“What’s the plan?” Trell asked, eyes following a girl with long, black hair that trailed behind her like a cape as she flew overhead, casting sheets of ice through the air so that they fell like snow. “Fucking showoff.”

  “Meet back here if there’s a problem,” I said. “How long are the tryouts?”

  “Five rounds today,” Olena answered. “Each lasting about half an hour, probably.”

  “One round should be enough time.”

  “Agreed.” Laurel turned to me, looking as if she could see me. She nodded. “I can, you know. Not see you, and not read your mind, but sense your emotions.”

  “That creeps me out,” I replied with a hushed laugh. “So, meet here after the first round to touch base. If anyone but me finds Lamb before that, ask her to meet me here. I’ll approach her cloaked and find a safe spot to tell her everything.”

  “Agreed,” Olena and Laurel said. Harp gave a nod of assent.

  They all started to move out, when I said, “Wait.”

  “If you want to get this moving, we’d better hurry,” Olena said, frowning. “The crowd is growing by the minute.”

  “I do, but—why are you helping me?”

  That caught them off guard. After a moment, Trell cleared her throat and mumbled something.

  “Sorry, can’t hear you over the crowd,” I said.

  “She said she wants to be friends,” Laurel said.

  “You impressed us,” Olena chimed in. “And I know that wasn’t your goal or whatever, that you probably couldn’t care less, but yeah, we were idiots. Watching the way you handled yourself, we saw that.”

  “We simply weren’t used to aliens being here,” Trell added.

  “Aliens?” I asked, then scoffed. “By Oram, it never stops.”

  “Sorry?”

  “You should be. I mean, I want to be friends too, but I’m just another super, a mutated form that’s different from you. Like Laurel.”

  Laurel glanced over, a frown forming. That was a rare look from her.

  “What?” I asked.

  “That’s a conversation for another time,” Laurel said.

  “Are you saying I am an alien?”

  She glanced at the others for help, but then shrugged. “As you know, there are some who think supers like me don’t come from the same place. As for your background, I don’t actually know.”

  “What the fuck?” I was kind of glad they couldn’t see me, because the look of confusion and bafflement probably made me look like an idiot.

  “Another time,” Laurel said, gesturing to the crowd.

  “Right, yeah.” I followed her, the others breaking off, but as we walked I said, “You know you can’t say something like that and leave it there.”

  It took her a moment to respond. Harp shrugged, so I took to searching for Lamb, figuring no response was coming. I’d get to it eventually. We were moving with the crowd along the outdoor halls within the compound and had to take the stairs up to a higher vantage point over the Mehen field. Seeing it before had been impressive, but now with the stands filled and students and judges moving about in the sky and on the ground, it was an awe-inspiring sight on a whole new level.

  One super showed her strength by tossing another into the air, the second expanding like a sheet in a way that could catch any ball thrown her way. Another darted up and became one with the ball, guiding it, only to fall back moments later when a super leaped up and grabbed the ball with icy hands and a burst of blue that went out like a ring around her.

  Medic supers rushed in to help girls as they fell left and right in this show of what some might have considered to be barbaric, but everyone there seemed to be fascinated by it—myself included. If I had been able to stay and be a student there, it would’ve definitely been a sport I would’ve liked to try.

  “Aliens, if you want to use that word,” Laurel said, bringing the subject back to where we’d left off. She stood in front of Harp and me but turned so that others wouldn’t hear. “They’re out there, no doubt about it. But do we fall under that label?” She shrugged. “The records of every planet that was colonized were lost. Though some of my group would say we came up with the rest, even some among us ascribe to the belief that we were already on the planet. Natives to it.”

  “And you?” I asked. “What do you believe?”

  “I have no idea. But I know there are some who were, and there are other groups—even among the Elders, there are outsiders. Samantha herself served on a team with an alien who’d switched sides, one they called Dex, or so the books say.”

  Harp grinned, nodding excitedly.

