“Why?” asked Max. “It’s only for bad guys. They would never neutralize a Renegade.”
Every muscle in Nova’s body tightened, eager to argue the distinction between Renegade and bad guys. “They’re planning to dole it out to every patrol unit, to be used however we see fit. I guarantee mistakes will be made and this power will be mishandled. How long before innocent prodigies are being threatened or blackmailed, just because they haven’t been conscripted into the Renegades yet? This life isn’t for everyone, you know.”
“Threatened and blackmailed?” said Max. “By who?”
“I don’t know, how about Frostbite and her goons?” said Nova, remembering a time, not long ago, when she had witnessed Frostbite trying to bully Ingrid into making a false confession. “Or thieves like Magpie? Not every Renegade is as chivalrous and upstanding as Adrian.”
She made the mistake of glancing at Adrian as she said it and saw surprised flattery flash across his face. She jutted a finger at him. “Don’t take that the wrong way.”
“Is there a wrong way to take that?”
She glowered and Adrian lifted his hands, still beaming from the compliment. “All right, I agree that restrictions need to be in place, and I don’t like the idea that they’re going to start injecting every questionable prodigy out there with it either. In my opinion, someone like the Sentinel definitely doesn’t deserve that sort of punishment, without even being given a chance to explain himself, first.”
“Oh, please,” said Nova. “He’s the least of my concerns.”
Max’s expression brightened into an odd, goofy grin. “Of course you’re not concerned about him, now that he’s fish food and all. Right, Adrian?”
Adrian’s lips pinched. “Right. My point is, there are still some kinks that need working out with the Agent N thing, but it has potential. I’m glad we never have to worry about the Puppeteer anymore, and we would have saved ourselves a lot of headache if the Detonator had been neutralized before Cosmopolis Park happened.” He turned to Max. “And now that they have Agent N figured out, they don’t still need you and your blood samples, right? You’re done with testing?”
“I think so,” said Max. “They haven’t taken any in a while, and … I don’t think they would have agreed to try to neutralize me if they still needed my powers to work.”
“Right. See? No more testing, no more samples, and now this.” Adrian tapped the Vitality Charm. He pulled Max in for another exuberant squeeze. “It’s like the Bandit hit a jackpot.”
Max groaned loudly and squirmed out of the embrace. “You know, you like to make fun of Hugh for being so corny, but sometimes you’re just as bad.”
Nova felt again like she was intruding on something. “I need to get ready for my shift in artifacts. See you both later, okay?”
“Your shift?” said Adrian. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“Prime work hours,” agreed Nova, with a carefree smile. “I like the peace and quiet.”
She waved and headed toward the elevator, her grin fading as soon as her back was turned. There was a charm that could protect Max. A charm that could maybe protect from Agent N.
Her nerves vibrated with the possibility.
She wanted that charm.
But not as much as she wanted Ace’s helmet. And tonight, that was exactly what she planned to get.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
IT WAS JUST past one in the morning when Nova scanned her wristband against the digital lock and entered the vault. A handful of sparse lights flickered on down the rows of shelving units, one after another, lighting the corridor with a dull, eerie glow. Nova shut the door behind her and settled the large plastic tub she’d brought on a waiting cart.
She ignored the security cameras, though she could feel the lens watching her as she pushed the cart down the main aisle. Looking at the cameras always garnered suspicion, so she kept her expression neutral. Her pace casual.
Snapshot wouldn’t arrive for hours. Until then, she had the vault all to herself.
She hoped it would be enough time.
A brilliant idea had come to Nova the day before. She was never going to magic her way into the chromium box that held Ace’s helmet. The box would never be chopped open with a mystical ax or smashed with an indestructible hammer. Adrian would never draw an opening into it for her, no matter how much awkward flirting she suffered through.
But Nova had forgotten what she was capable of. She may not have superstrength or psychic powers or control over the natural elements, but she had science, and she had persistence, and she was going to get into that box.
She didn’t hurry, knowing there was someone in the security room right now who could be watching her slow progress down the aisles. They might be curious why she was there in the middle of the night. They might even be suspicious. But they would lose interest by the time she got to the helmet. Nova kept her actions slow and trivial. She and the cart ambled from row to row, its squeaking wheels grating on her nerves. She made frequent stops, checking the clipboard that hung off the side of the cart, pretending to make notations from time to time. She pulled mundane items from the cart and spent time organizing them neatly on the shelves.
Nova had never been in the vault when she didn’t have Callum’s constant jabbering in her ear, and she noticed for the first time how a number of the relics seemed to hum, as if with a quiet electrical current. Some even emitted a subtle coppery glow, not unlike Ace’s helmet.
The similarities made her hesitate as she was passing the Infinite Hourglass, where the glittering white sand was being pulled upward into the top half of the container. Stepping closer, Nova placed her finger against the ebony wood base. That glow. It was familiar. The exact shade and vibrancy of all the wonderful things she’d watched her father create when she was little.
She peered down the length of the aisle. Now that she was searching for them, she could easily spot the glimmering artifacts. She knew there were probably things in the vault that had in fact been made by her father, but not all of these. Not the Ravenlore Quill, which had been around for centuries. Not the Arctic Saber, which had been forged on the other side of the world.
She shook her head and turned the cart back into the main aisle.
“Stay focused,” she whispered to herself. She would have time to dwell on the many mysteries of the artifacts department later. For now, all she cared about was Ace’s helmet and how she was going to free it.
Nova turned into the last aisle, past the RESTRICTED sign posted at the end of the shelf. Halfway down the row, she positioned the cart a few feet away from the chromium box, keeping her back to the camera at the far end of the aisle. She opened her plastic crate and pulled out her equipment—a battery and connector clips, a large bucket full of an electrolyte solution that Leroy had mixed up for her earlier, and a steel wheel she’d found in the gutter on Wallowridge, which she’d painstakingly cleaned in a bath of sodium chloride and acetic acid.
She checked the clipboard again, pretending to be dutifully following orders from above. Then, opening the bucket, she dumped the solution into the bin. The smell of chemicals wafted up, making her nose wrinkle. Smothering a cough, Nova grabbed the wheel and submerged it inside the vat.