Hero's Revenge (Keepers of Justice, Book 2) (8 page)

Stealth mists us to the location and we drop behind the planks. “Okay,” she says. “I’m going in.”

“Wait.” I reach for her hand, but since I can’t see her, I grab air. “Kale, scan their minds to make sure this isn’t a trap.”

A few seconds tick by. The Nightmares are sitting around an old, broken table. Some talk while the others tap their feet on the floor. “Nope, no trap,” Kale says. “They want her. Like really want her.” He pauses. “They think her power is kickass and can’t wait to introduce her to the Blades in two days.”

“Two days?” Lindsay says. “Are we ready for that?”

“We will be,” I say. “Okay. Kale, connect us. Stealth, go.”

“Wish me luck!”
She mists under the door and materializes on the table right in front of the leader. She smiles brightly, her eyes playing with them. Teasing them.

She places her hands behind her on the table and leans back. Turns her head toward the
leader. “Missed me?”

She’s so good at this
, Kale says.

Yeah, she is.
When we first started this, I thought Kale or I would have to coach her on what to say. But she’s handling this well on her own. Hell, she’s more than handling it.

The
leader gets up and circles the table. Stealth doesn’t take her eyes off him. “Are you affiliated with any other group?” he asks.

“No.”

“Do you have ties to anyone?”

“No.”

“Partners?”

“No.”

“Friends?” he asks.

“I don’t do the friend thing.”

He’s quiet for a bit. “How many humans have you killed?”

The question doesn’t throw her off. She doesn’t blink. Doesn’t hesitate. “Over one hundred
.”

“And heroes?”

“Plenty.”

“Impressive, for a kid,” one of the other guys says.

Stealth shrugs. “Humans and heroes piss me off.”

The guys nod to one another.
The leader continues to pace.

“Oh
, wow,” Lindsay whispers. “He’s not convinced. I hope they take her.”

“Nah,” Kale says. “She’s in.
They’re just testing her.”

The leader continues to walk around. All eyes are glued to him. I’m about to ask Kale what he’s thinking, but
the leader says, “Mistress of Death.” He stops to stand before her. “We have decided to accept you as a member of the Black Nightmares.” He holds out his hand, and Stealth shakes it.

He introduces everyone and their powers. He’s called
AeroKrow and can turn into a flock of crows. The two brothers are The Acid and Ammo Man—who shoots bullets from his palms. Another, Glider, who can fly. Searing Pain manipulates fire. And the last one is Shrill. He can yell so loud it kills.

Apparently these abilities are not good enough for the Blades.

“No hard feelings about yesterday,” Stealth says to The Acid, whom she nearly killed. He shakes his head, but his lips are pressed in a firm line.

AeroKrow
starts to ask her questions about the ShadowBlades. Stealth claims not to know them personally, but she’s heard great things and is dying to be part them.

“We’ve been trying—unsuccessfully—to join them,”
AeroKrow says. “For many months now. We have no worth to them.” His lips curl up. “Until now. You, Mistress of Death, are rather extraordinary.”

Stealth shrugs. “So I’ve been told.”

AeroKrow’s expression gets serious. “You gave us your word that you will make sure the ShadowBlades accept us as well.”

Stealth nods. “If they don’t take
all
of us, they take
no one
.”

All six
seem pleased.

“Idiots,” Kale mutters. “You can’t threaten the Blades.”

“Yeah, they’re idiots,” I say. “But we can use that to our advantage. We need them to truly believe they need Stealth.”

AeroKrow
explains to Stealth that they need to train. A representative from the ShadowBlades is due to drop by in two days, and they’d like to introduce her to them. He’s so excited, it’s perfect.

They take
her to a room where they practice their abilities. They’re going to fight her, one vs. six. Stealth, always cool and confident, transforms into mist and whooshes around, knocking them off their feet, destroying everything in her path. She avoids the acid, fire, and bullets. She leaps in the air and knocks AeroKrow and Glider to the ground. All six lie on the floor, barely able to lift their heads.

She’s crashing into everything
and manages to crack a few holes in the thin walls. AeroKrow gets to his feet and goes for round two, but she throws him to the ground before he has a chance to touch her.

He’s breathing heavily.
“Stop,” he says.

Stealth pops in front of
him and hauls him to his feet.

“
So quick, so ruthless,” he breathes. “Amazing.”

Stealth shrugs. “So I’ve been told.”

The other guys slowly get to their feet, clutching their aching body parts.

“Where are you living?”
AeroKrow asks.

