“Out cold, is all,” she replied. “Hopefully.”

  “Fuck. Ice, we’re not supervillains, here. We’re the neutral ones, at least.”

  “Girl, it’s going to get shadier from here,” Ice replied, glaring at me from the ground below. “You think you can’t walk in the darkness, you better move aside and let me handle the search.”

  I considered this, but no—if she took over, too many people could get hurt. At least I could do the snooping my way. I helped Ice in, propped the man up and made sure he was breathing, then went on my way.

  “Stay here, keep guard,” I said, turning to go. “Oh, and… make sure this guy’s okay. I don’t care what you say, our mission doesn’t mean we have to take lives.”

  She was still glaring, but I took her lack of action as her way of agreeing to do as I said. So off I went, making my way down into what I was sure would be the prisons.

  The passage was at first nothing impressive and I began to worry I’d made an error, that my feeling about the signs had been wrong. But then I made it to the point where the last step gave way to a passage and found myself thrown backwards to hit the stairs with a thud that sent pain up my spine.

  “Ugh,” I muttered, ignoring Ice as she whispered to ask what had happened.

  This time, I held out a hand, pointing with one finger so that a claw extended, and touched the line between stairs and passage. Sure enough, the tip of my claw glowed, and when I pressed further, it met resistance. If I lunged again, I’d simply be thrown back again.

  What good was this? I either needed to get in there, or find a guard who would talk. Unfortunately, the only guard down here we’d seen so far was unconscious. Then again, I didn’t want them ratting me out, and couldn’t kill them afterward as Ice seemed to be okay with doing. So that left exploring to try and find her, if she was here. Or at least find other prisoners, to ask them.

  “Hurry,” a voice to my left said. I froze, confused. It was a female voice, definitely, and didn’t sound like any of the professors I’d met.

  Taking a step back, I hid in the shadows, but had my senses on full alert. There was a familiar smell overriding the dankness of this place. One of the people at the welcome reception for sure, but there had been so many there, that didn’t help much.

  Listening intently, I was keenly aware that they were passing right by the tunnel, but when I tried to get a look, all I saw was darkness fading into the wall opposite the barrier. I had to act fast, knowing they’d found a way—a secret way, it seemed—in.

  Doubling back, I searched all around, cursing.

  “What the fuck’s going on?” Ice asked, leaning against the wall and glaring at me.

  “Barrier,” I said. “Some super’s doing a good job of keeping us out, but there were others in there. I couldn’t tell who, but they must’ve found another way in.”

  “Doesn’t mean it was here,” she pointed out. “After all, I’ve been standing here the whole time.”

  “Shit.” She was right, but I still jumped and pushed off of the walls a couple of times, checking to be sure there weren’t fake walls or crawlspaces at the tops of the walls. “So we find a way past this shield…” The guard groaned, eyes fluttering.

  Ice grinned. “Or get it out of this guard.”

  “Can’t you—I don’t know, do the metal trick on the walls surrounding the barrier?” I asked.

  “Stone,” she replied, nodding at the walls. “Some metal in them, but not enough if there’s a super-powered barrier in place.”

  “Fuck it,” I said, kneeling next to the guard and blowing a massive charm of black into his face, then taking his helmet and pulling it down over his eyes. “Make sure he can’t move.”

  “On it,” Ice said, and thrust out so that the metal warped around him, fastening itself to the wall.

  “Wake up,” I said, kneeling next to him. He moved again, finger twitching. “Nuh-uh. You use your powers, you’re a dead man.” I didn’t doubt Ice would do it. Even though I’d try to stop her, it was probably a true statement.

  “You all again?” he asked. “You’ll never make it through.”

  “Yes,” I went along with it, pretending we were with the group who’d attacked before. “Maybe we won’t succeed, but… We’re here for someone, and I want you to tell me where she is.”

  “She?”

  “Yes.” I noticed a glare from Ice, but that was becoming the norm, so I ignored it. “We’re looking for a super who goes by the name of Malina.”

