Page 133 of Archenemies

But in that same moment, Ruby gasped. “Wait!”

Oscar’s eyes widened.

Something fluttered in Adrian’s vision, just outside the visor. He blinked.

A monarch butterfly had landed on one of his fingers.

Another quickly followed, perching on his thumb. Then three more on the other hand.

Adrian held completely still as Danna’s swarm overtook him, alighting on his shoulders, his arms, his toes, even the top of his helmet, he guessed, though he couldn’t feel them. He was afraid to move lest he accidentally crush one beneath a metal limb.

As their expressions morphed from determination to astonishment, Oscar and Ruby gradually let down their guard. Ruby’s muscles relaxed, letting the weapons hang at her sides. Oscar’s smoke cloud dispersed into the air.

They gaped at him, and Adrian found himself fidgeting beneath their stares.

“Who are you?” Ruby finally asked.

He pressed his lips together. He didn’t have to tell them. He could shoo the butterflies away. He could be gone before they would think to stop him.

But was that really what he wanted? To continue with these lies forever? To never be able to trust anyone with this secret, not even his best friends? The team he trusted with his life?

Inhaling shakily, he reached for his helmet.

The butterflies left him. They swirled across the wasteland and took up watch on the toppled statue of a saint, their bright yellow wings the only splotch of color beneath the moonlight.

Adrian unlatched the visor. It hissed as it lifted up, revealing his face.

Their silence was pervasive. He tried to read their expressions, searching for disbelief and betrayal. But mostly they just seemed stunned.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Adrian said, and the words came out more pleading than he’d intended. “Especially not my dads. Or… or Nova either. I need to be the one to tell her.”

“Nova doesn’t know?” Ruby said, her own voice carrying a bit of a squeak.

Oscar answered for him. “Of course not. She hates the Sentinel.”

Adrian frowned, but couldn’t deny the truth of it.

Releasing a string of expletives, Oscar ran his hand through his hair. “How could you not tell us? I thought—all this time!”

“I know. I’m sorry. I wanted to. But after the parade, when Danna got hurt—”

“Because of you!” Oscar yelled. “She got hurt because of you!”

Adrian shrank back. “I know. It was an accident. I would never… I didn’t mean to.”

“And you were there,” Oscar continued, shaking his head. “At the library and… and chasing after Hawthorn. How did we not see it?”

“Because it’sSketch,” said Ruby. “You draw things! You don’t control fire or laser beams! You can’t jump fifty feet in the air! How…How?”

“Tattoos,” said Adrian. “I draw permanent tattoos on myself, and they deliver different powers.”

They both gawked at him.

Then—

“Tattoos?” Ruby screamed. “You can’t be serious.”

Oscar, though, had turned thoughtful, his mouth rounding with comprehension. “Tattoos. Holy smokes, dude, that’s genius. Can you give me some?”

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