“It’s just a lot of responsibility.” She tugs on a strand of blue hair. “What if I mess up? Like, what if I get lost in the ducts and can’t get to the lab? Or what if I can’t start the fire or…”

“You won’t mess up. And Adam will be right there the entire time in case there’s a problem.”

She nods, but she bites on the edge of one of her black fingernails. “The rest of you are just so smart and talented. You and Chris can fight. Adam’s a genius, and Trent’s basically a ninja…but I’m just a girl with a sketchbook.”

Okay, she is way overestimating Trent’s skills. I stop and turn to face her. “You are not just a girl with a sketchbook. You helped us with Wombat, remember? We wouldn’t be able to buy any of this stuff now without your help. And you’re the only one who can fit in the air ducts.”

I feel like I should say something else and try to imagine what Adam would do in this situation. I give Zoe a light hug, unsure where to put my arms. Hugging doesn’t exactly come naturally for me. “You’re going to do great.”

“Thanks, Elena,” she says, hugging me back.

We find the aisle with the skateboarding kneepads and grab some that look like they’d fit her. Then Zoe sees something and skips down to the next aisle.

“Look!” She holds up a walkie-talkie headset for kids. “We can use these to keep in touch.”

“Good idea. See, you’re making the plan better already.” I grin at her and we throw six of them in our basket. “Let’s grab some ice and see what kind of trouble the guys are getting into.”

We track down Chris and Adam in the aisle with the household cleaners, where they’re loading the cart with rags, latex gloves, bleach, and God only knows what else. Trent joins us a minute later with some flashlights and one of those laser pens he stole earlier, and then we head to the checkout. There’s nobody working in the store—just a self-checkout—which saves us any awkward questions about why we need so many cleaning products.

I check my watch. It’s 9:16 p.m. “We have about six hours before we’re meeting Lynne. Maybe we should get something to eat.”

“We’ll need some time to get all of this ready,” Adam says. “But yeah, we should probably eat first.”

“And a nap wouldn’t hurt either,” Trent adds. “Don’t want to be tired when we break in.”

“Shh!” I glance around quickly, but no one’s close enough to hear him.