James shook his head. “Nothing. Sorry to disappoint. Is that why you’re here?”
“No,” Katie said, sounding surprised at the question. “No, actually... they came for me. At my house. I only just escaped.”
“Who?” James said.
Katie cocked her head. “SIA. They don’t seem to be following laws particularly closely. Due process and such. They weren’t messing around. I wasn’t about to be taken in and questioned.” She emphasized the last word, as though she knew that questions were just the start. The SIA was willing to get information on the Supers in any way possible. “But why are you guys here?”
“Same reason,” Rocky said. “Bastards were crawling all over James’s house. We barely got away.”
“They shot at us, Katie,” James said.
Katie’s eyes widened. “They saw you?” She started to get out of her seat. “Were you followed?”
“No, no,” James said, putting up a hand. “We made sure of it.”
Katie looked at him for a moment, then slowly lowered herself back into her seat. “Good. But if they shot at you, they’re not messing around. We’re going to be hunted, all of us.”
Her words sunk in. James and Rocky already knew they were wanted men, but it was the first time it was said aloud. And it was terrifying.
James turned to Rocky, his stomach tightening. “Look, man, I’m sorry to drag you here. You shouldn’t have to be part of this.”
“Yeah, this has really thrown off my day,” Rocky said sarcastically. “I mean, I had a bunch of homework I was gonna do!”
“No you weren’t,” James said, his lips twitching.
“Nah, I wasn’t. But Coach is going to be pissed.”
“You might even be benched.”
Rocky snorted. “Yeah, if they want to start losing.”
James started to smile but faltered. “Really, Rocky. I’m sorry.”
“It’s nothing.” Rocky waved him off, his voice more serious. “It seems like there’s only one thing for us to do.”
Katie and James both looked at him.
“Let’s find these damn Supers!” Rocky said.
“Funny you should say that,” Katie said, looking bemused at their conversation. She rummaged through her bag. After a moment, she pulled out an envelope, its seal broken. “I found this hidden in my house.” She pulled a piece of paper out of the envelope and unfurled it. James immediately recognized the words scrawled on it as Derek’s handwriting.
“In the abode by the foot of the mountain, wish for wisdom and receive great power,” Rocky read aloud, leaning over the table.
“Yes!” James said excitedly.
“You know what it means?” Katie said.
“Well, no,” James admitted, reading the phrase over again. “But Derek left us something, too.”
Rocky brought over the paper and flower. He laid them gently on the table, as if afraid of damaging them.
“Recognize our true friends, and always ask for help,” Katie read aloud, her brow furrowed. “What could that mean?”
“I think I know,” Rocky said. Katie raised her eyebrows in surprise. He shrugged. “It’s you.”
“Me?” Katie said.
“Yeah, it’s basically him saying we can trust you. And that we should work together. Maybe he hoped we’d figure it out and go ask you for help, rather than running into you as we both hide from the feds.”
“Hm,” Katie said. “It could be.”
“Then what’s this about?” James held up the flower. “I don’t even know what this is.”
“Easy, that’s a rhododendron,” Katie said matter-of-factly.
“A rhod-a-what?” Rocky said.
“A rhododendron,” Katie said slower. “My mom has some in her garden.”
“Why would Derek give me a flower from your garden?” James asked.
“That, I don’t know.”
“Do you think they’re connected somehow?” James put Katie’s sheet of paper and the flower next to each other in the middle of the table.
“They must be,” Katie said. “If he wanted us to work together.”
They stared at the two clues for several moments in silence, all three of them willing the answer to leap from the paper and flower.
“Well,” Rocky said, glancing at his watch. “It is currently three in the morning, and I think it’d be best if we all slept on it.” With that, he threw himself down on the couch, closed his eyes, and promptly started snoring.
James glanced at Katie. She knew Derek as well as anyone, having worked with him for several years. She probably understood what James was going through better than anybody. And he could tell that underneath the tough appearance she was putting up, especially with Rocky asleep, she was truly distraught. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her he understood how she felt. He wanted to tell her that everything would be okay. But he couldn’t. Because he didn’t know if that was true.
“Well, that’s not very polite of him,” he said instead, nodding toward Rocky. “I guess we both get the floor.”
He grabbed the blanket he had been using as a cushion and tossed it to her.
“Are you sure?” she said, realizing it meant he’d have nothing to put between him and the floor.
“Yeah,” he said, lowering himself to the ground. “Try to get some sleep. We’ll need it for tomorrow.”
She laid the blanket on the ground several feet away and lay down. James turned over, away from her, his shoulder digging into the floor. Not that he particularly minded. His mind was racing far too much for him to fall asleep. He was thinking about Derek, about the clues, trying to connect the dots. Thinking about how they were wanted for questioning, about how the SIA could come crashing through the door at any moment.
Soon, long after Rocky started snoring and Katie’s breathing slowed, despite his best efforts, James succumbed to sleep.
And the three fugitives rested.
Chapter 8
Four Years Ago
Thunder rumbled overhead as rain splashed onto the windshield, a torrent the wipers could barely keep up with. James always felt nervous riding in thunderstorms. He always imagined that lightning would strike the car, making it a metal coffin. The fact that his brother was the one driving made him feel—somehow—safer, even
