Ice was over to him in two bounds, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him with tongues on full display for us all to see, moving in and out of each other’s mouths. Kind of disgusting, actually.

  Silencer gave me a nod, then turned to the guide. “Lead the way before they start fucking right here in front of us.” After a laugh from Prancer, Silencer added, “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  “How do you know anything about her?” I asked. “You actually know her, or saw her or…?”

  Prancer motioned us to keep up, and surprisingly Ice and Trance were alert enough to stop kissing and move along. As we walked, Prancer explained that he’d been part of this trio at his school, he and his two best friends, and one day they were invited to a special party, a meeting of sorts. They thought it was going to be super cool superhero shit, but when they got there they found out it was the opposite—recruiting for the supervillains who, apparently, were creating a whole underground network throughout the planets.

  At that point I stopped him. “Wait, what?”

  “You heard me. Ain’t reached you all yet in… wherever you come from?”

  “Not that I know of,” I replied, but noticed the sideways glance from Silencer to Ice. Shit, was I the only one not in the loop, again?

  “So anyway,” Prancer continued, not noticing, “I split. If my dad caught me involved with something like that, shit… He’d use my spine to create toothpicks or something, I don’t know. Point is, it wouldn’t be good.”

  “You didn’t go… because you’re scared of your dad.” I shook my head, not afraid to let him know how I felt about that.

  “Maybe, but you want her? Here’s what I did next—I figured this wouldn’t be the last of them, and when my friends didn’t show up back at the school, I got worried. I traced my way back, and see,” he changed his skin and clothes to blend in with his surroundings, skin even taking on the texture of a tree’s bark as we passed, “I made sure to stay close once I found them, watching to see where they went and what they were up to. Led me there.”

  He indicated the hillside ahead, and I could see the side of it where rocks could easily form a cave on the other side.

  “But that doesn’t explain my sister,” I noted.

  “Malina…” He stared off at the sky at the sound of the name, then laughed, leading us toward the spot.

  “I don’t see what’s funny.”

  “Oh, everyone at Rocadium knew her—at least, all the students who were remotely on the naughty list. Malina… When I saw her in the cave, I almost wanted to join. The things I would do to your si—”

  “Focus,” Silencer said, earning a nod of appreciation from me.

  “Right. She was there, welcoming them.”

  “Implying my sister is involved in some group to recruit supervillains?” I scoffed, but not because I believed it, more because I wanted him to not believe it. To admit he could’ve been wrong. If I was being honest with myself, that sounded very much like her.

  We weren’t even making our way up the hill yet when we heard voices coming our way. I stepped out of the path and almost yelped with excitement when I saw that I’d cloaked again. Prancer followed suit, and the others did the best they could, all crouching and waiting.

  Two boys came first, another close behind. Trance elbowed me, and I realized he and Ice were at my side.

  “I recognize them from the school,” Trance said. “All three are second years, and the boy in back was one of the tour leaders. A house boy, I think—under Slingshot.”

  “No shit?” I said, ears perked to see if I could catch some of what they were saying. No luck. Slingshot was actually a well-known boy from a well-known family, even in my neck of the galaxy. His parents owned one of the largest space fleets outside of the Citadel, though claimed allegiance to the Citadel, as all superheroes did.

  “I think this is the group… The boys I saw running from my school.” I couldn’t be sure, but there was something about them that made me feel that way. They passed, and I indicated the cave. “We think my sister’s in there?”

  “Not necessarily right now,” Prancer admitted. “But it’s definitely where I saw her.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Few days, during break. She’d been at Rocadium a good half the year by that point, so I have no doubts I’d recognize her, and yeah, it was her.”

  I nodded. She wasn’t exactly a forgettable character.

  “Then we go in and find her?” Ice asked.

  Even though Silencer said, “Yes,” I was starting to have my doubts. What good would going in right now do? At least we would want to go in undercover, or wait until we saw her and then make a move. But after that, I had no idea what we’d do. We were to find her and bring her back, but what if she was part of this whole new supervillain uprising? Making a move against their recruitment post or whatever this place was might bring their wrath against the guild.

  Maybe I could talk to her, make her see reason. Not likely, knowing how stubborn she was, but worth a shot.

  “We go,” I said, interrupting whatever Silencer was going on about in his raspy way.

  He turned, annoyed. “That’s what I said. Like thirty seconds ago.”

  “Good.”

  I stood, about to make for the path again, when someone shouted, “SHIT!”

  More shouts of confusion followed, then the three boys who’d passed were retreating, dodging energy waves and throwing out shields and projectile attacks with their powers. They were aiming at the sky. I knew before seeing them that the Supralines guards had arrived.

  “I’m getting out of here.” I turned to run, but three leaps up the hill and I came face-to-face with a man who had fire bursting out of his hands. He shouted and thrust forward, the fire singeing my tail as I threw myself out of the way.

  When I looked up I saw him charging down the hill, sending more fire, and realized he hadn’t seen me at all, since I was cloaked. He’d been attacking the guards. Only now it wasn’t just guards, but a couple of teachers there, moving through the trees, including Zilch and Lamb!

