CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
Rendezvous

This wasn't the first time Evette had been chased down the street, and she was fairly certain it wouldn't be her last. Getting into trouble lately seemed to be her forte—which made her internally laugh because her forte used to be playing the French horn in the pep band.

Evette skidded around a corner, flailing her arms and twisting awkwardly to avoid colliding with the mass of people occupying the busy sidewalk. She glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of the two men chasing her. Fear spiked in her chest.

She would take battling with the French horn over this any day.

The men barreled around the corner, pushing people out of their way as they hunted their target. Now out of the view of the public, she thrust her hands down and propelled herself upwards. The wind rustled her hair as she flew over the top of a building. She landed on the rooftop gracefully and brought her phone up to her face, grimacing at the time. At this rate, she'd be lucky to get to school before lunch.

"Come out, you can't hide forever!"

"Oh yes I can," she muttered. She rustled around in the pockets of her sweater for the reason those men were chasing her. She really wished she hadn't blown her cover by wearing her regular school clothes that morning, but the whole encounter was meant to be a quick stealth mission. In and out, without being seen.

Evette shrugged out of the cream sweater and stuffed it in her backpack, leaving her in a black T-shirt. She held the small black device in her hands and examined it. It was a flash drive, but she didn't even know what was on it—one of the men who were chasing her handed it to the other while they sat in Gran's Grounds that morning, sipping on their coffee, unaware of the blonde girl spying on them from across the road. Evette knew it was important, because why else would they be chasing her through the city to get it back?

"Over here!"

"Shit." Evette's breath visibly puffed out into the cold air as she stuffed the flash drive down her left combat boot and slipped a pair of grey sweatpants out of her bag, along with a crumpled up blue duffel bag. She hurriedly slipped the sweatpants on over her skinny jeans and concealed the backpack within the larger duffel bag.

Evette's ears pricked at the muffled sound of heavy footfalls. She whipped her head around towards the door that led to the rooftop. The door handle turned.

Without a second of hesitation Evette swung the bag over her shoulders and jumped off the roof. This time her landing wasn't as graceful. She picked herself off the ground, thankful the wind had carried her almost all the way to the ground, and turned the corner. She blended into the crowd as she walked leisurely, hands in her pockets and duffel bag bouncing off the small of her back, ignoring the stinging in her knees.

A middle school aged boy sped towards her on a skateboard, forcing Evette to sidestep out of the way just in time as he passed her, nearly knocking her over. She took the opportunity to sneak a swift glance over her shoulder, up at the building. The men were barely visible from the road, but the tops of their heads bobbed into sight as they looked for her.

Evette turned back around, continuing in the direction of Northwood High. They wouldn't find her. Not today.

The sun hung directly over top of her as she neared the school's campus. With one last malaise look over her shoulder, she jogged across the street and up the steps to the main entrance. She pressed the button on the wall as she came to a stop in front of the reflective doors. Within seconds the doors audibly unlocked with a click! and the school concealed Evette from outside perpetrators. Only then did she release her breath.

When she looked up, however, her breath caught.

A few years ago the school had remodeled the entrance, designing the layout in such a way that forced everyone who came through the front doors after 8:10 to go through the office before being allowed access to the rest of the building. Evette found herself standing in the office, staring at her brother. His frown and pinched eyebrows mirrored hers.

"Eve? I thought you were here already?"

Okay, so she might have told Cole a minuscule lie to get him to go to school without her to avoid any questions she couldn't answer—one that included her walking to school early to tutor a freshman.

Eve gripped the ropes of the duffel bag tighter with one fist. Her eyes flickered from him to the guidance counselor, Ms. Anderson behind him. She turned back to Cole. Her chaotic morning vanished from her mind, replaced with her troublesome brother in front of her. "Did you seriously get into another fight?"

"I didn't, actually. Nice to know how highly you think of me," Cole retorted. He held a pamphlet to his chest, and only when Evette read it did she realize Ms. Anderson was smiling. It was a college brochure, and on the front of it was a student athlete in the action of catching a football.

Oh.

"It's time to start seriously thinking about college," Ms. Anderson spoke up with her usual ardent tone. "If Cole keeps playing football the way he is, and if can keep himself out of a fight until after graduation, he could go to college full ride."

Evette gasped, though admittedly, she wasn't all that surprised. She knew firsthand how adept her brother was when it came to football. "Do you think you can last that long without punching somebody? Won't your fists feel neglected?"

Cole's face remained unchanged as he stared at her, though his slightly squinted eyes held a smug gleam. "Nice shoes."

With a quick glance down, Evette remembered her haste to conceal herself from her enemy, her change in clothes acting as her camouflage. One of her black combat boots barely peeked out from underneath the hem of her sweats, while her other pant leg was tucked into her left boot.

Her left boot.

The flash drive. 

Evette narrowed her eyes at Cole, but decided to drop his comment. She had other things to worry about. Plus, she knew her brother—he wouldn't poke into her business unless he thought something serious was going on. Which, of course something serious was going on, considering Eve had just narrowly escaped two men chasing her through the city who wanted to kidnap her, and it wasn't even the first time this had happened. If Cole knew this was going on, Evette was sure he'd barricade her into her room so she couldn't get out anymore and run the risk of getting hurt.

