SuperNova: Heroes of Arcania Read online

  “Good thinking on the fire alarm,” Cole said once he’d caught his breath. “Pen, are you okay?’

  Penelope shot her brother a stunned look. “You saved her over me.”

  Cole immediately straightened, hands waving in protest. “No, that’s not—”

  “He saved both of us,” I tried.

  Pen wasn’t having any of it. She glared at us, eyes darting back and forth on our guilty faces. “You’re together now, aren’t you?”

  My mouth opened and closed; I looked at Cole, ready to follow his lead. To my surprise, he reached for my hand, interlacing our fingers.

  “Yes,” he said. His chest puffed up with pride and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning.

  Penelope, however, was not amused. My joy died at her hateful expression. “Well, that’s just great. Another person to up and leave me.”

  Cole, alarmed, moved to stop her from leaving. His fingers slipped from mine. “God, Pen, of course not. How could you even think that?”

  “You saved her.” Penelope slowed her speech to make her point. “Not me. Her.”

  Cole paled. “I was closer to her, Fortune was about to sizzle her…your gift, I thought…”

  “Tells me everything I need to know,” she practically spat.

  The devastation on Cole’s face spurred me into motion. “Penelope, you’re being overdramatic. Yes, we’re dating, but you’re his sister. I’m never going to be able to read his mind like you can!”

  My lame attempt at a joke only pissed her off. Her hands closed into fists by her sides, words coming out like a growl between gritted teeth.

  “I am not a Telepath.”

  She turned on her heel and I shot Cole a half-apologetic, half-frustrated look. We assured her we were well aware of her gift, but Penelope ignored us, stomping the last few steps to the car. She sulked in the backseat on the way back; Cole shot her looks in the rearview mirror every five seconds.

  Good thing she’s not a Telepath or she’d know that I think she’s being a real bi—

  “You think I’m being a brat,” Penelope announced from behind us.

  I started, unable to stop my sarcasm. “Close enough.”

  I turned to see her glare at me. She flipped her long hair over one shoulder. “I should just go off on my own, take care of Fortune myself.”

  “The hell you will,” I growled.

  “Don’t threaten like that,” Cole warned her. “You know Dad will put you under lock and key if he hears you talk like that.”

  “Dad’s never around to do anything about his big talk,” she scoffed. “Besides, doesn’t he think it’s just a matter of time anyway?”

  Cole paled, glanced over his shoulder at her. “What do you mean?”

  I gnawed at the inside of my cheek, about as uncomfortable as I could be. “This is really none of my business—”

  “No, Nova, you’re dating Cole now, might as well know what his family’s really like,” Penelope said, full of venom.

  “Your life is not awful,” I said, turning to look at her. “My sister, your mom…we might’ve lost people, but we have homes, food, family. What’ve you got to be so mad about?”

  She scowled. “You have no clue about my life. Of the power I have or the fight it takes to control it. Don’t give me some big speech or try to relate to me because we have something in common. One dead family member doesn’t make us BFFs.”

  I sucked in a breath and sat back in my seat. Cole took a wide turn into their driveway, slamming on his brakes. He jammed the gear into park and turning to his sibling.

  “That’s enough, Penelope!” Cole’s harsh bark made her flinch. “Don’t ever talk to Nova like that, or me for that matter. We’re all on the same side here.”

  “Sorry, that was too far,” Penelope muttered. She slouched against the seat, arms crossed as she stared defiantly out the window. My fingers inching to the door handle, I remained quiet.

  Cole didn’t back down. “Pen, promise me.”

  “What?” Penelope didn’t look at him, childishly refusing to meet his gaze.

  “Promise me you won’t go off searching for Fortune.”

  I silently fumed at the idea. If she went off and took care of Fortune without me, I’d make her regret it. I was the whole reason she was in this situation. I would not miss out on my opportunity to capture my sister’s murderer.

