the vitriol in her words.
“Yes,” he said, “they are, Nova.” His mouth curled in a weary smile. “Maybe they’re already here.”
Her brow furrowed briefly in confusion, then she let out a rattled scoff. “Me?” she said, standing again. “You think I’m going to help you? After all this?”
“Clearly, I don’t know you as well as I thought I did,” said Adrian, “but I know you’re not one of them, not deep down. You’re better than this, Nova.”
She scowled. “From the day I met you, you’ve been saying how Nightmare is a villain. It’s practically been your life’s mission to hunt me down and destroy me. And now, suddenly, I’m better than this?”
“Yes,” he said emphatically. He’d been having a lot of revelations since he was dragged into this chapel, and a lot of things had begun to make sense. Nova had told him that her uncle rescued her from the murderer who killed her parents. And during the fight at the arena, he was sure he had heard Nightmare called Ace Anarchy “Uncle.”
“Ace Anarchy is your family, and you want to be loyal to him. I get that … sort of. But this isn’t you.”
She leaned toward him and hissed, “You have no idea what I am.”
His eye caught a glimmer of a chain around her neck, disappearing into her collar. His blood ran cold. “Is that the Vitality Charm?”
Nova straightened, one hand going to her shirt where the medallion must have been hidden underneath.
She didn’t have to answer. Her expression was all the response he needed. Anger stampeded through him, and he pressed forward against the ropes. “You had it this whole time, even though you knew it was the only way anyone could get close to Max!”
She looked momentarily taken aback. Then, setting her jaw, she pulled her jacket’s zipper to her throat, glaring. “You can get close to Max just fine.”
It was Adrian’s turn to be surprised.
“The Sentinel wasn’t affected when he carried Max halfway across the city to the hospital,” she said. “How long after discovering the charm did you decide to give yourself that tattoo?” She jerked her chin toward the immunity tattoo. “How long were you planning on keeping it a secret?”
His lips pressed tight. He didn’t offer an explanation, not when she hadn’t bothered to give him one. He only said, “We needed it.”
“So did we,” she spat. A simple statement that did nothing to quell his rising fury. Then Nova waved a hand at Queen Bee. “I’ll find some bandages.”
Adrian shivered, startled that Nova would leave him here alone with Honey Harper and her knife. “Nova—wait.”
She ignored him, but had only gone a few steps when Phobia appeared in the corridor, towering over her.
Adrian drew back against the altar, snarling.
“Ace wishes to speak with us,” Phobia said. His hood fluttered, and Adrian had the uneasy sense that Phobia had turned his focus on him. “I’ll send one of the Rejects to stand watch.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
NOVA PASSED BY the room that had once been the cathedral’s treasury, where ancient tomes and fine statuary depicting angels and saints would have been stored. Now it was where Oscar and Danna were tied up, their hands and knees bound with nylon ropes.
They both glared at Nova as she passed.
She gritted her teeth, wishing she had taken a different path around the nave so as not to have seen them at all.
Honey, walking a few paces ahead of her, didn’t seem to notice.
“Honey?” said Nova, jogging forward to be beside her. “Can I ask you a question about Phobia?”
“Sure, but I probably won’t know the answer.” Honey flashed her a spooky look. “All these years later and he still scares me as much as the day he joined us.”
“How did he join the Anarchists?”
Honey cocked her head, considering. “He just showed up during a fight, against Thunderbird and Lady Indomitable, if I remember right. We were getting whupped—it was me and Animus—he was killed not long after that, I don’t think you ever met him. Anyway, I thought we were both dead, when Phobia showed up, creepy as ever, and suddenly the Renegades were running away, terrified. Phobia said he wanted to meet Ace, so we brought him back with us.”
Nova frowned, not finding the clues she wanted in Honey’s story. Why had one of Adrian’s own creations wanted to join Ace?
“He killed Lady Indomitable, didn’t he?” Nova said.
Honey glanced at her, surprised. “How did you…?” She paused. “Did someone tell you that?”
“Adrian told me about a note