Jeremy and I climb around to get as close to the relay box as we can without setting off alarms.
“What if I can’t do it?” I whisper, hoping the soft confession won’t carry over the earbuds. This brand-new power thrumming under my skin is like a long-caged beast ready to escape. Just because I can mess with a radio and make electronics go fritzy doesn’t mean I have any real control.
Jeremy pulls me to a stop and gives me a look that says he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“You will.” Jeremy takes my hand in preparation for melding our powers. “We will.”
I believe him. We might not have made the best couple, but we’ve always made a good team. Better even now, with romance off the table.
“I know you’re scared, but you have to trust me.” He squeezes our palms more tightly together. “I won’t let you lose control.”
I give myself a mental shake. Everyone else believes in me. Now it’s my turn. “Okay,” I say. “Let’s go.”
“Close your eyes,” Jeremy tells me, and I comply. “You’re going to feel my power tugging at yours.”
Almost immediately there is an indescribable pressure. It feels like I’m on a starship in one of Jeremy’s favorite sci-fi movies, speeding through the universe faster than the speed of light. Bright colors streak across my mind. Like I’m inside a computer, a video game.
“Where are you?” Jeremy muses, and I know he’s not talking to me.
We fly past a rectangular object. “Ah yes,” he says with a smile. “There you are, my pretty.”
Jeremy pulls our joined energy back to the rectangle.
“This is it, Kenna.” His grip on my hand tightens. “Just focus your energy like we practiced.”
I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly. With every ounce of concentration I’ve got, I try to send a pulse of power at the rectangle. Nothing happens.
“You can do it,” he encourages.
“You’ve got this, Kenna,” Draven’s voice says in my ear. “Just imagine it’s Rex Malone’s face.”
I laugh a little and try to conjure up that picture. Then I imagine blowing him to bits with every last drop of newfound power I’ve got.
The rectangle explodes in a shower of sparks.
“That’s it!” Jeremy shouts. “Okay, V team, we are go for entry.”
I open my eyes. “V team?”
He shrugs. “I’m still working on it.”
We run for the gate. By the time we get there, the guards are unconscious on the ground. Dante and Nitro’s combined powers send the massive, supposedly impenetrable—but not to a pair of powerful and powerfully motivated villains—door flying off into the mountains.
It’s now a race against time. We may have blown our way into the building, but the alarms are already squealing.
Jeremy takes my hand and I feel his power guide mine to another hidden security system within the bunker. When he gives me a squeeze, I pulse my power and the alarm goes silent. I’m getting the hang of this.
“That won’t last for long,” he says. “This system has redundancy after redundancy.”
As we pass the unconscious guards on our way through the blown-off door, I snatch bright white ID badges from two of the guards’ belts. Then we’re inside. We sprint through the entrance hall to the first fork.
“Here’s where we split up,” Jeremy says.
“Take this.” I shove a security badge into his hand. “And don’t forget to find out where they have my mom.”
“Left turns all the way,” he reminds me, and then takes off for the security office as the rest of us head into the labyrinth that we hope will lead to Deacon.
Until Jeremy takes control of the internal security system, it’s up to me to keep us off the heroes’ radar. It takes all of my concentration to create an electromagnetic bubble around us so we’re invisible to the cameras and motion sensors.
We wind through corridor after corridor, moving ever deeper into the mountain. I’m not a huge fan of caves. I don’t even want to think about how much rock and stone is above and around us right now.
We pass door after door, hallway after hallway. Around every corner I expect to run into guards, the Ray-Ban brigade, or maybe even Mr. Malone himself. But there’s no one here.
I can’t help feeling relieved. My power must actually be keeping us off the sensors.
Then we round one more corner and I crash dead on into another body. Like a cartoon pile-up, no one behind me can stop in time, sending me tumbling forward into the other person.
Draven grabs me by the shoulders, yanking me back to my feet.
He leans down, like he’s ready to do his mind trick on the person on the floor. Before he does, I get a look at our crash victim.
“Dr. Harwood?”
“You know this guy?” Draven asks.
I feel the villains at my back, like a shield of protection. As if the balding, old scientist is a threat.
“I do.” I reach down to help Dr. Harwood to his feet. I ask him, “Are you okay?”