It wasn't exactly a superpower, but Elsie did know a lot of people. While she didn't know how being a social butterfly would help her get Camilla back, and she wasn't even sure who she could trust, there was one person she knew who could help with the second issue.

Elsie knew that there were two people that Camilla trusted wholeheartedly: Elsie and Hitomi. Even though Elsie wasn't sure if the Org's corruption extended abroad or not, if Camilla trusted Hitomi, that had to be enough. Plus, if Hitomi ended up not being trustworthy, at least Elsie could find out at her own expense instead of having her hurt Camilla in the future. Besides, Elsie needed her, not only because Hitomi cared about Camilla as much as Elsie did, but because of her abilities.

Camilla had tried to explain one time how she could feel the energy of a room by using a combination of her air control abilities (to expand her reach over a wide area) and her cell control abilities (to sense the energy of individual people). Apparently, a few other metas had a similar talent, Hitomi included, but without air control abilities they had to be in physical contact with whoever's energy they wanted to sense.

While Camilla admitted she struggled to use it when she wanted, Hitomi excelled at it, and she used it on most people she met out of habit to see if they were genuine or simply after her money or company. Now, Elsie needed her to see if the other guardians she had in mind wanted to genuinely help Camilla, or if they were working with the Org.

The next problem was how Elsie was going to contact Hitomi without raising any flags. While Elsie just wanted to call or message her, she watched enough spy movies to know the Org would be watching. And it wasn't like Elsie could just pack up and take a trip to Japan either. She needed to contact Hitomi secretly, all while using the few resources she had.

By mid-morning the following day, Elsie had an elaborate plan. She tidied up her coffee table to look presentable, then placed a book in the center: it was Japanese for Tourists, the book Hitomi had given Elsie a year ago. Elsie opened it to the chapter on "Phrases for Emergencies," propping the pages there with the bookmark Camilla had given her. The only people that knew about these gifts were herself, Camilla, and Hitomi, making them the perfect way to convey a secret message.

Next to the book, Elsie put out a cup of coffee and tried her best to make a visually appealing breakfast with frozen waffles and fruit. Initially, she wanted to try her hand at the egg recipe Hitomi taught her, but she thought that would make her pleas for help a little too obvious. Besides, Elsie had an aesthetic to uphold on her social media profile, and as much as Camilla always insisted that Elsie's scrambled eggs were delicious, they definitely didn't look appetizing.

Once Elsie finished setting up the display, she took a few pictures, trying her best to make it seem like her breakfast was the main subject, but still leaving the book legible in the background. Camilla would have had an easy time with this, Elsie thought absentmindedly, and she had to shake her head a few times to ward off her impending sadness. She didn't have time for moping.

After getting a few more shots, Elsie edited the best one and uploaded it, including the caption "wish you were here." Almost immediately, her post became flooded with likes and comments, and Elsie took a moment to entertain herself with the voices of the people.

We miss you elsie!! Hope to see you again soon

Looks yummy!!!!

Omg wish i was there to hit me up

Can we get a selfie please?? I miss seeing your face

Wait, you better not be talking about Camilla Wyatt. You can't sympathize with that traitor. She was only using you!!!

Oh yeah that's fine just miss the lady that tried to kill you that's real healthy

Once she was sufficiently amused by her followers' expected reactions, Elsie began brainstorming who else she would need, assuming they were trustworthy and willing to help. Out of the guardians she knew and were friends with Camilla, Mack was the obvious first choice, along with the others on Camilla's squad.

Elsie had met Nakia and Finn briefly, but she figured it would be better to let Mack find out if they were willing to risk their livelihoods for their captain. She knew Camilla also worked with other guardians for the Games as well, but judging from the way Quentin gossiped about her, Elsie got the feeling they weren't actually close. In total, Elsie was looking at about four metas, max; it wasn't a great situation, but it could be worse.

What their group lacked in power, they just needed to make up for it in other ways. The Song brothers weren't close to Camilla, but Jordan would want to help Mack, assuming their drama was resolved, and Minyoung would stick around to talk them out of everything. Even though they weren't metas, their powers could control something more tangible: money. Their family was loaded.

After her brainstorming, there was nothing Elsie could do but wait and hope Hitomi got her message. In the meantime, Elsie worked on tidying up, which mainly required her cleaning out her fridge. Once that was done, and she realized she had nothing left to eat except pizza, Elsie wrote a quick shopping list before she began getting ready for a quick run to the store.

Her trip started off surprisingly efficient, and she didn't end up reminiscing over her last time there as much as she thought she would. It was probably because she felt like she had some sort of a plan in motion, and even though she was nowhere near to getting Camilla back, it was still a step closer.

Elsie only got delayed when she was leaving, and about a dozen reporters were there to greet her at the doors. But this time, she was prepared for it, and she kept her lips pressed into a thin line as she squeezed through them to get back to her car, taking comfort in the fact that her face was partially obscured behind her sunglasses and baseball cap.

She wasn't surprised when Minyoung called shortly after.

"You could've at least given me a heads-up before you finally decided to act like a responsible adult in public," he said.

"I needed groceries," Elsie said as she cleaned up the mess from her dinner prep. "As much as I support my argument that pizza can cover every part of the food pyramid, I can only live off of it for so long."

