I wanted to respond to her, but I couldn’t manage to speak. Because, surrounded by the meditating Warheads, Devin rose to his feet with a jerking motion, as if his limbs were outside his own control.
His hand jerked in that same way, his fingers rising until they were at his temple. I’d seen enough salutes to recognize one in progress.
I was looking dead at him, and he at me. But instead of lowering it after the mocking salute, he moved his hand and pointed from his eyes to me.
The threat was obvious. As was the fact that he hadn’t been controlling his own motions.
The Warheads’ eyes popped open again, and those slow grins crept over their faces. Devin’s included.
So they knew I was watching. They couldn’t know the whole plan—no one except SmallvilleGuy and I did. For this very reason.
I shifted to face Maddy.
Maddy, who made up her own fake bands every day and designed shirts for them, because she wanted to be in one.
“I am so sorry that I can’t talk to you right now about what you just told me. I definitely will not tell anyone else, and I think you’re amazing,” I said. “But I have to get out of here. Try to stay away from the Warheads. We will talk later. After. Promise.”
Maddy said, “Go.”
James intercepted me halfway to the cafeteria doors. I had to pass the Warheads to get out, so I waved him closer.
“You’re my cover,” I said to James.
“All right,” he said, and I gave him credit for not arguing.
Suddenly, I was afraid of them. I was afraid my plan might not be enough, not if they could do what I was sure I’d just witnessed, reach out to minds and control bodies. Not if they had Devin. What kind of experiment was this going to turn out to be?
Witnessing the details of their interactions at the lab would reveal all. What was the lab boss planning to use this linked consciousness for? Why was the researcher so disturbed by it?
James must have seen my attention flick to the Warheads’ table—or been a good enough journalist to figure out it was them I was avoiding even if he’d missed Devin’s salute—because he moved so that he was between them and me.
“Now what?” he asked.
“We walk fast,” I said.
And we did. I didn’t even risk a backward look to see if they’d noticed me leaving.
Only when James and I were outside the cafeteria did I stop and breathe again.
“What’s going on with Devin?” James asked. “I didn’t really believe what you said about Anavi. Or what he said they’d been doing. Not completely. But now he . . . doesn’t seem like himself.”
It was more important than ever that I do this next part alone, without compromising any of the others more than I already had. The plan was in motion, and I had to stick with it.
Next stop, Advanced Research Laboratories for my meeting with Dirtbag Jenkins, CEO. Or, more precisely, to skip out on it and find Project Hydra.
“You should learn not to doubt, James. I’m sure Maddy will explain everything to you.”
“Why can’t you?”
I was already striding toward the exit at the end of the hall. “Me? Because I have to go. You know I’ve got somewhere to be.”
I’d see them again later.
Depending, that was, on how things unfolded from here on out.
CHAPTER 24
I made tracks as fast as I could, striding with purpose and a jaunty wave past the security guard and off school grounds. And when I stopped to open the taxi door up the block, at the same spot where I’d met it the first time, I was surprised to find the same driver.
He waggled his eyebrows and wriggled fingers heavy with gold rings. “If it isn’t the excellent tipper. Thought it might be you, so I volunteered. Headed to the Daily Planet Building again?”
Great, a driver with a good memory who would expect me to empty my pockets to tip him. So it went. I climbed in.
“Not today—not yet, at least. I’m going back to Advanced Research Laboratories HQ.” I pulled out my phone so I could give him the address, but he screeched away from the curb.
“I know the place. Where you went the other day. You going inside this time?”
“You know it.”
I was prepared for a jittery ride spent staring out the window at the city gliding past.
I really did like Metropolis—all these people bustling around, so many stories waiting to be told. I logged on to the messenger app in case SmallvilleGuy reached out, and my phone immediately buzzed in my hand.
SmallvilleGuy: You’re on your way?
I glanced around, even though that was pointless. He wasn’t anywhere nearby. He was in Kansas.
He just knew where I’d be roughly now because I sent him the details of the plan.
I decided to give him another reason to rethink not participating—the best reason, today’s reason.
I sent back: Yep. And they have Devin.
SmallvilleGuy: Wish there was more time. That I could be there in person.
SkepticGirl1: Don’t worry about it. I’m the cavalry or a spy. Whichever works better.
SmallvilleGuy: Listened to audio again, 5 beeps on elevator. Floor Hydra’s on must be 5.
And then another popped up: