Samuel broke off mid-sentence and frowned. Imp cocked her head to the side.
"Lost Anita," he explained. He tapped on his phone, messaging Flor to request she stop by the second floor bathroom. Through her eyes he watched her creeping approach, caught a brief glimpse of Heartbreaker outside the door, and then Flor turned on her heel and scurried away.
"So, she's unconscious?" Imp prompted.
"Overloaded," he supplied absently, tracking Flor's retreat. Heartbreaker wasn't bothering with her, thankfully. "The connection cuts out if something too strong happens on the other side, like a dangerously loud noise or intense pain and, yeah, dad's punishments."
Imp laughed. "So you don't get Thinker headaches. I know someone who would murder you in jealousy."
He shook his head. "I do. Too many people, one person too long."
With that in mind, he cut his connection to Flor. She was clear of whatever was happening downstairs, and he needed to focus on Anita when she came back. He was catching snippets of her, but nothing coherent. She was crying, and shaking. She wasn't in pain, but she was disoriented. Probably having flashbacks, carried by Heartbreaker's punishment into a spiral.
As gently as possible, he tuned himself into her power's sensor. Her range caused him physical pain if he let it influence him for too long, and if he accidentally read himself with it the feedback loop would put him in bed for a week. Carefully, he did an assessment on the situation from her perspective.
"I think it went fine," he announced to the waiting Imp. "Eric and Nina are still showing signs of the fear hit. Problem is I think Anita got it too. Dad is looking for her specifically. I think he's realised something's up."
"Shit," Imp agreed. "Where're the other ones, Guillaume and Nicholas?"
Samuel shook his head slowly. "Nearby, I think. Within her range." Guillaume was unmistakable, his emotional state shifting minutely every second in response to those around him. Nicholas he had to assume, by the presence in his bedroom. He pulled out of Anita's power, head throbbing. "So she's on her own."
Imp's eyes narrowed. Anita reminded her of Taylor, or how Alec described Taylor when she'd first joined the Undersiders, before Leviathan and Imp's trigger. Timid, beaten-down, but hiding something intense. Alec would rib Taylor just to see if he could get a rise, glimpse a bit of that fire. Bitch was better at it, apparently.
By the time Imp had joined up, there was only Skitter. But maybe, in that video of her announcing that she'd joined the Wards, there'd been a glimpse.
Besides that, Imp knew men like Heartbreaker were bad enough even without powers. Leaving someone alone with a man like that was too familiar. More times than she could count, she had stood up to her mom's worst boyfriends and escaped, only to find they'd taken it out on her mom instead. No amount of fuckery was worth inflicting that on a kid, even a Vasil.
"I don't like drawing attention to you guys for my sake," she said slowly.
Samuel shrugged. "We've all dealt with it before. I want you to fuck with him."
Imp rolled her head back, shouting to the sky, "I want to as well, so fucking much!" She let out a heavy sigh. "But not if it leads to this bullshit every time one of you sproglets gets in on it."
Anita had uncurled from her ball and stopped crying. Slowly, she got to her feet and opened the door. She never would have done that without dad's interference. He was still standing there, arms folded, face both furious and bored.
"You're up to something," he said.
Anita was shaking her head and drawing back against the wall, under the sink. Tears came back, obscuring vision, but hearing was enough for Samuel. There was a long pause as she waited.
Heartbreaker looked down at her and said, "Where did you meet her?"
"He found out about you," Samuel reported, before he realised what he was doing.
Who was he talking to? Who was he talking about?
He listened in on dad, but he seemed confused as well. He stared at Anita for a long moment, frowning deeply. Then he slammed her with terror again, just for good measure, and walked away.
"Is he gone?" Imp asked, making him jump.
"Yes."
"Fuckin' sweet! He can't sense me in other people? No way can he sense me directly. We are good to fucking go, Operation Heartbreak!" Imp's voice was exultant, though also fierce. "And best of all, that means I can go in. I just had a genius idea."
She rubbed her hands together, to which Samuel merely raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it ingenious?"
She paused. "Yeah, maybe." Then she was off again: "The way to break fuckers like him isn't to go for their actual valuables. Hurt the wives, he'll just get a new one. Hurt the kids, well, it's nothing more than what you do to each other. You gotta get his dignity." She drew her knife. "You gotta go basic. Primal."
Anita was still on the floor. Samuel cut the connection; she wouldn't be doing anything for a while.
"Something I learned from your brother. Find how they don't want to be seen, and make it happen. It'll get messy, but it'll undermine him, and that's what really matters. Like being caught naked in public."
"That happen to you a lot, huh?" he asked, and she kicked him off the branch.