  Cole prodded again and Penelope threw her hands in the air, exasperated. “Fine Cole, geez! Get a grip, I’m not that stupid.”

  “Then why even say it?” Cole asked. He ran a hand through his hand, tugging on the ends in frustration.

  “To piss you off!” Penelope replied. She huffed, opening the door and stepping out of the car. “Eff this. I’m going inside.”

  I took my cue and also slid out of the car, awkwardly waving at Cole. I moved to walk away and he quickly caught up to me.

  “I’ll walk you home.”

  “I can do that myself, if you have other things to take care of,” I said, jerking a thumb back toward his house. “Pen seems pretty mad.”

  “She’ll get over it. She always does.” The grim smile said otherwise, but I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it.

  “She always gets over the many girlfriends you have?” I asked, half-teasing, half-desperate to know the answer.

  Cole looked horrified. “No, I meant—no, no way. No girlfriends. I mean, a couple, but nothing like…this.”

  The way he said it eased any anxiety. I smiled, relaxing. “If you’re going to insist on walking me home, can I at least change the subject?”

  “By all means, please.” He reached for my hand, gently swinging our arms as we walked.

  “Despite the bumps, I think we could call today a success, right? I mean, we managed to prevent Fortune from hurting anyone.” Even if it had been mostly a trap for us. I pushed away the negative thought, not wanting to give in to darker memories.

  “No money and no murders,” Cole said, smiling in agreement. “That is a good day.”

  I laughed as we came to the spot where I usually cut through backyards. I went for the usual path, but Cole pulled me back onto the sidewalk. We resumed walking in front of houses and cars.

  “We’re done hiding in the shadows tonight,” he said. “Now I’m just walking my girlfriend home from a date.”

  “A very strange date,” I agreed with a giggle.

  He checked his watch. “You know, we could get dinner,” he suggested.

  I glanced at him in surprise. “Really?”

  He shrugged. “Why not?”

  I’d forgotten it was still early evening; we had plenty of time to do whatever we wanted. Joy spread through me, a warmth deep in my bones. Now that Penelope knew about us, we were officially…well, maybe not “official” but we didn’t have anything to hide. I didn’t even care about some stupid title, not wanting to pressure him into anything too fast. (After seeing Amber with a few of her boyfriends, I didn’t want to get the rep of a clingy girlfriend.)

  To my great pleasure, Cole took me out to dinner as suggested. On a whim, we decided on a movie at the theater beside the restaurant. On a school night, we were the only ones in the theater, taking full advantage of it by making out for pretty much the duration of the film. He even had me home by nine.

  A normal date night for normal Nova. Imagine that.

  Nova and I agreed to take the next night off, from both vigilantism and each other. She grumbled about homework and possible college applications, while I wanted to make sure Penelope didn’t feel excluded.

  I knocked on her bedroom door. “Hey Pen, you wanna go see a movie or something?”

  “No,” she replied sullenly from her spot on the bed. She barely looked up from her phone to acknowledge me. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”

  “I want to hang out with you,” I said, hoping it sounded more honest than it felt. Penelope was like a bomb these days, just waiting to blow up at any minute. I didn’t want
to give her any reasons to go off on me.

  “Sure you don’t need to go off to meet Nova?”

  “Not tonight. Come on, Pen, I have a surprise for you.”

  At that, I finally got her to agree to come downstairs, where I had two giant bowls of ice cream waiting for us.

  “Rocky Road,” she mused, swiping her finger through whipped cream. “Nice bribe.”

  “I shouldn’t have to bribe my sister to hang out,” I reprimanded.

  We sat there for a few moments, eating our ice cream at the kitchen table. The quiet was weird, seeing as how Penelope usually tried to fill it by talking or playing music at an ear-shattering decibel.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “You’re acting kinda weird.”

  She quirked an eyebrow. “Weirder than normal, you mean?”

  “Weird for you, yeah.”

  “So I guess you two are going to the big dance together?” Penelope asked, not looking at me as she dodged the question.

