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“You can’t have him,” Dad snapped. “This ismykid. You want him, you’ll have to go through me. And I promise you it’ll be the last thing you do.”
“Challenge,” Smoke said, a small smile forming on her face. “We have been offered a challenge.”
“We accept,” Ice said. “We will go through you, Aaron Bell. Youare expendable. And then we will have the boy. Pyro Storm will have no choice but to reveal himself. He will come, and we will be waiting.”
They raised their hands in unison, palms facing Nick and Dad. Their fingers twitched. Behind them, Nick thought he saw someone peer around the corner. He only saw her for a moment. The woman he’d passed in the hallway. Dark hair. Sunglasses. The sunglasses were now sitting on top of her head, and in her hands, she held what looked like a small camera, pointed in their direction.
Rage like he’d never experienced before flooded his entire body, and he snarled, “Holy shit, you are the goddamnworst, Rebecca Fire—”
“Run!” Dad shouted as he spun on his heels. He grabbed Nick by the wrist, jerking him off his feet as he took off, running away from Smoke and Ice. Nick stumbled, looking back over his shoulder to see black clouds beginning to billow around Smoke’s hands, ice crystalizing out of the air and floating in sharp spikes above Ice’s head. Dad pulled Nick around the corner just as the spikes were hurtled toward them. One hit a row of lockers, denting the metal as the spike shattered. Another embedded itself into the wall, the plaster cracking.
Dad’s grip tightened on Nick’s arm to the point where Nick thought he’d be bruised if they survived this. “We have to lead them out of the school!” Nick cried. “Away from everyone else!”
Dad whipped his head back. “Where?”
Nick took the lead, Dad still holding onto him. The music still thumped through the walls, the bass heavy. Nick tore through the school, Dad close on his heels. They ran past darkened classrooms, past stairs that led to the second floor. Nick gave brief thought to getting the higher ground but dismissed it. He couldn’t take the chance of getting trapped. He led Dad toward a side entrance the teachers used to access the parking lot.
“Work,” he muttered to himself. “Goddammit, why don’t you work?” He shook his free hand, trying to get his powers to dosomething. He squawked when Dad shoved his head down, another ice spike flying over his head and colliding with the wall infront of them. Particles of ice hit Nick’s face as they rounded the corner. His teeth chattered at the sudden cold.
Ahead, the pair of double doors. The windows showed the parking lot outside, bathed in an angry shade of yellow-orange from the sodium arc lights that lined the lot.
“Yes!” Nick cried, running full tilt toward the doors. “Yes! Screw you, assholes! You can’t—dammit!”
The doors were frozen shut, the ice thick over the handles and locks. Nick slammed into them, hoping the ice would shatter. The doors barely budged.
Trapped. They were trapped.
Dad let Nick go, hurrying toward the nearest interior door, but it was locked. He took two steps back before lifting his leg and slamming the bottom of his foot against the door. It rattled in its frame but didn’t open.
A cloud of black smoke billowed around the corner before reforming into Smoke. Ice appeared at her side, eyes glittering darkly. “Run, run, run,” he said. “I do like it when they run.” His smile stretched so wide Nick thought his face would tear in half.
“There,” Smoke said. “Nowhere else to go. You tried, Aaron Bell. But we will have the boy. Pyro Storm will reveal himself. And then everyone will see who they both truly are.”
Dad stepped in front of Nick once more. “I told you, you aren’t going to touch him. I don’t need powers to kick your asses.”
“No?” Ice said. “Let us show you otherwise.”
The air above Ice’s head began to shift, hazy and snapping. Ice crystals appeared, gathering together, the temperature dropping around them. The particles swirled, forming the biggest spike of ice Nick had ever seen. It was at least four feet long, the end needle-sharp and aimed directly at them.
Rebecca Firestone skidded to a halt behind them, camera still pointed in their direction. Her cheeks were flushed, her wig sitting lopsided on her head.
“Help us!” Nick shouted at her.
“I can’t!” she called back. “I’m a reporter, I can’t get involved.”
“Oh my god,” Nick muttered. “I hate her so much.”
“Bigger things to worry about, kid,” Dad growled, never looking away from Smoke and Ice.
“Mr. Burke regrets that it has come to this,” Ice said as his eyes slid unfocused, the spike hovering above his head as it grew even larger. “But you took from him, Nicholas. And now he will take from you. Say goodbye to your father.”
Ice jerked his head, the spike quivering before hurtling toward them. Time slowed down around Nick, each second five beats of his heart. He watched as the spike grew bigger and bigger the closer it got, the sharp point glistening. Dad turned, but not away. Never away. He wrapped his entire body around Nick, clutching him tightly, Nick’s face against his shoulder, eyes burning.
Shielding him. His father was shielding him. “I love you,” Dad whispered in his ear. “Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. I’ll love you forever.”
Mom laughing as the wind blew through her hair, the salt from the ocean thick on their tongues.
Nick between them, little Nick learning to walk, little Nick holding onto both their hands, demanding that they swing him up. They did.
