MIRA

"There's some kind of supervillain attack going down in Town Square, at the Winter Festival." Ryder removed two fingers from his earpiece and frowned. He then nodded at me. "Mira, you know what to do. Assess the situation, see what you can do to get the civilians to safety while waiting for our backup, alright?"

"Alright." My heart raced.

We hadn't had to deal with really any supervillain attacks or shenanigans since the attack on the tram. Rather, our business had mostly been in petty theft and little crimes better suited for the police than us.

Which I suppose was technically a part of our job description, but it didn't exactly give Dr. Banning or Director Pemberly much faith in us.

Never mind the unfair standards, since no one yet had captured any of the supervillains we'd been assigned to and it was only our first night.

But that didn't matter.

Failure was unacceptable, and we'd already failed too many times.

We had to succeed this time.

I dashed down the streets, avoiding cars and people as easily as if they were tortoises. I stopped at one of the entrances to the city garden that made up Town Square.

Through all the fire and smoke, I immediately locked onto Heretic, who was levitating something, and a girl beside her in a matching trenchcoat, with loose green pants tucked into white padded boots—

I did a double take, registering the gauntlets peeking out underneath the coat, the exact shade of red for the mask on her face, the cobbled-together outfit—

She was waving her hands, lifting up the burning tent. Her long dark hair flowed freely in the wind, and we locked eyes for only a second, by some matter of chance.

A chill went down my spine.

No.

I'd known the truth. We all had, we'd always known. Ryder himself had told me the truth.

But I'd refused to believe it, I believed in Verity instead.

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For once, my limbs felt heavy, and despite not reaching any problems with my stamina or energy yet, I could barely move, only take a few steps forward. I felt a stinging at my eyes, a warmth on my cheeks, the taste of salt on my lips.

"Verity!"

I didn't care who heard me. I didn't care that the public wasn't supposed to know about our names, that she was only to be Mystic forever to the world outside of our compound.

All I cared about was that my friend was standing there, helping Heretic do something that looked nefarious.

Her dark eyes went wide, and the flaming tents trembled in the sky. She looked like a deer in headlights as I forced myself to continue forward, to trudge through the snow, to do my duty.

"Verity, stop, no!" I reached out my hand, even though I was too far away, even though I didn't have a power that could stop her from what she was doing. "You don't destroy things, you're not like them!"

Verity blinked. Once. Twice. Then she slowly shook her head, her psychic grip on the tents tightening. "I'm not the same girl anymore. I'm not one of you. I can't be. Not anymore."

"And why not?" I demanded. I didn't care that there were people watching, that I was being weak, pouring my heart out to my best friend, who had turned to villainy so quick. . .

Verity hesitated. "There's something you should know."

Heretic glanced over her shoulder—the sounds of sirens grew louder, the police were exiting their cars and pulling out guns.

"Mystic, we have to end this." Heretic moved one hand towards the police, the other drew her ray gun. "I can't protect you much longer."

Verity visibly swallowed. "I know."

She locked eyes onto me again. "They're lying to you—"

Before she could finish, the power lines went down with a thundering rumble, a sound like the end of the world.

And I couldn't move. I couldn't run. I stood there, frozen as the crackling power lines almost went down on Verity.

Heretic's hand shot out, she redirected her attention away from the police and their guns to the power line. It vibrated in a power struggle, between what had to be her and—

I looked to see Powerline and the other Elemental Defenders stride into Town Square.

But by taking my attention away, for one millisecond, I missed a critical detail.

The distraction of the falling power lines had been enough to break Verity's concentration. The fire came down, and in a flash, too many things happened.

Heretic and Verity both ran—but only Heretic was fast enough.

My feet started moving before I could really put a complete thought into words. I knew I was fast enough, that I could save Verity from herself.

But then, Ryder came behind me and grabbed the back of my uniform.

I struggled, I didn't want to hurt him, I just wanted to save our sister and friend.

But it was too late.

I will never forget the sound of her screams, the sight of the fire, or the smell that came after. Those things haunt me still, in my dreams.

And for the first time in my life, I felt powerless.

"No," I whispered.

I fell to my knees, out of Ryder's grip.

That's when I saw Heretic again, her pine-green eyes locked to mine as she changed the switch, as she aimed the blaster gun at herself.

There was a simmering layer of rage and sorrow about her, I could see it now. It had always been there—but in her more obvious grief, it was obvious.

And it was directed at me, for some reason.

"Damn this city!"

Then she was gone.