  No, no, no… My cloaking power stopped along with that boy’s fire and the others’ powers as well.

  Lamb was there, calling out names, guards sweeping in—apparently Zilch could focus on who would get their powers canceled. I turned to scramble out of there, but I heard Lamb shout my name.

  “We see your tail,” she said, and a second later two guards had me, dragging me kicking and screaming back down the hill.

  I was freaking out. Not because I’d been doing anything wrong in my mind, but because I knew they wouldn’t see it that way, and that meant my dreams of having any chance of returning to Supralines were quickly being destroyed.

  All I could see was the look of disappointment in Lamb’s eyes as the guards dragged me away. All I could feel was the thudding of my heart and the cracking as it broke.

  21

  “What is this?” Lamb asked, stepping up to me and motioning for the guards to back off. “It’s not you, Charm. Explain yourself.”

  I staggered, fell to my knees, and looked up at her with desperation. What was I going to say to this woman to get her to see me as the super I wanted to be? To give me a second chance? Behind us, an explosion went off and I turned to see a couple more guards moving that way, apparently pushing on with the offensive. They were retaliating for the school situation, not coming after me.

  “Focus,” Lamb said, pulling my attention back to her.

  “I’m sorry,” I managed, grabbing my tail and holding it close for comfort.

  Lamb came close, close enough that I could see the small freckles at the tops of her cheeks. “You’re not fooling anyone, but…” Another explosion, this one closer, and Lamb’s eyes darted over, showing concern. She took me by the arm, leading me a few paces back toward the castle. “You were allowed entry, because I can see something special in you, as do the others. Did you really think you could simply hack into the greatest superhero academy ever and simply stroll in as if you were enrolled all along?”

  “Think? Hoped.”

  She nodded. “And I pushed for you, Charm. For two reasons—one, I believe in you. That you have a role to play in all this. Two… and for two, I have to apologize, because we used you somewhat.”

  “Oh, fuck…” I glanced back to the tree line as the words escaped my mouth, watching as more supers emerged, pushing back the guards. “You—all of this—you knew?”

  “Your sister is involved in some shady happenings, Charm. I’m counting on you.”

  “What?” A burst of purple light exploded from the ground nearby and she stepped forward to shield me. “To betray her?”

  “To not betray yourself.” Lamb took a step back as two guards landed at our sides, bursts of white energy flowing out from them that caused a series of incoming attacks to fizzle out in an invisible circle around us.

  They took another step back, and now I could see the circle… and I wasn’t in it!

  Shit.

  “I want to come back,” I said, hands trembling. “Just let me come back! I can… Watch, I can do this now,” I cloaked, then stumbled back, falling and uncloaking as another barrage of attacks hit that bubble.

  “Use it,” Lamb said, and then she turned, retreating.

  I couldn’t believe she was leaving me there like that. My hand reached for her, the guards’ energy field carrying her and themselves up into the sky and back toward the school as more guards emerged, more supers ready for the attack.

  A hand grabbed my wrist, spinning me around, and I lashed out. It was some super I didn’t know, a boy with two women behind him, more behind them, all wearing black and green super outfits with body armor.

  “No,” I mumbled, and when he tried to come at me again, I knocked him the fuck out. “NO!”

  “Come with us,” one of the girls said, and she moved her hand in the air as if wrapping it around something and pulling.

  I went rigid, floating, and as the girls turned and ran, I was pulled along with them. But all powers have limitations, and apparently this one couldn’t stand up to my strength—because all it took was me freaking the hell out to break free. With a thrust of my arms outward the energy shattered and the girl stumbled to her knees while I turned to run.

  “Charm, they’re with your sister!” Ice called out, arriving while fighting off guards.

  A glance back in the direction Lamb had gone made up my mind. Going with Ice and these others to find my sister was the right path. Whether that meant saving her, convincing her to leave, or something else… betrayal… well, that decision would have to wait until the moment I stood before her, looking her in the eyes.

  For the moment, I merely nodded, going to Ice. Her group sent a barrage of attacks after the guards as we made for the tree line.

  “Too close,” Ice said, once we were in the clear. “Too fucking close!”

  “They almost had me.” The words were like I’d rehearsed them, like someone else was saying them. My heart and soul belonged back there with Lamb, not here, not with whatever this group was.

  And if my sister was part of them? A movement against the school, a movement to recruit supervillains? I was fairly certain I wouldn’t be okay with that. Not in the slightest.

  Right now, none of that mattered, though. If I hadn’t misunderstood Lamb, she was telling me to hang tight, to find my sister. Regardless of which side I ended up on eventually, I needed to play this part right.

  A couple of small attacks from the remaining guards came in the form of simple energy bursts, nothing that would cause us real trouble. That further confirmed what I thought was going on here, but the sound of fighting was coming from the hill where we’d been about to go with our guide.

  “We can’t go there,” a girl with fiery red hair said, noting my glance over to the place. “It’s compromised.”

  “Attacking those girls at the school was worth it?” Ice asked, earning snickers and looks of humor from a couple of the supers, glares from others.

  “That was a diversion,” the redhead sneered.

