Page 151 of Renegades

“Thanks for the flowers,” she said, ushering him back toward the front door. “And for checking up on me. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Oh, hey,” he said, stopping halfway out the door. “Are you planning to come back to headquarters tonight? Because I could, um, try bringing in some sandwiches again.”

Her chest fluttered and Nova felt almost sad as she shook her head. “I think I might take the night off.”

“Yeah. Of course. That’s definitely the right plan.”

He hesitated a moment more, then lifted a hand in a salute and stepped off the porch. Nova waited until his foot hit the sidewalk before closing the door.

She dropped her forehead against it with a groan, letting all the built-up frantic energy drain out of her.

“So that’s the Everhart boy?”

Nova spun around. Honey and Leroy were both peering around the curve of the staircase’s banner.

She waved her arms at them. “You couldn’t stay hidden until he was at least off our street?”

Honey giggled. “We were just curious,” she said. “It’s a terrible shame he’s a Renegade, isn’t it? Otherwise, you could have asked him to stay for dinner.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

THEENTRANCETOCOSMOPOLISPARKwas an enormous concrete archway molded into the shape of a giant carousel pony that seemed to stand guard over the old amusement park. The sculpture had once been painted in pretty peach and pearl white, but the paint had faded and chipped over the years. The proud beast had also lost one side of his face, probably due to vandalism during the Age of Anarchy, and no one had yet seen fit to repair it.

Nevertheless, the park was one of the many businesses in Gatlon City that had seen a resurgence since the Day of Triumph. It had never been out of operation, exactly, but under Anarchist rule, some villains had incurred a sizable fortune by turning the place into a haven for drug dealing, gambling, and brutal dogfights. Everyone knew the park was the domain of the Puppeteer, but he never bothered putting on any restrictions, so long as he was paid for using his space—whether in money or candy, as Nova had once heard.

When the Renegades reclaimed the city, it was one of the first areas they saw fit to revive—tearing down many of the ancient, weatherworn rides and constructing a fantasy land in its place, witha roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, and a vintage carousel surrounded by games of skill and chance and more than a few vendors of corn dogs and cotton candy. Yet, like so many of the Council’s ongoing projects, they had stopped when the property was just shy of complete, leaving enough details lying around that one could easily recall what it had been, not all that long ago. The back few acres of the park remained fenced off and labeled with warning signs, informing visitors that this area was still under construction. Beyond the chain-link fence, guests could see a deteriorating fun house, grounded boats from the decrepit tunnel of love, and an entire row of carnival games left in shambles, their walls still hung with dozens of purple teddy bears that had been left to sag and grow mildew, abandoned to the elements.

Adrian was waiting beneath the horse statue’s bridled mouth when Nova arrived. They hadn’t discussed whether or not to wear their uniforms, and seeing him in jeans and a jacket made her instantly regret her choice to wear the gray bodysuit.

He grinned when he spotted her.

She glared back. “Seriously? You could have told me we were supposed to be incognito.”

“I didn’t think of it,” he said. Reaching for the collar of his shirt, he pulled it down far enough to reveal the top of his own suit. “Would you feel better if I changed?”

“Not really,” she muttered. “You draw enough attention as it is. Are you ready?”

“I already got our tickets,” he said, pulling them from his pocket. He handed one to her, then cocked his head toward the gates. Nova’s knuckles were white as she gripped the ticket, feeding it into the small machine beneath the horse’s belly. A light flashed and she pushed through the rotating metal bars.

She cleared the entrance and paused on the other side, scanning the cacophony of lights and bodies, garish rides, chiming games, and booths full of cheap blow-up toys and glow-stick jewelry.

It was like a completely different place in the daytime.

“So?” said Adrian, joining her. “How are you feeling?”

A flurry of emotions responded in answer to the question. She was edgy, she was nervous, she was shaking with adrenaline as her body readied itself for what was coming.

But that wasn’t what Adrian was asking. She turned to him with the brightest smile she could muster and said, “I didn’t sleep a wink last night, so I feel amazing.”

He chuckled, and his relief was evident. “Good. I’d hate to lose you after we just found you.”

“You really think they would kick me off patrols, just because I’d be suddenly forced to sleep like everyone else does?”

“Not if I could help it.”

They made their way through the crowds of squealing children and laughing parents, through the aromas of sugary sweet cotton candy and fried funnel cakes that wafted around them. When Adrian had first suggested coming to look around the park, Nova had known little about it, having only been taken there by Leroy and Winston one time, many years ago. But now she felt that she knew the place intimately.

While the city had slept last night, she had been here, preparing for the stunt she and Ingrid were going to pull off.

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