“We are here for school,” Madeline said.

  “Sure you are, princess.”

  The main terminal was even worse. The security line snaked back and forth like a maze, filled with increasingly irritated travelers. Signs everywhere warned about enhanced individual screening procedures, prohibited items, and the consequences of “non-compliance with federal security protocols.”

  “This is insane,” I said, looking at the line. “We’re going to be here for hours.”

  “Welcome to post-terrorist attack air travel,” said a woman behind us. She was maybe forty, wearing a business suit and the expression of someone who’d been through this before. “Been like this since Barcelona. Gets worse every time that metal freak hits another city.”

  “Obsidian Coil?” Jason said. “That’s what they’re calling him.”

  “I don’t care what they call him. I care that it takes three hours to get through security because everyone’s paranoid about enhanced individuals.”

  She said “enhanced individuals” the way most people said “cockroaches.”

  “We’re enhanced individuals,” Rey said quietly.

  The woman’s expression shifted from annoyed to suspicious. “Are you now?”

  “Students,” Sophia said quickly. “Educational exchange program.”

  “Uh-huh.” The woman moved to a different line.

  “Friendly,” Amara muttered.

  “Can you blame her?” I asked. “Some psycho with metal powers has been tearing up Europe. Of course people are scared.”

  “They’re not scared of Obsidian Coil,” Rey said. “They’re scared of us. All of us.”

  She was right, and I hated that she was right. The looks we were getting weren’t just suspicious – they were hostile. Like we were personally responsible for every enhanced individual who’d ever done anything wrong.

  The line moved with glacial slowness. Every few minutes, someone would get pulled aside for additional screening. Enhanced individuals, mostly, but also anyone who looked “suspicious” – which seemed to include anyone under thirty, anyone with visible tattoos, and anyone who didn’t look sufficiently terrified.

  “Next!” called a TSA agent, and we shuffled forward.

  The security checkpoint looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Multiple scanners, metal detectors, and what looked like some kind of energy reader that I’d never seen before. Agents in tactical gear stood at every station, watching for any sign of trouble.

  “IDs and boarding passes,” the agent said without looking up.

  We handed over our documents. The agent – a middle-aged guy with the personality of wet concrete – scanned each one carefully.

  “Enhanced individuals,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

  “Students,” Sophia said again.

  “Same thing. You’ll need additional screening. All of you.”

  “What kind of additional screening?” Madeline asked.

  “The thorough kind. Next!”

  We were directed to a separate area where a different agent – this one a woman who looked like she could bench press a car – started going through our bags with the enthusiasm of someone looking for buried treasure.

  “Any weapons, explosives, or enhanced individual paraphernalia?” she asked.

  “What counts as enhanced individual paraphernalia?” Jason asked.

  “Anything designed to enhance, focus, or amplify enhanced abilities. Power dampeners, energy crystals, meditation aids, that kind of thing.”

  “We don’t have any of that,” I said.

  “We’ll see.”

  She pulled out Amara’s toiletry bag and started examining every bottle and tube like they might contain weapons-grade plutonium. Then she found the small black bag Amara had packed with her “recreational activities.”

  “What’s this?” the agent asked, holding up a silk tie.

  Amara’s face went bright red. “It’s... uh... it’s a tie.”

  “For what?”

  “For... tying things?”

  The agent gave her a look that could have melted steel. “Step aside, miss. You’re getting a private screening.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Suspicious items require additional investigation.”

  “It’s just a tie!”

  “Ma’am, please step aside.”

  Two more agents appeared to escort Amara to a private screening room. She shot us a look that was half embarrassed, half terrified.

  “Don’t worry,” Sophia called after her. “We’ll wait for you!”

  “This is ridiculous,” Madeline said. “It’s a piece of silk.”

  “Everything’s suspicious now,” the car-bench-pressing agent said. “Enhanced individuals especially. You people have been causing a lot of trouble lately.”

  “We haven’t caused any trouble,” Rey said.

  “Tell that to the people in Rome.”

  Rey’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t respond. Smart move, considering we were surrounded by armed federal agents.

  The screening continued. They went through every item in every bag, tested our electronics, and ran us through scanners that probably violated several constitutional amendments. Jason was practically vibrating with nervous energy.

  “Dude,” he whispered to me. “This is like that scene in⁠—”

  “Jason,” I cut him off. “Not now.”

  “I’m just saying, this whole thing feels very⁠—“

  “Sir,” one of the agents called. “Step forward.”

  Jason looked around. “Me?”

  “You. Random additional screening.”

  “Random my ass,” Jason muttered, but he stepped forward.

  The agent was a woman, maybe thirty, with short blonde hair and the kind of smile that suggested she enjoyed her job a little too much. “Right this way, sir.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Private screening room. Standard procedure.”

  “How private are we talking?”

  “Very private.”

  Jason shot us a look that was equal parts terror and excitement as they led him away.

