♂
“Fliers, forward!” Adrianna roars, over the endless screaming. She waves her sword like it’s a banner.
The noise is deafening. It’s difficult to see ahead because of all the dust. The skies are red, and the ground’s a red only a little bit darker. On every side, something booms, like explosions are going off not far away.
All of this is over the hundreds of voices screaming.
The source is obvious. Hundreds of dark spears on the other side of the smoke.
They’re not separate soldiers. They’re attached to each other, shields oozing into other people’s shoulders, legs melted into a single mass. Like a bush made of bloody spears. Charging forward, screaming.
So this is Aeropagus.
Gwen takes her cue. Penny’s on her right side, Becca’s on her left. They charge forward, toward the oozing red spears.
“Fliers, strike!”
Gwen obeys. Suspended in air, she stabs with her white branches. They burst through red rib cages, rippling through the charging mass.
Becca takes the chunk of rubble that’s orbiting around her and hurls it into the monstrous army. In the same moment, Penny’s five turret-drones move in synch. They assemble in a diamond shape in front of her, each one letting off a volley of bullets.
“Fliers, return! Mobile squad, forward!”
Kate vanishes where she’s standing. Gwen leads her squad back to Adrianna and the team.
Yvonne leaps on lion-back, her claws and the lion’s cutting through the mass of humanoids, enlarging the clearing Gwen helped make a moment earlier. Kate appears from her shadow step and stabs a torso and then another, leaping from warrior to warrior.
“Back!” Adrianna bellows. “Rangers, volley!”
Trisha raises her bow, Adri her sword. Moira’s doing something strange with her rope.
“Fire!”
Blasts of light and red arrows hit the gelatinous army at the same time Moira’s ropes rip off spear-carrying limbs. And still the screaming mass keeps coming.
“Group volley! Fire!”
Gwen, Becca, and Penny add their firepower. Bullets and branches tear into the mass.
“Again!”
Red torsos sag onto the red soil.
“Again!”
They fall like weeds piled on top of each other.
Gwen sees something. “Right flank!” she calls. A separate mass of spearmen is slipping around Moira’s ropes.
“Defenders, right flank!” Adrianna echoes.
Bonnie, Yvonne, and Lana move to cover the right side. Lana’s shield flies forward, pushing the blob back; Bonnie swings her hammers with earthquake force.
And then, suddenly, it’s over.
The bristling mass lies still.
Silent.
Now all Gwen can hear is the bombs going off in the distance.
She looks out into the dust. Shapes move that might be more bodies. She something like a mound of craggy stone.
She flies back down.
“More denizens,” she says, hovering by Adrianna’s face like Miracle does. “Scattered, though. Stone mountain to the north. Probably where the heart is.”
Adrianna nods, jaw firm. “We follow the plan. Anything comes at us, we stick to formation. Agreed?
Everyone nods.
“Gwen, take your group and scout. Clear the way if you need to, but come back quickly.”
Gwen nods. “Got it.” She rises up again and leads her group into the dust.
Deeper into the guts of Aeropagus.
Gwen was hoping to get a sense of where the denizens were, but she can’t see shit. She can barely see Becca and Penny beside her. Streaks of gravel scour her face. She wants to scream.
She bursts out into clearer air.
Balls of fire are raining down around her.
No. Gwen gets a look at the next one.
It’s a person. Set ablaze, curled up and screaming.
“Gwen!”
Gwen hears Becca’s warning a second too late.
Another burning person strikes her heel, sends her reeling. She loses her grip on the air and falls, down, down through dust clouds—
She lands painfully on the red gravel.
When she looks up, the storm’s cleared, and she can see what’s ahead.
It’s the giant hill of stone, rising in front of her like a rusty monument.
Gwen starts towards it.
Figures start rising from the ground.
They’re taller than the hill, taller than mountains. Cloaked, armless bodies wrapped up with only the eyes visible. Their heads are lost inside their curved headwear, crescents with the tips pointed down. There must be ten or more.
One raises a long snake of an arm from its cloak to point forward. Its voice is like the sound of the bombs.
YOU HURT HER.
Gwen’s heart stops.
Are they talking about— No, they can’t be. Can they?
YOU CUT HER, the voice booms. YOU MADE HER SUFFER.
Gwen’s heart races. “I didn’t!” she protests. “We were just hanging out! It was all in my head, it wasn’t anything!”
MONSTER. WE SENTENCE YOU—
“I didn’t!”
“Gwen?” It’s Becca’s voice.
Gwen looks up and sees Becca and Penny landing beside her.
“You okay?” Becca asks.
“Yes,” Gwen squeaks out, even though she’s mortified.
“Did these guys call you a criminal?” Becca asks.
“I—”
“Because they’ve been doing that to us for the last five minutes. Very annoying.”
Gwen catches her breath. “They say the same thing to everybody?”
“Yeah. It’s like they have a fixation.”
The tall figures aren’t pointing at Gwen. They’re pointing to the rock.
“Oh,” Gwen says.
“More trouble,” Penny says, frowning at it.
Two tiny figures are crouched at the top of the stone.
“Back to the others,” Gwen says, rising up. “We tell them what we’ve seen.”
But as Gwen turns, she sees Adri and the others coming through the dust.
“Gwen!” Adrianna calls out. Lana’s at her shoulder, guarding her with her shield. There’s a big scorch mark on it. Everyone looks worn down.
“Up there!” Gwen calls out. “That has to be our target!”
Adri nods grimly. She looks at the towering judges. “Let’s see how close we can get.”
They charge.
As they run, the rock starts lowering itself to the ground. On the raised platform, two figures come into view.
One’s the same green as a soldier’s uniform. It’s curled up over a golden figure, the only thing anywhere that’s flooded with light. A little girl in a yellow dress. Her eyes are closed.
There’s a long, bloody cut on her arm.
Gwen lands beside the pair. The soldier thing’s hunched over the child, its hand to its chest like it’s praying.
The towering judges surround the scene.
YOU STRUCK HER. YOU MADE HER BLEED. MONSTER, MONSTER—
From the green figure’s unmoving mouth words come.
I didn’t know I didn’t know she was there I didn’t mean to I didn’t know I thought I thought it was happening again I thought I was back in the war I didn’t mean to hurt her I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry—
GUILTY, boom the towering figures. GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY.
Then, like an afterthought:
THE SENTENCE IS DEATH.
The green figure stands up.
Yes, it sings. Death, death.
Gwen sees its hands. It wasn’t praying. Its hands are holding blades.
It has one plunged into its own heart.
With an effort, it pulls it free.
Blood pours out from the wound, a torrent. It washes over the little girl, and she’s gone.
Arms burst from the figure, massive, the size of tree trunks, each one ending in a silver blade. Four heads like dogs bulge over the shoulders. They open their mouths.
Human screaming comes out.
“Block!” Adrianna screams, but Lana’s already on it, throwing out a water shield to protect Bonnie and Moira.
“Fliers, first position! Yvonne, flank! Bonnie, front! Everyone else, fire on my signal!”
Gwen rises with her squad as Lana’s barrier throws a silver arm aside. Below, Bonnie runs forward, Yvonne and Ambrose dart towards one of the arms on the side.
Another arm comes shooting out of the mass of screaming limbs.
“Fire!” Adrianna shouts, over the din.
Gwen lets loose. Branches stab into the mottled mass. Penny’s drones are firing, Becca’s launching her boulder in an arc. Fire and water and arrows and jagged rocks smash into the green flesh.
But the first arm is coming back—Gwen sees the silver blade swing out of the corner of her eye, turns too late—
Bonnie catches it.
Her whole body’s straining, her eyes are bulging, but she’s holding a silver knife bigger than she is between her hammers. With effort, she throws it aside.
“Lana!” Adrianna calls out.
Lana throws her shield. Adri throws a blast of flame as it flies by. Which the shield catches, fire wrapping around its edge. The burning, spinning shield flies through the air—
And severs the giant hand at the wrist.
The hand crashes into the dust. The arm topples, like a tree that’s been growing for a hundred years.
“The center!” Adrianna calls to the rest of them. “Aim for its heart!”
Gwen sees Adrianna’s right. There’s an opening now. Gwen streaks ahead, the others fast behind her.
“Yvonne!” Adrianna calls out.
