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Dad said, “No, Nicky. No, no. That’s enough. No more. Look at me.Look at me, Nick.I’m here. I’m here with you. We’re okay, I promise.”
“Dad?” Nick whispered as his father came into focus, brow furrowed, the worry lines deep. He lookedscared, but Nick couldn’t tell of what. Smoke? Ice? Nick himself? He didn’t know, but it was enough to startle him, as if waking from a vivid dream.
Dad nodded. “There you go. It’s all right.”
Nick breathed in and out, the pressure in his head lessening slightly, enough so that he could think. It’d been close. So close.
“Listen to me,” Dad said. “The ice broke on the doors. Go.Don’t call 911. I don’t know who’ll answer, and we can’t take that chance. Call Cap directly. Butrun, you hear me?”
Nick was already shaking his head, even before Dad finished. “No. I can’t leave my friends here. I can’t leaveyouhere—”
Dad jostled him. “They’re coming foryou, Nick. They want you and Pyro Storm, and I won’t—”
For years after, Nick would remember the exact look on his father’s face the moment a band of black smoke wrapped around Dad’s chest. Shock and disbelief and anger. The nightmares Nick would have—brutal. His father was ripped away from him, flying backward as he reached forward for Nick. It happened so quickly. One moment, Dad was inches away from Nick, and then he was gone, hurtling through the air toward Smoke, her arms extended like smoky tentacles. Ice fell to the floor at her side with a metallicthunk.
“DAD!” Nick screamed.
Black smoke wrapped around Dad’s mouth, cutting him off. He struggled—oh, how he struggled—but it was no use. The smoke that held him was too strong. For a moment, Nick flashed back to a bridge, to shadows rising around him, but it was lost in the storm in his head.
“No,” Smoke said, and she soundedfurious. “Not another step. You move, and I will crush him. Do you want to see what your father’s insides look like?”
“Let himgo,” Nick snarled, the lights flickering again, the hallway rumbling.
“Strong,” Smoke said, looking up at the lights. “He knew you’d be strong. But this is more. Mr. Burke will help you. Come—come with us. Let him show you the way. If you do, your father will be safe. If you do not, he will die. Your friends will die. Everyone at this school will die. It will be your fault.”
“Kiss my damn ass,” Nick growled, and reached for a small, red-and-white box embedded in the wall. He grabbed the handle, pulling it as hard as he could. It slid down with an audible snap. The second before the alarm blared, Nick, ever the badass, said the greatest micdrop in superhero history, in his most humble of opinions. “Where there’s smoke, there’sfire.”
The alarm shrieked. The sound caught Smoke off guard. The column holding Dad loosened and he slipped toward the ground, the tips of his shoes scraping the floor. “Nick, goddammit,run!” Dad cried. Before he could say more, the band tightened around him again, covering him almost completely. Smoke pointed her other hand toward Ice, black clouds falling from her palm, landing on top of Ice and lifting him up off the floor, still surrounded by metal. Ice glared at Nick as he rose, floating next to Smoke.
Screams from the cafeteria as the dance music cut off. Startled, Nick jerked his head toward the sound.
Smoke used the distraction to turn and run back down the hall, Ice and Dad floating after her, the black clouds around them shifting angrily. Rebecca Firestone pressed her body flat against the wall, face screwed up in fear. They ignored her. Nick screamed for his father, but they had already rounded the corner, out of sight, leaving Nick standing alone in the ruined hallway, alarm blaring, lights flashing, rows of lockers bent and hanging at odd angles off the walls.
He glanced back over his shoulder. The ice covering the door had shattered. He could go. Do what Dad said. Call Cap. Call for help. It would be safer. It would be smarter.
Except this was Dad.
And Seth.
Gibby.
Jazz.
Their parents.
Mateo too.
Heroes didn’t run away. They didn’t leave their people behind. He was terrified, but it didn’t feel important.
What was important was the way they took care of each other, had each other’s backs no matter what. They were a team. They were a lighthouse, a beacon in the dark.
He turned away from the doors and took off down the hall where Smoke had disappeared with Dad and Ice, toward the soundof screams. As he ran, he found the name on his phone he was looking for and hit the call button, ready to bring in the cavalry.
The phone beeped in his ear. He pulled it away, looking at it in horror as he skidded to a stop. He had no service. He’d always had service in school, but now? No bars. It was useless.
He took off again, about to put his phone back in his pocket when it was knocked from his hands as he collided with a group of people running in the opposite direction.
Boys and girls, all dressed to the nines, their faces bloodless and panicked. Nick was shoved against the wall as his phone fell to the ground. It landed a few feet away, but before Nick could grab it, a tall boy stepped on it as he fled. The screen went black as it broke, pieces chipping off as it was kicked away.