  “Think he’ll be okay?” Amara asked. She’d returned from her own private screening looking flustered but unharmed.

  “He’ll be fine,” I said. “Probably.”

  While we waited, I found myself watching the news coverage on the overhead TVs. The Rome footage was particularly brutal – twisted metal sculptures that had once been cars, a section of the Colosseum’s wall that looked like it had been shredded by giant claws, emergency responders in hazmat suits collecting what was left of the victims.

  Rey was watching too, and something about her expression bothered me. She wasn’t just horrified like the rest of us. She looked... thoughtful. Like she was trying to figure something out.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Fine,” she said, but she didn’t look away from the screen.

  The footage switched to a press conference. Some Italian official was talking about increased security measures and international cooperation, but I wasn’t really listening. I was watching Rey watch the screen, and the look on her face was starting to worry me.

  “Rey?”

  “The metal work,” she said quietly.

  “What about it?”

  “It’s... familiar. The way it’s twisted, the patterns. I’ve seen something like it before.”

  “Where?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe in one of my father’s military files, or...” She trailed off, still staring at the screen.

  “Or what?”

  “Nothing. It’s probably nothing.”

  But it wasn’t nothing. I could tell by the way she was standing, the way her hands had clenched into fists. Whatever she was thinking, it was bothering her.

  Jason reappeared about twenty minutes later, looking like he’d just won the lottery and been hit by a truck at the same time.

  “Dude,” he said, his voice slightly higher than usual. “That was... thorough.”

  “Are you okay?” Sophia asked.

  “I’m great. I’m fantastic. I may never be the same, but I’m definitely okay.”

  “What did they do to you?” Amara asked.

  “Let’s just say Agent Rodriguez is very dedicated to her job. Very, very dedicated.”

  “They didn’t hurt you, did they?” Madeline asked, looking concerned.

  “Hurt me? No. Definitely not hurt. The opposite of hurt, actually. I may need to sit down for a while.”

  “Jason,” I said slowly. “What exactly happened in there?”

  “Full body cavity search,” he said with a grin that was equal parts traumatized and delighted. “Turns out Agent Rodriguez has very thorough hands. And she was very concerned about making sure I wasn’t hiding anything. Anywhere.”

  “Oh my god,” Amara said, covering her face with her hands.

  “I know, right? I mean, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be probed by aliens, but this was way better because Agent Rodriguez is definitely human and definitely⁠—“

  “Jason,” Sophia cut him off. “Please stop talking.”

  “I’m just saying, if this is what enhanced individual screening is like, I might start traveling more often.”

  “You’re disgusting,” Rey said, but she was smiling for the first time since we’d arrived.

  “I’m thorough,” Jason corrected. “Just like Agent Rodriguez.”

  We finally made it through security around noon, three hours after we’d arrived. Our flight wasn’t until two, which gave us time to grab food and try to decompress from the morning’s ordeal.

  The departure gate area was slightly less militarized than the main terminal, but not by much. Armed guards patrolled the corridors, and every few minutes an announcement would remind passengers about enhanced individual travel restrictions and the consequences of “suspicious behavior.”

  “This is insane,” Madeline said, settling into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs. “We’re not criminals.”

  “We might as well be,” Amara said. “Did you see how that woman looked at us when we said we were enhanced?”

  “Like we were going to explode,” Sophia agreed.

  “Can you blame them?” I asked. “Look at this place. Look at what’s happening in Europe. People are scared.”

  “They should be scared of Cataclysm or Obsidian Coil,” Rey said. “Not us.”

  “To them, we’re all the same,” I said. “Enhanced individuals with the potential to cause massive destruction.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Fair doesn’t matter. Perception matters. And right now, the perception is that people like us are dangerous.”

  Rey was quiet for a moment, staring at her hands. “What if they’re right?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What if we are dangerous? What if having these abilities makes us inherently threatening to normal people?”

  “That’s bullshit,” Jason said firmly. “Having abilities doesn’t make you evil any more than having muscles makes you a bully. It’s what you do with them that matters.”

  “But what if the temptation is too strong? What if having that much power inevitably corrupts you?”

  “Then we watch out for each other,” Amara said. “We keep each other grounded.”

  “And if that’s not enough?”

  “Then we deal with it when it happens,” I said. “But we don’t assume the worst about ourselves just because other people are afraid.”

  Rey nodded, but she still looked troubled. I had a feeling this conversation was far from over.

  The boarding announcement came at 1:30, and we joined the line of passengers shuffling toward the gate. More security checks, more suspicious looks, more reminders that we were different and potentially dangerous.

  But as we finally walked down the jetway toward the plane, I felt something I hadn’t expected.

  Relief.

  We’d made it through the worst part. Whatever was waiting for us in England, whatever the government wanted from me, whatever dangers might be lurking in the shadows, at least we were together.