Yvonne moves again, riding in a circle around the edge of the battlefield, distracting the hands.
A knife-arm whips out from nowhere, hurtling right toward Gwen.
Then it stops. It struggles, like it’s being held by an invisible opponent. A purple glow washes over it.
The massive arm plummets with force into the red ground.
“Bad doggie,” Becca says, gritting her teeth with strain. Penny’s drones are surrounding it, blasting it as it tries to resist Becca’s grip.
“Fire!” Adrianna calls again.
Gwen throws out her branches again. Her breath’s hot and heavy in her throat. She reaches into herself, into her gut. She needs to hit harder than she’s ever hit before, to make this thing dead—
“Fire!”
Gwen hears the sound of bullets hitting the thing’s chest.
“Fire!”
The Nightmare moves. With its remaining arms, it pushes itself up and jumps backwards, evading their attack.
Which is just enough time for Yvonne to leap, too.
Ambrose lands on one elbow and digs his jaws in. The Nightmare tries to shake them off, but they cling on. It rears onto its back arms, snapping its jaws, completely distracted.
“Now, Kate!” Adrianna screams.
Kate reappears, halfway up one of the arms. A little way up from where Yvonne and Ambrose left her.
Dagger in hand, she leaps onto the wound they’ve made.
And plunges her blade into the Nightmare’s open flesh.
The scream is high, human, drawn-out. Limbs flail in every direction.
Like a sped-up implosion, all the heads and arms pull inwards. Until there’s nothing left but Kate holding onto a floating grub.
Kate stabs again.
Dust sprays out from the point of impact. All Gwen can see is red.
Gwen coughs dust out of her lungs. She sees light again.
She looks up.
The sun’s back. They’re back in Benedick, the small town they tracked Aeropagus to.
They’re all covered in red dust. Their clothes, their faces, are streaked with the stuff.
The dust spills out over the streets, down the hill, into alleys below.
Yvonne collapses against a mailbox. Bonnie’s leaning against a rock. Adri, too.
They’re all panting. Gwen feels her own sharp breath. In. Out. She’s not the only one covered in sweat in addition to dust.
“Let’s…never….do that again,” Becca says.
“Good news,” Adrianna pants. “It’s dead. Bad news…”
“I know, I know,” Becca says. “Next time…we’ll have to fight even harder. Hurray.”
No one has a response to that, although to be fair, no one seems to have enough breath to say much of anything.
♂
Gwen looks down at the math test in her hand.
In big red letters, it says: C+.
Well, shit.
Damn it. She knew she was going to do badly on that test while she was taking it, but still.
It doesn’t feel fair that their teachers are still ramping up the work when they’ve been busy almost getting killed by melted blob soldiers.
Forget doing well on the test, she’s barely been able to listen to anything her teachers are saying. Last night she was wide awake in bed, her heart pounding. When she closes her eyes, sometimes she still sees the melted soldiers. Hears the noise of the explosions.
BOOM.
BOOM.
The others seem really tired, too. For once, Penny isn’t talkative. Trisha keeps putting her head on her desk when the teacher’s not looking. Becca leans back in her chair.
Gwen hears footsteps behind her. It’s Adri, jogging to catch up with her. There’s dark circles under her eyes, too. She squeezes Gwen’s hand. Gwen kisses her cheek.
“Hey,” Gwen says. “We did it, huh?” She’s been thinking about it. “We beat another one.” It’s weird how it doesn’t feel like a victory.
“Yeah,” Adrianna says, smiling faintly. “We did.” But she seems distracted.
“Hey, your new tactics worked,” Gwen says. “Be proud.”
“Yeah, I’m glad. I’m hoping to improve them further.”
Gwen elbows her. “You can take a break, you know.”
“Wish I could,” Adrianna says. “I’ve got a meeting with the Captaincy in an hour.”
“Oh,” Gwen says. Great. That’s just what they need. “They’re not making us fight another one just yet, are they? I don’t think any of us are ready.”
“No,” Adri says reassuringly. “It’s nothing like that. They’re just keeping an eye on our recent efforts. I think they have some ideas they want to discuss.”
“What kind of ideas?”
“I don’t know. I’ll try to make sure it goes in a way the whole club would be happy with.”
“Do you need another person there?”
“No, no, it’s fine, I’ll debrief with you later. I’ve got this.”
“Okay,” Gwen says. “Good luck.”
“Thanks,” Adrianna says. “I’d better go get ready.”
They share a brief kiss, and then Adrianna’s running off again.
Gwen watches her run, feeling like a whirlwind’s just spun past.
Should she have told her to take a break? Screw the Captaincy for once and get some actual rest?
It’s like Adri’s a machine that keeps rolling down the road, and Gwen doesn’t know how to stop it.
That good feeling she had, back when she asked Adrianna out. Are things ever going to feel like that again?
Gwen sighs. At least Trisha’s probably around.
She finds Trisha in a side hallway
She’s talking to a small, friendly-looking boy.
He’s wearing glasses, and his hair is messy. He hunches over, like he’s trying to hide himself. But every so often, Trisha says something, and it’s like his confidence comes back. His whole face lights up.
It looks like the two of them were just in the process of saying goodbye.
“It’s going to be okay,” Trisha says, her hands in his. “I’m not going to let her take me from you.”
They kiss on the lips, hard. It takes a second for him to pull away. He squeezes her hand, then disappears down the hallway.
Trisha nearly jumps when Gwen appears around the corner.
“Gwen! Thank Moon it’s you.”
“Was that Isaac?” Gwen asks.
“Yeah,” Trisha says, “but let’s not talk about it here, okay? Agh. So stupid. I have to be more careful about who sees—”
“It’s bad?”
Trisha motions to her. “Let’s get out of here. Then I can tell you.”
Trisha leads Gwen off campus, all the way up to the Camelorn building, and then past it to the hills.
“Okay,” she says. “I don’t think anyone could be watching us.”
Gwen doesn’t like the sound of that at all. “What’s going on?”
Trisha stares down the hill. “You remember when I said Isaac’s seeing someone?”
“Yeah,” Gwen says. It’s a little more uncomfortable of a thought now.
“It’s not because he wants to be.”
Gwen’s trying to understand. “What, like he’s too afraid to break up with her?”
“Not that,” Trisha says. “He’s engaged to her. It’s an arranged marriage.”
It takes a second for Gwen to process this. “Oh.” She thinks about it some more. “Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“To who?”
“Marcia Dekker.”
“The Captain’s niece?” Gwen vaguely remembers long, straight hair and a snooty expression.
“Yeah. Their parents set it up when they were about seven. It’s supposed to bring their families closer together. They’ve been encouraged to spend time together. To get them used to it.”
“That’s not good. If it was someone else you could maybe argue with it, but…” Gwen trails off.
“But the Captain isn’t going to call a business deal off just because you ask nicely,” Trisha says bitterly. “I know. You haven’t heard the worst part.”
Gwen feels a chill. “What’s the worst part?”
Trisha’s eyes are starting to shine with tears. “She’s hurting him.”
Gwen feels her eyes go wide. “Like…physically, or—?”
“Both, I guess. I’ve seen them together, and sometimes she’ll twist his arm when he doesn’t respond to something she says fast enough. But mostly it’s just mocking him. Making fun of the way he talks, the fact he’s short. He’s miserable, Gwen. He tries to hide it, but it comes out when he talks to me.”
“What the hell? Why would she do that?”
Trisha’s fingers twitch in midair. “She knows there’s no consequences. The deal’s already made. I think she’s the kind of person, if you gave her a puppy, it’d be dead within a week.” Her voice breaks. “She likes hurting people.”
“Shit,” Gwen says. She takes a second to think. She has to say this carefully. “That’s awful, I’m sorry. But, um. I don’t know if secretly dating him behind her back is the wisest thing to do in this scenario? Maybe you could find another way to help him?”
“It’s too late for that,” Trisha says. She looks helpless. “I’m pretty sure he’s in love with me now. And…I think I’m in love with him.”
Gwen winces. “You sure?”
“I mean…” Trisha stares up at the sun. “We’ve had three dates now. The first time, we snuck off and got a root beer float together, two straws. It was like, the moment we had had a sip, it was all over. We were hooked. We were laughing, and talking about Nightmares, and how he likes old books, and how I like old posters. And he raised his head, and he smiled, like this big happy smile, like he was free for the first time in his life. And I just remember thinking…this is it. You can’t have a moment like that and not be in love.”
