thought of her in pain. Blond hair stained with blood, blue eyes swollen shut…Her mom must be losing her mind, especially since she didn’t want Joy to become a hero in the first place. It’s too much, too much, and I’m completely scared out of my mind—scared for Joy, scared to sneak around HQ, scared that Warrior Nation is not the organization I idolized my whole life.
“Claire?”
I snap out of my nightmare, remembering that Joy will stay that way if I don’t do something to help. “We have to go to HQ, okay?” I tell Mom, who starts to resist, but I add, “We’ll be safe there, and we’ll be able to help.”
She swallows down the rest of her wine in one giant gulp, setting down the glass with renewed force. I know I haven’t convinced her; I know that torture video only made things worse. She looks at me like I’m far away, like I’ve put her in a position way beyond her parental reach, a place where there is no clear right thing to do. “Okay,” she eventually relents. “As long as we’re together. Never cease, never cower?”
I nod, yet the words don’t give me that usual sense of pride.
Bridgette suggests we bring everyone we care about, so I text Demi, whom I haven’t heard from since our fight.
Hey, are you okay? Are you safe?
Yeah there were a bunch of idiots rioting down the street but we’re okay
I’m taking my mom to warrior hq for safety—want to come?
Uh not really sure how I’d leave the house with this curfew and all. But thanks anyway. Hope your gf isn’t dead
I try not to roll my eyes, giving her the benefit of the doubt that her tone is getting lost via text. But she has a good point. How can we save the day when the city is on lockdown?
“Hey, Bridgette?”
I find her at my desk, folding pieces of ripped scrap paper into small flowers. The surface is covered in tiny white blossoms, yet she keeps going, silently bending and creasing away. She works slowly, creating little botanical masterpieces with one hand. It must calm her, keeping her hands busy. I wish I could find some calm right now, but my favorite obsession is causing me more harm than good at the moment.
“Um, how are we gonna get to HQ?”
“I called Matt’s personal driver, Walter, to come pick us up. He’s on the Warrior payroll, drives an armored car. He owes me a favor, so…” She folds another paper flower, like a form of meditation.
“Is your sister coming?”
“No, but she’s with her boyfriend, Sam, so at least she’s not alone.”
“You’re not alone either,” I offer, and she looks up, giving me a shadow of a smile. Bridgette’s seen so much more than I have, dived deep, beyond the glossy magazine covers and slow-motion action shots. All that stuff I’ve fixated on—the wins, the successes—that’s only part of the story. Everything leading up to the victory is hard, dark, a world I never even considered. A world I don’t like.
“Thanks,” she says softly, pausing her flower making. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? I know how much you love the Warriors…. If we’re right…If Warrior Nation knows what’s going on but is doing nothing to stop it…it may change the way you feel about all this.”
My nerves shake with this truth, and I look up at my mural for strength. Friendly, comforting faces smile down at me: Blue Streak’s stoic, tight-lipped grin; Vaporizer’s charming, playboy smirk; Girl Power’s bright, glowing beam. These will always be my heroes—the people who have shaped my life’s mission and helped me become the woman I am today. My heroes haven’t done anything wrong, and even if the organization supporting them has gone a little rotten, will it change my commitment to the cause? Would I turn my back on their mission, their motto? I try to puzzle this out, forecasting how I will feel after unveiling the truth, but I’m stuck. We don’t know for sure what we’re going to find; maybe we’re completely off base. Even though I want to get down to the bottom of this, part of me hopes we’re wrong.
My veins run blue with Warrior blood. Maybe I’m naive or just plain stubborn, but I still want to believe everyone tied to Warrior Nation is good, that my love and devotion was not in vain. But I can’t know what’s waiting for me on the other side.