Page 99 of Supernova

Around them, people were crushing the bees in fists and under boots, tearing the beautiful paper cranes into shreds. Baffled. Confused.

Until a sickening wail began to rise up around them.

It started with Peregrine, who was gaping, horrified, into her companion’s intelligent eyes. “No,” she cried, stretching one finger to stroke the bird’s wing. But the bird ducked away. It walked down the length of her outstretched arm, staring at her like it wasn’t sure whether or not she was edible. “Pern, please, it’s me.”

The peregrine shifted its head away, its talons digging into her forearm. Then it spread its massive wings and leaped into the air, soaring over the stands. Fiona cried out, reaching, but she had no hope of catching it. Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t sense him anymore,” she stammered. “He doesn’t understand… what’s happening?” She looked around, searching nearby faces for answers. “My power. It’s gone.”

Realization struck Adrian like a gunshot. He scanned the audience, as all around, expressions morphed into panic. Renegades inspecting their outstretched hands as they felt their powers drain away. As scales sloughed off of baby-soft human skin, as sixth-sense antennas retracted beneath human hair. A girl made of smoldering black embers watched as her skin mutated into plain human flesh. A boy with horns on his back cried out as the horns snapped off and were left like discarded nail clippings on the ground. Sparks extinguished. Energy evaporated. Shadows dispersed.

The voice returned, echoing and amused. “If you’re one of the unlucky Renegades who have just received a tiny sting, we urge you to remain calm. You’re bound to experience some slight discomfort, maybe a bit of queasiness, but in just a few moments you’ll be back to normal. Completely, utterly normal.”

“Agent N,” said Adrian. “The stingers have Agent N on them.”

Oscar cursed and squished a bumblebee beneath the butt of his cane, even though Adrian was pretty sure it was already dead.

“The syringes must have had a decoy,” said Adrian. “The Anarchists switched it out somehow.”

“Adrian,” said Danna. “Your powers?”

He shook his head. “My tattoo should protect me. But something tells me this isn’t the worst of it. Come on, I need to find a place to transform.”

“We’re coming with you,” she said.

He slipped from the row, preparing to dash up the stairs to the back of the arena, but he was stopped by a voice, meek and trembling.

“Guys?”

He turned back. Danna and Oscar paused, too, all of them staring at Ruby.

Her face was pale, her eyes watering and round. In her right palm, she held a dead bumblebee.

In her left was the red stone that always hung from the wire at her wrist.

Adrian’s heart sank. “Ruby… no…”

They all watched as the stone began to melt, dissolving into a sticky, bloody mess over her fingers, dripping down to the concrete floor below.

Ruby swallowed and tried to put on a brave face, despite her shock. “My brothers,” she whispered, “are going to be so disappointed.”

Nova was halfway across the first lighting truss when she realized what was happening. She gripped the edges of the cold steel, peering down at the audience as their cries went from bewildered to horrified.

She pressed a hand to her earpiece, hoping that maybe she was wrong. Maybe she was misinterpreting the situation, unable to see clearly from so far away.

“What is going on down there?”

Honey’s voice crackled. “Can’t you tell? We’re finally winning.”

Nova’s hands felt clammy, but she was perched too precariously to wipe them off. Her jaw throbbed behind the mask. “Tell me that’s not Agent N… It was supposed to be Leroy’s poison! You were just supposed to paralyze them for a few minutes!”

“Stay calm, Nightmare,” said Leroy. “We need you to stay focused on your prerogative.”

“How am I supposed to stay focused when you change the plan in the middle of it?” She realized that she was practically yelling but knew that no one would hear her above the chaos below. She found herself scanning the stands for signs of Adrian and the others, but the seats were too crowded, too jumbled with identical Renegade uniforms.

“It was my idea,” said Honey, sounding very proud of this fact. “Why would we leave our enemies momentarily paralyzed when we could neutralize them forever? It’s nothing they wouldn’t have done to us.”

“But that’s not what we agreed on!”

“Because you wouldn’t have agreed!” Honey snapped back. “Because you’ve gone too soft for these superheroes. But they deserve what they’re getting, and you know it!”

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