Page 33 of Supernova

BY THE TIMETsunami and Torrent had doused the flames on Wallowridge, the row house was in ruins, along with most of its neighbors. Ruby had sent a message to Adrian’s dads, telling them about Danna’s return and about Nova… aboutNightmare.

Adrian’s insides were still in knots and he couldn’t help the surge of denial that eclipsed his thoughts, even now. Even after having said the words himself.You’re under arrest, Nightmare.Even having sorted through all the evidence he’d been storing in his mind, that somehow made it all seem so obvious once the last puzzle piece was put into place, and yet…

Not so obvious.

It had to be Nova. Of course it had to. Who else could have such inside knowledge of Agent N and the Vitality Charm, the helmet and HQ security? Who else was so observant, so smart, so determined?

Nova adored Max. Nightmare had tried to save him.

Nightmare loathed the Sentinel. Nova had done little to disguise similar feelings for the vigilante.

Nova had been at Adrian’s house the night the Vitality Charm had gone missing and—sweet rot,he’d fallen asleep.He’d been kissing her and then he’d fallen asleep, and he was such a fantastic idiot for not drawing a connection sooner.

Even their superpowers were related. Nova never slept. Nightmare could put others to sleep. There was a harmonious balance that wasn’t uncommon in the world of prodigies.

It was so obvious.

And yet.

And yet.

Denial was still there, screaming inside his skull. His fist was wrapped so tight around the bracelet he’d taken from her that the filigree was leaving small indentations in his palm.

Not Nova. It couldn’t be Nova. The girl who had rushed into the quarantine to help Max when he hurt himself. The girl who had studied Adrian’s art with such awe. The girl who had fallen asleep in his arms.

The girl who had kissed him and he knew—heknew—the kiss hadn’t meant nothing. It couldn’t have just been a lie, a manipulation. No, he had felt it. He had been so sure she felt the same way about him as he did about her.

But then… she had put him to sleep.

That had been her. Her power. Her touch.

He groaned, rubbing a hand over his hair as he paced back and forth in front the house’s smoldering remains.

Nova… no,Nightmare.He needed to start thinking of her as Nightmare. She wouldn’t even be housed temporarily at headquarters or the medium-security prison that was a few miles outside the city limits, like criminals sometimes were while it was decided the best placement for them. No. She had been taken away in an armoredvehicle bound straight for the docks, where a boat would be waiting to take her to Cragmoor Penitentiary.

There was already enough evidence piled up against her, even if, so far, it was all hearsay and circumstantial. Danna’s accusation, and a whole lot of coincidences. Too many coincidences.

All they needed now was a single piece of evidence. Real evidence. Ace Anarchy’s helmet found amid the wreckage of her home. Or the Vitality Charm or Nightmare’s mask and uniform or any number of weapons she’d used over the past years. Or something that would connect her to the other Anarchists. Proof that she was involved with Cyanide or Queen Bee, the Puppeteer or Phobia, or even Ace Anarchy himself.

He found himself wishing that Danna was there. She had intel on the Anarchists that the rest of them could only guess at so far, and her perspective could have been invaluable. But Ruby had insisted that Danna go to headquarters to be checked out by the healers while the rest of them came after Nightmare. It had been the right decision—Danna had been about to collapse again when she told them the truth of Nova’s identity—but that didn’t change the fact that Adrian wanted his full team on duty right now.

He needed to be surrounded with people he knew he could trust.

With the last of the flames finally doused, Tsunami, along with Torrent and a fire elemental who was immune to burns, made their way into the skeletal remains of the building. Adrian, Ruby, and Oscar were told to wait outside until it was declared safe to enter.

Annoyed, Adrian returned to pacing along the sidewalk, doing his best to ignore his friends’ sympathetic stares.

He didn’t have to set foot into the remains of the house to know that this had not been a normal explosion or a normal fire. He’d seen the effects that fire had left on the Cloven Cross Library, butthis was altogether different. The smell of thick smoke mingled with the acrid sting of chemical compounds. The scorch marks on neighboring brick walls shimmered with a pearlescent-gray sheen and the destruction went far beyond what Adrian would have expected. It wasn’t only the flammable materials that had succumbed to the heat and flames—the curtains and floorboards, the upholstered furniture and wood-framed interior walls.

Whatever concoction had been involved with this explosion had caused such an extreme heat wave that even some of the stonework had melted from the blast. The windows had shattered, but some of that broken glass had liquefied into silvery puddles on the pavement, which were just beginning to solidify again as they cooled. Adrian may not have been allowed inside, but from what he could see, there was little left. The roof was gone—mostly disintegrated, he guessed—though there was evidence of some roofing tiles and chimney bricks scattered up and down the street. Nothing remained of the interior walls but a thick cloud of dust and the occasional chunk of plaster. Where the ground floor had been was now an empty crater revealing the basement foundation below.

If there had been any evidence in this house proving Nightmare’s identity or her connection to the Anarchists, Adrian wasn’t optimistic it was still there.

Their only hope, he thought, would be to find the helmet. He was confident that it could withstand even this trauma. If they found it here in Nova’s home, they’d have all the evidence they required.

Nightmare, the villain who had haunted them all these months, would be done for.

And if the helmet wasn’t there?

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