  There was a silence, followed by a grunt. “I don’t understand the tactic here. Who are you?”

  “What?”

  “You’re clearly not with them, or you would know. Listen, I don’t know where she is—I prefer you not torture me, but even if you did, that’s all I’d be able to say. That, and that I know people are looking for her, because her name was on some roster that, again, I’m not familiar with. Only that there was a roster, that name was on it along with several others… and they’re not here.”

  “But they arrived on planet?” Ice cut in.

  He hesitated, seemed to try to nod, but then muttered, “We believe so.”

  I considered this, scrunching my face as I debated whether to trust him, but then nodded. “Let him go when we’re clear,” I said as I headed for the window.

  She followed, catching up with me as we turned at the statue of Neptune. “Just like that?”

  “We have your contact. Based on what this guy said, I’m thinking that’s our best lead.”

  “Our only lead, if we’re not going into the prisons.”

  Pausing here to glance back, I noticed the sound of people arguing in hushed but very serious tones. Ice hadn’t heard, it seemed, so I held up a finger and indicated the direction the sound was coming from.

  She was smart enough to follow in moments like that, as the guild had trained her well. We were rounding the next corner when I said, “Let him go.”

  “Not yet. When we’re clear.”

  I was about to argue when one of the voices rose to a shout, saying, “If you hurt her—”

  “We don’t know shit about your stupid friend,” another voice said, but by then we’d taken off in a sprint and now rounded the corner to find two of the three bully girls standing there, up against Olena and Trell. Laurel and Harp were there too, but being much less confrontational.

  “Why don’t you run back to your aunt,” one of the girls said, shoving Olena. “Maybe you can hide behind her, let her fight this battle like I’m sure she’ll be doing everything else for you here.”

  “Back the fuck off,” I said, claws at the ready.

  Both of the bully girls turned to me, ready to fight, but one stumbled back into the other and both fell at my approach.

  “Powers against other supers here,” the first girl stammered. “Not allowed.”

  “You’ll be expelled,” the second girl said, pushing the first off and standing, staring me down. “Which is why I know you wouldn’t do it. You have nothing else going for you. You need this place.”

  “Wanna find out?” Ice said, hand up.

  I grabbed her wrist and gave a quick shake of my head.

  “Back off,” a voice said from behind, and I turned to see the third girl, who I’d somehow missed, holding a rock. Maybe that wouldn’t have intimidated me, but with supers you never can be too safe—for all I knew, her power was turning rocks into massive rock dragons or atomic bombs. You know, neither of which would’ve made sense in the circumstance, but stuff like that.

  “Where’d you come from?” Ice asked.

  Laurel stepped over to my side, hands up. “We were just worried about our friend, that’s all. Olena thought she’d seen her coming this way.”

  Harp nodded, lip twitching as if she was doing all she could to refrain from opening her mouth.

  “Well, you’re not welcome here,” the third girl said. “None of you.”

  “Make us leave,” Ice replied. She took a step forward. “Fucking try me.”

  They looked at Ice and got the picture. It made sense, at least judging by the crew I’d seen Ice getting in good with. If these girls were trying to bully us and that was ever related to them being bullied, Ice’s new circle of so-called friends looked to be the type to do so.

  With another moment to assess us, the girl with the rock shrugged. “Not a problem, we were just passing by.”

  “Next time, pass by faster,” I said. “And don’t talk shit to my friends.”

  That earned me nothing more than a raised eyebrow as the girl passed, though her friends were looking at her with confusion, apparently having thought and maybe even hoped for a fight. They were lucky. It wouldn’t have gone well for them.

  When they were gone, Ice nodded our way, didn’t say another word, and was off.

  Olena and Trell glanced back at Laurel, then me, none of us sure what to do.

  “What was that all about?” I finally asked.

  “Like it seemed,” Trell replied. “We were looking for you, the two of them were standing around the statue… and they just started in on us about Olena’s aunt.”

