“Should we take her to HQ?” said Oscar once Mrs. Tucker had gone. “Or the hospital? Or call a healer?”

“Yeah,” said Adrian. “The Council will want to know she’s back, too.”

He started to reach for his wristband, but Ruby stopped him. “I don’t know. She said to call you, no one else. It seemed—the way she looked—that seemed really important.”

“But why me? What can I do for her?”

Ruby didn’t have an answer. Her lips pursed with indecision.

Suddenly Danna dragged in a shuddering gasp. They all turned their attention back to her.

“Danna?” said Ruby, running the cloth over her cheeks. “Can you hear me?”

Danna’s eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. Her breaths were still ragged, but they seemed to slow as her gaze darted around the room, alighting first on Ruby, then Adrian, then Oscar. A tiny smile flickered over her face.

“Great skies,” she croaked, then cringed as a fit of coughing worked its way up her throat. She grabbed Ruby’s arm and tried to pull herself up, but Ruby and Adrian both pressed down on her shoulders.

“It’s okay,” said Ruby. “You need to calm down. And rest.”

The coughing fit passed and Danna collapsed back into the pillow, still wheezing. “I thought I’d never…” She cleared her throat again. “It’s so good to see you guys through just one set of eyes.”

Ruby beamed through her unshed tears. “What happened?”

Danna became serious and she tried to sit up again, shoving Adrian’s hand away when again he urged her to relax. “Is anyone else here?” she said, her scratchy voice lowering to a near whisper.

“Just my mom and grandma and brothers,” said Ruby. “Actually—I need to tell Mom you’re okay. She wanted to—” She started to climb off the bed, but Danna grabbed her wrist.

“Wait,” she said. “Shut the door. I need to tell you something.”

Ruby blinked at her. “It can wait, Danna. You need to eat and rest and—”

“It can’t wait.”

Adrian went to the door and shut it. “What is it, Danna?”

She fixed her attention on him. “Adrian…,” she murmured, and there was a flash of sympathy that made him go still. He saw her grip tighten around Ruby’s arm. “Where’s Nova?”

Adrian stilled, immediately nervous at the way she said Nova’s name, with something akin to fear. “I don’t know—home, I guess. Or maybe headquarters.” He went back to the bed. Oscar climbed down the ladder, joining them at Danna’s side. “Why? Is something wrong? Is she in danger?”

“Adrian,” she said again, and it sounded like it hurt her to say it. His chest squeezed. Already he was planning the route in his mind, the quickest way to Nova’s house. “I was following her. I thought … It’s just that she’d been acting weird, suspicious. I needed to know for sure, so I followed her and—”

“Danna, what’s going on?” he said, his tone harsher than he intended. “What did you see?”

Danna’s face crumpled apologetically. “I’m so sorry, Adrian, but … it’s her.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Nova is Nightmare.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THOUGH THEY HAD discussed a contingency plan for what they would do when Nova’s secrets were discovered, Nova had hoped they would never have to enact it. She had hoped to leave the Renegades when she was ready, not because they’d finally figured out who she was.

There was no time to dwell on it, though. She had to focus on gathering the things she needed and getting out of this house before the Renegades arrived.

In their shared bedroom, Honey threw open the sash of the window and began screaming at the bees in the room to fly free, fly free! The bees followed her command, soaring out the window in a great cloud, where they were joined by the hornets and wasps from the small yard below. Together, they swarmed over the neighbor’s house and disappeared. Nova didn’t know how or when they would manage to find their queen again, but Honey seemed unconcerned as she grabbed a jewelry box and an armful of dresses and shoved them into a suitcase. There was no saving the nests and hives dotted throughout the room, but no matter. Nova trusted Leroy when he said everything would be destroyed. She doubted there would even be ash left of these papery structures.

While Honey moved on to the cosmetics on her vanity, Nova pulled her duffel bag from where it had sat largely forgotten in the corner for weeks. She had kept few of her belongings from the subway tunnels, so there wasn’t much packing to be done. She stuffed her Nightmare costume inside, shoving the metal mask deep into its folds, followed by her heat-seeking throwing stars, the altered mist-missiles, the ink pen with the hidden blow-dart chamber, her shock-wave gun and specially designed wall-scaling gloves, the repurposed bazooka, the binoculars that had taken months to perfect …

She paused and scanned the room, even as she heard the growling engine of Leroy’s sports car back in the alleyway.

