Grace and Jasper exited the clothing store. “Anyone at the food court yet?” Jasper asked.
“Dax and I have been here for ten minutes,” Holly replied sharply.
“I’m almost there,” Thea said. “I got turned around looking for a tablet shop. This side of the mall is a maze and the map on their website is out of date, for some reason.”
Jasper lifted an eyebrow. “What store are you in front of now?”
“Twin Sunrise Books.”
Jasper spotted Thea in the crowd before Grace did and pointed at her. “Found you.”
Thea turned around as the two approached. “Oh, great. Let’s go.” She had a new tablet box tucked under one arm.
“Whoa, hold on,” Jasper said, pausing by the display in front of the bookstore. She picked up one of the books. “I never see bookstores anymore.”
“Well, they’re a bit outdated,” Thea told her. “It sounds like Holly and Dax are ready to go. Let’s get back to that place you were going on about and figure out how we’re getting into Ringmaster’s base.”
“‘Breaking Skies,’” Jasper read off the book’s cover. “D. S. Teller. Interesting.” She put it back and picked up another one.
Grace frowned. Sure, Jasper occasionally took pleasure in being extra obnoxious, but this felt different. It was almost as if she were—
Thea rested a hand on her hip. “Are you stalling?”
Jasper slammed the book back down on the shelf. “Of course not. Why would I be doing that? Let’s go. We don’t have all day.” She hurried off toward the food court, leaving Thea and Grace to exchange confused looks before catching up.
They caught up to Jasper as she entered the food court, and the three quickly found Holly and Dax sitting at a table sipping drinks. A basket of fried somethings sat on the table between them.
“Aw, you guys got food without us?” Jasper asked.
“You were taking forever.” Holly stood up. “Are we going now?”
“Yeah, yeah, we’re going. The place we’re staying is outside the city limits, so you won’t be able to get there by bus.”
“Thank god,” Holly muttered.
“You’ll all have to walk.”
“Jasper, we’ll all get heatstroke if we—” Dax started.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” Jasper cut in with a laugh. “I’m going to get us a car.”
“Steal us a car?” Thea guessed.
“Duh.” Jasper jutted a thumb over her shoulder behind her. “I saw one back there that looked nice. What do you guys think?”
“Oh, the display car?” Holly asked in a mocking tone. “Yeah, sure, wonderful idea. Steal that. I’m sure you’ll have no problem getting it out of the mall.”
“Just so you know, I was joking until you said that, but now I’m going to do it.”
“You know what?” Holly barked out a cold laugh and sat back down. “Go ahead. I’m going to sit right here and watch you get your ass arrested by mall cops.” She picked up a drink and took a sip. “Have fun.”
“Okay, Holly’s out. Dax?”
“I’ll stay here with Holly,” Dax said, fiddling with the straw of his own drink.
“Lame. Thea?”
“I’m starving. I’m gonna go hit up the Bibi’s,” Thea said.
“Okay, as long as you grab me some fries.”
“You can buy your own fries.”
“Cool.” Jasper turned to Grace. “What about you, Angel. You in?”
“Uh…” Grace glanced at Holly and Dax. Holly slid in earbuds to listen to music. Dax started a video game on his smartsphere’s holoscreen. Thea was already walking away. “I guess?”
“Great! Let’s go.”
Grace and Jasper walked to the intersection of two main corridors of the Silvium Center, where a cube-shaped car in an obnoxious shade of neon orange waited. The handles and other metal accents were gold, which made the paint color look even worse, and the yellow-green tires were the cherry on top.
“I think this is the worst car I’ve ever seen.” Jasper put her hands on her hips. “I need it.” She walked around to the back. “And it should fit the motorcycle just fine.”
“How are we going to…?” Grace trailed off and looked around, wondering if anyone was listening.
“Well, if Thea had kindly offered to help, she could do her technopath thing and it’d be a piece of cake. But we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way.” Jasper slid a knife from her pocket and stuck it into the crack between the door and the rest of the car.
Grace strolled to the other side of the car, hoping that if someone noticed Jasper fiddling with the door lock, she could pretend she was innocent. “Who buys these things, anyway?” She hadn’t really meant to ask the question out loud, but she did, and Jasper laughed.
“Maybe some people really like squares. And construction zone orange.”
Now Grace laughed. “Honestly, I doubt anyone was ever going to buy this. I think we’d be doing the mall a favor by stealing it.”
She caught Jasper’s grin through the windows. Then there was a clicking sound, and the driver’s door popped open.
“Thea, could you do me a favor?” Jasper asked, pressing a finger to her comm.
“Do I have a choice?” Thea replied.
“I just need you to grab my motorcycle from where I left it outside before meeting back up with Dax and Holly.”
“Fine.”
“Be careful.”
“I will.”
“I mean it! I don’t want a scratch on that thing, or you’re grounded.”
