Powered

I smile, unsure if he’s looking at m

e or not. Ugh, these face masks are creepy. I’m glad mine only covers the area around my eyes. I want villains to see the smirk on my face when I bag and tag them.

I give a casual shrug as I glance at my fingernails. “I could just beat it out of you, I guess.”

His mannequin of a face turns in my direction. “That would be against Hero law.”

“He speaks!” I fling my arms up in a miraculous gesture toward the heavens. The way he flinches at my outburst doesn’t escape me. Seizing a moment of vulnerability, I throw myself across the pod, resting one knee on the bench and lodging the other knee firmly in his abdomen. I press his shoulders to the wall, digging my fingers into bone. He lets out a choked cry. “I don’t give a shit about the law. You tell me where I’m going.”

“You’re in no harm,” he blurts out, holding up trembling hands. “I wish I could tell you but I can’t. It’s a—I just can’t.”

I let him go, but keep my dominating position on top of his lap. By the way his voice squeaks, I don’t think a girl has ever been this close to him. Wow. He doesn’t even sound legal yet. Not that I have room to talk since I’ve only been legal for one day.

I press a finger to his chest. “If you’re lying to me, you’re going to regret it.” He nods once. I don’t need to elaborate on my threat since my voice alone conveys enough fear to send his imagination running to hide under the covers.

As if sensing the tension in the air, the KAPOW decelerates.

A few moments later, I step out of the pod and into soft white sand. This is unlike any kidnapping situation I could have imagined. We’re on a beautiful beach near a cabin surrounded in tiki torchlights. There’s music and lights and—

“SURPRISE!” A conveniently placed food truck drives forward, revealing two dozen teenagers, all wearing beach attire and Hawaiian leis around their necks. It takes me a second to recognize them as my friends, mostly Supers I’ve trained with over the years, and some of them older from Crimson and Max’s grade. We rarely see each other wearing anything other than a training suit. And now they’re all in bathing suits.

I whip around and jab my finger into the mystery guy’s chest. “You little shit!”

He pulls off his mask, revealing big eyes like Crimson’s, and gives me a sheepish smile. It’s her little brother, Blue. My face flushes and my chest relaxes, making me realize I’d been nervous this whole time. I wasn’t kidnapped at all. A fourteen-year-old kid set me up.

Crimson appears at my side and throws her arm around my shoulder. She wears a bikini top in red, white, and blue and a pair of cut-off jean shorts. There’s a pink paper umbrella in her hair. “Happy Hero Day, Maci.” She hands me a tall glass with a fruity-colored drink adorned with a slice of orange, a cherry, and one of those umbrellas. “Oh yeah, and happy birthday too.”

I eye her. “You had a date.”

She shakes her head. “Lies. All lies.”

“I can’t believe this,” I run my hand through my hair. “Where are we?”

“Camp Isle of the Kings.” Crimson’s lips twitch as she tries to keep a straight face. CIK is a small island near Hawaii, donated by Hero Kamehameha centuries ago to use as a retreat for Heroes who need a vacation. It’s incredibly exclusive. So exclusive, that even as the president’s daughter, I’ve never been invited.

“How did you …?” I ask, unable to find the words. Crimson shrugs. “I’ve had this planned for months. It’s a big deal when your best friend becomes Hero.”

I think I might cry. Everyone joins in wishing me a Happy Hero Day while I stand dumbstruck and barely able to say anything other than a mumbled thank you. When the hugs and high fives are over, the girls go back to their game of beach volleyball while the boys gather around a large mass of firewood they’re about to set ablaze.

I follow the shirtless muscular bodies with my eyes. Supers are hot. We really should convey this more in their suits. I wonder if Pepper, our suit designer, can make some kind of invisible fabric. I’m about to ask Crimson if I’ve ever met the guy kneeling by the fire with a lit match in his hand. I can’t see his face, but something about the shoulder-length blonde hair is familiar.

Someone walks behind him, catching my attention. “Ohmygod is—” I press close to Crimson so no one can overhear, letting my head nod ever so slightly to the bonfire.

She follows my gaze. “You bet your sweet, tiny, Hero ass it is.”

My heart drops to my stomach. My brain melts into a thick goo that sloshes around in my head. Not only has Crimson thrown me a surprise birthday party, she’s invited Aloki.

Aloki. As in, the eighteen-year-old Super who makes tall, dark, and handsome men look short, pale, and gross. He’s been my one and only crush for the last three years, pretty much since the day I first set eyes on him. Only, we’ve never actually talked outside of a casual hello, or that one time he saw me at the Atrium and he asked, “Where’s your brother?” and I replied, “I think he’s at home.”

“I can’t believe you invited him.”

“How could I not invite him?” She takes a sip of her drink, which by the smell of it, isn’t nonalcoholic like mine. “With the way you gush about him constantly? One of these days you’ll have to give up that V-card, you know. You can’t be a monk forever, Mace.”

Right. Like I could have sex with someone I can’t even bring myself to walk over and talk to. Plus Dad would probably freak because he isn’t a Hero. He works in robotics, which to Dad means he’s worthless, but to me means he’s smart and insanely cute.

Crimson nudges me in an effort to make me venture out of my comfort zone and say hi to him. Hero training taught me how to fight, how to lie to villains, and how to save humans. But it never taught me how to talk to Aloki. I wish I wasn’t wearing torn jeans, old flip-flops that reveal my chipped toe polish, and a shirt with one of the human’s fictional Heroes called Batman on it. I wear it to be ironic, but it is so not sexy.

The light humming sound of an approaching KAPOW pod turns my attention away from Aloki’s gorgeous smile and to the left where the pod comes to a stop. My brother steps out still wearing his Hero suit. His eyes sweep across the beach and stop on me.