  “Anone!” One of the taller boys turned on her, eyes wild.

  “If they aren’t with us, we kill ‘em anyway,” Anone replied.

  Ice laughed. “For one, I’d like to see you try. Two, not something anyone here needs to worry about.”

  “Diversion from what?” I asked.

  “That is pushing your luck,” the tall boy said, and even Anone gave me a sideways look at that.

  I kept on through the relative darkness, not asking more and doing a pretty good job of acting uninterested, I thought. Of course, I was dying to know more about the incident that had caused me to run in the first place, the incident that seemed to leave one girl close to death and another injured.

  “What I don’t get,” Ice said when we had descended into a valley and were under the protection of two illusions from some of the Rocadium sellouts, “is how you’ve been operating here, right under their noses.”

  “We’re not a complete mystery,” Anone said. “We’ve had a scuffle or two with the schools, but they vastly underestimate us.”

  That made sense, with what Lamb had said. Some of the most powerful supers in the galaxy were with the academies, so it wouldn’t have made a lot of sense if they’d been completely ignorant. But if something big was coming and they weren’t ready for it, the superheroes could lose some of their best.

  Family… or morals. A tough call.

  We went on for a few more minutes before supers started arriving with makeshift pods—basically sheet metal and boards made to levitate with powers, similar to Ice’s surf board. We climbed on, the illusion supers working twice as hard now to try and keep us concealed, and sped across the land, moving in and out of the woods where possible.

  “There,” the tall guy said, and an unusually tall man stood up from where I’d assumed he was one of the rocks, removing an illusion over an area built into the hills. We descended to the area he indicated up against a hillside where there were some tall red stones surrounded by looming trees that fell out from the hill at near ninety-degree angles.

  Someone with incredible powers had clearly created this place, as it was an elaborate city, practically, built into the hill but also up out of it. As if all of this was sculpting clay. To hide something like this must have required great illusion powers, but more than that, I was sure. The supers of the academies likely had all sorts of power sensors or supers with the ability to look out for exactly this sort of activity. How could they not find it, unless an especially powerful supervillain was upping the ante, camouflaging this place with more than simple illusions?

  And if that was the case, why? What could be so valuable that this level of investment would be necessary?

  The closer we approached, the more I could see that these weren’t just buildings, but fighter ships, defensive bunkers, and even a sort of temple I’d only ever heard of, but never seen before. The temple rose out of the ground with lines of stone that resembled crystals decorating the outsides, making them gleam and sparkle in the moonlight. The material that made up the domed top became thinner and thinner as it neared the top, eventually transitioning to a gleaming black. I discovered later that the dome was used by a team of amplifiers, turning it into a sort of amplification station where the supers could combine powers and focus on specific locations in a given radius, with a Seer super there to coordinate the activity. What I was seeing here wasn’t simply a recruiting station or anything like I’d expected, but a defensible staging point for an all-out attack. They led me to the first building, a stone archway forming the entrance. Several dozen men and women were gathered inside. As the crowd noticed us, Trance and Silencer emerged from among them.

  “You made it,” Silencer rasped, striding over.

  Trance bounded eagerly over to see us. “This place is so fucking amazing. From what I’ve seen already, there’s actually a chance these guys can take down the academies.”

  “And that’s a good thing?” I asked, lowering my voice.

  “I mean, if the Citadel sends their forces in, I’m not sure. But for first steps, yeah.”

  He’d clearly missed my point, but Ice was glaring my way. The more I got to know her, the less I wondered which side of all this she was on. Silencer might have been okay with the guild style of being neutral, but Ice was going full-on supervillain.

  “And… my sister?” I asked.

  The tall boy looked confused, but when Ice said, “Malina,” his eyes went wide.

  “Oh, shit.” He glanced around, then pointed up. “She’s not here at the moment but she’ll be back soon, I imagine. She’s one of the higher ups here.”

  Hearing it from him didn’t sit well, but I smiled and pretended that was good news. I would play the part of the proud sister. The sister who was eager to join the cause. My mind wandered to Lamb, to the other students. Laurel wouldn’t even know I was missing yet, I imagined.

  “Come on,” Anone said, guiding us along. “We’ll get you briefed, see if we can get a message to Malina that you’re here and maybe that’ll get her to hurry her ass.”

  The boy took Silencer and Trance one way, while Anone motioned me to come with her, and told Ice we wouldn’t be long. While Ice might have otherwise been annoyed, she looked relieved to have a break from me. She moved over to the others there, ready to start making buddies.

  “I thought you might want to get cleaned up,” Anone said, leading me to a hall with several baths within and a stream of water running along the side.

  I glanced around, noting how open it was. Nobody had ever accused me of being shy, but this felt way too exposed. On top of that, I had to wonder why I was getting the special treatment.

  “How’d you all manage this?” I asked.

  “It was set up a while ago,” Anone explained. “A super was sent to infiltrate Rocadium first, then more, and they started taking little excursions to carve this place out of the hills, set up wards, smuggle more supers in and recruit others. Water flows in the hills—an underground river that we can heat with powers, and… Easy.”