Then Nova froze, staring into the room attached to the chapel. It had once had doors of stained glass enclosing it, but the glass had been shattered. The room beyond was barren and tidy compared with the destruction wrought on the rest of the cathedral. And it was empty.
“They were here,” said Nova, her boots crunching over broken glass.
Adrian noticed frayed ropes tossed across the ground. “They must have found a way to escape.”
Nova seemed unconvinced. “Maybe.”
They shared a look, laced with a question.
Find Oscar and Danna … or try to stop Ace Anarchy?
Adrian sighed and tucked a hope into the back of his mind that his friends would be all right, wherever they were. “The roof?”
Nova’s expression hardened and he recognized the same resolve that had made his heart skip when he saw her at the trials.
She gave him a nod. “Let’s end this.”
They raced back through the chapel, but as they were passing the choir, a shrill scream made them both skid to a stop. Adrian peeked around the wall toward the high altar.
He gasped, pulling Nova back into the corridor.
“What is it?” said Nova.
“Birds!”
She hesitated only a moment, before shoving Adrian’s arm away and looking for herself.
The sanctuary that surrounded the altar was full of enormous black crows. Everywhere, shining black eyes and sharp black beaks and scaly black feet. They perched across the rails that divided the sanctuary from the choir, along the moldings of the grand pillars, and on the tall windowsills stretching to the top of the vaulted ceiling. Their black wings drummed against the air as they flocked in and out of the space, like a blizzard of ink-black wings. A clamor of angry caws echoed through the chamber.
In the center of the tumult, clinging to each other at the base of the altar, were Danna and, of all people, Narcissa. Danna was curled into a ball, her head in Narcissa’s lap as she tried to protect herself with her arms. Narcissa had one arm around her, though her own face was pale with terror and her other arm kept swiping aimlessly at the air to keep the birds away.
It wasn’t working. Their feet dug into her limbs. Their beaks nipped at Danna’s legs.
“Oh, come on,” Narcissa pleaded to no one. “Birds were the one thing I wasn’t afraid of!”
Adrian was still trying to figure out what he was seeing when a figure emerged from behind a pillar, wielding an antique candelabra like a sword. Oscar roared insensibly at the flock, trying to beat them back as he made his way toward the altar. “Monarch!” he yelled. “You have to get up!”
As soon as Oscar stumbled onto the dais, the crows converged into a whirlwind, trapping all three of them inside a funnel. Their wings and bodies so dense it seemed impenetrable.
And then the birds caught fire.
“It’s Phobia,” said Nova. “Danna had a fear of birds, and I’m pretty sure Oscar is afraid of fire.”
Adrian’s skin prickled at the mention of his mother’s murderer, the phantom that was so eerily similar to his childhood nightmare.
“I need something to draw on,” he said, pulling out Nova’s ink pen. “We need water. A hose or some sprinklers?”
Nova’s face pinched. “He’ll just morph into something else.”
“Then what do we do?”
“I don’t know. He isn’t a normal prodigy. As far as I know, no one’s ever managed to actually hurt him, not with weapons or even superpowers.” Her gaze grew intense. “But … Adrian … if you made him…”
“I didn’t make him!” he snapped.
Nova shrank back. “Okay,” she said, placating. “But I’m just saying, if you did, then maybe there’s some way you could destroy him?”
“Except I didn’t—”
Narcissa screamed, a sound of pure agony, as the fire drew closer. Adrian was never sure how much of Phobia’s ability was simple illusion, but the girl’s pain sounded real enough. He cringed. “I didn’t create him, and even if I did, I still wouldn’t know how to stop him.”
“Well, start thinking of something,” said Nova. “One thing I do know, the best way to fight Phobia”—she squared her shoulders—“is by being brave.” She descended the stairs into the sanctuary and stood facing the searing-hot flames. They were so bright Adrian had to lower his visor again so he could stand to look at them, but Nova didn’t flinch away.
“Nova?” He could feel the heat of the flames even through his armor, and she was standing so much closer than he was. He was amazed