Page 148 of Archenemies

Finally, he too vanished, transforming into a colony of bats and soaring out through the door. It slammed shut in his wake, rattling the weary house.

Nova stood a few paces in from the entryway and stared.

At the garish paisley wallpaper.

At the moth-eaten furniture.

At the nothingness that was supposed to be her home.

The helmet hung from one hand, her fingers punctured through the eye holes like a bowling ball. It no longer felt light and unobtrusive, and as the shadows slowly gave way to the dusty light of early morning, Nova let the helmet fall.

It thumped anticlimactically against the carpet and rolled beneath the coffee table.

Nova let out a shaking breath.

She had failed.

Ace was captured. Ace was gone.

A chime echoed through the silent house, startling Nova fromher thoughts. Her communication band. She found it in the kitchen. Her hand was shaking as she picked it up and scrolled through countless messages from Adrian and the rest of the team, and even a global communication sent out from the Council, confirming the truth of the media reports.

Ace Anarchy is alive and he is in custody.

The Sentinel was responsible for his capture.

The Sentinel’s identity remains unknown.

The most recent messages were all about Nightmare, also confirmed alive, and the theft of Ace Anarchy’s helmet, and the destruction wrought upon headquarters.

The messages said nothing about Frostbite and her team.

They said nothing about Max.

Nova read the alerts about Nightmare more closely, trying to determine if she’d been discovered or not. She hadn’t been overly concerned with keeping her identity concealed tonight, believing that by the end of it, Ace would have his helmet back and her charade as a Renegade would be over.

Now she couldn’t fathom what would happen next. How long before they figured her out?

She thought of Danna’s butterfly, still trapped inside the jar upstairs. If it ever escaped, then Nova’s secret would be revealed for sure. And there were a thousand other little lies piling up all around her. A thousand signs pointing to Nova. To Nightmare.

How long did she have before they knew?

Before Adrian knew.

She dropped the wristband onto the table and braced her palms against the back of a chair. Eyes closed, she inhaled deeply. Counted to ten. Exhaled.

Then she went upstairs to change. Honey did not speak, so neither did she as she stripped out of Nightmare’s costume, covered in blood and sweat and small shards of glass.

She set her face mask on the vanity, right next to Danna’s butterfly.

She could barely look at either of them.

She had to get Ace out. That was all there was to it. The thought made her want to sob, but she bottled it deep inside. Because if that’s what had to be done, then that’s what she would do. She wouldn’t complain about all the work and planning that had gone into tonight. She wouldn’t think of how everything was wasted. She wouldn’t feel sorry for herself.

She would lift her chin. She would keep fighting.

She went back downstairs, leaving Honey to her solitude. They all wanted solitude. Nova sat down at the kitchen table and stared at the vase of dead flowers, her heart breaking.

It could not all be for nothing. She wouldn’t let the Renegades win. She wouldn’t let the Council get away with their lies, their broken promises.

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