  I nodded anyway. “Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be weird. We can ride together—”

  Pen laughed in a humorless fashion. “I will not be the third wheel to this cliched high school event. Besides, I can find a date if I really wanted to go.”

  “I know that,” I said, the words rushing out of me in an effort to prevent a fight. “What I mean is you should be there too. We can have a little fun, you know? Take a night off from chasing the bad guys, pretend to be normal for once.”

  She flipped her hair over her shoulders and scoffed. “‘Normal.’ What is your obsession with that? We are gifted. We should be allowed to be whoever we want, whenever we want.”

  “Pen—”

  “I know,” she snapped, mocking me with air quotes, “‘don’t say things like that’ or you’ll tell Dad. I heard you the first thousand times.”

  “I just don’t understand where this anger is coming from. Is my dating Nova really that big a deal?”

  She blew out her breath, strands of hair rising up in her face. “No,” she admitted, “it’s not, but I like to take my frustrations out on you. Sorry.”

  Whatever I’d wanted to say died on my lips, not having expected an apology. Penelope wasn’t exactly known for remorse. The look on her face made me hesitate, though. “Pen, what is it?”

  “Cole, I know,” Penelope said, her voice as serious as I’d ever heard it.

  My brow furrowed as I tried to follow. “Know what?”

  “I was in Dad’s office. I didn’t mean to hear it…”

  Realization came over me and I suddenly felt sick. “You mean—”

  She nodded, turning away from me.

  “When?” I asked.

  “A couple days ago,” she answered without looking at me. “I wasn’t snooping, but when I saw my name, I couldn’t not look.”

  “Pen…”

  “How long have you known?”

  I stared her down, not sure if honesty would make it better or worse. “A while, Pen. I’ve known for a while.”

  “Figures.” She let a curtain of hair fall down to cover her face. “I know why Dad’s so strict, why you have to keep tabs on me. I’m dangerous.”

  My hands instinctively reached out for her. “No, you are not. I refuse to believe that.”

  She pulled back, looking at me like I’d betrayed her in some way. “Yes I am, and you know it! I’m going to turn into a monster!”

  “Don’t say that,” I tried again. “We’ll find a way, you’re not in this alone—”

  Her voice turned shrill. “Cole, you can’t save me from myself!”

  I had no answer for that. Penelope stomped back into her room and locked the door behind her. She wouldn’t answer my pleading and knocking. The only time she replied the rest of the night was to shout at me to stop texting her. She heard her future. I laid awake all night, worried sick over what this meant for my little sister.

  The next morning, I checked every local news station as I’d done the day before. To my great surprise and relief, there still weren’t any headlines about Fortune, or any strange vigilante heroes, for that matter. Actually, the entire day was pretty normal: class, lunch with Henry and Cole (Pen claimed a migraine and skipped the entire day), and more class. No one shot me looks when they thought I couldn’t see them; the walk home with Cole and Henry was as funny as always.

  Finally, normal. Normal is good.

  Cole and I had gotten through class without too much distractions. We’d agreed not to talk about it in public, but we scribbled a few notes about the other night’s save. He was just as surprised as I was that we’d apparently scared Fortune off.

  After school, I sprawled out on my couch to read an assignment for English class. Cole had gone to clean his suit and Henry stayed after with his newspaper advisor. I’d been behind on schoolwork and promised myself a manicure if I got something done before Saturday’s dance. Unfortunately, my body was out of whack on this sleep schedule so I wasn’t doing a great job of staying awake. I’d nearly nodded off when Henry came in without knocking. I jerked awake, my whole body wanting to go into fight mode. Being on high alert every night didn’t do wonders for my nerves.

  Henry stayed near the door, a weird look on his face. “Uh, wow. What’s with you?”

  I sucked in air, tried to catch my breath. “You gotta start knocking.”

  He laughed, not understanding. “I never knock. What’d you do last night? Make out with Cole?”

