Nerve

by Kirsten Krueger

  “Balls,” Naira swore, her face wrought with alarm as she hopped on her toes to see what might have befallen the front entrance of the town. “Ashna knew her tracking device reactivated, but I didn’t think they’d get here so fast.”

  “Who?” Seth demanded, whirling around to face her and then nearly toppling to the ground.

  “The Wackos.”

  “But—aren’t you a Wacko? Shouldn’t you be—I dunno—happy?”

  “No,” Naira said gravely, shaking her head at the billowing smoke. “I don’t think I can ever really be happy, not when Danny’s breathing.”

  “Danny…the Wacko leader!”

  “Hopefully not for long,” she muttered with a glance toward the police station. “C’mon. If the Wackos are invading, I think this town’s gonna need your super strength.”

  Succumbing to emotions was a rare occurrence for Tray, but with the Wacko leader standing two feet in front of him, it was impossible to suppress the terror permeating his thoughts. Never had he imagined there was a person more demonic than Adara Stromer. Then again, Tray wasn’t known for his imagination; he was known for his dedication to facts, and he was currently drowning in the fact that Danny was about to incinerate them all.

  With the conflagration blazing at the town’s entrance, Tray wished his Affinity-enhancing suit hadn’t inhibited Nixie’s water from seeping onto his skin. He needed something to cool his flesh; he needed something to physically quench his mental turmoil. His brain was such a mess that he could barely comprehend why Danny had addressed Floretta almost romantically—or possessively.

  “So, my darling Floretta,” he prompted, those fiery eyes trained on the woman to Tray’s left. “You’ve been neglecting my messages. Now you have no choice but to answer my inquiries. Where is my traitorous pet you’ve been hiding from me?”

  “Darling?” Hartman piped up. Tray was too wary of Danny to glance back, but the teleporter was close enough for him to feel his vibrations. “Lovely? Where’s Ackerly? He’d be so jealous right now.”

  Tray was about to scour the scene for Ackerly, who had mysteriously disappeared, but then he noticed the briefest bit of panic settle in Danny’s eyes when they landed on Hartman. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Tray to wonder if something horrific arose behind him.

  “You’re right—perhaps I shouldn’t be so affectionate toward someone so weak.” Danny’s nose twitched disdainfully in Floretta’s direction. “Julie, Julie, Julie… Abandoning the most intimidating organization in the world for this place. You’re only as strong as your leader, and if I’m not mistaken, Periculy’s still in jail—his own jail, that he built!” He barked out a laugh. “Pathetic. And now you’re going to die defending my little sister… If you cared for her so, I don’t see why you would have ditched her in the first place. Oh, the poor girl was so distraught when her beloved Floretta left. Cried about it for months—”

  “We’ll give you Ashna,” Tray interjected, causing Danny’s face to morph into a sickeningly befuddled expression. “We just need to figure out where she is.”

  The man studied him thoroughly, a sadistic grin inching onto his lips. “Tray Stark. Well, if this isn’t a pleasant surprise. This is going to be more enjoyable than I thought.”

  It took all of Tray’s effort to keep his jaw from dropping. Unfathomably, the Wacko leader knew his name.

  The information he’d learned from Officer Telum flashed in his head—that his parents were wanted by the Wackos and had, perhaps, been taken by the Wackos. Then the pieces slipped into place: Danny had either captured or killed his parents—and the twins would be next.

  His muscles constricted, attempting to contain the physical symptoms of anger swelling within him. All he could think of was how satisfying it would be to crush this man’s skull with his fist. Danny could explode matter with his Affinity, but there was nothing he could do if Tray decided to crush his head between his fingers.

  Self-disgust swiftly nullified that fantasy. Where was this viciousness coming from? Since when did Tray consider defeating people physically rather than with knowledge? Either way, he was sure he could have beaten Danny in a duel, but…he had to compose himself. He couldn’t risk dying just because he was unreasonably hormonal.

  “I think,” Tray finally said, snuffing his rage and attempting to remain diplomatic, “I saw Ashna sneaking toward the center of town.”

