It was Oscar who responded, “Putting people to sleep.”
Danna spread her arms, as if this were evidence enough. “Putting people to sleep. Not walking through mirrors.”
“Yeah…,” started Ruby, mindlessly tapping her finger against the point of her bloodstone. “But Adrian has multiple superpowers. So does Max. It’s not entirely unheard of.”
“You guys, I followed Nova,” said Danna. “I saw her.”
“What exactly did you see?” said Adrian. “You’ve never told us the details.”
She groaned. “There aren’t a lot of details to give. I suspected Nova, so I started following her. At some point, she led me to the cathedral, and that’s how I knew to take you guys there, but I don’t actually remember, because the lepidoptera that was following her is dead.”
Once she had finished, a silence descended on them, and Adrian knew he wasn’t the only one thinking it. He could see the doubt creeping onto Danna’s face, even. Uncertainty. Maybe a twinge of horror.
“It wasn’t a trick,” she insisted. “She couldn’t have—”
“Fooled you,” said Oscar. “Fooled us.”
“Is it possible,” said Adrian, slowly, because he didn’t want Danna to think he was accusing her of anything, “that while you were following Nova, your … lepidoptera … got another lead, and followed the real Nightmare to the cathedral?”
“But…” Danna shook her head. “No. This is absurd. She’s a copycat. An impostor.”
“But why?” said Adrian. “Why would Narcissa Cronin pretend to be Nightmare? She wasn’t on our radar at all before this, and now it’s like she wants us to start hunting for her again?”
Danna cut a sharp glare at him, but he couldn’t help it. With every tick of the big clock on the back of the store’s wall, his perceptions of Nightmare and Nova and Narcissa Cronin were changing. Melding together, then separating again.
“I don’t know,” said Danna, “but do we really think she had a change of heart and decided she would put herself on the line just to prevent the death of a Renegade? A Renegade she hates!”
Oscar shrugged. “I wouldn’t want the death of an innocent person on my hands, even if I did hate them.”
“You’re not a villain!” said Danna.
Adrian hardly heard her, though. Oscar’s words struck Adrian harder than he’d probably intended. Or, one word in particular. One word Adrian’s own mind had been dancing around, refusing to stop and contemplate all it would mean.
Nova was—
No. Nova was not innocent. She couldn’t be. Not after everything. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thought before it could take hold. There was too much evidence stacked against her, but now, somehow, the evidence that had seemed so damning hours before struck him as … what was the word Nightmare had used? Circumstantial.
What proof did they really have?
Was it possible they’d been wrong?
Innocent.
If this was true, if they had the wrong Nightmare … then Nova was innocent.
But that also meant they’d failed to capture Nightmare, the real Nightmare.
She was still out there, taunting them, taunting him. The mystery wasn’t solved. She remained at large, a danger to society and the organization and everyone he cared about. This was terrible news. This was a mortifying mistake. This was another black spot on the Renegades’ record.
And yet his chest was expanding with every passing moment.
“How can we know for sure?” he whispered, interrupting an argument between Danna and Oscar that he hadn’t been listening to. “How can we prove that Nova’s not Nightmare, that the real Nightmare is still out there?”
Danna rubbed her forehead. “Let’s not get carried away. I know you want this to be real, all of you do, but—”
“Oh, I forgot to mention one more thing.”
They all jumped at the clip of Nightmare’s voice coming from above them.
“Sweet rot,” muttered Oscar, a phrase he’d almost certainly picked up from Nova, which made Adrian’s heart ache all over again. Pointing his cane, he yelled, “I wish you’d stop doing that!”
Sitting on the railing of the second floor, not far from the escalator, Nightmare ignored him. “Go ahead and execute Ace Anarchy, if you really think it’s going to make a difference, killing a weak, defenseless old man all for the sake of your popularity ratings. You Renegades do what you think is best.” She reached for something tucked behind her and held it up. She was met with a collective gasp from Adrian and his team.
Ace Anarchy’s helmet.
“Oh, you recognize this?” she chirped. “Then you’ll know that we don’t need Ace