Joining Adam’s team should have improved Myrtle’s life. Dante was right, she wanted more than a failing bakery and memories of youth badly spent.

But she’d been in the Secret Factions Wars. Hiding and watching allies she’d only just met get beaten down by superhuman enemies brought back unwanted memories. Not a lot of normal people had survived those wars.

Then she saw a Beekeeper fall to one knee. Another tripped and fell forward. It was Snakes. Snakes slithering around the fight, coiling around the feet of Beekeepers, avoiding her team entirely.

Myrtle stood up and recited a nearly-forgotten incantation.