roll right off her shoulders if her hand wasn’t there to support it. He was surprised to see her at all. He’d half expected her to be dead, but she must have only been unconscious.
Nightmare’s doing?
“I took some with me when we went after Hawthorn,” she said, unholstering a gun from her hip. “I still have one dart left.”
Adrian wanted to appear grateful, but he was already trying to figure out what he would say when Genissa insisted she be allowed to join him on the risky mission he was considering.
To his surprise, she held the gun out to him, handle first.
“You can have it,” she said, almost angrily. “I’m done playing heroes and villains. For real this time. The Renegades aren’t worth this.”
He took the gun and watched as she tried to saunter away, though her movements were stiff and jerky. Adrian opened the projectile chamber and saw the lone dart inside, swirling with green liquid.
“Uh-oh,” said Oscar. “I sense some serious vigilante recklessness coming on.”
Adrian glared at him, wishing he hadn’t chosen that moment to remind his dads that they were still supposed to be upset with him.
“The only way we’re going to defeat Ace Anarchy is if we can either get that helmet back or neutralize him,” he said.
“To do that,” said Hugh, “we need to get into the cathedral. And like I said, with that wasteland—”
“They’ll see us coming,” said Adrian. “But I know another way in.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
A SILENCE DESCENDED on the cathedral tower, almost as loud in Nova’s ears as the bells had been before. Her rebellion echoed among the bronze and timber, that single, simple proclamation.
No.
Ace, his arms still outstretched from his grand speech, slowly turned toward her. It felt different now to see him with the helmet on, his strength and vitality so quickly restored, after years of watching his body deteriorate day after day.
She’d always assumed the change would be for the better, but now, seeing the unfamiliar coldness in his gaze, she felt a shiver of apprehension down her spine.
“Little Nightmare?”
Nova stepped forward from the group. “I share your beliefs, Uncle, and your conviction. But I disagree with the path you would put us on to achieve our goals. I know that for years we’ve been talking about destroying the Renegades. I understand that you believe we can only establish a society that works if we first dismantle the society that operates under our enemies. But you’re wrong. We don’t need to fight. We don’t need to destroy. We need to leave.”
Ace’s expression tightened, but Nova plowed ahead.
She had to make them understand.
“We don’t have to stay in Gatlon. There’s nothing keeping us here. Let the Renegades have their city. We can go somewhere else. Establish our own community, under our own rules, our own principles.” Her nerves thrummed as she spoke, knowing that she did, actually, have something that might keep her here in Gatlon.
But Adrian was only a dream. Had only ever been a dream. Someday, he would know the truth. Someday, everything would fall apart.
Better that day was today.
“The Renegades are no longer relegated to Gatlon City,” said Phobia, his voice dry and annoyed, as if this should have been obvious. “Their influence has spread across the world. They have syndicates in nearly every country.”
“In the major metropolises, yes,” said Nova. “I’m not suggesting we trade one city for another. That would just lead to the same conflicts we’ve faced here. I’m saying we start fresh. Find a place that’s entirely our own.” She inspected the faces that were watching her with surprise—some tinted by curiosity, others a faint hint of suspicion. “We are prodigies, and with Ace Anarchy leading us…” She faced her uncle. “We can build the society we’ve dreamed of. Literally build it from the ground up. Look what you did here. In a matter of minutes you turned a pile of rubble into this.” She gestured at the bell tower around them. “We could walk out into any wilderness and transform it into the home we deserve.”
Ace watched her, calculating. But the fact that he hadn’t silenced her gave her courage.
“Look,” she said, more emphatically now as she moved to stand in the center of the room, on the old wooden floorboards beneath the central bells. They amplified her voice as she spoke. “We talk a lot about personal responsibility. Maybe it’s time we took responsibility for our role in what this city has become. I don’t like the way the Renegades are running