“Oh shit, what?” Dante demands.
“Guards,” Jeremy barks. “They’ll be on you in seconds.”
We run full speed to the south end of the roof. From there we can see the van parked on the access road that runs behind the campus.
“How do we get down?” I ask.
Dante holds up his hands. “I can take care of—”
“Freeze!” We turn to face the trio of guards who have appeared less than a football field away. In addition to whatever superpowers they’re packing, they have their weapons drawn. Real guns with real bullets.
Dante turns his wind on them. Faced with the force of a hurricane-strength gale, the guards struggle to remain upright. Advancing is out of the question.
“Reb, babe,” Dante shouts to be heard above the howl of wind, “I can’t hold off the guards and get everyone on the ground at the same time.”
“I’ve never lifted something from this far away.” She sounds scared.
“You can do it, Rebel,” I insist. “You just have to focus.”
“Shit.” I can hear her take a deep breath. “Yeah, okay. I’ll do my best.”
“Take Kenna first,” Draven orders.
“No,” I say. “That’s crazy. It’s way more dangerous for you guys to get caught. I’ve seen what they do to villains.”
Draven is firm. “Too bad. You’re going—”
“Take the guys first,” I tell Rebel. “Don’t let them get captured.”
“Out of the quest—”
Before Draven can finish his pointless, chauvinistic argument, he’s flying up and over the edge of the roof and soaring across the field toward the van. I let out a sigh of relief as I watch Rebel set him down gently as soon as he’s cleared the property line.
“Nitro,” she says, “you’re next.”
He doesn’t protest as Rebel lifts him.
“Dante—” I begin.
“No way!” he shouts. “I have to be last. I have to hold off the guards.”
“There’s time,” I insist. “Give them one last shove and then go. Rebel will get me before they recover.”
“Kenna,” her voice wavers and she sounds tired. “That’s not a lot of time.”
“Forget it,” Dante replies. “Babe, take us together in three, two, one.”
Before I have time to react, Dante sends one last blast of wind at the guards, then runs at me. He leans down, like he’s going to tackle me, but instead lifts me onto his shoulder without losing his momentum. He pushes off from the roof with a leap.
We are going to fall. We are falling.
Then Dante throws some wind behind us and I feel the pull of Rebel’s telekinesis. We shoot across the field, reaching the others in half the time it took Draven and Nitro.
When we land, I want to collapse with relief, but there’s no time. SHPD vehicle sirens blare. Rebel climbs into the driver’s seat while Jeremy shouts for us all to get inside. The door shuts behind me, and the van tires spin out.
We’re racing away for our lives.
Chapter 19
Rebel drives like a highly trained wheelman. She burns rubber on the straightaways and takes the corners like she’s on rails, pushing the limits of the coefficient of friction. Which is impressive, considering we’re in a minivan.
We weave and squeal down residential streets before we finally lose the SHPD. I’m trying to process everything that happened inside the lab—everything we saw. Body bags. Corrupt guards. Dead villains. The heroes aren’t just experimenting on them anymore, aren’t just imprisoning them. They’re killing them.
And if the seven we saw were just “the last of them,” then who knows how many others they’d killed?
I fight the urge to throw up. But if Rebel takes even one more corner the way she’s taken the last few, I might not be able to hold it in.
Then there’s the confirmation that my mom wasn’t at the lab. Which means she could be…pretty much anywhere else on the planet.
On top of everything, I have another thought weighing on my mind. Gingerly, I press my fingers against my arm through the thin sleeve of my tee. I wince when I connect with what feels like a burn.
I’ve burned myself before on the stove. That’s not unusual. But I haven’t been near any ordinary heat sources tonight. The only thing that might have burned my arm is Nitro’s fireballs. Which can only mean one thing: my immunity is wearing off.
If I’d been paying attention, I would have seen the signs. Rebel levitating me in my kitchen. Dante using his wind power to lift me to the roof vent. Not to mention Rebel’s telekinesis carrying me off that roof. If my immunity were intact, none of them would have been able to touch me.
My stress level ratchets up about twelve notches. My immunity is the only thing that protects me against the superpowers in my everyday world. How am I supposed to stay safe without it? Other ordinaries don’t even know that superheroes exist, but in my life I can’t exactly avoid them.