  “Fucking always the same,” Olena said, shaking her head. “Price I gotta pay, I guess.”

  “For what it’s worth, your aunt’s awesome,” I said.

  She grinned. “Always has been. Even if I’m a dick sometimes, she’s cool. Always gets my back.”

  “Providing easy fodder for jerks like those, when they’re aware,” Trell said then spat on the ground. “Makes me sick.”

  “Yeah, well,” Laurel wrapped an arm in mine, smiling as if none of that had happened. “Now we’re all a team. Anyone messes with one of us, they mess with all of us.”

  They all smiled, but then Trell glanced back the way Ice had gone. “And that other one?”

  “Ice?” I said. “Not sure.”

  Laurel glanced at me curiously, but let it be. She knew there was more to my situation with Ice, but I was glad she didn’t feel the others needed to know.

  “Come on,” I said. “There’s got to be some place for us all to let loose.”

  “I know just the place,” Olena replied, and led the way. It wasn’t long before we were all on the rooftop, drinks from a private stash in her room in hand, watching the sunset and enjoying the company.

  We still had until the next night before we’d be able to follow up with this contact of the boys. Until then, I was going to let go of the worry and simply enjoy myself.

  16

  Morning classes on the third day were a breeze. I counted my lucky stars I was in a place like this. I might not have earned it in an honest way, but I damn sure was going to make the most of it, to prove that I belonged.

  I found Olena and Trell in the lunch hall, laughing at a story Laurel was telling. Harp nudged me from where she stood at my side with her tray of food. I smiled and nodded. We sat together with her on one side and Laurel on the other, listening in as Laurel finished telling Olena and Trell about a time she’d accidentally thought her mom was her grandma, and how she’d had to apologize for a week. Not something that got me rolling with laughter, but maybe it was a cultural thing? I laughed anyway, to be polite. Her way of looking at me with that knowing smile of hers told me she was aware, but her smile said she appreciated the effort.

  “I never thought we’d be friends,” Trell admitted, turning to me with a sheepish grin. “I mean, sorry—sorry about that first day, and for being such a lemon head.”

  “Lemon head?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “You know what I mean. My parents are old-school, super big racists. I never realized how much that kinda prejudice can sink in.”

  I was different, and was fine with that. Or at least used to it. With a smile, I moved on and said, “You all really think that leveling up stuff can work for anyone?”

  “Those three bitches?” Olena shook her head. “Not a chance.”

  We all laughed at that. I was about to tell them about my experience when we were in class the day before, ask about theirs, when a scream sounded, then a familiar voice saying, “FUCKING HELP!”

  We all looked at each other with surprise, then charged out. Entering the next hallway over, we saw the three girls from the day before in a state of panic. The one who’d been holding the rock was staggering, blood dripping from a large gash from the top of her forehead than ran down her suit to her opposite toe.

  “Reina, oh Oram… Reina,” one of the girl’s friend kept saying repeatedly as if in a trance, the other friend looking around desperately.

  When her eyes fell on me, she screamed, pointing. “You bitch, you bitch! What’d you do to her?”

  I turned, hoping she was talking to someone behind me, but there was only Laurel there, Olena and Trell following close behind. They all looked stricken and confused. It only took one more shout for the hall to fill from nearby classrooms, then others as students farther away made their way over.

  “That cat-freak, I’m telling you, it was her!” the lady was yelling. My only thought was that she had better get it right, at least call me a fox-freak if she was going to throw name-calling in there with the accusations. I spun, shaking my head, looking for a professor, anyone I could explain my situation to. Laurel had been with me, but us two so-called freaks versus the word of these second years… I wasn’t feeling hopeful.

  What would I do back home? Rogues weren’t caught, and if they were about to be caught, they did one thing, nine times out of ten—run. The other one would be to simply assassinate the mark, but that wasn’t an option here.

  So I ran.

