SuperNova: Heroes of Arcania (32 page)

“Help Pen,” Cole said through gritted teeth. The effort of holding Fortune would wear on him fast. He let go of his hold on Penelope, who looked shocked when she came to, still in the Unbreakable’s hold.
 

I hustled to get Pen out of the enemy’s clutches. She squirmed out of the slimeball’s hold, brushing off my help. The Telekinetic flung her arms out — her captor slammed backwards into the bank’s brick wall. She did the same with the last remaining men, who’d started to charge at us.
 

“Now what?” she growled.
 

“There are too many gifted,” I said, glancing from angry man to angry man. “They’ll kill us if Fortune doesn’t.”
 

“You’d let him into the bank?”
 

“The police should be here any minute,” Cole pointed out.
 

“Leaving Fortune time to get in there and kill someone.” Penelope didn’t look at us as she spoke, her voice hard.
 

I glanced up at the darkening sky and back to the open back door. Thinking quickly, I darted the three steps inside and found what I needed: the fire alarm. My fingers grabbed the tiny latch and jerked it down; the entire piece came off the wall, but an alarm blared overhead as the sprinklers took effect. Outside of Cole’s reach, people inside the bank shouted their displeasure and I hauled butt out of there and back outside. Cole and Pen waited, his hands still keeping a hold over Fortune and his men. Sweat dripped down his face.
 

“When you say the word,” Cole advised. “Time’s trying to catch back up.”
 

“Run!” I shrieked.
 

I turned and sprinted. Cole and Penelope were close on my heels, feet pounding hard in the dirt. We went back a different way than we came, going as fast as our legs would take us. No one appeared to be chasing after us, but that didn’t stop us. Five alleys and three one-way streets later, we hustled to the obscure parking lot we’d found. Once by the car, we all doubled over, catching our breath. Our loud gasps broke the silence, our breath showing in the chilling afternoon air.

“Good thinking on the fire alarm,” Cole said once he’d caught his breath. “Pen, are you okay?’
 

Penelope shot her brother a stunned look. “You saved her over me.”
 

Cole immediately straightened, hands waving in protest. “No, that’s not—”

“He saved both of us,” I tried.
 

Pen wasn’t having any of it. She glared at us, eyes darting back and forth on our guilty faces. “You’re together now, aren’t you?”
 

My mouth opened and closed; I looked at Cole, ready to follow his lead. To my surprise, he reached for my hand, interlacing our fingers.
 

“Yes,” he said. His chest puffed up with pride and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning.
 

Penelope, however, was not amused. My joy died at her hateful expression. “Well, that’s just great. Another person to up and leave me.”
 

Cole, alarmed, moved to stop her from leaving. His fingers slipped from mine. “God, Pen, of course not. How could you even think that?”
 

“You saved her.” Penelope slowed her speech to make her point. “Not me. Her.”
 

Cole paled. “I was closer to her, Fortune was about to sizzle her…your gift, I thought…”
 

“Tells me everything I need to know,” she practically spat.
 

The devastation on Cole’s face spurred me into motion. “Penelope, you’re being overdramatic. Yes, we’re dating, but you’re his sister. I’m never going to be able to read his mind like you can!”
 

My lame attempt at a joke only pissed her off. Her hands closed into fists by her sides, words coming out like a growl between gritted teeth.
 

“
I am not a Telepath.”
 

She turned on her heel and I shot Cole a half-apologetic, half-frustrated look. We assured her we were well aware of her gift, but Penelope ignored us, stomping the last few steps to the car. She sulked in the backseat on the way back; Cole shot her looks in the rearview mirror every five seconds.
 

Good thing she’s not a Telepath or she’d know that I think she’s being a real bi—
 

“You think I’m being a brat,” Penelope announced from behind us.
 

I started, unable to stop my sarcasm. “Close enough.”
 

I turned to see her glare at me. She flipped her long hair over one shoulder. “I should just go off on my own, take care of Fortune myself.”
 

“The hell you will,” I growled.
 

“Don’t threaten like that,” Cole warned her. “You know Dad will put you under lock and key if he hears you talk like that.”
 

“Dad’s never around to do anything about his big talk,” she scoffed. “Besides, doesn’t he think it’s just a matter of time anyway?”
 

Cole paled, glanced over his shoulder at her. “What do you mean?”
 

I gnawed at the inside of my cheek, about as uncomfortable as I could be. “This is really none of my business—”

“No, Nova, you’re dating Cole now, might as well know what his family’s really like,” Penelope said, full of venom.
 

“Your life is not awful,” I said, turning to look at her. “My sister, your mom…we might’ve lost people, but we have homes, food, family. What’ve you got to be so mad about?”
 

She scowled. “You have no clue about my life. Of the power I have or the fight it takes to control it. Don’t give me some big speech or try to relate to me because we have something in common. One dead family member doesn’t make us BFFs.”
 

I sucked in a breath and sat back in my seat. Cole took a wide turn into their driveway, slamming on his brakes. He jammed the gear into park and turning to his sibling.
 