Gwen’s quiet.
“Guess you’re in love, then,” she says. “What are you going to do?”
Trisha stares at the ground. “I don’t know. I just keep thinking…I can save him. I’m part of the Nightmare-killing club, that has to count for something.” She gathers herself. “Maybe the Captain will listen to me. I could threaten to quit. I wouldn’t actually, but maybe it’ll intimidate her—”
“Trish, no. That’s a terrible idea. We tried something like that, and she didn’t back down.”
“So, what, I should ask her nicely?”
“I don’t think you ask her at all. I think you talk to the school administration. Get them to look into Marcia—”
“It’s the Captain’s niece, Gwen! They’re not going to listen—”
“Maybe they will! You don’t know! You have to try, okay?” Gwen takes a breath. “You told me to stop you from doing anything dangerous.”
Trisha’s still looking at her feet.
“Fine,” she says. “I’ll try talking to the school. And when that doesn’t work, I’ll try something else.”
Gwen doesn’t know what to say.
“I’m going to save him, Gwen,” Trisha says. “I don’t know how, but I’m going to find a way.”
Gwen’s mouth is dry. It’s hard to speak. “I know you will.”
☾
It’s the first meeting since they took out Aeropagus. Gwen’s here half an hour early, to get the news from Adrianna.
Adri’s frowning. Which makes Gwen worried.
“So,” Gwen says, taking her hand. “What did they say?”
Adri takes a second. “The Captaincy’s happy we took down Aeropagus. So that’s good. But they’re concerned about our numbers. They think ten might not be enough.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Adrianna looks her in the eye. She looks pained. “Gwen, they want to add two new members to the club. And they want to decide who.”
Gwen stares at her. “They can’t do that. The last two Signs, we were saving them for the right time—auditions, maybe—”
“I know,” Adrianna says. “But we might just have to face the fact this is the best we’re going to get. I mean, they’re right. We’ll need more people if we want to beat the stronger Nightmares.” She brushes hair out of her eyes. “I’ve heard a bit about their candidates. No adults, because the Lunar Intelligence prefers working with kids our age. It’ll be people some of us know, probably.”
“What if it’s someone horrible?” Gwen asks. Her fist tightens. “Who just wants to tear the group apart?”
Adrianna looks her in the eyes.
“If you tell me someone’s unacceptable, Gwen, I’ll fight the Captaincy with everything I’ve got.” Her voice is serious. “I don’t know if I have any influence at all, but I will.”
“Not Marcia Dekker,” Gwen says. “Please.”
Adrianna nods. “Understood.”
And it’s that easy.
Gwen looks in her eyes and sees she doesn’t need to say anything more. Doesn’t need to justify.
Adrianna trusts her.
It’s felt harder and harder to hold onto Adrianna lately. Like the battles and the stress get in the way of remembering what brought them together.
But she has that much.
“When will you know?” Gwen asks. “Who their candidates are?”
Adrianna lets out a breath. “Monday, probably.”
Gwen winces. “Right before the meeting.”
“Yeah.”
“No one’s going to like this,” Gwen says. “The Captaincy springing this on us.”
Adrianna takes her hand. “Let’s hope for the best. Wait and see what the others think.”
☾
“This is bullshit!” Kate says.
For once, Gwen agrees with her.
“I was looking forward to helping recruit,” Becca says disappointedly.
“I’d rather have people we know we can trust,” Moira echoes.
“I know,” Adri says. “It’s not what we wanted, either. But we’re kind of making the most of a bad situation. You guys can help us at least steer it towards something good.”
“Who?” Becca demands. “Who are they forcing on us?”
“If it’s Marcia Dekker, I’m gone,” Trisha says, in a low voice.
“It’s not,” Adrianna says quietly.
Trisha’s shoulders slump in relief. Gwen realizes that she’s been holding her breath, too.
And has another stab of anger at the Captaincy .
“Who, then?” Bonnie asks.
Adrianna writes two names on the board.
PRISCILLA KYD.
GAL DEKKER.
“If anyone knows them, either of them,” Adrianna says. “I want to hear what you know. Good or bad. If anyone’s uncomfortable with either of them, we won’t go through with it.”
Everyone’s quiet.
Penny stands up. She’s small, but it gets everyone’s attention. “Pris?” she says excitedly. “They picked Pris?”
“Pris?”
“Priscilla Kyd? She’s my cousin, or cousin once removed. She’s really nice! Super cool.”
Adrianna looks relieved. “What do you like about her?”
“Hmmmm,” Penny says, hand on her chin. “Um, she’s kind of athletic, like Yvonne and Lana? But she’s more funny and silly. At my family’s barbecues she was always getting people to play kickball. And she and I would talk about adventure games and stuff.”
“She’s also the Navigator’s niece,” Adrianna says.
“Does that matter?” Penny sounds befuddled.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Adrianna says.
Lana clears her throat. “I, um. I’m related to Gal.”
Everyone looks at her expectantly.
“She’s the Bosun’s daughter. I know her through my uncle remarrying. Honestly, if I had to describe her? Very sweet. She’s an artist, does really good paintings, wants to paint for the Hull one day. I think she gets it, when I talk about wanting to make things better for the Low City. One of the only relatives who does.”
Adrianna tilts her head. “Do you think she’s too nice? Would she have trouble fighting Nightmares?”
Lana shakes her head. “I mean, she’s real, you know? She gets really serious sometimes, and stubborn. She cares a lot.”
Kind of like you, Gwen, thinks, but doesn’t say it.
“Another niece of the Captain,” Adrianna says.
“Yeah.” Lana says. She sounds nervous. “There’s that.”
“What, so the Captaincy just handed us a couple of nice ones?” Becca demands. “We’re expected to believe there’s no hidden agenda?”
“There is an agenda,” Adrianna says, looking serious. “The Captain and Navigator advancing their families, through us.”
“So we can’t trust them?” Bonnie asks, wide-eyed.
“No, I’m not saying that,” Adrianna says. “I’m asking you all. I don’t know them.”
“I think Gal’s trustworthy,” Lana says. “Out of all my relatives, she’s the one I’d most want to have my back.”
“That means a lot coming from you, Lana,” Adrianna says. “You’re one of the most reliable people I know. If you trust her, I trust her too.”
Lana flushes pink.
“I vouch for Pris, too!” Penny says. “She’s always been nice to me. And she’s super brave.”
Adrianna nods. She looks around the room. “How does everyone feel, hearing that? Are we okay with both of them?”
Everyone hesitates, and Gwen kind of gets why, because what if they’re wrong? Gwen doesn’t even know these people, and Lana and Penny barely do. What if they turn out to be horrible?
But it’s the best answer they’ve got.
“Yeah,” Gwen says.
“Yeah,” Trisha and Becca say.
Everyone else nods.
Adrianna nods. “Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate your understanding about this. I’m sure they’ll be a great addition to the team.”
Gwen winces. Maybe Adri shouldn’t have said that.
What happens if they’re not?
☾
There’s a knock at the door of the back room to the Camelorn building.
A girl Gwen’s never seen before comes in.
“Hi,” she says, in a voice that’s way too eager. “Is this the right place for the Nightmare Hunters?”
“World Savers,” Gwen says automatically.
“Right, right.” The girl runs a hand through her brown hair, which is shaggy but cut like a boy’s. She kind of reminds Gwen of Lana, if she was a tiny bit more feminine, wearing loud colors.
“I heard this was where we were meeting? I’m Priscilla Kyd. But everybody calls me Pris.” She waves at Penny. “Hey, Pen.”
“Hi!” Penny says, beaming.
The others aren’t so at ease, Gwen notices. Even Trisha’s kind of hanging back and saying nothing.
Adrianna strides forward and shakes Priscilla’s hand. “It’s nice to actually meet you,” she declares.
“Yeah, same here,” Pris says. Is she a little nervous? “Wow, it’s really incredible to be here. I watched you on TV a lot. Like, a lot. Some of the blurry stuff security cameras captured of you fighting some bird people and stuff? Wow. I was like, are they real knights, or are they, like angels or something? Haha.”
“We’re demons, actually,” Becca says dryly.
“I think you’re going to find we’re just like anybody else,” Gwen says, shooting Becca a look.
