Page 32 of Supernova

An inky wisp drew her attention back to the alley. Phobia appeared where the car had been seconds before.

Still perched inside the window, Nova pulled back her arm and threw the Vitality Charm at him. He caught it easily in one skeletal hand. His hood fluttered, before he vanished again into nothingness.

Nova sprang back into the room and ran for the stairs. She skipped the whole flight of them, landing in the downstairs hallway in a single jump.

Adrian froze beside the coat closet, startled. “Nova—”

“We need to leave,” she all but yelled, grabbing his elbow and dragging him toward the destroyed front door. He started to resist, but Nova screamed, “Now, Adrian! We need to get out of here, now!”

Maybe it was her tone of voice, or maybe it was simply that he had come here for her and no other reason, but he allowed her to pull him through the door and out onto the sidewalk before he planted his feet and wrapped a hand around her wrist. “Nova, stop! Danna is back and she… I’m here to…”

“Comeon,” Nova growled, yanking on his arm. He budged, but only allowed her to drag him to the other side of the street before he halted again.

“Nova, stop!” he yelled. “Listen to me! You’re—”

The explosion struck them from behind, knocking them both to the ground. Nova’s body tumbled a couple times against the concrete, and then she was on her back, her ears ringing and her body feeling like it had just been hit by a bulldozer. All she could see were hazy white dots blocking out the sky, while a deafening static roared between her ears.

She had no idea how long she lay there. How long she was incapacitated, unable to move, unable to think, until the reality of her surroundings slowly, slowly began to take shape again.

The static subsided enough to welcome in the blare of sirens and shouting voices. Her lungs gradually started taking in air, and it tasted like sulfur and ash. When her vision cleared, it was only to see a cloud of black smoke billowing over the neighborhood.

She managed to get a hand beneath her and use the leverage topeel her body from the asphalt. Adrian was only a few feet away, already sitting up and gawking at the house.

Or what remained of the house, which appeared to be little more than the exterior brickwork, and even a good amount of that was scattered in chunks of rubble down the sidewalk. The fire was mostly coming from the adjoining row houses. Nova barely had the wherewithal to be grateful they had both been abandoned.

She turned her head just as Adrian, too, tore his attention from the destroyed house and looked at her, his mouth hanging open, the back of his Renegade uniform streaked with soot.

“Are you okay?” she said. She knew she was probably yelling, and yet she could barely hear her own voice.

He didn’t answer. Just kept on staring, like she’d spoken a different language.

Then, to her surprise, he scooted closer and held a hand out to her.

Exhaling, she slipped her palm into his and together they climbed to their feet.

“Adrian… I…”

Her words caught as Adrian’s fingers tightened around hers. His other hand reached for the clasp on the bracelet.

She tried to pull away, even as the bracelet fell from her wrist. Adrian caught it and met her gaze, his expression both distraught and determined.

“What are you doing? Give it back.”

She tried to lunge for him, but her body wasn’t fully cooperating and her movements were too jerky, too slow. Adrian backed away. Nova tried again, reaching for the bracelet, when she felt cold metal latching around her now-bare wrist.

A cuff. The kind that fully enclosed the entire hand. A cuff intended for prodigies.

For villains.

Her other arm was yanked back behind her and within seconds, that hand had been imprisoned, too. She looked over her shoulder, vitriol rising through her aching chest, but the anger died away when she saw Ruby standing there, and Oscar not far behind. Both of them watching her with that same distress, and the same determination. With Nova handcuffed, Ruby couldn’t back away from her fast enough.

“I’m confiscating the bracelet as potential evidence,” said Adrian, dragging her attention back to him.

“Evidence?” she said, surprised that her voice even worked. “But that’s… My father made it. It’s all I have. You can’t… Adrian! Evidence of what?”

“Evidence of your crimes against society and the Renegades.” He winced, as though he were in physical pain, when he said, “You’re under arrest… Nightmare.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

---