"Why are all the Wu in Brazil?"

"Because they love all the flashing lights and weird dancing," Stryker remarked, leaning back in the jet seat. "What's it matter?"

"I don't like Brazil!" Entropy whined. "The people look like they paint themselves orange and the music is hard to understand."

"...Maybe because it's in Portuguese?" Cinder guessed with a grin.

She looked up at Jack, who was gripping the steering wheel rather tightly with a pinched expression on his face. She was about to ask him what was wrong when Stryker reached over and flipped the radio on, turning it to a hard rock CD and blaring it. Jack looked over and gave him a grateful smile, relaxing his grip on the wheel; apparently that was what he needed. Cinder sat back in amazement. With one quick move Stryker had helped Jack much more than her questioning would have. She felt a twinge of guilt. She was going to ask him because she didn't think Stryker and Entropy had noticed how strange he was acting; by the way the cousins had suddenly stopped arguing, she knew her assumption had been wrong. They were giving Jack exactly what he needed.

Now she felt another twinge. She was envious of their friendship; they had welcomed her with open arms, but she could still feel the divide. What if that stayed?

"Hey Cin."

Her body shook at her step-father's nickname, and she turned to see Entropy motion for her to come over. She hesitated, then unbuckled and stood beside her.

"Look," Entropy said, pointing at the giant statue of Jesus in the center of Rio de Janeiro. "Isn't it cool?"

"Wow," Cinder sighed.

Entropy scooted over and let her sit on the armrest, then smiled up at her.

"You'll fit in just fine, kid," she told her. "We just gotta get to know you."

Cinder stared at her in surprise.

"How did you..."

Entropy tilted her head, then rolled her eyes and kicked Stryker's seat.

"You didn't give it to her?" she growled.

"I thought you did!" Stryker growled back.

"Give me what?" Cinder asked as Stryker reached into his pocket and pulled a small shell out of his pocket.

"Here," he said, dropping it into her hand. "You remember the Mind Reader Conch we showed you?"

"Yeah."

"Well Jack found a way to copy them and make them smaller. He had to use the Ring of Nine Dragons, so you can only hear a certain person's thoughts-Jack stop thinking of tacos you're giving me a headache!"

Jack snickered as Cinder put the shell into her ear. She was instantly filled with images of explosions, flames, bombs, and a scene where the jet was smoking and falling to the ground. She turned a wide-eyed stare to Entropy.

"...What?" the blonde asked.

Instead of answering, Cinder simply got up and went back to her seat, buckling up and pulling the seat belt tight.

"Oh c'mon! You know I was kidding about the jet!"

Cinder met her eyes, then with a smirk she pulled her seat belt tighter.

******JP******

"'Scuse me," Zephyr muttered as he squeezed passed a couple mulling over a rack of flamboyant hats.

He'd left the house two hours ago to check out the annual fair parked a few blocks away. It hadn't been hard. With Raimundo's arrival combined with the interest of his new friends, he would have to set off a bomb in his room for them to notice he was gone.

Zephyr sighed and leaned against a low railing, examining the families and friends that passed. His family had always come to the fairs, back before all the little ones had been born. Back before his father had left them to rot. Now the mere mention of a fair sent Serina into a fit of rage, silenced his mother for days, shot glares from the other kids his way. Then again, lots of the things he said did all that, hence why Zephyr didn't speak much.

He flinched at a sudden loud siren that filled the air. His eyes fell on a group of gothically dressed teens; they looked like they were a cosplay team with their matching uniforms and fake weapons. They were attracting a lot of attention with the redhead's giant remote, even from the two cops at the entrance. With a sigh Zephyr straightened and walked over to them; they looked even more outlandish up close.

"Hey," he greeted, startling three of them. "You might want to turn that-"

He leapt back as one of the girls pointed a wrist cannon at him, the other aimed her gun, and the redheaded boy pressed a button on his watch that caused two robot arms to flip out of his backpack.

"Hold it! Hold it!" the kid with a green Mohawk cried, stepping in their way as Zephyr sank to the ground. "I'm pretty sure he's not a monk or Heylin, guys."

"But-" the blonde started.

"Put the guns away!"

His friends hesitated, then holstered their weapons with groans of indignation. Stryker turned and helped Zephyr up.

"Sorry about that," he said. "They get a little trigger happy sometimes."

"Th-They're...real weapons?" Zephyr stammered, his eyes wide as he braced himself against Stryker and stared at the others. "Th-They're...why are they real?"

"Uh..." Stryker started, lightly shoving the boy off him before looking at Jack.

Jack cringed and shrugged at him. Zephyr suddenly straightened and furrowed his brow.

"Did you say 'monks'?" he asked.

"Yeah," Stryker answered. "You wouldn't know by looking at them, but-"

"I know who you're talking about."

He watched the group exchange looks with each other.

"How?" Entropy asked, giving Zephyr a suspicious look.

"They're all teenagers, right?" Zephyr asked. "My brother's their leader."

The others stared at him for a moment, then Stryker plowed into him, knocking him back to the ground. Zephyr stared up at him in surprise as Stryker pulled out the Eye of Dashi and pointed it at him.

"And with that news," Stryker snarled. "I'm feeling trigger happy."