But I’ve put my hands out like I was warding off an attack, and now, in front of my palm, is a tiny ball of fire, hung in the air waiting for me to direct it.
“Wow,” I breathe. I haven’t seen fire like that since... not since my mother fell from the roof and died.
“That is ...” Clarissa’s cell phone light flashes on. She’s looking up at the ceiling, which is basically gone. Not like the panels have burned or cracked to reveal the wiring and ductwork above. The whole thing is gone, leaving a black void like nothing has ever existed in that space. Who knows where it leads.
“I’ll get someone to check on the offices upstairs,” April says without looking away from the ceiling. But Clarissa’s gaze turns to me and I hold it, daring her to ask for an explanation. Not that I can give her one.
“Wait,” I say as Clarissa’s previous question comes back to me. “What do you mean there were two of us under the building? If it wasn’t Ezekiel, who was it?”
Even April looks uncomfortable as she and Clarissa exchange a glance. Oh, this is going to be bad. Maybe they found two of me and would like an explanation as to how that’s possible.
“It’s your mom,” Clarissa says, earning a sharp glare from April.
“My mom? Mother? She’s alive? Awake?”
“She’s—” April starts to say, but her answer doesn’t really matter. If SPAM found my mother’s body under Ziro Labs, they wouldn’t have left her there. Which means she’s here. I swing my legs over the side of the bed, yanking at the IV in the back of my hand. “Stop!”
“I don’t work for you,” I say as my feet hit the cold floor. The hospital gown barely covers my knees and my ass might be on display for everyone to see. Doesn’t matter.
“Morgan!” April calls after me as I hurry into the hall.
“You should be in bed,” Clarissa says, but she takes my elbow, leading me through a heavy door and to a glass wall. She slows, and I’m about to protest until I catch sight of my mother’s red hair on the pillow.
“What—” I say, though I don’t know how to finish that sentence. It’s my mother. Here, and very solid, if the way Vee—dressed in a hazmat suit complete with a breathing apparatus—holds her hand as she sits by the bed is any indication.
“You can’t go in there,” Clarissa says. “It’s an isolation room until the doctors figure out...” She waves her hand. “Everything.”
“But Vee’s in there.”
“She was very insistent,” April says as she catches up to us. “Forceful, even.” She winces, and I notice the bruise forming on her cheek for the first time. I whistle softly. It takes a lot of woman to dare to punch April.
“Did someone call her?” I ask.
“She was at the lab when the emergency vehicles showed up,” Clarissa says. “I don’t know why. She’s refused to talk to anyone. All she does is sit with your mom.”
I watch them for a minute. My mother is unconscious. Vee’s holding on to her hand, rubbing one thumb back and forth over her knuckles. It reminds me of the way Ezekiel held her hand. They both loved her so much, in their own way. Thoughhopefully Vee’s way doesn’t include breaking laws of physics and murder. What would be the sentence for killing someone a thousand times? We’d have to rebuild the machine for Ezekiel to live long enough to serve it. Assuming he’s even alive now.
I tap on the glass. Clarissa shushes me, and even April jumps, but Vee looks up and when our gazes meet, something like surprise passes over her face. She sets my mother’s hand down and rises.
It takes a few moments for her to get through several air locks and take the suit off.
“You made it,” she says, like she’s been waiting for me.
“What happened?” I ask.
She thins her lips and glances at April and Clarissa. After a moment of awkward silence, April nods and steps back. Clarissa says something about checking on the excavation and disappears up the hall.
“You’ve got some explaining to do,” Vee says.
“So do you. I thought I told you to stay at the diner.”
“I did,” she says. “For a while, anyway. Until the board lit up so bright at the lab, I’m still seeing spots. After that, I don’t care what noble intentions you had. You needed backup. And since Jasper was?—”
“Jasper?” I practically shout it. “Is he—where?—”
Her expression softens and my stomach drops. I shake my head. No. He can’t be dead. Not after everything. I may or may not have a supervillain living inside me. Maybe some of my mother’s powers too. Surely that’s enough price to pay.
“I don’t know,” Vee says. “He told me to go. He was worried about you too. But Morgan, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. He didn’t look good. I’m so sorry. I should have checked on him, but your mother was?—”
