Oscar snorted loudly. “Notice how he complained about the lack of excitement in his story, but then it turns out there were actual meat-eating dinosaurs in it? You’re such a one-upper, Sketch.”
“It was a harrowing tale,” agreed Nova. She was grinning, though her thoughts were roiling in the back of her head. Adrian had mentioned his mom, and now she found herself comparing his face to pictures she’d seen of Lady Indomitable—the sixth and final of the original Renegades. The resemblance was clear. Nova could picture her effervescent smile easily, a smile that rivaled the Captain’s in brightness and charm, and one Adrian had clearly inherited.
His mother had been a Renegade, too. Would probably be on the Council today, if she were—
Nova’s heart squeezed.
If she were still alive.
She racked her brain, trying to recall what had happened to the superhero, but all she knew was that she had died a long time ago. Nova had never really cared that much. One less Renegade to worry about. But now she found herself succumbing to curiosity, wanting to know what had happened to her, but not knowing how to ask.
“No more stalling, Insomnia,” said Adrian, yanking her attention back. “It’s your turn.”
“Oh.” Shaking her head, Nova flipped her hand through the air, like the story was so dull it was hardly worth mentioning. In fact, she had been born with her power—what she thought of as her real power, the ability to put people to sleep. She had a vague memory of her mom once joking about how hard it had been to breastfeed Nova as a baby because she kept dozing off every time Nova nursed.
But the power they knew about, the fact that Nova never slept … that had come later. When, for weeks, every time she shut her eyes, gunshots rang in her ears.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
“It happened when I was six,” she said, picking at bits of fuzz on the blanket. “I just … stopped sleeping.”
“But you could sleep before then?” said Ruby, her gaze on the library.
“Sure. Not as much as most kids. But … some.”
“Could you still, though? If you wanted to?” said Oscar. “Or is it impossible for you to sleep anymore?”
Nova shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I wanted to.”
“What happened when you were six?” asked Adrian.
She met his gaze, and the memory was right there. The dark closet. Evie’s crying. The man’s remorseless stare.
“I had a dream,” she said. “I dreamed there were these tiny little squiggly dinosaurs that kept trying to bite my toes and when I woke up, I thought, that’s it. Never again.”
Oscar and Ruby laughed, but Adrian’s gaze only softened. “What a nightmare.”
She shivered.
“Your parents must be saints,” said Oscar, pulling her attention toward him. “To put up with a kid that never slept? I hope you were good at entertaining yourself.”
His words struck her in the chest. She flinched, and Oscar blanched, his eyes widening in horror. “I’m sorry. I forgot.”
The unexpected apology caught Nova off guard, and the sting of his words was quickly replaced with suspicion. Did they know? How did they know?
“Your papers mentioned, um…” Oscar rubbed the back of his neck.
Adrian cleared his throat. “You live with your uncle now, right?”
Nova’s gut clenched again, even though she knew Adrian’s question had been well intentioned. An attempt to draw all their thoughts away from the single explanatory line they must have read when they reviewed her fake papers. Both parents were killed by an unknown villain gang during the Age of Anarchy. Currently resides with Peter McLain, paternal uncle.
“Uh, yeah,” she stammered. “He took me in after…” She swallowed. “They died a long time ago.”
“How old were you?” Ruby asked, her voice soft, though her attempts to be calming only made Nova’s hackles rise.
She fixed her gaze on Ruby. “Six.”
From the corner of her eye she saw Adrian tilt his head curiously.
Six when her parents died. Six when she stopped sleeping.
How had this edged so treacherously close to the truth?
Without looking at him, Nova pulled herself to her feet. “I’m going to go scout out the roof. We might have a better view of the alley from up there.”
Ruby and Oscar traded looks and she could tell they wanted to stop her. Or maybe apologize, though the words didn’t come, and Nova was glad for it.