  “Am I the only one who doesn’t know this story?” I asked.

  “I’ll be sure to send you a copy of the Shadow Corps, someday,” Laurel replied. “The point is, it wasn’t only them. Hadrian, others—”

  “Hadrian’s an alien?” I asked. That was, at least, a name I was very familiar with.

  “He’s from another planet, in another galaxy,” Laurel replied. “So… yes? But if what some people say is true, that many of us who are very different from the norm find ourselves in a group that might be classified as aliens, then large portions of Oram’s system might well be populated by aliens. In which case—”

  “How do you define aliens?” I finished for her. “Yeah, sure.” Still, the idea of possibly not being descended from the early colonizers bothered me. Not that it should have, but—oh, shit… a thought suddenly hit me. “Before, when you were reading about kitsune…”

  She smiled, turning to watch as a woman burst into beams like lasers and shot across the field, reforming into what looked like solid crystal before hitting the ball through a goal. “Damn, she’s good.”

  “Laurel…”

  “I have my suspicions,” Laurel said. “More of an idea, really—that some of these groups had visited Earth in the past. That there was a reason Earthers believed in spirits, gods… all that.”

  “As in, my great ancestors could have been actual kitsune.” I wasn’t sure what to think of that, and felt my hand grabbing my tail, holding it close, wondering if it were possible that there were others out there like me, and that some might actually have nine tails like the myth books said. “That’s crazy.”

  “Maybe…”

  I thought about it a moment, then laughed. “You know, when I was a young teenager with the guild, I often wished I was an alien. Like, if I could just have my mother ship come and take me away, tell me I was better than all of those motherfuckers. A man told me that death comes for us all, in time, and there were plenty of times that I wished it would. Death, aliens, whatever the fuck wanted me, I was ready. Anything but those fucks—anything, that is, except for the supervillains. I despised the space pirates, led by a group of supervillains who were out to get any ship they could that might be affiliated with the Order of the Citadel… The idea that my sister could’ve sided with any supervillains disgusts me. The idea that I could be related to someone who’d chosen the supervillain side is repulsive—even if I’m not related by blood.

  “So, when you talk about aliens and that I might be one? Or some mythical creature—one of these kitsune, perhaps—I fucking love it, though it’s hard to believe. So hard, but mostly because it’s what I wanted for so long, and now… now more than ever.”

  Laurel glanced in the direction she knew I was in, offering a supportive smile. What I said troubled her, that much was clear, but she was here for me.

  Harp held out her hand, conspicuously, and I took it. She looked down in that direction, smiling as she gave my hand a comforting squeeze.

  Her head jolted, her mouth frozen as though she was about to say something, but instead, she pointed.

  I spun and saw why—Lamb was in the audience, to our right and one level up, seated with Zilch and the other professors. All but the headmistress, it seemed.

  “We have to get her alone,” I said. “Any ideas?”

  “You’re cloaked,” Laurel pointed out.

  I shook my head, then remembered they couldn’t see me. “No good. Zilch is there—I have a feeling he always has his guard up.”

  “Well, I hate to, but…” Laurel pursed her lips, pondering something.

  “What?”

  “I usually receive mental signals, but I suppose I could send a sort of poke, just to get her attention.”

  “That’ll do,” I said.

  She shook her head but turned to face Lamb. “It feels like an invasion of someone’s privacy, even though it’s not like I can read her thoughts or anything like that. Just a friendly poke.”

  “Anytime you want to poke me, go right ahead.” I’d meant it to come across as a joke, but Laurel simply glanced over, winked, and went back to business. Harp was shooting a ‘that was corny’ look in my general direction. I considered uncloaking just to show her my smile, to make sure she knew I wasn’t serious.

  But more importantly, Lamb had just started, and was now looking our way. Laurel motioned, and Lamb nodded subtly. We quickly made our way back out, stopping at the spot we’d agreed we’d bring her once found.