“That’s
enough
, Penelope!” Cole’s harsh bark made her flinch. “Don’t ever talk to Nova like that, or me for that matter. We’re all on the same side here.”
 

“Sorry, that was too far,” Penelope muttered. She slouched against the seat, arms crossed as she stared defiantly out the window. My fingers inching to the door handle, I remained quiet.
 

Cole didn’t back down. “Pen, promise me.”
 

“What?” Penelope didn’t look at him, childishly refusing to meet his gaze.
 

“Promise me you won’t go off searching for Fortune.”
 

I silently fumed at the idea. If she went off and took care of Fortune without me, I’d make her regret it.
I
was the whole reason she was in this situation. I would not miss out on my opportunity to capture my sister’s murderer.
 

Cole prodded again and Penelope threw her hands in the air, exasperated. “Fine Cole, geez! Get a grip, I’m not that stupid.”
 

“Then why even say it?” Cole asked. He ran a hand through his hand, tugging on the ends in frustration.
 

“To piss you off!” Penelope replied. She huffed, opening the door and stepping out of the car. “Eff this. I’m going inside.”
 

I took my cue and also slid out of the car, awkwardly waving at Cole. I moved to walk away and he quickly caught up to me.
 

“I’ll walk you home.”
 

“I can do that myself, if you have other things to take care of,” I said, jerking a thumb back toward his house. “Pen seems pretty mad.”
 

“She’ll get over it. She always does.” The grim smile said otherwise, but I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it.
 

“She always gets over the many girlfriends you have?” I asked, half-teasing, half-desperate to know the answer.
 

Cole looked horrified. “No, I meant—no, no way. No girlfriends. I mean, a couple, but nothing like…this.”
 

The way he said it eased any anxiety. I smiled, relaxing. “If you’re going to insist on walking me home, can I at least change the subject?”
 

“By all means, please.” He reached for my hand, gently swinging our arms as we walked.
 

“Despite the bumps, I think we could call today a success, right? I mean, we managed to prevent Fortune from hurting anyone.”
Even if it had been mostly a trap for us.
I pushed away the negative thought, not wanting to give in to darker memories.
 

“No money and no murders,” Cole said, smiling in agreement. “That is a good day.”
 

I laughed as we came to the spot where I usually cut through backyards. I went for the usual path, but Cole pulled me back onto the sidewalk. We resumed walking in front of houses and cars.
 

“We’re done hiding in the shadows tonight,” he said. “Now I’m just walking my girlfriend home from a date.”
 

“A very strange date,” I agreed with a giggle.
 

He checked his watch. “You know, we could get dinner,” he suggested.
 

I glanced at him in surprise. “Really?”
 

He shrugged. “Why not?”
 

I’d forgotten it was still early evening; we had plenty of time to do whatever we wanted. Joy spread through me, a warmth deep in my bones. Now that Penelope knew about us, we were officially…well, maybe not “official” but we didn’t have anything to hide. I didn’t even care about some stupid title, not wanting to pressure him into anything too fast. (After seeing Amber with a few of her boyfriends, I didn’t want to get the rep of a clingy girlfriend.)
 

To my great pleasure, Cole took me out to dinner as suggested. On a whim, we decided on a movie at the theater beside the restaurant. On a school night, we were the only ones in the theater, taking full advantage of it by making out for pretty much the duration of the film. He even had me home by nine.
 

A normal date night for normal Nova. Imagine that.

Nova and I agreed to take the next night off, from both vigilantism and each other. She grumbled about homework and possible college applications, while I wanted to make sure Penelope didn’t feel excluded.
 

I knocked on her bedroom door. “Hey Pen, you wanna go see a movie or something?”
 

“No,” she replied sullenly from her spot on the bed. She barely looked up from her phone to acknowledge me. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”
 

“I want to hang out with you,” I said, hoping it sounded more honest than it felt. Penelope was like a bomb these days, just waiting to blow up at any minute. I didn’t want to give her any reasons to go off on me.
 

“Sure you don’t need to go off to meet Nova?”
 

“Not tonight. Come on, Pen, I have a surprise for you.”
 

At that, I finally got her to agree to come downstairs, where I had two giant bowls of ice cream waiting for us.
 

“Rocky Road,” she mused, swiping her finger through whipped cream. “Nice bribe.”
 

“I shouldn’t have to bribe my sister to hang out,” I reprimanded.
 

We sat there for a few moments, eating our ice cream at the kitchen table. The quiet was weird, seeing as how Penelope usually tried to fill it by talking or playing music at an ear-shattering decibel.
 

“Are you okay?” I asked. “You’re acting kinda weird.”
 

She quirked an eyebrow. “Weirder than normal, you mean?”
 

“Weird for
you
, yeah.”
 

“So I guess you two are going to the big dance together?” Penelope asked, not looking at me as she dodged the question.
 

I nodded anyway. “Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be weird. We can ride together—”

Pen laughed in a humorless fashion. “I will not be the third wheel to this cliched high school event. Besides, I can find a date if I really wanted to go.”