She gaped at him, not at all sure his description of her was accurate. Who was she? Who had she become?

“Oscar and Danna are down there somewhere. And my dad…” His voice wavered. It seemed like an eternity had passed since Captain Chromium had started scaling the cathedral walls in an effort to get to Adrian.

He was battling Ace, perhaps at this very moment.

But he was invincible. Ace couldn’t hurt him.

Right?

“Help me,” said Adrian. “Ace Anarchy wants us all dead. Please, help me stop him.”

“He’s my uncle,” she whispered.

“He’s an Anarchist.”

“I’m an Anarchist.”

“No. You’re a Renegade.”

She grimaced. “Adrian—”

“You are, Nova. If you don’t believe it, you’re just going to have to trust me.”

She hesitated. His words reminded her of what Ace had said, what felt like eons ago. You cannot trust them, Nova. You are not one of them, much as you might wish otherwise.

But she did trust Adrian. She always had. Even if he was a Renegade. Even if he hadn’t told her about the Sentinel. She trusted him.

She just wasn’t sure how it was possible that he could still trust her.

“Adrian, I need you to know that I really am sorry. For everything. It wasn’t all a lie. My feelings for you—”

Adrian cupped her face in his hands. “I know. And when this is all over, we are going to have a serious talk about keeping secrets from each other.”

She laughed, though it was a nervous sound. “How can you still trust me? After everything?”

“We’ve got nothing else to lie about, right? You’re Nightmare. I’m the Sentinel. Ace Anarchy is your uncle. You and I might be archenemies. And yet…” He shrugged, a little hapless. “Somehow, I still want to kiss you.”

Her skin tingled. “You do?”

“As much as ever.”

And then, he did.

The kiss was more tender than the passionate kisses they’d shared before, full of hunger and urgency. This was more patient. More knowing.

Utterly devoid of secrets.

He started to pull away, but Nova stopped him, wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling his lips down to hers again. She melted against him. A kiss full of far more words than they had the time to say.

She couldn’t keep the overwhelming emotion from her voice when they separated, the disbelief and hope that coursed through her. “I was sure you would hate me when you found out the truth.”

Adrian grimaced. “I tried to, at first. But it’s like you said. Everyone has a nightmare.” He pressed his forehead against hers. “Maybe I want you to be mine.”

Her heart swelled, but she still couldn’t help a teasing smile as she leaned back. “You’ve been holding on to that one for a while, haven’t you?”

“Just a few hours.” He beamed. “But I sure am glad I got a chance to use it.”

Nova was tempted to kiss him again when footsteps thundered beneath them. The noise pounded up the wooden staircase. The trapdoor crashed open and Leroy emerged, panting. “What in the name of—” He froze. His attention skipped from Adrian to Nova to Honey and the blood-soaked boards. The right side of his face twisted with rage as he hurled himself up onto the floor of the belfry. “Get away from her!” he shouted, reaching for one of the vials attached to a bandolier across his chest.

“Leroy—” Nova started, stepping toward him. “Wait!”

Adrian lifted a placating hand.

Leroy uncorked the vial and hurled it over Nova’s shoulder.

Nova spun around in time to see a shimmering wall spread out from Adrian’s palm, just like the one that had protected him and his father at the arena. Leroy’s vial smashed into the invisible bricks, painting them with a splotch of yellow liquid that hissed and sizzled.

Nova cringed at the rank odor of tormicene acid, one of Leroy’s favorite concoctions. It was known for the instant boils that formed on human flesh, that would begin to decay and rot within an hour.

“Leroy, please listen. Please stop—”

“He’s manipulating you, Nova,” he said. “Brainwashing you to think they’re the good guys. Trust me. All he cares about now is saving his own skin.” He shoved Nova away—away from him, away from Adrian.

The wall shimmered, the golden mortar dispersing into the air, and Adrian took a hesitant step forward. “I’m not manipulating anyone. I care for Nova, and I think you do, too. If we could just—”

“Talk?” suggested Leroy with a high-pitched laugh. “Like you talked to Honey, who loved Nova like she was her own daughter?”

Nova shook her head. “Honey tried to kill—”

She didn’t finish. In a blink, Leroy had thrown a second vial—not at Adrian this time, but at the floor near his feet, where a puddle of oil had spilled from the broken lantern.

