A draft rushes up my bare legs and I tug the hoody down my thighs trying to cover up more. I feel so freaking exposed. The cashier’s judgmental eyes rake over us. “Pregnancy tests are on aisle four.”
“What?” My jaw falls open. Nova snorts. “No, um, we’re looking for hair dye. And maybe some cheap clothes.”
She lifts an eyebrow and points to the left.
I buy a matching pair of black cotton leggings and black tank tops. And a box of L’Oreal number three; the color Soft Black. Nova swears that’s the color that best matches my locks and I shudder at the label. My hair used to be golden but it’s only gotten darker in the last few days after my sixteenth birthday. Hair is such a stupid thing but it means so much in how the other Supers judge me.
Now they’re going to judge Nova, too.
“You know this stuff doesn’t last long in our hair, right?” she says. “It only works well on humans.”
“It’ll last long enough to get us home.”
We’re in the alleyway behind the pharmacy because apparently the restrooms are for daytime customers only. I bet the cashier would act a whole lot different if she knew who she was really speaking to. Anyhow, I scope out the area but there’s nothing out here. Just some empty plastic crates and an entire empty parking lot for the supercenter store next door.
Nova leans against the brick wall, arms crossed, hair piled loosely on top of her head. I grab a water hose and turn on the spigot so we can wash all of the hair dye out of her hair.
When the water runs clear she stands and squeezes out her hair, leaving it in wavy tendrils around her face. It is by total luck that our hair is about the same length. And now, thanks to my genius idea, it’s also the same color.
Nova takes the hose from my hand. “Your turn.”
“Huh?” I step away from the spray of freezing cold water.
“We’re not going to look the same if I have wet hair and you don’t,” she says. I barely have time to agree with her before she shoves my head down and gives it a good soak.
Nova carries my stolen hoody under her arm the same way I hold my Hero suit under mine. Back at the KAPOW entrance, I give her a rundown of what it looks like inside. “I’ll go first. I’ll summon our family pod and then scope out the area, make sure there’s no Retrievers around. When it’s clear, I’ll knock twice on the entrance door and then you come in.”
“How do I do that?” she asks, glancing over at the entrance in front of us.
“Just press your palm to the monitor. You’ll see how I do it.”
“But I’m not in the system.”
I shake my head. That’s one thing I remember from my private research at Evan’s. Twins have identical fingerprints and biometric data. “The system will recognize your handprint as mine. We’re the same. That’s why twins have always been depowered together, because there’s just no way of ensuring they won’t impersonate the other one.”
“Oh you mean like what we’re doing now?” she says with a snort.
“Just listen for my knock. We’ll jump in the pod together, get home and run inside our house. Then we’ll be safe. Then we can figure out a plan.”
“What if something goes wrong?”
I press my hand to the monitor and the metal door slides open. “Just pretend to be me. They can’t turn you in if they don’t know which one of us is you.”
The glorious sound of an empty corridor greets me as I approach the KAPOW monitor and request our pod. If Max is paying attention back at home, and I know he is, he’ll see my request and know to keep a look out for our return. Hopefully that takes care of any Retrievers lurking around the corridors on the other side of Central.
When our pod arrives, I rush back to the door and knock twice, cringing when it echoes throughout the corridor for what feels like miles. The door slides open and Nova enters, looking positively thrilled with herself. Her expression darkens a moment later. “If Aurora had known that I could just walk right in here, she wouldn’t have had to kill people so that we could sneak in.”
That’s a buzzkill.
Max waits outside the door to our home the moment we step out of the KAPOW. There isn’t a Retriever in sight. “Whoa,” he says, shoving us through the door quickly. The solid door seals shut behind us. A wave of relief crashes into me, though I can tell Nova doesn’t feel the same warm welcome that I do. This is my home and I am safe here. She’s still totally out of her element.