Grace’s hand hesitated over the handle a moment before pulling it open. What did she have to worry about? Mall security didn’t stand a chance against Jasper. Especially Jasper behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Jasper settled into the driver’s seat and popped a panel off under the steering wheel. After watching her work for a couple of minutes, Grace said, “I’m guessing you’ve done this before.”
“Yep.”
“A lot.”
“Yep.”
Grace rubbed her arm. “Why?”
“Well, sometimes I needed transportation and didn’t have money.”
“I mean, how’d you end up in that situation in the first place? Didn’t you say you used to live on Earth?”
The dashboard lit up as the engine came to life. “It’s a long story.” Jasper slid her hands along the wheel. “Buckle your seat belt.”
Grace quickly obliged. The belt had barely clicked into place when Jasper hit the horn. People jumped out of the way, and the car inched forward.
“This might be a little less thrilling than I was hoping for,” Jasper said. She checked the rear-view mirror. “Oh, wait, security’s here! Aw, they have hover scooters. That’s cute.”
Grace twisted around in her seat to get a look. “How are they planning to catch us?”
“I don’t know. It would be hilarious to watch them try to pull us over, but I’d rather not give the real police time to show up.” Jasper blared the horn again. “My path’s almost clear. Brace yourself.”
They shot forward and flew toward the food court. When they entered the dining area, Jasper yanked the wheel to the right, and they slid past the table Holly, Dax, and Thea were waiting at. Jasper’s motorcycle leaned against the table next to them.
Jasper waved at the three through the front windshield. Dax gave a half-hearted wave back, Thea raised an eyebrow and sipped her drink, and Holly rolled her eyes.
They came to such a hard stop that the right side of the car lifted off the ground.
“Oh, wow, this thing’s terrible.” Jasper laughed as they slammed back down onto all four wheels. She rolled her window down. “Okay, everyone in! Put the motorcycle in the back.”
While the team piled in, security drew closer. “How are we getting the car out of here?” Holly asked.
“My plan goes something like this: Central staircase. Upper level. West balcony. Roof.”
“That’s not a plan, that’s a bunch of random words strung together.”
“All right, it’s more of a vibe. I’ll throw together a mood board if that’ll make you happy.” Jasper glanced back. “Everybody in? Seat belts buckled? Great.”
By then, shoppers had realized there was a rogue car on the loose and were packing themselves into the stores or along the walls, leaving the corridor open for Jasper to speed down. The security guards raced out of her path when she came flying toward them, nearly falling off their hover scooters in the process. Jasper waved at them as she passed.
They took corners a little too fast for comfort. Jasper knew how to walk—well, drive—the fine line between looking cool and pushing things too far, but Grace held on tight to the first handle she found, fearing they would fully tip over at any moment.
The ride up the central staircase was bumpy. Navigating the upper level involved a lot of swerving around fountains and kiosks. They were nearly to the west balcony when a second engine joined the sound of the car’s.
“Security’s got a motorcycle,” Thea warned.
“At least someone’s putting in effort.” Jasper’s gaze flickered to the mirror. “That guy’s fast. He might actually catch us.”
“What’s he going to do?” Holly asked, arms folding. “Ask us nicely to pull over?”
Dax twisted to look out the back window. “Uh, actually, he’s got a blaster. It’s pretty big—”
Jasper swerved to the left, and a green blast of energy shot past them. “Okay, that’s unexpected for a mall cop, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.” She swerved again. “Think we can make it through that archway to the balcony?”
“Looks pretty tight,” Thea said.
The guard fired again, blasting off the right-side mirror.
“How about now?” Jasper leaned forward and squinted at the rapidly approaching exit. “Looks like we’ll get an inch on either side, if I line us up right.”
“And if you don’t?” Grace asked.
“Just hold on to something.”
They made it out onto the balcony without anything breaking, although there was an alarming scraping sound on Grace’s side. Jasper barreled through chairs and tables on her way to the edge of the balcony. There, the car crashed through the glass railing and landed on the roof below, sending a solid jolt through Grace’s bones.
“He’s right behind us!” Holly warned.
Jasper zig-zagged to dodge more blasts. “Don’t worry, we’ll lose him in a second here.”
“Jasper, we’re headed to the edge of the roof,” Thea said.
“Yep!”
“This isn’t a flying car.”
“Yep!”
They reached the edge and soared over. “You all put your seat belts on, right?” Jasper asked.
“You’re asking us this now?” Holly shrieked.
The awning over the restaurant entrance below broke their fall, becoming completely shredded in the process. Still, they hit the ground hard enough to knock the air out of Grace’s lungs.
“This thing may be hideous, but they went all out on the shock absorbers.” Jasper hit the gas, and they shot through the parking lot.
“The security guard’s stuck at the edge of the roof,” Thea said. “Guess he’s not as insane as you are.”
“Yay us.” Jasper tapped a finger against the steering wheel. “Next stop: home sweet home.”