Vivainne sat in the back of a cop car, ears ringing from the alarms that had blessedly stopped a few minutes ago. Her hands twisted around each other as she waited, unsure what was going to happen or where she was going. She’d explained as much to Recompense as she could, then been escorted out of his house and to the authorities who’d responded to the security alert he’d set off.

  Multiple heroes milled about outside, checking the perimeter. If they thought they’d be able to catch her mother, they’d be sorely disappointed. Her mother always had someone else do the dirty work, at least the type that was likely to get noticed.

  The police car door swung open, and Recompense poked his head in, now wearing his signature brown and red cowl mask. “Hold on tight, kid. I promise you’re not going to jail.” He then slammed the door closed and walked away as an officer ignited the engine and the sirens once more. With a lurch, the car began moving.

  Vivainne slumped back into her seat, wishing she could ask the cop to turn on the A/C and wondering how she’d ended up here. This wasn’t how she’d expected the night to go.

  Her mother wouldn’t like this. She’d punish her for it.

  Recompense could be lying, she thought, then tried to ignore the concern. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe heroes couldn’t be liars. Rather, it didn’t matter whether or not he was telling the truth, she’d placed herself in this boat either way.

  Would her mother try to rescue her? That was the bigger question, and one she couldn’t answer. If her mother thought Vivainne would give up information, she might come after her, but simply out of affection?

  Highly unlikely.

  The ride across the city took far too long, and Vivainne couldn’t help but be thankful that she wasn’t handcuffed. If she’d been handcuffed, this would be far more uncomfortable. As it was, the stifling, still air left Viv feeling as if she was driving to her own grave, prepared to be buried alive.

  Viv shifted upright when they drove past the police department, leaving it quickly behind. Recompense had been telling the truth, she wasn’t being detained. But if she wasn’t being taken to the police department, where were they bringing her?

  It didn’t take long for her to find out. She grew incredibly still as the police car turned into a wide, sparsely populated parking lot, eyes locked on the tower standing tall above the rest of the buildings around.

  White and glass and shining faintly with light even in the dark, the tower looked fragile, though it was anything but. Villains had tried to attack the tower before, here and all across the country, but none had managed to take out a Unity of Heroes tower. The futuristic, super made building stood in defiance of evil and cruelty and built itself up as a bastion for justice and safety.

  That was what the guide on Vivainne’s 6th grade field trip to the Museum of Heroes had said, anyway.

  That was the one and only time she’d come to the Tower, aside from today.

  She sucked in a breath, forcing herself to exhale. This wasn’t a turn she couldn’t manage. She needed the help of heroes anyway. What better place to get that help than the Unity of Heroes?

  Despite how logical she could make the situation sound in her head, it didn’t help the intimidating feeling of facing down the heroes inside.

  Vivainne closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her chest. As she cycled the breath through her lungs, she connected with her core. The power residing there leaked through the edges, turning the corners of her vision dark. She carefully sealed it back up, protecting herself as best as she could, covering over the broken edges. If a hero decided to seriously hurt her, it was doubtful she’d be able to resist, but she would try nonetheless.

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  “No one will hurt me,” she said, mouthing the words more than voicing them. She’d come to the heroes because her mother had hurt her, and their whole job was to help people.

  The police car parked in front of the tower. An officer walked around, opening up the door for Viv to step out.

  He escorted her to the front door as Vivainne craned her head back, trying to see to the top of the tower.

  The officer cleared his throat. Vivainne jumped and sprinted over to the door, smiling apologetically at the man before ducking through the doorway and inside the Unity Tower.

  She expected the man to follow her, but by the time she passed through a second set of sliding doors, she was all alone.

  Her steps slowed. The room around her resembled a hospital reception area, a desk at the far end with elevators behind it, a hero sitting at the curved desk. A few vending machines along the walls. A doorway to the right led into a large, open room, and taking a guess based on the plaque by the wall and her memories from sixth grade, it was a museum.

  She couldn’t remember exactly. Sixth grade was a long time ago.

  Moving slowly through the dimly lit room, Vivainne approached the desk.

  “Name?”

  “Vivainne Monet,” she answered, glancing around. Where was Recompense?

  “Ah, yes.” They tapped at the keyboard in front of them. “Recompense’s invite.”

  So he’d communicated with the Tower, but he wasn’t here to greet her. What was she supposed to do here?

  Something behind the desk whirred, and the hero pulled out a small, plastic keycard. They attached it to a metal clip and handed it over, tapping the keycard pinned to their own chest to indicate what she was meant to do with it. “Follow me.”

  They rose, moving toward the elevator and opening it with the card. Vivainne slipped around the desk and joined them in the elevator, pressing herself against the back wall. Worst came to worst, she would turn into shadows and escape via the walls. Depending on how high they moved. She wasn’t entirely certain how gravity affected her shadows yet.

  The elevator moved upward so smoothly she barely noticed, startled when a bell dinged and the doors slid open once more. Refusing to let her anxiety get the best of her, Vivainne stepped out of the elevator and drew herself up tall, waiting on the hero escorting her.

  They led her through a large open room, entering a corridor and leading her to an open room. Voices drifted quietly out from the door.

  Steps as silent as the shadows she controlled, Vivainne stepped into the room as directed and looked upon the heroes within. She vaguely recognized the two as two supers who’d responded to Recompense’s house; she had no inkling of what their hero names were. And the hero she’d expected to find wasn’t here.

  The female hero, wearing a sparkly gold unitard suit and thigh high matching boots, glanced at her and rolled her eyes. “He’s late.”

  “He’s…what?”

  “No, I’m not.” The voice came from behind her, and she turned to see Recompense booking it down the hallway with a drink carrier full of cups in one hand.

  He moved past her into the room, placing the carried on a table. “Welcome in, Vivainne. Meet my colleagues, The Path and Stardust.” He motioned in turn at the pair of younger heroes.

  “You stopped for coffee,” Viv deadpanned.

  “I got some for you,” Recompense said, as if that explained everything.

  “You send me away in a cop car and you stop for coffee.”

  “Oh, you picked a prickly one,” said the female hero, indicated to be Stardust.

  “And this is new, why?” asked The Path, not giving Viv a second glance. The names tickled somewhere in the back of her mind, but she hadn’t seriously followed the hero world in some time, long enough she’d missed the newcomers.

  She needed to get the conversation back under control. There was only so much time.

  “Hey!” Her shout rang through the room, Vivainne remaining frozen in its wake. That hadn’t been what she expected to leave her mouth. She had to roll with it now. “What about me?”

  Stardust cocked her head to the side. “What about you?”

  “You expect us to make all the choices for you?” The Path said. “Because neither of us signed up for that,” he motioned between himself and Stardust, “and Recompense doesn’t do that sort of thing.”

  Vivainne stared at them, a vein in her forehead beginning to throb. Why were these two heroes here? “What do you mean? Why did you bring me here if you didn’t want to help me?”

  “Oh, we want to help you,” Recompense said, shooting the two a look. “So ignore them. Sit. Drink some coffee. Let’s talk. We have some decisions to make. Do you want to give over all the evidence you have and go into witness protection?”

  “No.” The word came out firm. When she’d decided to go to the heroes, she had decided she wouldn’t run. She could have, the moment she turned eighteen, but that meant leaving her mother to do what she had been for years, and she couldn’t do that. “I don’t want to run. I want to put my mother behind bars. And I…” She swallowed down the fear. She’d voice what she wanted, and if it wasn’t possible, she’d deal with it like she had with everything else. “I want to be a hero.”

  The heroes stared at her, and the younger two exchanged a look. Then The Path groaned.

  “God, Recompense, you found another one.”