it, and I needed this moment— to hold her while I still had the chance. Today might be the last opportunity I got.
A few hours passed, but they felt like mere moments to me. The daytime turned to sunset, and Emma finally stirred as a ray of orange crossed her face. She looked to me as if we were the only two people in the world.
Then she pulled out of my arms, and my soul cried. Emma got up and began stretching. She didn’t talk about the moment we’d had... just ignored it, as if it’d never happened at all.
“I think I need to exercise. It might make the cramps a little better,” she said.
I smiled. “I have the perfect plan, if you don’t mind putting on a mask.”
“What do you mean?”
“I took what you said to heart,” I told Emma as I got to my feet. “If the Phantom is sticking around, I might as well use him as a force for good.”
Emma tilted her head. “Ethan Nowak, what are you planning?”
“We’ll wait until midnight. We’re going to need the others.”
Emma let everyone know to meet up in her dorm after the clock struck twelve. I was worried Odette and Theo wouldn’t show up, but they appeared right on time. Theo had a big smile on his face, and so did Odette, though her grin was far warier. She was wearing a brand-new pink dress, one with a fluffy skirt that looked like a cloud.
“How are you doing, Odette?” Emma asked in concern. Emma’s dorm was quite cramped with eight people standing inside, but we stepped apart to make more room as Odette and Theo entered.
“I’m fine,” Odette said. “You were right, Em. Igor was nothing but a big jerk. I’m done with him for good this time.”
Emma sighed in relief, then Odette said, “Anyway, what are we here for?”
Everyone looked at me, and I said, “I’ve been thinking. Vigilante work is great for beating up bad guys, but it doesn’t really serve the people. I’ve been fighting the Black Claw for over a year, and all my work hasn’t done anything to stop them. I’ve thought of a plan that will help the people of Malovia, but I need everyone’s help to pull this off.”
“Ooh, yes!” Odette peeped. “I’ve been waiting for this moment! Follow me!”
Before I could finish, Odette ran out of the room. She scurried to her own dorm, and the rest of us crept after her. We squeezed into Odette’s room, which was even more tight with all the sewing and crafting supplies she had packed inside.
“Since I quit ballet, I’ve had a lot of time to work on these,” Odette gushed. “Here we are!”
Odette threw open her closet doors. My mouth dropped. Inside were six vigilante costumes.
“Whoa,” Delmare said as she withdrew a black cloak from the closet, with a red hood and scarlet mask. “These are really cool.”
Stefan fit a black dragon’s mask on his face, and slid a dark cloak that looked like scales over his shoulders. Alexei had a golden griffin’s mask, which matched Kiara’s glittering yellow cloak. Odette yanked two costumes out of her closet, which were various shades of purple. She handed Theo an alicorn mask before she fit a similar one over her eyes.
“What are these for?” I asked Odette, eyes traveling between all the different masks.
Odette put her hands on her hips. “Well, if we’re all going to be doing vigilante work, shouldn’t we all have disguises?”
It would help to avoid the police. “I guess you’re right.”
“Yay!” Odette cheered. “Team Phantom is a go!”
“Team Phantom?” I raised my eyebrow.
“If we’re going to have a superhero crew, we need a superhero group name,” Stefan said. ”I think Team Phantom sounds just right.”
Kiara shuffled through her purse before she handed me a vial of red liquid that I’d asked her to make a few days prior. I chugged it before tossing the empty glass.
“What’s that?” Emma asked curiously.
“It’s a rejuvenation potion,” I said. “I’ll be at my former strength for a few hours.”
Emma narrowed her eyes. “Is there a catch?”
Yeah, I’ll feel worse than death in the morning, I thought, but didn’t tell her that. “Here’s the plan. Lord Radcliffe likes his ale. I took him out for a few drinks the other night, and he nearly drank the whole keg by himself before he let it slip that my cousin has a secret treasury storage in the woods outside Dolinska. It’s where he’s been storing the taxes for