Jazz hummed. “You have no idea. Isn’t that right, Nicky?”
“Right,” Nick said, feeling twitchier than normal.
Jazz looked up at Gibby. “And where did you run off to?”
“Phone call,” Gibby said easily. “Nothing important. We should—uh-oh.”
“What uh-oh?” Jazz asked.
“Nick has his thinking face. And it’s red. I don’t think I’ve ever seen his red thinking face before.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Maybe I should go visit Seth at the animal shelter,” Nick said, tapping his fingers against the table. “I mean, it’s obviously important to him, right? Does it make me a bad friend that I never went there this summer? I should take an interest in his interests, right? I mean, that’s what you’re supposed to do when your best friend starts something new.”
“No,” Gibby blurted.
Nick and Jazz turned slowly to look at her. “Why not?”
“Because,” Gibby said. “It’s … uh. Probably super busy. With the … flooding thing. And, Nicky, aren’t you allergic to cats? There’s probably lots of cats.”
Oh. Right. But still. “It’s not that bad. I mean, yeah, I swell up and get blotchy and then almost die, but so what? If Seth likes it, then I should like it too, right?”
“Oh sure,” Gibby said quickly. “Totally. But I don’t think he’d want you to get sick because of him. That’d make him feel bad, and you know how Seth looks when he feels bad.”
“My greatest weakness,” Nick breathed. When Seth Gray felt bad about something, his eyes got really wide and his bottom lip trembled, and all Nick wanted to do was hug him close and protect him from everything.
“Exactly,” Gibby said. “And we can’t have him getting distracted from all those cats. Besides, he’ll probably be done sooner than you think—”
Nick’s phone beeped.
Then Jazz’s.
Then Gibby’s.
The librarian glared at them, but then her phone beeped too, and she frowned down at it.
Nick picked his phone up to see an alert across the screen.
EXTRAORDINARY ACTIVITY IN MIDTOWN. EXPECT DELAYS. AVOID AREA IF POSSIBLE.
“Whoa,” Nick breathed. “Do you think it’s Shadow Star?”
“I don’t know,” Gibby said. “But we should probably stay away since we were told to.”
“Right,” Nick said. “But what if we—”
“No.”
“But we could—”
“No.”
“Maybe just—”
“No.”
Nick glared at Gibby. “You know, when I’m an Extraordinary, I’m going to be able to do whatever I want.”
“And I tremble in fear at the very thought. But until that time comes, you’re still squishy and fragile, and even though you sometimes act like it, you’re not stupid enough to get in the middle of whatever’s going on.”
“I feel like there was a compliment buried under all that somewhere.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Nicky. Now, why don’t you explain to me in great detail Phase Two of your plan. I don’t think I understood it the first time.”
Jazz groaned.
“I’d be happy to,” Nick said, sitting up. “Maybe you should take copious notes just to be safe.”
* * *
Nick was almost home when he got a text from Dad, telling him he’d been called in to work early, and didn’t know when he’d be back. Nick wondered if it had to do with the Extraordinaries, but his dad didn’t respond when he asked.
The porch light was on, even though it was still daylight. Nick was about to put his key in the door when he got another alert. He pulled out his phone.
BREAKING NEWS: SHADOW STAR BATTLING PYRO STORM ABOVE THE STREETS OF NOVA CITY.
Nick stared at his phone, synapses misfiring.
It took him a moment to reboot, and then he nearly broke his key trying to get inside the house. The door banged against the wall as he threw it open, not even bothering to close it behind him. He ran to the living room, picking up the remote to the TV off the coffee table. He almost dropped it but managed to hit the power button. He flipped through the channels until he found the news.
And stared in wonder.
It was a live shot from the Action News chopper. A picture of Rebecca Firestone was in the corner, smiling wide and beautiful. Her voice was speaking over the sound of the helicopter, saying things like I’ve never seen them like this before and They’ve been going at it for the better part of an hour now and Oh my god.
But Nick barely heard her.
Because there they were.
Shadow Star and Pyro Storm.
It was quick and brutal, the camera barely able to keep up with their movements. They were on top of one of the skyscrapers in midtown. Nick thought it was one