“Good news,” Jasper said over the comms. “The place is still standing.”
“That’s reassuring,” Holly said, sarcastic as ever.
“Is the net connection good?” Thea asked.
“How far is it?” Dax added.
Grace barely processed what the others were saying, transfixed by the city ahead. The spaceport was just outside the city proper, with a walking path connecting them and the occasional shop or restaurant along the way. A road ran parallel to the path, and both buses and personal vehicles zoomed by. Despite being at ground-level, many of the cars were propelled by thrusters rather than driving on wheels.
Thea had said she would work on finding them a bus. Grace hoped that would be happening sooner rather than later. Otherwise, it was going to be a long walk before they were anywhere worth poking around.
Although Sagev’s streets were as populated with pedestrians as any in Kronos, the skyscrapers in the city were nowhere near as tall. Or densely packed together. Endless blue sky was visible in every direction during their trek from the spaceport, interrupted only at the horizon ahead by metal and glass buildings shimmering in the heat.
God, the heat. It was nearly unbearable. The light jacket Grace had on to hide her wings made it even worse. For a moment, she wondered why she was out here, sweating and running around helping Jasper Van Terra. The more she saw behind the scenes, the more she forgot about the reputation of the ruthless villain who stalked Kronos’s streets. She didn’t think she could even say she was afraid of Jasper anymore.
That villain was still there, though, underneath the loud and impulsive teenage girl ordering them around. She had been Grace’s only hope on Kronos, but here, far from the Blades, maybe Grace could find a way to Earth.
But there wasn’t time to dwell on that at the moment.
“Have you guys found anything?” Jasper asked. “And where are you? I’m on my way back.”
“We’re still walking toward the city,” Thea told her. “We’re headed for a mall called Silvium Center. I scanned some local news reports, and it turns out Ringmaster’s made his presence known.”
“Oh?”
“He publicly attacked Silvium Center. The damage forced three stores to shut down for repairs. People are speculating his motivation was robbery, but—”
“He could be using one of the closed stores as his base,” Jasper finished. “Great. Oh hey, I see you guys!”
Grace, Thea, Holly, and Dax all turned around as Jasper sped toward them on her motorcycle, waving.
“You gonna give us a ride?” Holly asked.
“I’d love to, really, but—” Jasper flew past them. “I don’t exactly have room. But hey, I saw a bus coming this way you can take!”
“She’s right,” Thea said, swiping at the holoscreen projected from her watch. “Bus bravo-28 will drop us off right in front of the shopping center. We just have to make it to that stop up ahead.”
“Thea, could you check and see if there’s a Bibi’s in at Silvium Center?” Jasper asked as the team gathered around the signpost for the bus stop.
“There’s three.”
“I hate public transportation,” Holly muttered.
Grace watched the approaching bus begin to slow. It had three levels of seating, and its rounded metal exterior was plastered with ads. “What’s so terrible about it?” she asked. “I’ve never been in a public vehicle before.”
“They’re super unhygienic,” Dax said.
“They never run on time,” Thea added.
Holly folded her arms. “And there’s always all kinds of weirdos.”
“Ooh, yeah,” Jasper said. “Be careful. You wouldn’t want to run into some kind of criminal!”
“Jasper, I’m going to throw you into traffic,” Holly threatened.
“Oh, come on, you can do better than that. Tell me you’re going to, I don’t know, set my spleen on fire.”
“You’re atrocious.”
The bus came to a screeching halt by the sidewalk. Thea handed cash to the driver as the team entered, and the four made their way through the crowded bus.
“If the government actually put money into the bus system, it could be pretty nice,” Thea said under her breath. “But they’d rather give themselves raises.”
Dax’s gaze moved to a woman who was coughing violently into her arm. “Can I—?”
Holly grabbed Dax’s arm. “Not right now, Dax,” she said, her voice surprisingly gentle. “You cure one person, and everyone else will come begging…”
The bus jerked forward. Grace stumbled and bumped into Thea. “Sorry!” she exclaimed.
Thea grabbed a pole in the center of the aisle. “Hold on tight. This is going to be a rough ride.”
Grace leaned over to peer around her. “Are there no more empty seats?”
“There’s two. Your options are to squeeze in by that group of kids who’ve been playing in mud, or next to the woman who looks like she’s going to throw up any moment.”
Grace’s hand wrapped around the pole. “I can stand.” Where had the kids even managed to find mud in a desert?
“On the bright side, the Silvium Center will probably be dead after the attacks,” Holly said. “People will be too scared to shop there.”
Grace may not have known Holly long, but by the time the bus let the team off at the mall, she was pretty sure Holly had never been more wrong about anything in her entire life.
The team stepped off the bus—Dax “accidentally” brushed a glowing hand against the sick woman on the way out, leaving her looking startled at the sudden ceasing of her cough—and found themselves in a massive crowd, worsened by lines so long they poured out of stores and wrapped around corners.
“Yikes,” was all Thea had to say.
“What the hell?” Holly exclaimed. “What are you morons doing here? Didn’t you hear about the Ringmaster attack?”
“Duh,” a girl said as she walked by. Her uniform marked her as an employee of one of the stores, and she was struggling to keep a stack of boxes balanced in her arms. “Nothing draws in tourists like a big villain. Or hero, but you know, people will take what they can get.”