  “Charm, no,” someone shouted, and two students out of the newly-forming crowd even tried to move into my way, one using a shield power to try and block my path, but I was faster and quicker, ducking around it then leaping over someone who looked about to conjure ice. I breathed out charms as I flew through the rest of them, creating a panic so that they stampeded out of my way.

  School doors slammed shut as I headed for them, so I turned back and saw Laurel staring at me with wide eyes, then the girl with the wings—Harp, was it?—and a voice in my head told me to stop, to talk this out, but an overriding terror was telling me I had to run, to get out of there. These people would totally blame me, I was sure of it. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that, having just used my chaos charm on the students, I’d inflicted more panic on myself. All I could think was that I needed to get the hell out of there.

  More students were in my way, then Lamb at the end of the hall. I couldn’t let her see me like this. Diving into the room next to me, I found a window and threw myself toward it. Even as it shut and an energy barrier formed, I managed to kick it open and was out, dropping to the ground and sprinting away immediately.

  Nobody seemed to be after me, as the guards and the others hadn’t likely figured out what had happened yet. When I was freaked, I moved damn fast. At the moment I was covering good ground, reaching the tree line in no time.

  Out here my charm and panic faded, allowing me to breathe and listen to the whistling burst of sound from the birds and other wildlife.

  I had no idea what to do. Dammit, why had I run? Sticking to the forest, I found a spot by a pond and plopped down, cross-legged, staring at the water. A jackerminow moved across it. The small black circle of a bug with its glowing spikes paused, then took off into the sky, leaving little ripples that moved out across the water’s otherwise sleek surface. Stupid fucking bugs had always annoyed me anyway, especially now with ruining that pond… even if it was only momentarily.

  My instincts told me to keep running, but now that I was thinking clearly, I didn’t want to. So instead I plopped down, head hung low as I stared at the browning grass and started plucking it. A nervous habit, but it actually helped me calm down some more. Just then a familiar, sweet aroma caught my senses, and I heard the sound of shuffling grass. I knew that smell, though, and knew not to be alarmed. Instead I turned to the tree where the noise came from and cleared my throat.

  She stepped out from behind the tree.

  “Laurel?” I waited for an explanation.

  “I thought I’d find you here,” Laurel said, and took another step toward me before pausing, her expression turning to worry. “To be clear, you had nothing to do with that back there, right?”

  “You know I didn’t!” I protested. “I was with you!”

  She smiled, clearly relieved. “That’s the truth. Good.”

  “Why would you even ask?”

  “To be sure. For all I know, you could have the power to do that—some of us have multiple superpowers. For example, I can tell when someone’s lying, but I can also sort of figure out someone’s course of action based on knowing them. That’s how I knew which way you’d go if you ran, and was able to track you here.”

  “Shit, you’d have been useful back where I come from.”

  Laurel shrugged and took a seat next to me. “I’m useful in many places.”

  I gulped, noticing the way she turned toward me briefly, then away. “What are you doing here?”

  “A friend was in need.”

  “A friend…” I laughed. “Shit, am I in need? The only reason I ran was that girl was pointing at me, screaming that I’d done something I hadn’t.”

  “Well, now a lot of people think you did.”

  “But not you?”

  She shook her head. “As I said, I can tell when someone’s lying, without a doubt. But someone definitely attacked two of the students, and I’m curious to find out who… and why.

  “You and me both, sista.”

  She glanced my way again, then at the water. “I’ve never been a fan of the woods.”

  “What? How’s that possible?” I laughed. “How can anyone not like the woods?”

  “My people… well, let’s just say there’s this whole belief among some that we aren’t supers at all. One reason I’m obsessed with mythology, though I refuse to believe it.”

  “What?” I leaned toward her, curious. “What do they think you are?”

  “Like you could be kitsune, hmm?” She frowned, but then said, “Naiads. Or something like that… like water spirits, or spirits of nature. Actually, that’s even where I got my name—Laurel is a kind of tree one of these spirits was associated with.”