  When she reached us, Lamb turned directly toward where I remained cloaked, giving me a slight nod. Her ability to see stats on supers allowed her to at least know where I was, though she couldn’t actually see me.

  Turning and leaning against the wall in a way that made it look like she was speaking instead to Laurel, she asked, “You’ve found your sister?”

  “Not exactly, but I did find the group she’s part of,” I replied. “And we think the attack earlier was a diversion.”

  “For?”

  “There’s someone in the dungeons of this place, a super they’re trying to break free.”

  Lamb frowned, considering this. “Our safeguards are strong. This shouldn’t be something to worry about.”

  “But…?”

  “We took some prisoners, earlier today. We have them in the cells. Not the same situation, I know, but I wonder if it isn’t related. The cells are all guarded, set up to block powers from being effective, but—”

  An explosion rocked the stands, and I knew what she had been about to say before she even said it. “If they found a way to attack the blockers, to get those powers active, they’d have a chance.”

  She nodded, watching with the rest of us as ships descended from the sky. “On their own, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I have a feeling there’s more at play here than we know.”

  “Fuck,” Trell said, running over to us. I uncloaked. There was no point keeping up the charade now.

  “Harp,” Lamb said. “Now might be a good time to slow their attack. I’ll make sure Hadrian knows timing is of the essence.”

  Harp nodded. I was very curious about what she was going to do, so I watched with excitement as she spread her wings and shot into the air. Doors from the ships above opened and supervillains poured out, flying or using jumpsuits to dive for us. Professors were up, shouting to try and maintain order, telling heads of circles to form, to prepare to defend their school, while Supralines guards shot up from various corners of the school to lead the defense.

  As Lamb started to move off, I grabbed her by the arm. “The prisons?”

  She considered me, then nodded. “Get down there, that’s where your sister will most likely head if she’s part of this. Maybe you’ll be able to knock some sense into her.”

  “Where?”

  “The East wing, behind the statue of Neptune. Tell the guard there I sent you.” She gave me an encouraging nod and then was off.

  Before we went, however, the clash of guards’ powers hit the enemy—the shields that had taken me out earlier rose, visible as shimmering lights of gold and red, about to hit the enemy and knock them all unconscious. We shouldn’t have had anything to fear…. Except that the shields simply vanished, fizzling out and leaving the guards exposed and confused.

  The counterattack came for them in the form of projectiles. Some of the guards absorbed the strikes and threw them back, some falling. Then Harp flapped her wings and came to a stop. She opened her mouth and let out a shriek that, even from where I was, pierced my ears like blades. I knelt, hands to my ears, but didn’t take my eyes away from the scene.

  I could barely make out shimmers in the sky, moving out from her, waves of air and some sort of power hitting the enemy and totally throwing them out of whack. Some fell, losing control, others turned and attacked each other in the chaos.

  Some, however, were regaining control. Two with red glows to them took position and held their arms crossed, forcing an energy shield to shoot out and block the effect, mostly, while others behind them regained their focus and continued the descent.

  The ships which had let out their cargo were moving in, barraging the school with shots.

  “You heard Lamb,” I said, “Let’s move.”

  No questions from my team. We sprinted out, taking the stairs four at a time, and were soon on the ground level, running for the statue of Neptune. We reached a corner where students were running, firing back, and from there sprinted out into the open, finally taking cover when we reached the opposite side. Perfect timing, too, because a barrage of fire hit like pouring rain, pounding the ground behind us. Screams followed. Fuck, this wasn’t like my rogue missions, where maybe someone would get caught, possibly wounded. Open war was avoided at all costs.

  “If the shield’s down, they might’ve already taken the prisoners,” Olena pointed out.

  “All the more reason to hurry,” I replied, fully aware that our little band of outcasts was hardly the best candidate for the job. At the moment, though, we seemed to be the only ones available.

