Page 127 of Supernova

He thought her shoulders might be shaking, but it could have been his own blurry vision causing the distortion.

“That actually is pretty gross,” said Honey, when she’d finished with the flame tattoo. “Maybe we can wait and have Leroy do the rest. What do you think, little Nightmare?”

Nova didn’t respond.

Adrian cast his attention up to the high ceiling beams, which converged into a single point over his head. His whole upper body was on fire now, but as the venom spread, the intensity of the pain lessened, if only incrementally. Inhale. Exhale.

“Interesting,” Honey murmured. “The swelling is already going down. Usually it lasts a day or more.”

The immunity tattoo, Adrian thought. It was protecting him, ridding his system of the venom faster than it otherwise would.

But he kept his mouth shut. No point in reminding her about it. Instead he muttered to himself, “The Renegades will come for me, you know.”

Nova spun around so fast he’d hardly realized she was moving before she was crouched in front of him, her eyes bright with fury and wet with unshed tears. “No,” she spat. “The Renegadesaren’t coming.”

He held her gaze, grateful to have her attention for once, despite the vitriol in her words.

“Yes,” he said, “they are, Nova.” His mouth curled in a weary smile. “Maybe they’re already here.”

Her brow furrowed briefly in confusion, then she let out a rattledscoff. “Me?” she said, standing again. “You thinkI’mgoing to help you? After all this?”

“Clearly, I don’t know you as well as I thought I did,” said Adrian, “but I know you’re not one of them, not deep down. You’re better than this, Nova.”

She scowled. “From the day I met you, you’ve been saying how Nightmare is a villain. It’s practically been your life’s mission to hunt me down and destroy me. And now, suddenly, I’m better than this?”

“Yes,” he said emphatically. He’d been having a lot of revelations since he was dragged into this chapel, and a lot of things had begun to make sense. Nova had told him that her uncle rescued her from the murderer who killed her parents. And during the fight at the arena, he was sure he had heard Nightmare called Ace Anarchy “Uncle.”

“Ace Anarchy is your family, and you want to be loyal to him. I get that… sort of. But this isn’t you.”

She leaned toward him and hissed, “You have no idea what I am.”

His eye caught a glimmer of a chain around her neck, disappearing into her collar. His blood ran cold. “Is that the Vitality Charm?”

Nova straightened, one hand going to her shirt where the medallion must have been hidden underneath.

She didn’t have to answer. Her expression was all the response he needed. Anger stampeded through him, and he pressed forward against the ropes. “You had it this whole time, even though you knew it was the only way anyone could get close to Max!”

She looked momentarily taken aback. Then, setting her jaw, she pulled her jacket’s zipper to her throat, glaring. “You can get close to Max just fine.”

It was Adrian’s turn to be surprised.

“The Sentinel wasn’t affected when he carried Max halfway across the city to the hospital,” she said. “How long after discoveringthe charm did you decide to give yourself that tattoo?” She jerked her chin toward the immunity tattoo. “How long were you planning on keeping it a secret?”

His lips pressed tight. He didn’t offer an explanation, not when she hadn’t bothered to give him one. He only said, “We needed it.”

“So did we,” she spat. A simple statement that did nothing to quell his rising fury. Then Nova waved a hand at Queen Bee. “I’ll find some bandages.”

Adrian shivered, startled that Nova would leave him here alone with Honey Harper and her knife. “Nova—wait.”

She ignored him, but had only gone a few steps when Phobia appeared in the corridor, towering over her.

Adrian drew back against the altar, snarling.

“Ace wishes to speak with us,” Phobia said. His hood fluttered, and Adrian had the uneasy sense that Phobia had turned his focus onhim.“I’ll send one of the Rejects to stand watch.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

NOVA PASSED BYthe room that had once been the cathedral’s treasury, where ancient tomes and fine statuary depicting angels and saints would have been stored. Now it was where Oscar and Danna were tied up, their hands and knees bound with nylon ropes.

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