“Here, there, everywhere. I have no home.”

“Your living arrangements are not my concern.” He hands her a phone. “When we text you, you come here. No excuses. I don’t care where you are or what you’re doing. You come when summoned.”

She glares at him. “Don’t order me around. You need me, remember?” She takes it from him. “But okay. I’ll come when summoned.
Sir.
”

She mists away and is
at our side a second later.

“You did great,” I tell her. Her hand roves around me for a bit until she finds mine and clasps it.

“Thanks,” she whispers, her hand trembling a little. I squeeze it.

We watch the
Nightmares for a bit. They’re discussing Stealth, talking about how they need to prepare her for when the Blade comes. After twenty minutes, they leave.

“What do I do about this phone
?” Stealth asks. “It probably has a tracking device on it or something. They can track me in the League.”

“We need to hide it somewhere,” I say.

“Somewhere in Brooklyn,” Kale adds. “And you’ll need to mist to the location and check on it every so often. You’ll also need to move it around because you told them you don’t have a set home.”

“Okay. I’ll find a place
to put it for now,” Stealth says. “Be right back.”

She returns faster than any of us
expect and tells us she hid it in a cemetery a few miles away. She’ll have to charge it in a café but no one will catch her because she’ll be invisible.

When we’re back in my room,
Lindsay bounces on my bed. She pulls off her mask. “Oh my God,” she says, smiling to Stealth. “I would never have been able to do that! How are you so calm? Aren’t you shaking inside?”

Stealth lifts her mask on her forehead. “No, not really. It’s not a big deal. They’re babies.”
Her gaze moves to each of us and she shivers. “Okay, maybe I’m a little scared…okay, a lot. But I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” I ask.

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”

“I would die,” Lindsay says. “You’re so brave.”

“Thanks.” Stealth slides down to the floor and pulls at her uniform. “I’m terrified to meet the ShadowBlades, but I can’t show fear.” Her eyes slowly meet mine. “You never really mentioned why you want revenge on the Blades.” She looks from Kale to me. “Are they the ones who killed your friend?”

I nod while Kale says, “Yeah
, and Glen, too. Their leader screwed up his mind and he died.” He puffs out some air and sits down near Lindsay on my bed. She takes his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Stealth says.

“It’s okay,” I say. “The important thing is that we’re working on avenging their deaths.” I join her on the floor. “Are you nervous? Want to talk about it or plan?”

She’s quiet, then says,
“I don’t know if there’s anything to plan.”

Kale
laughs a little. “Yeah, you just gotta keep being kickass.”

After taking a shower and throwing on my League uniform, I contact Kale through my mind. He’s resting from this morning’s simulation. I missed it, due to my rough night. Thoughts and memories of Stretch, Glen, Stealth, and the Blades didn’t leave my head.

Come with me
? I ask.

It’s too painful to tell him where I want to go, and I’m glad he can read my mind.

Sure
. He makes a move to get up, but stares at his door.
You sure you want to do this
?

I need to
.

Okay
.
Meet you outside
.

I
head for the back entrance. We usually exit through here when we’re not in uniform. Even though I’m wearing mine, I don’t want to leave through the front because I don’t want any normies or reporters to see us. They don’t lurk out back because we don’t allow it. The security beams would detect them.

Sitting down on the grass in the backyard,
I look around. I haven’t been around here much, haven’t really enjoyed the outdoors. I’ve been too focused on the mission. I’m nervous for tomorrow—for what awaits Stealth, but I can’t think about that now.

Footsteps approach. It’s Kale. I expected him to bring Lindsay along, since he does that each time he visits Stretch’s grave.
But he’s alone now.

“Hey,”
he says.

“Hey.”

“You sure you’re okay with this?” His voice is filled with concern.

I nod, because I fear my voice will crack.

We grab our bikes from the garage and head toward the cemetery. All the superheroes are buried there, in their uniforms. Stretch and Glen included.

It’s a long journey, about an hour and twenty
minutes. The League mansion is located in upstate New York, free from civilization where we can live without harassment from normies. The cemetery is also in upstate New York, but closer to the normies because it wouldn’t be right not to let them visit their favorite heroes’ graves.

I’m glad you’re doing this
, Kale says.

I nod
again.

We’re quiet as we pedal. Normally
, I like the silence, but I need to distract myself from these thoughts and feelings. Visiting Stretch and Glen’s graves for the first time feels like someone’s wrapping his hand around my heart. I think I may pass out.

We can stop to rest
,” Kale suggests.