The moment the two chemicals mixed, they exploded with the force of a stick of dynamite. The ancient wooden floor crumbled like tissue paper. Adrian shouted and fell through.

Nova screamed and tried to lunge for him, but Leroy stopped her, both arms wrapping around her waist to hold her back. She stared, gasping, as Honey’s body slipped into the void, as timbers and stonework caved in around them and clouds of dust filled the air, invading her lungs.

“He’s our enemy, Nova. You need to understand. I hope you will someday.”

A heavy thump sounded below, a series of crashes—then a figure emerged from the void. Adrian, practically flying. He landed hard on one knee, just outside the chasm. The floorboards creaked and groaned from his weight.

“No, Leroy,” said Nova, her voice raw with emotion. “I hope you’ll understand someday.”

She brushed her fingers against his leathery hand.

“Nov—”

She didn’t see whether his face held anger or betrayal. She let him crumple to the floor, his arms slipping from her waist, and then dove for Adrian.

“Wait!” Adrian yelled, too late, the word muffled by the noise of splintering wood and groaning framework. He caught Nova in his arms. This corner of the floor, compromised from the hissing chemicals, began to cave. “Hold on!”

Then they were falling. The blast had pierced the top level of wooden stairs, leaving a mess of sharp edges and teetering beams beneath them. Wood chips and stone dust rained around Nova’s head as she wrapped her arms around Adrian’s neck, bracing for the fall to end. She spotted Honey’s body on the next wooden platform.

She looked up, to where she could hear bells jostling overhead, and saw Leroy’s body slipping over the edge.

Unconscious Leroy, falling.

“No!”

Adrian hit the wooden platform with an impact that clattered through her bones. He used the momentum to spring upward again. It felt like flying. Their heads crashed through falling debris. The air whistled past her ears. The narrow windows of the tower blurred in her vision.

With one arm locked around Nova, Adrian used the other to catch Leroy around his middle. Clearing the destroyed floor, they tumbled together to the edge of the belfry, where one small section of floorboards had yet to give in to their weakened joists. Nova landed on her side with a jarring crunch. Leroy’s body smacked the stone wall beneath one of the outer bells.

“The floor’s not going to hold,” Adrian shouted, as the telltale groan of wood and nails echoed beneath them.

Ignoring her throbbing rib cage, Nova hoisted herself to her feet and reached for the open sill. With the mortar and stonework, it was easy for her to find fingerholds, and in seconds she had climbed up onto the crossbar that supported the enormous bronze bell. It swung beneath her weight, the bell ringing like an alarm.

Squinting through smoke and debris, she saw that Adrian had Leroy draped over one shoulder while he used the chromium pike that had been lodged into an overhead beam to haul himself onto the enormous timber frame in the center of the tower.

“Don’t hurt him, please,” Nova said, gripping the walls to keep her balance.

Leroy started to slip. Adrian barely caught him, grunting from the effort. He managed to secure Leroy on the crossbeam before leveraging himself up the rest of the way. Slumping in exhaustion, he looked at Nova.

Clouds of dust spun in the air around them. Wood continued to groan and creak in the floors below.

“You okay?” Adrian asked.

She laughed and pushed her bangs back from her brow. “No,” she said. “Leroy’s been like a second father to me.” She hesitated, before adding, “Him and Ace both.”

Adrian stared at her. “I don’t want to sound mean, but I think we need to get you new role models.”

She scowled. “Your dads aren’t perfect, either.”

“I know they aren’t, but come on.” He gestured at Leroy’s slumped body.

Nova adjusted her balance so she didn’t feel quite so precarious, her ankles locked around the sides of the bell. “I know it may not seem like it right now, but he’s actually a good guy…” She trailed off, wondering how she’d never once, in all the time she’d felt herself falling for Adrian, considered what it would be like if he ever met Leroy or the rest of her “family.” It had never been worth considering, because she’d known it would never happen.

“Well then,” said Adrian with a dry chuckle, “I hope we’ll have a chance to get to know each other.”

She focused on him again, grateful that he hadn’t outright dismissed the idea. “Thank you for not letting him fall.”

“We’re not safe yet.” Adrian peered down into the jagged hole beneath them. “I’ll have to transform. I’m stronger with the Sentinel’s armor. I’ll be able to get him down to safety, but I don’t know if I can take you both at once.”

“I can get down,” Nova said, testing that the pouch with her gloves was secure at her hip. “Just let me catch my breath first.”