“Yes,” Peaks agreed. “But that’s not why we are worried. The problem both Taylor and Drake represent is this: they have somehow retained the powers they had in the PBA, the FAYZ if you prefer, while people like you have not. We think we know why.”

“Okay. Why?”

“Both of them not only acquired powers, but somehow they’ve kept them. Kept them four years after the PBA came down.”

“Looks like,” Dekka said, clipped, tense, waiting.

“They, unlike you, Dekka, were physically altered. They were physically changed. Only Drake, Taylor, and Charles Merriman—Orc—were altered physically. Orc died, and we’ve seen no sign of him. But something about that difference, the physical change, means Drake and Taylor still have their powers outside the PBA.”

Monster, Chapter 7