCorps the most. And all families had drama, didn’t they?
Once she was inside and had the warehouse locked up again, Maya paused by the scanner. The stack of cookbooks waited for her but so did her precious paperback. The main character stared up at her from the top of the pile with those wise, determined brown eyes.