SuperNova: Heroes of Arcania (33 page)

“I know that,” I said, the words rushing out of me in an effort to prevent a fight. “What I mean is you should be there too. We can have a little fun, you know? Take a night off from chasing the bad guys, pretend to be normal for once.”
 

She flipped her hair over her shoulders and scoffed. “‘Normal.’ What is your obsession with that? We are
gifted
. We should be allowed to be whoever we want, whenever we want.”
 

“Pen—”

“I know,” she snapped, mocking me with air quotes, “‘don’t say things like that’ or you’ll tell Dad. I heard you the first thousand times.”
 

“I just don’t understand where this anger is coming from. Is my dating Nova really that big a deal?”
 

She blew out her breath, strands of hair rising up in her face. “No,” she admitted, “it’s not, but I like to take my frustrations out on you. Sorry.”
 

Whatever I’d wanted to say died on my lips, not having expected an apology. Penelope wasn’t exactly known for remorse. The look on her face made me hesitate, though. “Pen, what is it?”
 

“Cole, I know,” Penelope said, her voice as serious as I’d ever heard it.
 

My brow furrowed as I tried to follow. “Know what?”
 

“I was in Dad’s office. I didn’t mean to hear it…”
 

Realization came over me and I suddenly felt sick. “You mean—”

She nodded, turning away from me.
 

“When?” I asked.
 

“A couple days ago,” she answered without looking at me. “I wasn’t snooping, but when I saw my name, I couldn’t
not
look.”

“Pen…”
 

“How long have you known?”
 

I stared her down, not sure if honesty would make it better or worse. “A while, Pen. I’ve known for a while.”
 

“Figures.” She let a curtain of hair fall down to cover her face. “I know why Dad’s so strict, why you have to keep tabs on me. I’m dangerous.”
 

My hands instinctively reached out for her. “No, you are not. I refuse to believe that.”
 

She pulled back, looking at me like I’d betrayed her in some way. “Yes I am, and you know it! I’m going to turn into a monster!”
 

“Don’t say that,” I tried again. “We’ll find a way, you’re not in this alone—”

Her voice turned shrill. “Cole, you can’t save me from myself!”
 

I had no answer for that. Penelope stomped back into her room and locked the door behind her. She wouldn’t answer my pleading and knocking. The only time she replied the rest of the night was to shout at me to stop texting her.
She heard her future.
I laid awake all night, worried sick over what this meant for my little sister.
 

The next morning, I checked every local news station as I’d done the day before. To my great surprise and relief, there still weren’t any headlines about Fortune, or any strange vigilante heroes, for that matter. Actually, the entire day was pretty normal: class, lunch with Henry and Cole (Pen claimed a migraine and skipped the entire day), and more class. No one shot me looks when they thought I couldn’t see them; the walk home with Cole and Henry was as funny as always.
 

Finally, normal. Normal is good.
 

Cole and I had gotten through class without too much distractions. We’d agreed not to talk about it in public, but we scribbled a few notes about the other night’s save. He was just as surprised as I was that we’d apparently scared Fortune off.
 

After school, I sprawled out on my couch to read an assignment for English class. Cole had gone to clean his suit and Henry stayed after with his newspaper advisor. I’d been behind on schoolwork and promised myself a manicure if I got something done before Saturday’s dance. Unfortunately, my body was out of whack on this sleep schedule so I wasn’t doing a great job of staying awake. I’d nearly nodded off when Henry came in without knocking. I jerked awake, my whole body wanting to go into fight mode. Being on high alert every night didn’t do wonders for my nerves.
 

Henry stayed near the door, a weird look on his face. “Uh, wow. What’s with you?”
 

I sucked in air, tried to catch my breath. “You gotta start knocking.”
 

He laughed, not understanding. “I never knock. What’d you do last night? Make out with Cole?”
 

“Something like that.” I grimaced, trying to get the subject off me. “What about you?”
 

“Uh, nothing. Had a paper to work on.”
 

Henry came over to crash on the couch. I sat up and he laid his unzipped bag on the table. When he kicked his feet up on the table, he accidentally knocked it over. Half its contents spilled out all over the floor. He cursed under his breath and moved to pick it up. I helped him, picking up a notepad and newspaper clippings. I froze when I saw the headline:
Fortune Does Not Favor
.
 

“What are you doing with this?” I shot him a quizzical glance.
 

He hesitated and I looked down to the rest of the pile. Every clipping had something to do with Fortune, the headlines and captions about the robberies and murders. Another look went to the notepad, Henry’s familiar handwriting scribbled all over it. Names, addresses, random pieces clearly littered page after page. I noticed my own name appeared at least twice on the first page. My blood ran cold.
 

“What is all this?”
 

Henry shrugged. “Research.”
 

I had to put my hand down so he didn’t see it shaking. “For what?”
 

He grinned, tossing his hair out of his eyes. “My expose.”
 

“You’re writing a story on Fortune.” It wasn’t a question.
 

“Yeah, I’ve been looking at some details, why?”
 

“Why?” A hysterical laugh escaped me. “Because Fortune will kill you if you find him.”
 