What else was there?

Through the window, she saw Leroy climbing out of the car. He left the driver’s side door open for a quick escape and popped the tiny trunk. Phobia was there, too, standing amid the abandoned hives. If he had an expression, Nova couldn’t tell what it was beneath the black shadows of his cloak.

“Catch!” she yelled, tossing out the duffel bag.

She didn’t really expect either of them to move to catch it, so was surprised when, at the last moment, Phobia spun his scythe and caught the duffel’s handles on the hooked blade.

“Here, throw mine down, too,” said Honey, shoving the suitcase at her. “I’ll start packing Leroy’s chemistry things.”

Nova tried not to think about the time that was slipping through her fingers. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before they were gathered behind the sports car, cramming their belongings into the trunk. Nova nestled Ace’s helmet inside the plastic bin that held Leroy’s beakers and measuring tools before latching the lid.

“Is that everything?” she said, panting. She peered up at their almost-home.

“It’s going to have to be,” said Leroy, pulling a small device from his pocket. “Learned this trick from Ingrid. There are days when I miss her.” He adjusted a dial that might have been foraged from a simple egg timer. “What do you think? Two minutes?”

Even as he said it, the sound of sirens reached them, distant but coming closer.

Nova’s stomach sank. Maybe the Renegades were responding to a nearby theft or a kitten stuck in a tree. But she knew better than to hope.

“I suggest thirty seconds,” said Honey, slipping into the passenger seat of the car. She scooted toward the center console, making room for Nova.

“Thirty seconds it is,” said Leroy, punching a button on the detonation device.

Hair prickling on the back of her neck, Nova moved toward the open car door, but then froze. “Wait—the Vitality Charm. Honey, did you grab the Vitality Charm?”

Honey leaned forward to see Nova beneath the low frame of the car. “You mean that necklace? No. But, Nova, there isn’t time—”

She cursed and swiveled toward the house. “Go without me! I’ll catch up!”

“Nova!” Leroy yelled, but she ignored him as she sprinted back into the house. Through the kitchen, rounding the stairwell banister, and up the stairs for the last time. The entire place reeked of the chemicals Leroy had doused over the floors and walls only minutes before. The small bomb in the kitchen would be detonated remotely from Leroy’s device and the explosion would cause a chain reaction of precisely crafted chemicals igniting one after the other, sending a wave of molten-hot vapor through the structure and, according to Leroy, destroying everything it touched.

Including Nova herself if she didn’t hurry.

In the bedroom, she flew to the thin mattress pad on the floor and dug her hand underneath. Her fist wrapped around the chain and she yanked it out. Flying to the window, she leaned out just as the yellow sports car was swerving out of the alleyway onto the road.

Bracing her hands on either side of the window, she climbed up onto the sill and surveyed the small yard. She would aim for the empty hives and nests, which would allow at least a bit of cushion for her tuck-and-roll. With the pendant clutched in her fist, she eyed the area and mentally prepared herself for the jump when she heard pounding from below. A fist beating against the front door.

Her heart leaped into her throat. How much time had passed since Leroy set the device? Ten seconds? Twelve?

The front door splintered as someone kicked it in. Heavy footsteps could be heard clomping in the front room.

“Nova!” someone yelled.

Her breath left her.

Adrian.

“Nova, it’s me! We need to talk!”

The bomb. The chemicals.

Nothing will be recognizable when I’m done with it.

An inky wisp drew her attention back to the alley. Phobia appeared where the car had been seconds before.

Still perched inside the window, Nova pulled back her arm and threw the Vitality Charm at him. He caught it easily in one skeletal hand. His hood fluttered, before he vanished again into nothingness.

Nova sprang back into the room and ran for the stairs. She skipped the whole flight of them, landing in the downstairs hallway in a single jump.

Adrian froze beside the coat closet, startled. “Nova—”

“We need to leave,” she all but yelled, grabbing his elbow and dragging him toward the destroyed front door. He started to resist, but Nova screamed, “Now, Adrian! We need to get out of here, now!”

Maybe it was her tone of voice, or maybe it was simply that he had come here for her and no other reason, but he allowed her to pull him through the door and out onto the sidewalk before he planted his feet and wrapped a hand around her wrist. “Nova, stop! Danna is back and she … I’m here to…”