SuperNova: Heroes of Arcania Page 20

  “The only description you’ll have is tall and dark blue eyes. I’ve only ever seen him in a black suit,” I said. “Are you sure that’s enough to go on?”

  “It’s enough for her,” Cole said, with such confidence that I believed him. “I’ll be able to get a good look at anyone who avoids eye contact. If I even suspect it’s him, I follow long enough to get an idea of when he’ll attack.”

  I bit my lip, looking down at the information we’d gathered. “What if we go to the wrong bank and he hits the other one?”

  He paused, acknowledging the concern. His hand reached out and covered mine, despite Penelope being in the room. “It’s a chance we have to take, if we’re going to take it.”

  “And if he doesn’t rob another bank at all?”

  “He’s robbed nearly all of them. There are only a few left.”

  My stomach knotted. “He bombed that last one, he might not be planning on money anymore.”

  Cole smiled. “We stole his money. No matter how much he already has, that’s going to make him angry. Probably angry enough to try and get more.”

  The thought didn’t make me feel better. My breath whooshed out, blowing my long bangs out of my eyes. “This is a long shot.”

  Cole’s lips pursed, but he remained serious. “I know, but we aren’t going to track him all the way back to his lair. He doesn’t know us, so he’ll never suspect. The worst that happens is Pen and I miss a couple days of classes. No big deal.”

  Pen finally moved from the couch, presumably to the bathroom. “Dibs on afternoon shifts. I hate geometry.”

  “That’s fine,” Cole said, glancing at me, “I like my afternoon classes anyway.”

  I blushed, trying to keep from grinning like an idiot at him. Luckily, Penelope flounced upstairs and out of sight. I gave a pointed look to his hand, still over mine on the table.

  “You’re doing that thing where you’re being so cute I can’t stand it,” I whispered to him.

  Cole bit his lip, which did not help my hormones. “Sorry.”

  “Liar.”

  The straight white teeth appeared again, blinding me with his mischievous grin. “You’re right. I’m not.”

  He swooped in for a kiss, eliciting a purr of surprise from me. My hands wound in his thick hair and I let myself get caught in the moment. Penelope thumped on the top stairs above us and Cole broke away. I pouted, straightening my shirt.

  “You’re killing me,” he said, eyeing my bottom lip.

  “You started it.”

  The next day, I went to my locker after lunch and Cole snuck up behind me. He poked my side and I whirled around, lighting up at his appearance. I’d worried all morning, knowing he might bump into Fortune hunting for his next bank robbery. Relief swept through me.

  “No Fortune this morning,” Cole whispered to me. I looked up to find his gold eyes shining. He planted a kiss on my lips, pulling back only a few inches.

  “That’s good, I guess,” I said, distracted by, well, everything about him.

  He gave me a crooked grin, like he knew what I was thinking. “Pen will keep an eye on things until the bank closes.”

  “Okay,” I said, though with his lips so close to mine, I sort of forgot what we were talking about.

  “We should skip class,” he suggested, waggling his eyebrows. “Go back to my house and make out.”

  I burst out laughing, hands going to his chest to push him away in protest. “Stop sounding like such a guy.”

  “But I am a guy,” he argued, pulling me back in with his arm around my waist, “and you can’t blame me for thinking about how beautiful you are all the time.”

  “Nice try, but I’m not skipping class,” I said in a dry tone. “I have to graduate, you know.”

  Cole groaned but walked with me to class, interlacing his fingers with mine as we went down the hallway. “You know, Henry mentioned college applications the other day.”

  A knot formed in my stomach. “Oh yeah?”

  Cole nodded, shooting me a look as we wormed our way through the crowd.

  “I guess I better get on that, too,” I said, laughing it off. “What about you?”

  “I’ve sent a few out. Have you applied anywhere?”

  “No, which is worrying my mom,” I admitted. “I used to plan to get out of town and into pre-law, but lately I haven’t given it much thought. Been sort of busy with other things.”

  He nodded in understanding and looked down at our clasped hands. “What do you think about Arcania U?”

  I shrugged. “Might be a good way start somewhere and transfer into a school of choice later on.”

