Nevertheless, the park was one of the many businesses in Gatlon City that had seen a resurgence since the Day of Triumph. It had never been out of operation, exactly, but under Anarchist rule, some villains had incurred a sizable fortune by turning the place into a haven for drug dealing, gambling, and brutal dogfights. Everyone knew the park was the domain of the Puppeteer, but he never bothered putting on any restrictions, so long as he was paid for using his space—whether in money or candy, as Nova had once heard.
When the Renegades reclaimed the city, it was one of the first areas they saw fit to revive—tearing down many of the ancient, weatherworn rides and constructing a fantasy land in its place, with a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, and a vintage carousel surrounded by games of skill and chance and more than a few vendors of corn dogs and cotton candy. Yet, like so many of the Council’s ongoing projects, they had stopped when the property was just shy of complete, leaving enough details lying around that one could easily recall what it had been, not all that long ago. The back few acres of the park remained fenced off and labeled with warning signs, informing visitors that this area was still under construction. Beyond the chain-link fence, guests could see a deteriorating fun house, grounded boats from the decrepit tunnel of love, and an entire row of carnival games left in shambles, their walls still hung with dozens of purple teddy bears that had been left to sag and grow mildew, abandoned to the elements.
Adrian was waiting beneath the horse statue’s bridled mouth when Nova arrived. They hadn’t discussed whether or not to wear their uniforms, and seeing him in jeans and a jacket made her instantly regret her choice to wear the gray bodysuit.
He grinned when he spotted her.
She glared back. “Seriously? You could have told me we were supposed to be incognito.”
“I didn’t think of it,” he said. Reaching for the collar of his shirt, he pulled it down far enough to reveal the top of his own suit. “Would you feel better if I changed?”
“Not really,” she muttered. “You draw enough attention as it is. Are you ready?”
“I already got our tickets,” he said, pulling them from his pocket. He handed one to her, then cocked his head toward the gates. Nova’s knuckles were white as she gripped the ticket, feeding it into the small machine beneath the horse’s belly. A light flashed and she pushed through the rotating metal bars.
She cleared the entrance and paused on the other side, scanning the cacophony of lights and bodies, garish rides, chiming games, and booths full of cheap blow-up toys and glow-stick jewelry.
It was like a completely different place in the daytime.
“So?” said Adrian, joining her. “How are you feeling?”
A flurry of emotions responded in answer to the question. She was edgy, she was nervous, she was shaking with adrenaline as her body readied itself for what was coming.
But that wasn’t what Adrian was asking. She turned to him with the brightest smile she could muster and said, “I didn’t sleep a wink last night, so I feel amazing.”
He chuckled, and his relief was evident. “Good. I’d hate to lose you after we just found you.”
“You really think they would kick me off patrols, just because I’d be suddenly forced to sleep like everyone else does?”
“Not if I could help it.”
They made their way through the crowds of squealing children and laughing parents, through the aromas of sugary sweet cotton candy and fried funnel cakes that wafted around them. When Adrian had first suggested coming to look around the park, Nova had known little about it, having only been taken there by Leroy and Winston one time, many years ago. But now she felt that she knew the place intimately.
While the city had slept last night, she had been here, preparing for the stunt she and Ingrid were going to pull off.
Here, today.
She had started to plot even before Ingrid had arrived late last night. Because as much as she refused to buy into the idea that she owed Ingrid anything, there was an undeniable appeal to faking her own death. No more Renegades hunting her. No more Adrian hunting her.
She wasn’t sure they were ready. She would have preferred to take more time to prepare, but she also couldn’t deny that the opportunity had presented itself and was too hard to pass up. Adrian and the Renegades had reason to suspect that Nightmare was associated with the carnival. She and Adrian were investigating that day.
It would be their best chance to make it believable.
“So,” said Adrian, “where should we start?”
They both looked around again. There was a game of strength nearby, where kids were trying to swing a hammer bigger than themselves in order to get a weight to hit an alarm bell at the top. Beyond that was an abundance of games featuring everything from darts and balloons and bottles, to stacks of milk jugs, softballs, and hoops.
Nova was tempted to guide him straight toward the clues she’d spent the night placing strategically throughout the park, but she worried it would be suspicious if it was all too easy. Instead, she shrugged. “If you were a villain who spent most of your time at an amusement park, what would you do?”
“Games, probably.”
She frowned. “Games?”
“We don’t know much about Nightmare, but we do know she’s a good shot. She has to practice, right?”
“And you think she practices with carnival games.”
His eyes twinkled. “What’s wrong? Are you afraid I might beat you?”
She pointed. “At carnival games? Hardly.”
Laughing, Adrian dragged her toward a game where the goal was to hit a bull’s-eye painted over the Puppeteer’s face. “Good, because you really have nothing to fear.”
And he was right.
Adrian might have been able to draw a functional rifle or illustrate a perfectly balanced blow dart, but he turned out to be a terrible shot himself. They made their way through the games and Nova defeated him at every shooting, aiming, throwing, and targeting contest the park had to offer, though Adrian easily bested her when it came to challenges of strength.
After nearly an hour, Adrian had won a small light-up wand that some marketing company had emblazoned with Blacklight’s name, even though Blacklight had never used a wand so far as Nova knew. Meanwhile, she traded in all her mini prizes for a gigantic Dread Warden doll, which was almost as tall as she was. Adrian cracked up when the carnival worker handed it to her.