But now that she was here, it occurred to her that, if they were tracking her, it wouldn’t be enough to just stop by from time to time. She would be spending time here, like it or not, and she might as well make it … well, not comfortable. But somewhat tolerable.
She had finished her preliminary trash collection when she heard the front door squeal open again.
Groaning, she dropped the trash bag and stormed back toward the front room. “I’m telling you, this place is no longer—”
She drew up short.
Ingrid stood in the doorway, lip curled in disgust as she scanned the entryway. “Well,” she said, stepping over the threshold, “I was going to congratulate you on your improved lot in life, but I’m no longer sure this is an improvement.”
Leroy and Honey filed in behind her. Honey turned around to shut the door, but hesitated and used her toe to nudge it shut instead. She was clutching her hands at her chest, as if afraid they might inadvertently touch something and end up with tetanus.
Nova rolled her eyes. Almost a decade spent in a dank, gloomy tunnel and Honey Harper still managed to be an elitist.
“What, no Phobia?” Nova said dryly.
“He wasn’t interested in joining us,” said Ingrid. “His lack of curiosity is inhuman.”
“That,” said Honey, sneering, “or he happens to have a deep-seated fear of paisley wallpaper. No, wait, that’s me.”
Nova’s cheek twitched. “What are you doing here?”
“We were curious how your first day went,” said Leroy. He fluffed a dingy floral throw pillow and plopped into one of the armchairs. Honey gawped at him, horrified.
“I was going to come back to the tunnels after I”—she glanced around—“scouted out the place.”
“We figured.” Ingrid made a slow pass around the perimeter of the room, inspecting the drab furnishings and wallpaper. “But we didn’t think that would be such a great idea, in case you’re being followed.”
Nova frowned. “And if I am being followed, you don’t think it’s a problem that whoever’s following me would have just seen three Anarchists letting themselves in to my house?”
“Well, you’re not being followed, obviously,” said Ingrid. “Except by us. We’ve been tailing you since you left Renegade Headquarters. We would have noticed if someone else was too.”
“But you didn’t know that,” said Honey, daring to take another step into the room. “And it still seems risky for you to be coming into the tunnels so long as you’re … that.” Her eyes swept over Nova’s uniform. “We don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves.”
“So, what?” said Nova, crossing her arms. “Am I banished from going home so long as this charade continues?”
“Come on, Nova,” said Ingrid. “It’s hardly a loss. You’re getting a whole house out of the deal.” She opened her arms, gesturing at the room around them.
“All my stuff is there,” said Nova. “My weapons, my inventions, my clothes…”
“You’re not being banished,” said Leroy. “You are always welcome to return, of course. But let’s give it a day or two, just to make sure the Renegades aren’t keeping tabs on your whereabouts. Besides…” He shrugged. “You always spent as much time above ground as possible. I don’t see this being much of an inconvenience for you.”
Nova pinched her lips together, unable to argue that point. “Fine. It’s not like I plan on spending a whole lot of time here, either. As soon as I make it past my first official mission, I’ll be spending any free time at headquarters, learning whatever I can.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Ingrid. She had completed her lap around the room and now stopped in front of the wall with the framed photographs. She took one down from the wall, revealing a bright square of wallpaper where it had hung, indicating just how much the rest of the walls had faded with time.
“Did you learn anything of interest today?” said Leroy, shifting his weight to try to get more comfortable on the lumpy cushions.
Nova tossed the trash bag onto the floor and did her best to recount the day she’d spent touring headquarters. Though she had learned very little about the experiments happening in research and development or anything at all about the Sentinel, she had at least begun to develop a tentative grasp of how the organization functioned. The hierarchy. The structure. The scope of what they were hoping to accomplish.