“Yeah,” Pris says. “That’s what’s so amazing, that you’re real people. I saw you and I was like, time to make a promise to myself: I’m going to meet them someday. So, uh. That worked out.” She lets out a little laugh, like she’s trying to get them to laugh along with her. There aren’t any takers.
“Welcome aboard,” Adrianna says warmly.
“Hello,” says a voice from the doorway.
Like Pris, the second girl’s changed out of her school uniform. That wouldn’t be so strange, except that she seems to be dressed as a fairy princess.
Seriously, Gwen can’t remember the last time she saw someone wear a floor-length gown, let alone wear one to school. Is she asking to be made fun of? She doesn’t look worried about it. She has pink flowers in her hair, and multiple necklaces. Her sandy hair’s long, too, reaching down to her hips, with a crown braid at the top.
“You’re the World Savers?” she says. “It’s very nice to meet you.” She does a little bow.
Yeah, Gwen can buy this girl’s an artist.
“And you’re Gal Dekker?” Adrianna says.
“That’s right.”
Adri half-bows back. “Welcome!”
“Thank you,” Gal says, smiling softly. “You’re very kind. I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done. You should be very proud of helping those people in the small towns. I only hope to live up to your example.”
“Thank you,” Adrianna says. “I’m sure you will.”
Gal nods. “Yes! I think you’re right. I have a very good feeling about this. This room, it has a wonderful energy, very positive. The Stars smile upon our meeting today, I can feel it.” She clutches the crystal on one of her necklaces.
Oh, no. Gwen’s stomach is shriveling up and wants to die. Lana didn’t mention anything about this. Lana, why?
She’s one of those people.
“Ah, I see,” says Adrianna, recovering stride after a half-second. “You’re religious, I take it? That’s lovely.”
“Oh yes, sorry, I don’t mean to proselytize,” Gal says. She clutches her necklace to her chest. “It’s just so wonderful to be here, I felt moved to share my feelings. But if anyone’s interested, I would love to host a midnight sky-viewing sometime. The Stars are beyond time and space, you know, so they know all about our fates. If you open your mind to them, there’s so much you can learn—”
“Uuuuugghhhhh,” Kate says, throwing her head back.
Pris has already moved across the room, opening drawers in the desks. “This is so cool. Hey, what’s this here?” She grabs the closet door. “Is this where we keep our armor?”
“Um, no,” Gwen says.
“We summon our armor, actually,” Trisha tries to offer helpfully.
“That’s cleaning supplies,” Gwen says, as a broom lands on Pris.
Pris takes it in stride and props it back up. “Wow, summoning armor, that’s so cool. That’s what you’re going to show us how to do?”
“Lunar magic,” Gal says, eyes big. “So exciting!”
“That’s the plan,” Adrianna says.”
“I can’t wait. It’s going to be so fun, using magic and fighting Nightmare creatures. You guys must have such a great time.”
“What, you mean, like last time, where bleeding melted people try to kill us?” Becca says. Her arms are crossed. “Or the time before that, where two of us almost died?”
Pris looks taken aback. “Oh. Um, I didn’t know about either of those.”
“It’s not all fun and games,” Trisha says, sounding a little sad.
“I’m sure,” Pris says quickly. “Of course it isn’t.”
“Ah, don’t let them worry you,” Yvonne says, grinning. “It’s plenty fun, you just need to know how to think on your feet.”
“Easy for you to talk, you have a lion,” Becca remarks.
“Regardless,” Adrianna says reassuringly. “We’ll train you until you’re confident with your new powers. You’re a part of the team now. Everyone’s very glad to have you here.”
“I’m not,” Kate says, arms folded. “I don’t want them here.”
Everyone turns to look at Kate. Priscilla and Gal look like they’ve been slapped.
“Kate,” Adrianna says, in a warning voice.
“You’re not here because you’d be good at this,” Kate says, scowling. “It’s because you’re related to the leaders of the Captaincy. Auntie pulled some strings to get her darlings on the soccer team. That makes it a shitty soccer team.”
“Kate,” Adrianna says, sounding angry. “That’s way out of line. We have to respect our fellow club members.”
“I’m just saying what everybody else is thinking,” Kate says. She looks around. “Am I wrong? We didn’t need another two people. We were fine with ten. The Captaincy is forcing this on us and we have to pretend we like it. Things should just go back to how they used to be.”
Gwen’s forcing herself not to say anything.
“Well, we’re not going back to the way things used to be,” Adrianna says coldly. “Knock it off, or you’re leaving the club. I mean it.”
“Fine! Whatever!” Kate turns away.
Adrianna turns to the newcomers. “I’m so sorry. Kate can be abrasive. Please, understand, she doesn’t speak for the rest of us.”
“No, I get it,” Pris says, in kind of a small voice. “She’s right. I am just here because my aunt’s the Navigator. There’s lots of people who would probably be better at fighting than I am. I just…really wanted to be here. I’ll try to do a good job, I don’t want to disappoint you. But if you don’t want me here, I understand—”
Adrianna seizes her hand. “We talked about you. We like you.”
“You seem like good people,” Gwen says, stepping forward. She makes an effort to smile at Gal. “We need those. It’s probably going to take some adjusting for those of us who’ve been here since the beginning to get used to having new faces around, but we’ll get there. Sorry if we’re a little rough around the edges in the meantime.”
“Yeah, I’m being shitty,” Becca says, uncrossing her arms. “It’s not your fault we’re feeling a little weird about all this. Sorry.”
“Welcome,” Trisha says, coming up to Gal.
“I’m really glad you’re here,” Penny says.
“Yeah, it’s nice,” Lana echoes.
“Like I said,” Yvonne drawls, slapping Pris on the shoulder. “The more the merrier!”
“I didn’t think I was a good enough fighter when I first got here,” Bonnie says. “Everyone here was really nice and helped me realize I was wrong.”
“It’s a good group,” Adrianna says. “Full of people who really want to make a difference. I think you’re going to fit right in.”
Gal nods serenely. Pris looks from one person to the next.
“Yeah,” she says, smiling. “Yeah, okay.”
☾
It doesn’t take long to get Pris and Gal introduced to Miracle and set up with their armor and weapons. The choice of Signs isn’t hard, since the Fishes seem to fit Gal’s whole deal really well, and Pris is happy enough to take the Water-Carrier.
“Why’s it an air Sign if it’s literally water, though?” Pris wonders.
“Think of it like the wind that blows a ship, maybe,” Gwen suggests.
“Oooh, I like that,” Pris says. She reaches out to touch the Sign, and the wind picks up.
Pris’s armor is somewhere on the green side of teal with wavy carved lines flowing down the breastplate. No frills or capes or skirts, just teal greaves and boots.
Her weapon’s huge. A big long halberd with a hatchet-shaped blade.
Gwen has to admit, she looks pretty badass hefting it over her shoulder.
When Gal makes the Sign of the Fishes, she looks even more like a fairy princess, because her costume’s a long robe, pastel pink or maybe fuchsia. Except when Gwen looks closer, there’s silver boots and gauntlets underneath. Her weapon’s a trident with three curving prongs. She’s even wearing a tiara.
The rest of them switch into their armor at that point. Twelve of them, standing around the table, looking beautiful and strong.
Pris nearly falls over, she’s quivering so much with excitement.
☾
After the meeting, Adrianna approaches Gwen.
“We need to get Pris and Gal some training,” she says. “Running fast, reacting in the moment. Teach them our signals.”
Gwen nods vaguely, pulling her backpack onto her shoulder. “Sounds good.”
“I was wondering if you’d like to take point on that.”
Gwen almost drops her backpack.
“Aren’t you usually in charge of training?” she manages.
“I’d do it, but I can’t make the extra sessions right now,” Adri admits. “I’m behind on the readings in Classics, and I’ve missed three Student Council meetings. I’ve got to catch up. Only if you’re willing, though.”
Once, Gwen would have been incredulous at Adrianna being behind on anything, but she knows it’s a sore spot, so she holds her tongue. “Sure, but why me? I’m not athletic, Adri. I don’t know the first thing about training people.”
“I know, you’re not much of a sports person. Don’t worry, I’ve asked Lana to help, too.”
Gwen tries to hide the expression on her face. “Lana?”