Max’s lips squish to the side of his mouth as he looks from Nova to me and back again. “Which one of you is my sister?” His hand covers his mouth and slowly slides down his face. “Shit. No. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. Which one of you is Maci?”
He gives us a once-over, his eyes lingering on my right hand. “How did your scars go away?”
Nova looks at me. I smile and she smiles back.
“What’s wrong, brother?” she says. “You can’t tell us apart?”
“How could I? You’re identical.”
I can’t help but smile. This will be fun.
My bedroom door opens and a sleepy but totally adorable Evan emerges. His hair seems longer but that might be because it isn’t pulled back, but instead it’s splayed around his face in a massive case of bed head. “You’re back,” he says, glancing from Max to Nova to me. He gives me a sheepish grin. Slips an arm around my waist. I draw in a breath when his forehead tilts down and touches mine. “I missed you,” he whispers as if we are the only two people in the room.
“Oh what the hell, man?” Max throws his arms in the air. “How the hell do you know which one is your girlfriend?”
Evan pulls away from me and scratches his neck. “I thought it was obvious.”
I’m curled up in Evan’s lap with my legs hanging off the armrest of our couch. His arm wraps around my back and the other hand balances delicately on my thigh as if he’s not sure he’s allowed to touch me there yet. I’ve never done this sort of thing in my house, on my couch…in front people. But I don’t care. The last few days have been a nightmare. Pepper was killed. Dad was depowered. I lost the power in my arm. But I’m a Hero now. And I gained this handsome new boyfriend and a sister I never knew was still alive.
But boyfriends don’t always last and Nova can’t exactly be trusted. And my Hero status is probationary. So I guess this is far from being over. I breathe in Evan’s scent and nuzzle my face into his neck. Things may all go to hell again soon, but I’m going to enjoy this moment while I can.
Max bends over the couch and hands me a bowl of popcorn, swirling his other hand around in a flourish as if he’s presenting this snack to the queen. “You smirk now, but you’ll thank me later. Evan and I have mastered the art of making homemade popcorn.”
“It’s true,” Evan says, grabbing a handful and shoving it his mouth. “The trick was in the seasoning. You gotta use coconut oil.”
Nova sits on the loveseat adjacent to us with her own bowl of popcorn. Max takes the third bowl and hops over the couch, sitting next to Nova on the smaller couch. Her eyes dart sharply to the left, then back down to her bowl. She’s uncomfortable with Max so close to her. I don’t know how I know that, but I do. I can feel it.
It’s something like four in the morning and no one is sleepy.
Max turns to Nova and holds out his hand. “I’m Max.”
She looks at his hand and then at me. I nod. She shakes it. “Nova.”
“Your power is really strong.” He doesn’t let go of her hand after the initial handshake and I’m sure everyone in the room can hear her heartbeat accelerate. “You’re a kick ass fighter and I didn’t think that was possible for anyone not trained in SLAM.”
“I don’t know what SLAM is but I spent my entire life training to fight.” At that declaration, the child-like innocence in her eyes turns stone cold.
Max sets his popcorn on the coffee table. “I don’t know what to do, Maci. What are we doing?” I grit my teeth and glare at him but in typical big brother fashion, my threats are use
less. “I could lose my Hero status, Mace. We’re harboring a wanted criminal.” He glances back at Nova. “I’m sorry. I know you’re my sister, but it is what it is. We could all be depowered for this.”
I shove the popcorn to Evan and rise to my feet. Cross my arms and straighten my shoulders. I knew this moment would come and I wanted to have some kind of speech ready for it. But as usual, I just take a deep breath and wing it. “She could have killed me but she didn’t. She could have saved Aurora but she killed her instead. Nova is our sister. She’s family. I’m not letting them take her. She’s staying here. Dad will fix this.”
“Dad can’t do anything right now,” Max says. “They won’t even let me see him. Do you think the Supers will want a depowered Hero as their president?”
I open my mouth and then close it. Then open it again. “There’s no law against it. He’s still the president and he’ll be okay. Nova can heal his scars like she healed mine.”