  “Something like that.” I grimaced, trying to get the subject off me. “What about you?”

  “Uh, nothing. Had a paper to work on.”

  Henry came over to crash on the couch. I sat up and he laid his unzipped bag on the table. When he kicked his feet up on the table, he accidentally knocked it over. Half its contents spilled out all over the floor. He cursed under his breath and moved to pick it up. I helped him, picking up a notepad and newspaper clippings. I froze when I saw the headline: Fortune Does Not Favor.

  “What are you doing with this?” I shot him a quizzical glance.

  He hesitated and I looked down to the rest of the pile. Every clipping had something to do with Fortune, the headlines and captions about the robberies and murders. Another look went to the notepad, Henry’s familiar handwriting scribbled all over it. Names, addresses, random pieces clearly littered page after page. I noticed my own name appeared at least twice on the first page. My blood ran cold.

  “What is all this?”

  Henry shrugged. “Research.”

  I had to put my hand down so he didn’t see it shaking. “For what?”

  He grinned, tossing his hair out of his eyes. “My expose.”

  “You’re writing a story on Fortune.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yeah, I’ve been looking at some details, why?”

  “Why?” A hysterical laugh escaped me. “Because Fortune will kill you if you find him.”

  “You have too much faith in me,” he tried to joke. “I’m just collecting stories already written about him.”

  I leapt to my feet, waving the notepad around. “I know what this is, Henry! This is what you do when you think you’ve got something. When you start obsessing that there’s a real story around the corner. You aren’t collecting, you’re investigating.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” he shot back, defensive.

  “He will kill you.” I enunciated every word, emotions rising up like a tornado in my gut.

  “Whoa, calm down,” Henry said, his hands going palm up. “I’m not chasing after him or anything. I’m just putting together his trail, connecting the dots.”

  “What dots?”

  “Anywhere he might’ve already been. Similar bomb work or murders. I think I’m close to something, Nova.”

  The blood drained from my face. My shoulders sagged. “I see.”

  In his growing excitement, he didn’t notice my reaction. His smile widened and he leaned on the edge of the sofa cushion. “There’s something else. Something totally out of the blue a
nd it’s incredible.”

  “What is it?”

  “Fortune tried to rob a bank yesterday.”

  I felt sick. “How do you know that?”

  Henry didn’t notice my expression, practically glowing as he spilled the juicy news. “A witness said that people stopped Fortune before he got inside. They saved all those people inside and got away. They wore masks, but…Nova, they had like, powers. I know what you’re thinking, it sounds crazy, but I think it’s legit.”

  My nauseousness suddenly had nothing to do with Henry’s enthusiasm. Cole’s gift had missed somebody and now we would be all over the news. That woman who called the cops maybe? My father was going to be so mad. I sank back on to the couch, staring at my best friend. “What witness?”

  His enthusiasm died as he looked everywhere but me. “You know I can’t reveal my sources. This one is top-tier anonymous, given the psychotic murderer on the loose.”

  I raised a brow. Henry didn’t usually act so cagey. Before I could question it, he changed the subject, his voice full of awe. “Can you believe it? Vigilante superheroes, right here in Arcania.”

  “Uh huh.” My response came out like a squeak. What do I do? Is there a handbook I can check?

  “I know the power thing sounds nuts. I obviously have to verify that part before including it in anything. But if it’s true…man, that’d be so awesome,” he said, not paying me any attention. “I bet there’s a huge story there.”

  Warning, warning. “Sure, it’s definitely…something.”

  Henry zoned back on on me. “I thought you’d be at least a little happy about it. Who knows, maybe these guys can stop Fortune.”

  Henry’s questioning look didn’t help my guilt. I managed a weak smile. “I guess it’s cool. But Fortune’s really dangerous. Who knows if he can be stopped.”

  “How could you even think such a thing?” He narrowed his eyes on me. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  Startled, my mouth fell open. “What?”