“Yes, she’s been a really big help to me lately. She’s been volunteering for more difficult combat, helping with Archive visits. And she knows tennis. She’s a lovely person, actually. I think you’d really like spending time with her.”
Please, please let her face not be red right now. “We’ve hung out, actually,” Gwen manages to say. “A couple of times now, remember?”
“Oh, that’s right, in the Low City. Well, great, that’s perfect, then. I think you’ll be great as coaches together.”
Gwen’s not so sure. She really, really hopes this doesn’t become a disaster.
Being around Lana increasingly feels like it will.
☾
They’re sitting on the bleachers, three rows up. Down below, Pris and Gal are running laps around the track, bumping into each other’s shoulders and laughing.
“They feel so young,” Lana says. “You know what I mean?”
Gwen does. “Yeah.”
“Even though I’m pretty sure Gal’s a year older than me. Why does it feel like that?”
“They’re more innocent, maybe,” Gwen says, watching the two girls elbow each other. “Less… I don’t know, weighed down by everything we’ve had to go through. It’s like none of this is a big deal for them yet.”
“Like us back when we started,” Lana says. “It’s nostalgic.”
“Yeah,” Gwen says. She stares off. “I just hope they don’t take it too hard when it does get real.”
“Yeah,” Lana says. She watches them. Pris keeps running just ahead of Gal, then slowing down to poke her shoulder, then speeding back up again. Gal is laughing like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever seen.
“I heard they’re dating now,” Lana says.
Gwen turns to look at her. “For real?”
“Yeah. It makes sense. They’re the odd ones out in the group. They’ve been spending a lot of time talking to each other.”
“Huh,” Gwen says. She watches the pair try to grab each other, which devolves into a goofy wrestle. “Think it’ll last?”
“Hope so,” Lana says. “Feels like they’re good for each other.”
Gwen nods.
Lana’s a really good coach. Every time Gwen runs out of ideas for what to have them do, she’s there with a great suggestion. And whenever she gives Pris and Gal instructions, it’s always with this warmth and gentleness in her voice.
“You know how we were talking, before, about Adrianna being a good leader?” Gwen asks.
Lana nods.
“That’s you, too,” Gwen tells her. “Everything you said about her, that could apply to you.”
Lana blushes. “That’s very nice of you to say.”
“I mean it,” Gwen insists. “You’re really good at this, okay? I don’t know, I just thought…you might not realize you’re doing the same stuff Adrianna is. So I wanted you to know.”
Lana’s smile is so big. “Thank you, Gwen.”
Gwen nods silently.
And all at once she’s aware of how close Lana is, how sweet and warm her smile is. The contours of her bare shoulders—
Gwen scooches down the bleacher, making damn sure to keep at least a full person’s width away from Lana.
Later, the four of them are playing soccer, just like Adri used to have them do, so Pris and Gal can practice coordinating around others. They’re all in armor, using their weapons to hit the ball. So it’s not actually that much like soccer, but it’s fun.
Pris is running down the field, trying to find an opening to pass to Lana. She looks at Gwen, who’s trying to guard the goal, and she gets a glint in her eye. She winds back, raising her halberd—
The soccer ball hurls through the air at incredible speed.
Right at Gwen’s face.
“Gwen, watch out!”
Gwen feels strong hands pull her out of the way.
The soccer ball hits the wooden fence with an incredible CRACK, then bounces back and forth between the fence and the goalpost for a second or two.
“Gwen, are you okay?”
Gwen turns to see Lana’s concerned face just above hers.
“I—”
Gwen flushes red. Lana’s holding her. Gwen can feel the muscles in Lana’s shoulders, and it feels nice, like she can relax and be weak for once—
Gwen watches Lana’s expression shift. Her eyes widen, and her mouth falls open. Like she’s just realized how near they are, too.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”
The moment breaks. Pris is running up to them. Gwen steps out of Lana’s arms.
Pris catches Gwen’s expression and totally misunderstands it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I hit it that hard—”
“It’s okay,” Gwen says. Inside her head, she’s reeling. “Isn’t it okay, Lana?”
“Yeah, it’s okay,” Lana says, in a weird voice. “Gwen’s fine.”
“Still, I’m really sorry,” Pris says, as Gal walks up behind her. “Maybe we should just stick to kicking the ball?”
“Sure,” Gwen says. “That’s fine.”
☾
Afterward, Gwen still feels like her head’s spinning, her heart’s beating way too fast.
Things were fine. She left things with Lana and the newbies on a normal, non-awkward note. Lana just gave her this friendly little nod, like, sure, that happened, but it wasn’t a big deal, and—
She can’t stop remembering what Lana’s arms around her felt like. It wasn’t the same as being with Adri, not at all—
This is bad. Gwen almost did something really, really stupid. Especially when she knows Lana was talking about having a crush on her before. She should drop this, tell Adri she can’t work with Lana or something.
But—the thing is, she doesn’t want to stop hanging out with Lana. Lana’s super nice. It’s a relief to be around her, especially when most of her conversations with Adri these days are about the club, and that’s usually stressful. It’s been nice, these last few weeks, being able to hang out with someone sweet, and fun, and—
And Adri needs them to do this. Gwen really doesn’t want to have to go back to her girlfriend and tell her she couldn’t take one stupid little thing off her shoulders.
It’s fine. Gwen just has to be so, so careful, that’s all. Not to send Lana any weird signals. Not to let stuff like that happen again.
She really, really hates the part of her that’s hoping it will.
☾
At school the next day, Gwen doesn’t find Trisha at lunch.
She picks up her tray and goes looking, instead. Sure enough, Trisha’s at their old spot outside.
She’s crying.
Gwen’s heart sinks. She rushes over.
“They—”
“I asked them,” Trisha says, her body shaking. “I had evidence, I had notes from Isaac saying what happened when, I even had phone recordings of some of the bad things Marcia’s done. They didn’t even want to look at it, Gwen.”
“Oh no,” Gwen says, her heart aching.
“Because of course they’re not going to,” Trisha says. “The minute the Dekker name came up, they started saying I should be careful about making accusations. Like I was the one causing a problem. I was sitting there, losing it while they lectured me And then, I look up, and what do I see? A piece of paper on the wall. For Many Years of Supporting Educational Excellence, We Are Proud to Thank Captain Hannah Dekker. I’m so, so stupid.”
“I’m sorry,” Gwen says. She’s cringing at herself. Why did she tell Trish to go to the administration? At goddamn H-Prep?
Trisha turns to her with wet, red eyes. “I can’t stand this. I’m saving him, Gwen. Even if they won’t.”
“How, though?” Gwen says.
“I don’t know. I can’t let her hurt him anymore. If I have to fight her myself, I will.”
“Trish,” Gwen says slowly. She tries to pick her words carefully. “I know it sucks, but…maybe you can’t win this battle?”
Trisha’s eyes bulge. “So what, so I should just give up and let it happen? Is that what you’re saying, Gwen?”
“No,” Gwen says. “I just—” She tries to grab hold of the words. “You’re talking about going up against the Captain. You know she’s vindictive. Bad stuff could happen. I know you love Isaac, but is he worth your whole life?”
Trisha looks down at the grass.
“Gwen,” she says. “You know how some people believe that the Moon sends bad people to hell to be tortured forever?”
“Yeah?”
“I’d go to hell for Isaac,” Trisha says, choking on her words. “Not just because I’m in love with him, even though I am, but because it’s the right thing to do. Because he doesn’t deserve the hell he’s living in.”
“Trish—”
“What’s the point of being us being magical knights if we can’t even save one person? Trisha demands, through teary eyes. “I can’t live with myself if I don’t help him, Gwen. That’s all there is to it.”
Gwen kneels down on the ground. She hugs Trisha.
“Then I’m behind you,” Gwen says. “One hundred percent.”
Trisha hugs her back, so, so tightly.
“I’ll figure it out,” Trish says, when she finally lets go. “I can’t do anything big right now, we’re busy with the newbies. But…soon. I’ll get you out of there, Izzy. I promise.”
Gwen nods. She watches Trisha leave. To go find Isaac, maybe, or her next class.
Gwen’s so, so scared of what might happen next.
☾
Fortunately, Penny finds a sufficient distraction for all of them.
