He ignored her, focusing on Nova instead. He couldn’t tell whether or not Queen Bee was just trying to intimidate him, but regardless, he hoped his silent pleading might have an impact on Nova.

If only she would look at him.

“I think … this one goes first,” said Honey, pressing the edge of the blade against his right forearm, where the energy beam cannon was drawn. “It’ll be my little revenge. Besides, we wouldn’t want you to get worked up and blow a hole in our roof. We just finished remodeling.”

She angled the knife, its point breaking the skin.

Adrian pressed his head back against the altar, his teeth clenched. In the doorway, Nova had crossed her arms tightly over her chest. Her focus was glued to the blade as it cut into his flesh.

Adrian inhaled sharply.

The pain burned, but he’d suffered worse.

Then Honey paused and pulled the knife out. “Unless you’d like to do it?” she said, holding the handle toward Nova. “His powers have brought you a lot more headache than they ever brought me.”

Setting her jaw, Nova turned away, back toward the corridor. From her stiff posture, Adrian could tell she was uncomfortable with this, but she didn’t move to defend him.

“Suit yourself,” Honey said.

The knife dug into his arm again. He screwed up his face, refusing to so much as grunt as she sliced away the top layers of skin.

Once she had finished carving out the tattoo, she used the tip of the blade to flick away the chunk of gouged skin. “That is repulsive,” she said with a snarky titter. She left the wound to bleed freely as she walked around to his other side. “Now, let’s see here, probably the flame next.” She pinched his skin where the spiral of flame was inked.

Adrian ignited a ball of fire around his clenched fist.

Honey gasped and drew back, shaking out her hand where the flames had singed her fingertips.

Then she laughed. “Oh, what a darling trick,” she said, stroking the back of a black hornet with the pad of her thumb. “One that deserves punishment.”

The hornet buzzed at Adrian, and it suddenly felt like a searing poker was being jammed into his neck, just below his ear. He screamed, struggling to get away, but the ropes didn’t budge.

“Honey!” Nova screeched. “Stop it!”

The hornet flew away, but the venom continued to burn and throb. Adrian squeezed his eyes tight as hot tears started to brim.

The upside was that he hardly noticed the next cut of the knife as Honey Harper carved out the flame tattoo.

As the burning venom spread down his torso and into his arms, Adrian dared to open his eyes. He sought out Nova again, desperate.

She had her back to him, though, doing nothing as Honey scraped the edge of the knife down his forearm.

He thought her shoulders might be shaking, but it could have been his own blurry vision causing the distortion.

“That actually is pretty gross,” said Honey, when she’d finished with the flame tattoo. “Maybe we can wait and have Leroy do the rest. What do you think, little Nightmare?”

Nova didn’t respond.

Adrian cast his attention up to the high ceiling beams, which converged into a single point over his head. His whole upper body was on fire now, but as the venom spread, the intensity of the pain lessened, if only incrementally. Inhale. Exhale.

“Interesting,” Honey murmured. “The swelling is already going down. Usually it lasts a day or more.”

The immunity tattoo, Adrian thought. It was protecting him, ridding his system of the venom faster than it otherwise would.

But he kept his mouth shut. No point in reminding her about it. Instead he muttered to himself, “The Renegades will come for me, you know.”

Nova spun around so fast he’d hardly realized she was moving before she was crouched in front of him, her eyes bright with fury and wet with unshed tears. “No,” she spat. “The Renegades aren’t coming.”

He held her gaze, grateful to have her attention for once, despite the vitriol in her words.

“Yes,” he said, “they are, Nova.” His mouth curled in a weary smile. “Maybe they’re already here.”

Her brow furrowed briefly in confusion, then she let out a rattled scoff. “Me?” she said, standing again. “You think I’m going to help you? After all this?”

“Clearly, I don’t know you as well as I thought I did,” said Adrian, “but I know you’re not one of them, not deep down. You’re better than this, Nova.”

She scowled. “From the day I met you, you’ve been saying how Nightmare is a villain. It’s practically been your life’s mission to hunt me down and destroy me. And now, suddenly, I’m better than this?”

“Yes,” he said emphatically. He’d been having a lot of revelations since he was dragged into this chapel, and a lot of things had begun to make sense. Nova had told him that her uncle rescued her from the murderer who killed her parents. And during the fight at the arena, he was sure he had heard Nightmare called Ace Anarchy “Uncle.”