  And maybe, just maybe, that would be enough to get us through whatever came next.

  “Hey,” Jason said as we found our seats. “You know what this reminds me of?”

  “Please don’t,” Amara begged.

  “I wasn’t going to make a movie reference. I was going to say it reminds me of the beginning of an adventure. Like we’re about to discover something that’s going to change everything.”

  “That’s either very exciting or very terrifying,” Sophia said.

  “Why not both?”

  I looked around at my friends, my family, my partners. Jason was right – we were at the beginning of something. Something big, something important, something that would probably be dangerous as hell.

  But we were facing it together.

  And that made all the difference.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The Boeing 777 was packed, but somehow we’d managed to get seats together in the premium economy section. Not that “premium” meant much when you were still crammed into a metal tube for eight hours, but at least the seats reclined more than an inch.

  I was wedged between Rey and Madeline, with Jason across the aisle making increasingly inappropriate comments about the flight attendants. The cabin lights had been dimmed to that weird blue glow they use for night flights, and most of the other passengers were already settling in with blankets and neck pillows.

  “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Amara said from the row behind us. “Six weeks in England. It feels surreal.”

  “It feels like a really long time to be away from home,” I said, thinking about Kira back at the Academy. She’d be showing more by the time I got back. Hell, she might even be in labor.

  “Stop thinking about her,” Madeline said quietly, not looking away from her magazine. “You’ll drive yourself crazy.”

  “How do you know what I’m thinking about?”

  “Because you get this look. Like a lost puppy.” She finally glanced over at me, and something in her expression made my pulse quicken. “Besides, you’re here with us now. Might as well make the most of it.”

  There was something in the way she said it that made the air between us feel charged. Madeline had always been the most... direct of my girlfriends. Where the others might hint or suggest, she just went after what she wanted.

  And right now, she was looking at me like I was a juicy steak.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached our cruising altitude,” the captain’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Flight attendants will be coming through the cabin with dinner service shortly. Please keep your seatbelts fastened when seated.”

  “Dinner service?” Jason said loudly. “Think they’ll have anything that doesn’t taste like cardboard?”

  “It’s airplane food,” Sophia said from her window seat. “Lower your expectations.”

  “My expectations are already underground. I’m just hoping for something that won’t poison me.”

  Rey leaned over me to look at Madeline. “You okay? You look flushed.”

  “I’m fine,” Madeline said, but her voice was slightly breathless. “Just... warm in here.”

  She wasn’t wrong. The cabin was warm, and the close quarters weren’t helping. I could smell her perfume – something expensive and French that made me think of silk sheets and candlelight. When she shifted in her seat, her thigh pressed against mine, and I had to resist the urge to put my hand on her leg.

  “Evan,” she said quietly, leaning closer so only I could hear. “I need to talk to you. Privately.”

  “Here?”

  “The bathroom. In ten minutes.”

  My mouth went dry. “Madeline...”

  “Ten minutes,” she repeated, then went back to her magazine like nothing had happened.

  I tried to focus on the safety card in the seat pocket, but my brain wasn’t cooperating. All I could think about was the way Madeline’s lips had looked when she said “privately,” and the heat I’d seen in her eyes.

  This was a bad idea. We were on a plane, surrounded by hundreds of people, including our friends. If we got caught...

  But then Madeline shifted again, and her hand brushed against my arm, and suddenly I didn’t care about the consequences.

  The flight attendants started their dinner service, wheeling carts down the narrow aisles with the efficiency of people who’d done this a thousand times. I watched their routine, timing their movements. They’d start at the front of the cabin and work their way back, which meant they’d reach our section in about fifteen minutes.

  “I’m going to stretch my legs,” I said, standing up.

  “Good idea,” Rey said. “This flight’s going to feel like forever.”

  I made my way toward the back of the plane, past rows of sleeping passengers and crying babies. The bathrooms were located near the galley, where a couple of flight attendants were preparing meal trays.

  I waited by the emergency exit, pretending to read the safety instructions while keeping an eye on the bathroom doors. One was occupied, the other was free.

  Madeline appeared a few minutes later, moving with the casual confidence of someone who belonged wherever she was. She didn’t look at me as she passed, just slipped into the empty bathroom.

  I counted to thirty, then followed.

  The airplane bathroom was barely big enough for one person, let alone two. When I squeezed inside and locked the door behind me, Madeline was already pressed against the tiny sink, her eyes dark with want.

  “This is crazy,” I whispered.

  “I know,” she whispered back, reaching for me. “I don’t care.”

  Her hands were on my chest, sliding up to my neck, pulling me down to her. When our lips met, it was like an electric shock. All the tension that had been building between us for hours exploded into desperate need.

  “I’ve been thinking about this since we got on the plane,” she breathed against my mouth.

  “Maddy...”

  “Shh.” She pressed a finger to my lips. “Don’t think. Just feel.”

 

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