It turned out that, after a couple of minutes of hanging on for dear life, she got used to the roar of a dozen bikes all rumbling down the roads as one big unit, and soon she was laughing and sticking her arms out like wings to catch the wind.

The ride ended way too soon with the gang stopping by close to the dorms. “Here we are, kid,” the big lady whose hog Athena was on said.

Athena jumped off, making sure not to touch any of the hot parts because one of the beard guys told her she might get burned if she did. “Thank you,” she said as she took off the helmet.

The lady took the helmet, then ruffled Athena’s hair.

“Will you be okay, little lady?”

Athena nodded. “I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

With a few more goodbyes and a lot of thumps to her back, Athena was off and heading back home. She kinda hoped that Big Sister Emily wasn’t there yet, because if she was, then that might mean Athena would maybe be in a bit of trouble.

Not too much trouble, though. Big Sister Emily was the best, and she wouldn’t punish her little sisters too hard when all they were doing was trying to be the most Villainous Villains they could be.

She arrived at the dorms and waited until someone was approaching the doors before making her move. The young man eyed her as she grabbed the door to keep it open, and he seemed about to protest, so she blasted him with her power and slipped past while he looked up and around as if he’d seen something in the dark.

Athena fiddled with the zipper on her jacket as she rode up to the fifth floor, then it was straight to Big Sister Emily’s room.

It took all of a second upon entering for her to notice that something was wrong.

There was no big sister in sight, not even an annoying Teddy. Instead, a strange guy was standing with his back to the door.

Athena pushed the door shut behind her while her eyes narrowed.

Big Sister would have told her if she was expecting someone, so this guy . . . this guy was trouble.

“Hey,” Athena said. She pulled the reins off her power and started carefully flooding the room with just a tiny, tiny bit of it.

The man spun around and looked at her. “Oh, uh, hey,” he said. He said it very guiltily.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Athena said. This would be a great opportunity to test her newfound confidence. She just had to keep in mind all the cool tricks her biker friends had taught her.

“Uh, yeah, I’m a friend of Emily’s?” he tried.