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Three men turned up with their adult sons.

They all ordered pizzas and stood around while they waited, blocking the access to the café and staring aggressively at those that walked near.

I rolled my eyes and turned away, tossing the rest of my food in the trash can.

I was ready to leave and find an area with fewer people, but Kara still had half her burger left.

“Make more snow!” the little girl demanded, her cookie clutched in both hands.

Her dad waved his hand, and a flurry of flakes descended on her head, eliciting more giggles and a spray of half-chewed cookie. I smiled, watching them.

The group of six men stirred, scowling at the supe.

“This ain’t no place for your type,” one of them called.

The supe ignored them, his shoulders stiffening.

The man that had spoken took a step forward. “You hear me? I said get out.”

“We’ll be leaving soon,” the supe replied, not turning around.

“You’ll be leaving now. ”

I took a pace forward. “This is a public space. Let’s leave the aggression at home, huh?”

The man sneered at me. “What are you, a supe-lover?”

“Dad.” One of the younger men stepped beside the first.

“What?”

He nodded toward Iyoni. “Look at what she’s wearing. She’s either a supe, or an extra in the Matrix .”

They both curled their lips in disgust. “You three can leave too.”

“I have a better idea,” Kara said, bundling up her burger wrapper and throwing it in the trash can. “Why don’t you all leave? This is a peaceful park, and you’re not peaceful.”

A stillness had settled over the area. There were twenty or thirty people around, and children of various ages. Even the loud teens had fallen silent, watching. A couple with a young child picked them up and walked off quickly.

The aggressive man folded his arms, looking down his nose at Kara. His friends fanned out around him, facing off with us. “Are you a supe too?”

“I’m out enjoying the day,” Kara said. “Or I was, until you opened your mouth.”

“Lets go,” I said, resigned. There was no talking to men like these.

I started walking, Kara falling into step beside me, reaching for my hand. Iyoni cocked her head to one side, regarding the men, then turned to join us.

“She’s too pretty to be a supe,” one of them said.

“Maybe she’s a sex demon,” another remarked loudly, and they chuckled.

I turned back, my voice cold. “There are families here.”

“Yeah, there are,” the man said, jutting his chin forward belligerently. “No place for supes.”

“Come on, leave it,” Kara said, tugging my hand.

“I’m a supe,” a man said, walking out of the surrounding crowd, ignoring his wife as she tried to catch his arm. “I’m telling you to leave these people alone. Supes have every right to be here. Why don’t you go and visit the Old Providence memorial, and remember why New Providence exists.”

The six men stared at him, hostility growing to anger. “All you fucking supes. It’s an infestation.”

“I’m a supe, too,” a woman declared, rising from her chair by one of the café tables. She was in her fifties, overweight, and leaning on a walking stick. “Whatever your issues, this isn’t the place to air them.”

Behind her, the teenagers had their phones out, pointed at us. They weren’t the only ones.

The man spat on the ground before me. “I don’t want pizza anymore. This place reeks. Let’s go somewhere else.”

There was a murmur of agreement from those with him, and they started walking—straight at us. I stepped to the side, averting my eyes like I had so many times in my bar. It wasn’t worth it, tensions already high enough.

One of the men passed Iyoni, reaching out to grab her white overcoat and pull. “Freak,” he muttered. She twisted away, the move graceful, and he grinned. “Yeah. You better cower.”

Another barged his shoulder into her, but despite the disparity in size, it was him that bounced off. “Watch it,” he muttered.

“Dirty little supe,” the one nearest Kara said, raising his hand to push her.

And I’d had enough.

I moved between them, knocking his hand aside. “Just keep walking away, we’ll do the same.”

“You fucking hit me?” he said, his fist clenching.

“What did they do, Jim?”

The man called Jim pointed at me. “This supe-lover hit me.”

“I stopped you laying your hand on my friend,” I said. “Just walk away, before this gets worse.”

“Worse for you ,” he said, then threw the first punch.

Kara’s nimbus flared to life, horns curling over her head, her hand lashing out to catch the blow before it could land. His fist smacked into her palm, his eyes widened—staring into hers, now glowing red. She held him long enough to let him know he was caught, and then she squeezed.

“Arrgh, my hand!” The man pulled it back, cradling it to his chest. “Demon!”

“Wait—that nimbus. It’s them! From the docks video!”

“I fucking knew it,” one of the men exclaimed, reaching inside his jacket. He pulled out a pistol, cocking it with a practiced motion.

Half the watching crowd turned and ran.

Iyoni stepped forward in a burst of speed, catching his hand around the wrist. She torqued it sharply and the man cried out, sinking to one knee before her, wrist still held, the gun slipping from his fingers and dropping to the ground.

One of the younger men threw a punch at her head, and she swayed aside, her expression composed and serene as his fist flew past. She reached up and caught his arm, twisted it, and it crunched as it broke. The man screamed.

“Fuck!” One of the other men took a pace back, grabbing the arm of another, and they both turned and ran.

“God damn supes!” A third ran after the first two, the fourth coming to the aid of the two near Iyoni.

He held his hands out in placation, eyes wide with fear, pulling the kneeling man to his feet and backing away.

Iyoni stood calmly, letting them go. The one with the broken arm whimpered, his face ashen, cradling it to his chest as he staggered toward them.

They helped him away, throwing hate-filled looks back at us.

The large woman with the walking stick sat down again, like nothing interesting had happened. The man who’d tried to intervene nodded in satisfaction and returned to his wife, walking off.

One of the teenagers made a comment and the rest laughed, dispelling some of the tension.

Iyoni picked up the gun, held it over the trash can and hit the magazine release, then dropped the rest of it in there too. “I’m going to get a hotdog,” she said, heading to the walk-up window where the café owner was watching with wide eyes.

The supe with the little girl approached me, cradling her as she pressed her face into his chest. He glanced at Kara, who had reapplied her glamour. “Was he right?” he asked, his voice low. “Are you the warlock?”

The teenagers were still pointing their phones at us.

“Yes,” I said quietly. I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

His jaw tightened. “Are you here to lead us?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Supes. Are you here to lead the supes?”

“No. I’m here to …” I huffed out a breath. “… enjoy the park.”

“Yeah,” the man said, his tone bitter. He tightened his arms around his daughter. “If you don’t, who will?”

He turned and walked off before I could respond.

I stared after him, thinking about his words. Leading supes sounded like the role of an altruistic public servant, and that sure as hell wasn’t me. Anything else would be too much like a dictator or a tyrant, and that would never be me either.

Kara pressed up against my side. “I’m sorry. I made it worse.”

I turned away from the disappearing ice supe, giving her a shrug and a resigned smile. “Men like that weren’t going to stop before they made it physical. I just … don’t remember it ever being this bad. Was it? Am I just sheltered from living in the uni?”

“No,” Iyoni said around a mouthful of her hotdog. She wiped a trace of mustard from the corner of her lips. “It’s definitely worse.”

“You mind eating while we walk?” I said. “I’m ready to go home.”