Adrianna’s at the board, writing something for the day’s meeting. Lana’s at the far side of the room. She might be looking Gwen’s way, but it’s hard to tell. Kate’s reading comics. Gal and Pris are curled up on the couch together. Everyone’s just hanging out. The meeting hasn’t really started yet.
Penny bursts through the doors.
She’s carrying a computer and a stack of books and what looks like thirty different pieces of paper jammed in between.
“Lady Knights of the World Savers Club!” she declares. “I have a very important announcement to make.”
Penny sets the pile down on the table with a thump.
“I found him,” she says.
Everyone looks at her.
“Found who?” Gwen ventures.
Penny’s smile stretches, like she’s been waiting for that very question. “The Hidden Nightmare.”
“It’s a him now?” Becca asks.
“You’re serious?” Moira asks.
Penny looks indignant. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”
“Penny,” Adri says. “Are you saying you know where the Hidden Nightmare is?”
“Yeah!” Penny strides confidently around the table. “I figured out how to track him. And to do that, I had to figure out how he was hiding from us.”
She looks at the rest of them expectantly.
Oh hell, Gwen’s hooked. “How?” she asks.
“Time,” Penny says. “The secret is time.” She jumps up on a chair. “I was lying on my bed, bouncing a ball against the wall, thinking about the ways a Nightmare could hide from its victims. And then I thought: what if it’s too fast? Or to put it another way, what if we’re too slow? What if the reason we can’t see it is that by the time we look, it’s already gone?”
She spreads her hands. “Time pockets. The Hidden Nightmare can slow down the flow of time as a defense mechanism. Just for a particular area. When it attacks a town, it traps it in a time bubble. Then it races off, leaving them none the wiser.”
“Decay,” Adrianna says slowly. “There were always reports of people reduced to skeletons. Buildings that had aged a hundred years. We always assumed it was a Heliotrope effect, but…”
“But it wasn’t,” Penny says. “It was the Hidden One.”
Moira steps forward. Her arm’s finally out of its sling. “Penny, you’re sure about this?”
“Am I sure?” Penny scoffs. “I wasn’t going to draw any conclusions until I checked my facts. You know ship dilation engines? They mess with the flow of time, right? How do you tell if they’re active?”
Gwen wishes she was better at Navigation. Becca’s on it, though.
“Hessel radiation.”
“Right!” Penny says. “So what I did is, I went to the ruins of Benvolio, right—”
“It’s fenced off,” Adri says, lifting an eyebrow.
“Well, I just kind of snuck up to the edge of the fence. And I waved my pocket tool, and voila! It was clicking like crazy.”
“And that was enough to track it?” Becca says.
“Well, the detector in a pocket tool isn’t very strong,” Penny says. She sets her backpack on the table. “Sooo…”
She pulls out an odd device, about the size of a watermelon. It’s cone-shaped, but it ends in a glowing sphere. “I made my own.”
“Penny,” Becca says, shaking her head.
“I have all kinds of cool Lady designs in my head, remember?” Penny wiggles the device. “So I started measuring the ambient Hessel radiation nearby. And I tracked him. The trails are right there, the books have the data. You just have to be looking for them.”
Penny pulls papers from the stack, and goes over to the map wall. She picks up the green pencil from the desk.
One by one, she connects the remaining dots of Hidden Nightmare attacks. She draws long lines, lines that spiral in and out of towns, rise up to the mountains and back again. Hitting every mark perfectly.
Gwen gets closer to watch. Others do, too. Penny’s writing out dates next to point after point on the line. Spring ’49. Fall ’49. Winter ’50.
Penny stands back, and the whole story of a Nightmare’s movement is spelled out there on the wall, from beginning to end.
Adrianna traces the lines with her finger, mouth moving silently. “Penny… this is very good,” she finally admits.
“It manifested in the farmlands,” Moira says, enthralled. “And it returns there every so often…why? Is there something it needs there?”
“It’s feeling nostalgic, maybe?” Pris offers. She looks excited.
“Maybe. And then it continues…” Moria follows the line. “To Lavinia Beach a few months ago. And now…it’s back to its favorite place in the farmlands. Right here.”
“Right,” Penny says breezily. “I told you I knew where he was.”
Everyone stares at the point on the map.
“Adri, do we make a plan?” Gwen asks Adri. “Fight it?”
“I think, with this kind of information, we have to,” Adrianna says. She looks stunned. Then she smiles. “Yes. We’ll inform the Captaincy. We can finally explain and avenge Benvolio.”
Lana turns to Pris and Gal. “Newbies, are you ready for your very first mission?”
“Yes!” Gal clasps her hands together.
“Hell yes,” Pris agrees.
“Um, excuse me?” comes an indignant voice. Everyone turns.
Kate folds her arms. “Am I losing my mind? Am I the only one who sees the obvious problem here?”
“Do elucidate, Katherine,” Becca says dryly.
“How are we supposed to fight something that stops time?” Kate demands. “The minute we get there, it’s going to freeze us and leave us to turn into bones like everyone else it’s met.”
“Don’t worry, I thought of that,” Penny says.
“Of course you did,” Becca says.
Penny’s pacing again. “Yeah, I sat on this for like a week because I couldn’t figure out how to get past that problem. But a couple days ago, I was playing around with the detector, and I figured it out.”
Penny switches into her lab coat. The device on the table lets out an audible beep.
“Us,” she says. “I used my powers and the detector lit up.” She’s grinning from ear to ear. “Our Ladytech. It works the same way as the Nightmare does. Energy, at an alternate angle to reality.”
“How does that help us?” Adrianna asks.
“I can make a shield,” Penny says. “We feed it using our powers, and we can disrupt its flow of energy with our own. It’ll take me like a week, tops.”
“You’re sure it’s safe?” Adrianana asks.
“Super sure. But we can check in with the Lady if you want to get some confirmation that it works.”
Adrianna looks at Gwen. “I think the Captaincy would be all right with that.”
“Probably,” Gwen says.
“All right.” Adrianna smiles. “Then we’ve got our next mission.”
Gwen watches Gal and Pris’s faces light up way too eagerly.
Her heart sinks. They’re so new to all this. Are they going to get their hopes crushed?
She just hopes they’ve taught them enough.
☾
Everyone climbs onto the bus.
It’s nostalgic for Gwen. Makes her think of their first mission.
Being in an automobile instead of a helicopter a thousand feet off the ground seemed better, just in case the Nightmare got them somehow.
The shield should work. The Lunar Intelligence confirmed that it works like they thought it did. But Gwen knows that something can always go wrong.
“Remember,” Adrianna says. “As soon as we get across the border, we’re in A-formation. We use B-formation if we get surrounded, but not before. If I think we need to switch to C-formation, I’ll call it out. Be ready.”
Everyone nods.
“Um,” Pris turns to Gwen as they get seated. “What shape is B-formation again?” she whispers
Gwen wants to scream.
“Lana on left flank, Bonnie on right,” she whispers back. “Mobiles at the front so we can push forward. You guys stay in the center.”
“Oh, okay,” Pris says.
“C is the one where everyone moves in a line except fliers and mobiles,” Gwen adds.
“Right, right.”
Gwen really hopes these two weren’t a mistake.
For a while it’s just a long bus ride, with nothing to see out the windows but wheat and corn with occasional cows.
Adri’s up with the driver, like last time. Trisha’s sitting across from Gwen, but she’s pensive, staring out the windows. Penny’s up near the front this time, too, holding two devices in her lap.
Instead, Gwen talks to Pris and Gal in front of her
Pris is pretty easy to get along with. Gwen’s surprised about how oblivious she is to a lot of things. Like, Gwen’s not good at fashion, but even she knows a few things about what’s popular. Pris doesn’t. She doesn’t know anything about music or shows, either, just some space hero cartoons.
“What’s it like being the Navigator’s niece?” Gwen asks. She’s been dying to ask for a while now.
For a change, Pris looks a little unsure. “I don’t know her all that well, actually.”
“Oh yeah?”
Pris shifts position. “My mom kind of kept me away from her and all of them growing up. Her and her sister don’t really get along.” A moment passes. “Mom didn’t want me to do this, actually.”
“She didn’t?”
“She kept warning me about Aunt Sara.” Pris stares into the distance. “I guess she was right. As soon as I got into the group, my aunt started calling a lot. Inviting me to have lunch with her and stuff. It’s like she thinks she can influence the club through me.”