I shake my head.
Let’s do it
. I might lose my nerve.

As we pass the normies, some wave, others clap. Some who are on bikes follow us, probably assuming we’re off on a mission.

We zoom by more normies and a few take pictures and videos. A group of kids playing in the sprinklers in the park take sight of us and chase us. They can’t be more than seven years old.

I don’t want an audience as I visit my best friend for the first time. Kale turns his head and frowns. Unfortunately
, there isn’t anything we can do about that.

Sorry
, Kale says.
It’s never this bad. Probably because it’s summer and school’s out.

Yeah
.

We reach the
cemetery and bike inside. There are quite a few people in here, all around various graves. Kale points his thumb to the left and I follow him down a narrow path surrounded with flowers and grass. The place is pretty nice for a cemetery. No spider webs. It’s not creepy-looking.

Turning my head, I realize we have lost most of our audience. They must have figured going to a grave was less interesting tha
n witnessing an act of heroism.

Some curious kids from the park trail us
, along with some older kids.

Kale stops us before a white grave. It’s very long, most likely because Stretch’s body was stretched out when he died and he couldn’t fit into a regular sized coffin. As I study it, I swallow and blink repeatedly to prevent tears. I didn’t realize how hard this would be. I doubt I’ll last long before breaking down.

Kale places his hand on my arm. I barely feel it.

Clenching and unclenching my fists, I curse Vlayne
and the Blades for causing this. They should be the ones lying in here, not my best friend.

I
look at the plaque nailed onto the tombstone.
Herein lies a hero fallen before his time. Stretch will always be remembered for his bravery, courage, and honesty.

He was never a brave guy—was scared of his own shadow. But that day in the dungeon, moments before his death, he was the bravest person I knew. He was willing to risk his life to save Samson, who was about to be assassinated.

“Do you feel him?” Kale asks.

I close my eyes as something blows around my head, th
rough my mask. It’s only the wind. “No.”

A twig cracks, and Kale and I whirl around. The kids
and teens from the park are staring at us. Kale waves them over. “Do you know who this is?”

Their faces are blank
.

“He was our best friend,” Kale says. “His name was Stretch.” He tells them a few stories. How funny Stretch was, how his favorite hobby was eating, how he made
weird shapes with his body.

“How did he die?” a little girl asks.

Kale hesitates, his head lowered. “Villains.” He motions for them to follow him as he shows them other heroes’ graves.

I bend down and run my fingers along Stretch’s grave. Let the tears roll over my mask, down my cheeks, and drip onto my uniform.

“This isn’t fair,” I whisper, lying down on the grave and spreading my arms over it. “You shouldn’t be down there. I should be.” Because it was my idea to escape. My stupid idea.

The wind blows at me, stronger this time. Maybe Kale’s right. Maybe I do feel him. If he’s sending me a message, it’s probably to tell me not to cry over him.

“I don’t care,” I mutter, not bothering to wipe my new tears. “I’m going to kill her for you. I promise. Just wish you can do this with Kale and me. I miss the three of us conspiring. Was fun.”

I remain slumped over his grave for a while.
Then I walk down a narrow pathway to Glen’s grave. I drop down on that one, too. “I’ll kill her for you, Glen,” I whisper. “I’ll make sure she suffers.” Even though he died peacefully in his sleep, he didn’t live in peace. Those few months of not remembering what day it was, or what he thought about, or what visions he had—that was suffering. Many lives were lost because of that. Tragedies could have been prevented.

Damn, Vlayne.
Damn
her.

When I hear Kale and the kids returning, I
raise my head and wipe my eyes.

Kale’s eyes are wide.
Stealth sent me a message. The Nightmares called an emergency meeting.

I jump to my feet.
Let’s go.

We wave to the kids,
telling the teens to make sure they get the younger ones home safe, and leave. It’s a long bike ride home for us. I hope Stealth will be okay.

Can you contact her
? I ask him.

She’s not answering
.

My stomach twists
. Something doesn’t feel right.

As we ride, I try to push the worry out of my head and focus on something else. My thoughts go to Stretch—to
our friendship, the moment before, during, and after his death. I think about Glen and the close bond we formed. Shutting my eyes for a second, I try to push the thoughts away, too, but they’re stubborn.

Maybe we can do this again
, Kale says.
If you want
.

I nod.

We enter the Tower. Lindsay’s in her room, clutching a stuffed animal. Stealth is standing at the window, her back facing us.

“What happened?” I ask.

She turns around and bites her lip. “Nothing good.”