  He nodded toward the heart of Periculand, and Danny surveyed the landscape without any indication that he’d detected the lie. Other than the police station, the shops would be mostly empty tonight, and if Tray could lead the Wackos away from campus, maybe the Rosses could actually formulate a decent strategy on how to save this town from demolition.

  “Interesting.” Stroking his chin, he studied Tray. “Your parents have been so difficult, but you—you’re compliant. I certainly wasn’t expecting to like you. Perhaps my ideas for your future will have to be rearranged…”

  Tray wasn’t sure what to make of this, but he felt his friends’ unease, mirror to his own unease.

  “All right”—Danny snapped his fingers, creating a thin tunnel in the inferno behind him—“since you’re all being so obedient, here’s how it’s going to go: Tray Stark will escort me into town, where we’ll apprehend Ashna. You’ll give her a bit of a beating with your super strength”—his eyebrows jumped, and Tray fought to keep his expression neutral—“and then you’ll accompany us when we leave with her. I’d also like…you,” he said to Lavisa, who stiffened with animosity. “I have no idea who you are, but you look like you’d readily eat me alive, and I enjoy that kind of—”

  “Have you found willing recruits, or are you bullying these children into joining us?”

  Tray had definitely heard that voice before, and when the woman stepped on Danny’s right, he realized where: This was the Wacko Periculand had detained a few months ago, the one Avner and his friends had fled with. That she was here now could only mean Adara’s brother succeeded with his mission…or he was dead.

  “These children don’t know what they want, Naretha. I have to tell them they want to join us, not force them into it. The desire’s already there; I’m simply bringing it into the light.”

  Another figure stepped beside Danny, and Tray almost jumped into a fighting stance at the sight. Although he’d never seen this Wacko with his own eyes, the others had told him of the guy who’d knocked out numerous students with his sleep-inducing Affinity during the first Wacko infiltration. His midnight black and electric blue eyes were unmistakably the same as the ones Eliana had described, and if Tray couldn’t remain in Danny’s favor, he’d be passed out on the pavement in a matter of seconds.

  “Ah, I forgot you’ve all been acquainted with Naretha and Josh, my most trusted allies.” Danny motioned between the two Wackos. Both remained stony, though Tray did notice their scowls when they peered at each other. “It is a shame Periculand didn’t get along better with them during their last visit…but, the past can be forgiven, can’t it, Floretta?”

  Naretha started at that, her head whipping toward the woman she hadn’t deigned to look at before. Her pale eyes narrowed as they soaked in Floretta’s appearance. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see you, Smith. I’m only surprised you’re in Danny’s presence and still breathing.”

  “Let’s not be hostile, darling,” the Wacko leader chided with a patronizing smirk.

  “Another darling?” Hartman asked. “How many darlings do you have?”

  “As many as I please,” Danny dismissed without bothering to glance in the boy’s direction. “Now, let’s get back to business. I have no interest in returning here if I don’t have to, so I want to make sure I kill everyone I want to kill while I’m here. The list includes: Angor Periculy, Mitt Telum, Artemis and William Ro—oh—oh, would you look at this.”

  Pivoting, Tray followed the man’s suddenly intrigued gaze toward the Naturals Building, beside which a horde of students approached.

 
; “William appears to be coming right to me! This makes things far less complicated. Naretha, dear, if you would go secure Telum for me—perhaps preserve Periculy in a casket of salt while you’re at it. I’ll meet you at the police station as soon as I’ve caused a little—”

  “Don’t attack them,” Eliana pleaded, breaking through Tray and Floretta to address Danny directly. “They—they’re just kids. We’ll find Ashna—I think I already know where she is.”

  “Hm,” Danny hummed mock pensively. “No. You’re interrupting my fun, and I don’t like to be interrupted.”

  With that, the ground beneath Eliana’s feet erupted, launching her, Floretta, and Tray in opposite directions. Tray’s initial alarm over the females’ safety was quenched the moment his shoulder collided with the unforgiving pavement, his head crashing down immediately after.