“Aunt Hannah is the same,” Gal says, making charcoal marks in her sketchbook.
“So maybe it wasn’t worth it, but…I dunno. I really wanted to.” Pris shrugs. “We’ll see, I guess. Mom’s still sad about it.”
“Maybe she’ll come around?”
“I hope so,” Pris says. “If this doesn’t go too bad. Hopefully it doesn’t.”
“Hopefully,” Gwen says, trying to smile.
BEEP.
Everyone turns at the soft electronic chime.
Penny stands up in her seat. She holds up the detector in her hand. It’s flashing green. BEEP. BEEP.
“He’s here!” Penny cries.
“This is it, everyone,” Adrianna says, standing at the front of the bus. “Positions! Remember the plan!”
Everyone moves to a window seat. Gwen stares down the road, as far as she can see. The road signs say Quintus, but they’re heading away from the town center.
Penny’s waving the detector around outside the window. It’s chiming faster and faster. “South! Maybe, um, twenty degrees!”
Adrianna relays it to the driver. The driver takes a left turn, toward a wide expanse of farmland. Penny keeps listing off directions. The driver turns, left, right, left. They go down dirt roads, far from any town Gwen can detect. All the while, the chime is getting faster and faster.
And then Gwen sees it.
There’s a strange shimmer ahead, like a heat haze. In the middle of the waving ears of corn, the light bends and wavers. Stalks are swirling around, like they’re in a dust storm.
The detector goes wild, its voice a string of uninterrupted BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.
“THERE SHE BLOWS!” Penny yells at the top of her lungs.
“Full speed ahead!” Adrianna says. The bus accelerates.
The swirls of leaves seem to hover in the air, taking notice.
“Everyone, powers, now!” Adrianna cries.
Gwen throws her branches out the bus window, almost close enough to touch the dusty road. Everyone’s going nuts. Water’s spraying, red arrows are firing, pillars of earth are rising just past the wheels.
Penny’s device unfolds from her hand and hovers next to the bus. Gwen watches a stream of blue light flow out of their blasts. The blue light wraps around the bus like a blanket.
Gwen grins. For once she’s not using her powers in any strategic way, just blasting for blasting’s sake.
This is fun.
The shimmer rises up, like a tidal wave. White light hits the bus, but nothing seems to happen. The light spreads out in front of the windshield.
The shimmer stops moving. It’s like it’s surprised.
Then, Gwen watches something incredible happen.
The shimmer runs for it.
It swerves past the bus. Gwen’s stomach lurches. It’s twenty times bigger than their tiny vehicle, a whale swimming by.
“Don’t let it escape!” Adrianna cries. “After it!”
The bus’s tires screech as it makes an abrupt U-turn.
Then it plows into the cornfields.
Like a ship cutting through the water, their bus cuts a wide line through the fields, crushing stalks, while powers tear up the plants. They’re accelerating, a blaze of destruction. Gwen’s never been in a vehicle going this fast before.
The fleeing shape is getting closer. They’re gaining on it.
“WOO-HOO!” Penny cries, leaning halfway out the window like a puppy. “The hunt is on! The Beast awaits!”
Adrianna’s shouting, holding up her phone. “The Captaincy’s decided on their codename for the Hidden Nightmare! They’re going to call it Chronopath!”
“Chronopath,” Penny whispers. She leans way out the window again. “Do you hear me, Chronopath?” she shouts. “No one else believed you were real, but I found you! Chronopath, I’m coming for you!!” Turrets fly up from her backpack and join her out the window, hovering with their gun barrels gleaming.
The Nightmare’s flank looms huge ahead of them. Another wave of light hits the bus, and it rocks back and forth, but nothing happens. Chronopath gallops, pulling ahead.
“Fire!” Penny screams
“Fire!” Adrianna agrees.
Everyone turns their weapons on the Nightmare. Fire and water and bullets pour into the shimmering space.
The Nightmare stops in its tracks. It rocks back and forth, and finally sinks to the ground.
And then, where there was shimmer, there’s a wall of grey-green mist.
“Hold on!” Adrianna cries.
The bus goes through the wall of mist.
♄
When the fog clears around Gwen’s face, the world’s changed.
The skies are dark grey. Bolts of lightning arc between the harsh faces of the clouds. Rows of corn go on and on.
To the dark shadow of a farmhouse at the center of the circle.
A farmhouse that goes hundreds of feet into the sky.
Walls teeter at an ugly angle. Shapes poke out of it, windmills and grain silos, lilting weathervane. Peeling strips of grey and white paint hang from the walls.
Until the lightning flashes, and it looks black.
Penny stares at it. “This is Chronopath?” she asks.
“You were expecting an arcade with flashing lights?” Becca quips.
“He’s always moving on the outside,” Penny says. “But it’s so still. I thought inside he’d be lively and fun.”
“Keep going!” Adrianna calls from up ahead. “Head toward the farmhouse!”
“I mean, we have so many options,” Becca says.
They drive under stormy skies.
Then something hits the side of the bus. Gwen’s thrown out of her seat. Pris and Bonnie tumble into the aisle, too.
“Brace yourselves!” Adri shouts. “Get it with missiles if you can!”
Gwen staggers back up to the window. Immediately, a stretch of pale wood shoots past her head.
Fences. They’re being attacked by fences, leaping up out of the fields like tentacles. A length of fence coils around the bus, which comes to a halt. There’s a squeak as the metal protests under the strain.
Pris is staring. “Oh man, oh man,” she mumbles.
“Fliers!” says Adri, over her shoulder.
“On it,” says Gwen, already climbing out the window.
It’s one of the most insane things she’s seen yet: the bus in the dark wheat field, with grey fences climbing all over it. Gwen smashes a few splinters with her rapier.
Then, before she knows it, one’s wrapped around her. She’s struggling to breathe—
There’s a crack, and the pressure eases. Gwen looks up through the splinters.
Lana’s shield is spinning through the air, smashing fences. She catches Gwen’s eye. A little uncertain.
Gwen smiles at her. Lana’s face breaks into a grin.
Becca’s midair, using her gravity powers to snap fences in half. Gwen joins her and the flying shield, and the remaining fences retreat back into the fields. The much-abused bus creaks and picks up speed again.
“You okay?” she asks Pris as they get moving again.
Pris takes a second. “Yeah. Think so. Just rattled, I guess.”
“Focus,” she tells her.
“I know, I know.”
The bus pulls up at the farmhouse-tower thing. It feels like it could topple onto them at any moment.
Penny stares up at it, pressing her lips together.
“So…front door?” Becca asks.
The front door is a slab of black, rotted wood. By itself, it’s the size of a building. Luckily, the lock seems to have rotted off, too, and by all pushing together, they’re able to get the door to swing inward.
Gwen doesn’t know what she’s expecting to find inside.
It looks a lot like the inside of a farmhouse.
Only there’s multiples of everything. Five or six sinks filled with gross dishes, six collapsed tables, fifty piled chairs, thousands of stacks of paper. Like everything is bubbling over, overwhelming.
The one thing that’s not multiplied is the painting hanging on the wall. A white-haired man scowling.
Adri leads them towards the stairs.
They’re stupidly huge. Each decrepit step is about half the height of a person, so walking up them is more like climbing, plank by wooden plank.
Something rustles. Colorful pieces of paper are floating down from upstairs. Gwen snatches one as it drifts past.
It’s a vacation poster. Gwen vaguely knows the place. A beach in the southern part of the moon.
Black mold creeps across it. She drops it like it’s on fire, and it shrivels up into a black mess.
High keening voices sound above them.
That’s when the white flying things appear.
One grabs Gwen’s face with paper-thin wings and tries to bite her throat. Gwen flails until it’s off and she can cut through it. The next few minutes are a frenzy of frantic hacking and slashing as the white creatures swarm around them, slicing exposed flesh.
And then it’s done. The white birds are all dead. Gwen looks down at the nearest corpse.
WATER BILL, $127, says the red writing on the paper. Followed by: MANURE $800. REPAIRS, $5600.
They hasten up to the next part of the steps, but the bannisters are so corroded that Gwen can’t put her hand on them without scraping against rust.
It’s an agonizing climb. But to her surprise, after another five minutes of climbing, there’s something like a trapdoor at the top.