“Ace Anarchy is your family, and you want to be loyal to him. I get that … sort of. But this isn’t you.”

She leaned toward him and hissed, “You have no idea what I am.”

His eye caught a glimmer of a chain around her neck, disappearing into her collar. His blood ran cold. “Is that the Vitality Charm?”

Nova straightened, one hand going to her shirt where the medallion must have been hidden underneath.

She didn’t have to answer. Her expression was all the response he needed. Anger stampeded through him, and he pressed forward against the ropes. “You had it this whole time, even though you knew it was the only way anyone could get close to Max!”

She looked momentarily taken aback. Then, setting her jaw, she pulled her jacket’s zipper to her throat, glaring. “You can get close to Max just fine.”

It was Adrian’s turn to be surprised.

“The Sentinel wasn’t affected when he carried Max halfway across the city to the hospital,” she said. “How long after discovering the charm did you decide to give yourself that tattoo?” She jerked her chin toward the immunity tattoo. “How long were you planning on keeping it a secret?”

His lips pressed tight. He didn’t offer an explanation, not when she hadn’t bothered to give him one. He only said, “We needed it.”

“So did we,” she spat. A simple statement that did nothing to quell his rising fury. Then Nova waved a hand at Queen Bee. “I’ll find some bandages.”

Adrian shivered, startled that Nova would leave him here alone with Honey Harper and her knife. “Nova—wait.”

She ignored him, but had only gone a few steps when Phobia appeared in the corridor, towering over her.

Adrian drew back against the altar, snarling.

“Ace wishes to speak with us,” Phobia said. His hood fluttered, and Adrian had the uneasy sense that Phobia had turned his focus on him. “I’ll send one of the Rejects to stand watch.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

NOVA PASSED BY the room that had once been the cathedral’s treasury, where ancient tomes and fine statuary depicting angels and saints would have been stored. Now it was where Oscar and Danna were tied up, their hands and knees bound with nylon ropes.

They both glared at Nova as she passed.

She gritted her teeth, wishing she had taken a different path around the nave so as not to have seen them at all.

Honey, walking a few paces ahead of her, didn’t seem to notice.

“Honey?” said Nova, jogging forward to be beside her. “Can I ask you a question about Phobia?”

“Sure, but I probably won’t know the answer.” Honey flashed her a spooky look. “All these years later and he still scares me as much as the day he joined us.”

“How did he join the Anarchists?”

Honey cocked her head, considering. “He just showed up during a fight, against Thunderbird and Lady Indomitable, if I remember right. We were getting whupped—it was me and Animus—he was killed not long after that, I don’t think you ever met him. Anyway, I thought we were both dead, when Phobia showed up, creepy as ever, and suddenly the Renegades were running away, terrified. Phobia said he wanted to meet Ace, so we brought him back with us.”

Nova frowned, not finding the clues she wanted in Honey’s story. Why had one of Adrian’s own creations wanted to join Ace?

“He killed Lady Indomitable, didn’t he?” Nova said.

Honey glanced at her, surprised. “How did you…?” She paused. “Did someone tell you that?”

“Adrian told me about a note that was found on her body.”

“Ah yes, his notes. I’m glad he stopped leaving those. They were so pretentious.”

So it was true. Nova had known, and yet, a small part of her had held on to the hope that maybe she wasn’t allied with the villain who had killed Adrian’s mother.

“Does this have anything to do with whatever the mirror walker found in your boyfriend’s mansion?” said Honey, eyeing her suspiciously.

Nova swallowed.

“Now, now,” continued Honey, “before you start spouting off more of your lies, I heard the two of you blabbing while we were at the pawnshop. Something about the Everhart boy and Phobia and … comics?”

“It’s … complicated,” said Nova, having the sinking feeling that she did not want Honey to know the truth of Phobia’s origin. “I think they might be connected somehow, but I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.”

Honey stopped walking suddenly. Nova froze at the abruptness.

“Really?” said Honey, an edge to her voice. “You think our ghastly friend is connected to the Everhart boy? Tell me, what else did you learn from all this detective work?”

The hair prickled on the back of Nova’s neck. She had the distinct impression that Honey was fishing for something in particular.

Was it possible she already knew about Phobia’s origins? That Adrian himself had created the villain?