Page 17 of Archenemies

“Too bad it’s a non-prodigy competition,” said Ruby. “My brothers are competing in it. They’ve always been a little jealous that I’m this totally cool and semi-famous superhero and everything. I mean, proud, but still jealous.”

“Hold on. You’re a superhero?” said Oscar, feigning shock. Then he leaned against her shoulder, batting his eyelashes. “Did you know, I’ve always wanted to be rescued by a superhero?”

Ruby laughed and shoved him away, even as her cheeks reddened. “You make a terrible damsel, Oscar.”

Danna rolled her eyes at them.

“Anyway, I’d get major big-sister points if you guys came,” Ruby finished. “And before you ask, yes, Oscar, there will be food trucks.”

Oscar made an approving okay with his fingers.

Adrian scanned the invitation. He’d never been to the Sidekick Olympics before—a series of lighthearted competitions for non-prodigy kids. It wasn’t exactly how he’d planned to spend his Saturday afternoon, but it could be fun.

“I have an invitation for Nova too,” said Ruby. “Has anyone seen her today?”

“Not yet.” Adrian checked the time on his wristband. There were still ten minutes before the meeting was supposed to begin.He glanced through the open doors, where he could see hundreds of Renegades milling about as they waited. “Maybe she went in already?”

“We checked,” said Danna. “No sign of her. But we should go sit down before it gets too crowded.”

“We’ll save her a seat,” said Ruby. “Does anyone know what they called us in for?”

“Do you think it could have to do with yesterday?” said Oscar.

“You mean about the Sentinel being dead?” Adrian asked.

Oscar cast him a strange look as they started heading toward the doors. “No. I mean about Hawthorn getting away with all those drugs.”

“Oh, right,” said Adrian, feeling sheepish for jumping to the Sentinel thing. “They would have started questioning her accomplices already. Maybe they learned something.”

“Guys!”

A spark flickered inside Adrian’s chest. Nova was jogging toward them, her cheeks flushed.

“Oh, good,” she said, slightly out of breath. “I only saw the message an hour ago. I had to run all the way from Wallow—uh—past Wallowridge. I thought for sure I’d be late.” She drew up short as Ruby thrust the invitation beneath her nose. “What’s this?”

“My brothers are competing in the Sidekick Olympics.”

Nova made a face—instinctive, Adrian knew. But before she could say anything, Oscar piped up, “Don’t fret. We’ve been guaranteed food trucks.”

Her aversion was immediately replaced with an amused smile. “Well, inthatcase…”

She met Adrian’s gaze, and for the briefest of moments all he could think about was how her blue eyes were brighter than usual,from the morning air or the exercise or maybe there was just really good lighting on this floor, and…

He really needed to stop thinking about it.

Gripping the card, Nova peered into the meeting room. “Do we know what’s going on?”

“No idea,” said Danna, waving her arm. “But we’d better get in there before all the good seats are taken.”

CHAPTER SIX

NOVA HAD NEVERbeen inside the main conference room at Renegade Headquarters. According to the others, it wasn’t used much. Oscar had once mentioned an annual meeting in which the Council liked to bore everyone to tears with statistics on their successes over the past twelve months, and lengthy discussions of their priorities for the future. When he told her this, Nova attempted to act sympathetic—how awful, how boring, how can anyone stand it? When in truth, she would have loved nothing more than to sit in on some of the Council’s upcoming plans for Gatlon City.

Danna led the way into the room, which consisted of a platform at the front facing hundreds of plastic chairs set into rows. The seats were filling up fast as Renegades poured in. Nova tried to eavesdrop on their huddled conversations, but it seemed the rest of the organization was as baffled as to the purpose of this meeting as her team was.

Though she’d been a Renegade for months now, Nova still found herself growing anxious when she was surrounded byso many superheroes at once. She calmed herself with practice observations—counting exits, determining what objects in the room would make decent weapons, estimating potential threats, and developing a mental escape route should anything happen.

Nothing ever happened, though. She was beginning to feel like all her preparation was unwarranted—the Renegades were as clueless to her true motives as they had been the day she entered the trials. But she couldn’t make herself relax. Any small slipup could reveal her identity. Any little clue could end this charade. An attack could come the moment she let down her guard.

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