Penny flies ahead and pushes it up. They follow her, and emerge onto a tiled rooftop.
Lightning flashes.
They’re on a flat, tiled rooftop that stretches a long way out. The storm rages in the sky.
At the center of the rooftop stands the ogre.
He’s easily a hundred feet tall. His body is covered in white cobwebs, as wispy as his beard. Silver chains on each arm and leg bind him to the roof.
There’s a human torso hanging out of his mouth.
Gwen doesn’t want to look. It’s too horrible.
But the torso’s moving. It’s a young woman with short black hair. She beats her fists against the monster’s cheek.
He keeps chewing on her anyway, his eyes panicked, his mouth ringed by blood.
“This is it,” Adrianna says. “Get in formation! Cut him down at the legs!”
The ogre doesn’t move. He doesn’t even look at them.
Instead, the chains detach from the rooftop and fly towards their group.
Gwen leaps up and back, only to see half the group swept up in the arc of one chain.
“Distract him!” she hears Adrianna shouting, before the chain flings her aside.
Gwen takes to the air with Becca and Penny. They fly towards the monster—
A chain strikes Gwen in the side of the leg. She tumbles, spinning toward the ground.
She tries to get to her feet. She hears Adri’s scream of pain.
Someone walks forward.
Two someones. It’s Pris and Gal, holding hands.
Pris looks up at the ogre like she’s trying to burn it into her brain.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she says, in a steely voice. “You’re not going to scare me.”
Then she leaps.
Wings unfurl from her back. Made out of canvas, like the sails of a ship.
Wind fills them, and Pris rises. Gwen feels the breeze shifting past her. Pris flies forward.
Pris swings her halberd right into the ogre’s chest, a shower of red.
This time, he roars. The chains thrash like limbs. The young woman swings at the edge of his mouth.
The chains fly as one toward Pris, trying to trap her. Pris is surrounded by silver, running out of places to fly.
And then the whole monster falls to one knee. The chains miss Pris completely.
Gal is standing at the ogre’s right leg.
Which has disappeared up to the knee.
The ogre’s standing in a circle of dark water. Gal moves her hands like she’s casting a spell, and the sinkhole slowly grows bigger, bigger, the ogre’s foot sinking deeper and deeper. Water surrounds Gal like an aura.
Adrianna’s running up, ruffled but okay. The others are with her.
“Formation A!” she cries. “Fliers, blast the head!”
Gwen rejoins Penny and Becca. They fly over to Pris.
“Guess what?” Gwen says. “You’re part of my squad now.” She points at the monster. “Let’s get him.”
Pris grins.
Back on the ground, Kate, Adri, and Yvonne are slicing up the other leg. Trisha’s arrows are explosions, striking the knee.
Gwen flies her team right at the ogre’s eyes. Pris let loose with her halberd. Becca hurls rocks.
Penny’s drones fire in a ring around its head.
But when the smoke clears, the ogre’s still standing there.
The wounds in its cobwebby skin are patching up.
Damn it. How are they supposed get through to this thing?
“Gwen!” It’s Penny. She points. “Look there!”
Gwen looks at the mouth, where the young woman in torn-up clothes is hanging.
By silver chains.
She’s bound to him, too.
Penny flies over. She tries to pull the chains off the woman’s arms, but she seems drugged.
Penny looks up at Gwen with pleading eyes. “Help! I don’t have anything to help her!”
Gwen slices through one of the chains. Pris gets another with her halberd. Two more—
And the woman falls. The giant’s gone. The half-eaten woman plummets through the air toward the rooftop.
Penny catches her and lowers her to the ground.
And then it’s not a woman she’s holding. It’s one of the armless grub-creatures.
Penny cradles the Nightmare.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “You were hurting, weren’t you? I thought you were so majestic and beautiful. That was all I could think about when I first met you, but I didn’t realize you were in pain.”
“Penny, what are you doing?” Gwen asks.
Penny doesn’t seem to take notice. “Kate, can I have your dagger?”
Kate hands it over, wordlessly.
Penny looks down at the unmoving creature. It only stares, blinking slowly. She takes a deep breath. “I’ve been looking for you my whole life. I think you’re one of the most interesting things that’s ever existed. I don’t want to say goodbye to you. But I have to.”
Gwen’s astonished. There are actually tears in Penny’s eyes. “You’re hurting people. It’s not safe for you to be around them. I’d make them keep you alive if it wasn’t for that, but there isn’t any other way. I wish I could help you understand, but I can’t. So, I’m saying goodbye. At least I can do something to ease your pain.”
Gently, she stabs the grub with Kate’s dagger.
The grub vanishes.
And then the tower and the green-grey sky do, too.
When the light fades, they’re sitting in a field of wheat, surrounded by burnt chunks of a house. Penny’s looking at the dagger in her hands.
She rubs her eyes.
“Penny—” Gwen says.
Penny smiles. “I’m all right. Or…maybe I’m not now, but I will be, pretty soon.”
“I want my dagger back,” Kate says.
Penny throws it to her. Kate makes it vanish from the air and reappear in her hand.
“What’s next?” Becca asks.
Adrianna smiles. “Home. And rest.” She claps Pris on the shoulder. “And celebrating what an incredible job our rookies did today.”
Gwen doesn’t know if she’s ever seen a smile as big as the one on Pris’s face.
♄
The Captain turns a loose page, seated at her desk. Reading their notes about the Chronopath fight.
“I see you distinguished yourself, Gal,” she says.
Gal kind of half-bows. “Yes, Auntie.”
“Did you learn those techniques from this team, or were they your own inspiration?” The Captain’s glance is sharp. “Speak carefully, Gal. You have an opportunity here to advance your station.”
Gal holds her necklace to her chest. It seems like she’s thinking carefully. “Some of them were my own inspiration, Auntie. But I also had a lot of help from Miss Gwen and Miss Lana, who were my instructors.”
The Captain’s eyes flick Gwen’s way and back. “…I see.”
“And some of it Pris and I came up with by talking together. She distinguished herself too, auntie.”
“Yes,” the Captain says, flipping through the pages. “I noticed that. Navigator Kyd will be happy.”
The Captain turns the pages over and back again, looking at them carefully. Like she’s looking for something, anything to get mad about.
“You’ve all done well,” she says, after a long pause. “I’ll be in touch about the last two Nightmares. Dismissed.”
Gwen gets up from her seat. Everyone looks stunned.
And then the smiles break over everybody’s faces. Even Kate is smiling a little.
Gwen feels a warmth spreading through her.
They did it. The Captain’s happy with them. They’ve got two more Nightmares under their belt, enough to make up for what happened with Optimus.
They’re back on track.
And it feels really, really good.
☾
“Party,” Yvonne says, stuffing an invitation into Gwen’s hand. She flashes a grin, like she’s very proud of herself. “My place. Saturday night. Be there or miss out.”
Gwen unrolls the paper and smooths out the crumples. Yvonne’s drawn lions on it. It’s just some basic address info.
“Your place?” Gwen asks. “Won’t your parents mind?”
“They’re out of town. And the staff are chill.” Yvonne straightens up. “Ooh, almost forgot, I’m gonna get drinks for everyone. So let me know if you don’t want that and I’ll get more soda or something.”
“Drinks?” Gwen asks. “Like, drinks as in, um, alcohol?” The thought makes her heart race. Which is dumb, right, because what’s there to get worked up about? Plenty of people do stuff like that. It’s just she’s never thought of herself as the kind of person who would.
“Yeah! You down?”
“Um.” Gwen doesn’t know how to answer. “I guess so?”
“Sweet!”
“Adri might not be okay with it, though,” Gwen says. Maybe that’s the excuse she should take to get out of this. Isn’t that what she’s supposed to do?
“Nah, I talked to her. She’s really excited about it, actually. Thinks it’ll be good for us to blow off some steam. And we gotta toast the new kids in style, right? Show ‘em we’re proud of them?”
“Ah. Yeah.” Gwen thinks about it. “Are your parents going to mind if they find out?”
Yvonne snort. “Nah, they don’t give a shit. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” Gwen says. She’s nervous, but she kind of wants to give this a try. “I’ll be there.”
“Awesome!” Yvonne says, clapping her on the back. “You’re gonna have a really great time, Gwen, I just know it.”
With that, she walks off, pulling out another invitation from her bag, whistling.