  Ears ringing and body aching, he pushed off the ground and blinked around. Eliana lay not far from him, equally as dazed, but Danny had moved past them, strolling toward the student army like they were his old friends. Josh followed, but Naretha stalked through the grass toward the center of town, disregarding the destruction her leader was about to engage in.

  “Naretha, acquire my targets,” he called after her, his tone cool despite the heat wafting from the crater he’d exploded in the ground. “And if you see Ashna, I want her alive. Josh, summon the others. We’re going to feast on violence tonight.”

  While Tray struggled to sit up, a series of booms overpowered his groans. Danny, as he strolled toward the students, blew up small chunks of earth as if land mines riddled Periculand’s soil. None of the students stood directly above these explosions, but many screamed and retreated, leaving William frazzled as he barked orders for the lines to reform.

  After only five minutes of knowing the Wacko leader, Tray understood Danny was merely tantalizing them. He could have turned this whole town into a crater in a matter of seconds if he wished, and he probably would once the thrill of their fear waned. Tray had tried to be passive, helpful, reasonable, but there was no way to rationalize with irrational people.

  Warding off the pain that creaked through his limbs, he stood and faced Danny. The Wacko leader’s back was to him, but that was his advantage. He’d succumbed to his fear before; now it was time to succumb to his rage.

  Utter control over his body had been a foreign concept to him months ago, but he’d practiced. He made enough of a show in training of being peeved and uninterested that his friends didn’t know it, but he’d worked to harness his Affinity, infusing his brain with movement patterns that would inflict damage. The suit he wore must have had some type of compressive or adhesive properties because he felt the ease of his blood flow and the suppleness of his muscles, enhancing his Affinity, as promised.

  Ignoring fallen Eliana, quivering Hartman, and riotous Lavisa, Tray assumed an athletic stance. Then he surrendered himself to the instinctive impulses of his amygdala.

  The “fight or flight” response was a psychological reaction Tray had learned about but had rarely experienced. He had felt anger threatening to overcome his brain before—when he had first discovered his super strength or whenever Adara said something particularly idiotic or even five minutes ago when he’d remembered what Danny had done to his parents—but he had never allowed those hormones to manifest.

  Now the buildup of chemicals had finally overflowed, resulting in a surge of energy that Tray used to launch forward and tackle Danny from behind.

  Surprised, the Wacko leader lurched toward the ground, the two of them rolling and grappling. Tray was stronger, but Danny was a natural fighter—and a bomb. In a fist-to-fist fight, Tray would have won, but as they wrestled on the pavement, the Wacko used his explosive Affinity to throw a detonating pulse off his own skin. No amount of super strength could combat a blast of that magnitude. It hurled Tray through the air until he tumbled along the pavement, his sight discombobulated and his brain wrecked.

  The adrenaline pumping within him blocked the pain of the impact, but there was no point in challenging Danny again. He expected it now, and Tray stood no chance against him anyway. The leader would murder half the town, and there was nothing Tray could do about it. This fate was confirmed when, through the gate of flames, a horde of Wackos appeared, all dressed in black, all promising death.

  “Stark, can you stand?” Lavisa asked, hovering above him. Squinting, he saw the outline of her yellow hair, illuminated in the reflection of the fire. “They’re coming in hot, and I don’t think I can hold off more than a few at a time.”

  “I’ll help,” Floretta offered as she staggered to her feet. Soot and dirt now covered her pale purple dress. Tray hadn’t thought about how disheveled he probably looked, and when he peered down he found half of his sweater burnt off. The white suit beneath was unscathed, and although it was clearly visible to Lavisa, she made no comment on it. Perhaps she had felt it when she’d patted his shoulder earlier.

  “Where did Danny go?” Tray asked, eyes darting around the scene. William had withdrawn back toward the tower, while Josh knocked out fleeing students at random. Even among the array of oddly-colored hair, Danny’s stuck out, and it was apparent his destination was the Physicals Building, where many of the students had retreated.