  Cole lowered his voice, bowing his head to mine. “I’m just thinking, might be a good way to stick around town should anything happen.”

  “Or continues,” I added darkly, souring at the idea of Fortune still causing mayhem in a year. Assuming we even could end his reign of terror, who knew how long that would take?

  Despite how very badly I wanted to spend time with Cole, I had to stay on my parents’ good side (an idea Cole sincerely supported). Since I’d promised my mom a better grade on my next calculus test, I spent some time after dinner studying. Just when I considered ripping my own hair out from sheer boredom, my phone buzzed on the nightstand. I nearly bounced off the bed getting to it.

  Pen is otw.

  Be right there.

  I wasted no time in heading over. To my great disappointment, Penelope had only moments ago beaten me home. Her long blond hair shone in the porch light as she waved me over.

  “Good timing,” I said, ignoring the daydream of making out with Cole for a few minutes before she returned.

  Shoving it out of my head, I followed Penelope as she stalked into her living room. With a huff, she tossed her backpack on the couch. “I didn’t know that bank stayed open until seven o’clock. Geez, a little warning on the long afternoon shifts would’ve been nice.”

  “Sorry, Pen,” Cole said, not looking a bit like it.

  A wink at me when she turned away confirmed it. I, on the other hand, couldn’t stop staring at his lips. When I bit my own lower lip, his eyes flicked downward and I grinned.

  Penelope scowled at her brother. “Now I know why you were so eager to take the morning shift. Done in four hours instead of six. Way to twist the knife in your sister’s back.”

  Cole deflated. “Oh, c’mon Pen, I’ll take tomorrow. Don’t be like that.”

  “No, you won’t,” she said. He tried to argue and she put a hand up. “Because Fortune was there this afternoon. I know when he’s going to strike next.”

  I made Penelope swear up and down on every deity we knew that she’d really, truly spotted Fortune.

  “Tall, lanky, dark blue eyes,” Penelope repeated for the seventh time. “Pretty handsome actually, but he knows it. Definitely arrogant, I could tell from how he observed people. Douchebag mama’s boy, from what I’d guess.”

  I started. “There’s no way you could possibly—”

  “I don’t know, she’s pretty good with that stuff,” Cole interrupted. My words dropped off in disbelief.

  “Never would’ve pictured Fortune for a mama’s boy. Wonder if we can use that.” I made a mental note, thinking maybe we could look up birth certificates or something.

  “Now we can pick him out of a lineup,” Cole said.

  “I’m tempted to send you to a sketch artist,” I said, absentmindedly eyeing Penelope.

  She made a face. “I will if it comes to that, but we’re supposed to be staying under the radar too, remember? Hard to explain how I knew it was him or what we’re up to.”

  I grimaced, hating that our saving Arcania occasionally had these annoying catch twenty-twos.

  “Nice suit,” Penelope added, examining her fresh polish. “Expensive.”

  My gut twisted. “That’s him.”

  Cole spared me a concerned look, but instead addressed his sister. “How do you know when he’ll be back?”

  “He told
the bank teller he’d see her tomorrow. When she questioned it, he said he’d be making a ‘substantial withdrawal,’” Penelope said using finger quotes. “She didn’t get the joke.”

  My stomach twisted. Fortune was twisted, playing with potential victims like that. How could someone get a rush from scaring people? That bank teller might be in even more danger since she’d seen his face.

  “For the final time,” Cole asked me, as serious as could be, “are you sure you don’t want to tell your dad about this? They can get the police to keep an eye out or go over previous footage to try and connect Fortune to the robberies.”

  I glanced at Penelope’s frown. “No, we’ve already decided. We have to do this ourselves; if Fortune even suspects cops are nearby, he’ll run and we’ve lost any possible ground in capturing him.”

  “All right.” Cole’s hands slapped together. “Let’s get started then.”

  Once we decided we were as sure as we were going to get, we devised a plan. The three of us would hang outside the bank, guarding the entrances. From what we could tell, Fortune almost always came in the back way. If we stopped him before he got inside, we could theoretically cut him off and save everyone from his wrath. The problem was, we had to stop him— otherwise everyone was pretty much screwed.

