His eyes twinkled, but he didn’t get a chance to open his mouth before Eva bounced over.
“Hey! Sorry about that. I’m on break now. Ready for that tour? I have fifteen.”
The back roomhad rows upon rows of liquor bottles, beer cans, kegs, and mixers. In the back corner there was a steel door with a smart-lock. She punched in an eight-digit code and the door swung open. I half expected there to be torches lining the stone walls of the staircase. Instead, Eva flipped a switch and pot lights flickered on.
We walked down at least three flights of stairs before we reached the bottom. The space in front of me looked like a supervillain’s lair. How was there a fully functioning smithery in a cave underneath Rivermount? There was a firepit set up like a furnace with coals and some kind of air pump. There were allkinds of forging material and half-done products, ranging from swords to bo staffs scattered around the cave.
“I shouldn’t be seeing this.” I turned to her, wide-eyed. “You should not be showing me this.”
“You’re one of us now.” She smiled. “This isn’t just my shop. This is a safe spot for anyone who needs it. Now, follow me, I’ll show you the other entrance.”
I followed her out a swinging door into another room where the weapons were actually on display. She took me through the whole place, telling me all about the emergency exits, door codes, and safety precautions. The whole time I was just thinking that I shouldn’t be here. The police were still following me everywhere, they were probably outside Crossroads right now looking for me.
After the tour she told me about some of her side projects—free self-defence classes and weapons for local women. I was honestly surprised I hadn’t heard of it before, because it sounded like something I’d be into. She invited me to join her next class—which I accepted—then she led me back upstairs so she could go back to work.
Avalanche was sitting right where I left him, eyebrow raised the second he saw me.
“You good? You look a little pale.”
“I guess I’m a little stressed.” I slid into the seat across from him and took a sip of the unfinished drink he’d gotten for me. “I don’t think I should have gone down there.”
“This place is a safe space for?—”
“Eva already gave me the speech. But I… I’m not really one of you. I’m just a girl.”
He chuckled softly.
“A very brave and determined girl.”
I glared at him—probably proving his point about being brave, not many people could glare at a supervillain and live to tell the tale. But I could—what made me special?
“You’re not funny. I’m being serious.”
“Of course.” He pressed his lips together, setting his face into a serious expression. “This is very serious.”
“Everyone knows who I am now. Anyone could grab me off the street and try to force this information out of me. I shouldn’t?—”
“That’s not going to happen.” He was serious now. “None of us are going to let that happen.I’mnot going to let that happen. Don’t ever say something like that again.”
“Why do you even care? Huh? What’s it matter to you if some silly girl who’s in way over her head ends up dead for knowing you?”
His jaw twitched.
“It matters. You matter. Where is this coming from?”
I didn’t know, if I was being totally honest. I’d been doing this for months, but I’d never truly thought about the consequences until I was arrested—until every move I made was watched like a hawk. There was a very real possibility that someone would use me to get to any one of them. And while I was sitting in the back of some random officer’s car, all I could think about was ending up like that man from months ago.
What if I went missing? Who would even miss me if I went? Both my parents were gone—buried six months apart. All I had were my friends, my villains. Avalanche.
“I guess I’ve just been thinking a lot about that man. You remember the guy who tried to jump us the night I met Hem?”
His jaw twitched again.
“I remember.”
“What if I end up like him? Stolen from police custody, experimented on, thrown back out on the streets if it doesn’t work?”
“You won’t.”