  “Tray,” Eliana moaned, crawling across the ground toward him. Blood stained her left calf, but she moved swift enough that he knew she hadn’t been seriously wounded. “In my drawing—the Physicals Building—he’s going to demolish it—”

  At her words, Tray recalled her depiction of this very battle, how fire had been speckled throughout the campus, but the Physicals Building burned the brightest. The image hadn’t shown the abundance of hiding students who would now burn in it.

  “Lavisa, try to hold off the horde with Floretta and Than,” Tray commanded, and though the teachers looked wary, she nodded without question. After extending to his feet, he reached a hand down toward Eliana. “Can you stand?”

  Nodding, she took his assistance and pushed upright, clearly favoring her right side. “We need to distract Danny long enough to get the students out. It’s inevitable that it’ll blow, but if we can save—”

  “I’ll go warn them,” Hartman announced, and before anyone could protest, the teleporter disappeared from sight. Worry flickered on Lavisa’s face, but she focused on tightening her hand wraps, honing her vision on the approaching enemy, soon to be upon them.

  Tray knew he had to thwart Danny again—he had to sacrifice himself, even if it resulted in a worse reaction than last time. He and Eliana should have sprinted across campus to intercept him—not that Eliana could exactly sprint in her condition—but Tray hesitated a moment, suddenly more concerned about Lavisa’s well-being than that of all the students.

  Logically, it made sense, he supposed. Lavisa, though disagreeable, was a more influential acquaintance to him than most students here. But for him to place her life—one life—over the lives of tens, perhaps hundreds of others, was foolish and unreasonable. He had to abandon her here at the front lines, and he didn’t have time to be emotional about it.

  “Stay with her,” Eliana urged, obviously having read his mind. He chided himself for being so open, but now wasn’t the time to practice mental shields. The first aggressive Wacko had just come into contact with Lavisa, and Floretta advanced on them with thick, flowered vines while Than combated with intense martial arts. “I’ll find a way to distract Danny. You’re needed here—”

  Her pleading was useless, though. There was no point in leaving the front lines now, for Danny had already staged his grandest explosion. The right half of the Physicals Building erupted, burgeoning with flames and smoke, spitting concrete and rubble. From a distance, Tray saw many students had managed to escape in time, likely with Hartman’s warning.

  But…the teleporter hadn’t returned to them, and his head of bright orange hair was nowhere in sight. Based on Tray’s conclusions and the despair morphing Eliana’s face, they both knew where Hartman Corv
is was—or where he had been.

  After leaving Headquarters a little later than planned, Naretha, Jamad, and Danny’s freaking dog had caught up with the rest of the Wackos at the site of an abandoned building in the outskirts of Cleveland—or what had been an abandoned building until Danny, in his frenzied anticipation, leveled it.

  The media had probably already exaggerated it out of proportion, claiming he’d killed hundreds of innocents when he’d only murdered a decaying heap of rubble. He’d built up so much excitement and aggression that if he hadn’t let it loose there, he would have demolished their own vans on the drive to Periculand in the same way he demolished the school now.

  As she jogged toward the center of town, Naretha heard the periodic booms of his destruction and saw the reflection of the flames alighting the white buildings of Periculand. They should have recruited these kids, not physically and mentally scarred them to the point of uselessness. Most of them hadn’t chosen Periculand. Most of them had been brainwashed into thinking the Wackos were purely evil. With the way Danny acted, Naretha couldn’t blame them for believing it.

  Considering the Wackos’ morality reminded her of the not-so-pleasant interaction that had occurred two hours prior. It was hard to forget her little skirmish with Zach since her black uniform was still coated in his dust, a reminder that he’d abandoned the Wackos—that he’d chosen Faddy over her.

  She should have seen it coming. Danny had been unnecessarily rude to his brother during the little conference in his office before their departure. Not to mention Danny had rubbed his leadership in his older brother’s face for months. Naretha’s prolonged absence from Headquarters had probably made Zach question why he stuck around at all.