So, Evette turned away from Cole, pretending to be hurt by her brother's comment about her choice of shoes, and signed herself in at the front desk. She listened as Cole thanked Ms. Anderson, followed by the sound of the door opening. Evette looked up from the sign in sheet just as the door shut behind him. With one fleeting glance down where the flash drive was concealed in her boot, she followed.

◌•★•◌

"So if I asked you to do a double backflip and land on your hands, you could do it?"

"I don't know, probably."

"That's so cool," Lewis breathed.

Camille gave Lewis a flat look, the same one she'd been giving him for the past ten minutes as they waited for Ross to get out of football practice. She quickened her pace as they walked side-by-side through the parking lot towards the football field. Camille mentally punched herself as Lewis caught up with ease. Why couldn't her power be invisibility or something useful?

Lewis opened his mouth to ask another question, but the words caught in his throat as they passed a girl sitting against the outside of the school, her blonde hair fanning out around her and a laptop propped up on her bent knees as she typed furiously on it.

"Hey, Evette." He waved his hand in a small greeting. Evette's head whipped up and she angled the screen of the laptop down. Her face was sort of ashen, and her eyes were wide. Her pensive gaze flickered between Lewis and Camille, eyebrows knitting together.

"Uh, hi?"

Lewis stood a few feet away from Evette, hopefully far enough away so she couldn't see the sweat gathering on his forehead from just talking to her. Get a grip, Lewis.

"What're you doing?"

Camille thought the same thing but about Lewis as she slowed to a stop and backtracked to witness their conversation. She tilted her head and slowly crossed her arms. Why did they have to stop and talk to the random girl sitting on the ground? They were on a mission--a superhero mission to take down a supervillain, to be exact.

"Just waiting for Cole to get out of practice. I'm using the school's Wi-Fi to finish some homework." Evette held her laptop up in the air then set it back in her lap. Camille nodded and started to walk away, assuming that was the end of the conversation. Of course, Lewis had to open his mouth again.

"Cool. What class?" he asked.

"Leave my sister alone, Johnson."

Lewis and Camille watched Cole as he approached the three of them from the practice field. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder and his football bag on the other, and a practice jersey hanging on his wide frame. He glared at Lewis, daring him to open his mouth.

Ross appeared behind him, slightly more sweaty and out of breath, but less hostile. His eyes lit up when he saw Camille and Lewis. Practice had been hell today, but he'd been looking forward to superhero-ing all day. "Hey guys. You ready?" He followed Lewis's line of sight and spotted Evette on the ground. Their eyes met and he gave her a nod. His eyes flickered across her face and over her arms. "Evette. You good?"

"Why wouldn't she be?" Cole asked, his voice remaining harsh. Okay, so maybe he just hated everyone, Camille decided. Ross met Cole's violent glare and held it for a few awkward seconds. Ross broke eye contact first. He cleared his throat and looked toward Camille and Lewis.

"Let's just go."

Camille and Lewis shared a look before following closely behind Ross towards his car. Camille studied Ross's demeanor as he glanced back at the siblings. He seemed . . . distraught.

"That was weird, right? Or was it just me." Lewis asked as soon as they shut the doors. Ross scoffed as he turned the car on.

Camille sat up on the edge of her seat and held onto the back of Ross's headrest. "No, it was weird. What's going on with you and the Bonavich girl?"

"Her name is Evette, and--" Ross trailed off with a sigh. He couldn't tell them Cole's secret, especially if Evette didn't know. He raked a hand through his hair and pulled out of the parking lot. "Nothing."

"Good. Because Lewis is madly in love with her," Camille said, collapsing back into her seat and kicking her feet up. Lewis whipped his head around to gape at the girl. She shrugged, try and deny it, Lewie.

Ross covered his laugh with a cough. Camille glared at him through the rearview mirror. Asshole, get out of my thoughts.

Then stop thinking so loudly.

"E-excuse me, what?" Lewis sputtered, still hung up on the Evette thing, "No, no I am most certainly not madly in love with her. I barely even . . . I barely know her." He sighed and gazed out the window.

Ross glanced at his deflated form before returning his gaze to the road. "Hey, can we focus? We're superheroes, remember? I think that's a little more shocking than fleet feet having a crush."

"No, Lewis is a superhero, we're not," Camille amended.

The boy in question slipped out his mask from his backpack and ran his thumb over it. He still couldn't believe he wasn't alone in this. "Not yet."

Ross and Camille reveled in the silence that echoed after his statement. Could they really be superheroes? Ross thought back to how he always crumbled under pressure, how could that be a good trait for a hero? Heroes didn't do that. They thrive in the worst situations and handle everything with grace and confidence.

And Camille--she was pretty sure superheroes weren't supposed to be as cold and heartless as she was. Now, Lewis she could understand--he was nerdy and he had a good heart, which made him the perfect candidate for a superhero. So, why Camille and Ross? Why did the person--or people--who gave them their powers choose them?

