Page 48 of Renegades

“I’m good,” said Adrian.

“I’ll bring you some popcorn. Don’t let anything exciting happen without me.” He winked and retreated into the corridor.

“No promises,” Ruby sang after him. Then her eyes brightened as she pointed up to the stands. “Oh, look! Someone made you a sign!”

Startled, Adrian followed her gesture and spotted a woman holding up a handmade sign that readEVERHART = MY HERO 4-EVER!

“I’m pretty sure that’s referring to my dad.”

Ruby deflated. “You don’t know that.” She cocked her head to the side, as if seeing the sign from a different angle might change it. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But we can pretend someone made you a sign?”

“I’m really okay with it,” said Adrian, frowning at the crowd. He couldn’t wait for this to be over. He wasn’t nervous, exactly. More… embarrassed, in a way. To be participating in a tradition he wasn’t sure he approved of.

They were supposed to encourage every prodigy… no, everyhumanto be as heroic as possible. How was publicly rejecting anyone going to further that goal?

Besides, it wasn’t just the contestants who were being judged today, it was the Renegades too. The public wanted to see the prodigy crusaders who were charged with protecting their city, with protectingthem.They wanted to know they were in good hands.

And, okay, they also wanted an afternoon of free entertainment.

It all felt like an absurd way to handle their recruitment. Didn’t anyone have better things to be doing?

“How’s Danna?” Adrian asked, his eyes catching on another homemade sign in the bleachers that read,YOU LIGHT ME UP, BLACKLIGHT!!!

“Sad she can’t be here,” said Ruby. “She hates being cooped up.”

“So would I,” said Adrian.

Ruby suddenly tensed beside him. Adrian followed her glower. Genissa Clark, aka Frostbite, was making her way down the tunnel, surrounded by the rest of her team. They didn’t cast Adrian or Ruby a single glance as they headed onto the field, even though the teams were supposed to wait to be announced before heading to their tables.

“I hope our table is far away from hers,” Ruby muttered, crossing her arms.

Adrian’s lip twitched, remembering now that Genissa was the one who had challenged Ruby’s acceptance into the Renegades two years ago. He could understand her resentment.

Not that he cared much for Genissa or any of her teammates. He hadn’t before, and seeing how they behaved toward the Anarchists hadn’t sparked any great affection, either. Not that he held much sympathy for the Anarchists, but for Frostbite and the others to act like such power-drunk bullies was unacceptable under the code that Renegades were sworn to live by. Plus, seeing those destroyed beehives, even if they did belong to an enemy, had made Adrian’s nose curl in disgust.

The villains’ poor life choices weren’t exactly thebees’fault, after all.

Even though he hadn’t learned anything about Nightmare or found any evidence he could use to incriminate the rest of theAnarchists, he was glad he’d decided to go into the tunnels that night. Word had quickly spread throughout headquarters that the Sentinel had made a reappearance, claiming to have been sent by the Council themselves. When the Council adamantly refused the claim, and it became clear that the Sentinel had been lying, the humiliation heaped on Genissa and her team was almost palpable.

Adrian had tricked them into abandoning their mission. He had made them look like fools, and he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of smugness every time he thought of it.

The downside, however, was that the mystery of the Sentinel was growing daily. Who was he? Where did he come from? Could he actually be a secret project undertaken by research and development, or was he somehow involved with Nightmare or the Anarchists—an enemy meant to confuse them all?

What had started out as an investigation into Nightmare was quickly becoming an investigation intohim,and that made him uneasy.

The other teams began dispersing across the field, too, some looking up questioningly at the Council, unsure if they were supposed to wait or not, but the Council was busy talking to one another and not paying the field much attention. The circle of tables started to fill up. The onlookers in the stands squealed, excited fans trying to catch the attention of their favorite heroes.

“Here we go!” called Oscar, appearing from the crowd in the corridor. His free hand was carrying a tray loaded with food and drinks waiter-style over his head. “Two-tone cotton candy for the lady, popcorn for my man, please help yourselves to some garlic fries or choco-crunchies, but do not touch my smoothie or I won’t hesitate to kill you and everyone you’ve ever loved.”

Ruby snagged the bag of cotton candy from the top of the pile. “Oscar, can I have a sip of your smoothie?”

Oscar fixed a cold look on her for three, four seconds, then wilted. “Yeah, all right.”

Jigging in place, Ruby took the smoothie from the tray. Oscar’s eyes followed the straw into her mouth, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

Adrian rolled his eyes, sneaking a handful of popcorn.

On the Council’s platform, Blacklight approached the microphone and held his arms open to the crowd. “Welcome to the fourth annual Renegade trials!”

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