“You have too much faith in me,” he tried to joke. “I’m just collecting stories already written about him.”
 

I leapt to my feet, waving the notepad around. “I know what this is, Henry! This is what you do when you think you’ve got something. When you start obsessing that there’s a real story around the corner. You aren’t collecting, you’re investigating.”
 

“What’s wrong with that?” he shot back, defensive.
 

“
He will kill you.
” I enunciated every word, emotions rising up like a tornado in my gut.
 

“Whoa, calm down,” Henry said, his hands going palm up. “I’m not chasing after him or anything. I’m just putting together his trail, connecting the dots.”
 

“What dots?”
 

“Anywhere he might’ve already been. Similar bomb work or murders. I think I’m close to something, Nova.”
 

The blood drained from my face. My shoulders sagged. “I see.”
 

In his growing excitement, he didn’t notice my reaction. His smile widened and he leaned on the edge of the sofa cushion. “There’s something else. Something totally out of the blue and it’s incredible.”
 

“What is it?”
 

“Fortune tried to rob a bank yesterday.”
 

I felt sick.
“
How do you know that?”
 

Henry didn’t notice my expression, practically glowing as he spilled the juicy news. “A witness said that people stopped Fortune before he got inside. They saved all those people inside and got away. They wore masks, but…Nova, they had like, powers. I know what you’re thinking, it sounds crazy, but I think it’s legit.”
 

My nauseousness suddenly had nothing to do with Henry’s enthusiasm. Cole’s gift had missed somebody and now we would be all over the news.
That woman who called the cops maybe?
My father was going to be so mad. I sank back on to the couch, staring at my best friend. “What witness?”
 

His enthusiasm died as he looked everywhere but me. “You know I can’t reveal my sources. This one is top-tier anonymous, given the psychotic murderer on the loose.”
 

I raised a brow. Henry didn’t usually act so cagey. Before I could question it, he changed the subject, his voice full of awe. “Can you believe it? Vigilante superheroes, right here in Arcania.”
 

“Uh huh.” My response came out like a squeak.
What do I do? Is there a handbook I can check?
 

“I know the power thing sounds nuts. I obviously have to verify that part before including it in anything. But if it’s true…man, that’d be so awesome,” he said, not paying me any attention. “I bet there’s a huge story there.”
 

Warning, warning.
“Sure, it’s definitely…something.”
 

Henry zoned back on on me. “I thought you’d be at least a little happy about it. Who knows, maybe these guys can stop Fortune.”
 

Henry’s questioning look didn’t help my guilt. I managed a weak smile. “I guess it’s cool. But Fortune’s really dangerous. Who knows if he can be stopped.”
 

“How could you even think such a thing?” He narrowed his eyes on me. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
 

Startled, my mouth fell open. “What?”
 

“You heard me. You’re being really weird. I think I know what it is. I mean, at least I’ve had my suspicions.”

He knows.
My stomach turned. This was it. The moment Henry admitted he was baiting me with all this talk and confronted me about playing hero. Then I’d have to explain my gift so I didn’t sound like the biggest hypocrite on the planet. I swallowed hard and waited, knowing I couldn’t stop Henry from finally finding out my secret.
 

“Did Fortune say something to you before he…you know?” The rest was left unspoken.
Before he killed Starling.
 

My shoulders sagged with relief, though maybe it looked like fear. Against my better judgment, my eyes flicked down to my lap. Henry’s own jaw dropped.
 

“He did! He said something to spook you!”
 

“He didn’t ‘spook me,’” I snapped, truly angry for the trite phrase. “He
murdered
my
sister
.”
 

Henry had the decency to look ashamed. “God, sorry, Nova…”
 

I sucked in a deep breath. “Henry.”
 

“What?” He glared at the wall, not wanting to meet my eyes.
 

“You can’t go after Fortune.”
 

“I told you, I’m not going after him. Just looking into some rumors.”
 

I hated myself for what I said next. “You should leave the job to the adults.”
 

He looked at me like I might as well have slapped him in the face. “You know this is my dream, right? To break a story like this? It’s all I’ve
ever
wanted and it could help save people from going through what
you’ve
been through.”
 

His words gutted me. “This won’t get you a Pulitzer, Henry, it’ll get you killed by Fortune’s hand.”
 

“You’re overreacting.” He got up from the couch and proceeded to shove every last piece of paper back in his backpack. He snatched the notepad from my hand, stuffing it in the bag. A lone news clipping fluttered sadly to the floor. Neither of us bothered to pick it up.
 

He fidgeted with the bag’s strap on his shoulder. “If you can’t support me, then I don’t know why I’m even here.”
 

Henry turned on his heel, intent on walking out the door. His snap had me on my own feet in half a second. I practically yelled at him. “You don’t understand!”
 

He whirled back around to face me. His own voice raised to a shout, finally releasing bottled up questions he’d evidently had for months. “Then tell me! Explain to me what happened that day, about what it is that Fortune does. I know he’s a monster, Nova. That’s why I’m trying to help people. Help
me
by telling me whatever it is you’ve been hiding since Star’s death.”