“I’ve been dying to know how that happened,” Evan says. I hold out my arm and he runs his fingers down the fresh skin. The scientist in him sparks to life as he examines my arm.
“There’s not a single trace of scar tissue here.”
“Nova did it.”
Max folds his arms over his chest all macho-like but his power level greatly recedes. “How?”
“She cut open her arm and let her power pour onto my skin. It healed instantly, just like our bodies heal normally. My arm couldn’t heal itself because the power was gone but I guess any power will do the trick.”
Evan acknowledges Nova for the first time. “Does this work on any Super? Or just one you’re related to?”
“It’ll work on anyone,” she says in a voice barely above a whisper. “I can’t believe you don’t know that. It’s a common fact in the villain underground.”
“What the hell is a villain underground?” Max spats.
Nova stares at her hands but her mind is somewhere else. “It’s not really underground. Aurora started it, I think. She has a few homes on the coast.”
“Which coast?” Max asks.
“Every coast. Depowered villains usually show up seeking refuge and if they’re freshly depowered then I always had to heal them since I had power and not many of Aurora’s people did. She had power of course, but she was too busy for stuff like that.”
Max’s eyes narrow. “How many villains with power are still working for her?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe a dozen. I killed one of them tonight, so hopefully his mission is caput.”
“You killed someone?” Max’s voice is so loud, I’m sure the whole freaking world would have heard him if not for the soundproof walls. “Maci, does she know this isn’t okay?”
“I know murder is wrong,” she says. “But he was a villain and he killed that woman and the half breed. And he would have killed us too if he’d had a chance. I saved Maci from him. Plus I put an end to his mission.”
Max’s chest heaves out of mass hysteria and disbelief, not from anger. So I guess that’s a good thing. Evan yanks the hair tie off his wrist and pulls his hair back. “Did she say half breed?”
“What was his mission?” Max asks as the gears in his mind turn on overdrive. He paces the living room floor. “Does Aurora still have missions in place even after her death?”
Yes. I don’t exactly hear her say it. I don’t feel it either. I just know it. Nova gnaws on her bottom lip and shakes her head in this way that isn’t a committal yes or no answer. Max tries so hard to stay calm; it’s kind of a miracle that the floor doesn’t burst into flames around him. Nova shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“You’re going to have to explain more,” Max says. “Now.”
“Aurora wanted war. That man I killed was one of her top allies. He didn’t come with us when she stormed into Central last week because he was too important to lose. He was supposed to carry on the war if she failed. But he’s gone now, and I don’t think anyone else can do anything, even if they were privy to the mission.”
“What do you know about this war? She said she wanted my dad dead to avenge the death of her sons. That doesn’t sound like war, that sounds like revenge.”
She nods, bobbing her head a little too nervously. “Mhm. She didn’t want to take over or anything. She just wanted revenge. President Might killed all those babies who were born as twins. Others got depowered or experimented on. So most of her allies are the parents of those kids.” She glances at me. “The twins.”
Max stops pacing and runs his hands through his blond hair. “How do we know her camp isn’t still planning to attack us?”
“Because I’m gone,” she says.
“Huh?” Max and I say in unison.
“What else can anyone do to that would hurt President Might? I was their biggest weapon.”
“See?” I interject. “Nova knows a lot of things that will help the Hero Brigade. She only killed to protect us and because she didn’t know that Heroes don’t kill. She’s an ally now.”
“Is that right?” Max asks her.
Nova shrugs. “I don’t think Maci has given me a choice.”
“Yeah okay, that’s reassuring,” my brother snaps, turning his glare on me. I close my eyes, cover my hands over my face. Try to take a deep breath. This isn’t going at all like it was supposed to. If Max isn’t on my side then Nova might as well be dead.