Someone tapped Grace on the shoulder. She jumped and yelped in surprise.
“Whoa, it’s just me,” Jasper said. She took a sip from the smoothie in her hand, the Bibi’s logo prominently displayed on the cup.
Holly raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised you aren’t chugging Nova Cora.”
“Oh, this?” Jasper held up the smoothie. “It actually has Nova Cora in it! Amazing what they can do with food these days.” She took another sip. “So, what stores did Ringmaster hit?”
Thea tapped her watch. A map of the mall popped up, and three red X’s appeared over different stores. “He was all over the place.”
“We’ll have to split up, then.” Jasper pointed to a spot on the map. “Angel and I will infiltrate that clothing store next to one of the attack sites and see if we can learn anything.”
“Great. I’ll take the electronics place here,” Thea said. One of the stores on the map glowed yellow in response to her statement.
“Dax and I will look around that big furniture store at the south end.” Holly folded her arms. “How do you propose we get in?”
“Easy. This place is a mess,” Jasper said. “Employees will be so desperate for help they won’t think twice about letting us work. Once we’re in, we can poke around back rooms and ask workers if they’ve seen anything unusual. Oh, and keep an eye out for anyone going in or out of the closed stores.” She finished her smoothie and tossed the cup in a perfect arc into a nearby trash can. “Then we’ll regroup. Any questions? No? Great, let’s go. Yay teamwork!”
The others dispersed into the crowd, leaving Grace to follow Jasper to the clothing store. The store spanned three floors next to the boarded-up jewelry shop Ringmaster had all but destroyed.
“You ever had a job before, Angel?” Jasper asked.
“No,” Grace replied.
“Follow my lead.”
Jasper elbowed her way through the crowded store. Grace apologized as she awkwardly followed Jasper’s path to the “Employees Only” door at the back.
“Stand here and keep watch,” Jasper told Grace.
“What am I supposed to do if—?”
Grace didn’t get to finish her question. Jasper disappeared into the corridor on the other side and pulled the door shut behind her. Grace turned around and eyed the crowd gathered around the clearance racks. Was it really worth all of this just to say they bought something at the shopping center Ringmaster attacked?
The door reopened a minute later, and Jasper emerged holding lanyards marked with the store’s logo. “Here, throw this on so other employees think we work here,” she said. “Your name’s Robin. Now we can walk around the back rooms without anyone bothering us. There’s a hallway back there connected to the jewelry store, but there were employees hanging around—”
“Excuse me,” a woman with lime green skin said as she appeared in front of them. Her skin’s texture wasn’t far off from a lime’s, either. “Could one of you grab me this jacket in a size 99 from the back?” She looked the two up and down. “Oh, are you new?”
Jasper didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“I’m Dyana. Sorry you have to train when things are so hectic. We have a great system, but with the crowd…” She shook her head, making her sandy curls bounce. “It’s organized chaos out there.”
“The worst kind of chaos.” Jasper took the jacket from Dyana. “Well, I think I can find this.”
“Great. While you do that, I could train you—” Dyana turned to Grace. “—on how the dressing rooms are run.”
Grace glanced at Jasper. “Uh…”
“That’s a great idea,” Jasper said. “Wink, wink.”
“Okay?”
Dyana ignored Grace’s confusion. “Follow me.”
“This is perfect,” Jasper said over comms once she was out of sight. “You can ask her about the Ringmaster stuff.”
“How?” Grace asked.
“Great question!” Dyana exclaimed. “We track items with the computer system.”
Grace followed her into the dressing rooms. “Huh? Oh. Cool.”
“Ask her if she was here the day Ringmaster attacked,” Jasper said.
“Were you here when Ringmaster attacked?” Grace asked.
“I was, but I was on break.” Dyana stopped in front of a monitor and tapped the screen. “Here’s a map of the fitting rooms. Red boxes are occupied, green are available.”
“Okay,” Grace said. Seemed simple enough. Not that she needed to know—
“When you check someone in or out, tap the room on the map to change its status.”
“Ow!” Jasper exclaimed.
Grace feigned a cough. “You okay?” she whispered.
“Fine. I found the entrance to the jewelry store. Door’s locked, but I think I can bust it down—ow!”
“This menu here is for tracking items,” Dyana said. “You scan them with that device, which you turn on from this sub-menu. Make sure you turn it off when you’re not using it, otherwise it glitches out—”
“Ask her if she’s seen anything weird since the attack.” A loud thud came from Jasper’s end, followed by a string of curses.
“—and that’s how you contact security—”
Grace’s head spun.
“Ask if she ever works in the back rooms.” Jasper grunted. A loud crash followed.
“—that button’s only if a code tango-red-seven is announced, which I mentioned earlier—”
“See if she’s been on any closing shifts.”
“Do you think you’ve got it?”
“Uh—” Grace cleared her throat. “Yeah, I got it. I just have a couple of questions—”
“Great! I’m taking my break. Good luck!” Dyana walked away.
“Wait, what?”
An old woman walked up to Grace with a stack of clothes in hand. “Excuse me, I need a room.”
Grace stared at the screen in front of her. “Um, go ahead and try room five?”
“You don’t sound like you know what you’re doing,” the woman said sternly.
“Thanks. I don’t.”