  Harp flew overhead, letting out a new barrage of her attack on those who’d rained down fire on the school grounds. We ran, staggering as the effect of her attack hit us too—but it was nothing compared to what it did to her targets. Some fell, screaming, blood coming out of their ears and eyes. A counterattack in the form of plasma blasts nearly hit her, but she dove, motioning for us to get going.

  “Come on!” I shouted, hoping she’d join us.

  “She will when she can,” Laurel said, and took the lead, running on.

  I cursed but followed, knowing there’d be no arguing with them. We cut through the back way, tall walls turning this place into a maze, and whizzed around a corner to nearly plow into someone. She turned, hands up for attack, and I saw it was Lima.

  “Thank Oram,” Lima said, glancing back to ensure no one was on our tail. “Lamb sent me to find you. Hadrian’s almost here. We just need to hold out a little longer. Follow me.”

  We did, and as she led us out to the statue, Laurel’s suspicion was confirmed. No guard in sight, but a lot of debris, along with an exposed opening that led down to dungeons to our left. Someone had already been here. Not only been here but mounted an attack.

  Walls were blown down and left in piles of rubble. An entire section of the ground was open in the massive hole that led down there, and bodies lay scattered everywhere.

  I looked up and around, alert for whoever they’d broken out, but jumped as a piece of rubble fell.

  Then a sound hit me—footsteps, moving away.

  “They’re down there, right now,” I said. Laurel was one step ahead of me, moving to the edge of the opening and kneeling, looking down.

  “At least a dozen,” she said. “Strange, that there aren’t more.”

  “Wards,” Olena said. “If they limit their numbers and have someone who can protect against wards, it makes sense. Too many and they’d need more supers who could block the wards.”

  “They have the one ward because of me,” I said as the memory hit me. It had likely been all to get that ward object for them, I realized. More of the memory came back as I remembered that the ward item had been what Prancer took from me, before deserting me at Rocadium.

  “I’d bet they have a super who can channel its powers and reverse it,” Olena said.

  “Or notify them of their target’s location,” Laurel said, and we shared an ‘oh shit’ look.

  “Let’s go with that one.” Olena shrugged. “In this case, it makes more sense.”

  “And the battle here?” Trell said, glancing back as a super flew by, one from the ground hitting her with something, then a villain pouncing on the wall behind us, turning our way.

  “We’ll hold them off,” Olena said. “And follow you once it’s clear.”

  “You take them out down there, we’ll do some damage up here,” Lima added with a wink.

  “Sounds like a plan,” I said. Laurel and I ran for the edge, about to jump—then Harp landed at our side, winked and grabbed each of us by the back of our uniforms, then jumped with us but kept her wings spread so we glided down.

  “Thanks,” I said. She nodded.

  “The others?”

  Harp glanced up, and Laurel said, “Look.”

  I did and saw a large ship—at least ten times the size of any of the others there—had arrived. Smaller ships were flying out of it. The attack against the enemy was on. As we watched, a super emerged, floating, and then seemed to lash himself to one of the enemy ships, suddenly flung after it and taking it down with an explosion that sent debris flying in all directions.

  “I’d say the enemy has a limited window to get their target and get out,” Laurel said. “Let’s ensure that doesn’t happen.”

  With that, we charged into the dungeons.

  27

  I didn’t think we could be far behind the enemy, otherwise I’d still be able to hear them above the chaos outside. We didn’t want to give away the fact that we were in pursuit, so we moved forward carefully, jogging along as fast as we could while still being cautious at every turn.

  A figure flew out at me from the wall. I was pissed for not noticing him earlier. The stench of the dungeons was heavy, but now that he was on me I could see it was Prancer—and with him were two other supers. He had nothing on me as far as strength went, but when the taller of his two companions held out his hands I fell back, unable to move.

  Harp struggled, trying to open her mouth, but it was no good. Whatever this power was, it crippled all of us except Lima. She was pushing up, rings of light vibrating over her from head to toe, giving her just enough energy to beat this. Then she charged, sending the rings out in front of her so that they acted to latch her opponent’s arms to the walls.