Ross cleared his throat as he pulled the car onto his street. "You take your suit to school?"

Lewis stuck the mask back into the front zipper part of his bag and zipped it shut. "I wouldn't really call it a suit, it's more of a disguise, but yes, yes I do."

Ross slowed the car as they approached his house and parked in the driveway. He slipped his earbuds in and played his playlist for home. Camille jumped up and held onto Ross's seat again so she could speak to Lewis. She gave him the most hopeful look he'd ever seen on her usually rigid face.

"Okay, when do we get disguises?"

◌•★•◌

Evette's eyes scanned the laptop furiously as she sat at home in her bedroom. She'd just cracked through the encryption on the emails she was trying to gain access to when Lewis and Camille stopped to talk to her, and then Cole and Ross got entangled in their odd conversation.

She'd been working on it all day, curse her lack of coding skills, but she had finally struck gold: emails, dozens of them, all mentioning the Elementum.

After rifling through a few, she stumbled upon a recent one from that morning, sent from a guy called Biggs.

The Rendezvous happens tomorrow night--no exceptions. We cannot afford to push it back any further, despite not having caught the Elementum yet. I have several men on the job to get her back, but the Rendezvous must happen no later than tomorrow. For now, we focus on gaining the trust of the other subjects.

Meet at the Warehouse at 10:30 tomorrow--you know which one. Be prepared for anything, we have not been able to observe the subjects like we had hoped this time around. Rest assured, we will find the Elementum and bring her back to where she belongs.

Don't screw this up.

Biggs.

Evette blinked at the screen. Well, she knew what she was doing tomorrow night.

She scrolled and clicked on a few icons she wasn't familiar with and opened a thread of replies by accident.

This one was sent from an anonymous user to Biggs:

What happens if they resist?

Biggs:

We terminate them and start over. We have more of the individual serums, we can do this as many times as we need to until it works. Now, don't worry about the subjects—the Elementum is still out there, wasting all my life's work. If she gets in the way of everything we're trying to do, we all die.

Evette's eyes widened. She'd have to record all this new information another time, but for now all she could think about were the subjects that could be terminated tomorrow night. She had to stop it, whatever they were doing. Nobody would get terminated on her watch.

If only they would just come right out and tell me what was going on, Evette thought, raking her hands through her hair, maybe I'd stop them and be a superhero instead of a supervillain.

"What're you doing?"

Evette sucked in a harsh breath through her teeth and slammed her laptop shut. She whipped her head around to stare wide-eyed at her brother, who stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets and his eyes narrowed, moving from where her open laptop previously sat to her face. He cocked his eyebrows. Evette rose hers back challengingly.

"Why can't you knock?" she retorted.

Cole shrugged. "We share genes."

"That doesn't mean anything, nor is it completely true."

Cole shrugged Evette off and moved to sit on her bed without asking permission first, a fact that made Evette's eye twitch. Cole shoved his hands in his front pockets and glanced out the window. "Whatever, I just wanted to talk to you about Ross."

"Remington?" Evette's nose wrinkled in confusion. "Why?"

"Did he tell you anything?" Cole asked, "about me?"

Evette moved her protective hand off of her laptop and spun around in her chair to completely face Cole. He was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, avoiding her eyes. Evette crossed her arms as she scrutinized him. "No . . . Why, what did you do?"

Cole was quick to answer. "Nothing, I didn't do anything. Is he bothering you, though?"

"No, we barely even talked today, thanks to you," Evette muttered.

"What do you mean? I didn't even do anything."

"Sure, Mr. Get Away From My Sister."

Cole scoffed and sat back, resting his weight back on his hands. "I do not sound like that, and I was just protecting you."

"From Ross? Or from Lewis?" Evette laughed humorlessly, remembering the many times she'd caught Cole messing with the poor kid. "Because you and him both know that you can kick his ass already, so there's no need to run him off again."

"I didn't run anybody off, Eve."

Evette threw her arms in the air and gesticulated wildly, completely aghast he was unaware of his actions. "Yes, you did!" she exclaimed, her voice raising an octave. "You run everybody off!"

Cole's eyes widened and darted to her open door at her volume. "Evette, quiet down."

"No! Why can't you just let me decide who to talk to and who I need protecting from, okay? And if I want to talk to a boy, then who cares? It's my life, not yours." Honestly, did he plan on keeping me away from boys my entire life? And why did he have to bully every boy within a ten-foot radius way from me?

Cole ran a hand through his hair and brought it down to run his neck. Mr. Bonavich was home. He didn't like it when they were loud, especially when he was watching T.V. Cole prayed he wasn't watching T.V.

He leveled his eyes with his sister. "Eve you need to be quieter or you're going to get us both in trouble."

"Oh so now you're protecting me from Dad?" Evette's arms dropped dramatically to her sides. She shook her head. "You are unbelievable, Cole." She marched to the doorway, tucking her laptop under her arm. Cole jumped up from her bed.

"Where are you going?"

"I need a sandwich," she grumbled. Then, remembering the emails she'd been creeping on, she added, "And two shots of vodka."

◌•★•◌