The Trinity in the house flung the picture frame at the mask, then darted away, but to leave, she had to squeeze past the entrance and get back in the kitchen, and that meant that her head start wasn’t all that great.

Still, she was fast!

She scampered past, jumped up onto the counter in the kitchen, and was shuffling through the window when the no-good mean person caught her by the ankle. “Oh no you don’t!” they said. A woman’s voice.

And then Trinity was jerked back into the house.

“I . . . may have made a small mistake,” she admitted to Emily.

CHAPTER SEVENTY

Up and Over

Emily felt as if cold water were being pushed through her veins. “Are you okay?” she asked.

It was strange, asking the girl right next to her—who was clearly fine if a little uncomfortable—if she was okay, while knowing full well that same girl was in trouble elsewhere. The dichotomy was a little confusing, and Emily didn’t have room for any confusion.

“I’m all right,” Trinity said. “This all-good Hero jerk’s got me by the foot. I’m kicking them in the face, but they’re using stupid powers to stop it.”

Emily nodded. She needed a plan, and she needed it now. There was no time for hesitation or waffling. She needed to act.

“What’s the Hero look like?”

“Uh, I think it’s a girl. She has armor, and a big shield thing over her arm.”

“Black Shield,” Emily guessed. Cement had warned her as much. “Trinity—the you that’s free—run around the building, and tell me what you see out front. We need to know if there are more of them.”

“Got it!” Trinity said.

Emily saw a blur of motion through the slats in the fence as the Trinity still hiding out back spun around and ran.

“If they’re alone . . . I think we might be able to fight them. Maybe.”

“Heck yeah,” Teddy said, her fist pumping. “I’ll beat them down, no problem.”

“I’ll do what I can to help,” Athena said. “I’ll put the fear of Big Sister Emily in them.”

Trinity nodded. “I’m at the front. There’s only one car. It’s blue.”

Knowing the car that’d likely brought Black Shield to the safe house was blue didn’t help Emily much, but she figured that didn’t sound like an official sort of vehicle.

“Okay, we’re moving in,” she said. “The goal isn’t to fight them, it’s to find that painting. Trinity, one of you stays near me, another needs to look for the painting.”

“And the third one fights?” Trinity asked.

“We’ll see,” Emily said.