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“Burrito Jerry is forty minutes away,” Gibby said, glancingdown at her phone. “No help there. If we start running now, we can make it in fifteen minutes.”
“Like I’m going to be caught dead running in public again. Trust me. I’ve got this. Watch and learn. You there, sir! Yes, you, the one climbing into the sedan. This is an emergency. We need to commandeer your vehicle in order to save—why are you screaming? I’m not trying to carjack you! Sir.Sir.Put the pepper spray away! Don’t you point that thing at me! Do you have any idea who I am? If not, that’s okay because that sounded really conceited. That’s right, drive away! Yep! Don’t even look back!”
Guardian turned back around.
Gibby arched an eyebrow.
“Yeah, yeah,” Guardian muttered. “Shut up. Now what?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a familiar bandana, now wrinkled. She tied it around her face before twirling her finger, motioning for Guardian to turn around.
“I don’t get what I’m supposed to—oof.” He grunted when Gibby jumped on his back, wrapping her legs around his waist. He put his hands under her legs to keep her from falling. “What are youdoing?” he hissed at her. “You want me to runandcarry you? Screw that. Burke wins. I give up.”
“You’re a goddamn Extraordinary,” she snapped, her chin digging into his shoulder. “It’s time you started acting like one. Your boyfriend and my girlfriend are in danger. The people we love are being mind-controlled by a bitch and a bastard, and the only people we can trust are the man who gets free burritos and maybe your psycho ex-boyfriend. Are you just going to stand there and let the bad guys win?”
Gibby was right, as usual. “Hell no.”
“What are we gonna do about it?”
“Kick names and take ass,” he growled dangerously. Then, “Wait, shit. I screwed that up. Let me—”
“Run,” Gibby said. “Up the front of Seth’s house. Get to the roof, and then you jump from building to building like a superhero.”
“Uh, I think you’re overestimating my ability to—”
“Do it!” she bellowed, squeezing her thighs against his sides, as if he were her horse.
He turned around, heart thundering against his rib cage. Unexpectedly, his mind was his own, clear, free from muddled, racing thoughts spinning in never-ending circles. All he could hear was Gibby’s breaths against the side of his helmet. All he could feel was her weight on his back, tethering him, refusing to let him spiral off into indecision.
The spark bloomed in his head, and he welcomed its warmth, holding it close.
He moved without thought, the thin muscles in his legs coiling, lips pulled back against his teeth. Everything melted away, and there was only Gibby, only Guardian, and as he sprinted toward the house, he thought,Oh, please, let this work.
Six feet away from crashing into the house, he jumped.
But this time, he didn’t kick his feet out. Instead, he imagined the air around him solidifying, becoming a tangible thing that he could control. As he started to fall toward the house, hepushed,and that old familiar feeling—pain, slight yet delicious—lanced through his head as the spark burst in a furious flash.
Beneath his right foot, the air hardened with a cracklingsnap,wavering, but holding as he landed on it. He said, “Hold on. This is probably going to be a little weird.”
“Great,” Gibby muttered weakly in his ear. “Just what I was hoping f—Nick!” She screamed in his ear as the solidified air beneath his feet began torise,lifting them up toward the roof. The air rushed over them, the façade of sandstone a blur in front of his face. Right when the air became level with the roof, he jumped. They landed on the slanted roof, Guardian’s toes curling in his boots as if he thought that’d give him any purchase. It didn’t, and they immediately began to slide toward the edge.
“Jump!” Gibby screamed in his ear right before they ran out of room. “Oh my god,jump!”
He did, right before they slipped off the edge. It felt as if he had launched himself from a springboard, hurtling through the air toward the roof of the house next to the Grays’. He began to cackle loudly as he looked down, their lumpy shadow racing across the ground below them. They landed on the peak of the next roof, and with his momentum carrying him forward he ran, finally trusting his own abilities.
Alive, he felt soalive,and he jumped again and again, hitting each roof, the buildings growing in height, but that didn’t stop him. If anything, it pushed him further, to do more, to bebetter.He wished his father could see him now. He wished all their enemies could witness what he was becoming.
He was the Extraordinary known as Guardian, and it was time to show everyone why messing with his family was a terrible mistake.
They hit the ground just outside of his neighborhood, people in front of a coffee shop gaping at him as he rose from a crouch, Gibby sliding off his back on shaky legs.
He whirled around. “Did youseethat?”
“I did,” she said evenly. “Can you stand between me and the people looking at us so I can do something real quick?”
“Uh, sure?” Nick moved between her and the people staring at them. “Like this?”
“Take a step back.”