I hate the nagging feeling in my chest that keeps telling me she can be trusted. There is no circumstantial evidence to support that; nothing except for my crazed rantings that she’s my sister and she should be given a chance. But despite how crazy all of this is, and even after all the years of training I’ve had, I know Nova can be trusted. There isn’t any proof or reason that will convince anyone else, at least not yet. But I’m convinced. And that’s really all I care about.
My brother’s BEEPR emits that all-familiar sound of a new Hero mission. He doesn’t even check his wrist for a few seconds, instead choosing to continue glaring at me as if he’ll be able to magically see into my soul or something. He slips into his room and comes back dressed in full Hero attire. “Get some sleep,” he says, his attention focused on the wall MOD by the front door. “We’ll talk about this later.”
I grab his arm. “You’re not going to tell anyone that I have Nova, are you?”
“It would be against Hero ethics to hide information of this magnitude.”
Red fills my vision. “Max!” It is an insult and a pleading cry at the same time. “Max, you can’t tell anyone. Please. I swear I’ll make this right. You can’t say anything.”
“I won’t.” He palms the door and looks both ways before stepping outside. “She’s my sister, too.”
The morning sun shines into my bedroom, lighting up the glass wall like some kind of crappy Instagram filtered photograph of the Grand Canyon. My sister must be the world’s lightest sleeper because it doesn’t even feel like she’s still in my bed.
Okay, she’s not in my bed.
Laughter filters in through the kitchen and I’m on my feet a second later, tugging on a pair of longer shorts. I creep down the hall toward the kitchen, wanting to eavesdrop as long as I can. Nova and Evan have their backs to me, taking turns pouring pancake mix into a pan on the stove. Evan’s dressed in Max’s basketball shorts and a shirt. Nova wears the same leggings and tank top from last night. They’re both outsiders making themselves at home. In my home.
“Okay, I guess that was a nice try,” Evan says. He takes the cup of batter out of her hand and sets it on the counter. “I mean, it isn’t round or anything, but it might be edible if we don’t burn it.”
“Shut up,” Nova says in a lighthearted way that could be considered flirting, but I know she’s not flirting with my boyfriend. “I’ve never cooked anything before.”
“And it shows. It definitely shows.” Evan’s smirk is the kind of facial expression that can make a girl fall in love with him or make the girl who already cares about him punch him in the face.
“Good morning.” I step into the kitchen. Power emanates from my chest and I hope it feels angry, not jealous. Of course it’d be better if I didn’t feel anything at all because showing weakness is not something Heroes do. “What’s going on?”
“Good morning,” he says, turning back and giving me a quick wink. Evan flips Nova’s pancake. He’s really cute with a spatula in his hand but that’s the last thing on my mind right now. “Are you hungry? We’re making enough breakfast for a small army.”
“How did you know where the pancake stuff was?” I don’t mean to sound like a bitch, but it probably comes out that way.
“Max and I make pancakes every morning.” He hands me a plate piled high with perfectly round pancakes with a slab of butter on top. “Hungry?”
Overwhelmed by a growling stomach, I take the stupid plate and sit at the counter opposite of Evan and my sister. You know, just so I can keep an eye on them. Nova finishes making her pancakes and they join me at the kitchen island for breakfast.
I don’t appreciate the jealousy that bubbles up inside me. Before Evan came around, my life was easy. Now suddenly it’s complicated. I wonder if it’s even worth it to date people. I should be focusing on my Hero duties only. I should not be staring at Nova, wondering if any of the small talk between her and Evan means something more than meaningless conversation.
The doorbell rings. They both look at me. “What?” I say. “If someone was here to see me, my BEEPR would have alerted me. Last time I answered the door unexpectedly I got kidnapped.”
“Is this bad?” Nova asks. Her knuckles turn white over her fork. “This is bad.”
“It’s not bad. I’m just joking.” I hop off my barstool and head to the front door.
“She wasn’t really kidnapped,” Evan tells her. “It was for her surprise birthday party.”
Nova’s expression goes from nervous to disappointed. “Oh.”
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