Grace yawned as the team piled into the stolen mall display car. She was trying to follow Thea’s explanation of how her pattern-recognition software could use the mall cameras to find Aymes Bell the moment he walked in, but some of the techier words were tripping her up.
“I can’t promise the facial recognition will be perfect,” Thea said as the last door slammed shut. “But our chances of catching him fast are pretty good.”
“Great,” Jasper said. She started up the engine. “We just need to make a quick stop for supplies.”
“A quick stop?” Holly asked skeptically.
“I need materials for the explosives I’m going to blast through the ceiling with.”
“Don’t you have explosives?” Grace asked, thinking of the hole Jasper had blown in the wall at Atzy’s the night before.
“Mine aren’t strong enough. They’re for distractions and minor damage.” Jasper set Mia on the car’s dashboard. “Mia, get directions to the MoonCo on Silvium Drive.”
“MoonCo?” Dax asked. “How are we getting in?”
Grace glanced at the back seat. “What do you mean? Isn’t MoonCo just a store?”
“You have to have a membership to shop there,” Jasper explained. “It’s fine. I know a trick or two.”
They arrived ten minutes later and climbed out of the car. As the team approached the front doors, a woman ahead of them showed a card to the employee sitting out front. He nodded for her to go in.
“Excuse me,” Jasper said to the employee. “Our mom’s waiting for us inside.”
The employee’s gaze moved from Jasper Van Terra, dressed more for a high-class function than shopping; to Dax, who hadn’t bothered to change out of the wrinkled shirt he’d slept in; to Thea, who typed away on a tablet with second tucked under her arm; to Grace, too hot to wear a jacket to hide her wings; and finally to Holly, dressed in all black, arms folded, headphones in her ears, rolling her eyes.
“Yeah, okay, go ahead,” the employee said.
Jasper grabbed a cart on the way in. Grace’s gaze darted from employee to employee as they walked. “What if someone catches us?” she asked.
“It’s a supermarket, not the Pentagon,” Jasper replied.
“Pentagon?”
“Let’s try that again. It’s a supermarket, not the Governor’s Palace. No one cares.” Jasper grabbed a jug of drain cleaner off a shelf. “Thea, I need you to grab powdered Y-engine coolant. Make sure it contains polyplassites.”
“Got it.” Thea broke off from the group.
“Dax, I need a sealable container. Jar, bottle, whatever.”
Dax nodded and walked away.
“Holly, I need you to get some Nova Cora.”
“I’m not getting you that stupid soda!” Holly exclaimed.
Jasper lifted a hand. “I swear I need it for the explosive.”
“You know what? I’m not surprised you can make explosives with that garbage,” Holly said as she stormed off.
“Angel, could you head down that aisle and grab me some ruby vinegar?” Jasper gestured to the right. “It needs to be MoonCo brand.”
“Sure,” Grace replied with a nod.
She scanned the shelves carefully as she walked the aisle, a little overwhelmed by the selection. At least it wasn’t as chaotic as the Mota Mart had been. “Vinegar, vinegar, vinegar—oh, sorry!” Grace turned to see who she’d bumped into.
“It’s fine,” the woman said coolly, not looking up from her wristwatch. “Just watch where you’re going next time.”
She had nearly a foot on Grace in height. The white bodysuit she wore looked like it was made from the same fabric as Jasper’s motorcycle suit. Her scaly skin was a pale green, and her black hair had been cropped close to her head. And in her other hand, she held a long white metal spear.
As the woman strolled past Grace, she held the watch up to her mouth. “I’ve cleared aisles one through ten. She’s not here.”
“Uh, Jasper?” Grace whispered into her comm once the woman was out of earshot. “I think someone’s looking for you.”
“Could you be more specific?” Jasper asked.
“She kind of looks like South Siren. She’s wearing similar clothes. And she’s got a giant spear.”
“She’s probably a siren. One of South Siren’s henchwomen—oh, oops.”
“Oops?” Holly pressed.
“I’ve been spotted,” Jasper said. “Yeah, they’re sirens. I’m leaving our cart by the dairy cooler. Everyone, meet here.”
Grace went back to scanning the shelves with more urgency. Once she spotted the bottles of ruby vinegar, she grabbed one and hurried back to the cart.
Thea appeared a moment later with a black jug that she tossed in. “Do we know where Jasper went?”
A crash came from a nearby aisle.
“Over there?” Grace turned toward the sound. “Should we help her?”
Thea shrugged. “She said to meet here, didn’t she?”
Holly and Dax came around the corner and added their items to the cart. “Yeah,” Holly said. “I’m sure this’ll blow over and we’ll be out of here in a few minutes—”
Jasper came flying over nearby shelving unit and crashed into a nutrient bar display. Three sirens emerged from the aisle on the other side and strolled toward the team, all wielding spears.
“At least they have short range weapons,” Thea said. “We can run—”
One of the sirens pointed her spear at Holly and fired a blast of blue-green energy from the tip. Holly yelped and dove out of the way. Dax and Thea ducked behind the cart. Grace took a few quick steps back.
“Why are they attacking us?” Holly exclaimed.
Jasper rose to her feet, shoving a few of the bars into her pockets. “I must have really pissed her off last night.”
“What do you mean last night?”
“Mm, on second thought, I probably pissed off everyone. We might have to fend off a lot of henchpeople over the next few days.”
“You couldn’t just keep your head down and blend in, could you?” With a swing of her arm, Holly emptied a nearby shelf of boxes. She snapped the metal shelf off the display and held it up.
Jasper grabbed a shopping basket off the top of a nearby stack. “I swear there was an attempt.” She chucked the basket at the same time Holly sent the shelf spinning through the air. They each knocked down a siren, leaving the third to lunge forward and fire another spear blast at Jasper.
Jasper ducked. “Someone put the groceries in the car. I’ll be out in a minute.”
Thea grabbed the cart and headed for the exit. Grace and Dax joined her. While Jasper and Holly were able to distract most of the sirens that came crawling out of the woodwork—Grace thought she counted eight—two decided to pursue Grace, Thea, and Dax instead.
“They’re faster than us!” Dax warned.
“I can see that.” Thea’s hands tightened around the cart.
As they emerged from an aisle, Grace grabbed the shelf to her right and pulled. For a moment she feared she didn’t have enough strength, but then the other side lifted off the ground a few inches. The shelf tipped just enough to send dozens of huge crates tumbling to the floor, blocking the path of the pursuing sirens.
Grace let the shelf fall back into place caught up to the others. A smaller display toppled to the ground nearby and Jasper leaped over it, laughing, Holly behind her. The two caught up with Grace and the others.
They shot out the front of the store, into the parking lot, to the car. “Holly, you’re driving,” Jasper said as doors began opening. “I have a bomb to make.”
Holly eagerly took the driver’s seat. Dax took passenger, and Grace found herself crammed between Jasper and Thea in the back.
“Next stop, Silvium Center,” Jasper announced.
“Please try not to blow us up,” Holly said.
“Don’t worry, I won’t. I’d rather not be caught dead in such an ugly car.”