  “And you’re sure he didn’t spot you,” I asked Penelope for the millionth time.

  “No,” she said, tugging on her ponytail in frustration. “And if you ask me again, I’m going to change the answer and really screw with your head, so chill out.”

  I clamped my mouth shut; Cole shot me an apologetic look.

  I didn’t know why, but I knew Fortune would attack the bank at the time he’d shown his face. He’d stood at that counter at four o’clock and warned that bank clerk. I was so sure of it that Penelope didn’t bother arguing about it.

  The next day was like any other, with morning classes and lunch with Henry. My nerves grew as the afternoon progressed. Cole and I didn’t talk or write notes during government class, but our hands stayed on the desk, the sides of our palms touching just enough to keep me calm.

  As soon as our last class ended, Cole, Penelope and I packed in and headed west. We wouldn’t be downtown, not this time. That made it a little nerve-wracking. Different territory meant a different exit strategy. We’d have to memorize where we parked and hope we didn’t have to split up. No one spoke on the way there; I was too busy imagining all the ways this could go bad. Then again, if I spotted Fortune, I expected it would be bad no matter the outcome. My hands itched to get around his throat.

  We’d studied the area before going, but kept the maps ready on our phones anyway. Cutting through a parking lot, we slipped another street over. Skidding to a stop by the small county library, we snuck our way through the small garden. The back of the bank would be just around the corner. Sure enough, when we turned, a group of five men stood outside the back door.

  Cole raised a brow at me, clear in his meaning. What do we do now?

  Penelope pointed up at a window. “Look!”

  Cole and I followed the direction of her finger. A woman sat at her desk on the second floor, gazing out the window to the scene below. She wore a horrified expression and I saw her shaky hand reach for the phone. Her lips moved as she spoke into the receiver. A few seconds later, she pushed away from her desk, disappearing into the building.

  Luck on our part. The police would be on their way now thanks to her; we could go ahead and move in to make sure Fortune and his men didn’t hurt anyone. Then the police could step in.

  The knot in my stomach tightened, though I didn’t know if it was from hope or fear. Stifling my thoughts, I put my hands up, motioning for Cole to use his gift. He closed his eyes, his hands coming up into fists. The air stilled. His hands shook with the effort.

  “They’re gifted, all right,” he said between clenched teeth.

  I bounded forward, checking their builds and eye color. Nothing matched my memory of Fortune’s masked face, but I knew in my gut I’d know him when I saw him again.

  Cole lost control of one of the men. He broke through the time freeze, spotting me. Without warning, his cheeks blew up and he spit at me. A green goo left his lips and hit me square in the shoulder. I looked down, disgusted.

  “Yuck! I admit that stings a little, but I’m mostly grossed out about your gift,” I said.

  His annoyed expression was almost worth the ooze now burning a hole in my shirt. I wasn’t lying; the viscous liquid did hurt. I wasn’t thrilled about that, but I would never give him the satisfaction. Instead I used a sleeve to wipe off the remaining substance, my shoulder instantly feeling better when cool air hit my skin. My shirt, however, would have to be tossed.

  The gifted goo man blew up his cheeks again. Without warning, Penelope’s hand went up. The goo snapped back in the guy’s face. He shouted, clawing at his eyes and using his sleeves to get the poison out. Then Penelope sent him zooming backwards and out of view.

  “Way to be stealth, Pen,” I muttered.

  “Element of surprise,” she said.

  “On them or us?” I snapped.

  Cole cursed as he lost control and the men stumbled out of their still positions. Another pulled what looked like a weapon, not yet spotting us. Penelope sent the armed man flying with the flick of her wrist. The rest of the men turned to find us; Cole, sweaty from exertion, had to catch his breath. I tried to spare us some time.

  “Where’s Fortune?” I shouted.

  “Right here,” a voice said behind me.

  I spun, horror already stuck in my throat. Sure enough, I turned to see the man who refused to leave my nightmares: Fortune. He kept his gift at bay, allowing me to truly see him for the first time since he’d wrecked my entire world.

