Page 30 of The Dysasters

“Yeah, someone must have recorded us. It was when you tossed the tornado away. He recognized me and was going to call some news guy he knew. I panicked and used my Jedi mind trick. On purpose. And it worked. I told him to forget he’d ever seen me, and he did.”

“Holy crap. You Obi-Wan Kenobi–ed him! And me!”

She kept picking at her fingernails. “Well, I didn’t mean to Obi-Wan you. Only him. But, yeah, I did.”

“That’s freaking awesome!”

Foster blinked. “You actually think so?”

“Are you kidding? That’s a super helpful power to have! Of course I’ve gotta watch that you don’t go over to the Dark Side, but still. Super helpful.”

“I wouldn’t go to the Dark Side.”

“Said Anakin Skywalker, like, a bunch of times before he went over to the Dark Side.” Tate felt a rush of excitement. “Hey! What if all we have to do is find this Doctor Rick guy and have you use your Jedi mind trick on him and make him tell us everything?”

All the color drained from Foster’s face. “No. I don’t want to see him again. Ever.”

“But Foster, he could—”

“He pretended to die. He left Cora and me.He fucked with our genetics when we were fetuses and then he sent his goons to capture us.Who cares if he’s telling us everything if he’s also trying to use us or destroy us? No, Tate.Let’s figure out how to find the other kids. Bring them here. And then decide what the hell we’re going to dowithout that crazy bastard having any part of it.Okay?” Her green eyes beseeched him.

Slowly, Tate nodded. “Okay. I get it. I hear you.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “So, where do we begin?”

Foster headed into the Batcave, calling back over her shoulder at him. “I started making piles on top of the file cabinets in here. One stack of stuff I thought might help us find these other people, and the other is full of stuff so sciency and confusing that I can’t figure out if it’ll help us or not.”

“Okay, well, I got some ramen. We can make a few bags and figure out where to go from here.”

“We don’t have time to stop and have some fancy dinner.”

“It’s ramen. Not all that fancy.”

Foster continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “There are crazy people out there who are hell-bent on capturing not only us, but six other people who may or may not know that they’re complete freaks. You might not give a shit about me, but think about them.”

“I give a shit about you.”

Foster turned and met his gaze, her emerald eyes inscrutable.

“I mean, I care about people, and you’re a person, so…” When she just stood there staring at him, Tate went to the entrance to the safe room and spoke in his most rational voice. “Look, we’ll work a lot better if we eat. We can even take some of those files into the kitchen with us. One of us can cook and the other can read aloud and make notes.”

“I suppose you want me to do the cooking.”

“Nope. I’m an excellent cook. And ramen is my specialty. Plus, providing you sustenance is part of me helping to keep you from turning to the Dark Side.”

Foster rolled her eyes at him, but marched past him out of the Batcave, and picked up one of the bags of groceries. “Nighthawk, try not to be such a dork.”

“Do or do not, there is no try,” he said automatically. Foster was walking ahead of him, so Tate couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard, just for a moment, her laughter.

10

FOSTER

Sunlight streamed into the room, bathing Foster in its delicious warmth. She stretched her arms above her head, curling and uncurling her fingers like she did every morning. And this morning was exactly like all her other mornings. It had to be. Everything that had happened—Tate, the tornado,everything—it had all been a bad dream.

Foster tucked her arms against her chest and nestled into her pillow. Definitely a bad dream. There was no other explanation. She wouldnevergo to a football game, and it was just silly to think that she could control people or tornadoeswith her words.

And then there was Cora.HerCora. She wouldn’t leave Foster. Shecouldn’tleave.

A small sob of realization clenched the back of Foster’s throat, and she squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.