"That hasn't stopped you before," Minyoung pointed out. "Anyway, your reappearance has gotten some people hoping for an interview, but it's up to you. Are you interested?"

As tempting as it was to spill the Org's secrets to a reporter she trusted, it was too risky of a move if Camilla was still at large. Plus, Elsie knew she didn't have any evidence to support her claims besides her word against a federal agency.

"Maybe later," Elsie said. "Can you tell them I'm not ready yet?"

"Will do. Also, the producers for When the Sun Sets want to know if you're still interested in the lead role. If so, they'll keep your name in the running. With all the press from For the World getting good reactions, it sounds like they want you for the part."

Elsie wasn't sure how much they'd want her after she blatantly broke the law, but that seemed like a future problem for them to deal with. "I'm still interested. Also, have you heard from Jordan? He's not answering any of my texts."

"He's... occupied," Minyoung said, then awkwardly cleared his throat. "If I hear from him, I'll let him know to pay attention to his damn phone."

After her conversation with Minyoung , Elsie ate her dinner with a laptop in front of her, scanning news sites for updates on Camilla and the Org. As Bev had said, most respectable outlets had multiple articles besmirching Camilla's name; there were even a few articles chronicling Camilla's entire life story, adding in the time period when the Org claimed she had joined Exodos, shortly after leaving the Academy.

An interview with the headline "Camilla Wyatt posthumously disowned by mother Blaire" made Elsie almost throw her phone across the room in anger, and Elsie had to spend at least fifteen minutes trying to quietly calm herself down. Only a few times did people publish their suspicions of the whole situation, usually in blog posts or on conspiracy news sites, but each of these was filled with hateful comments and death threats.

By the time Elsie turned in for the day, she was sufficiently caught up in current affairs, but that was about it. She still had no idea where Camilla was or how to get her, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. Even if Hitomi didn't end up responding to her message, and even if Elsie had to go about this alone, she would figure something out. She had to.

Elsie must have been so determined to go through with her solo self-appointed mission that she was probably more surprised than she should've been when Hitomi appeared at her door early the next morning, just under twenty-four hours since Elsie had published her message.

"You did mean to call me, yes?" Hitomi asked as soon as she was inside, probably in response to Elsie's shocked expression.

"Yeah?" Elsie replied, still surprised as she locked the door behind Hitomi and the small bag of luggage she had with her. "I just didn't think you'd be here that quickly. How'd you even get into the building?"

"I was ready to come here anyway, and I have my ways," Hitomi said as she made her way into Elsie's living room.

She seemed different than when Elsie last saw her, but then again, Elsie had probably changed too. Hitomi's gaze traveled around the space, then stopped at the window where Camilla had been thrown off the balcony. The outside was hidden from view, ever since Elsie closed the curtains out of paranoia, but that probably didn't matter to Hitomi.

"If you had not said anything, I was ready to do something myself," Hitomi explained, her eyes still fixed to the balcony window.

Immediately, Elsie knew she could trust Hitomi. She silently walked past her to the coffee table where she had a pen and notebook. On a new page, she scribbled something quickly, then showed it to Hitomi.

Could anyone be listening?

Hitomi read it quickly, then shook her head, pulling out a small object from her jacket pocket that was about the size of a cell phone. "This is a device I made that blocks people from eavesdropping from outside a certain range, whether they are using technology or meta-abilities. And this red light here?" She held it up for Elsie to see a small red light shining in the corner of the device, right next to two dimmed yellow and green lights. "It means someone is trying to control the air in this area right now, usually to listen to the sound waves. If the yellow light is on, that means there is an outgoing signal from an electronic device, or a nearby receiver. The green one means everything is alright."

"So someone is keeping an eye on me," Elsie summarized, her eyes transfixed on the red light.

"They were," Hitomi confirmed. "And now, they are not." She placed the device gently on the coffee table, then narrowed her eyes at Elsie. "But you knew that someone was listening."

Elsie nodded. She was so ready to finally tell someone the truth of what she knew, but then she suddenly remembered that Hitomi had just flown all the way from Japan, and Elsie was being a terrible host.

"Sorry, did you want something to drink?" Elsie belatedly asked. "Or eat? And you can stay here, you know that? I probably didn't make that clear when I sent that message. Hell, the entire message was cryptic, so of course it wasn't clear. Why don't you sit down?"

Hitomi held onto Elsie's shoulders and visibly took a deep breath, and Elsie unconsciously followed.

"All of that can wait," Hitomi said seriously. "Just tell me what is going on first."

And so Elsie did. While she was still hesitant on going into the details of what happened during her last night with Camilla, Elsie could at least give Hitomi the general summary. She told Hitomi about the sadist Hester and her goons, and about AJ and Ian's strange meta-abilities. She told Hitomi what AJ had shown her, and how the Org was planning on brainwashing Camilla just as they had done to Ian and who knows who else. Hitomi seemed to take all of the news in stride, but when Elsie was done, Hitomi looked at Elsie hesitantly.

"So she really is alive?" Hitomi asked softly.

Elsie nodded. "Yeah. She's alive."

Hitomi's face crumpled a bit, but she composed herself quickly with a long sigh. "I knew it. I knew it."

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