  Masked and in an all black suit, he looked just as he did the day he murdered my little sister. Midnight blue eyes held me in my spot, curiosity clear in his gaze. Anger and adrenaline kicked in, every nerve pulsing in time with my rapid heartbeat.

  “I wondered if you’d get my message,” Fortune said.

  My fear factor tripled. He wanted Penelope to see him at that bank. He’d anticipated our coming after him. My chin jutted out as I forced myself to meet his eyes. Under the ski mask, his lips curled up in a knowing smile.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you from my friends.”

  His gaze flicked to Cole and Penelope. Cole didn’t move, which I thought was a wise move. No need to provoke a human lightning rod.

  Penelope didn’t have the same opinion. She flicked her arm out and Fortune went flying back. My heart stuck in my throat as he soared through the air, crashing in a heap to the pavement.

  Fortune climbed to his feet, anger all over him. Little sparks of blue leapt off his hands, making my stomach churn. A murderous expression on his face, he stalked forward. Smoothing down his shirt and tie, he came straight for me. He waved a hand at one of his men, who moved without hesitation.

  “Hey!” Penelope shouted as the man’s arms went around her. The guy had to be an Unbreakable like me, though his bulky body looked like he’d done too many steroids. He enveloped her small form, keeping her from moving any which direction. His beefy free hand went over her eyes, effectively blocking her gift.

  Cole moved to fight but Fortune held up a forefinger. Light sizzled off the tip and he pointed at Cole.

  “I don’t think so, kid.”

  “Let go of her,” Cole replied, jerking his chin in Penelope’s direction.

  Fortune bared his teeth. “Let me in that building.”

  I stepped in front of the door, widening my stance. “You’ll have to get through me first.”

  He gave me a once-over, raising a brow. “Seems easy enough.”

  Fortune threw his hand out, lightning leaving his palms. At the distraction, Cole’s own hands went up, fists closing to still everything again. He did it just in time, Fortune’s bolts mere millimeters away from frying my neck.

  I looked up in shock at C
ole, who had stopped time to keep me alive. Without thinking twice, I sidestepped the electricity and wound my arm. Throwing every bit of force behind it, I swung, making contact with the side of Fortune’s face. His frozen body tilted backward and I hoped I broke the monster’s jaw.

  “Help Pen,” Cole said through gritted teeth. The effort of holding Fortune would wear on him fast. He let go of his hold on Penelope, who looked shocked when she came to, still in the Unbreakable’s hold.

  I hustled to get Pen out of the enemy’s clutches. She squirmed out of the slimeball’s hold, brushing off my help. The Telekinetic flung her arms out — her captor slammed backwards into the bank’s brick wall. She did the same with the last remaining men, who’d started to charge at us.

  “Now what?” she growled.

  “There are too many gifted,” I said, glancing from angry man to angry man. “They’ll kill us if Fortune doesn’t.”

  “You’d let him into the bank?”

  “The police should be here any minute,” Cole pointed out.

  “Leaving Fortune time to get in there and kill someone.” Penelope didn’t look at us as she spoke, her voice hard.

  I glanced up at the darkening sky and back to the open back door. Thinking quickly, I darted the three steps inside and found what I needed: the fire alarm. My fingers grabbed the tiny latch and jerked it down; the entire piece came off the wall, but an alarm blared overhead as the sprinklers took effect. Outside of Cole’s reach, people inside the bank shouted their displeasure and I hauled butt out of there and back outside. Cole and Pen waited, his hands still keeping a hold over Fortune and his men. Sweat dripped down his face.

  “When you say the word,” Cole advised. “Time’s trying to catch back up.”

  “Run!” I shrieked.

  I turned and sprinted. Cole and Penelope were close on my heels, feet pounding hard in the dirt. We went back a different way than we came, going as fast as our legs would take us. No one appeared to be chasing after us, but that didn’t stop us. Five alleys and three one-way streets later, we hustled to the obscure parking lot we’d found. Once by the car, we all doubled over, catching our breath. Our loud gasps broke the silence, our breath showing in the chilling afternoon air.